"Immortal Beloved..." LXXXV...

A shortie...

PG-13

Disclaimer: No, Joss, no...I make no claims, put that thing down!

It's all yours and ME's...

Spoilers for Angel to the bitter end...Flee at once!...

Summary: Various outcomes following "Girl In Question" and /or "Not Fade Away" on Angel...

Ok, I lied about stopping at 50...But me poor ole mum would just say, "so long as I like it, it's ok..."

Archived at the 'Normal' Buffyverse page of theBuffy Rebecca verse, https://www.angelfire.com/zine2/buffyrebecca/index.html (scroll on down to the IB series)...

***

A black-haired, bearded, sharp-featured twenty-something man in long black duster, black shirt and black pants, grinned at his computer screen...

"Gentlemen, we're in..." he announced...

His two associates, Lloyd, a bristly-haired twenty year old in pale green, half-tucked shirt and beige, slightly tight pants and Joe the Pig, bald and heavily overweight, in ancient, unwashed and crusted T-shirt and similar jeans, came over...

"You made it..." Lloyd nodded... Sweet...

"So much for the retirement savings of 100,000 earnest and eager employees of the Bessinger corporation..." Roy, the first speaker, smiled...Tapping keyboard...

"But don't fret grandma...Bush's gonna set up death camps for old fogeys shortly..." he chuckled...

"Roy?..." Lloyd eyed him... "Did we make anything outta this?..."

Roy the Ax, master hacker of the NX5-G group..."You don't know what it means cause we don't want you to know..." their motto, spun round in his chair...Raising a forefinger...A stern look...

"Boys...We are not in this...Merely...For personal gain..."

Just mostly...he grinned...

"Yeah, we took our ten percent...And our corporate flack employers get to write off their share...Reimbursed by Uncle Sam as soon as their lobbyists open doors Monday..."

Just the dweebs in the office and on the factory floor spend their golden years wishin' they'd not voted out Social Security...he chuckled...

The door to their somewhat seedy apartment office was kicked open...All three looked over...

To where a short, twenty-something blonde woman eyed them...A tall, dark, distinguished, somehow not quite youthful (though in appearance he should have been)-looking man beside her...

"Hey..." she stepped in...The NX5-G team eyeing her... "You guys are the NX5-G guys, right?..."

Roy, recovering his aplomb, rose to confront the girl...Giving his best cold stare...Which couldn't quite come close to matching hers... "Yeah...That's us..."

She nodded, looking round... "Why do you guys always decorate the same way?..." she sighed...

"We like it..." Roy noted, eyeing the tall guy behind her who seemed a bit uncomfortable...

Though whether it was the purpose of their visit, the company present, or the deplorable decor was hard to say...

"Just who the hell are you, blondie?...And what the hell do you and your Jude Law clone here want?..."

"Buffy Summers...You trashed a site of mine recently..." she eyed him... "A friend of mine who knows you spotted your handiwork..."

"Roy the Ax leaves a large footprint..." he smiled... She eyed his duster, frowning for a second...

"Who's your friend?..." "My companion here wants to be anonymous...But if you mean the friend who lead me to you...Andrew Wells..."

"Hey...Andy..." Lloyd nodded... "I know him...How's he and that jerk Mears doin'?..."

"You call this girl, Lloyd?...She for us?..." Joe the Pig entered the conversation a bit late, staring at Buffy...Buffy frowning at him briefly... No, man...Lloyd hissed to him...Go sit down...

"Tell that spaz Wells I'll remember he's betrayed one of his own...And get out, unless you want me to throw you and Jude there out..." Roy frowned at her...

Or call the cops about two trespassers...he added...Suddenly feeling for the briefest instant under her now icy glare that perhaps a physical threat was not the best idea here...

"The site you brought down meant a lot to me..." she said quietly... "It was a memorial to someone I cared..." she paused, a brief glance at the Immortal...

"Someone I loved...."

"Not another Elvis site?..." Roy grinned...Then shook his head... "Either it musta been somebody with cash who's had way too many sites or it musta been pretty bad..."

But, maybe...For the right price...he grinned... "I could be merciful next time...After you get it back up..."

Wait a minute...he stared at her tense face...

"Buffy Summers?...The Slayer?...You?..."

Yeah...she nodded...

"I think I know the site you're talkin' about..." Roy smiled... "Never a site deserved to die more..."

He turned his chair to Lloyd... "...'Midnight descends in raven's colored clothes'..." he quoted, chuckling...

