Welcome to the Hellmouth, Agent Finn: Part 4
by Aesop
Disclaimer: See part 1
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Part Four
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Five minutes later they pulled to the side of the road in the center of the area they believed to be Mantis territory. The pheremone trackers had given them several good readings, and they had worked on the assumption that the mantis was working the area around her lair.
Xander, the agent who reluctantly identified himself as Jay and Spike got out. The van cruised the area looking for anything suspicious. Narrowing it down wasn'' as easy as it had been the last time. Spike sniffed the air and walked at a brisk pace along a search pattern they had worked out. Xander, following Buffy's instructions, kept a close eye on Spike. Even so, he almost missed it.
Spike slowed at the entrance to a short cul de sac. He sniffed and looked around, lips pressed into a thin line. He glanced up the cul de sac and then turned away from it.
"This way."
"Are you sure?" Jay was getting tired of being led around by someone he thought should be in a cage.
"Yeah." Spike turned and started quickly away. They had gone a half-dozen paces before Xander realized what had happened.
"Hold it. It's back that way." He pointed. "Up that street." Spike glared at him.
"Oh, you can smell it can you?"
"No, but you can. That's how I know its back that way." Spike snorted and started off again. "Listen to me Spike. We told you you'd be able to smell it. We didn't tell you everything. The chemical signals that thing puts out screw with a vampire's head. It's like it triggers some kind of fight or flight response. The closer we get. The more nervous you'll get. You didn't want to go up that street. Why?" Spike started to get angry and brush off Xander's words as nonsense, but stopped.
"Don't worry Spike. The pheremone tracker should be able to take it from here." He started back up the cul de sac and Spike stared after for a moment before following.
"How certain are you of this?" Jay asked.
"Fairly certain. The same thing happened last time, but the vampire who showed us the way wasn't nearly as cooperative. We had to stake him when he managed to break loose and bolt. He wasn't trying to fight though. Too scared. He just wanted to get away." The agent seemed skeptical, but he pulled out the tracker and moved it back and forth as they moved up the street. For a moment there was no response from the device, and he was obviously becoming frustrated. Then…
"I have a reading." He sounded honestly surprised. Xander nodded as they moved closer to the source of the signal. The van stopped at the end of the street and the driver jogged up to join them carrying the weapons they needed in inconspicuous brown paper bags like groceries.
As it was a residential area, they had to be circumspect. Jay slipped around the side of the house to check the cellar windows. While the others, Spike very reluctant but stubborn, moved unhurriedly up the driveway. Jay returned a moment later. He nodded, his face grave.
"It's in there. Three male hostages." He picked the lock and they went in. Spike was grinding his teeth by this time.
"You don't have to come," Xander reminded him.
"Oh right. Let you go and fight the monster while I hide? You'd love to brag to your friends about that wouldn't you? I'm coming, and I'll fight." To prove his point he strode straight to the cellar and kicked the door open. "Honey I'm home!" He roared and leapt down the steps before he could think twice about it. Xander charged down after him, carrying the tape player. Jay swore under his breath as he and the other agent followed.
The mantis was trying to pull one of its victims out of an improvised cage. The victim, a teenager about fifteen years old, was hanging on to the bars, yelling his head off. That stopped when Spike barged in. The Mantis let go and swung around to face the vampire.
Knowing the source of the fear only helped a little, Spike found. He was decidedly off his game, barely ducking the thing's first clumsy swing, and being knocked on his ass by the next. This only made him angry though, and the angrier he got the easier it became to ignore the effects of the mantis' body chemistry. Chitin cracked under his fists and the mantis fell back as the others came down the stairs.
Xander hit the play button, and the sound that came from the speaker sent the insect into spasm. Spike glanced back, annoyed by the sound, and a wayward limb struck his shoulder. He staggered, then turned back with a snarl and grabbed the leg, pulling hard. The mantis shrieked as the leg came off. The two agents moved in with fire axes and began hacking at the creature. Spike was happy to leave them to it. He backed away and turned to go up the stairs. Xander set the player on a chair before opening the cages and followed.
"Great work," Xander admitted, almost grudgingly.
"Sod that. Where's my money?" Xander fished a bill out of his pocket and held it out.
"Yeah, I guess you'd better be going in case they decide they should take you in…" Spike and the money were already gone. Xander snorted and walked back to the top of the stairs in time to intercept the prisoners as they came up. Two barged past him, headed for the door in a big hurry. The third stopped briefly though.
