i_smile delayed satisfaction.
It was just another business day.
Bodies drifted in and out of the government building like tears in turpentine. A blue school bus parked in a handicap zone. Teachers shepherded kids with sunglasses as crowns back into the bus. Each carrying a novelty The City pamphlet with bookmarkers as tongues, most of them torn with a frown.
The glass that ripped into the bodies of the children wasn’t deliberate. Billy’s eyes hadn’t been the target as shards embedded and made them their new home. As the mayor’s wing commenced violently (pillars suddenly cracking, doors slamming open), this had little to do with calculation and everything to do with origination.
Olvikan didn’t survive in this ‘verse. That had meant all the power that was Olvikan was up for the harvesting. It was there without being overridden. It was there without sacrificing one’s self. It was there with still being Richard Wilkins. It hadn’t been easy because the means weren’t present. It had been much dirtier than he’d liked. It had been much harder to keep his rapport subsistent.
Marble floor cracked dramatically from the epicenter. A sign stating Mayor’s Office crashed into the crack and eventually fell as it steadily separated. It wasn’t the invoking summon that destroyed his desk. Instead, it was the scaled spiked-tail that lashed out from him.
Darkness overtook the building. Clouds swarmed like wasps above. Fresh blood twinkled into The City’s hungry drains like red comets. Suits climbed out of the rumble just as the sprinkler system showered on each and every one of them. It hadn’t been too bad a hit. It all seemed isolated to the mayor’s wing.
Alarm systems usually have annoying patterns of sirens that deaf ears. No alarm went off to ruin this art. Lightening created a web above the building and began to dissolve. It didn’t need an alarm to alert the citizens.
From: i_diedtwice Date: 07/22/2006 08:59:01
Buffy might have given the mayor turned demon one of those quips she was famous for. Something like: I so already killed you! The problem was Buffy saw the bodies and the situation no longer seemed very funny or appropriate.
She saw the bodies of children and she was pissed.
Demons, hell gods... you name it and Buffy took care of it. True, she didn't have explosives laced to the outer walls of the building. There were too many innocents for that as it was, despite the fact that most of them were smart enough to run like hell.
Buffy ran into the building armed with nothing more than a sharp, pointy sword. All of her actions were inevitably being caught on on security cameras.
From: i_thwip Date: 07/23/2006 14:33:52
Weather photos still made a mint on stock books and Parker hadn’t heard anything from Lane since she’d said there was bad voodoo-to-do with the mayor. Many walked around without noticing the spirals that launched themselves off a lot of the buildings near the business district. They were like the statues and goblin faces that simply weren’t noticeable after one got used to The City. Parker had really only noticed them because of his utilitarian nature.
It had been on one of these spirals, that he’d only seen on castles (this one was on a bank), that he witnessed the explosion. That was the word he had to describe it. There had been no fire. In his line of work, explosions didn’t need fires. They could just happen because the explosions in his line of work came from the mind or from sources man didn’t need to tamper with.
Parker appreciated that the mask was on his face. He didn’t want to see this ghastly scene with clear eyes. He didn’t want to see this horrendous playhouse without something to hide him from it.
Spidey soon found himself soaring in the shadow of a blonde. Thread snapped and he came to a jugging pace beside her. She looked like she knew what she was doing. He wasn’t going to ask any questions. She had a sword, that seemed primal enough against whatever had caused this.
This wasn’t a time for humor.
From: i_diedtwice Date: 07/23/2006 14:40:55
Two heroes usually known for their quick wit being absolutely quiet? That wasn't a particularly good sign. Buffy turned and looked with surprised eyes as yet another costumed wacko appeared beside her.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
But Buffy didn't have time to stop and explain to yet another person afflicted with comic super hero envy that he needed to go home. She walked purposefully into the building.
"Go home," she sternly advised.
From: i_thwip Date: 07/23/2006 14:50:04
”NO DISRESPECT HERE BUT I’M FOLLOWING.”
He kept his place beside her. It was obvious that the destruction around them had been from an outward source. Spidey had seen it too many times to count but never like this. Never with children. It usually was banks where the a vault had been broken into. Everything seemed a vile surreal.
”I UNDERSTAND THE RISK.”
Spidey had met a Goblin which meant this could have very well been this girl’s thorn. But this world thrown them all together. This world had a reason for that, Spidey liked to think, so he wasn’t just going to go take photos without at least putting in a hand. He was willing to accept the pain for trying.
