Hell on Earth: The last slayer: Chapter 4: There is something about Hemery
by Timan
~Hemery High School, Los Angeles – Four weeks ago~
The cheerleaders moved swiftly. Their co-ordination had improved over the season and they were at the peak for there performance. With the state Cheerleading finals only two months away they were training extra hard. After performing their trademarked they dropped down efficiently and cheered loudly in unison. Brittany Price, the head cheerleader walked out and faced her team. She smiled at them in the way that someone does when they are hiding something.
“Okay great workout girls!” she told them in an overly cheerful voice, “with this killer routine! We are so going to win that trophy this year!”
She looked down the looked down the group until her gaze falls on an awkward looking blond girl.
“That’s if someone will keep in step!” Brittany concluded with extreme sarcasm.
The blond looked sheepishly at the others in the team. Brittany rolled her eyes and fake smiled the rest of the team.
“Okay everyone. I’ll see you after school and remember to keep practicing.”
The girls started to filter out of the gym. Brittany walked up to the blond
“Buffy. I know you haven’t been cheering since you, like, went all weird,” Brittany said in a condescending tone, “but if you want to stay on my team you are gonna have to follow my rules ‘kay?”
“Okay” Buffy replied softly
Brittany cheered up unusually quickly.
“Good. I know we’re all super-psyched to be going to the competition.”
She bounded off happily. Buffy watched her leave with a look of extreme disgust. From behind her Clare Wiley, another cheerleader and one of the only friends Buffy had left in the school, walked up and joined her in watching Brittany leave.
“It make you sick doesn’t it” Clare commented
“I know. How did Brittany get to be head cheerleader?”
“Well. You left remember? You said something about personal stuff and quit the team.”
Buffy though back to that conversation
“Oh.” She replied thoughtfully
Clare smiled and hugged her friend.
“Don’t worry sweetie. You’ll get back in the game it’s just gonna take some time.”
“I’d hate to admit it but Brittany’s right. I was all over the place today.”
“We’ll just have to fix that,” Clare replied caringly, “come over to my place tonight and we’ll run through it together.”
“Tonight? I . . . Ah . . . I can’t. I gotta be somewhere.”
Clare sighs and looks into Buffys eyes.
“One day, you’ll have to tell me where you go at night.”
Buffy smiled awkwardly.
“Yeah,” she replied softly, “Some day.”
Just then the school bell rang. Both the cheerleaders collected their stuff.
“I gotta go,” Clare told Buffy, “if I’m late for chem. class again Miss McGee is gonna have my head.”
As Claire collected her bag she looked out to the stands. She nudged Buffy.
“You at least have one fan.”
“Huh?” Buffy replied.
Claire pointed to the stands. Buffy looked up and saw a brown haired girl looking at the both of them.
“That Girl,” Claire continued, “She’s been staring at you for an hour.”
Buffy kept her eyes on the strange girl in the stands. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it but there was something off about her. Claire nudging her again broke her trance.
“C’mon we got to get to class.”
“What? Oh okay.” Buffy said in a distant sounding voice.
Becky watched the two cheerleaders with interest. She wondered to herself how Buffy managed to survive so long by being that un-coordinated. She looked back down to her PDA. On the screen was Buffy Summers school records.
It was only three days ago when Becky arrived back in 1996. She still remembers the disorientation and the nausea she felt directly after the Star of Asgeroth pulled her there.
Becky spent most of the first hour wandering around the main street of Sunnydale in a daze with her arms folded tightly. She watched as people moved two and fro with out a care. Becky was not used to seeing so many people out in broad daylight with out them screaming and running for their life. She was so distracted in her walking she nearly ran into another girl.
“Hey watch it!” the tall dark hair girl. Three others quickly joined her.
“Cordy! Are you okay?” the blond member of the group
“Yeah I’m fine,” the dirk hair girl replied, “No thanks to miss dirt farm over here. Little Fashion tip, they call it laundry power for a reason.”
