Author's Note: "Re-vamp." Bigger, badder and better than... previously.

Disclaimer (I): Person and/or thing that disclaims. A thing that is claimed not.

Disclaimer (II): I own not, claim I. Only the concept, which I have had from the second Richard Wilkins III uttered, "well, gosh," on that fateful day so many years ago. The blond bitch. Anyway, I hold on to that concept claim with a vengeance. Or at least this particular version of it.

Sixty-Four Black and White Squares

by

Angel of the Lord

In a world of infinite possibilities, where a yes here brings life, while a no causes death, what if someone flipped a coin the other way? In our world Buffy the Vampire Slayer has already retired to Italy, having defeated Mayor Wilkins and the rogue Slayer Faith in quick succession many years earlier. But what if that hadn't been the case? What if Mayor Wilkins hadn't gone "boom"?

Well, I bet he'd be pretty gosh darn angry with that little blond Slayer.

Don't you think?

Chapter One: "Queen's Gambit."

"There's more than one way to skin a cat. And I happen to know that's factually true." – Mayor Richard Wilkins the Third
"Congratulations to the Class of 1999. You all proved more or less adequate."

Principal Snyder. Hideous little troll-man. Buffy made a face at the midget on the podium who had more or less made her high school years a living hell. All the demons and vampires that had tried to end her life over the years were preferable to the Slayer over that little weasel. Buffy sighed and squirmed in her seat, wishing they would just get down to it already. She scratched absently at the bandages on her neck. It still itched, where Angel had… The Slayer shook her head. No. No thinking of Angel. She forced herself to pay attention to her soon-to-be-ex-Principal. There would be time for her heart to be ripped out of her chest later. Right now she had an Ascension to stop.

"This is a time of celebration, so sit still and be quiet," Snyder continued. He narrowed his beady black eyes, scanning the crowd. Jaw movement in row three caught his attention. Male, Caucasian. Bradley Somers. Thank God the Somers' boy had a rich Daddy who could buy his son's way into an Ivy League College. Snyder doubted he could deal with the extroverted leech for another year, not with new maggots being herded in next semester. Still, these… children were on his watch, and would be so until the end of Graduation. He would not tolerate disobedience. Bradley would be spoken to after senior commencement, but for now: "Spit out that gum." Snyder returned to addressing the entire audience. "Please welcome our distinguished guest speaker: Richard Wilkins the Third." Row six. Female, Caucasian. Patricia Stanley. "I saw that gesture. You see me after Graduation."

A combination of enthusiastic and bored applause rippled throughout the sea of maroon robes in the courtyard. Over a hundred students had gathered in the quad for today's big day. It was the largest graduating class Sunnydale High had ever produced, and as Willow raced past her fellow students to her seat, she knew that was thanks to one girl.

The redhead dropped into an empty seat next to her best friend. Buffy gave her the standard "where have you been?" look, and Willow smiled sheepishly. Hopefully the Slayer couldn't smell werewolf on her. "Am I late?" she asked, a hint of hope in her eyes. "Did we fight?"

Richard Wilkins gripped principal Snyder's hand in his own. A friendly shake of camaraderie was exchanged before the taller man took his place behind the podium, looking very much at home in front of the audience. The Mayor cleared his throat and smiled a politician's smile, one that didn't reach his eyes. "Well," he began, from a cue card prompt. "What a day this is! Special day. Today is our Centennial. The One Hundredth Anniversary of the Founding of Sunnydale, and I know what that means to all you kids." He paused momentarily for dramatic effect. "Not a darn thing. Because today something much more important happens. Today you all graduate from high school."

The audience sat riveted, all eyes trained on the Mayor. Oh, if only this were an election year and these young pups were old enough to vote. But fortunately in a few moments elections won't matter anymore. He flipped cards. "Today all the pain, all the work, all the excitement is finally over. And what's a hundred years of history compared to that? You know what kids?"

From her seat a few rows away from the stage Buffy cringed. She slid down into the chair a little. "Oh my God," the blond moaned in a hushed voice. He tone was one of disbelief. "He's going to do the entire speech."

Willow pouted in disgust. "Man, just ascend already."

"Evil," the Slayer confirmed.

