Heroes and Lovers
by als
Chapter 14 -- Complications
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Chapter 14 — Complications
Buffy smiled, sneaking another glance at her girlfriend as they walked slowly back towards campus. "So," she began suddenly. "Your dad's an Archangel, huh? That's bound to make family reunions interesting."
A sharp bark of amused laughter escaped Willow before she could stop it. "I get the feeling that would be a bit of an understatement," the redhead said with a snicker. Suddenly the amusement fled from her face and she turned toward Buffy with a serious look on her face, "Are we still okay, Buffy? I mean I know that it's weird that I'm not really all human and all... but it doesn't change things... between us, does it?" Her voice was soft, laced with fear and doubt as she spoke.
"Willow," Buffy began solemnly, "We are what we are. You no more asked for this than I asked to become a Slayer. I love you. All of you, from head to toe to the tips of your new wings." She smiled slightly as the real angel in her life blushed brightly. "I'm just glad you're okay. When you collapsed in the graveyard tonight, I... it scared me Will. It felt like I was losing you all over again and I couldn't handle that."
"You very nearly did lose her again," said a vaguely masculine voice from the shadows just ahead of them. "Thankfully, however, Gabriel found her before it was too late."
Almost instantly, the two girls went on the defensive, dropping into combat stances. A moment later a figure stepped into view just ahead of them. He had dark, curly hair that was cut short, sharp, angular features and lean, almost wiry, frame. The man was wearing a very fashionable charcoal gray suit that had clearly been tailored to fit him and expensive looking leather shoes.
"Sorry to startle you, I tend to forget that Sunnydale's not the safest place to surprise people after dark," he said with a chuckle.
"Who are you and what do you want?" Buffy asked, relaxing slightly but remaining suspicious.
A second voice, this one bearing a heavy Brooklyn accent spoke out from behind them. "You're not supposed to be here Seraph," Whistler veritably spat out angrily as he strode into view. "You know the rules of the Covenant. You can't interfere."
The well-dressed man glared hard at the balance demon. "That, demon, is where you are wrong." A cold smile spread across the Archangel's face, "The Covenant forbids direct interference on this plane, it does not forbid me from my duties as a messenger between the Creator and one who has chosen to Champion Her cause on this plane, of their own free will."
Whistler's face paled abruptly, "What do you mean? Neither of these girls are the Creator's Champions... They work for the Powers that Be..."
"Really?" the Seraph asked, his voice dripping sarcasm before he turned to look at Buffy. "You child, you were the Slayer, yes? Chosen by the Powers that Be to stand against the darkness?" Buffy nodded an affirmative with a puzzled look on her face. "You died, however, and another was called, were they not?"
"Well, yes, but I..." she started to say.
Shooting a hard glance at Whistler, the Seraph cut Buffy off, "She's no longer your Chosen One, therefore it is her choice whether or not she serves you, not yours."
Whistler's face turned hard as he countered, "She's never declared herself for either side then, but the witch has!"
"What witch?" the Seraph asked blandly, looking at Willow and Buffy each in turn. "I see only a Warrior and the child of a Seraph. A child who was deceived into becoming one of your Champions and less than an hour ago renounced her service to the Powers that Be, declaring her intent to be a Champion of the forces of light. That makes her the Creator's Champion... not yours." The smile he gave balance demon could have frozen molten rock.
"But... she... we... Her powers..." Whistler stammered as his face turned a sickly shade of greenish grey.
"Ah yes, her powers..." the Seraph said with a much warmer smile in Willow's direction. "Willow, would you care to fill this poor, misguided creature in on what happened? Or would you rather I took care of it?"
Willow gave the Seraph a happy smile and turned to face the balance demon, "I had a nice long chat with my father this evening, Whistler. And he was happy to explain to me how you and the Powers lied and manipulated me. He was also kind enough to undo what you did when I asked him to."
A strange ripple of power washed through the space around Willow and in an instant her Seraph form manifested with her wings spread wide and a cold fury etched on her face. "You can inform your bosses that I'm no longer their puppet, Whistler. I don't take kindly to being lied to and since you're the messenger that did the lying, I kinda hold you personally responsible for what happened."
In a flash of movement so fast that Buffy couldn't even follow, Willow surged forward and scooped the loudly dressed demon up by the front of his shirt and jacket. "If I ever see you again Whistler, I'm gonna rip your spine out and use it to hang you from a tree. Now get out of here before I do something you'll end up regretting." She shoved the demon backward watching coldly as he fell away from her and scrambled to his feet before fleeing into the night.
Willow turned back to face Buffy and the other Seraph and as quickly as it had come, the power around her vanished, along with her wings, and she was merely Willow again. She flashed a shy smile at the Seraph, "So the Creator sent you?"