The girls walked off laughing to each other. Becky watched them leave with curiosity. She looked across the road and noticed a bench sitting outside a place called ‘the espresso pump’. She wandered across and sat down, placing her backpack next to her.
She didn’t know what her first move was going to be. The purpose for coming back to ‘96 was to stop Angelus. And since this is the first time she has ever got the upper hand on him she didn’t want to waist time. She closed her eyes for a moment and leant her head back on the seat. She never realized how tired she was. Thinking back she realized in all the excitement she hadn’t slept in nearly twenty-four hours. She took a moment to absorb the sounds around her.
The wind rushing through the trees . . .
The chatter of the people walking by . . .
A muffled, but constant, beeping sound . . .
Becky’s eyes snapped open. She recognized that beeping sounds. Looking to the backpack she realized, in all the excitement, that she never actually looked at what Frag put inside. Becky quickly unbuckled it and opened the flap. Rummaging around inside she pulled out the cause of the beeping sound. It was a PDA. It looked similar to the PDA’s they used back at the colony but this was bulkier and looked a lot sturdier. On the screen flashed an icon representing a message. She touched the screen and the icon was replaced with a video file.
On the video Frag was fiddling around with the camera.
“Is this thing on?” Frag asked a person off the screen, “I can see the red light but does that mean it’s on or off? . . . It’s on?”
Frag finished with the camera and sat down in front. He waved excitedly at the camera.
“Hey Beck.” He said happily to his only audience member, “Greeting from the future. If you are watching this vid that means you did it! You proved that Time-Travel is more then just a lame sci-fi cliché use by weak writers. First off I want to give major Sorrys for the cloak and dagger. When the Xand-man came to me with old guy Giles’ plan it sounded pretty solid.”
Becky smiled to herself. Secretly she enjoyed Frags Disjointed way of speaking and seeing him again, if only on video, put her at ease.
“Okay first off. Need to warn you about the Star of Asgeroth.”
Becky frowned. It was a bit late to warn her about it now.
“From what the old guy told me you can’t take it off. If you do you get zipped back here and I don’t think Angelus would let you try again. I also wanted to give you the 411 on the mid nineties. As you know most of the Internet back here was converted to communications between colonies but I still managed to find a few things on some old abandoned servers. As for Sunnydale it’s self. I spoke to the old guy and he told me tons. You see the place is on a hellmouth. They way he explained it to me it’s, Like, creep fest ’96. The weird and wacky like to hang there a lot so be on your toes. Next up. I figure since you’re gonna be in a new playground you’re gonna need some new toys. In the pack I gave you is some stuff I’ve been working on to make your life that little bit easier.”
Becky opened the flap of the backpack again. Inside were various bits of technology made from things she recognized from the tech room.
“Now pay attention 007. First off lest start with the PDA you might have noticed it is on the chunky side. That’s because I have added a few optional extras that wasn’t on the original road model. This baby is now a hackers dream. It can get into any computer system by remote connecting to the processor. Now I know what your thinking ‘hey Frag man! I’m not some cool, uber, computer chick! You do all the key work in this place I just run around doing all the sexy fighting in my tight clothes!’ don’t worry little lady the programs are purely point and click with just a little typing. I know you think hacking is hard but we’re talking about 1996 computer security. I could sneeze and access secure data. There are a few other things this kitten can do but you can go through the manual yourself. Next up is one of my personal favorites.”
From his desk Frag picked up a small flat card shaped device.
“I call this thing Frank. But you can call it the ATM scrambler. Slide this baby into any Teller machine and get out as much as you need. The card blocks any transaction from being recorded and destroys all security footage from the teller camera. Now I know it’s sound illegal but, hey, girls gotta eat right? Last thing is a personal gift from me to you. Down the very bottom of the bag should be a small pouch. Inside is about three thousand dollars in money that can be used last century.”
Beck rummaged around in the backpack. Sure enough there was a pouch containing a large wad of bills.
“Actually it’s a funny story how I got that money . . . Well, I won’t bore you with it. Let’s just say it involved a girl, two ducks and a broomstick. Anyways I want you to take this as a thank you for saving me. When I did the acronym run from D.C. to L.A. I didn’t know what I was doing. You save me from being eaten so you get my thanks-a-plenty.”
