Rift, Hellmouth, Same Difference (10/?)
Title: Rift, Hellmouth, Same Difference
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: "Buffy" through The Becoming, all of Torchwood.
Summary: Buffy gets sucked into the Hell vortex at the end of Becoming, only to end up on the rain-slicked streets of Cardiff. What's Torchwood to do with a lost Slayer?
Disclaimer: Joss owns "Buffy," RTD and the BBC own "Torchwood," I own my iPod.
AN: Thank you to the amazing revdorothyl for betaing!
Chapter One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Nine
Banner by the awesome skylar0grace
Chapter Ten
“Jack? Are you there?” Tosh’s panicked voice asked over the comms. “Jack, please come in.”
“We’re here, Tosh,” Jack replied, gun never wavering from Ianto’s head. “We’ll be there in a few minutes. If the Cyberwoman shows up before we get there, get the hell out and issue a shutdown from the Tourism Center.”
“But you’ll be trapped if I do that!” Tosh said.
“We’ll deal,” Jack said. “What we need for you to do, though, is if that happens, make sure that the appropriate people know and this thing can be stopped. Just hold on, Tosh.” The group made their way through the maze of corridors as fast as they could while half-carrying Owen.
“Jack, she’s here!” Tosh cried.
“Get out now!” shouted Jack, breaking into a run. “Hey, over here!” they could hear him shout at the end of the corridor.
“This way!” Buffy hissed at them, drawing them through a side corridor, which she knew led to a back way into the Hub. “If he’s doing what I think he’s doing, we need to find another way to get out.” No one argued with her, and they quietly made their way through the passage way. They were about half way to the main Hub if Buffy was guessing right when she heard footsteps running towards them.
“Get behind me!” she ordered, cocking the gun. She had never used one before, but it couldn’t be that different from the tranq gun she had used that one time. “Let’s hope you aren’t that different,” she muttered, pointing the gun at the figure approaching.
“Don’t shoot, don’t shoot!” Jack shouted, running towards them. “I was able to buy us enough time for Tosh to get out and shut down the Hub.”
“We’re trapped here with that thing, then?” Owen asked. “Was that your brilliant plan?” Jack rolled his eyes, but kept going in the same direction Buffy had been leading them. “Where are we going?”
“Somewhere where we have more room,” Jack answered. “Come on.” They ran as fast as they could towards the main area. “I led her down into the tunnels, so we should be safe here for now.”
“Good,” Buffy replied grimly, glancing around the darkened room. “We need a plan. Plans are of the good.”
“I think someone needs to answer some questions first,” Jack said, his gun pointing at Ianto once again. “On your knees, hands behind your head. Now!” Ianto did as he was told, shooting a betrayed look at Buffy. “Who is she and what the hell was she doing in my basement?”
“Her name is Lisa,” Ianto said, choking out the words through the mix of emotions he was feeling. “She was working for Torchwood during the Cybermen attack, and she was partially…” He swallowed, and then added, “She’s my girlfriend.”
“She isn’t. Not anymore,” Buffy interrupted, looking at Ianto in what could only be described as understanding. “That thing that’s wearing Lisa’s face and that is using her body isn’t her. It knows that Lisa meant something to you and is using that as a way to keep itself alive.”
“Lisa’s still there!” Ianto protested, prevented from lurching to his feet by the cold steel of Jack’s gun pressed against his forehead. “You said so yourself, there might be a way for her to be cured if Tosh worked with her.”
“There is no cure!” Jack snapped at him, meeting Ianto’s gaze with his angry one. “There never will be a cure, no matter who works on it. Those who are converted stay that way. Your girlfriend will not be the exception!”
“You can’t know that for sure!” Ianto shouted at Jack. “We owe it to her to at least try!” Gwen and Owen said nothing, watching the exchange in shock and amazement.
Jack was about to yell a response when Buffy put a hand on his arm. “Enough,” she said quietly. “Your yelling isn’t helping prove any points to him. What we need to do instead of screaming at each other is come up with a plan.” Everyone stared at her, not sure of what to say in response to her taking charge of the situation.
“We have a little under six hours until the base goes back online,” Jack said, lowering his gun and walking away from the kneeling man in front of him. “We have six hours to take care of this.”
“Where did you lead her?” Gwen asked.
