He could hear. People were breathing hard, gasping. He was one of them. Lex opened his eyes.
Buffy was already standing, looking beautiful and uncanny, supernatural against the starry night above, lit from below by the jewel-like lights of the city.
Dawn looked about as dazed as he felt, maybe even more so. "Clark," she stammered. "We left him. Is he?"
"He'll be fine," Buffy said confidently. She looked up. On the eastern edge of the sky, a light trail was just beginning. The alien ship had hit the atmosphere. "I gotta get down there before they do," Buffy muttered. She left the LuthorCorp Tower rooftop at a run.
Lex tore his attention away from the point where he last saw Buffy. She was speeding down to the streets, he knew. The combat would begin soon, and he needed to be there with her. It was his city, after all. His wits were returning, though, and running straight ahead without thinking was not the Luthor way. "That spell you -- we -- did in the ship. Can you do that again?"
Dawn shook her head. "I don't have the power for that one again, especially by myself."
"I could stay, and try to help," Lex offered reluctantly.
Dawn looked thoughtful for a moment, then said, "No. That won't work. I can cast a field of dissolution on all the weapon points in the city by myself, though, and hold it for as long as -- for a long time, anyway. I think that'll do, especially combined with the spells Giles and Willow are casting for us from England. We'd hoped their true-smiting spell would be enough, but I guess maybe it isn't. Mulder already briefed everybody about that back of the neck thing. I just hope they'll all remember."
The approaching ship was getting nearer, brighter, louder. Lex suspected Ground Zero would be City Hall. All the Secret Service preparations that Clark had been complaining about indicated that, and the President was supposed to be staying in the Mayor's Mansion directly adjacent.
Dawn shouted to make herself heard over the invaders' approaching roar. "I'm fine here! Go! She might need backup!"
Lex went.
He stopped briefly in his father's office. LuthorCorp cleaners were very thorough. They'd been in there the moment the Crime Scene tape had come down, and not a trace of Lionel's blood or of vampire dust remained. Lex and Dawn had both left swords there a week ago, stowed on a shelf with decorative objects of historical interest. Luckily, they hadn't looked so out-of-place as to attract the attention of the police. Lex was pleased to see that one of them was gone; Buffy's tendency to rely on improvised weaponry all the time worried the hell out of him.
He grabbed the other sword and headed for the stairs -- the Metropolis electrical system had never had to withstand space invaders before, and Lex wasn't sure it was up to the challenge. Even inside the enclosed brightly-lit LuthorCorp stairwells, Lex could feel the unearthly vibrations the invader made as it came down from the sky. He could only imagine how horrifying it would have been if he'd been one of the 2.7 million of Metropolis's inhabitants who didn't know what was going on.
At floor twenty-one, the quality of the nerve-wracking near-sound changed. Lex thought they must have landed, and he threw himself down the steps even more quickly than before.
At the fourteenth floor, all the lights went out. Lex didn't stop, but he did have to slow down a little. A minute or so later, the yellow battery-powered emergency lights came on.
Lex was still congratulating himself for choosing the stairs over the elevator when he got to the ground floor. He paused for just a moment to quiet his noisy breathing (thankful that the asthma was long gone) and stealthily cracked open the fire door. Working hours had come to an end during the long space battle, and the lobby was deserted. He eased out of the stairwell and slipped cautiously along the wall until he could see through LuthorCorp's huge glass main doors.
The cityscape outside was like a scene from a nightmare.
The visible streets and sidewalks seethed with panicking people. It was hard to make out what exactly was happening, because the only light came from a few sets of headlights from official city vehicles, the occasional fleeing citizen's pocket flashlight, and the distant ruddy flicker of what looked like parts of Union Park set ablaze. Lex surmised that the alien craft's landing might have set some trees and brush on fire.
Suddenly, the tip of his sword began to emit an eerie green glow. Lex knew it must be Dawn's spell, and that it was past time for him to be out there fighting.
He was about to go through the door, when the public-address system and all the monitors at the lobby security station crackled to life. Their bluish light revealed to Lex that he was not, as he'd thought, alone in the lobby. Two young women in LuthorCorp Security uniforms noticed him at the same time he noticed them, but any possible conversation was forestalled by the message that was being broadcast on all screens.
