The Tear
Chapter 1: The "Ripping" Friends
(Writer's Note: Ok, maybe I had better explain the premise of this story. I wrote a crossover called "Atrocities" in which Buffy, Spike, and Adam appeared, when an original villain of mine recruited the latter two for an evil plot and Buffy came along with a group of heroes to save the day. If you don't want to read it though, for whatever reason ('it's quite long, and it all takes place in the anime Dragon Ball Z, which you may not like. However, most people say it's a good story. If you really want to read it, you might want to read my fics "Consuming Madness" and "Seven Deadly Sins" to keep from getting confused. Ok, enough shameless plugging). I'll give a quick summery. Spike got beat up a few times, but lived and ultimately switched sides. Adam was vaporized by one of my characters. Buffy did her best to save the day, but lots of bad things happened to her anyway, including her being turned into crystal and shattered (good thing it was quickly fixed). I won't spoil how it ends. From there I am slightly rewriting the seasons to corrospond with how my fic went. Here's the changes.
-The events of "The Yoko Factor" and "Primeval" never happened. I guess Buffy thought up a cover story on how Adam just kinda vanished. I think even the Scobies would have a trouble swallowing what happened in Atrocities.
-Spike got the chip turned off in the fic, but it got turned back on at the end. I assume events went the same way.
-The fifth season went the same way it did.
-As a thank you for helping, the DBZ characters gave Buffy a bag of Senzu beans. If you don't know what those do, they are special legumes that will magically heal any kind of injury. Even if every bone in your body was broken, they'll fix it. Buffy has healing powers, but they thought it would be useful to her if she got her back broken, or something bad happened to one of her friends. Unfortunately, they can't fix mental problems (which means they couldn't fix Tara), or death. Still, she has them.
-Finally, the events of Atrocities is how Buffy knows all the characters I will introduce in this fic. However, she has not told her friends about them, and they have no idea what has happened in the fifth and sixth seasons. This fic started being written after the episode "Gone" and everything will happened as if, which means whatever happens afterward will not be included in this fic..
On a final note, this is my first Buffy fanfic. I'm gonna try my best, so if you disagree with something, please gently inform me instead of ripping me a new butthole. Also, if you can think of a better title, tell me. I think this one sucks, but my mind is blank. The only other thing I could think of is "A Rip in Time Kills Nine", but that doesn't apply to this fic. Well anyway, I hope you like it.)
It was a warm, muggy night in Sunnydale, an occurrence that was rather common. It was also peaceful, an occurrence that was not quite so common. In fact, it was rather rare, and those who knew such things were enjoying it. Of course, those who actually believed that Sunnydale was just a normal California town were also rather rare. Sunnydale was a town of many things, but perhaps none more then the greatest example of the lengths humans will go to deny things. "I'll believe it when I see it" was once said by an old saw, but in Sunnydale, it was the other way around. Then again, perhaps "I'll see it when I believe it" was the wisest choice. The concept of going from a world where mankind was alone in it's fuckups and sins was bad enough to a world where vampires and demons stalked the shadows, preying on the innocent and trying to bring hell to the surface of the Earth was not the most comforting to the frail thing that is the human mind. Call it survival or call it cowardice, but most of Sunnydale agreed: There were no such as monsters. Gangs on PCP, mass group hallucinations, epidemics of madness, and a massacre every other day, sure. But no monsters.
Unfortunately for the people of Sunnydale, and perhaps most unfortunately for the few who know the truth, and do their best to guard the other people in Sunnydale from it, there comes a time to put childish things away. Or in this case, a time when there is simply so much proof there's no more pudding.
But this grand event would not begin with thunder and lightning, or a rain of toads, or a two head cow being born. That would make it too easy.
