tarnished -- part three -- trekker |
Chapter Seven | |
The Battle of the Intersection With Four Gas Stations |
"Buffy... It's not that I'm doubting your methods. I'm not. I trust you, I do--"
"Giles, I don't want to talk about this, ok?"
Giles sighed, heavily and pointedly. "Buffy, there are a great deal of things you don't want to talk about, but that doesn't make the issues themselve any less pressing."
"You're not going to change my mind. So drop it."
"She's a good Slayer, Buffy. Better than most. She deserves--"
"She *deserves* to live be eleven, Giles, you used to understand that. What *happened* to you?"
"This is what she *wants*. You're denying her the chance to do what she was born to do, what she excels at."
"Maybe she wasn't born to die at ten, Giles, did that occur to you? Maybe she was born to grow up and have a family and, and... write novels!"
Before he could respond, though, one of the vanguard girls shouted, and a moment later, there was no doubt as to why.
The sound came first, a heavy rumble of feet on pavement. It seemed to come from all sides, reverberating through the air like a heavy bass beat. The front of the army of Slayers shambled to a halt, and a titter of conversation, excited or nervous, ran through the ranks. Giles and Buffy and their units were bringing up the rear, so they learned of the arrival of the enemy through the shouts of those towards the front.
Faith's voice came through clearest, "Oh, yeah, baby! That's what I'm talking about! Bring it on!"
One of the girls in the back, about twenty feet ahead of Giles, let out an echoing woop of agreement, and then the voices of all the girls rose, and the nervousness gave way to anticipation.
Ethan pulled up alongside Giles, even as Buffy darted up towards the front, weaving through the excited Slayers.
"So, what's this?"
"I'm not sure," Giles said, trying to see what was ahead. "The enemy, I presume."
"Wonderful."
"Yes, well. That's what we're here for."
He could make out a large intersection up ahead. A stoplight, marking two thick streets crossing. There was a Texaco on one side of the street, an Exxon on the other, a Shell on the third side and a Sheetz to complete the quartet. That meant they'd have a relatively large battlefield, with the wide open plazas of the gas stations combined with the intersection.
That was the moment the attack began in earnest. The tone of the shouts changed, and the enemy thundered down upon the front of the ranks, pouring in from ahead of them, and from either side. Giles spun around, but behind them seemed clear. Still, it was no doubt only a matter of time 'til the enemy found its way around and struck from there. They'd be surrounded.
Katie appeared at his other side.
"What do we do?" she asked, looking ahead with the same twitchy excitement of a thoroughbred at a race course.
"Charge?" he suggested, still finding himself trying to keep his tone light.
She grinned up at him, a surprising moment of brightness on her normally calm face.
The other girls around them took this at face value, and then they were all running towards the fray.
Things got confusing after that.
Giles saw Ethan run out of the corner of his eye as the army of slayers collided with the army of demons like the meeting of two tides. He trusted Ethan not to flee, and poured his attention into the battle.
The armies were already thoroughly mixed, and sure enough, some of the demons quickly moved around to the back, cutting off their escape route. Giles readied his sword and a moment later, a demon was at him, charging, with a large blade raised high. The adrenaline rush hit and Giles met the challenge with a roar.
The fight became Giles' world. He didn't look for Ethan or Buffy or even Katie. He simply fought, and knew that he was born for it, as sure as any Slayer. The burn in his muscles, the jolt of his sword hitting another sword, it all felt so primal and so right.
It took him a moment to realize that something odd was happening.
In fact, he didn't realize anything odd was happening until one of the other demon warriors roared up to him and his opponent. It heaved its huge ax just as Giles' sword locked with his original opponent's sword, and for a horrifying moment, he was sure he was about to be cleaved in two.
But instead, the new demon swung his ax, and neatly beheaded his compatriot.
Then it roared in triumph and ran off.
Only then did Giles look around and realize that this was happening all around him, and spreading all across the battlefield. There was confusion and in-fighting in the enemy's ranks. After he saw that, it only took a moment to realize it was Ethan's doing, of course.
He took advantage of the confusion to search for Ethan.
He turned out to be up on the roof of the office/garage of the gas station to Giles' right, supposedly up and out of the combat. In typical Ethan fashion, he was standing at the edge of the roof and grinning at the chaos he'd caused, and for once, Giles was ok with that, given that the chaos was clearly working to their advantage. But then Giles' blood ran cold. Ethan was not out of the combat. About seven demons had caught sight of him, and were bearing down with intent on the office.
Giles saw the moment Ethan saw them coming and startled, then backed away from the edge, looking around for an escape route. The battle roared around Giles as they moved quickly to surround the office, cutting Ethan off. Giles ran. Flat out, pulse pounding, lungs burning, had to reach them. Reach Ethan.
For a moment, he lost sight of the station, surrounded by panicking demons and shouting Slayers.
Then he burst out of the worst of the fighting and into the open parking lot of the Sheetz.
The demons were there already, three of them climbing the tires up to the roof. He couldn't see Ethan for a moment, and then suddenly, he appeared at the edge of the roof again, looking down at the demons. One of them shouted at him, but Ethan shouted something too and, like toy soldiers, the demons all fell back.
But so did Ethan, collapsing down out of sight on the roof.
Giles ran again, reached the tires just as the demons were beginning to recover from the magical blast. Giles swung his sword, hard but with no precision, and managed to catch one full in the chest, and send it reeling into one of its companions. He scrambled up to the roof. Ethan was down and looked unconscious. Giles didn't have time to check for a pulse, he just stationed himself over Ethan with his sword ready.
From here, he could see most of the battlefield, and he could watch as the effect of Ethan's spell, whatever it had been, infected more and more of the demons. They panicked and became confused, fighting both friend and foe with no apparent discrimination.
Then one of the other demons crested the roof, and Giles had no attention to spare to the rest of the battle. All he could think of was not letting them touch Ethan.
Thus, when he looked up, he didn't know how much later, five demons dead around him, he only caught the tail end of the demon forces' rout. The Slayers shouted in triumph, in an intersection littered with the bodies of their foes.
Giles tossed his sword aside and knelt besides Ethan, reaching out to feel the wonderful throb of his pulse. Then Ethan's eyes opened a crack.
"Did we win?"
Giles smiled. "For the moment."
"Go team go," Ethan said.
tarnished -- part three -- trekker |