Buffy laughed.
Avoiding Adam's blows was almost ridiculously easy. Buffy found she was able to move faster than she had ever moved in her life. Her senses were so highly attuned to her environment that when a random demon strayed too close behind her, she spun under one of Adam's kicks and beheaded the demon with one swing of her sword.
Buffy dodged another swing from Adam, ducked in under his punch and stabbed him in the abdomen. Adam was forced back by the blow.
"I see," he said. Adam took another step back and extended the Polgaran spike from his arm. He thrust at Buffy with that arm, but she easily deflected the blow, putting another slice in Adam's torso. Adam stepped back again, smirked – or gave his best attempt at it – and shot the spike at Buffy. So startled was she by first the incredible bang from his arm, and then the spike that she forgot to move out of the way.
The spike shattered against her shield, startling her even more and forcing her to take a step back.
Then she grinned. Adam frowned.
Buffy leapt at him and slashed him again, this time sinking her blade deeper into his body. It came back oily.
Adam's head ticked to one side, and he growled. Swinging with a fast combination of lefts and rights, Adam came after Buffy with renewed vigor, but to no avail. She managed to deflect or avoid every blow.
Adam stepped back again, reconsidering his options. For her part, Buffy seemed content to let him wait. She stepped back and took down two more demons. A quick glance around showed that Gunn had joined up with Spike and Angel, and the three of them were making considerable headway towards one group of soldiers, while Wes, Pike, Giles and Davis were holding the doorway they had come from with ease.
Hearing a metallic whirr, Buffy looked back at Adam and her eyes shot up. Where his right arm had been, he now had a mini-gun.
She looked up at him, shocked.
"I improved as well," he said.
Adam raised his arm and aimed it at her. Not knowing the extent of the shield's protection, Buffy dove to one side. Bullets shredded demons in her wake. She rolled once she hit the ground and came to a stop behind a row of metal crates.
Buffy paused for a moment to catch her breath, then hopped to her feet. She picked up one of the metal crates – significantly lighter than it should have been, even for her – and launched it at Adam. Grabbing a second crate, she leaped over the pile and rushed at Adam, who was distracted for a moment dodging the first flying box.
Buffy hurled the second crate at Adam from mere feet away, hitting him in the shoulder and upsetting his balance. She then thrust her sword into his gun-arm, then pulled her hand off as electricity coursed across the surface of the blade.Buffy stepped up to Adam, landing blow after powerful blow to his torso and face, staggering the monster more with each hit. His arm began to smoke.
Buffy's attack was unrelenting. Pressing her advantage, she refused to give an inch of ground. So focused on beating Adam into submission, she failed to notice the sparks flying from his gun-arm. The gun sparked, and sparked again. And then it exploded, sending bullets and shrapnel in every direction, including at Buffy.
Fast as she could, Buffy dropped to the ground, covering herself as best she could. Bits of metal and bullets slammed into her shield at supersonic speeds. She looked up again just in time to see an altogether more battered Adam lash out at her with his foot.
Buffy was quickly re-introduced to the metal crates. Violently so. As she landed, Buffy noticed that her shield had started to weaken – not enough that she was taking major damage, but enough to worry her. She decided she needed to end the fight, and soon.
Buffy regained her footing, and as she was about to rush at Adam again, a blur passed her by, leaving a sword, point down in and quivering in the concrete in front of her. Buffy passed it, ripping it from its temporary home. Feeling the sword in her hand, she recognized it as the sword she had given to Faith.
Putting all her speed and strength into her charge, Buffy ducked under a wayward punch from Adam and embedded the sword in his gut, then wrenched it out through his side, releasing the sword as she did so.
The sword flew through the air, removing the head of a demon, and clanging against the wall.
Buffy thrust her fist into Adam's belly, grasping at his innards. Feeling something solid – and hot – Buffy held onto it and yanked, removing a green, glowing battery. Grinning, she looked up at Adam, whose face registered shock. As the last remnants of his energy faded, Adam reached out for his battery, which Buffy held teasingly away from him.
Adam fell to the ground with a clank that sounded throughout the room.
Looking back to check on her friends, Buffy saw that Pike was no longer standing with the rest of the gunners, and Willow was speaking frantically to Giles.
Buffy ran over.
* * * * *
"Are you Faith?" Rodriguez asked as he saw an accurate representation of 'the way he really wanted a girl to look.' He was then slammed against the wall.
"Walsh," she growled.
