"The Buffy Effect..." VII...
PG-13
Disclaimer: No, Joss, no...I make no claims, put that thing down!
It's all yours and ME's.
Spoilers for Angel to this week...Flee at once!...
Summary: Similar to my Immortal Beloved series of sketches, and my
Semi-Parallel Lives bits mostly just short brainstorming ideas for
other tales...As with both of those, some bits may be multipart,
others just a few lines...
***
Part H...
"Barrier?..." Previous eyed the hesitant Anne who now stood before a
long tongue of rock leading to what seemed an unbroken cliff...
"Yeah...I wouldn't, sis!..." the vampiress snapped as Previous moved
closer to the energy field before them...Despite its near-invisibility,
but for a strange distortion in the air ahead, the power left an
unmistakable vibe, not to mention a whiff of ozone...Anne reached down
and tossed what appeared to be a stick toward the rock face...
It flamed suddenly with a roar, crackle, leaving a strong odor...Bone,
human bone, Previous realized...
"A barrier for non-vamp demons and humans, too....Wil takes no chances..."
Anne grinned...
"And I did have a few thrall boys and girls in my service for a
spell..." she smiled... "Though maybe Dawn was pushing it a little...But
she
was mine, you know..."
Ok, ours...She smiled again at Previous' hard glare...
"I am what I am, sis..."
***
"Don't...Think...It's over..." Third Buffy suddenly hissed angrily, her
face
darkening...As Buffy, at her twin's insistence, snapped tight the
magically enhanced cuffs she'd just been released from on her sis'
wrists...Spike wearily, but cautiously, watching from the seat he'd
taken on a bench in Buffy's cell...Warren, standing, still in his own
cuffs, still fuming at the group...
I shoulda cut my deal with the red-head...Jeez... "Hey, how's about
letting me outta these?...And we vamoose..."
"Don't..." Third Buffy gasped, her face calming... "He was trying to
cut...
Xander!!!...Xan..." she began to cry out then choked off...
"Buffy!...I'm...Chain me before..."
She suddenly knelt... "I've got her back down...Hurry...You can get me
later if you have to..." she held her cuffed hands up, Buffy cautiously
bringing the chain leading to the wall over...Securing the clasp to the
handcuffs...Third Buffy nodding...Ok...
"Try and get Xander..." she suggested... "He might know..."
"Right..." Buffy nodded...Moving to the cell door...
"Xander!!!..." she called down the hallway... "Xander, help me!!..."
"It's a little...Better..." Third Buffy gasped as Buffy turned back...
"She may be tryin' to get back to the old quarters..." Spike suggested
as Buffy eyed her counterpart...
"He's right...You'd better...Go..." Third Buffy called... "You and sis can
get
me out later...Hurry..."
Sounds from the hallway...
"Xander..." Buffy hissed to the others...She opened the cell door, pulling
Warren by his cuffs...Hey!...
"Xander?!...I need you!..." she called down the hall, just putting her
head in view... "Mears tried to break the spell!..." she tossed him out
into the hallway...
What the...?...Warren found himself on the hallway floor, staring up
at Xander, who was cautiously moving down toward him and Buffy, a
baseball bat now in his hand...
"Take him down to the other cell while I take care of Spike..." with one
hand behind she waved Spike to the half-closed door, he moving
painfully from his seat... "Move it, Spike!..." she cried, harshly...
Pushing the door open a bit more and pulling, then pushing him
through...
Though as Mears noted from his new post on the floor...Hey, probably
safest place to be right now outside the cell, he'd realized...With
less authentic vigor than the bitch'd used on him...
When I get my controller and the transit disk in my hands...And a
working mind-control device or something...These clowns are gonna pay
with interest on the well-overdrawn Mears account, he promised
himself...
'Course, for now...Thank God I'm on Team Tri-Slayer...Even if only one
of our girls seems in working order...
Xander now nearly to them, bat raised in arm... "We'll leave the other
one here and try to get her sis using Spike..." Buffy insisted to him,
carefully keeping most of herself out of sight with the half-open... "We
need her..."
"No..." he said, raising the bat higher... "No, Wil...You can't..." his
voice
calm now... "It's too late..."
He slammed the bat down on Spike's side... "No more..." he said,
quietly...
Spike groaning, unable to dodge...Falling as Warren desperately jumped
to the side and Buffy flung the door open, leaping at Xander as he
raised the bat...
"Stop it, Xander!!..." she grabbed the bat and wrenched it from his
grip...He stared at her, then backed away and turned as if to flee but
she caught his arm and dragged him to her...
"No more..." he whispered to her, relaxing in her grip... "Do it now,
Anne..."
