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Chapter 50
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The army of minions stopped its attack as soon as Angel acted. It was as if they were waiting for further orders from Wolf about what to do with Buffy and Oz.

"Spiiike!" Buffy watched in horror as Angel ran his sword through Spike. She knew, of course, that the wound wouldn’t kill him, but he was bleeding badly. Even with the pre-fight thermos of Slayer blood, the wound would cause Spike to be handicapped right when he needed to be in top form. She glared at Angel. "What the hell do you think you’re doing?"

"Just getting what’s mine." Angel’s jaw was set in a determined clench as he turned cold eyes first on Buffy and then Spike.

"That’s right," gloated Wolf, "the boy’s been bending over backwards for those tight-assed Powers. Finally wised up and realized they were just playing him like a cheap violin. Signed on with the winning team for a change. We always deliver on our promises."

"Oh God! You’ve lost your soul!" Buffy was horrified, remembering Angelus all too clearly.

"Nope, lover, all soulful and fancy free," Angel assured her. He pulled the sword from Spike’s body and watched dispassionately as the younger vampire slumped to the floor, moaning in pain. "Don’t panic. Wolf here’s gonna make sure all your dreams come true! Those cookies you promised ready to eat, babe?"

"You bastard!" Buffy spat. "I’m not yours! I haven’t been yours since I was seventeen! You knew that going into this fight. What makes you think I’d have you when you ally yourself with this slobbering hunk of evil?"

"’Cause this slobbering hunk of evil will fix it so you will," Angel answered. He glanced at Wolf and apologized, "Sorry about that; her words, not mine. You might work on that when you do her tune up too. Just a thought. Those company picnics’ll run a lot smoother if she’s not so negative."

"What have you done? There’ll be no tuning of any kind on Buffy. I like being out of tune. You want a robot, ask Spike how that works out!" Buffy was disgusted at the idea that there was a plan to mess with her mind, her free will.

"Not my finest moment," mumbled Spike. He had his eyes firmly fixed on Angel, trying to decide if his sire had truly gone over to the other side. If Angel had changed sides, they might not have a chance and Spike would not accept that possibility easily.

Buffy headed toward Angel, magical sword drawn and fury in her eyes.

"Stop her," ordered Wolf to his minions. "Don’t kill the girl though."

The battle resumed with Oz doing his best to hold off the minions that were headed towards Buffy.

Buffy had no choice but to turn away from the large Lupine creature and defend herself from the army of demons determined to stop her from attacking her former lover.

Spike managed to pull himself upright as his vampire healing, fueled by Slayer blood, began to do its magic. He couldn’t allow himself to be distracted by watching Buffy and Oz and only hoped they were holding their own. If he knew his girl, those minions wouldn’t know what hit them!

Two demons came at Buffy from opposite sides and she spun quickly to avoid the sword of the first. She whirled toward the minion and grabbed the outthrust sword, slicing her hand at the same time she disarmed the demon. "Damn! Gotta remember not to do that!"

Buffy threw the captured weapon in the air as she twirled and speared the other demon. As the airborne sword headed back to the ground, she ducked into a roll, neatly catching the sword in her free hand. Now, sword in each hand, Buffy went on the offensive.

Angel turned to Wolf and asked, "You want me to handle this little problem? Take out the trash?"

"By all means. I try to save myself for worthy opponents. No need to lower myself to take out one lovesick vampire." Wolf grinned. "He’s all yours."

"Only fair. I made him. I’ll unmake him." Angel thrust as Spike parried the attack.

"Bit full of yourself, aren’t ya, Peaches?" Spike had stopped bleeding externally but was still weakened from the skewering. It was likely he was still leaking a bit internally or so Spike thought. "Givin’ yourself lots more credit than those twenty years were worth. I am what I made myself to be, not Angelus, you bloody sadist!"

"Self-made man, eh? No wonder you’re such a mess." Angel advanced on Spike mercilessly as metal clanged against metal. Angel was pressing forward in a methodical manner, moving Spike further and further from Wolf.

The Partner moved out of the way of the raging battle, taking up the corner furthest from the two battling vampires. He still didn’t completely trust Angel, so he kept close watch on that particular portion of the fighting. So far Angel and Spike appeared to be fighting to a draw.

Oz had no plans of wolfing out. He could control the release of the inner demon when he wasn’t starved, but controlling the demon while it was in predominance was another matter. He had been working on it when he was captured and now was not the time to try it out in hopes he could use his human reason. The last thing Buffy needed was a blood-crazed werewolf ripping and tearing willy-nilly, no discrimination in targets.

Oz used the taser to immobilize minions that got close enough to him. He also wielded a purloined sword he had taken off the first victim of his series of offensive plunges into the ranks of the demon army.