“Away from here,” Jack answered shortly. “We don’t have a whole lot of time, though, before she makes her way back here. Buffy,” he said, turning to the girl, “is there any way you can open the weaponry cabinet?” Buffy thought about it for a moment, and then nodded. “Good. Gwen, go with her and help her carry weapons. Owen, I want you to block as many entrances as possible into the main area of the Hub. Let’s try to channel her in. You,” he said, pointing to Ianto, “stay right where you are, and don’t even think about moving.”
Everyone scattered to do their assigned job as quickly as possible. “How are you supposed to open that?” Gwen asked Buffy, who was quickly glancing over the weaponry cabinet. “It’s…” She was interrupted by Buffy grabbing hold of one of the edges and quickly pulling up, bending the steel and revealing the weapons inside.
“Like that,” she said, ignoring the gaping woman behind her. One weapon in particular caught her eye. “Hello, my old friend,” she whispered, picking up her sword and tucking it under her arm. “Good to see you again.”
“What use is a sword against that thing?” Gwen asked as she joined Buffy in grabbing as many weapons as possible.
“If you hadn’t noticed, she’s still a bit on the fleshy side,” Buffy commented, glancing over the now empty cabinet to make sure they had what they needed. “Sword plus flesh equals woundage. Come on, let’s get these to Jack, and then let’s go help Owen with the blockage.”
“So, besides me blocking passages and us getting out all of our firepower, what’s the plan, Jack?” Owen asked as he, Buffy, and Gwen frantically used whatever they could find to do what Jack wanted.
“We finish what was started at Canary Warf and make sure she never makes it outside,” Jack replied grimly as he checked over the weapons Buffy and Gwen had brought. “We have a little more than five hours until the Hub goes back online to do this.”
“She’s playing with us,” Gwen said, casting a nervous glance around the room.
“Lisa wouldn’t do that!” Ianto snapped from his seat by Jack. Although Jack had allowed Ianto to get off of his knees, he didn’t trust him enough to let Ianto out of his sight.
“How many times do we have to tell you that’s not Lisa?” Owen yelled back, dropping the chair he was holding and stalking towards the other man. “You’re so concerned about her, but what about us? Don’t you owe us something? Like, I don’t know, loyalty?”
“You don’t give a damn about me, Owen!” Ianto shouted, stepping forward and curling his hands into fists. “None of you do! Why should I owe loyalty to people who only use me to clean up their messes?” he spat out, giving each one of them an angry look. “'Give it to Ianto, let him take care of it.’ Never did any of you ask me about my personal life, or how I got here!”
Everyone stared at Ianto in stunned silence after his outburst. Buffy looked like she wanted to go to him, but stopped, unsure of herself. Ianto closed his eyes, trying to collect himself.
Before he got a chance to do so, he heard Buffy shout, “She’s coming!” Almost as soon as Buffy finished her sentence, they could hear Lisa’s footsteps echoing through the silent room. “Get back! Get back!” she ordered, grabbing Gwen and trying to drag her back to the rest of the group. “Gwen, come on!”
Gwen stood rooted to the spot, unable to move. Growling in frustration, Buffy was about to pick Gwen up when Lisa knocked them both into the wall with a mere sweep of her arm. Gwen took most of the force, hitting the wall and crumbling to the ground unconscious. Buffy grunted in pain as her back slammed against the concrete, but managed to remain standing, even though she was seeing those nice little stars people talk about
“You are not compatible and will be deleted,” Lisa said in a robotic voice to Gwen’s unresponsive form. “You, however, may be suitable for conversion,” she added, looking at Buffy.
“But I like being blonde and perky!” Buffy complained, drawing the gun she had with her. “That whole metal look just wouldn’t work.” Buffy managed to fire off two shots, which ricocheted off the metal covering Lisa’s chest.
“Then you shall be deleted as well,” Lisa said, continuting to walk closer. Buffy kept firing as she backed up. Firing a gun was harder than Buffy had originally thought, but it was still better than having no weapon at all. Unfortunately for her, what shots managed to pierce flesh didn’t seem to be doing any real damage to Cyberchick.
“Lisa!” Ianto called out, running into the middle of the Hub. Lisa turned away from Buffy to face him. “Please, Lisa, stop! Please, remember who you are!”
