Chapter 8: The Season Part 3
California, Burbank, Wienerlicious, December 13th, 2007
Dawn was occupying a table - one of the few - in Wienerlicious when Chuck entered for his usual morning break. She was almost hidden behind a wall of old books - antiques, as far as Chuck could tell. Or very good facsimiles. But why would Dawn lug around a facsimile of an old book weighing a ton, if it was a modern reprint?
"Yes?"
Oh. He must have been staring at her, and she had noticed. "Uh, nothing. Just wondering about the books." He gestured at the stack.
"I'm not going to spill anything on them," she replied, sounding more than a little annoyed. "Unlike others, I'm perfectly capable of not ruining priceless tomes within ten yards of sodas and greasy snacks." And her expression seemed to promise doom for anyone nearby who didn't share that capability. "I just like being above ground, instead of hiding in a bunker. This isn't a café in London, but it'll do for studying. If we're in California, I want to see the sun!"
"Uh… I wasn't actually worried about the books," Chuck was quick to clarify. "I was wondering if those are originals."
"Originals? No." She shook her head. "Those are copies."
"Ah." Chuck smiled, relieved that he didn't have to worry about damaging valuable tomes. Until she went on.
"The originals were in Sumeric, and long since turned to dust. Those are copies made by monks in the early medieval period."
Chuck forced himself to smile. He was no expert, but such 'copies' would still cost a fortune. He gave the table a wide berth as he walked to the counter, where Sarah was waiting. He couldn't spot Caridad, though.
Before he could ask, Sarah told him. "She's in The Castle."
"Ah. Casey?" The agent was officially sick so he could keep an eye on the Scoobies in the base.
Sarah nodded. "And a few very colourful threats from Dr. Summers. Apparently, she's got experience with Slayers and valuable books."
"Ah." Chuck chuckled. "I remember Giles's blowing his top once when Buffy damaged a book - we heard him in the hallway. He was posing as our high school librarian," he added.
"Some people really love books," she said.
"And some people are loud," Dawn commented from her table. "Besides, books can save lives. How can you stop an apocalypse if you don't know anything about it?"
"Uh…" Chuck didn't think Dawn would like to hear Xander's quote about hitting stuff with enough force or explosives would generally do the job. And she was, of course, correct - you needed to know what or whom you had to hit. "So, found anything?"
She scowled. "Not much. Something about 'Royal Slime' - no jokes about the British Royalty, please."
"Of course not," Chuck said. Phil was a loyal subject of the Queen, as he had impressed upon Morgan when Chuck's friend had joked about a particularly tasteless piece of gossip concerning the royal family.
"So… apparently, those are slime demons directly descending from the Slime Lord, and their blood is supposed to be 'powerful'. Sort of like Slayer blood, but for demons," Dawn went on.
"Jeff's slime royalty?" Chuck blinked.
"Perhaps. It would explain why they are so focused on him. Or they think he's royalty."
"He would deserve the title 'King of Slimes'," Sarah said, holding out a coke for Chuck.
Dawn winced. "Creepy?"
"Very creepy." Sarah shook her head. "Although his friend is almost as creepy, and without any demon ancestry."
"Oh. That kind of creepy." Dawn made a face. "Just wait until he tries it on Buffy or Faith. They'll stomp him flat."
"I don't think he will," Chuck replied. "He's scared of Slayers."
"Would killing him foil the enemy's plans?" Sarah sounded a little too interested in Chuck's opinion. He didn't think she wanted to kill Jeff, but if she thought it would save the city…
"We can't tell. Sometimes, the chosen sacrifice has to be killed in a specific way or ritual. Sometimes, they just have to be killed." Dawn was rubbing her stomach, Chuck noticed, and she was flinching a little.
Not a good subject, then, he guessed. But they had to ask - the city's fate might depend on it. He cleared his throat. "So, all's quiet on the Buy More front, then?"
Dawn looked at him. "Chuck!"
"What?"
"You don't do that! It's almost as bad as using the w-word!"
