The yellow school bus raced through the streets. The cloud of dust chasing it was getting closer. She couldn't reach it. It was too far away. In a final attempt to reach the bus, she leapt. With superhuman strength, she flew far. She almost had it. She was so close now. Almost on top of the bus, it seemed so close. But she missed. Her fingertips just grazed the back of it. She hit the ground had. Of course the fall was hard, seems as it came from two stories up.
The dust was close now. She could feel its wind. The tiny particles pricked her skin. Three buildings away was the cloud, and getting nearer by the second. She tried to move, but she just sat there, frozen in fear. She was a slayer; she wasn't supposed to be scared. But she knew it. This was the end. Finally, it was over. And this time, there was no chance that she could be brought back. This was it.
The sky turned a sickly dark brown. The dust was upon her. The sound was vivid. So vivid and loud. The crashing of buildings, breaking of glass, and the din of destruction. The road cracked under her paralyzed form. The cracks grew wider and wider until they swallowed her. Then she fell. The weightless feeling inherent to falling joined her in the descent to darkness. She fell. Buildings, chunks of road, and various metal objects fell beside her. It seemed like an eternity, but within a few seconds it was all over. It all went black. No light anywhere. There was a red light in the distance. It grew wider. It was wider than her field of vision. Then, the light opened up. There were monstrous disfigured teeth. It opened up to swallow her. Eventually, all she could see was blood red. Then it all went black again. The Hellmouth had finally swallowed her. Buffy was dead.
"Wake up Buffy! Buffy, come on, say something!" a voice hovering over her demanded. Her heart was racing. The adrenaline levels were maxed out, and her brow was flooded with a cold sweat. Her eyes stung with salt and water. There was a scream. A poor helpless girl was screaming. "Oh my god, where am I?" she wondered. Her throat was hoarse. Wait, it was her that was screaming. She was very scared. Her eyes finally sprung open. It was all very blurry. There was a person. She couldn't tell who. Realization finally came. She had been dreaming. It was all just a dream.
The figure over her moved in closer. She couldn't tell who it was still, but she could tell it was male. That meant that is could be Giles, Xander, Andrew, or Wood. Who ever it was, they were holding the side of her face with care. Oh my god. She knew who it was instantly. It was the hair. The hair was what tipped her off. It came to a single point at the top of his head. Andrew. She must have still been dreaming. Andrew would never have held her like this. Her eyes finally came into focus, her fears had been confirmed. It indeed was Andrew. What the hell was going on? She rolled off the bed and almost kicked him. She landed in a fighting pose similar to the ancient samurai warriors. Andrew looked scared. Good. Buffy didn't like the way that he had held her.
"Sorry, I just came in to see if you were alright. You were screaming like, really loud. Are you ok?" Andrew said in defense. All Buffy could do was laugh. He was wearing a Star Wars t-shirt three sizes too big, Spongebob night pants, and bunny slippers. He looked pitiful. She almost felt sorry for how geeky he was.
"What? What's so funny?" he asked. Buffy simply replied, "You." She looked at the clock. 6:12 AM. Oh well, no use in trying to go back to bed now.
The Hyperion Hotel was big. It had over 200 rooms. Most of which were furnished with beautiful furniture. Walking through the place was a wonderful experience. All of the rooms that were yet to be explored. The place was quiet. Almost like a horror movie. But some of the fiends that were in those movies were no match for Buffy Summers. Hell, she had even gone up against the first Evil itself. So she was not scared. The lobby wasn't too far now. She could hear voices arguing. Giles and Xander. Typical. They have been deciding what to do since Sunnydale became a giant crater.
It was funny listening to the news talk about what happened to the town that had been swallowed whole by the earth. There were theories that it was a giant sinkhole, and that underneath Sunnydale, there had been a giant cavity caused by the eroding of limestone by natural forces. Well, they were half right. There was a giant cavity, but it was not natural. Another theory stated that this was a message by God. Nope. It was a message from The First. Cultists all over the globe took this as the start of something. It truly wasn't. It was the end. The Sunnydale Hellmoth was closed forever.
Plans in what to do next were not yet decided. Mostly because they were debated as soon as an idea was declared. Giles wanted to go to the Hellmouth in Cleveland, Xander wanted to simply stay put for the moment, and wallow in their moment of glory. Buffy thought that this wallowing was going on too long now. Because it had been a week since she had last slayed any evil. Truth be told, it was getting boring in L.A.
