Angel chased after Zoëga when the groups had splitup to
prepare for the onslaught of the press. Catching up with him, she slammed him
into an alcove, none to gently.
“I told you to stay out of my head!” she hissed down at him. On instinct,
her wings partially unfolded to make her look absolutely
menacing.
“I was only trying to reassure you,” he answered in a calm and cold
voice. Clearly not intimidated by the towering avian, his eyes remained soft.
Staring into his eyes for a moment longer as if judging his words, Angel finally
released her hold on his shoulders.
“I… apologize,” she said and turned to walk away, pulling her wings
in.
“You know, sometimes I really don’t understand you,” the telepath said as
he straightened his clothes.
“How so?” the avian asked with her back still towards
him.
“The night after the battle with the Primal One, and then again during
Christmas Eve, you were… well… nice, but now you’re all grrr and I’ll rip your
head offish,” he explained. “I… am confused, Angelica,” he said as he placed a
hand on her shoulder.
“Z… I…” Angel began as she turned around.
“There is nothing to be afraid off,” Zoëga said in a reassuring voice as
he gently placed a hand on her cheek, acting more on impulse than rational
thought.
“When I said I’d consider a date… this wasn’t…” she gasped as the first
of her mental barriers went down under the gentle probing of the
telepath.
“Sssh! Just let me take some of the tension away, this is the better
way,” he whispered, not wanting to scare her by talking into her mind. His other
hand crept into her hair and began messaging the back of her neck. Then there
was loud crash as a handheld hit the floor.
“Rao above…” Hope exclaimed with a wide eyes, causing the pair to jump
apart.
“Hope, um, he was…” Angel began, straightening her
hair.
“I was just helping Angel relieve some of the tension she feltfrom the
upcoming meeting,” Zoëga explained without losing a
beat.
“Oh, then if you’re finished, maybe Angel would be so kind as to come
with me so we can go over the question list I’ve made up?” Hopeasked, her eyes
shooting daggers at the avian.
“Go ahead, Hope… I’ll catch up with you in a second,” Angel nodded,
praying that the overprotective watcher would leave them alone.
“I’ll leave you two… alone,” Hope huffed as she strode
away.
“That was… embarrassing,” Angel exclaimed.
“I’m sorry, she can be a little overprotective,” Zoëga
said.
“I… would like to complete what… ever we just did there?” Angel said as
she stepped closer, pushing him against the wall once again gently this time.
There was soft gasp when he reached out, once again, to gently touch her mind.
There was a long, peaceful silence.
Buffy looked up when she heard Hope slam the door tothe
conference room. Willow had gone to talk to Spike, leaving the slayer with the
hours of newsfeed and a ton of mail to read
through.
“Let me guess… she’s about six feet tall, with white hair, wings and a
thing for your brother?” Buffy asked with a grin as she looked up at the fuming
Watcher.
“You knew!” Hope exclaimed.
“Well, I suspected,” Buffy said with a smirk plastered on her
face.
“And you didn’t tell me,” Hope exclaimed.
“What is to tell? It’s their business and I’m not going to stop it.
They’re entitled to it just as much as you and Spike are,” Buffy said as she
crossed her hands over her chest.
“That was… a one time thing,” Hope said under her
breath.
“If you say so..." Buffy said with a
shrug.
“It’s just that she’s…”
“She’s what? Older, believe me age is so not an issue,” Buffy
said.
“It’s just that-”
“Sorry, I took so long,” Angel said as she walked into the room and took
her seat.
“Was he any good?” Buffy asked, before she knew what hadleft her
mouth.
“Buffy!” Hope exclaimed, but Angel only
smiled.
“If it’s any consolation, Hope, he ‘was’ just helping to calm my nerves.
Nothing happened… honest,” Angel said trying to calm
her.
“Let's go over these notes, shall we?” Buffy asked clapping her hands
together, not wanting a catfight an hour before a press
conference.
