Ultimate challenge chapter 2

"What the hell is going on!" questioned Cordelia looking angrily around. She thought that they were in a cave. "Why is Miss. Psycho Slayer and Mr. Blonde Evil Ambition here?" she questioned, glaring at Faith and Spike respectively.

"Cordy, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," piped up Fred.

" Cordy has a point about wanting to know where we are," added Wesley gazing around suspiciously. He glared at Spike while his keen Watcher mind took in the details of the place that they were in. It looked like they were underground as he saw stalactites and other rock formations.

"Why are you looking at me like that, Percy?" asked Spike looking irritated.

"Could someone tell me why William the Bloody, one of the most dangerous vampires, is here and no one has made a move to stake him yet?" asked Wesley, frowning. "Is it because of the chip that Mr. Giles mentioned?"

"This Billy Idol wannabe is a vampire?" asked Gunn. "Could someone tell me why we are not staking that dude?"

"What the hell! We know each other, Percy and Charlie Boy, from when we were in Wolfram and Hart together with Peaches," answered a flabbergasted Spike, wondering why the ex-Watcher and the street fighter did not recognize him.

"We most certainly don't know each other! Apart from Angel, I am not friendly with vampires," barked Wesley. "Also I have never worked for Wolfram and Hart, so what are you talking about, Spike?"

"Yeah, he better not have any hot pokers to torture Angel with," added Cordelia. "Buffy, why haven't you staked him yet?" she questioned her former classmate, who looked a little older than the last time she had seen her. The last the brunette seer had heard Buffy had been resurrected from the dead.

"Things have changed Cordy, Spike has a soul while Faith has changed," answered Buffy.

"Oh, he's like Angel now?" asked Cordelia.

"No! I am nothing like Peaches over there," growled Spike. "He's Irish and I'm English."

"I agree that you are nothing like me! You are the copycat and I am the original," snarled Angel.

"Angel! Are you twelve when it comes to Spike?" growled Buffy.

"Hang on, what year do you think this is?" interrupted Connor to the others. They looked younger than the time he had seen them in his previous life. He tried not to think about his twisted affair with Cordelia which had been orchestrated by Jasmine.

"The last time I checked it was 2002," answered Fred.

"Yeah, the last thing I remember was going to the ballet with the gang and being possessed by the ghosts of old lovers," added Cordelia.

"That never ends well. The whole ghostly thing involving old lovers, believe me, I should know," replied Buffy wisely.

"Yes, Angel took us to see Giselle but there was Count Kurskov and his minions," said Wesley.

"Trust Peaches to take his gang to see a poncy thing like ballet," jeered Spike. Angel growled at him, but he caught Buffy's pointed glare and backed off. The petite blonde touched Spike's arm and with her stern look, Spike stopped baiting his former mentor/rival.

"Dad, I think that we have a problem here," said Connor to Angel. "How do we explain what happens to them in their future?"

"I'm not sure son, and we'll all have to cross that bridge if it becomes necessary," replied Angel sadly. He had missed Fred, Wesley, Gunn, and especially Cordelia from those times before Holtz took his son to Quor Toth because of Wesley's betrayal.

"Dad?" Fred asked, gazing at the young man in shock. "You're Connor? But how? The last time I saw Connor he was a baby in a cradle at the Hyperion."

"No one else looks that much older so does Connor grow differently from other babies because of the whole vampire thing?" reasoned Cordelia. "What year even is this?"

"No, there is a good explanation for all this," explained Connor. "To answer your question Cordy, this is 2006 and not 2002."

Wesley looked on in disbelief at the sight of a grown-up Connor and the presence of Spike and Faith, the rogue Slayer who had tortured him.

"We better save that until later son," cautioned Angel before launching into his explanation about the Beyonder.

"So let me get this straight," Gunn said. "This dude ruined a perfect society, just prove that evil was bad?"

"That's the gist of it," Angel answered. "With Darla, Drusilla, the Master, Skip, the rogue power Jasmine, Sahjhan, Holtz, and Wolfram and Hart's minions, such as Lindsey and Lilah, all here, this place didn't stand a chance."

"So, what was it like?" Fred asked. "Gazing into a utopian world?"

"It was one of the most beautiful things that I had seen," replied Angel, noticing Cordelia's look of shock at the mention of Skip.

"The Master?! You've got to be kidding me!" interrupted Buffy growling. She feared and hated the ancient vampire king who had been one of her earliest and deadliest foes, excluding Angelus.

"I'm not letting that ponce get his filthy claws on you, Slayer," reassured Spike, who was a little concerned about his great great grandsire up and about. Nest had been killing for 900 years, which made him worse than Angelus or soulless him.