Instead, it all began in the basement of a small house on one the streets of the Sunnydale suburbs. The picture of normality would immediately make the cynical suspicious, and with good reason. For within, a grand plan was coming to fruition…
"NO! NO NO NO!" Andrew screamed, as he watched what appeared to be a giant stone statue of a donkey come falling out of the sky and land on what appeared to be a bunch of worms. He pulled at his hair as the statue jumped up and down, until it had dug it's way completely through the ground and into the water underneath. He leapt up from the computer he had been sitting at, still pulling at his blonde hair in frustration. "Jonathan, we agreed not to use the Concrete Donkey!"
Jonathan turned in hair chair, looking at Andrew with a contented smirk on his face.
"'That's not the Concrete Donkey, that's the Metal Donkey. Viva la patches." Jonathan said, looking quite content. "Come on, did you really expect me to follow the rules?"
"Just because we're supervillians doesn't mean…but…they never…" Andrew sputtered, before he sat back down and began to sulk.
"That's 23 games of Worms in a row Andrew. Do you want to add ten more years to your servitude, or just start washing my feet now?"
"WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP!?!??!" Warren yelled from behind the canvas he was working on. The two other members of the Legion of Dim glanced over.
"You know, I really must question if our vocal exchange of goods and services pertaining to our electronic gaming exploits somehow hinders your ability to construct your…"
"SHUT UP AND GIVE ME THE WELDING TORCH!" Warren bellowed at Andrew. Andrew recoiled, then did as he was asked. A hissing sound came from behind the curtain.
"Are you almost done?"
"Yes! Now shut up!"
"You know Warren, we're all in this together. I don't see why you have to be so secretive in our latest device."
"Because we all built the Invisibility Ray together, and we all know how that turned out! We didn't even get to fondle one naked girl, because of you two dolts!"
"Dolts? I beg to differ Warren! If you think we're going to play Rocksteady and Bebop to your Shredder, you got another thing coming!"
"Well, this time I'm not taking any chances! And I can't believe you just made a TMNT reference!"
"Hey, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were cool! Then they got popular and got all kiddified and that automatically puts shows on the water skis heading towards old Jaws." Jonathan retorted. "Besides, we probably would have gotten so caught up groping naked women we would have disintegrated into our component molecules."
"At least we would have died happy." Andrew muttered. The welding torch snapped off and a second later Warren stepped out from behind the canvas he had strung up, slipping off the protective helmet and putting it on the nearest table.
"Is it done?"
"Yes yes yes, hang on a parsec."
Warren headed over to the labtop that was closest to the canvas-covered project. He flipped it open and began typing at it rapidly. After about a minute of action, a triumphant grin crossed his face.
"Gentleman, gather around. It is time for the cutting of the ribbon." Warren said, as he grasped the canvas. "Gentleman, feast your eyes on…The Warren Molecular Destabilizer/Restabilizer!"
And Warren pulled away the canvas to reveal the device…which looked like an old washing machine attached to an overly large hula-hoop. A chaotic mass of wires connected the two and twisted around the "hula-hoop". One lone connection snaked out to the labtop Warren had been typing at moments before.
The two stared at the hodgepodge of parts before they began to snicker. Warren glared at them.
"Mock the crude design all you want, peons, but do not doubt the device itself. I have outdone even myself. I have built the ultimate weapon to be used against the Slayer and any who stand before us!"
"What is it?"
"It's an Instant Molecular Transportation System. In layman's terms, a teleportation device. I got the idea when Andrew wished Jonathan was on the moon during one of his many losses in Worms."
'I won once." Andrew said sulkily.
"But what good is this against Buffy? Why not just zap her wit that Disintegration Beam Cannon you were working on before you dropped everything and took this up?"
Warren smirked.
"That example is precisely why you don't understand, Jonathan. This is a new world. You have to think outside the box. Take, for example, our coming back to our hideout. It's so simple it's brilliant! Buffy will never guess we grabbed all the important stuff, waited until she left, and then came right back! She'll think we're somewhere else, and even if she DOES figure it out, it will be too late. This device will spell her doom."
