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Part 3
The Dark Hunter strode into the warehouse with a look of grim intensity on her face. But then, as far as Willow could tell, that was pretty much how she looked all the time.Maybe that was natural, given what she was and what she did. Buffy had never been so unrelentingly grim, but then Buffy wasn’t inhabited by an entity of vengeance that had fought evil for several thousand years, either.
“Okay, you two, listen up,” said Hunter, standing in the center of the room.
Willow and Giles both immediately stopped what they were doing and focused on her. There was something about the woman that demanded, if not respect, then a very healthy measure of fear.
“Willow, where are we on locating the Romanovsky Gate?” Hunter asked.
“I think I’ve tracked it down. It was in Moscow for a few years. Now it’s part of a traveling exhibit. It’s in the Smithsonian right now.”
Hunter nodded. “Excellent work.”
“We should go there as soon as possible,” said Giles.
“No,” said Hunter. “We’d attract too much attention, and besides, we’ll need access to some very powerful wards to prevent anyone from coming back through the portal who shouldn’t. Plus, the kind of hardware I plan on taking through to the other side might be a little difficult to explain to the Smithsonian’s curators. I’ll have the artifact moved to my operations center.”
“You can do that?” asked Giles.
Hunter nodded. “I’m not the lone wolf the Slayers are. My predecessors and I have established a rather far-reaching network to monitor evil and fight the good fight. I have friends in high places.”
“Where’s your operations center?” asked Willow.
“Fort Lee, New Jersey.”
“New Jersey?” an incredulous Willow repeated.
“Exactly the reaction I count on. Nobody ever thinks that the last line of defense against evil would be located in New Jersey. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, the DH Group is just a corporate security and law enforcement consulting firm. I’ll have the corporate Gulfstream flown into Sunnydale Municipal as soon as I can arrange for the Gate to be transferred.”
Elisa moved over to a small refrigerator and removed an Evian. She took a couple of sips and then said, “There’s more. I’m afraid it’s not good news. My people have been tracking several events over the past few weeks. They fit a pattern, and it’s not a pretty one.
“Event one: two weeks ago, in the Ukraine, a ten kilometer diameter circle of forest was leveled by a mysterious explosion. Scientists are investigating the possibility of a small meteor impact.
“Event two: twenty-three hours later, in New Mexico, several dozen people reported seeing a large silver disk appear in the sky. The popular theory is UFOs. Another is that it was an Air Force test of a new weapon.
“Event three: four days later in the small village of Cava, Mexico, villagers claim that God appeared to them in a field as a great circle of silver fire.
“Well, I’ve seen this before, and it’s not meteors or aliens and it’s definitely not God. What this is, it’s someone testing the Mephisto Threshold in preparation for the start of Armageddon.”
“The what?” asked Willow.
“The Mephisto Threshold,” said Giles, awe and fear in his voice. “It’s a gateway, like the one we used to send Buffy to the demonic plane, but on a vastly different scale.”
Hunter picked up the explanation. “Normally, for a demon to cross over into this plane, someone on this side must perform a Summoning to allow a Gate to be opened. Those Gates are very specific and can almost never allow more than one demon to come through them, and the spells involved are very risky and costly affairs. The Mephisto Threshold, on the other hand, was created specifically to allow an entire standard-issue army of darkness to come across into this world in one fell swoop. As far as I know, the commandments that keep the major demonic powers in check proscribe them from using the Threshold other than when the Elder Powers declare it is time for another stab at Apocalypse. So if these incidents really are tests of the Threshold, we’re looking at big trouble coming our way unless we do something to stop it.”
“Yes, but what? That’s the question,” said Giles.
“The answer is actually quite clear. I can’t fight the Second Apocalypse here in this world. Thanks to the Metaphysical Council of Gaul, I haven’t the manpower or resources to do that. So I’ll have to try to destroy the Threshold before it can be used. If the Elder Powers don’t like that, they can take it up with me, but if a demon army makes it to this side, you can kiss the world good-bye for sure.”
“Then that means …” said Willow.
“It means, Willow, that we are going to bring the fight to Hell. And God help what’s left of the Abyss when we’re done with it,” said the Dark Hunter, a hard gleam in her cold blue eyes.
* * *
“You’ve got to be kidding. The Mephisto Threshold? This is your plan?” asked Jenny, her voice low.
