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Part 8
"Come here, puny worm!" Fides bellowed as Gabriel danced away from her enraged swings, firing his pistol continuously into her body.
He leaped high over a savage lunge and turned in mid-air. One of Fides whip-like tentacles snapped into his back and he hit the floor hard. He rolled with the impact and came to a skidding halt on the far side of a thick column, with one hand touched to the floor to catch his balance. He winced with the pain. If he hadn't been airborne when she had hit him, the blow might have split him in two.
Gabriel slipped a fresh clip into his gun and fired three more shots into Fides' chest. The bullets bounced harmlessly off her armored hide. Shooting her was pointless, her scaly skin made her impervious, but he couldn't think of anything else he could do to try and stop her.
"You can't stop me." She grinned evilly, as if she could read his mind, and bounded forward.
He fired again instinctively and Fides snorted as the bullet deflected harmlessly off the side of her neck. Snapping her leg forward, she planted her taloned foot deep into his belly. Gabriel shoved backward desperately as he felt her claws cutting into his skin, barely avoiding disembowelment as she raked her foot to the floor. He tumbled to the floor clambered unsteadily to his feet. The front of his uniform tunic had been ripped away, exposing four bloody furrows running lengthwise along his muscled stomach. Although, messy and stinging horribly, they were not life-threatening.
Tucking his gun into the holster on his belt, he felt the reassuring weight of the Sword of Seals in the inside pocket of his jacket. Fides grabbed him by the shoulder and whipped him around, driving her hard fist into his wounded stomach. Gabriel flew back and slammed into the wall, breathless and gasping in pain.
"You're a foolish little child." Fides snarled angrily, "Just like you always were. No wonder you ended up a nothing."
Gabriel tried to run to the side, but one of Fides cruel whip-appendages lanced through his shoulder, piercing flesh and grinding against the bone. He screamed and fell back against the wall again, his hand clamped over the bloody wound. Gabriel glared hatefully at her as she inspected the tip of the bloody tentacle with relish.
"I remember you, too." He gasped, favoring one side heavily, "I haven't forgotten, Faith."
Fides was taken aback, her glowing orange eyes widening with surprise.
"You know who I am." She chuckled with dark amusement, "Oh, this just keeps getting better and better."
The demoness lashed out with her hand and pinned Gabriel's head to the wall, the hardness of her palm pressed tightly over his mouth.
"I wouldn't say I've held a grudge or anything." She leaned in close to him and snorted hot breath across his face, "But it always irked me the way you just split after that first fight we had. I took it out on the old man a little when I finally got my hands on him. It's nice to know you're going to know who's killing you this time. Go ahead and beg if you want. It's been such a long time, I'd love to see that desperate look in your eyes again."
Gabriel squirmed and worked his mouth up over the edge of her palm, his eyes holding hers with a steely glare.
"Look at my eyes, Faith." he twisted in her grip and swiftly brought his pistol up, pressing the muzzle of it against her wide, left eye, "And all you'll see is the end."
The demoness' mouth opened wide in a scream of denial as he squeezed the trigger.
Cole fell under the crushing weight of one of the two headed vulture men, the butt of his pistol bucking hard against his chest as he emptied a full clip into the demon's body. The creature jerked and then went still. Nearby, Darlene blasted a hole in the other bird-man's foot then whipped her rifle up and fired a second bullet into the underside of its chin, taking the top of its remaining head off.
She slipped the rifle strap over her shoulder and started tugging the first bird-man's corpse off Cole by the leg. ,p. Coughing, he squirmed out from under the heavy weight and shoved it aside. Blood trickled from his scalp down the side of his face.
"You okay?" Darlene gripped him by the hand and pulled him to his feet.
"Yeah, I think so." he answered, ignoring the wound on his head and holding his side. Dar remembered that he had hurt his ribs during the assault on the data repository and wondered perhaps if he should have remained behind at the base to heal. No, Fides had said that the base was being invaded at this very instant. I hope Mom and Dad are all right, she thought worriedly.
