Chapter Four: Electric Land
Angel glides from one rooftop to the next in his race to get to the high school. There were literally then a dozen lives depending on him reaching the school as fast as possible. His nostrils flare slightly as he picks out a pair of familiar scents only a few streets over and he quickly veers from his original course to his new one with barely any hint of effort.
Finding both slayers together had been a surprise. Since the incident with Finch the two of them had barely been on speaking terms with each other. Now seeing them striding down one of Sunnydale's many alleys, obviously heading to the Bronze, holding hands was something of a shock.
With the way they were walking together it shouted at him that there was something deeper going on between the two of them. The aroma that filled the air confirmed his suspicions. His jealousy grew by leaps and bounds as he watches the pair walking along ahead of him.
Even under the best of circumstances he had no desire to see Faith, but right now more then anything, he wanted to see her dead for daring to touch what was his. That was nothing for what he felt towards the blonde. Buffy was his body and soul, she wasn't anybody else's, especially not some cheap harlot like Faith.
It was going to be hard, but he would put up with them for the sake of saving the people at the Bronze. A dozen vampires was going to take all three of them. He'd have to teach Buffy her proper place later, after they had taken care of the vampires.
Buffy felt the vampire following them even though it was still nearly twenty yards away. A master to be sure but little more then that. "Don't look," she whispers so softly to Faith, as she leans in closer to the taller girl, that nothing more then a half a pace away would have heard.
Faith could feel her pulse quicken as Buffy's breath blew in her ear. She was so distracted by the sensation that it took her a second to realize that speaking, and by that point Buffy was saying, in that still low voice, "... a blood sucker's following us. You want him or should I take him?"
Faith blinks slightly as she asks, "how do you know?" Her voice was just as soft as Buffy's.
"You can't feel him?" The blonde asks with slight bit of confusion over that. She wonders what watchers in this reality taught their slayer's if it wasn't how to pick out vampires and demons.
"The only thing I feel is you," Faith answers before she can think not to say something that corny. What she said was true. It just wasn't something anybody would say to somebody that was going to be leaving in who knew know how long. And it definitely wasn't something she ever went around saying to anybody.
Buffy grins even as she feels the color rise to her cheeks. "Down here," she says pulling Faith down an even narrower alley.
Angel spots the two girls as they duck down the alley. He had picked up on the increase in their arousal even as far back as he was. His mind instantly races with the images of what they could be doing in the dark of a secluded alley.
He quickly follows the pair around the corner. A solid boot connects with his chest sending him crashing into the far wall. He brings his arm up, blocking the stake being driven towards his chest.
Instinctively he backfist the light haired stake wielder knocking her back a pace. The person who had kicked him grabs his hand, jerks and twist, flipping him over on to his back. He had a very good idea about who was attacking him as her fist slams into his face.
Angel bucks upward, dislodging Faith and flipping her off him. "You?" Buffy gapes as she recognizes Angel.
"Yeah me..." Angel snarls as he gets to his feet.
"Are you like my personal stalker wherever I go," She hisses getting tired of seeing the oppressive vampire.
"... You remember the boyfriend," he finishes angrily not hearing her question as he was unable to keep a check on his emotions. His ears roaring with the jealousy surging through him.
Buffy's jaw practically hits the pavement. A moment later her mouth snaps shut as she turns her head to look at Faith. "Boyfriend?" She questions her darker counterpart. Looking back at Angel, her disgust clearly evident in her face, "I'm dating that... That thing?"
"Hell B. You screwed that thing," Faith tells her.
Buffy's face turns an interesting shade of green as she groans, "oh... Oh, god. I think I'm going to be sick."
Angel blinks as confusion reigns supreme in his head. "What's going on here?"
"If you're looking for B Angel you should probably check the library," Faith tells him with an arrogant smirk. As far as she was concerned it was about time Buffy saw Angel for what he is.
He shakes his head as he responds to her comment by saying, "if I had time to figure out what you're talking about... There's trouble at the Bronze. A gang of vamps, about a dozen," he pauses for a moment to give the next part of his news the emphasis it deserves. "One of them's Willow."
Buffy's face lights up, "come on," she enthuses grabbing hold of Faith's hand.
"Um B. Don't know if you heard what the A-man just said..."
"Twelve vamps," she breaks in with a shrug. "Six each. Not a problem is it?" She inquires concern seeping into her voice.
Faith glances down at the pavement as she murmurs, "the only time I fought five vamps someone died."
