Willow saved the day. She strode in like a white knight on a horse reensouling Angel. Then offered Katarina assistance anytime she needed it. Katarina took her up on her offer. There was no time to rest. Instead she drew upon her sister's energy to recharge her batteries. Then in a flash the red head was gone off to save the world from natural disaster.
Katarina raised an eyebrow. Angel had forgotten she was a mind reader. The two of them would have a talk about this idea later. "I'm going to teleport us to the Magic Castle so we can help our friends," she didn't wait for any objects. She took a deep breath then zapped all four of them into the night club.
Buffy, Spike, Katarina, and Spike move to Vampire Rising the Fall.
�Oowwww� Angel struggled to his knees, but held his head in both hands. There was a knot on the side of his skull that even his vampire healing wouldn�t fix right away. But that was the least of his problems. He gazed up at Buffy and then Kat, cringing inside and out, because he�d watched from inside his head, through these eyes, as Angelus was about to carve up Kat�s face. And what his evil alternate ego had planned for Buffy was worse. Far worse. He sat back down.
Angel couldn�t face his friends, so he stared at the concrete floor.�This has happened one too many times.Angelus is never going away, he�s always going to be inside of me on a leash and just like any leashed animal he�s going to get out now and then.Nothing I can do to stop him.And apparently Willow agrees.Angelus heard what she said.�
�The risk is too great.People will be tortured, they�ll die.People I love.This has to stop.�He made his mind up right then and there.He wasn�t going to tell his friends, because they�d stop him.But when the sun came up in the morning, he was going to be there to greet it.
Will materialized within the old warehouse. She grinned, �Hey sis! Hey Buffy!� She waved to Spike. Angel/Angelus was lying on the floor in a heap. Spike was standing over him with a frying pan, apparently ready to wallop him if he woke up. �Hold off there mister, Angel�s going to have one heck of a headache as it is. Don�t hit him unless its absolutely necessary.� Will whispered an incantation and an Orb of Thesulah appeared in her right hand. A soft blue-white glow emanated from it. �This is essentially the same spell that Miss Calendar translated way back when. I just need to tweak it a little because from the glow of this thing I can tell Angel�s soul is still inside of his body, but its locked away, trapped wherever Angelus is usually trapped. I just need to have them switch places so Angel�s soul is dominant. I wish I had a way of just banishing Angelus for good, I really do, but that gypsy spell had some twists and turns to it I haven�t figured out. It essentially locked Angelus in. Makes it really hard to evict him.�
Willow closed her eyes and spoke a few words in an archaic language.Little stars swirled around the Orb, then flew towards and into Angel/Angelus.Will opened her eyes and the Orb of Thesulah vanished.�That should do it!Oh, and I unfroze Sam Winchester.�Turning to her sister, she said �Kat if at any time you need some extra mojo, just tap into me.You can draw upon anything and everything I�ve got.Ok, gotta go.I�m working on a spell with an environmental coven to halt global warming.�Then she disappeared.
Buffy was so thankful when Spike showed up and along with Kat managed to knock him out and set them both free. Buffy rubbed her wrists and watched as Angelus swung back and forth wishing she could see some good in him, but without his soul he was lost and she knew they needed to get his restored as quickly as possible.
She could remember the fear from last time he was freed so vividly, remember the worry and how losing Miss Calendar had affected them all. She wished she knew the best way to make things right but the truth was that all she wanted was to punch him till he bled for everything he had done.
As Kat spoke to her Buffy shook her thoughts away and forced a smile, "Yeah I will call her now!" She stepped away from the others and called her best friend determined to make sure that things were put right. Willow didn't answer so she left a message "Hey Will we caught Angelus and we just need you to smoosh his soul back in him so call me back as soon as you can!"
Turning she looked at the others, "She didn't answer so I left a message...what do we do with him until she can get here?" she asked with an awkward look on her face.
Kat thanked Buffy for her freedom then added,"could you call Willow?" Her interest shifted. She approached the vampires rubbing her chaffed wrists. She flicked her fingers tips out ward. The restraints materialized around Angelus ankles and wrists. A wave of her hand the chains pulled him back hanging him in the air. His head bobbed. She was afraid he was about to stir. The horrible images of the things he planned to do to them ran through her head. The distrought angel walked over slugging him. It took everything she had to land the blow. She quickly pulled her hand back shaking it in pain.