“I am human point two, formerly known as Lisa,” she said with no emotion in her voice or on her face.
“No, you’re Lisa, my girlfriend,” Ianto pleaded, coming closer to her. Buffy and Jack kept their guns trained on Lisa as Owen ran to Gwen to make sure she was alright. “You’re still human. There’s a chance to save you and make this go away.”
“You are mistaken,” Lisa replied, moving closer to him. “I am human point two.”
“If you’re human point two, then why do you look like human point one?” Jack shouted from his vantage point. Lisa looked up at him in confusion.
“I do not understand,” she said, walking towards him. Buffy moved towards Owen and Gwen, making sure to keep herself between them and Lisa.
“Look at yourself,” Jack challenged. “You’re still human point one, no matter how much you think you’re human point two.” Lisa walked slowly over to a reflective surface and studied herself intently. While she was doing this, Buffy quietly lifted Gwen off of the floor and moved with her and Owen back to where Jack was.
“I am…disgusting,” she said after a moment. “I am wrong. I must start again and upgrade properly.” Ianto’s face fell when he heard this and he stepped closer to her.
“For God’s sake, Lisa!” he screamed at her, losing any control over himself that he had. “Have you heard yourself talk at all? I brought you here to heal you so we could be together again!”
“Transplant my brain into your body before beginning anew,” Lisa said speculatively, all of her attention on Ianto and completely ignoring Bufy and Owen getting Gwen to safety. “We’ll be one complete person, Ianto. Isn’t that what love is?”
“No, it’s not,” Buffy broke in, walking towards Ianto. “Somehow, I doubt your robot brain can understand love. It might be a bit complex for you.” Lisa studied Ianto’s tearful face before making her decision.
“Then we are not compatible,” she said, moving towards him, before a flying gun knocked her in the head, causing her to stumble back a bit.
“Yeah, I’m thinking, ‘Hell, no!’” Buffy snarled, shoving Ianto out of the way and stalking towards Lisa. Jack caught him and held him back. “That would just be icky on so many different levels.”
“Buffy, watch out!” Jack shouted as Lisa’s arm shot out, crinkling with blue electricity. Buffy fell down and kicked Lisa’s feet from under her, causing Lisa to fall hard.
“Can you watch those blue sparky things? I’m worried what they’ll do to my hair,” Buffy said, punching the fleshy part of Lisa’s stomach. Lisa retaliated by grabbing Buffy’s arm and flinging her into a computer desk. Buffy crashed into it full force, wincing at hearing her arm crack while trying to catch herself. “OK, enough with the throwing Buffy around,” she said, doing her best to push the pain away and ignoring the pool of water only feet away from her. “It’s getting kinda old.”
“You must be deleted,” Lisa stated, getting up and walking towards Buffy. Jack fired off as many shots as his gun had, but to no avail. Like Buffy, he found that bullets just weren’t doing the damage that he needed them to in order to stop Lisa.
The Cyberwoman turned towards the source of the bullets and started towards him. “Oh, no you don’t!” Buffy hissed, grabbing her sword and lunging at Lisa. She buried the sword as far as she could into Lisa’s back, twisting it to try and inflict as much internal damage as possible. She had just withdrawn the sword when Lisa suddenly turned around and grabbed her by her neck.
“Let her go!” Ianto cried out, shocked at the sight of Lisa holding a dangling Buffy by her neck. “Lisa!”
“Listen to the man,” Buffy gasped out, pulling her legs in and snapping them back out, kicking Lisa away with as much force as possible. Lisa dropped Buffy as she flew towards the opposite wall. Buffy fell to the ground and lay there wheezing for a moment while Jack and Owen fired at Lisa yet again to no avail. Forgetting Buffy for a moment, Lisa turned to the new source of annoying bullets.
“Lisa, please,” came Ianto’s voice, along with a strange noise Buffy couldn’t identify. She carefully lifted her head to see Ianto looking at Lisa with a heartbreaking expression on his face and some strange weapon pointed at her. “Think of what you’re doing and what you were. I love you, Lisa,” he added, choking up as he said that.
Lisa paused for a moment. “I must start over for the upgrade process to be done properly. None of you are compatible. You all must be deleted,” she said, moving again towards Jack, Owen and Ianto, Buffy apparently forgotten.