"How? Where are we going to teleport her to? China?"
Warren's smirk now had a strong element of malice. It made Jonathan uncomfortable.
"China? Why not? Or why not someplace better…like the moon? Or Mars? And think of all the other uses! Why break into a bank when you can just zap into the vault and clear it out? Why pay demons to do our dirty work when we can just use them and then send them to Timbuktu? And while invisibility is grand, teleporting ourselves could be even better, since they…"
"Ok, we get the hint. Ok Warren, why don't you fire it up and get started."
"Patience, oh magically inclined one! This isn't a toy! We can't just turn it on and use it!" Warren said as he stepped over to the "washing machine" and slowly pulled a switch on it down. He stopped about a third of way down as the device began to hum. Picking up his labtop, he began typing again.
"We have to test it for five minutes or so." Warren concluded.
The humming got louder. Warren kept typing.
"Are we there yet?"
"SHUT UP! You think this is easy? I have to contend with vortexes and anti-matter and all sorts of things that could go wrong! If I screw up I could make a black hole, or blow most of California off the map!"
"Goggles suddenly seem like a good idea." Andrew said. In one simultaneous motion Andrew and Jonathan pulled a pair out and put them on.
The air began to smell of ozone.
Then with a noise that sounded like a cross between a bedsheet being ripped in half and a cat keeping run over by a truck, the air in the hula-hoop suddenly split, tearing open like paper. Andrew and Jonathan recoiled as the hole widened. It finally stopped at about four feet tall and two feet wide. Inside the hole, a myriad of colours shifted and swirled, dancing in the air like flames.
"Magnificent, isn't it?" Warren said, glancing up at his creation and then back down at his continued typing, like he saw holes in the facet of reality every day.
Getting bolder, Andrew and Jonathan crossed the room and took in the tear from the distance of a foot.
"Can I touch it?"
"Not just yet…" Warren muttered, and then a new ripping noise filled the room. Andrew and Jonathan nearly jumped out of their skin as a new tear opened up behind them. This one was a bit smaller, but it looked the same.
'What are you doing?"
"This is a teleportation device. The first hole is the entrance, and the second is the exit. I put both in this room so I can see how it works." Warren said. He had finished his typing and was now picking up something. He crossed over to Jonathan and Andrew, and they saw it was a small rubber ball.
"Now, if my theories are correct, this process takes you apart at the molecular level, zaps you to whatever location you have chosen in a split second, and then puts you back together. At least, that is the theory. Now to test it." Warren said, and he reared back and tossed the ball into the first hole.
Then was a slight flash and an intense crackling, and then Andrew stumbled as the rubber ball flew out of the other hole and bounced off his head. His feet tangled and he fell.
"You did that on purpose!" Andrew complained, holding his aching head. Warren ignored him as he scampered over to where the ball had rolled. He picked it up and looked it over.
"It works." Warren said, his voice tinged with excitement. "It's the same! It isn't even scorched!"
"Yeah, but that's rubber. Will it work that way on organic things?" Jonathan said, as he helped Warren to his feet.
"Good point, and I know just how to check!" Warren said, as he bounded up the stairs, sheer joy and anticipation putting wings on his feet. In a few seconds he was back, this time with an orange.
"Good thing my mom is on vacation. I doubt I would be able to hide this from her. God, the stench." Warren said, as he put himself in front of the first hole. "Ok, this is Alpha Point, and that is Beta Point. I will now toss this piece of fruit through Alpha Point in the hope it will re-emerge from Beta Point unaltered."
And Warren tossed the orange. This time, Andrew hid behind Jonathan.
Another brief flash and crackle, and the orange fell out of the hole. Warren picked it up and examined it. It also was unmarred.
"Ok, one more test. An orange is an orange, but we need to be sure. We need a real living creature." Warren said. Again he headed upstairs.
