Chapter 31: The Battle
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Chapter 31: The Battle
Shadow Realm, January 28th, 2017
"So…" James Lake Jr took a deep breath and looked at his mother, who was preparing something in the kitchen. "We're ready now. We're about to fight Glory." More or less ready - they didn't stumble into each other while training any more. It wasn't as if they could train with an actual Glory as their opponent, so any training with a dummy might introduce bad habits. Or so the Slayer claimed.
Mom froze, her knife clattering to the countertop. "I… I thought you were still preparing," she said as she turned to face him.
"They've just got the radar guns we needed," Jim said. There was no need to mention where exactly the Slayer's friends got them with Claire's help or that the Califonia Highway Patrol would be unable to catch speeders for a while. "Toby and Claire got their armour sorted out, Willow's got her spells ready…" He shrugged. Merlin had been critical but ultimately approved of the spell. Even if he had done it in the most reluctant and backhanded way ever. "So, yeah, we're about to move out."
"But…" Mom wiped her eyes, and Jim looked away.
A few seconds passed. Mom sniffled. "I should head to the hospital."
"What?" He blinked. "No! Why?"
"If anyone of you gets hurt, I would be at the hospital already. Claire can open a portal straight to the entrance, but what if they don't have doctors available to treat you? I got a call a while ago from work. They are swamped with patients in the mental ward - they have that intern from Sunnydale volunteering and are still overworked."
"Oh." Jim bit his lower lip. He hadn't thought of that. None of them had, actually. "That's… a good idea, Mom," he said, nodding. If anything happened, Claire could easily get them away. Unless something happened to Claire. And, of course, the odds of anyone surviving a hit from Glory were not very good. Even with the new armour.
"But…" Mom shook her head, still sniffling. "You and the others, you'll face her."
"We're prepared," Jim said. "We've got her number." He hoped so, at least.
She slowly nodded, and he hugged her. And held her for a while.
Saddleback Butte State Park, Mojave Desert, California, January 28th, 2017
James Lake Jr sighed as he leaned against a rock and stared out into the desert. Soon, they would be fighting Glory. And he'd find out if Eclipse was powerful enough to hurt the hell-goddess. And whether or not their preparations were enough. What he could hear from behind him, where Willow was setting up, wasn't exactly raising his confidence.
"Alright… I'm booting up the sensor grid!"
"Way to go with the milspeak, Willow!"
"That's not military speak, Xander! That's just the correct term for this setup."
"Sure, sure, you little general you!."
"Oh, you! Just go and check the southern area; one sensor is not responding."
"What? I set it up perfectly. I bet that was the coyote I saw - it was eyeing me the whole time."
"Are you sure it was a coyote and not a stray dog?"
"Yes, Dawn, I know a coyote when I see one."
"It could've been a coyote demon."
"Dawn! There are no such things!"
"Are you sure?"
"Well, c-coyote is a t-trickster spirit in m-many Native American religions."
"Yes, Tara! See, Xander?"
"I really doubt that the mutt that was watching me set up a radar gun was a major spirit! The last Native American spirit I saw tried to kill us all, remember?"
"Well, the Chumash had a lot of reasons to be angry at us - at the people currently living on their land. It's not fair that they blamed us, but there's a certain irony in them striking at us while we celebrated Thanksgiving."
"I didn't kill any of them!"
"But you unearthed the old Sunnydale Mission building, which disturbed their rest."
"I was acting under orders!"
"That hasn't been an excuse for decades!"
"Whatever - I'm going to check the sensor now! Claire, can you open a portal to the southern grid?"
"And check the one next to it as well - it's giving me weird readings!"
"Maybe we shouldn't have gone with the cheapest radar guns we could find."
"There was no choice - those were the only ones the police had available."
"Typical! Always going with the lowest bidder!"
"Not always, Xander. If the bidder is a friend of the politician in charge, they'll go with them no matter the cost."
"Here's the portal!"
"Thank you! Keep it open, I'll be right back!"
Jim sighed. Everyone seemed to be on edge. Well, that was to be expected, of course. They were facing a hell-goddess, with the Earth at stake.
"So… your mom's at the hospital."
Jim turned and looked at Toby. "Yes."
"Nana just said she'd prepare a huge dinner and expects everyone to attend. But she was..." Toby swallowed.
Jim nodded. "Yeah."
"But we have to do this, right, Jimbo?"
"Yes."
"No matter what. If we don't do it, everyone dies."
"Yes." Jim nodded. His friend sounded like he needed to convince himself. Perhaps Jim could ask him to protect the others, back in the Shadow Realm. A last line of defence? No. Toby would see through that lie.
"That's it, then. The final fight. Well, until Gunmar."
"Yes."
The sun was setting. As planned - the trolls and Spike would be able to fight as well. "Blinky's coming too," Jim said. Even though he wouldn't be able to hurt Glory at all. But the troll had insisted - if he had fought at Killahead Bridge, he would fight here.
"Yes. And AAARRRGGHH!!!."
So many of his friends would fight. Jim couldn't protect them all. But he'd give his all to try.
"Alright! Everything's set up now - all sensors are working as intended. We've got full coverage of all approaches to our position."
"Way to go with the milspeak, Willow!"
Buffy Summers rolled her eyes. "Stop repeating your stupid jokes, Xander." She walked over to Willow. "So, that means we're ready, then."
"Yes. I could probably tweak the system a little more, and we're still missing coverage of the wider area outside the obvious approaches, but…" Willow swallowed. "We're ready."
Behind her, Tara put her hand on Willow's shoulder. The witch shouldn't be here - she wasn't exactly a fighter. But she wouldn't leave Willow alone. Well, that was her decision.
It was too late to try and change her decision, anyway.
Buffy nodded. This was it, then. Time to lure Glory in and hit her with everything they had. Blind her, then surround her and attack from all sides. Cut her down before she could recover. Hamstring her so she couldn't flee. Kill her once and for all.
She took a deep breath. "Good. Everyone, get ready. Dawn! Claire!"
"Yes?" Dawn jumped up from where she had been sitting on the ground, checking her phone, in front of Claire's portal.
"Yes?" Claire separated from Jim.
Buffy walked towards her sister, waving at Claire. "Let's do this."
Dawn was nervous - she was sweating a little despite the cold, and Buffy saw the hand holding the phone tremble. "Alright."
Claire was frowning as she joined them, gripping her staff harder than needed. Well, Buffy understood that. She still didn't like that Toby was using her hammer, whether he had been proven worthy or not. Who cared about troll gods, anyway?
But Claire still closed the portal and handed the staff over to Dawn, who took a deep breath of her own, then held it out. "Here we go…" she whispered, then opened a portal in front of her.
Buffy took a step closer to her. "Open it behind you, so you can flee if needed," she reminded her.
"I know! This is just testing," Dawn retorted. "Don't have a cow!"
"I'm just looking out for you!"
"Don't distract me!"
The portal vanished, then reformed. And did it again. Then two portals formed, and Dawn stepped through them.
"Dawn…" Buffy said.
"Just in case she senses me travelling through portals instead of the portals themselves," Dawn explained, repeating the feat three more times.
That was… a good point, actually. Still a risk, though. "That's enough, I think," Buffy told her.
"A few more times - like in Arcadia Oaks," Dawn said. And did it.
Buffy clenched her teeth. Why wasn't anyone else saying anything? This was dangerous? But Merlin was just staring at the desert as if he had never seen one before. Jim and Toby were with Claire - no surprise; Jim would be ready to step in front of a charging Glory for Claire. And the others were sitting behind large rocks, hopefully hidden from the skanky hell-goddess's sight. Well, the trolls looked more like rocks themselves when they didn't move.
"Anything?" Buffy asked, looking over her shoulder.
"Nothing yet. The system is filtering out animals, but I double-checked with an override; it's working. Well, we don't know where she was when she noticed Dawn the last time, so our estimate of her speed might be off. Although I don't think we're too far off. And we're not any further than we were before," Willow told her.
"Maybe she's looking for a limousine," Xander joked. "She strikes me as the kind of hell-goddess who likes to travel in style."
"And she wouldn't care about the environment or global warming, so she would likely pick a gas-guzzling SUV," Willow agreed.
Dawn was still creating portals, but, finally, just portals leading her back to the Shadow Realm - Buffy could see the camp in the distance. She tensed. As soon as Glory appeared, she'd push Dawn through the portal. And then she'd hand the staff over to Claire.
Any minute now.
"Perhaps she's asleep?" Xander asked.
"A hell-goddess, asleep?" Buffy scoffed.
"Glorificus is said to be hiding amongst humanity," Merlin said, "passing as a human. He might be in a form that cannot sense the Key."
"That's…" Buffy trailed off. That would suck very much. All this, for a no-show? Their plan foiled by a hell-goddess's laziness? That would…
Her phone rang. She pulled it out. Riley's number. What…? She accepted the call. "You've reached Slayer's Catch-a-Hell-goddess. How can we help you?"
"We've just got an alert from the Arcadia Oaks hospital. Blonde woman in a red dress is attacking patients and staff."
Buffy gasped. "What?" But if Glory was around, why didn't she react to Dawn's antics?
"Mom! Mom's at the hospital!" Then Jim's phone rang. Buffy cocked her head.