Frag took a moment. Back at the colony Frag never really talked about himself that much. He was always professional in his own way. After a minute he shook his head.
“Sorry ‘bout that I had something in my eye . . . Anyways we both know you’re not on vacation so the old guy has given you some homework. It’s all listed in the doc attached to this file. From what he said you have about four weeks before stuff starts to happen so you have plenty of prep time. My advice, take some time off for yourself Beck. I want you to go to L.A. buy yourself the smallest bikini you can find, Find some hunky guy on the beach and get yourself laid girl. We all know you need it get rid of all that tension. And maybe get that bug out of your butt! You are too hot and too toned to walking around with a major case of the sads. Also, frowning, very bad for the skin I heard. Well that about wraps it up for me. When you finish saving the world and everything. I want you to come back here and find me so I can buy you a beer. Your friend in Time . . . Frag.”
The video switch off and was replaced by a text file. As much as Becky would love to follow Frags caring advice she knows that she can’t. She has a head start on Angelus and doesn’t want to loose any ground.
The text file contained a list of objectives. The list was short but comprehensive. The two major objectives were to keep Buffy away from Angel and to stop Xander and Willow from joining Buffys battles. The final objective on the list was labeled ‘last resort only’ but she saw it as a higher priority then the others.
This last objective was the one she was going to take very seriously.
Using Frags hacking tools to access county school records. She discovered that Buffy was attending Hemery high school.
Becky’s plan was simple.
To work on this slayer she has to know this slayer. Old man Giles was very tight lipped when it came to talking about Buffy and Xander was similar. With neither of them willing to help she has to get first hand information herself.
Navigating herself around Hemery was a breeze. Nobody looks twice at a girl wandering around the school carrying a bag so she didn’t have to worry about drawing attention to herself.
She stopped and hid behind some lockers as Buffy was searching through her own locker for some books. As soon as she was finished and out of sight Becky moved in. slamming the combination lock inside the locker with her hand Becky looked inside.
There was nothing out of the ordinary. Just the usual array of make-up, hair product, schoolbooks and posters. Looking at the locker more closely she realized that this locker was less deep then others, which told her that this locker had a false back. Shifting some of the stuff out of the way she removed the back panel. Behind all of the girl stuff was a large array of stakes, crosses and holy water. Becky handled one of the stakes. It had a good balance to it. It was evenly weighted and perfect for throwing if needed.
Becky frowned. Buffy definitely knew her stuff it might be harder then she though to coerce her.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing bitch!” an angry voice said from the other side of the open locker door.
Becky closed the door slightly. On the other side Claire was standing, arms folded Glaring at Becky. Becky closed the door calmly and leaned against the lockers. She stared back at the extremely angry Claire but said nothing. Playfully she toyed with the stake in her hands.
“Are you deaf or just stupid? I ask you a question!” Claire yelled.
Becky continued to stare casually. Claire unfolded her arms and stormed straight up.
“This is my best friends locker and if she hears that some skanky Freak is raiding it she is going to be pissed and trust me she is stronger then she . . .”
Claire never finished her sentence. Becky, not know for her subtlety, throws the stake embedding it at least half a foot into the floor. She then grabbed the locker door and slammed it into Claire’s face. Claire reels back from the shock and the pain of the attack and collapses to the floor. She watches in fear as Becky walks away.
“So she just hit you in the face?” Buffy asks as she holds an icepack to her friends nose.
They were both sitting in the lunchroom in the middle of the lunch break crowd. Buffy couldn’t help but notice the fear in her eyes.
“Yeah,” replied Claire, “with the locker door!”
She took the icepack off her bruised nose and looked concerned.
“The weird thing about it was it was that Girl from before. You know the one that was staring at you. I caught her going through your locker. She was holding this wooden thing in her hand.”
Buffy frowned.
