Chapter 12

Drusilla wafted back into the church. She took a long look at all and sundry, dead boy, as Xander tended to call Angel, was not present. But the others were. She smiled at them. "I know where the action is," she told them in a little girl sing song.

"Where?" Tanya demanded.

"Somewhere - where Spike is." She sensed Reno moving up behind her and turned to stare into his eyes. Such nice hazel eyes. She smiled at him.

"Where?" he repeated the question softly.

"Lextor's." Cheri and Tanya looked blank, as did Reno. Drusilla's sly grin lit her face. "Follow me."

They did. After all, there really wasn't much choice when the fate of the world was at stake. At such a time, one did not question even the strangest of help. They entered the warehouse without a problem. Vorpax met them at the door. She frowned at Drusilla. Not much in the way of fighting abilities there. Or so she thought.

"My, what a selection." She smiled, even at Siro, although she was as puzzled to find him here as she was the younger Rayden. They were no part of her plans, but she was adaptable. Adaptability was what had kept her alive all this time. "Siro, Kropotkin, Reno Raines - please join the group over there." She gestured toward where Buffy and company were sitting. She turned her attention to Cheri and Drusilla. She smiled.

"My - You do present me with something of a problem. While you are both capable of fighting, it is not what you do best. Please join Mr. Giles."

She turned to walk back to the shadow where she awaited the arrival of the OutWorld champions. She turned back and looked into the green eyes of the non-vampiric immortal. "A word of caution, *any* interference is a death sentence. You cannot change the outcome of the challenge, you can only shorten your own experience."

"Now *that* had not occurred to me," Cheri responded sarcastically with a look at the cages holding the two Raydens and one very annoyed Cordelia.

"Drusilla, I think we're not wanted," she continued, slipping an arm through that of the surprised vampire. "Shall we join Giles?"

Drusilla looked over at the company of slayerettes and smiled. Cheri decided she liked the looks of that smile. Her own thoughts were none too sweet as they joined Giles and the others. She could see that Giles was looking - well, much more like the man she'd met several years ago than like the somewhat stodgy librarian/Watcher of current time.

Their eyes met. Something he saw in hers caused him to smile. It was reminiscent of the kind of thing Drusilla offered as a smile. My, but we were all being greatly unpleasant and nasty tonight. That was a good sign.

On the other side of the warehouse, Buffy was frowning. She wanted to talk to Giles - or Willow - or Rayden. She needed to know what was going on. She gave a token nod of acknowledgement as Siro, Tanya and Reno joined the small group of bemused potential combatants. She met Siro's serious gaze and sighed. He sat down beside her.

"You know what is happening?"

"Not exactly. I mean, this kind of slay the bad guys and save the world thing is pretty - normal, in a really abnormal sort of way," she told him with one of those "did I really manage to say that" sort of frowns on her face. "I mean - living in a Hellmouth sorta gives you a handle on really peculiar stuff happening - but this - I'm used to demons and vampires and ugly other dimensional things that leap out and try to eat or kill or maim me - and my friends. Not this - uhm - "

"Formal challenge?" Reno inserted from behind them.

Buffy's vampire sensing senses were alternately screaming "incoming" and "what the heck?" at her where Reno Raines was concerned. She looked him up and down. He looked paler and a little thinner than he had when he was at Giles' when all this moved from Rayden's world to Buffy's. Between his presence and Spike's, on her side of the room and apparently on her side of this challenge thing, she was having problems concentrating. Not that it was the first time she had teamed up with a vampire to stop the end of the world. She sometimes wondered if she was ever going to get Spike *out* of her life. At the rate things were going, it might not be long enough to continue wondering this kind of thing. So, she asked Siro about what he knew about OutWorld and EarthRealm and what was about to happen, and tried to ignore the empty hole where Giles' reassuring presence while he did research in the library should have been.

Giles was scowling. The only two people who could answer his questions were separated from him. Rayden was locked in some sort of power/energy field and Siro was with Buffy. On one level, the latter reassured him. He hoped the others would have sense enough to let Buffy wait until she had a feel for what was happening before letting her into the combat. Knowing Buffy, she was ready to slay. He could almost feel her sense of frustration as a tangible thing. He nearly growled at Cheri when she touched his arm.

"Well, gee, if you really don't want my help, I *can* just stay out of things."

The way his face shifted under the influence of his normally very tightly reined in emotions was almost funny. Cheri reviewed that thought. Actually, under other circumstances, it was funny. She smiled at him and leaned her head in close so that her words did not carry. She had no idea what sort of magic was operating in this place, so there was no assurance that the witch in green could not hear them, but she would take what precautions she could.

The woman calling herself Vorpax, smiled to herself. This was all working out very well. The Empress would be pleased, whether EarthRealm fell or not. Rayden would be gone. The champions of EarthRealm would be gone - most of them. And Vorpax would ascend in the councils of the mighty.