"Shit!" Cole swore venomously, digging a crushed black box out of the inside of his jacket.
"Oh no," Dar gasped, pressing her small hand to her mouth, "the detonator's history. What are we going to do?"
"Hey guys," Alex rounded the corner and fired her shotgun, one-handed, into the stomach of a swooping demon, dropping it. Wanderer followed up quickly, firing two bullets into the creature's head, ensuring its death.
"Alex, you're okay!" Dar threw her arms around her friend's neck and gave her a quick squeeze, "Who's the old geezer?"
"He's on our side." Alex sighed, smiling softly, and patted the old man's shoulder, "Where's Gabriel?"
"He's here?!" the tiny blonde exclaimed excitedly, whirling and pressing her back against Alex as she fired a shot from her rifle into a short, charging demon, "I TOLD you he'd show up!"
Cole fired a extra bullet into the creature's body as insurance and shook his head somberly, "Not good. He's tangling with Fides. He's as good as dead."
"No." Dar protested loyally, "He fought her before. He can do it again . . .right?"
Alex let her head hang, shaking it sadly.
A high pitched keen cut through the room and the dark-haired girl looked up in time to see Fides fall, black ichor spurting from her face. Gabriel scrambled across the floor, clutching his side and ducking between two short demons while shooting a third through the chest.
"What's he doing?" Darlene gasped, her blue eyes wide with awe.
"The Hellmouth." Wanderer declared, noting the bladeless Sword of Seals in the boy's hand, "He's heading for the Hellmouth."
"Then we should cover him." Cocking her shotgun, Alex raised it to her shoulder and picked off a four armed demon as it leaped for Gabriel.
"Let's go!" Cole lead the charge for the Hellmouth, firing his handgun at any demons who came close to Gabriel as he ran.
Gabriel ducked around the wild swing of a thick-necked canine demon and fired his handgun blindly in its direction. He was rewarded with the sound of a high-pitched yelp as he mounted the bottom step leading up to the Hellmouth.
This close to it, the sound emanating from the portal was almost deafening. The swirling, black and red gate pulsed with evil luminescence, seemingly adding strength to the host of demons in the chamber.
A hideous creature whose face was almost entirely lost in a set of wide, fanged jaws rose up next to him, its thick, corded arms drawn back to strike. Gabriel tried to shoot his gun, but the firing mechanism just snapped, out of ammunition. The demon's body bucked and lurched forward sharply, its black eyes suddenly glassy. As Gabriel fumbled to load a fresh clip into his gun, the creature collapsed, three holes blasted out of its back. Across the room, Alex smirked and gave him a short salute, propping her smoking shotgun easily over her shoulder. Gabriel smiled his thanks to her and bounded up the stairs.
The portal throbbed and the squealing pig sound grew even louder for an instant. Within its murky depths, the shadowy shapes flitted about madly, intelligently. Gabriel stopped on the precipice, his reloaded gun in one hand and the Sword of Seals in the other. The glowing, watery gate bulged outward and the dark outlines within began to take on definition. He was too late, the Hellmouth was opening! Lunging desperately forward, Gabriel drove the Sword into the portal. Its invisible blade met resistance from the mystical doorway, sinking slowly into the shimmering energy as if it were cold tar. Hot, blue-white sparks exploded from the point where Sword met Hellmouth, showering over him in a blinding cascade. The skin on his arms started to singe and turn pink from the heat, as dozens of taloned hands pushed through the gateway. Gabriel squinted his eyes against the sparks and leaned hard on the Sword. The weapon gave, but only slightly, sinking barely a few inches into the yawning Hellmouth.
The clawed hands were grasping at him now, digging at his flesh and drawing blood. It was too hard. The Hellmouth had been open for far too long, he couldn't fight it. One of the emerging demon limbs pawed at his two handed grip on the Sword, attempting to break his hold, and soon others followed. A gangly blue-skinned hand grabbed his face, pushing his head back, it's taloned thumb shoved up his nostril. Gabriel bit down on the creature's tough skin until it twitched in pain and jerked back through the portal.
