"To Counter a Darkness" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen
email: ryley[underscore]breen[at]hotmail[dot]com
(BtVS/Justice League Unlimited/Ultimate Marvel Universe)
[A Sort of YAHF]
Disclaimer: This is to state firmly and resolutely that I do not own any of the copyrighted material contained herein. It is the sole property of the original creators and associated companies. I am make no money whatsoever with this nor do I plan to in the future. This is being written purely for my own enjoyment and what enjoyment readers might experience reading my works.
Note: I had originally wanted to do this in the Mainstream Marvel Universe rather than the Ultimate one however getting the necessary issues of the major superhero teams there (Avengers, Fantastic Four, etc) proved to be too time consuming. Therefore I decided to use the easier to obtain Ultimate Marvel Universe and was somewhat swayed by the fact that this universe had less of a complicated history to worry about making it easier on me the writer.
Note 2: I had originally planned on this being a full fledged fanfic but eventually my muse got tired of it and so I decided to just post it as another chapter of 'Dreams and Ideas'. If you like it enough vote for it and if it gets enough votes maybe I'll put it back on the full fledged fanfic shelf.
Note 3: In this universe Giles does not return to England in Tabula Rasa but rather stays to keep a closer eye on Willow's magical development. As for Xander and Anya due to things being said during Sweet's visit as well as rising doubts on both sides they've mutually agreed to take a step back to re-examine where they want to go in life and who they want to be with. I did this because I wanted to free both of them up for potential pairings in the Ultimate Marvel Universe.
To Counter a Darkness
Sunnydale, California
BtVS Universe/Reality/Dimension
Afternoon, Unknown Precise Location, Unknown P.O.V
He'd show them all.
He would become a GOD!
He was tired of being seen as a half-assed scientist and not being worth the attention of the big players in this town! All through his time growing up he'd known he was smarter than everyone else and had proven it time and time again in school by passing his tests with flying colors and submitting daring projects to his teachers. He was right up there in High School with brainiacs like Willow Rosenberg but neither his parents or anyone else for that matter gave him the respect he deserved. Oh, they gave him the nice pats on the head and the occasional trophy, but not the one thing he really felt he deserved. Power! The power to rule over others and use his superior intellect to shape the world around him! That was what he deserved but, even though he could have taught each of the classes himself, they were instead left in the hands of idiots who practically read the text book word for word each day. It galled him that he was forced by the norms and customs of society to obey his intellectual inferiors! The only people who seemed to understand his greatness were his two 'friends', though to call them that would be giving them too much credit. They were his underlings, his minions, little better than pets in his eyes and the only reason he even bothered with them was that they occasionally proved useful to him. Even now, three years after graduating from High School, they had proven to be useful to him at times. Not that he'd wanted to be stuck with them but after his moronic parents had lost a fortune in the stock markets (despite the impeccable advice he'd given them months before), he hadn't had the money to go to a reputable university. Still, in retrospect, it might have been a blessing in disguise since the professors at any place of 'higher learning' in the world would still probably be inferior to him. Over the past four years he had chosen, instead, to broaden his knowledge of the supernatural phenomena that permeated the town of Sunnydale while at the same time keeping his scientific intellect razor sharp. In the end, while his minions were somewhat more proficient in performing magic, he possessed some talent in that area himself. He, of course, made sure that even the morons he ordered around thought he was a complete inept in that area but in private he was progressing quite nicely indeed.
However it wasn't enough.
He wanted MORE!
He wanted more and just last week he found the key to getting all he desired while he was meeting one of the Black Magic merchants that lived in Sunnydale. Apparently the little troll had come into the possession of an ancient text that contained many dark secrets but, sadly, was considered unreadable by most due to the fact that the language it was written in being extinct. Oh, one could tell that the symbols and markings were more than just mindless gibberish or the work of a toddler. Translating the words into something that could be understood, however, was deemed impossible by the book's previous owners. Those fools must not have been aware of the latest translation software out there or the benefits of using a code breaker program to decipher the ancient volume. He'd managed to crack it yesterday and, after perusing the first few chapters, he'd found a spell that would bring him everything he desired and more. In a way it was somewhat similar to the spell that had been cast on Halloween all those years ago but infinitely more powerful and, best of all, it was a permanent change. Even if some foolish White Hats somehow found the focus of the spell, shattering it would not undo the changes the spell would make in him and so they'd have little more to do but pray that he overlooked them. Something that would be entirely possible for the faceless fools in this town but, for those that had crossed him in the past or disrespected him, there would be no mercy. He would hunt each and every one of them down and have them screaming in terror before he reduced them to bloody smears on a floor somewhere.
All he needed was to wait for forces both celestial and arcane to fall into just the right configuration and he would be ready to take the first step towards his ultimate destiny.
By using his scientific genius and moderate skill in matters arcane, he had managed to predict the time in which the ceremony would have to occur. He almost laughed out loud when he saw both the date and the time but then he supposed it was somehow appropriate for what he would become to be born in a setting like that. He had already sent the minions to pick up the necessary ingredients from the bus depot where their demonic courier would be waiting and, once they brought the materials back, the three of them would lock themselves inside the warehouse he'd acquired. This, however, was no mere run-down-used-for-a-vampire-nest warehouse, but, rather something the warlock Wilkins had once owned and, as such, was a great deal more secure. Wards, spells, talismans and conventional electric security protected this place from outsiders. There were six rooms in total with a main open area in the center, making him believe that Richard Wilkins the first, second and third had perhaps used it for the more delicate spellwork that required zero interference. How fortunate that it had been left to itself after the ascended mayor had perished and only required a little maintenance to get it back up to full strength. It was also convenient that the rooms where his cannon fodder would be doing their part of the ceremony could only be opened from the outside.
It would mean less trouble for him when things got interesting.
