FIC: Massive Collatoral Damage (3/3)

[fox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

And now, the conclusion.

Massive Collatoral Damage
By Fox

Part 3.

"You know," said Buffy, "I'm sure I remember Giles saying that demon 
type activity was particularly low on halloween."

"He was lying." responded her flame haired companion 
nonchalantly. "You were way stressed at the time and he thought you 
needed a night off."

"I mean, like when have we ever not been fighting off the hordes of 
darkness on halloween? It's a red letter day in the calendar of the 
undead."

The two girls flew above street level, attempting to catch some sign 
of the missing demon. 

"Over there!" Said Willow, pointing to the museum, where the tell-
tale sign of a large smashed window suggested that something untoward 
had been going on.

They powered down their jetpacks and stealthily crept into the 
building. Statues and artifacts cast strange shadows in the dim 
moonlight. Willow peered into the darkness and nearly put a hole 
through a 17th century suit of samurai armour when the grimacing 
facemask took her unawares.

"we're never going to be able to find it among all this." She 
said, "And time's running out."

"No time for subtlety." Responded Buffy, setting her smith-hitachi to 
auto-fire. She straffed the surrounding room in a burst of fire.

"No! Ow! Please stop!" cried one of the statues, leaping to life as 
the urn it was carrying disintegrated. "We surrender! Don't 
shoot!" Several other statues also dived for the floor.

"How did you find out about our plan?" The erstwhile statue 
whimpered with raised hands.

"Who are you guys?" Said Buffy, slightly thrown by this turn of 
events.

"Are you stealing artwork or something?" Asked Willow.

"Aren't you here to catch us?" said the thief.

Behind them, the eyes in the mask of the samurai armour glowed red. 

"We don't have time for this!" Cried Buffy.

The disguised demon leapt up and ran off. Pausing only to send a 
couple of small fireballs in its direction, Buffy and Willow charged 
after it, leaving several bewildered thieves crouching in the 
darkness with their hands over their heads as large chunks of masonry 
detached themselves from the walls and ceiling and showered down on 
them.
***
"Where is it?" Said Buffy, looking around.

"over there!" Said Willow, pointing to where the demon was scaling a 
tall building.

The two girls fired blasts at the demon, which generally just blew 
large chunks out of the walls. The creature reached the topmost 
spire and stood motionless for a moment.

"It's stopped moving! Now's our chance!"

"We'll settle this once and for all! Let's go!" Said Buffy, taking 
careful aim (for once) with her smith-hitachi godzilla bazooker 
blaster.

She peered through the sights to see the demon perfectly outlined in 
front of the rising moon.

"Oh dear." Said Willow.

The tattered remains of the samurai armour disintegrated around the 
demon as its skin bulged and distended, forming spikes and claws all 
over a body that seemed to grow to several times its original size. 
Its jaws opened wider than any human could, exposing several rows of 
long needle-like fangs. It spat out an unpleasant looking glob which 
ignited and narrowly missed Buffy before falling to hit the building 
behind her, which crumpled under the impact.

Which few people in the streets below noticed, as the traditional 
halloween firework display commenced. Streaks of bright colours lit 
the sky, and explosions of light mixed with explosions of the more 
dangerous kind as Willow and Buffy fought the demon way above.

"Is that one of ours?" Wondered the pyrotechnics expert, peering at a 
spectacular flash that appeared to take off the top of a high spire.

"What?" Said his assistant, deafened by the row of starbursts he had 
just set off.

"Oh no!" Yelled Willow, "I'm out of ammunition!"

She dodged as a burst of explosive spines were flung in her direction.

In the streets below people were marveling at the display.

"Oh look! They're blowing up a building!"

"Cool."

Debris from multiple explosions rained around them as Buffy and 
Willow sheltered behind a gothic outcrop. 

"What are we going to do now?" Said Willow, "We're out of weapons."

"You're brain girl. You tell me." Responded Buffy pettily.

Having dug themselves out of the remains of the museum, the thieves 
had gathered in a secluded spot.

"If only they had known! Those odd girls did us a favour, hahaha!" 
The leader cackled.

"When the museum collapsed, I was able to retrieve THIS from where it 
had been sealed in the foundations!"

He held aloft an odd curved dagger, its blade carved with strange 
sigils.

"Now we can can call upon the Hordes of K'rynn to deliver the world 
into eternal darkness!"

His companions were suitably impressed, though one at the back 
wondered whether this was an entirely good idea, and whether he would 
be able to catch the last offworld shuttle before the planet 
descended into chaos.

They began to chant.

A bright firework flashed past Buffy.

"That's it!" She cried. "We DO have weapons!"

"Um, Buffy?" Said Willow, as her friend dived downward. She shrugged 
and followed.

They landed amidst the stacks of fireworks waiting to be set off.

"Firecrackers?" Willow frowned.

"Gunpowder is gunpowder, isn't it?" Buffy grinned, happily.

She tilted a large tube toward the demon. A blast from Willow's 
minilaser set it off, and the rocket flew up, impacting the spiky 
demon and exploding in a burst of light.

The demon paused in its wanton destruction.

"Again! Again!" Yelled Willow, getting into the spirit of things.

Buffy tipped a whole row of rocket tubes toward the undead creature, 
and Willow fired off all six.

The Spire on which the demon stood was bathed in bright colours.

"One more time!" Cried Buffy, hefting a rocket tube that even with 
her slayer enhanced strength she could barely lift.

The huge rocket propelled the stunned demon high into the air before 
exploding under it. The demon, by this time, was starting to look 
somewhat less threatening, having lost many of its pointy bits in 
earlier explosions.

As it hurtled earthwards, Buffy and Willow manouvered the largest 
rocket tube they could find for it to land in. Before it could make 
an effort to crawl out, they heaped on firecrackers and catherine 
wheels and and whizz-bangs, and anything else they could find.

"And now, for the main event of the evening!" Said Buffy.

"The famous Sunnydale Metroplex Halloween firework display!" Said 
Willow.

"Ultra super star firework: LIGHT UP!"

The biggest streak of light so far lit up the sky, causing the 
assembled onlookers to ooh and ah with delight. The explosion, when 
it burst, way up high, was loud enough to shatter many of the windows 
whose glass was still intact.

Even the museum theives paused in their ritual. Looking upwards, 
they were more than a little surprised to find pieces of flaming 
demon raining down on them. The leader just had time to say "Oh 
SHI.." before he was hit squarely by the fireball that formed the 
largest piece.

***

"Kampai!" 
The two girls clinked their glasses together.

"Just what you need after a hard night's work." Said Buffy.

"I wonder if Giles is mad? We broke a few more things than usual." 
Pondered Willow, sipping her drink.

"Collateral Damage. Couldn't be helped. SlayGrrls one, demon zero." 
Buffy shook her head. "We'll listen to his lecture tomorrow."

"You're right." Willow said, raising her glass again. "Halloween is 
still young!"

"We should really get out of this bath and go party." Said Buffy, 
dabbing some bubbles on Willow's nose..

"Later." She responded, setting down her glass on the side of the 
bath and leaning forward into Buffy's arms...