The Deliverer

by Net Girl

Set in Bizzaro World from The Wish. Faith, the White Hats, Spike & Drusilla battle the Master...

Rating: PG-13--Violence, very mild adult themes. Spoilers: Season three's "The Wish" written by Marti Noxon. Summary: Teamed up with Giles and the *new* White Hats, and with the unlikely aid of Spike and Drusilla, Faith plans to succeed where everyone else has failed--kill the Master. But can she do it?

Disclaimer: All Buffy characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy Productions. Maria Bandera is an original character and belongs to Paul Leone and Teresa Owens. And can you believe we're doing this for the sheer evolness, erm...uh...*joy* of it? In short, we aren't making any money off this whatsoever. No lawsuits, please. We're both in college. We have nothing!

Send any and all commentary to: NovusSibyl@AOL.com and NetGrlWill@AOL.com. All flames are read, laughed at then deleted with extreme prejudice.

"The Deliverer" By Paul Leone and Teresa Owens

"Tempus est iocundum" (The happy hour is coming...)

Sunnydale, California February 2, 1999

A few short-lived snowflakes trickled down from the gray clouds and melted on the brown earth in front of the high school. Harmony Barber watched the tiny white flakes with practiced boredom, moving only to brush aside the few that landed on her jacket.

"Feel free to jump in and help out any time now."

The voice, coming from right over Harmony's shoulder, startled her out of her reverie. She fell off the bicycle stand and spun around.

"God! Knock it off, Larry!" Harmony snapped, impatiently smoothing out the strands of blond hair upset by her tumble. "What's your problem?"

Larry grunted in amusement and set the brown box he had been holding down. "My problem is that we're all breaking our backs hauling Giles' stuff into the van and you're sitting here zoning out," he replied.

"Sorry, but Giles said someone should stay out here and keep watch," Harmony shot back. She picked up the wooden stake that sat at her feet and waved it in the air. "It's not my fault you didn't volunteer."

"Well, maybe because I figured out it was just wuss detail. It's three in the afternoon, remember? No vampires," Larry replied, rolling his eyes. He kneeled down and picked up the box again. "If you helped out, we'd be done by now."

Harmony glared at Larry, but said nothing as he hauled the box over to the battered van idling a few yards away. The box, filled with aging books, joined a dozen identical boxes on the floor of the van.

Even as Larry headed back for the school, Oz emerged behind Harmony, carrying a smaller box. "Hey. This is the last one, Larry. Except for some stuff Giles wants to carry himself."

"Cool. We're gonna have to leave some of the crap in the van over night now, though. It'll be dark before we could get it all out." Larry frowned as he sat down on the frozen grass. "Giles wouldn't make us stay out to unpack, would he?" he asked suddenly.

"I doubt it. Not after last week," Oz replied in an uncertain tone as he put the last box inside the van and slammed the side door shut.

"Can you blame him? Like losing one Slayer wasn't bad enough, he's zero for two now," Harmony blurted out.

Oz shook his head, glad Giles hadn't been in earshot. Tact was not one of Harmony's (few, in his opinion) talents. "We'll get by. We did before either of them showed up, right?"

"Right on," Larry agreed. "Who needs some hyped up superhero, right? You only need a stake to kill a vampire."

"Yeah. That or a nuclear bomb, which would really help." Oz grinned at the image of a mushroom cloud poking out of the Bronze, then shrugged it off. About as likely as a Fairy Godmother rolling into town in a pumpkin carriage.

The big double doors opened behind Oz and the last two members of the group emerged, both absorbed in a massive book that they held between them.

"And you're quite certain that the invoked spirit is Diana, not Hecate?" Giles asked, pointing at a passage in the book.

"Yeah, see here? Great huntress, send forth your...blah blah," Amy pointed out. "Hecate is more fickle. We don't want that, right?"

"Oh, yes, quite right." Giles stopped and stared at the three lounging on the front lawn of the school. "Oh. Is the van all packed up?"

"Yep. We're waiting on you, chief," Oz replied.

"Splendid. I - good God, what is that?" Giles asked, staring at a point down the street.

Amy, Oz, Larry and Harmony all turned towards where Giles was looking. A large black van was rumbling down School Street, kicking up clouds of dust and half-melted snow. Even the windows were tinted, and it looked as if someone had welded sheet metal over the wheels and the bumper grille.

"Um - is anybody else's evil radar going off?" Larry asked quietly, reaching into his coat pocket to pull out a wooden stake. Oz did likewise and Giles produced a crossbow, seemingly out of nowhere.

Before any of them could act, though, the van came to a screeching halt, creating another cloud of dust. The front passenger door swung open and a red-headed woman in a black leather coat and matching pants and wearing a pair of sunglasses hopped out. What looked like a sawed off shotgun rested in a holster strapped to her left leg.

The woman glanced at the group with her shaded eyes, then smiled and pulled off the sunglasses. Green eyes twinkled as they focused on Giles. "You must be Mr. Giles, huh?" she asked, pronouncing it Gahls in a Boston twang.

"Er...yes, can I help you?" Giles replied, not quite lowering the crossbow.

"I think I can help you, in fact," the woman said, smiling and glancing at the crossbow in silent amusement. "I'm Maria Bandera."

"Should that name mean something to me?" Giles asked, speaking for the group as a whole.

Maria frowned slightly as she tucked her sunglasses into a jacket pocket. "The Council sent me. I thought they'd have told you. I'm here with Faith."

"Well, that's very nice, but it takes more than simple piety to kill vampires," Giles began to reply before Maria's laughter cut him off.

"No, no. Not that kind of faith. I mean Faith the Vampire Slayer." Maria jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "She's driving, if you can call it that."

"Hey! I heard that!" protested a voice from inside the van. The driver of the van, a young brown-haired girl in black leather that matched Maria's, jumped out and slammed the door shut behind her. "I'm not the one who almost drove us off that mountain in Colorado."