"The 'w-word'?"
"Wishing for something," Chuck explained. "Don't do it. Some demons might be listening."
Dawn looked tense, then, after a moment, relaxed. "False alert, I think."
A moment later, Caridad rushed out of the storage room that concealed the stairs to The Castle. "Multiple demons incoming!"
The Slayer was carrying a satchel bag - presumably with more of the tested concoctions. Chuck didn't know if Phil had managed to make more of them in the meantime. Unless…
Caridad rushed past him, and Chuck turned to Sarah. "She wouldn't have taken grenades from the armoury, would she?"
"They didn't let us!" Buffy answered, almost bowling him over as she and Faith dashed out of the store in… yoga pants, a tank top and trainers? He blinked, then remembered the schedule. Both would have been asleep at this time of the morning. That must be the reason Caridad had beaten them out of The Castle.
"Come!" Sarah snapped, headed towards the stairs leading to the base. "Now it's safe to go down."
Chuck nodded. Hopefully, she thought that he had been waiting for the Slayers to leave before heading down himself, instead of wondering what to do.
When they reached The Castle, Xander and Willow were just getting ready to leave. "Demons shouldn't be attacking so early in the morning," Xander complained as he stuffed a carbine and axe into a sports bag and headed past them.
"It's not exactly early," Sarah said - to Xander's back.
"For us, it is," Willow answered, hurrying after Xander.
"Sorry!" Chuck heard her yell a moment later, followed by Dawn stumbling out of the staircase, almost dropping her precious stack of books.
"Uh… sorry?" Chuck smiled at her - he had completely forgotten to help her.
She huffed and went to put the books down on the planning table. "One demon attack and everyone goes crazy."
"We've got multiple demon attacks in progress," Casey corrected her. He was sitting at the controls for the surveillance cameras. "Half a dozen weirdos - all with the same face - are in the back, trying to get in through the loading ramp. Summer and Lehane are headed there. One is in the Buy More itself - knocked a security guard around. Caridad engaged it already, and Grimes is evacuating the customers. Rosenberg and Harris will be dealing with the snake monster creeping through the bushes at the east side."
Snake monster? Chuck took a closer look. He didn't recognise the demon species, but it looked quite dangerous. Not as dangerous as the Mayor had been, but Chuck still shuddered at the memory. He shook his head. He couldn't space out. Not now. "We'll have to evacuate the entire store."
"Already on it - gas leak in the food court." Casey bared his teeth in a grin. "Might remove some competition for you, Walker, if the Buy More decides to sue them after this."
"What?" Chuck shook his head. "It's not their fault that demons are attacking."
"I tried their burgers, They deserve worse than this."
Chuck hoped that Casey was joking. "So… what do we do?"
"We're command and control, and reserves," the agent answered.
"It's not as if we're needed, not with Buffy, Faith and Willow on the job," Dawn said.
"More demons in the back," Sarah said, pointing at the screen showing the loading ramp.
Chuck glanced at it. Indeed, three more figures were rushing towards Faith. And there were now what looked like three polgara demons supporting the snake. Out in the open? At this time of the day? "Why are they attacking openly?"
"They aren't," Sarah answered. "All the ones in the open look human. Or close enough. And the rest are hiding."
That made sense. But something kept niggling at Chuck. Something wasn't right. People were streaming out of the store now, fortunately away from the fighting.
"Either some twins decided to ignore the evacuation orders and try to snap up some special deals, or there are two constructs headed towards Caridad," Casey said, "Caridad, two more incoming," he added into the microphone.
That would be tight, Chuck knew. Even with the vials prepared by Phil, three constructs would be too much for Caridad. If Buffy and Faith finished their enemies quickly… He blinked. "It's a diversion!" he said, then yelled it. "It's a diversion."
"What?" Casey glared at him, then nodded. "That makes sense. Tie us up and…"
"...go in through the tunnels," Sarah finished.
"It's a diversion," Casey told the Scoobies.
"What?"