The growling hissing creature Warren returned with was almost scarier then most of the demons Jonathan had encountered. Warren could barely hang onto the yowling cat as he got down the stairs. It twisted and scratched.
"This is Fluffy, he belongs to Mom. She was never original." Warren said, and nonchalantly tossed Fluffy into Alpha Point.
The interruption of the yowl was almost non-existent, as Fluffy fell out of the Beta Point hole. S/he landed on his/her feet, as cats are prone to do, and took off up the stairs as fast as s/he could.
'And I would say that is one healthy cat. Gentleman, a winner is us!" Warren crowed. He went back to his labtop and resumed typing. It the space of a few seconds, the air knit back together as both holes vanished, leaving nothing but the unpleasant burning scent of ozone.
"Well Gentleman, the only choice left is this. Which one of us tests the device for the effect on human. Now I have to stay here, since I built the device, so one of you two have to decide who goes first. So flip a coin or something. I need to open up another hole." Warren said. He concentrated on his work, watching from the corner of his eye as his two contemporaries tried to work out who went through the hole. Finally Jonathan thrust up his arms in triumph. Warren assumed he won.
"It's not fair." Andrew complained, crossing his arms and pouting. He sulked over to where Warren's makeshift unit for his Molecular Delefornicator or whatever he had called it was.
"Be careful idiot! Don't touch that! It's far more delicate then it looks!" Warren shot at Andrew. Andrew didn't think he could feel more bitter, but he did.
"I tell ya, I don't get no respect…" Andrew said in a terrible Rodney Dangerfield impression, and started to move so Warren would get off his back.
Warren finished his commands and implemented the master one. The device began to hum again as it prepared to open up another hole.
Jonathan grinned. He would remember this for the rest of his life.
And Andrew, caught up in his pain, never saw the ball.
His foot came down on it, screwing up his balance, which wasn't that great to begin with. He let out a yell as his arms pinwheeled.
The other two looked up as his balance left him completely. Instinctively, he waved his arms as he fell, trying to find something to grab.
His hand closed on the level Warren had flipped.
Warren's eyes widened.
"NO!"
And then gravity provided the final betrayal, as Andrew completed his fall, his weight yanking the switch all the way down.
The noise that came from the device nearly blew it apart, but it didn't quite drown out Warren's furious yell.
"THAT'S TOO MUCH POWER…!"
And then the room exploded with white light, a luminescence that utterly flooded the senses and the mind. The stench of ozone became overpowering as what almost sounded like a scream from a wild beast came forth from the device.
White energy exploded through Warren's house, finding a conduit in the power lines. It crackled along the lines and burst from the house, flowing up to the main power cables and down the streets, heading off to whatever destiny it had.
Warren's eyes fluttered open, and he took a second to thank the heavens he was alive before his anger came back.
He sat up, white spots dancing in his vision. He had been knocked flat on his rear, but his labtop was still with him, sitting on his lap like a favorite pet. For a moment, he stared at the data now scrolling across his screen. He didn't understand any of it.
Then he saw it.
His jaw dropped slightly as he took in the massive floating wall of energy that now completely blocked out his sight of one wall. It floated in the air, crackling slightly, a bolts of electricity (if it was electricity) occasionally coursed along the surface. Unlike the shimmering multitude of colours that had made up the previous holes, this hole was just one colour: a deep and brilliant blue.
He stood up, unable to take his eyes off it. The energy field did not react to his movement.
With a groan, Jonathan pulled himself up. The accident had knocked him backwards and over a table, and he used that to brace himself as he shook his head, trying to get his vision to clear.
'Who let that herd of water buffalo through here…" he muttered. Then he saw the field, and fell silent.
Warren pulled his eyes from the hole long enough to see his device, now a smoking ruin in the corner of the room. Whatever had happened, it had been too much for his machine. Strangely, his labtop was intact, although the connecting wire was gone, burnt to nothingness. And they said putting surge protection on a labtop was stupid, Warren mused
'What is it?" Jonathan finally managed to say. Warren didn't answer, because he finally saw Andrew. He had been blown into another corner, and was now unsteadily making his way towards Warren. His hair was standing right on end.