"This is Faith," Maria pointed out with a long-suffering sigh. She glanced at the teenagers. "She kills vampires."

"Great, another one," Oz muttered under his breath. From the looks on Maria and Faith's faces, not quietly enough.

"Another one?" Faith asked, frowning slightly.

"Yes. The previous two Slayers both, er, passed on here," Giles explained. "Both were killed by the Master."

"That's why we're here," Maria said, grinning from ear to ear. "The Council declared an auto-da-fé on your friend the Master."

"I think I speak for us all when I say 'who did the what now?'" Larry asked.

"An auto-da-fé," Giles repeated, looking from Maria to Larry. "It's a very old formal declaration of a vampire hunt. It means, more or less, that all the resources of the Watcher Council are focused on killing the Master."

"Exactly. Unfortunately, those resources aren't what they used to be. As Giles knows, we're a bit thin on the ground these days. But we've got weapons to spare," Maria said, walking around to the back of the van. With a bit of a flourish, she pulled the doors open and stepped back, letting Giles and the others take a look inside.

"Whoa. This is taking 'getting medieval' a bit too seriously," Oz said, staring at the arsenal in the back of the van. Weapons of every size, shape and description, from simple wooden stakes to elaborate battle axes to a pair of finely constructed steel pikes, lined the walls of the van. A plastic rack held enough crossbow bolts to fill a suitcase, and at least a dozen banana clips rested under a pair of assault rifles.

"We'd have brought more, but this was the only car the Council had left," Maria said apologetically. "Things are bad back East."

"Bad enough nobody could spare two cars?" Harmony asked, trying (and failing) to fathom it. "That's inconceivable."

"Inconceivable?" Maria repeated, eyebrows rising in unison, then coughed awkwardly.

"Someone's seen Princess Bride a few too many times," Larry explained, smiling wickedly.

"Hey!" Harmony protested.

"Please, children. You said things were bad on the East Coast?" Giles asked in a low voice. "We've heard rumors. Terrible things."

"It's that bad," Maria confirmed, putting her sunglasses back on. "The Army's running things now, though, so it'll keep until we're done here."

"Things don't look so bad around here," Faith added. "What's the deal? Who's this bad-ass that I gotta de-fé?"

"The Master," Giles replied.

"Yeah, yeah, you said that already. What's his major malfunction?"

Giles stared blankly at Faith.

"Why is he such a problem," Maria translated with a quick grin. "He's a six hundred year old vampire and one of the stronger vampires around even if he is relatively young. He'd been in a magical prison for the last hundred years. He escaped and...well, you know the rest."

"Yes, quite," Giles said, slightly unused to being robbed of the chance to lecture. "With you two here, and these weapons, I dare hope we have a chance of killing him."

Faith shrugged. "Six hundred years old? Can't be that nasty."

"You'd be wise to lose that notion swiftly. The Master is quite deadly. More than one Slayer has been killed by him in the past, including your own predecessor."

"You're not a very peppy Watcher."

"Um, guys, gals, it's four thirty already. Do we really wanna be out here when the sun sets?" Amy asked anxiously. "Even with all the toys."

"Girl's got a point." Maria slammed the back doors of the van shut. "Do you have a place we can hole up?"

"Actually, we were in the process of relocating when you arrived," Giles replied. "Just follow us." Giles pointed at the beat-up brown van. "Now, perhaps we'd better go."

*******

Dusk.

Welcome To Sunnydale! Enjoy Your Stay!

At least that's what the sign *had* read before the locals altered it to fit the times.

The "Sunnydale" portion was marked out in favor of "HELL", and the "Enjoy Your Stay!" had been completely scratched out. Below the X-ed out line, a new one had been added in red spray paint: "Abandon Hope, All Ye Who Enter Here!"

WHAM!

The welcome sign lay flat on the ground as a black DeSoto, its windows blackened in, drove smack into it. The car stopped and the driver's side door opened.

Spike stepped out of the car then surveyed Sunnydale. He lit up a cigarette and nodded approvingly at the state of the small town situated on the Hellmouth. The place was in complete shambles. Distant screams caught his attention. A smile spread across his face at that heavenly sound. Oh yes, this was a place he and Drusilla could definitely call...

"Home, sweet home," he said then took another drag off his cigarette. He flicked the cigarette away when he saw a vampire chasing a teenaged girl down the street. They were headed straight for him.

"No! Help! Someone help me!" the girl screamed out in terror. She looked behind her and shrieked when she saw the vampire gaining on her.

Spike leaned against the driver's side door of his car, watching in interest. This place was certainly much different than Europe. Humans were actually still frightened of vampires here.

The girl turned her head. Her eyes widened when she found the front of Spike's car directly in her path. With no time to alter her course, she jumped up and slid across the hood of his car. When she hopped off on the other side, the girl was surprised it had worked. She looked behind her to see the vampire who chased her slam into the side of the car. He fell forward, his head smacking the hood, hard. She whimpered as she continued to run for her life.

Spike watched the vampire groan as he tried to stand up. He took a few steps forward then grabbed the vampire by the back of his coat, pulling him off of his car. "Would you look at that?" Spike said as he pointed to a dent in the hood. He looked at the vampire. "I ought to kill you for that, you know," he went on. "This car is a classic."

The vampire looked from the car to Spike then snorted with laughter. "What, this piece of junk?" he asked. He pushed Spike's hand away. "Please. I gotta go catch my dinner, if you don't mind."

Spike took hold of the vampire with both hands this time and pulled the vampire nose to nose with him. "Actually, mate, I *do* mind," he said then slammed the vampire's back on the hood of his car.

"Hey! Watch it, you Limey bastard!" the vampire yelled as he looked up at Spike. "These are my new threads, man!" He nodded down at his clothes. "Kid I killed to get'em nearly staked me!"

