From: owner-buffyfic@lists.xmission.com (buffyfic-digest) To: buffyfic-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: buffyfic-digest V3 #11 Reply-To: $SENDER Sender: owner-buffyfic@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-buffyfic@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk buffyfic-digest Monday, January 11 1999 Volume 03 : Number 011 In this issue: BUFFYFIC: "Flies to Honey" sequel to "The Necromancer" (13/17) BUFFYFIC: "Flies to Honey" sequel to "The Necromancer" (14/17) BUFFYFIC: Announcing a new Buffy FanFic list (BUFFYFIC2) BUFFYFIC: "Flies to Honey" sequel to "The Necromancer" (15/17) See the end of the digest for information on (un)subscribing to the buffyfic or buffyfic-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1999 20:38:28 -0800 From: "J. Jericho Born" Subject: BUFFYFIC: "Flies to Honey" sequel to "The Necromancer" (13/17) TITLE: "Flies to Honey" (Part 01/17) I know I said sixteen parts before, but there was a last minute modification. AUTHOR: J. Jericho Born E-MAIL: traction@sirius.com FEEDBACK: Please let me know what you think of my fanfic with some feedback. DISTRIBUTION: The author reserves rights on this story. Please do not distribute without expressed permission. RATING: PG Contains violence. SPOILERS: Spoilers to previous fanfic. If you would like to read the preceding story you can download it at < http://www.sirius.com/~traction/buffy >. DESCRIPTION: The sequel to "The Necromancer". DISCLAIMER: The writer of this unauthorized fan fiction is not affiliated with any of the parties involved in the making of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The characters are the property of Joss Whedon and whomever else the lawyers may deem fit, they are used without permission. Technically that is not legal, but I'm not anticipating any law suits. This work, the plot line, and the characters introduced that are not already featured on Buffy the Vampire Slayer are the work of Joshua Jericho Born, Copyright 1998. ============== Scene 12 "What is it?" Xander called out, running to catch up with Buffy and the others. "This place isn't as abandoned as we thought," observed Giles, looking through the opening in the fake wall intelligently. Xander joined the onlookers to see a startling contrast to the warehouse they had seen previously. Several large, space-age looking chemical vats were the prominent feature of the orderly, modern factory that hid inside the rotting building. They spanned floor to celing and were accessed by a sturdy catwalk that ran consistently around the spacious area. A host of high-tech machinery intertwined amoung the vats in a methodical chaos. No sound could readily be attributed to the extensive plant that sprawled within, instead an eerie silence maintained the intergrity of a secret operation. The sterile odor of the place lended to the feeling of careful maintenence. "It seems to be a biochemical factory," declared Giles. "Duh, but what is it doing in the middle of dumpsville?" questioned Cordelia. "I say we find out," suggested Buffy. "What about looking for Oz?" reminded Xander. "For all we know he's in there," responded Buffy, more to Willow than to Xander. The former gave an approving nod and Buffy entered the factory stealthily. Xander was fresh on her heels and the others followed with matching dilligence. A lighting system made up of clean, flourescent units illuminated the manicured interior walls and cast multiple shadows on each of the intruders. The group, led by a competent as usual Buffy, made their way around the perimeter of the room. Ducking from cover to cover, they stopped at a useful vantage point and snuggled in between a large pipe and the wall. "Duck," advised Buffy simply. An unusally fit security guard walked by with a face that alluded to his mind being elsewhere. A handgun firmly fastend to his belt cast his dopey demeanor in a threatening shadow. "Did you notice that?" whispered Buffy in the wake of the passing guard. "His uniform didn't have any identifying markings on it," replied Giles under his breath. "This place is giving me the wiggins, I'm getting out of here," advised Cordelia as she began to stand. "No!" barked Buffy as loudly as softly could get. "Why not?" whined Cordelia. "You'll give us away." "How are you so sure?" "Cordy, you're a lot of things, but discrete ain't one of them," informed Xander affectionately. "Hey, look over there," interrupted Willow. Cordelia resigned herself to popular opinion and reassumed her crouch. Willow gestured to a group of large cages that were piled against the wall a few paces away in an orderly manner. They looked quite secure, solid steel on the sides and heavy gauge grating on their fronts. Excitement brimmed in Willow's petite frame as speculations of reuiniting with Oz ran through her head. The contents of the cages couldn't be perceived from her current vantage point, but for the first time in awhile she felt optimistic. Willow's incantation to locate her boyfriend showed no signs of his presence, but she had long since disregarded its validity. "Wait here," said Buffy protectively, but she couldn't even start to get up before a friend's hand met her shoulder. "I want to see for myself," said Willow assuredly, abandoning her enchanted bowl to the cold, concrete floor. Buffy didn't see it fit to disagree and together they crept to the steel