-Maybe Z-boy can help me… no bad, bad slayer. He’s Angel’s,
but lets just wait before telling Hope that’s all- she
thought.
“Very well,” Hope crumbled. “You know the first question
will most likely be something along the lines of ‘Who the fuck are you
people?’”
Willow found Spike in the computer room, reading over text that
was scrolling down the screen at speeds only he could
read.
“Spike… I think it’s time we talked,” she said as she sat
down next to him.
“You want to know why I left, right?” hestated as he
stopped the text.
“Well… yes. That and why you didn’t show yourself earlier…
like after my parents death?”
“Red, your great-grandmother that is, was still around and…
it wasn’t my time to return,” Spike said as he hung his
head.
“You were waiting for the Primal One’s return,” Willow
said, understanding a little bit more about this cryptic
man.
“Yes, but now that he’s gone… well, I hope that we can be a
family,” Spike said with a small smile.
“You are my family, Spike… In one form or another, you’ve
always been there for us,” she answered as she hugged the
Guardian.
“Now we need to talk about Buffy,” Spikesaid, causing
Willow to let go.
“But… we’re just fooling around… I mean, there
isn’t…”
Spike smiled and held up his hand. “No, no… I have no objections. I just
want you to watch out for her. She tends to… go too far at times and try to
protect everybody. If she turns out like the Buffy I knew… well, letsjust say
you’ll have your hands full,” he explained.
“Thanks for the warning,” Willow said with a beaming smile.
“And your acceptance.”
“Now help me look over this,” Spike said as he started up the screen
again.
“One more thing… Do you think that my… powers are somehow connected to
you?” Willow asked. Spike looked at her and thought for moment, Willow had shown
the ability to create and direct plasma bolts.
“Who knows? Tell you what, we’ll have G.I.L.E.S. look into it,” he said
with a pat on her shoulder. “And we are after all… a very strange
breed.”
Section
0.3: Meetings
The press was hoarded into the trainingarea,
which was now serving as the makeshift conference room. The room, nicknamedby
Buffy as the Danger Room, had been designed by Willow, like almost everything
else in the mansion. It was a state-of-the-art simulator room capable of
replicating almost all of the rigors of vampire
slaying.
“You think they suspect anything?" Buffy whispered to Hope as the
reporters, armed with their recorders and hovercams, filtered into the
conference room. Dressed in her black slayer jumpsuit and armed with her
wristbands, the slayer looked around the room and nodded, the press was going to
be silenced one way or another.
“Nope," Hope said with a grin. She was reading a
spell on her handheld, memorizing it for later
use.
"Now?" Angel asked, her wings twitchingin
excitement as she inspected her talons.
"Wait until they're all here," Buffy said just as the door closed behind
the last reporter. She cleared her throat and put on her best
I'm-not-going-to-hurt-you smile.
"Ladies and Gentlemenof the
press, thank you for joining us here. Now before you bombard us with questi-"
she was cut of by a wave of questions hitting
them.
"Angel, throw... the... fucking... switch!" she
said calmly over noise. The room shifted from the professional looking
conference room into that of a worn down part of the city, the Slums, wherethe
vampires were usually found. The room fell into silence as the confused
reporters looked around.
"I suggest you defend yourselves," Buffy offered
as the silvery carbon blades emerged from her wristbands and growls started
coming from the shadows.
"What the hell is going on here!" one of the
reporters cried out as vampires erupted onto the
street.
“What is this?" another yelled, backing up
against a wall.
"What you're seeing is what we face every
night," Buffy explained as she ducked a punch and staked a
vamp.
“I strongly recommend you defend yourselves,"
Angel suggested as she slashed one attacker and high-kicked
another.
“Because we may have forgotten the safeties,"
Hope added as she let her spell fly, causing a small swarm of toothpicks tomake
a pincushion out of one vampire. They didn't do much damage until one foundits
mark, then the pincushion was dust and that spell was more for show then
practical use, plus if it hit a reporter he would live...
sadly.
