Thanks to the fact that Jim and Sue had arrived at the apartment building with a car, it didn't take the group long to arrive at the office building; Buffy, Willow and Pat were especially glad about that, since they had been forced to cram themselves into the not too roomy back seat, the demon grimacing and stretching once she'd gotten out of the car.
"Feeling your age?" Buffy teased immediately, giggling when Pat glared at her in reply; Jim smirked as well, only to gulp when the glare moved on to him and the demon dryly reminded him of the fact that he was younger than her, so he had no reason to grin.
"Just wait until you reach my age", she then added, tugging at the front flaps of her coat to make sure the sword remained hidden, "then you can grin like that."
"Touchy subject, huh", the earth demon grinned as an answer, merely receiving a snort in reply while Willow let out a little giggle; she was the only one who didn't get glared at for her troubles, the demon just giving her a slightly sour look, this little detail not unnoticed by Jim, who grinned again.
"Alright", Buffy brought the attention back to the task at hand, looking up at the office building, "obviously, this building is neither abandoned, nor old, so we'll have to assume there are innocent people in there. Let's go and see if we can find out which floor our friends are using."
With those words, she set off, making her way to the building's entrance, the rest following; upon entering, they found themselves in a rather elegant looking lobby, the woman behind the reception desk looking up and raising an eyebrow at the peculiar group which just had marched into the building.
"Can I help you?" she politely asked, and after exchanging short looks with the others, Willow muttered "Leave that to me", then made her way over to the desk and stopped in front of it, smiling sweetly at the woman behind it.
"This is a bit embarrassing", she stated, helping the act along by letting her smile falter a bit, "but, well, my boyfriend just started working here recently, and we wanted to surprise him, it's his birthday. I forgot the name of the company though, I just know they moved into this building a few days ago…"
"What's his name?" the receptionist demanded to know while behind the redhead, Pat was struggling to keep a straight face after hearing the boyfriend story; to Willow's dismay, she realized that she had no idea which name to use, and that making one up on the spot would probably not work out. She had a moment to ask herself if the only other idea she could come up with would be the right thing to do; then, she told herself that it was for the greater good and focused, her eyes briefly flashing up in a much brighter green as she caught the woman's gaze.
Taking in a deep breath, since she only had read about this spell, but never had actually tried it on anyone, she gave her best to sound calm, but still stern when she spoke up again, satisfied to see that the woman had gone slightly slack-jawed and a vacant expression had entered her eyes.
"It would be really helpful if you could tell me which floor was rented out a few days ago", she stated, the rest of the group watching with interest, "it's for a very important cause."
"Sure", the woman replied, sounding as dazed as she was looking, "the fourth floor… Just got rented a week ago…"
"Thank you", Willow politely replied, "and, oh, you won't remember any of this once we're out of sight, alright?"
"Sure", the woman agreed, and Willow smiled at her once more before she turned and gave her friends the thumbs up.
"What did you do to her?" Pat wanted to know, sounding just interested and not accusing or anything though; giggling, the redhead shrugged while she led the group to the elevators, a hint of mischief in her eyes and voice when she replied. "I used a spell on her I read about a while ago. Let's say it makes people very… eager to give you answers."
"Neat", the taller woman complimented her, making her smile, "just don't ever use that on me when you wanna do something dangerous, you hear?"
"I would never", Willow protested, then the elevator arrived and the doors opened, making them all step inside. "The fourth floor, she told me", the redhead added, pushing the button for said floor; clearly feeling a bit agitated about the possibility that all too soon, there'd be fighting, Buffy moved one hand beneath her coat to clutch the handle of her sword, frowning when the elevator doors opened again a short time later and the group found themselves standing in some sort of tiny anteroom, a glass door separating them from the hallway that presumably lead to the office areas.
"Let me go first", Pat murmured, keeping her voice low, "I know all about being sneaky."
Nodding, Buffy still kept her hand on the handle of her sword as she watched how the demon moved up to the glass door, spying left and right before she opened it and stepped through; it took her just a few steps to vanish from the sight of the group, and Willow had to stop herself from fidgeting with the hem of her shirt as she waited for the demon to come back – or for the sounds of fighting to come up, something she pretty much expected.
