Chapter 4

A/N: Fourth chapter of the series. I'll try to post a chapter every week or sooner. Lost many readers on previous stories because of not uploading chapters soon enough, so I'll try to keep a regular schedule on this story.

Disclaimer: Property of Joss Whedon and all parties responsible for airing the shows. Other original characters are mine, and some others will be explained as the story goes on.

Feedback: Sure, if you wish.

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London, England

The Watcher's Council

November 2017

"That better not be scotch you're drinking."

Angel took the glass and emptied in one big gulp. He looked at the image in front of him and sighed. He'd grown used to seen Cordelia appear and give him advice. He'd stopped fooling himself after eight years of having conversations with his own imagination and not knowing anything of her.

She had died thirteen years ago, and it seemed she'd become truly an angel, and had more important things to take care of outside of an earthly dimension.

Angel poured himself another glass of whiskey and downed it again in one gulp.

"Didn't you hear me?"

Now he knew he'd gone completely insane, because his imagination had stepped directly in front of his desk and had her arms crossed.

He feared he'd scream and would begin writing on the walls.

He cringed as he remembered Fred and her penchant for writing on the walls. Not bothering with the glass anymore, he took a drink directly from the bottle.

"Liam was a drunk." His imagination said. "Angel is a family man, a father of two who shouldn't drink himself stupid."

"What would you know?" He angrily asked. "You're not even here! You have not been here for years!"

He once again took the bottle to his lips, but his imagination slapped it out of his hands. The bottle exploded against the floor and Angel was motionless, frozen by the real impact on his hand.

He stood up, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and staring into what he'd thought was a cruel trick of his imagination.

"Are you...?" He whispered.

Cordelia smiled and crossed her arms.

"Of course I'm the real thing."

A smile crossed Angel's face, and before he knew it, he was hugging Cordelia. It wasn't a cheerful hug, resembling more a drowning man holding on to a safe line. Cordelia sighed and returned the embrace.

They remained like that for a long time, neither saying a word.

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The Council called their generals to gather in the War center.

In the past, whenever a higher being appeared, warnings regarding upending apocalypses were issued. Days before, three higher beings had appeared to three members of the inner circle, each with cryptic warnings concerning a fateful battle yet to come.

All members of the inner circle had gathered three days after the higher beings had spoken their warnings. They all took their seats within the War center and a meeting had begun.

Willow was the first to speak, standing up from her battle station.

"Three days ago, at approximately the same time, three higher beings paid us a visit." The redhead took a small remote control, and directing it to the giant screen, she pressed a button. On the wall, the Locator screen refreshed, all dots disappearing to be replaced by three circles blinking over Los Angeles, Okinawa and London.

"We once knew of Cordelia's status as a higher being." Willow continued. "It was a pleasant surprise to learn our beloved Anya and sweet Tara also became angels."

Smiles appeared on everyone's faces.

"Anya visited Xander while he was still in Japan." Willow kept talking. "Cordelia appeared to Angel right here, in his office. Tara paid me a visit in Los Angeles. The three of them spoke similar things, and comparing the info we've come up with some disturbing news."

Voices began to rise around the circular table, but silence returned when Willow continued speaking.

"The message was not clear. They gave us different messages, and I'm afraid the only thing they agreed on was that a battle was about to come."

"Typical." Buffy said. "Must be Tuesday."

Willow cleared her throat and continued.

"Tara spoke to me about Balance, capital 'B', and something we'd done had disrupted it and a battle would erupt because of it."

Angel took her words as his cue and stood up as well.

"Cordelia didn't speak of Balance." Angel said. "She only talked about war. A battle large and fierce enough we should all fight in it. Our very lives are now at stake."

He extended his arm and Willow handed him the remote she'd used. Angel pressed another button and the screen returned to its normal state, the red and blue dots appearing again.

"There are over a thousand slayers active." Angel said. "And about half that number of watchers active in the world." He pressed another button and different dots appeared. "The pink dots refer to the slayers in training, the two hundred and fifty six of them, and the light blue dots refer to watchers in training, about a hundred of them. We may be forced to used them all in the battle."

Voices again grew among the War center. Xander stood up as well.

"Anya asked us to form our army." He began. "But she also mentioned key players yet to appear. Looks like those of us here may not be all the members of the army she asked us to build. She said we don't have much time."

"How long?" Giles, who'd remained silent, finally spoke.

"About a month." Xander answered. "She specified time goes by differently on higher realms, so we don't have an accurate deadline."

"Tara said something else." Willow interrupted. "She spoke about fighting someone we already knew."

"That's somewhat relaxing." Buffy spoke. "We've pretty much defeated everyone we've met."

"We have." Xander replied. "But at great cost."

Buffy didn't argue, knowing Xander didn't refer solely to his blindness.

"I heard your heart jump, Buff." Xander chuckled. "Don't feel bad about me. I was talking about everyone of us. We've lost too many friends in these battles."

Silence made its appearance over the War Center.

"What I'm trying to say is we've survived, yes, but we have taken heavy hits over the years, and if three angels have come to warn us, we should take their word seriously."

Everyone nodded, and soon plans were made.

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Annie sat outside Giles' office, bored out of her mind.

She wished they would already let her inside his office and let her take her place in the War Center. She had the experience of a lifetime, literally, and nothing could shock her anymore. Next to her, in the uncomfortable leather sofa, sat her half brother, Connor. Contrary to her wishes, the young man didn't want to have anything to do with the Council, having had his life manipulated ever since before he was born.