"Close, damn it!" he shouted angrily at the magical gateway, as if he could command it, "Close! Close! Close, damn you!"
The Sword of Seals loosened suddenly and plunged deeper into the Hellmouth and he felt the whole structure shiver. The dozens of demon arms drew back, fearfully, sensing his impending victory and the Hellmouth itself seemed to give one last effort to reject the Sword. Gabriel planted his feet and shoved with all his strength, driving the Sword all the way up to the hilt in an explosion of sparks.
The chamber plunged into eerie silence and a previously unnoticed gloom lifted from the place as each one present, demon and human alike, stared in awe. Gabriel fell weakly to his knees, the Sword tumbling from his fingers, with spots dancing before his eyes and a ringing in his ears.
Alex, Darlene and Cole ran up and joined him on the dais, surrounding him and firing a flurry of bullets down into the stunned demon horde. The creatures, already discouraged by the loss of the Hellmouth, scattered, screaming and fleeing into the tunnels. They had been promised a harvest of conquest. Instead they had reaped ruin.
As the three fired a few final shots and the remaining squadron soldiers assembled on the dais, Gabriel felt a pair of strong hands grasp him by the shoulders and pull him to his feet.
"You did it!" Wanderer grinned proudly at his younger self, "It's over."
Alex clapped her gloved hands together, "All we have to do is blow this place up."
"Yeah, about that." Darlene reached up and tapped the dark-haired girl on the shoulder, holding the broken black box in her other hand, "The detonator is sorta broken. Crushed, actually."
"Then we set the timer." Alex crouched next to the bomb and started pressing buttons, "Even with the Hellmouth closed, the Tower is still a huge threat. We may never get a chance like this again. Leapfrog a signal for the other squadrons to withdraw." After a few beeps, a red digital display lit up on the front panel.
"There." She brushed her gloved hands off against one another, "Ten minutes ought to be enough."
"And if one of the demons returns and disarms it?" Cole arched a bloody eyebrow.
"Don't worry about it." Darlene scoffed, "The arming mechanism isn't complicated, but there isn't a demon on the face of the planet with enough technical skill to build a bicycle, let alone disarm one of these. Let's just get out of here before they regroup."
The two squad-leaders gathered together what was left of their troops and formed into a rough spearhead formation, headed for one of the lower tunnels.
"That's the one we came in through." Wanderer indicated as they approached the perimeter of the chamber, "We can follow it all the way back out to the surface."
Gabriel stopped at the rear of the formation, leaning weakly against one of the huge fleshy pillars.
"The Sword of Seals. I have to go back for it." He straightened and turned to Wanderer, "Keep everyone moving, Wanderer, I'll be right behind you."
"You're too weak." The old man protested. Behind him, Alex and Cole noted the exchange.
"No time to argue." Gabriel set out across the corpse-strewn chamber toward the dais, "Just get everyone out."
"Where's he going?" Dar asked.
"Nevermind." Alex said shortly, her green eyes following him as he went back into the heart of the Tower, "You heard him everyone. Move out!" Despite the confidence of her command, she lingered, still watching him as the remaining soldiers retreated down the corridor.
Wanderer appeared next to her and laid his hand on her shoulder.
"I'll make sure he gets out all right." He promised, smiling.
As he started after his younger self, Alex hooked two fingers in the crook of his elbow and spun him around. She looked him in the eye, nervous and uneasy.
"I know who you are." She said so softly that he almost didn't hear her.
"How?" he asked in a choked voice. She reminded him so much of her mother at that moment that it was hard to speak.
"I knew it as soon as I saw the two of you together." She said, extending her arm to indicate Gabriel as he mounted the stairs to the dais, "I see things, too, like you do. Like both of you. I just thought you should know, in case . . ."
Wanderer ducked his head in shame, "Alex, I'm sorry, I never would have-"
"Don't." she raised a staying hand and shook her head, "Just go with him. And make sure you both make it out okay."
Wanderer smiled and nodded, backing away from her, watching her for a brief moment as she turned down the corridor, before running to catch up with Gabriel.
