Part 26: Round One
#
There was no real reason for her to be worried, Buffy kept repeating to herself. Even during her short time with SDO Burke had had the number changed four times. It was a line for agents to call in and if someone traced it that someone could get the inside scoop on SDO missions. Maybe it had just been changed again, standard operation procedure, and he had simply forgotten to tell her after their little fight the other day.
Something told her it was not so, though. The same something that made her certain that Burke had not beeped her simply to hold another chat about the morals of killing the survivors of secret government projects.
She remembered the dream again. A battle, people dying left and right. Her and King, the Huntsman, right in the middle and conflicting urges what to do about Angel's assailant tearing her in two.
"Just once," she muttered to herself as she raced toward the SDO warehouse, "I would like to have a prophetic dream about something really neat and beautiful happening soon."
Any hopes she might have entertained soon shattered, though. She was maybe five minutes away from the warehouse when she saw a pillar of smoke rising from the location of SDO's staging area.
"Great!" Buffy ran faster, once again wishing her mom would finally get around to letting her take her driver's test again.
#
Riley was not exactly sure what was happening. It was early evening and a training session with Buffy was supposed to happen in about an hour, though Burke had told them that it might be cancelled. Apparently there was a lot of trouble between him and Buffy at the moment. Riley had not been there to see the blowup, but by all accounts they had been at eac other's throats about this Project Inferno business.
Buffy had left the file she had somehow acquired from the deepest, darkest recesses of the company's computers and Riley had managed to take a look. Not a good enough look to learn all the details of what had happened here in Sunnydale twenty years ago, no. But he had had a chance to look at the photographs of the five survivors of Project Inferno.
It was enough to recognize the people who suddenly burst into the SDO staging area and started attacking them.
They were in luck. A few agents had just been busy preparing the weapons for the patrols later tonight, so they had loaded guns in hand the moment the attackers appeared. Riley shuddered to think what might have happened if they had been unarmed. There were just five attackers, facing off more than twenty agents.
Two agents were already dead, three more wounded severely.
Riley and the others had taken cover behind the lockers on one side of the warehouse, those that were armed laying down enough covering fire to keep them safe for the moment. The attackers might not be human, but they seemed to fear bullets as much as the next guy. They were holed up on the other side, using the gym equipment as cover. It gave Riley just enough time to study them.
There was that woman Buffy had told them about. Julia something, if he remembered right. She, just like all the others, was dressed in black combat gear and armed, but that was as far as the resemblance went. She was not human, she was a wolf walking upright. Her face was elongated into a snout with vicious teeth bared, her hands were claws that barely managed to hold the rifle she carried, yet she still handled it expertly.
The others were not in any way better. Two of them had distorted faces, almost like those the vampires wore when the mask of humanity slipped, yet different. Riley was not really on the up and up about the various demon species that called Sunnydale home and he remembered that these guys were supposed to be some sort of hybrids, so he quickly gave up trying to identify them. Odds were they were stronger than human and might have some other things going for them. One of them had some kind of bony spikes along his forearms, looking sharp enough to cut flesh.
The other two men looked human, at least on first glance. Riley had gotten a good look at one of them earlier and seen his eyes. Reptile eyes. He was not sure whether that was the extent of his 'demonization', but he thought he had caught a flash of fangs, too.
The final member of the attackers had no outward signs of otherness, but Riley knew he was not human in any way, shape, or form. He had led the attack and, with nothing but a gesture, had caused the outer wall of the warehouse to disintegrate. Which made him the most dangerous of these guys as far as Riley was concerned.
"We're dead if we keep sitting here," Burke told Riley as he squatted down beside him. "These ... things can tear the whole warehouse apart. They're probably just waiting for some sort of opening."
Riley nodded. Besides, he could see their cover crumbling. The five attackers gave as good as they got firepower-wise and some of the lockers had already fallen prey to the same mysterious disintegration attack that had taken out the outer wall. Riley just hoped it did not work on human flesh.
One of the attackers had thrown a grenade into the upper story communications room and most of their equipment was blown, the room in flames. No way to call for reinforcements. Burke had said something about having beeped Buffy just before things went to hell, but considering their current state of affairs he was not sure whether she would come.
They were on their own.
"Okay, people," Burke told everyone. "Let's show these monsters what's what!"
#
Jackson King knew that things still were not right. He just did not understand why. He had taken out the enemy that had bespelled the Slayer. She should be free now, free to come to him and fulfill their joint destiny. Only she had not. He had watched her from a distance and it became obvious that she could not feel his presence unless he was really close. That was not right, either.