"We can't leave - the demons will go after the shoppers."
Which meant it was up to them - Sarah, Casey and Chuck - to stop the main attack.
Great.
Casey was at the armoury in seconds, entering the codes while Sarah took over communications. "We're moving to the tunnels," she told the Scoobies.
"We'll reinforce you as soon… watch out!"
That was Xander, cut off mid-sentence. Why was Willow having trouble dealing with the demons there?
"Bit busy here."
Buffy.
"Not for long."
Faith.
Caridad was cursing - she had just been thrown through a shelf, Chuck saw on the screen. One construct had been melted, but another was giving the Slayer a fight, and the third was chasing Morgan through the kitchen appliances aisle.
"Come on, Bartowski!"
"Chuck!"
Chuck ran after Sarah and Casey, who was lugging a pack presumably filled with weapons, while Dawn slid into the seat the NSA agent had vacated. "Lock up behind us!" he yelled at her - that would keep her safe. "Where are we going?" Chuck managed to ask while catching up.
"Northern Sewer entrance," Casey barked, taking a shortcut through the bushes.
"That's…" Chuck broke off. It was actually the closest entrance to Jeff's lair. And Chuck needed his breath to keep running. But it was also the nastiest entrance to the tunnels. Apart from the one in the half-submerged storm drains filled with all kinds of refuse, some poisonous or even magical - residue from Jeff and Lester's experiments.
Casey had removed the lid on the shaft already when Chuck turned the last corner, a few bits of foliage stuck to his shirt. The agent was pulling on night vision goggles and had a rifle hanging from a sling at his side - a shotgun, Chuck realised. He knew the design from Medal of Honour. And Sarah was pulling out a nasty sword from the pack that Chuck remembered from Casey's wall. Not the cavalry sword, though. She, too, had goggles strapped to her head already.
Casey had the cavalry sword, Chuck saw when the agent jumped down the shaft. As did Sarah. Chuck wasn't a trained spy, nor a commando, so he grabbed a set of goggles and an axe for himself - Sarah must have taken them along for him - and scrambled down the ladder instead. "Wee goin' down!" he reported before he lost contact with Dawn, his pronunciation slightly hampered by the fact that he was holding on to the strap of the goggles with his teeth. And not the most promising wording, either, he realised after the fact.
He reached the bottom, ruining his trainers when he landed in something squishy and smelly, and saw Casey and Sarah were already moving away. "Wait!" he blurted out. "Wait!"
"Keep up, Bartowski," Casey snapped without even turning his head.
"We need to watch out for Jeff's slime traps," Chuck yelled. "He had a few days to expand since the last check." In hindsight, telling Jeff that the Scoobies were coming hadn't been a good idea. That Lester claimed to have developed a phobia of narrow tunnels and refused to enter the catacombs didn't help, of course.
"Teach your grandmother to suck eggs, Bartowski!"
For a moment, Chuck hoped that Casey would stumble into a slime trap. Then he told himself that that would mean he and Sarah would be on their own. It would still be nice to see Casey encased in slime, though.
"The traps should slow the enemy down as well," Sarah pointed out as they advanced - not at a run, not any more, thank God - and skirted around a slime trap on the ground.
"Unless they are immune to the slime," Chuck replied.
"Immune?"
"They could be slime demons themselves. It just occurred to me," Chuck explained.
"Great. That idiot is making things worse even now," Casey growled.
Chuck hoped that he was talking about Jeff.
Five minutes later, they were close to Jeff's lair - Chuck had taken care to memorise the layout after his and Lester's ill-fated trip. Somewhat, at least - he should be able to find a way out through the larger tunnels. The night vision goggles helped, of course - with just some stray light, the tunnels looked as if they were a maze on the ground, at noon. If the sun were green.
Another slime trap. They went around it, hugging the wall. Chuck almost scrapped off his goggles when he forgot to take their size into account - games didn't teach you that - but managed not to hold up the others for too long. No longer than two more biting remarks from Casey, at least.
