14
Angel looked at Willow. He had no meant to frighten her. He hadn't meant to hurt her, only to protect her from S'ushi. The fear in her eyes was just too painful to bear.
He hesitated. "Willow, I-"
Suddenly, Willow's eyes widened as she saw something behind him. She pointed. "Angel!" she cried. "B-behind you!"
Angel spun around as Damien lunged at him. The evil vampire tackled him and both he and Angel fell into S'ushi, knocking her to the floor. The two vampires began to struggle.
"Willow!" Angel shouted. "Run!!"
Willow did. The four thugs guarding the only way out aimed their guns at her, but they also realized they couldn't shoot her. That would be like committing suicide. Willow couldn't get past them so she ran up a set of stairs, which led to a second floor consisting of empty or unused offices.
Two of the men tried to follow after her, but Giles chose that moment to leap out of hiding with a boat oar as a weapon. He came out swinging and he managed to knock one of the men down, but the other one stumbled back out of range as he leveled his gun at the librarian.
Giles smacked the man's gun hand and forced him to drop his weapon. Then he smashed the man full in the face and sent him on his way to dreamland. The men fell and remained still on the floor.
Behind Giles, Billiard began to level his own gun at Giles. The Watcher didn't notice this, however, because the first man he had swung at was struggling to take the oar from him. They both had a grip on it and they kept moving around across the floor. Billiard lowered his gun in frustration because he didn't want to shoot his own man by mistake. Then the man who was struggling with Giles managed to slam him against a wall and he pressed the oar against Giles' throat, cutting off his air supply.
The two other remaining thugs throughout this scuffle were contemplating on whether to go after the girl, or help snuff out the Brit. However, as they tried to make up their minds, someone else did it for them-a man had quietly snuck in from behind them and fired two shots, one into each of their heads. They fell to the floor.
The shots went unheard-the silencer on the gun saw to that. After the deed was done, Buckley slowly backed away as he saw that Billiard's attention was still on the Brit, and one of his men. Buckley saw Spenser moving on the floor, and that was a good thing. Spenser turned and looked at Buckley.
Buckley nodded his head, and Spenser did the same.
At least he helped to bring the odds down a bit. Now the fight was fair. Buckley went out the way he came, and he never looked back.
As Billiard watched Giles struggle with his opponent, another struggle continued on the opposite side of the room. Angel and Damien were grappling with each other, slamming against walls, shelves and beams. They traded blows and it was apparent that not one of them intended to leave unless the other was dusted. Damien was strong, but Angel was stronger and far more determined than his enemy was.
Angel picked him up, swung him above his head, and then slammed him down hard onto the floor. "Where's David?" he demanded.
Damien thrust out his foot and hit Angel in the chest, causing him to fall back. "That's none of your concern."
Angel fell back against the wall. Above him, a wooden pole with a net hung from rings placed in the wall. He took it down, snapped it in two and then he turned to face Damien.
"Maybe it's not," Angel told him. "But this is your concern!"
He thrust the sharp, broken end of the pole into Damien's heart. Damien looked into Angel's eyes, disappointment on his face. "You stupid f-" He burst into dust.
Angel tossed the broken pole to the floor in disgust. Then he looked around. He was very concerned about David's absence.
Giles managed to ram his knee into the gunman's groin and that lessened his grip on the oar. Once he was able to breathe, Giles took in a deep breath and kicked the man hard.
Billiard didn't like what he saw. He leveled his gun at Giles and prepared to fire. A fist suddenly collided into his face and this diverted his attention away from the Brit. His gun hand was grabbed and slammed into the wall until he dropped his weapon. For one additional act Billiard found himself being flipped over someone and he landed hard on his back onto the floor.
He groaned. Then he looked up in surprise.
It was Spenser.
__________
Billiard looked at me with surprise on his face. Yeah, I know. This day was full of surprises to be sure. I had every hope that Buckley would come back and save the day, but I never believed he actually would. I couldn't help but wonder why he did it, and in the end, all I know is that it made the difference. Maybe he had a heart after all, or maybe he just got to thinking about his own kids and couldn't stand the thought of having S'ushi around to come after his daughter.