"Um guys, this is fascinating and all that but we have bigger problems at the moment," put in Cordelia. "We are surrounded by vampires." She pointed to the group of vampires who were now surrounding them.

"Angel man, does this place have any weapons?" questioned Gunn

"I don't know Gunn. I haven't been here long enough to take a look around," replied Angel. He had mixed feelings about seeing him, Wes, and Cordelia.

Then two female figures entered and smiled evilly at the heroes.

"Mom?" asked Connor, shocked, and Faith put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"That's right my son," said Darla, walking up to him. "My, my you have inherited my good looks and my eyes, of course, but children often disappoint their parents. I heard that madman Holtz raised you to hunt us because of Angel's failure as a father," she taunted.

"Leave him alone!" snarled Angel and he saw Cordelia's look of shock and fury at Darla's taunt about Holtz raising Connor.

"You're in no position to be making demands as my forces outnumber you and your white hats lover," replied Darla sarcastically.

Connor glared at his biological mother. This wasn't the same woman who tried to save him from Jasmine's influence but an evil version. From what Holtz had told him, Darla had been every inch as vicious as Angelus.

Meanwhile, Drusilla approached Spike. "My wicked Spike it's been a long time," she crooned at her former lover.

"Not long enough ducks," Spike retorted.

"That's Drusilla," explained Gunn to Fred. "She and Darla are seriously bad news."

"My poor Spike, Ms. Edith tells me that you have a soul and are poisoned by sunshine and the Slayer," whined Drusilla. "The moon tells me that I should rip out the Slayer's eyeballs and give them to great grandpa," she added menacingly. Spike then slugged Drusilla in the face.

The insane vampire growled and slapped him across the face.

This led to a brawl between the heroes and the vampires. During the scuffle, Darla slammed Angel onto a table, which smashed into multiple wooden pieces.

"Fred, would the same laws of physics that we have in our dimension apply to this one?" asked Angel.

"It's quite possible, but this is only my second time going to a different world," pondered Fred.

Wesley pulled out a handgun and opened fire at the vampires blowing several off their feet. They were turned to dust by Faith and Connor.

"What happened to you, Wes? You're like action guy now rather than the pompous weasel that you were in Sunnydale" questioned Buffy, who had staked her opponent, "But next time warn me before you start shooting,"

"Life happened, Ms. Summers, and working with Angel changed me," replied Wesley, now dodging a punch from a vampire before hitting him with the butt of his pistol and then staking him.

Connor and Faith were back-to-back against Darla's minions and with a stake here and a punch there, with the help of Gunn and Fred, they were pushing the vampires back, who was growling in displeasure at the humans attacking them.

"Hey Faith, I am on four already," said Connor to his older girlfriend. Faith liked to live fast and finally found someone that could keep up. The skinny young man was happy and content with someone that could understand the darkness within.

"Not bad, tiger, but I am on eight so you need to catch up," replied Faith, kicking at her opponents before staking them with the stake that she had.

"What's with the men in my family and Slayers?" complained Darla seeing the interaction between her son and the brunette. Also, she had seen that cheerleader and her worthless descendant Spike fighting together. "It must be Angel's influence that's making them weak," she decided and was in the fight for her life against Angel.

"Angelus and William, how nice to see you again, even if you had brought my line into disrepute," said a familiar voice out of Buffy's nightmares. The vampires parted like the Red Sea as The Master arrived and threw Angel off Darla. The brooding vampire was sent flying and hit a rock formation before landing in a heap on the ground.

"The Master," breathed Buffy, who was glaring at the ancient vampire, whose lines on his permanent vampire face betrayed his age.

"Ah Slayer it's nice to see you again," replied the Master sarcastically, and his scarlet red eyes locked onto Buffy's. "After you sent me to hell, I thought of nothing but this moment."

"Go near Buffy and you'll be in a litter box before the sun is up, Nest," threatened Spike.

"Can you defeat me, William? I don't think so," warned the Master. "Darla should have staked you and Angelus back in the day rather than letting you and her crazy Irish stallion disgrace our family by getting souls, and that's not all since I can smell that Slayer whore all over you," he added disdainfully.

Buffy and Spike attacked the Master in unison and were a well-oiled fighting unit against the ancient vampire who was fending off their blows with his power. Buffy used her speed to avoid his attacks while Spike landed several punches on the Master. Wesley fired at the Master further distracting him.

"Kill the Slayer to save our Master!" growled Darla at the minions.

Several vampires charged Spike, who called on his experiences in street brawling to take them down with kicks and punches. Buffy uppercut one and kicked another in the nuts who fell over in pain before Spike took pity on him and staked him.

"You don't kick a man in the balls Slayer," cautioned Spike. "That's just not cricket."

"Well, it got the job done, right?" replied Buffy.

