Okay, I've been hit with more migraine attacks which have left me unable to do very much on the story for several days. So this is the best I can do for the moment. Here are scenes 1-3 of Act 4, which I hope will tide you over for a while. I don't think it's my best work, but I'm my own worst critic. I hope to finish it off within a week, headaches permitting.
The Big IT, miss calendar, tommo - Thanks for all the good words. I'd say more, but I'm really not feeling great right now. Need to lie down in a darkened room, with only thoughts of W/T smut for company!
Oh, and
DigificWriter - Thanks for the suggestion of what to do with Xander. He’s finally in here – but considering the end of scene 3, I don’t think he’d want to be!
Title: WtVS: Pilot Episode: Hellmouth High
Author: Mike of the Nancy Tribe
Feedback: Yes please.
Rating: PG 13 maybe.
Disclaimer: The characters belong to Joss Whedon and ME. I’ve taken liberties with them. So sue me.
Distribution: I don’t mind, but ask first, okay?
Pairings: Willow & Tara. Buffy & Cordelia.
Spoiler Warning: Not really since it’s AU, but I’m using bits from several seasons.
Summary: More of the night before the Harvest. Mostly action as Willow goes after Tara. And as I said above, just the first three scenes of the last act.
WtVS: Pilot Episode: HELLMOUTH HIGH
ACT 4FADE IN
EXT. SUNNYDALE – NIGHT
The vampires took Tara right from the street, less than a block from her house.
A cold rough hand from behind covered her mouth, and her arms were pinned. Five or six of them lifted her bodily into an alley, slamming her against a wall. Ridged faces and yellow eyes roamed over her, followed by hands that seemed to be searching for something. She struggled and kicked, but they were too strong, too many.
A black-haired vamp stood back, watching. “If you can’t find anything, take an ear,” he growled.
Then one of them pulled the handkerchief from her pocket and flourished it. “Yeah, that’ll do just fine,” said the first vamp, who seemed to be their leader. “Here, go Crayola crazy.” He handed something to the other demon, who took it and the handkerchief and ran off into the darkness.
“Just a message for little Will,” he said to Tara. “I know how much she loves to read.” He trailed a wicked fingernail down the side of her wide-eyed face. “Well, you’re a cutie. Gonna be a good little worm on the hook?”
Tara opened her mouth wide and bit down hard on the hand covering it. The hand’s owner jerked it away, but she only had time to yell
“She’ll kick your f– “ before a fist connected with her jaw, and a wide swatch of duct tape sealed her mouth. Another length bound her hands, and she was thrown over a bulky shoulder.
“Come on boys,” said the black-haired vampire. “Not much time before the Slayer comes callin’. Can’t wait to get reacquainted.” Then the whole gang disappeared into the night with Tara.
--------------------------------------
Willow ran.
No time to get Giles. No time to change clothes or put on underwear. No time to get weapons, but she thrust the black-handled knife into the waistband of her jeans. No time for anything but Tara.
Willow ran. Like the wind.
The dark streets blurred by her. Muscles she never knew she had kicked in, Slayer strength and fear of what she would find driving her legs like an engine.
She knew where they’d take her - where they wanted the Slayer to be. A trap, but she didn’t care. They had Tara, and that’s all that mattered. Tara was
all that mattered. Fear for herself didn’t matter any more. Only Tara. She kept the image of those blue eyes before her, and cried as she ran.
She could feel a scream building up inside her, expanding to fill her the closer she got to the graveyard. If she let it out, it would shatter glass and strip the leaves off trees. And the scream would be one word, the name that meant everything.
No time….for….gates, she thought when finally she reached the high cemetery wall, and vaulted over it in one leap. She landed hard, but rolled to her feet, then veered off her arrow-straight path for an instant to snap a couple of short lengths of dry wood off a nearby tree. She rammed one in each of her back pockets, and ran on.
The mouth of the mausoleum loomed before her. She put the brakes on at the last second, and came to a halt outside the doorway. Only slightly out of breath, she pressed her forehead against the cold stone of the wall for a moment, then crept in over the broken remains of the door.