"You ok?" Warren asked.
'I think so."
"Not for long!"
Warren was prevented from pummeling Andrew by Jonathan, who restrained the larger man with difficulty.
"Petty revenge later Warren. I'd say that…tear is a bigger problem. What is it?"
Warren looked back to his labtop, taking in the data that continued to stroll. He began typing. His brow arched.
"What the hell…is this…some of this data I understand but some of it is total nonsense…it looks like it could make sense but I can't figure it out…not yet anyway…what the hell…" Warren said.
"Well, can it tell you just what that thing IS?"
Warren typed some more.
"From what I can tell…it's a hole to someplace…and it isn't…it's similar on one level and beyond me on another…geez…" Warren said, as a singular line of digits appeared on his screen. 'I programmed a system of numbers and letters to serve as teleporting coordinates. This looks like it, but it's nearly three times as long…"
Andrew picked up the ball and tossed it into the hole. There was a flash and the ball was gone. Warren looked up to catch this and his face contorted with rage.
"You IDIOT! What did you do that for?"
"It acted like the previous holes. Maybe it goes somewhere."
"Yeah, but where?" Jonathan offered.
There was silence for a bit. The tear continued to shift and crackle. Jonathan walked around it and peered at the wall. Everything that had been where the hole was now was gone, but the wall remained. He walked right up to it, but did not touch it. Nothing happened.
"Get back here Jonathan." Warren ordered. Jonathan found himself instantly obeying, and he kicked himself for it.
"Ok…we have to figure this out. I'm going to tell you what I did, and we're going to put our heads together and…" Warren's voice faded as the light crackling noise coming from the tear suddenly magnified by a significant amount.
Then the roomed filled with a brilliant flash, and the three stepped back, shielding their eyes. The light faded quickly, and they lowered their hands as it did.
They weren't alone anymore.
At first, Jonathan though it was a lump of metal, a notion which was quickly shattered when the "lump" stood up. Then for a second he thought it was a literal knight in shining armour and that Warren and Andrew had unwittingly and unwantingly banded together, the former with his intelligence and the latter with his accident, to create a time machine. Then he realized that while it was armour, it wasn't a knight. The armour was too…flowing.
The figure was pretty damn big, although whether this was a distinction owned by the armour alone, or the being in it as well remained to be seen. It covered every part of the being, like he had been dipped in the metal like an ice cream cone in liquid fudge. Even so, Jonathan had read enough science fiction to see the joints at the arms and legs, the serrations along the chest, the mass of equipment on the figure's back (tanks? Looked like tanks) and the metal encased tubes that flowed from the back and into the arms and body. The figure wore some kind of metal helmet that covered his skull and the back of his neck, and attached to the front of his face was a…breathing mask. It looked like one you might find in a hospital, except this one was as bulky as a gas mask. The clear material of the mask clashed with the metal outfit.
But despite all this, Jonathan could see the face of the being. It was a man.
Then he got a really good look, and his stomach did a flip-flop. It was a man, but it sure didn't look like one. The flesh on the face was nearly non-existent, as if someone had taken a human skull and dipped it once in a pink goo. The eyes were small and beady, drawn deep into their sockets. The nose was nearly gone. The lips were gone, leaving a clenching set of teeth in the manner of the Joker and putting the face in a permanent grimace.
The figure appeared disoriented and confused, as it slowly raised a metal clad hand and placed it on the side of its head, as if it had a headache.
"Guys, we just summoned up the Abdominal Dr. Phibes, and man does he look pissed!" Andrew whispered, his voice filled with fear.
