Author: mkcrl120
Disclaimer: All the characters mentioned in this story belong to Joss Whedon or Mutant Enemy or some other people. I own nothing and wrote this just to get it out of my system.
Summary: I'm writing some of these, as I've come up with ideas that I honestly don't know what I'll be doing when the Ultimate series gets that far. In the meantime, these won't go away from my brain unless I do something with them. Warning: It may be a standalone it may be spoilers for something later; only time will tell.
Rating: 15 probably… mainly for language.
Setting: Season 3 - I think you'll recognise when.
What The Hell(mouth) Happened?? - Chapter 36
The Bronze.
Cordelia froze. Eyes flicking around the group in front of her. Ignoring Scott's protective grip, her eyes flicked from Xander to Faith and back again, neither were looking in her direction. Faith looked like she was edging to get free, but couldn't think of a good reason to go. Xander had moved to the bottom of the stairs to get a better look. His eyes silently questioning Faith as to what she was going to do.
"Where are the bouncers..?" Pete asked, eyes staring upward.
"Good question... let's go find out." Cordelia offered as a simple explanation, unfortunately nobody made a move in any direction.
"You okay..?" Scott asked, believing his girlfriend to be upset by the commotion upstairs.
"I think we shou..." Cordelia began, trying to find any simple explanation that would allow Faith to get free, but none leapt to mind.
Another scream decided it for them. Xander was heading up the stairs before anybody could stop him.
"Xander!" Cordelia screamed first.
Xander patted his jacket in a silent response as he headed up to see what awaited.
"What was that about..? Is he carrying a weapon..?" Pete asked suspicious.
"Hope so." Cordelia breathed quietly.
"What was that..?" Scott releasing his grip so she could turn to face him.
"Hope not." Cordelia said loudly. "Come on." She muttered glancing towards the entrance, there was still no bouncer in sight.
"What is it with him and running towards screams..?" Scott asked, expression curious.
"I need to help." Faith muttered, casually breaking Pete's tight embrace.
"Let me go..." Pete answered, quickly attempting to move in front of her.
Meanwhile.
Xander reached the top of the stairs to find two vampires standing in the centre of the balcony. Surrounding them were about fifteen students; some bleeding, other's attempting to comfort those that were.
"Least there's no dead." He muttered under his breath thankfully, quickly palming his stake into his dominant right hand.
"Hey." He said, trying to make his voice sound jovial. "I don't think you paid to get in... I think the idea if you don't pay is to sneak in." He gestured to the smashed skylight.
"All we need is an invitation... and this place is public." The larger of the two vampires commented.
"It was meant to be... Never mind." He sighed. "Guess quips are my girlfriend's thing."
"So meatbag... what do we have here..?" The shorter laughed. "Some wannabe hero..?"
"Meatbag..?" Xander repeated, "Shouldn't that be bloodbag... or am I getting you confused with real vampires..?"
The smaller one charged at him, leaping back Xander attempted to stake the vampire in the back as he passed but found himself unable to do so. Facing the shorter vampire, Xander made a sudden realisation.
Turning his head he discovered the larger one was still standing behind him amused.
"I really hate being piggy." He commented, wishing he had two stakes.
Maria Locan's Apartment.
The vampire chasing her suddenly found himself distracted by a stake flying towards his head. Batting the offensive item away, he straightened himself up as the Slayer returned to her place of safety.
"Shut it!!" Buffy commanded as she dived over Jesse's head and into the room, rolling into a somersault to control her momentum.
Jesse slammed the door shut from his crouched position at the entrace. "Two down." he commented.
"Two left." Buffy finished for him. "And two stakes down too."
"Three." He corrected her.
"What..?" She asked.
"Had to throw it at the one chasing you." He informed her.
"Dammit... what's left..?" She asked, spinning to face the rest of the room.
"I've got Gile's one." Jenny stated.
"Me too." Willow answered.
"Two for two... haven't we just played this game..?" Jesse commented.
"You said it was three." Buffy commented.
"It didn't dust... it just got knocked onto the grass somewhere." He commented.
"Right." Buffy took another look around the room, "Where's Giles and Maria..?"
"He took her upstairs..." Jenny replied.
"Okay..." Buffy composed herself. "Jenny, you're in charge of the door. Willow, stay by the window and make sure that neither of us get surprised."
Both women nodded their assent.
"Where am I?" Jesse asked.
"You're with me." Buffy informed him.
"Fighting..?" He queried.
"I'm fighting... you're re-arming." She stated. "I'm gonna try and take both out... or at least get their attention fixed on me... you're getting the stuff out of the trunk. Once you've got crosses and crossbows then you can join in..."
"Kay." He replied, taking a deep breath as he mentally prepared to go out.
"Ready..?" She asked, at his nod she flung the door open again and kicked the first vamp she found towards the lawn, the second was ready for her and she engaged it in hand to hand.
