Title: You Forgot To Mention Hell, Horatio
Author: JR
Email: JRR42@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13 for language.
Status: Complete
Warnings: Nope. Not this time.
Category: Crossover with Highlander
Disclaimer: All other characters belong to their respective owners and are used without permission. This story is not intended to infringe upon any copyrights, nor is any profit being made from it.
This is what happens when you get involved with too many different fandoms.
Universe setting: For you Highlander fans, this story takes place sometime after ‘Archangel’ (sorry to all those Richie Forever people). Please forgive me for playing with the timelines of the shows, but hey, it’s fan-fic and I can do that ;-)
Thanks: As always, to Carrie, and to Marius, the oak and the ash to my birds in the forest.
He woke suddenly, dizziness and disorientation making any attempts at motor co-ordination virtually useless. A small noise of protest off to his right was the key to triggering the onslaught of memories that barraged him. Only when his thoughts settled into some semblance of order did he focus on the stunning brunette laying at his side.
She was truly beautiful, he mused to himself silently, which begot the question that was foremost in his mind: just what the hell was *he* doing here? She was the enemy and always had been, so what was so different now? Why did he feel the way he felt at the moment? Like he was the luckiest person in the world just to be near her. Not that he had much of a choice in the matter.
For, at some point since they’d fallen asleep on her bed, Cordelia had rolled over, effectively pinning Xander’s arm underneath her shoulder.
Luckily, a quick glance at the bedside clock showed that they were supposed to be up in a few minutes anyway. Xander couldn’t prevent the evil smile that appeared on his face as he thought up an extremely pleasant way to wake his girlfriend. Leaning over, he began what would be the first in a long line of kisses on her right collarbone and headed in a southerly direction...
Less than a mile away, Willow Rosenberg was fast asleep in her bed...with visions of a certain dark-haired Angel filling her rather naughty dreams...
Giles, too, was lost in his dreams. However, his were horror-filled nightmares. Visions of Buffy, adrift and lost on the streets of some large, generic city assaulted the Watcher relentlessly. In his mind, he watched as his Slayer was surrounded by at least a dozen vampires. Although he screamed out warning after warning, she either ignored or simply could not hear his cries. Buffy fought as fiercely as he’d ever seen; but the petite blond was hopelessly outnumbered.
Her opponents attacked swiftly, four of them grabbing a hold of each of her limbs while a fifth one sank his elongated fangs deeply into her neck. Buffy’s struggles grew weaker with every passing second as the vampire drained her dry. When he was finished, the vampire carelessly tossed her lifeless body to the ground, leaving Giles screaming in horror over what he had just witnessed.
It was the sound of his own screams that woke the Watcher. Looking around wildly, Giles forced himself to take a deep breath, constantly reminding himself that he was in his own library, and that he was safe...
Across town, Adam Pierson spent his afternoon relaxing in the relative comfort of his hotel room. A long, hot bath and several hours of uninterrupted meditation had been just the thing he needed to recharge both his body and mind -- not that his body needed much help. Still, it did require food, which was why the Immortal was in the process of absently devouring his second French Dip sandwich in less than fifteen minutes. Although the food wasn’t too bad, he barely noticed what he was eating. Instead, his attention was focused upon the book spread open on the table in front of him, finally giving Cassandra’s journal the more in-depth read through it deserved.
Much to his chagrin, Adam had to admit that Cassandra did, indeed, seem to have a gift of ‘see’ certain aspects of the future. Her writings included references to several events in MacLeod’s life that Adam himself had borne witness to, including the events leading up to Ahriman’s appearance. Occasionally, he would find passages in the text that he believed might be useful to MacLeod -- that is, if the Watchers were to ever actually locate the missing Highlander.
Adam kept on reading, munching on what little remained of his lunch until he came across a paragraph that caused him to drop the sandwich unnoticed.
‘There will come a frightful day when Death shall be the world’s only hope, for only the pale rider shall be immune to the power of the army of the masks, thusly saving the Champion ‘ere the battle last.’
Alone in his hotel room, the Immortal known as Adam Pierson struggled to keep from throwing up his lunch...
In another section of town, some thirty feet underground, the vampire named Angel lay unconscious as his wrists and ankles were shackled in heavy, iron chains.
Slowly but surely, they all returned to the library. Surprisingly enough, most of the teenagers were earlier than Adam who, engrossed in the diary, had lost track of the time. By the time the sun actually set, only two were missing -- Willow and Angel.
Those assembled were in the process of preparing their weapons of choice for the evening. Piles of sharpened stakes were laid out like sardines in a can as Xander aided Cordelia with pouring holy water into her plastic super-soaker. Off to one side of the big table, Giles and Oz were busy cleaning and loading two crossbows. All of them nodded or called out a quiet greeting as the Immortal crossed the room.
Sighing deeply, Adam prepared himself for the reaction he knew his next words would bring.
“I found some interesting entries in Cassandra’s diary today,” he began. Spotting a third crossbow on the table, the Immortal nodded at it. “Need a hand with that one?”
“Hey man, feel free,” Oz offered without looking up from his own weapon.