For now, though, he would have to prepare the altered version translation of ceremony so that his 'friends' wouldn't suspect anything when he briefed them on the different roles they'd each have. After all, he had already buttered them up with promises of gaining the powers and abilities of their favorite fictional characters, so now it was time to lock them into place by showing them the ceremony that would be used. Once that was done, they'd begin drawing the symbols on the floor and preparing the various ingredients so that all would be ready when the fated hour was upon them. He had to clamp down on his own mouth with his hand when he imagined what would happen when his scheme reached fruition so that giddy giggle wouldn't get out. After all, the future ruler of the world couldn't giggle; he could chuckle or laugh but certainly not giggle. Only girls giggled. Fortunately it was just as he was about to giggle that Igg and Ook showed up with one of the complaining about how overpriced the ingredients for the ceremony had been. He, of course, had known from the beginning that the demon merchant would jack up the price but, thanks to a bit of hacking with regards to the Sunnydale Bank, he managed to acquire more than enough money to pay the bill. Of course he fully expected the surprisingly competent S.P.D would catch on within the week and track the hacking to his computer within two weeks, but by then they would be little more than flies compared to his future self.
I wonder if it'd be any fun to squash every last member of the Sunnydale Police Department. He thought as he did his best to bury whatever contempt or annoyance his minions were stirring up within him.
He'd know one way or another soon enough.
The Magic Shop
Downtown Sunnydale, California
Early Evening, Xander's P.O.V
"So what's on the schedule for tonight? Vamp nest? Demonic ceremony?" Xander asked as he group known collectively as the Scooby gang assembled at the center table of the store, "Snyder's sister is coming to town?"
"Just more of the same, I'm afraid. Based on newspaper articles and Willow's accessing of the police database, there has been a rash of 'barbeque fork' killings over on Smith Street." Giles replied, dropping the print outs from said database on the table, "Most likely a nest of vampires have set up shop there."
"So we gear up and clean it out." Buffy said as though they were going to be picking up our dry cleaning, "I've got a meeting with that Child Services bitch again tomorrow and I'm going to need to be well rested if I don't want to snark her head off."
It was a sad fact that even with the skillful manipulation of the files at Child Services so as to grant Buffy custody over Dawn, there were still hoops that had to be jumped through before the pests would go away. She had most of the major ones, like employment and a place to live, no problem but it was the other matters such as providing a stable environment for someone not of age that was proving to be more difficult. Due to the nightlife in Sunnydale and the fact that Buffy was only a few years older than Dawn, those hard nosed idiots frequently acted skeptical about her ability to care for her younger sister. Also, given the aggressive nature of the eldest daughter of Joyce Summers, she didn't quite convey the I-am-so-caring-and-nurturing vibe those morons seemed to be looking for. Still they had the last big hurdle of their lives to jump over tomorrow and if they managed that it'd be, well it wouldn't be smooth sailing but it'd be considerably easier. With that in mind, he knew he'd do his best to make sure the vamp nest got taken care of as quickly as possible so the blonde Slayer could focus on what was really important.
They were all about to head to the Magic Box armory when the front door to the store opened, causing the bell hanging over it to jingle, thus getting everyone's attention.
What walked in must have been the ugliest demon he'd ever had the misfortune to lay eyes on and suddenly he wondered how many steps it was to the bathroom so he could begin throwing up. Four feet tall and wearing a trenchcoat that did nothing to disguise the horrible body beneath was a purple skinned demon that kinda looked like what a plastic Barney action figure that had been cooked on a hot plate. Thankfully Buffy, ever the first to take down demonic evil, had a sword in hand and was stepping forward to make the surprise guest a head shorter.
"Mortimer? What are you doing here?" Anya asked, sounding quite surprised at the appearance of this unknown demon.
"Oh, I was just in the neighborhood and thought I'd stop by." Mortimer the Muck demon replied, sounding like he was friends with them all.
Buffy taking another step towards him with sword in hand told the monster she didn't believe him.
"Okay, okay, I heard some news from the Black Magic Market grapevine that I thought you white hats might want to hear about." Mortimer said, sounding a bit disappointed that his schtick hadn't been more effective, "Some kid in this town's gotten his hands on the Book of Madd'Os Yo and plans to use it."
"Impossible! The Book of Madd'Os Yo is written in a language so ancient not even the best linguists or experts in the world have been able to translate it properly." Giles said, instantly at attention at the mention of the foul book.
"True, and when my brother sold the damn thing to the kid he thought he was pulling a fast one on the greenhorn but then my cousin told me someone bought quite a few things from him this afternoon." Mortimer said, looking like he approved of being the center of attention, "Rare spell ingredients and ceremony components mostly. Eugene has this habit of trying to figure out what his customers are trying to do with the stuff he sells them but this kid has him stumped. Never would have thought anything of it until my cousin described the kid who bought the Book to a T. Thought you guys might want to know in case this kid actually managed to translate the thing. See ya!"
"Wait! You're leaving?!" Buffy asked, not sounding pleased at the way this guy dropped a new problem in their laps and decided to leave without their permission.
"Of course!" Mortimer replied, sounding like it'd be crazy to do anything else at the moment, "There's a reason why people have tried to translate the Book of Madd'Os Yo so many times, lady. It's 'cause the thing is said to possess some of the darkest magic's on the planet and almost every spell has the power to wipe out a continent. I'm opening a portal out of here as soon as I pack my stuff!"
With that Mortimer left the Magic Box, leaving the rest of us wondering just how much trouble had been dropped in their laps and whether or not the yearly apocalypse had come early. Judging from the way that Giles is currently looking for something to polish out of existence, it was a fairly safe bet that even if it wasn't an end of the world situation, it was still something to worry about.
"Giles? What exactly is this Book of Madd'Os Yo?" Dawn asked, looking a little spooked by her surrogate father figure acting so nervous.
