The inactivity was stifling.
Strictly warned by both Jon and Steven to stay well out of Angelus' way,
Aurora was essentially confined to quarters. She had no special abilities
that required practice to hone; no technical skills that would help make
the station habitable again. Once the quarters she and Steven were
assigned to were cleaned, she had promptly lost interest in the renovation
project.
Steven had been included in the various planning sessions from the moment
they'd set foot on the station, and it made her lonely. True, she had
little interest in the endless meetings. Thinking on her feet, adapting
to a changing situation, taking out a superior enemy from a position of weakness
she could do. Staring at charts and papers and long-range plans that
wouldn't survive the first 5 minutes of the battle she could live without.
But it was SOOOO boring.
The computer on the desk flared to life, catching her attention. The
techies must be having some luck, she thought. Quickly, she called
up basic station information, trying to determine what there was to do on
a rock floating in outer space. A quick overview of the facilities
gave her an idea, and she printed off a map of the levels and headed out
the door.
The gym was right where the map said it would be, and the doors opened accommodatingly
for her when she approached them. But the room was not empty.
In a corner filled with equipment, a petite blonde was pounding the hell
out of a heavy bag suspended form the ceiling, throwing powerful kicks and
punches with ease.
Aurora stood just inside the door a moment, watching the other girl's technique.
She was good, the tall brunette had to admit. She used fists, feet,
elbows and knees in a flurry of blows that would knock any ordinary opponent
down and out for the count, at the very least. And Aurora was able
to sense as the girl circled that she was merely warming up, rather than
using her full force.
She turned enough following the bag that Aurora came into her line of vision
and stopped. "Hey."
"Hey. You were asleep when I got on the ship," Aurora said. "I'm
Aurora."
"I know. I'm Buffy. Darius said you'd be along. I'd have
been at the big meet 'n' greet before we left, but I was on patrol."
"'Patrol?' Are you a cop or something?"
Buffy laughed. "No. Not like you're thinking. I'm sort
of a deterrent for the things that go bump in the night. Vampires and
demons and things."
Aurora raised an eyebrow. "You missed a few. Lucky for you, they're
here."
"Angel and Angelus and Spike? Nah. They're not on my naughty
list at the moment. But let me suggest this: Angelus won't give
a fig if he kills you. And that could be a problem if you're supposed
to be here."
"If I'm supposed to be here, then he can't kill me, right?"
Buffy shrugged. "I guess you could look at it that way. But I
wouldn't take the chance. He's cold and ruthless. He'd snap your
neck like that," she snapped her fingers, "and walk over your body where
he dropped it."
"I'll keep that in mind. So what are you doing down here?"
"I was bored. Not into the other stuff. I'm sort of a 'live in
the moment' girl, and not a 'plan every last detail' type. So once
there's a plan, I'll be ready and willing to go. But until then, there's
only so much staring at the walls I can do."
Aurora smiled. "Sing it, sister. I'm in about the same boat."
"Spike said you're a street fighter. That true?"
"It's close enough. I fight in the ring. Why?"
Buffy threw a couple of short jabs. "Wanna play a bit? Beats
sitting around and hitting something that can't fight back." After
a moment, Buffy amended, "Besides my Watchers."
Aurora tossed her jacket into the corner. "Music to my ears."
An hour later, Buffy had to admit the girl was good. She moved constantly,
weight shifting from one foot to the other, head bobbing, and shoulders twitching
enough that telling the start of a real punch from a fake was hard.
It was almost a dance, like sparring with Spike, as though the other girl
moved to some music only she could hear.
She'd felt Spike's presence moments before the door slid open, and had deliberately
turned her opponent so she wouldn't see the blond vampire enter. And
she was careful not to look at him when he did come in, simply smiling a
little wider and bouncing on the balls of her feet, her whole being saying,
I'm just blowing off steam, don't stress it.
Her Mate leaned against the wall next to the door, duster wrapped around
him tightly, arms folded over his chest, watching. The Slayer was in
fine form, blocking the blows sent her way, landing a few of her own in return.