I was grateful.
And I was mad.
I looked down at Billiard, gave him one of my charming smiles, and I shrugged my broad shoulders. "What can I say? I'm just a big lug and that jolt your woman gave me only rejuvenated me." The truth was I was still feeling numb and a little lethargic, but I was confident I could take him.
Billiard got to his feet and I was in a generous mood. I let him. My days in the boxing ring came back to me and I did to him what I do best. In laymen terms...I kicked his ass.
I boxed.
There's another word for it, too.
Pugilism.
I hit him with a left, then I hit him with a right. I was glad to know that I still had it, baby.
But Billiard was no slacker himself.
He caught me off guard and connected a solid blow to my head that had me reeling. He slammed me against the wall and shoved his fists into me abdomen. I wished he hadn't done that. I doubled over, which was a mistake I couldn't avoid.
He grabbed a hold of me and he put me into a headlock. With a couple of well placed blows by his massive fists, I knew I was going to need an ice, cold steak to put on my face. That's if I even survived this. His last hooray was to literally throw me into a shelving unit against the wall where an assortment of tools was kept.
The shelves flattened under my weight.
I fell hard.
And then all of those damn tools on those shelves fell right with me. Most of them hit me on their way down. And yet there was one tool in particular that landed within easy reach. It was something sailors found useful when out to sea and they were in trouble. Well, I was in trouble, so I figured it would be quite useful to me, too.
I looked up and Billiard was glaring down at me. Somehow, he had retrieved his gun and that gun was now pointing at my face.
"You're a dead man, Spenser!" he growled.
I decided to use my charm to distract him. "What's with the name 'Billiard' anyway? You don't look like a pool table."
He looked at me, puzzled. "What the hell are you talking about? What does my name have to do with anything?"
"I think you should change it."
"What?"
"I've got a name for you." I aimed a Flare gun at him. "Bulls-Eye."
I fired.
The flare struck him full in the chest and he went down screaming. As I got to my feet, Giles came over to give me a hand.
"A-are you all right?" he asked.
I nodded. "Just peachy. You and Angel have great timing."
Giles nodded. "W-we came as quick as we could."
I noticed that he was looking at Billiard. "Oh, don't worry about him," I said. "He had a condition that suddenly flared up."
"Our timing isn't that great," Angel replied as he approached us.
I looked at him with concern. "Why do you say that?"
His face became human as he looked around us. "Because S'ushi Alyssia, Willow, and Xander are gone."
*******************
Willow was in a long corridor with empty or unused offices on either side of her. She hurried down the corridor, stopping along the way as she attempted to open doors in her haste to get away from S'ushi. Every door she tried to open was locked. She cast a frightened look behind her, but so far, there was no sign of pursuit.
Yet.
She tried another door.
She almost cried out in relief as it opened. She went inside, closed the door, and locked it. Then she looked around.
There was a file cabinet, a battered sofa with leather cushions, an old wooden desk, and an empty bookshelf. The afternoon sun shone in through the windows. There was a door on the other side of the office and it led to the rooftop. She didn't want to go onto the rooftop, but she had to hide somewhere.
She quickly scurried under the desk.
A memory came to her as she made herself still. She listened to her heartbeat, her breathing, and she listened for S'ushi's approach. But she remembered hiding beneath a desk at another time.
She had been hiding from the Pack back then.
Xander had been one of them, and he would have killed her if it hadn't have been for Buffy. Willow would have wound up just like Principal Flutie.
A tear rolled down her cheek.
She closed her eyes and trembled. She remembered. She remembered everything about her life before she had been kidnapped from computer camp. She still had no memory of her three days of captivity, but she remembered Xander.
"Get out from under that desk," S'ushi's voice cracked like a whip. "Don't you dare make me come over there and pull you out from there."
Willow froze.
She couldn't bring herself to move. She was so overcome by fear that she could scarcely breathe.
S'ushi kicked the desk.