Spike put one hand on the vampire's throat and applied enough pressure to let the younger vampire know he was in over his stupid head. "My, would you look at this!" he exclaimed. He gave the vampire the once over then shook his head. "Your bloody carcass is on my car yet again! Guess I'll have to kill you this time. Can't learn your lesson, can you?"

The vampire grabbed Spike's arm with both of his hands, panic in his eyes. "Hey, man," he choked out. "We're all on the same side here! Cut me a break, will you? I'm sorry!"

"Side?" Spike repeated as he leaned forward. "What makes you think I'm on anyone's side?"

The vampire gagged a little. "Because, man," he replied. "The Master's risen! We all serve him! Didn't you see that part in the rule book?"

Oh, yes, the Master, Spike thought. The whole reason everything in the world went wacky. Things were so much easier when a vampire need only worry about the Slayer. But not anymore.

"Where can I find this Master fellow?" Spike asked.

The vampire pointed in the direction behind Spike. "That way," he said then looked back up to Spike. "His headquarters is at a joint called the Bronze. You can't miss the place." He grunted as Spike yanked him into a standing position.

Spike smoothed down the vampire's shirt and smiled. "Thank you ever so much for the information," he politely replied.

The vampire smirked as Spike leaned over. "Yeah, well, you'd better watch your step around here," he told Spike. He ran his hands over his jacket, making sure no permanent damage was done. "'Cause you're in America now, man. And it's a whole lot different than England."

Spike stood straight, grasping a piece of wood from the Sunnydale sign in his right hand. "Yes, it is," he agreed. "And I intend to keep it that way."

The vampire's eyes filled with confusion as Spike brought up the piece of wood. "Hey, man, what are you--?" As the wood penetrated his chest, the vampire roared out. Along with the piece of wood, he exploded into dust.

Spike brushed off his clothes. "Smarmy little...," he grumbled. He eyed the dust lying on the hood of his car then laughed. "I kill him and he's *still* on my car!" He used both arms to sweep the dust from the car hood. "Now," he said as he took a look around Sunnydale. "To find the chap who runs things around here..."

The Bronze

Hidden in his back room, away from all the glitz and the glitter of the rest of the Bronze, the Master sat upon his makeshift throne, sulking. He grumbled something in a low tone then shifted in his chair.

Darla, concerned with her master's welfare, shoved a trembling young boy towards him. She smiled, hopeful, when the Master looked over to her. "You aren't looking well," she said. "You should eat something."

The Master sighed as he dismissed her offer with a wave of his hand. "I'm much too depressed to eat anything, my dear," he told her. "You go right on ahead."

Darla frowned but finished off the boy. She smacked her lips as she let the lifeless body drop to the floor. "Mmm," she said, closing her eyes. "I stayed away from here much too long." She walked over to the Master and sat on the arm of his chair. "Even though I'm back, you're still unhappy. And that makes me unhappy, Master. Why are you so depressed?"

The Master leaned back in his chair, looking upon the innocent face of Darla, who still opted to wear her Catholic schoolgirl outfit as a lure for food. "It's everything!" he replied. "Things have been changing since that Slayer came here!"

Darla put a hand on one of the Master's. "But you killed her, Master," she said. She grinned. "I arrived here just in time to see it."

The Master patted her hand as he gazed upon her. "Yes, that you did, Darla," he said. A scowl returned to his face. "But she started something, that Slayer. These humans are not as afraid of us as they were before." He stood up, forcing Darla to as well. "And another Slayer, one with an annoying accent, showed up last week, along with that damned librarian and his helpers!" He kicked a table over and its contents crashed onto the floor. "I worked long and hard to free myself! I should have more time to enjoy it! Like eternity!"

Darla came up beside him. "It's only one girl, Master," she told him. She placed a hand on his arm. "They're all mortals and can be easily destroyed."

The Master considered Darla's words. She did have a point. The librarian, the Slayer and those kids, they could all be killed. But still...they were clever and deadly.

"We know the Slayers are targeting you," Darla continued. She smiled. "And since we know that, we can be prepared for the next one. And the one after her..." She laughed.

The Master took Darla by the upper arms. "I hope you're right," he said. He touched her face lightly with his fingers. "Your return has been one of the few positive things to happen for me in recent weeks." He paused then let go of her. "No," he grumbled as he shook his head. He sat back down in his chair.

"No, what?" asked Darla, turning around.

"It won't go back to the way it was," he said. He slumped down in the chair. "Between the Slayers and these blasted humans, I've lost some of my strongest, most talented subjects!" He groaned. "These humans get better every time a new Slayer arrives."

Darla frowned as she folded her arms across her chest. Gradually, a smile replaced her down trodden expression as she got an idea. "I know, Master," she said as she kneeled down in front of him. "I know what we should do." When the Master looked at her, Darla continued. "We take out these White Hats before the next Slayer arrives, but we do it right this time."

The Master sat up, his full attention on Darla. Her eyes were so bright with excitement as she spoke. "Yes, go on," he encouraged her.

"We bring together all of remaining powerful vampires, Master," Darla said. "And we plan out how to kill these annoying humans and crush this building resistance. We'll have an army! An army of vampires those humans will never survive!"

The Master's face brightened at Darla's idea. "Yes, a well planned attack could be our answer," he said, clasping one of Darla's hands in his. "It's a wonderful idea, but..." He shook his head. "But any army will need a leader, someone who commands the proper respect."

Darla practically leaped to her feet. "I'll do it, Master!" she declared.

"No," he firmly said, much to Darla's disappointment. "You are much too important to me, and I won't risk you like that. Or myself, for that matter." He pondered the idea for a moment.

Darla sighed as she walked over to the black curtain which separated the back room from the rest of the Bronze. She pushed open the curtain and leaned against the doorway, looking out at the club of vampires.

"The humans are clever," the Master said. "It will take a vampire with that certain...something for this. I want ALL these humans to *never* forget this attack!"