"For all of you it may be that there is a place in Sunnydale's history, whether you like it or not. It's been a long road getting here. For you. For Sunnydale. There has been achievement, joy, good times... and there has been grief." He trailed a little, his thoughts still with the brunette Slayer –his Slayer- lying so frail in that hospital bed. "There's been loss. Some people who should be here today aren't." His eyes moved to the face of that blond whore who hurt had hurt his girl. "But we are."

Mayor Wilkins' speech continued. His words filtered through with dark tones and the Slayer began to feel that tingle, that low down buzz that signaled a fight was about to begin. "Journey's end. And what is a journey? Is it just distance traveled? Time spent? No. It's what happens on the way, it's the things that shape you. At the end of the journey you're not the same. Today is about change. Graduation doesn't just mean your circumstances change. It means you do. You ascend to a higher level. Nothing will ever be the same.

"Nothing."

The sun flared briefly in protest, before being blotted out of the sky completely by the moon. Mayor Wilkins' eyes registered the event at the same moment everyone else had. The eclipse had hit. Larry's fingers squeezed the handle of the makeshift weapon Xander had issued him. Across the courtyard Philip opened his clarinet case. The short-sword inside looked heavy and dangerous in the dim light. Beside him Kristy had replaced her cell phone with a crossbow.

Behind the stand Mayor Wilkins winced, his face momentarily contorted in pain. He swallowed and shook it off. "And so as we look back on-" The Mayor's words found themselves cut short again. "-On the events that brought us to this day-" A third wave of pain hit him. White-knuckled fingers gripped the podium as he attempted to reassert control over his rebellious body.

Buffy removed her hat. The cardboard square bent easily in her hands as she watched the Mayor squirm on the dais. "Come on…"

"We-" In a tense silence the students of Sunnydale High waited as the Mayor struggled to finish his speech through the onslaught of mystical energy. "We must all-" The town's leader let out a yell of pain and students and faculty alike exchanged uneasy glances. The crowd was hushed as the man that had captivated its attention straightened his frame.

"It has begun," Richard Wilkins announced to those gathered. "My destiny. It's a little sooner then I expected. I had this whole section on civic pride…" He shuffled his cue cards, a little chagrined at having to leave out such important things. "But I guess we'll just skip to the big finish!"

Buffy and Willow shared a look. Here we go…

The Mayor grimaced. Half of his head bubbled out into a large lump, and his right arm shriveled with incredible speed, and then disappeared completely. Internal changes that had begun when Mayor Wilkins had ingested the Spiders finally manifested externally. His suit was shred into rags that fell around him as his form elongated. Horrible cracking noises echoed through the small quad and Buffy felt sickened as she heard the former human's bones shifting into that of an Olvacon demon. Teachers and parents screamed and fled in a hysterical panic as Mayor Richard Wilkins towered above them all, his mandibles clacking menacingly. Now it was time to feed…

Hissing above the school rooftops hovered a giant snake. The Slayer stood on her chair and threw off her gown. "Now!" Buffy cried. All around her students removed their ceremonial robes to reveal a small army of teenagers, armed to the teeth. The Mayor roared.

"Flame units!" The Slayer called out. Larry jumped forward, along with a few other students she had seen around campus. They raised their weapons and blasted the Mayor with jellied gasoline. The flame arced and glanced across the Mayors skin. He roared in pain, rage and hunger and reared out of the firing squad's range. The smell of burnt snake filled the Slayer's nostril and she smiled grimly. He wasn't so invincible now. Buffy sent a nod to Xander.

The floppy-haired youth responded instantly to the brunette's command. "First wave!" A group of students stepped forward from behind the flame unit, crossbows at the ready. "Fire!"

Willow squeezed the trigger and her arrow flew in the volley of lance points targeted at the former Richard Wilkins. The rain of sharpened metal rods slammed into the hideous snake, piercing his hide in soft places between scales.

Moving like a cobra the Mayor retaliated. He lunged forward and his jaws snapped closed on a student in the first row. Buffy stared in shock as the snake devoured the girl from her biology class in one gulp. Around her, the makeshift army began to loose their nerve at the sight of one of their own getting the big chomp…

From his seat on the stage, Snyder watched with his beady eyes wide. Chaos was all around him and so he fell back on the role of a staunch disciplinarian.

"This- this is simply unacceptable!"