cages, Willow in anticipation and Buffy in a reserved caution. They would have to step out from behind the machinery that provided relative cover in order to achieve their objective. The Slayer was wary of being discovered, but there was no stopping Willow. A crawling pace quickend into a minature jog as Willow came upon the nearest cage and peered inside. Buffy assumed position next to her friend and also gazed in. At first glance the twisted creature inside could've been mistaken for a werewolf, but any sustained look would reveal this abomination to be a hideous mutation of an ordinary dog. The expression of this poor creature's tormented face was both threatening and pitiful. A mouthful of its elongated teeth poked in and out of gums in various directions and its coat only existed in isolated patches. Various bones that could be likend to spikes protruded from the mangy animal's hide, giving it the appearance of being subject to callous experiments rather than mere neglect. A permanent expression of fright had fused itself around the animals maw, which was colored blood red from licking its own wounds. Disappointment chilled its way down Willow's spine and she roughly shrugged off Buffy's comforting arm. She could only stare at the floor as Buffy looked over the rest of the cages and discovered they held a menagerie of equally deformed common animals. Buffy shook her head at the others, still huddled behind their cover, and they received the bad news with appropiate silence. "Don't move!" commanded an overly aggresive voice, coming from behind Buffy and Willow. The Slayer beligerently turned to face a particularly edgy security guard leveling his cocked gun at location in Buffy's torso. Remaining calm, she quickly put a ditsy look on her young face. Willow noticed Buffy's expression and also turned with a look of mischievious innocence. "They're just some teenagers," the guard called out, maintaining his eyeful watch on the pair of intruders. "Whoa, don't shoot. We thought this place was abandoned," said Buffy in her best stoner voice. She began to compliment herself mentally for her quick cover story, but she soon realized her statement was true and lacked any ounce of deception. "You girls are in big trouble," advised the guard, his tense neck stretched a collar saturated with persperation. He looked more worried about Buffy and Willow's fate then they did. "Hey, Bubba," yelled a now standing Xander. The guard sent only a moment's glipse Xander's way, but it was enough time for Buffy to disarm him with a precise, well timed kick. The Slayer wasn't about to settle with a single kick and quickly followed with several more meaty blows. The guard met a backhand to the face, a kick to the stomach, and a punch squarely on the jaw with no counter. Staggering to keep balance, he returned a bewildered look to Buffy. "Not expecting moves from some teenager girl?" questioned Buffy with a smug smirk. The guard answered with his own set of precision attacks, the first blow hitting its mark on Buffy's abdomen before she could block the ones that followed. Surprised, Buffy did realize that such martial arts training was standard for security guards, but she was beginning to believe these weren't ordinary security guards at all. "Make a run for it!" exclaimed Buffy, losing faith in her abilities to get out of the situation with a quick fight. Not wanting to abandon their friend, all of the gang remained when Buffy glanced over next during a short lull in the security guard's skilled assault. "I said go!" reiterated Buffy. The others finally complied, hearing the mounting gravity in Buffy's voice. The fight looked to turn against Buffy and she finally disregarded the safety of her human opponent in favor of self preservation. As the security guard lunged a right cross at her, she countered gracefully and sent him into a brutal collision with the side of some steel machinery. After a short moment for pain to be realized the guard fell to the floor unconcious. Without sparing any time, Buffy started on her own timely escape. "Halt!" ordered another guard with the click of a cocking hammer, this time from the catwalk above. "You imbescile! Don't use firearms in here! Do you want to get us all killed?" interrupted a man dressed in a plain, black business suit and tie. Also on the catwalk, he walked a few steps toward the security guard and brushed away the readied gun. "Go get Freeman!" barked the business suited man. The security guard obeyed without question, holstering his weapon and scurrying off to complete his assigned task. "You don't know what you've stumbled into, little girl," advised the mysterious man. "Why don't you enlighten me then?" requested Buffy, postponing her egress for the moment against her own better judgement. "This is much bigger than your little MTV wasted brain can comprehend, young lady, it doesn't matter anyway, you won't make it out of here alive, or perhaps we can recruit you into our little fold, your fighting skills are quite impressive," said the suited man, running his sentences into each other like a tragic train wreck. "Behold, the entire lack of puncuation," quipped Buffy. "I doubt you will live to enjoy your insult, indeed, I think the rebellious nature of your youth wouldn't bode well in our operation, it's a pity to strike down such a lovely specimen of the female half of humanity in her