Darla smiled as she saw someone enter the Bronze. Yes, she recognized this one right off--he was a protege' of Angelus'. She laughed a little as she glanced back to the Master. "Oh, I don't believe you need to worry, Master." She watched Spike as he took in the atmosphere of the Bronze. "I have a feeling the solution to our problems will present itself very soon."

*******

The sounds of the techno music could be heard long before Spike found the Bronze. Outside, it looked like a regular, boring dance club, but inside was something entirely different. Vampires most definitely ruled this pissant town and its population. Humans were kept in cages, suspended above the floor. They cried and whimpered while vampires poked through the bars at them, torturing them. Vampires fed on the Sunnydale citizens throughout the club...Yes, this was how it was in Europe, too. But that quickly changed for the worse.

Spike ignored the looks from the others who didn't recognize him. They'd know who he was in due time. But before that, some things needed to be straightened out in his new home.

He came to a stop in the middle of the club. That's when he spotted a beautiful blonde girl dressed up in a Catholic schoolgirl uniform, leaning in the doorway leading to a back room. The girl smiled and motioned to him by crooking her index finger. He glanced behind him but the blonde grinned and mouthed, "Yes, YOU." She let the black curtain drop shut.

Curious, Spike made his way across the club to the curtained doorway. He stopped short of it, not sure if he should venture inside. Who knew what lay beyond that curtain?

The curtain opened and the blonde grinned. "We've been waiting," she said then made a sweeping motion with her free arm. "Someone's anxious to meet you."

Spike studied the blonde a moment then cautiously, he stepped into the back room. He saw the drained body of a teenaged boy lying at his feet then looked back to the blonde as she let the curtain fall shut.

"Oh, William!" said the Master as he clasped his hands together in glee. He stood and approached Spike. "Welcome to Sunnydale, dear boy!" He waved a hand around. "And welcome to my humble home!"

Spike glanced over to Darla who gave him a somewhat critical examination. "Yeah, great," he flatly replied. He pulled out a cigarette and his lighter. He casually lit the cigarette, took a drag then said, "You must be this Master I've been hearing so damn much about."

The Master watched disapprovingly as Spike flicked ashes onto the floor. "Yes, I am," he said. "I'm pleased you've come to Sunnydale, William."

Spike nodded, eyeing the Master suspiciously. Such a warm welcome from a character like the Master, it usually meant he wanted something. And if he called him "William" one more bloody time...

"So...it's been, what, two Slayers in the last few weeks time?" he asked looking from the Master to Darla. He took another drag from his cigarette.

"Yes, the Slayers are trying harder than ever to take me out," the Master replied. He watched Spike exhale a cloud of smoke, his annoyance with such disrespect growing by the second.

"You're still here," Spike replied, waving his cigarette at the Master. "Obviously you have something going for you."

The Master stepped closer to Spike and snatched the cigarette from Spike's hand. "I do," he said then dropped the cigarette on the floor. He snuffed it out with his foot. "But I've lost so many powerful vampires as a result, William."

Spike slowly raised up his gaze from his cigarette to the Master. He had a damn good idea what the Master wanted now, and he sure as hell wasn't biting. If the Slayers were gunning for the Master, that was ok by him. None of that was his problem, he had Drusilla to think of, first and foremost.

The Master paced back and forth in front of Spike. "As if that wasn't enough, I have a pesky band of humans scurrying about, killing off some of my best men!"

Spike had officially bored of the Master's song and dance routine. "Look, I've got places to be," he said, breaking into the middle of the Master's speech. "Could you get to the bloody point soon?"

The Master stopped pacing as he looked over to Spike in amusement. The boy had an attitude, but attitudes could be adjusted in time. "I want to crush these White Hats into the ground," he told Spike. "A well planned attack is in the works, but..." He focused all his attention Spike. "I have no one to lead such a force. No one with any talent, that is."

Spike flicked his gaze from Darla back to the Master. "Why me?"

Darla smiled as she stepped between Spike and the Master. "I know you're the demon for the job, Spike," she told him. She slowly circled him. "I keep up with the activities of those in my family. Your reputation for murder, mayhem and terror precedes you." She stopped in front of him, locking her hands together behind her back. "You learned from Angelus. That makes you the perfect choice."

"After these humans have been destroyed, you'll stay on as an important member of the court," the Master added as Darla stepped aside.

Spike raised up his eyebrows. "Court?" he said.

The Master motioned to the room, indicating the Bronze. "My court, of course," he replied then smiled over at Darla.

Spike cleared his throat, gaining the Master's attention. "This is the 20th century, mate, not the 12th," he said. "I've no interest in you, any of your plans or your court." He waved a dismissive hand at his surroundings.

The Master's rage welled up but he managed to keep it under control. "Your loyalty lies with me, William, and no one else," he growled as he pointed a finger at Spike.

"Yet another obsolete concept," Spike replied. "Along with 'William'. It's Spike. I dismembered the last person, joint by joint, who called me 'William'. Poor Mother." He paused, remembering. "Oh, well. She was a nagging bitch, anyway. No great loss." He looked at the Master. "I wish you luck in your endeavor, really I do."

As Spike turned to leave, the Master stopped him cold in his tracks with, "You have no choice in this!" A pause, then the Master smugly added, "You will *do* as you are *told*!"

Darla's mouth curled up into a wicked grin as Spike slowly turned around to face the Master.

"Do as I'm....*told*?" Spike repeated, as if the idea was foreign to him. He saw a smirk on the elder vampire's face. "Oh, this is rich." He snorted as he took a step towards the Master. "You expect *me* to follow *your* orders?" He laughed. "Right! I barely escaped Prague with my unlife because of these sorts of humans. I sure as hell don't fancy mixing with them here, especially if I'm *told* to."

"Bored now!" came a tired voice from somewhere in the room. Willow rose up from behind the Master's chair. She strolled out from behind it, wearing a frown. She stopped by the Master, who gazed upon her lovingly.