One of the alien demon clones appeared onscreen, sitting at a massive, official-looking desk. Lex thought he recognized it as belonging to the Mayor's office. George W. Bush and several serious-looking men of an older generation stood at the creature's left. Lex recognized the obvious quality of their suits. Bush looked confused.
"People of Earth," the alien began. "Return quietly to your places of residence and await reassignment. Do not delay. We are your masters now. There is no point in struggle."
"What the hell?" Bush exclaimed.
"Quiet, George," a nearby suited man hushed him, and took him by the arm.
The President shook him off. "Look, buddy, I don't know who you think you are, but you can't just --"
The clone soldier smoothly stood and effortlessly backhanded Bush to the ground. He lay with just his feet in view, completely still. Most of the men in suits looked strangely satisfied.
"If you display a proper sense of propriety, humility, and service, you and your descendants may survive, and even prosper, as our slaves. Otherwise, you will be eliminated," the alien continued, flatly.
Oh, that'll go over well in Kansas, Lex thought. He could almost hear ten thousand farmers cocking their deer rifles.
Lex didn't care what else the alien would-be overlord had to say. He stepped to the front door, hefting his glowing green sword.
"Mr. Luthor!" called one of the security guards.
"Lex," he corrected automatically. He'd forgotten all about them. The last thing he wanted was to drag a couple of LuthorCorp drones along with him out into the maelstrom, especially if these were the two who'd been left behind when the security teams had been assembled during the planning stages of the city's (world's) defense. There was one thing he needed done here, though. His eye lit upon the girl's nametag. "Ms. Graves --," he began.
"Mercy," she countered, deadpan.
Lex quirked her a small smile. "Mercy, then. There's a young lady on the roof. Her continued survival is essential for the safety of the world. If she dies, there will be absolutely no point in you and your partner having kept this building free from any possible looters. Please protect her at all costs."
"Gotcha." Mercy jerked her chin towards the stairwell door. "Up you go, Hope. Radio me when you get there."
"Yes'm," the other guard replied, with a mocking little smile. She left at a steady jog, long braid swinging behind her.
"Just one of you?" Lex asked skeptically. "It's no exaggeration to say that Dawn Summers's death could guarantee the alien invasion's success at this point."
"One at a time," Mercy answered him. "The rest of LuthorCorp Security is already out there, on your suddenly-plausible instructions, aiming at the base of the skull of anybody who looks like that guy." She gestured at the TV screen, where the alien was still talking, the President of the United States was still lying motionless on the floor, and the prosperous-looking bureaucrats and businessmen appeared to be kneeling in worship. "At least, they are if they were paying attention during that whacked-out ex-fed's briefing. Hope and I are the only ones still here tonight. If we were both on the stairs and somebody got in down here and found another way up and killed the lady, that'd be bad."
"Good thinking." How'd she end up working for LuthorCorp Security? They usually seemed to make a point of hiring only idiots. "Carry on, then. I have to go..."
Something happened on the screen to draw their attention. The well-dressed gentlemen were standing again, huddled together at one side. The alien looked surprised and less sure of himself than before. Standing over George W. Bush's body, legs planted shoulder-width apart and hands steady (despite the blood and other fluids that spattered his already disreputable suit) Fox Mulder stood, aiming a Glock 9 mm just below the clone's chin.
"You're not going to do this," Mulder said, voice cracking. "You've done too much already."
The alien roared and surged up at him. The gun went off at once. Another alien, identical to the first, rushed in from the side, trampling Bush's body as he came. The first alien fell dead, something disgusting (but apparently non-toxic at this point, thanks to all the magic being thrown around) oozing from the green glowing hole that went in at his throat and came out at the base of his skull.
The collaborators scurried away, clawing at one another and trying to hide behind furniture. The second alien and Mulder grappled for a desperate few seconds before the sickening sound of a human neck snapping was heard loudly over the air.
Mulder fell lifeless from the alien's hands. A split second later, another shot rang out.
The victorious invader whipped around, away from the camera, to face his new attacker. More panic spread among the craven minions, who now didn't seem to know where to hide. There was another shot; the alien jerked and fell. Then the screen flashed brightly with a hot wavery light, and went dead. Only static remained.
Mercy's radio crackled. "Mercy, this is Hope. Come in. Over."
"Mercy here. Over."
"I'm in position. Come on up. Over."
"Roger that. Over and out." She looked at Lex. "Your girl on the roof will be safe, Lex. You be careful out there." She left at a run.