Willow jumped and cried out in alarm.
"Get out here. NOW!"
Willow hesitated. Slowly, she crawled out and rose to her feet. She looked at S'ushi Alyssia and was ashamed. Why was she so afraid? How was S'ushi able to make her feel so bad about herself? It was as if Willow had no control of her own. She couldn't even stop shaking.
S'ushi crossed her arms over herself and she dangled the rod toward the floor. She regarded Willow with a cold, harsh look. "You've cost me a lot of trouble," she said.
Willow backed up against the wall. "I-I just want my l-life back."
"You're life doesn't belong to you. It belongs to me. I own you."
Willow shook her head. "No. Y-you can't own people like they're you're property. I-it isn't right. It isn't--"
Without warning, S'ushi moved closer. She pressed the end of the rod against Willow's side. Before Willow could stop her, S'ushi pulled the trigger.
*ZAP!*
Willow didn't understand what the rod was or how it worked. All she did know was that it made her feel as if an electric current was moving through her body. Every nerve seemed to catch on fire. Her body gave an uncontrollable jerk, and she collapsed to the floor.
She found that she was unable to move. She lay on the floor and all her body would allow her to do was to moan. There was one other thing she could do-cry. Tears filled her eyes, and she couldn't even move her arms to wipe them away.
S'ushi leaned the rod against the wall and reached down to pick up Willow. She laid her on top of the desk and leered down at her.
"How does it feel to be so helpless?" she asked conversationally as she looked down at Willow's face. "I can do anything to you and you would be unable to stop me." She shrugged. "You'd be helpless to stop me anyway, girl. But such is life. Unfortunately for you, I'll have to just cut my losses and run." She brought her face inches above Willow's and smiled. "Do you know what this means? It means I have to kill you."
She brushed her lips against Willow's.
Willow stared up at her in horror. If she could have, she would have said, "Ewwwwwwww!"
Then S'ushi straightened, flipped out a knife...and got smacked in the back of the head with a two-by-four. She stumbled and dropped the knife. She was just in time to raise her arm as the two-by-four came at her again.
"Get away from her!" Xander shouted. "Leave her--ooof!"
S'ushi was pissed. Her foot lashed out and caught Xander in the stomach. The blow shoved him toward the window. She spun around and kicked him again. This time, the blow sent him through the window.
Xander found himself on the rooftop of the warehouse, lying on broken glass and windowpane. He still had the two-by-four he had found on his way up the stairs gripped in his hand. He rolled over and got unsteadily to his feet. He looked toward the window he had been thrown through and saw S'ushi storming toward him.
He took his best defensive stance, prepared to swing his weapon, and he waited. He didn't have to wait long. S'ushi didn't feel much like conversation.
She felt like spinning.
As she twirled about in the air, her feet landed with deadly accuracy. Xander took a blow to the head and to the chest, and once again, he was lying on his back. As he tried to get back up, he swung the two-by-four at her.
She kicked it out of his hand.
Then she kicked him in the face and he fell onto his back.
Angrily, she planted her foot on his throat, and she applied enough pressure to let him know who was in control. "Do you know how dead you're going to be in a few seconds, little man?"
Xander tried to push her foot away, but she wasn't budging. "Go ahead and kill me," he grunted. "Y-you think this is over? I know people...who-who will hunt you down to the ends of the earth. I'll even come back for you myself!"
She released him and stepped back a few paces.
Startled, Xander felt his throat and he slowly sat up. he watched her warily as he got to his feet.
S'ushi smiled at him. "Prepare to meet your death, Mr. West."
Xander looked at her, puzzled.
She clicked her heels together. A knife appeared from the tip of her right boot. She smiled mischievously at him. She prepared to swing at him with her knife-tipped boot, but suddenly, her body convulsed and her eyes opened wide.
S'ushi fell on her face.
Willow stood behind her with the rod in her hands. There were tears in her eyes and she couldn't see past them. She couldn't see Xander, but she could see S'ushi.
A rage almost consumed her.
