Buffy & The Four Ch. 05

Walking to the crevasse that surrounded the polar bear island, Ruth lifted her arms and soared up into the air, heading straight for Willow.

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Faith grimaced as she wiped the slick black blood off her hands onto the carcass. The demon had not stood a chance.

Turning to the padlock, she gripped it and pulled. The thick metal resisted until she braced a foot beside it to increase her leverage. It did not break, but it did wrench free of the wood, the long screws that had held it in place tearing out.

Shrugging, the Slayer tossed it over her shoulder, drew open the doorway and stepped inside.

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Buffy slipped beneath the talons of a vulture-man, shattering her acquired fence post on its bald head. Seeing a bear-man shambling toward her, she tossed the stump of wood aside and reached behind her back to draw her sword.

"Okay, Baloo, you get my full attention."

The bear-man growled and spread his massive, shaggy arms, opening out his claws. "I'm going to gut you like a salmon, little girl."

Buffy raised her eyebrows, then lifted a hand to inspect her nail polish. "If you only knew how many times I've heard that one..."

For something so big, he was fast. Very fast. She nearly got sliced from belly to throat. Slayer reactions were all that saved her. Long hours of gruelling training at Giles' hands, and years of battling for her life every night, had left her with instincts bordering on the preternatural. She turned the flailing jerk backward into a perfectly executed one-handed cartwheel, already slicing forward with the blade as she landed on her feet.

The rushing bear was caught completely by surprise and her slash opened up his belly from side to side. His roar of pain was silenced by a downward, diagonal swipe that cut him from shoulder to hip. With a look of utter disbelief, he fell backward in a fountain of blood.

"Sorry, not-so-Gentle Ben, but I don't have time to go easy on you."

Ruth was hovering toward Willow and Anya when she saw the Slayer make such short work of one of her most formidable creations.

"You fucking blonde bimbo! You're pissing me off! Well, I can stop you playing with such toys."

With a flick of her wrist, the Goth witch turned the ancient sword into molten metal, and it collapsed from point to hilt in a splash of silver liquid. Buffy yelped and let go just in time, dancing back as the ground sizzled where the metal rain fell.

"Hey!" she protested, but did not have chance to give it any more attention though, because more beastmen attacked immediately. She blocked and fought back, her eyes scanning for the other Daughters of Gaia. They were still on the island, but now beneath a multi-coloured dome.

"Willow!" she thought, trying to send it like a shout.

The Wicca heard the call. "What?"

"It may be a good thing if I can thin out the Daughters. What's that skittles coloured thing?"

Barely shifting her attention from the rift, Willow probed the shield. "It's a barrier. Too strong for me to affect, I'm afraid. Maybe when Ruth isn't as powerful."

"Gotcha. Prepare something for when I need it."

A cobra-man got a face full of Slayer fist.

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"Fuck me!" Faith whispered, looking up and up inside the chamber.

She was standing on a lattice catwalk that led out of the walls of the palace from the side door where she had entered, and across a breathtaking chasm to the centre of the Machina Demonica.

The machine itself was huge. Gigantic. It looked almost egg-like in shape, but was a patchwork of bronze riveted panels, each one about a metre square. Across its whole surface there were thousands of sprouting pipes, whirling cogs, steam vents, aerials and odd shaped boxes. Glass panels shone with dazzling, dancing, multi-coloured light and, at its very peak, the metal gave way to some sort of crystal that fired light up into a collecting hood. From that hood the narrow pipe that Faith had been following climbed down the machine's surface until it reached the catwalk she was on and ran along it toward the Beacon room.

Like spiders, Hagnas crawled up and down the thing's bulk, twisting knobs, pulling levers, turning handles. They were tireless and as many seemed engaged in repairs as were operating the mystical device.

Clunking booms, hissing from the steam venting, and grinding from the cogs all contributed to make the place extremely noisy, almost enough to drown out a rock concert.

Faith leant over the handrail of the catwalk and looked down the seven storeys to the floor of the chamber, which was almost invisible beneath a myriad of machines, pipes and contraptions.

"Holy shit!" she muttered. "Red would freak and Giles would have a coronary with delight."

Striding along the precarious bridge, the Slayer fastened her eyes onto where it attached to the side of the device. A control panel ten foot high dominated the area, its face a mass of dials, gauges, levers, buttons and knobs. It was something that would not have looked out of place in Victorian times, but now appeared ancient and clumsy.

