Chapter Twenty~Nine: When the going gets tough.

Once there was a little girl named Star Mouse, who had blue hair (see her website). She wrote lots of fanfiction, but no one ever reviewed, so she never knew if she was any good or not.

The end.

~Star Mouse

@ @ @

When Dawn came to, the room was empty, and her only restraints were a pair of handcuffs around her ankles. They obviously didn't see her as much of a threat. Buffy was gone.

--her eyes were cold, her smile mocking in it's brightness. She ran gentle fingers along the bruises littering her arm. "You know, Dawnie, she never really told you why she did it..."--

Dawn ran a hand over her throbbing arm. Nothing had been rebroken, at least. She winced when her thumb hit a particularly sensitive bruise. Most of the ...the torture had been focused on her weakened limb.--

"...She never told you why she had such an easy time taking your place on that tower..."--

Dawn ran a quick inventory. She was pretty much untouched, other than the arm. The throbbing intensified when she shifted, and she gritted her teeth against the pain. New!Improved!Mature Dawn could work through pain. She was sure of it.

A stupid little girl whose only good quality was her shiny hair would sit here and cry, wondering when Buffy would come back. A self-sufficient young woman who occasionally got kidnapped would... She took out an earring and eyed the hook.

...Pick the lock on the handcuffs.

Thanks to Spike's less than savory education, it took about two minutes to get one foot free. Dawn unlocked the other side even more quickly, and stood up, flexing her ankles. A little sore, but no big thing. The arm was still the biggest problem, but at least that shouldn't slow her down too much. She took a second to look around the room.

Now that she wasn't focused on being terrified, she instantly recognised the theme of the decor. Of course it's a school. It's always a school. There was exercise equipment scattered around the room, and a window through which she could see dark sky. This must be Buffy's room alone, if the window wasn't covered.

Dawn stuffed the handcuffs in her pocket, and crossed the room to the small pile of weapons against the wall. There wasn't nearly as much as they had at the Magic Box, but it was still a pretty impressive stash, especially considering the shot amount of time Buffy'd had to collect it.

--"It wasn't because she loved you, Dawnie. Not because she loved you. Do you want to know why, sweet sister?"--

Dawn grabbed a bat that had been mixed in with the axes and swords. She'd always been more comfortable with blunt objects. Thus armed, she went back to the door and listened for a second before cautiously opening it and escaping into a compound full of vampires.

--"It wasn't because she loved you, little girl. Not because she couldn't bear to leave you." The blonde leaned in near her ear and whispered sweetly, "It was because she couldn't bear to stay with you."

Dawn raised her eyes meet the cruel face of her sister. Buffy saw the pain there, and smiled. Dawn smiled back; whispered raggedly, "I don't blame her."

@ @ @

Three Slayers and a vampire walked to the front of the elementary school. Petchra and Birdie promptly turned off to the side and continued along the side of the building. Angel and Faith looked at each other.

"Where are you two going?" Angel asked.

"Basement," Birdie replied. "According to Xander, there's access around this way. We may be able to catch a large part of the army unawares."

Faith shrugged at Angel and started after them. "Yeah, but about three vamps in, they'll probably catch on, don't ya think?"

Petchra bent down and pointed out a hose in the wall. Birdie smiled.

"If these gas lines are hooked up, it should be a whole lot easier than that."

@ @ @

"No..." Giles rubbed his forehead. "Well, yes, I--" He frowned when he was cut off again, switching ears. "...Well, I must disagree with you there. I happen to have several other bids for far less than you are suggesting, and if this keeps on, I may be forced to go to a different supplier." Anya nodded encouragingly, and gave him a thumbs up.

Giles smiled and nodded back, before his brow furrowed. "Well, no, I don't suppose..." He shot Anya a nervous glance. "...You don't say..."

She shot him a 'what's the problem' look, and he gestured frantically at the phone, where he was increasingly obviously fighting a losing battle.

"Yes, I see where that would --hey!" With a frustrated noise, Anya had grabbed the phone from him.

"Look, you little one-browed weasels. Exorbitant billing is not an intelligent business practice, and will only lose you customers and money. What you're charging for that second-rate blood of yours is ludicrous, and don't think the rest of the bars in this town aren't going to hear it from me! Here's what you're going to do..."

Over at the research table, Marion and Xander watched in awe. He shook his head.

"God, I love her."

Marion nodded. "Her ...fervor is rather attractive."