"Right, the poet guy?...From the 1800's...William, right?..." Lloyd grinned...

1880...Buffy said, coldly...

"Five of the world's worst poems, four bad short stories, that goofy bio, and the ridiculous nineteenth century nerd himself in black and white photo...No great loss to the literary corpus, sweetie..."

One of those poems and that 'goofy bio' was mine...she thought, glaring...

"Nice coat..." she said coldly... "I knew someone who used to wear one like it..."

Yeah?...Roy brushed his side hair back... "Spike, right?" he grinned... "Yeah, girly I know about him..." he leered at her quietly staring face...The Immortal frowning at him slightly...

"William's demon counterpart...I know the whole story..." a chuckle... "Buffy and Spike, the soul...The First...Roast William a'la Sunnydale...I got it out all outta the Watchers' mainframe a year ago, that's what led me to your site..."

Spike was ok...A reasonably stone-cold killer...Though not a finger on Roy the Ax...he grinned... "But ole Victorian Willie's got to go..."

"And if ya put his stuff up again...I'll just hack it down...I'm not in it for the money on this one, babe...Unless, of course..." a cold sneer...

"It wouldn't be money I'd offer you..." Buffy smiled back coolly... "Just the safety of your various body parts...But it's too late now..." she sighed...

"Some of what you destroyed were the only copies on Earth of his work...There were no hard copies made by the Council and I hadn't had a chance to print out everything..."

"Then the world's saved from another bad poet...My work is done..." Roy grinned...Lloyd vaguely grinning now as well, sensing Roy the Ax had triumphed again...

Joe the Pig busy examining the contents of his nose...As the Immortal grimaced slightly at him...

Sometimes I wonder if it is truly wise to save...All...Humanity...

"Time you and your friend got lost, Slayer..." the Ax frowned at them... "Or my friend Lloyd here will call the cops while I take a look at Buffy Summers' credit report..."

"You know Roy, I really have to tell you...You've done a lot for me..." Buffy said quietly... "I might never have confronted my feelings for William until you killed what little I had left of him..."

"Leave the ashes in the pit at Sunnydale, sister...I did you a favor...Now, get lost..."

"I was beginning to think..." she continued, ignoring him... "That I'd never find myself able to love somebody the way I love him...Dead or alive...Gone or here...And able to do, minus a love spell, what I'm ready to do for his memory now..."

"What?..." Roy eyed her...As she moved on him... "Look, I can't give you his stuff back...It's gone with the electrons..." Yeah, I know...she nodded... "But I can still do something for his memory...And rep..."

I mean...That the Slayer loved him so much as to do this for him...she smiled..."It's gotta pump his name up..."

"And I know Spike in Hell will be tickled pink even if William in Heaven is a mite troubled for me..."

Huh?...he stared as she grabbed him...

"Buffy?..." The Immortal called to her... Just a min, Henri...she waved him off...

"Well...Roy?...You ever see a guy get his head shoved up his ass?..." Buffy eyed him...

Heh...Roy chuckled... "Whoa...Hey..." he feebly struggled...

Buffy?...The Immortal stared at her raging face and the leather-clad young man in her grip...

"We really shouldn't be manhandling people like..."

A harsh scream from Roy, echoed by Lloyd and Joe the Pig both of whom now ran from the room...

Oh, my...the Immortal blinked...

Hmmn...Not in my most evil past days...he thought...

Damn...Must be the real thing, I guess...he noted, as she came over to him...

"Ok...I think we're done here...Lets go..." Buffy eyed him...

By all means...he nodded...Staring a bit...

Yeah, yeah...she sighed... "I guess you understand what this means, Henri...Though I have enjoyed our time together...I think I gotta speak to Willow and see what could be done...Maybe even consider...Waiting...If she can't help..."

"The true thing, ya know?...Baked cookies and all?...I can't just give it up..."she eyed him sadly... "Even if it means waiting till I'm old and ready for my third trip under..."

Though I guess I better do the penance thing...she eyed Roy, now on the floor...

***

"I can't believe it, man..." Lloyd shook his head at Joe the Pig who simply stared, eyes bulging at the heap of leather, blood, no longer writhing flesh on the floor they'd found on re-entering the room after Buffy and the Immortal had been gone a half hour...

"She actually did it..."

Whoa...

Uh... "Roy?" Joe the Pig tried addressing the heap... "You...ok?...Should we get you a doctor?..."

"Think he's dead, man..." Lloyd sighed...

***