Lex shouldered open a door and headed towards the flames.
It was a good thing she had so much experience fighting in the dark, Buffy thought.
Not that it was actually all that dark out here tonight, what with all the fires and stuff, but a lot of the aliens had these really keen like chameleon outfits on, which made them pretty much invisible.
Riley's merry band of freelance police had some fancy military hardware type scope-sights that they said worked pretty well, and the LuthorCorp Security teams that Lex had volunteered to help out had some even fancier gadgets that they wouldn't talk about at all, so all the normal guys in the thick of the action should be able to see okay.
Buffy wasn't sure what the Angel Investigations crew had for detectors and weapons, but they were all vamps and demons except for Wes and Cordy -- they'd be fine.
Lieutenant Maggie Sawyer, who Buffy liked better than any cop she'd ever met, and her trusted members of the Metro PD were supposed to be dealing with the 'Secret Service' goons at the perimeter of the madness. Clark's dad and his friend Pete (who Dawn said was a good shot and a good man in a fight) were with them. They seemed to be doing a pretty good job.
Buffy hadn't seen any other living humans since she'd slipped through their scrimmage line and into the flame-shot darkness surrounding the City Hall/Mayor's Mansion complex. That was just the way she liked it.
She thought she'd head towards the ship and see who'd made it there to cut off supply and retreat, then maybe slide on over to the City Hallbuildings and see what was up over there. Her part of the actual plan was done -- four ships down. Now she was just out Slaying.
There. That seemed like something. She listened and stepped and whirled, striking, felt the blade bite and dodged the guy's heat-weapon beam which set another tree on fire behind her, stepped and kicked and thrust, and he went down.
She could tell exactly how he lay now, 'cause the blendy-into-the-background thing quit working once they did, and he didn't exactly match up with the ground any more. She ran the green glowy tip of her sword (and that was a very cool effect -- she'd have to remember to tell Dawnie how much she liked it) through the juncture where head met neck (the puff of disintegrated stuff that produced was kind of cool, too, although it smelled awful) and went looking for something else to kill.
'Cause that was what she did.
Stonetree sighted and shot, sighted and shot again -- another alien down for good. The visible ones surely were easier to kill. It had taken him six whole bullets to finish that camouflaged one Fox and he had met up with, right outside the loading dock for the Metropolis Civic Center's Food Court. That was when he'd lost the Yank. Mulder had forged ahead when Joe stopped to reload his old-fashioned revolver, and he'd lost track of him in the government hallways.
Forty years a cop -- a man learned to trust his instincts. He had a long, long family tradition of strange and supernatural experiences to draw upon, too. Joe followed his gut once he got inside the dark building, carefully sticking close to the walls and letting his pistol lead him around the corners. The dim green sparkle of his gun barrel (and that was odd, old magic -- Joe had never felt its like) was the only thing lighting his way.
His instincts led him right again. It wasn't long before he heard someone talking -- a distant steady monologue, like a sermon or a lecture. Suddenly, the droning speech cut off, and Stonetree heard a voice he knew -- Mulder, sounding desperate, too far away to make out the meaning of the words -- and then a gunshot. Stonetree abandoned his cautious advance and broke into a lumbering run.
He burst into the well-lit Mayor's office just in time to see Fox Mulder die. Stonetree aimed and fired, twice, with all deliberate speed, and Mulder's murderer was dead. Guilty-looking well-dressed rats ran for the corners.
There were another couple of dead men on the floor, and one was exactly like the one who had killed Fox; they were those manufactured clones the dead Yank had been talking about. Two more of the same kind, probably guards from the main entrance, came rushing in. They had some sort of alien weapons. Joe dived under a desk (adrenaline makes a man more limber) as one clone opened fire and set half the office ablaze.
Two of the humans in the room weren't as lucky in their hiding places as Stonetree was. Their horrifying screams and frenzied rushing about provided the distraction Joe needed to lean out from cover, aim and fire twice, and kill both aliens. He pulled down the room's last non-flaming wall hanging, tackled one human torch to the ground with it, and rolled him up. The other had fallen and quit twitching by then; the remaining survivors were long-gone, and the room was undeniably going up in flames.
Joe shouldered his groaning burden and got the hell out of there, leaving Mulder's body to burn along with those of his enemies.
He hoped Fox's spirit would forgive him.