When You Need a Job Done Right, Send a Slayer.
Chapter One
“What do we know about that mess in LA?” Buffy had her hands on her hips as she stared at Giles. She tried to keep her face blank and curious, but she was pretty sure the suspicion and anger were bleeding through her carefully controlled expression.
Giles sighed and reached for his glasses and his handkerchief. Buffy wasn’t interested in his stalling tactics, snapping out, “They’re fine. Nice and clean. I can see your shifty eyes just fine through them.”
“Buffy.... I—”
“If the next words out of your mouth aren’t going to be ‘I’m sorry, Buffy. I had no idea Spike was alive and with Angel.’ you can just spare me the gory details. I don’t want to hear your excuses; just tell me what’s going on now.”
“We don’t really know,” he said so carefully she could tell that he was wondering if he’d failed one too many times to trust her judgment about the vampire she’d thought burnt to a hero’s death. “It seems that Angel was trying to take down the Black Thorn from the inside.”
Giles fixed his sternest look on her, and Buffy responded with an expression she hoped relayed her complete disinterest in his opinion. “And?”
“And, in the process of earning their trust, he committed some less than... honorable acts. I had no reason to trust him, or any information that came from anyone there. Most especially with his now being the CEO of an evil law firm... But then, you already knew that, didn’t you? Weren’t you the one who told me to be cautious, that he may have lost his soul again? You didn’t trust him either.”
“I’m talking about the vampire I do trust. And you damn well know it.”
“He chose to remain with Angel,” Giles said stiffly. “I had no reason to trust him either. Since he hadn’t contacted you, I had to assume he was no longer interested in fighting at your side.”
Buffy’s flinch was impossible to hide, but she pushed on. “Wouldn’t that have been information I needed to have? If Spike had lost his soul... which, by the way, he didn’t have when he first started helping me... you didn’t think that would be Important for me to know? What if he’d shown up here and I—”
“If I’d had any information that indicated he was on his way to see you, I would certainly have shared my concerns. But I didn’t. He seemed quite content to remain in LA with Angel, enjoying the perks of working at an evil, but very successful law firm.”
She took a deep breath before responding.
“But they don’t work there anymore, do they?”
He cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable with the turn the conversation had taken.
“No. It would appear that they do not. It would also appear that there was a final battle in which the, understandably angry, Senior Partners, threw everything they had in the way of a demon army at Angel, Spike, and whomever was left of their group.” He sighed deeply. “It would seem that Wesley did not make that final battle, although he was responsible for—”
“Wesley is dead?”
“Yes. As I’m sure Faith has told you, at some point in his... search... for himself, he became a demon hunter on his own, and then was recruited by Angel and added to his small group of assistants. He died bravely, attempting to remove a powerful sorcerer, and was avenged by the creature calling herself Illyria.” He frowned. “I’m not clear exactly on how or why an Old One would have found itself in Los Angeles, let alone fighting against the forces of evil.”
“So, they pissed off a bunch of old evil guys and had a big fight. Which, I’d like to point out, might have gone in another direction if we’d had a squad or two of slayers there to help out...”
Giles pinched the bridge of his nose. “In retrospect, perhaps that would have been a good idea. However, at the time I had no—”
“This is not the “I-used-to-be-a-Watcher”s council. It’s the Slayers and Watchers Council. How could you even think about making a decision about what fights we were needed for without consulting me?”
“Or me.” Faith had come through the door just in time to catch what the conversation was about. “There were people there I... I owe. Especially Angel and Wes.”
Buffy watched impassively as Giles stared at them - the world’s two oldest and most powerful slayers, both clearly furious with him. His fear was obvious. Either one could have killed him with one punch. In spite of their power having been shared with so many others, rather than becoming weaker, they had continued to get stronger until there were very few demons left that would be a match for either one of them – never mind both at the same time.
He slumped back in his chair. “You are quite right. I made decisions for you that were not mine to make. I am very, very sorry. Not just because that may have caused the loss of... people... who were important to you, but because I have probably eroded whatever trust I may have managed to recover in the past year.”
“We need to fix this. The seers told me that LA is pretty much cut off from the rest of the country. Some kind of major mojo of a glamor is keeping out everybody who wasn’t there when things went bad, and without creating any curiosity or panic about it. That’s some powerful spell casting, if that’s what’s happened.”
Giles nodded. “I am still getting reports myself, but it does seem to be the case that there has been no actual communication with anyone from inside the city limits.” He stared at them intently. “Which means, we have absolutely no way of knowing if Angel or Spike, or any of their companions are even still alive. You could be going to rescue people who are already beyond your help.”
Both girls gaped at him, Buffy finding her voice first as Faith was busy muttering curses. “So, what? You’re saying we should just leave an entire city full of – just in case you forgot – human beings trapped in a demon-infested hell on earth?”
He sighed. “No, I suppose when you put it like that—”
“What other way is there to put it? Do I want to find Spike and save his skinny ass so I can kick it for not letting me know what was going on? Damn right, I do. And if I can, I will. But even if I knew for sure he and Angel were dust, I’d still want to try to save whatever’s left of the city I was born in!”
Buffy was breathing hard and shouting by the time she finished, but her face was surprisingly calm. The cold stare she settled on him was meant to be more frightening than a more angry, hands on hips stance or a glare. Giles bowed his head and shut his eyes. Buffy nodded, accepting his acknowledgement of what was clearly another nail in the coffin containing what used to be a loving relationship.