At the back of the battle two other students followed Bruce's lead as he tried to make a run for it before the former Mayor made them the main course. Bruce took one last glance back in time to see his now ex-girlfriend Samantha leave this worldly plain via giant snake demon. Wow. That could've been me, he thought and slammed into something. Someone, with something really wrong with his face…
Oz turned when he heard a girly scream coming from behind him. His eyes widened uncharacteristically in horror as undead monsters savagely killed people he knew. Vampires, nearly fifty so probably a whole nest, continued their advance toward the students at the top of the stairs. "Xander?"

The other boy turned and assessed the situation in a matter of second, his Halloween "boot camp" being put to good use. "Arm bowmen." The Dingoes guitarist grabbed a longbow and an arrow along with several other students. The arrowhead, weighted with kerosene-laden gauze, was set aflame by another teen.

Oz looked to Xander for a signal. "Fire!"

The students released in unison. Several of the vampires were struck, and two dusted immediately with arrows in their chests. A third was given the slow agony of burning to death thanks to the poor shot of Vanessa. Oz made a face and reloaded as the vampire screamed before combusting.

Xander caught a quick glimpse of the other students combating the Mayor. He ducked quickly as Jonathan sailed through the air inches where his head had been before landing on several students and knocking them down. Xander winced in sympathy for his fellow comic-geek. Real fights were different to the ones Spider-Man got in to.

Students were dying all around her. The Mayor had already eaten three, stabilizing his new form further. Two more had been crushed by the monster's tail. At the other end of the quad still more fell to the fangs of vampires.

The Slayer grimly called out to the surviving students around her. "Fall back!"

"Fire!"

Again the bowmen followed Xander's command. A third volley of wooden death was let loose. Another two dust piles joined the others on the stairs. After loosing some of their force to teenagers, of all creatures, a few of the vampires became disheartened. When the first one turned tail to run the others quickly followed only to find them confronted by another group of battle-ready warriors. Both groups paused, sizing each other up for a moment.

Percy West moved forward first, nearly pushing past Angel as he rushed forward to engage to enemy. The football player struck out at the closest vampire with a right hook that disoriented the creature long enough for him to ram a sharpened baseball bat through the creature's non-beating heart. A second member of the undead army launched itself onto Percy. The youth hit the concrete with a grunt and pushed off the ground immediately, rolling the Vampire off his back in a wrestling move he had learnt in Gym. Percy reached for the baseball bat that he had dropped but when he moved to finish the vampire off he found an arrow was already embedded in his target's chest. But that was okay; there were enough vampires for everybody…

Wesley ran forward with a yell, eager to be on the offensive. Eager to prove himself to these Californians who had insulted him so thoroughly. But when the male vampire's hammer of a fist collided with his jaw he realized that his plans would be of nil effect while he lay unconscious on the ground…
A heavy-set vampire slammed a ham-like fist down onto Angel's collarbone. The vampire grunted and fell to his knees. Above him loomed the fat vampire, grinning like he had already won the fight. Angel proved him wrong, coming up and under the vampire's guard and staking him with minimal effort. Through the screen of dust the heavy vampire left behind a she-vamp came charging through. She screamed and raked her claws down Angel's face.

Angel pivoted, moving to the side and forcing her down with her own momentum. She was dust when his fist connected with the nose of a third vampire covered in tattoos. "Who you fuckin' wit, ese?" the third vampire hissed, pulling a switchblade free from his boot and waving it in front of the older vampire's eyes. Tattoo-boy's eyes suddenly widened and he dropped his knife. His dust was swept away into the battle.

Percy grinned at Angel. "Gotta be faster than that, man," he panted, wiping away a small trickle of blood that had escape from his bottom lip. "Behind you," he continued casually.

Angel spun and blocked just before a gangly male vampire managed to club him in the head. Angel grabbed the taller vampire's wrists and threw him over his shoulder to land by Percy's feet. The teen drove his stake-bat into the vampire's chest without hesitation. He stood and spun the bat in his hand like a baton. "I got four already. How 'bout you?" Before Angel could formulate a response the boy was off swinging. Percy smashed his bat into the back of another vampire's head, moving deeper into the war zone.

Four? Angel thought. Dammit.

The leather-armored vampire chased the high school boy into the fray. He was damned if he would let some teenager out-do him in a fight.