It was a good thing that Jeff hadn't thought of placing traps on the walls for those who spotted the ones on the ground. Jeff obviously had never played D&D with Andrew.
They were just another tunnel - and probably two traps - from the lair when Chuck heard the chanting. He almost stumbled, then picked up the pace. "We need to hurry! Chanting's not good. Chanting's never of the good!" He hadn't actually seen rituals before, but he had heard enough about them to know that - the Scoobies had impressed the basic rules on everyone, and 'Chanting bad' was one of the ground rules.
"Chuck!" Sarah hissed, and his attempt to push past her was stopped with a hand on his chest. Or solar plexus.
"Oof."
"Don't blindly rush in!" Casey snapped.
"But if they're chanting, they've started the ritual. We might be too late if we don't hurry!"
"They might have guards," Sarah said.
Damn. He clenched his teeth, but she was correct, and as they approached - a little more hurried, but not rushing - Chuck envisioned being caught by waves of slime in these tunnels, trapped and choking to death - or being slowly digested like in the Sarlacc…
Oh, my God! That was a thought Chuck didn't want. But now he couldn't stop thinking about it. That kind of thing would fit major demons perfectly. Trap your prey, and slowly digest them alive over the course of a thousand years… He had visions of a giant gelatinous cube covering parts of Los Angeles as he followed Sarah and Casey.
And he wondered if George Lucas knew about the supernatural. All those aliens...
They were close to the large room where Jeff had set up shop, and even a deaf person would have heard the chanting now - or felt the vibrations, at least. Chuck wasn't deaf. But, he realised when he saw Casey pull out a grenade, he might be deaf in a few seconds.
"Fire in the hole!"
Chuck clamped his hands over his head, opened his mouth and dropped into a crouch. A moment later, he felt as if he had been punched in the chest and choked a little on the dust that had been thrown up. "What the…"
But the two spies had already turned the corner, and he heard gunshots - loud gunshots. He picked up his axe and ran after them.
There was a construct on the ground, stuck to it - to a slime pool of Jeff's. And Casey and Sarah were busy hacking off the thing's flailing limbs so they could pass without getting bludgeoned or grabbed. The thing wasn't making any sound, but its mouth looked as if it were silently screaming.
Chuck shuddered as he went to join the two agents. "Let me - I've got an axe," he said. "It's better for chopping," he added when Casey glared at him. Well, he couldn't see the man's eyes through the goggles, but he was sure Casey was glaring at him.
And the agent took his axe!
Chuck got it back after a disturbingly enthusiastic display of hacking and chopping and had to hold it away from him to avoid the slime dropping from the axe head.
They pushed on - the lair was just around the next corner - but as they turned it, they came face to face with more constructs. Casey jumped back, almost bowling over Chuck, and Sarah ducked just in time to avoid a swing that could throw a Slayer a few yards.
The grenade must have alerted them, Chuck realised as he fell back. And now they were blocking them from… His eyes widened. "Fall back!" he yelled. "We can't break through!"
"We have to!" Casey yelled, grabbing another grenade. He was moving back, but probably just to gain enough distance to safely use the thing.
"Not here!" Chuck replied, scrambling back himself - the tunnel wasn't wide enough for three people, and he was the weakest fighter here.
Sarah, of course, got it. "Casey, fall back!" she snapped. "Let them chase us. Chuck, lead the way."
Casey grunted, throwing his grenade, which Chuck took as a cue to turn and run.
As he jumped over the twitching torso left of the stuck construct, he really hoped that he correctly remembered the alternate route to Jeff's lair.
"Fire in the Hole!"
Sarah quickly slapped her hands over her ears when she heard Casey's yell - even with plugs, a grenade going off was too loud in the tunnels. Twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty… The grenade went off, and she felt the pressure from the shockwave even around a corner.
She slid around the bend to check - three constructs were down on the ground, one missing an arm, but they were getting up, and more were behind them. Fortunately, they weren't quite as fast as Sarah and Casey.