"--and another 10% for each referral. Oh yes I-- dammit, hold on." She covered the phone. "Someone's beeping in. Pick it up in the training room. I've got the suckers right where I want 'em!!"

Marion hopped up from the table and jogged into the training room. She found the phone under an exercise mat and proceeded with the complex process of picking up call waiting. "Hello?"

"Who's that? Punk-Ass?"

"Spike?" Whyever would he be calling-- "What's happened, you sound ...short of air. That can't be right..."

"Bugger it. I need to talk to Birdie. She was right."

Uh oh. Marion spoke slowly. "Spike, Birdie and the others just went to attack Dorjan Vadas's headquarters. Wait. Right about what?"

There was a bang, like he'd hit the phone against something in frustration. "Shit! What others?"

Marion sat down on the tattered couch. "Well, Birdie, and Petchra, and Faith, and Angel."

There was a pause on the line. "'D you say Angel?"

"Yes."

"What the hell's he doin' 'ere?!"

"Um, I don't know. He just kind of, er, showed up. Spike, what's this all--"

"Shut it. You and Red need to do the spell. The one you tried with Nibblet before. How soon can you get it set up?"

"The Mind-Diving? Spike, what--"

"I figured it out. Buffy came to my crypt today, and Buffy, the real Buffy, broke through for a second to save me from her demon. 'S not Dawn that's gotta do it, 's me. I'm the only one she'll let in. You've gotta do the thing before the Slayers and the git kill her!"

Marion had a moment of Of course! then shook her head. "Spike, it's impossible. They've already left, Willow's asleep, and Vadas has erected a magic barrier around the place. There's no way." She heard the door open, and she turned to see Willow standing there in her pajamas.

"The barrier's down," the redhead said excitedly.

Oh, right. This is Sunnydale. ".Never mind. We'll be ready in five minutes. Willow will tell you what to do." She passed the phone off and dashed out the door to the main shop to get the proper supplies for a long distance version of the Mind-Diving spell.

Willow looked at the phone in confusion before bringing it to her ear. "Hello?"

@ @ @

Dawn had done it on accident. Well, sort of. She'd been trying to get out of the school without being seen, when she'd heard this weird sound, sort of like someone chanting. Deciding to risk the possibility of being spotted, she'd followed the sound to another classroom. Inside, there were three vampires huddled around a glowing mirror set up in the middle of some rather intricate chalkwork. From her elementary magic classes with Marion and Willow, she recognised the makings of a shield/ward. Such a thing could probably be very helpful for someone wanting to avoid a magical attack. And since this was the enemy, she and her baseball bat did the only thing they could do in the situation.

When the chanting stopped, the glow in the mirror faded, and Dawn got the distinct feeling that something had happened. Or, more correctly, stopped happening.

Then, as she was catapulted into the opposite wall, she got the distinct feeling that something had exploded beneath her.

@ @ @

"Woo! Mass destruction!" Faith did a little dance while, on the other side of a dumpster, flames shot out of the basement windows "'S gotta be a huge chunk of the undead army up in dust!" She sighed, shaking her head. "God, I love pyro."

Birdie, squatting beside her in the shelter provided by the dumpster, nodded agreement. "One of our better plans."

Angel wasn't quite as pleased. "And what if Dawn had been in there? Then what would you have done?" he asked. They'd made him go down undercover-like in the basement with the army and listen for heartbeats/smell for live flesh before lighting the match. (Or letting loose the thermokinetic magical charge. Whatever) He was still a little pissed about being treated like a kamikaze bloodhound.

None of the Slayers deigned to respond. Petchra twirled her staff, then said something to Birdie, who grinned. The Thai Slayer and her leather jacket strode off.

"Hey, what'd she say?" said Faith.

Birdie stood also, and pulled a stake from her belt. "She said, 'Let's boot-scoot and boogie.' We'll hit the back, if you guys want to take the front entrance."

"Rock on," Faith opined, pulling a wicked-looking spike from the recesses of her clothing, and following the other two out.

Angel sighed. "Now I understand why there's only one of them. Bossy..." he hopped up and followed them all into the school.

@ @ @

Marion shook her head, arranging candles. "I don't understand it. Their wards were doing just fine earlier."

Xander shrugged. "Maybe they ran out of batteries." He'd been informed that this would be a Spectator Xander fight, and was now doing his best to answer all questions asked in his vicinity, even when they were rhetorical.