Jets of fire once again lashed out at the Mayor in an attempt to tame him. The heat of the weapons in the flame units' hands was scalding, but the prospect of letting the Mayor past to feed on them kept the students grip firm. Unfortunately their makeshift flamethrowers weren't built to be fired for so long at such high intensity. The packs were overheating. But what choice did they have? Shut their weapons down?

Suddenly the debate became moot. On the right wing Larry's flamethrower cut out. "Shit," the large teen cussed, immediately dropping the heated metal funnel. He reached down to his side to grab his secondary weapon, a large steel pike, but he moved too slowly. The Mayor had already taken advantage, whipping his tail out and tossing Larry up in the air like a rag doll.

Larry had the strangest sensation of flight for a few precious seconds. Then the podium was in sight, and then the podium was millimeters from his head. His face slammed into the wood and the weight of his body twisted at an odd angle. The pike landed some feet away from his corpse.

Angel jumped over Wesley's prone form and landed a flying kick in the gut of a male vampire still a funeral suit. A second vampire, similarly dressed, hooked the champion in the jaw, making Angel stumble. The first funeral-vamp took a cheap shot at him while he was off balance and he almost fell. Almost.

Flesh hit bone as Angel cuffed funeral-vamp A in the temple. The creature roared, his fangs glistening red under the dim eclipse lights, a sure sign of disobedience to the Mayor's "no feeding" rule. Funeral-vamp B tried to attack again but this time Angel was ready for him. With a quick sweep kick vamp B was flat on his back, and two fast jabs to his abdomen had him momentarily out of action. The vamp A swung low to catch Angel in the jaw, but the older vampire shook it off, catching the first funeral vamp's fist and pulling him closer. The stake wedged itself between the vamp's ribcage and disintegrated with the rest of the corpse.

Funeral-vamp B was half aware and trying to claw Angel's eyes out by the time the vampire had pulled a second stake from the waistband of his pants. Angel fell back and vamp B dragged itself on top of the Champion. Angel twisted his pinned arm and forced the weapon in his hand up. He missed the heart, only succeeding in ripping into the vampire's stomach. The creature roared and Angel threw it off him. He retrieved the blood-slicked stake from vamp B's stomach and shoved it into its rightful place. In the monsters heart.

Pandemonium raged in the quad. People were dying. They needed a hero. Buffy stood on her chair, trying to think how one Slayer could possibly save them all. Behind her the Olvacon snarled in fury.
Percy ducked a swing, dancing around his target like his dad had taught him. He jumped over the fallen body of a guy with glasses in a weird suit and cocked the bat up into swing position. The vamp ran at him, like he thought it would, and he waited until it…

Was…

Just…

There! Wood smashed into the vampire's face, jamming shards of cartilage from its nose into the creature's brain. The vamp's body went into shock, dropping to the ground like a sack of flour. Percy grinned, staking it and then moving onto his next victim.

Principal Snyder was on his feet. He'd had enough of this nonsense. This chaos wasn't about to happen while he was alive. "This is not orderly. This is not discipline!" he called out to the violent mob raging before him. When that had no effect he turned his attention to Mayor Wilkins. "You're on my campus buddy!" The Mayor's head whipped around and all eight of the Olvocon's crimson eyes focused on the little troll man. "And when I say I want quiet, I want-"

The Mayor's head snapped forward again and Snyder, detention slips and all were removed from the smorgasbord.

Buffy was torn between revulsion and morbid joy when the Mayor had eaten principal Snyder. The giant snake-beast reared up and roared again, intent on continuing feeding. "Fall Back! Get back!" Buffy screamed. This massacre had gone on long enough. She leapt off her chair and Willow was instantly at her side, as always. "Go!" she ordered.

Willow nodded. "Good luck!" And then she was gone.

Buffy waited until the redhead had disappeared, fearing for her friend's safety. Once satisfied Willow was a safe distance away Buffy called out to the boy who had been her literal savior on more than one occasion. "Xander! Take 'em down!"

Xander reacted instantly to the Slayer's command, reaching into his back pocket, and withdrawing a stake of good, solid maple. "Everyone! Hand to hand! Everyone!" He shoved some stragglers into the fray with the vampires, hoping against hope that the "strength by numbers" technique would get them out of this alive. But already so many of their own had been killed… "Let's go! Move! Move!"
Angel threw another vampire in a Judo move that probably hadn't been used in over a hundred odd years, give or take. He turned in time to see Percy finish off a vamp that had been attempting to stab Angel in the back, literally. The boy gave Angel that cocky smirk, the one that the vampire was beginning to hate, before whacking one more of the endless wave of vamps with his bat. This time the stressed weapon shattered and the boy was defenseless.