As the two combatants exchanged blows, Jesse made his way round the opposite side of the van. Reaching the end, he realised he could no longer see where the two vampires were. From the sound at least one of them was still tangling with Buffy.
Popping his head round the corner he could see she'd gained the advantage with the one fighting her, but had so far been unsuccessful in any attempt at staking it; the other now was rising from it's downed position on the lawn.
Deciding to risk it, he made the ten yard run to his trunk.
The vampire from the lawn reached the Slayer at about the same instant that Jesse managed to open the trunk. Taking a quick glance he could see Buffy had decided to swap opponents and was now holding off the other vampire while he back was pressed against the van.
"Jeez." She commented under her breath, blocking a right hook with her left fore-arm. She managed to catch the vampire in to torso with a right of her own, knocking him away from her, but then winced as she felt a sharp pain in her left arm.
Quickly glancing at it, she noticed the trail of blood on her left arm.
The vampire stood facing her. "You have a stake. I have a stake." He taunted, brandishing the newly acquired weapon.
She gritted her teeth as she moved past the pain, and lifted her own weapon up into position. She moved forward to meet him on the lawn.
Returning his attention back to the weapons on the trunk Jesse realised that none of the crossbows were loaded. Grabbing the nearest and a wooden bolt, he placed the bolt into position and began to draw it back.
The other vampire stood up, running behind and past the Slayer, and was aiming right at for him.
The Bronze.
"Right." Xander muttered to himself, as his gaze flicked from side to side; the shorter vampire was staring directly at him seemingly waiting for his colleague to take his turn. The larger one had a puzzled expression on his face, as if trying to work something out. "Shit creek." He confirmed to himself. "And this," his eyes glanced momentarily to the stake he was waving around. "Is all I've got for a paddle."
The screams around them continued, none of the three standing in the centre paid them any attention.
Apparently bored waiting for the other to take his turn, the shorter vampire charged again. This time Xander was better prepared for it. Ducking and lashing out with his stake he managed to cause a deep cut across the vampire's midrift.
"You'll die for that." The vampire sneered, pausing as he stood side by side with the larger demon.
"That's the Slayer's boyfriend." The larger creature stated confidently, as if pleased he'd solved that particular problem.
Realising that they were now back on one side of him, Xander changed his stance but refused to comment on the truth of the accusation. Fingers clasping around the stake handle, as he readjusted his grip to get it comfortable.
"So..?" The shorter one repeated, hesitating from making another attack.
"Just saying..." The larger one looked down at the recent injuries. "And it might explain how he managed to achieve that."
"Are you gonna help or name Slayer lackies?"
"I don't know his name." The larger one looked towards his colleague. "He ain't that important."
Pete reached the top of the stairs, coming face to face with the two people challenging Xander. Faith hovering impatiently behind him.
"Xander." She said quietly, reassuring herself that he was okay. Her eyes began to scan the other students present on the balcony, confirming there was nothing fatal so far she allowed herself a small sigh of relief.
Pete heard the response and quickly glanced behind him to where Faith appeared to be looking at everyone except him.
Deciding on action he charged at the larger man, shouting to Xander as he did so. "This one's mine, you get the other..." He said, evading Faith's attempt to grasp him.
"Pete!!! No!!!" Xander shouted moving forward to meet them.
Pete reached the larger of the two vampires and attempted to take him back with a shoulder charge around the waist. The larger vampire was knocked back a step before reaching down and casually throwing Pete at the Slayer, knocking them both into a small crowd of students.
Faith snarled as she hit the ground, dragging herself back to their feet. "You'll pay for that."
Pete stirred from his position on the floor, noticing this Faith casually grabbed one of the students and pushed him into another, making them both land heavily on her boyfriend. "Sorry babe." She commented casually, hoping he didn't notice that she was the cause of his current discomfort.
The two vampires maintained their attention on the newly arrived Slayer and as a result didn't seen Xander dive at the shortest one. "This one's mine!" he called out as he wrestled it to the floor.
"Works for me." Faith answered as she approached the remaining vampire. "You hit my boyfriend."
By this time, Cordelia had managed to approach from the other flight of stairs.
"Still no sign of a bouncer." Scott called from below.
"Ask the barstaff." She instructed him, turning her attention to where Xander had managed to gain the upperhand with the downed vampire, then flicking it to where Faith was trading blows and kicks with larger one.
"Shouldn't you do that... and I'll see if they need help..?" Scott offered, begining his ascent of the stairs.
"No!!" Cordelia shouted, shocking him into pausing. "No." She added in calmer voice. "I think they've got it under control now."
"So if it's under control then there's no reason to get the bouncers." Scott countered, beginning to climb the stairs again.
"Under control is such a vague term..." Cordelia gave a quick glance behind her, before running down a few steps to meet him.
"What..?"
End chapter thirty six