The place was empty. She moved quickly to the back wall, where an iron gate stood in shadow behind a pillar, closed with a lock and chain.
Well, she thought,
time to ring the doorbell. Or break a foot. She spun round and lashed out, snapping the chain and sending the gate back against the wall with an echoing crash.
Oh, I’m getting too good at this! she told herself.
A short passageway ended in a cranked staircase leading downwards. At the bottom it opened onto the brick-lined electrical tunnel, where sparse lighting threw shadows across pipework, recessed doorways and junction points.
For ten or fifteen minutes Willow followed the tunnel’s twists and turns, all the while heading deeper under the town. Silence surrounded her, apart from the dripping of water and the all-too-close scratching of rats. Finally she reached an intersection, and paused. The faint rattle of iron against stone came from her left. She took one of the makeshift stakes from her pocket, flattened herself against the wall, and followed the sound.
“Oh god, Tara! Tara!” The words burst from her as she rounded a curve and saw the blonde witch sitting against the wall in the middle of another intersection. Her legs were curled up beneath her, but Willow could see a shackle on her left ankle, with a chain leading to an iron ring in the wall.
She knelt and gently removed the tape from Tara’s mouth. It left a band of redness across her face, that Willow covered with kisses. “I thought I’d lost you,” she said, pressing her lips tenderly to Tara’s.
“I-I knew you’d come,” said Tara.
“They didn’t hurt you, did they?” said Willow, looking her over desperately. “They, they didn’t
bite you?” She brushed Tara’s hair back both sides, seeing smooth, unblemished skin.
Oh god, I want to bite that neck myself! she thought, then mentally slapped herself.
“No they, they roughed me up a bit and, and one of them socked me in the jaw, and my ankle hurts a
lot. But I-I’m okay….now you’re here.”
“Oh poor baby,” said Willow, hugging her, then stroking the bruise on her chin. She looked at the ankle, which was raw, bleeding and purplish. It looked like they’d hammered the iron in place.
She snapped the tape binding Tara’s hands, then with a huge effort, prised off the shackle from her leg. “I-I shouldn’t be surprised, I guess,” said Tara, “but wow! You’ve got
really strong fingers! What um, what else can they do apart from, y’know, bend metal?” She half closed her eyes, and gave Willow that sultry, lopsided smile of hers.
Willow’s breath caught in her throat. “If, if we get out of here, I’ll show you just what they
can do, you minx!” And she kissed the grinning witch hard on the lips.
“Oh god Will, I knew you’d come, but so did
they.”
A shuffling sound made them look up, to see shadowy shapes converging on them slowly from two directions. “Oh yeah,” said Willow. “They made an offer they knew I couldn’t refuse. C’mon, let’s get out of here before they get the munchies.”
“Oh, I know we’ll get out okay,” said Tara as she got to her feet. “Remember, I-I believe in you, always.”
Willow smiled at her as she dragged her off down the only tunnel that seemed to be clear. She saw that Tara was limping badly as they ran, and supported her as best she could. Ahead, more shadows with gleaming eyes suddenly appeared, forcing them to duck down a side tunnel.
“Ever get the feeling you’re a cow?” said Willow.
“Um, what?”
“We’re being herded.”
“Oh,” said Tara through the pain shooting up from her ankle. “Maybe, maybe if I tried a spell, that could slow them down. I could um, make the soles of their shoes go all gluey. I-I-I think.”
“Oh I wouldn’t bother with that, little lady,” said a voice from behind them. “This is the Master’s world down here, so magic’s pretty much a no-no.”
Something about the voice made Willow’s flesh creep. It also made her stop and turn.
The shuffling ranks behind parted to make way for the vampire with black hair. “Th-that’s one of the ones who kidnapped me. The one who hit me,” said Tara, scowling.
I hope Will busts his balls, she thought.
He was still some distance away, but Willow peered at him, trying to see past the rutted brows and unearthly eyes. There was something….
“Hey, where’s the love, Will?” he said. “Forgotten me already? Oh sorry, gotta get rid of the bumpies first. How about this?” With that, his features suddenly morphed into a human and all-too-familiar face. “Now, give us a hug for old times’ sake. You know you want to.”