“Wooden thing?” she asked
“It was like a pointy pole, or something. I think she was going to attack me with it. This is serious Buffy. They’ve called the police and everything.”
Buffy was gripped with fear. If what Claire was explaining is true then this mystery girl must know she’s the slayer. Also if the police start to search her locker there are going to be more questions then she could answer. Buffy patted Claire on the shoulder
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Buffy replies in a forced calm voice, “listen, there is something I need to do so I’m gonna go. Alright?”
“What? We just got here?” Claire asked
“I know. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Buffy stands quickly and makes her way to the exit. From an adjacent classroom Becky steps out and watches Buffy as she rushes away. Walking down the hallway behind Becky three members off the football team make there way to lunch.
Martin Haynes, the quarterback, was tossing his football into the air.
“ . . . So I throw that pass and won us the game!”
The guys start to high-five each other. Martin looks over to Becky and smiles lustfully
“Hello ass.” He says to himself
The other two players look at each other and tell martin they will meet him inside. Martin throws them the ball and walks up behind Becky.
“Hey there cute thing.” He says in his horniest tone.
Becky looked back at him with an annoyed expression.
“Silent type huh. It’s cool, that’s how all girls should be,” he continued slowly looking Beck up and down examining each of her curves closely, “Especially the hot ones.”
Martin walks around in front of Becky and continues to undress her with his eyes.
“You’re new around here so I’ll let you in on one of the rules. All hot freshmen have to be with the Quarterback. It’s, you know, a school rule if you don’t . . .”
He moved in menacingly.
“Let’s just say I can make your life very difficult.”
Becky pushed past him. She had had enough of his slobbering misogynistic hormones but she didn’t have time to injure anyone else today. Martin followed.
“Aw come on baby. Don’t be like that.” He yelled after her, “Why take the bus when you can ride a stallion.”
Becky stopped. She may not have time to injure anyone else but she was going to make time. Martin walked straight up behind her and grabbed her roughly on the ass.
“How many people can you get into those tight pants?” he asks lustfully
Becky narrowed her eyes. Spinning quickly she elbowed him in the chin knocking him backwards. She grabs him roughly by the neck and slams his head into the trophy case that was next to her. As she pushes him back she grabbed the baseball bat signed by last years winning team that was inside the case. She slammed it into his stomach. He doubled over in pain. Her second hit struck his knee, breaking his kneecap, causing him to kneel down. Swinging at him one last time she struck the side of his head knocking him out.
Becky dropped the bat next to his unconscious body and walks away.
Buffy surveyed the damage to her locker. All the contents were spread across the floor and the lock had been removed by force. She knelt down and examined the embedded stake. Buffy didn’t like this scene one bit. Who ever broke into her locker obviously had strength, lots of strength. With minor difficulty she pulled the stake out of the ground and loaded her other slaying supplies into her bag for safekeeping. She wasn’t sure what this girl wants with her but she wasn’t itching to find out.
“Buffy.” a gruff male voice said from behind her.
Buffy turned around casually. She knew who it was immediately. He was a portly man with gray hair and a think gray moustache. He was dressed in a dark suit. It was Milford Carver. The council of watchers sent him to her when she was activated as the slayer. He has been training her since.
Milford looked at the devastation of her locker with concern.
“What happened here?” he asks
“Some girl decided to do her own random locker inspection. Carver I think she knows who I am.”
“You haven’t been telling people your secret have you?”
“Of course not,” she replied angrily, “though it’s getting easier not telling since most of my friend think I’m a freak.”
“Well, we’ll concern ourselves with this later, right now we have something more pressing. Tonight is the solstice of Melith.”
“Thanks for the sentiment but I’m really not in the mood for punk rock.” Buffy quipped.
“Buffy be serious, Melith was a very powerful, very dangerous Vampire king who plagued this world for centuries. The prophecy says that every two hundred years his followers will attempt to bring him back to life so he can claim his world again. Tonight I need you to patrol . . .”
“Uh,uh . . . no not tonight” Buffy retorted, “I have cheerleading practice.”
“These vampires aren’t going to wait Buffy, if Melith is resurrected the world will fall into eternal darkness.”
