Chapter Fifteen
"I thought you guys had learned your lesson last time," Max jibed, grinning malevolently. "You know, that time when I blasted your asses through glass, walls, and windows.
"Guess we couldn't stay away," Spike retorted. Max turned her head to look at him and her smile softened.
"Dear William...How are you, lover? Sure all your boo boos are mended? 'Cause Mommy could kiss 'em and make 'em better..." Spike's jaw tightened and he seemed about to launch himself at her when Alec swiftly grabbed his arm, restraining him. Max pretended to fan herself in fright. "Dear, dear. What is the world coming to when your self-proclaimed soul mate attempts to attack you for a simple tease like that?"
"Depends. Do your teases usually make you sound like a complete bitch?" Buffy snapped. Max opened her mouth to retort but Illyria interrupted her.
"We do not have time for this. We must reach my temple." Max rolled her eyes.
"Relax Big Blue. There's always time for maiming former friends." She glanced briefly between Spike and Alec and smiled coyly. "And lovers." Spike let out a low growl and tightened his grip on his sword. Alec's hazel eyes flashed in anger.
"Don't even think about trying mind games," he spat. Max just grinned.
"Uh...Guys? Maybe you should take a second look at the headlines...Cause you can't win this," Knox stated.
"Maybe not," Wesley replied. "But I believe we're all willing to die trying." Illyria cocked her head to the side as she studied him.
"Why?" Wesley didn't reply.
"How 'bout the fact that you're walking around looking like the woman you murdered," Angel bit out. "And this army you're trying to raise? Innocent people will die. Like Fred. We won't let that happen."
"It is your duty to protect these creatures?" Illyria questioned. "Fight for their lives?"
"Yes." Illyria and Max looked over at Knox at the same time.
"Even this one?"
Knox fidgeted nervously. "I-Is that an issue? Am I in danger, boss?" he spoke to Illyria but kept his worried gaze on Max.
"You're scum, Knox," Angel replied. "I'd like nothing better than to bash your head in for what you did to Fred. But you're still a part of humanity. And that's a hell of a lot better than your leather buddy over there. So between you three, yes, I would fight for Knox's life, just like any other..." A loud gunshot echoed throughout the room. Knox looked down at his chest and saw that he was bleeding from a shot to his heart. Everyone turned to look at Wesley, who held the smoking gun, as Knox collapsed. Dead. "Okay...Scratch what I said there. He deserved to die."
Illyria and Max looked down at Knox's body. Max simply continued grinning while Illyria fixed Wesley with an angry stare.
"You destroyed my Qwa'ha Xahn," she growled.
"I don't know what that is...but he definitely had it coming," Faith replied.
"It offends me that you think he matters."
"Oh please. We know he doesn't. You two are the ones we came to fight. Dead Knox is just a bonus," Kennedy retorted.
"You wanna fight?" Max asked rhetorically. "Then what're you waiting for?"
Wesley and Kennedy immediately flanked over to Willow, as if wanting to protect her. She held her arms at her sides and began to chant under her breath. Angel swung his sword at Illyria's front while Buffy did the same thing from her back. Illyria swiftly ducked and their swords clashed against each other. Still crouching, Illyria took advantage of their surprise and thrust her fists into their sides. They staggered away. Illyria followed after them, backhanding Angel across the face and kicking out at Buffy's arm, forcing her to release her sword. Buffy dropped to the ground and attempted to sweep Illyria's feet out from under her. Illyria jumped to the side and received a hard right hook to the face from Krit.
Illyria didn't let her surprise show as she retaliated with a drop kick to his chest. He fell backwards but Illyria was immediately distracted by Angel swinging his sword at her head. She ducked, grabbed his arm, and brought him down towards her knee. As Angel's head snapped back, a biting pain made Illyria cry out. She looked down and saw blood running down her arm from a deep gash. She looked back up just in time to dodge Buffy's continuing attack. Without pausing, Buffy made several more slashing attempts, but Illyria dodged them all before kicking her away.