Before the monstrous control panel, was a Hagna of equally monstrous proportions.

"O-Kaaaay, this is going to be interesting," she murmured.

Despite the cacophony around it, the Hagna King heard her and turned with a menacing hiss.

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"Oz, Look out!" Ru yelled, stumbling back from the thrashing arms of a Tarantula-man. When it had been transformed, two of it eight legs had morphed into humanoid legs, but the other six had morphed into humanoid arms. It was like a hairy, many-eyed, male version of Kali.

The female werewolf jabbed at it with an iron railing that she had snatched out of the hands of an ostrich-woman, once fear of the Daughters had outweighed fear of the werewolf. It was a clumsy weapon, being just a long spike, but it was still effective. The arachnid hissed and bared its mandibles at her.

"Urgh. That's a nasty set of teeth you've got there. Does the zoo have a dental plan?"

Whirling the railing around her head, she slammed it forward as hard as she could. The beast caught it with two hands and hit her with one of the others.

Oz had been a little stunned by a surprise blow from the creature, but now he shook that off and leapt onto its back. With grim determination, he reached around its head and grabbed hold of each mandible, holding on to them like reins. Silently, he strained backward, drawing the monster's head up and forcing it to leave Ru and grab for him.

The rebellious female werewolf seized her chance, stepped forward and gave it a mighty kick in the balls.

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The steel handrail of the catwalk bent under the force of the impact from the Hagna King's blow. Faith spun to her left away from the swing and toward the lizard's now unprotected right hand side. "You wouldn't happen to be Kermit's uncle, would you?"

Three fast punches to its ribs earned her a roar of anger.

"Phew! What the fuck have you been eating, Iguana-face? Your breath stinks like a slaughter house."

Her forearm erupted in agony as she stiff-arm blocked its next swipe at the wrist. The thing was as strong as a Fyarl demon! She tried to kick it in the stomach but the creature was too quick and dodged back out of range.

"Gotta say, Iggy, you're a big one..." She whirled into a spinning attack, her foot shooting around like a ball and chain, "...but that just means you're gonna fall harder."

Her foot connected with the King's jaw like a sledgehammer and sent the demon reeling sideways, crashing into the catwalk's barrier. Faith was on it fast and landed blow after blow after blow.

"See, you demons never learn. You meet a Slayer and think 'ah, here's my chance to kill me a Slayer'. What you always fail to think about is that a Slayer was made to kill demons, so you're onto a loser right from the off. But then all you demons are a bit stupi-oooofff!"

The Hagna King had been collapsing on the railings, beaten down by her constant heavy blows. Its jaws were dripping ichor and both its hands were fastened onto the rail for support. But Faith had forgotten about its tail. That mighty length of muscle had swept around and smashed her through the air.

Luckily, she was flung along the catwalk, crashing into the control console, rather than off its side and into mid-air. It did not help the Slayer too much though because the lizard-demon was upon her in an instant, its talons raking flesh.

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"Murus!" Tara gasped, flinging her hands forward, scattering the ash of three yellow roses into the air. Rather than fall, it hung like a mist and the green ball of fire erupted against it as if it were a solid wall. The instant the magical flames vanished, so did the ash.

"Dammit!" Ruth hissed, opening her hand and summoning another, larger bolt.

"Willow!" Tara yelled, knowing she could not repeat the protective spell.

As the green fire shot toward them, Willow snapped her head around and held her palm up, breaking the gesture she had been using to hold the portal. As her part in the spell ended, the ribbon around her waist that connected her to Anya aged a thousand years in a split second, rotting away.

"Argh!" Anya screamed, the whole task of holding open the dimensional rift falling on her like a fiery anvil.

The green deathbolt changed course and slammed into a rushing zebra-man, who was bearing down on Giles from behind. The luckless creature died in agony, its flesh charring black in an instant.

"Bitch!" Ruth cursed, circling both hands to gather a whirlwind. "Let's see how you deal with this!"

The spinning vortex of air blasted at the two Wiccans and the Vengeance demon. Without a single bit of communication, Willow and Tara acted as one, joining hands and making a circular, single-fingered gesture in the air before them with their free hand. The deadly twister came to a halt and then reversed course toward the Goth witch.