Half an hour later, the three stood looking at
the reporters huddled in the corner of the room. A few had fought back at the
beginning, but for the most part, the newshounds had retreated to safety and
cowered. It looked like a few had even passed out and soiled
themselves.
The slayer shook her head as she approached the
group, which was slowly getting to its feet. "Ladies and Gentlemen," Buffy
declared in a loud voice, sweat dripping from her brow. "What you saw here is
what can and will happen if you try to follow us at night." She held their
attention as she made her back to the others, "Now, if there are any
questions..." she trailed off as the room shifted into the conference room
again, with the trio standing behind a large table, "we are here to answer
them," she finished, and they sat down.
"Who are you?" the first reporter, a blond with
rose tinted glasses, who had calmly stood by as the scenario played out,
asked.
"My name is Elisabeth Anne Summers. I'mthe Last
Vampire Slayer and I go by the codename: Buffy. I guess you could call me the
leader of this... group," Buffy answered with a wave towards the other two
members.
-Damn, I'm glad Hope made us practices this- she
thought.
My, uh... codename is Hope" the Mystic answered.
The codenames had been a silly idea really, but it gave the group, what Buffy
called, a super-hero feel about it.
"Angelica De'Light, avian, codename: Angel,"
Angel said as she removed her talons and placed them on the
table.
"Whom do you answer to?" another reporter asked.
It didn't seem to take these people much time to get over life threatening
situations when there was news to be had, "I mean surely the government hassome
part in all this?"
"No, we are a privately funded group, sponsored
mainly by the GILES Laboratories, the Angel Foundation and the Rosenberg Fund,"
Hope answered.
"But we do intend to work with the Occult Agency
and the local police when the need arises," Buffy
added.
"Do you believe you are above the law?"
"No. We are our own law, and we just hope that they will have the good
sense to stay out of our way," she tried to
explain.
"I only see three of you, why such a small
group?"
"The threat isn't that great," Angel answered in
a low voice.
"And there are very few people who can do what
we do," Buffy elaborated.
"Are there more members of your
group?"
"Yes."
"Who are they?"
"At present there is: Willow Rose, a
plasma-slinger; Stefan Zoëga, a telepath; William Spike; and G.I.L.E.S., our
A.I. unit. You’ll find their bios on your handhelds" Buffy answered as images of
the members were displayed on the holoprojector in the center of the table.The
group of reporters was making its way up to the large table, the hovercams
floating around them like flies.
-Like flies on shit- Buffy smiled to herself.
She had to chew on that one to keep from laughing out
loud.
"Is that... Are you and William Spike the
original warriors that fought in the Great War?"
"Well... Spike is. As for me, I'm what you call
a quantum duplicate... is that the right term... of the Buffy Summers from the
year 2000 and... Well I just hope that clears that up enough since I really
don't understand it too well myself," Buffy explained with a nervous
smile.
"Miss De'Light, many question have been raised about your origins. Would
you care to clear up some of those question?"
Buffy cringed inwardly as Angel's wingsrose
slightly on her back, but then seemed to settle
again.
"I was abandoned by my parents shortly after
birth, raised in the Slums and at the age of 13, I was taken in by my adoptive
father William Harris and the Angel Foundation. I claim no association withthe
Future Project and do not consider myself a part of it," Angel answered with
such steel in her voice that the reporter shrank
back.
-Sheesh, I wonder how that would have gone
without Z's help- Buffy wondered.
An exhaustive hour later, Hope dismissed the
reporters; hopefully they had given out enough information to satisfy them
without revealing too much about their true strength. Questions had been raised
regarding their ages, but that argument died quickly in light of Spike's
age.
-I guess if you save the world on live Holo-v,
they trust you more- Buffy thought to herself as she looked out the window in
her office and watched the last of the reporters leave, a couple of them
glancing wearily back at the building. It had been Willow's idea to give her an
office and she was beginning to realize why, as she noticed the messages and
offers already flooding her computer screen.