Willow froze. All her old fears came rushing back, as she stared in horror at the form of her childhood nemesis. “Oh god! Xander!”
“In the dead flesh, babe.”
“Xander?” said Tara. “Who - ?”
“You
really don’t wanna know,” said Willow, stepping in front of Tara protectively.
“Aww, isn’t that sweet?” said the vampire formerly known as Xander Harris. “Guess now I know why the old Xander never had a chance with you, huh? Is it good, Will? Does she hit the spot for ya?”
“You, you just shut up!” said Willow. “You don’t know anything.” She could feel her mouth going dry, but she could also feel Tara slipping a hand into hers. As always, just the touch of knowing she was there made her feel wonderful, and gave her strength.
“I know you’re gonna die tonight,” said Xander, giving her a cheesy grin.
“Oh, oh, aren’t you one with all the big talk now mister?” said Willow, trying to be brave. “Hey guys!” she called to the other vampires. “Y-your big bad boss here? This is the jerkweed who, who stole my Barbie when we were five….and, and slept with it till he was twelve!”
The vamps all looked at him, and a few sniggered. “He’s still got it,” one of them said. “Kisses it every day before naptime.”
“Shut your mouth!” growled Xander. “Oh, I’m gonna
luurve seein’ the Master take your head, little Slayer. I’ll make sure he stuffs a frog or two in your mouth before he sews it shut!”
“Y-you don’t scare me any more, bonehead,” said Willow, starting to back up slowly. “I’ve got everything I need to be strong now.” She gripped Tara’s hand more tightly. “But you’re still the same weasel you always were. Okay, you’re, you’re a fangy weasel, but what the hey? I, I bet your mom and dad are
real proud of their little boy now.”
“Keep it up, Will. You’re playing in the big league now. When Luke found me and turned me, I made sure the folks were first to know their little Xandy had made it to the big time. Mm, they were a real nummy treat.”
Willow shuddered. “Luke? Wh-who’s Luke?”
“Big guy. You already met him.” He put both hands round his throat and mimed being choked. “You’ll be seeing him again real soon.”
“L-lookin’ forward to kickin’ his butt already,” answered Willow. To Tara she said quietly “Get ready to run.”
Okay, she thought,
they wanted the Slayer here. Guess it’s time to be the Slayer. Just wish I knew exactly how.“Go!” she yelled, and as Tara took off at a limping run, Willow whipped the knife out of her belt and hurled it straight at Xander’s chest. She knew the metal blade wouldn’t kill him, but it might slow him down enough to give them some distance. And she wanted to take that snarky grin off his face.
She gulped as the knife hit him handle first, clattering harmlessly to the floor. He kept on grinning, motioning one of the vamps to get her.
“Um, oops?” she said. “That, that almost
never happens in the movies.”
The vampire that came at her virtually walked onto the stake she slid out of her pocket.
Well, if they’re all that stupid…, she thought as the dust cleared. But a whole pack of them came forward, and she thought better of it.
“Bye!” she called, turning on her heel and running after Tara, catching up to her as she was entering a small chamber.
“Um, Willow?” said Tara. “Dead end. There’s kinda no exits.”
“Again with the oops. That would explain the entire lack of rushing us. C’mon, let’s get this door shut!”
They both put their shoulders to it, almost managing to close it before the vampires reached them. An arm snaked around it, and Willow beat at it with her remaining stake. Gradually it gave way, till only the long gnarly fingers were curled around the edge – and which were neatly snipped off at the knuckle when the door finally snapped shut.
“Wow! N-nice manicure!” said Tara over the vamp’s howl of pain, as Willow threw the latch. Immediately the creatures outside started pounding on the door.
“That’s not gonna last long!” said Willow. “We need a way out, and fast!”
“Up there!” Tara pointed to a grate high up in the ceiling.
Willow dragged over a half-full metal drum that was in a corner, and clambered up. The grate was heavily rusted in place, but it started to shift with every blow of her hand. Which was just as well, she saw, as the vampires had already bent the top corner of the door inwards. As the rest of the door started to buckle around the latch, a voice drifted in from outside the chamber.