Chuck on the other hand… "*Get clear!" she yelled, then raised the LAW to her shoulders and fired it. The construct exploded, and the blast tore through one behind it. She dashed back at once. "Go!" she yelled.
"I'm starting to run out of grenades," Casey announced.
"And that was our last M72," Sarah said - they would have to buy more when they restocked the armoury. And hope they found a good explanation for using all rocket launchers had been available.
"We're almost there," Chuck replied. He sounded confident. Also stressed and nervous, of course.
"Really?" Casey sounded doubtful.
"Yes. A few more turns, then we enter the other main tunnel."
"I'll rig this tunnel to collapse, then."
"What?"
"We can't let them come after us," Sarah told Chuck as she pulled him along. He was doing better than he would have a month ago, and he wasn't out of shape, but he couldn't keep this chase up as long as Sarah and Casey could.
"How long do you need?" she asked.
"Half a minute," Casey replied, handing her a grenade.
She nodded in reply, then sent Chuck ahead and dropped in a crouch at the next corner, waiting for the constructs to arrive. There!
"Fire in the hole!"
This time, she didn't wait - she ran. Casey would cut things close. Very close.
Almost too close - as soon as she reached the alcove Casey and Chuck were in, he detonated the charges he had placed. Sarah threw herself into the alcove, into Casey, almost toppling him over, a moment before Chuck's yelling was drowned out by the blast, and the pressure wave filled the tunnel.
She was pushed against Casey with enough force to push the breath out of her lungs and by the time the dust cloud had settled enough to safely take a breath, her chest felt on fire. But Casey was chuckling. "Perfect ambush. Now let's stop a ritual, blow some cultists to kingdom come, and go celebrate." He quickly fell into a trot, and Sarah and Chuck followed him.
"We don't have a LAW left, do we?" Chuck asked.
"No," Sarah replied. He should have known that.
"Damn."
They started to hear the chanting again, and another two slime traps later, they reached the large room. Sarah could see a dozen figures in the centre surrounding an… altar? Yes. And on it, bound by thick chains, was Jeff in half-slime form. She checked herself before she started for them. "Left," she said, moving up next to Casey.
"Right," he confirmed.
Then they slid around the corner, leading with their blades - no constructs waiting in ambush.
"Ceiling clear," Chuck added.
The figures in the centre hadn't reacted. Either they hadn't noticed them, too busy with their ritual - or they couldn't react without wrecking the ritual…
"Can we shoot them without causing more problems?" Casey growled.
"Uh…" Chuck cleared his throat. "Derailing a summoning could cause a big explosion. That was what almost happened at my graduation. But yes, unless Jeff gets killed, the summoning should be foiled."
Casey was already shooting when Sarah aimed her gun, but neither of them hit anything.
"It's a barrier!" Chuck said.
Magic. Sarah clenched her teeth. "How do we get through it?"
"We might be able to pass through if we're moving slowly," Chuck replied.
They moved forward - no more need to try and stay hidden. Casey charged but slammed into the barrier, shoulder first. He stumbled a few steps back, rubbing his shoulder. "No more advice from a tv series," he barked.
"Uh…" Chuck grimaced. "It could have worked. I think."
"Stop thinking and give us a solution that works!" Casey spat.
"Uh… if it's a wall and not a dome, we could…"
Sarah lobbed a stone up. It cleared the line where the bullets had been stopped - they had fallen to the ground, she now saw - but then bounced off the barrier when it was right over the altar. "It's a dome," she said.
"Burrowing?"
Casey kicked at the ground. "That would take too long. Even with explosives. But we could set up a charge that buries them, then burns away the oxygen."
"That would kill Jeff!" Chuck blurted out.
"Yes," Casey replied, baring his teeth. "As will they, if we don't stop them. Just with more collateral damage."
"But if Jeff dies on the altar, it might complete the ritual!" Chuck retorted.
"Let's save it as a last resort," Sarah cut in. "Alternatives?"