Buffy collided in midair with Faith, who had just been sent flying by Max. As the two women helped each other up, they took a brief moment to examine the situation before diving back in. Jondy was going hand to hand with Max as Spike made several attempts to injure her with his sword. Jondy kicked out at Max's knee, but Max swiftly blocked it by raising her leg before delivering an elbow to Jondy's face.
As Jondy reeled back, Max spun around and grabbed Spike's arm, the one holding the sword, and brought him in for a headbutt. She quickly followed with a knee to his stomach and then kicked him to the side.
Max got back into a fighting stance as she awaited the next attack. But neither Jondy, Spike, or Faith delivered. Instead they suddenly jumped to the side. Before Max could figure out what they were doing, she was hit in the back by a ball of white energy and catapulted forward. Not wanting to crash into the wall, Max turned her fall into a somersault and righted herself just inches in front of it. She whipped around just as Spike brought his sword down. Having nothing else to defend herself, Max gripped the edge with her bare hands.
As she felt the steel begin to bite into her skin, she couldn't help but laugh at Spike's astonished face. Then she felt blood start to trickle down her arm and she tightened her grip before wrenching it out of Spike's grasp. He quickly retaliated by punching her in the face. As Max felt her now split open lip, she smiled. Not liking her reaction, Spike dropped to the ground and attempted to sweep her feet out from under her. But Max quickly flipped over him and then kicked out, striking Spike in the back and sending him flying into the wall, knocking him unconscious.
When Max turned around, she found herself facing Kennedy, Wesley, and Willow. She rolled her eyes.
"Do you think you could save me some time and ram your own head repeatedly into a wall?" Before they could respond, in the blink of an eye Max had punched Wesley and drop kicked Willow, causing them both to stagger backwards and collide with Krit, who was fighting Illyria. Kennedy cocked an eyebrow at her.
"I thought you wanted us to beat up ourselves?" Max shrugged with another psychotic grin on her face.
"What can I say? I realized I would take great pleasure in knowing your skull was smashed in on account of me. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, ya know?"
Kennedy scoffed but didn't respond as she attempted a roundhouse kick to Max's face. Max grabbed her foot and flipped her over. But Kennedy landed back on her feet and let loose with a few punches. Max blocked all of them before getting in her own punch to Kennedy's face. As her head snapped back, Max swiftly followed with a double kick and then grabbed her arm. Before Kennedy could react, Max twisted it painfully backward and then brought her elbow down hard. Kennedy cried out in pain as her bone audibly cracked. Max dropped her arm and grabbed hold of her neck and then repeatedly banged her head against the wall.
"Now we're having fun," Max stated happily before she carelessly shoved the unconscious Kennedy away and then turned to fight more with Jondy.
Meanwhile, Willow and Wesley had turned their attention to the fight between Illyria and Krit.
Illyria had Krit's arm twisted behind his back, and seemed about to snap it in half when she was hit on the head by the hilt of Alec's sword. Illyria dropped Krit in her surprise and attempted to lash out at Alec, but she was suddenly kicked to the side by Faith. When she looked back up, she only saw a flash of white light before she was hurtled backward. She crashed into a wall with a loud smack, but she didn't appear very injured. Only pissed off.
"This is pointless. You cannot destroy me with your simple hat tricks. It is time for my army to slaughter you," she growled. She walked briskly back to where Knox lay dead and brought her hands up in front of her face. Before she could open the gateway, Faith tackled her to the ground. It took a few moments of punches, knee jabs, and eye poking before Illyria managed to get free. Wesley, who had his gun at the ready, quickly got a shot off.
It only grazed Illyria's forearm and then she kicked Knox's body at him, knocking him to the ground. Before Illyria could attempt to open the gateway again, she was hit by another of Willow's 'hat tricks'.
After receiving a hard punch to the gut from Jondy, Max angrily grabbed hold of her by the hair and sent her flying across the room. Not having time to gloat, Max warded off Buffy, who succeeded in giving Max a few cuts with her sword before Max tossed her across the room as well. Buffy collided with Angel and they both crashed into a wall, creating a few more cracks in it.
When Max turned back around, she found herself facing Alec. His face was grimly blank, which only caused Max to smirk. She opened her mouth to taunt him but then caught a glimpse of Illyria kicking Willow like a soccer ball across the room and then start to raise her hands.