She had to work more for it now, trying to stay in one place. One of
Buffy's greatest assets was the speed with which she could get around an
opponent. Having to stick in one place and work with what she had was
good practice for her.
At Spike's barely-perceptible nod, she stepped into the next blow instead
of blocking it, caught Aurora's wrist and rolled to her back, planting a
foot in the other girl's solar plexus and launching her over her head and
onto her back on the mat.
Aurora lay flat for a second, winded, then flipped to her feet with a neat
acrobatic move, turning to face Buffy again, and catching sight of the vampire.
"Must be easy to kill them when they come to you."
"I told you, he's not on my naughty list." She moved over to the vamp
and placed a quick kiss on his lips.
"I dunno, love. Could do naughty if you'd like. Havin' fun?"
"Oh, yeah. Oh, Spike, Aurora, Aurora, Spike."
"Yeah, we met. You're the girl fightin' for money."
Aurora shrugged. "Something like that. What's the matter?
No one here likes money?"
"Nah, pet, Most of us like it fine. But there are things more important
than a bit of dosh."
"Of course there are," she agreed amiably. "But not dead men."
"General says 'e's alive. 'S good enough for me."
Aurora moved with studied casualness to the corner and picked up her jacket.
"Not to me, he's not. The holy Commander Stargazer died for me the
day he walked out on us. Now if you'll excuse me, I need a shower.
I'm up for a rematch anytime you are, Buffy." She shrugged her jacket
on and left.
"He ain't holy Aurora. Not to none of us. Darius wants him because
he's of the rule about leavin' a soldier out alone. Ain't his way.
Nor Ares' way." Spike said as he lightly kissed Buffy. They would wait
for Angel and Angelus here to pick up their mates. The four of them
swapped mates sometimes, as was the norm in vampire families. Although
Buffy was more Angelus' mate and Spike was more Angel's they tended to share.
"You can have his carcass then," Aurora said as she left the room.
If she'd stayed a minute longer she would have heard Spike say none of them
wanted it. They were to get him back by Darius' orders. Not treat
him like the second coming of Christ. Spike shrugged and looked at
Buffy as they cleaned up the small area Giles had asked for so Buffy wouldn't
go crazy.
'Speaking of Giles,' Buffy thought as he ran in carrying Ethan. Giles
was cursing six miles a minute and turning even Spike's ears blue.
Buffy knew this was the quietest place right now and Giles needed the quiet
for whatever was wrong with Ethan.
Buffy and Spike sat down helping Giles warm the poor man. Ethan was
shivering badly.
"What happened?" Angelus' voice asked. Giles growled as he stroked
Ethan's face and sighed as the Chaos Lord's lips went from blue to red again.
"Feedback. He found him but he used too much energy to break the shield
around the old man. I am not pleased," Ripper Giles stated as he caressed
his own mate's face. It had taken him twenty years to accept Ethan
was his mate. Twenty years to break the conditioning of the Watcher's
Council. Now that he had Ethan and had him for eternity, Giles was
extremely protective. As Quentin Travers had found out when he came
after Ethan the one time. Giles grunted sensing Aurora coming in.
"I don't care what Darius said," Ripper growled. "I am going to deck
that man myself. His own stupidity caused this mess."
"Ripper…." Angelus began. He stopped seeing the look in the former
Watcher's eyes. He looked pissed. Angelus nodded quietly and
looked to where Ethan was finally warming up. The man woke groggily
and touched Ripper's arm.
"Calm…" he said hoarsely. "Calm yourself. I'm fine. Just…Just
wiped me…"
Ripper growled and nodded pulling Ethan into an embrace. He would remain
calm for Ethan's sake. Ethan and Buffy were his reason for all now.
And although it angered everyone when he'd first brought Ethan home with
him form wherever he'd found him, they'd finally dealt. Then this mess
had started and Ethan proved useful. Ethan's strength and courage was
incredible. Especially under the influence of the chaos magic.
He had bent it to his will and saved them all once. He'd done it again
just now. And although Giles hated the why of it, he understood.
"Ripper?" Everyone turned at Jon's voice.