The young man was weakened, but determined, nursing a wounded shoulder and numerous less serious injuries. He found the Sword of Seals right where he had dropped it. Stooping, he slipped it into the pocket of his jacket.
"Um, Gabriel." Wanderer tapped his shoulder lightly and pointed at the explosive lodged at the base of the empty stone framework, "What happened to the timer?"
Gabriel looked up and his face registered shock. The timer had gone blank and the bomb was inert now. As he bent low to inspect it, a swift, dark form darted out from behind the standing stones and Wanderer leaped to intercept it.
"Gabriel! Look out!" his voice turned into a wet woosh of air as the dark shape collided with him and catapulted him down the stairs.
The creature whirled with blinding, sinuous speed and clamped a hard, taloned hand around Gabriel's throat, jerking his body into the air and holding him aloft effortlessly.
"Hey, handsome." Fides leaned her fanged mouth close to his ear and sneered, black fluid pumping slowly out of the ruin that had been her left eye, "Miss me?"
Oz stood before the door to his quarters with his feet planted solidly and the chain gun bucking continuously against his arm. A storm of bullets ripped into the bodies of the oncoming wall of demons, but the seemingly endless flow of invaders would not abate. Smoke started to rise from the continuously spinning gun cylinder and the heat of it was beginning to scorch the hairs off his knuckles. He wouldn't be able to keep this up for much longer. Retreat was his only option. Deactivating the magical wards with his free hand, he fished in his pocket for his keycard and slipped it through the slot.
Cutting another wide swath through the evil creatures, he backed into the open doorway. The chain gun jerked in his hand and seized up, having reached its limit and overheating. He dropped it to the floor and reached for the pistol at his waist. Unleashing a flurry of cover fire, he stumbled back into his room and jammed the door shut. Within seconds, he could hear the pounding of demonic fists as they attempted to batter the door down. It would hold. He and Willow would be safe for now, at least. He was more concerned for Angel at the moment.
A horned demon fell to a hail of bullets and Angel ran halfway down the metal stairwell and hopped over the railing to the floor. The damn things seemed like they were everywhere. The realization only underscored the need to resort to his desperate plan.
Slinging his rifle over his shoulder, he approached the first of the three giant, metal vats. A solid pump mechanism whirred and ground steadily, purifying and manufacturing holy water before depositing it in the vat. It had been a long time since he had been down here. In the last few years, he had neglected most of the base, even his own quarters lately, choosing to spend his time in the briefing room. It was hard to remember where everything was. He located the lever that controlled the vat pump and shut it down. With the flow halted, he was able to start the build-up of pressure that he would need. Now, all he needed was a sturdy hose. He found one in a tall storage container and hauled it over next to the intake valve for the fire extinguisher ducts.
Angel understood the consequences of what he was about to do, but it didn't matter anymore. He was ageless, which meant that violent death was the only way out. It was just a matter of time. He might as well make his death worth something. One end of the hose clamped in place, he dragged the rest of it over to the pump mechanism.
On the upper level, a group of demons bounded into the room, nimbly scaling the walls and leaping along the ceiling. Angel opened fire with one hand while attempting to anchor the other end of the hose with the other. The shots went wide, ricocheting off the wall just above one of the quick moving creatures. He barely managed to lock the hose in place as another of the beasts touched down next to him. He aimed his gun in its direction, but the demon was too swift and caught him across the face with a heavy fist. Losing grip on both gun and hose, he rolled across the floor and crashed into the storage container, nearly toppling it on himself.
The vampire climbed to his feet, his face distorted into its own demonic mask.
"Okay, now you made me mad." He snarled, grabbing the creature by the head and smashing it against the wall.
A second demon tackled him from above, wrapping its arms around him in a vise-like grip. He smashed his head back instinctively and shook free, spinning into a powerful punch and following with a sharp kick. The creature fell aside, snarling as two more of its brethren dropped from the ceiling. Angel spread his arms defensively and turned carefully in a circle, attempting to keep all his opponents in view and protect his back.