"Sorry hun, but the need to raise an army is just a notch more important than beating the crap out of you. Maybe later?" Max asked, but didn't wait for him to answer as she waved her hand, putting everyone but her and Illyria in slow motion. Intent on reaching the spot where Illyria would create the portal, Max didn't notice that Spike was no longer in an unconscious slump by the back wall.
In the blink of an eye, Alec was suddenly in front of her again.
"What's the rush, Maxie?" he asked sweetly. Caught off guard, Max didn't react quick enough to block theblow that Alec landed on her face, sending her across the room.
"H-How...?" Max asked in a stunned voice as she slowly eased herself back up into a standing position. Alec grinned and held up the crystal he had been holding in his fist.
"It's from that sarcophagus that gave you those nifty new powers of yours. It's connected to you, and now I'm connected to it," Alec replied. He tossed it into the air and caught it in his other hand. "Kind of an ugly crystal though, don't ya think?"
"It's perfect for you then," Max spat. Alec laughed in response. But it was cut short when Illyria succeeded in opening the portal. Without turning to make sure Max followed her, she dashed into it. Max made a move to follow at the same time Wesley dived in after Illyria. Alec brought the hilt of his sword down on Max's back, stopping her progress just as the portal closed.
Regaining her balance, Max let out an infuriated yell of rage as she whirled around and backhanded Alec in the face. He staggered backward as his lip split open. He gently touched his fingers to it and smirked.
"Your temper didn't change," he stated lightly. "Without loveable ol' me, I wonder how you managed to vent your anger. Tell me, did you substitute Illyria and Knox's heads for mine?" Not waiting for Max's response, he added, "Bet they didn't like that. Made you miss me, huh?"
"I wouldn't miss you if you were dead," Max snapped angrily as they began to circle each other. Alec inhaled sharply.
"Now Maxie, don't say things you know you'll regret later," he replied, wagging his finger at her.
"Stop. Calling. Me. That!" Max shouted as she kicked out at him. Easily getting over the hit to his gut, Alec's grin widened.
"Why not, Maxie? It's the nickname your big bro gave you." Much to the amazement of the others watching this exchange, Max visibly tensed. "Yeah. You remember him, don't you? Well, you should. After all, you're the one who killed him." Max's eyes blazed and her whole body seemed to almost shake with anger. "Plus, hey. Didn't he look exactly like me?"
"Leave Ben out of this," Max growled dangerously. Alec continued to smile.
"Or what? You'll snap my neck?"
"You think I won't?"
"Well, it shouldn't be too hard, I imagine. You can just pretend you're back in that forest. With Manticore closing in. The fight with you and Ben escalating. You break his leg and he stumbles. Then you hold his head in your lap."
"Shut up," Max ordered, her voice soft and even.
"Crying 'cause you were too damn lazy to carry one single transgenic to safety."
"Shut up."
"Too worried about saving your own ass."
"Shut up!"
"But death is easier right?"
"SHUT UP!" Max shrieked as she lashed out at Alec in a flurry of fists and legs. When he was finally able to stop her beating, Alec continued his taunting.
"Well if Ben's such a sore spot for you...why don't we talk about Zack?" Max's jaw tightened and she clenched her fists. "But what's so interesting about him? Well, he used to be a phenomenal fighter. A real golden boy. But because of you he became a farming trucker boy, right? If that ain't a riches to rags story, I don't know what is."
"Whatever you're trying to do...it's not working," Max ground out. Alec laughed.
"Sweetie, Maxie. It already is," he retorted. Instead of responding vocally, Max yet again attacked him physically. Their movements were only a blur to the others.
"Is it really working?" Faith asked in a hushed tone to Willow, who only nodded since Alec and Max had stopped fighting again. And surprisingly, Max was just as beaten up as Alec.
"Ya know another sibling whose death was your fault? Eva," Alec stated breathlessly. Max made to attack him again, but Alec suddenly whipped out a gun from the back of his waistband. He trained it square on the spot between Max's eyes. "She died from a gunshot, right? Does this one look familiar to you?" Max visibly swallowed as she stared straight into the barrel of the gun.