Ruth dismissed it with a squeal of frustration, balled both her fists and petulantly stamped her foot. "What is it going to take to squash you bugs?!"

Willow grinned at Tara. "I think we upset her."

Her girlfriend beamed back.

"Hello?" gasped Anya. "Demon in agony here! Stop playing and help me!"

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"What should we do, Mary?" Kim asked, watching the battle unfold.

"Nothing, unless we have to," the older Goth told her.

Side by side, the three teens looked out through the swirling rainbow of the shield globe and followed the course of events.

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"Argh!" Faith yelled, feeling its claws rake deep into her left breast.

Trapped on her back at the base of the control console, she drove her feet into the King's chest and snapped her legs straight, flinging him back. "Enough playing! Time for you to find out what a Slayer really is!”

Her right nipple visible through the rent in her tee-shirt, blood soaking it, Faith flipped to her feet and launched herself at the demon. The Hagna king was just on his feet when she sailed over his head, her hands snagging hold of his shoulders. Landing in a crouch behind him, Faith tossed the beast further down the catwalk. "That wasn't smart, Iggy. Now you've pissed me off."

The demon spun toward her, lashing out with its claws. But Faith was already well into a flying kick, streaking past his talons to crash a foot into his snout. "And pissing me off is just about the worst thing you could do."

She battered both his arms to one side and smashed punch after rib-breaking punch into his chest. The beast roared in agony, striking back as best it could, but she was unstoppable. Ducking, blocking, and twisting, she kept inside his reach, hammering him backward with fury. Like lightning, she struck his shin, then his side, then his head with a kick, before hopping to the other leg and dealing out the same punishment again.

The Hagna king could not break the rain of blows, nor keep its balance as she drove it backward. Issuing a blood-curdling hiss of hatred, it slashed at her face with its deadly talons. Faith dropped to the floor, on her back, and blasted both feet into its chest as she fell. Bones snapped and one shattered rib burst through its scaly hide, showering black blood over the Slayer.

Rotating fast, Faith spun and kicked the legs out from under the monster. As it crashed down, she lunged onto its body, planting her knees on its upper arms, pinning it down. "Fucking demons!"

Bone crunching blow after bone crunching blow slammed into its ugly face. "Always up to evil, always wanting to kill and maim." Her fists were bloody with black ichor and each time she pounded down into the visible dent she had made in its face, there was a horrible wet smacking noise. "It's about time you fuckers learnt not to mess with humans! Bee and me have got them covered, so to get to them you're gonna have to go through us, and that's not happening. Got it?"

It was only then that she realised it had been a while since the demon had moved, and she was punching a mashed mess where its face once was. Letting out a long breath, she sat back on its chest and brushed a lock of brown hair out of her eyes. "Okay Faith, can you say 'anger management'?"

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"You never learn, do you?" Willow said, grunting with effort as her shield spell only just turned aside Ruth's bolts. If it had not been for Tara's hand in hers, their join increasing her powers, she knew she would not have been able to fend the Goth off for as long as she had. "Magic used for personal gain will return and take threefold the price. The cost doesn't make the benefits worthwhile."

"I think the cost is worth paying. You killed her, you bitch!"

"Megan? She died the moment she agreed to the pact with the Spirit of Oak! Don't you get it? Evil, hello? Not gonna give you something without taking far, far more in return."

Ruth snarled and flicked her fingers through a complicated sigil to change her attack. The green bolt changed to a stream of flames and the two witches buckled to their knees with the extra effort of holding her off.

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Xander ducked a swinging claw and slammed his shoulder into the beast's chest. Beside him, the Slayer flattened two monsters with a lethal spin kick.

"Buffy, we could be in serious trouble here!" he shouted, driving his fist into the monster's belly.

"You think?" she retorted from close by, snapping the neck of a transformed Dingo. "Okay, I'll bite, why?"

"Well if they have a tiger-man, a hyena-man, a gorilla-man and so on, then it's almost certain that they'll have a bat-man. And the Caped Crusader always wins."

He grinned at her and only just avoided getting his head knocked off by a wildly swung club.

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"Jules Verne eat your heart out," Faith murmured, tilting her head up at the vast array of dials and levers. "Right babe, time for," she grinned remembering Giles' voice, "my special brand of maintenance."