'What…happened…where is this…what is this…:" the figure said. He had a voice that sounded like someone had tied his vocal cords in a few interesting shapes before inserting them into his body. It was a high nasal tone with a peculiar deep underline , sort of like Darth Vader.
Warren didn't know what to do, so he did the first thing that came to mind.
"Hello, we come in peace!" Warren said. Andrew and Jonathan instantly raised their hands in the Vulcan peace sign, even as Warren kicked himself for not realizing the figure had come to them.
The figure took his hand away, gave a half a glance to the three men and half a glance to the room, and then his hand came back down, as if the figure was in pain.
"Not possible…heard noise…they must be after me! They're trying to get in! They're making me hallucinate! No, what if they're in!?!?!? In my mind? NO! CAN'T LET THEM IN! KEEP THEM OUT! KEEP THEM AWAY!" The figure screamed in a rant. He began to sway, making a low keening noise that raked on Andrew's nerves.
"Guys, maybe we should come back…let our friend adjust…" Warren said, as he began drawing back.
The sound of the switch filled the whole room, as cannons shot out from the forearms of the figure, mean black noozles that glistened like evil eyes.
"WON'T GET ME! I'LL BURN IT ALL DOWN! BURN YOU ALL DOWN! BURRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The figure shrieked, and thrust out his arms. The air filled with a WHOOSH.
"DOWN!" Warren yelled, shoving his friends as he dove to the ground.
A gigantic burst of flame shot from the cannons, searing Warren's back as it belched out and enveloped everything behind him. Jonathan and Andrew began to wail, partly in fear and partly because the figure had set their comic collection on fire.
"BURN! BURN! BURN TO ASH!" The figure shrieked, as he waved his flame throwers around, setting everything he could see on fire. Warren got to his feet, dragging his two allies with him.
"Forget Dr. Phibes! We summoned up Dilandau!" Andrew cried.
"Yeah, so let's "Escaflowne" OUT OF HERE!" Warren yelled, as he ran for the garage door. In the back of his head he was thankful they had only put the bare necessities out from the van, in case Buffy came back.
"FOUL GERMS! BURN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Another gout of flame rushed past the trio as they ran for their lives, lighting the last wall on fire. Warren kicked the door open and ran on, no longer caring about his two friends to the point that he would stop running for them.
"Oh no…I think not! You must have done this! You must be aligned with those foul parasites in some way!" the figure yelled at them, his mad screaming suddenly evaporating into nothing. Warren risked a glance back and saw the figure walking towards them through the open door.
"No we're not!" Andrew replied, as he scrambled into the van. An amazing thing happened then, as the figure actually stopped. It almost looked like he had paused to think.
"Well, maybe so…but even if you are innocent…you're still infected! All of you are! And the only thing that I care to interact with is that that has been properly PURIFIED!"
Jonathan slammed the door shut a second before the flames enveloped it. The flames devoured it, but held long enough for Jonathan for Warren to scramble into the van, tossing his laptop (yeah, he still had it, amazing what you forget in a crisis), and start the van up.
Jonathan pulled himself in as the van roared to life. A second later the flaming door exploded into flaming splinters as the figure kicked it down. Warren stomped on the gas, throwing his two friends down on the van floor in a tangle. The garage door was closed, but he didn't care. The air filled with the sound of breaking wood as the van crashed through it. My mom is going to kill me. Warren though, and let loose with a startled little giggle at the thought. His mom might be the least of his worries.
The van roared down the driveway. The tires shrieked in protest as Warren turned the van as hard and fast as possible. It tilted a bit but didn't tip. They'd modified it well.
In his rear view mirror Warren's eyes widened as another gigantic burst of flame barely missed the van. The house across the street ignited as Warren stomped on the gas and took off down the street. He heard the back doors open and cursed, adjusting his mirror to see. He was right, Jonathan and Andrew had opened the door to see what was happened.
'CLOSE THE DAMN DOOR!" Warren cursed.
'It's ok! Flamethrowers have a limited range! I think we're out of his!" Jonathan said.
