Fic: "Immortal Beloved..." XCIX...Part T...
reg...@aol.com
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 T...
A hastily summoned meeting of the Circle to discuss the latest disaster
in l'affair Walthrop...Personally...
A rather put out, but relatively undamaged, Dru in angry
attendance...The former ball guests, host, and hostess now out of their
finery...
"This is most distressing...But you are quite all right?..." a
worried Emil eyes Dru...Who beams at him...
Little fellow's sweet... And rather charming in his way...Such nice
eyes...
"Very well, thank you Emil..." she nods...
"What distresses me..." Matisse cuts in...Eyeing His Benevolence in
his center chair at the table... "Is how Walthrop's 'helper'
knew what was up...An anti-aircraft rocket launcher handy?...Hardly
likely without advance information..."
"Yes..." Dru nods eagerly... "And Buffy..."
"Finn's men undoubtedly have surveillance on our people at all
times..." Henri cuts her off... "It's easily explained..."
"I don't know, Henri..." Dr. Bauman sighs from his chair...
"Reluctant as I am to consider the possibility..."
"Gentlemen...And Maman..." nod to the frowning Countess in her
chair..."I can assure you that my wife's participation in this
latest operation was whole-hearted...She was as distressed as the rest
of us to learn..."
"I can speak for myself, darling..." Buffy turns in her chair to
better face the group now eyeing her...
***
Angel staring over from his chair in his hotel room at his nervously
pacing partner...
"Will?...You know you're doing her no good pacing up and down all
night....Why don't you try and get some sleep?..."
"Angel, if Dru gets back Undead to them...And she will, you know she
will...And tells them how I got away..."
"Worst case scenario...Buffy'll have to kill them all...And the
plutonium slips off in the hands of the junior boys..." Angel eyed
him...
"Screw the plutonium...The Immortal's a lying bastard...He might
tell her nothing, get the drop on her..."
"God help him if he does...She already hates his guts but she feels a
little guilty towards him...This would tip things toward extreme
prejudice..."
"Angel...I'm going over..." Will headed for the door...Angel,
sighing a bit...Been a long night of this...Hurried over...
"Will..."
"You're ready to sit back and give 'em a crack at her...?"
"Will, we go over there and the jig's up...Their people'll spot
us before we can even leave the hotel and they'll be long gone, along
with Buffy and any info on their smuggling operation...We stay out of
it now and she may be able to talk her way out...In any case, she's
safer here in Switzerland than on a plane at 30,000 feet with her
fleeing 'friends' and 'family'... Our best bet is to follow
Riley's plan..."
"You've been saying you thought she'd throw the mission for
me?...Now you think she'll go off with them just to get the job
done?..."
"You go charging over there putting your ass in jeopardy and you'll
see how fast she throws the whole thing over...But if she did go with
them, it wouldn't be for the mission's sake but to protect her
blonde dunderhead...If she'd cared about the mission, she'd've
let Dru kill you, or at least have a fair shot, not threaten Riley if
he didn't have help at hand..."
Point there...Will conceded...A smile coming to his face...
"Would you leave her alone there if she were still your girl?..."
he eyed Angel...
"I left her in Sunnydale, still believing someday, maybe..." Angel
answered coolly... "And I did it 'cause I knew she could handle it
and I was in the way..."
"Right..." Will got up... "Now I'm definitely going...After the
way you two ended up..."
"Will, for God's sake..."
"Besides, I'm her husband, remember?...Stupid as it might be to
butt in, would you leave Nina alone?... "
Angel sighed...
"Lets go..." he shrugged, rising... "I see there's no
point...And no, I wouldn't be able to..."
Which I guess means I knew, somehow, even back then in Sunnydale...he
looked at William a moment...
"We can still do it Riley's way, more or less..." Will noted as
they moved to the door... "It might even set things up better for his
little playlet..."
"She gonna have our heads for this, Will...But..." Angel grinned
wanly as they entered the hotel corridor, Will peering up and down for
any of the Immortal's ..Or Riley's...People....No one...
"I know in her heart she'll appreciate it...Even if we all get
killed..."
***
"Mmmphf..." Samantha Finn noted as Riley gently deposited her into
their bed and covered her with a blanket...
Quite a night...Though about time they'd had a good chance to let
their hair...His cell phone buzzed...
"I knew he'd never stay put..." he sighed, moving off from the
bed, turning, and putting phone to ear... "Finn here...Uh-huh...Both
of them?...Great....Well, follow at a distance, keep 'em under
surveillance...I'll be up in a bit...Let me know immediately if
Countess d'Vestigy calls or anything is seen going on by our people
watching the estate..."
He hung the phone on a belt clip, checked a pistol in a chest holster,
and started to move for the door...
"We goin' out again?..." Sam was up and beside him, a tad bleary
and swaying...