The Master lightly placed a hand on Willow's cold cheek. "Willow," he said in a soothing voice. One of the few vampires left worth a damn, he thought. He recalled how Darla had arrived just in time to save Willow from being staked at the fight with the first Slayer in the factory. A pleasant memory which brought him some joy.

Spike watched this new vampire, Willow, carefully. She was definitely on his wavelength wardrobe wise, but he didn't think she was on the same planet as they, due to that distant expression on her pale face.

"Why so sad, Willow?" the Master asked as he placed a finger under Willow's chin. He looked into her blank eyes.

Willow sighed as she tilted her head to the right. "Lonely," she flatly answered.

"How could you possibly be lonely?" the Master asked. He waved a hand towards the club portion of the Bronze. "You have so many toys to play with."

Willow lazily swung her arms by her sides as she took deliberate steps around Spike. "Not the same," she replied then looked at the Master as she stopped between Darla and Spike. "Xander's dead." She slid her gaze over to Spike who didn't take his eyes off her. "And my puppy got broken when he got out of his cage." She ran her fingers lightly down Spike's arm. "Not having as much fun as before, Master."

The Master nodded, sympathetic to Willow's situation. "Would a new puppy make you happy?"

Willow grinned as she nodded. She stepped closer to Spike then patted him gently on the top of his head. She looked over to Darla then asked, "Do you think the chains will fit?" After Darla nodded a reply, Willow switched her gaze to the Master then up to Spike. "Can I keep him, Master?"

The Master pretended to ponder her request. "I don't know," he said, shaking his head a little. "You didn't take very good care of the last one, Willow."

Willow grabbed Spike by the coat and growled. "I'll make sure I chain him up good and tight this time," she assured the Master. Before she knew it, Willow found herself colliding with the Master. The both of them fell in a heap on his chair.

"Sorry," Spike said as he started to back out. "Have to be going now." He stumbled and fell flat on his back after Darla punched him square in the face. When Darla advanced on him, Spike kicked her in the gut, sending her reeling back. He had enough time to scramble to his feet and get out of the room.

Darla and Willow ran out of the room after him. They skidded to a halt upon seeing Spike easily hop over a pool table then run out of the doors.

"Bad puppy ran away," Willow said, scowling. She looked over to Darla. "I need to remember to have a leash and a muzzle." She slid her gaze back to the doors, growling as a wicked smile replaced her scowl. "Rrruff."

The Master threw open the curtain. He didn't need to ask if Spike escaped when he found Darla and Willow standing there. "You find him, Darla!" he yelled as he pointed to the exit of the Bronze. "And when you find him, you *kill* him!"

Willow whimpered loudly as she grasped onto the Master's arm. Her eyebrows arched as the Master looked down upon her. "You promised me a new puppy, Master," she told him then pouted.

The Master sighed as he stroked Willow's hair. "Yes, I suppose I did," he replied. He flicked his gaze over to Darla. "Bring him here."

Darla nodded. "Yes, Master," she said.

*******

Spike kept the gas pedal to the floor until he was a long way from the Bronze. He gripped the steering wheel tightly as he grumbled a few choice words. Finally, he let up on the gas then slowed the car to a stop in the middle of the street.

Drusilla rose up in the back seat, moaning as she clutched the sides of her head with her hands. She lowered her hands and looked to Spike in the front seat. "I saw someone new in town," she whispered as she leaned forward. "She's brought something with her."

"Who?" Spike asked as he turned in the front seat. He placed a hand to her left cheek, smiling as she did. "Come on," he coaxed. "Who did you see? What did this person bring along?"

"Pretty little sparklies followed her," Drusilla replied. She raised up her right hand, wriggling her fingers. Her smile faded as she lowered her hand. "She brings hope...and death." Her eyes shifted back to him. "Did you see the Master?"

"Yes, I did," he replied, his hand leaving her face. "And the 'Master' has a lot of outdated ideals." He looked out the driver's side window and added, "This place will be like Europe soon, luv. Then it won't be safe for us anywhere."

Drusilla put her arms around Spike as she leaned over the back of the front seat. "We aren't going to play here?" she softly asked. She rested her head on his shoulder. "Are we leaving, then?"

Spike drummed his fingers on the wheel as he continued to stare out the window. He didn't want to leave Sunnydale. Drusilla could get her strength back up much quicker with the aid of the Hellmouth. With the Master alive, he wouldn't be able to stick around, not after the fiasco minutes before. Unless...

He grinned a little as he shifted the car into 'Drive'. "No, we're not leaving," he replied. "I just got an idea."

West Farm Road

"Well, I gotta admit, these are pretty spiffy digs. This Watcher knows his stuff. Can he pull it off?"

As usual, the darkening skies had no answer for Whistler. He smiled slightly and hopped down off the large rock he had been using as a seat.

"Figures. They better get here soon or the place will be lousy with vampires, right?"

Again, no reply from the heavens. Whistler shrugged and tugged back the sleeve of his neon green coat, revealing an old fashioned wrist watch that read nearly five o'clock. The sun, naturally, was just a bright blur half-swallowed by the horizon.

As if on cue, a pair of vans, one dirty and brown and the other...well, dirty and black, rumbled around the corner of West Farm and Williams and began heading towards the old mansion Whistler was lurking in front of.

Both vans stopped in front of the mansion. The driver of the first, silver van lowered the black window and peered out at him, the setting sun reflected in her sunglasses.

"This is no time to be loitering, buddy," the woman said, grimacing at the ungodly suit Whistler had on. "The sun's almost down."

Whistler shrugged. "I get by."

"Your funeral," the woman replied, pulled the window back up, then stepped out of the van. One hand rested on the butt of the shotgun-pistol at her side as she stared at Whistler. "Well, find somewhere else to pimp."