He didn't want to deal with slayers and vampires and demons anymore.

"So, what are you doin' here, bro?" Annie asked. Connor shrugged.

"Angel asked me to." He answered. Annie frowned, never getting used to Connor referring to their father by his name, like they were friends instead of family.

'Some mistakes made in the past.' Buffy had said, but she had never heard the full story. The archives within the Council dealing with her father were off limits to her.

Sighing, Annie realized her family had been locked inside Giles' office for almost two hours, and it seemed it would be long before someone left the room. After three days of being grounded inside the Council's offices and library, she wanted to leave more than anything else in the book and not look at a book unless she had a test at school.

She tried to find a way to amuse herself. By experience, she knew Connor wouldn't engage in small talk, and if he didn't begin the conversation, she'd only receive half answers and grunts if she asked him anything.

She stood up from her seat and decided she wanted a snack.

Heading to the elevators, she changed her mind and decided to take the stairs. Giles' offices as well as her mother's were located in the Fifth level of the Council, and very few members of the Council could actually be in said level. Walking downstairs, she passed level Four, also restricted for many members, and headed towards level Three, where recreational areas and the cafeteria stood.

Losing as much time as she could, she arrived at the cafeteria twenty minutes later, craving something greasy to eat. Twelve minutes later, she found herself sitting in front of a hamburger and a large Pepsi. Her appetite slowly vanished when she looked up to the many TV screens propped on the walls.

On screen, a beautiful African American anchorwoman was speaking, her words having a hypnotic effect as everyone on the Council's cafeteria began to pay attention to what she said.

"The next images have just arrived to our network, coming from Cleveland, and we must warn our viewers of the graphic nature of these images. If any children is watching our show, we recommend parental guidance and criteria upon watching the next segment."

Annie forgot her hamburger, stood up and walked to the nearest screen. She rubbed her eyes, not believing what she was seeing.

"As you can see," The woman on the TV continued speaking, "our news reporter received word of a nearby domestic disturbance, which quickly escalated to arson and riots. Always looking forward to keep our viewers informed, our news van rushed to the reported place of the incident. Upon reaching the spot, our crew discovered something most interesting."

The image on screen split in two, the picture of the anchorwoman reduced to a small square located on the bottom left corner of the screen, and larger images appeared with a sign reading 'Recorded Earlier'.

"This footage displays a group of young women fending off what looks like common burglars in the northeastern part of our city. You can see the abandoned warehouses and burnt out cars typical of the scene." The voice of the woman could be heard over the recorded sounds. "The images are not clear, because of the fire and smoke, but you can clearly see the burglars, or maybe even gang members, are wearing what seems to be makeup or latex masks."

'That's not makeup!' Annie thought, looking closer at the image. 'Those are vampires!'

"Several questions arise from these images." The woman's voice continued. "Beginning with the local police department's statement of not having recorded any gang activity in the surrounding areas, and the notable increase of strange homicides occurring lately in Cleveland."

'Bloody hell.' Annie thought, searching her pockets for her cell phone. She quickly dialed her mother's number, hoping she hadn't turned it off when the meeting began.

"Even stranger," The woman kept talking, "are the next images."

The next images displayed went into slow motion, and Annie recognized the girls fighting as slayers, but her blood froze when she saw a Fyarl demon appear on screen.

'A demon and slayers caught on national TV.' Annie thought, and the cell still couldn't connect her call.

"The creature appearing on screen could be a man in disguise, or a genetically altered creature." The small square in the bottom disappeared and the larger image kept playing.

"Now you can see how the four young women fighting the masked men focus solely on the man in disguise." The image froze for a moment, and yellow circles appeared over the four slayers. "The women now highlighted went on to perform the most disturbing scene recorded on live television."

The images continued playing and everyone on the Council's cafeteria gasped when the slayers picked up a small car abandoned on the street and threw it at the Fyarl demon, crushing it underneath.

Annie dropped her cell and stared at the screen, her mouth open.

"The images have not been tampered by any means, not digitally and I can assure you no CGI was detected on the live feed." The TV seemed to be speaking directly to Annie. "The four young women displayed on your TV screen did lift up a car and threw it at the man in costume, killing him instantly."

Chaos seemed to erupt inside the cafeteria, as people stood up from their seats and ran. Voices quickly rose in intensity as many phone calls were connected.

"Even more confusing, was the sudden appearance of Federal agents at the scene, wanting to close it and take charge, claiming federal jurisdiction. They even went so far to confiscate our van and all the equipment inside."

The image of the anchorwoman once again appeared full screen, and the woman had a big smile on her face.

"What they didn't know was our cameraman, Cosmo, had a live feed directly to our studio. However, an outside agent, probably a frequency jammer, severed the link a few minutes later. Still more suspicious, our server and most of our computers were hacked and the video erased from our hard drives."

The woman's smile grew even larger as she displayed a laptop in front of the audience.

"But we managed to record the video and disconnect this small laptop from the mainframe, saving the information we have just showed live, before any other news agency."

A close up of her beautiful face and perfect smile filled the screen.

"Now more questions arise. Who were those girls capable of lifting and throwing cars twenty feet into the air? Who or what was the man in costume? And why were our servers and computers attacked? What is the FBI trying to keep from the public?"

Annie felt numb.

She didn't even hear her cell phone ringing on the floor.

A/N2: The cameraman is named Cosmo, after one of the Fairly Oddparents' main characters. The cartoon is property of Nickelodeon, and a damn good one it is.