Suddenly, a pain shrieked into her mind. It was a skull splitting pain that might have killed a normal human being. Images came to her head. Only in brief flashes though. There was a sign saying 'Welcome to New York City' there was a big stone chamber with fire lining the walls, there was a hole in the floor with a symbol of the slayer scythe. Then she saw a girl. She was Buffy's age. Here hair was dark, but the ends were tipped with purple. She was holding the scythe. Then there was a bright flash and it was over. Buffy heard a scream. A poor helpless girl was screaming. Her voice was hoarse. Then she realized it was herself that was screaming. She was on the ground. In front of her, she saw a pair of bunnies. Damn Andrew.
"Are you ok? Oh my god. I thought you were dying!" He wasn't half wrong. That head burst was a bitch. And it still was. She slowly got up on her knees and walked with the aid of Andrew.
"Buffy is the slayer! That means she is supposed to slay! How can she slay, if all she does is stay around all day in a dank dark hotel! This is not what her gift was meant for! Now listen to me Xander. I am the eldest and the wisest in the group. Also keep in mind that I was the watcher of the slayer. I know what I'm doing, so just listen." Giles yelled. Xander was now pissed off. He didn't want to go back into the world of fighting the supernatural that he had just recently taken a break from.
"Look, you are definitely the eldest. But you haven't been around long enough to see what we have. Let's see. Who was it that skipped town to go sip tea and strumpets with his British chums from the days of yore? Oh yeah, YOU!" Xander retaliated.
"It's crumpets you bloody berk! If you are going to mock my heritage, at least do it correctly." Giles said. Xander hated to be corrected. Especially by Giles. It made him feel stupid.
"How many body parts have you lost for the cause Giles? Hmmm? I lost an eye! You remember Caleb? Of course you do, you stayed on the sidelines while the potentials got blown up, and I got my eye poked out! Do you know how hard it is to grab the pencil in front of me?" He said as he picked up the pencil off the desk with ease. That had totally blown his case.
"Ok, maybe it's not that hard, but still, my depth perception sucks!"
"I'm happy for you."
"Oh yeah you would be! I'm farting rainbows over here with glee. We stay at the hotel until we think of something! That's it!"
"Well pardon me for being rude here, but incase you haven't noticed, WE HAVE THOUGHT OF SOMETHING!-" A scream in the distance broke their argument. They both turned and looked up at the balcony. After a minute, Buffy and Andrew appeared. Buffy looked like she had just battled the Powers That Be first-hand. That assumption wasn't half wrong. In a dreary voice she said, "We're going to New York."
Oh crap. There wasn't anything to break her fall. It was still a good twenty stories until her face would have a meeting with the ground. Too bad the meeting wouldn't be a happy one. Wait, was that a flag pole? Nobody hung flags anymore. Perfect. She contorted her body until she was directly in line with the pole protruding from the side of the building. Just a few floors now. She extended her arms. Contact. Her fingers wrapped around the pole. The momentum of the fall swung her body around the pole. Unfortunately, its ancient screws couldn't hold the weight, and the rusted metal broke free from the brick face. Again, she was airborne. Well, at least a three story landing isn't as bad as a twenty story landing. The pavement came closer to her face. She could see the broken beer bottle off to the side so vividly; she swore she could touch it. Oh wait, she could. Hello pavement.
It didn't hurt as much now. She healed fast. The limp would be gone by morning. Until then, she needed to rest. The walk wasn't too far. Just a few blocks. It was dark down here. The skyscrapers towered in the stratosphere above her. They were so tall. Kind of poetic; the fact that she was as low as it went, down here in the streets. She'd be lucky if she saw any dirt though. All that had been paved over centuries ago. She heard a crash above her and looked up to see a hover car trailing black smoke as it spiraled to the ground. There was nothing she could do for them. This sort of thing happened all over town every day. Wait there was something she could do.
Just ahead were the old docks. Floating above the water was a hover barge. She used all of her super-human strength so jump up to it. She stuck the landing. She had never driven one of these before, and had no clue what to do behind the controls. She needed to learn fast. There is no better time than the present. She pushed a lever that looked like a throttle foreword, and the barge sped over the water. She pulled back on the steering wheel, and the barge gained altitude. She maneuvered it over to where the car was going down. She was under it now, holding speed. Almost there. With a loud clank, the car smashed down on the deck.
The barge lost altitude, but the repulsor pads kept it steady at about five feet above the ground. She pulled the throttle back, and the barge sank slowly to the ground. Whew. She walked over to the car and yanked off the door. The windows were heavily tinted. Inside, there were two bodies staring back at her. Their brows were deformed, as they pushed down past the yellow eyes. Their pointed teeth shone out of the dark. Great, she had just rescued two Lurks. Crap.
