Last Time . . .

“I gave you 200 of my best troops, and you come back with 87!” Damouse said angrily. He stood up and walked to a window that overlooked the city of Houston. “No, we will handle them a different way. Wouldn’t you agree Doctor Wilkes?”

The Doctor walked out and had an evil smile on his face. His hair now longer, and his face younger by twenty years, said.

“Oh, I do so agree. I know the Dream Masters weaknesses. The Slayers are your matter, but leave the children to me.”

Chaos held no expression on his face, and he didn’t seem to care one way or the other. All he wanted was the honor of killing the most powerful Slayer ever, and maybe take a trophy along with it. He could care less about Damouse’s plan to take over the world. He found it old fashion and dull. The humans were their food, and by right, should be their slaves. Not for ruling, but for feeding and working. Leaving no room for compassion, only fun.

“So, what do you plan Doctor?” Damouse asked as he sat at the table and folded his fingers.

“Oh the simple fact that, they trust me should do well. The only one to worry about is Leo. He doesn’t respect authority.”

“Then kill him. Just get me Dominic and Vanessa. The others, do with as you please.” Damouse said commandingly.

This time . . .

Josh watched as a black limo with Russian flags waving in the hood of the car pulled into their driveway and let out a loud sigh.

“The leader of the Russian Republic is here.” He said to Lance telepathically.

“Oh joy!” Lance responded. “Give me some time. I’m still getting everything set up for this asshole.”

Josh let a smile escape his lips, then walked to the car where the 50somthing, lightly gray haired, rude looking but slightly handsome man stepped out. Smiling, Josh greeted him in Russian.

“[Welcome to FoxGlove Manor. I’m Joshua Chasez.]” Josh said as he stuck out his hand.

“[It’s a pleasure to meet you] Although I do believe it would be rude of me to speak anything but English in your presence. I know how you Americans are.” He said his thick accent coming through.

“Right.” Was all Josh could say, “Um, dinner is not quite ready yet, so perhaps you would like to join me in the den for some, vodka?”

The man nodded and they all walked into the house.

Lance was working around Chris and Joey as fast as he could. All three of them dressed handsomely and were all helping out with cooking and getting things set up. Chris was cutting up some vegetables and Lance reached over and started to throw then in the boiling water. Chris stopped and put the knife down and looked at Lance who was tasting the soup.

“Lance . . . Can you come here really quick?” Chris said as he frowned.

Lance looked over at him and slowly walked over. Chris quickly grabbed his hand, and Joey looked over just as fast.

“Is that what I think it is?” Joey said calmly.

“It looks like it to me.” Chris said.

They both screamed really loud and hugged Lance. It was almost as if they were acting like the girls that used to go to their concerts. Lance started to laugh; he wasn’t even that excited that Josh had asked him to marry him, but to each his own he thought. Suddenly, out of nowhere Joey took off running, his shape transforming as he ran. When Lance turned to ask what was going on, Chris was gone too. Lance shook his head then quickly started to put the food onto the plates.

“Prime Minister, I don’t think Lance is going to give our system to you. He worked hard on it and I honestly think that pri . . .” Josh noticed a dog walking into the room with the old, but still very distinctive Superman amulet hanging from its neck. It quickly walked over and grabbed Josh by the leg and pulled him out of the room.

“Forgive me, pets can be . . . annoying.” Josh said with a smile as he disappeared behind the door.

Joey changed back to his normal form and tightly hugged Josh, closely followed by Chris who appeared and hugged him.

“Man, so we had to find out on our own, didn’t we? You suck! God, I can’t wait!” Chris said as he hugged Josh again.

“Okay . . . Okay Chris, one your hurting me, two I do suck sometimes, but only when Lance is a good boy, and three, I have the Prime Minister of Russia in the den.” Josh said as he laughed and Chris let go while they all stared at each other. Josh then smiled and said; “Now I have company to tend to. And besides . . . it’s not really that big a deal.” He said, obviously lying.

He was just as happy as they were, even more so, but he had to keep his cool. As he started to walk away, he heard Joey say,

“Yeah, and my Oscar is just a paperweight.”

To which Chris said,

“Oh, and the Grammy makes a great doorstop.”

Josh laughed and walked into the den where the Prime Minister was now standing looking at the six Grammy’s that were above the fireplace.

“Very Impressive Mr. Chasez. I never was much of a music man.”

Josh smiled and said,

“To each his own.”

“Do you still, do music? I mean sing and write, and so forth.”

“No, just kind of lost the feel for it.”

“Ahhh yes, I know; and what about your other Comrades? Do they still deal in music? I know that Mr. Fatone is a great success in my country.”

“Not really, one of them is a music teacher, but that’s about it.”

“Josh, dinner is ready.” Lance’s voice rang through his head.

“Prime Minister, would you like to eat?”

            Justin walked into the woods his gun strapped to his back, and a tray of food in his hand. His breath shone in the night’s air like an evil mist, as he was upset and was expressing his anger aloud.