Ianto looked at Lisa, taking in the monster she had become, so removed from the woman in his memory, and knew what he had to do.
“I’m so sorry, Lisa,” Ianto whispered as he pulled the trigger, releasing an energy beam like one of those Star Trek phasers directly at Lisa. The beam pierced Lisa’s chest and she emitted the most horrible metallic screech. Everyone covered their ears, except for Ianto, but it didn’t help block the dreadful noise filling the hub. “Please forgive me, Lisa, if you’re still in there,” Ianto said, voice thick with tears. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Lisa fell quiet.
The sound of her body hitting the floor echoed loudly in the silent room. Owen, Jack, and Buffy stared at Ianto, who still had the weapon in his hands. Slowly, he lowered the thing to the ground and approached the body. He knelt down beside it, gently touching her face and closing her eyes. His shoulders began to shake and he started crying, pulling the body close to him. “I’m so sorry,” he repeated over and over through his tears.
Buffy gripped the desk nearest to her and pulled herself up off the floor. Jack and Owen appeared to be frozen, and Gwen was still unconscious as Buffy slowly walked towards Ianto and knelt beside him. She didn’t say anything as she put her arms around him.
Ianto looked up at her, his eyes searching hers for a reason, for a purpose behind everything that had happened, but instead found only painful understanding. “Why?” he asked, wiping his eyes. “Why her? Why me?”
Buffy didn’t have an answer for him, but hugged him tighter. “I don’t know, Ianto,” she whispered, memories of her last moments with Angel firmly in her mind. “I honestly don’t know why they happen to us.”
Jack and Owen watched them in silence, each caught up in their own wave of emotions. Anger, sorrow, confusion, and betrayal all played through their minds as they watched Buffy trying to comfort Ianto. Behind them, Gwen began stirring into consciousness.
“What happened?” she whispered to the two men standing in front of her as she sat up, holding her aching head. They looked at her for a brief moment before turning their attention back on the scene before them. Gwen looked in that direction and raised her hand to her mouth in shock. “What happened?” she repeated, but neither man had the heart to answer her question, each trying to come to terms with what had just happened to them.
Chapter Eleven
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: "Buffy" through The Becoming, all of Torchwood.
Summary: Buffy gets sucked into the Hell vortex at the end of Becoming, only to end up on the rain-slicked streets of Cardiff. What's Torchwood to do with a lost Slayer?
Disclaimer: Joss owns "Buffy," RTD and the BBC own "Torchwood," I own my iPod.
AN: Thank you to the amazing revdorothyl for betaing!
Chapter One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Nine
Banner by the awesome skylar0grace
Chapter Ten
“Jack? Are you there?” Tosh’s panicked voice asked over the comms. “Jack, please come in.”
“We’re here, Tosh,” Jack replied, gun never wavering from Ianto’s head. “We’ll be there in a few minutes. If the Cyberwoman shows up before we get there, get the hell out and issue a shutdown from the Tourism Center.”
“But you’ll be trapped if I do that!” Tosh said.
“We’ll deal,” Jack said. “What we need for you to do, though, is if that happens, make sure that the appropriate people know and this thing can be stopped. Just hold on, Tosh.” The group made their way through the maze of corridors as fast as they could while half-carrying Owen.
“Jack, she’s here!” Tosh cried.
“Get out now!” shouted Jack, breaking into a run. “Hey, over here!” they could hear him shout at the end of the corridor.
“This way!” Buffy hissed at them, drawing them through a side corridor, which she knew led to a back way into the Hub. “If he’s doing what I think he’s doing, we need to find another way to get out.” No one argued with her, and they quietly made their way through the passage way. They were about half way to the main Hub if Buffy was guessing right when she heard footsteps running towards them.
“Get behind me!” she ordered, cocking the gun. She had never used one before, but it couldn’t be that different from the tranq gun she had used that one time. “Let’s hope you aren’t that different,” she muttered, pointing the gun at the figure approaching.
“Don’t shoot, don’t shoot!” Jack shouted, running towards them. “I was able to buy us enough time for Tosh to get out and shut down the Hub.”
“We’re trapped here with that thing, then?” Owen asked. “Was that your brilliant plan?” Jack rolled his eyes, but kept going in the same direction Buffy had been leading them. “Where are we going?”
