"Immortal Beloved..." XCIX...
PG-13
Disclaimer: If ya are fan-fic writers, where's your disclaimers?
Disclaimers? We ain't got no disclaimers...I don' need to show you
no stinkin'...No, Joss, no...I make no claims, put that thing down!
It's all yours and ME's...
Spoilers for Angel to the bitter end...Flee at once!...
Summary: Though the standard IB format, one of (99!) versions of
events
following the end of Angel S5 episodes from "Girl in Question"
through
to "Not Fade Away" and beyond, this one's sorta notoriously south by
southeast...(C'mon, you're a Hitchcock fan, you get it...)
Credit for this one goes to Ms. Angela Dawson's
suggestion...Thanks...
Archived (soon) at the 'Normal' Buffyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca
verse at -http://www.angelfire.com/zine2/buffyrebecca/index.html
,
scroll down to "Immortal Beloved" series
***
Part U...
The D'Vestigy estate grounds...Just past the gate which the two
figures in matching black... "Cute...We look like a David Lynch
version of the Hardy Boys, Angel..." Will'd noted as they set
out...Had vaulted moments ago...
"So do we wait and try to call her in a bit...Wait for her call...Or
do we break in...?" Angel hissed...
"Or we could go up to the front door, politely ask if Dru made it
back
ok, and if the younger Countess might be available...'Course we break
in, you moron...They're surely monitoring all phones, including cell,
now and I didn't come here to wait and see if Buffy gets killed..."
"Now why would anyone wanna kill me?..." Buffy asked...The two Unmen
in black jumping at her voice...She regarding them in her plain
white,
if hand-knit, sweater and jeans with a cool smile...
"You all right?..." William asked...
"I mean, besides my two ex-s..." she ignored his question...Hand over
what was clearly a stake in her right pocket...
***
"They've started to pull out?...Very well..." Riley spoke into his
microphone...An encrypted transmitter, hopefully beyond even the
Immortal's vaunted staff's abilities to monitor... "On my way...All
units on site will hold and observe till further orders..."
Sam, head out the window to catch a bit of night breeze...That Ouzo
leaving quite a kick...Pulled in to regard him...
"Yeah?..." he acknowledging the look, but not returning it...
"The Immortal and his people are leaving?...With the plutonium?..."
"Possibly...At least with some of it..." he nodded...
She eyed him a moment..."Are you sure Buffy and the guys are ok?..."
"So far..Our people have them in sight..."
"But...We're just letting the Immortal and co, go?...And won't he
kill
or whatever them?...Try at least?..."
"That's what we have to know..." he smiled at her a moment... "Don't
worry about them, Sam...It's our human agents who are really the ones
who might get hurt...I don't want them tryin' to run in and become
posthumous medal of honor winners..."
"They're not invulnerable, you know...Whatever their records are..."
"I'm aware of that...And I'm not fond of putting my friends at
risk..." he said quietly... "But they all volunteered for this..."
"Sorry..." she sighed...
"Anyway, it's now time to see if a lot of self-sacrifice has borne
fruit..." he smiled...
***
"So...You guys leave something behind at the party?..." Buffy eyed
Angel, not looking at William...
"Possibly..." William nodded, a hard stare at where she kept her hand
on the stake in her pocket...
"You lost that long ago, Will...And I'm sorry..." she said quietly...
"Why couldn't you have stayed out of this?...Both of you..."
"Buffy?...You let Drusilla...?" Angel stopped as she moved her hand
slightly to indicate the stake waiting...
"I let Drusilla know..." she nodded... "In fact, I sent her...Sorry
to
knock myself off your pedestal, Angel...Will, stay where you
are...Lets keep this friendly, guys..."
"You let us find the plutonium...Why?..." Will asked...
"Riley and his people knew it was there somewhere and would have
eventually gotten official Swiss permission to tear the place apart
if
we hadn't...Which would've been a desecration of my husband's
birthplace, not to mention my new family's history...Besides..." she
smiled... "What makes you think we wanted our stockpile's existence
kept a secret?..."
"We?..." Angel asked...Giving a gasp which caught William by
surprise...Buffy watching without expression as he crumpled, William
running to him and kneeling by him...Staring up at Buffy...
"We, Mr. Angel..." Henri, smoothly...As he stepped from the blackness
of a small grove of massy trees, a small dart gun in hand...One of
our
tunnels, he explained...
"Is he all right, Will?..." Buffy asked coolly... "The drug shouldn't
do more than put him out a couple of hours..." She quickly
interposing herself between Angel on the ground, Will beside him and
Henri
"A little difficult to tell with a living dead man..." Will shook his
head... "But as he's not dust...Yet..."
"That which doesn't dust us makes us stronger...He'll be a little
more
wary of me in the future..." she nodded...
"And you are...?" Will asked coldly, rising to his feet in defensive
crouch, watching her carefully...
"A woman in love..." she replied...Grinning slightly as he regarded
her... "What?...You thought I was the First corporealized or in
possession or something?..."
"I'd hoped..." he said...Faintest trace of bitterness, he looking
from
Buffy to Henri... "So...It's love?...Moving...I'm touched...So, since
you were ready to have Dru vaporize me, why not the Brooding One?..."
"I owed him...He doesn't know as much as you do...And he isn't the
one
who'll never stop coming for me..." she shrugged...
"Maybe...Maybe not, now...His wife for sure won't rest now till
you're
back rotting in your coffin..." Will noted calmly to Buffy...
"I'd understand her feelings..." she nodded...
"So, I take it, it's to be a little more final for me?..." he spoke
to
both, eyes on her...
"It doesn't have to be, Mr. Walthrop..." Henri said quietly...
"You mean you'll share?...How aristocratically French of you,
D'Vestigy...Rules of the game and all that, thanks...But no
thanks..."
"I'm afraid I'm not quite that broadminded, sir..." Henri smiled...
"But for Buffy's sake, while we have a little time, I will appeal to
you to consider another option..."
"Join your little neo-Nazi party?...Please...Not even Spike liked
them, despite our fondness for black and red...You enjoy being a
card-
carrying member of a club more evil than anything the Master ever
dreamed of, Buffy?..."
"We're not Nazis, Will..." she frowned... "Whatever Riley may be
telling you..."
"Really?...Well, that is good news...So you're just a bunch of
lovable
folks selling weapons-grade plutonium to any bidder?..."
"We're trying to save Humanity from itself, Mr. Walthrop...The rest
is
just guise to deceive those fool tools we need to accomplish that
goal..." D'Vestigy sighed...
"Ah, then my apologies for thinking you scum fit for Hell..." Will
waved a hand... "I think you should speak to Dru, though...She seems
a
bit off the program.. Unless killing me is just part of your
deception..."
"In fact, it is..." Henri smiled... "And we are quite prepared to do
just that if we must for the good of Humanity...But Buffy and I still
harbor a hope even now that you'll hear us out..."
"That's big of my ex-lover...But, no, thanks...By the way, Dru seems
less hopeful..." Will nodded to where Dru was now moving swiftly
their
way, in the open...
***
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