One leaped at her and growled. She was used to it. This was her night job. Someone had once told her that these things were called vampires. She didn't believe this at first, but then she was exposed to their kind in a most unforgiving manner. They had turned her brother into one. So with that rage, she pulled out her scythe, and swung at him. She missed. It continued to lunge at her and pinned her to the ground. It just snarled at her with really bad breath. She kicked him off, and sent him about ten feet in the air. As he came back down, she held up the wooden end of her scythe and punctured his heart. Lurks always made a strange sound when they dusted.
She ran at the car. The other one wasn't there. She looked own the street, and sure enough, there he was, running. With the expertise of a skilled athlete, she threw the axe at him, and managed to plant it square in the back. The Lurk crumpled to the ground. He didn't dust though. She thought he would. She was still new to this whole 'Slayer' thing, and didn't know about all of the Vampire's soft dusting spots. She needed to learn. No time like the present.
It was getting lighter now. Dawn was hours ago, but the light was finally starting to permeate its way to the underworld of Haddyn. The light never actually reached the ground though. That was why there were so many Lurks. The apartments were old, broken, and nobody lived there legally. No body lived there on purpose either. That was why it was the perfect place to hide. Down here was the place the upper level dwellers thought of as a myth. Down here, you might die tomorrow. It wasn't nice. But it was home.
The original builders of the buildings hadn't meant for them to last this long. Hell, the builders themselves were only myths now, as their story had been lost over time. Nobody knew the year anymore. At least in the 2500's somewhere. They probably knew in the upper levels. Good for them and their Cortex connection. Down here, there is just crime and those who get in the way.
The slayer opened the door to her new home. Sure, it was a dump, but then again what wasn't down here. A crash sounded in the other room. Two bright green eyes shown from the darkness. It was definitely a demon or a mutation of some kind. It had six hairy arms. It bounded towards her. When she was knocked down on the ground by the spider monkey, she laughed as it licked her face.
"Alright already Mr. Spidey-Fantastico. You win. Now let me go to bed." She said as she started to get up. There was a tapping at the window. She opened it. A small floating robot buzzed in. A video screen came up asking for identification. She placed her thumb on the screen. After a second of processing it said in a metallic voice, "Fray, Melaka. One moment please." Its processing unit was whirring loud enough to be heard. Then a small slip of paper protruded from the tiny slot underneath the screen. There were only dots and dashes on the paper, but Melaka knew what it said. She had a job. Not now though, she needed sleep. She went and lay down on a rotten couch against a wall. Through the skylight, she saw the steady streams of hovering traffic in invisible lanes thousands of feet above her. Slowly she started to drift into sleep.
Just when her eyelids closed all the way, a shirking pain entered her head. There were flashes of images. They were fast, but Melaka was able to read them. There was a sign saying 'Welcome to New York City' there was a big stone chamber with fire lining the walls, there was a hole in the floor with a symbol of the slayer scythe. Then she saw a girl. She was her age was blond, well-built, and was holding the scythe. Then she heard a scream. Some helpless girl was screaming. Her voice was hoarse. Then Melaka realized it was her own voice. She was screaming. The images were gone but the pain stayed. Mr. Spidey-Fantastico was right beside her when she open her eyes. Come on little man, time to see Gunther.
On the roof of the apartment in a shed was the hover-cycle Melaka had bought with the three sil that she had gotten from an old job. As she climbed into the seat. The spider monkey climbed with her. The repulsor pads started up and they were off to see her employer.
The little man greeted them as they walked into the dark room from the balcony. The door shut behind them. Then the lights came on underneath them. They stood on glass over a giant tank of water. Down below, a strange humanoid fish person swam into view.
"Ah, Ms. Fray. I see you've brought company. You know how much I don't like your company. Do you remember the last persthing you brought in here? He smashed my home to shards! It will be harder for them to do that now. I installed the highest quality synthetic Corperalite glass tank available." Gunther said.
"You said you had a job. Are you going to bore me to death, or are you going to tell me what to do." She replied.
"Ok, well, I need you to get something for one of my clients. No, don't even think of asking, I already did. The client has no tie or information about your brother. He is still on the loose. Ok, now down to business. On your way out, Vinne will hand you a data circuit. It will tell you all you need to know. This job is worth half a sil if no fuzz is involved. If there is, then a quarter. Got it?" the fish guy said.
"Fine I understand. Hey, by any chance, do you know where a place called 'New York City' might be?" she asked.
"New York City? Why, I haven't heard that name in ages. Strange thing about that my dear Melaka. You're standing in it right now. This is New York City. At least, that is what it was called a long time ago. Since then, it has been called many things. The current of course being Haddyn." Gunther replied.
"Umm, ok thanks. I'll get right on your job." Melaka said as she walked out of the room. She took the fast air lane, and got to the nearest data terminal. It was linked directly to the Cortex. Time to find out where this room with the fire was, and who the bitch was with her scythe.