"I-it's an ancient text said to have fallen from the hands of S-Satan himself when he was cast out of Heaven by the Almighty. Some say that it even contains some of the fallen angel's power and has written in its pages spells known only to angelic kind." Giles replied as he began to pace about the room as the gears in his head started whirring, "If what this… this Mortimer says is true, then we must put everything else on hold and focus out efforts on finding the person in possession of the Book as soon as possible! Even if this person fails to cast one of the spells properly, any mistake made could be potentially worse than if it'd been done correctly."
"Screwing it up is worse than getting it right?" he asked, not liking this Book one little bit, "Man! Talk about the one time when burning a book would've been a good thing!"
For a moment it looked like G-Man was going to scold him for proposing something nasty about books but he then simply nodded in agreement. With purpose in his strides, the former Watcher went behind the counter of the Magic Box and brought back the equivalent of a magic user's tackle box. It contained ingredients and talismans for all of the spells they most commonly used in their defense of the Hellmouth as well as a few oddities for emergencies. Placing the tackle box on the table, he removed a map of Sunnydale and spread it out before selecting the ingredients for one of the more powerful locator spells. While they didn't have enough information about the person who bought the Book, they could track down the ingredients that had been purchased for the ceremony. They were rare enough and gave off a magic aura that should stand out, even on the Hellmouth, so finding them shouldn't take long at all. Willow and Tara quickly moved to help while the rest of them focused on getting the stuff they'd need for dealing with a magic user. Unlike vamps or most demons, beings that could toss magic around were considerably harder to deal with because they had more tricks up their sleeves. It was pretty much the opinion of just about every Scooby that magic users were a pain in the butt to deal with but on the plus side most of them could be taken out with swift blow to the head or losing said head.
The problem was getting close enough to do it.
As he watched Giles, Willow and Tara work their mojo he had to wonder how much longer the Scooby gang would be able to hold the line against the baddies of the world. After all they just seemed to get more and more powerful every year and they came closer to being defeated each time summer rolled around. The last time that they had an apocalypse, with Glory being the big bad, it'd taken Buffy throwing herself to her second death to save the world the last time. Even then it had been a near thing. Would they be so lucky next time? He wanted to believe so but at the same time he had to accept the possibility that what they had wouldn't be enough next time. Luck only went so far and, with the villains getting tougher with every year, it would only be a matter of time before something came up and managed to beat them. What would they need to change this? He didn't know precisely but more money would be a good start, maybe some better equipment, but the odds of that happening were slim. While they might have managed to blackmail Travers and his people into putting them back on the payroll thanks to that whole mess with Glorificus last year, those stuffy Brits were still stingy when it came to requests for resources. He'd overheard more than enough conversations between them and Giles to know that a stiff drink was often required for their resident Watcher after half the phone calls. Riley and his commandoes weren't always available for back up and no one was quite ready to trust anyone else in the U.S military to be competent back up in the fight against the paranormal. With both of their alternative sources of assistance either unreliable or dragging their feet somehow, they were pretty much left with whatever individual resources they could each get on their own. Giles and Anya had their respective contacts in the supernatural community, Willow had her hacking abilities and the rest of them were pretty good at pumping info out of the local demons. A trip to Willy's here, a visit to Shark's there, and they could usually sweep together enough info to save the day. For now, though, they'd have to make due with what they had to find whatever idiot thought Satan's cookbook made for good reading.
"The trail leads to the warehouse district, specifically those warehouses once owned by the deceased Mayor Wilkins, but I cannot pinpoint which warehouse specifically." Giles stated as the ashes used in the spell piled up onto a specific part of the warehouse district, "There are powerful wards and spells in place throughout that section making any precision impossible. Perhaps if we move closer, I might be able to discern which one."
"Then let's get going." Buffy said as she tested the weight of a mace from the weapons locker.
With those words they went off into a situation they knew only a little about to do what they always did when something bad was afoot.
They left to make a difference.
Warehouse District, The Warehouse Formerly Belonging to Mayor Richard Wilkins the Third
Ten Minutes Later, P.O.V of "The Kid"
"So are you two clear on what you have to do?" he asked his two minions as he checked to make sure his outfit was securely in place along with everything else he'd be needing.
"Yep! This is going to be SO cool!" replied Minion One, looking like he was hopped up on twenty cups of coffee, "We're going to be, like, GODS!"
"Maybe but we shouldn't get too far ahead of ourselves." Minion Two said, sounding a little concerned, "Just because we're getting a power boost doesn't mean we're undefeatable. It's a classic super villain mistake: get new powers, think you're unstoppable and then get your ass handed to you because you didn't think far enough ahead."
"Jonathan's right, Andrew. Even once the transformation is complete, we need to keep a low profile until we can think up a real plan to cash in on our new abilities." He said, looking at his two pieces of cannon fodder, "Now it's almost time to begin the ceremony. Get into your chambers and look over the chants I gave you. We can't afford to mess up on a single word if we want this to work right."
With that they moved into their individual chambers but, unlike the ones Andrew and Jonathan were getting into, he'd made sure to disable the locks on the chamber as well as the other things meant to keep the doors closed in this building. Not that he'd really need to worry about being trapped once the changes in his body were complete, but if those two nitwits messed up the ceremony he wasn't going to stick around when the shit started to hit the fan. Still, he'd drilled their lines into them mercilessly since he'd looked through the volume and even convinced them that the words had to be spoken in the original language. Oh, they'd complained about how hard it was but fooling them with some big words as well as a complicated explanation of his decryption program silenced their resistance ceased. Each of them might have certain skills that they excelled at but reading between the lines wasn't one of them. Closing his door, he took his place in the center of the arcane circle, one of three arranged in triangle formation, and watched the clock installed inside the room for the predestined time.
Fortunately it didn't take long for that time to arrive.
He wasn't exactly the most patient person on Earth.