From: i_smile Date: 07/23/2006 14:50:46
There are very few ascertain words in any language to describe what coursed through Richard Wilkins.
Everything now had a correlation to him. He had a bond to The City. He had a bond to every life in the city. There was a union between every lie and smile its inhabits shared and him. Names of archaic means suddenly had much more importance: Desire, Dream and Delirium. Fears suddenly had faces and this was just being sentient.
He was coiled behind the ruins of his desk. It was very bewildering.
From: i_diedtwice Date: 07/23/2006 21:58:42
Buffy started into a full run, following the cracks along the walls to the source of the disturbance. It didn't surprise Buffy, then, to discover that it came from the mayor's office. And Buffy didn't look the least bit surprised to see the same serpent demon.
I understand the risk.
"No. You really don't."
Batman, Bugman. The people in this city were obviously insane. There was probably a demon responsible. A comic book demon. Buffy really didn't want to be responsible for his death, but what was she going to do?
Kill it before Bugman got himself or Buffy killed, obviously.
She charged, wielding her sword.
From: i_thwip Date: 07/24/2006 04:54:16
Spidey had never been to a Renaissance Festival. Then again, he had a feeling the spandex would had made him stand out. On the same token, his alter ego hadn’t ever been to one either. Somehow he felt that to Revel in the Wonders had more to do with what laid before him than anything at a gathering of D&D addicts and Lord of the Ring geeks.
It was evil. The chaos indicated that. She also had a sword. Something in his mind wouldn’t release the concept of knight and dragon. It was pure.
Dead children wasn’t received into his psyche. Storybook fairy-tale was.
There was a creak as he made fists.
From: i_smile Date: 07/24/2006 04:54:58
So much perception gained now for Wilkins. He smelt her. He grasped why so many wished to simply be beneath her. It wasn’t vulgar. She smelt like youth should smell like. Eyes smoldered like coals in the dark of his office.
One didn’t miss a costumed man beside a woman with a shiny sword. Something about that stamped death.
Now he had the comprehension of who Death was in this place. Every face that dealt the work,
“Sssmmmerssss.”
He couldn’t remain in this astounded state. No stupor would be adequate with the slayer before him.
From: i_diedtwice Date: 07/24/2006 09:37:55
One, two! One, two! And through and through...
Buffy, with her small running start, had leapt over the desk and using the best of her strength, attempted to plunge her sword into the thick body of the demon.
It certainly was not going to be enough to kill him and Buffy certainly couldn't afford to stick around long, withdrawing the sword quickly and retreating.
Attack, retreat, repeat: that was Buffy's plan. If she could stay ahead there was a possibility that she might be able to wear Wilkins out and win without the handiness of explosives.
"MOVE," she shouted at Bugman.
From: i_smile Date: 07/24/2006 10:03:47
Wilkins didn’t move. In fact, he just took the piercing. It was unusual.
There had been no Olvikan.
Wilkins had complete insight that the Old Ones hadn’t abandoned him here. They had never existed here. That’s where he had been wrong. He had believed that somehow Olvikan was a dormant vessel in this world. No, instead, Wilkins was only limited to the pure-breed demon’s power.
It was mystifying but perceptive. The City was a nexus and he now swelled with an energy that was alien to it. This world had never had Old Ones, at least not the ones Wilkins had known, that were hailed as gods.
He swallowed and composed himself.
“Now, if he wantsss to ssstay. Let him.”
From: i_thwip Date: 07/24/2006 10:05:26
Superhero envy isn’t uncommon. There simply are superheroes that have better powers and toys. At this instant, Spidey was once again undergoing superhero envy.
A splat of web shot him to the ceiling where he hung. He sprayed dual lines at the snake. That was the best he could do without the old punch and kick.
It would have been much easier if he could shoot cosmic rays out of his nose but noooo.
From: i_diedtwice Date: 07/24/2006 10:24:20
This battle, should Buffy survive it, was going to take hours. She shot a look upwards of surprise when she saw Bugman spray webbing from his hands and hang from the ceiling.
A plan was vaguely starting to hatch.
"You know, Wilkins, maybe I've been going about this the wrong way." The last few words were said with a grunt as she stabbed again and retreated.