"Can't go through, can't go over, can't go under…" Chuck shook his head. "I'm no wizard; I don't know how to break through such a barrier. If it's part of the ritual, it won't end until the ritual ends…"
"Guess it's gonna be Plan Cave-in," Casey said, pulling out more C-4.
"We can't…" Chuck said.
Sarah placed a hand on his shoulder and gently squeezed, shaking her head. They had no choice.
"But…"
Casey was already placing charges at the walls.
"But Jeff… Wait! Wait!"
"Chuck…" She reached out to him.
"No, no!" He shook his head again. "Look! The slime's passing through!" He pointed at the ground where, Sarah noticed, a thin stream of slime - from Jeff - was flowing through the barrier.
And, she saw when she crouched next to it, it was carrying small pebbles with it.
"If we're covered in slime, we can pass through!" Chuck said, smiling.
"And where do we get enough slime that's not knocking us out or sticking us to the ground?" Casey asked.
"We don't need too much!" Chuck yelled, already sprinting towards the tunnel where they had destroyed the first constructs. "Just enough to cover a barrel!"
Sarah looked at Casey.
The NSA Agent was grinning. "Sometimes, even Bartowski has a good idea."
Chuck returned with a rotten bucket he had grabbed on the way, carrying about half a gallon of sticky slime. "Will that be enough?"
Casey grunted. "We'll see."
"So, we just stick the muzzle into it…"
"No!" the man barked before Sarah could say it. "That would clog up the barrel." He pulled out a condom. "Always be prepared!"
And while Casey pulled the rubber over the muzzle of his gun, Chuck stepped closer to Sarah and whispered. "I can't help thinking that this is deeply symbolic."
Sarah couldn't keep from giggling.
Chuck knew he shouldn't laugh - or giggle - but he couldn't help it. They were next to a barrier, behind which some cultists - possibly human, possibly demons, the cloaked robes could hide anything roughly human-shaped - were about to sacrifice a co-worker of his and bring ruin upon Los Angeles, and now a condom was being used to stop them in a completely suggestive-symbolic way.
Casey's glare promised retribution, but not even that could stop Chuck's involuntarily laughter.
However, the sight of Casey pushing the slime- and condom covered muzzle through the barrier, then blowing the brains out of the closest cultist could and did. And, incidentally, revealed that the cultists were at least human enough to need their brains and to be hurt by bullets.
Some of them, in any case, Chuck amended his thoughts as Casey continued to mow down cultist after cultist. It seemed they couldn't move while doing the ritual - another question answered. And as they fell, they tended to squish the candles lining their circle, which should also help with disrupting the ritual.
"Like shooting fish in a barrel," Casey commented with a fierce and disturbing grin.
"Does anyone actually do that?" Chuck asked. "I mean, wouldn't shooting the fish ruin the meat? It would be better to grab them, wouldn't it?" Casey ignored him as he reloaded, and Sarah gave him a look. "Sorry," Chuck said. "Just a thought that came to mind."
The last cultist fell, bleeding, among the rest, courtesy of a short burst from Casey's carbine.
Cuck let out a breath he hadn't noticed holding. They had done it! They had saved the Buy More! And probably Los Angeles! And they had saved Jeff. The guy was likely traumatised for life, but he was alive. And he should have gotten therapy already, anyway. So, now, all that was left to do was...
"Shouldn't the barrier vanish now?" Casey growled.
"Uh…" Chuck looked at Casey. The gun was still stuck in the barrier. That wasn't a good sign. Not at all. "Yes. Yes, it should," Chuck told the agent. "If the ritual is still going…"
Casey quickly started putting more bullets into the bodies on the ground. Into their heads, Chuck noticed, wincing at the gore.
"The one there! He's moving!" Sarah suddenly yelled, pointing at a cultist near the altar.
She was right - that guy was still alive. Wounded, but moving. Trying to get up. Trying to reach Jeff.
"Stubborn bastard!" Casey emptied his magazine into the man, and the cultist collapsed - one hand on the altar.