"How did it go?" Willow asked as she stepped
into the office.
"We'll see on the evening news," Buffy answered
as she turned to face her girlfriend, who wore a huge grin with sparkling eyes
to match.
"I take it Spike will be staying with us, and is
happy with things?" Buffy asked as she sat down in her chair and offered Willow
a seat on her lap.
"He wants us to be a family again," Willow
answered happily as she sat down and snaked her arms around the Slayer's
neck.
"Mmmm, that's nice," Buffy said, nibbling at Willow's earlobes causing
the plasma-slinger to giggle.
"Uhmm... Buffy... training... remember?" Willow asked between
giggles.
"Plasma-bolts... and hand-to-hand," Buffy agreed as she made her way
around to Willow's lips. "But... since I'm the fearless leader... *a peck* I
guess *a peck* I'm in *a peck* charge of training schedules," she finished as
she claimed the redheads lips in a deep kiss. There was a crackle of energyas
Willow inadvertently sent two bolts of blue plasma flying into the
walls.
Angel stalked through the corridors of the
mansion, her wings fluttering. The questions had been unsettling, to say the
least. She did not like being on display, it reminded her too much of growing up
in the Slums, the shows, and the humiliation. She needed to vent; she needed to-
her train of thought was derailed as she slammed into Zoëga who was also deep in
thought and obviously returning from the kitchen. The crash caused orange juice
to spill over them both and anger to flare in the already tense
avian.
"You..." Angel started, but one look into his calm eyes and her rantwas
cut short. Catching the young telepath off guard with the amount of anger, hate
and fear she had been emanating had caused him to instantly reach out with his
mind. Now it was her turn to be pushed against the wall, a glass bounced onthe
floor as her wings made contact with the wall.
"Z?" Angel asked in a trembling voice as gentle fingers started to caress
her face and neck. Licking her lips as she felt a presence surround her mind
like a warm blanket, she inched closer.
"I told you that there
is... no need to be afraid," the telepath whispered, but her hand had already
sneaked behind his neck.
"I'm..." a fraction of an
inch closer. "Not... a…" another fraction.
The sound of the warning claxons telling them
that a weapon had been discharged inside the mansion snapped them back to
reality.
"Everybody to my office
now!" Buffy was heard shouting over the audio
system.
Section
0.4: Critical Situations
Angel and Zoëga crashed through the office
doors. They were greeted with the sight of Willow, unconscious on the couch, but
their eyes were soon drawn to two smoldering holes in the walls on either side
of the room. Hope was gently trying to bring Willow back to consciousness, while
Buffy sat on the edge of the desk looking worried. Spike was sitting in the
chair, tapping furiously away at the computer. Hope looked up at her brother and
a silent conversation went on for a few seconds between them. He then kneltby
Willow’s side and closed his eyes.
"What... happened?" Angel asked softly as she touched one of the burnt
holes.
"It would appear that Miss Rose's powers are connected to her emotions
and when excited, there is an involuntary release," G.I.L.E.S. explained from
his position above Spike's shoulder.
"And when it's all over the drain on her system is so great that she
collapses," Buffy finished, talking fast, not taking her eyes off
Willow.
"Okay," Angel said as she rubbed the ash off her
fingers.
"She's coming to," Zoëga said and when he opened his eyes, there was a
lengthy groan as Willow too, slowly opened her
eyes.
"I did it again, didn't I?" she asked in low
voice.
"It would appear so," Buffy said as she jumped from her perch on thedesk
to get closer to her plasma-slinger. "How do you feel? You
ok?"
Willow had to smile up into her Slayers soulful eyes. "Yeah, I'm ok.Just
tired."
"I believe I can... help her," Zoëga said standing up and leaning back
against the desk.
"How?" Willow asked as Buffy helped her sit
up.
"Well, first I would have to do a scan, a search for the root of the
problem. Then, I would have to teach her some control," he explained.
"Telepathically," he added.