"Go back to bed, pumpkin..."
"I'm fine...I took a pill...Head'll be clear in a mo..." she
blinked... Whoa... "That was some stuf' that ozone..." she swayed
again...
"Ouzo...Sam..."
She waged a finger, steadier now... "We gotta a deal, Mr. Finn...If
we're around and able to get on my feet or your feet,, we go when you
go...Or me go...Well, whatever...Les' go..." she reached for the
knob...
Clumsily yet swiftly dodging his effort to try a nerve pinch...He
couldn't help smiling at those Samian reflexes... "Pumpkin, you try
that again and you'll be the one sleepin' this one off...But I
don' know where we're goin'..."
He gave up, shrugging...Besides, she did have him on the deal... "The
D'Vestigy estate..."
"Oh..." she grinned, opening the door... "William's made it
and's headin' to get his lady love...?"
"He survived Dru's second assassination attempt, thanks to good ole
Conrad...But he and Angel must be afraid Buffy may be in danger now if
Dru's accused her..." they were moving down the corridor...She
moving smoothly now as the anti-alcohol drug kicked in...He briefly
calling by cell phone for a car to meet them...
"And he went ri' off to get her...What a sweet guy...She'll be
pissed of course..." she noted, just a bit wobbily now... "Though
she'll love it..." she beamed...
"Lets move it!..." Riley called to the agents by the embassy exit,
waving his just arrived car over...
"Just like when I screwed up your mission in that little
village...Comin' after you like a big lug of a pumpkin..." she
grinned at him..."Though I did save your life..."
"In more ways than one..." he nodded, pulling her into the car...
"Pumpkin..." she beamed...
***
"We've been over this ground before but I think my record with
William the Bloody speaks for itself..." Buffy noted to the Circle,
the group's members' eyes on her...Henri's somewhat
nervous...Bauman and Emil fairly sympathetic...A few clearly
suspicious...Matisse and The old Countess cool and inscrutable...
"When he was useful to the fight, I kept him on board anyway I
could...When he was no longer of use, I discarded him...I'm sorry for
him but he's a vampire and expendable...Though it's a shame he had
to come and get in our way...Just as it's a pity he and Angel and
Finn could never see past their limitations to what we're trying to
do..."
"Someone did inform Finn's man that Drusilla was coming after
Walthrop..." Matisse noted, a quiet and polite stare...
"Yes...Someone told the old man to bring a rocket launcher to kill
poor ole Dru...And poor Miss Edith...Look..." Drusilla sighed,
holding up the slightly singed doll...But tried not to slip off into a
maudlin state...
Professional, Drusilla, professional...she told herself...Mrs. Peel all
the way...But indignation spilled over...
"He was warned I was coming...Miss Edith agrees..." Ummn...
"I could hardly have warned him you were coming by plane, Dru..."
Buffy said quietly..."Since I didn't know..."
"You wouldn't kill Spike, Slayer..." Dru shook her head...Buffy
staring back... "You love my silly one..."
"I did kill him...I left him in the cavern when the First was
through...I did nothing to help him while we were together...But if the
rest of you still don't trust me..." she shrugged... "I might
point out that if I was a traitor, I could very easily kill all of you
present and turn your project as it stands over to Finn and his
people..."
"You very likely could...Turning what you can find to your own fellow
Americans..." Matisse noted... "But I would guess...Hope..." he
smiled coolly at her, then Henri... "That you know relatively little
even now...And we have never trusted you blindly, Slayer..."
"I'm not asking for more than what you're willing to give,
Eric..." she frowned... "But anything I can do for Henri and his
work, I do...And will do...I've never demanded more..."
"Well, this leaves us in a quandary...." Matisse sighed... "You
may be speaking the truth...You may be lying...As we told you when you
offered your assistance with Mr. Finn and your former lovers..."
Henri wincing slightly... "It would be unreasonable to expect us to
place complete faith in you...And now this botched operation..."
Botched?...Dru frowned...
"And as when I offered to help..." Buffy noted... "So long as I
know nothing I can divulge and provide some source of information on
what Finn and co are up to, I'm useful and worth keeping at hand,
under your surveillance...Until I earn the Circle's full trust..."
"Even the most trusted are watched, Countess..." Matisse smiled...
"I should hope even your husband, the Countess, and I are properly
observed at all times..."
"The issue here is the failure with Walthrop..." Feucher, the
politician...Looking rather anxious from his monitor...Though in no
immediate physical danger, much to lose should the Circle be exposed...
"And if we are betrayed, you, D'Vestigy and the rest of you have
compromised me by bringing me into this..."
"This matter concerns us all, Feucher..." Matisse shrugged...
"We'll bear the loss of Austria if we must, Feucher...Your role is
one of many..." Henri frowned, cutting in...Feucher reddening...
