“So, what are we going to do about him?” Gunn whispered to Lorne.
Lorne was about to whisper back when Angel walked through the lobby looking annoyed. “If he is my son, we’re going to get him the help we should’ve gotten him nine months ago.”
“That’s easier said than done, Angel,” Wesley interrupted.
Angel picked up the phone. “Wesley, you’re the last person I want discussing how difficult or not difficult helping my son will be.” Angel turned his attention to the phone when someone answered on the other end. “I need to speak to Willow.”
Wes walked toward the door.
“Where you think you’re going?” Gunn asked aggressively.
“To see about Cordelia’s body,” Wesley said as he left the hotel.
“Let him go,” Angel said. “Willow! Willow, I need your . . . what?” Angel put his hand over the receiver. “Gunn, go get Wesley.”
***
“We’ll be gone for quite a while, Fred,” Wesley said. He’d retrieved Cordy’s comatose body from the back room of a store at the mall where Connor had hidden her. He had it moved to a room in the hotel.
Fred looked back at the still sleeping Connor. “When he wakes up, I want someone to be with him.”
“Alone in a cage with a psycho doesn’t sound like a great place to be,” Gunn said.
Fred gave a slight grin. “If he gets out of hand, Lorne can tranq him and get me out.”
“Really?” Lorne said excitedly. “I get to tranq Connor?”
“Right on,” Gunn said.
“If he gets out of hand,” Fred said insistently.
“Fred,” Wesley said grimly. “He tried to cut my head off.”
“Good point,” Gunn said. “Everyone has some redeeming characteristic.” He patted Lorne on the shoulder. “Don’t tranq him unless you have to.”
“Hopefully Connor won’t come to while I’m off getting you food,” Lorne said, starting up the stairs.
“I still think this is a bad idea,” Wesley said. “Locking you in a cage with a psychopath.”
“We all had a part in getting him here,” Fred said severely. Wes winced under the harshness of Fred’s gaze.
Gunn looked at his watch. “Well . . . we better roll if we’re going to make that apocalypse.”
***
“Another damn apocalypse!” Angel shouted as he punched his steering wheel. His car was speeding north on the 101. “I just averted one, and now another. All I wanted was some quality time with my son!”
“Fred says you were planning to strip him of his memories,” Wesley said quietly from the back seat as he checked the weapons for the tenth time.
“Well . . . yeah. But then we were going to spend some quality time together. Take him fishing or something.”
“Bad idea,” Gunn said. “I tried that. I splashed a little water on him, you know, to kid around.”
“Let me guess,” Angel said. “He didn’t think it was funny.”
“Oh, he thought it was hysterical,” Gunn said. “So much so that he flipped the boat sinking our bait, our lunch, and my boom box.”
“Actually,” Wesley said smiling, “that does sound pretty funny.”
Angel grinned slightly, but only for a moment before his perpetual scowl set back in. “If we stop the First, then . . . then do you think . . .” Angel sighed, unable to speak the words.
“I don’t know, Angel,” Wes said sadly. “I don’t know if we can save your son.”
***
“I’d really feel better if you came out of that cage,” Lorne said.
Fred was leaning back against the wall next to a pile of novels. “Which book do you think he’ll want me to read him,” she said, ignoring Lorne’s comment.
“Fred--”
“Lorne,” she interrupted angrily. “Everything that’s happened, everything he’s done . . . it’s as much because of our failing him as him failing us. His sins are as much ours as his own.”
“That’s not the point!” Lorne shouted as he jumped forward, putting his face to close to hers with only the space of the bars separating them. “Fred, whoever’s fault this is, the problem is still the same. Connor is crazy. There’s no humanity in there.”
“How do you know that?” Fred shouted back. “Did he sing for you?”
“He didn’t have to,” Lorne answered. “When we were locked in this cell and he was watching over us, I saw his aura Fred. It was the same as if he were a demon, as if he had no soul! And when he wakes up, He. Will. Kill You!”