"You talking psychotherapy?" Buffy
exclaimed.
"Yes," he said calmly. "And in the light of this latest flux, I think
we're out of choices."
"Elisabeth, it's okay... really," Willow said taking Buffy's hands.
"I just..." Buffy trailed off.
"We can start now if you want to," Zoëga
said.
"Now?" Willow asked. "Really?"
"The sooner we get this under control the better," Hope
said.
There was a moment of silence as Willow's eyes
passed over everybody in the room, Spike looked at her with concern, Angel with
a mixture of fear and intrigue, Hope was professional, as usual, and Buffy
looked scared.
"Okay, lets get started on this. Why don't we take this somewhere else,
though," she said as she started to get up. "Can Buffy... stay with me?" she
asked.
"No," flat and cold was the answer.
Buffy paced outside Willow's room, while the sun
was going down and they still hadn't come out of the room
yet.
"Do these things usually take this long?" she
asked.
"Depends on the problem," Hope answered, not realizing she was swaying
with the rhythm of the Slayer walking back and forth in front of her, "If it's
something deep in her subconscious, this could, quite possibly, take all
night."
Buffy still paced outside Willow's roomas a few
more minutes passed.
"I'm going out to patrol," Buffy exclaimed and stalked away. “Tell Willow
not to wait up and make sure she sleeps,” she
ordered.
Hope raised an eyebrow and looked down at her
ever present handheld. She tapped in four words.
Slayer cares about Willow.
Angel stood in front of her bathroom mirror
preparing for the night. She carefully applied the concealing cream to the area
under her eyes and then reached for the bottle she kept behind the tampon box on
the bottom shelf in the medicine cabinet behind the mirror. She carefully opened
the bottle and shook two red and blue pills into her hands.
“For the good fight,” she said as she swallowed the pills with disgust
and then closed the bottle and slammed the cabinet shut with enough force to
crack the mirror.
The Slums, home to the unfortunates of society,
the criminals and, of course, the vampires. Buffy's senses tingled as she
waited, perched on a windowsill, several floors above the street. She had taken
the time to study the design specs of her suit. Willow had done a great jobon
it, laser absorbent, light absorbent, and a cool new de-celerative material,
making her able to jump from considerable
heights.
-I feel like Batman- she thought. -Now all I need is a Batbelt and Robin
of course-
"Make room," Angel whispered as she landed next to her on the sill.
Folding her wings together, she probably looked like a gargoyle from the
street.
"You find anything?" Buffy asked tapping on the computer built into her
wristband.
"A raid on an illegal synth-factory down on Eighth, I stopped a rapeover
on Second and-"
"But no vamps," Buffy stated.
"No vampires. But I was going to say that some of our reporter friends
are out here undercover tonight," she explained.
"Which ones," Buffy sighed as she sent a quick text message to
G.I.L.E.S.
"The blond, what's her face..."
"Christina Rex," Buffy said without
thinking.
"Impressive, you got her measurements as well?" Angel
asked.
"Ha, ha. No. Its just that she was the only one standing after our
little... surprise training session, so I looked her up," Buffy
explained.
"Are you thinking about recruiting her?" Angel asked, eyes
wide.
"No, but she did give us a fair review in her news piece, and you never
know, she could prove useful," Buffy explained.
-Boy, we certainly could use more good reviews; they pretty much hadus
for breakfast. The only reason we're still operating is because of Willow and
Hope's connections- Buffy thought to herself.
"Spike thought that up, didn't he?" Angel
asked.
"Hey! I can plot and scheme!" Buffy
exclaimed.
"Sure you can! No, really, I believe you..." the avian said with a
sympathetic smile.
"Not funny, Angel. I'll have you know that I happen to be- Hey, check it
out. It's our star reporter," the Slayer stated. With an evil smile to her
cohort, she dropped from the ledge, landing quietly in the alley below. "Miss
Rex, I presume," she asked causing the blond reporter to jump then spin
around.