"Now you're hurting my feelings," Whistler said, holding his hand over his heart. "Do I really look like a pimp?"

"Actually, yes," the woman replied. The rest of the group, by now standing on the curb, nodded in unison.

Whistler stared down at his suit and shrugged again. "Maybe I do. But that's not important. I'm here to help you."

"You? How?" Faith asked, smirking in disbelief.

"I can lend a hand in a pinch. If you're going to kill the Master, you'll need it."

"And what would you know about that?" Giles asked, pushing his way to the front of the small crowd. "Who are you, exactly?"

"Call me Whistler."

Giles smiled coldly, not missing the subtle misdirection in the answer. "Lovely. How precisely can you help us?"

"Well, for starters I can tell you you're about to be attacked by a dozen vampires," Whistler said nonchalantly just as the vampires sprung out of the shadows and attacked.

Faith grabbed the first vampire that attacked her and banged its head against the pavement. Thump! Thump! Thump! It was an oddly pleasing moment. She ended it, and the vampire, by cutting off its head with her sword. Faith risked a quick look at the others and smiled grimly as she saw Maria coolly shoot one of the vampires point-blank in the face with her shotgun pistol. Giles and Oz were pinning a third vampire to the ground while Larry prepared to impale it with a pike grabbed out of the back of the weapon van. Amy and Harmony - no time for them.

Faith spun on her heels just in time to avoid the vampire that was reaching for the back of her neck. She kicked it once, in the groin, and used the leverage to push it back long enough for her to slice its head off. It exploded into dust that coated the front of Faith's pants. She sighed and leapt to her feet. Giles, Oz and Larry were moving onto another vampire, Maria was just pulling her stake out of a cloud of dust, and the two girls were - Faith cringed - not doing well at all.

"Damn amateurs," Faith growled, hurrying before the two girls ended up as dinner for the vampires surrounding them.

"Goddess Hecate, work thy will," Amy suddenly shouted, holding her hands out in a curious, spread-finger gesture. "Let thy light show the way!" As soon as she spoke the last word, tiny globes of light appeared in the air around her fingers. The glowing spheres danced in the air, then shot over to the vampires and began circling them in ever-faster loops. The vampires stared, dazed and utterly motionless, at the tiny balls of light, even as Faith and Giles stepped up and began staking them from behind. The vampires were dust in a matter of seconds and remained oblivious to the end.

"Is that the last of them?" Maria asked as she blew the head off another vampire. It screamed once, then exploded into a cloud of dust.

"I believe so," Giles replied, glancing quickly around the yard. "Is anyone injured?"

"Five by five," came Faith's reply.

"Pardon?" Giles stammered, then shook his head. "Never mind." He turned to Whistler, who had sat down on a large rock during the fight. "You knew they were coming."

"That's what I said, isn't it?"

"Hey, didn't he say there'd be a dozen, too?" Faith asked, mentally counting off the dead vampires. The number was a bit lower than twelve.

"What's that?" Giles asked quickly. "Yes, he - oof!" Giles collapsed to his knees with a grunt. A large, long-haired vampire stood over him, a twisted smile fixed on its face. It pointed at Faith and growled "Dinner."

Faith rolled her eyes and threw her last stake at the vampire. It landed dead center in its heart. The vampire whimpered just as it dissolved into dust. "Moron."

The other three vampires, less cocky than their leader, charged - two at Faith and one at Maria, the nearest of the rest of the group. Faith meet her attackers with the sharp end of her sword, slicing the hand off one and cutting the other off at the knees. Both went down long enough for her to decapitate them easily. Maria's assailant was already a fast-disappearing pile of dust when Faith looked up.

"The strong but stupid type, I guess. Okay, NOW did we get them all?" Faith asked.

"We took down two. You got - what, four? And another two from your Watcher. And the three that you and Giles got." Oz groaned. "I think we got'em all," he said, panting between words. He sighed, relieved the battle was over.

"I hate that part," Harmony muttered as she brushed the dust off of her jeans.

Giles turned to Harmony to finish making certain everyone was all right. His eyes widened when he saw a vampire on the roof of Oz's van. "Harmony, look out!" he called, pointing to the vampire.

Harmony looked up and screamed as the vampire jumped off the van. She didn't move away quick enough and was knocked to the ground by it. The vampire growled loudly at the others.

Maria quickly loaded another bullet into her shotgun. As she took aim on the vampire, it roared again as it turned to dust. "What the--?" she said when she saw a blonde man in a long black duster standing a few feet from Harmony.

Harmony scrambled to her feet. Her hands shook as she raised her eyes to the person who'd saved her life. "Oh, my God! Thanks!" she gasped. "I so didn't see him, and I just froze--"

Spike nodded as he watched the little blonde girl nervously splutter out her words. She blushed a little when she made eye contact. If he didn't need to make nice with these people, he'd have killed her before she had two words out.

Faith's body tensed up and she gripped her sword tightly in her hand. "Harmony!" she yelled as she moved towards the girl and the stranger. "Get away from him!" She charged for Spike.

"What? I--" Harmony started as she turned around. She cried out in surprise, backpedaling as Faith barreled past her.

Faith made a swipe with her sword, intent on taking off Spike's head. "Get away from her!" she yelled.

"Whoa!" Spike exclaimed. He ducked down in the nick of time. He rose up and grabbed Faith by the arm when she tried to elbow him in the face. "Wait a damn minute!" He snagged her sword by the blade, yanked it from her hand then tossed it away. "Would you listen to me?" he asked when Faith glared at him.

Faith punched him in the face with her free hand. Spike automatically returned the favor by backhanding her violently.

Whistler took a few steps forward as he watched the Slayer and the vampire fight. He raised his eyes up to the sky. "What do you think?" he asked. "Can we use him?" When he got no reply, he nodded. "You're right." He moved to the front of the group.