"I WANT my LIFE BACK!" she screamed. She struck S'ushi with the rod. "M- my name is Willow Rosenberg!" She struck her again. "X-Xander Harris a and Buffy Summers' are my best friends!" She struck S'ushi a third time. "You can't have my life! It's MINE!"
"Willow!" Xander exclaimed. He grabbed a hold of her and pulled her away from S'ushi.
At first, she struggled. But when she realized it was Xander, she dropped the rod and collapsed into his arms. Xander held her as she cried and kissed her on the forehead.
"It'll be okay, Willow," he reassured her. "Everything will be all right."
Then they heard movement behind them.
Willow jerked and tried to run, but Xander held onto her. "It's okay, Will. It's Hawk."
Hawk picked up the rod that Willow had dropped. "Take Willow inside," Hawk said to Xander.
Xander nodded. He began to lead Willow back inside.
Hawk fixed his eyes on S'ushi Alyssia. She glared up at him and she was painfully aware that he intended to wait for the affects of the rod to wear off. She swore to herself that she was going to perfect that rod to make her victims endure a longer period of immobility.
The affects began to wear off.
S'ushi slowly sat up.
Hawk just stood there watching her. He remained perfectly motionless. He could have been mistaken for a store mannequin except for his eyes. They burned into her.
"What is your fucking problem?" she asked him, glaring at him.
He didn't respond.
She got to her feet. "This isn't over, Hawk. You and Spenser are going to pay for this."
"Wrong."
She glared at him. "Wrong?"
He nodded. "You're out of business. As of today, you have officially resigned from the trafficking of slaves."
She opened her mouth to respond.
Without warning, Hawk struck. He stabbed the rod through her as if it were a sword.
She stared at him in surprise.
Hawk shoved the rod through and forced her to the edge of the rooftop. "Time to swim with the little fishies," he told her. "Give Charlie the Tuna my regards."
He tossed her off.
S'ushi Alyssia fell. She crashed through a part of the pier below and splashed into the water. Hawk turned and walked away from the edge without looking back.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
TO BE CONTINUED--
Angel looked at Willow. He had no meant to frighten her. He hadn't meant to hurt her, only to protect her from S'ushi. The fear in her eyes was just too painful to bear.
He hesitated. "Willow, I-"
Suddenly, Willow's eyes widened as she saw something behind him. She pointed. "Angel!" she cried. "B-behind you!"
Angel spun around as Damien lunged at him. The evil vampire tackled him and both he and Angel fell into S'ushi, knocking her to the floor. The two vampires began to struggle.
"Willow!" Angel shouted. "Run!!"
Willow did. The four thugs guarding the only way out aimed their guns at her, but they also realized they couldn't shoot her. That would be like committing suicide. Willow couldn't get past them so she ran up a set of stairs, which led to a second floor consisting of empty or unused offices.
Two of the men tried to follow after her, but Giles chose that moment to leap out of hiding with a boat oar as a weapon. He came out swinging and he managed to knock one of the men down, but the other one stumbled back out of range as he leveled his gun at the librarian.
Giles smacked the man's gun hand and forced him to drop his weapon. Then he smashed the man full in the face and sent him on his way to dreamland. The men fell and remained still on the floor.
Behind Giles, Billiard began to level his own gun at Giles. The Watcher didn't notice this, however, because the first man he had swung at was struggling to take the oar from him. They both had a grip on it and they kept moving around across the floor. Billiard lowered his gun in frustration because he didn't want to shoot his own man by mistake. Then the man who was struggling with Giles managed to slam him against a wall and he pressed the oar against Giles' throat, cutting off his air supply.
The two other remaining thugs throughout this scuffle were contemplating on whether to go after the girl, or help snuff out the Brit. However, as they tried to make up their minds, someone else did it for them-a man had quietly snuck in from behind them and fired two shots, one into each of their heads. They fell to the floor.
The shots went unheard-the silencer on the gun saw to that. After the deed was done, Buckley slowly backed away as he saw that Billiard's attention was still on the Brit, and one of his men. Buckley saw Spenser moving on the floor, and that was a good thing. Spenser turned and looked at Buckley.