Fred leaned back against the wall. “Then I’ll pay for my sins.”
“What sins, Fred?” Lorne shouted. “What did we do?”
“We abandoned him,” Fred said. “We abandoned him so many times and in so many ways. How could he not go mad?” She sighed. “But when he wakes up, I’m not entirely sure he’ll still want to hurt us.”
“Well,” Lorne said, sitting back nervously. “We’ll know soon enough. Looks like our boy is waking up.”
***
Angel, Wes, and Gunn jumped from the car. Angel carried the weapons. Wesley and Gunn were holding Wendy’s bags.
“The end of the world, and you three stop for takeout,” Giles said reproachfully.
“We went through the drive in,” Angel said as he passed Giles. As he tried to enter the house, he was pushed back.
“Oh, sorry,” Giles said. “When we’d heard you’d gone Angelus again, Willow put the dis-invitation spell on all our homes.” He turned toward the house. “They’re here!”
“Come in, Angel,” Dawn shouted from the kitchen. She turned back to Willow. “You’re sure you can do this?” Xander, Anya, and Kennedy sat at the counter with them.
“Are you kidding?” Will answered. “Of course not. This is an entirely new spell, Dawn. There hasn’t been a completely new spell written in over a hundred years.”
“It’s not a completely new spell,” Buffy said as she came into the kitchen. “You’re doing a variation on the original spell to create the slayers.” She looked at Dawn. “So, they’re here?”
“Yeah, we’re here,” Angel said as he came into the kitchen. Wes and Gunn followed. “So, what’s the plan?”
“Xander’s missing an eye!” Wesley said.
“Wow Wes,” Xander said. “You’re really just sharp as a baseball, aren’t ya?”
“What’s the plan?” Angel repeated.
“You heard of a Turok-han?” Willow asked.
“They’re only myth,” Wesley said.
“Yeah?” Dawn said. “Then Sunnydale has about a million only myth demons hanging out underneath it.”
“Oh,” Wesley said. He began muttering to himself. “Ten minutes back in Sunnydale and I turn into the same arrogant ponce.”
“Turn into an arrogant ponce?” Gunn said, overhearing the muttering. “Damn! What the hell were you like before you came to L.A.?”
“Believe it or not, he was worse back then,” Angel said. “Anyway, army of Turok-han. Doesn’t sound fun. Or easy. What’s the plan?”
Willow perked up. “I do a spell to call all potential slayers and then we have a big battle.”
“Call all potential slayers?” Wesley said disapprovingly. “That could have catastrophic consequences.”
“Well since the alternative is evil taking over the world,” Spike said as he entered the room through the same door Buffy had. “I imagine we’ll take our chances with the catastrophic slayer plan.”
“Agreed,” Angel said. “And if I’m agreeing with Spike, it’s probably a really good idea.”
“What about the First Slayer?” Xander asked. “Because, personally, I’m not excited about seeing her again.”
“Yeah,” Willow said. “Well . . . about that . . .”
“You’re saying we’ll see her again,” Buffy inferred.
Willow looked worried. “Buffy, she got pissed off when we tampered with her power by combining it with me, Xander, and Giles. I can only imagine what she’s going to think about this.”
“Give me the worse case scenario,” Buffy said.
“Judging on her M.O. from last time,” Willow said. “She’ll probably try to kill all the potentials we call.”
“If the First takes over,” Kennedy piped in, “we all die anyway.”
“Kenn,” Willow started.
“No,” Kennedy said immediately. “If our lives is the price we pay to save the world, then that’s the price we pay.”
“We’ll deal with the First Slayer after we deal with the First Evil,” Giles said as he entered the kitchen.
Wesley looked at Willow. “If you’re writing a new spell that might affront the power of the slayers, perhaps I can help.”
“And if you’re going to war with a hell army . . .” Angel bit his lip hesitantly and looked at Gunn.
Gunn closed his eyes and nodded, as if consenting to an unspoken suggestion.