The vampire rushed to his aid, tackling down the vamp Percy had just struck. They rolled around on the ground for a few moments before one vampire came out the victor.

Angel stood, flicking the remains of the other vampire away from his eyes. "Hey, kid!" he called to Percy and tossed him his last stake. Percy caught the short stick and looked at it funny for a moment. "That's a real stake," Angel noted, as Percy moved back into combat.

Weapon… Angel's eyes scanned the remains of the battlefield. There was one, conveniently enough, a few feet away from him. An arrow from one of Xander's bowmen. Any stake is better than no stake.

From near the bottom of the stairs one ballsy vampire had taken it upon himself to rally the others. "Get the kids!"

The other vampires turned to charge up the stairs only to find themselves confronted with a small army of teenagers wielding everything from medieval weapons to tennis rackets. The battle escalated to a frenzied level as the Senior Class of 1999 attack the vampires assailing their school.
Michelle Porter, shortstop of the Sunnydale High Senior A Girls Baseball team went into the fight swinging with a bat she had "liberated" from her older brother Mark's room when Xander had explained to her… this. She had never seen so much violence before and it disgusted her.

The steel bat made a whistling sound as Michelle swung it through the air, and a hollow clang when it struck one of the vampires' heads. A scream to her left alerted her to one of her classmates being in trouble.

Blond hair was buried under the disfigured face of a large male vampire. He had firmly attacked himself to Harmony's throat. Michelle grimaced at the vibrations that rippled down the bat as it struck Harmony's attacker's head, but still she raised the metal bat into the air and cracked it against the vampire's skull again.

Jonathan Levenson took in the sight of the death and destruction going on all around him. It was like Blade. The comic book series or the movie, but only the first one, when it was good. The creatures of the night ran up the stairs to slaughter the teens and Jonathan charged forward to meet them. Today, he would be Blade. Today, Jonathan would be the hero.

He leapt off a step a few feet above the vampires, landing on two but ultimately knocking three down. But it seemed that was all he was good for as the vampires picked the small boy up and threw him back up the stairs and into his own people. There would be no heroics from Jonathan today, he realized as his head cracked against the pavement and he lost consciousness. He should have listened to his mother and stayed in bed that morning.

Alexander Harris had the vampire by the shoulders. The vampire had Xander by the front of his shirt. They both tugged and pulled back and forward, trying to get leverage on one another. Xander, surprisingly, was able to throw the supernaturally stronger vampire to the ground. His years of patrolling with the Scoobs had trained him in how to combat a vampire well and they weren't used to facing meals that could fight back.

The floppy-haired teen leaned down and staked the vampire quickly and then reassessed the fighting force. The vampires were concentrating on the right half of the quad, while his own people were spread out everywhere. "Right flank! Close in!"

His soldiers didn't respond. "Close!" Still no reaction. They couldn't possibly have forgotten… "Jason and Paul! You guys are right flank!"

Finally the two boys moved in at the sound of their names. Xander shook his head. He was working with amateurs. He was working with amateurs and they were all going to die.

Angel tossed two vampires to the ground at once. He had been taking them on in pairs ever since that Percy boy had come wheeling in and slaying everything like a pro. A blond female vampire, who looked disturbingly like Buffy, took advantage of Angel's momentary distraction, kneeing him in the stomach. Angel winced and with the help of the other vampire the blond vamp tossed Angel into a hedge near the bottom of the stairs.

"Traitor…" the she-vamp hissed to Angel. Beside her the male he had struck down, a vamp that had died a young boy with bright pink hair, grinned maniacally.

"Dead traitor…"

The older vampire rolled out of the bush, not bothering to spare words on the two vampires confronting him. Instead he threw the arrow he had plucked off the ground earlier as hard as he could. The steel head embedded itself into the boy vampire's eye. The pink haired thing recoiled, whimpering. "Lost your weapon," the blond one observed as she ran to attack.

"I'll make do," Angel grunted out as he managed to force a piece of broken stick he had snapped from the bush through the blond vampire's sternum. She exploded with a quiet poof.

