Bludhaven Hellmouth
by Redwulf



Chapter Four

149 days ago, Los Angelus

Buffy Summers sat in her motel room outside of Los Angelus broken and crying. No one could or would even attempt to understand the pain she felt. To them he had been a monster - someone to be used then discarded.

Buffy herself hadn't understood his importance to her until only a few minutes ago, when she had heard a song on the radio. Her first thought had been that Spike would have hated it. That simple thought was all it took to bring her to tears. And once they had started she couldn't stop, because dammit he was hers - he wasn't allowed to die. While she wanted to be proud of his sacrifice, right now all she could think about was how her own life felt so empty without him.

She wasn't being fair she knew that. Dawnie loved him too, even though things between them had been strained this past year. Hell, even Andrew wanted to be Spike, but right now the pain was too new, too raw. And selfishly, she really didn't want to share what she was feeling.

Buffy didn't want to be in Los Angelus either. It wasn't her choice. Her other friends, Willow and Xander, had wanted to go to Angel and see about trying to regroup and start anew. She didn't want to see Angel. As wrong as she knew it was, she couldn't help but blame him for Spike's death. After all, Angel had brought that damn necklace that killed her Spike. Logic tried to reason with her that Angel had been intent on wearing it himself, but sometimes feelings defied logic. She hurt, and she didn't want to stop hurting. Some twisted part of her wanted to suffer for him.

The knock at her door drew her out of her reverie, which boiled her blood. She was grieving damn it. Couldn't they let her rest in peace? She slung the door open to find a purple demon/man there in a three-piece suit.

"Mrs. Summers-Wordsworth?" asked the demon/man.

"No, just Miss Summers," she answered. "I never had the pleasure."

"You don't understand Miss Summers." The man replied as he stepped past her into the room. "If you don't want the government gaining control of Spike's estate, you will BE Mrs. Summers-Wordsworth, the widowed heir of William Carlyle Wordsworth, Earl of Flooksburg."

"Why would that matter? Why should I profit from his death?" Buffy asked, truly dumbfounded.

"Because William chose you as his heir. Unfortunately those criminals have seized his assets. And in order to reclaim them, they will only accept a wife or child, who must show up in Cleveland in person in the middle of a sunny day to claim their inheritance." Purple guy explained.

"And you are?"

"James Richard Murtog, junior partner of Murphy, Edwards, Aldridge and Murtog. I was William's attorney." James answered.

"Listen, I know you are trying to do the right thing, but would it be so bad for the government to get his money?" she asked, still totally confused.

"Do you really think William would want Riley Finn and the Initiative to have anything of his? Let alone an estate valued at over 10 billion dollars?" asked the attorney.

"Ten Billion?" Buffy was sure she had heard wrong.

"Yes, my dear, ten billion. William always had a knack for wild investments that paid off. In the seventies he was thought of as a fool to invest in two rival companies in an untried industry, but now both Apple and Microsoft have more than paid off for him."

Gotham City the Clock tower still 149 days ago

Barbara Gordon woke up next to her lover with such a feeling of contentment, the likes of which she had never felt before. Last night had been beyond amazing. Never in her life had sex been that good. Her body was still pleasantly sore from their exertions. It was bliss. No other word even came close to describing how she felt right now.

Then it happened. Since she had lost the use of her legs, she had experienced phantom pains. They were expected every so often. But at the moment, the feeling was more prevalent. It felt almost like she was wiggling her toes. She wasn't; she knew that. Still every time she had those phantom sensations, they felt so real, like now, that she looked down to see if they really were moving. This time, however, when she looked down, she nearly jumped off the bed. Her freaking toes really were moving.

Slowly knowing it wasn't real, she raised her left knee. It hurt like hell, but she was able to raise her knee all the way to her forehead. "Oh shit!" Four years in a wheelchair, and now, she could move her legs?

"Whaaaat?" Dick mumbled, beginning to wake up, and she was filled with fear.

"Nothing FBW, just wondering if you're up for another round of 'pin the tail on the Oracle."

Dick Grayson had her pinned to the bed in seconds, kissing her senseless.