Riley continued: "It sounds like Glory. We're deploying to verify and evacuate the people."
She wasn't really listening. She was listening to Jim's call.
"Mom?"
"Jim!" That was his mother. And she sounded… strained. "It's… Glory's here. She…"
"Ah, damn it, give me that!"
Buffy's eyes widened. She knew that voice!
"Alright. How does that work? Ah! Listen up, little boy! I've got your mother. If you want her back in one piece, you give me my KEY!"
Glory had Mom. James Lake Jr almost crushed the phone in his hand. The hell-goddess bent on destroying Earth had his mother.
"Do you hear me? Is this thing on?"
"It is, Your Magnificence!"
"Didn't you hear me? Give me my KEY, or I will start pulling off pieces of your mother!"
"No!" Jim blurted out. "Leave her alone!"
"So you do hear me! Good. Now, I want my KEY!" she screeched.
"Don't do it, Jim!"
"Mom!"
"You shut up!"
He heard the sound of something striking… and heard Mom cry out in pain.
"Mom!" This couldn't be happening. Glory had Mom! Jim looked around, blinking - he wasn't crying, was he?
Toby was grimacing but gripping the Hammer of the Troll Gods. Blinky was looking at him with the saddest expression Jim had seen on his face. AAARRRGGHH!!! looked… grim. And Claire… Claire was looking at him with tears in her eyes. Oh, no - she would know exactly what this felt like. Her brother was in Gunmar's hands.
"Hello? I didn't accidentally destroy this thing, did I?"
"No, Your Magnificence!"
"Let her go!" Jim snapped.
"Only if you give me my KEY! If you don't, I'll let her go - from a cliff!"
The Slayer was there, making cutting motions across her throat. What? What was she mouthing? Oh! Cut the mic.
"Wait!" Jim blurted out, then muted the mic. And covered it with his hand to make sure. "What?"
"She's at the hospital. We need to strike at her there," the Slayer said in a tense tone.
"But she's got Mom!" Jim protested.
"And we need to get her back. We can't do that from here. We need to head there and fight her!"
"I'll gather the bombs!" Xander was moving.
"I'll help!" Willow, followed by Tara, ran after him.
"But…" Jim shook his head.
"It's the only chance she has. We can't give them Dawn."
Jim glanced at the girl. She looked frozen, blinking - shocked. Trade her for Mom? Part of him wanted to do it. But he knew it wouldn't do any good. Once Glory had Dawn, she would destroy the world. Hell on Earth. He couldn't make the trade. But he couldn't sacrifice Mom, either. He couldn't.
"It's the only way. We head to the hospital - portal there. We confront her, and at the first opportunity, Claire portals your mom away."
"You need me," Dawn whispered. "If I'm not there, she'll know we won't trade me for Jim's mom."
"No!" The Slayer snapped. "We can't risk you!"
"You have to." Dawn swallowed, looking deathly pale in the moonlight.
"She is correct," Merlin spoke up. "It is obvious that this plan has failed. Glorificus, albeit of seemingly limited metal ability, will not fall for your trap. Our best and, possibly, only viable option is to strike now. Adapt the plan, if you will - but we must make haste."
Dawn handed the staff to Claire. "Open a portal to the hospital. I don't know where it is!"
"Dawn! No!" the Slayer protested.
Claire looked at Jim.
Could he do it? Risk Mom like this? Risk Dawn? And the world?
He couldn't not do it. Jim took a deep breath and nodded. "Do it. Front of the hospital." They could lure Glory out of the building, at least.
Claire nodded back at him, then moved her staff, and a portal appeared in front of them. Jim could see the front lawn of the clinic. And the entrance - the sliding doors had been wrecked. He heard sirens nearby. The police were here. Of course they would be.
He stepped through, then unmuted the phone's mic. "We're in front of the building," he said as the others filed through the portal.
"Which building?"
"I see them outside, Your Magnificence!"
"This building? Why didn't they say so? Come, maggot!"
"Maggot?" Jim spat. Who was she talking to?
But there she was in the lobby. Red dress, blonde hair, sneer on her face.
Glory.
And she was dragging Mom with her. Mom who had blood running down her face. Glory had hurt her.
Jim would kill the hell-goddess for this.
"There you are!" she crowed, looking at Dawn. "My Key!" She smiled widely - derangedly - at them. No, at Dawn.
Behind Jim, Willow, Xander and Tara stepped through the portal.
"Riley's coming," the Slayer whispered. "For all the good that will do."
Jim didn't care. He stared at Glory. And at Mom.
"Now, hand over the Key!" the hell-goddess demanded.
"Let Dr Lake go first!" the Slayer snapped.
"Do you think I am a fool? As soon as I let go of her, you'll use your stupid portals to get her away! I won't release her until I am holding my KEY!"
She was back to screeching, Jim absentmindedly noted. Dawn shivered.
"And as soon as you have Dawn, you'll kill Dr Lake!" the Slayer retorted.
"No, I wouldn't!"
"Do not doubt the word of Her Magnificence!" a small, hooded demon cried from the side.
"Silence!" Glory screamed and kicked the demon back into the lobby - through the glass wall.
She was about twenty yards away. Too far for a surprise charge. Too far to hurl Eclipse and cut her arm. What could they do? They had to do something!
"Oh!" he heard the Slayer gasp.
A moment later, a huge figure crashed into Glory from above, and Mom cried out.
Arcadia Oaks, January 28th, 2017
The moment the hulking troll fell onto Glory, Buffy Summers moved. She charged across the lawn, her scythe held high for an overhand blow - let's see the skank hold onto Dr Lake with a severed arm!
"Aarghaumont!" she heard Blinky cry out behind her, followed by Jim's "MOM!" as the kid charged as well.
But for all her speed, she was too slow to reach Glory before AAARRRGGHH!!! flew through the air, crashing into the upper floor of the hospital - through it, actually. Yet the skank had let go of her hostage to deal with the troll, and a green portal appeared below Dr Lake just as Buffy jumped.
"Oh, no, you don't!" Glory was holding Dr Lake's arm again, half of the woman's body already through the portal. "I'm not going to…"
Buffy twisted in the air and slashed down with her scythe, cutting the skank's arm. It wasn't a clean cut - the scythe was almost ripped out of her hands when it met resistance. As if she were hitting a rock with a staff.
But then the hell-goddess screamed, recoiling - and holding her arm. Her bleeding arm!
"Mom!"
But Dr Lake was screaming as well as she disappeared into the portal.
It didn't matter now - Buffy could hurt Glory. Could kill her. She bared her teeth and slashed at the hell-goddess again.
Glory jumped back, but the tip of Buffy's blade left a tear in the cheap dress - and a red line in the demon's skin.
"You… you cut me!" Glory gaped at her.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious!" Buffy grinned.
"You'll pay for this!" Glory snarled.
Then Jim slashed at her from the side, and the hell-goddess recoiled again, screaming as another red line appeared in her side. Yes!
"You maggots!" she spat, stumbling back another few steps on her cheap heels. "I will…"
Buffy cut her off with a lunge that drove her scythe into Glory's stomach - or would have; it slid off rather than sink into her stomach and only left a shallow cut. Not that it mattered. If they needed a thousand cuts to kill Glory, Buffy would happily deal them all. She was going to be here all night!
And with a cut arm, Glory couldn't… Buffy's next blow was deflected. By the hell-goddess's hurt arm. Which wasn't hurt any more, Buffy realised as she jumped back, dropping down to avoid a haymaker.
"She's regenerating!" Willow yelled.
This was so unfair!
Jim slashed at Glory, making another shallow cut before he was driven back when the skank whirled and lashed out at him. He took the blow with his magic shield, but still slid back a few yards from the sheer power of the strike.
"We need to stop her from healing!" Buffy yelled as she charged again.
"How?" Jim yelled back.
Glory whirled again, kicking out at Buffy, but she dodged by dropping to the ground and slid over the lawn, scythe cutting into the demon's ankle.
"Fire?" Toby asked.
"No fire!" Spike yelled as he moved forward to attack the hell-goddess. He hit her several times, but to no effect, and caught a blow that sent him back, crashing against a car.
Glory turned towards Buffy and charged. Buffy rolled to the side, evading an attempt to stomp her like a bug, and jumped up again. Jim's friend was circling them but not attacking. Good. He wouldn't be of any use right now.
"Tried that. Didn't work," Jim replied, striking another blow at Glory, but getting thrown back by another haymaker that he mostly evaded in the last instant.
"Stop that! That is a designer dress!"
"It's a cheap prom dress!" Buffy retorted, attacking again. Once more, the skank blocked her blow, but this time, Buffy twisted the blade and had it cut into Glory's arm again.
"You lie!" the demon-goddess snarled.
"Yes, I did - it's a cheap copy of a cheap prom dress!"
Uh, oh! Buffy clenched her teeth when Glory suddenly vanished and started to jump to the side. She had barely begun to move, though, when something hit her in the side and sent her flying.
She landed hard on the lawn, bouncing once, then rolled a few yards more. And her ribs hurt. A lot.
Groaning, she got up - just in time to see Glory grab Jim's shield, then lift him up, armour and all, before slamming him onto the ground - on the concrete in front of the clinic's entrance.
"Jim!" Toby charged.
