Chapter 10
Giles, Xander, and Riley all sat around in the circle, trying to get back their bearings as the remnants of the Enjoining spell wore off.
"Giles," Xander started. "That spell most definitely rated an 11 out 10 on the 'wow-meter'! "
"Yes," murmured Giles as he rubbed the back of his neck. "It definitely has its merits. Saving the world being one of them."
"And I pray to God we never have to do that ever again," muttered Xander.
Giles chuckled. "Well, you can rest assured that the next time another Apocalypse comes around, I will most assuredly find another solution that's not as…disorienting."
"Tell me about it!" said Riley. "My mind is so foggy with everything I saw! Everything is still a jumble. I can't tell what's mine and what's not. I mean…I felt all of you. It was so weird sensing all your thoughts."
Xander gulped. "Uh…all of them?" he said meekly.
Riley looked over at him and winked. "Don't worry, I also have a lot of testosterone flowing in my veins. Though," he frowned a bit, remembering, "probably not as much as you."
Giles' brow began to furrow as he sifted through all the images and memory. "Still, we shouldn't have been able to perform the spell as well as we did." He glanced at Riley. "It's almost as if we had - " His eyes widened as he suddenly remembered.
"Help!" exclaimed Xander, shaking his head. "Oh God, Willow!"
"Spike!" Giles said.
"Buffy!" yelled Riley as he jumped up and ran to a console.
"She was in some kind of warehouse, I think," offered Xander.
Riley nodded. "I know, I remember now, she's in the sub-levels, in or near the underground storage facility." He donned a headset and started punching up consoles, each showing a different area of the facility. "Start looking, she couldn't have gotten far." Three pairs of eyes scanned through the different screens. Finally, Giles pointed to one screen.
"There! There she is!" Riley punched up a larger view and keyed in PA system. "Buffy! Buffy, can you hear me?" On the screen, the running Slayer stopped suddenly, and looked around.
---
"Riley?!" she yelled. She glanced here and there at the booming voice coming from the PA system.
"Buffy," Riley said, "If you can look to your left, you'll see a comm station. Go to it and hit the red button." She ran over, hit the switch, and was rewarded with all three relieved men looking her.
"Are you all right?" Giles asked.
She nodded. "I'm fine…Willow - " she said with a hint of desperation. "She and Spike are in some kind of medical area."
"Med Lab," Riley said, nodding. "Has to be. You're about two levels down from them." He quickly outlined her best route to get to them. "Get going, we'll catch up with you there." He brought up a schematic of the area. "When you get there, wait for us. There should be a service elevator several yards away from you."
"Got it." She turned to leave.
"Buff, wait!" said Xander.
"What?"
Xander leaned closer to the image. "Adam?" he asked.
Buffy smiled, knowing Xander would appreciate this. "Terminated."
"You did it Buffy," Giles said, with a hint of pride.
"We did it, all of us, including Willow," she said softly. She then frowned as she suddenly remembered something. "Except…the way he died."
"What?" asked Riley.
"Adam. Before he croaked, he said something about 'no one winning', or something like that."
Now it was Riley's turn to frown. "What was he doing before?"
"Something…he was typing something on his arm," she said as she glanced over to the now-dead cyborg.
"Can you see what it is?" asked Xander.
"Hold on." Buffy looked around the comm station until she found a headset. She put it on and started to run over to the corpse. Still wary, she looked over at the severed arm and noticed a small LCD display. Turning the arm over, she saw the following:
15:00…14:59…14:58…14:57.
Buffy's eyes widened. "Riley! It's some kind of countdown!"
"What?!"
"It's counting down from 15 minutes!"
"Hang on!" Riley leapt to another console and punched up a readout on a screen. A diagram came up on screen. On it, the telltale countdown showed.
"Aww, shit!" moaned Riley.
"What?!" Giles and Xander said at once. Riley leaned forward and placed his hand to his forehead.
"Adam's activated the self-destruct sequence."
---
Silence ensued for about 5 seconds. Then all hell broke loose.
"A bomb?!"
"With no warning?!"
"Can you shut it off?!" yelled Buffy through the radio.
Riley tried hitting several codes, but the countdown stubbornly kept going. "No! Adam's still got most of the key systems locked down, including Manual Override!"
Xander started sputtering. "What kind of bomb? A nuke? Are you guys nuts?! You'll take out all of campus, not to mention a decent slice of California!"
Riley glared up at him, annoyed. "No, dammit! Not a nuke!" He typed in a command and a large, rotating, 3d model of the entire complex came up on the main screen. Sprinkled here and there, were small glowing red dots, each with a small indicator showing the time remaining.
"When originally built, the entire structure was intentionally weakened in key areas as you can see." He pointed to some of the glowing dots. "On the off-chance of a monumental foul-up like this, explosive bolts were added to these areas. When set off, the entire structure collapses in on itself, destroying everything."
"What about aboveground? Won't the surrounding area cave in with everything else?" asked Xander.
Riley shook his head. "No, everything just below is structurally reinforced."
"What happens then?" Giles asked, horrified.
Riley chuckled humorlessly. "Then Uncle Sam comes in and pours enough concrete to seal everything up. Simple. Buffy did you hear?"