A slimy hand, Chuck realised. "Uh… Guys…"
Suddenly, a light appeared in the middle of the circle, quickly growing stronger. Strong enough for Chuck's goggles to be overwhelmed, forcing him to pull them off and blink, briefly blinded.
He heard the splattering noise before his eyes readjusted, and his heart sank. It couldn't be…
But he could see the slime splashing on the ground in the circle, falling down like a waterfall from a point in the air.
"They completed the ritual?" Sarah managed to say.
"It seems so," Chuck replied. "Unless this is just some side effect."
But the stream of slime was continuously growing.
"The barrier has vanished," Casey informed them, falling back.
"Jeff! We need to get Jeff!" Chuck suddenly said. If the Lord of Slime arrived, and Jeff was still on the altar… He dashed forward, avoiding the growing puddle of slime on the ground. And hoping that the drops splattering over Jeff wouldn't harm the man. Or Chuck.
Jeff was conscious, staring at him with wild eyes as he tried to speak through his gag. Chuck started to fiddle with the chains. Where was the padlock? There usually was a padlock, wasn't it? Or another sort of lock. But where?
Then Sarah was next to him, crouching. And working on the padlock on the floor. And Casey, cursing, was holding a broken plank as an improvised umbrella, to keep them from getting covered with slime - the stream had grown even more now, and was already lapping against the altar on the other side.
"Done!" Sarah announced.
Casey all but ripped Jeff away from the altar, and they retreated as fast as they could, Chuck trying to unwrap the chains from Jeff - which was harder than he expected, with Casey carrying the half-demon.
And behind them, a veritable flood of slime was building up. They had failed. And they'd probably drown in slime before they could get out.
When they entered the tunnel they hadn't blocked, Chuck glanced over his shoulder and froze for a moment. Something was moving in the centre. And a wall of slime was rushing towards them.
"Run!" he yelled. "Oh my God, run!" And he ran. Even though they couldn't outrun the slime tsunami. Not at that speed. Any second now it would reach them, and smash them against the tunnel walls, drag them along, break and drown them… Any second…
He glanced over his shoulder again, almost against his will. The slime wall was now an actual wall, sealing the tunnel entrance. He blinked and stopped running.
"Chuck!" Sarah yelled, "Ru... What?"
"Another barrier," Chuck said, staring. But who could've… Willow?
"How long will it hold?" Casey asked.
"I don't know. If this is Willow…" Chuck trailed off. How long would a barrier cast by Willow last? She had managed to seal off the entire Wolfram and Hart holding in Los Angeles, back in 2004, containing whatever magic and portals the demons had prepared while Slayers killed the people and demons responsible, but she'd had help back then. And had looked like death warmed over afterwards.
"Comms are still not working," Casey said. "We need to get a move on before that thing breaks down."
Chuck looked at the man. "Yes, I… Jeff!"
Jeff was on the ground, groaning. Casey must have dropped him, Chuck realised, frowning at the agent.
"What? He can walk now, can't he?"
Chuck swallowed his retort and bent down to help Jeff get the chains off. Casey hadn't dropped Jeff until they had been safe, after all. Actions spoke louder than words.
"Hurry! I don't like this," the NSA agent added.
Of course he didn't like it - he couldn't shoot a wall of slime. Well, he could, but it wouldn't do a thing. But with Sarah's help, they soon had Jeff freed.
"Thank you! Thank you!" Jeff stammered, reaching out to hug Chuck. Which left him covered in slime. "They were trying to sacrifice me to summon the Lord of Slimes! You saved me!"
"We know that," Casey replied. "They're not doing any summoning any more. Or anything else." He grinned.
Chuck tried to wipe his clothes and grimaced. Sarah wasn't helping - well, there wasn't much she could do, anyway. At least she wasn't grinning. Much. "So," he said, trying to create a diversion, "we really should start moving, before the barrier breaks down."
"It won't break down. Red's on it."
Chuck whirled around, almost braining Jeff with the handle of his axe when the half-demon tried to hide behind him.