Four on one. He had faced worse odds before, but not recently. Fortunately, he was in the mood for a fight. The four demons were of the same type, all human sized and gray skinned with jagged, bony facial features. He would have to keep them off guard, prevent them from attacking him en masse while still guarding the transfer hose while the vat built up enough pressure. Shooting a quick glance over his shoulder, he took note of the vat's pressure gauge. Only halfway full, it would need a lot more time to peak.
Leaping forward, he struck one of the demons in the face and kicked back at another. They were nimble and difficult to hit fully. The one he had kicked sprang against the wall and bounced back at him. He spun away from it and clubbed it to the ground with an elbow to the small of its back.
Two more of the gray-skinned demons hooted to their companions from the upper level, crawling over the railing and bounding to the floor. In two quick leaps, they joined the circle surrounding Angel.
Six on one, he considered apprehensively, not favorable odds at all.
"There are advantages to having once been human." Fides observed, holding a small bent wire up between two razor sharp talons of her free hand, "Like being able to wrap my head around these wonderful little inventions you Resistance people keep coming up with when none of my servants seem to be able to grasp them. No one's blowing up my Tower."
Gabriel struggled in her grip, reaching for the gun in his belt.
"I don't think so." Fides ripped the weapon out of its holster and tossed it aside. Gabriel heard it's echoing clatter off in the distance as she shifted her grip and held his face up to hers.
Wanderer stirred on the floor and sat up dizzily. He was hurt, but nothing seemed to be broken. If only his younger self had figured out Fides' weakness sooner. Or fired a little straighter. He struggled to rise and his fingers brushed the cool, hard surface of an unfamiliar weapon, a gun of some sort, but his eyes refused to focus on it. Atop the dais, Fides leaned forward and pressed her face into Gabriel's.
"You hurt me, child." She hissed venomously, "No one has ever hurt me before. Ever. I'm going to introduce you to torment like you've never known."
Gabriel stirred, his vision blurring in and out of focus. MO<"Look behind you." He choked around her tightening grip.
"What?" Fides frowned in confusion.
As she turned to look behind her, Wanderer brought both his arms up and jammed the barrel of the grenade launcher into her open mouth. Fides froze, mid-motion and, for the first time since she had achieved Ascension, she felt fear.
"Goodbye, Faith." The old man whispered as he jammed his eyes shut and pulled the trigger.
The launcher's shell wedged into her throat and exploded, disintegrating her demonic flesh from the inside out in a blast of blue fire. The majority of the blast was contained by Fides' armor, destroying the grenade launcher and slamming Wanderer down on the dais. With nowhere else to go, the blue-white flames rushed up inside the demoness' skull, searing away her corrupted brain and bursting from her nostrils and eye sockets in long, azure jets. Her heavy body collapsed, releasing Gabriel's limp form, and twitched unnaturally for a moment, then lay still.
Wanderer crawled over to the corpse and turned its face toward him. Now, it was little more than a smoking, empty skull encased in impenetrable armor.
The old man breathed a sigh of relief that he had been holding for twenty years, "She's finally dead. It's over."
Gabriel stumbled to his feet, with blood dribbling out of his nose and cradling one arm against his side, "Not yet. Look."
Wanderer's eyes followed his younger self's indication and saw the movement of the gathering demons in the chamber's many exits. He knew that they wouldn't have stayed routed for long.
"This looks like it." He snapped two fresh ammo clips into his pistols, preparing for one final run.
"There's still a way." Gabriel indicated the inert explosive, "The bomb can be set manually."
One of the most important lessons he had ever learned had been from Angel, not long after he had first met the vampire. Sometimes what someone wants to do and what someone needs to do are not the same thing, he had said. Gabriel believed this to be one of those times.
"You want to go out with a bang, huh?" the old man smiled wryly.
Gabriel shrugged sadly, "I don't belong here. Who knows? Maybe I won't even die at all. Get out while you still can."
"Forget it." Wanderer shook his head, jerking his thumb over his shoulder, "They'd be all over you in a second. You need someone to cover you."