But Glory lifted Jim up again. "I'll squash you like a bug!"
This time, though, a green portal appeared over the concrete, and Jim disappeared into it. And Glory screamed again as her hand holding onto Jim's shield met the portal and was stopped.
She let go of the shield and cradled her hand. "You… you bitch! How dare you!" she snarled as she turned to glare at Claire.
Claire snarled back as Jim landed next to her. "How dare I? Easy!"
Not the best comeback, Buffy thought as she took a deep breath - and how that hurt! - and prepared to charge. But the girl was trying. And she had gotten Dawn to safety. Something Miss Raging Demon-Skank hadn't even noticed yet.
But Glory was far from beaten. She slapped Toby away with a backhanded blow without even looking at him and stalked towards Claire. "I'll rip you to shreds, then your friends, and then I'll start on your pets!"
Then she vanished again - and appeared in front of Claire and Jim, smashing into a portal. Through which the two kids jumped, appearing next to Buffy.
"We need a better plan," Jim snapped. "We can't keep this up."
He was right. They couldn't keep this up. Not against a regenerating, cheating hell-goddess.
At least Dawn was safe, and Willow and the others were… where?
This wasn't working! James Lake Jr resisted the urge to rub his side - Glory had caught him with a blow that probably would have killed him if not for his armour, glancing blow or not. But they weren't hurting her fast enough to overcome her regeneration. At least Mom was safe now.
"Stop moving so I can kill you!" the monster screamed, rubbing her nose, as she turned around.
"She'll wise up soon," the Slayer snapped. "Where are the others?"
That was a good question.
"Moved them further aw...AY!" Claire yelled as Glory finally spotted them.
A moment later, the hell-goddess crashed once again into Claire's portal.
But it had been close. Too close, Jim thought as they stepped through the portal and onto a roof.
"Where's Willow? We need her bombs!" the Slayer snapped.
"Here!" Claire waved her staff - she was panting, Jim knew, either from the effort or the shock - and another portal appeared in front of them. It led to a roof.
"Willow!"
"Buffy!"
"I need the bombs!"
"We haven't set them up yet."
"No time for that! I'm going to use them myself!"
"But…"
"No, Willow. No time. Glory's going to start a rampage if we don't stop her, and we can't do that without..."
Jim pressed his lips together. If the Slayer was going to use the bombs, she would have to be facing Glory - and have Glory face her. That would be dangerous, to say the least. Like taking a blow to land a blow, as Draal put it - but he had taught Jim that that was something you only did in emergencies. And a blow from Glory was deadly…
"I go!" A huge arm grabbed the bundle of bombs that Willow held out to the Slayer. "Tough enough."
"AAARRRGGHH!!!" Jim protested. The troll was hurt already. And he had risked everything to save Mom!
"Aarghaumont! You cannot take another such blow!"
"You can't, either."
"No!" the Slayer protested.
"Buddy!" Toby shook his head - his chestplate was a little dented, Jim noticed.
But AAARRRGGHH!!! shook his big head with a sad smile. "Wingman." Then he stepped through the portal and joined Jim and Claire. "Portal," he said.
"Where's Glory?" Claire asked, looking around.
The Slayer cocked her head sideways. "This way! Around two hundred yards!" She pointed down the road.
Claire opened another portal, leading down to the street again.
"Come out and let me kill you! I'll wreck the entire town if I have to!"
And there was Glory. Lifting a pickup over her head. A familiar pickup. Senñor Uhl's truck.
"Over here, skank!" the Slayer yelled.
The monster turned, then smiled widely - and heaved. The white pickup flew through the air, but Jim was already jumping to the side, taking Claire with him.
And AAARRRGGHH!!! charged straight at the hell-goddess, roaring like a madman. Jim felt a shiver run down his spine.
Then both his friend and Glory vanished in a cloud of pink paint. Yes! Jim started to smile.
And stopped. Claire gasped. Two pink forms emerged from the cloud as it settled. AAARRRGGHH!!! and Glory. And Jim could see Glory's arm buried up to her elbow in AAARRRGGHH!!!'s chest.
"What? What did you do? My eyes!" the monster screeched. She pulled her arm back, scratching at her face. "My eyes!"
"She's blinded!" the Slayer yelled.
But all Jim could do was watch AAARRRGGHH!!! fall down, slowly turning to stone. A portal caught him - his body! - before it hit the road and could shatter but… AAARRRGGHH!!! was dead.
"Jim! Hit her, now! Don't waste the opportunity he gave us!" The Slayer slashed her blade across the stumbling monster's back.
Jim shook, blinking. Right. AAARRRGGHH!!! had died for this. And Jim would make his killer pay! He clenched his teeth and charged, yelling loudly.
"Don't yell! She can still hear you!" the Slayer snapped, diving to the side as the blind hell-goddess lashed out.
Right! Stupid! Jim changed course, then attacked from another angle, hacking with Eclipse at the flailing arms of Glory. His blade cut deeper into her this time.
"No! Stand still! I'll crush you!"
Jim jumped back as she started to tear up the street, then throw pieces around. She was blinded but moving almost too fast to track - and if a piece of road or sidewalk caught him…
The Slayer went in again, hitting Glory's leg. Slashing her Achilles tendon. And the monster dropped. "My leg! What did you do?"
The Slayer didn't answer - she moved and slashed at the prone form instead. As did Jim. He dashed forward, then struck and jumped back again. Glory wouldn't escape now. No matter how long this took, she'd die here.
The Slayer struck her legs again, dodging out of the way of a wild swing, and once more, the hell-goddess cried out. She was now tearing at her own eyes, Jim realised as he cut at her arms again. Could she rip out her eyes and regenerate them without the paint?
Gritting his teeth, he kept slashing and hacking. A finger flew past him when he caught her hand. Blood splattered on the ground when the Slayer drove her scythe into Glory's back. A kick with her good leg almost caught Jim, but he managed to sidestep it - she was still flailing blindly. They could do this! Just a little more!
He almost got her throat with the next slash, nicking her shoulder instead. Yes!
Then a splash of liquid hit the hell-goddess. Jim had been about to move in and jumped back. A few drops landed on him, anyway - and sizzled. Acid! The Screeching from the hell-goddess grew louder.
"No!" the Slayer yelled, turning around.
Jim saw a figure running away. A portal opened in front of it, and it landed next to Jim. It was a man.
"Why did you do it?" the Slayer exclaimed. Then she gasped. "Demon!"
"Doc!" Spike yelled.
The man's mouth opened, wider than possible for a human, and a long tongue shot out of it, towards the Slayer. Her scythe cut it apart, she stepped forward - and the demon's head rolled over the pavement. "You bastard!"
"What?" Jim blinked.
"The acid… it's dissolving the paint!" the Slayer snapped as she turned towards Glory.
Oh, no!
Buffy Summers clenched her teeth and slashed at the skanky demon again. They had to kill her before she regained her sight! She left a cut alongside Glory's arm, enough to give even a vampire pause, but the monster didn't even seem to react.
"My eyes! My face!" Glory shrieked. "What have you done?"
An opening! Buffy lunged, but Glory threw her head to the side at the last moment, and instead of impaling her through the eye, the scythe sliced her cheek open.
The demon's screams turned into unintelligible roars. Jim tried an overhand slash, but that only smashed into Glory's shoulder. And the cut in her arm was already healing.
"We need to cut her head off!" Buffy spat. "I'll open her up!"
"What?"
But Buffy was already moving, using her blade to deflect one flailing arm, then slicing deep into the other and driving the hilt into the monster's smoking face.
Yet instead of having her head driven back, exposing her throat, the hell-goddess was barely shaken - and Jim's blow didn't land on her throat or neck but dug into her still-healing shoulder again - and the sword got stuck!
Buffy cursed and kicked at Glory. It was up to her, now, and… she was flying through the air, breath knocked out of her. She hit the concrete, rolled a yard or so, coughing and panting. Then the pain hit her. Broken rib, at least - she knew the feeling. Just moving hurt. But she had to get up. Had to strike Glory down before… before…
Another scream. Jim flew through the air, crashing into a small tree that broke under the impact.
And Glory stood. Snarling and bleeding, but with her eyes open. "You filthy maggots! You tried to burn me!"
The stupid hell-goddess hadn't even realised what had happened! Buffy would have laughed if her chest didn't hurt so much.
She got to her feet, brandishing her scythe. This was bad. Very bad. Glory was healing before her eyes. They had to keep up the pressure. Had to put the monster down for good while she was still bleeding.
But Jim was still trying to get up. Well, it wasn't the first time Buffy had faced the big bad evil guy - or gal - alone. She wasn't a fan of the whole 'the Slayer fights alone' shtick, but she could do it as well as any Slayer if she had to.
Clenching her teeth to ignore the pain, she started towards Glory, blade raised.
Shots rang out, many of them, and Glory twitched. Riley had finally arrived, it seemed. Had they stopped evacuating the civilians?
"What now? More maggots?" The hell-goddess snarled, turning around. "Where are you? Come out and..."
A rocket hit her face, and she vanished in a fireball. LAW, Buffy recognised it - she had used one against the Judge. But unlike the Judge, Glory wasn't blown to bits.
Just scorched. And she was mad. "My dress! You… you maggots!"
