Summary: Buffy
refuses to let Spike reject her in the Hellmouth, setting off a chain
of events that leads them back to Willow's "Thy Will be Done" spell and
their destiny as the Immortal Guardians of the Hellmouth.
Scenerio #4 of the
Immortal
Guardian series.
Chapter 15
Angel let out a groan. What the hell
had happened to him?
Last thing he remembered was being outside of Giles’ apartment complex.
He opened his eyes slowly. Angel took in the glaring white walls of the
barren cell. He realized that he had no idea where he was.
A woman in a lab coat flanked by two soldiers appeared outside of the
Plexiglas that made up one wall of the cell. Angel recognized the
uniforms that adorned the men. Somehow he had become a guest of the
United States Army.
“Bring me a chair,” the woman directed one of the soldiers. When he
brought back a fold-up chair, she seated herself facing Angel. She
placed the file she had been carrying on her lap. “I’m Maggie Walsh.
I’m in charge of this facility.” She waved her hand around. “Now do you
have any idea what I find interesting?”
Angel stared at the woman, refusing to give in to her question.
“This is your file.” Walsh tapped the folder. “I find it
interesting that none of the other subterranean hostiles that have
graced our facility have a top-secret government file.”
Angel grimaced to himself. He knew the submarine incident would come
back to haunt him. He had just expected it to be an unannounced visit
from Lawson, not his own visit with the army.
“He’s not co-operating, ma’am,” one of the soldiers replied. “Should I
give him the shock treatment?”
“People are going to notice my absence,” Angel finally spoke up. He had
no idea how much time had passed since his capture. He knew it was
daytime as a vampire was always very aware of the sun. He was sure that
Cordelia must have grown concerned by now.
“Your file says you’re a loner.” Walsh taped the cream colored folder.
“That file is over fifty years old.” Angel raised his eyebrow. “Your
intel is outdated.”
“It matters little,” Walsh bragged. “You are the perfect bait.” With
that she rose to her feet.
Angel felt a fissure of concern. He hoped that this woman didn’t know
about Buffy. From the look of the cells, he could see several other
demon species contained there. Some of which looked decidedly sickly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spike and Buffy escorted Ethan Rayne into their home. They fully
expected to have guests since Giles and Cordelia, along with Joyce and
Dawn, were supposed to visit. They were not disappointed to find Giles,
Joyce, and Dawn chatting in the living room.
“We helped Cordelia settle upstairs, dear,” Joyce told Buffy when the
Slayer entered the room. “We really should find a way to help that poor
girl with those headaches.”
Buffy nodded in agreement. She and Cordelia weren’t the best of
friends, but she hated to see the other woman in so much pain.
“Rupes, help me secure your old buddy here in the basement,” Spike said
to Giles. He still had a hold of Ethan’s arm.
“Hey, Ripper,” Ethan grinned. “Together again, I see.”
Joyce blushed at the mention of Giles’ nickname. She wondered if she
would ever live down the fact that she’d made out with the Watcher on a
police car. To cover her embarrassment she said, “Ripper and Rayne.
That sounds like a band.”
Ethan let out a laugh. “Unfortunately, I can’t play an instrument.”
“And when he sings, it’ll break your eardrums,” Giles finished. He
turned to Spike. “How do you plan on securing him in the basement?”
Spike smirked, and he gave Buffy a cheeky wink. “They’re Slayer-tested
chains.”
“Just go chain him up, guys!” Buffy shook her head in despair. She
realized that the quiet, unhappy vampire from the year before was gone,
replaced with a version much more similar to the cocky, confident one
he had been previously.
After the three men left the room, Dawn looked at Buffy, and she
crossed her arms over her chest. “When were you planning on telling me
about the whole Immortal Guardian gig? I had to find out from some
demon that showed up in my bedroom.”
“Oh, really?” Buffy arched a brow. “You find another summoning
necklace?”
“It wasn’t Sweet. This one was named Whistler,” Dawn protested.
“Honestly, I’m not a klepto anymore.”
“Whistler?” Buffy’s eyes narrowed. “What did that little skunk have to
say?”
“I’m not the Key anymore for one thing.”
“What’s a key?” Joyce looked confused. “Why would Dawn be a key?”
“Oh boy, I so don’t want to explain all of this,” Buffy groaned.
“I understood things I shouldn’t have when you made me a companion.”
Giles was back from the basement. “If you include your mother and
sister as companions also, perhaps they will have the same kind of
epiphany as I did.”
“I agree, luv.” Spike was back too. He moved to Buffy’s side.
Buffy gave a nod. She reached out her hand to Joyce while Spike reached
out for Dawn. When the foursome was finally all holding hands, a great
light went through them.
Giles shielded his eyes against the brightness, but he opened his eyes
again when Dawn squealed.