He was also aware that other strange things were going on in this town, stranger things than the assorted demon rabble he used to work out his frustrations. He had lost count of the number of vampires he had killed since coming here. It did not help much. He had heard stories of some kind of commando-like humans hunting vampires as well and approved. It was about time that the humans pulled their weight in the battle of light against dark.
He sometimes wondered when exactly he had stopped thinking of himself as human. Not that he considered himself subhuman like the demons, no. He was just ... more than human. Better.
These commando types seemed to be looking for him, though, that much he had overheard while shadowing one of their patrols a few nights ago. Apparently they had orders to bring him in, alive. He did not know why they wanted him, they had not talked about that. Just following orders. Well, maybe they wanted to learn from him. They did not seem too proficient at taking out vampires, though he had noticed that their performance was improving steadily.
Jackson had decided against confronting them, instead mapping their patrol patterns and staying out of their paths. It also made for a better coverage of Sunnydale's many demonic hotspots if they did not patrol the same areas.
His thoughts were on the Slayer once more, trying to figure out what he had missed, why she was not with him yet. He could have confronted her again, of course, like he had done once before. It had gone well enough for a while, but the ending had been anything but pleasant. No, he resolved, until he knew what kept them apart he would not risk it. He wanted things to be perfect the next time they met.
Which all pointed towards this being another boring and frustrating night here in Sunnydale. At least until he sensed the sounds of a fight close by. A fight that apparently included firearms and, or so his senses told him, demonic beings.
This could be interesting.
#
Buffy arrived at the warehouse just in time to see everything descend into total chaos. There was a big hole in the wall and through it she could enter into the main area of SDO's headquarters. Lockers had been overturned, gym equipment trashed, several bodies were lying on the floor and not moving.
She spotted and Riley and Burke, apparently leading a charge against the attackers. They all wore the same clothing, black combat suits, but it was not too hard to pick out those that did not belong here. Buffy saw the woman that had attacker her, as well as two guys with inhuman faces. She identified the other two by the simple fact that SDO operatives were trying to take them down and not having much luck.
"Team 666, I presume," she mumbled, throwing herself into the fray. This battle had to end before more people died.
The first attacker she came upon looked almost like a vampire and her senses seemed to mark him as one as well. Buffy did not know how one was supposed to cross a human and a vampire or what kind of abilities it might give this guy, but she had little time to care. He did not see her coming, too busy with fighting three SDO agents at once and winning.
She aimed a knockout kick at his head, but some instinct made him move at the last instant. Her kick only caught his shoulder, sending him stumbling into a spin. Buffy quickly followed up, though, and he was caught unprepared by her second blow. It hit his chin with crushing force and threw him back.
"You again," someone growled and Buffy had no more time to check whether she had successfully knocked out her opponent or not. The wolf woman, Julia, was suddenly upon her, swiping away with razor-sharp claws.
"This has to stop," Buffy yelled while frantically ducking her blows. "I know who you are now and you are wrong! This is not a repeat of Project Inferno."
"Sure it isn't," Julia sneered, still trying to land a blow. "Super-strong girls join the military all the time these days."
Buffy quickly gave up her attempts at explaining things. Going into the whole Slayer lore now would only succeed in getting her killed. Julia had no reason to trust her, none of them had, and while she tried to explain more people would die.
"I'm sorry about this," Buffy whispered, then went on the offensive.
#
Jackson had about a second to take it all in - warehouse in flames, huge hole in the wall, commando-type guys fighting all over the place - then all rational thought went out the window. She was here. He had felt her from afar, but now he could see her. See that she was in the midst of battle against some kind of werewolf and did not seem to be faring too good.
His resolve to avoid confronting her was forgotten as the Huntsman took over. His mate was in danger. She was fighting creatures of the dark. Hell, she was in the middle of a fire fight and one of those commandos was as liable to kill her as any of those demons.
Without further hesitation he jumped through the hole and into the fray, not caring whether those in his way were demons or not. He needed to reach her, to fight beside her, watch her back as she would watch his. They were meant to fight together, to destroy the monsters side by side.
Then even that level of thought faded away and there was nothing but combat and enemies to be killed.
#
Buffy felt her strength increase, felt things low in her body clench, and knew that he was here. She looked up, saw him come in, saw the wild gleam in his eyes. Her skin was burning up as she saw him move, the blood thundering in her ears. He was here, her mate, her other half.
No, he was not her other half! Angel was! He had hurt Angel! Angel might die! She wanted to kill this bastard, wanted to make him suffer.
He was here to fight by her side. They would do what they were destined to do.
She would kill him, just break his neck and be done with it!
Together nothing could stand against them. They were invincible.
Buffy screamed as conflicting emotions threatened to tear her apart and could do nothing but somehow keep up her defense against Julia as Jackson reached the first person standing in his way, snapping the agent's neck like a twig.