"Will!..." she turned to Spike, holding Xander firmly with one hand...
"It's ok..." Spike put up a hand, slowly rising...Xander suddenly twisting
in her grip...
"No, Xander...I won't hurt you..." she pleaded as he struggled... "Just
tell
me how to break the spell..."
"Tell her, Harris..." Spike spoke gently to him... "You know it's not
Anne..."
"Mears!..." Buffy freezing the slowly edging away Warren to his spot
with an icy look... "Don't..."
Xander looked at both Buffy and Spike... "Willow..." he called, rather
softly...
"I won't hurt her, Xander...Just help me break the spell..." Buffy tried
again...
"I don't know..." he suddenly shook his head... "You know me and magics,
Buffy...Wil would never take a chance teaching me something like that..."
he smiled gently at her...
"Xander..." she sighed, tears welling...Taking his hand with her free hand
but not releasing the other's grip on him... "Forgive me..."
"Wasn't you..." he smiled sadly...
***
"So...?" Anne regarded her companion... "Are we taking the fast route or
no?..." she looked over to the rock face...
"I wouldn't know how to set the coordinates even if I thought we
should take the risk..." Previous shook her head...
"Hmmn...Your stock's dropping with me, sis..." Anne frowned... "Seems like
you don't bring all that much to this little partnership..."
"It's no partnership...Sis..." Previous replied, coolly... "We'll just
have
to find a way to get through..."
"Wow...What a brainstorm...You humans just overwhelm me with your mental
agility...And here I spent the better part of a year sitting around
doing nothing when I coulda tried and found a way in to free my
honey..."
"Willow and Xander get out when they need to...If it uses some kind of
electricity and can be shut down or opened then there's a way..."
"Whew! Buffy the Physicist...Is there no end to your skills, human
sis?...So what's the brilliant plan?..."
"I was thinking of letting Willow know I have you...Since it seems you
and she have a little feud going..." Previous said quietly...Stake out and
targeted...
Anne smiled beatifically at her, nodding at the stake...
"My sis...Always knew my human had it in me..."
***
Having agreed it was too dangerous as yet to release Third Buffy,
Buffy and Spike had let Xander lead them all down to the chamber where
Willow now lay upon a cot, statuesque, but for her steadily blinking
eyes...
"Nice..." Warren rolled his eyes at the bare chamber walls...
The whole desolate, depopulated US available to these guys for looting
and this is how they live?...
"Sit down, Will..." Buffy said, waving him to a chair... "Xander, do you
have anything...For the pain...?"
He stared a moment at her...And nodded, moving to a cabinet...From which
on opening he pulled a few bottles...
"Here...Prescription stuff..." he handed them to her...Thanks, she
smiled...
"Will, can you manage to swallow some of this?..." she offered several
bottles to him...Spike taking two...Ah, the good stuff...He grinned...
Xander, now somewhat in host mode, offered him a dusty plastic bottle
of Coke pulled from a stack of boxes... "Thanks..." Spike nodded...Buffy
gently refusing the one offered her at his quick glance...
Xander took a seat on the stony floor, opening the proffered bottle
and drinking...
"Cheers..." Spike raised his and swallowing his pills, drank... "Hits the
spot..."
Ummn... "Cuse me, Tarzan..." Mears fumed... "Your other human guest is a
bit
dry..."
"You'd best wait a mo, Mears..." Spike grinned... "See if I rot or burst
into flame before you go samplin' the local supplies...Willow was aware
of Anne's and my fondness for the occasional Coke with dinner and the
local groceries were runnin' low ...No offense meant, Harris..." he nodded
to Xander...
A smile to Buffy's sudden look... "It's ok...We both seem in one piece
yet, love..."
"Could we just try waking her?..." Buffy suggested, indicating
Willow's still form...
"No..." Xander shook his shaggy head... "Hurt...Both..." He felt silent,
watching the rest but avoiding their looks...As if he'd regretted his
moment of lucidity....
"Maybe I could go back, speak to Wil...?" she eyed Spike...
"I don't think Red's in a very cooperative mood, love...Especially for
helping a Buffy...Even a transdimensional one..."
"With good reason...?" she asked quietly...
"I'm afraid so..." he looked her over, carefully...Seeing her clearly for
the first time, she realized...
"You trust me, too?..." he said, almost in wonder... "Both of you...?"
"Within limits, Spike..." she grinned at his faint, wry smile... "But you,
Will...Yeah..."
"Then it's...All of it's..."
"Really true...Husband..." she said...Reaching to take his hand a moment
as
Xander watched...
"Moving...So how's about that Coke?..." Warren called...
OW!!...He ducked as the bottle thrown by Xander hit his head...
***
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