Giles rubbed his eyes. "I doubt that's the case," he muttered. He had also become aware of the fact that he was pretty much useless at the moment, and was dealing by getting a headache. Anya was still on the phone with his suppliers, and didn't seem to really mind her lack of part in the festivities. "But something must have happened on the inside. Perhaps it was Angel and the other Slayers. Could you tell?" he half-directed at the redhead.

Willow didn't answer. She was still explaining the details to Spike over the phone. "Now, since we'll be doing the chanting, all you have to do is say the forward any time in the next half hour, and it will automatically connect our energy to your actions," she repeated. "But remember you have to be in contact with her when you say it, otherwise it won't work." She made a face. "No, I don't think you're an idiot, I just don't want you to screw it-- Yes, I know you're older than me. .No, I know. Oh just," she clicked the end call button and tossed the phone away. "Stupid stressed out argumentative vampire," she muttered, then put on a bright face. "Okay. How're we doing?"

"Done," Marion answered, lighting the final candle. She looked across the circle at Willow, who, though perky, had heavy bags under her eyes. "We'll have to sustain this for a while, so pace yourself. You're sure you're strong enough?"

Willow nodded once, and they locked hands. Xander and Giles backed out of the way, so as not to interfere with the spell.

"Connecters," Marion whispered. "Ties that bind, strengthen, draw tight. Connecters..."

@ @ @

They'd encountered the first of the vampires almost immediately upon entering the school. They were a little confused, what with all the explosions earlier, but still attacked them straight off. The noise had attracted others, and so on, until the entire building had become a battleground. Petchra and Birdie met back up with Angel and Faith when both pairs worked their ways to the cafeteria. At least sixty vamps were attacking them pretty much all at once, and even with a Master and three Slayers, they were starting to lose ground. And still, two people were markedly absent from the brawl.

Faith slung a vampire towards Birdie, who impaled him and ducked another that Petchra had sent her way. "Where's. Vadas." Faith gritted.

"Dunno. Don't even know what he looks like." Birdie suddenly faltered. "Dawn?" she shouted.

Faith followed her gaze across the room, where the young brunette was having at several vampires with a ...baseball bat?

"What's she doing in this?" Birdie cried.

"Look's like she's kickin' some ass," Faith said, stabbing yet another vamp through the back.

Birdie shook it off. "Okay, whatever. Check 'save Dawn' off the to-do list. Yay us. What about Buffy?"

"Don't worry," Faith assured. "B'll show. She likes to make an entrance."

There was a scream to their left. Birdie whirled around to see Petchra pulling at a crossbow bolt embedded in her arm. She fought her way over to beat back the vampires trying to take advantage of the Thai Slayer's distraction. Faith looked to the stage, from which the bolt had come. Somewhere in the last few minutes, the curtains had been pulled aside. A business-suited brunette with a slightly foreign look was standing just out of the shadows, looking around the cafeteria with disapproval. Beside him--

"B."

The blonde was fully leather-clad, still holding the bow up in front of her. She was staring intently at the Slayer who'd shot her at the Bronze. "Payback, junior." She turned her face and looked directly at Faith, who was giving her a death glare. How cute. She reaimed. "You're next."

Faith ducked the bolt and ran for the stage at end of the cafeteria, battling and dodging her way through lesser targets, leaving a trail of dust puffs in her wake. She sprinted the final few yards and vaulted up onto the six-foot high stage.

Buffy kept the weapon trained on her as Faith advanced slowly across the hardwood towards her.

"I can take it from here," the blonde spoke aside to the man Faith had to assume was Dorjan Vadas. He shrugged and walked off stage right. Faith thought about following him, but her fight was right here.

She wasn't sure how Possessed!Buffy would respond to a rush. For all she knew, this new incarnation was a 'shoot 'em 'n' go on' type. She eyed the crossbow. "We really need weapons for this?" she asked nonchalantly.

Buffy cocked her head at the wording. After a moment, she tossed the crossbow into the far shadows of the stage. "No, I guess not."

Faith smirked. "You did the first time."

And the fight really began.

@ @ @

Yay! Action! And you know how much I love writing fight scenes.

Also: You know how this story is supposed to have romance in it? It's actually coming, now. How awesome is that? Thirty chapters in, we're finally going to get smoochies. Well, not quite smoochies yet, but definitely into the presmoochies, which are just as fun.

*Waves pocketwatch in front of your face* You will review... You will review...

~Star Mouse
[Irony Menu] [Continued Soon!]


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