TO BE CONTINUED
#
There was no real reason for her to be worried, Buffy kept repeating to herself. Even during her short time with SDO Burke had had the number changed four times. It was a line for agents to call in and if someone traced it that someone could get the inside scoop on SDO missions. Maybe it had just been changed again, standard operation procedure, and he had simply forgotten to tell her after their little fight the other day.
Something told her it was not so, though. The same something that made her certain that Burke had not beeped her simply to hold another chat about the morals of killing the survivors of secret government projects.
She remembered the dream again. A battle, people dying left and right. Her and King, the Huntsman, right in the middle and conflicting urges what to do about Angel's assailant tearing her in two.
"Just once," she muttered to herself as she raced toward the SDO warehouse, "I would like to have a prophetic dream about something really neat and beautiful happening soon."
Any hopes she might have entertained soon shattered, though. She was maybe five minutes away from the warehouse when she saw a pillar of smoke rising from the location of SDO's staging area.
"Great!" Buffy ran faster, once again wishing her mom would finally get around to letting her take her driver's test again.
#
Riley was not exactly sure what was happening. It was early evening and a training session with Buffy was supposed to happen in about an hour, though Burke had told them that it might be cancelled. Apparently there was a lot of trouble between him and Buffy at the moment. Riley had not been there to see the blowup, but by all accounts they had been at eac other's throats about this Project Inferno business.
Buffy had left the file she had somehow acquired from the deepest, darkest recesses of the company's computers and Riley had managed to take a look. Not a good enough look to learn all the details of what had happened here in Sunnydale twenty years ago, no. But he had had a chance to look at the photographs of the five survivors of Project Inferno.
It was enough to recognize the people who suddenly burst into the SDO staging area and started attacking them.
They were in luck. A few agents had just been busy preparing the weapons for the patrols later tonight, so they had loaded guns in hand the moment the attackers appeared. Riley shuddered to think what might have happened if they had been unarmed. There were just five attackers, facing off more than twenty agents.
Two agents were already dead, three more wounded severely.
Riley and the others had taken cover behind the lockers on one side of the warehouse, those that were armed laying down enough covering fire to keep them safe for the moment. The attackers might not be human, but they seemed to fear bullets as much as the next guy. They were holed up on the other side, using the gym equipment as cover. It gave Riley just enough time to study them.
There was that woman Buffy had told them about. Julia something, if he remembered right. She, just like all the others, was dressed in black combat gear and armed, but that was as far as the resemblance went. She was not human, she was a wolf walking upright. Her face was elongated into a snout with vicious teeth bared, her hands were claws that barely managed to hold the rifle she carried, yet she still handled it expertly.
The others were not in any way better. Two of them had distorted faces, almost like those the vampires wore when the mask of humanity slipped, yet different. Riley was not really on the up and up about the various demon species that called Sunnydale home and he remembered that these guys were supposed to be some sort of hybrids, so he quickly gave up trying to identify them. Odds were they were stronger than human and might have some other things going for them. One of them had some kind of bony spikes along his forearms, looking sharp enough to cut flesh.
The other two men looked human, at least on first glance. Riley had gotten a good look at one of them earlier and seen his eyes. Reptile eyes. He was not sure whether that was the extent of his 'demonization', but he thought he had caught a flash of fangs, too.
The final member of the attackers had no outward signs of otherness, but Riley knew he was not human in any way, shape, or form. He had led the attack and, with nothing but a gesture, had caused the outer wall of the warehouse to disintegrate. Which made him the most dangerous of these guys as far as Riley was concerned.
"We're dead if we keep sitting here," Burke told Riley as he squatted down beside him. "These ... things can tear the whole warehouse apart. They're probably just waiting for some sort of opening."
Riley nodded. Besides, he could see their cover crumbling. The five attackers gave as good as they got firepower-wise and some of the lockers had already fallen prey to the same mysterious disintegration attack that had taken out the outer wall. Riley just hoped it did not work on human flesh.
One of the attackers had thrown a grenade into the upper story communications room and most of their equipment was blown, the room in flames. No way to call for reinforcements. Burke had said something about having beeped Buffy just before things went to hell, but considering their current state of affairs he was not sure whether she would come.
They were on their own.
"Okay, people," Burke told everyone. "Let's show these monsters what's what!"
#
Jackson King knew that things still were not right. He just did not understand why. He had taken out the enemy that had bespelled the Slayer. She should be free now, free to come to him and fulfill their joint destiny. Only she had not. He had watched her from a distance and it became obvious that she could not feel his presence unless he was really close. That was not right, either.
He was also aware that other strange things were going on in this town, stranger things than the assorted demon rabble he used to work out his frustrations. He had lost count of the number of vampires he had killed since coming here. It did not help much. He had heard stories of some kind of commando-like humans hunting vampires as well and approved. It was about time that the humans pulled their weight in the battle of light against dark.