“Call the hotel,” Angel told Gunn.
***
Connor and Fred stared at each other silently for almost a half hour. Finally, Connor spoke.
“What’d you do?” he asked.
“What?” Fred asked.
“To get locked in here,” Connor said. “What’d you do?”
“I didn’t do anything, Connor,” Fred said. “I’m in here because I didn’t want you to be alone when you woke up.”
Connor stared at Fred for another few minutes. Fred wondered how he would respond. Maybe he wouldn’t believe her. Maybe he’d be angry at the inference that he needed watching. Maybe he’d just be angry because she’d shot him with a tranquilizer gun.
Connor looked down at his hands. “Thanks,” he mumbled.
Fred smiled with relief. “You’re welcome,” she said. “I have books we can read and Lorne can get us food.”
Connor looked up, noticing Lorne for the first time. Then he looked down again. “So, how am I going to go to the bathroom?”
“Oh,” Fred said. “Yeah, guess we didn’t think of that.” She gave her usual nervous laugh. “I suppose we figured Angel’d be back and we could all talk things out before you had to go.”
Connor gave a disbelieving laugh. “Sure,” he said sarcastically. “That’ll solve all our problems.”
“Connor . . .”
“Never mind,” Connor said. “Look, thanks . . . thanks for not letting me be alone. But I don’t want to talk about Angel.”
Connor and Lorne suddenly looked toward the stairs.
“What is it?” Fred asked nervously.
“Nothing Sweet Pea,” Lorne said to Fred. “It’s just the phone. I’ll go get it.”
Fred turned back to Connor. “So, is there anything you want to read?”
“I was reading Thus Spake Zarathustra when the Beast threw me out a window and destroyed my apartment.”
“Thus Spake Zarathustra?” Fred said. “By Nietzsche?”
“Yeah,” Connor said disinterestedly.
Fred was surprised. “What . . . what did you think of it?”
Connor shrugged. “For someone who said God is dead, there were a lot of similarities between his protagonist and Jesus.”
“Really?” Fred said in a surprised tone.
“You disagree?” Connor asked.
“I’ve never read it,” Fred said. “I’m just surprised you have.”
“What do you mean?”
“I just . . . I never pictured you as the type to read philosophy.” Fred could tell Connor was slightly hurt by this. “I’m really impressed!” Fred added enthusiastically.
Connor smiled slightly, and looked down, clearly embarrassed.
Lorne came down the stairs and stood at the cell door.
“Lorne?” Fred said. “What’s up?”
“This has to be the stupidest idea they’ve ever had,” Lorne said as he put the key into the cell door’s lock. “And that’s saying something.”
Lorne turned the key and the door sprung open. “Connor,” he said as calmly as he could manage. “Your father just called. They need your help in Sunnydale.”
***
“How’s Spike taking me being back?” Angel asked. Buffy was sitting on the steps of the front porch. Angel was standing and facing away from her. The cookie dough speech had gone okay, but there were still hurt feelings.
“Are you back?” Buffy asked.
“I guess not,” he answered. “Not really. One more apocalypse to beat back. Then we return to L.A.”
Buffy looked down. She wanted him to stay, but knew what that meant. Heartache, angst, and a particularly annoying love triangle. She wanted to change the subject. “So, who’s this Connor you’re sending for?”
“He’s a warrior,” Angel answered vaguely.
“Wesley looked like he was going to wet himself when you said this Connor warrior was coming,” Buffy said, half amused and half worried.
“Connor tried to chop Wesley’s head off about a month ago.”
“Oh,” Buffy said as if her fears were laid to rest. “He sounds okay.”
“He’s not okay,” Angel said sullenly. “I don’t know what he’s going to do. I don’t know if he’ll use this as a chance to get himself killed. And if he survives, I still won’t know what to do with him.”
“Oh,” Buffy said, this time in a worried tone. “This is the guy you called Willow about.”
“Yeah,” Angel said.