He chuckled, "Not exactly. I mostly thought I'd stop by and introduce myself to my niece now that she knows the truth, but since that horrid little troll of a Balance Demon happened to be here, I figured he and his masters might as well get used to you having frequent visits from this part of your family." He smiled widely and offered Willow his hand, "I'm Michael, by the way."
Willow, of course, promptly ignored his hand and threw her arms around Michael, enveloping in an enthusiastic hug, which he happily returned.
"Wow," Buffy chimed in, shaking her head. "So you're one of those surfer-fin guys like Willow's dad?"
"Surfer-fin?" he asked, clearly amused. "Yes, I'm one of the Seraphim, like Gabriel. I'm one of the very few that the Creator still permits to come to this plane of existence occasionally."
"Oh! Is Dad still allowed to visit this plane?" Willow asked, suddenly excited by the idea of being able to introduce her friends to her real father.
Michael winced, "The Creator hasn't allowed him back since you were born Willow. Though, if you asked her she might relent to allow him one, closely supervised, visit. After all, what grandmother can refuse their favorite grandchild?"
"Wait a second!" Buffy interjected abruptly. "God is Willow's grandmother?"
"In a manner of speaking," Michael explained quickly. "She created the Seraphim, so we are essentially her children. Willow's father was a Seraph, so that makes the Creator her grandmother and the rest of the Seraphim her Aunts and Uncles... more or less."
"Oh," Buffy said, her eyes widening. "Wow, that family reunion comment was a lot truer than I realized...."
Willow simply giggled at her girlfriend before a strange thought crossed her mind. "Uh, Uncle Mike?" she began, concern creeping into her voice as she spoke. "Is everyone on Dad's side of the family going to be okay with the fact that I'm dating a girl? Or should I be worried?"
"Willow, there is no more precious gift given to two people than love," her uncle answered with a wide smile. "In the face of that, everything else is trivial, including gender."
Michael tilted his head abruptly as though listening to something that neither Buffy nor Willow could hear. He seemed to half nod and looked suddenly at Buffy with a half-smirk on his face, "Gabriel told me to tell you, and I quote, 'If you hurt my daughter, Ms. Summers, I'll make you regret ever being born.'"
Buffy paled slightly before a grinning Willow wrapped her arms around the Slayer. "Tell Dad, that I appreciate the thought but I think I can keep my Slayer in line just fine."
Her uncle nodded solemnly, "You two take care of each other. There are some bad things coming your way but together you can handle them." He raised his hands in a half wave and vanished.
"So," Willow whispered in her girlfriend's ear, "what do you think of my family so far?"
"It's nice that they care so much," Buffy offered with a smile. "But what did he mean when he said I did almost lose you in the graveyard tonight?"
"I don't know," the redhead replied with a slight frown. "I guess we'll have to ask him the next time we see him."
* * * * *
Forrest Gates held perfectly still as the two hostiles started walking towards campus again. He had never seen anything that scared him the way that redheaded HST had. The way she moved and the casual ease with which she had threatened that guy had chilled him to the bone. Whatever the hell she was, he personally didn't want to go anywhere near her without full combat gear and a lot of backup.
He reached for his radio as soon as he was comfortable that they were out of earshot. "All teams, this is Alpha Lead. The hostile is on campus, repeat, the hostile is on campus. It is not alone and its companion is a non-human of unknown type. Exercise extreme caution and avoid direct contact."
"Alpha Lead," Riley's oh-so-familiar voice said from the radio, "This is Lilac, report to Base for immediate debrief. We need to ID the companion ASAP."
Forrest grimaced, thinking that'd he'd much rather be hunting other HST's than playing spy games with unknown hostiles. "Roger that Lilac," he confirmed. "Alpha Lead out."
'Oh well,' he thought as he headed back toward Lowell house, 'at least this way I won't have to risk an encounter with that red-haired freak tonight.' He smiled as he found the bright side to being called back in early.
* * * * *
Willow couldn't stop smiling as they walked across campus towards their dorm. Not only had she and Buffy officially become girlfriends today, she had also met her real father and learned things she would never have believed possible about herself in the process. 'Definitely a red letter day,' she thought happily. 'Second only to the day I met Buffy.'
Her happy thoughts were interrupted abruptly as she noticed a strange tingling sensation at the back of her neck. It was an odd sensation that had come and gone several times since they had left Giles' apartment on their way home. She frowned slightly as she thought about it. It felt very much like someone, or something, was watching them. For just a moment, she considered reaching out with her senses and finding out who, or what, was observing them, but even as she thought about it, the feeling faded away.
With a mental sigh, the redhead turned her attention back to the beautiful blonde girl walking beside her. Despite her earlier reassurances that everything was fine between them, Buffy seemed a little tense and strangely quiet as they made their way home. "What is it Buff?" she finally asked as they entered their room and pushed the door closed behind them.