"I've risked much for the Circle and our plans..." he began...
"Henri is right..." Matisse put up a hand...The elder Countess and
the younger both eyeing him...
Even if he can't lead an investigation into a matter involving his
own wife, Henri should really not let the fellow walk all over him like
this...He's the Immortal one, after all...
"We all share the risks, Feucher...And, you being out of the
Countess' reach, assuming she finds it necessary to deal with us, are
by far the least at risk right now..."
"Getting back to the matter at hand...Finn keeps constant watch on
the vampires and this place...It's not unreasonable that his men
learned of Ms. Waverly's plan and got help to Walthrop..." Henri
insisted... "And since my wife has voluntarily kept herself from
detailed knowledge of our affairs..."
"And since eliminating her would admittedly be difficult..."
Matisse smiled at Buffy who returned the smile..."I would recommend
we await developments but that the Countess agrees to the strictest
surveillance..."
"Fine..." Buffy shrugged... "But don't break off my contacts
with Finn...For your own sakes...He and William will suspect I'm in
danger or worse and do something foolish that'll disrupt your
schedule..."
Dru frowning, looking for support among the faces...Emil nodding to
her...Good ole Emil...she beamed...
Henri turned at the touch of the discreet butler, Joseph, who'd just
entered the room after a cautious knock...Whispers...
"I think it's quite clear our Ms. Waverly did her best and that her
effort would have succeeded but for some sort of leak..." Emil spoke
up...
"No one doubts our Drusilla did her best..." Henri shook his head,
smiling at Dru... "But we mustn't rush to blaming our own without
facts..."
"There is one proof..." Emil, buoyed by Dru's fond stare,
persisted...Though nervously perspiring as he did so... "If Walthrop
knows Drusilla survived, he will want to make sure his beloved is all
right...He'll try to make contact..."
"Yes...Good, Emil!..." Dru nodded vigorously, beaming at the little
man... "My silly boy will come to rescue his Slayer love..."
"He may come in any case...Whether he thinks I'm in danger or
betrayed him...Then we'll have another opportunity..." Buffy noted
quietly...
"And we may have that opportunity soon, ladies and gentlemen..."
Henri cut in... "Our surveillance tells me both Angel and Walthrop
have left their hotel and seem to be heading this way..."
"Emil tole you..." Dru eyed the group firmly...Smile for the now
beaming Emil...
"Let me meet him...Under surveillance..." Buffy suggested...
"I'll settle this once and for all..." she patted the pocket of
her blouse under a bulky sweater...
Matisse eyeing her narrowly...As did the Countess...Henri beaming at
her...
"Unless you prefer to do it yourselves..." she returned the stares,
smile to Henri... "But I have to point out you haven't done all
that well so far..."
"She'll deal with him, my friends...Let her have her chance..."
Henri glanced about the room at the faces both seated and on monitor
screens...
"Certainly..." Matisse nodded coolly... "And should he escape
again, the matter will be settled...In the meantime, I would recommend
we prepare to leave quickly...Dr. Bauman, Emil, Countess..." he
nodded to each in turn... "I think you should each make your way to a
secure exit with any specific material you have with you...I will see
that any other materials which can be moved, are...Just in case..."
"Eric..." Henri frowned... "I approve your suggestion..." he
said coolly... "And we can see to the
removals together..."
"Of course..." Matisse made a depreciating gesture... "Forgive my
impatience..."
"I'll give Emil a hand..." Dru suggested...
"Drusilla perhaps would be the best choice to monitor the Countess'
rendezvous..." Henri noted... "Indeed..." Matisse agreed...
She frowned a little...Was hopin' to get to know Emil a little
better...Still...Duty calls...
Though she was pleased to see the disappointed look Emil in turn
bore...
"I'd be glad to, Your Benevolence..." Dru nodded, a tad
wistfully...
"First time I've ever had Drusilla watching my back..." Buffy
grinned... "Well, let me go and set my poor ex-lover's fears...And
his soul...At rest..." she rose...Henri and the others quickly
following...
Henri catching her just outside the door where she had paused for
him...
"Dear...I am sorry...You know I did not want to see you forced
to..."
"It's fine..." she patted him, kissing him on the cheek... "I
should have done it myself right at the start...It's the best thing
for him as well as us..."
She eyed him as she pulled back... "You trust me?..."
"I always have..." he nodded...And hurried off...Matisse already
rushing ahead...
She caught the elder Countess staring at her a moment in the hallway...
Appraising but also...Pleading...
She gave a brief nod and turned to follow the hall back toward to the
stairs for the ground level and the estate's main entrance...Nothing
but determination in her step...
"Take care Emil..." Dru hastily patted the chubby little man at the
door and hurriedly after the Slayer... Emil looking forlornly after
her...
"You, too..." he called...
***