Holding the Book of Madd'Os Yo, he began to speak the words that would bring him to his destiny and, thanks to a side effect of the spell, he could hear his minions playing their roles perfectly. He was even slightly impressed that they were pronouncing the words perfectly even though the language written in the Book hadn't been spoken in thousands of years. His work with them was bearing truly juicy fruit but he supposed that anyone learning under his mentorship would inevitably learn what he taught them. Now, though, was not the time for back patting when there were more pressing matters at hand that required his undivided attention. Pooling all his efforts, the entire range of his attention and power, into performing the ceremony perfectly without any flaws that might ruin things for him. It was a difficult thing to do, the strain was mounting, but it could not hope to match the determination he possessed to see this venture succeed. The power of the human spirit, its unbreakable will, was more than a match for the forces trying to tear him apart from the inside out.
Besides which, he had an ace to escape the 'cost' this spell had.
It was an ironclad rule of magic that there was always a price to be paid, usually it was proportional to the benefits one reaped from the spell, and this ceremony was no exception. Fortunately he'd found a loophole in the layout of the whole thing that would allow him to escape scot free and, thanks to those two fools, it was almost time to use that loophole. As the spell reached its crescendo and the need for chanting ended, he picked up a vial from the floor and smashed it against the ground, shattering and thus spreading the contents far across the floor. It took only few seconds but, when the coloring of the markings on the floor changed from blue to red, he knew that his little loophole had activated. He didn't need to wait long to see the results since, two seconds after the light given off by the floor symbols changed, he heard the first sign of weakness in the voices of Andrew and Jonathan as they finished their own chanting. At the same time he could feel the strain on him getting weaker, all but confirming that his 'get out of paying' plan was working wonderfully. He wondered how long they'd last before realizing that something had gone seriously wrong with the entire ceremony.
"W-W-Warren? I-I think…I think something's wrong…" Andrew said, sounding like it was taking considerable effort to speak, "I'm…I'm getting weaker…instead of…s-stronger…"
"Don't worry. Everything is proceeding just like the spell book said it would." He said as reassuringly as he could even if there was no point to it, "Just relax and it'll all be over with soon."
Over for you two, that is! He thought maliciously as he reveled in how trusting those two were.
If his guess was right, they'd last only another minute, two at the most, before dying from their life energy being drained dry so that the cost of the ceremony would paid in full. It was then, though, that something happened that he hadn't predicted: the pain came. Without warning his body began to change, bones grew and flesh twisted, and, since he didn't have the benefit of an anesthetic in his bloodstream, he felt every agonizing moment of it. So great was the pain of change that he didn't even notice the screams of Andrew or Jonathan as they finally realized that they had been betrayed by one they had considered a friend. Not that he likely would have felt anything even if he had heard anything because, as far as he was concerned, those two were merely tools for his own ambitions. If they perished, so be it. There were hundreds of other saps out there he could manipulate into serving him. At the moment, all that concerned him was enduring the pain of transformation and ensuring that the precautions he took did what he had been told they would. When he felt the hatred for all life, the desire to kill, begin to well up within him, he forced a single word out of his lips to seal away those unwanted additions to his mind.
"Humo." He said and, like clockwork, the talisman he'd concealed beneath the muscle suit he'd worn as part of his costume activated.
He would have sighed with relief when the bloodlust receded from his mind but the pain was so great that his single utterance proved to be the limit of what he could do without breaking his concentration. However, this proved to be a bit of a problem since that and his lack of knowledge of his surroundings at the moment would have informed him of the crackles of energy dancing on the floor symbols. Had he been able to see and comprehend this, he could have instantly recognized the signs of conflict between two opposing spells. Since this was not the case, though, the conflict was allowed to continue until critical levels were reached forcing the warring energy to go somewhere.
In this case it chose to go straight up.
With force equal to three dump trucks filled to the brim with TNT, the roof was blown clear off the warehouse and gave off a light show not seen on any night other than the Fourth of July. He didn't care, though, because the pain was finally leaving his new body leaving only the unbridled power of the being he had chosen to dress up as. It was more than he could have imagined! It was the power to crush all in his path! It was the power to inspire sheer terror in all who looked upon him! He had to take his newfound godhood for a test run, so he pulled back his right fist and then, with only what he judged to be a quarter of his newfound power, slammed his bone spiked knuckles into the door of his chamber that had miraculously survived the blast. Almost instantly the door flew off its hinges, shattered the front of the warehouse and continued on for several blocks if what he heard was accurate.
AMAZING! I knew he was strong but to experience it firsthand…this world is MINE!He thought with a smile that soon gave rise to malicious laughter, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
One Minute Earlier, The Warehouse District of Sunnydale, Xander's P.O.V
"Any luck pinning down the right one?" he asked as the group continued to walk up and down the rows of warehouses looking for anything suspicious.
"No. Even though it's been years since Mayor Wilkins died, the mystic defenses on his warehouse holdings are still quite potent indeed." Giles replied with some frustration as he continued to use a tracking spell with much less range to search for the right structure, "I am still picking up signs of the ingredients but I am afraid that we'll literally need to be right next to it in order to know which one is the right one."
"Great! If that place has even the cheapest security cameras installed they'll know we're there within seconds." He muttered, not liking the fact that they were so limited in their options.
"Perhaps. However if the spells and rituals inside the Book are as impressive as legends imply, then it is highly likely whoever has it will require every ounce of concentration they possess to do what they want," Giles said, obviously hearing the words of the young man. "Depending on how many are involved, it is entirely possible that they will not realize we are there until we choose to let them know."
With those words they searched but did not have to do so for very long since the roof of a warehouse three buildings down and one to the right got sent to Pluto. The light show was something else, too, but he'd learned that pretty usually meant powerful or seriously tricky and, in either case, it meant that they'd need to be careful. Careful, though, went out the window ten seconds later when something metal obliterated the warehouse in front of them and continued on for what sounded like two more before stopping. Walking forward to get a better look at what almost flattened them, he got one helluva scary eyeful when he identified the destructive object as being a thick steel door.