The danger contained her focus was no longer consumed. Her mind clear. She turned to Spike amazed. He had been wrought with concern for them. He didn't even notice. He had saved them without a soul. His feelings ran deeper than this missing part? She wrapped her arms around him kissing him passionately without explaination. The kiss full of fire passing a spark that drew the light of his soul back to him. A gift from the heart less complicated than the one her sister would bestow upon Angel. She pulled away in haze consumed by the fire attempting to capture her breath.
"Ummm, we uh need to help the Winchesters. They are at a place called The Magic Castle?" reluctantly snapping out of her trance. She couldn't help herself. "Sorry," casting an apologetic glance towards Buffy as she came back from cloud nine. "Did you find your cellphone? Were you able to call Will?"
Spike�s mind was like a polluted, trashy beach suddenly washed clean by a tsunami wave. That pollution and trash had been Lilith�s thrall. It wasn�t wiped away completely, though. There were still a few overturned trash cans on that beach. Lilith was still out there, but something dramatic had happened to her. Her power over Spike and the other vampires was dialed way, way back.
With his thoughts clearer now, he knew that Kat and Buffy were in grave danger.Angelus was still Angelus, with or without Lilith�s influence.In fact, Spike�s lover and the slayer were probably in more danger than if Lilith was in charge.But Spike was locked inside a jail cell.He�d already tested the bars.They were solid.No way he was getting through them. So he looked elsewhere.In the center of the floor was a drain.He got down on one knee to examine it.That�s when Kat�s cry for help resonated through his noggin.Angelus was about to torture her.He punched out the drain and then just kept punching, his fists getting bloodied in the process.But he was making progress, the floor was opening up.And in a couple of minutes he was able to drop down into the storm drain.From there he ran until he could access the street through a manhole cover.A stolen car and a few minutes of driving at breakneck speed and he was at the warehouse.Angel�s black GTX was parked outside.Spike parked a few hundred feet away and left the door to his stolen sedan open in the hopes that Angelus was distracted enough that he wouldn�t have heard him drive up.He looked for a weapon.There was a trash heap.Nothin much of use there except a 16 inch cast iron skillet that was mostly rusted through.Spike picked it up by the handle and crept into the warehouse.
What he saw horrified him and majorly pissed him off at the same time.Kat and Buffy were shackled and hand-cuffed to the wall.Angelus had a scalpel and he was dangerously close to Kat�s face.Buffy saw him but quickly looked away, not wanting to alert Angelus of Spike�s presence.Wishing he was wearing sneakers instead of his heavy work boots, Spike approached as silently as he could.When he was within arm�s reach of the vampire he said, �Hey Cap�n Forehead.�Angelus lowered the scalpel and began to turn.As he did, Spike swung that skillet with all his strength.It clanged off of Angelus� skull and the vampire went flying.Out for the count.Spike quickly searched Angelus� pockets and found the keys to the handcuffs and shackles.Buffy already had one her hands free so he tossed the keys to her.�Are you two ok?Once you�re free, lets shackle and handcuff tall, dark, and evil here.Then maybe we can give a call to the Red Witch.Have her re-ensoul him.�Spike had lost count of how many times Willow had done that.Angelus began to stir, so Spike smacked him with the frying pan again.
Buffy's eyes widened as Angel approached Kat with the scalpel and aimed for her eye. She knew there was no way for them to get help if Kat was in pain and unable to contact anyone. Buffy started to wriggle, her body swaying back and forth in a crazy manner, starting to make her feel sick and she knew it would annoy the vampire.
She managed to free one hand and started to reach up for the restraints on her feet. She was not trying to hide what she was doing in any way, all she needed was to give Kat the time she needed to call on Spike or anyone to come and help them. Lilith was a threat to them, but nobody scared or hurt Buffy like Angelus and she was not going to let him hurt any of her friends this time.
She felt like her head was going to explode from hanging upside down for so long, and she longed to escape. The problem was that Angelus had bound her up so well there was no way she was going to be able to get free enough to have a chance to fight. All she wanted was his attention, she could put up with some pain, and she had Slayer healing, just so long as Kat had a chance that was all that mattered to her.
