Chapter 9
"Fascinating."
From a distance Adam could see the Slayer wade through his elite. Every attack was met with a fierce counterattack. He had calculated all the possible eventualities, but not this sudden transformation of the Slayer. As much as he did not want to admit it, failure of his plans could very well be a possibility. Still, there was time to come up with contingency plans while the girl went through all his fodder. A touch near his wrist revealed a small panel that allowed him access directly to the main computer of the complex. He'd been able to hack into the main systems in the beginning to turn off the main power, but for what he was planning now demanded that he break through several highly encrypted security codes. He glanced up, and calculated that several minutes would be all that he'd need.
---
Buffy ducked as a snarling vampire tried to pound her face with a roundhouse punch. Her fist came up and smashed into his jaw, stunning him. She quickly jumped up, grabbed him in a headlock, and with the barest of flicks, snapped its neck. Before the dust settled, a Morah demon jumped from high up, it's sword flashing. Pivoting at the last minute, she positioned herself right next to the demon as its sword clanged on the floor. Surprised, the demon just looked at the Slayer. Grinning, she reached out, grabbed its head, and smashed hers into the jewel set into its forehead. Crimson energy lanced out of the cracked jewel and enveloped the screaming demon as it began to disintegrate. Dying, it let go of its sword, which, before dropping to the ground, was picked up by Buffy, who slashed off the head off another demon. Two tentacles flew out from behind some boxes and wrapped themselves around the Slayer's neck, pulling her back. Without a backward glance, she placed two fingers on one tentacle and muttered a single word. A trail of blazing fire raced along the appendage towards the boxes. With a hissing scream, both tentacles dropped and began to pull back. From behind the boxes the screaming suddenly stopped as the whole side burst into flames and exploded.
"Crush now!"
Two Fyarl demons bore down on the Slayer. She stood there till the last moment, when she flipped over them, their momentum causing them to crash into some containers. As she stood some distance away, waiting, her eyes widened suddenly and she dropped to the floor as something swished by her head.
Thunk!
Standing up quickly she noticed a familiar spike embedded in a container. Snapping her head, she finally caught site of the demon responsible. Basically humanoid, this demon was covered from head to toe with spines. He pointed at the Slayer; a spike quivered on his arm and flew out towards Buffy. With a flick of her wrist, she deflected it with her sword. Two more flew out, and again she was able to parry them away. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the Fyarl demons picking themselves up and started looking for her. She dropped her sword and spread her arms out, a willing target.
"Try again! Try harder!" she taunted at Spiny. With a growl, he brought both arms up, pointed at the Slayer. 6 spikes quivered and flew out, aimed right at her heart. Her hand came out and all six suddenly stopped, a mere foot away from her.
The Fyarl, finally seeing the slayer, began to charge towards her.
Buffy waved her hand and all 6 spikes transformed to silver. As she glanced at the incoming demons, two spikes suddenly turned, streaked out, and stuck fast into the hearts of each beast. Both stopped, looked stupidly at the silver projectile lodged in their hearts, and fell upon each other.
She glanced back at Spiny, who stood there gaping at her. It snapped out of it and began to bring up its arms again.
"Uh-huh!" she said "My turn!" The last four flew out and slammed into the creature's chest, causing it to crumple to the ground. She walked away and grabbed her sword. On the far corner of the room she noticed Adam, alone, and doing something with his arm. She walked towards him.
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Spike was exhausted.
He had taken out all the demons under Tom, but at the cost of almost his own life. Claw and bite marks peppered his torso as blood seeped out. Dizzy from the loss, he was barely able to hang on as Tom grabbed him and threw him against a wall. He fell with a thud and lay there. Tom walked up and was about to grab him again, when Spikes leg snapped out and connected with his groin. While he keeled over, Spike noticed the rifle the doctor had. Hauling himself, he grabbed it and pointed it at Tom. Growling, Tom turned and stalked towards him, then stopped. Smirking, Spike pulled the trigger.
Click! The magazine fell out and clattered on the floor.
Empty.
"Fuck!!" muttered Spike as he damned the doctor for his not being prepared. With a laugh, Tom punched Spike clear across the room. He smashed into the edge of Willow's bed with a grunt. Crumpling to a heap, he grabbed the side and pulled himself up. Blacking out for a second, he lost his footing and slipped back to the ground, jostling the bed. As he lay there, a pale arm fell from under his duster and came right across his face. He stopped suddenly at what he saw in the hand.
A stake.
As he gazed at it, he heard a small voice in his head, just above a whisper.
"You wanna live forever?"
Emboldened, he grabbed at the stake and brought it up, just as Tom leapt up and fell on top of him. Tom, eyes widening in surprised anger, looked from his chest to Spike.
"Go to hell, Spike," he spat.
"You first," said Spike as Tom exploded around him in a cloud of dust. Spike heaved a sigh as darkness claimed him.
---
Adam, glancing up, realized that time was up.
It will have to do he thought, as he touched a single contact and closed the port. The other hand transformed into the minigun/grenade launcher. He aimed it at the Slayer and let loose with a flurry of bullets. Buffy held up her hand again and the bullets simply evaporated several feet in front of her. With another wave of her hand, the arm transformed back. Flying across the distance between them in less than a second, she slashed down at Adam with the sword. Adam glanced in disbelief as his arm slowly detached and fell to the ground.
"How…is this possible?" he asked, incredulously.
Buffy dropped the sword and grabbed Adam by the throat pushing him to a wall. In four voices she spoke:
"You do not understand our power. You will never understand." She drew back her free arm and plunged it into Adam's chest. Grunting, all he could do was stand there as she shoved her arm farther into his chest. Find what she was looking for, she yanked out. A small green, glowing vessel sat in her hand. Surprised, Adam slumped to the ground. Buffy chanted some words as the uranium core slowly began to float away. Surrounded by mystical energy, it imploded in on itself in a burst of light. Buffy glanced at the dying cyborg, which began to twitch here and there.
"It's over," she said. Adam just looked up at her.
"You…think it is…over, but it is…not." He said as his eyes began to twitch. "Today…no one…wins." He glanced once more at his arm, it's readout flashing. With his last strength, he chuckled, and before his eyes dimmed forever, said:
"Helter…Skelter."
The Slayer cocked her head at the corpse, as the golden glow faded from her eyes. Disoriented, Buffy grabbed her forehead and steadied herself. The merging had been dizzying since she could feel the life force as well as the thoughts of the rest. It took her a moment to sort through the thoughts of Giles, Xander, and Riley.
Good 'ole Giles, always coming through in the clutch!
She began massaging her temples then frowned as a particular set of memories, from two perspectives, came to the forefront: An enraged Spike, a kiss, a dying Willow. Buffy gasped.
"Willow!!" she screamed, as she broke into a run.
(Continued)