Buckley nodded his head, and Spenser did the same.
At least he helped to bring the odds down a bit. Now the fight was fair. Buckley went out the way he came, and he never looked back.
As Billiard watched Giles struggle with his opponent, another struggle continued on the opposite side of the room. Angel and Damien were grappling with each other, slamming against walls, shelves and beams. They traded blows and it was apparent that not one of them intended to leave unless the other was dusted. Damien was strong, but Angel was stronger and far more determined than his enemy was.
Angel picked him up, swung him above his head, and then slammed him down hard onto the floor. "Where's David?" he demanded.
Damien thrust out his foot and hit Angel in the chest, causing him to fall back. "That's none of your concern."
Angel fell back against the wall. Above him, a wooden pole with a net hung from rings placed in the wall. He took it down, snapped it in two and then he turned to face Damien.
"Maybe it's not," Angel told him. "But this is your concern!"
He thrust the sharp, broken end of the pole into Damien's heart. Damien looked into Angel's eyes, disappointment on his face. "You stupid f-" He burst into dust.
Angel tossed the broken pole to the floor in disgust. Then he looked around. He was very concerned about David's absence.
Giles managed to ram his knee into the gunman's groin and that lessened his grip on the oar. Once he was able to breathe, Giles took in a deep breath and kicked the man hard.
Billiard didn't like what he saw. He leveled his gun at Giles and prepared to fire. A fist suddenly collided into his face and this diverted his attention away from the Brit. His gun hand was grabbed and slammed into the wall until he dropped his weapon. For one additional act Billiard found himself being flipped over someone and he landed hard on his back onto the floor.
He groaned. Then he looked up in surprise.
It was Spenser.
__________
Billiard looked at me with surprise on his face. Yeah, I know. This day was full of surprises to be sure. I had every hope that Buckley would come back and save the day, but I never believed he actually would. I couldn't help but wonder why he did it, and in the end, all I know is that it made the difference. Maybe he had a heart after all, or maybe he just got to thinking about his own kids and couldn't stand the thought of having S'ushi around to come after his daughter.
I was grateful.
And I was mad.
I looked down at Billiard, gave him one of my charming smiles, and I shrugged my broad shoulders. "What can I say? I'm just a big lug and that jolt your woman gave me only rejuvenated me." The truth was I was still feeling numb and a little lethargic, but I was confident I could take him.
Billiard got to his feet and I was in a generous mood. I let him. My days in the boxing ring came back to me and I did to him what I do best. In laymen terms...I kicked his ass.
I boxed.
There's another word for it, too.
Pugilism.
I hit him with a left, then I hit him with a right. I was glad to know that I still had it, baby.
But Billiard was no slacker himself.
He caught me off guard and connected a solid blow to my head that had me reeling. He slammed me against the wall and shoved his fists into me abdomen. I wished he hadn't done that. I doubled over, which was a mistake I couldn't avoid.
He grabbed a hold of me and he put me into a headlock. With a couple of well placed blows by his massive fists, I knew I was going to need an ice, cold steak to put on my face. That's if I even survived this. His last hooray was to literally throw me into a shelving unit against the wall where an assortment of tools was kept.
The shelves flattened under my weight.
I fell hard.
And then all of those damn tools on those shelves fell right with me. Most of them hit me on their way down. And yet there was one tool in particular that landed within easy reach. It was something sailors found useful when out to sea and they were in trouble. Well, I was in trouble, so I figured it would be quite useful to me, too.
I looked up and Billiard was glaring down at me. Somehow, he had retrieved his gun and that gun was now pointing at my face.
"You're a dead man, Spenser!" he growled.
I decided to use my charm to distract him. "What's with the name 'Billiard' anyway? You don't look like a pool table."
He looked at me, puzzled. "What the hell are you talking about? What does my name have to do with anything?"
"I think you should change it."
"What?"
"I've got a name for you." I aimed a Flare gun at him. "Bulls-Eye."
I fired.
