Part Seven

As chaos reigned in the secret facility, Willow, Xander and Anya found a nice safe corner to hide. From there, they could just make out the darkened forms scrambling to retain order...and failing miserably. Demons running in one direction, spilled into the great hall, while technicians, Commandos, and other personelle either ran to intercept, or ducked out of the way. Either way, when Xander spotted a demon trying to make it to a stairwell, he jumped up.

“I can’t believe what I’m about to do,” he sighed, racing off to stop the escaping....really huge...demon.

“Xander, what are you doing?!” Anya called out to him frantically.

“About to get himself killed,” Willow said, grabbing the first metal object she could find and ran after him.

“Hey, you...” Xander shouted at the back of the demon. As it turned around and snarled, he gulped, “...really big....many teeth...huge claws...will probably kill me now....demon. Stop?”

The demon rushed the young man, trying to tackle, what he considered to be an annoyance. Instead he was met with a metal pole in his chest, and a smiling red head at the other end.

“Wow,” Willow shook, “I can’t believe that worked.”

“Did you just see what you did?” Xander babbled, as the demon fell to the floor, lifeless, “I mean, of course you did...you were there....but you...you...”

“Saved your butt,” Anya said, hitting him in the chest with her fists, “Are you crazy?! You were just about to be Koraken food! And it’s hard to have sex with a you if you were in its stomach!”

“Okay,” Xander cocked his head, “I think that was a sign of concern,” he smiled and kissed his girlfriend, “In which, I thank you for it.”

“In which,” Anya corrected, “You’ll make it up to me...later....at you place....with the little-”

“Ah...yeah. And I’m sure Willow doesn’t want to know that,” he quickly stopped her from revealing their entire sex life to his best friend.

“Well...” Willow smiled.

“Hey,” Xander said, desperate to change the subject, “Where’s Giles? Is he still in that room?”

******

All Giles could do was act on instinct alone. He heard the faint movement on the tile floor, and knew he had to get out of the way....fast! “Down!” he shouted.

He grabbed Maggie and pushed her aside, just as he felt a sharp pain trace down his left arm. As he threw her into an open, empty room, he could hear the horrifying screams of those who had accompanied. Five different voices. Five different men. All were silenced within a matter of seconds, leaving Professor Maggie Walsh and Rupert Giles alone in the dark.

“Is it gone?” she asked, trying hard not to shake, “did it get out?”

“I don’t know,” Giles grumbled, “I can’t see a bloody thing.”

Maggie heard him take a sharp breath, “Are you hurt?”

“Yes,” he said, touching his bloody arm, “I think I rather am. Of course, I could just be in intense pain for nothing.”

“You don’t have to be sarcastic.”

“Sarcastic?” he began as the light clicked back on, revealing the carnage on the floor of room 314. “Dear, god.” Giles gasped at the brutally mutilated corpse in front of them, “What a lovely project you have here. I can’t wait to see the rest...ow!”

Maggie looked at his arm, which was bleeding profusely and sighed, “Can we talk about this later? Right now, I think you should have one of my doctors look at that.”

Giles stood up on wobbly feet, “Don’t do my any favors, please. I would feel rather uncomfortable being looked at by the same people who, mostly likely studied the creature that did this,” he pointed to the corpses, before swaying into the wall, “Then again...”

******

“How many hostiles escaped?” Riley asked one of his underlings, as they returned to the main hall.

The younger man looked ragged, “I’m not sure. We estimate around eleven got out of the compound.”

“Did anyone stop 314?” Professor Walsh asked, while helping Giles over to a table.

“Make that twelve,” Riley sighed, “Damnit!” he cursed at anyone who would listen, “What the hell happened with the back up systems?! They were created for instances just like this!”

“We’re running a complete systems check now,” a technician replied, “We should get the results in a few hours.”

Buffy, Willow, and the others gathered around Giles, who was being stitched up. He looked pale, but not entirely from blood loss. “Giles?” Buffy hesitated, “Are you okay?”

“The cuts are deep, but the doctor says...”

“No,” she clarified, touching his good arm, “I mean, are you okay?”

Giles shook his head, “To hear their screams.... It was ghastly. And there was nothing I could do. That creature-”

“Did you see it?” Xander asked.

Once again, the Watcher shook his head, “It was too dark.”

They watched as the bodies of the victims were being wheeled out, “But,” Giles continued, “there is no mistaking, the gravity of our situation.”

“I don’t understand it,” Maggie Walsh rubbed her temples, “314 was designed to track down demons, not humans. It should have never killed them. I don’t understand.”

“So a killing machine is not a killing machine, if it murders non-humans only?” Giles asked, not hiding his disgust. “Well, Professor, it appears your precious experiment is loose, and will kill anyone who has the scent of demon on them. Humans included.”

“What? Scent?”

Buffy placed her hands on her hips impatiently, and said, “Look, while you guys argue, this ‘thing’ is out there. I’m going to head out and see if I can’t track it down.”

“Buffy,” Riley began.

“Riley,” the Slayer insisted, “I’m going. You’re not going to stop me.”

Riley smiled and touched her shoulder, “Actually, I was going to ask if I could come along.”

“Oh,” she smiled, with a twinge of embarrassment, “Sure. I could use the back up.”

Giles stood up, and slowly put back on his bloodied shirt, “Buffy, I’m not sure this is a good idea. You have no idea how to stop this creature. Going out there-”

“Is crazy,” Buffy agreed, “I know. But if I don’t do something...” She walked over to him, “Giles, I need you guys to find its weakness. It has to have one. And when you do...then I’ll kill it. In the mean time...we’ll just track it.”

“And keep really clear.” Riley agreed.

Buffy and Riley grabbed their gear, and began to leave, when Professor Walsh said, “Be careful.”