“If I had 300 billion dollars, I would not build this huge mother fuckin house in the middle of nowhere. Then go and build a little underground holding complex even farther out. BUT NO! They had to do it the hard way. And then they send Justin to look after the big fuckin demon that almost tore his face off the other night, and bring her food. ‘Justin can handle it. He is responsible.’ It’s fuckin colder than hell out here. I’m lost, and OH! Let’s not forget it’s nighttime! Which means blood sucking things from beyond the grave come out and eat people! And what kind of fuckin name is Attica?! Oooh . . . just like the prison! Oh, I’m scared!” Justin walked along, Russian accent echoing through the night, his hand lighting his way as he kept talking to himself.

After about ten more minutes of wandering he found the small shed that lead to a larger underground complex. He walked over and looked at the keypad on the door. He put the food down on the ground and then started to hit the numbers that would open the door. After about five minutes, unable to remember the combination, he got fed up and zapped the keypad and stood back as it opened.

“I’ll buy Josh a new one okay!?” He said as if there were someone standing next to him.

He walked down the stairs and into the area where the cages were. Walking to the last one, he came in site of the demon and heard her growl. She was in her human form, but the sound of her growl was still as big as her demon form and just as deep and evil. Justin not intimidated in the least, cockily smiled and said,

“Evening love. We weren’t sure what you liked so we brought you all kinds of stuff.”

“Food you moron.” She said angrily as he slid the tray under the bars then sat down on the floor, smiled and looked at her.

“So, why is it that, a demon, as powerful as you, decided to come and kill me for money?”

She looked at him weirdly, took a bite of her food, and soon started to eat it faster.

“I told you I wanted the top spot . . . but I underestimated you.”

“You weren’t sent to kill me?” Justin asked worriedly.

“No.”

He started to look around the complex and the demon stood and walked over to the bars.

“How many?” She asked quietly.

“Six . . . Male, human in size.”

The demon took a quick sniff into the air and said,

“Human, Russian, oh and I don’t like your cologne.”

“I’ll be sure to change it.” He said quietly as he got up, and picked up his gun.

“Prime Minister Stavinic. I’m not exactly sure what our government told you. But our security system is not for sale.” Lance said forcefully as he folded his hands.

Josh sat at one side of the table and ate his soup, cheering Lance on inside.

“Mr. Bass, please. If it’s money you need then, surely I can . . .”

“Look around you! I’m not exactly poor. In fact . . . I’m almost positive that I have more money in my checking account than you do in your entire country. Now if you both would excuse me, I have to check on our children.”

Josh stood, wiped his mouth, and waited for Lance to leave the room, than sat back down and started to eat his soup.

“Your Comrade is very hardheaded Mr. Chasez.” Stavinic said sipping his red wine.

“Lance? Lance only gets like that when someone wants something he has. Now, I can understand why you would want our system. But surely, even an old PC could easily run security for you.”

Stavinic stood and started to pace around the room. Trying to think of some way to get the system, Josh just sat back and watched amusedly.

Justin quietly walked outside the door and looked around. In the distance he could see six figures, dressed in nice suits looking around the trees. They were speaking in Russian, and had machine guns. Justin looked around and then started up the trees. As he looked down on them, there was the symbol of Prime Minister Stavinic. Justin looked around at them, they were good, the best Russia had to offer, but they didn’t seem to think there was much of a threat around.

“Josh?” Justin said telepathically.

“Yeah?” Josh answered back. “What’s up.”

“We have some friends near the holding compound. They are armed.”

Josh looked over at Stavinic and gave him a dirty look.

“Mr. Stavinic, were you planning on taking our system by force?”

Stavinic looked completely shocked at Josh, as the politician’s true motives came into play.

“Dom, come take a look at this.” Shawn said as he stood out on the balcony of his room and looked into the forest. Dom came over and looked. “What is that?”

In the distance they could see something jumping from tree to tree, then hit the snow and take off running. It was running towards the house, very fast, but just as silent as a cat moving through the grass. Vanessa walked over to the window and looked.

“What’s Justin running from?” she said.

Dom looked over at her and said,

“Get everyone in here; I don’t like this.” They all gathered into one room, and stood around Dominic as he gave out the orders.

“Shawn, Buffy, scope out the area around the house, call us if you need help. Sonia, Leo, go find out what’s going on from one of the . . . Slayers. Vanessa and I will try and listen in on whatever’s going on downstairs. Be careful and be quick; the last thing we need is to get on the Slayers’ bad sides.”

They all nodded and went out into the hall, where they saw Lance leaning up against the wall looking at them.

“For one, I’m glad that you all are ready to die for each other, but there is nothing to worry about as of yet. And if something does happen we have already figured out what we are going to do. But, for mercy’s sake I’m going to let you guys go snoop around. Just don’t go to far from the Manor, k?” Lance said with a smile.