Faith was standing there. Her clothes were sporting some tears - how her top was staying on, Chuck couldn't tell - and she was covered in blood and some slime, but she was grinning. "Yo. We were just in time. Had to help out Caridad and Morgan, first, but they were on the way anyway. Red's sealed the entire room."
So it had been Willow. Good. "Uh… how long will it last?" Chuck asked, moving his upper torso in an attempt to shake off Jeff, whose hands seemed glued to his back.
"Long enough for us to find a way to banish old slimey back to slime hell," Faith replied with a shrug. "At least that's what she said."
That sounded not as reassuring as Chuck had hoped. Apparently, what he had seen moving had been the Slime Lord.
They found the rest of the Scoobies - well, Faith led them to them, navigating the tunnels as if she had spent days down there already - near the third entrance to the old still. Willow was in a lotus position, eyes closed, and facing the slightly glowing barrier in front of her.
"Uh…" Chuck started.
"She's just reinforcing the spell," Xander interrupted him. He didn't look hurt, even though his clothes were covered in blood of various colours. "Once she's done, it'll hold for a few hours."
"A few hours?" Casey took a step forward. "And then it breaks down?"
"Chill there, GI Joe!" Buffy said. "She'll simply renew it then, no sweat."
"That doesn't sound like a long-term solution," Sarah pointed out.
"That's because it isn't!" Buffy grinned, flashing her teeth. "And it doesn't have to be one, either - it just has to last until we know how to banish Slimer back to his home."
"And Giles and Dawn and the mini-Watchers back in London are already working on that, so it won't be too long until we can finish this," Xander said. He was smiling, he sounded confident and he had the experience.
But Chuck still worried. If too much pressure built up… he blinked. "Uh…"
"Yes?"
"Is the spell just covering the exits or the entire room?" Chuck asked. "Because if the pressure builds up too much, the rock could give way. And what if the Slime Lord does something?"
"She's sealed the entire room," Buffy said. She didn't sound as confident as before, though. "But the spell will hold Lord the Slimy - it's based on a summoning circle."
"We'll ask once she's done here," Xander added. "To be sure."
"Where's Caridad?" Casey suddenly asked.
"She's back up in the store with Morgan to handle things," Buffy replied. "Store got trashed, but both are OK." She peered at Jeff, who was still trying to keep Chuck between him and the Scoobies. "Is that the sacrificial-guy?"
"No!" Jeff yelled - and took off at a speed that might have let him outrun the slime wave.
Chuck sighed, Faith chuckled, and Xander shook his head. "Buffy!"
Buffy blinked, surprised. "What? That was so not my fault!"
"You scared him off."
"I didn't! I was all friendly-like. And why would he flee from little old me, and not Faith?"
"Obviously, I was too hot to scare him off, B!"
"What? No, you're not!"
"I'm not touching that," Xander said.
And neither was Chuck.
"...and I managed to seal the entire room - and, yes, I did reinforce the room, too, thank you very much, did you think I would make such an amateur mistake? - just in time. It was good that you were so fast, though, so all of the slime was inside the room when I sealed it. I would have been forced to either seal you inside or let part of the Lord of Slime's slime escape, and either would've been of the bad - what if he could travel through the slime? Now he's trapped, though, and as it is, I only have to renew the spell every five or six hours - five, to be safe - until we can deal with the root of the problem. Although I expect that as time passes and the slime pressure raises, the spell will require more frequent renewing, so we really should deal with the big slime soon, otherwise, it will reach a point where I will have to keep renewing the spell constantly, and I won't be able to keep that up forever, you know?"
Chuck marvelled how Willow managed to breathe while she babbled. Though what she said… "So, we're under a time limit," he summed her explanation up as they sneaked past the crowd in the parking lot - was the news there as well? - and into Wienerlicious.
"I just said that, didn't I?"
"He just translated for us, Red."
"But…"
Standing on the stairs leading down to The Castle, Chuck stopped listening to Willow and grimaced.
Dawn was talking to the general.