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Chapter 16
No Matter Where You Go, There You Are
Atop the DH Group building’s parking structure, the wind whipped Lillith Prophet’s coppery hair and buffeted her as she looked out across the Hackensack River Valley to low, dark, igneous Watchung mountains in the distance.She really did like this world, she thought. And she resented it that some people never seemed to tire of trying to dominate or destroy it. Now there was an odd and ironic sentiment to be coming from a former herald of the Apocalypse. That’s what happened, she supposed, when you went and shared the soul of someone like Buffy Summers. What a remarkable woman. So much steel yet so much love and compassion and heart. So much spirit.
No wonder Buffy had it in her to change the course of the world, of the universe. No wonder fate had chosen her to be the greatest Slayer in history. That was the whole secret, wasn’t it? That the Slayer never defined the woman. The woman defined the Slayer. And this remarkable human being that was Buffy Summers, this unique creation of complexity teased from chaos, had changed the very concept of the Slayer forever. It would never be the same again. Not in this universe or any other.
Lillith Prophet had been alive for hundreds of millions of years, had watched the drama of birth and death spawn and destroy untold multitudes of worlds and civilization and individuals. She had played the role of savior and destroyer in every corner of the universe, had been witness to miracles on scales grand and small. Yet for all that, nothing had ever meant more to her, had changed her life more profoundly, than sharing for one brief span of time the soul of one sad, brave, wonderful young woman named Buffy Summers.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the expected disruption in the space-time continuum that announced Flynn’s arrival. She continued to gaze out at the distant mountains as he moved to stand beside her. He was dressed in a dark gray overcoat, black suit and expensive Italian loafers.
“You wanted to see me?” she asked.
“What’s the status on Harris?”
“Yeah, nice to see you too. Harris is taken care of. A few hundred nanobots in his coffee. All the key players are now on the fast track back to youth and beauty. That’s not why you’re here, though,” said Lillith.
“GHOST has detected a potential problem,” said Flynn.
“Such as?”
“That’s on a need to know basis. You know that.”
“Then stop jerking my chain and go away, Flynn. I’m leaving for Belize in a little while. I’d like to get ready.”
“Belize is what I want to talk about. You can go to Belize and Buffy Two Six Alpha can do whatever she wants to save her daughter with one exception. You must make certain that this exception is not violated.”
“And that exception would be?”
“Under no circumstances are you to let her enter the wormhole, Lillith. Do you understand?” asked Flynn.
“Why?”
“Because if she enters Hell, she will die.”
“You can’t know that. Not for sure.”
“No, but this comes from GHOST. It’s not a certainty, but it’s definitely more likely than not,” said Flynn irritably.
“There’s something you’re not telling me,” said Lillith.
“Don’t question me, little one. This is not a discussion, it is an edict. You are not to allow Buffy Summers to enter Hell under any circumstances. Am I clear?”
“Crystal. But if you won’t tell me why …”
“It is not for you to know. What’s going on in Hell right now is beyond her abilities. We cannot afford to lose her, not yet, and what waits for her in Hell she is not ready to face. Not at all.”
“Come clean, Flynn. I’m not a child. I’m almost a billion years old.”
“No, because I know you, Lillith. You’re a meddler and you’re dangerously unpredictable. What’s been happening in Hell, and what’s happening right now, is largely your fault and I’m not prepared to let you make it any worse. The others and I, we’ll handle this in our own time and in our own way.”
Lillith folded her arms across her chest. Her eyes narrowed to slits of green fire. “Fine. If that’s the way the Elder Powers want to play it, then screw them.”
Flynn rested a hand on her shoulder as she pouted. “I like you, Lillith. That’s why I went through the trouble of getting the others to give you this second chance. Don’t screw it up, okay? I wouldn’t want to see you stuck here on Earth in human form forever.”
She relaxed a bit and even smiled slightly.
“Oh, I don’t know. It might not be as bad as all that. Humanity has its charms.”
“I suppose. I’ve encountered one or two myself. But it’s not who we are, ultimately. It’s not what we were meant to be. Your destiny is elsewhere,” said Flynn.
“I’m not so sure of that, Flynn. I’m beginning to think that this is exactly where my destiny lies. With these people. With Buffy Summers Two Six Alpha.”
“That’s not for you to decide.”
“Oh it’s not, huh? And since when did I become Five of Seven of the Borg Collective, huh? Last I checked, I still had free will. It’s still my life. The Elder Powers may have trapped me in this body and exiled me, but I’m still capable of free action — or does part of my work release involve being your trained poodle? Because if it does, you picked the wrong Elder Power.”
Flynn sighed. “You’re headstrong. Stubborn. Insufferable. No wonder I like you.”
“Oh, cut the crap, Flynn. You want to play Mister Mysterious with me, fine, but don’t expect me to follow your edicts blindly. I’m not really good at the ‘doing what I’m told’ stuff.”