To her surprise, everything stayed quiet though, and after a few minutes had ticked by, Pat came back, looking annoyed, but nodding when Buffy asked her if she'd seen anything interesting.
"Two of the guys who attacked me at the Bronze", she let the Slayer know, "and a bunch of others, total of nine. They're just sitting around in one of those open plan office thingies that are so modern now, some of them are talking, some are fooling around with laptops. It's at the end of that hallway, but we have to be careful, another glass door, I was lucky they didn't spot me."
"Let's move and kick some ass then", Buffy decided in reply, "but remember, at least one of them needs to stay alive so we can question him. I'd say that Pat and me go in first, you two guys follow, and you, Willow, stay in the back, do magic if necessary, but only if you really have to, we might need some spells to convince them of telling us anything. Alright?"
Once they all had nodded, Buffy pulled out her sword, prompting Pat to do the same; side by side, they stepped through the glass door, then quietly moved down the hallway, Jim and Sue behind them, giving them enough room though for fighting, and Willow forming the rear, just as the Slayer had said.
Just when they were halfway down the hallway, a door to their left opened and a man stepped outside of what was clearly a bathroom; his eyes went wide, but before he had the chance to make a sound, Buffy had punched him hard enough to knock the air out of him, then grabbed his collar and, after exchanging one look with Pat, started dragging him toward the glass doors leading to the open plan office. He realized what they were about to do when the demon grabbed his legs and they hoisted him up, but still found himself unable to scream or even just to talk; and seconds later, he was flying, crashing through the glass and ending up on the carpet behind it, moaning and groaning while the other people in the room jumped up from their seats in shock.
"It's them!" one of them shouted after a moment, "shit!"
"Yup, it's us", Buffy agreed, and then she was upon them, her sword slashing left and right, not caring whom she hit, as long as she wounded them and made fighting back harder, if not even impossible, for their foes. Next to her, Pat made sure to keep a safe distance to the Slayer's blade as she used her own to deal out damage as well; as always, Buffy made sure to remain close to her left, keeping anyone from sneaking up to her and taking advantage of her blind side.
Still, they both couldn't stop some of the men and women to move around them and end up behind them; and even though Jim and Sue did their part to keep them from attacking, they couldn't stop them all, one of them grabbing the nearest chair and smashing it on Buffy's back, with enough force to knock the blonde down on all fours. Snarling, the man moved closer to the Slayer, reaching out to grab her; blindly, Buffy swung her sword at him, unable to keep the smirk off her face when she felt the blade connect and the man let out a shout, some of her happiness about the successful hit fading though when she noticed that she merely had cut his leg.
Not letting this little setback stop her, she quickly swiped one leg around and kicked his legs out from underneath him, making him fall; while she came to her feet again, she had a second to notice that another of the men had managed to grab Pat from behind, one of the few women of the group taking the chance given by the demon's momentarily distracted state to land a punch, but before Buffy could move to help, the black haired woman had let out an audible growl and threw herself backwards, against the man holding her, bringing both her feet up at the same time and kicking the woman who'd hit her right in the chest, sending her back a few steps, gasping, while both she and the man still trying to hold her went down.
Still gasping, the woman moved to pick up the sword Pat had involuntarily dropped when the guy had grabbed her; before she could take hold of the weapon though, the carpet suddenly came to unexpected life, thick strings of it moving upwards and wrapping around her ankles, the sudden restriction of her movement making her stumble and nearly causing her to fall again.
Smirking, Willow took a moment to savour the sight of the woman struggling against the bonds her spell had put her in, then focused on the fight again, watching how her partner took a firm hold of the man who'd grabbed her and, with one mighty shove, sent him stumbling headfirst into one of the pillars that were placed left and right to the middle aisle of the office, a low grunt coming from him before he slumped down.
For a moment, the demon looked as if she wanted to move for her weapon again, but before she could do so, two more men came at her, both of them yelling, as if to prep themselves for the fight; she met the first one with a punch to the jaw, saw from the corner of her eye how the other one lashed out, the metallic glint of a knife or dagger in his hand – and then Jim was there, a large rock quickly forming in his hand even while he brought his arm around, the stone connecting with the side of the man's head and sending him to the ground.
