"Statistical Anomaly" by A Gentleman of Leisure.
Disclaimer: See Part 1.
Part 6: "Three's a Crowd".
"This tunnel's larger than I expected, Scully. Too big for just a storm drain, surely? If I was a couple of inches shorter I could stand completely upright"."Can you see anything, Mulder?"
He shook his head, moved to one side so that Scully could look past him for herself, and made a sign to remind her to stay quiet. From somewhere up in front of them they could hear voices, but not really clearly enough to be able to make out what was being said - the speakers were out of sight, and their voices too muffled by distance and confused by echoes. Cautiously they moved forwards to follow the gradual right-hand bend of the tunnel, hoping to get close enough to hear what was being said.
Some way ahead they could see the figures of the creatures they were now following. All three were stooping due to their considerable height, and were silhouetted by a faint glow from beyond them, where the voices were coming from.
"Can you see anything, Buffy?"
That was a man's voice, in a sort of stage whisper, with what sounded like an English accent - obviously the librarian, Mr. Rupert Giles.
'Rupert? What sort of a stupid name is that, anyway?' Mulder thought to himself. A girl's voice replied, equally quietly.
"No, not behind us, but I think there's a nest just up ahead, Giles, although I can't see any of them yet. Is everybody ready? OK, I'll lead off". That definitely sounded like the blonde one, Buffy. It also sounded as if she was acting as the leader.
Mulder wondered what sort of creature might make its nest underground in a storm drain. What were these people hunting for? Was it perhaps the three supposed aliens, or something else? In either case things were about to get very interesting, to say the least.
The two agents heard subdued responses in the affirmative, followed by a growl from one of the creatures just up ahead.
"I told you there was something behind us", another girl said anxiously. She sounded pretty nervous.
"OK, so you were right for once, Cordelia. Score one for you", they heard Buffy say, a bit louder now that they had obviously lost the element of surprise. "Guys, can you keep them busy while I see what we have here?"
Mulder and Scully saw the three monsters just ahead of them raise their antique but perfectly effective weapons and trot forward out of sight round the bend. They looked at each other for a moment in the deep gloom, and then moved cautiously forward to follow them.
-----
"Hey, Buff. Look out! We've definitely got company back here. Demons, three of 'em, big ugly ones!" Xander exclaimed.
"Uh oh, change of plan, then!" Buffy said quickly, and spun round to face the rapidly advancing newcomers.
Giles hastily dumped the weapons bag and pulled out an axe, which he quickly tossed to Xander, and then produced a long broadsword for himself. Willow and Cordelia scuttled round behind them, one still holding their flashlight, the other a temporarily redundant stake, while Buffy cocked her crossbow.
Giles raised his sword, and Buffy was sure she heard him mutter, "For what we are about to receive..." Then the three demons were on them.
Buffy took aim at the biggest one, in the centre, but just as she squeezed the trigger Xander took a wild swing with his axe, and in the narrow space in the tunnel with the three of them side-by-side, his backstroke jogged her elbow and the bolt went high over the demons' heads, bounced off the curved roof beyond them, and disappeared out of sight into the darkness. She swore - there wasn't time to reload, so she simply dropped the crossbow and waded in with her bare fists.
The humans did have one advantage - their relatively small size. In the centre of the tunnel Giles and Xander could stand almost fully upright, whereas the three demons, at approximately seven feet tall, were severely hampered by having to stoop to avoid hitting the roof with the crests on the tops of their heads, and had barely enough room to swing their weapons without risking hitting each other.
"Aim low, go for their legs", Giles shouted, and slashed at the biggest. There was a bellow of pain and it staggered back.
Xander didn't hear the advice, but was doing pretty well on his own account, getting in close under his opponent's sword, swinging wildly and causing considerable damage. The demon's scaly skin was leathery, and hard to pierce, but a razor sharp axe is a tough weapon to resist at close quarters.
Buffy was also having some success in drawing dark blood from her opponent, principally by punching it repeatedly on its strangely shaped nose, not a mode of fighting it seemed to be familiar with. She varied this with some martial arts kicks aimed low down, where both vampire or human would normally be particularly sensitive, but for some reason this wasn't having quite the desired effect, so she quickly switched tactics and went directly for its weapon. In just a few seconds the demon found itself on entirely the wrong end of its own sword (from its point of view), and not at all happy about the situation!
-----
Scully tugged at Mulder's sleeve.
"Keep back, Mulder. We don't want any of them to know we're here".
"I don't think we should just leave them to it. We have to help them".
"The humans seem to be doing pretty well under the circumstances, Mulder. It looks like the monsters that are coming off second-best".
"That's what I'm worried about, Scully - it's the monsters I'm thinking of. And I still believe we should think of them as some sort of aliens, not monsters. They're obviously intelligent beings, whatever they are..."
"Dangerous is what they are, Mulder" Scully hissed. "They're carrying lethal weapons. I know people are in danger, but we don't know what's actually happening".
"Well we can't just stay back here and risk letting any of them be killed, Scully. Not even the creatures, whatever they really are. They're all part of whatever the hell strange goings-on are... er... going on in this town. We have to stop the fight somehow".
"Keep your voice down, Mulder. One of them might hear you".
"Over this row? Not much chance of that!"
Then, without any warning, Mulder stood up and turned on his own flashlight. The he waved it about vigorously, as if to deliberately attract attention.
Scully quickly grabbed at his sleeve again, trying to pull him back down into concealment.
"What are you doing, Mulder? They'll see you".