“Somewhere where we have more room,” Jack answered. “Come on.” They ran as fast as they could towards the main area. “I led her down into the tunnels, so we should be safe here for now.”
“Good,” Buffy replied grimly, glancing around the darkened room. “We need a plan. Plans are of the good.”
“I think someone needs to answer some questions first,” Jack said, his gun pointing at Ianto once again. “On your knees, hands behind your head. Now!” Ianto did as he was told, shooting a betrayed look at Buffy. “Who is she and what the hell was she doing in my basement?”
“Her name is Lisa,” Ianto said, choking out the words through the mix of emotions he was feeling. “She was working for Torchwood during the Cybermen attack, and she was partially…” He swallowed, and then added, “She’s my girlfriend.”
“She isn’t. Not anymore,” Buffy interrupted, looking at Ianto in what could only be described as understanding. “That thing that’s wearing Lisa’s face and that is using her body isn’t her. It knows that Lisa meant something to you and is using that as a way to keep itself alive.”
“Lisa’s still there!” Ianto protested, prevented from lurching to his feet by the cold steel of Jack’s gun pressed against his forehead. “You said so yourself, there might be a way for her to be cured if Tosh worked with her.”
“There is no cure!” Jack snapped at him, meeting Ianto’s gaze with his angry one. “There never will be a cure, no matter who works on it. Those who are converted stay that way. Your girlfriend will not be the exception!”
“You can’t know that for sure!” Ianto shouted at Jack. “We owe it to her to at least try!” Gwen and Owen said nothing, watching the exchange in shock and amazement.
Jack was about to yell a response when Buffy put a hand on his arm. “Enough,” she said quietly. “Your yelling isn’t helping prove any points to him. What we need to do instead of screaming at each other is come up with a plan.” Everyone stared at her, not sure of what to say in response to her taking charge of the situation.
“We have a little under six hours until the base goes back online,” Jack said, lowering his gun and walking away from the kneeling man in front of him. “We have six hours to take care of this.”
“Where did you lead her?” Gwen asked.
“Away from here,” Jack answered shortly. “We don’t have a whole lot of time, though, before she makes her way back here. Buffy,” he said, turning to the girl, “is there any way you can open the weaponry cabinet?” Buffy thought about it for a moment, and then nodded. “Good. Gwen, go with her and help her carry weapons. Owen, I want you to block as many entrances as possible into the main area of the Hub. Let’s try to channel her in. You,” he said, pointing to Ianto, “stay right where you are, and don’t even think about moving.”
Everyone scattered to do their assigned job as quickly as possible. “How are you supposed to open that?” Gwen asked Buffy, who was quickly glancing over the weaponry cabinet. “It’s…” She was interrupted by Buffy grabbing hold of one of the edges and quickly pulling up, bending the steel and revealing the weapons inside.
“Like that,” she said, ignoring the gaping woman behind her. One weapon in particular caught her eye. “Hello, my old friend,” she whispered, picking up her sword and tucking it under her arm. “Good to see you again.”
“What use is a sword against that thing?” Gwen asked as she joined Buffy in grabbing as many weapons as possible.
“If you hadn’t noticed, she’s still a bit on the fleshy side,” Buffy commented, glancing over the now empty cabinet to make sure they had what they needed. “Sword plus flesh equals woundage. Come on, let’s get these to Jack, and then let’s go help Owen with the blockage.”
“So, besides me blocking passages and us getting out all of our firepower, what’s the plan, Jack?” Owen asked as he, Buffy, and Gwen frantically used whatever they could find to do what Jack wanted.
“We finish what was started at Canary Warf and make sure she never makes it outside,” Jack replied grimly as he checked over the weapons Buffy and Gwen had brought. “We have a little more than five hours until the Hub goes back online to do this.”
“She’s playing with us,” Gwen said, casting a nervous glance around the room.
“Lisa wouldn’t do that!” Ianto snapped from his seat by Jack. Although Jack had allowed Ianto to get off of his knees, he didn’t trust him enough to let Ianto out of his sight.
“How many times do we have to tell you that’s not Lisa?” Owen yelled back, dropping the chair he was holding and stalking towards the other man. “You’re so concerned about her, but what about us? Don’t you owe us something? Like, I don’t know, loyalty?”
