Bella Mia: Best Laid Plans
by Bangelic
A/N: Thank you to all the people who gave me feedback :)

Chapter 2

“He clings to life, but barely,” Illyria replied.

She and Angel sat by the bed, keeping watch over Gunn’s still form. He was hooked up to a heart monitor that confirmed he was still alive, although he showed no other traces of being so. Angel hadn’t asked Spike where he’d gotten the medical equipment. He figured the moral high ground had been so muddied leading up to the battle that it was pointless trying to mow the lawn now.

Spike entered and tossed the supplies he’d gotten to Angel. The vampire’s slightly awkward catch drew everyone’s attention to his own injury. The battle had left Angel without the use of his right leg. All his other injuries had healed as quickly as vampires were wont to do, but the leg remained puzzlingly useless. Spike had procured him some crutches, and Angel was adjusting to using them, although Spike could tell it drove Angel crazy to be incapacitated.

Illyria had done the best she could for both of them. They hadn’t been able to take Gunn to hospital, as right now their lives depended on Wolfram and Hart not knowing that they had survived. They would have to find out eventually, Angel knew, but he hoped that both he and Gunn would be back on form when that happened. He was thankful that Illyria and Spike had come out unscathed.

Illyria still felt that raw, tearing emotion that had accompanied Wesley’s death. That he was gone infuriated her, for she wished him to be present but was unable to make him so. This shell’s limitations ground on her more and more as time passed, but she was unable to fully give vent to that anger. She was stuck here, with nowhere to go and nothing to do save associating with the only creatures in this world that she knew. The man called Charles Gunn might yet be lost as Wesley had been, and Illyria was determined to preserve him. This shell would not defeat her again.

Spike saw Illyria getting tetchy and wondered if she might just blow them all to hell one day. If she did, he knew, he’d have to be the one to stop her. After the battle he and Blue had dragged Peaches and Charlie boy to the only refuge he could think of. He’d expected his sire to heal up and get on with the job of being the Chief Ponce who must be obeyed, but it hadn’t happened. The result was that Spike was left in charge of looking after the group. Leadership had never been Spike’s thing. He was the rebel, not one for either following orders or taking on responsibility. Having people depend on you was bloody terrifying, Spike decided.

Angel was feeling pretty tetchy himself. He was forced to spend his time sitting on his ass not doing any good to anyone. The crutches helped somewhat but they didn’t allow him to climb the ladder to exit via the sewer’s manhole. And Angel was positively itching to do so. He wanted to see his son, to make sure Connor was okay and to let him know that he was still around. But Angel knew both he and Connor were safer if there was no contact that could alert Wolfram and Hart. He exchanged a glance with Spike.

Despite the setbacks, they’d survived, which was more than Angel had ever expected.
***
Buffy sat back in the plane seat, trying to get comfortable. Pushing at the firm, rigidly shaped surface confirmed that it wasn’t going to happen.

They were heading back to Rome, and Buffy was dreading it. Her life had changed enormously since the Potentials were activated. She had the one thing she had wanted desperately ever since she’d been called. She had a normal life. Well, as normal as it was ever going to get.

She wasn’t the only Slayer anymore. The fate of the world didn’t depend solely on her. She didn’t even have to patrol anymore because there were plenty of Slayers now to do that. She was more like a coach these days than a player. She trained the girls, without doing much battle herself unless it was for demonstration. Even that didn’t take up much of her time. The new Slayers quickly came into their own, just as she had done all those years ago. The more experience they got, the less they needed her.

That was fine with Buffy. She could actually have a life. She had a job as a physical education instructor at a school nearby. Working with kids and sports was a mix that Buffy loved. After work she could spend time with Dawn, and in the evenings go out with her boyfriend. She had laughed at his name when they first met, but she couldn’t deny that he was attractive. He fully understood the supernatural aspects of her life, yet he was a businessman and socialite rather than a warrior. The combination had drawn Buffy’s attention.

Now, Buffy had the feeling she had really not missed when it had been absent. That pre-apocalypse feeling when something big was coming and it was going to get messy. So much for normal life.

***
Back in L.A, the ground where the Wolfram and Hart offices had been rumbled and shook.

The earth split open, and a new building began to rise from it like a seedling pushing up from below. The seed in this case was Hell.

The shaking stopped, and sitting there was an exact replica of the destroyed building, with no trace that anything had ever happened.

The city’s inhabitants did not think it at all odd. In fact, they didn’t think on it at all.

The new building came complete with brand new employees. Receptionists, secretaries and lawyers scurried around busily, all aware of the change, and all anxious for things to return to normal.

But things were not normal, and sitting behind his desk, the new CEO of Wolfram and Hart knew it. They’d miscalculated with Angel, he mused. And it had cost them dearly. With the eradication of the Circle of the Black Thorn, the forces of evil had, for a short time, completely lost control of this world.

They’d reasserted it quickly, but not quickly enough. The Powers’ champion had had them on the back foot, and together with that girl’s move to make more Slayers, the forces of evil had taken a serious hit.

It was time to hit back, and so he had been sent to this dimension for the first time in thousands of years. The Wolf, the Ram and the Hart trusted him, as their best man, to sort the matter out.