3 days ago in a Hell Dimension

Even for Spike, his current situation was strange. Suddenly he was in what appeared to be a bubble twenty feet from where 'his' body was being tortured. For the first time in forever, he felt no pain and could actually understand that neither 'Buffy' before his body was real. Also, he knew that the apparition beating him was not in fact his Sire. It was a strange feeling.

"Do you understand now?" asked a man in a black silk suit with a domino mask. "What you've seen and experienced isn't real and isn't true. What your eyes have seen is false. What is true is that the one who calls himself the First Evil is torturing you, trying to break you."

"Oh? For once it is all about Spike?" The vampire asked him. "Bloody hell, I know better. It's all about Buffy, or all about the bastard Poofter, or, sod's law; it's all about the red-and-blue wanker in Metropolis. Never is it all about Spike; 'm not that bloody important."

The masked man smiled. "It is refreshing to find humility in a Champion. However, this time it is all about you, or rather, what you will choose to do."

"Bloody hell, I choose to bloody die."

"Not a choice." The Dark man answered, "Remember when the time is upon you, that the one that faces you in battle loves you, but the one she defends is truly your heart."

With that vague parting, the man was gone. Spike found himself back inside his own body being tortured. As the pain returned shoving away any thoughts about what his temporary reprieve, the First Evil's torture became truly vicious.

Present

Batman sat in his cave silently working on his computer. For the last seven hours, he had been researching. Although 10 am approached, sleep was the furthest thing on his mind. Instead he kept vigil as the massive machine in front of him searched for the answers to two problems that might as well be one. Despite what many thought, Batman did believe in the supernatural. He didn't like it, but he had seen too much to believe otherwise. He had searched and studied long and hard to discover the laws and logic behind it, and despite what many occult figures would have you believe, the supernatural did function with its own logic - a twisted logic perhaps, but logic none-the-less.

On his computer window, Batman was rereading a document he had found nearly four years ago. Upon its discovery, he had realized its importance not just to him, but also to Barbara and Dick. The document was a prophecy written in seven demon languages and nine alien ones, three of which he had yet to decipher.

The prophecy had become something of a hobby to him after he found it right after Jason had died. Its initial appeal had been finding a document that was over 3000 years old. Then he discovered it foretold of his second son's death spooking the generally stoic Batman. Over the intervening years, he had translated more of the text. Some parts had made him smile, like the bit about the eldest son of the Knight of the Bat defying his father to become all that his father is and more. Some had made him even chuckle - the Younger Knight of the Bat shall take the flame-haired Oracle as a friend, lover and wife. However, certain passages had nearly scared him to death, such as reading after the fact the prophesized death of Superman and the destruction of Coast City.

Now, the entire first part of prophecy seemed to fall into place. Unfortunately, now he discovered whom it referred to as the "Blackest Knight, who shall embrace the sun and forever change the world". And it was something that made him wish he had thrown the whole thing away years ago. But he was Batman and he never shirked the hard jobs.

His files on William Wordsworth, aka Spike aka "The Blackest Knight,' were now more complete than even the ones he had on himself and his children. From what he had read, he had no idea how to influence the so-called choice, but that didn't mean he wouldn't begin to learn and to try. It was time to bring others into this; he could no longer use his vanity as a defense mechanism.

'Who' to bring in was not a hard choice; both his eldest and his youngest were brilliant and would have personal reasons to help him figure it out. Of coursing, add in the young woman, who according to this document referred to as pregnant with his granddaughter, and he had a team of detectives from whom nothing could hide.

He heard the tell-tell noises of the presence of his other child - a child who was perfectly capable of beating both him and his two sons within an inch of their lives if she wished. 'Granddaddy Bat'… it had a nice sound

"Cassandra?" He called out. "I need you to..." He thought for a second. "Cassandra, I need a favor."

Bruce Wayne wondered to himself if Alfred would be okay with painting the west wing pink.

Roy Harper had taken over for Donna and Kory nearly three hours ago. With little Lian asleep beside him, he watched over the man in the hospital bed. He had finished reading the Star Labs report hours ago, and now was nearly finished with reading the tale of 'William the Bloody.' If it hadn't been the fact that the bio had been compiled by Oracle, he would have sworn that 'the tale' had been a cheap Harlequin novel that the two Titan women had been reading.