"Ungh," Buffy grunts wanting to get on with the fight. Her little skirmish with Angel, then learning the details of her relationship with him in this reality had left her in need of a good slaying. She glances at Angel, "fine. He can come. You two can split the other six up amongst yourselves," she offers graciously. A moment later she's dragging Faith down along leaving Angel to catch up however he will.
Angel blinks rapidly as he tries to figure out what had just happened. With the way Buffy had just blown him off, ignored him, and acted like he was a piece of filth he wondered if somebody had put the blonde under some kind of spell, because that was most definitely not how Buffy was to suppose to be around him.
She should have been fawning all over him. Her only concern was suppose to be for him. This was not going to work at all. She was suppose to love him and only him. Growling softly to himself he quickly rushes to catch up to the two slayers.
"Alone at last," Willow says lowly from only a few feet behind her human counterpart.
Willow jumps to her feet as she whirls around. As she lands facing her evil self she silently curses herself for not going with Xander and Buffy as they were trying to track down Buffy's more urban self. They had told her there was a vampire version of herself out there but until she saw herself in a black leather bodysuit she hadn't really been a believer. Now she wishes she had and had stuck closer to one of the three slayers roaming Sunnydale right now.
Willow looks her human self up and down appraisingly. "Well, look at me. I'm all fuzzy," she mocks.
"What do I want with you?" Willow asks quickly before she realizes what she's said. "Uh..."
Willow smiles grimly, "your little school friend Anya said that you're the one that brought me here. She said that you could get me back to my world."
"Oh," she starts but then realizes what she's talking about and adds a bit more forcefully, "oh! Oops!"
"But I don't know..." she begins as she gives herself a wicked smile, "I kinda like the idea of the two of us," she begins enticingly as she moves closer to Willow. "We could be quite a team, if you came around to my way of thinking," she continues her meaning clear to Willow as she backs up towards the checkout counter.
The young girl knew she was in serious trouble. She also knew there was a cross on the counter and underneath the counter was the dart gun they were sometimes forced to use on Oz. She also knew she had about no chance of reaching either one but she had to make the attempt so she inches her way closer to the counter. "Would that mean we have to snuggle?" She asks uncertainly hoping to by herself a little time.
Willow however knew herself well enough to know what she was doing. Lunging forward, so fast that all Willow caught was a black and red blur, she grabs her human self by the throat and shoves her back against the checkout counter. With a quick swipe of her hand she brushes the cross off the counter. She smiles evilly at herself as she asks, "What do you say, Wanna be bad?"
"Wow!" Buffy exhales an amazement as she steps into the library.
Willow takes a slight step back and to the side to bring her face to face with Buffy at the blonde's exclamation. "You!" The vampire hisses as she keeps a powerful hand wrapped around Willow's throat. Like this she knows she can keep the slayer at bay long enough for her to think of someway out of this situation.
Buffy smirks tightly as she responds, "and you."
"You know what'll happen if you take even a single step towards me?" The vampire warns with a malicious grin.
"She'll die a horrible and gruesome death," Buffy suggest lightly.
Willow frowns. While it sounded like fun it would take far too long for the time she had. "I snap her neck," she tells Buffy simply.
The tiny slayer sighs deeply as she shakes her head at Willow. "That's so dated. Figure somebody as smart as you would be able to come up with something a little more original then that," she says despairingly.
Willow's smile never fades. "Sometimes the old ways or the best," she remarks dryly.
Willow slams the keyboard into the back of the leather clad vampire's head causing her to stumble forward and breaking her grip. She quickly scrambles away from her evil counterpart. Stepping forward Buffy punches the vampire square in the face sending her crashing to the floor. "But sometimes you just have to try something new," she quips.
Willow sweeps her feet at Buffy's legs, but she easily leaps over the attack. Willow uses the moment to flip back to her feet. Moving quickly she rushes towards the door only to have Buffy grab her by the arm. Spinning her around in a full circle Buffy slams the vampire into the solid post shaking it as well as the checkout counter, the books, and the computer on the back shelf knocking a few loose objects on top of Willow's head.
Willow snaps her elbow back smashing the hard joint into Buffy's face. The tiny Slayer stumbles back a step as Willow spins around launching a follow up punch at Buffy's head. She could sense something different about this slayer then the one she had fought earlier. It was almost as if she was holding back. Perhaps because in this reality she was her best friend. It was something she would be able to use to her advantage later, after she got out of this mess and killed Anya for sticking her in the middle of it in the first place.