"Yes," she answered. "We're going to cut it close. Head down here, ASAP. I'll get Willow and Spike and meet you at the service elevator." Riley looked uncomfortable for a second before he spoke.
"Buffy, Willow's…" he looked down and then looked right into her eyes, shaking his head. "You saw what I saw, she may not…" Buffy cut him off.
"I don't care! I have to see for myself." All three men could see the resolve face that the Slayer had on. All could also see, though none were going to admit, the crack that was visible underneath.
Riley sighed. "Ok, let me give you those directions again." As he relayed the directions, Giles frowned and slowly glanced over at the main hatch. Still sporting dimples here and there from repeated poundings, it now stood silent. Xander, noticing the Watcher, walked over and also looked at the door.
"Giles? What's wrong?"
"The door," he said, nodding to it. "It hasn't been pounded on for a while."
"Well, Giles, that's because…"
CREAK!
Both Giles and Xander looked at each other and slowly looked up at the ceiling.
"Oh…shit," whispered Xander.
The entire ceiling collapsed above their heads as dark, hissing shapes landed all around them.
---
From her station, Buffy's heart leapt when she saw something dark land on Riley and pull him away.
"Riley?! Riley!!" she screamed. She stood there helpless as all she see from the screen, was nothing but darkness. The audio pickup, though, gave a running commentary:
"Giles, look out!!"
"Where are you!?!"
"Behind you!!"
"Xander get down!!"
Buffy bit her lip as the staccato of automatic rifle fire filled the speaker. She came close to running off to find them when Riley filled the screen again. A vicious gash could be seen running down his face.
"Buffy, you've got 12 minutes! GO!!" Something off screen pulled him away, and at the last second the screen went to noise.
With a strangled cry, she ran off.
---
With a grunt, Giles jammed a stake into a rushing vampire. Even before the dust settled a snarling werewolf, whose drooling jaws snapped at his neck, tackled him. At the last second he jammed the stake inside the mouth and tried to force it back. With it's claws freed, it started to rake across Giles' chest. Gritting his teeth, Giles started to get dizzy from the pain. Just as the jaws started to bite down, Xander came up, slapped the demon away with the butt of his rifle, and sent a short burst into its chest. Still shooting from the hip he grabbed Giles and pulled him up.
"You all right?" he screamed. Giles nodded mutely, trying to stop the bleeding from the gashes to his chest. To his right, he could see Riley laying down fire as he ran up to them.
"This way! C'mon!" He grabbed one of Giles' arms and helped Xander carry him to a corner of the room. Both fired intermittently as they came up to a small side office. Riley punched in a code and the door swung open. As they started to drag Giles in, Xander looked over and noticed the still open munitions closet. From behind he could make out the demons getting closer.
"Hold on!" he shouted, as he ran to the closet. He quickly looked around and found what he was looking for: a bandolier of grenades. With a grim smile he ran back and helped Riley with Giles. Once in, Xander closed the door halfway, and then took out the grenades. Seeing them, Riley's eyes widened.
"What the hell are you going to do with those?!" Riley demanded.
Xander just winked at him as he pulled a pin to one of the grenades. "Fire in the hole!!" he yelled, as he threw the whole lot out the door and slammed it shut. Just as he did so, the assorted demons started to pound on it. On the second pound, a massive explosion ripped through the entire section, taking the door almost off its hinges, and throwing Xander down to the floor.
As the dust settle Xander and Riley got up. "That'll hold them off for a little while," said Riley. Xander nodded and looked to Giles.
"Can you walk?" he asked.
"No…" Giles said through clenched teeth.
"Can you crawl?" asked Riley.
"I can bloody well do that," he said. "Why?" Riley came up to a grille and pulled it off. He took out a flashlight and lit up an airshaft.
"These ducts should lead us right near the medical area. It'll be faster even." His head came up as he started to make out growls and hissed from the other side of the blown door.
"Follow me." He said as he threw himself into the shaft. Giles went next. Xander looked from the door to the duct entrance, shaking his head.
"Lay on, McNewt," he muttered, as he threw himself into the darkness.
---
Buffy swore as she came to a dead end. Hysterically, she started to look around for a landmark to get her bearings. The directions Riley gave were correct, but with the power off in whole sections, as well as debris everywhere, it made finding her way hard. It didn't help that she had to waste precious minutes fighting off demons that got in her way. She stopped suddenly as a small readout caught her attention:
'Attention! Self-destruct in 6 minutes!'
She finally caught sight if a sign that pointed to the medical area being two more levels up.
She ran.
---
After many twists and turns, the three men came to an intersection and paused in the darkness. Riley lit his flashlight on all directions.
"Which way?" asked Xander.
"This way, we're almost there." Riley said as he gestured with his flashlight.
---
Buffy grimly noted that she was close to the medlab. As she got closer, the devastation was getting worse. She turned a corner that led to the main entrance and was about to enter when a small moaning sound made her stop. The sound seemed to come from the ceiling. Her eyes widened and she threw herself to the ground as the entire ceiling collapsed, sealing off the main entrance. Coughing, she got up and looked around. She noticed a large observation window that led to an area she couldn't quite make out. As she got closer, she noticed the body of what looked like a doctor or scientist slumped to the ground. Even without her heightened senses, she could tell he was dead just from the odd angle his head was at.