A knock at his door sounded, and a PA entered, vibrating with fear. He could see his reflection in the moist membranes of her eyes. The red skin, horns, and eyes like coal pits probably reminded her of what humans called Satan.

They had no idea what a loser Satan really was, he knew. Humans were about the only creatures who took him seriously.

“S-some papers for you to sign, sir,” the PA said, trying to control her stammering.

He smiled as he read them. This would put the Powers in their place, all right. The seers confirmed that the target had survived.

He signed them, and handed them back to the PA.

“When my 11 o’clock gets here, send him right in,” he instructed her.

She nodded, desperate to get out of the room.

Belthusar settled back to wait.

***
Leah was having a bad day.

She, Kyla and Pilar had gone out to patrol. They’d made a few sweeps, and still there was nothing much doing.

Pilar wanted to head back, and Leah agreed. But Kyla insisted they stuck at it. Kyla was a pain in the butt as far as Leah was concerned, but nevertheless they decided to make a few more sweeps.

“What was that?” asked Kyla.

“What was what?” snapped Pilar, not having detected anything.

“Over there. By the mausoleum,” Kyla replied.

Leah and Pilar looked, but didn’t see anything.

“There’s nothing there,” Leah told her.

“I saw something,” Kyla insisted. “I’m going over there to check.”

She took off, and Leah and Pilar exchanged glances before following her reluctantly.
Kyla was annoying, but on the off chance that there was something there, they’d go.

The mausoleum looked perfectly deserted as the three Slayers approached it. They quickly did recon around the outside, and there was still nothing suspicious.

“Nothing. Now can we go?” asked Pilar.

“No! We have to go in,” Kyla said.

“We?” asked Pilar.

The three girls looked at the door, scared. Leah wasn’t about to volunteer to go in either. But they couldn’t just desert Kyla.

“Okay. We’ll all go in,” Leah decided, ignoring the look Pilar shot her.

Leah tried the lock, but it wouldn’t budge. Pilar told her to move out of the way and she kicked it in.

They made their way into the tiny building, and looked around. Nothing.

Pilar turned back to the door, and was about to head for it before it happened.

The flash of light blinded them temporarily, but as they got their eyes back they saw the demon.

He was holding what looked like a huge shield, with a large, glowing red gem as the boss.

Leah, Pilar and Kyla assumed their fighting stances, and Pilar landed a solid roundhouse kick on the shield.

The demon laughed, and the gem began to swirl with bright colours as it sucked the power out of Pilar. She slid to the floor, dazed. Kyla screamed as the shield shot out a ray and grabbed her, draining her next. Leah moved to dodge out of the way, but she couldn’t see any way she could get out of the mausoleum before it got her too.

She jumped up and grabbed a ceiling beam, narrowly missing the ray. She swung back, out of the way, then pushed herself forward and dropped back to the floor near the door. The beam shot out again and Leah slammed the door as she ran out, hoping it couldn’t penetrate it.

She ran, looking over her shoulder frantically as she went.

She heard Kyla and Pilar’s screams cut short, and squeezed her eyes shut to clear the tears.

She had to find Buffy.

***
“Bloody hell!” Spike swore, staring at the brand spanking new headquarters of evil.

“You’d think we never did a bloody thing to them,” he muttered to himself.

He didn’t dare get closer, though; so he decided to call it quits for the night and go tell the others the bad news.

As he left, the shadows shifted slightly. Eyes watched the vampire go. Sniffed the air to make sure he’d remember the scent. Waited a little, then slipped out of hiding and began to follow.

There were no worries about the vampire smelling him. He was used to hiding his scent from predators. He waded through the night, following at a quick clip. He saw the vampire disappear into the sewers. That was weird – it was nowhere near daylight. This was a time for vampires to come out, not to return to their underground lairs.

He was about to go after him when something else caught his attention.

The truck that passed him looked nondescript, but he could sense something about it. It felt powerful. Dangerous. He followed that instead. It pulled up to the gates of Wolfram and Hart, and was quickly admitted. The gates clicked shut behind it.

Cautiously, he got closer, peering through the bars and trying to make out what was going on.

Several demons were gathered around the back of the truck, and as the door was pulled up, they became quite agitated. The business suits with them looked a little jittery too.

Whatever it was was covered in a sheet, but that didn’t dampen the waves of evil flowing off it. It started to glow, and that made Connor uneasy. He stayed until they’d taken it inside and he could see nothing more.

When he was some distance away, he paused for breath. Looking for Angel had led to him seeing quite a lot of other stuff. And he wasn’t sure what to do about it. Angel would know. He and his team handled stuff like that all the time.

Connor didn’t do that stuff all the time and he wasn’t sure he wanted to step into Angel’s shoes.

***
“Is she gonna be okay?” Dawn asked her sister when Buffy came down the stairs finally.

Buffy didn’t look happy.

“Too soon to tell,” she answered, folding her arms in front of herself.

Giles looked sympathetic.

“Now that we have a description to go on, we have something to work with,” he said, knowing well Buffy’s need to take action.

She nodded.

“Let’s hit the books,” she said.

Dawn and Giles followed her into the living room.

***

Belthusar looked over the latest acquisition with pride. It would do the job nicely.

Freeing the Old One had been a good move, but it hadn’t quite gone as expected.

Not when she had fought against the Black Circle.

But he had plans for her yet.

***


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