Dominic smiled back at the fact Lance was giving them the freedom to go do as they pleased. Lance started to walk away, but Justin quickly grabbed him and whispered something into his ear. Lance turned back to the Dream Masters and said,

“Something just came up, stay on the upper floors. Don’t go down to the lobby! Buffy, I need you to go get Chris’ son and lock him in the room with you; take his dog too. Try and keep him calm, he’s been alone a lot lately, and he needs some friends. His dad is with him now, but we need to borrow him, so, please?”

Buffy nodded and ran towards Chris’ room.

“No, of course not! They are simply here for my protection. I assure you, that if I wanted to take your system by force it would already be done by now. Of course, the thought had crossed my mind.” Stavinic said with an evil glare towards Josh.

Josh stood from his seat slowly and put his hands on the table and said angrily.

“Is that a threat?”

“No, just fair warning.” Stavinic said with a cocky smile.

Josh of course smiled back and said,

“Six armed guards couldn’t take me alone or my Comrades. So take your selfish ass, and get the fuck out of my home.” Then walked out of the room, and saw Justin, Joey, Chris, Lance, and Beryl at the top of the stairs.

Stavinic threw open the doors of the Dinning room and walked into the main lobby, and stood in front of Josh.

“Mr. Chasez, I will get your system one way or another!” He started to walk out of the door and the six guards were there, holding their guns.

“Better hope you get it before Chernyj Bedstivia gets to you.” Josh said.

Stavinic slowly turned around and looked at Josh with an evil glare then said.

“[Kill them all]”

The guards took up their aim and Justin put his hands out, and when the bullets started to fly, a magic shield protected them. Josh cocked his head to one side, and said.

“CIDS is pretty good for some things. Now, ten to one says, me and my five friends here, can take out your guards and have you down on the ground faster then you can even imagine.”

Stavinic smiled and looked at his top guard who fired his gun. The bullet flew and hit Josh right in the shoulder. Josh hissed in pain and his body turned with the impact of the bullet, he put his hand up to his shoulder and then pulled away his hand and saw the blood.

“You dick! That was a 1,500 dollar jacket!”

All five of the guys looked at Josh in shock, they knew he was tough, but not that tough. Josh looked over at them and said,

“Don’t let them leave here, alive.”

By the tone in Josh’s voice they knew that meant just to scare them, and that they did. They scared them so bad that they went running back to Russia. Josh thought it was a bit much though when Joey turned into the hulk and picked up the back of their limo. But he let it go, and they sped off into the night.

            Josh laughed, walked to the door and watched as his friends hoot and holler as they threw rocks at the limo. Lance then turned around, walked over to Josh and poked him where the bullet had hit, Josh looked down and frowned.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you could do that!” Lance said very angrily.

“Lance, there are things that I can and can’t tell you. You know that.” Josh said lovingly.

“Well, y’know, I would like to know what you can do so you don’t scare the shit out of me like that!”

Josh smiled and pulled him into the house, followed by the rest of the guys.

“Oh, it’s not that bad.”

“Hey Johnny boy!” Buffy said loudly into the phone.

“Buff? You do know what time it is right?”  Jonathan asked with a yawn.

“Of course I do, but yah know me. Always gots to be on the phone, Hun.”

“What you up to?”

“Nothin, bored out of my mind, so I thought, what better way to get rid of it, than call someone!”

“God, you sound like my brother used to.”

Buffy almost felt her heart drop, right when he said that Justin walked in the room doing rounds.

“Um yeah. Look Suga I got to go. I will talk to you later.”

“Well, wait! How is the new place holding up? I tried to call the island, but no one picked up except for this really creepy sounding chick, which means you moved somewhere.”

“Always stating the obvious. That’s Johnny for yah.” Buffy said trying to get Justin’s attention, which it did. Justin’s face quickly turned white and he swallowed hard. Buffy smiled and held the phone out to him. Justin quickly shied away, and waved his hands. “Well, I moved in with this really great bunch of guys.”

“More than one guy? You’re movin up in the world.”

“You know what I mean. But yeah, they’re great, all really good looking too. There is this one. Oh yum. In fact, he is standing in front of me right now.”

Justin flashed her an evil glare and she smiled sweetly at him.

“Well, then.” John said almost angrily.

“Johnny are you jealous?” Buffy said making fun of him.

“No! Why would I be?”

“Well, look sweety, I have to go. I will talk to you later.”

“Wait! What’s your new number so I can call you.”

“Oh, 555-3658.” And as she finished the sentence Justin hung up the phone and he could here John’s voice say.

“That’s Lan . . .”

Justin quickly ran out and down the hall where he was screaming for Josh or Lance like a frantic little boy. Josh quickly jumped up from the computer and ran out into the hall where he saw Justin running full sprint down the hall towards him.

“Josh, Josh! She gave him the number, and he is going to be calling back like anytime and I need you to answer it and . . .”

“Huh? I missed you Curly.”

Justin got frustrated and yelled,

“Jonathan is calling!”

Then the phone rang and Lance picked it up in the Library.

TBC . . .