"Just thinking about the new and improved you, Willow," Buffy answered, following Willow's lead and keeping her voice low.
"I knew it!" Willow said in a hurt voice. "We're not okay, are we? You're scared or worried or freaked out by what I am."
Buffy eyes went wide, "No! Willow, that's not it at all! God that is so totally not what's going on." A wide smile spread across the Slayer's face and her body suddenly relaxed as she stepped close to Willow, grabbing the red-haired angel by her hips and pulling their bodies together tightly.
A thrill of heat and lust tore through Willow as their bodies pressed firmly together. Her eyes went wide for a moment before fluttering shut as the petite, but powerful blonde's mouth descended forcefully on her own. She grabbed at the blonde, her hands landing on Buffy's tight ass and grasping firmly. Her mouth slipped open almost instantly as the Slayer devoured her lips, their tongues dancing together.
Willow moaned into Buffy's mouth as the blonde's hands slid over her body, leaving a powerful tingling desire in their wake. Excited, Willow pulled back slightly, breaking off the kiss to look into her girlfriend's lust glazed eyes. "I want you, Buffy," she breathed heavily. "I need you so badly!"
Without a word the Slayer attacked her lips again, her hands moving aggressively over her soon-to-be lover's body. She pulled at the girl's clothes, shoving Willow's jacket off her shoulders roughly. The blonde whimpered as Willow's hands lost contact with her body long enough to allow the offending jacket to drop to the ground. Suddenly, both of the girls were grabbing at one another's clothes desperate to be naked. They pushed and pulled at the garments covering each other's bodies, fumbling with buttons and zippers before finally giving up and tearing at the cloth roughly, no longer caring about the damage they inflicted on the clothing.
Moving together, their mouths never leaving each others for more than the instant it took to gasp a breath of desperately needed air, they stumbled and fell roughly onto Willow's bed. Willow hesitated for the briefest of moments as Buffy rolled her onto her back and perched above her looking into the redhead's eyes for a long, needful moment.
The blonde's gaze drifted over Willow's naked form, caressing the pale, lightly freckled skin her eyes, silently worshipping the perfection of her love, her angel. "Make love to me, Buffy," the words were said with the soft intonation of a supplicant's prayer, but to Buffy's ears they were nothing less than the command of a Goddess. A command she was more than happy to obey.
* * * * *
Forrest Gates fidgeted slightly as he sat in the conference room chair, waiting for the debriefing to begin. 'At least it's just Riley I'm reporting to,' he thought with no small amount of satisfaction. The idea of reporting this directly to Walsh, well it wasn't a pleasant thought. Frank Perkins and Graham Miller sat nearby, looking equally uncomfortable with their surroundings.
Moments later, Forrest heard the door to the conference room open and watched with a neutral expression as his former team-leader entered the room carrying a handful of folders. "Gentlemen," Riley said crisply in what Forrest had come to think of as his 'command voice'. "What has our hostile been up to?" Riley asked, as he slid smoothly into the seat at the head of the conference table.
Forrest studied Finn with a practiced eye, gauging his commander's mood from a combination of his bearing, poise, and a hundred other subtle cues he'd picked up from spending time in the field with the other soldier. He knew that Riley's butt was in a sling for breaching operational security protocols, but something still wasn't quite right here.
'He's spending way too much time with Mother,' Gates thought dispassionately. 'That can't be good for him.'
Agent Perkins spoke up first and Forrest turned slightly to look at him as he spoke. "Sir, Charlie team made early contact with the target in the Resthaven cemetery at approximately 2130 hours this evening. The target, along with an unknown assistant, met and engaged a band of no less than two dozen vampire-class HST's." Riley was taking notes on a yellow legal pad as the leader of Charlie team gave his report. "Both the target and the assistant engaged the vampires in close, hand to hand combat and appeared to be on at least equal footing with the HST's in terms of strength and speed."
"Working as a team, they dispatched approximately one-half of the vampire-class hostiles before the situation changed." Perkins paused as though carefully choosing his next words. "At that point another vampire-class HST emerged from a nearby tomb. The arrival of the new hostile seemed to affect the target strangely, causing it to freeze in place as though hypnotized while the vampire approached. Just before the vampire could attack the Slayer, its partner appeared to notice."
Perkins hesitated again and cleared his throat before continuing, "At this point the Slayer's partner seemed to shout something and a bright yellow light engulfed the Slayer and its partner. The vampire that had been preparing to engage our target recoiled instantly from the light, appearing afraid of it. It threw one of the other vampires at the target and fled the cemetery with remaining vampires in tow. Whatever the light was, it caused the vampire that was thrown into it to combust. The target's companion then collapsed and the light faded."