Slowly, the figure strode out on the road, watching the fleeing van. Warren adjusted the mirror.
The figure didn't raise his arm. Instead, he appeared to be reaching for something on his side.
"What the heck…"
The figure whipped back his arm.
"CLOSE THE DOOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
This time they listened, as they reached out and yanked the doors shut as the figure lashed his arm out at them.
A second later Warren heard a wet splash and then a horrible sizzling sound filed the van. With a cry, Jonathan and Andrew backed away from the doors as they began to bubble and melt. A horrible stench and melting metal filled Warren's nostrils, but he held his course as he reached the end of the street and turned, leaving his burning house and the creature he had somehow called far behind.
The sizzling sound was fading, and Warren turned his head to take a look. Most of the door was gone, and what was left was pretty much slag on the floor.
"Acid." Warren muttered, and shuddered. If whatever had been in that projectile had splashed on them…
"Who the heck was that guy?" Andrew said. His voice still quavered. Warren resisted the urge to smack him.
'Well, he wasn't Dilandau. I think he was crazier then old Dilly…" Warren said. The wheels were already turning in his head, trying to figure out what to do.
'He burned down our lair! Isn't there supposed to be honour among supervillians?" Andrew whined.
"That's thieves moron! Now go make sure the door is finished melting!"
"Um Warren, what do we do now?"
"I don't know! I don't know what that guy's problem was, or how he wound up here? But take comfort guys, things can't get any worse!"
The white energy danced and raced along the power lines, heading away from Warren's house and into the heart of Sunnydale. As it blasted along it grew bigger and brighter, as if it was swelling with pride at it's accomplishment.
As it reached the heart of Sunnydale, it suddenly leapt off the line and zapped down into the street.
All cars screeched to a halt as a blinding flash filled the street. From the brightness two smaller bolts zapped up and down, heading for their own destinies.
Curious pedestrians cleared their eyes only to gape at the huge shimmering field of energy that was now floating in the middle of the street. It crackled and hissed, sending off random jolts of blue-tinted energy.
Slowly, one of the braver humans approached the shimmering energy field, wondering if he was dreaming. People stared at him.
The only reason he heard the growl was because he was so close to the field.
Then a blur of brown and black came blasting out of the field, something that was all teeth and claws and horrible burning eyes. The man got one scream off before the teeth closed on his throat, his possible dream turning into his worst nightmare.
The crowd turned the one scream into many, and they had good reason, because the tear had begun to crackle again, and more nightmares were about to come true.
As screaming filled the streets, the two remaining bolts came crashing down. But there was no one to see their destruction and rebirth.
The figure watched the fleeing van. He was already disregarding and forgetting it as he turned and looked around. He still didn't know what had happened to him. Behind him, Warren's house collasped as flames consumed it.
'Hey you! YOU! Who the hell?" someone was yelling at him. Without a second thought the figure raised his flame cannon and barbaqued the annoying sound, torching the human and everything behind him.
Fire…pretty, cleansing fire…
It didn't matter where he was. He knew his mission. His quest. And he knew it would bring Vengeance running, no matter where he was. And THIS time, he would burn that interfering saprophyte to nothingness, and his pretty wife with him.
The figure raised his head and laughed, the sound hollow in the breathing mask.
"My namesake calls. Let the Purge begin ANEW!"
And Purge extracted both his flamethrowers and started lighting everything in his line of vision on fire. Any humans who were lucky enough to escape the flames, Purge threw one of his acid balloons at them. Soon, there was nothing but flames.
Pure, clean fire.
Purge laughed, a sound only an insane man could make, and then the flames consumed him.
Pure, clean bliss.
Hell had once again come to earth.
Who is this maniac called Purge? What have the Legion of Dim let into their world? Find out next time, same Buffy Time, same Buffy Channel, in a little ditty called…
"Once More Into The Breach"