By thick, of course, he meant it could be used as a vault door for Fort Knox.
Worse yet, there was a large hand sized dent in the center that looked disturbingly familiar for some reason. However, when his mind provided him the most likely possibility, he immediately rejected it because there was no way that his luck was this bad. Then again his thoughts earlier might have tipped off Mr. Murphy and caused him to set this whole thing up for the Scoobies. If that was the case, he'd have to start watching what he thought from there on out or else he'd wind up making things worse. The echoing, sinister, laughing that soon rang throughout the area, though, made him wonder if it was too little too late. It wasn't that he hadn't heard maniacal laughter beforehand, hanging with this crowd it was pretty much a weekly occurrence, but this one had a feeling to it that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Deciding to see what it was, he looked in the other direction, the direction the vault door had come from, and what he saw exited the dust in the air almost made him lose control of his bladder. Instead he immediately ran back to the others and almost frantically began trying to tell them what he saw but the looks of confusion on some of their faces while Willow had a shocked one on hers he was babbling. That was something that usually only Willow did. Thus he forced himself to came down mentally and employed a few deep breaths to try to calm down even further. It was hard considering what he'd seen a few seconds ago but he knew it'd save time if the others didn't have to decipher his babbling.
And time was something they were quickly running out of.
"Look! We gotta get outta here and FAST!" he exclaimed looking back to where it hopefully still was, "I just saw what knocked that door through three buildings and we are completely out of our league!"
"Xander! What did you see? What did that?!" Buffy asked, sounding like seeing her friend so terrified was beginning to make her afraid as well.
"In a word Buff': Doomsday." He replied figuring that that one word pretty much summed everything up nicely.
"Do you mean some sort of apocalypse demon? What did it look like?" Giles asked no doubt eager for info to feed his fact filled mind.
"I don't think it's a demon G-Man. Not unless the people at DC comics have been using occult books to decide on a look for their baddies." He said, sparing a quick glance at his friend before looking back at where the ultimate destroyer was hopefully still standing.
Some of them rolled their eyes at the comic book reference but thankfully Willow, the Willmeister, was quickly able to put the pieces together and it was almost enough to make her faint dead away. Instead it just caused her legs to give out, causing her to slump to the ground, startling everyone, and causing Tara to rush to her side. The McClay girl tried to get her girlfriend to tell her what the problem was but the fear her friend was experiencing was such that all the blonde got was one sentence repeated over and over again.
"We're dead."
"Xander! What the hell's going on!?!" Buffy asked angrily, not liking how friends who'd stopped five apocalypses with her so far were falling apart because of something she hadn't even taken a swing at so far.
"Simply put, Buff, someone has either summoned or turned into a comic book baddie named Doomsday and right about now I'm thinking of checking to see when the next shuttle off planet is scheduled to go up." He replied, motioning with his hands for them to keep their voices to a whisper, "This is the guy that KILLED Superman! SUPERMAN!"
"Bloody hell!" Giles gasped as the older man considered the possibilities, "M-m-maybe it's some sort of illusion? Something that makes one see something that person believes is impossible to defeat?"
"Not unless there's an illusion that can punch a vault door off its hinges and through several buildings." He replied, shaking his head in the negative at the Watcher's hypothesis, "I think this is the real deal and even if this guy only has a tenth of the power that Doomsday had in the comics, then we won't even be able to scratch him."
"Won't know until we try." Buffy said as she took her mace of the leather belt she'd hooked it on.
"NO! Not a chance! I don't care if I have to knock you out cold Buffy." He said getting in front of her and preparing to do whatever it took to stop her from throwing her life away, "You're not going after that thing! It's a self-evolving killing machine that can take hits capable of shattering concrete and tears apart titanium like it was made of tissue paper! Your mace won't even get its attention."
"T-then what're we s-supposed to do?" Tara asked her own concern about the situation beginning to bring her stuttering issue back.
"I dunno. A banishing spell or something maybe?" he asked since that was the only thing he could think of that might not require that they get within arms reach of the engine of destruction.
"I-it'd have to be something long distance." Willow said as she gradually got a hold of herself and calmed down enough to think, "Something we wouldn't need to be close enough to be seen doing in order for it to work."
"We…um…we would need to affix something to…to its person to act as a focus for the spell." Giles said as he tried to think despite the fear inspiring situation they were in, "We'll need to get back to the Magic Box in order to prepare."
With those words, though, they saw that they'd have something of a ticking clock to work with because with awesome power Doomsday leapt deeper into town. It took less than ten seconds for the explosions to start and even from the warehouse district he could hear the screams of the people of Sunnydale as chaos filled the streets. Looking to the others, none of them needed to say a word before they all ran for their respective vehicles before driving off for the Magic Box, breaking the speed limit by a LARGE margin.
Downtown Sunnydale, Main Street, Thirty Minutes Later, Warren 'Doomsday' Mears' P.O.V
"THIS IS GREAT! I CAN'T BELIEVE I DIDN'T DO THIS SOONER!!" Warren yelled as bullets by the dozen hit him only to fall to the ground flat as pennies.
Indeed he was getting downright drunk on his newfound power and was compelled to pit it against anything he set his eyes on. He'd already demolished a building and tossed a few cars around like they were nothing all the while being attacked by the local P.D. They threw everything they had at him, from common bullets to tear gas, but all it did was annoy him enough to toss a car at them. They were still trying, no doubt believing that there was nothing they couldn't beat, but he was beginning to get bored with their efforts. With his new form he couldn't even feel the bullets hitting his skin and gas barely registered with him. He wanted something more interesting than the local beat cops. He wanted something that could truly show him how powerful he'd become and perhaps give him some small miniscule amount of trouble. That wouldn't happen locally, though, but still he might decide to at least pay a visit to the local White Hats to see what they could bring to bear. The self-proclaimed Scooby gang had made quite the reputation for themselves among the demonic and magical of Sunnydale, with only the most arrogant, stupid or powerful dismissing them as a threat. He didn't think that they'd be able to cause him any serious trouble but, seeing as how they were the real force behind keeping the people of this pathetic town in one piece, he thought they might be able to put up a better fight than these badge-wearing boneheads.