"Like that time I put Faith in a coma. You weren't around but eventually she woke up." Charge. Stab. Retreat. Buffy felt a bit like a bug (no offense to Bugman) as she continued her assault on the Mayor.
"I assume that device she used to switch bodies was your thing. Almost worked, too. But I stopped her."
Rinse, lather, repeat.
"I saw her again after that, and you know what that cooky girl did?"
Buffy didn't attack again. She wondered if she was going to need a running start. If she knew the mayor at all, the news she was going to give him would sit a bit worse than holding Faith's own knife that had been used to put her in a coma.
"She turned herself in. Guess she decided not to be your girl after all. Terrible way to honor your memory after I blew you up the first time and all."
From: i_smile Date: 07/24/2006 10:35:51
Summers was a delightful girl. She was intelligent and wasn’t too bad on the eyes. Though, Wilkins would never admit it. She now displayed her cleverness for him. It was a nice taunt scheme. He liked it.
Only, he was growing bored with the form that the transformation had thrust him into. He closed his eyes. It felt like stretching the same exact feeling when trying to pop one’s back.
Only this had nothing to do with muscle or bone tension. This was renovation.
Slowly but surely, his face started to resemble more of a man’s. From above, the web coated him in layers like warm blankets. It all fit. This was his cocoon. He was becoming.
He let her do the talking.
From: i_thwip Date: 07/24/2006 10:36:47
Spidey would have used this moment to celebrate that he’d been right. Whoever this girl was did share a history with the spooky creature but other pieces were clicking. The creature? That was the mayor. Lois Lane had been right. The man had been a few marbles loose of a full sack.
As the snake thing became less snake-like, he launched from above with a kick. He tried to focus at the same spot the girl had been stabbing but by the time he’s foot hit the scales – there wasn’t a wound.
From: i_smile Date: 07/24/2006 10:37:29
“This isn’t about us,” he said to Buffy.
There was little trepidation for the hero that was kicking and punching him.
“But I do miss Faith.”
He smiled then and caught the spider by the hand.
“You will need to schedule an appointment if you wish to talk further on this. I must do a press conference about the poor deaths that have happened here today.”
From: i_diedtwice Date: 07/24/2006 11:58:45
He got to be both forms? Invincible mayor mode and evil demon thing? That totally had to be cheating. Once he caught Bugman by the hand, Buffy quickly had to do something before said limb was ripped off.
So using her sword as a javelin and it sailed into his throat, pinning him to the wall behind him like a... um... bug. (Darn Bugman for turning her best lines into bug references!) She didn't expect it to kill him, but at least he might release crazy spandex dude.
"Don't worry. I will."
Killing a big demon? Sure. Killing someone who appeared to be the good natured mayor of the City? That was a little tricky.
Rocket Launcher. A rocket launcher would probably work.
From: i_smile Date: 07/24/2006 14:06:16
That had been very rude.
Tacked like a note left by a mother on a pegboard, the mayor glared at the blonde.
Beady red eyes.
What pushed both Buffy and Spidey felt slimy. It could not be seen and those that could sense it, well, it pulsed and bubbled in the way Whedon magic does.
His hands took the hilt of the sword. He channeled the physical pain into the thrust that shoved both heroes out of the building.
From: i_thwip Date: 07/24/2006 14:08:33
There were a few rolls. There was also a few spins. He eventually found himself on the cracked steps outside the building. He spoke to no one but he spoke. He was sure that didn’t go as planned.
“WE HIT SOME TURBULENCE, MY ASS DIDN’T COME WITH US.”
He also heard the doors lock from the inside. This man still was mayor… after all.
From: i_diedtwice Date: 07/25/2006 11:47:50
"When did he turn into Mr. Wicca-fiend?" Buffy grumbled.
She needed help. She needed Giles or Willow, someone who was better at research and could help in the spell countering department. Buffy glared at Bugman. She wanted her Scooby Gang, not ANOTHER crazy guy in a costume.
As far as Buffy could tell, crazy people in costumes really didn't do much except get in the way.
"What is your damage? You could have gotten yourself killed back there. What? Let's just run into trouble and see where it gets us? Well it wasn't some kitten caught in a tree, that was a demon. Were you prepared for that risk?"
Buffy was sore, and the pain that the mayor unleashed on them hurt, but she refused to show it as she started to walk away. There were bodies, but ambulances and fire trucks were already unloaded to attend to them. There was nothing Buffy could do.