The little pink boy picked that moment to move in, stabbing at Angel with the arrow he had pulled out of his eye. Clumps of red and white tissue still clung to the tip and Angel couldn't help but back away. He didn't want eyepieces on him.

When the child struck out for Angel's undead heart, attempting to stake a vampire for probably the first time in his existence, Angel stepped back again and he missed altogether, swinging too low until he ended up burying the arrow into the soft flesh of Angel's thigh. The pink-haired vamp grinned, satisfied with his first attempt and went to tug the arrowhead free to try again. Angel grunted in pain. The arrow was stuck. The boy pulled again and Angel cocked his fist back before sending the boy-vamp reeling a few feet away. He pulled the arrow free from his own leg and held the thin shaft of wood tightly in a bloodied grip.

"You did that on purpose…" the boy began, spluttering. "You did that on purpose. You did that on-!" Angel forced the arrow home, silencing the child vampire forever.

Cordelia's heels clattered down the stairs as she rushed forward, stake in hand at the ready position. One particularly greasy male vampire targeted her immediately and charged for her without hesitation.

Cordy pushed the sharp wood into the stunned vampire's chest. She watched the demon crumble with a look of disgust on her face.

All around the dazed Watcher trampled heavy feet as the battle raged on. Wesley kept his head covered with one arm and made a half-hearted attempt at sitting up. "How about some help here?" he called out timidly.

A young woman, about Buffy's age, so he assumed her a student, took his hand and hauled him to his feet. Both Wesley and the girl waded through the fray toward the nearest exit.

The palm of Percy's hand had splinters from the weapon that big guy had given him. It was just a little sharpened stick and Percy decided he had preferred his bat a lot more. Still, he had to admit the stake did the job, as he plunged it through the shoulder blade of a short and stocky vampire. The wooden weapon did its job well.
The Mayor roared. This wasn't how things were supposed to happen. His vampires were loosing to the high school students. This was his big day! The Olvacon hissed out angrily. Far below him a glint of something shiny caught the Mayor's eye. It was that darn blond Slayer, Buffy. And she had something in her hand. The girl held the object up higher so the Mayor could see it better. It looked remarkably like the present he had given Faith...

"Hey!" Buffy called out to the monster towering above her. "You remember this?" Bloodstains on the knife disguised the weapon's beauty, but Richard –the Richard Wilkins that existed inside the Olvacon demon- knew it for what it was. "I took it from Faith. Stuck it in her gut. Just slid in her like she was butter," Buffy taunted, knowingly gambling her life. The Mayor gnashed his teeth and growled in malice. "You want to get it back from me...

"Dick?"

Through the hallways of Sunnydale High the Slayer weaved, with the Mayor hot on her heels. Buffy slid around a corner and through a set of swing doors into the main hallway of the school. The Mayor simply used his massive form to careen through the wall, destroying lockers and plasterboard in the process as he went full tilt to keep up with the nimble girl in the tight tunnels. The Slayer led him through the school's corridors to the central point of the Mayor's beloved town. The Hellmouth.

Buffy pushed through the library doors. Behind her raced the Mayor, ripping up the passage like an out-of-control freight train. As the Olvacon smashed into the library the little Slayer vaulted over the banister and dashed into the stacks.

The smell of diesel fuel and fertilizer caused the giant demon to pause his pursuit. Instead of musty books the Sunnydale library was packed to the brim with explosives. Mayor Wilkins glanced around him, the expression of surprise lost on the Olvacon's demonic features. Those little Scoobies sure had put up a decent effort.

"Well, gosh," the Mayor uttered.

Buffy flew through the stacks and out of a window at the back of the library. Glass shards rained on the ground round her where she landed and she ignored the feel of one embedding itself in her hand as she joined Giles a safe distance away from Ground Zero. The Watcher glanced at his Slayer with relief. He had been terrified for her safety, but his job was to wait her for her.

Buffy sent Giles a look and a silent command was ordered, Do it. Giles gladly pushed down the plunger, intent on bringing the whole school down around the Mayor. The detonator clicked in recognition, but the explosion never came. Giles pushed the plunger down again, and again there was no reaction.

Nothing happened.

Nothing at all.

Eight months later, Faith opened her eyes.
Continued in the next chapter: "Pawn moves Two Spaces."