"Thanks, mate", Pat had time to smirk at him, then two more men and yet another woman came at them; and with an unspoken understanding of each other as if they hadn't spent more than forty years apart, the two moved to stand back to back, bringing up their fists, the taller woman's bursting into flames while more rocks formed in the earth demon's hands. They moved a few steps apart to avoid endangering each other, then the attackers had reached them, the black haired woman using the momentum one of them had gained when he had rushed at her by bending down the moment he was close enough so he couldn't stop himself anymore, briefly grabbing his legs as she hoisted him over her shoulder and then let him drop to the ground; by the time she had straightened up again though, the second man was too close to let her react to his attack, and she had to take his fist full in the face, with enough force that her head got thrown back into her neck.
Before she could recover from the hit, both the man and the woman had grabbed her; close to the sad remains of the glass door, she heard Willow cry out as they launched her forwards, then she managed to turn her head aside in the last second to avoid smacking into the first aid kit mounted to the wall face first, stars still exploding in front of her eye when she got slammed into it. Grunting, Pat let herself drop down to her knees as the man tried to land another punch, his fist hitting the already dented first aid kit instead and denting it even further; he let out a yelp, then a low gasp followed as the demon crashed into him, moving past him as something red at one of the pillars had caught her eye, a smirk forming on her face when she saw that it was what she had thought it had been.
Behind her, she heard a shriek as the woman rushed to attack her once more; it took her a mere second to get the fire extinguisher out of the frame that held it on the pillar, and in one fluid movement, she turned and swung it around, whacking the attacking woman right in the stomach and sending her back again, where she crashed into the guy on the ground, ending his struggles to get back up as they both went down.
"This is interesting", Sue commented, standing next to Willow, clearly not interested in taking part in the fight, "she still fights like she did back then, using everything she can get her hands on."
"Buffy's the same", Willow replied, not taking her gaze away from the brawl for a second, watching how Jim and Buffy each took out another one of their opponents, "that can get quite interesting in certain environments. One time, at the Bronze, that's a club here, they threw the billiard balls at a vampire."
For a moment, all of this felt quite absurd to her, standing here and chatting about the preferred fighting methods of her girlfriend and her best friend with yet another demon; then, she saw how the man Jim had knocked down earlier struggled to his feet again, brandishing the knife he had been clutching at his initial attack and sneaking towards Pat, the demon distracted by battling yet another guy, still using the fire extinguisher as a weapon.
"Pat, behind you!" the witch cried out, alarmed, not caring if this made the other men and women still on their feet notice her or not; to her relief, the demon had heard her, as she spun around, bringing the fire extinguisher up just in time to make the knife slam into the red metal instead of her chest or stomach. Seconds later, the man started screaming as the extinguisher's content shot out in a thick white cloud and right into his face; quickly, the stuff spread, making it hard for the combatants to see, and Sue let out a sigh, shaking her head to herself while she moved a step forward and took in a deep breath, Willow watching with amazement how she blew a shockingly strong gust of wind at the cloud moments later, making it dissolve into nothingness.
"That's quite amazing", she let the air demon know while the fighting resumed, now that they all could see again; before Sue could answer though, a mighty crash sounded through the office, making them both flinch, both of them relieved though when they saw that it had been caused by Buffy throwing one of her opponents on a table hard enough to make it break beneath his weight and the force of the impact.
By now, only three of their enemies remained standing, one of them the woman Willow still kept bound to the spot with the spell; the two who still were capable of moving and thus fighting were yet another woman, small and so chubby that her height and width were almost the same, and a tall, thin man, exchanging uneasy looks as Buffy, Pat and Jim all faced them.
"So", Buffy smirked, "you two still up to fighting? Or would you rather leave?"
"Their boss wouldn't like that, I imagine", Jim threw in before any of the two could say anything, "but maybe, if you guys run far away fast enough, you can get away from him before he notices what you've done."
"We won't run away like cowards", the man spat as an answer to that, making Buffy raise an eyebrow, her voice dripping with sarcasm when she replied. "Oh, but you have no problem to send four men to beat up one woman, right? 'cause that's so brave."
"It's none of your business how we handle the wishes of our clients", the woman smugly replied, only to have the guy next to her elbow her in the ribs, as a clear signal that she had said too much; Buffy smiled slightly, then moved with lightning speed, stepping forward and punching the guy straight in the face, making him cry out as he stumbled backwards.