prime, but we cannot afford luxuries such as mercy," the man answered. After finally puncuating his speech with a pause he added, "Kill her." Buffy had no time for a witty comeback, in quick response to the malicious order an ominus whirring noise of an electrical circuit warming up hummed from a short distance away. Instinctively, the Slayer hit the ground to dodge whatever was coming away. A odd swirling, blue light playfully danced above her head, hitting the metal apparatus next to her with no adverse affect. Regardless of the weapon's appearance of impotence, Buffy rolled away until the row of cages impeaded her progress. Just as Buffy got to her feet, a man clad in a peculiar orange jumpsuit and wearing a backpack that fed into an odd weapon he carried turned a corner to face his prey. A pair of nerdy glasses that seemed to come straight out of a NASA Apollo documentry added to his humorous appearance. "What are you, a reject from the Ghostbusters?" questioned Buffy, shortly before diving behind cover as the weapon hummed to life once more. She again suceeded in avoiding a blue stream that this time hit the poor, mutated dog, putting it out of its misery in a cataclysmic puff of organic mass. With the idea of disintegration floating around her mind, the Slayer opted for a different strategy. When the orange-suited man rounded the corner this time he met a sharp jab to the face and struggled with a focused adolescent to maintain hold of his futuristic weapon. Buffy pulled with all her enhanced might, gripping the cylinder shaped device with both hands. "Let go!" demanded Buffy's adversary, but she continued grappling for control of the weapon. Eventually, the Slayer's strength proved too much to handle and it slipped out from his hands, ripping the various cords that connected it to the backpack unit. Amid cries of "Freeman, you idiot!" and with the odd device in hand, Buffy pursued her plans of escape with renewed vigor. She ran to the makeshift entrance briskly, sparing not a single iota of energy as she went. Whatever evils lurked in this place would have to be dealt with after regrouping. ============== ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1999 20:39:43 -0800 From: "J. Jericho Born" Subject: BUFFYFIC: "Flies to Honey" sequel to "The Necromancer" (14/17) TITLE: "Flies to Honey" (Part 01/17) AUTHOR: J. Jericho Born E-MAIL: traction@sirius.com FEEDBACK: Please let me know what you think of my fanfic with some feedback. DISTRIBUTION: The author reserves rights on this story. Please do not distribute without expressed permission. RATING: PG Contains violence. SPOILERS: Spoilers to previous fanfic. If you would like to read the preceding story you can download it at < http://www.sirius.com/~traction/buffy >. DESCRIPTION: The sequel to "The Necromancer". DISCLAIMER: The writer of this unauthorized fan fiction is not affiliated with any of the parties involved in the making of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The characters are the property of Joss Whedon and whomever else the lawyers may deem fit, they are used without permission. Technically that is not legal, but I'm not anticipating any law suits. This work, the plot line, and the characters introduced that are not already featured on Buffy the Vampire Slayer are the work of Joshua Jericho Born, Copyright 1998. ============== Scene 13 Giles hung the phone up after a disappointingly uninformative conversation. He and the adolescents in his charge had gone back to the motel and, after barely noticing a warm gretting from Eddie, settled in one of their rooms to chew over their course of action. "My friend at the County Recorder's office said the property belongs to a 'Armstrong Holdings, Inc.' He couldn't tell me much about the company and they didn't own any other property in the area. It would hardly help us to find out about them anyway, it's probably just a shell for a larger company," informed Giles. He returned to the circle of curiousity that had formed around the peculiar weapon that was the bounty from their adventure. Willow remained partially removed from the group, sitting on the side of a bed in the corner of the room. "We seem to have crossed the line from Fantasy-Horror to Science Fiction," wryly commented Xander, looking over the large cylinder absently. "Just like Xander's love life," sniped Cordelia to little acknowledgement. "What do we do now?" asked Buffy. "Well, seeing as how this appears to involve neither the occult or the supernatural perhaps we should notify the authorities and be rid of the matter," answered Giles to Buffy's surprise. "I'm with Giles. I mean, this isn't our department, this is like Mr. Spock material right here," agreed Xander, poking the cold exterior of the object. "It's settled then. I'll return to the tele," concluded Giles, removing his glasses in anticipation of several long, tedious phone calls. The do-gooder within her aside, Buffy was glad to not have to deal with the matter. She turned her attentions to Willow and approached as gently as possible, sitting next to her friend warmly, but not intrusively. "What'cha thinking about, Will?" inquired Buffy softly. After a moment's hesitation, Willow replied, "I'm not really thinking about anything, just wallowing." "We've tried one lead, we're not going to just give up looking for Oz now." "I know, perseverence and all that," said