Not the largest vocabulary, Buffy thought as she stepped to the side to hit the monster from the back. But she couldn't charge into the hail of bullets that were striking Glory and doing about as much as hail hitting Spike. More LAWs flew at the monster, but Glory vanished before they hit. Running away? After the explosions, Buffy heard a crash from further ahead. From where the shots had come. Then screams. The soldiers!
"Claire!" she yelled. "Portal, now!"
A portal appeared in front of her, and Buffy almost ran into Claire as the witch stepped through, looking at "Jim!"
"I'm OK," the kid managed to say as he got up.
"Portal to the soldiers!" Buffy snapped. More screams - cut short - reached her.
"Where?" Claire asked, turning her head. Right. From her angle, she hadn't seen the soldiers.
Buffy raised her sword to point at the building across the street just as a body flew over the roof, hitting the road below. A head followed, landing on the lawn nearby. Buffy glanced at it and gasped. Riley. The bitch had killed Riley.
Buffy'd kill her!
She started running towards the building - just fifty yards; easy even with her broken rib. She just had to… A portal appeared in front of her, and Buffy charged through - and found herself back next to Claire. What…?
"My nose! Stop that!"
Oh. Glory had run straight into the portal. Again. Would have run straight into - or through Buffy if not for Claire. "Thanks for the save!" Buffy told the witch.
The portal vanished and reappeared, stopping the next attack by Glory. And then Claire vanished through another portal, which closed before Buffy or Jim could follow.
Leaving them with Glory.
"Where is the witch?" the demon screamed. She was bleeding from the nose, Buffy noticed, but her other wounds had healed. The dress was a total loss, though, as were the shoes - not that anyone with taste would miss either.
"Fight us!" Jim yelled, raising his sword.
Glory turned her head to glare at him, then grinned and slowly walked towards the kid.
So, the monster could learn. But if she didn't run too fast to see, she was vulnerable! Buffy started to circle the monster. Another portal opened nearby, and Toby stepped through it. Followed by Spike.
They had Glory surrounded now. For all the good that would do them.
The hell-goddess had completely regenerated, James Lake Jr saw. The remains of her clothes left no doubt about that.
"Good! You're all here!" the monster spat with a tooth, deranged smile. "I'll kill you all!"
"Blah blah blah!" the Slayer retorted. "Heard it before."
Was she baiting Glory to attack her? She must be. Jim clenched his teeth - the Slayer wasn't wearing armour. Jim was. "And you have failed to kill us!" he yelled. "Just like you failed at everything!"
Glory whirled to face him. "I killed your friends!"
Jim hissed. That she had. AAARRRGGHH!!! And she had kidnapped and hurt Mom. "And we destroyed your ugly dress!" he spat.
"That was high-fashion!" Glory glared at him.
"It was a cheap copy of an ugly prom dress no fashion model would be caught dead in!" the Slayer yelled. "The only thing uglier than that dress were your ugly shoes!"
Glory whirled and vanished. A portal appeared in front of the Slayer, but this time, the hell-goddess didn't run into it. She didn't appear in front of it, either. Where was she?
Jim looked around.
"Move!" the Slayer yelled.
Jim's eyes widened, and he jumped to the side. Glory had to be attacking from a different angle!
Something sped past him - a reddish blur - and the Slayer flew through the air, hitting the pavement and rolling a few yards before getting up. "Missed me!" the Slayer called out.
"I didn't miss you! I hit you!"
There was Glory! Standing to the side of them, next to a streetlight!
"It was just a glancing blow!" the Slayer yelled back - but she was grimacing. She must be in a lot of pain to show such a reaction.
"I'll rip your head off!" Glory screeched - but instead of vanishing, she seemed stuck. Like trying to move through transparent mud.
"Great, Willow!" the Slayer cheered. "Keep her trapped!"
Another portal opened above Glory, and paint fell down, splashing over the pavement and the trapped monster.
"Now! Let's kill her!" The Slayer was already charging. Jim did the same. As did the others.
"Die!" Toby screamed, holy hammer held high. But he was huffing already - he had been hurt before. Jim remembered. What was he doing here?
The Slayer reached the trapped hell-goddess first, slashing at her head. Somehow, Glory managed to block the blow with her arm. And the scythe, deflected, seemed to get stuck in the invisible force holding the demon.
"Her head and shoulders are free!" Jim yelled, raising his own blade to strike. "Don't miss!"
His own overhead strike was caught as well but cut deeply into the limb.
Glory howled but was cut off by Toby hitting her on the head from behind, screaming like a madman.
The hell-goddess's head rocked forward but wasn't smashed in. "Stop that!" Her eyes were open - not covered in paint.
Spike hit her with a crowbar, but that didn't even fate her. She slapped him away, and he went headfirst through a glass door nearby into a bar, leaving the shards covered in blood.
Jim struck again, but Glory managed to move to the side, and he hit her shoulder instead of her neck. Again.
And the Slayer jumped up, then struck, the scythe slicing through the wounded arm. It fell off in a shower of blood, but the scythe ended up trapped in whatever magic held the demon.
"MY ARM!" Glory howled, and Jim felt as if his ears had burst.
He struck at the trapped monster anyway, screaming as well. She managed to turn her head in time, but Eclipse still cut into her head, slicing off an ear.
"NOOO!" The howling grew even louder. And she was rocking back and forth. But she was still trapped, and they were killing her. They just needed to behead her. The Slayer was still trying to get her stuck scythe free again, but Jim could attack. He bared his teeth as he drew his blade back for a swing that would cut Glory's head off.
Before he could strike, though, the Slayer stumbled back, scythe in hand. And Glory was free - and whirling to face the Slayer.
"DIE!"
A portal appeared in front of the Slayer, stopping the monster. Glory whirled. "STOP CHEATING!" The portal vanished, replaced with two that hemmed her in.
And green tendrils of magic grabbed the hell-goddess, keeping her in place. Merlin's magic! Yes!
Jim charged ahead, sword held high. At the same time, the Slayer came at Glory from the side. Eclipse bit into the monster's good arm, not quite slicing through it. The scythe cut into her back.
"NOOO!" The green tendrils shattered and dissolved as the monster broke free. Jim turned to slash at her, but a foot caught him in the stomach, sending him flying - into a building.
No, into a portal! Jim came out of it a few yards away, on a patch of grass, and carved a through into it. He still couldn't breathe and lay there, coughing, for a moment. God, this hurt! She must have broken his ribs! Or something else. And… was that blood on the ground?
But they had to kill her! He forced himself to get up despite the pain.
Another portal opened next to him, and Toby came flying through, crashing into the ground. Jim stared. What the…? Toby didn't get up. But Jim heard him groaning. He needed to… No! He had to kill Glory, or they would all die. "Claire!" he yelled.
A portal opened in front of him. He stumbled through.
And he was back at the fight. Watching Glory charge into a building. A moment later, an explosion rocked the building, filling the ground floor with smoke and flames. A trap. And there was movement on the roof. Claire and the others must be up there, he realised.
But Glory stumbled out of the smoke, coughing and yelling. "Stop cheating and let me kill you!"
"She's really not the brightest demon I've ever met," the Slayer muttered next to Jim.
He glanced at her - she looked worse than he felt. Covered in blood, one arm hanging down at her side, bent over, beaten black and blue...
And the monster had just heard them. Glory turned to face them. "YOU!"
Two portals appeared in front of Jim and Buffy. Angled and forming a wedge. Glory slid around it, bouncing off and hitting the road, rolling through smashed concrete and asphalt.
Jim turned. That was an opportunity! He just had to…
He was on the ground. Something had hit him in the thigh. A piece of concrete, half-crushed, lay next to him.
Buffy screamed.
Jim lifted his head - Buffy was on the ground, holding her leg. Glory must have hit her as well with a rock or something. Damn.
He tried to get up, but the pain was too much. He couldn't give up, though. Not now, Not when everyone needed him. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to sit. Sit, then stand. Even if his leg felt as if it wanted to fall off. Was falling off. He had to stand and...
Glory was approaching. Slowly. She was smiling, white teeth showing through her sliced cheek. "I'll kill you slowly! And I'll have the cheating witch watch! I'll…"
A purple bolt struck her, smashing her into the pavement. Purple glowing ropes wound themselves around her body, pinning her down.
"Cut off her head!"
That was Claire's voice! Jim started towards the hell-goddess. He tried to run but had to limp. Glory was trying to escape, but the magic was holding her. And her head was exposed.
"Gotcha, bitch!"
Buffy was limping next to Jim, using her scythe to prop herself up.
But it was just a few steps, and they were at Glory. Jim raised Eclipse. Buffy raised the Scythe.
"No! No! NOOO!"
Jim struck. As did Buffy. Their blades hacked into Glory's neck. Her screams turned into incoherent wheezing noises, and blood splashed over the pavement. But they hadn't managed to behead her - she was still alive. Despite his aching ribs, Jim raised Eclipse again. Buffy mirrored him. Both struck again.
And the demon's head rolled over the pavement. It flickered for a moment. Jim blinked.
It wasn't Glory's head. It was…
"Ben the Intern?" Buffy gaped at it.
"He was her human host. Glorificus is dead."
Jim blinked. Claire sounded… off. He looked up.
Claire was floating above them. Smiling. And her eyes were blazing with purple magic.