With a cry of her own, the woman lashed out to return the favour; seconds later, her arm was grabbed, and she had a moment to look into Pat's grinning face – before the demon's free hand grabbed her at the throat and she was picked up from the ground, dangling in the grip helplessly for a few seconds, her eyes widening when she realized what the taller woman was about to do.
The realization did nothing to help her avoid it though, her hands flailing helplessly at the demon's arm before the grip on her throat tightened and she was flung away, straight through one of the windows, the sound of the glass breaking followed by the crash her body made as it hit one of the vehicles parked in front of the building moments later.
"Well", Buffy stated conversationally as she landed a kick against the guy's head, effectively knocking him out and making the woman still held by the spell the only one who remained conscious, "that surely was fun, it's been a while since I've been in such a mass brawl. And we even managed to keep one of them awake for questioning."
With those words, she turned to look at the woman, smiling pleasantly at her; gulping, she reacted by tugging at the carpet again, to no avail though, as Willow pointed out to her, in the same pleasant tone of voice.
"Give it up", she smiled, now moving closer to the fighters, noticing with dismay that all three of them were bleeding and that bruises were forming, but at least none of them seemed seriously hurt, "that spell can't be broken with physical force."
"I won't tell you anything", the woman spat in reply, "you might as well kill me now!"
"We won't kill you if you tell us what we want to know", Buffy pointed out to her, "and that's not much. Just tell us who hired you guys to come after my friend here, and we'll leave."
"No", the woman stubbornly gave back, crossing her arms over her chest; shaking her head, Buffy turned away from her and to Willow, making their captive gulp when she asked if the spell she had used on the receptionist would work in this case, as well.
"Not sure", the redhead gave back, "the book where I read it said it works on humans, no word about demons. I can try though."
"It's worth a try", the Slayer agreed, making Willow nod before she looked at the woman, frowning when she gave her best to avoid her gaze; she took a step closer, and suddenly, everything seemed to happen at once, the woman jerking up her arm, a thin, long and sharp blade sliding out of her sleeve while Jim let out a short "Hey!" and stomped on the ground once, a gasp escaping the witch when a pillar of thick earth appeared out of nowhere and caught the blade before it could be rammed into her body.
"Whew", the earth demon muttered, "that was close, and I hate doing that when no actual earth is around."
"Thanks", Willow gave back, looking at him in astonishment while the woman let out a dismayed noise as she tried to get the blade out of the pillar, with no success though; and then, Pat let out a low growl and stepped up to her, grabbing her other arm and twisting it up behind her back, making her cry out.
"You try to stab my girlfriend, time for pleasantries is over", she snarled, ignoring it when the woman let out a pain-filled whimper, "either you tell us now what we want to know, or I'll start burning you until you talk anyway. It's up to you."
"Please!" the woman cried out in reply, now not sounding defiant anymore, but scared, "even if I wanted to tell you, I couldn't! We never know the client, only the boss does!"
"Surely you can tell us then where your boss is, right?" Buffy sweetly gave back, not letting it show if the demon's threat about torturing the woman disturbed her or not; she grit her teeth in reply, then cried out again when Pat jerked her arm upwards, until the bone cracked suspiciously.
"Stop!" she yelped, twisting her head in a vain attempt to look at the taller woman, "or you'll break my arm!"
"And you think I care?" the demon snarled, unimpressed by the pain she heard in the woman's voice, "I'll break much more than that if you don't answer her question."
For a few more moments, the woman struggled with herself, her face working as she tried to figure out how serious Pat was; then, she squeezed her eyes shut, mumbling something which sounded an apology before she spoke on. "He's not here, he stayed at the headquarters, in L.A., he never comes with us when we go for a job…"
"More details, please", Buffy demanded, glaring at her, "or I'll tell my fiery friend here to just let loose. You won't like that."
Momentarily, the woman looked as if she'd refuse to talk again; then, she felt Pat's grip on her arm tighten, and within the blink of an eye, she started talking again, so fast that she nearly started stuttering, giving them the demon's name and the address he was living at.
"Thank you", the Slayer smiled, then nodded at Pat; and seconds later, the demon's fist came down, the woman's eyes rolling back into her head before she went down, knocked just as unconscious as the rest of her companions.
