Matt:
Angel's in trouble, I have to get there before it's too late. There he is, and Jericho's right behind him. They're moving fast, dodging and weaving between the fighters and the flying weapons, vaulting over fires.
"Angel!" I call out, as loud as I can, hoping that he can hear me over the noise. They both stop in their tracks and look over at me. I'm pretty sure that normal humans would have been unable to hear me, but of course neither of them is a normal human.
I catch up to them, waving my axe threateningly towards Jericho.
"Angel, get away from him." He looks at me, confused for a moment. Then he looks at Jericho, who looks back at him and shrugs. Then he looks at me again.
"Why?"
"He's lying to us. He doesn't want to be on our side, he's just using it as a cover so he can turn you."
"And where did you hear that?" Well…
"Gene told me."
"When?" asks Jericho.
"Just a second ago. I cornered him in the hall."
"And when he told you this, what did you do with him?"
"I… uh…" Damn. I sigh. "I let him go. Argh, he tricked me!"
"He does that," agrees Jericho. "But he'll probably have been heading to the summit. Which way was he going?"
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Buffy:
Fires are springing up all over the building, spreading like… well, like wildfire. Nobody seems to notice, not even the sprinkler system that I noticed last time I was here. I guess it doesn't really work. Then again, it may not even be a sprinkler system. I suppose some things must be different after a thousand years, give or take.
I've been separated from everyone, but that's okay, because I think I know where I'm going. I vault over the duellists on the stairs and land running. My bet is that the summit is on the top floor. The big meeting is always on the top floor. So I hit the main stairwell and just keep running. It's taking a while, and due to the battle it's requiring a huge amount of acrobatics. Still, I'm making progress. There are less patches of flame up here, and the sounds of carnage are no longer deafening. Then again, maybe I've just gone deaf.
I hope the others are doing okay as well.
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Matt:
"You sure he came from down there?" asks Angel when I point out where I confronted Gene just a short while ago.
"Yeah, why?"
"Because there's a stairway down there. Wherever he was going, it was on this floor." He points in the other direction. "And he was going this way?"
"I think so."
Jericho draws his twin swords – short but, as I've seen first hand, highly effective. "Guess we're going that way too," he says and walks off, following Gene's tracks.
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Buffy:
I didn't think the building was this tall. I haven't reached the top floor yet. Then again, I can't actually see the top floor when I look up. Nor can I see the ground if I look down. And there aren't any doors. Damn. It's no wonder there weren't any lawyers on the stairs; they must have known this was going to happen.
They've sealed off the stairs, and I'm trapped.
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Angel:
We're trying to work out where Gene went, pushing away through the flaming debris and combatants. I can smell him, but he's been all over this building, so that's no real help. Suddenly, something grabs my attention.
There's a door on my left, and I could swear…
"Did anyone else hear that?" Matt and Jason look at me blankly.
"Hear what?"
I walk over to the door. The handle doesn't work. Locked.
I step back, take a deep breath, and kick.
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Buffy:
There's a crash, and just ahead of me a door flies open. Which is odd, because a second ago there was no door there. And now there always has been. I don't know who it is, and frankly it doesn't matter. I rush to the opening and look at the figure silhouetted in the doorframe.
And then I smile, because I know this person will keep me safe.
------------------------------
Gene:
I managed to get rid of Matt for a while. I half-wish that he'd kill that traitor Jericho, but I'm smart enough to realise that they'll both be right behind me.
I ran to the meeting room, and now I'm trying to tell the bosses what's going on, and forming a plan to get us all out of here. There are people here from all over the globe. Most of them are humans, some aren't. That British man sitting in the corner gives me the creeps.
Damn, for the most influential people in the world they move slowly.
There's a crash and the doors break open. One even falls off its hinges. Angel is standing in the door, flanked by Matt on one side and Jericho on the other.
I'm dead.