Perkins looked slightly troubled by what he said next, "The target seemed prepared to pursue and destroy the remaining vampires until its companion collapsed. Instead of pursuing, our target shouted the word 'willow', scooped up its companion and fled the cemetery at high speed. Charlie team was unable to keep up and lost the target."
Gates' mind was whirling at the revelation. This so-called Slayer and her partner had taken on 25 vampires in close combat and not only survived, but had destroyed almost half of them. Riley and the brass weren't kidding when they classified this hostile as a serious threat!
"Describe the companion," Riley said simply, his tone clearly indicating an order rather than a request. His words shook Gates out of his considerations, bringing his attention back to the briefing.
"The companion appeared to be a human female as well. It was slightly taller than the target, similar build and dress, with very red hair."
'Ah,' thought Forrest, a thin smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as he recognized the description. It was the same freak he'd watched threaten someone earlier. There was something weird about that girl; she clearly wasn't a normal human.
Riley nodded as Perkins spoke and drew a photo out of a file in front of him. Glancing at it he passed it to Perkins, "Is this the companion?"
Perkins glanced at the photo briefly before confirming, "Yes sir, it is."
"Miller? Your radio contacts indicate that you picked up the target after Charlie team lost it." Riley stated turning to look at the other man.
"Yes sir. I was on observation duty in a residential area not far from campus when I saw the target moving down the street at speed. I took cover and observed the target enter an apartment nearby. I was able to determine that the apartment was the residence of one Rupert Giles." Miller paused, letting Riley jot the name down before continuing. "Using the portable thermal and pheromone scanners I was able to establish the presence of one human collaborator, one vampire-class HST, the target and two indeterminate signals, one of whom was the redheaded companion Agent Perkins identified."
"Indeterminate signals?" Riley interjected sharply, "Explain."
Graham nodded and Forrest had to suppress a smirk. Riley never was one much for getting into the technical details of some of their equipment. "There were two additional individuals in the apartment that were detected on the scanners. Unfortunately, the readings for those two registered as borderline. They're within the tolerances to be human, barely, or they could be low-spectrum HST's."
Riley nodded making additional notes. "Continue," he ordered simply.
"A short while later the vampire and one of the indeterminate signals, who appeared to be a human male, departed from the apartment, got into a large black car and departed. Unfortunately, from my vantage point, I couldn't establish a make or model nor could I get more than a partial license plate." Miller frowned. "A short while later, the target and the redhead departed as well, heading in the direction of campus at a leisurely pace. I radioed in an alert to Base and came in for debriefing."
Riley nodded, "Good work. Tailing the HST's in that area would have been virtually impossible without being discovered." The young soldier looked at his second in command. "Gates?"
Forrest nodded sharply and began his own report. "I caught sight of the target and her companion as they re-entered campus grounds. I immediately re-positioned my team spread and ready, in case we were given a go ahead to attempt capture."
"At one point, they were approached by what appeared to be two men and some sort of confrontation ensued. We weren't close enough to actually hear them, but they reacted suspiciously to the arrival of the first man and seemed overtly hostile to the second." Forrest stopped for a moment, trying to recall everything that he'd seen. A frown drifted his face and for the briefest of moments he had the strangest feeling that he was forgetting something, and it was something important. He shook his head, dismissing the thought.
"During the confrontation with the second man, the redhead physically threatened him. She was able to cross 10-12 feet of open ground faster than I thought was possible. She seemed extremely agitated and effortlessly lifted the man off the ground by his clothing. She pushed him away and he fled."
The vague feeling that something was missing from his explanation faded, and Forrest smirked slightly as he continued his explanation, "The redhead then hugged the first man and after a short conversation he left. The target and the redhead then proceeded on their way."
"The two men were human?" Riley asked.
"Unknown sir, team positioning didn't allow the scanner tech to get a conclusive reading," Gates answered instantly.
Riley frowned slightly, "Descriptions?"
"As I said, both appeared to be normal human men. First was of average height and build, dark, curly hair and wore an extremely expensive looking gray suit," Gates rattled off instantly. "Second man was approximately the same height as our primary target, a bit slimmer than average, wearing a loud Hawaiian shirt, grey slacks and a red-brown leather coat. He also wore a hat."
"Alright," Riley said, as he finished taking notes on the apparent unknowns. "The companion, positively identified by Agent Perkins was one Willow Rosenberg, a long time associate of the target. Miller, I want you to do a background check on Rupert Giles. I need to know if he's a willing human collaborator or not. Gates, Perkins get back with your teams and keep your eyes opened."
All three of the men nodded their heads sharply at their orders. A quick bark of "Dismissed!" from Riley and the three soldiers went back to work.
Riley sat and stared at his notes for a few moments, reviewing his men's reports. Whatever she was, the Slayer was attached to Rosenberg and attachment was a weakness they could exploit. They would be able to move against the target soon. Mother would be very pleased.