"Yes," she said, her voice sounding considerably smaller. This time, Alec didn't smile.
"It should," he said coldly. "It's the same type. If I shot you right now, it'd leave the exact same mark as the one Eva got from Lydecker's gun." Max wasn't the only one to stiffen at these words. Jondy and Krit were visibly affected as well.
Alec took a step backward and then slowly moved the gun left to right, but kept it aimed at Max's head. Max warily followed its every move.
"So I guess along with everything else about you that didn't change, your fear of guns was included in that little package, huh?"
Max's eyes suddenly snapped away from the gun and locked onto Alec's.
"Screw you," she growled. She lunged for him but Alec swiftly kicked her away. When she looked back up at him in shock, Alec had lowered the gun and was hurriedly walking backwards.
"NOW!" he shouted to someone off to the side. Max turned to see who he was talking to and caught a glimpse of Spike holding some sort of large metallic weapon before a beam of light shot from it and struck her in the chest. She closed her eyes against the brightness as she felt a strange sensation. As if something was being taken from her, but she was too worn out to fight it. As quickly as it had started, it stopped.
Max collapsed to the ground, convulsing. She kept her eyes shut tight against the pain and she suddenly felt someone slip their arm under her shoulders. Then everything went black.
"So how are we supposed to know if it worked?"
"We wait til she wakes up."
"I think the fact that the blue streaks are gone from her hair is a pretty good sign."
"The only other body part of hers that was blue were her eyes, right?"
"God, I hope so."
Something that sounded along the lines of a head beingsmacked reached Max's ears. She tried to open her eyes but her eyelids felt like mini boulders had been lain on top of them.
"Hey...I think her eyes just twitched."
"Twitched? As in what everyone's eyes do when they're sleeping or just plain have 'em closed?"
"Well...They just seemed to have more of a...purpose."
"Right. Cause most moving eyes are just lost on the road to the Meaning of Life."
"Spike, leave her alone." Spike made a harrumphing noise but didn't reply. A few beats of silence stretched on and Max tried again to open her eyes, to no avail. She figured maybe she could at least talk to them and attempted to open her mouth. She succeeded but then realized her mouth was too dry to speak. She tried anyways and almost winced at theweird noise that came out of her mouth.
"Hey...did you guys hear croaking?"
"Oh god...there aren't any frogs in here are there?"
"I doubt it, Willow. Unless Angel's hired some frog demons."
Realizing they could hear her, Max attempted to speak again. Her voice was slightly clearer and she heard something that sounded like a chair toppling over. Then she felt someone grasp her hand. It was cold to the touch.
"Max?"
"S-Sp-Spike..." Max felt like gritting her teeth in irritation at not being able to speak right and immediately regretted it after it sent a painful reaction to her head.
"Sh-she's awake!" The sound of more chairs toppling over reached her ears. And then someone grabbed her other hand. It was a whole lot warmer than Spike's.
"Maxie?" It was Alec. "Can you hear me?"
"N-Need...water..." Max croaked in response.
"Why isn't she opening her eyes? That metallic thingy didn't fry 'em did it?"
"Be quiet, Dawn."
"It's a reasonable question, Buffy. You don't need to..." Dawn trailed off as Max, not liking the idea of her eyes being fried, opened her eyes a fraction of an inch. It took a hell of a lot of will power.
"Did she say something about water?"
"Yeah, I think so. Dawn, go get her some." Max heard footsteps fade away and saw a blurry outline of Dawn leaving.
"W-what...happened...?" Max rasped.
"You mean...You don't remember?" Faith asked.
A flash of Spike crashing through a wall appeared in Max's mind. It was quickly followed by more flashes, one after the other, of Illyria, her and Illyria killing innocent people, being hit by Willow's magic, creating her own blue wall of energy that sent everyone flying, killing Harmony, beating up Spike, Faith, Jondy, Krit, and the rest, and finally of Alec pointing a gun at her, taunting her by using the memory of three of her siblings.
Max made a whimpering noise, shut her eyes, and began to squirm in her bed. Her first instinct was to tell herself it was just a dream, but she already knew the truth.