He had wanted to focus in on Buffy first, do some minor but painful damage to her. Slice her in some especially sensitive areas. Just enough to make her scream. Angel knew she was a screamer at heart. But angel girl kept distracting him, so he decided to deal with her first.
�You�re not wrong about that, Katarina. Not a thinker, really. I�m no Einstein, and not at all like that pathetic cripple Stephen Hawking. But I might surprise you now and then. Buffy knows what I mean. Still, I operate more on instinct and emotions more than anything else. I live in the moment, angel girl, and this moment is mine.� He put the needle-nosed pliers back down on the tool cart and picked up a scalpel. �If we�re going to do some surgery, this is a way better tool. Precise, razor sharp. The needle-nosed pliers are more like a bludgeon. They�ll work,� he shrugged, �but this is a true surgeon�s tool.� He approached Kat and, with his thumb and forefinger, stretched the lids of her right eye back from the eye ball. �Now, if I recall you have a little astigmatism. Let me see if I can fix that for you.� He brought the scalpel up to her eye.
He couldn�t kill Katarina if he was to ever deal her to Lilith, but a little cosmetic damage wouldn�t negate the bargain.
Kat rolled her eyes. Angelus droned on. He talked about himself in third person. Then remarks about a plan. "I can see there isn't much going on up stairs. Thinking really isn't your thing," she gave a faux cocky grin.
She remained defiant as he began describing his torture. Deep down she was beginning to worry. She wasn't sure Spike would arrive. Nor how long it would be before she would get a moment to make a move herself. Fear bubbled in the pit of her stomach. She still figured there was a way out of the mess, but not without a degree of collateral damage. It could be painful and nightmarish. She would never look at the vampire the same again.
Buffy awoke. She began trying to plea bargain. Angelus attention was diverted Katarina began to wiggle her wrists attempting to slip out of the cuffs. The metal scrapped and cut. A few drops of blood ran down her wrist, but she almost had her hands free. Then what about the shackles? she hadn't thought that far. Perhaps Buffy could keep him distracted?
In response to Kat, Angelus said �What? A vampire can�t have a little fun now and then? Lilith didn�t have me on a leash, she enthralled me. Just like Angel had me in a cage all those years. Well the lock on that cage is busted and Angelus has been set free. Forever. Never going back, angel girl.� He stood up from his chair, picked up a pair of needle-nosed pliers and approached Kat. �This isn�t a grand plan. Angelus never had a grand plan and never will. I�m not like one of those evil world domination freaks. I�ve got no power trip. I just want to be a vampire, do what vampires do. Which is to hunt people. Toy with them, torture them. Ultimately eat them. Is that too much to ask?�
He turned the pliers over in his hand to examine them.He snapped opened and then closed the business end.Such a mundane tool, and beautiful in its simplicity.�Just so you know.This isn�t about you.It�s never been about you.You�re just collateral damage.But Lilith wants you. I don�t know why and I don�t really care.So I�ll keep you alive, as a bargaining chip.Insurance.Although you�re going to be damaged goods by the time I�m done with you.�
He stepped up to within inches of her face.�I�m thinking we might start with a little surgery.I can tell you�ve got a bad molar in your lower jaw.I can fix that.Tooth extraction.And then maybe we�ll move on to your appendix.Did you know that scientists think the appendix is some sort of evolutionary relict?Had a function once, but its just useless flesh now. I can fix that too.You don�t need it.And gall bladders are just an annoyance.They eventually get stoppered up with gall stones.I could pluck that out with my needle-nosed pliers, save you the pain and expense of inevitable infection and gall bladder surgery in a hospital.�
Then Buffy came to life and spoke up.Angelus turned to her, a malevolent grin dominating his features.�Buffy, Buffy, Buffy.Trying lamely to make a deal.Unlike angel girl here, it is all about you.You�re the one who made Angel the lovesick moronic puppy dog that he was.Redemption became his only hope, that and the dream that maybe you and he could be together someday.Plutonic love.Do you know how sick that made me?How angry, when I was bottled up inside of him, having to watch all of that?Oh no, Buffy, you�re not getting out of this warehouse alive.And what a long, slow death its going to be.�His mirthless grin spread almost ear to ear.
