Fic: Orb Of Mentez (5/?)

[annelise@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Orb Of Mentez, Part Five.
Comments/Flames/Etc. to: annelise@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

--

Buffy shimmied up the rope with Willow draped around her neck like 
a fur stole. Albeit a stole that snored. Xander helped her up out of 
the hole.
"What now?" he asked.
"Let's block the hole." Buffy looked around for something to do the 
job. Xander pushed a likely statue over, which fell through the hole.
"Doesn't fit," he shrugged. A pitiful 'wuargh!' from below related 
to the pair how unappreciated large random objects being dropped 
through the hole were. Buffy managed to push over a bigger statue, 
which neatly blocked the hole, and hammered two of the escaping 
mummies back down into the darkness below.
"Kinda reminds me of that weird mallet game Japanese businessmen 
play," Xander mused.
"So long as they don't start popping up all over the place," Buffy 
said. "There aren't enough statues left. Besides, Willow'd kill me if 
we desecrate *another* tomb..."
"I will?" Willow mumbled, coming around. Buffy set her gently down.
"You've only been out for ten minutes, love." Buffy kissed her semi-
conscious partner. "Don't make with any magic, you'll get yourself 
hurt."
"I'll be good," Willow meeked.
"Sorry to interrupt you two," said an unapologetic Xander, "but we 
really ought to move... Look!"
Xander waved his torch in the general direction of a rapidly 
approaching darkness. A darkness caused by lots of little scurrying 
creatures.
"Brachypelma amelia!" Willow said, cheerfully.
"Tell me they're not dangerous!" Xander panicked.
"Only if you don't get bitten. They're tarantulas." Willow 
blinked. "Where'd Xander go? Eek!"
Willow felt herself going from vertical to horizontal as Buffy 
grabbed her clothes in passing, and accelerated after Xander.

*

"Welcome to pain, welcome to misery! Bwahahahaha! What do you have 
to say for yourself, you miserable little wretch?"
"Are those horns for real?" Colin, the obnoxious kid from row three, 
asked.
"These?" the demons eyes flicked upwards. "Of course they're real!"
"Cool!"

*

"We should be safe now," Buffy claimed.
"Yeah?" Xander's eyes bugged. "We're lost in the dark in the middle 
of the jungle, being hunted down by undead mummies and a horde of 
repulsive eight-legged monstrosities that want to eat our flesh..." 
He trailed off as Buffy continued to point to towards the neon light 
of civilisation.
"A McDonalds? Here?" Xander took the lead once more.
"Order me a veggieburger!" Willow cried out after the X-man.

*

The McDonalds was spotless. Okay, it was still the crass over-
commercialised red plastic we all know and hate, but it was 
*spotless* crass red plastic. The manager, an acne-ridden moron of 
indeterminable age looked up in surprise from his laminated Playboy 
(wipe carefully after use) as Xander burst in followed by the Slayer 
with Willow being carried piggy-back. He thumbed through the customer 
manual.
"Can I take your order please?" he asked.
"I'll have... Whatever this can buy!" Xander claimed, throwing down 
enough American currency to buy most of Quintanaroo. (The exchange 
rate had continued to slip over the last decade.)
"I'll have a veggieburger!" Willow repeated as she slipped quietly 
to the floor to stand behind Xander. She hated that, even in the 
middle of the jungle in a remote and isolated part of the world, she 
still had to queue for a veggieburger. And she *knew* there wouldn't 
be one ready when she got to the front.
"And I could use the phone," Buffy said.

*

"Good lord!" Giles said as he hung up the phone. "They found the 
orb!" he started to excitedly clean his glasses.
"That's nice," Dawn dutifully applied the tea-towel to Giles' cup as 
he put the biscuits away. Domestic life was suiting her very well. 
Especially as she'd failed almost every course at school... by not 
actually attending for very long. "What does it do?"
Giles blinked. He'd not actually considered this question.
"I have no idea," he said.

*

End Part 5.