Title: The Assistant, part 43
Author: Sweetdoggie (stirling_summer@yahoo.com)
Pairing: B/G
Rating: R
Summary: More about the Initiative
Spoilers: season 4
Disclaimer: No permission has been granted to use the characters. They are owned by their creator, Joss Whedon, Twentieth Century Fox, UPN, WB, and Mutant Enemy. This story is non-profit and is intended solely as entertainment. No copyright infringement is intended.
“Gak!” Xander grunted as he ate a bite of Weetabix cereal. Buffy didn’t like it either, but it was all they currently had on hand.
“This stuff tastes like wood shavings, which, I guess, would be OK if I was a giant termite.”
She nodded sympathetically while Giles simply rolled his eyes. “Oh for heaven’s sake, Xander. Eat it and save the commentary.”
Graham took a tentative bite of the British breakfast food. “Um, well, it’s different.”
Riley simply shrugged and took another bite. He was too worried about Adam to gripe about the blandness of the cereal. “What are we going to do?”
Willow looked up sleepily from the mug of tea she was coddling. “I spent most of last night working on my computer. Files have started disappearing from Dr. Walsh’s database. I think Adam must be pulling data. It doesn’t want us to know what it is.”
“It’s a monster, that’s all we need to know about it,” Buffy said darkly. “We need to kill it.”
Graham, who hadn’t seen the thing, agreed with her.
“I spoke with John last night. He says he hasn’t got a clue as to how to stop something like this.” Giles looked at Buffy. “He told me to tell you to go very carefully.”
“I will, but we need to do something. It’s already killed Dr. Walsh and Angleman. Even if it was friendly and never killed again, we couldn’t trust it.”
Willow had flipped on the TV while they were talking. She was watching the morning news. “Uh, Buffy? I don’t think that’s going to be an issue.”
They gathered around the television and watched the reporter unfold a story about a nine-year-old boy whose dismembered body had been found on campus. He had been taken apart with surgical precision. The reporter tried to interview the grieving parents but the mother was hysterical and the father in shock. Reluctantly, he turned the cameras on neighbors who testified that the boy was always friendly and never in trouble. They explained how he liked to get on his bike and ride around UC Sunnydale’s bike paths.
Buffy watched for a few moments. “I suppose I’d better get over there.”
“Any chance this wasn’t Adam?” Xander asked the group at large.
“It’s about ten feet from one of the secret entrances to the Initiative,” Riley pointed out. “I don’t see how it could be anything but that monster.”
Buffy got up and headed for the door. “Take some weapons,” Giles called to her.
“It’s daylight. If people see me walking with a sword over my shoulder, they’ll call the cops.”
“Daggers then.” He helped her arm herself. “Be very careful. This is something no one has ever faced before. We need time to learn what this thing is capable of.”
Willow glanced over at her friend. “What if it can’t die?”
Giles looked at her, startled. “Why would you even question such a premise, Willow?”
“Riley said its part machine, part human and part demon. What if it’s like the Terminator or something? What if we can’t kill it?”
“If we can’t kill it, we can take it apart. But I’m betting it’s organic enough to die if we cut enough bits off.” Buffy marched to the door. “Save me some lunch.”
Buffy avoided the police scene as much as possible. She did take a stroll through the now deserted Lowell house and filled up a duffle bag of clothing for Riley and Graham. She also found Riley’s cache of weapons and spent a few minutes picking out the more interesting ones. By the time she left the dorm, the bag weighed a ton. Tossing it casually to her shoulder, she left the building.
As she strolled along the walkway through the heart of the campus, she saw the police were stopping people and searching their packs. Since she was armed to the teeth and carrying Riley’s weapons as well, she decided it wouldn’t be all that good an idea to get caught. She turned sharply off the path and entered the woods behind the school. Not more than fifty feet into the dense growth, she came across her quarry.
It looked at her curiously. There was no emotion in its face as it gazed at her. “I am Adam,” it told her conversationally.
“I’m Buffy,” she responded while she looked it over.
“I saw that you were in my brother’s room. Do you know him?”
“Your brother?”
“Riley.”
“Oh. Yeah, I know him. Why do you call him your brother?”
“Mother made me and she was making him to be like me. Thus, we are brothers.”
Buffy decided to let his questionable genetics go. “So, Maggie Walsh made you and then you killed her. That doesn’t seem like a very dutiful son to me.”
“As I told my brother, she was a liability. She was unstable. I will resurrect her and make her better than before.” He waved his hand slightly in dismissal. “It is unimportant.”
“What are you?”
“I am an amalgam of sub-terrestrials, human and computer. I was created to be the perfect killing machine.”
“You killed that little boy.”
“I was curious. Humans have a very low tolerance for pain. Perhaps you are different? I will dissect you.” He started forward.
Buffy dropped the heavy duffle and met his forward movement with one of her own. He was strong, stronger than her, she realized. He broke one of her ribs with a glancing blow and she backed off trying to breathe.
“You are stronger than human? Are you part of the Initiative? Perhaps I was not mother’s only project.”
He extended some sort of spike from his wrist and came at her again. She was able to divert his punch to a tree where his spike stuck buried half way through the trunk. Thinking quickly, she grabbed the duffle bag and ran like the hounds of hell were after her.
She had to stop periodically and rest, her rib sending sharp stabs of agony through her body. Finally, she got into town and headed for her home. Giles and the others met her on the porch. She dropped the bag and Riley picked it up. Holding her side, she leaned into her husband’s arms. He carried her into the house and to their room where he stripped her down and examined her wounds.
Buffy was bruised from head to foot, but the broken rib was the worst bit. He cleaned her up carefully and wrapped the rib. “It should be healed by morning. Do you want to go to the hospital?”
“Cripes! No way.” She moaned as he pulled the elastic bandage tighter.
“What happened?”
She explained and gave a relieved grunt when he lowered her gently back to the pillows.
“It’s way too strong for me to fight head first, Giles.”
“While you were out, Riley contacted the military again. They are sending some soldiers.”
“More people to get killed.”
“They do have guns.”
“I’m not sure shooting it will do anything more than make it cranky. Not much point building a super soldier that dies just as easy as a normal human.”
He nodded. “I suppose you are correct, though I hope you are not.”