Part 9<\/b><\/p>\n
Cordelia stared at the woman who wanted her and her unborn child exterminated. \u201cThis child can do so much,\u201d she said. \u201cShe can eliminate hate and war. Why would you want her dead?\u201d<\/p>\n
Allison smirked at the brunette. \u201cYou really want to know? How do you like history?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot very,\u201d Cordelia said. \u201cBut if it gets me an answer, I\u2019ll listen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allison had to admire the balls this girl had. Walking into a situation she probably wouldn\u2019t get out of, just because she wanted to know the truth. It was noble. Of course, nobility gets people killed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people I work for,\u201d Allison began, \u201cdo a lot of cool things. Right now, they\u2019re just an upstart company, struggling to make ends meet. But in a few years, a lot of brilliant minds will come together. They\u2019ll lay the foundation for success decades into the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe War of the Rhineland in 2010 saved my company from bankruptcy. Sure, we\u2019d had a few minor successes before then, but that incident saved us. The technologies we sold the British government to combat the new Neo-Fascist German regime not only stemmed the tide of a European conquest, it also made us boatloads of money.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the Arab coalition attacked Israel in 2015, the new fighter planes we sold to the Israelis saved them from total annihilation. It also earned us an exclusive contract to develop aircraft for eight different countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 2019, when the United States responded to a Russian threat against OPEC, the weapons and computer systems we sold the Americans boosted Hereford Innovations as the top military technologies corporation in the European Community.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn late 2023, when the Seven Years War began, Hereford Innovations was the world\u2019s leader in military hardware. The tanks we designed were far superior to anything the Americans or Russians could develop. We produced everything from new pulse rifles for the army, to destroyers for the navy, to stealth fighters for the air force.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cordelia could only look at Allison in confusion. \u201cWhat the hell does that have to do with anything?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIsn\u2019t it obvious?\u201d Allison asked. \u201cIt all comes down to one simple idea: There is no money to be made in peace. The mere idea of the Men-clar could be enough to destroy the Hereford conglomerate. During the Seven Years War, we pulled in trillions every year. That\u2019s what happens when you\u2019re the leading military distributor for all the world\u2019s superpowers. We were the leading contractor for the Americans, Russians, Chinese, British, Germans, and Israelis.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you\u2019d kill my daughter just to make a profit?\u201d Cordelia asked incredulously.<\/p>\n
Allison pulled a pistol from her waistband, and pointed the muzzle at Cordelia\u2019s head. \u201cYou\u2019re damn right I would.\u201d<\/p>\n
***********<\/p>\n
\u201cAnybody else finding it scary that Angel has Cordelia\u2019s scent in memory?\u201d Xander had concluded that all were in agreement until Oz spoke.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I have Willow\u2019s scent in memory. I could pick her out in a mall full of people.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAw,\u201d Willow smiled. \u201cThat\u2019s so sweet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah,\u201d Xander agreed. \u201cNothing says \u2018I love you\u2019 like picking out your girlfriend in a crowd by smell.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re just jealous because you can\u2019t smell Cordelia,\u201d Willow said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s near,\u201d Angel said. The gang waited as the vampire tried to gain a bearing on which way Cordelia went.<\/p>\n
The west part of Sunnydale was the oldest. It was the original foundation of the city, dating back to when the town got its jumpstart as a mining and lumber town. Most of the factories had long been abandoned, thanks largely to an local economic boom in the late 1950\u2019s, allowing new businesses to be built elsewhere.<\/p>\n
In fact, the west side was like a separate ecosystem. In the dilapidated factories lived homeless, drunkards, and transients who came through on the railroad. They scavenged the dumpsters around the few seedy bars in the area, and the occasional run-down diner.<\/p>\n
It was also home to fledgling vampires, youngsters looking for an easy meal by preying on those too weak to defend themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat way,\u201d Angel pointed. His game face slid in easily. Without waiting for the others, Angel bolted towards the old Henderson sawmill.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou heard him,\u201d Buffy said. \u201cThat way.\u201d The gang gave chase of the vampire; all hoping he would find Cordelia intact.<\/p>\n
***********<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to understand,\u201d Allison continued, the pistol still pointing at Cordelia. \u201cMy company deals in the highest power. The power of knowledge. With knowledge comes the ability to shape those around you as seen fit. When you have the intellectual power, you have the ultimate advantage.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of our knowledge, there will be seventeen Latin American revolutions from 2010 to 2025. We put in place the regimes that would benefit us. Because of our knowledge, the state of Palestine is but a distant memory. Because of our knowledge, we\u2019ve made billions from untapped oil fields in Tunguska. We\u2019ve got Prime Ministers, Presidents, Dictators and Kings on our payroll. And all of them want to buy our knowledge.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the existence of the Men-clar would make it all crash around us. The global infrastructure we\u2019ve worked so hard to build would be destroyed. And we can\u2019t let that happen. That\u2019s why I was sent back in time. To destroy the bastard child of a vampire and Seer. To make sure the threat to our existence would never come to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re a sick bitch,\u201d Cordelia spat.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know,\u201d Allison smirked.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe also talks too much.\u201d The vampire sprang from the shadows and deftly knocked the pistol away. Before the assassin could even breathe, Angel had her head in his hands, fully prepared to end her existence.<\/p>\n
Led by Buffy, the Scoobies arrived only moments later. \u201cAngel don\u2019t,\u201d Buffy pleaded. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to kill her. There has to be another way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah,\u201d Willow agreed. \u201cWe don\u2019t want ya going evil or nothing again. How about you put the lady\u2019s neck down?\u201d<\/p>\n
As the Scoobies pleaded with the vampire for another solution, Giles stood behind them silently. He knew that his charges wasted their breath. There would be only one way that Allison would survive this encounter. That was if Cordelia allowed her to do so.<\/p>\n
\u201cCordelia?\u201d Angel asked, his eyes flashing yellow.<\/p>\n
Cordelia couldn\u2019t believe the situation. It would be so easy to end the life of the person who threatened her child. She knew that killing a human was wrong. It could possibly even be dangerous for Angel to do so. But only one thought raced through the teenager\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wants to hurt my baby. Kill her.\u201d The lack of emotion in her voice startled even her.<\/p>\n
The sound of bone snapping was followed by a disturbing silence. The gang stood in horror as Angel dropped the broken body of the time traveler to the floor. The corpse of the once beautiful woman fell in a heap, quickly forgotten by the being that ended her life.<\/p>\n
Angel walked slowly to Cordelia, trying not to shock the girl that still stared at the corpse. \u201cCordelia?\u201d he asked softly, gently laying his hand on her arm. The woman he would come to love stared at him through tear filled eyes.<\/p>\n
Softly, Cordelia spoke. \u201cShe said the child of a vampire and Seer.\u201d Searching Angel\u2019s face, she found the answer. \u201cYou\u2019re the father,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s why you came here. To protect your child.\u201d<\/p>\n
Angel nodded slowly. \u201cI came to protect my child. I came to protect the woman that I love more than life itself. I came to protect my family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Angel slowly gathered Cordelia into a hug, wrapping his long arms around her, breathing in the smell of her, revealing in the feeling that his family was now safe.<\/p>\n