Buffy brushes the punch aside as Willow slides past on her left side. The blonde twirls, pivoting on her right foot, her left leg rising in a reverse crescent kick that smashes into Willow's back pushing her further forward. Moving in quickly she manages to catch Willow's back kick flush in her chest. The force of the kick flipping her over the table.
A quite swoosh, followed by a soft thud echoes in the library. Willow looks down at the dart sticking out of her leather clad side, then at her human self holding the dart gun. A look of dismay crosses her face. A moment later she says, "shit," before falling to the floor.
"They're in there all right," Buffy tells the brunette slayer at her side and the dark vampire just beyond her as they scout around the building. "Ten, maybe a dozen..."
"That's what I told you," Angel mutters disgruntle.
"... kinda hard to tell," she adds glancing beyond Faith at Angel.
"How do you know?" Faith questions not missing the tension between Buffy and Angel. She was finding the vampire's jealousy over the attention Buffy was showering her with amusing. Then again Angel didn't know this wasn't his Buffy and she was in no hurry to tell him.
Buffy shoots a quick glance at Faith before refocusing back on the Bronze. "You don't feel them?"
"Feel what?" Faith questions without taking her eyes off the building.
With an disgusted sneer directed at Angel she says, "things like him. Like maggots crawling all over your skin." Then in a loud whisper adds, "actually I prefer the maggots."
"How do you want to handle this?" Angel manages to ask with only a slight distortion in his voice. He was still highly confused by Buffy's sudden change in attitudes concerning him and Faith, and was having a hard time keeping his anger in check.
Buffy gives Angel a quick look before swiveling her head to look at the roof as she asks, "you can get up there? Right?"
"Yeah," he answers the tiny blonde.
"How long before you can get to the back door?" She inquires looking at the younger slayer.
Faith shrugs as she gives Buffy her answer, "about a minute. Maybe. Not more then that."
Buffy gives a slight jerk of her head as she says, "roof, backdoor," to the respective person. "We go in two minutes from now."
"Where are you going to be?" Angel questions turning dark eyes on the blonde.
Buffy smirks saying, "I'll be going in the front door."
The thick front door bursting inward was the first sign for the vampires inside the bronze that all was not well in their world. The shattering of glass from overhead as Angel drops lightly to the pool table below gives them their second clue. Faith asking, "how's it hanging guys?" As she blocks the back exit is their third hint that a world of trouble had just descended on them.
The fight, such as it was, didn't last long. Even with better then three to one odds, the vampires for their part, showed far more interest in escaping then taking on both slayers and the traitorous Angel. With the back exit being blocked by both Faith and Angel, most thought it would be a simpler matter to slip past the tiny blonde guarding the front door. Those foolish enough to try to get past the her met with a quick and dusty end.
Once it became obvious that the vampires had lost control of the club the patrons had made a bee line for the door. For a few minutes it had been a mad house as the humans had competed with the vampires to get out. Amazingly Buffy didn't mistake a single human for a vampire as both rushed at her. Relying completely on her internal senses to differentiate vampire from human she unerringly stuck true each time.
She didn't waste time on needlessly beating the vampires, or bantering with them. One powerful strike to stun, then a quick stake thrust to the heart before their numbers could overwhelm her. It was quick and it was simple and she wasted no time as she dispatched the six vampires that tried to rush past her.
Without any hesitation, or compunction, Faith made short work of the Mayor's two leashed vampires before they could accidentally, or deliberately, reveal who she was working for. Likewise Angel had very little difficulty in dispatching the three vampires he had been engaged with. Oz on the other hand made sure Anya never even come close to escaping.
"Where's Willow?" Angel demands as he makes his way over to Oz who was keeping a close on a dark hair girl with a frown somewhere between petulant and indignant smeared over her face.
Buffy watches Oz closely as she approaches the young man Angel was talking to. There was something not quite human about him. He wasn't a vampire, or any other type of demon that she had run across before. Her first instinct was to kill him, whatever he was, but both Faith and Angel were treating as an ally. Not that she put any trust in the vampire's opinion.
"She went to the library," Oz tells them.
The two slayer share a quick look with each other, both realizing that they had left Willow and Giles at the library alone. True the Mayor wanted Willow dead, but Faith was still having a hard time coming to terms with that. She knew she shouldn't care about what was going to happen to the redhead, if she didn't die then she was going to hack her way into the Mayor's files and find out what he was up to. She feels Buffy grab her hand and yank her towards to the door. Without knowing what else to do she allows the tiny blonde to drag her out the door, and inevitably to the library.
Oz watches the interaction between the three with mild interest. He could tell something strange was going on between them, but he didn't know what it is. Angel was about to follow behind when Oz stops him with the next thing he says. "It wasn't our Willow. Somehow, Willow and Anya brought her into our world from a different reality."