Buffy pouted.
“But practice . . . Cheerleading?” she insisted.
Milford glared at her. She slouched.
“Fine I’ll save the stupid world!” she replied grumpily, “But if I mess up one step during the competition I’m going to be grouchy.”
Becky tracked Buffy and her watcher as they moved through the Graveyard. She stayed at a safe distance so that they would sense her but stayed close enough she could hear what they were saying. Milford was carrying a heavy, old, leather-bound book and was reading frantically.
“So any clue where this Melith guy is supposed to rise tonight?” Buffy asked impatiently
“Not exactly,” Milford replied, “the text isn’t very clear.”
“Well, give me the fuzzy version.”
“It says ‘Melith will be laid to rest in the land where angels walk. On the two hundredth cycle his followers shall gather where knowledge is power and they will be anointed in blood. He shall be reborn out of fire and pain when the hearts of six stop beating.’”
“Not exactly going to be a best seller. So can you tell me what any of it means?” Buffy asked
”Well, ‘the land where angels walk’ is a direct reference to Los Angeles. I’m still trying to find ‘where knowledge is power’”
“Maybe we should swing by UCLA see if there is any trouble brewing.”
“Good idea we should also check the library to. The vampires are going to need a lot of space to perform this ritual.”
Buffy though for a second
“’Where knowledge is power.’ I’ve heard that somewhere before.”
“I translated it from the original Latin ‘qua scientia est vox’”
Buffy looked over to Milford with shock.
“Say that again.” She replied
“Qua scientia est vox”
“Shit.” Buffy said under her breath
“What is it?” Milford asked
“I know where they’re going.” Buffy replied running in the opposite direction.
Milford gave chase. But due to his current physical condition he had immense trouble keeping up.
It was late by the time Buffy and Milford arrived back at Hemery. They took a moment and looked at the school logo. Sure enough the school motto read ‘qua scientia est vox’. Milford looked around the empty campus.
“We might still have time,” he commented, “The ritual asks for six sacrifices.”
“At this time of night good luck,” Buffy replied, “the only people left on campus would be the . . . uh oh”
From the gym they heard the sound of loud music playing. Buffy shook her head in anger.
“Why do vamps always go for the pretty ones? You never here of a science nerd used in a ritual sacrifice.”
“Let’s go.” Milford said as they ran for the gym
Few feet from the entrance of the Gym the slayer and her watcher were stopped by a hoard of vampires wearing cloaks.
“You will not interrupt us slayer,” the head of the followers announced in a loud booming voice.
“I’m going to have to correct you on that because I have in my diary for today ‘kick cloaked vampires ass’” Buffy replied
The head follower advanced but Buffy grabbed him and threw him behind her. Two other vamps went in. Buffy successfully blocked each of their attacks. Kicking both of them in the stomach she sent them flying in opposite directions.
“See, now this is embarrassing,” Buffy joked as she staked a couple of the Vampires, “you guys all showed up in the same outfit.”
The head vampire rose back to his feet.
“Fear my Slayer,” he growled loudly, “I am the bringer of death for my name is . . .”
The head vampire arched his back. Looking down to his chest he saw the point of a wooden stake sticking out. Slowly his body turned to dust and, moving through it, Becky stepped out and leaned against the nearest tree. She watched Buffys fight intently. Her moves were effective. Though she wondered why she spent so much energy making up puns. Becky recognized the style she from the fight she had with vampire Buffy and Faith.
Buffy quickly dispatched most of vampires but was quickly jumped by the largest one. Becky watched as Buffy struggled against the vampire’s strength. She sighed and rolled her eyes. Giving the stake in her hand a quick spin Becky threw it at the vampire. It struck with deadly accuracy. Before the behemoth vamp turned to dust Becky walked away. She figured that she had seen enough for one night and would pick up surveillance in the morning.
Buffy fell backwards as the giant vampire turned to dust. Coughing briefly she dusted her self off and got to her feet.
“Thanks for the help.” Buffy said as she helped her watcher up.