The flare struck him full in the chest and he went down screaming. As I got to my feet, Giles came over to give me a hand.
"A-are you all right?" he asked.
I nodded. "Just peachy. You and Angel have great timing."
Giles nodded. "W-we came as quick as we could."
I noticed that he was looking at Billiard. "Oh, don't worry about him," I said. "He had a condition that suddenly flared up."
"Our timing isn't that great," Angel replied as he approached us.
I looked at him with concern. "Why do you say that?"
His face became human as he looked around us. "Because S'ushi Alyssia, Willow, and Xander are gone."
*******************
Willow was in a long corridor with empty or unused offices on either side of her. She hurried down the corridor, stopping along the way as she attempted to open doors in her haste to get away from S'ushi. Every door she tried to open was locked. She cast a frightened look behind her, but so far, there was no sign of pursuit.
Yet.
She tried another door.
She almost cried out in relief as it opened. She went inside, closed the door, and locked it. Then she looked around.
There was a file cabinet, a battered sofa with leather cushions, an old wooden desk, and an empty bookshelf. The afternoon sun shone in through the windows. There was a door on the other side of the office and it led to the rooftop. She didn't want to go onto the rooftop, but she had to hide somewhere.
She quickly scurried under the desk.
A memory came to her as she made herself still. She listened to her heartbeat, her breathing, and she listened for S'ushi's approach. But she remembered hiding beneath a desk at another time.
She had been hiding from the Pack back then.
Xander had been one of them, and he would have killed her if it hadn't have been for Buffy. Willow would have wound up just like Principal Flutie.
A tear rolled down her cheek.
She closed her eyes and trembled. She remembered. She remembered everything about her life before she had been kidnapped from computer camp. She still had no memory of her three days of captivity, but she remembered Xander.
"Get out from under that desk," S'ushi's voice cracked like a whip. "Don't you dare make me come over there and pull you out from there."
Willow froze.
She couldn't bring herself to move. She was so overcome by fear that she could scarcely breathe.
S'ushi kicked the desk.
Willow jumped and cried out in alarm.
"Get out here. NOW!"
Willow hesitated. Slowly, she crawled out and rose to her feet. She looked at S'ushi Alyssia and was ashamed. Why was she so afraid? How was S'ushi able to make her feel so bad about herself? It was as if Willow had no control of her own. She couldn't even stop shaking.
S'ushi crossed her arms over herself and she dangled the rod toward the floor. She regarded Willow with a cold, harsh look. "You've cost me a lot of trouble," she said.
Willow backed up against the wall. "I-I just want my l-life back."
"You're life doesn't belong to you. It belongs to me. I own you."
Willow shook her head. "No. Y-you can't own people like they're you're property. I-it isn't right. It isn't--"
Without warning, S'ushi moved closer. She pressed the end of the rod against Willow's side. Before Willow could stop her, S'ushi pulled the trigger.
*ZAP!*
Willow didn't understand what the rod was or how it worked. All she did know was that it made her feel as if an electric current was moving through her body. Every nerve seemed to catch on fire. Her body gave an uncontrollable jerk, and she collapsed to the floor.
She found that she was unable to move. She lay on the floor and all her body would allow her to do was to moan. There was one other thing she could do-cry. Tears filled her eyes, and she couldn't even move her arms to wipe them away.
S'ushi leaned the rod against the wall and reached down to pick up Willow. She laid her on top of the desk and leered down at her.
"How does it feel to be so helpless?" she asked conversationally as she looked down at Willow's face. "I can do anything to you and you would be unable to stop me." She shrugged. "You'd be helpless to stop me anyway, girl. But such is life. Unfortunately for you, I'll have to just cut my losses and run." She brought her face inches above Willow's and smiled. "Do you know what this means? It means I have to kill you."
She brushed her lips against Willow's.
Willow stared up at her in horror. If she could have, she would have said, "Ewwwwwwww!"
Then S'ushi straightened, flipped out a knife...and got smacked in the back of the head with a two-by-four. She stumbled and dropped the knife. She was just in time to raise her arm as the two-by-four came at her again.