Dilby had been driven against a pillar but was still holding his own against a red robed minion of the late Ram. He ducked his head left and right, just missing the lunges of the demon’s sword.

Spike finally regained his fighting form and was beating Angel back a bit. The two vampires were moving in a deadly ballet across the courtyard. Angel backed into one of Wolf’s minions and lost his footing, allowing Spike to neatly slice a fairly long gash on Angel’s left upper arm. "Sorry, mate, heat of the battle," Spike parroted Angel’s earlier words with a sneer.

Angel, clearly angry, began to slash at Spike with lightning fast strokes. He pushed the smaller vampire clear back across the courtyard from Wolf. The Partner’s eyes glittered in anticipation of this latest threat to his power base soon being gone.

"Spike, you just don’t learn, do you?" Angel was still slashing away at Spike. Spike’s fast reaction was the only thing saving him from being sliced to ribbons. As it was, he had precious few wounds to show for all the fury. "I thought you would have learned how to handle yourself back in Dresden in ’95. Are you really so stupid that you don’t remember a thing I taught you?"

Spike stumbled over a broken flowerpot but managed to keep upright. "Do you have ANY idea how tired I am of having you always calling me stupid?" His eyes flashed amber, but he didn’t go into game face. "I remember all the lessons learned at the hand of Angelus…and your other parts too." Spike’s voice had a bitter edge to it.

"Then you should thank me, boy." Angel lunged and Spike whirled to the left. Angel’s sword missed Spike’s side by less than an inch. Spike dropped to a crouch and did a sweep kick at Angel’s legs, managing to bring down the larger vamp. Spike plunged Excalibur toward his prone foe as Angel rolled, just in time to have his shirt rip from the sword, pinning it to the earth.

Buffy was still using two swords in battle, crossing them like a wild Saracen, slashing with the left as she lunged with the right. The head of the minion to the left rolled off before he even saw the blade coming his way. The other minion’s eyes widened in horror as he found himself impaled on her right sword. Buffy used her foot to brace against the dying minion’s chest and pull her weapon out for further use.

There was another red robed demon from Ram’s group coming up behind Buffy as she was pulling out the right-hand sword, but she quickly twisted the left blade to point behind her and ran it through the unfortunate demon’s midsection.

Dilby had a look of amazed glee as he began to feel some confidence in his ability to stay alive. He still kept his back to walls and pillars but was doing a bit of offensive fighting, not merely protecting himself from the blows of the demon army. He had actually killed at least three all by himself.

One of the red robed demons twisted Oz’s left arm back and the taser was dangerously close to being used on the werewolf instead of by him. Oz twisted in his captive’s grasp, fighting to move his arm back into position to use the voltage on the demon and keep from taking it into his own small frame. His eyes began to glow a deep red and he struggled to keep his wolf at bay. Finally, in a last desperate push, the taser came to rest upon the chest of the red robed minion and Oz shot him full of electricity. "Yes!" he exclaimed and spun to charge the demons that were flanking Buffy.

"Wondered where you were," Buffy quipped. "I was afraid I was gonna have to yell for Dilby to get my back. That was a major wig!" Buffy and Oz moved back to back to stand against the advancing demons. Buffy was still slicing and thrusting with two swords at the same time. Oz had pocketed the taser in favor of using both hands to wield the saber-like weapon taken from his last opponent. It was a heavy but
quite effective choice.

The floor was beginning to become slippery. Spilled blood and bodies were starting to pile up, making it important to watch one’s footing. Spike and Angel were leaping over the falling bodies without missing a clash. They were still across the courtyard from the avid Wolf.

Spike grabbed hold of a lightpost and in a move more expected from Gene Kelly, used it to spin around, feet flying out in a kick to Angel’s midsection. The larger vampire went down hard but rolled onto his upper back and bounced back up almost immediately. This allowed Spike to start beating his sire back with brutal blows, sword to sword.

Spike managed to get his sword past Angel’s to slice Angel’s face just under his left eye. "Son of a bitch, Spike! You could’ve put my eye out with that," Angel growled.

"Just rememberin’ Dresden like you said, Pops," Spike snarked back. Angel made a slicing maneuver aimed right at Spike’s neck, but Spike ducked and made a swift kick at his grandsire’s ankles instead. Angel managed a jump at the last moment, sword swinging well over Spike’s head and avoiding the smaller vampire’s sweeping foot.

Spike sprung up using his right hand to push up while the left continued to use Excalibur to block Angel’s resuming attack. "Look like Buffy’s safe?" Spike whispered as they moved into close contact, hilts of their swords crossed against each other.