Shadow Realm, January 28th, 2017
"So…" James Lake Jr took a deep breath and looked at his mother, who was preparing something in the kitchen. "We're ready now. We're about to fight Glory." More or less ready - they didn't stumble into each other while training any more. It wasn't as if they could train with an actual Glory as their opponent, so any training with a dummy might introduce bad habits. Or so the Slayer claimed.
Mom froze, her knife clattering to the countertop. "I… I thought you were still preparing," she said as she turned to face him.
"They've just got the radar guns we needed," Jim said. There was no need to mention where exactly the Slayer's friends got them with Claire's help or that the Califonia Highway Patrol would be unable to catch speeders for a while. "Toby and Claire got their armour sorted out, Willow's got her spells ready…" He shrugged. Merlin had been critical but ultimately approved of the spell. Even if he had done it in the most reluctant and backhanded way ever. "So, yeah, we're about to move out."
"But…" Mom wiped her eyes, and Jim looked away.
A few seconds passed. Mom sniffled. "I should head to the hospital."
"What?" He blinked. "No! Why?"
"If anyone of you gets hurt, I would be at the hospital already. Claire can open a portal straight to the entrance, but what if they don't have doctors available to treat you? I got a call a while ago from work. They are swamped with patients in the mental ward - they have that intern from Sunnydale volunteering and are still overworked."
"Oh." Jim bit his lower lip. He hadn't thought of that. None of them had, actually. "That's… a good idea, Mom," he said, nodding. If anything happened, Claire could easily get them away. Unless something happened to Claire. And, of course, the odds of anyone surviving a hit from Glory were not very good. Even with the new armour.
"But…" Mom shook her head, still sniffling. "You and the others, you'll face her."
"We're prepared," Jim said. "We've got her number." He hoped so, at least.
She slowly nodded, and he hugged her. And held her for a while.
*****
Saddleback Butte State Park, Mojave Desert, California, January 28th, 2017
James Lake Jr sighed as he leaned against a rock and stared out into the desert. Soon, they would be fighting Glory. And he'd find out if Eclipse was powerful enough to hurt the hell-goddess. And whether or not their preparations were enough. What he could hear from behind him, where Willow was setting up, wasn't exactly raising his confidence.
"Alright… I'm booting up the sensor grid!"
"Way to go with the milspeak, Willow!"
"That's not military speak, Xander! That's just the correct term for this setup."
"Sure, sure, you little general you!."
"Oh, you! Just go and check the southern area; one sensor is not responding."
"What? I set it up perfectly. I bet that was the coyote I saw - it was eyeing me the whole time."
"Are you sure it was a coyote and not a stray dog?"
"Yes, Dawn, I know a coyote when I see one."
"It could've been a coyote demon."
"Dawn! There are no such things!"
"Are you sure?"
"Well, c-coyote is a t-trickster spirit in m-many Native American religions."
"Yes, Tara! See, Xander?"
"I really doubt that the mutt that was watching me set up a radar gun was a major spirit! The last Native American spirit I saw tried to kill us all, remember?"
"Well, the Chumash had a lot of reasons to be angry at us - at the people currently living on their land. It's not fair that they blamed us, but there's a certain irony in them striking at us while we celebrated Thanksgiving."
"I didn't kill any of them!"
"But you unearthed the old Sunnydale Mission building, which disturbed their rest."
"I was acting under orders!"
"That hasn't been an excuse for decades!"
"Whatever - I'm going to check the sensor now! Claire, can you open a portal to the southern grid?"
"And check the one next to it as well - it's giving me weird readings!"
"Maybe we shouldn't have gone with the cheapest radar guns we could find."
"There was no choice - those were the only ones the police had available."
"Typical! Always going with the lowest bidder!"
"Not always, Xander. If the bidder is a friend of the politician in charge, they'll go with them no matter the cost."
"Here's the portal!"
"Thank you! Keep it open, I'll be right back!"
Jim sighed. Everyone seemed to be on edge. Well, that was to be expected, of course. They were facing a hell-goddess, with the Earth at stake.
"So… your mom's at the hospital."
Jim turned and looked at Toby. "Yes."
"Nana just said she'd prepare a huge dinner and expects everyone to attend. But she was..." Toby swallowed.
Jim nodded. "Yeah."
"But we have to do this, right, Jimbo?"
"Yes."
"No matter what. If we don't do it, everyone dies."
"Yes." Jim nodded. His friend sounded like he needed to convince himself. Perhaps Jim could ask him to protect the others, back in the Shadow Realm. A last line of defence? No. Toby would see through that lie.
"That's it, then. The final fight. Well, until Gunmar."
"Yes."
The sun was setting. As planned - the trolls and Spike would be able to fight as well. "Blinky's coming too," Jim said. Even though he wouldn't be able to hurt Glory at all. But the troll had insisted - if he had fought at Killahead Bridge, he would fight here.
"Yes. And AAARRRGGHH!!!."
So many of his friends would fight. Jim couldn't protect them all. But he'd give his all to try.
*****
"Alright! Everything's set up now - all sensors are working as intended. We've got full coverage of all approaches to our position."
"Way to go with the milspeak, Willow!"
Buffy Summers rolled her eyes. "Stop repeating your stupid jokes, Xander." She walked over to Willow. "So, that means we're ready, then."
"Yes. I could probably tweak the system a little more, and we're still missing coverage of the wider area outside the obvious approaches, but…" Willow swallowed. "We're ready."
Behind her, Tara put her hand on Willow's shoulder. The witch shouldn't be here - she wasn't exactly a fighter. But she wouldn't leave Willow alone. Well, that was her decision.
It was too late to try and change her decision, anyway.
Buffy nodded. This was it, then. Time to lure Glory in and hit her with everything they had. Blind her, then surround her and attack from all sides. Cut her down before she could recover. Hamstring her so she couldn't flee. Kill her once and for all.
She took a deep breath. "Good. Everyone, get ready. Dawn! Claire!"
"Yes?" Dawn jumped up from where she had been sitting on the ground, checking her phone, in front of Claire's portal.
"Yes?" Claire separated from Jim.
Buffy walked towards her sister, waving at Claire. "Let's do this."
Dawn was nervous - she was sweating a little despite the cold, and Buffy saw the hand holding the phone tremble. "Alright."
Claire was frowning as she joined them, gripping her staff harder than needed. Well, Buffy understood that. She still didn't like that Toby was using her hammer, whether he had been proven worthy or not. Who cared about troll gods, anyway?
But Claire still closed the portal and handed the staff over to Dawn, who took a deep breath of her own, then held it out. "Here we go…" she whispered, then opened a portal in front of her.
Buffy took a step closer to her. "Open it behind you, so you can flee if needed," she reminded her.
"I know! This is just testing," Dawn retorted. "Don't have a cow!"
"I'm just looking out for you!"
"Don't distract me!"
The portal vanished, then reformed. And did it again. Then two portals formed, and Dawn stepped through them.
"Dawn…" Buffy said.
"Just in case she senses me travelling through portals instead of the portals themselves," Dawn explained, repeating the feat three more times.
That was… a good point, actually. Still a risk, though. "That's enough, I think," Buffy told her.
"A few more times - like in Arcadia Oaks," Dawn said. And did it.
Buffy clenched her teeth. Why wasn't anyone else saying anything? This was dangerous? But Merlin was just staring at the desert as if he had never seen one before. Jim and Toby were with Claire - no surprise; Jim would be ready to step in front of a charging Glory for Claire. And the others were sitting behind large rocks, hopefully hidden from the skanky hell-goddess's sight. Well, the trolls looked more like rocks themselves when they didn't move.
"Anything?" Buffy asked, looking over her shoulder.
"Nothing yet. The system is filtering out animals, but I double-checked with an override; it's working. Well, we don't know where she was when she noticed Dawn the last time, so our estimate of her speed might be off. Although I don't think we're too far off. And we're not any further than we were before," Willow told her.
"Maybe she's looking for a limousine," Xander joked. "She strikes me as the kind of hell-goddess who likes to travel in style."
"And she wouldn't care about the environment or global warming, so she would likely pick a gas-guzzling SUV," Willow agreed.
Dawn was still creating portals, but, finally, just portals leading her back to the Shadow Realm - Buffy could see the camp in the distance. She tensed. As soon as Glory appeared, she'd push Dawn through the portal. And then she'd hand the staff over to Claire.
Any minute now.
"Perhaps she's asleep?" Xander asked.
"A hell-goddess, asleep?" Buffy scoffed.
"Glorificus is said to be hiding amongst humanity," Merlin said, "passing as a human. He might be in a form that cannot sense the Key."
"That's…" Buffy trailed off. That would suck very much. All this, for a no-show? Their plan foiled by a hell-goddess's laziness? That would…
Her phone rang. She pulled it out. Riley's number. What…? She accepted the call. "You've reached Slayer's Catch-a-Hell-goddess. How can we help you?"
"We've just got an alert from the Arcadia Oaks hospital. Blonde woman in a red dress is attacking patients and staff."
Buffy gasped. "What?" But if Glory was around, why didn't she react to Dawn's antics?
"Mom! Mom's at the hospital!" Then Jim's phone rang. Buffy cocked her head.
Riley continued: "It sounds like Glory. We're deploying to verify and evacuate the people."