Willow mutely. "It almost feels like it's not just Oz that's gone. I'm missing the Willow I used to know. You've repressed yourself into this hole where the only time you speak to another human being it's to offer to cast yet another spell," diagnoised Buffy with deeply seated concern. "It's just that ever since that night when we got kidnapped I've felt so helpless. Magic gives me a way to feel like I'm actually doing something, like I'm not just watching events unfold." Willow didn't look directly at Buffy as she spoke. "It's ok to miss Oz, Will, but it's also okay to not feel like finding him is your solitary life mission. You're allowed to think about other things every now and again and you're not the only one on the planet who's missing him. We're all in this together and we won't rest until he's back," Buffy said with a warm tone. "I know I don't have to feel bad all the time, it's just that I want to feel bad all the time. I don't want things to not suck until he's back," remarked Willow, emotion manifesting in a restrained sour face. "You're allowed to feel anyway you want about this, Will. I just can't stand by and let this destroy you. Take some time out from thinking about Oz to think about Willow once awhile. You can't shoulder this all yourself," commented Buffy, deliberately looking directly at Willow's eyes. Willow didn't reply and sat as still as she could, twinges of expression breaking onto her face intermittenly. "How about if you at least let me think about Willow every now and again?" requested Buffy tenderly. Finally, the bottleneck Willow had put on her feelings broke, letting a gush of emotion pour out. With a choked weeping, she placed her head on Buffy's shoulder. "I'm so sorry about blaming you before, I was just-" "Don't worry about that now, it's okay," said Buffy softly, putting her arms around her friend in a comforting hug. Xander and Cordelia had looked on in silence up until now. After a glance at Cordelia, Xander decided it was a safe enough time to butt in and approached his distraught friend with hands in pockets. A supportive Cordelia followed his lead maturely. "Buffy's right, Will, we're all in this together," proclaimed Xander in mellow sincerity. Giles finished his phone calls, but decided to wait before returning the group to matters at hand. After a few sensitive moments Giles walked up to the others timidly. "The local police were quite rude and unfavorable, but I aquired the phone number for the state and federal authorities. I'll call them in the morning," he announced softly. ============== ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1999 20:23:21 -0800 From: Slayer Subject: BUFFYFIC: Announcing a new Buffy FanFic list (BUFFYFIC2) >3. As stated previously, if you have a list, or are starting a list, >please post information about it to this list before January 23. I've set up a new list on OneList called buffyfic2. It's rules were closely based on the ones for this list. It was created as an easy option for continuing the fine flow of FanFic this list has provided. One thing it won't have though, is the TLC that has been provided by Jill, Sharon, and Lisa Rose. All are invited to join... go to http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/buffyfic2 or send an email to: buffyfic2-subscribe@onelist.com NOTE: The list probably won't show up in the OneList directory until Monday, but the above will work. Mark Mark - ripper@conk.com -or- becomings@usa.net -or- slayer@cheerful.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 21:18:37 -0800 From: "J. Jericho Born" Subject: BUFFYFIC: "Flies to Honey" sequel to "The Necromancer" (15/17) TITLE: "Flies to Honey" (Part 15/17) AUTHOR: J. Jericho Born E-MAIL: traction@sirius.com FEEDBACK: Please let me know what you think of my fanfic with some feedback. DISTRIBUTION: The author reserves rights on this story. Please do not distribute without expressed permission. RATING: PG Contains violence. SPOILERS: Spoilers to previous fanfic. If you would like to read the preceding story you can download it at < http://www.sirius.com/~traction/buffy >. DESCRIPTION: The sequel to "The Necromancer". DISCLAIMER: The writer of this unauthorized fan fiction is not affiliated with any of the parties involved in the making of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The characters are the property of Joss Whedon and whomever else the lawyers may deem fit, they are used without permission. Technically that is not legal, but I'm not anticipating any law suits. This work, the plot line, and the characters introduced that are not already featured on Buffy the Vampire Slayer are the work of Joshua Jericho Born, Copyright 1998. ============== Scene 14 "Did you hear that?" asked Willow, awakening in the darkness of an early morning. After waiting for a reply that was never received, she strained a glance over to the adjoining motel room bed. Cordelia lay there oblivious beneath a silk, black blindfold trimmed with lace. The headphones of a walkman droned out its looped tape of sounds marketed for their ability to bring out one's inner beauty into her ears. Willow shifted her widend pupils to the sleeping bag spread out on the floor in search of a slumbering Slayer. Instead she found the sleeping bag unoccupied and not a single Slayer to be found. Willow began to worry, but had little time to exercise her concern. With