“You don’t give a damn about me, Owen!” Ianto shouted, stepping forward and curling his hands into fists. “None of you do! Why should I owe loyalty to people who only use me to clean up their messes?” he spat out, giving each one of them an angry look. “'Give it to Ianto, let him take care of it.’ Never did any of you ask me about my personal life, or how I got here!”
Everyone stared at Ianto in stunned silence after his outburst. Buffy looked like she wanted to go to him, but stopped, unsure of herself. Ianto closed his eyes, trying to collect himself.
Before he got a chance to do so, he heard Buffy shout, “She’s coming!” Almost as soon as Buffy finished her sentence, they could hear Lisa’s footsteps echoing through the silent room. “Get back! Get back!” she ordered, grabbing Gwen and trying to drag her back to the rest of the group. “Gwen, come on!”
Gwen stood rooted to the spot, unable to move. Growling in frustration, Buffy was about to pick Gwen up when Lisa knocked them both into the wall with a mere sweep of her arm. Gwen took most of the force, hitting the wall and crumbling to the ground unconscious. Buffy grunted in pain as her back slammed against the concrete, but managed to remain standing, even though she was seeing those nice little stars people talk about
“You are not compatible and will be deleted,” Lisa said in a robotic voice to Gwen’s unresponsive form. “You, however, may be suitable for conversion,” she added, looking at Buffy.
“But I like being blonde and perky!” Buffy complained, drawing the gun she had with her. “That whole metal look just wouldn’t work.” Buffy managed to fire off two shots, which ricocheted off the metal covering Lisa’s chest.
“Then you shall be deleted as well,” Lisa said, continuting to walk closer. Buffy kept firing as she backed up. Firing a gun was harder than Buffy had originally thought, but it was still better than having no weapon at all. Unfortunately for her, what shots managed to pierce flesh didn’t seem to be doing any real damage to Cyberchick.
“Lisa!” Ianto called out, running into the middle of the Hub. Lisa turned away from Buffy to face him. “Please, Lisa, stop! Please, remember who you are!”
“I am human point two, formerly known as Lisa,” she said with no emotion in her voice or on her face.
“No, you’re Lisa, my girlfriend,” Ianto pleaded, coming closer to her. Buffy and Jack kept their guns trained on Lisa as Owen ran to Gwen to make sure she was alright. “You’re still human. There’s a chance to save you and make this go away.”
“You are mistaken,” Lisa replied, moving closer to him. “I am human point two.”
“If you’re human point two, then why do you look like human point one?” Jack shouted from his vantage point. Lisa looked up at him in confusion.
“I do not understand,” she said, walking towards him. Buffy moved towards Owen and Gwen, making sure to keep herself between them and Lisa.
“Look at yourself,” Jack challenged. “You’re still human point one, no matter how much you think you’re human point two.” Lisa walked slowly over to a reflective surface and studied herself intently. While she was doing this, Buffy quietly lifted Gwen off of the floor and moved with her and Owen back to where Jack was.
“I am…disgusting,” she said after a moment. “I am wrong. I must start again and upgrade properly.” Ianto’s face fell when he heard this and he stepped closer to her.
“For God’s sake, Lisa!” he screamed at her, losing any control over himself that he had. “Have you heard yourself talk at all? I brought you here to heal you so we could be together again!”
“Transplant my brain into your body before beginning anew,” Lisa said speculatively, all of her attention on Ianto and completely ignoring Bufy and Owen getting Gwen to safety. “We’ll be one complete person, Ianto. Isn’t that what love is?”
“No, it’s not,” Buffy broke in, walking towards Ianto. “Somehow, I doubt your robot brain can understand love. It might be a bit complex for you.” Lisa studied Ianto’s tearful face before making her decision.
“Then we are not compatible,” she said, moving towards him, before a flying gun knocked her in the head, causing her to stumble back a bit.
“Yeah, I’m thinking, ‘Hell, no!’” Buffy snarled, shoving Ianto out of the way and stalking towards Lisa. Jack caught him and held him back. “That would just be icky on so many different levels.”
“Buffy, watch out!” Jack shouted as Lisa’s arm shot out, crinkling with blue electricity. Buffy fell down and kicked Lisa’s feet from under her, causing Lisa to fall hard.
