OK, see what I get for watching my Angel DVDs instead of being online. Erika, I gave a much less up-to-date answer to your Batman/Catwoman question over in Fan Fic. I haven't read any comics regularly for months now, since Hubby stopped working at the game and comics store, but I might have to check out that one series to see Batman actually admit to human feelings. I don't know how much "Dark Knight Returns," Frank Miller's masterpiece of Batman future-fic, is considered canon, but there's acknowledgement in there that Bruce and Selina have been together. There's oodles of AUs out there with the two of them together (my favorite is one of the lovely "Elsewhens" [I think that's the title] where they go completely AU and have fun, and Bruce Wayne is a pirate, and Catwoman is a Spanish noblewoman with a sword, mad fun), but I hadn't realized it had gone mainstream. Or as mainstream as a canon can, with who knows how many regular titles and lots of single-shot issues.
But, damn, I loves me some Batman.
gah, it's like pulling teeth the way Daddy used to, and he had pliers. (OK, it was baby teeth, we were just wiggling them around in their sockets at each other in order to freak each other out). But anyway, more V!Giles. One step at a time, and it'll be done very soon.
Buffy stared at Glory the Hellgod in disbelief. She actually looked--battered. Her dress was in tatters, her hair was a mess, and there was blood on her. And it looked like her own blood. She was even bruised.
"Boy," Buffy grinned, "Spike did a number on you. Pissed off vampires hit hard, don't they."
Glory snarled. "He won't hit anything once I finish ripping his head off. And then I start on that little twerp with the gun." She glared at Xander, still standing not far away, rifle poised to block whatever she might throw at him.
Buffy tensed. "Xander, get out of here. You can't take her."
There was no reply from the dark figure that was half lost in the shadows on the other side of the courtyard.
"Xan--" He spared a moment to glance at her, then turned back to face Glory.
Buffy knew that look. She'd seen it years ago when a guy she thought firmly categorized as sweet but clueless had slammed her into a vending machine and given her a look that only said, "Now or later?" She'd met vampires since then who hadn't been able to match the sheer predatory menace of Xander as a hyena.
But there was no time to deal with residual possession. Glory was looking between Buffy and Xander, trying to decide where to begin.
"Xander, get inside! I'll deal with her!"
A smile quirked Xander's lips. "Of course you will, Buff. We've just been waiting for you."
She frowned briefly, wondering about his tone of voice, but Glory chose her target--Xander.
Xander dodged the first swing while slamming the butt of the rifle into Glory's stomach. Glory staggered but managed one good kick into Xander's hip. He fell, swearing.
"C'mere, Twinkie," Glory growled. "You'll do for a snack."
She got her hands around Xander's head, just as Buffy hit her from the side. They hit the ground and rolled.
From the chapel doorway, Willow yelled, "Xander, come on! Let Buffy handle it!"
He rolled to all fours, wincing. Over near the bus, Buffy jumped to her feet while Glory actually staggered a little as she rose.
Willow slipped out of Tara's grip and ran out to Xander, grabbing his arm and tugging. "Please, Xander, come inside."
"Will, get out of here--"
"Not without you! You've done enough, let Buffy take care of it from here."
He struggled to his knees, then up. "Yeah, we've got a Slayer. No faux soldiers needed here."
She peered at him anxiously, then ducked under his shoulder to help him to the chapel.
Buffy sighed in relief at having everyone else off the battlefield. This was her job, after all.
Glory was breathing hard. "I just wanted to go home. But you and your rotten band of evolutionary mistakes got in my way."
"It's my job," Buffy shrugged. "Get in evil's way. Nothing personal. No, wait. You hurt my friends, you wanted to kill my sister. I guess that makes it pretty personal."
She stepped forward, and Glory stepped back.
Buffy wondered if Xander would know the perfect spaghetti western reference for this: a duel at dawn in an ancient convent's courtyard. The bird song in the otherwise silence was almost deafening. But there was another sound. Flies buzzing. Buffy finally noticed all the bodies lying around. Why hadn't she noticed the smell of blood? Glory's arms were red to the elbows.
"You did all this?" she gasped.
"Sweetie, it wasn't me who put bullets in those guys--especially not in my guys."
Buffy looked around again. There were really messy bodies, but those were the humans. A bunch of Glory's minions were lying where they'd dropped, precise bullet wounds showing what had killed them. But there was that body over by the chapel . . . "Xander did this?" she whispered.
"Don't worry, he's going to pay for it, the little jerk." Glory twitched, then glanced over her shoulder to the east. The tops of the trees were well lit now. "No," Glory moaned. "Damn it, no. I just wanted to go home!"
She charged. Buffy stepped out of the way, but Glory's wild swing knocked her down. She dodged the follow-up kick and swept Glory's legs out from under her. Glory wasn't fighting, but flailing in rage. Still, she had a god's strength, and Buffy was dodging more than attacking. And nod dodging everything. The grazing clip she got on the side of the head rocked her, leaving her open to the punch in the gut.
The light changed. Brightened. Streaks of gold broke through between the trees at the top of the ridge to spread across the small valley, covering the hills and trees on the other side with sunrise. The mist rising from the fields glowed. New day, well and truly begun.
"We did it," Buffy whispered, blinking hard. "We did it."
Glory screamed, convulsed, fell. Her scream dropped from outraged soprano to agonized tenor. The hair cropped itself, and the shoulders became more than a little ludicrous in the ruined dress and lingerie.
Buffy stared in disbelief, until she heard a familiar voice whimpering. She lowered herself to her knees cautiously. "B--Ben?"
The young man turned his head slowly. "Hello, Buffy," he gasped.
"Ben? You? You were Glory?"
"Yeah. Thank you for listening to me and getting out of town."
"You're Glory?"
He laughed weakly. "Yeah. Sorry." He picked at the silky rags hanging on his body. "Imagine how I feel, waking up in high heels and Victoria's Secret all the time."
She fell the rest of the way to the ground. "But--you helped us."
"I tried. My--sister was getting very strong there at the end."
Buffy looked up at the blue sky. There were big f
Buffy looked up at the blue sky. There were big fluffy clouds up there, catching red and gold light. "It's going to be a pretty day."
Ben nodded and closed his eyes. "I think so. A gorgeous day."
The air suddenly tingled and swirled. Buffy scrambled to her feet. "That'll be Giles and Dawn coming back." She bounced just a little as the portal popped into the air and began spinning. She heard Ben slowing getting to his feet behind her. "Maybe now that she missed her deadline we can find some way to keep her from coming back."
She turned to grin hopefully at Ben--right into the two-fisted hammer blow that flung her through the air and hard enough into the chapel wall to crack the adobe facing.
"And maybe you won't," Glory growled, watching the portal. "So this is my Key coming back. I need a pick-me-up." The portal blossomed open.