A reddish, whirling, eye searing vortex opened nearby and started spewing out fighters. Spike was torn between worry and laughter. There they were, the bad guys, right out of the game: Scorpion, SubZero and the rest. He frowned as a couple of monk types joined the crowd. He could sense something about them. The opposition fanned out on the other side of the arena. Most of them dropped into stances and began limbering up. The two robed characters made intricate gestures with their hands and had Spike really worried when small balls of flame took form. They played with flame like children play with water.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," he muttered. He met Reno's gaze.

"They play with fire. If we come up against them -"

"Toast. We make certain we don't come up against them. Buffy."

Buffy turned from sizing up the opposition and joined the two vampires.

"Yeah?"

"We have to find a way to control who fights - the flame throwers need to fight someone other than Spike or myself."

"That would be - reasonable," she agreed. "How do we do it?"

"They draw lots," Siro pointed out behind her. "There is no way to control that."

"Is there not? We have two vampires with differing talents. We have Slayer and myself and you. We are very strong. If chance is at play, that should pit no more than one of you against one of the monks. We will know if it is truly a set up if you both face a monk." Tanya's accent was so heavy, it was difficult to decipher what she was saying. They managed. And Tanya had not pointed out the one major advantage she suspected they had, the witch in green did not seem to know that she had immortals other than Rayden on the team.

Vorpax stepped forward, she took a stance near the cages holding Rayden and Cordelia. "Welcome to the Challenge of Mortal Kombat. This will be a short challenge. *You* fight for EarthRealm and all its people. You will each be matched with one of the OutWorld champions. Round one, the fighter who falls and cannot rise loses. Round two, those who have not fallen fight again. Eventually, it all comes down to one -one from EarthRealm and one from OutWorld. Winner take all."

"Vorpax!" The sound came from both Raydens and sounded strangled. "This is *not* the time or the place," they grated in painful synchronization.

She laughed lightly. "Of course it is. For a thousand years or more, by mortal time, there has been no serious threat to EarthRealm. The Empress wishes to succeed where her father failed. *I* intend to help her to that success - or to reinstate the cycle of combats, at the least. Now, silence, elder one. Let the combat begin!" She swept off to the sidelines.

Spike went up against something that didn't look exactly human either. Four arms, massive muscles, and breath that made Spike's seem fresh as a daisy. Spike vamped out, charged in and found himself landing at Buffy's feet. He shook his head and plowed in again. The fourth time he went flying, his head contacted a support post in a very, very solid manner and Spike took a short break from reality. The opponent was declared the winner of the match. He took his win without grace as he postured and flexed his muscles before returning to the sidelines.

Drusilla blinked at the fight and then turned her wide eyed stare on Giles. "Do something," she demanded softly.

"What?"

"Make certain *we* win."

Giles met her gaze and cringed inwardly. If they lost, he rather thought Drusilla wasn't going to be the least of his worries, but probably his first. He turned his gaze on Cheri who was looking thoughtfully at Willow who was frowning as though she was trying to remember something.

Cordelia, inside the cage with Rayden the younger, had decided that complaining wasn't getting her anywhere. She was concentrating on watching the fight and trying to find a weak spot in the cage. Logic told her that a cage made of energy, the way the two of these seemed to be made, was not penetrable by a mere mortal. On the other hand, she had experienced a great number of things since Buffy arrived that obscured logic, if they didn't out right refute it. Therefore, there might be a way for a mere slayerette to get free even if a god couldn't. She firmly told her mind to quit trying to boggle over a little thing like hanging with a god while the fate of the world hung in the balance and started testing the bars of her prison.

Rayden watched the young mortal testing the parameters of his prison. He watched the first combat. He felt rage and frustration welling up within him as he saw Spike go down. He should be free to advise those who fought to keep EarthRealm free. Energy pulsed between the two cages. Cordelia touched the bars gingerly, fully expecting to get shocked. The energy played over her fingers. It didn't hurt. She touched the bars. Her hand passed through the bar as though it wasn't there. That shook her.

Willow and Cheri were deep in whispered conversation while Tanya Kropotkin and SubZero fought. There were ice patches where the cold powered warrior had thrown his fiercest weapon. So far, Tanya had managed to avoid being tagged by one of the ice clouds he could throw. But she was tiring and had yet to land a really telling blow on the superbly muscled fighter. Willow noticed Cordelia push her hand though the bar. She quietly called Cheri's attention to the unexpected phenomena. She wasn't certain how they could turn it to their advantage, but there might be a way.

SubZero went flying past their vantage point. Cheri applauded her sister's technique. She'd aimed him for another support post. Thonk! The man's back and head made solid contact. He slid down the pillar and lay stunned at the base long enough for it to be considered a victory. Cheri wasn't certain the emotionless look on her face was reassuring, but it was better than the gloat of the previous victor.

"One and one. Even. Reno Raines. Shang Tsung. Step forward. Continue."

The two opponents stepped into the open area. Reno bowed respectfully, never taking his eyes off the arrogant, black clad, long haired oriental he faced. They both fell into stance and then moved around each other, looking for weaknesses to exploit, an opening. Each man moved with grace and confidence. Attacks came at speeds most mortals could not attain, or follow. This was going to take a while.