a loud crash two figures plummeted to a clumsy fall, bringing Cordelia out of her catatonic state. The embattled silhouette clad in plain night attire Willow recognized as the vampire slaying adolescent she had looked for earlier. The other wore an unusual orange outfit and seemed to be getting the short end of the fight. Both of the bedside lamps that the motel had hospitably furnished came to life as Willow and Cordelia sat upright in their beds and groped to switch on illumination. Light found the orange clad intruder pinned beneath an angry Buffy, who's grip on his neck suggested he had better cooperate if he held his larnyx in high regard. The demeanor of surprise that the man had featured moments earlier disappeared in favor of a look of resignation. "I suppose you'd like to know what I'm doing here," Freeman struggled to say through Buffy's death grip. Just then a concerned pair of male slayerettes stumbled through the unlocked door. "Actually, Egon, I thought I'd beat you to a pulp then you could make with explaining," replied Buffy, catching her breath. "Please, I'd like to talk," implored Freeman, ignoring the crack about his nerdy appearance. "Let's hear the man, shall we?" agreed Giles as he closed a few paces with his Slayer. Freeman looked relieved at Giles' comment as if he was about to get a load of his chest that he had been bearing for much too long. "Could you let go a bit? I have an odd fallibility: I like breathing," requested Freeman. Relunctantly, Buffy complied after exchanging looks with her Watcher. Leaning back against the dingy motel wall, Freeman explained, "I was supposed to reaquire the weapon you took from me last night." "Looks like you didn't factor me into your plan," commented Buffy smugly. "Hardly," retorted Freeman, pushing his glasses back with an index finger to their center in a cliche of dorkiness, "I could've easily retrieved it undetected if I had wished by engaging my hazard suit's stealth mode." "What are you, Bill Gates' guido?" questioned Xander from safely behind Buffy's shoulder. "I am a scientist," refuted Freeman, "At least I was. I worked for an arms technology corporation that had a contract with the Department of Defense. I was assigned to their main research installation when one of the top secret experiments had. . . unforseen side-effects. The base was overrun by a variety of horrible. . . creatures, attacking the science staff and security detail mercicessly. The powers that be decided it would be best to maintain the integrity of their operations and erradicate the creatures. . . as well as the surviving scientists." "Next thing you'll be trying to give us that Roswell crap," sniped an impatient Buffy. "I'm telling you the truth," insisted Freeman, "I was fortunate to survive both the clean-up squads and the marauding creatures to destroy the source of the incident. Aparently, it impressed someone enough for them to spare my life and offer me employ in their covert operations. Since it was accept or face certain death I've been living under the thumb of No-Puncuation-Man ever since." "No-Puncuation-Man?" asked Giles while Buffy nodded empathically, recalling her encounter with the individual in question. "I don't actually know his name," explained Freeman, "I figured by your resourcefulness and fighting skills that you weren't simply a group of troublesome teenagers and could possibly aid me." "Even assuming we believe your story, do you really think we can help you?" Giles inquired. "Perhaps," answered Freeman, "At the least you could help me throw a cog into my employer's machinery." "That we shall do. I will inform the authorities as to the illicit operation in the morning," Giles. "You don't understand! The Weberton factory is just one of many. After the Black Mesa incident it was decided it would be wiser if all eggs were not placed in one basket. Regardless, you'll be reporting its existence to the very government that will stop at nothing to cover it up," chastised Freeman. "What does the factory do exactly?" inquired Giles. "In layman's terms, it researches the ability to exploit common animals as killing machines through various forms of mutation. We had thought one such product had escaped and mauled a young boy, but the creature we captured turn out not to be one of ours," replied Freeman. "Was this creature a little taller than me, covered in fur, and sporting some nasty fangs?" questioned Xander with peaked interest. "I believe so, why?" answered Freeman. The assembled adolescents traded cautiously expectant glares, anticipating a plan to finally locate Oz. ============== ------------------------------ End of buffyfic-digest V3 #11 ***************************** To subscribe to buffyfic or buffyfic-digest, send the command subscribe buffyfic-digest or subscribe buffy to majordomo@xmission.com. You will need to go through a confirmation process, and the listowners have to manually approve your subscription request, so it may take some time. To unsubscribe, send email to majordomo@xmission.com with unsubscribe buffyfic-digest or unsubscribe buffyfic in the body. Back issues of this digest can be found at: ftp://ftp.xmission.com/pub/lists/buffyfic/archive/ Dalton Spence has also provided an index of the buffyfic archive at: http://www.hwcn.org/~ag775/BUFFYFIC.HTM For help, contact Jill Kirby (jtkirby@mcs.com) or sah (romana@mindspring.com)