Below the shadowed gallery in which she and Buffy stood, looming large over the wide amphitheater that was the center of the Cathedral Fortress, rose the great circular shape of the Threshold. The giant portal was easily fifty yards across, fashioned seemingly all in one piece from a dull black alloy. Around its perimeter, evenly spaced glyphs were cut into the surface, and the whole thing radiated a dull sense of foreboding that Buffy couldn’t quite put her finger on.
“It’s the only way out of here I’ve been able to find,” Buffy whispered.
“Yeah, maybe, but you have no idea what that thing can do. Sure, you could get back. You could also create Hell on Earth. That’s what it’s for, what it was designed from the outset to do. In all of Hell, there’s only one thing more dangerous that what you’re looking at right now, and that’s the Gehenna Matrix,” said Jenny.
“Gehenna Matrix? Sounds like a hair conditioner.”
“Far from it, but that’s neither here nor there right now,” said Jenny. She gestured toward the Threshold. “This … this is just nuts. You open that door, everything in this plane will follow you like rats through a sewer tunnel.”
“That’s one of the two reasons I need you, Jenny. I’ll need you to ward against anything getting through there besides me.”
“And the second reason?”
“The second reason is, I don’t have any idea how to work that thing. Not a clue. And I don’t think writing to the manufacturer for the instruction manual is going to do it.”
Jenny sighed. “I’m not sure anyone but the Elder Powers know how to work it. No one’s tried since the First Apocalypse a thousand years ago.”
“First Apocalypse?”
“This isn’t the first time the Elder Powers have tried their hand at Armageddon, Buffy.”
Buffy looked back toward the Threshold and said, “It’s just a machine. Powerful and magic, yes, but a machine nevertheless. In our world, you mastered both the technological and the mystic, and I’m asking you to try to do that again. I can’t stay here. If I do, my luck is going to run out sooner or later, and I’m going to die in this place. I don’t want to die, Jenny. I have things on the other side to live for again, and I want a chance at them. You of all people know what it’s like to have a chance at happiness stolen from you.”
After a moment’s reflection, Jenny nodded. “I’ll do what I can. I can’t make you any promises, but I will try. You deserve your chance, Buffy.”
Buffy felt a great sense of relief wash over her. “Thank you.”
Jenny smiled then looked back at the sinister ring of the Threshold. The smile vanished. “What do we have here?”
Buffy followed her gaze to a group of four individuals who had just entered the gloom of the amphitheater at ground level, far below. They could have been men but for the fact that within the hoods of their dark robes they seemed to be no more than swirling shadow. A trick of light and distance, perhaps, but Buffy didn’t think so.
One of them approached the dark circle of the Threshold and touched its hand to the surface. Instantly, the glyphs etched into the metal burned crimson, casting a ruddy glow over the walls and galleries.
“They don’t know we’re here. You’re shielding us?” asked Jenny very softly.
Buffy nodded.
A second figure approached the huge machine. Then he effortlessly floated upwards toward the top of the ring, where he touched one of the symbols. The glyph flared bright, and within the circumference of the Threshold, the same letter materialized and hung suspended in mid-air like a fiery phantom. The process was repeated by the other two creatures, then the first one selected a symbol of his own and the cycle continued until twelve of the glyphs burned in a circle around the inner edge of the Threshold ring.
As the final glyph materialized, a strange and rising pulsation ran through the whole building, then the ghostly symbols vanished and the center of the Threshold shimmered blue and gray. The color grew brighter until it was a painfully brilliant silver, then it twisted into the familiar shape of a vortex. But this vortex was far bigger than anything Buffy had ever seen. After half a minute or so, the harsh light of the open portal faded, and the building was once more shrouded in silence and shadow. The strange wizards filed out wordlessly.
“That grouping of symbols must have been planar and spatial coordinates. Probably those of Earth,” said Jenny.
“Yes, but damn if I can remember any of them,” said Buffy. “I guess I should have actually listened to those Mega Memory tapes Mom bought me in high school.”
“Don’t worry. One of the curses of this place is that nothing you can do can make you forget anything. For once, it looks like one of the miseries down here might actually work to our advantage.”
Buffy smiled. “Great. Then let’s get out of here and work out how we’re going to get this done.”