She wasn't really listening. She was listening to Jim's call.
"Mom?"
"Jim!" That was his mother. And she sounded… strained. "It's… Glory's here. She…"
"Ah, damn it, give me that!"
Buffy's eyes widened. She knew that voice!
"Alright. How does that work? Ah! Listen up, little boy! I've got your mother. If you want her back in one piece, you give me my KEY!"
*****
Glory had Mom. James Lake Jr almost crushed the phone in his hand. The hell-goddess bent on destroying Earth had his mother.
"Do you hear me? Is this thing on?"
"It is, Your Magnificence!"
"Didn't you hear me? Give me my KEY, or I will start pulling off pieces of your mother!"
"No!" Jim blurted out. "Leave her alone!"
"So you do hear me! Good. Now, I want my KEY!" she screeched.
"Don't do it, Jim!"
"Mom!"
"You shut up!"
He heard the sound of something striking… and heard Mom cry out in pain.
"Mom!" This couldn't be happening. Glory had Mom! Jim looked around, blinking - he wasn't crying, was he?
Toby was grimacing but gripping the Hammer of the Troll Gods. Blinky was looking at him with the saddest expression Jim had seen on his face. AAARRRGGHH!!! looked… grim. And Claire… Claire was looking at him with tears in her eyes. Oh, no - she would know exactly what this felt like. Her brother was in Gunmar's hands.
"Hello? I didn't accidentally destroy this thing, did I?"
"No, Your Magnificence!"
"Let her go!" Jim snapped.
"Only if you give me my KEY! If you don't, I'll let her go - from a cliff!"
The Slayer was there, making cutting motions across her throat. What? What was she mouthing? Oh! Cut the mic.
"Wait!" Jim blurted out, then muted the mic. And covered it with his hand to make sure. "What?"
"She's at the hospital. We need to strike at her there," the Slayer said in a tense tone.
"But she's got Mom!" Jim protested.
"And we need to get her back. We can't do that from here. We need to head there and fight her!"
"I'll gather the bombs!" Xander was moving.
"I'll help!" Willow, followed by Tara, ran after him.
"But…" Jim shook his head.
"It's the only chance she has. We can't give them Dawn."
Jim glanced at the girl. She looked frozen, blinking - shocked. Trade her for Mom? Part of him wanted to do it. But he knew it wouldn't do any good. Once Glory had Dawn, she would destroy the world. Hell on Earth. He couldn't make the trade. But he couldn't sacrifice Mom, either. He couldn't.
"It's the only way. We head to the hospital - portal there. We confront her, and at the first opportunity, Claire portals your mom away."
"You need me," Dawn whispered. "If I'm not there, she'll know we won't trade me for Jim's mom."
"No!" The Slayer snapped. "We can't risk you!"
"You have to." Dawn swallowed, looking deathly pale in the moonlight.
"She is correct," Merlin spoke up. "It is obvious that this plan has failed. Glorificus, albeit of seemingly limited metal ability, will not fall for your trap. Our best and, possibly, only viable option is to strike now. Adapt the plan, if you will - but we must make haste."
Dawn handed the staff to Claire. "Open a portal to the hospital. I don't know where it is!"
"Dawn! No!" the Slayer protested.
Claire looked at Jim.
Could he do it? Risk Mom like this? Risk Dawn? And the world?
He couldn't not do it. Jim took a deep breath and nodded. "Do it. Front of the hospital." They could lure Glory out of the building, at least.
Claire nodded back at him, then moved her staff, and a portal appeared in front of them. Jim could see the front lawn of the clinic. And the entrance - the sliding doors had been wrecked. He heard sirens nearby. The police were here. Of course they would be.
He stepped through, then unmuted the phone's mic. "We're in front of the building," he said as the others filed through the portal.
"Which building?"
"I see them outside, Your Magnificence!"
"This building? Why didn't they say so? Come, maggot!"
"Maggot?" Jim spat. Who was she talking to?
But there she was in the lobby. Red dress, blonde hair, sneer on her face.
Glory.
And she was dragging Mom with her. Mom who had blood running down her face. Glory had hurt her.
Jim would kill the hell-goddess for this.
"There you are!" she crowed, looking at Dawn. "My Key!" She smiled widely - derangedly - at them. No, at Dawn.
Behind Jim, Willow, Xander and Tara stepped through the portal.
"Riley's coming," the Slayer whispered. "For all the good that will do."
Jim didn't care. He stared at Glory. And at Mom.
"Now, hand over the Key!" the hell-goddess demanded.
"Let Dr Lake go first!" the Slayer snapped.
"Do you think I am a fool? As soon as I let go of her, you'll use your stupid portals to get her away! I won't release her until I am holding my KEY!"
She was back to screeching, Jim absentmindedly noted. Dawn shivered.
"And as soon as you have Dawn, you'll kill Dr Lake!" the Slayer retorted.
"No, I wouldn't!"
"Do not doubt the word of Her Magnificence!" a small, hooded demon cried from the side.
"Silence!" Glory screamed and kicked the demon back into the lobby - through the glass wall.
She was about twenty yards away. Too far for a surprise charge. Too far to hurl Eclipse and cut her arm. What could they do? They had to do something!
"Oh!" he heard the Slayer gasp.
A moment later, a huge figure crashed into Glory from above, and Mom cried out.
*****
Arcadia Oaks, January 28th, 2017
The moment the hulking troll fell onto Glory, Buffy Summers moved. She charged across the lawn, her scythe held high for an overhand blow - let's see the skank hold onto Dr Lake with a severed arm!
"Aarghaumont!" she heard Blinky cry out behind her, followed by Jim's "MOM!" as the kid charged as well.
But for all her speed, she was too slow to reach Glory before AAARRRGGHH!!! flew through the air, crashing into the upper floor of the hospital - through it, actually. Yet the skank had let go of her hostage to deal with the troll, and a green portal appeared below Dr Lake just as Buffy jumped.
"Oh, no, you don't!" Glory was holding Dr Lake's arm again, half of the woman's body already through the portal. "I'm not going to…"
Buffy twisted in the air and slashed down with her scythe, cutting the skank's arm. It wasn't a clean cut - the scythe was almost ripped out of her hands when it met resistance. As if she were hitting a rock with a staff.
But then the hell-goddess screamed, recoiling - and holding her arm. Her bleeding arm!
"Mom!"
But Dr Lake was screaming as well as she disappeared into the portal.
It didn't matter now - Buffy could hurt Glory. Could kill her. She bared her teeth and slashed at the hell-goddess again.
Glory jumped back, but the tip of Buffy's blade left a tear in the cheap dress - and a red line in the demon's skin.
"You… you cut me!" Glory gaped at her.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious!" Buffy grinned.
"You'll pay for this!" Glory snarled.
Then Jim slashed at her from the side, and the hell-goddess recoiled again, screaming as another red line appeared in her side. Yes!
"You maggots!" she spat, stumbling back another few steps on her cheap heels. "I will…"
Buffy cut her off with a lunge that drove her scythe into Glory's stomach - or would have; it slid off rather than sink into her stomach and only left a shallow cut. Not that it mattered. If they needed a thousand cuts to kill Glory, Buffy would happily deal them all. She was going to be here all night!
And with a cut arm, Glory couldn't… Buffy's next blow was deflected. By the hell-goddess's hurt arm. Which wasn't hurt any more, Buffy realised as she jumped back, dropping down to avoid a haymaker.
"She's regenerating!" Willow yelled.
This was so unfair!
Jim slashed at Glory, making another shallow cut before he was driven back when the skank whirled and lashed out at him. He took the blow with his magic shield, but still slid back a few yards from the sheer power of the strike.
"We need to stop her from healing!" Buffy yelled as she charged again.
"How?" Jim yelled back.
Glory whirled again, kicking out at Buffy, but she dodged by dropping to the ground and slid over the lawn, scythe cutting into the demon's ankle.
"Fire?" Toby asked.
"No fire!" Spike yelled as he moved forward to attack the hell-goddess. He hit her several times, but to no effect, and caught a blow that sent him back, crashing against a car.
Glory turned towards Buffy and charged. Buffy rolled to the side, evading an attempt to stomp her like a bug, and jumped up again. Jim's friend was circling them but not attacking. Good. He wouldn't be of any use right now.
"Tried that. Didn't work," Jim replied, striking another blow at Glory, but getting thrown back by another haymaker that he mostly evaded in the last instant.
"Stop that! That is a designer dress!"
"It's a cheap prom dress!" Buffy retorted, attacking again. Once more, the skank blocked her blow, but this time, Buffy twisted the blade and had it cut into Glory's arm again.
"You lie!" the demon-goddess snarled.
"Yes, I did - it's a cheap copy of a cheap prom dress!"
Uh, oh! Buffy clenched her teeth when Glory suddenly vanished and started to jump to the side. She had barely begun to move, though, when something hit her in the side and sent her flying.
She landed hard on the lawn, bouncing once, then rolled a few yards more. And her ribs hurt. A lot.
Groaning, she got up - just in time to see Glory grab Jim's shield, then lift him up, armour and all, before slamming him onto the ground - on the concrete in front of the clinic's entrance.
"Jim!" Toby charged.
But Glory lifted Jim up again. "I'll squash you like a bug!"