“We are happy to hear that you’ve made some inroads on your own research,” Giles replied in a curious-yet- preoccupied tone of voice.
“Actually,” Adam began, plucking an oily rag off the table with which to clean the metal chamber of the weapon. “I believe that there may be a possibility that our individual prophecies may not be as...individual as we originally thought.” That statement got everybody’s attention.
“Oh? How so?” the librarian inquired.
“Well, does anybody here speak Gaelic?”
“Yeah, Angel does,” Xander supplied.
“Angel, however, did not have the opportunity to read that particular volume. However, if you need some assistance in translating...” Giles defended.
“Oh, I can read it fluently,” Adam reassured. Actually, the language was a relatively new addition to the Immortal’s extensive repertoire, one added a few months after meeting Duncan MacLeod. Adam hadn’t asked the question out of necessity, but rather to ensure that the obfuscation he was about make wouldn’t be discovered. “I was simply surprised that the reference was overlooked during the course of your own research. Well, that’s not important now. What does matter is what the book says,” Adam concluded, reading aloud an amended version of what was written on the page.
‘There will come a frightful day when an Immortal shall be the world’s only hope, for only an Immortal shall be immune to the power of the army of the masks, thusly saving the Champion ‘ere the battle last.’
“Well, that would certainly appear to be accurate. As an Immortal, you have the ability to repel the vampires of which the army consists,” Giles agreed. Before he could say more though, he was interrupted by the petite redhead bursting through the library doors.
“Angel!?!” she cried in a panic-filled shout as her eyes darted around the room wildly, ignoring the bewildered questions of those already assembled. “Is he here?! Oh God...oh God...”
“Will, calm down,” Oz said as he moved to her side. “You’re like...going gonzo here.”
“Have you seen him? Has he been here yet?” the redhead asked without waiting for a response.
“Willow, has something happened to Angel?” Giles asked as he returned the crossbow to the table.
“I don’t know! I thought maybe he’d be here already but he’s not and he hasn’t been home yet, or at least I don’t think he has,” she blurted out before finally running out of steam. “Oh God.”
“Calm down, Willow,” Giles ordered softly. “Perhaps you should start at the beginning.”
“I...okay...” she began, taking a deep breath. “Before I came over here, I went by Angel’s apartment to pick up the history book I left there yesterday, ‘cause we’ve got that big paper due on Tuesday and I really need it to finish otherwise...”
“Willow...” Giles reminded patiently.
“Oh right, well, when I got there Angel didn’t answer, so I, kinda, well, I let myself in...”
“You let yourself in?” Xander repeated, obviously puzzled on how she managed to gain entrance to the vampire’s home.
“...but Angel wasn’t there, which is probably why he didn’t answer when I knocked. But, I don’t think he ever came home.”
“What makes you think that?” Adam questioned.
“Well...everything was still messy.”
“Messy?” Xander broke in again.
“When we left yesterday, we were kinda late, so Angel just said to leave everything and he’d take care of it later, but he didn’t.”
“Was anything else disturbed in the place?” Adam asked.
“N...no, not really. I mean, the dishes were still on the table, and when I looked upstairs, his clothes from the other night were still on the floor...”
“The other night? What were you doing in Deadboy’s bedroom?” Xander demanded.
“Xander,” Giles chided, although he himself was curious as to the answer to the boy’s question. Still, this wasn’t the time for such matters. “Willow, perhaps Angel had an errand to run before he came to the library, like going by the butcher shop...”
“No! I checked the refrigerator before I came here. Angel had two containers of blood in there when we left last night, and they were both still in there,” Willow insisted.
“Maybe it went bad or something,” Oz suggested. “Maybe he ran out to get some...fresher...you know.”
“Yeah, Will. It’s not like it’s stamped with an expiration date or anything,” Xander agreed.
“But the mess...” Willow continued, unpersuaded. “Angel is kind of anal about keeping his place neat.”
“Let’s give Angel a few more minutes before we start to panic,” Giles suggested, calmly reaching for some wood to whittle into stakes.
Oz gave Willow one final hug before returning to the table. Reluctantly, she followed her ex, only half-heartedly joining in on the weapon preparation.
“You shouldn’t worry so much, Willow. It will give you wrinkles,” Cordelia insisted. “See? Look at me, no worries, no wrinkles.”
“Colour me surprised,” Xander sniped under his breath.
An hour later, they had assembled everything they would need for the evening, and there was still no sign of the tardy vampire. Willow was almost back to the same level of full-blown panic she had been in when she first arrived, and the others were also beginning to show various stages of concern. In the weeks that they had been battling against the Legion, Angel was usually one of the first to arrive each day. Even if he expected to be just a few minutes late, he made sure to call and let somebody know.
Accepting that they had a real problem on their hands, the group looked around at each other, waiting for somebody to take the lead. Surprisingly, it was Adam who posed the first few questions.
“When was the last time anybody saw Angel?”
“This afternoon. He left at the same time we all did,” Xander supplied.
“Did he leave by himself, or did anybody accompany him?” Adam asked, looking directly at Willow.
“No,” she answered honestly. “Angel went by himself.”