"Slayer! I am going to kill you," shouted the Master. "You whore!" He was getting frustrated by Buffy evading his punches and she launched a kick to his kneecap.

"Bring it on ugly," retorted Buffy, but she was missing her scythe so it looked like she would have to do it the old-fashioned way with a stake.

Connor, Faith, and Angel faced off against Darla and Drusilla.

"Darla, you made me a promise not to let you hurt our son," warned Angel. "That's a promise I intend to keep."

"My mind wasn't exactly clear at the time, hero, due to being in labor with our hell spawn," replied Darla. "But now it is."

But then she was shot by Wesley and then staked by Cordelia from behind.

"That's for helping Wolfram and Hart to make Angel crazy and for helping yourself to my jugular as a snack during your pregnancy," snapped Cordelia.

"Darla! No!" shouted the Master seeing his surrogate daughter turn to dust. He realized his opponent Buffy had improved since the last time they saw each other so it was more of a challenge than before.

"Grand mummy! Naughty seer and I am going to blow out the candles," growled Drusilla. Before Angel attacked her with his fists.

"Why are you fighting us, Daddy?" whined Drusilla as they circled each other.

"I am sorry for what I did to you, Dru," apologized Angel. "But I won't let you hurt Cordelia."

"So noble so good protecting these humans!" barked Drusilla. "But what chances did my Angel give his little Drusilla?"

Angel brooded at her words before attacking Drusilla again and she dodged his punch before launching a kick at his abdomen. Finally, he won the struggle and staked Drusilla.

"Goodbye Dru, I am sorry for what Darla and I did to your family," he whispered at the wind that took Drusilla's ashes.

Only the Master was left standing and he was facing off against the bruised and battered heroes.

"You'll pay for this Angelus!" he threatened. "You and William are traitors to the Order of the Aurelius!"

"Blah Blah and I was never impressed by you Grandpa," replied Angel sarcastically.

"I was never a member of your bloody Order even when I was evil, Nest," added Spike before Connor hit the ancient vampire sending him back.

"Who the hell are you?" questioned the Master as the skinny man could punch like a Slayer.

"Hi, my name is Connor. I'm the son of Darla and Angel," introduced Connor. "And you are dust."

"Oh, for the Old One's sake! How the hell did you get Darla pregnant, Angel?" asked the Master in genuine interest.

"There was a whole prophecy thing, Nest, and it wouldn't interest you," replied Angel.

The Master punched Connor, who ended up on the ground several meters away.

"Connor!" yelled Angel in shock at seeing his son's prone body.

"Such arrogance so like Angelus," taunted the Master.

"His name is Angel," said a groggy Connor, and Buffy, Spike, and Angel staked him in the heart and the Master turned into a skeleton.

"We need to destroy that before he comes back," said Buffy

Angel hugged his son, "Are you okay?" He then checked him for injuries.

"Yeah, Dad, I'm fine," Connor assured him. "But can you not go into an overprotective mode in front of the guys and Faith?"

"Why is Angel so concerned about Faith's boy toy?" questioned Buffy to Spike.

"Its Peaches being a dad," answered Spike.

"Oh, so, Faith is doing the Connor," said Buffy. "I've been meaning to ask you Angel, but did Connor arrive by stork, or did you and your psycho sire do some baby-making ritual?"

When the petite blonde had heard from Willow and Giles that Angel had a son with his psycho sire, she felt some anger at her first love, who had left her so she could have a normal life, including children. But he was the one who had a son with that whore Darla. So, hypocrite much? At least Spike often told her the truth even when she didn't want to hear it.

"I wasn't myself when I slept with Darla," answered Angel defensively.

"So, Spike has a soul, and Miss. Psycho Slayer is doing our Connor," said Cordelia. "What fricking bizarro world did Wes and I wake up in?" she then complained to the heavens. She raised her eyebrow at seeing Faith playfully swat Connor's bony backside.

The heroes left the caves and started to walk to the upper levels with Connor and Faith bringing up the rear while kissing and groping each other.

"Hey, you two! Save that for the bedroom," warned Buffy to the couple, who were too busy to come up for air. The petite blonde noticed that Spike had an amused look on his face and shot her a lustful look while Angel wore an embarrassed expression.

Connor and Faith reluctantly separated and followed the others through the system of caves.

The good guys found themselves above ground near a space base. It looked like it was deserted. Because it was unlocked, Buffy thought that the previous owners must have fled or had been eaten.

The heroes decided to camp there for the night.

"Angel, I have been meaning to ask you about what Darla meant about that lunatic Holtz raising Connor?" questioned Cordelia.

Please read and review and I would like to thank my friend Starway Man for his assistance and review of chapter 1.