He sometimes wondered when exactly he had stopped thinking of himself as human. Not that he considered himself subhuman like the demons, no. He was just ... more than human. Better.
These commando types seemed to be looking for him, though, that much he had overheard while shadowing one of their patrols a few nights ago. Apparently they had orders to bring him in, alive. He did not know why they wanted him, they had not talked about that. Just following orders. Well, maybe they wanted to learn from him. They did not seem too proficient at taking out vampires, though he had noticed that their performance was improving steadily.
Jackson had decided against confronting them, instead mapping their patrol patterns and staying out of their paths. It also made for a better coverage of Sunnydale's many demonic hotspots if they did not patrol the same areas.
His thoughts were on the Slayer once more, trying to figure out what he had missed, why she was not with him yet. He could have confronted her again, of course, like he had done once before. It had gone well enough for a while, but the ending had been anything but pleasant. No, he resolved, until he knew what kept them apart he would not risk it. He wanted things to be perfect the next time they met.
Which all pointed towards this being another boring and frustrating night here in Sunnydale. At least until he sensed the sounds of a fight close by. A fight that apparently included firearms and, or so his senses told him, demonic beings.
This could be interesting.
#
Buffy arrived at the warehouse just in time to see everything descend into total chaos. There was a big hole in the wall and through it she could enter into the main area of SDO's headquarters. Lockers had been overturned, gym equipment trashed, several bodies were lying on the floor and not moving.
She spotted and Riley and Burke, apparently leading a charge against the attackers. They all wore the same clothing, black combat suits, but it was not too hard to pick out those that did not belong here. Buffy saw the woman that had attacker her, as well as two guys with inhuman faces. She identified the other two by the simple fact that SDO operatives were trying to take them down and not having much luck.
"Team 666, I presume," she mumbled, throwing herself into the fray. This battle had to end before more people died.
The first attacker she came upon looked almost like a vampire and her senses seemed to mark him as one as well. Buffy did not know how one was supposed to cross a human and a vampire or what kind of abilities it might give this guy, but she had little time to care. He did not see her coming, too busy with fighting three SDO agents at once and winning.
She aimed a knockout kick at his head, but some instinct made him move at the last instant. Her kick only caught his shoulder, sending him stumbling into a spin. Buffy quickly followed up, though, and he was caught unprepared by her second blow. It hit his chin with crushing force and threw him back.
"You again," someone growled and Buffy had no more time to check whether she had successfully knocked out her opponent or not. The wolf woman, Julia, was suddenly upon her, swiping away with razor-sharp claws.
"This has to stop," Buffy yelled while frantically ducking her blows. "I know who you are now and you are wrong! This is not a repeat of Project Inferno."
"Sure it isn't," Julia sneered, still trying to land a blow. "Super-strong girls join the military all the time these days."
Buffy quickly gave up her attempts at explaining things. Going into the whole Slayer lore now would only succeed in getting her killed. Julia had no reason to trust her, none of them had, and while she tried to explain more people would die.
"I'm sorry about this," Buffy whispered, then went on the offensive.
#
Jackson had about a second to take it all in - warehouse in flames, huge hole in the wall, commando-type guys fighting all over the place - then all rational thought went out the window. She was here. He had felt her from afar, but now he could see her. See that she was in the midst of battle against some kind of werewolf and did not seem to be faring too good.
His resolve to avoid confronting her was forgotten as the Huntsman took over. His mate was in danger. She was fighting creatures of the dark. Hell, she was in the middle of a fire fight and one of those commandos was as liable to kill her as any of those demons.
Without further hesitation he jumped through the hole and into the fray, not caring whether those in his way were demons or not. He needed to reach her, to fight beside her, watch her back as she would watch his. They were meant to fight together, to destroy the monsters side by side.
Then even that level of thought faded away and there was nothing but combat and enemies to be killed.
#
Buffy felt her strength increase, felt things low in her body clench, and knew that he was here. She looked up, saw him come in, saw the wild gleam in his eyes. Her skin was burning up as she saw him move, the blood thundering in her ears. He was here, her mate, her other half.
No, he was not her other half! Angel was! He had hurt Angel! Angel might die! She wanted to kill this bastard, wanted to make him suffer.
He was here to fight by her side. They would do what they were destined to do.
She would kill him, just break his neck and be done with it!
Together nothing could stand against them. They were invincible.
Buffy screamed as conflicting emotions threatened to tear her apart and could do nothing but somehow keep up her defense against Julia as Jackson reached the first person standing in his way, snapping the agent's neck like a twig.
TO BE CONTINUED