"Get away from her!" Xander shouted. "Leave her--ooof!"
S'ushi was pissed. Her foot lashed out and caught Xander in the stomach. The blow shoved him toward the window. She spun around and kicked him again. This time, the blow sent him through the window.
Xander found himself on the rooftop of the warehouse, lying on broken glass and windowpane. He still had the two-by-four he had found on his way up the stairs gripped in his hand. He rolled over and got unsteadily to his feet. He looked toward the window he had been thrown through and saw S'ushi storming toward him.
He took his best defensive stance, prepared to swing his weapon, and he waited. He didn't have to wait long. S'ushi didn't feel much like conversation.
She felt like spinning.
As she twirled about in the air, her feet landed with deadly accuracy. Xander took a blow to the head and to the chest, and once again, he was lying on his back. As he tried to get back up, he swung the two-by-four at her.
She kicked it out of his hand.
Then she kicked him in the face and he fell onto his back.
Angrily, she planted her foot on his throat, and she applied enough pressure to let him know who was in control. "Do you know how dead you're going to be in a few seconds, little man?"
Xander tried to push her foot away, but she wasn't budging. "Go ahead and kill me," he grunted. "Y-you think this is over? I know people...who-who will hunt you down to the ends of the earth. I'll even come back for you myself!"
She released him and stepped back a few paces.
Startled, Xander felt his throat and he slowly sat up. he watched her warily as he got to his feet.
S'ushi smiled at him. "Prepare to meet your death, Mr. West."
Xander looked at her, puzzled.
She clicked her heels together. A knife appeared from the tip of her right boot. She smiled mischievously at him. She prepared to swing at him with her knife-tipped boot, but suddenly, her body convulsed and her eyes opened wide.
S'ushi fell on her face.
Willow stood behind her with the rod in her hands. There were tears in her eyes and she couldn't see past them. She couldn't see Xander, but she could see S'ushi.
A rage almost consumed her.
"I WANT my LIFE BACK!" she screamed. She struck S'ushi with the rod. "M- my name is Willow Rosenberg!" She struck her again. "X-Xander Harris a and Buffy Summers' are my best friends!" She struck S'ushi a third time. "You can't have my life! It's MINE!"
"Willow!" Xander exclaimed. He grabbed a hold of her and pulled her away from S'ushi.
At first, she struggled. But when she realized it was Xander, she dropped the rod and collapsed into his arms. Xander held her as she cried and kissed her on the forehead.
"It'll be okay, Willow," he reassured her. "Everything will be all right."
Then they heard movement behind them.
Willow jerked and tried to run, but Xander held onto her. "It's okay, Will. It's Hawk."
Hawk picked up the rod that Willow had dropped. "Take Willow inside," Hawk said to Xander.
Xander nodded. He began to lead Willow back inside.
Hawk fixed his eyes on S'ushi Alyssia. She glared up at him and she was painfully aware that he intended to wait for the affects of the rod to wear off. She swore to herself that she was going to perfect that rod to make her victims endure a longer period of immobility.
The affects began to wear off.
S'ushi slowly sat up.
Hawk just stood there watching her. He remained perfectly motionless. He could have been mistaken for a store mannequin except for his eyes. They burned into her.
"What is your fucking problem?" she asked him, glaring at him.
He didn't respond.
She got to her feet. "This isn't over, Hawk. You and Spenser are going to pay for this."
"Wrong."
She glared at him. "Wrong?"
He nodded. "You're out of business. As of today, you have officially resigned from the trafficking of slaves."
She opened her mouth to respond.
Without warning, Hawk struck. He stabbed the rod through her as if it were a sword.
She stared at him in surprise.
Hawk shoved the rod through and forced her to the edge of the rooftop. "Time to swim with the little fishies," he told her. "Give Charlie the Tuna my regards."
He tossed her off.
S'ushi Alyssia fell. She crashed through a part of the pier below and splashed into the water. Hawk turned and walked away from the edge without looking back.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
TO BE CONTINUED--