Buffy could tell there was something deeper here. Then again, the vampire had always felt like every lost soul was his own personal crusade. She stood and put a hand on his shoulder.
“You brought Faith back from the verge,” Buffy said. “You brought her back from past the verge. And Giles helped Willow. If this kid needs help, we won’t fail him.”
Angel felt relaxed for a moment, but tensed up when he saw Wes’s SUV turn onto Revello Drive. Fred must have taken it to bring . . . “Connor,” he whispered.
***
Connor looked nervous and suspicious as he entered the living room. He quickly noticed he was in a room full of girls and felt a strange sensation, causing him to become embarrassed as well as nervous and suspicious. He looked down as Fred guided him along. Lorne had stayed behind to watch over the comatose Cordelia.
“Connor,” Angel said in a calm voice.
“Hey,” he muttered without looking up.
“You . . . you don’t have to do this,” he said. “I just thought you might like to get--”
“Whatever,” Connor shrugged.
Spike grinned slightly as he watched the interaction. “So,” he laughed slightly. “Angel’s switch-hitting these days.”
“Watch it,” Kennedy growled.
Spike threw his hands up as if protesting his innocence. “Not that there’s anything wrong with switch hitting.”
“Angel,” Wesley said in an annoyed voice. “I think I’d feel safer if either Faith or Buffy remained between Connor and me at all times.”
Angel could see Connor look down further. “Shut up, Wesley.”
“Gunn, Angel said it,” Xander called before downing a shot of vodka. He looked at Angel. “Sorry. Gunn and I are playing a drinking game. Every time someone tells Wes to shut up, we take a shot.”
“Great,” Buffy said. “You two are getting plastered the night before we fight an army of Turok-han. That’s brilliant.”
***
Buffy, Willow, Giles, and Xander stood together in the hallway and joked with each other one last time. Dawn and Fred were already in place in the principal’s office. When Willow and Giles arrived, they’d perform the spell. Wesley, Andrew, Anya, Wood, and Gunn were upstairs boarding up the school, save for one emergency escape route. Then they’d have to defend that route so that the slayer’s couldn’t be taken from behind by any demons the First drew to the school. Xander would join them soon. In the basement, the girls stood in four columns. Spike, Angel, and Faith would each lead one of the columns. Buffy would arrive soon to lead the fourth. Kennedy and Connor had been more or less tapped to be backup leaders if Spike, Angel, Faith, or Buffy went down.
The slayers in training were murmuring, but row by row went quiet as Buffy passed. She’d been in this position before; a general leading an army of barely trained soldiers to war against a powerful evil. That army had defeated the Mayor. And this army would defeat the First. They simply had no other choice.
Buffy stood before them. “Some of you will lose your lives,” she said. “Some of you will lose your limbs. All of you will lose your innocence. Today we will change forever so that the rest of the world can stay as it is and never know the sacrifices we have made on its behalf. This is a burden that we neither asked for nor wanted. But it’s a burden we’ve all carried. I’m asking you to carry it just a little further. I’d ask you now if any of you wanted to back out. But I’ve spent the last six months with you. I know you all. And I know you’d never walk away from this calling. This duty. This curse.”
Buffy watched as a strange glow overtook the room. When it subsided, the potentials looked different somehow. Stronger. “Phase one,” she whispered. She slashed her arm and poured her slayer blood on the Seal of Danthazar.
The room shook slightly and filled with the sound of stone scraping over stone. The seal opened and every girl in the room tried to peer over the one in front of her to get a look at the gateway into hell.
Angel’s column was the forward guard- the advance team. He stepped to the edge and looked down into the gaping blackness. He looked back at his army of slayers. “The First Evil thinks it will unleash hell on earth tomorrow,” he said loudly. “But we’re going down there today. And we’re going to show it what hell really is.”
Angel’s slayers roared their agreement as they stormed into the Hellmouth. They were the forward guard. And they knew from the start that none of them would come back alive.
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