"But what about Alex?"
"She's been without me all her life. It's a little late for me to be with her now." He looked at his younger self with deep conviction in his eyes, "You said it yourself. I don't belong here any more than you do. This time I want it to mean something when I go."
Gabriel smiled, pleased that the old, embittered man had finally found the self-respect he had lost so many years ago.
"Just one more thing." His elder self held tightly onto his good arm, "If you really don't die, if somehow you end up back where you came from, don't make the same mistakes I made. Don't lose her like I did."
Gabriel nodded and shook Wanderer's hand, feeling moisture gathering in his eyes and an emotional tightness in his chest. He wasn't sure whether the man was talking about Buffy or Alex. Maybe both.
As the old man walked over and took up a guard position at the head of the stairs, Gabriel knelt down before the bomb with his wounded arm held curled against his side and ran the sweaty palm of his other hand nervously over the leg of his uniform. Alex and Cole had been gone for a few minutes now, enough time to get clear, and the Hellmouth was closed. All that was left to do now was to tie up loose ends. He placed the Sword of Seals atop the explosive and flipped the arming mechanism open. The explosion would be more than enough to destroy the artifact. His fingers trembled and a queer sensation washed over him. He shook his head to clear it and pressed the button to begin arming the bomb.
The demons were starting to regroup in force now. He would have to hurry or the resurgence would become too great for Wanderer to handle. The old man shouted and snarled in challenge to the gathering demons. One of the demons ventured forward and Wanderer shot it neatly through the chest. The creature's body jerked and collapsed in a heap and the other demons shrank back cautiously. They were still in shock over the loss of their leader, but it wouldn't last for long. Demons existed to kill and as soon as they realized that only two humans remained to resist them, they would be on them in a wave.
Already, one of the group, a stocky, black-skinned beast with a pair of long, blade-like horns jutting out of the backs of its wrists, was getting brave. Growling low in its throat, it gripped one of its companions and threw it forward. Wanderer blasted a hole through the demon's chest without batting an eyelid, dropping it dead in an instant at the foot of the stairs. The black-skinned demon leered, a plan forming in its twisted mind. It barked an unintelligible command and two of the smaller demons cowered in fear. After a second shouted command and a sharp gesture in Wanderer's direction from their de facto leader, the two creatures stepped forward. Both fell to well-aimed bullets and slumped to the floor.
"Gabriel, hurry it up!" the old man called, "Our hosts are getting antsy. I don't want to have to deal with more dance partners than I can handle."
"I'm trying." Gabriel shouted back as he tinkered with the bomb's controls, "Just hold them off a little longer. I need to be able to concentrate."
He watched as another pair of demons advanced on Wanderer and the man shot them. More followed and he fired five more bullets, killing five more demons. Just a few more moments. That was all he needed. The tingling sensation washed over him again and his concentration faltered. He wasn't feeling just nervous anymore, something was happening to him. He tapped another number on the small keypad and the shaking in his hand worsened. The sensation hit him again, harder this time, and his whole body convulsed. He had felt something like this once before. The tempus spell! No, not now! Clenching his fist to steady it, he pressed down on another number.
His body became insubstantial and his vision blurred. He struggled to finish inputting the code, scrabbling wildly with his good hand as he faded out of sight.
Wanderer fired wildly into the group of demons with both hands, not even bothering to take the time to aim anymore, as they advanced en masse up the stairs. He kept pulling the triggers until both weapons were empty and their firing mechanisms just snapped ineffectually. Dread knotted in his stomach as he realized he was out of ammunition. He hoped that he had bought Gabriel enough time to complete his task.
The black-skinned demon emerged from behind its remaining cohorts and stepped over the pile of bodies strewn across the steps.
"You're friend is gone." The creature chuckled, stroking its long wrist blades slowly against one another, "And you're out of ammo. I'd say this means that our little game is over."