“Right then,” he said softly. “What will you need? Our resources are at your disposal, although I would prefer that you not pull all our experienced slayers from the field—”
“I want the plane, at least forty girls, food, water, and credit cards -- in case we have to hang around outside the city, weapons – including some firepower. We don’t know what we’re going to find or be facing. Probably ought to have a witch or two with us. I think Willow was friends with one of Angel’s people – some guy named Fred?”
“Fred is a girl,” Faith put in. “Genius-type, just like Willow, only more about the science than magic. I met her a couple of times. Seemed like good people. I think Wes might have had a thing for her.”
“And what is your plan?”
“Get in. Slay everything that isn’t human and get out.”
“It may not be that easy,” Giles said, frowning as the two slayers high-fived each other.
“Easy is for wimps,” Faith said. “We’re taking slayers with us.”
“Make it happen, Giles,” Buffy said as she followed Faith from his office. “I want to leave tomorrow.”
XXXXXXXX
In spite of Buffy’s words, it was another three days before they had collected all the supplies, weapons and slayers they needed. But they were finally in the air and on their way to Los Angeles.
The first sign of trouble was when the pilot came back to tell them that for some reason, he could not get clearance to land the big jet at LA Airport.
“I’m just getting a runaround about where and when we can set down. They want us to land at Ontario.”
“Fine. Land there. We’ll find another way into the city.”
The slayer in charge of communications quickly sent a message to the Council employee who was to meet them, alerting her to the change in plans, and to Giles so that he could make whatever arrangements needed making at the new airport.
When permission had been received for the plane to land at much-busier than normal Ontario airport, and Buffy and Faith had shepherded their slayers off the plane and through a very brief customs set up in the airport’s out of the way area for private jets, they collected their bags -- including the weapons that a nod from the supervisor to his astonished workers assured were whisked through without question --and walked out to the parking area. They were looking around for the promised transportation when a dirty bus pulled up to the curb and the door opened.
“Ms. Summers? Ms. Lehane?” The driver was a middle-aged woman who seemed annoyed that they were there before her. “I’m to take you to the edge of the event area.”
“Event area?” Buffy stepped up into the bus and gestured for the girls to begin loading.
“That’s what we’re calling it. Nobody really knows what the event was... just that nobody can get in or out of the area.”
“We’ll just see about that,” Buffy muttered, exchanging looks with Faith.
XXXXXXXX
“So, waddaya think?” The witch studying the scying bowl in front of the mystical barrier into the city gave Faith a glare, before going back to her bowl. She frowned, then sat back and gestured for Buffy and Faith to take a look.
It took the two slayers a moment to orient themselves to what they were seeing – humans in chains held by demons walking openly down the street, vampires walking freely in the oddly dim light at high noon. As they watched, a dragon swooped down and bit the head off the demon at the front of the line of humans. In the confusion, a black van roared up and in front of their eyes Angel and Spike leapt out and began helping the humans into the van. While the dragon held off other demons with flaming breath, the two vampires that had been presumed dust jumped back in, pulling the doors shut behind them as the van took off, scattering demons and vampires in it’s wake.
The witch waved her hand, erasing the scene, and smiled at them.
“Well, now you know what it’s like there. And that there seems to be a resistance....”
“Yeah, Buffy. Looks like both your vamps made it through.”
“And now they’re trying to clean up their mess,” Buffy said, nodding. “Guess it’s time for the cavalry to arrive.” She smiled her thanks at the witch. “Jeannie, do you think we can get in?”
“Molly and I are working on something. A spell that might make a small enough opening that it won’t be noticed. I’m not sure we can keep it open all the time, though. We may have to do something else.”
“Okay. Well, let us know when you think it’s ready.”
XXXXXXXXX
“So, what’s the plan, B? You kick Blondie’s ass and I kick Angel’s? You can’t have them both, just so you know.”
Buffy sighed and nudged Faith with an elbow. “I don’t really want them both. I’m just glad to see they’re alive – so to speak – and haven’t gone all evil on us.”
“Just so we’re clear, which one are you planning to beat up?”
“Oh, it’ll be Spike. I’m just not sure if I want to kiss him and then beat him half to death, or beat him half to death and then kiss him. I guess I’ve got time to decide.” She smiled. “Either way, Angel’s all yours.”
Faith smacked her fist into her hand. “I can’t wait.”
They were quiet for a few minutes, then Buffy said, “Do you think we could have prevented this? If we’d known? If we’d been here with a couple squads of slayers....”
“I dunno, but I think your honey and his know-it-all grandpa have to take as much of the blame as Giles. They could have told you Spike was here, and you’d have coming runnin’ in time to find out what was going down.”
“Oh I know. Believe me, that’s one conversation neither one of them is going to want to have. But once Giles knew....”
“Once he knew – about anything – he should have told us. He needs a reminder that he isn’t a watcher anymore and we make our own decisions.”
[Reviews - 2]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | 
Chapter or Story
Has been viewed 3865 times
- Text Size +
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story - Text Size +
Story Notes:
Set in the comic world of After the Fall (Angel and Spike comics), but just barely. No real comic canon was harmed in the making of this AU fic. Experimenting with Ch. 1 (because the first time I tried to put up multiple chapters, it wouldn't work), but after this, the rest of the fic will go up in two sections of several chapters each.