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by Chris Kenworthy (scoobyhq@fcmail.com)
Disclaimer: I have no rights to the characters of Buffy, Faith, Willow, Xander, Oz, Cordelia, or Giles.
Well, so did Jim. With a thought and a push from the Staff of Shadows, the would-be rescuer was put into a deep foggy sleep. He would face the same fate he hoped to rescue the Slayer from, Jim vowed in his mind, extricating himself from the wrestler's strong arms and readying the Staff for another concussion blow - but he stopped. Warned by his superhuman senses, Jim spun around just in time to parry a deadly stab from Buffy Summer's spearlike staff.
With that, the duel began again in earnest, but this time, incredibly, the momentum of Jim's victory had evaporated. He tried to once again use the magic of the Staff against his enemy, but every time he spared the concentration to prepare a spell, Summers would ready a devastating attack to his heart, or his neck, and Jim would have to devote all his concentration to countering it. He couldn't break through the Slayer's defenses. And he couldn't keep up his own guard indefinitely.
Still, it was not out of resignation but utter shock that he did not counter when the Slayer readied the Shikomi-zu for a downward chop of truly astounding scale. Such an attack could not kill him, could not either decapitate or reach his heart. What was she hoping to do accomplish?? Surely it was a feint - an attempt to draw Jim out of his stance. Jim held fast.
It wasn't until too late that he realized the object of Buffy's attack was not himself, but the Staff. The blade of her weapon cut more than three inches into it, then the staff snapped in two with the downward force of her attack.
"Nooo!!" Jim cried as the shadow magic drained from the Staff, uncontainable. Most of it was lost, but Jim made a point of breathing in some of the fumelike ambience, channeling it within himself to cast a very special spell. This Slayer might very well kill him - but if she did, she would live to regret it. And with that, Jim drew his own side weapon, a sturdy morning star, with a solid haft and heavy spiked metal head. (No chain - this was not that kind of morning star, if you even call any weapon with a length of chain a morning star. The naming of weapons is a confusing field - different authorities catalog them differently, but now is not the time to explain further.) With that, Jim lifted his new weapon and attacked the Slayer.
Faith was still duelling with Harry, her wooden sword getting many dents in it, slowly getting the advantage, but Tom had stood up and was closing in on her from behing now. Jonny was still keeping the three others at bay. Xander and three of the five 'victims' were nowhere to be seen - the two Jim had struck unconscious were still lying on the floor.
Suddenly, Jim came to a decision and nodded at Harry. In an instant, the two of them shifted form, Jim into a wolf, Harry into a bat. Buffy had been waiting for this moment, though. With a triumphant cry, she thrust the Shikomi-zu down Jim's wolfy throat and through his lupine heart. Instantly, he dispersed into ashes.
Harry fared better - at least for a moment. Within seconds, his batty sense of sonar had given him his bearings after the change - and the news of Jim's death. Quickly he winged towards the office - without the Staff, there was no objective left but escape, and the key to escape was first to disarm the security board.
Faith and the others stared after his winging bat form for several seconds, uncertain how to catch him. Inside the office, Harry went immediately for the console, shifting back to human form so he could work it. That was his mistake. As the wooden stake slid into his heart, Jim heard the last words he ever would. "No-one turns me into a love slave!"
(Back out in the main room.)
Jonny menaced Bob with his bladed staff as Faith pinned Tom up against the wall. "So, any last words?" he asked evenly.
"Information!" Tom gasped out desperately.
That caught Buffy's attention. "What information?" she called out from across the floor.
"The Upriser - the one who had the Staff, the guy Trick works for," Tom pressed. Buffy noticed just then that Trick was nowhere to be seen - he must have made a run for it during the form-changing action. "You'll have to defeat him if you hope to save this town. I can give the information you need to begin your plans."
Buffy considered a moment, then nodded. "In exchange for the lives of the two of you, and you will leave Sunnydale and never return?" They nodded back. "Then talk."
"He's a magician, long-lived, been planning his schemes for several hundred years," Tom said quickly. "It all comes to fruition next year - he will turn into an unstoppobale demon and destroy the town." Listening from the front vestibule, Mister Trick listened and frowned. This would mean trouble.
"When?" Buffy demanded him.
"New moon before midsummer's day. But if you hope to destroy him, you had better do so before the dedication - he is completely invulnerable after that. The dedication is one hundred days before the uprising... and why are there spiders on the other side of the room?"
Stunned, Buffy kept one cautious eye on the two vampires and looked behind her. The floor near the stage was crawling with small white arachnids!
"Jim," Tom answered his own question. "He used the shadow magic to effect a final curse. Should he die, each ash to become the egg of a magic dreadspider!"
"D-don't those," Bob stammered, "poison vampires as easily as humans?"
"They do," Tom agreed. "Pact to save each other, Slayer?"
"Done," Buffy blurted out. "We need to get the others out too." She raised her voice to call into the office. "Willow! Can you reverse the security lockout from in there??" After a pause, she belatedly called out "And watch out for spiders!!"
The seconds ticked by awkwardly. "Done, Buffy," Willow called out. "The lockout is off, but we can't get out, the spiders are right outside, Buffy."
Buffy whirled on Tom. "How can you kill these spiders?"
"Individually, they can be stomped, crushed, but in a swarm, some will always dodge and attack where you are not guarding. In a group..." He shrugged. "Fire? Holy water??"
"Holy... Jonny, do you have any?" In seconds, a vial of holy water landed in her hands. Jonny had another in his hands.
"Okay. Willow, Xander, Cordelia!" Buffy called out. "In... Cole!" For the young man was still lying unconscious on the floor, beginning to stir, but the white spiders were almost to his body.
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