"That's the idea - to distract them. I want to break up the fight, and I think showing ourselves is probably the best way to do it".
Scully sighed and got to her feet beside him. This did not seem to be a very good idea to her. It certainly wasn't what they had originally planned, but she supposed Mulder was right about one thing - they had to find out what the hell was going on. To do that they had to be able to ask people questions, and to do that there had to be people still alive to talk to. Or live monsters, or aliens, or even (the horrible thought suddenly occurred to her), god forbid, people in Halloween alien suits from a costume hire shop. And if that last idea turned out to be the case, someone was going to look remarkably stupid. And if that person turned out to be Dana Scully, then she was going to make quite certain that one Fox Mulder was going to regret even getting up this morning. Period.
-----
"Hey! You there. This is the FBI! Throw down your weapons!"
"What the...?"
"Look out, Xander!" Willow shouted, and he ducked to avoid a jab of the spear wielded by one of the demons, grabbed it, and kicked out hard at its kneecap. The creature gave a pained bellow and let go. Xander tossed the spear over to Buffy who swapped it for the sword she was using, and then he took another vigorous swing with his axe. Disarmed, the monster backed up, reluctantly giving ground, and he swung again, taking a step forward as he did so. It retreated again.
Buffy jabbed at the demon opposing her, which also withdrew a pace or two.
Giles, distracted by the shout from along the tunnel, missed his stroke, but his opponent also took the opportunity to move back a few feet.
"Come on, they're retreating. Keep at it!" he shouted. "Never mind who's back there".
"Is it the seventh cavalry? Maybe they're out on night manoeuvres", Buffy said between jabs with the spear.
"No, it's only the fifth. And I think they very sensibly left their horses behind", Xander responded, wielding his axe vigorously.
"I bet it's that bloody government agent we keep bumping into, well that Buffy does, anyway. He must have followed us down here, stupid man", Giles grunted between sword swings.
There was another shout in the distance, and the leader of the demons suddenly seemed to realise they were trapped between two forces. It turned abruptly, and began to run from the Slayer and her friends, straight towards the voice beyond, followed closely by its two companions.
"Hey, they're giving up! Come on, we can chase them right out of the tunnel", Xander said.
"They're going to run straight into that government idiot", said Giles.
"So?" said Buffy, lowering her spear, a little out of breath. "He can look after himself, surely? He'll have a gun".
"Almost certainly", Giles replied, "but he's outnumbered. And you don't seriously think a few little bullets are going to be enough to stop those three, do you?"
"Oh. Hadn't thought of that. Not good. Hey, guess we'd better go lend a hand, then?"
The words were hardly out of her mouth when another voice, this time a woman's, also called to the creatures to halt and throw down their weapons. After a few seconds this was followed by one warning shot, and then a whole fusillade.
The Slayerettes unanimously hurled themselves down into the dirt and puddles on the floor of the storm drain as bullets spanged dramatically about over their heads. Xander clung fervently to the nearest person, who happened to be Giles, while Buffy quickly rolled over to shield Willow, and Cordelia cowered behind all of them, shrieking. Above the row, Giles heard someone in the distance shouting to a second person to get back down the tunnel to the ladder, and the three demons howled their anger and chased after them.
A last bullet whined overhead, ricocheted crisply twice and bounced metallically a couple of times on the floor of the tunnel.
Cordelia screamed shrilly.
"I've been hit. I've been wounded. I'm bleeding! I'm dying!"
Giles cautiously lifted his head to check the tunnel, detached himself from Xander's clutches, and crawled over to her to check for injuries.
"Hey! Hands! Hands, mister!" Cordelia suddenly exclaimed, to his surprise.
"Can't see any injuries from here", Buffy told him. "Where were you hit, Cordy?"
"In the shoulder. I'm going to die, aren't I? Oh God, I'm still a virgin and I'm going to die without ever having done it".
"Oh, gross! T.M.I., T.M.I.!!" Willow exclaimed, covering her ears with her hands. Then she added, "I can't see any blood".
"A virgin? That's not what it says on the wall in the men's room at school", Xander muttered quietly to himself, but luckily no one else noticed.
"I was hit", Cordelia insisted. "I'm dying!"
"A dying duck's more like it!" Giles told her scathingly. "Look, here's the bullet - it was spent, and just dropped onto you and then fell to the ground".
"Boy, are you lucky", Xander said. "Can I have it as a souvenir?"
"Hell, no!" exclaimed Cordelia, sitting up smartly and grabbing it off Giles. "You get yourself shot and get your own damned souvenir. Or even better, just get shot! Do us all a favour!"
"Children, children!" Giles said wearily, standing up again. "Please don't bicker. We've got to go and be the seventh cavalry ourselves, now. There seem to be at least two FBI agents who currently need rescuing from nasty scaly blue-green demons before they come to a sticky end without even knowing what hit them".
"Hopefully we can achieve that without them even finding out", Buffy said optimistically, bouncing to her feet. "Come on, gang. We have things to do and people to see - like monsters to fight, and morons to save".
"What about the vampires we were really after?" Willow asked.
"You don't seriously think they're still hanging around after all this racket do you, Will?"
"We'll have to leave them for tomorrow night", Giles told her. "Buffy's right, they're long gone by now, if they know what's good for them".
"Yay for me! Saddle up, guys! Hiyo Silver, away!"
Giles shook his head, brushing the dirt from his jacket as he followed the four youngsters.
'I'm getting too old for this', he told himself. 'Sod the bloody FBI!'
END OF PART 6. TO BE CONTINUED...