This time, though, a green portal appeared over the concrete, and Jim disappeared into it. And Glory screamed again as her hand holding onto Jim's shield met the portal and was stopped.
She let go of the shield and cradled her hand. "You… you bitch! How dare you!" she snarled as she turned to glare at Claire.
Claire snarled back as Jim landed next to her. "How dare I? Easy!"
Not the best comeback, Buffy thought as she took a deep breath - and how that hurt! - and prepared to charge. But the girl was trying. And she had gotten Dawn to safety. Something Miss Raging Demon-Skank hadn't even noticed yet.
But Glory was far from beaten. She slapped Toby away with a backhanded blow without even looking at him and stalked towards Claire. "I'll rip you to shreds, then your friends, and then I'll start on your pets!"
Then she vanished again - and appeared in front of Claire and Jim, smashing into a portal. Through which the two kids jumped, appearing next to Buffy.
"We need a better plan," Jim snapped. "We can't keep this up."
He was right. They couldn't keep this up. Not against a regenerating, cheating hell-goddess.
At least Dawn was safe, and Willow and the others were… where?
*****
This wasn't working! James Lake Jr resisted the urge to rub his side - Glory had caught him with a blow that probably would have killed him if not for his armour, glancing blow or not. But they weren't hurting her fast enough to overcome her regeneration. At least Mom was safe now.
"Stop moving so I can kill you!" the monster screamed, rubbing her nose, as she turned around.
"She'll wise up soon," the Slayer snapped. "Where are the others?"
That was a good question.
"Moved them further aw...AY!" Claire yelled as Glory finally spotted them.
A moment later, the hell-goddess crashed once again into Claire's portal.
But it had been close. Too close, Jim thought as they stepped through the portal and onto a roof.
"Where's Willow? We need her bombs!" the Slayer snapped.
"Here!" Claire waved her staff - she was panting, Jim knew, either from the effort or the shock - and another portal appeared in front of them. It led to a roof.
"Willow!"
"Buffy!"
"I need the bombs!"
"We haven't set them up yet."
"No time for that! I'm going to use them myself!"
"But…"
"No, Willow. No time. Glory's going to start a rampage if we don't stop her, and we can't do that without..."
Jim pressed his lips together. If the Slayer was going to use the bombs, she would have to be facing Glory - and have Glory face her. That would be dangerous, to say the least. Like taking a blow to land a blow, as Draal put it - but he had taught Jim that that was something you only did in emergencies. And a blow from Glory was deadly…
"I go!" A huge arm grabbed the bundle of bombs that Willow held out to the Slayer. "Tough enough."
"AAARRRGGHH!!!" Jim protested. The troll was hurt already. And he had risked everything to save Mom!
"Aarghaumont! You cannot take another such blow!"
"You can't, either."
"No!" the Slayer protested.
"Buddy!" Toby shook his head - his chestplate was a little dented, Jim noticed.
But AAARRRGGHH!!! shook his big head with a sad smile. "Wingman." Then he stepped through the portal and joined Jim and Claire. "Portal," he said.
"Where's Glory?" Claire asked, looking around.
The Slayer cocked her head sideways. "This way! Around two hundred yards!" She pointed down the road.
Claire opened another portal, leading down to the street again.
"Come out and let me kill you! I'll wreck the entire town if I have to!"
And there was Glory. Lifting a pickup over her head. A familiar pickup. Senñor Uhl's truck.
"Over here, skank!" the Slayer yelled.
The monster turned, then smiled widely - and heaved. The white pickup flew through the air, but Jim was already jumping to the side, taking Claire with him.
And AAARRRGGHH!!! charged straight at the hell-goddess, roaring like a madman. Jim felt a shiver run down his spine.
Then both his friend and Glory vanished in a cloud of pink paint. Yes! Jim started to smile.
And stopped. Claire gasped. Two pink forms emerged from the cloud as it settled. AAARRRGGHH!!! and Glory. And Jim could see Glory's arm buried up to her elbow in AAARRRGGHH!!!'s chest.
"What? What did you do? My eyes!" the monster screeched. She pulled her arm back, scratching at her face. "My eyes!"
"She's blinded!" the Slayer yelled.
But all Jim could do was watch AAARRRGGHH!!! fall down, slowly turning to stone. A portal caught him - his body! - before it hit the road and could shatter but… AAARRRGGHH!!! was dead.
"Jim! Hit her, now! Don't waste the opportunity he gave us!" The Slayer slashed her blade across the stumbling monster's back.
Jim shook, blinking. Right. AAARRRGGHH!!! had died for this. And Jim would make his killer pay! He clenched his teeth and charged, yelling loudly.
"Don't yell! She can still hear you!" the Slayer snapped, diving to the side as the blind hell-goddess lashed out.
Right! Stupid! Jim changed course, then attacked from another angle, hacking with Eclipse at the flailing arms of Glory. His blade cut deeper into her this time.
"No! Stand still! I'll crush you!"
Jim jumped back as she started to tear up the street, then throw pieces around. She was blinded but moving almost too fast to track - and if a piece of road or sidewalk caught him…
The Slayer went in again, hitting Glory's leg. Slashing her Achilles tendon. And the monster dropped. "My leg! What did you do?"
The Slayer didn't answer - she moved and slashed at the prone form instead. As did Jim. He dashed forward, then struck and jumped back again. Glory wouldn't escape now. No matter how long this took, she'd die here.
The Slayer struck her legs again, dodging out of the way of a wild swing, and once more, the hell-goddess cried out. She was now tearing at her own eyes, Jim realised as he cut at her arms again. Could she rip out her eyes and regenerate them without the paint?
Gritting his teeth, he kept slashing and hacking. A finger flew past him when he caught her hand. Blood splattered on the ground when the Slayer drove her scythe into Glory's back. A kick with her good leg almost caught Jim, but he managed to sidestep it - she was still flailing blindly. They could do this! Just a little more!
He almost got her throat with the next slash, nicking her shoulder instead. Yes!
Then a splash of liquid hit the hell-goddess. Jim had been about to move in and jumped back. A few drops landed on him, anyway - and sizzled. Acid! The Screeching from the hell-goddess grew louder.
"No!" the Slayer yelled, turning around.
Jim saw a figure running away. A portal opened in front of it, and it landed next to Jim. It was a man.
"Why did you do it?" the Slayer exclaimed. Then she gasped. "Demon!"
"Doc!" Spike yelled.
The man's mouth opened, wider than possible for a human, and a long tongue shot out of it, towards the Slayer. Her scythe cut it apart, she stepped forward - and the demon's head rolled over the pavement. "You bastard!"
"What?" Jim blinked.
"The acid… it's dissolving the paint!" the Slayer snapped as she turned towards Glory.
Oh, no!
*****
Buffy Summers clenched her teeth and slashed at the skanky demon again. They had to kill her before she regained her sight! She left a cut alongside Glory's arm, enough to give even a vampire pause, but the monster didn't even seem to react.
"My eyes! My face!" Glory shrieked. "What have you done?"
An opening! Buffy lunged, but Glory threw her head to the side at the last moment, and instead of impaling her through the eye, the scythe sliced her cheek open.
The demon's screams turned into unintelligible roars. Jim tried an overhand slash, but that only smashed into Glory's shoulder. And the cut in her arm was already healing.
"We need to cut her head off!" Buffy spat. "I'll open her up!"
"What?"
But Buffy was already moving, using her blade to deflect one flailing arm, then slicing deep into the other and driving the hilt into the monster's smoking face.
Yet instead of having her head driven back, exposing her throat, the hell-goddess was barely shaken - and Jim's blow didn't land on her throat or neck but dug into her still-healing shoulder again - and the sword got stuck!
Buffy cursed and kicked at Glory. It was up to her, now, and… she was flying through the air, breath knocked out of her. She hit the concrete, rolled a yard or so, coughing and panting. Then the pain hit her. Broken rib, at least - she knew the feeling. Just moving hurt. But she had to get up. Had to strike Glory down before… before…
Another scream. Jim flew through the air, crashing into a small tree that broke under the impact.
And Glory stood. Snarling and bleeding, but with her eyes open. "You filthy maggots! You tried to burn me!"
The stupid hell-goddess hadn't even realised what had happened! Buffy would have laughed if her chest didn't hurt so much.
She got to her feet, brandishing her scythe. This was bad. Very bad. Glory was healing before her eyes. They had to keep up the pressure. Had to put the monster down for good while she was still bleeding.
But Jim was still trying to get up. Well, it wasn't the first time Buffy had faced the big bad evil guy - or gal - alone. She wasn't a fan of the whole 'the Slayer fights alone' shtick, but she could do it as well as any Slayer if she had to.
Clenching her teeth to ignore the pain, she started towards Glory, blade raised.
Shots rang out, many of them, and Glory twitched. Riley had finally arrived, it seemed. Had they stopped evacuating the civilians?
"What now? More maggots?" The hell-goddess snarled, turning around. "Where are you? Come out and..."
A rocket hit her face, and she vanished in a fireball. LAW, Buffy recognised it - she had used one against the Judge. But unlike the Judge, Glory wasn't blown to bits.
Just scorched. And she was mad. "My dress! You… you maggots!"