“How does he get home with the sunlight and all?” the Immortal asked the question that had puzzled him since earlier that afternoon.
“There is an entrance to the tunnels behind one of the bookcases upstairs,” Giles explained.
“Tunnels?” Adam parroted.
“Yeah, there are miles of ‘em under Sunnydale,” Xander filled-in.
“You can get almost anywhere in town through them,” Willow added.
“Think of it as the vampire beltway,” Oz joked weakly.
“So then the other vampires know about these passageways, too?” Adam asked for clarification.
“Know about them? Most of ‘em live...down...oh shit...” Xander’s voice trailed off as he, along with the others, followed the Immortal’s line of thought.
Willow paled noticeably as her legs gave out, plopping hard into the chair behind her. She never really thought about the dangers the souled vampire faced commuting to and from via the tunnels. Like the other Slayerettes, Willow simply assumed that Angel’s very nature gave him some type of free passage through the vast underground network.
“Let me just make certain that I understand this correctly,” Adam reiterated, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Angel, who is constantly seen in the company of those trying to destroy this Legion, basically just walked right into what could be considered their home territory, and you people are surprised that he suddenly turns up missing?”
“You make it sound extremely stupid when you put it like that,” Xander shot back hotly.
“Oh, my apologies. Now how exactly was I supposed to ‘put it’?” the Immortal retorted.
“On one hand, it does appear to be rather...foolhardy on Angel’s account,” Giles agreed. “And yet, Angel has safely traversed the tunnels for over four years. Even taking the Legion into consideration, Angel has been moving back and forth through the tunnels for weeks now. Why would they wait until today?”
“Maybe we’ve become too much of a pain in the ass for them,” Xander suggested.
“Hardly,” Giles protested. “I’m afraid I must admit that, given the growing list of missing or dead, we’re barely making a dent in their rising of their numbers.”
“Angel is your most skilled fighter, no offense,” Adam noted, hastily tacking on the addendum. “If they are organized, they may have planned....”
“Divide and conquer,” Xander stated to the Immortal’s surprise. Adam was not aware that the teenager had retained much of his military knowledge from the Halloween night when a spell transformed Xander into a soldier.
“They already ate,” Willow whispered, her hand flying up to finger the area of her neck that was still bruised from being bitten the previous night.
“What was that, Will?” Oz asked.
“Huh?” she replied absently, until she realized that all eyes in the room were focused on her. “Oh. I was just thinking about last night, uh, in the park. When those bad vampires attacked, we both thought they were looking for food. So Angel went all ‘grr’ and told them to get their own. But they told him that they already ate.”
“Did they call him by name? Angelus or otherwise?” Giles questioned.
“No,” Willow frowned as she fought to remember. “I don’t think so.”
“So perhaps they were deliberately sent after Angel, or both of you,” Giles conceded. “Luckily for both of you, Dr. Pierson was nearby, otherwise you both might have...”
Even as the Watcher’s words trailed off, Adam was mentally reviewing the events that he had witnessed last night. Unfortunately, things were not adding up to his satisfaction. If his suspicions were correct, things may not have been as cut-and-dried as they appeared. The really bad news was that Adam, as Cassandra had predicted, was going to have no choice but to participate fully in putting a stop to the Legion prophecy.
“I don’t suppose anyone knows the route that Angel uses to go home?” the Immortal inquired.
“I do,” Willow answered softly, reaching for a stake before the others realized what was happening.
“What?” Giles questioned before the implications hit him. “No! It would be ludicrous! If what we suspect is true, then it would be sheer suicide to enter the tunnels.”
“No *way* are you going down there, Will!” Xander chimed in as awareness dawned.
“Listen to them, Will,” Oz pleaded quietly. “It’s gonna be crawling with vampires down there.”
“But it’s Angel!” she protested.
“Willow, I know that you are concerned about Angel, as we all are,” Giles soothed while shooting a sharp, warning glance in Xander’s direction before the teen could contradict the statement. “But please think rationally about this. We have no proof that anything…untoward…has happened to Angel.”
“Oh sure,” Cordelia scoffed, “Angel just got held up because his hairdresser is running a little behind today.”
“Actually,” Xander chimed in, “that may not be too far off the mark for Coif-boy.”
“Guys,” Willow protested, gathering her things together. “You’re forgetting something.” All extraneous conversation came to a halt as they attempted to figure out to what she was referring. “He’s the Anti-Pied-Piper.”
“I think we dispensed with that theory last night, Willow,” Giles reminded. “While Dr. Pierson’s presence may be initially unsettling to vampires, they can, indeed, overcome the discomfort.”
Willow gulped nervously for a moment. Then, as if steeling her courage, her features settled into the expression they had come to know as her ‘resolve face.’
“Besides, I..I’m…like the best choice to go, not that that’s really a good thing…for me, anyway. But, even if we do…if things don’t…if there’s trouble, I’ll have the protection spell.”
They were all forced to concede the point, regardless of their personal feelings.
“Believe me, I’m not exactly looking forward to this, either,” Adam confided. Nevertheless, he began putting together a few supplies of his own.
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