Stepping up to the window, she gazed into it, and gasped.
What once looked like an operating theater, now looked like a slice of hell. Equipment smashed. Bodies of various demons were ripped apart and strewn everywhere. What lighting there was, sparked and cracked here and there. Her gaze continued to follow the devastation until she came to a corner of the room that seemed a little removed from the wreckage. In that corner, she could make out a table that seemed to have a body covered with something. She sucked in her breath as she made out that the covering was.
Spike's duster.
Buffy's fists clenched in fear at who had to be underneath.
NoLooking down at the floor, she noticed a figure huddled near the table where Willow lay. A hand lay on the duster, clutching the dead hand of Willow's. A glimpse of frosted blonde hair was enough for her to recognize who it was. She looked around and found an intercom switch.
"Spike?" she called out in a strained voice.
Very slowly, the vampire got up, and turned to face her. Buffy bit her lip as she saw that most of his upper body was crisscrossed with vicious gashes. One eye was swollen shut as he stumbled toward her. He leaned on the observation window and with his one good eye, looked up at the Slayer. He stood there for seconds before he spoke up.
"I tried, Summers…tried so hard to save her…but I was too late," he whispered hoarsely. "She had to help you all." He closed his eyes briefly from he exhaustion. "Did…did you get the bastard?" he asked as he opened his eyes.
Buffy, tears running unabashedly, nodded. "Spike," she said, "we have to get you out."
Spike just shook his head. "That was the only way, and I don't have much time." He said as he nodded weakly at the closed off area. "Besides, even if I could," he glanced back at Willow, "I'm not leaving her."
"Why?" Buffy asked. Spike turned back and looked her straight in the eye.
"Because I loved her."
---
A ventilation shaft grille exploded outward and Riley, Giles, and Xander crawled out. Carrying Giles, they walked up to the freight elevator and hit the button. A low whine echoed from the closed doors as the elevator started to descend the many levels
"This'll take us straight up to the surface," said Riley.
"How…much time?" asked Giles, trying to stay conscious. Riley looked at his watch.
"We're down to a minute! I'm going to get Buffy. If the bombs start going off, you have to be already on your way."
"But - " started Xander.
"Do it!" Riley yelled from behind his shoulder as he took off.
---
"Out of the whole bloody lot of you," Spike said. "She was the only one who even showed some kindness." He still gazed at Willow's body before looking back. "Not that I was looking, but she tried. I guess somewhere along the way…" his voice trailed off.
Buffy started to say something when her eye caught something through a gaping hole in the ceiling. He jaw dropped as she could make out a small readout from an explosive bolt right above their heads.
'Attention! Self-destruct in 20 seconds!'
Spike, following her gaze, looked up and then looked back down. Swallowing, he closed his eyes.
"Get out of here, Summers, you don't have much time either."
With a crazed look in her eye, she started to shake her head. A hand grabbed her shoulder from behind. She whirled and faced a desperate Riley.
15 seconds.
"Buffy, we have to go now!" he yelled.
She glanced back at Spike, who placed a single, bloody palm to the glass. Buffy matched it with her own and.
He chuckled weakly. "So long, Slayer. It would've been nice killing you." With that he turned back, and knelt in front of Willow's body.
Riley looked from Spike to Buffy and started to pull her away.
"Buffy…NOW!!" he screamed. With a sob, Buffy ran with Riley.
3..2…
As they rounded the corner, a thunderous explosion from behind picked both up and threw them to the nearest wall like rag dolls. A shrill screeching coupled with the moaning of steel echoed throughout the whole complex, as structures, unable to withstand the loads forced on them, began to squeal and bend.
Buffy, the first to recover, grabbed Riley and dragged him away just as debris and girders began to fall all round them. She stopped, trying to find the elevator. She started to pick a direction, when she heard Xander behind her.
"Buffy!" he ran towards them and helping Riley, dragged him towards the elevator. The ground beneath them started to rumble as walls and structures started to collapse all around them.
"I told you to leave!!" screamed Riley as he got his footing. Xander just smiled.
"I'm a civilian, remember? You can't order me!"
They reached the elevator and literally threw themselves in just as more debris started falling around them. Riley punched the button and all slid to the ground as the doors closed behind them. All were breathing heavy as they began to move up. Xander started to speak, stopped, then looked around.
"Wait! Buff…where's Willow…Spike?"
Buffy just sat there for a few moments. Then, her lip trembling, she rapidly started blinking. The whole ordeal and loss all came to her, as she started to cry. She placed her face in her hands as she sobbed loudly. A hand gently grabbed her shoulder. Knowing it was Giles; she moved over and buried her face in his shoulder, nearly hysterical in her grief. Xander, for his part, shook his head as the tears started as well. He came over hugged the grieving slayer and watcher. Riley sat there for a second, until he slowly came over and joined the group.
They all sat there, clutching each other, surrounded by destruction, as the elevator moved inexorably upwards.
(Continued)