"Guess some people won't take hint," Angel said as she landed next to the
Slayer.
"Buffy, Angel," the reporter replied as she pulled back her hood and
tried to catch her breath and blond, shoulder length, curls came rolling
down.
"You know, walking around in the open like this, you would make an easy
meal," Buffy stated.
"And you're easy to follow, what's your point?" the reporter shot
back.
"We told you to stay away from us, but-"
"What makes you think this is about you?" Rex
asked.
"Well. I-" Buffy flustered. Her eyes darting over the reporters'
features, red lips and blue eyes obscured behind the rose tinted lenses of her
glasses.
"You, for starters, are here, while the nearest drug bust is five blocks
south," Angel said, hoping to save the Slayer some
face.
"Good point. But you guys are news, too, like it or not," Rex said as she
adjusted her glasses and Buffy felt like she just had her picture
taken.
"You're not giving up on this are you?" Buffy asked with a
sigh.
"Nope. At least not until I get a live slaying," Rex
answered.
"A live slaying, you say?" Buffy asked with grin and tapped on her
computer.
They sat on a tombstone over a fresh grave.
Angel had stayed in the Slums; she had business there that Buffy just did not
want to know about... yet.
"So, we're just sitting here, waiting for the vampire to... rise?" Rex
asked.
"That's pretty much what this job is all about," Buffy answered as she
played Tetris on her wristband. "Oh, you made me lose," she
whined.
"So... the battle against the Primal One, what was that
like?"
"A major bad scene. But, luckily that doesn't happen very often," Buffy
explained as she turned to face the staring reporter. "What did you expect?
Ninety percent of the time this is the most boring job in the world. Not to
mention the pays bad, along with short life expectancy and no dental plan,"
Buffy explained with a smile.
"No, I was wondering... how a girl like you... could become the savior of
mankind," Rex answered.
"Ah... Well, you got me there, cause I don't-" The Slayer held up a hand
as she stopped herself. There was low thud, then a louder
one.
"Time to go to work," Buffy said as she jumped down from the tombstone.
Five seconds and one dust cloud later, she turned back to the blonde with a
satisfied smile on her face.
"So, you happy now?" she asked the
reporter.
"Very," Rex said as she looked over the cemetery using her glasses to
take pictures.
-Thank god for onboard
computers- Buffy thought.
"Okay then... Cool. So you'll... stop following me now, right?" Buffy
asked.
"No can do Slayer." Rex said as she walked
way.
"Hey!" Buffy exclaimed and was in front of the blonde instantly. The
reporter blinked, then smiled back at the slayer, with impossibly white teeth
and looked at her over the glasses with shining blue eyes. "What do you mean 'No
can do'?"
"The rest of your group, the SG-Force, is off the hook," Rex explained.
"I won't follow them. But, ah... as for you..." she finished, unable to hold
back a most unprofessional smile.
"Me?" Buffy asked, a bit confused. "But-" Then it dawned on her, "Oh. Oh,
no... I can't. No... I mean... I..." her eyes went down and then snapped up
again.
-Think Willow, think Willow, think... look lips,
breasts, and...! Bad Slayer!-
"It's been fun," Rex said with a grin as she slipped past the Slayer, but
not without kissing her first.
"Doha!" Buffy muttered,
trying to form a retort, as the reporter pulled away from her with a grin,
pushed her glasses higher onto her nose and was
gone.
She walked in a daze back to the mansion. Her
wristbands dropped soundlessly on the floor as she entered room and pulled her
jumpsuit off. Willow was still in therapy with Zoëga. Damn! Spike had just
looked her over and shook his head, Hope was asleep, and Angel, gods only knew
where she was. The distraught Slayer crawled under the sheets and tried to
replace the image of the blond reporter looking at her through rose tinted
glasses with her Willow's, but to no avail.
-Date night tomorrow- she thought before she fell asleep and dreamt
dreams of blue eyes and blond hair.
To Be
Continued...