"Dude, your love life bites the big one," Roy said realizing the truth. "I mean my love life is bad, but yours bites the big one."

"For my love life, as you call it to 'bite the big one,' I would have to have a love life," suddenly said the man in the bed.

"Vampire, dude… you're awake." Roy signaled the nurses.

"I know not this 'vampire' of whom you speak, sir," replied the man. It had become exceedingly obvious that the stranger sitting on his bed was an American. "My name, sir, is William Carlyle Wordsworth. Would you be so kind as to tell me where I am?"

"I love him, Dinah," Babs said, her mood shifting. "But, he is such an ass. What if he doesn't want me back?"

Dinah Lance, known to the world as the Black Canary, looked at her closest friend and snorted. "Yeah right, you have that poor man so wrapped around your finger, it isn't even funny. Just call him and tell him that if he wants to get laid to get his cute ass over here or you'll call an escort service."

"But… he's screwing the copy girl!" Barbara suddenly said bursting into tears.

Dinah had her arms around her friend in a moment already planning the torturous death, of one former boy wonder. "How did you find out?"

"Roy and Tim told me." Babs sniffled, "I told them that Dick and I were on a break. And Tim said, 'So were Ross and Rachel.' So I googled it, and when Ross and Rachel were on a break, Ross screwed the copy girl."

"My god, you are so Bat, it's scary." Dinah smiled into her friend's hair, "You know he was just being a smart ass, right?"

"Yeah, but..."

"No buts, you know, I pity Dick when your pregnancy mood swings hit," Dinah told her. "But being a Bat, he will probably enjoy the torture. Do you guys go out looking for things to brood over?"

"But I loves me some Dickie," Babs sobbed.

Buffy Summers was dead tired, but unlike her sister she was too wired to sleep. 'Spike… he wasn't just back, he was alive.' It was more than she could have ever hoped for. Her son would have his daddy. The flood of feelings washing through her made her feel as if she was going to explode. In quick succession, she felt happy that the man she loved was alive, ecstatic that he would see his son grow up in the sun, scared that the First had somehow convinced him that she didn't love him, and angry with herself that she hadn't truly given him a reason to believe that she did in fact love him.

The soldiers on the flight were stationed in a way that they could see both she and her family no matter where they went. Riley had soldiers following her everywhere she went, and it was getting old. Never would she have believed her ex to be vindictive, but she had also never thought that he would try to basically steal everything someone else owned.

She looked over at her father figure sitting beside her, who was reading a book. "You really don't hate him anymore?" Despite herself, her voice sounded like a small child begging for a favor.

"Buffy," Rupert Giles began, "I haven't hated him since Sunnydale." He paused to look out the window. "It is hard for me to admit, but it's very likely that I might have possibly have been wrong about Spike. He was and is a very good man."

Giles smiled when Buffy snorted. "What? Even the Head of the Watchers' Council can be wrong upon occasion. But to be honest, a lot of my problem was that neither Spike nor any other man will ever be good enough for 'my' slayer."

"Tell that to the sixty-seven room mansion we've been living in," Buffy told her Watcher.

"No matter how good a man he is and no matter how well he treats you, I will never allow him to forget that Spike, the Big Bad, the monumental vampire, is in all actuality William 'the Bloody Awful Poet' Wordsworth," Rupert said with a small grin.

Dick Grayson beat on the door at the clock tower. Being here was the last thing he wanted. He had never intended to come back here again. He was done! Well, done just like he had been done with it, with her, a hundred times before. However, his father sent him here, and he couldn't make an excuse not to come. "Enter," echoed from within.

As he stepped inside and saw the love of his life sitting on the living room couch looking like she had been crying, his heart leapt into his throat. "Bruce said you wanted to see me?"

Barbara looked at him, her eyes drinking in the sight of the man that she had loved since the day she had met him. While she hadn't told Bruce anything, she figured that he had guessed something. Yes, some things needed to be dealt with.

"Are you sleeping with the copy girl?"

Tbc

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