Rodriguez quickly took note of the blood on her arms, and her clothes, and the sword in her hand, and pointed down the hall towards the central room. "Her office," he said. "Other side of the compound."
Faith released him and sprinted for the battle, faster than he had ever seen somebody move. Faith ran as fast as she could, ignoring the pain in her leg, the tears in her eyes. Running through doors, Faith quickly became aware of the sounds of a battle raging in front of her. She slammed through the last door and saw her friends holding a line against an ever-dwindling number of demons.
And in the middle of the room, she saw Buffy fighting Adam.
And past them was the door she recognized as belonging to Maggie Walsh. Faith growled. She ran through the line formed by Wes, Giles, Pike and Davis as she saw Buffy kicked in the gut and flung into some boxes.
Faith knew on an instinctive level that she had no use for the sword she still carried. Recognizing that Buffy might have use for it, she flung it down into the concrete as she blew past Buffy.
Moments later, Willow arrived at the door she had just come through and ran up to Giles.
"Pike!" Giles yelled after listening for a moment. "She's after Walsh."
"Fuck!" Pike yelled. He flung his assault rifle to the floor, whipped out one of his pistols and ran after Faith as quickly as he could.
Faith charged on, knocking demons and men out of her way, not realizing that Pike followed in her wake. Upon reaching the door, Faith slammed into it, shoulder first. It had no effect. She looked and saw through a small vertical window Maggie Walsh, huddling in the corner of the room, rocking herself back and forth.
Seeing her target, Faith became more enraged. She slammed her fist into the glass, shattering it and slicing her hand. Faith reached in through the window and opened the door from the other side, cutting her arm on the glass still left in the frame. Maggie screamed.
"Too far," Walsh mumbled, as Faith stalked into the room. "Too far," she repeated. Over and over and over, Walsh said these words.
"You're goddamn right, too far," Faith said, snarling. She leaned over, and with one hand picked Walsh up from the floor. "You're responsible for all of this! Every single person who dies today, dies because of you!"
Faith shook her head, and her voice dropped an octave. "And you already took my lover from me."
Faith punched Walsh, opening her lip and leaving small shards of glass embedded in the woman's face. Faith reached back again, and punched Walsh again, feeling the woman's jaw shatter beneath her fist.
"You killed him, you bitch!" she yelled, tears streaming down her face. Faith reached back, ready to end Maggie Walsh's life with her next blow when a leather-clad form barreled into her, causing her to drop Walsh and flinging her into the desk.
"What the fuck are you doing!" Faith yelled.
"Stopping you from something you don't want to do," Pike said, placing himself between Faith and her intended victim.
"What the hell do you know what I want?" Faith raged. "She killed Riley! Riley is dead because of that bitch!"
"I get it," Pike said, trying to soothe Faith with his voice. "But don't."
"It's her fault!" Faith yelled. She tried to move around Pike, but he blocked her way.
"You don't want to do this, Faith," he said. "You don't want this on your head."
"She killed Riley," Faith said, looking straight into his eyes.
Pike stared right back at her and saw the rage, and grief... and he saw guilt, and he understood.
"Fine," Pike said.
He stepped aside, and as Faith moved to walk past him, he brought his left hand up, pointed his pistol at Walsh and pulled the trigger, splattering her head across the wall.
Faith turned to him, shocked, and lashed out with her fist, catching Pike's nose and breaking it.
"You son of a bitch!" she yelled, her voice hoarse. "She was mine! She... she was... she killed..."
Faith broke, falling to the ground and sobbing. "She killed Riley," Faith whispered.
Pike crawled over to Faith and put his hand on her shoulder. Faith wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed as he wrapped his arms around her, giving her as much comfort as he could.
A few minutes later, the radio on Pike's belt came to life.
{Pike?} squawked Giles' voice.
Pike unclipped the radio from his belt. "Yeah, Giles?" he asked softly.
{The demons seem to be fleeing} Giles said. {Have you – }
"I took care of it," Pike said. "Come across the way to Maggie's office, I'm here with Faith."
{I'll be there momentarily} Giles said.
Pike helped a still-sobbing Faith to her feet, and upon Giles' arrival, released the young woman to his care. Giles picked Faith up and cradled her in his arms. Pike led them out of the room, across the main compound where the remaining Initiative soldiers were clearing out the last of the demons, and back towards the cave where Xander was at that moment regaining his powers.
Giles shook his head, kissed Faith on the forehead and willed the emotionally distraught girl to sleep. Within moments, his will was done.