Not much better but enough to persuade him to stay in Sunnydale awhile longer.
He was about to leap to the part of town where their little club house was when he heard a splat sound suspiciously close to him and a smell that could only mean that something was most likely on his person. Reaching behind him he felt around, trying to find whatever it was that someone had thrown at him and if he came back with a hand covered in dog shit or something, whoever threw it was dead. After a minute or two of trying to reach a certain spot on his back, he eventually decided that he'd just use one of the still intact storefront windows to see just what he'd been splattered with. It took a little bit of maneuvering but eventually he managed to get the right angle to see a goop covered amulet stuck in just the right spot to prevent him from reaching it himself. He chuckled at this sight since he knew that either it meant that he wouldn't have to go looking for the Scooby gang or at someone mystically inclined was looking to stop his little bit of fun. Either way he'd get some better competition and a more suitable adversary with which to explore his powers. Turning in the direction he believed the amulet had come from, he looked for the one responsible but whoever had done it had quickly concealed themselves amongst the destroyed buildings. No matter, though, because he knew just how to flush them out into the open. Grabbing a car that had somehow missed being thrown by him, he threw it at the buildings on the right before tossing a large chunk of concrete at the other side. He had thought, perhaps, that he'd need to keep this up for a little while longer but, after his concrete connected with the side of a building on the left side of the street, he heard the tell tale sound of someone yelping with fright as they dove clear of any falling debris. Running forward, leaving footprints in the concrete as he went, he reached the alleyway where he'd heard the startled sounds and found that Christmas had come twice in less than two hours. Lying on the ground, a little banged up by the falling debris, was none other than Buffy Summers and Xander Harris with what looked like a paintball gun nearby.
"Resourceful, Summers, but then you and your 'Scooby gang' always did have a knack for making the most of what you had." He said as he casually walked up to them casually.
"Um…thanks…um…who are you again?" Xander asked, sounding both worried and a little confused.
"Why, I'm shocked! Don't you recognize your fellow classmate Warren Mears?" he said with false hurt in his voice as he stopped less than five feet from them, "We had history class together. Though I suppose that I shouldn't be too surprised you don't recognize me what with my new look and all. What do you think? Does it suit me?"
"Ah…yeah. You look great. All spiky and… stuff." Xander said, obviously looking for the most inoffensive words possible.
Smart.
"True, it's not exactly handsome but then power has an appeal all its own. Besides, with power you can get just about anything you could want, even if you have to take it by force." He said, carelessly admitting one of the shortcomings of taking on Doomsday's appearance, "So I guess I have you to thank for that little amulet stuck to my back? I suppose it's a focusing mechanism for a spell. So, what does it do?"
"You'll find out soon enough." Summer said, getting up from the ground though it was clear she was protecting her left arm.
The Slayer's prediction turned out to be accurate since he could feel energy from a spell spill forth from the amulet on his back. No doubt the real fun would begin once the energy finished encasing his entire body but, sadly, that would never happen since he'd anticipated something like this happening. His counter measure took effect five seconds later when a pulse of counter energy erupted from a jewel he'd had beneath the muscle suit prior to the transformation. He'd known from the start that someone would get wind of what he was up to or guess where he'd gotten his new look from and made certain that he had an appropriate counter measure in place. Specifically, it was a jewel with the ability to protect its wearer from any and all outside attempts at sorcery no matter what variety it turned out to be. While there had been some concern that it would interfere with the ceremony, he'd learned that it only acted upon sorcery that the wearer was unwilling to receive. In the case of the ceremony, he'd been all too willing to receive its effects but once that was done he'd made sure that he was unwilling to be affected by magic not related to the ceremony. It had its limits, of course, like if a spell directed at him was more powerful than it, but the only spells that powerful required no less than six spellcasters of considerable power. To his knowledge there were only three spellcasters amongst the members of the Scooby gang with only two of them being worth writing home about. That meant that even if they cast the most powerful spells they were capable of, either separately or combined, it would easily be neutralized by the jewel. When the energy from their little spell finally faded away, the looks on their faces was priceless and he took all the time he could to savor the moment.
"Um Buff'? Why isn't he going bye-bye?" Xander asked, sounding like he was barely keeping his composure.
"That, Harris, would have to do with the jewel I have implanted in my body." He replied in place of the blonde Slayer, "I knew you white hats would try to take away my 'upgrade' somehow, so I took some precautions."
"Crap!" Harris muttered, obviously having a good idea what kind of trouble him and his blonde friend were in.
"Oh, don't worry, Harris." He said as dismissively to disperse whatever images were in the young man's head, "I won't harm a hair on your head, or the Slayer's for that matter. Killing you'd be far too easy. I think instead I'll let you live so you can watch me stomp every major power on this planet. Watch and live with the fact that you can't do a damn thing to stop me. See ya!"
With that he leapt into the air, crossing miles with ease, and after his first landing he decided that the best place to make his big debut would be in a famous city.
He chose San Francisco.
Sunnydale, The Magic Box, Twelve Minutes Later, Buffy's P.O.V
"So what're we going to do?" she asked as she flexed her left arm, only feeling a little twinge of pain as a result.