"What?" the angry Englishman snapped. Jon looked down at Ethan and
Ethan smiled.
"Asteroid 7 in the biggest cluster. You'll find him there in cave sealed
by a force field. I've broken everything else. All that's left
is to go in and get him."
Jon nodded his thanks to the darker Englishman and turned to round up a group
to help in the extraction. They watched Angel turn and follow as well
as Vicious. Blade remained by Ethan as Jon had long ago figured out
he was a medic. He could fight well with those knives because he knew
the human body and where to cut to do damage. Like the Slayer Faith
who had remained behind with her Watcher, Wesley. Faith was taking
care of vampires on Earth.
Jon got into the ship Connor and Billy had built before they left.
Apparently Darius had been planning something like this for a long time.
And they flew out to the asteroid. Mike loved this plane, Jon could
tell. When they arrived, it was quite. Angel growled, shifting
to what Jon had been told was his Game Face. It alerted Jon that something
had twigged the vampire's trouble radar.
Finding the cave was relatively easy as it was the only cave on the asteroid.
Tally Hawk was circling, the bird had also learned to avoid Angelus.
That one had a temper, Jon knew. Of course, he was the Scourge of Europe.
Jon shook it off as Vicious got the force field down. Again this was
bugging Jon. He knew they were being watched. And he knew getting
out would be loads harder than getting in.
In the middle of a cavern lay an older man. He had a bowl of water
and some food and Jon felt sympathy. It must have been hard to be kept
here…
"Glad one person feels sympathy for him," Angel muttered. "He'll need
all he can get by the time Ares is through with him."
Jon looked at the ensouled vampire and stared in shock. Something told
him to shut his mouth though. This group had come here with the main
objective of liberating this galaxy. And Jon knew from how they worked
on earth, they were cold about how they did it sometimes.
"Whose there?" The older man asked. Jon moved forward.
"Lieutenant Jonathan Quick of Earth Command Interplanetary Force 8 commander…"
"The bloody Cavalry," Angel growled as he borrowed Angelus' tone. "We
need to be ready Quick, something's coming."
"You can sense this?" the older man asked Angel. The vampire chuckled.
"No, I can see and smell it. And man is it Ugly."
Jon heard the way he drew ut the two syllables of the word making it sound
like "Uhhhhhhg-Lee". He couldn't stop the chuckle.
"Soldiers don't insult the enemy young man," the older man said. Angel
laughed, this time at him.
"I'm not a soldier in your army Edward Stargazer," Angel said in a sibilant
voice Jon knew he was taking from Angelus, his other. "I only follow
General Darius or his lord. Not you or your corrupt Government.
Blades up Vish," Angel then said to Vicious. "Big, bad and uglies are
here."
The rescue party watched as Mon*Star's minions stepped out of the shadows
fairly gaping at them.
"Who are you people?" one demanded. Again it was Angel, not Jon who
retorted.
"We're your worst nightmare, spit for brains. We're people who won’t
bow and scrape to you. 'S matter of fact, we were sent here by the
high lord Ares to kick your Asses up around your ears."
Jon stared at the dark vampire as he fired off at the mob. He knew
the bond between Angel and Angelus was close but not this close where one
could speak through the other. Which he knew was happening.
"You really think you can?" a robot with slot machine eyes demanded.
This time it was Vicious who answered.
"Definitely. You aren't half as good as those who taught us."
She drew a sharp knife with a particular design etched into it that raised
vague stirrings of uneasiness in the Mob.
"Ares, lord and defender," Vicious intoned as Darius, he father had taught
her. "Hear me Lord, and grant us safety in this our quest. Allow
us your blessing and our freedom."
"I am here, child of my Favored," a voice like a thousand War Drums spoke
and a man decked out in black leather stepped out of nothingness. He
simply stared down the mob then turned to look at Stargazer and the rest
of the team.
"Get him back to you base. I'll be along shortly."
Vicious and Angel both winced at the rage that poured off of the God of War.
He was pissed. Leaving them to wonder in the grand scheme of things
as they related to Ares, the god of War, Just how mad was Mad?
To Be Continued...
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