----------
End Chapter 33
Avoiding Adam's blows was almost ridiculously easy. Buffy found she was able to move faster than she had ever moved in her life. Her senses were so highly attuned to her environment that when a random demon strayed too close behind her, she spun under one of Adam's kicks and beheaded the demon with one swing of her sword.
Buffy dodged another swing from Adam, ducked in under his punch and stabbed him in the abdomen. Adam was forced back by the blow.
"I see," he said. Adam took another step back and extended the Polgaran spike from his arm. He thrust at Buffy with that arm, but she easily deflected the blow, putting another slice in Adam's torso. Adam stepped back again, smirked – or gave his best attempt at it – and shot the spike at Buffy. So startled was she by first the incredible bang from his arm, and then the spike that she forgot to move out of the way.
The spike shattered against her shield, startling her even more and forcing her to take a step back.
Then she grinned. Adam frowned.
Buffy leapt at him and slashed him again, this time sinking her blade deeper into his body. It came back oily.
Adam's head ticked to one side, and he growled. Swinging with a fast combination of lefts and rights, Adam came after Buffy with renewed vigor, but to no avail. She managed to deflect or avoid every blow.
Adam stepped back again, reconsidering his options. For her part, Buffy seemed content to let him wait. She stepped back and took down two more demons. A quick glance around showed that Gunn had joined up with Spike and Angel, and the three of them were making considerable headway towards one group of soldiers, while Wes, Pike, Giles and Davis were holding the doorway they had come from with ease.
Hearing a metallic whirr, Buffy looked back at Adam and her eyes shot up. Where his right arm had been, he now had a mini-gun.
She looked up at him, shocked.
"I improved as well," he said.
Adam raised his arm and aimed it at her. Not knowing the extent of the shield's protection, Buffy dove to one side. Bullets shredded demons in her wake. She rolled once she hit the ground and came to a stop behind a row of metal crates.
Buffy paused for a moment to catch her breath, then hopped to her feet. She picked up one of the metal crates – significantly lighter than it should have been, even for her – and launched it at Adam. Grabbing a second crate, she leaped over the pile and rushed at Adam, who was distracted for a moment dodging the first flying box.
Buffy hurled the second crate at Adam from mere feet away, hitting him in the shoulder and upsetting his balance. She then thrust her sword into his gun-arm, then pulled her hand off as electricity coursed across the surface of the blade.Buffy stepped up to Adam, landing blow after powerful blow to his torso and face, staggering the monster more with each hit. His arm began to smoke.
Buffy's attack was unrelenting. Pressing her advantage, she refused to give an inch of ground. So focused on beating Adam into submission, she failed to notice the sparks flying from his gun-arm. The gun sparked, and sparked again. And then it exploded, sending bullets and shrapnel in every direction, including at Buffy.
Fast as she could, Buffy dropped to the ground, covering herself as best she could. Bits of metal and bullets slammed into her shield at supersonic speeds. She looked up again just in time to see an altogether more battered Adam lash out at her with his foot.
Buffy was quickly re-introduced to the metal crates. Violently so. As she landed, Buffy noticed that her shield had started to weaken – not enough that she was taking major damage, but enough to worry her. She decided she needed to end the fight, and soon.
Buffy regained her footing, and as she was about to rush at Adam again, a blur passed her by, leaving a sword, point down in and quivering in the concrete in front of her. Buffy passed it, ripping it from its temporary home. Feeling the sword in her hand, she recognized it as the sword she had given to Faith.
Putting all her speed and strength into her charge, Buffy ducked under a wayward punch from Adam and embedded the sword in his gut, then wrenched it out through his side, releasing the sword as she did so.
The sword flew through the air, removing the head of a demon, and clanging against the wall.
Buffy thrust her fist into Adam's belly, grasping at his innards. Feeling something solid – and hot – Buffy held onto it and yanked, removing a green, glowing battery. Grinning, she looked up at Adam, whose face registered shock. As the last remnants of his energy faded, Adam reached out for his battery, which Buffy held teasingly away from him.
Adam fell to the ground with a clank that sounded throughout the room.
Looking back to check on her friends, Buffy saw that Pike was no longer standing with the rest of the gunners, and Willow was speaking frantically to Giles.
Buffy ran over.
* * * * *
"Are you Faith?" Rodriguez asked as he saw an accurate representation of 'the way he really wanted a girl to look.' He was then slammed against the wall.
"Walsh," she growled.