Just like that the reason behind Buffy's odd behavior tonight, her barely concealed loathing of him, her nearness to Faith fall into place. He also had the distinct impression that Faith had more then likely known the entire time, and said nothing to him. That was not something he was likely to forget any time soon.
Willow looks down at herself lying on the inside of the cage. She felt disconcerted by the sight of seeing herself in such a state. "If it wasn't for the clothes and that whole grr thing she has going we'd never be able to tell the two of you apart," Xander comments from just behind his two best friends.
Buffy nods her head as she replies, "tell me about it. I kept pulling my punches because she looks like you," she says with a quick look at Willow trying to get over the shock of seeing the two of them. "She almost kicked my butt. I'm just lucky our Wills was here," she finishes tossing her arm over Willow's shoulder and giving her a strong squeeze.
"And that she's as proficient with the dart gun as she is," Giles adds as he looks up from the book he's reading at the large table. "That she doesn't go around shooting the wrong person," he chides Buffy almost jokingly.
The tiny blonde stares indignantly at her watcher's comment, but before she can say anything Willow says looking up at every one, "I couldn't stake her. I mean she's me," She continues glancing back down, "a really twisted, kinda gay version of me. But still me."
Everyone's head swivels around as the doors swing inward and Cordelia breezes in. The brunette takes a rather uninterested glance at everyone gathered in front of the cage. With a slight shrug she strides easily across the floor asking, "what's got all you people gawking?"
Willow moves aside to make a little space for the tall cheerleader as Xander flippantly answers, "oh nothing much. We're just checking out Willow's evil twin."
Cordelia looks down at the leather clad redhead, then up at the fuzzy pink sweater wearing redhead, then back down. "Well unless she goes around stealing other people's boyfriends she can't be any more evil then you," she snipes bitingly as she looks back up at Willow. "Now can she?" With that she turns around and starts to walk towards the double doors before they swing open as Buffy and Faith rush in. She swivels her head between the two Buffy's several times before finally remarking with a slight jerk of her head at the Buffy standing between Willow and Xander, "and I suppose you're her evil twin?"
Willow jumps a little having totally forgotten about Buffy's own double running around loose. "Oh, um. Buffy there was something I wanted to tell you, but I don't think I have to tell you anymore because you just kind of walk in, and it would probably be a good thing if I just kind of stopped talking now," she finishes with a sharp click of her teeth.
Xander's eyes swivel between the two teenage blondes unable to decide which he would rather be fantasizing about having in his bed. The one standing next to him was sweet while the one standing by Faith look like she had a bit of a bite to her. Like something sharp and tangy.
The two blondes however seem to ignore everything else in the room except for each other. Both of them thinking almost identical thoughts. What could have happened to make me dress like that?
"Of all the stupid, reckless, irresponsible, ill conceived, with total disregard for the safety of the public..."
Buffy zones out as Giles continues to rant. She had just finished explaining the events that led up to and the subsequent attack on the Bronze, plus the cleaning out of the nearly dozen vampires inside. She didn't know what she had been expecting, but she was relatively positive that this wasn't it. Watchers in her reality had never shown the proper gratitude for the work she did in her estimation. Always to busy worrying over the next big event as far as she was concerned, but this was beyond any indignation her watchers had ever subjected her to. "Don't forget blowhard," she cuts into his tirade.
Giles stops as he glowers at the girl scowling at him. "What the..."
"Because you're about the biggest one I've ever met," the surly blonde interrupts him again.
"You have absolutely no idea the risk you were putting the civilians inside the Bronze at by allowing Faith to take part in your attack," Giles informs Buffy.
Buffy couldn't help but tightening her scowl as she glares at the watcher seeing how things around here were. "Oh I have a pretty clear picture of what's going on around here," she snaps at the watcher while casting a quick glance at herself. A moment later she spits on the floor at his feet, just barely missing his shoes. It was easy for her to see that in this reality she was a spoiled little girl that had never had to fight or scrape for what she wanted. She played the good little girl for the watcher while painting Faith as the bad seed.
"She killed a man," Buffy says deliberately, disgust filling her voice by the rougher girl's actions. She seems to know instinctively what her alternate reality counterpart was talking about without her actually having to say anything.
Buffy gives a light shrug of her shoulders as she remarks with a placid, "so." She gives Buffy the once over with a disquieting glare. A moment later she asks, "and what, you weren't there? You didn't throw Finch into a dumpster?" Faith had given a brief thumbnail description of the incident. She was sure the brunette wasn't telling her everything, but right now it didn't matter to her.