“Give it up Will! We’ll make it quick, I promise. Scout’s honour!”
“You were never a Scout, Harris!” she yelled back. “You’d never let those chicken legs be seen in shorts!” Just then the grate popped open in a shower of rust. Willow leapt back down to the floor.
“Come on, you first,” she said to Tara.
“Okay, but you’ll have to help me up,” said the witch with a smile.
Willow grinned back. “This wouldn’t just be a ploy to get my hands on your butt, would it?”
“Maybe. Of, of course if you don’t want to….”
Willow took her hand and helped her onto the barrel, then placed both her hands firmly on Tara’s rear end to propel her through the grate. She could feel the warmth of the witch’s skin through the corduroy of her black jeans. She wished she had time to stop and savour the feeling, but the door was almost gone. It burst inward with a crash just as she raised herself through the grate, and into a ventilation duct.
Grasping hands reached for her foot, but missed. As they scrabbled away from the hole, a snarling head emerged. Willow lashed out with her foot, and with a satisfying crunch of broken nose, the vamp fell back into the chamber, taking the others and the drum with him.
They crawled through the duct on hands and knees for about twenty yards before reaching a short ladder heading for the surface. Willow shimmied up first to pop a hefty manhole cover that blocked their exit, with Tara clinging to the ladder below her. But before either of them could escape, a vampire rushed at Tara through the duct. Swiftly she whipped the stake from Willow’s back pocket and let go of the ladder. She fell on her bad ankle with a cry of pain, but as her leg buckled beneath her, she dropped below the vamp’s outstretched claws, and buried the wood in his heart.
“Tara!” cried Willow as the dust settled, reaching her hand down to the witch.
She was hoisted up and through the manhole just as three more vamps attacked. Willow managed to stamp on the hands that groped for the surface, and slammed the steel cover back in place. They stood on it to try and hold them, but they were being rocked off balance.
“Tara! Wh-what the frilly heck are you doing?” Willow raised her eyebrows as Tara suddenly stripped off the t-shirt she was wearing, a blue one with swirlies on it, and stood there in just her white lacy bra. “Oh my!” said the Slayer, while her mind did flip-flops at the sight of the barely-restrained breasts right in front of her.
Tara grinned. “Put that tongue back in your mouth, Will, I’m just gonna um, try something. Get ready to pop that lid.” Willow’s own lid was in serious danger of popping right then, and she knew exactly where she wanted her tongue to be.
Tara held the shirt out at arm’s length, gestured with her other hand, and said the word
“incendere!” Instantly it burst into cold blue flame. Willow tipped up the manhole cover, and Tara threw the blazing shirt right into the face of an ascending vampire. He shrieked and fell back on top of at least three others, who all started to go up in flames.
“Th-that should hold ‘em a while,” said Tara as Willow replaced the cover. “Now, l-let’s get the hell out of here.”
“Lean on me,” said Willow. Tara draped an arm over her shoulders, hopping along the sidewalk at a fast pace beside the redhead.
Willow looked at her with amazement (and not a little desire, seeing the jiggling that was taking place right next to her sweater). “Wow,” she said, “you’re just
full of surprises, aren’t you?”
Oh I hope so, thought Tara, seeing where Willow’s eyes were fixed. “Oh, I-I used to save that one for backyard bonfires and, and barbecues when I was younger. Extra witchy. Pretty, wasn’t it?”
“Beautiful,” said Willow, whose mind was elsewhere.
Gosh, look at those!“Hey, I-I think I know where we are,” said Tara. “This is the corner of Landau and Sutherland. Revello Drive is the next block over.”
“Then we go to Buffy’s,” said Willow. “We need to get that ankle fixed up. And as much as I’m liking the view here, we can’t have you walking around town in your bra. I, I don’t want other girls getting ideas about you.”
And I’ve got so many ideas of my own, she thought.
Tara looked back as they went along, but there was no sign of trouble yet. “W-will we be safe there? I don’t want to lead them right to, to Buffy’s door.”
“They can’t come into your home unless you invite them. One of my first lessons from Giles. Basic Vampire 101.”