Quickly she began to turn knobs all the way around, sending needles into red zones. Then she pulled every lever and threw every switch she could find. After that, she stepped back and tapped her chin with a finger. "Needs something else. I wonder what though?" Chuckling, she pulled back a fist and bashed dents into the machine. Glass panels shattered, and she yanked out cogs and wires.

Already, the background noise of the Machina Demonica had altered, becoming a high-pitched whine. Steam vents went wild and turned into geysers. The swirling lights became too bright to look at. All across the machine, the attending Hagnas became shocked and confused, before looking down to the control panel.

Their shriek of rage was horrifying to hear.

Faith glanced around and saw nearly a hundred angry demons charging toward her. "Oh, shit!"

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Gohnarth snapped his head around toward the giant doors that hid the Machina Demonica room. Attuning his senses back to his own realm, he looked through the eyes of a dozen of his slaves. "That fucking sneaky bitch!"

White-hot anger and hatred burned within him as he pointed accusingly at the doors. "Get her!"

At his command, Hagnas all across the city stopped what they were doing and raced for the palace. Hopnarths in the slave pits turned their multi-eyed stalks upward to look in the direction of their master, despite the stone walls in the way. Worst of all, the mighty Darklings answered their master's call and began to lumber to intercept the fleeing Slayer.

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Dawn saw Willow and Tara crumpling underneath the energy attacks of Ruth. The Goth witch was floating in the air, several feet before the two lovers, both hands held before her and fire streaming from them.

"Oh no you don't, you bully," the Slayer's sister whispered, nocking a quarrel. Taking aim, she let fly. The bolt whistled through the air, its path deadly. At the last possible second, Ruth gasped and flung a hand to stop the missile. She did, but it cost her the spell that was overpowering the Wiccans.

Immediately, Willow shot her head up, eyes black, as she made a slashing motion with the hand that was not clenched in Tara's. Two things happened. Ruth was blasted through the air like a rag doll, flung far away, back into the polar bear enclosure. At the same instant, Tara screamed and a chunk of solid ice formed around her hand where she touched her girlfriend.

"Tara!" Willow gasped, blinking her eyes clear in time to see the blonde witch faint. Distracted as she crouched to see to her lover, Willow never saw the hippo-man thunder by to slam into Anya.

The demoness, concentrating on holding the narrowing portal open, was struck hard. It was a blow that would have smashed every bone in the body of a human. But she wasn't human at that moment, she was Anyanka. The charge sent her flying backward into the iron railings surrounding the lion enclosure, which bent like straws under the force of the impact.

Amazed that she still lived, the hippo-man charged her again. However, this time she knew he was coming and just vanished from the mess of railings. Moving too fast to stop, the behemoth ran at full tilt into the iron spikes. Unfortunately for it, at least two of them were snapped at right angles and it impaled itself right through. Although it took it nearly five minutes to die, it could not free itself from the metal spears.

Dawn saw the portal begin to narrow faster. If Faith didn't hurry, there wouldn't be room to get back out.

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The brunette Slayer ran like she'd never run before.

But then again, she had never had the horde of Hell on her heels before. Back across the catwalk, down the narrow entry passage, out through the door and toward the Beacon room she raced. Behind her, the massive machine began to disintegrate in increasing explosions. Cogs were sent whirling through the air like six-foot shuriken, bronze panels burst as easily as tin foil, and the crystal windows shattered as purple flames belched out.

Faith's denim jacket tails whipped behind her as her arms pumped while she ran, covering the ground at incredible speed. Nevertheless, the Hagnas were fast, spread out not only in the machine room, but also throughout the city, and some were closer to the stone staircase than she was. They began to block the path ahead of her, first in ones and twos, then by more and more every moment.

Knowing that if she stopped for a second she would be caught and engulfed, she vaulted one demon and skidded between the legs of another. Leaping to her feet, she saw the narrow staircase leading to the Beacon room only several metres ahead.

With the suppleness of a gymnast, she slipped under the slicing swing of a Hagna's talons, rolled across its exposed back, and darted for her only chance of survival.

"Damn, you fuckers are quick!" she cursed, as behind her the demons closed the gap. Knowing there was no way she could beat them up the stairs to the portal, she decided to do the only thing she could.