“I’m seventeen again.”
Indeed, Dawn had grown a few more inches and had filled out in ways
that young ladies do as they mature.
“Oh boy, and that is interesting.” Dawn blinked in surprise. “I never
would have suspected that.”
“What, Dawn?” Joyce asked. She knew now what the Key represented, and
she was glad her daughter wasn’t one anymore.
“You’re not my mother. You’re my grandmother,” Dawn replied. “Buffy’s
my mom.”
“Who’s your Da?” Spike asked.
“You are!”
Dawn and Buffy had to grab Spike when he staggered backwards under the
shock of the revelation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hours later, as Spike and Buffy waited for Riley and Walsh to show up
for the appointed meeting, Spike was still in a state of shock. Buffy
always knew Dawn was part of her, but she had never once suspected
Spike as being part of her ‘sister’ too. Buffy was glad she hadn’t
found out about Dawn’s true parentage before this time because she
probably would have freaked out.
“Ms. Summers and Hostile 17.” Maggie Walsh had arrived.
“You have someone prisoner and I’m not too happy about it,” Buffy said
immediately. She didn’t want to waste any time with silly greetings.
Walsh feigned innocence. “I have no idea what you mean, Ms. Summers.
Hostile 17 is sitting right next to you.”
“Don’t even try it, Professor,” Buffy said in a cool voice. “I told you
before I know about Room 314. I also know about the chip you’ve planted
in Riley’s heart. The same one that Adam will try to take advantage of
when he tries to take over the world.”
“That would never happen!” Walsh protested adamantly.
“Your ultimate killing machine wants to take over, Professor.” Buffy
maintained her stance on the subject. “That uranium core you gave him
makes him near impossible to defeat. Notice I said near. I will defeat
him with the help of my friends.”
“Didn’t old Mr. Bits and Pieces kill the old bitch here?” Spike asked.
“Yeah, I seem to remember that. There was some new general commandin’
when we rescued dog-boy from the bowels of Hell.”
“Yeah, that’s right.” Buffy nodded. “Then he turned her into one of his
zombies.”
Maggie Walsh shuddered in disgust. One of her biggest fears was
zombies. Even before she had learned about the existence of the
supernatural world, she had hated the idea of zombies. She even refused
to watch zombie movies.
“Release Angel and leave Sunnydale. This town belongs to the Slayer and
the Aurelian vampires.” Buffy stood up. “If you don’t leave as soon as
possible, you will learn the power of the Immortal Guardians.”
Spike rose to his feet too. He smirked at Riley, and he gave the other
man the two-fingered salute. “Don’t go fallin’ on one of those plastic
stakes of yours, Captain Cardboard.”
“What are you talking about, Spike?” Buffy asked. Then she got an
instant picture of the event Spike was referring to. She turned blazing
eyes on Riley Finn.
Riley cringed under the fire of Buffy’s gaze. He had never seen a woman
so mad before in his life, and he wondered what he had supposedly done
to Hostile 17 to warrant that kind of anger.
“Don’t come near my vampire with a plastic stake ever again, Riley, or
you’ll learn what makes me a Slayer.” Buffy turned to Walsh. “I expect
Angel to be delivered to where you found him unharmed or we’ll be
talking again. Next time, I won’t be as forgiving.” She grabbed Spike’s
hand, and the two supernatural warriors for good left the very public
meeting place unscathed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Caly and Amon stood on each side of Ben, Glory’s host body. The Elb’irt
demon grumbled behind them where they had tied it to a tree. Otherwise
it would continue to attack Ben. Both male Hell-Gods were still
privately chuckling at the reaction the Elb’irt had to Glory. It had
jumped the host body, growling the entire time, and it caused the other
college students a good public laugh.
“I don’t want to go in there,” Ben protested. He stared intently at the
whirling vortex that had appeared a few feet away from the three men.
“It’s not a bad dimension, really,” Caly said. “There’s just no escape.
I mean, Quortoth at least has a way out, as rare as it is to find.”
“I haven’t done anything wrong.” Ben tried to step backwards, but the
Hell-Gods grabbed his arms. “I mean Glory has already gone ballistic
because the Key disappeared from the dimension. I can live in peace. I
really can.”
“You know she’ll keep trying. This is for the best.” Amon shoved Ben
into the swirling portal. “Sorry, buddy.” The vortex closed behind
Glory’s host body.
“Well, that was a job well done,” Caly said. “Time to get back to the
Immortal Guardians.”
“I suppose,” Amon replied. “Although, I wouldn’t mind a good drink
first, how about you?”
Caly chuckled. If there was one thing he could count on, it was the
fact that Amon enjoyed a good drink and a good fight. He clapped the
other Hell-god on the back, and he nodded in agreement. He was thirsty
now that he thought about it.