"Hey, um… thanks man. Really." Xander nodded.
"All in a days work." Then he was alone. He went to the stairs to see how the initiative agents were coming along. "How's it going guys?"
"All done," Jay called up. They came up the stairs and looked around. "Where's the hostile?"
"You mean Spike? He's gone. He did his job, got his money, and he's off. I'm thinking he didn't really trust you to keep the other part of the bargain." They didn't look happy, but they had their orders.
* * *
Buffy and Riley had become separated at some point. Riley, Xander and Anya had stayed near the restaurant waiting for backup, but Buffy had drifted away, following the sounds of the disturbances the creatures created. There seemed to be no pattern to their actions. They were just… having fun. Unfortunately that fun consisted of doing as much damage as the pint sized uglies could do. The numbers were dwindling rapidly, but there still seemed to be quite a few of them.
Buffy heard a loud, metallic sounding crash from an alley up the street and put on a burst of speed. She found an overturned Dumpster, and six of the little demons jumping up and down on top of it, laughing crazily. The laughter stopped abruptly when the Dumpster moved. It shifted violently back and forth, throwing all but two of the demons off. Those two began to laugh again, while maintaining their balance on the moving Dumpster. They clasped their hands over their heads and cheered as if they'd just won a game of king of the mountain.
The winners lost big though when their mountain was abruptly lifted into the air and thrown back against the side of the building, squashing them. It was their cohorts turn to laugh, but that also ended abruptly when they saw what emerged from the pile of garbage bags. Even Buffy stared, her mouth hanging open.
The creature stood roughly six feet tall and was powerfully built. The skin was pale as moonlight and the eyes glowed a sickly green. It raised thick arms ended in five fingered, sharp clawed hands. It regarded the small creatures with lips drawn back over teeth that looked better suited to a horse than anything else. They weren't terribly intimidating in themselves, lacking any canines, but that didn't matter. There were plenty of other things to be intimidated by.
The smaller demons backed away, startled by the thing before them. Then their muttering grew angry and the surviving four on the ground and five more that dropped from the roof of one of the buildings swarmed the pale skinned creature. It lashed out at them, crushing skulls with fists that looked more like clubs than hands, or tearing at them with it's claws. Buffy had seen more formidable claws. These were barely more than sharpened fingernails, but they seemed to get the job done.
Two survivors broke off and backed away when they saw one of their number seized and literally torn in half. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, they fled, straight toward Buffy. She kicked one hard in the midsection and there was a satisfying crunch as it sailed over the head of the head of the pale skinned demon and hit a wall. She grabbed the head of the other in one hand and twisted sharply, never taking her eyes off the larger creature.
For its part, the demon wasn't paying much attention to her. It glanced at Buffy and then down at the blood on its hands. For some reason it seemed to find it fascinating. The creature stared at its hands wide-eyed as if seeing them for the first time. It glanced up at Buffy who had begun to move toward it. Then it ran. Buffy wasn't overly concerned as the alley was a dead end. It had nowhere to go.
"Or maybe he does," she said out loud as it jumped, hand barely brushing the top of the fifteen foot wall as it sailed over. She shook her head, dismissing the creature. After all it had saved her the work. If it was in town to cause trouble she'd see it again. Buffy turned and left the alley.
An odd thought occurred to her though. She had, on occasion, run into demons who just wanted to get by, and had no interest in hurting anyone. She also recalled Angel's story of the demon half-breeds that he had helped not so long ago. The notion of a human and a demon together struck her as rather odd, but then she thought about Angel. She shrugged and went back to looking for more threatening demons.
Buffy made a note to herself to speak to Walsh though. Not all demons were hostiles and it might be a good idea to let the Initiative know that.
Sounds of a battle drew her attention. She sighed.
Buffy rounded the corner and ducked through a hole in the hedge that bordered the park on the south side. She made her way quickly, but quietly through the park to a clearing. Five Initiative agents were cornered, outnumbered at least three to one by vampires.
With no time to waste. She drew a stake from her belt and quickly scanned the ground. She picked up the broken branch she had spotted. It was sharp enough for stabbing and heavy enough to use as a club.
Two of them died before they knew she was there. The rest turned on her and she suddenly became very busy.
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