“That wasn’t me.” He replied
Buffy looked confused. She quickly scouted the area but found nobody. This was strange. Someone just saved her life but didn’t stick around for the thanks. She shrugged of her suspicions and went over to her watcher.
“So, crisis over right, I mean we killed the followers. no vampire king raising?”
“I don’t we’re through.” He commented seriously
“Why? We kill the robe squad and I don’t see any other Vamps around here.”
“The ritual required a lot more vampires then what we just saw.”
Inside the gym the music suddenly stopped. This was quickly followed by a blood-curtailing scream. The slayer and the watcher turned. With out a moment’s hesitation they burst straight in.
The scream wasn’t lost on future slayer either. After Becky heard the screaming she double-backed to the school. By the time she arrived the fight had already begun. Becky quickly stepped out of the way of a vampire who came sailing out of the building and was staked by a tree branched.
Becky moved to the doorway of the gym. The fighting was intense. Buffy, by this stage was fighting any where up to ten vamps at once. Becky felt that she had underestimated this slayers prowess. She may not be as strong as Becky but she makes up for that in cunning.
Then something caught her eye. On the outside of one of the windows there was a figure that stood and watched the action. From her vantage point she recognizes the figure as male. As one of the flaming torches the vamps were carrying sailed up and ignited one of the banners hanging from the roof the figure came into full view. He was tall, with short spiky hair. Becky noticed him instantly and it made her blood boil.
Angelus
Or was it? Looking at him now he didn’t have is trademark cocky smile on his face. In fact it looked almost as if he was brooding.
Between watching Buffy fight and the strange actions of her nemesis Becky decided to hold off any violence until she could get the entire story. She wasn’t in her time so her usual actions would not get the same response.
Beside. For the first time in a long time she wasn’t on the defensive. She has time to work on a plan, which doesn’t involve running and hiding. This is now her fight not Angelus’
. . . Fire broke out in the gym of Hemery high school in the early hours of the morning causing millions of dollars worth of damage. City Fire Marshal, Hank Noble, is treating the fire as suspicious as witnesses claimed to see a teenage blond girl fleeing the scene. The youth, identified as Hemery student Buffy Summers, is being held for question by L.A.P.D. over this incident. This tragic even occurred only hours after student Martin Haynes was savagely beaten on the premises by, what he describes, a seven foot tall, Muscular man on PHP. . .
Joyce Summers marched out of the administration office of Hemery High School with a burning anger. She’d like to think that her daughter was sweet and innocent she never though she would be capable of burning down a gym.
Buffy sat nervously outside as she waited for her mother. As Joyce approached she stood up cautiously.
“Mom I can explain.” Buffy said desperately
“I don’t want to hear it Buffy.” Joyce snapped back “I have no idea what has gotten into you head young lady but it stops right now!”
“But mom!”
“No Buffy! As of right now you are not to set foot outside the house with out my say so! This means no parties, no friends, no boys, no shopping!”
Buffy pouted sadly
“Don’t I still have to go to school?”
Joyce glared angrily
“You’re principal just informed me that you are no longer welcome at Hemery.”
“Oh” Buffy replied weakly
The two women looked at each other for a moment. Joyce sighed and shook her head.
“Just get in the car. We’ll discuss this when we get home.” Joyce yelled
Her mother walked off fuming. Buffy surveyed the damage. Tears began to well up in her eyes. As she saw the wreckage of the gym she watched as the fire fighters extinguish the last of the embers. And as she turned to head back to the car she saw . . .
The girl
It was the same one who watched her practice yesterday morning. This couldn’t have been a coincidence. There is something behind this girl and she wanted to find out what. Buffy started to walk towards her.
“BUFFY!” yelled her mother from behind her, “THE CAR, NOW!”
Becky watched as Buffy walked back to their car. She had got more then enough information on how this slayer operates. Her bus back to Sunnydale was leaving in an hour so Becky started to walk.
Things were definitely looking up for the future. And with an earlier version of Angelus in the picture
She could end this before it starts.
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