Flynn scowled and the wormhole flared to life behind him once more. He turned to leave and said over his shoulder, “One of these days you’ll learn that there are things more important than yourself, Lillith. I hope you do before it’s too late for all of us.”
* * *
“I’d like to come along with you,” said Spike, standing with Cordelia at the door of the DH Group’s armory in the basement of the Operations Center.
Buffy looked at him suspiciously as she cycled the action on her service Magnum several times to let the newly applied gun oil coat the slide guides and work its way into all the twists and turns of the recoil spring assembly. The plans had been laid, the Dark Angels had run through the computer simulations multiple times, and now everyone was gathering their equipment for the imminent flight to Belize.
“Not a good idea,” she said bluntly.
“Is it because of Angel?”
“Angel, Xander … basically anyone who knew the Two Six Alpha no-soul version of you. You didn’t win a whole lot of friends, what with the violence and killing and all.”
Spike sighed. “I suppose you’re right. On the other hand, Angelus sired me. I think he owes me at least a shot at redemption, even if your Angel is a different one from mine.”
“I really wish I could find a problem with that argument,” said Buffy.
“Look, I know I haven’t earned your trust yet,” said Spike. “Maybe I can start with this. I’d like to take a shot at doing the right thing for a change, love.”
Several moments passed while Buffy considered it. Then she said, “I’ll try to sell Angel on it. In the meantime, I’ll have one of the Dark Angels get you outfitted. But step out of line just once with me and I’ll kill you. And stop calling me ‘love’, damn it.”
“Of course, ducks,” said Spike.
“Count me in too,” said Cordelia.
“I think you’d be better off staying here, Cordy,” said Buffy. “This is going to be dangerous.”
Cordelia put her hands on her hips and fixed the Slayer with an arctic gaze, “Oh, thank you very much for the vote of confidence, Miss Save the World. How long have we known each other? Seventy-five years? And in that amount of time exactly how many times did I pull your Slayer butt out of the fire? Let me see. There was that time in Detroit, where if I recall my particular talents in the undead arena saved your neck from Malthos. And then there was that time in San Antonio, at the Iron Horse Saloon …”
Buffy held up a hand. “Okay, okay. I get the picture. You can come. Jeez. But you and Billy Idol here better agree to bury the hatchet, or I’m leaving you both here, got it?”
“Billy Idol? I resent that. I’m much better looking than he was,” said Spike.
Buffy ignored him. “Do we have a deal? Can you two play nice?”
There was a long pause while the two vampires looked icily at each other, then almost simultaneously they shrugged.
“Sure, whatever,” said Cordelia.
“Water under the bridge, and all,” said Spike.
Buffy was prepared for fireworks, and was caught quite unprepared for the sudden outbreak of temporary peace.
“Oh … um … well, good then. I guess,” she said.
“So, when are we leaving?” asked Cordelia. “’Cause I have to pack, you know. Bad enough I have to coordinate with camo prints, but doing it on a schedule, that’s asking for miracles.”
* * *
“This is serious-ass shit we’re in here, man,” said Hudson, lapsing into a casual manner he more frequently adopted with Aston these days. Alone and in a wasteland, there really didn’t seem too much point in formality.
Aston was intently studying a topographical map of the environs of Area 51 and occasionally taking bearings and jotting down calculations with an old Number Two yellow pencil. On the wardroom table were spread a dozen pages of ballistics information for the Howitzers, prevailing wind averages for the area, meteorological trends, ordnance inventories — basically everything he would need to polish Pike’s defenses into a thing of beauty.
“Just figuring that out, are we Hudson?”
“Man, you got a serious sarcasm thing going, you know? Don’t know why I bother with you.”
“You two are friends, right?” asked Xandra, who was playing cards with Erin at a nearby coffee table.
“Never mind Hudson, Miss Harris. Believe it or not, this is merely his crude way of demonstrating affection,” said Aston. “Nevertheless, in his own crude fashion he did accurately summarize our situation.”
“Xandra and I have beaten long odds before. We’ll do it again,” said Erin, but she didn’t look as optimistic as she sounded.
“Either way, gonna kick some undead ass before the dust settles,” said Hudson. “We gonna go out, we might as well go out with style.”
“Style and firepower, Hudson. Let’s not forget the firepower,” said Aston.
Xandra rolled her eyes skyward. “I’m trapped in a Mad Max film.”
“Man, Max’s got it going on, but I ain’t wearing no leather pants. No way,” said Hudson.
“Back to the more important subject of how we’re going to get our butts out of this jam, what’s your take on our chances, Mick?” asked Erin.
“I think we’re going to do a very great deal of damage to the enemy and make a respectable showing, Miss Delacey. Whether we win or not depends largely on how obliging our opposition is in terms of being stupid,” said Aston.
“From what I’ve seen, most demons aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed,” said Erin.
Aston looked at her evenly and said, “Then let’s hope the one leading this lot is a veritable sledge hammer.”