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madimpossibledreamerJojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: The fight on the train reaches a conclusion.
Word Count: 1217
Rating: Teen
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS.
The noise is apparently enough to alert the rest of the train by now. They’ve started moving again, despite the danger of traveling through the blizzard. There probably will be others coming to investigate soon enough. He has to make this quick.
Fortunately, he sees something glinting from one of the broken crates, and executes a neat combat roll to retrieve it. Eyes widen behind glasses, and with a toothy grin Angel dashes forward. It’s not long to catch him by surprise, but it takes a moment before the water can follow directions and defy gravity, so he might as well make the most of it. If he can separate the demon’s head from the shoulders, he can see if this is one of the few that can survive a beheading. He swings, putting all his strength into it, and his opponent falls backwards, making the attack miss completely. That kind of instinct is hard-earned through battle after battle. “Now, that’s what your reputation led me to expect,” he exclaims, not at all worried about the fact that Angel just tried to separate his head from his shoulders, and that’s not a little terrifying.
Why would someone like that pretend to be meek, accept the aggressive corporate structure of a toxic workplace like Wolfram & Hart for so long without breaking? That would take intense discipline, because despite the polite veneer, Angel can sense the primal destructive urge in the demon.
With a terrifying grin, the thing gestures and water rises from the floor, parrying every blade stroke. The pressure on the water is terrifying, if it’s enough to stop steel. He’s lost his chance at a quick, painless kill. Now he has to bide his time, wait for a chance, but it’s impossible to tell the stamina of a demon he’s only just met and started fighting. He could, potentially, try to retreat, but given the words from before, that’s not going to be allowed. And, of course, the Arrow. Who knew what destructive capabilities it had in store?
The respect. Of course. Just as they’d joined the place for its resources, attempted to use it for their own ends, so had this demon. The question is, how successful was he? More than we were?
A quick flick of the wrist, and the pressure on the water increases tenfold, enough to cut through the steel like it’s just butter under a butter knife. It slices through his cheek.
It’s more of instinct than anything. He still has the spring-loaded stake gadgets that he’s wearing, considering Wolfram & Hart likes to use vampires as security. The stake makes it through the man’s heart. He falls, eyes staring, and Angel bares his fangs even as the intelligent voice that’s kept him alive for three hundred and fifty years speaks up, warning him that something’s wrong. Nothing’s easy. It can’t be as easy as that. Obviously, whatever his enemy is, it’s not a vampire, because a vampire would dust. And a human would bleed.
Then, the whispering voice becomes a roar, and he moves back just in time to avoid the swift hand tearing the stake out as if it’s a mere splinter in the hand and aiming for Angel’s own heart. Josephine had mentioned vampires like the Turok Han, to which a stake is as useful as a cross. And given its interest in the Arrow, that’s entirely possible. But then, why the control of water? It might be just a power-seeking demon, though Angel can’t recall any specifically with a water affiliation, but then, his mind is a little preoccupied trying to keep him alive.
“Clever,” the man acknowledges, and barely reacts when Angel knocks the stake out of his hand with a box. It splinters, which given the water on the floor isn’t good. The man could manipulate it like a projectile, seeking his heart and dusting him, unless…
He has to get the man away from any potential sources of water on the train, not to mention the fire which might end up being entirely lethal to him, never mind his opponent, which…
He lets his demon fully loose, allows it to tackle the man and break through the wall of the train. It’s a gamble, but if they stay where they were, it’s only a matter of time.
He easily gets back to his feet because he was expecting the fall. The snow swirls around, and if the enemy was further away he probably couldn’t see him at all. The train quickly flies out of sight.
The man looks vaguely frustrated. Good. He can’t manipulate the snow swirling around them, or perhaps unlike a vampire he’s actually vulnerable to the cold, or maybe it’s just harder for him.
It’s not like Angel hasn’t had experience fighting dirty, though. So what if the opponent is stronger? He’d been fighting stronger opponents all the way back to when he was still alive. Admittedly, he’s a little rusty, but… (and you didn’t usually win, his mind reminds him, but he ignores that.)
He manages to get the demon close. It seems a little weaker—maybe without a source of water around, its source of strength is also gone. If he can finish this off quickly, there won’t be a problem. At least, as a vampire, he doesn’t have any body heat to speak of, to melt the snow…
He hears an ominous crack, like a tree shattering, and feels something bury itself in his back. He has an instant more of consciousness to wonder what happened before he’s gone.
“I must say, vampires give a new meaning to ‘ashes to ashes, dust to dust’,” the demon remarks, adjusting the glasses on his nose. “I suppose, in due fairness, I should’ve warned you that they were melting the ice and snow on the tracks using their sorcerers, and that I could use that to manipulate the tracks themselves, but, well. You didn’t exactly give me a chance, did you?” He’d return and at least put a cross here or something, once he’d retrieved the Arrow. The fellow had been a good opponent, to the point that he’d managed to delve a little too deep, but really, he’d wasted quite enough of his time.
He turns, and finds that, while the location isn’t quite correct, the law firm’s employees appear to have panicked and scrounged up enough strength to cast their spell, perhaps even from their own fear. The man growls before relaxing, watching the burning train disappear through the portal. “Well, the intelligent see opportunity in every circumstance. It’s not ideal, but I’m sure my ‘former employers’ are as anxious to test this Arrow as I am.” Well, he has time to place that gravestone, now. And the tracks are damaged, so he even has the perfect material from which to fashion a cross. Now, what to put… Nothing exactly communicates the utter shock at having someone realize how much lay beneath the surface of his mask, or the further surprise at the fight that ensued requiring some effort. On the other hand, there’s no point leaving clues like a trite B-movie villain. In the end, at least, he can give a salute, poetical and gentlemanly. “Here lies a clever monster who, in the end, became a man.”