"Okay, I think she remembers," Krit stated. Tears began to fall through Max's closed eyes. She tightened her grip on Alec and Spike's hands before more flashes of herself hurting them entered her mind. She wrenched her hands away and covered her face.
"Max...?" Spike's voice was soft and Max felt like someone had just struck a hot poker in her heart.
How can he be so concerned about me after what I did to him? Oh God...
Max curled into a ball, taking the searing pain it sent throughout her body, knowing she deserved it. She kept her hands in front of her face as sobs racked her body.
"Maxie..." Alec sounded just as desperate as Spike.
"Um...water?" Dawn had reentered the room. "What's going on?" No one answered her. "Max?" Her voice sounded small. Max saw another flash of her throwing Dawn across the room. Her sobs intensified.
"Luv..." she felt Spike gently place his hand on her back. She flinched away and was glad she didn't have to see the hurt that had probably shown on his face. "Max, it's o..."
"D-Don't say it's okay...W-what I did to y-you...a-all of you...I...I can't...Please, just...go...please..." Max begged.
"Max, please...what happened, it wasn't..."
"Don't say it w-wasn't my fault either...I-I know it was..." Max felt Alec's hand on her head and she eased away from its warmth. "Please...go..."
She waited for all their footsteps to fade away and then broke out into fresh sobs. She cried herself into fitful sleep.
Alec sat downon a sofa with a loud thump. Faith was in the spot next to him and wrapped her arms around him. He gratefully accepted the gesture but it did little to comfort him. An annoying little voice kept nagging at him.
"It's not your fault either," Jondy said as she took a seat across fromhim and Faith. Alec looked up at her in surprise. Jondy rolled her eyes. "Please. Your face in that room told it all." She turned to Faith. "Am I right?" Faith nodded.
"It was pretty obvious, Alec. You did what you had to do. And in the end..."
"It's not the end yet," Alec interrupted. "We all know Max isn't evil anymore, but you all saw her..." He took a deep breath and glanced over at Spike, who seemed intent on staring out the window. "I think I broke her."
"Don't be a dumbass," Faith snapped. "Those things you said back there...they may have been hurtful at the time, but it got Max riled up and then you were able to gain the upper hand. Without you Spike wouldn't have had a chance to fire that weapon without getting his ass whooped again. So stop brooding. We have Angel for that." Alec opened his mouth to argue more when Faith whacked him upside the head. "Don't even think about it."
Alec smiled wryly at her as he rubbed his head. Thinking they had him convinced, the others fell silent. But the nagging voice in Alec's head hadn't gone away.
There had to have been another way to weaken her without bringing up Ben, Zack, and Eva. But from Max's reaction after remembering what she had done, I'm guessing she thinks she deserved it. Alec dropped his head into his heads. How are we supposed to know what else she's thinking if she won't talk to us? Only one way to find out...
Alec gently detached himself from Faith and stood up, ignoring her questioning look. He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile before walking down the hallway. He didn't notice Spike had followed him until he was standing by the doorway to Max's room.
"I know what you're thinking. And I want to know just as much as you do," Spike said before Alec could even ask him. Knowing it would be pointless to argue, Alec opened the door and gestured for Spike to go in first before following after him.
That was the plan at least but Spike stopped dead in his tracks and Alec crashed into him.
"What're you..." Alec trailed off as he saw what Spike already had.
An empty bed.
A/N-And voila! Max is good again! But not totally herself, as you probably noticed. Thanks for all the opinions on who should be the one to weaken Max. The results are obviously in the chapter...hehe. Review please!
mel11-Thanks ;o) Those two seemed to make the most sense to me as well, which is why they had the key parts.
Angel Of Darkness231-Thanks ;o) I'm glad you're back. And as you can tell, Alec won the mini poll question. Hehe.
Delauro-Thanks ;o) Spike and Alec were definitely the most popular choices...
meri24-Thanks ;o) Faith and Buffy weren't key in making Max weaker but they did help a little, so I hope it was enough for you :o)
LadyV77-Thanks ;o) Lindsey was a favorite of mine too.
CharmingAngel-Thanks ;o) As you can tell, your choice was the popular one.
Cora-Thanks ;o) I liked writing that probably because I like Spike's curly hair...hehe.