"Looks like. Oz has her back and the clerk is managing to actually help." Angel nodded to Spike as the two pushed off each other, landing Angel at the feet of Wolf, who was rising from his crouched position.

As Angel rose to his feet, his sword ‘accidentally" impaled one of Wolf’s paws. Spike leapt behind Wolf and yelled, "Now!" before launching himself onto the great demon’s back.

Angel spun quickly and grabbed at Wolf’s open mouth, pulling with all his might on the lower jaw to prevent the Partner from snapping his powerful jaws shut in a killing bite. At the same time, Spike grabbed the upper jaw and pulled forcefully in an upward movement, yanking the muzzle back and up. A terrible ripping sound joined with a guttural growl as blood began to spurt from the ripping maw of the last Partner.

Finally, with his arm firmly around the neck of the Wolf, Spike gave one powerful twist and the sound of a loud snap drew every eye to the scene being played out. The twitching body of the mortally wounded Wolf fell to the ground as Spike jumped off his back.

Angel handed a flowerpot to Spike to gather the necessary blood and grinned in pleasure as he pointed out, "You were more graceful in Dresden. Getting old, Spike?"

"Yeah, well, you’re a better actor with age, Gramps. Remind me not to play poker with you," Spike grinned back at his sire, his eyes dancing. "Good thing you finally let me know or you’d be a pile of dust now."

Angel snorted at the idea that Spike would have bested him. "You wish! I wasn’t even giving it my all and I had you sweating."

"Oh, yeah? Who has a nice long mark on their face and arm now, eh?" Spike gloated.

"Who played the starring role as a shishkebab right out of the box? You really shouldn’t have left yourself open like that until you knew what I was up to, you idiot," Angel chided.

"Oddly enough, Fenris was supposed to die kinda like this. Odin’s son Vidar rips the Fenris wolf apart by pulling its jaws two different directions. You don’t think this clown really was who he said?"

"Believe me, Spike, you aren’t a Norse God, so I’d say that’s a ‘no’." Angel and Spike turned to look at the confused faces of their team and the horrified demons that had not fled at Wolf’s death.

"So, Mr. Angel was on our side?" Dilby finally put voice to the question on all their minds.

"Yeah. Little game we played back in the day against this big dumb demon. Made it look like we were going at it to the death so we could get in close and pretty much do what we just did to the overgrown pit bull there," Spike explained.

"The bigger they are, the dumber they are," Buffy added.

"Actually it’s ‘harder they fall’, Buff," Oz corrected.

"You know, that’s probably true ‘cause the big ones fall from higher up. So it would be harder, don’t you think?" Buffy happily headed down the side track offered.

"Don’t forget the short, fat ones," Oz suggested.

"They tend to just fall over, not so much on the hard, ‘cause, you know, closer to the ground," Buffy opined.

"Were they like this back when the lot of you fought together?" Spike asked Angel as he smiled in amusement.

"Actually, Oz is using more words than he used to. Where’d he come from anyway?"

"Remember the starvin’ werewolf in the cell? Turns out it was your boy there. Happy coincidence, yeah?" Spike explained.

"Came in handy. When I saw the numbers of minions left I wondered how long we were going to have to play Pirates of Penzance while they took care of them." Angel shook his head in amazement at the numbers of dead demons littering the floor of the courtyard.

"Bloody brilliant double sword action there, love," Spike proudly said to Buffy.

"Thanks, I always wanted to do that. It seemed like the perfect time to give it a try." Buffy beamed at her lover. "And you!" She swatted Angel on his good arm, hard. "You had me scared like crazy! I was sure you’d gone all Angelus on us! Good thing I was too busy or I’d have dusted you after you speared Spike. Don’t you ever try anything like that again, by the way, or I will."

Buffy began to push up Spike’s shirt to check the injury and make certain he really was all right. "Did you really have to go that far, Angel, or were you just being a jerk?"

"Seemed like the perfect way to finally convince Wolf to put away those last bits of distrust. Besides, I owed Spike one for that whole bug demon thing," he said with a side glare at the grinning vampire.

"Heat of the battle, just like I said then," Spike retorted.

"What’s going to happen to me, Mr. Spike?" Dilby asked nervously.

Spike looked at the little man and smiled gently. "You did good, lawyer. I ‘spect you’re more than tired of this dimension, maybe ready to get back in a courtroom and out of the courtyard, eh?

Dilby nodded quickly. "Maybe not bother with the whole courtroom part though. I’m thinking I’d like a bit more adventure in my life." The little lawyer/clerk swished his sword for effect, barely missing Angel, who hissed at him in warning.

"So…who’s for goin’ home?" Spike looked at the other four with a lifted eyebrow as all hands were raised, along with all their spirits.