Unlike what she'd first suspected, the arm wasn't broken, just severely bruised, but it'd still hurt like a bitch and if she'd had to throw down against Warren back in the alley, she would have been at a major disadvantage. Hell, if she'd been in top form she likely would have been at a tremendous disadvantage. She hadn't wanted to believe Xander and Willow when they'd described how powerful this 'Doomsday' thing was but, after seeing the devastation in downtown Sunnydale, she'd have been stupid not to rethink things. Obviously Warren now had insane strength and durability, making swords and maces useless, but that also meant that she'd be useless when it came to stop him. She might not have been one of the big brains of the group but even she could see how desperate the situation was and how hopeless stopping Warrens-day (as she was calling him) was at the moment. He was stronger than any of them. He was more durable than any of them. He had made himself immune to magic and adapted at frightening speeds to anything that could hurt him, rendering those methods useless. Warren was right; there wasn't a damn thing they could do to stop him. This above all else bothered her. While she might have cursed her Calling, she had been comforted by the fact that her Slayer powers gave her the tools to keep her friends and loved ones safe from the dangers of Sunnydale. She took solace in the fact that as long as they all worked together, they could overcome any baddie that decided to rock the boat with its latest 'take over the world' scheme. Even with this cloud of half depression that had been smothering her mind ever since Willow and the others ripped her out of Heaven, she had been certain that together they could come out on top through teamwork. Now, though, it looked like the best they could do was just sit there and hope that someone else managed to figure out a way to beat the monster from DC land.
"I don't know. He's impervious to physical force and adapts to every weapon that actually stands a chance of hurting him," Xander replied, calling upon his comic book knowledge. "He can be killed but only temporarily since he will resurrect himself sooner or later and be immune to whatever killed him. The only way the good guys were able to beat him in the comics was by trapping him in situations where his adaptive physiology wouldn't do him any good."
"Such as?" Giles asked, no doubt hoping that they could use the answer to his question to their advantage somehow.
"Don't get your hopes up, G-Man, 'cause unless you have a machine that can send him to the end of time or four teleporters we can use to lock him into a state of one quarter materialization, we're screwed." Xander said, popping the Watcher's bubble before he could get to optimistic, "Right now I'm seriously flashing back to the whole 'find the nearest portal off this rock' option because, unless Uncle Sam's been holding out on us, this world's going to be a pile of rubble soon."
"I'm afraid it's worse than that, Harris." Came an unfamiliar voice from the far side of the Magic Box.
Turning in that direction she saw the one demon she could honestly say she'd take her time tearing apart so she could enjoy every minute of it: Whistler. Moving over to him in the blink of an eye, she grabbed him by the front of his jacket and slammed him up against the wall. She didn't go full strength on the off chance that the toady for the Pricks That Be had something worthwhile to tell them but if he didn't say something wonderful, she'd make good on her earlier threat about making a rib cage hat.
"Explain." She said figuring that that one word pretty much made it clear what sort of mood she was in.
"Broken down simple-like, when yer friends brought you back from the dead they upset the balance." Whistler said uneasily, looking at the most serious threats to his continued survival, "Life's only supposed to go one way and when you guys messed with that, you set things up for evil to add something new to the game to balance things out. The thing is we didn't think that the scales'd be balanced with that Mears kid gettin' his hands on the Book of Madd'Os Yo or turning himself into Doomsday. That damned thing is written in the original language of Heaven itself and no one on Earth, save those with wings, should've been able to make heads or tails of it, complex decryption program or not."
"Mears? Are you talking about Warren?" Willow asked, not liking where her train of thought was taking her.
"Yep. One third of the nerd patrol has just gotten hisself one helluva power upgrade." Whistler replied, trying to make light of the situation and only getting glared at for his trouble, "Look the higher ups didn't see this coming. They'd figured that the black hats would try something like wiping out the Slayer line or the Watchers. Like I said, the Book was supposed to be completely unreadable to anyone not wearing a halo over their heads and everyone thought the nerds would be small timers at best on the side of badness. Best we can figure one of the old timers from way back musta somehow slid that Warren kid some help under the table."
"Gotta love the way the so-called higher powers stay on top of things!" Xander muttered just loud enough for the balance demon to hear him.
"HEY! I don't think you guys wanna be pointing fingers. Ya ain't exactly got a spotless record yerselves!" Whistler snapped back, obviously not enjoying being talked to like that by mortals, "How many times has Summers let her obsession with a normal life nearly screw the world over? How many spells has Red toyed with that nearly went pear shaped? The Powers That Be might not be what you think they ought to be but they're millennia ahead of you in terms of experience and knowledge. Think about that before you go off talkin' like you could do a better job than them."
This pretty much had everyone in the room speechless for a minute or two, mostly because the cryptic types weren't usually prone to losing their tempers so quickly. She personally was so surprised because, unlike the smart mouthed, arrogant messenger boy she'd run into during the whole Acathla mess, this one actually seemed to be rather upset about something. Gone were the witty remarks and coldhearted divulging of a torment to come. It still didn't make her like the PTBs or Whistler but at the very least she could hear him out and then decide if she wanted to rip out his rib cage and wear it as a hat. It didn't take the balance demon long to realize that they were going to let him say his peace before continuing on with their trash talking.
"Look, whatever you might think of me or my bosses upstairs, they really do try to do what's in the best interests of the dimension as a whole." Whistler said, trying to reign in some of his own anger, "They just live by the whole 'the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one' a little too much sometimes. In this case, though, it's a case of choosing between the lesser of two lousy outcomes. Ya see the way the higher ups have figured things're gonna play out one of two ways and neither of them are gonna be to your liking.
"Option One: we marshal what forces of good are planetside and try to bring down Mears. It could work but there'd be one helluva body count before it all came to an end." Whistler said before quickly shutting up in light of the looks he was getting from everyone, "Right. Not going to happen. Then comes option two: I can give you guys the power you need to throw down against Doomsday but, win or lose, the higher ups are gonna have to kinda kick you all out of this reality immediately afterward to keep the Black Hats from bringing in more of their own to balance things out."