Rodriguez quickly took note of the blood on her arms, and her clothes, and the sword in her hand, and pointed down the hall towards the central room. "Her office," he said. "Other side of the compound."
Faith released him and sprinted for the battle, faster than he had ever seen somebody move. Faith ran as fast as she could, ignoring the pain in her leg, the tears in her eyes. Running through doors, Faith quickly became aware of the sounds of a battle raging in front of her. She slammed through the last door and saw her friends holding a line against an ever-dwindling number of demons.
And in the middle of the room, she saw Buffy fighting Adam.
And past them was the door she recognized as belonging to Maggie Walsh. Faith growled. She ran through the line formed by Wes, Giles, Pike and Davis as she saw Buffy kicked in the gut and flung into some boxes.
Faith knew on an instinctive level that she had no use for the sword she still carried. Recognizing that Buffy might have use for it, she flung it down into the concrete as she blew past Buffy.
Moments later, Willow arrived at the door she had just come through and ran up to Giles.
"Pike!" Giles yelled after listening for a moment. "She's after Walsh."
"Fuck!" Pike yelled. He flung his assault rifle to the floor, whipped out one of his pistols and ran after Faith as quickly as he could.
Faith charged on, knocking demons and men out of her way, not realizing that Pike followed in her wake. Upon reaching the door, Faith slammed into it, shoulder first. It had no effect. She looked and saw through a small vertical window Maggie Walsh, huddling in the corner of the room, rocking herself back and forth.
Seeing her target, Faith became more enraged. She slammed her fist into the glass, shattering it and slicing her hand. Faith reached in through the window and opened the door from the other side, cutting her arm on the glass still left in the frame. Maggie screamed.
"Too far," Walsh mumbled, as Faith stalked into the room. "Too far," she repeated. Over and over and over, Walsh said these words.
"You're goddamn right, too far," Faith said, snarling. She leaned over, and with one hand picked Walsh up from the floor. "You're responsible for all of this! Every single person who dies today, dies because of you!"
Faith shook her head, and her voice dropped an octave. "And you already took my lover from me."
Faith punched Walsh, opening her lip and leaving small shards of glass embedded in the woman's face. Faith reached back again, and punched Walsh again, feeling the woman's jaw shatter beneath her fist.
"You killed him, you bitch!" she yelled, tears streaming down her face. Faith reached back, ready to end Maggie Walsh's life with her next blow when a leather-clad form barreled into her, causing her to drop Walsh and flinging her into the desk.
"What the fuck are you doing!" Faith yelled.
"Stopping you from something you don't want to do," Pike said, placing himself between Faith and her intended victim.
"What the hell do you know what I want?" Faith raged. "She killed Riley! Riley is dead because of that bitch!"
"I get it," Pike said, trying to soothe Faith with his voice. "But don't."
"It's her fault!" Faith yelled. She tried to move around Pike, but he blocked her way.
"You don't want to do this, Faith," he said. "You don't want this on your head."
"She killed Riley," Faith said, looking straight into his eyes.
Pike stared right back at her and saw the rage, and grief... and he saw guilt, and he understood.
"Fine," Pike said.
He stepped aside, and as Faith moved to walk past him, he brought his left hand up, pointed his pistol at Walsh and pulled the trigger, splattering her head across the wall.
Faith turned to him, shocked, and lashed out with her fist, catching Pike's nose and breaking it.
"You son of a bitch!" she yelled, her voice hoarse. "She was mine! She... she was... she killed..."
Faith broke, falling to the ground and sobbing. "She killed Riley," Faith whispered.
Pike crawled over to Faith and put his hand on her shoulder. Faith wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed as he wrapped his arms around her, giving her as much comfort as he could.
A few minutes later, the radio on Pike's belt came to life.
{Pike?} squawked Giles' voice.
Pike unclipped the radio from his belt. "Yeah, Giles?" he asked softly.
{The demons seem to be fleeing} Giles said. {Have you – }
"I took care of it," Pike said. "Come across the way to Maggie's office, I'm here with Faith."
{I'll be there momentarily} Giles said.
Pike helped a still-sobbing Faith to her feet, and upon Giles' arrival, released the young woman to his care. Giles picked Faith up and cradled her in his arms. Pike led them out of the room, across the main compound where the remaining Initiative soldiers were clearing out the last of the demons, and back towards the cave where Xander was at that moment regaining his powers.
Giles shook his head, kissed Faith on the forehead and willed the emotionally distraught girl to sleep. Within moments, his will was done.
----------
End Chapter 33