Not the largest vocabulary, Buffy thought as she stepped to the side to hit the monster from the back. But she couldn't charge into the hail of bullets that were striking Glory and doing about as much as hail hitting Spike. More LAWs flew at the monster, but Glory vanished before they hit. Running away? After the explosions, Buffy heard a crash from further ahead. From where the shots had come. Then screams. The soldiers!
"Claire!" she yelled. "Portal, now!"
A portal appeared in front of her, and Buffy almost ran into Claire as the witch stepped through, looking at "Jim!"
"I'm OK," the kid managed to say as he got up.
"Portal to the soldiers!" Buffy snapped. More screams - cut short - reached her.
"Where?" Claire asked, turning her head. Right. From her angle, she hadn't seen the soldiers.
Buffy raised her sword to point at the building across the street just as a body flew over the roof, hitting the road below. A head followed, landing on the lawn nearby. Buffy glanced at it and gasped. Riley. The bitch had killed Riley.
Buffy'd kill her!
She started running towards the building - just fifty yards; easy even with her broken rib. She just had to… A portal appeared in front of her, and Buffy charged through - and found herself back next to Claire. What…?
"My nose! Stop that!"
Oh. Glory had run straight into the portal. Again. Would have run straight into - or through Buffy if not for Claire. "Thanks for the save!" Buffy told the witch.
The portal vanished and reappeared, stopping the next attack by Glory. And then Claire vanished through another portal, which closed before Buffy or Jim could follow.
Leaving them with Glory.
"Where is the witch?" the demon screamed. She was bleeding from the nose, Buffy noticed, but her other wounds had healed. The dress was a total loss, though, as were the shoes - not that anyone with taste would miss either.
"Fight us!" Jim yelled, raising his sword.
Glory turned her head to glare at him, then grinned and slowly walked towards the kid.
So, the monster could learn. But if she didn't run too fast to see, she was vulnerable! Buffy started to circle the monster. Another portal opened nearby, and Toby stepped through it. Followed by Spike.
They had Glory surrounded now. For all the good that would do them.
*****
The hell-goddess had completely regenerated, James Lake Jr saw. The remains of her clothes left no doubt about that.
"Good! You're all here!" the monster spat with a tooth, deranged smile. "I'll kill you all!"
"Blah blah blah!" the Slayer retorted. "Heard it before."
Was she baiting Glory to attack her? She must be. Jim clenched his teeth - the Slayer wasn't wearing armour. Jim was. "And you have failed to kill us!" he yelled. "Just like you failed at everything!"
Glory whirled to face him. "I killed your friends!"
Jim hissed. That she had. AAARRRGGHH!!! And she had kidnapped and hurt Mom. "And we destroyed your ugly dress!" he spat.
"That was high-fashion!" Glory glared at him.
"It was a cheap copy of an ugly prom dress no fashion model would be caught dead in!" the Slayer yelled. "The only thing uglier than that dress were your ugly shoes!"
Glory whirled and vanished. A portal appeared in front of the Slayer, but this time, the hell-goddess didn't run into it. She didn't appear in front of it, either. Where was she?
Jim looked around.
"Move!" the Slayer yelled.
Jim's eyes widened, and he jumped to the side. Glory had to be attacking from a different angle!
Something sped past him - a reddish blur - and the Slayer flew through the air, hitting the pavement and rolling a few yards before getting up. "Missed me!" the Slayer called out.
"I didn't miss you! I hit you!"
There was Glory! Standing to the side of them, next to a streetlight!
"It was just a glancing blow!" the Slayer yelled back - but she was grimacing. She must be in a lot of pain to show such a reaction.
"I'll rip your head off!" Glory screeched - but instead of vanishing, she seemed stuck. Like trying to move through transparent mud.
"Great, Willow!" the Slayer cheered. "Keep her trapped!"
Another portal opened above Glory, and paint fell down, splashing over the pavement and the trapped monster.
"Now! Let's kill her!" The Slayer was already charging. Jim did the same. As did the others.
"Die!" Toby screamed, holy hammer held high. But he was huffing already - he had been hurt before. Jim remembered. What was he doing here?
The Slayer reached the trapped hell-goddess first, slashing at her head. Somehow, Glory managed to block the blow with her arm. And the scythe, deflected, seemed to get stuck in the invisible force holding the demon.
"Her head and shoulders are free!" Jim yelled, raising his own blade to strike. "Don't miss!"
His own overhead strike was caught as well but cut deeply into the limb.
Glory howled but was cut off by Toby hitting her on the head from behind, screaming like a madman.
The hell-goddess's head rocked forward but wasn't smashed in. "Stop that!" Her eyes were open - not covered in paint.
Spike hit her with a crowbar, but that didn't even fate her. She slapped him away, and he went headfirst through a glass door nearby into a bar, leaving the shards covered in blood.
Jim struck again, but Glory managed to move to the side, and he hit her shoulder instead of her neck. Again.
And the Slayer jumped up, then struck, the scythe slicing through the wounded arm. It fell off in a shower of blood, but the scythe ended up trapped in whatever magic held the demon.
"MY ARM!" Glory howled, and Jim felt as if his ears had burst.
He struck at the trapped monster anyway, screaming as well. She managed to turn her head in time, but Eclipse still cut into her head, slicing off an ear.
"NOOO!" The howling grew even louder. And she was rocking back and forth. But she was still trapped, and they were killing her. They just needed to behead her. The Slayer was still trying to get her stuck scythe free again, but Jim could attack. He bared his teeth as he drew his blade back for a swing that would cut Glory's head off.
Before he could strike, though, the Slayer stumbled back, scythe in hand. And Glory was free - and whirling to face the Slayer.
"DIE!"
A portal appeared in front of the Slayer, stopping the monster. Glory whirled. "STOP CHEATING!" The portal vanished, replaced with two that hemmed her in.
And green tendrils of magic grabbed the hell-goddess, keeping her in place. Merlin's magic! Yes!
Jim charged ahead, sword held high. At the same time, the Slayer came at Glory from the side. Eclipse bit into the monster's good arm, not quite slicing through it. The scythe cut into her back.
"NOOO!" The green tendrils shattered and dissolved as the monster broke free. Jim turned to slash at her, but a foot caught him in the stomach, sending him flying - into a building.
No, into a portal! Jim came out of it a few yards away, on a patch of grass, and carved a through into it. He still couldn't breathe and lay there, coughing, for a moment. God, this hurt! She must have broken his ribs! Or something else. And… was that blood on the ground?
But they had to kill her! He forced himself to get up despite the pain.
Another portal opened next to him, and Toby came flying through, crashing into the ground. Jim stared. What the…? Toby didn't get up. But Jim heard him groaning. He needed to… No! He had to kill Glory, or they would all die. "Claire!" he yelled.
A portal opened in front of him. He stumbled through.
And he was back at the fight. Watching Glory charge into a building. A moment later, an explosion rocked the building, filling the ground floor with smoke and flames. A trap. And there was movement on the roof. Claire and the others must be up there, he realised.
But Glory stumbled out of the smoke, coughing and yelling. "Stop cheating and let me kill you!"
"She's really not the brightest demon I've ever met," the Slayer muttered next to Jim.
He glanced at her - she looked worse than he felt. Covered in blood, one arm hanging down at her side, bent over, beaten black and blue...
And the monster had just heard them. Glory turned to face them. "YOU!"
Two portals appeared in front of Jim and Buffy. Angled and forming a wedge. Glory slid around it, bouncing off and hitting the road, rolling through smashed concrete and asphalt.
Jim turned. That was an opportunity! He just had to…
He was on the ground. Something had hit him in the thigh. A piece of concrete, half-crushed, lay next to him.
Buffy screamed.
Jim lifted his head - Buffy was on the ground, holding her leg. Glory must have hit her as well with a rock or something. Damn.
He tried to get up, but the pain was too much. He couldn't give up, though. Not now, Not when everyone needed him. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to sit. Sit, then stand. Even if his leg felt as if it wanted to fall off. Was falling off. He had to stand and...
Glory was approaching. Slowly. She was smiling, white teeth showing through her sliced cheek. "I'll kill you slowly! And I'll have the cheating witch watch! I'll…"
A purple bolt struck her, smashing her into the pavement. Purple glowing ropes wound themselves around her body, pinning her down.
"Cut off her head!"
That was Claire's voice! Jim started towards the hell-goddess. He tried to run but had to limp. Glory was trying to escape, but the magic was holding her. And her head was exposed.
"Gotcha, bitch!"
Buffy was limping next to Jim, using her scythe to prop herself up.
But it was just a few steps, and they were at Glory. Jim raised Eclipse. Buffy raised the Scythe.
"No! No! NOOO!"
Jim struck. As did Buffy. Their blades hacked into Glory's neck. Her screams turned into incoherent wheezing noises, and blood splashed over the pavement. But they hadn't managed to behead her - she was still alive. Despite his aching ribs, Jim raised Eclipse again. Buffy mirrored him. Both struck again.
And the demon's head rolled over the pavement. It flickered for a moment. Jim blinked.
It wasn't Glory's head. It was…
"Ben the Intern?" Buffy gaped at it.
"He was her human host. Glorificus is dead."
Jim blinked. Claire sounded… off. He looked up.
Claire was floating above them. Smiling. And her eyes were blazing with purple magic.
*****