Faith pushed Spike back, slamming him up against the side of Oz's van. She produced a stake seemingly out of thin air, but when she raised it up someone grabbed her wrist. She glanced over her should to see it was Whistler. "What are you doing?" she demanded. She couldn't pull free of him. He was stronger than she was!

"Maybe we should hear what he has to say," Whistler suggested. He looked at Spike, who flicked his gaze from Faith to Whistler. "He saved your friend, you know. He kinda deserves a chance to be heard."

"Hear him out?" Faith and Maria asked at the same time.

"Yeah! Listen to the guy in the bad suit, luv!" Spike said to Faith. "Hear me out."

Faith narrowed her gaze at Spike, but looked back to Maria. Maria vigorously shook her head. "My Watcher says no dice," she told Spike as she flicked her gaze back to him.

"Faith," Giles said as he came forward. He stopped as the Slayer looked at him. "Whistler is right," he continued. "We should at least hear what he has to say." He cleared his throat. "There *are* 8 of us and...uh...one of him."

Faith didn't ease up on Spike but she did lower her stake when Whistler let go of her wrist. "All right," she said to Spike. "Talk."

Before Spike could say anything, Giles said, "Perhaps we could start with who *you* are?"

"Spike," Spike replied as he looked over to Giles.

Giles nodded. The name wasn't exactly what he'd expected, but it sounded vaguely familiar. He'd probably skimmed over it in the Watcher Diaries once upon a time. He made a mental note to do a bit of research on it.

Maria, her shotgun trained on Spike, stepped up beside Giles. "What do you want from us?" she demanded.

Spike smiled a little. "Why, I want to help you kill the Master," he replied. He grunted when Faith pushed her weight against him.

"You're a liar!" Faith snapped.

"I most certainly am not!" Spike replied as he looked down at her.

"It's a trick!" Larry called as he waved a hand at Spike. "He's one of the Master's flunkies, I'm tellin' you!"

Spike flicked his gaze to Larry, thoroughly offended by the suggestion. "How *rude*!" he declared. "I'm here to offer my help and you insult me!"

Maria stared at him. "I haven't heard one helpful thing come out of your mouth since you started talking," she flatly replied. "Stake him, Faith."

"Hey!" Spike protested as Faith brought up her stake.

Giles stopped her this time. He looked to Spike. "How exactly can *you* help us?" he asked.

Spike looked from Giles to Maria then to Faith and said, "I know a few things you don't."

"Such as?" Maria prompted.

Spike chuckled as he shook his head. "Oh, I don't *think* so," he said. "I tell you what I know then you stake me."

Faith nodded. "That was pretty much my plan," she said.

"I'm afraid that defeats the whole point of me coming to you," he told her. He looked at the ground. Obviously this line abut wanting to help them save the world wasn't working. Perhaps the truth would be more convincing. "Look, kids, I don't like this any more than you do. The fact is, we need each other right now."

Faith snorted at that.

"So.." Spike continued, ignoring Faith. He looked up at Giles. "I suggest we call a truce. Until the Master is gone, we work together." He paused. Judging from the look on the Watcher's face, Spike knew the human was considering the idea. "When he's dead, things go back to normal," he added.

Whistler leaned towards Giles. "He could prove useful," he said.

"No!" Maria firmly said to Whistler. "No truce, especially not with any vampire!" She glared at Spike. "It's not wise."

"I could've killed your Slayer, here," Spike told Maria, nodding to Faith. "I easily could've sliced her wide open, chopped off her head and impaled it on the end of that sword before any of *you* made a move." He laughed. "But that doesn't help me now, does it?"

Maria and Faith exchanged a look then Maria nodded. "I don't like it at all, but I'll honor a truce," she said then tacked on, "until the Master is dead." She pointed at Spike with her shotgun. "After that, you're history."

Faith let go of Spike and took a few steps back. She kept a close eye on him as she snatched up her sword from the ground. "I'm not turning my back on you."

Spike grinned as he straightened out his clothes, watching her place her sword in the sheath on her back. "Smart move, luv."

"Oh, man! This is stupid!" Larry yelled as he tossed his hands up in the air. He looked at the others when they all turned to him. "What next? Marriage?"

"I want the Master dead, same as you," Spike said. "The whole damn world has turned upside down."

"I don't understand," Oz said, looking at Spike. "Why are *you* complaining about the way the world is?"

"Exactly!" Amy agreed. "Thanks to the Master, vampires are the ruling class."

"Things were better before," Spike said, looking at Amy. He shrugged. "Oh, sure, it was fun to have the run of the world at first..." He paused as he looked at all of them. "Until humans started to fight back."

"I still don't get it," Amy said. She waved a hand at Spike. "Vampires have all the power. What difference does it make if a few humans fight back?"

"A few measly humans start to fight back then others get ideas," Spike replied. "Vampires still have the power here. But back in Europe...things are different."

Giles looked over to Amy and Oz. "Seems...uh...there was a coup d'etat of sorts over in Europe," he explained. He paused, thinking of how wonderful that was.

"That's exactly what I'm sayin'," Spike said to Giles. "A vampire has to be on constant watch over there anymore." He reached into his coat, pulling out his cigarettes. "Every human is running about, armed and bloody dangerous." He lit up one of the cigarettes and replaced the others in his coat. He took a drag. "And all the because the 'Master' rose. He screwed up a damn fine system, he did."

Maria put a hand to her forehead then she let out a sigh. She lowered her hand as she looked at Spike. "Let me get this straight," she said. "*You* want the Master dead so Sunnydale won't become like Europe?"

Spike took a drag from his cigarette. "It started out that way," he replied. His expression turned dark as he recalled the Master demanding Spike do as he was "told". "Now...it's personal."

"Oh, this is total crap!" Faith said. "We should just stake him." She raised up her stake.

"You stake me, and you'll never know the Master's plans for you--" He exhaled smoke in Faith's face then smiled. "Until it's too late, that is."