“Can you watch those blue sparky things? I’m worried what they’ll do to my hair,” Buffy said, punching the fleshy part of Lisa’s stomach. Lisa retaliated by grabbing Buffy’s arm and flinging her into a computer desk. Buffy crashed into it full force, wincing at hearing her arm crack while trying to catch herself. “OK, enough with the throwing Buffy around,” she said, doing her best to push the pain away and ignoring the pool of water only feet away from her. “It’s getting kinda old.”
“You must be deleted,” Lisa stated, getting up and walking towards Buffy. Jack fired off as many shots as his gun had, but to no avail. Like Buffy, he found that bullets just weren’t doing the damage that he needed them to in order to stop Lisa.
The Cyberwoman turned towards the source of the bullets and started towards him. “Oh, no you don’t!” Buffy hissed, grabbing her sword and lunging at Lisa. She buried the sword as far as she could into Lisa’s back, twisting it to try and inflict as much internal damage as possible. She had just withdrawn the sword when Lisa suddenly turned around and grabbed her by her neck.
“Let her go!” Ianto cried out, shocked at the sight of Lisa holding a dangling Buffy by her neck. “Lisa!”
“Listen to the man,” Buffy gasped out, pulling her legs in and snapping them back out, kicking Lisa away with as much force as possible. Lisa dropped Buffy as she flew towards the opposite wall. Buffy fell to the ground and lay there wheezing for a moment while Jack and Owen fired at Lisa yet again to no avail. Forgetting Buffy for a moment, Lisa turned to the new source of annoying bullets.
“Lisa, please,” came Ianto’s voice, along with a strange noise Buffy couldn’t identify. She carefully lifted her head to see Ianto looking at Lisa with a heartbreaking expression on his face and some strange weapon pointed at her. “Think of what you’re doing and what you were. I love you, Lisa,” he added, choking up as he said that.
Lisa paused for a moment. “I must start over for the upgrade process to be done properly. None of you are compatible. You all must be deleted,” she said, moving again towards Jack, Owen and Ianto, Buffy apparently forgotten.
Ianto looked at Lisa, taking in the monster she had become, so removed from the woman in his memory, and knew what he had to do.
“I’m so sorry, Lisa,” Ianto whispered as he pulled the trigger, releasing an energy beam like one of those Star Trek phasers directly at Lisa. The beam pierced Lisa’s chest and she emitted the most horrible metallic screech. Everyone covered their ears, except for Ianto, but it didn’t help block the dreadful noise filling the hub. “Please forgive me, Lisa, if you’re still in there,” Ianto said, voice thick with tears. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Lisa fell quiet.
The sound of her body hitting the floor echoed loudly in the silent room. Owen, Jack, and Buffy stared at Ianto, who still had the weapon in his hands. Slowly, he lowered the thing to the ground and approached the body. He knelt down beside it, gently touching her face and closing her eyes. His shoulders began to shake and he started crying, pulling the body close to him. “I’m so sorry,” he repeated over and over through his tears.
Buffy gripped the desk nearest to her and pulled herself up off the floor. Jack and Owen appeared to be frozen, and Gwen was still unconscious as Buffy slowly walked towards Ianto and knelt beside him. She didn’t say anything as she put her arms around him.
Ianto looked up at her, his eyes searching hers for a reason, for a purpose behind everything that had happened, but instead found only painful understanding. “Why?” he asked, wiping his eyes. “Why her? Why me?”
Buffy didn’t have an answer for him, but hugged him tighter. “I don’t know, Ianto,” she whispered, memories of her last moments with Angel firmly in her mind. “I honestly don’t know why they happen to us.”
Jack and Owen watched them in silence, each caught up in their own wave of emotions. Anger, sorrow, confusion, and betrayal all played through their minds as they watched Buffy trying to comfort Ianto. Behind them, Gwen began stirring into consciousness.
“What happened?” she whispered to the two men standing in front of her as she sat up, holding her aching head. They looked at her for a brief moment before turning their attention back on the scene before them. Gwen looked in that direction and raised her hand to her mouth in shock. “What happened?” she repeated, but neither man had the heart to answer her question, each trying to come to terms with what had just happened to them.
Chapter Eleven