"WHAT THE FUCK!?!" everyone, including herself, bellowed at the idea of being kicked out of the only reality they'd ever known just because some higher ups screwed up.
"I know! I know! I don't like it much either, you guys were my favorite group of champions, but the Powers That Be won't budge on that part." He said, trying to keep their rising hostility away from his location, "Think it through: you guys bring back Buffy here, the balance gets thrown out of whack, the black hats arrange for Warren to turn into bone-boy, the balance is restored and then you guys get powered up to beat him throwing things back out of balance. In order to make sure everything evens out again you guys need to be removed from play. You should be thankful that they don't wipe you completely from the pages of existence."
"HOW THE HELL IS ALLOWING THEM TO BRING DOOMSDAY HERE BALANCING THINGS OUT!?!" Xander rhetorically roared, looking like he might beat her to the punch in terms of kicking Whistler's ass. "HOW DOES BRINGING BACK ONE SLAYER EQUAL A KILLING MACHINE LIKE DOOMSDAY!?!"
"I believe I can answer that, Xander." Giles said surprising everyone both with his non-Ripper voice and replying to the question in general, "Contrary to popular belief, the balance does not work on a one-to-one basis especially with regards to sentient beings. In Buffy's case, the counterweight given to the forces of evil would need to be equal to the number of lives she will save in the future that would otherwise have been lost had she remained deceased. Considering the number of times we prevent the world from going to hell or thwart the schemes of unspeakably evil beings it is not surprising that something of this Doomsday's power would be permitted to appear to even out the balance of the universe."
She was speechless.
To hear from some pain in the ass messenger from the Pricks That Be was one thing, something she could safely argue or ignore, but to hear her Watcher support the balance demon's statements made it all a little more real. Due to the efforts of her friends to bring her back from the land of the dead (something she was still trying to cope with), there was now a force for darkness running around that had both Willow and Xander seriously wigging out. Talk about adding insult to injury! She'd been having trouble enough dealing with the harshness of life that had been nonexistent in the place where she'd been and now she had to deal with THIS! She might not know her Captain Batman from her Super Cyclops but she knew enough about the comics Xander usual read that being capable of massive property damage and destruction were usually a given when it came to super villains. Add to that the reactions that her two friends upon learning what had been magicked up by that Book of Maddest Yo and she didn't need Giles to tell her that things were about as bad as they possibly could be. The question now was what to do to make things right without dancing to Pricks That Be's tune.
"If me coming back to life caused this, will my death undo it all?" she asked Whistler seriously while ignoring the exclaimed protests of her friends.
"'Fraid it's not that simple, Slayer." Whistler replied, sounding genuinely sorry about the situation, "The imbalance was caused months ago. If it'd just happened a day or two ago we might be able to go that route but, with things already set in place, killing you again would just be a waste of time."
"Then what about just empowering me to take down this Doomsday?" she asked determined to avoid dragging her friends with her when the PTBs Federal Expressed her to another reality, "That way when I take down this baddie the others can stay here."
"Not happening, Buffy'." Xander said putting his foot down immediately, "No one person in the entire DC universe was strong enough to take down Doomsday one-on-one. Even Superman, the strongest hero EVER, couldn't bring Doomsday down on his first try without sacrificing himself in the process. No way in HELL am I gonna let you face that monster alone, especially since it seems to have a brain now to go with the brawn."
"Neither am I." Willow said, taking a stand with her best guy friend who wasn't a boyfriend, "If bringing you back to life caused this mess, then I'm mostly to blame for it happening in the first place. That means it's my duty to try and fix things anyway I can."
"Where Willow goes, I go." Tara said, joining the growing crowd of people opposing her smart plan, "Besides, maybe this new reality they send us to will be nice."
"It's got its perks, I can guarantee ya that," Whistler said although she could tell he was holding something back. "Truth is it's not all that different from here really. A few quirks but nothing you can't handle."
"While I am no more amused by this situation than you are, Buffy, I will nevertheless stand by your side, no matter the consequences." Giles said, causing a warm feeling to blossom inside of her as she watched all of her friends show how much they cared about her.
"Fine. Just don't come crying to me if you don't like where we wind up." She said turning to Whistler to get the show on the road, "We'll take option two Whistler. So how's this supposed to go?"
"It's supposed to go like this." Whistler said before snapping his fingers, causing seven glowing spheres to appear hovering in mid-air, "Each sphere contains a spell that'll empower you with what you'll need to take down Warren 'Doomsday' Mears, including the know how when it comes to any new abilities you'll wind up gaining. Before ya ask, though, you don't get to choose which sphere you get. Each one's been paired to best match yer own individual personalities and talents."
With those words the sphere's floated over towards them with each one coming to a stop in front of its designated Scooby. Her sphere was an orangish-red in color and, while she didn't know what that meant for the power up she'd get, she gave Whistler a glare that made it clear that he'd be feeling the repercussions if it turned out to be something ugly.
"So what do we do with them? Say hocus pocus or something?" Willow asked, showing her untamable passion for knowledge.
"Just take the sphere in your hand and say 'release' and it'll do its thing." Whistler replied while sneakily inching away from them.
It doesn't matter if he tries to bail. She thought as she took the orange sphere in her hand, If this power up is supposed to help me take down this Doomsday thing, then it'll be more than enough to string him up by his bits if I don't like what I wind up as.
"Release!" she declared and no more than a second after the word left her mouth the orb exploded with colored energy bombarding everything about her as it did its work.
While not exactly painful like she expected the sheer overwhelming nature of it all was messing with her head like one of those carnival rides designed to make you want to toss your cookies. Amidst it all it was impossible for her to tell if anything big was happening to her or if it was something sneaky but one thing was for certain.
When the room stopped spinning and her stomach settled down she was going to make somebody pay for her suffering!