The creature advanced confidently, its thick arms hanging casually at its sides. Wanderer struck out desperately with the stock of one of his empty pistols, but the demon caught his swinging wrist in a crushing grip and drove its other fist into his stomach. The old man screamed in blinding pain as the long, bony blade gouged up into his ribcage and pierced one of his lungs. The creature jerked the blade free and threw the old man's limp body back against the stone framework. He landed in a heap, crumpling forward over the bomb and the Sword of Seals, blood that came from deep inside him drooling down his chin.
"You may have closed the Hellmouth." The black-skinned demon walked up to him with its cohorts gibbering and growling in support close behind it. "But there's still plenty of my kind left. We'll reopen it and crush you humans once and for all."
Wanderer struggled to sit up. His body was wracked with pain. It was utter agony just to draw a breath, but he wouldn't surrender. He owed it to Alex. And to himself.
Slumping across the floor, he stretched his arm out and turned the explosive over, reaching for the hilt of the Sword of Seals. But he was barely strong enough to reach it, too weak to wield it as a weapon. He was utterly defenseless.
The demon stood over him and grinned evilly, "Give me the Sword, old man."
Wanderer sat up and coughed fresh blood down the front of his shirt. His pain-ridden eyes fell on the explosive and a tiny, blinking red light and his lips twisted into an ironic smile. He looked the black-skinned demon straight in the eye and grinned with bloodied teeth, his hand hovering over the explosive's detonation button.
"Go to hell." He spat, slamming his palm down hard.
Alex watched from a distant bluff as the Tower exploded in a column of smoke and flames. A massive mushroom cloud roiled, rolling into the sky, accompanied by a flash of bright light and a sound so loud she felt it echo in her chest. The leading edge of the blast was greatly weakened by the time it reached her, little more than a wall of hot air. It was enough though to dry away some of the tears that crawled slowly down her cheeks.
"Goodbye, Gabriel." She whispered to both of them, her voice low and tight and her cheeks wet, "Father."
Angel hit the floor hard and skidded on his back. He was bleeding from a wound on the side of his neck and his body was bruised and sore. The pressure gauge was almost full now. He estimated less than a minute before the entire complex would be doused with holy water. Swiping one of the demon's feet out from under it, he dove headlong for his rifle. A second demon clutched at his ankles, clawing its way up his legs. Surrounding him, the other five creatures hovered with bloodthirsty anticipation of his destruction.
His fingers caught the edge of the rifle and he managed to pull it into his grasp.
"Get off me!" he growled, firing a burst of bullets into the beast at point blank range, pulverizing it.
Rolling, he fired a steady stream of bullets and bounced to his feet. Three of the demons fell back, clutching gaping, burning holes in their chests. The last two leaped over the bodies of their brethren, claws outstretched. He fired the last of his ammunition into one of them, leaving his gun empty as he was forced to duck, narrowly avoided the other's attack. The beast squared off with him, diving forward and tackling him into the tall storage container.
The pressure gauge hit its peak and a buzzer went off, pumping thousands of gallons of holy water into the extinguisher ducts. A high powered spray erupted from the ceiling, cascading down into the chamber below like a rainstorm. Angel smashed the butt of his rifle into the beast's forehead and kicked his opponent off him and into the main part of the chamber. It screamed as the falling holy water seared into its skin and started melting the flesh underneath. Angel pulled the jacket of his uniform over his head and cowered against the wall as best he could.
"I'm coming to see you, Buffy." he closed his eyes and imagined what the afterlife would be like for a reformed vampire as the first droplets soaked through to his skin, "It's finally over."
Oz prepared himself as the door shuddered and fell inward, finally succumbing to the endless assault from without. A tangle of demons scrambled inside, flattening the metal door as they came. Oz started firing both his pistols, standing guard before the entrance to Willow's casting chamber, as the overhead extinguishers activated and showered the room with cold, clear liquid.
The mass of demons screamed piercingly as one and collapsed, writhing and spasming on the floor as the spray seared into their evil-born skin. Oz touched his fingers to his lips and tasted. It was just plain water. Horror twisted in his stomach and his heart became heavy with loss. It was not plain water at all. It was his oldest friend's gift to the movement that had become like a cherished child to him.