"I told her to stop. I told her he was human," Buffy growls getting angrier with each moment that passes.
Buffy smirks at herself as she folds her arm over her chest feeling her own superiority over this reality's Buffy. Merrick had taken a lot of time training her on being able to differentiate between human and vampire, between vampires and other kinds of demons. It was obviously training this Buffy, and Faith lacked and she couldn't help pointing it out by saying, "not soon enough to keep him alive."
"Why you arrogant bitch," Buffy snaps at the cocky girl staring at her. "Where do you get off judging me?"
"Because I'm better then you," she replies arrogantly.
Buffy stands up tensing as she softly questions the blonde leaning against the table in a voice that could leave a skim of ice on a pool of water, "you think so?"
Buffy snorts derisively as she rises from the table. "Anytime you think you're ready Barbie. Just step right up," she challenges herself.
"This isn't solving anything," Giles remarks cutting into the rising tension between the two blondes as he simply hopes to bring the girls up short of an actual physical confrontation. "The fact remains that your actions were reprehensible..."
"My actions!" Buffy cuts in angrily as she rounds on the watcher. In a lower, but not much softer voice she starts over again. "My actions saved a good twenty people tonight. Or did you think those vamps were just going to wait around for you jerks to pull your thumbs out of your asses before they started chowing down?"
"It does not excuse the fact that you recklessly endangered those people in the first place," Giles insist as for one of the few times Buffy doesn't interrupt him.
Buffy frowns slightly as she says, "there were three of us. If you include the vampire."
"His name is Angel," Buffy responds in a tight voice.
"Right, your very own piece of rigor mortis," she responds not attempting to keep the disgust out of her voice. Turning around to face herself she can't keep the hatred of the fact that a vampire had slept with her, knew her in intimate ways no one in her reality ever did, from blazing in her eyes. "Keep him away from me or else your going to be taking your boyfriend out on dates in a dust buster," the blonde warns with a burning glare.
The two blondes, that look so much alike but are in fact extremely different from each, stare for long moments at each other without backing down. They match heated glare with heated glare until Buffy finally spits out, "screw this," as she surges forward deliberately brushing into her pastel wearing counter part.
Buffy tries to grab hold of her belligerent double, but she simply knocks her hand away as she strides towards the door. "Where do you think going?" Giles demands of the young girl.
"Someplace that's not here," Buffy answers, "As in away."
"We still have to perform the spell to send you and vampire Willow back to your rightful world," Giles reminds the girl as she's halfway to the door.
Buffy raises her right fist to head level and extends her middle finger without slowing her pace. Pushing through the double doors she suddenly reverses direction with a quick spin having come to a sudden decision. "You know what? Screw that. If you think I'm going back to that world. A world that's on the brink of falling into the abyss no matter how hard I fight, how many vampires I stake, demons I kill. That just keeps getting worse and worse..." she trails off softly as her gaze shifts from them down to the floor. With a swift shake of her head she looks back up at the two of them. "I have a chance to get out and I'm taking it."
"You have a sacred..."
"I'm a seventeen year old girl who's been shoved into something I never wanted..."
"What, and I wanted it?" Buffy demands angrily.
Buffy glares at herself disdainfully. "You know nothing about me, with your cozy little life, going to school during the day, playing the super hero at night with all your friends palling around telling you how great you are, how you make such a difference." She had heard quite a bit about her life here from Faith, but she had gleaned even more from Willow. "I've spent the last two years fighting for my life night and day. Living every single day with a death sentence hanging over my head and I'm done with it," she finishes in a voice hard enough to smash boulders with its intensity. Turning on her heel she storms from the room without a backwards glance. She wasn't sure what was going to be different here, but she couldn't see how it could be any worse from where she came from.
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Electric Land - Bad Company
The neon lights go flashing by
Electric Land is in my eyes
The underworld is on the move
And everybody's got something to prove
The taxi driver delivers the news
Somebody out there has blown a fuse
We're passing the scene a man is dead
A thirty eight blew away his head
A jolt of lightning set's me back a pace
Feel like a visitor from outer space
Please excuse me if I don't quite understand
I'm just a stranger in Electric Land
Willing to have a good time
You live for the moment the moment is fine
You're up in your room the lights are low
Nefore you know it's time for the show
A jolt of lightning set's me back a pace
Feel like a visitor from outer space
Please excuse me if I don't quite understand
I'm just a stranger in Electric Land