“Oh, th-that’s good,” said Tara as they turned the corner into Revello. “You, you know Buffy might not be home. I mean, it’s Friday night, no cover at the Bronze. She and Cordelia might be out, y’know, doing things.”
“As opposed to two sassy sixteen year olds who can’t think of better things to do than save each other from blood-suckin’ fiends?”
“Oh, I-I-I can think of
lots better things,” said Tara huskily. “But as, as long as we’re together, wherever, I-I don’t mind.”
Willow halted them in their tracks, put both arms around Tara’s naked midriff, and kissed her softly. She didn’t think she’d ever felt a sensation as warm and wonderful as those barely-covered breasts pressing into her own – apart from the feel of Tara’s lips against hers, that is.
“Wh-what was that for?” whispered Tara.
“For you,” said Willow, their lips still touching lightly. “For being the bestest and bravest girl another girl could ever have. My angel. Without you, I’d be lost.”
“I’d always find you,” said Tara.
“I know.”
They reached Buffy’s house without incident, and thankfully saw a light burning upstairs.
“Oh god,” said Tara. “Wh-what if it’s just Buffy’s mom at home? How, how do we explain, y’know,
this?” She flapped her hand in front of her chest, which as Willow saw, was now goose fleshing delightfully.
“Well,” said Willow, “I guess I’d say ‘Hi Mrs. Summers, I’d like you to meet one – I mean
two – of the seven wonders of the world!’”
Tara laughed. “Two? A-and where are the other five?”
Willow almost purred, as she knocked on the door. “I’m hoping to find out. Pretty soon.”
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The Master clicked his pointed nails against the empty glass jar that stood on the arm of his monstrous chair.
“Dear me,” he said. “So the Slayer and her tigress have escaped.
And we have lost even more of our brethren. Someone’s been careless.”
This time it was Luke and Xander who knelt, shamefaced, before his carved throne. Darla hovered happily in the background. Her moment of revenge on the two harpies who had humiliated her was still to come, so for now, she could enjoy this little scene.
He rose, and began to walk slowly around them, his hands behind his back. “You know, sometimes I wonder if I shouldn’t just give it all up and turn this place into a nightclub. A few mirror balls, a good sound system, ‘70’s night on a Friday. 1870’s that is. Of course, we’d have to do something about the floor.” Bones crunched under his feet as he walked.
“You’re
such a disappointment to me, my children,” he sighed. “Well, no matter. We can still party tomorrow night without the Slayer. It just means there’ll be someone worth killing when I reach the surface. But Luke?” The bulky vampire, whose charred flesh was now beginning to heal over, looked up.
“Remember what I said? The Slayer’s head, or….” He caressed the jar as he spoke.
Luke swallowed, and instinctively crossed his hands over his groin. “Master, I –“ he began.
“Oh unclench, Luke,” said the Master. “Not everyone delegates well. I forgive you. But as for your young protégé….”
Now Xander looked up nervously. “Ah, boss, now you gotta cut me some slack here,” he said. “That Slayer’s real tricksy. She’s grown a pair since I knew her. And I
really didn’t intend irony there. And as for her witchy gal pal –“
“Hush, little Xander. Don’t stress out. You are young, and the young should always learn from their mistakes. I shall indeed cut you some slack. Darla, would you do the honours?”
He handed the jar to the blonde girl, who shook into her vamp face and snapped her fangs gleefully. “Mmm, meatballs for supper,” she grinned.
The Master turned away back to his chair as a piercing scream rang out, and something soft landed in the jar. Twice.
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END OF ACT 4, SCENE 3
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Always.........
by snuggle79 » Sun Aug 25, 2002 2:43 pm 
..and this for some reason kept me chuckling for a while ..[
, that was too funny...BUT I must stay, cliffhangery much? so now I'm swinging back and forth from the bungee cord..that that I would jump but good to use in case my fingers slip...I hope we see an update soon...
Wow, big cliffhanger but they kissed and are now gfs 
Loved Willow running to the rescue and loved watching the desire play out between our two girls 
Well I knew she would, i'm just glad Tara didn't get to hurt!! Then Tara in her bra! 
Willow did enjoy that view didn't she?!