Faith regripped her stake as she kept it at bay. Every fiber of her Slayer being told her to go for it, but a much smaller piece told her, "No". Finally, she backed away.

"There, that's better," Spike said as he leaned against Oz's van. He laughed, enjoying the undivided attention he had from this group of humans. "You all are in for quite a treat in a few days time. The Master is none too pleased with your...clearance rate, I'll put it. He has plans to take the lot of you out."

Larry scoffed. "Well, that's nothing new, buddy."

Oz nodded. "Larry's got a point," he said. "The Master's come after us before. It's the whole reason we had to move." He motioned to the decrepit old mansion which was to be the new headquarters for them.

"This isn't some run of the mill attack," Spike told Oz. He looked at each one of them then a cruel grin spread across his face. "It's going to be a massacre." He laughed when the group blankly stared back. "Apparently, the...'Master' is rounding up the last few powerful vampires for this party. What he plans beyond that..." He stopped and took a drag off his cigarette.

Giles sighed impatiently. "Yes?" he said, waving a hand for Spike to continue.

Spike chuckled lightly as he flicked the ashes from the end of his cigarette. Harmony side stepped as the gentle breeze carried them her way. "I'm guessing they'll be picking up little bitty pieces of you for a long time to come." His smile faded as he looked at Faith. "Thing is, though, the 'Master' didn't expect *you* so soon."

Maria rested the barrel of her shotgun-pistol on her left shoulder. "And how do *you* happen to know so much about this?" she asked.

Giles glanced at Maria. "Yes, that is a good question," he said. He looked to Spike. "How *did* you come across this information?"

Spike flicked away his cigarette. "He told me about it," he replied then snorted. "Had some idea *I* would lead his little force. I had to pass up the offer."

"Why?" Larry snapped.

"I said earlier, you twit," Spike answered, stiffly. "Personal reasons. Are you deaf?" He looked at Giles. "Whatever you plan, I'm all for it."

Giles shrugged as he looked to Maria. "What do we do? What's our plan?"

"I say we find him and erase his sorry demon ass from existence," Maria replied. She loaded a bullet into the barrel of her shotgun. "How do you like that plan?" she asked.

"I dig it," Faith said and Larry followed up with a "Hell yeah!"

Giles shook his head. "You don't know the Master or anything about him," he told Maria and Faith. "Other than what...what you heard or read in a book." He cast a disappointed gaze on Larry. "And you should know better."

"We need to set up some kind of defenses," Oz said. "Then we worry about how to counterattack."

"Defenses?" Maria asked as she flicked her gaze to Oz. "Why should *we* go on the defensive? His ass should be."

"With the forces the Master can amass, we'd never survive," Giles snapped in reply to Maria. "We should have some bloody sense about ourselves and a form of defense."

"Why don't we leave?" Harmony said. She nervously shifted in place and her eyes darted around. "I'm thinking, like, Europe, you know?"

As the group continued to debate their choices, Whistler turned his back on them. He sensed someone else, another vampire, nearby. Apparently, so did Spike.

"Spike?" asked a female voice. Drusilla, walking slowly, came around the back of Oz's van. She put the back of her right hand to her forehead. "Spike?" she asked once more.

The group ceased their argument, going on the defensive. Whistler glanced back to the group then over to the female vampire in the long white dress.

"Hey!" Spike yelled as he quickly put himself between the group and Drusilla. "Drusilla! She's with me! Back off!"

Faith drew her sword. "Another vampire," she told Maria.

Maria rolled her eyes over to Giles. "Just him, huh?"

Spike ignored the bickering humans, his full attention on Dru. He held one of her hands in his. "You were supposed to stay in the car," he softly said. "You're too weak to be walking around, luv."

Whistler shoved his hands in the pockets of his pants. "I wouldn't worry about her," he assured the others.

"I wanted to see the people," Drusilla answered. She looked past Spike and saw the group of humans staring at her. She smiled when she found Faith. "The little sparkly girl," she said, pointing to Faith. Her smile melted away as she moved closer to Spike. "She's a Slayer." She lowered her voice as she raised her eyes up to his. "Kill her."

Spike glanced back to Faith who watched them with a narrow, suspicious gaze. "It'll have to wait," he told Dru. "I need these humans right now."

"Then you'll kill her, Spike?" Dru eagerly asked. "You'll kill them all?" When he nodded, she grinned evilly and laughed. "I want to play with her heart, to see if it sparkles too."

As Spike kissed Dru lightly on the forehead, Larry groaned. "Oh, excuse me while I throw up!"

Drusilla slipped out of Spike's arms as she noticed Whistler. She walked towards him, her eyes never leaving his.

"Dru?" Spike said as he followed her for a few steps.

Dru circled Whistler, a curious expression on her face. "This one is powerful," she said. She smiled when Whistler looked up at her. "The man in the funny suit..." She gasped lightly then giggled as she changed to a sing song voice. "Isn't a man at allll."

Whistler pulled his hands from his pockets. He met Drusilla's gaze as she shook a finger at him. Uh oh, he thought.

"You're like us," she said, motioning to herself. She reached out to touch Whistler but, suddenly, she hissed and jerked her hand back. She sniffed the air and scowled in disgust. "He reeks of good intentions," she told Spike then backed away from Whistler. "Bad, powerful creature."

"It's all right, baby," Spike assured her as he put his arms around her waist.

Whistler turned. He laughed a bit when he saw the way the group stared at him. He wasn't exactly winning any trust with this Deep Throat routine. And now, Drusilla had outed him. "We...we need to discuss a few things," he said.

"Indeed," Giles replied.

Drusilla stood up on her tip toes, searching the ever darkening area. "Someone's spying," she said. She placed a finger to her lips. "Shhh." She frowned. "She wants to hurt us all." She whimpered.

Weapons raised up as the others began searching the area.

"Maybe we should take this inside," Amy suggested, nodding towards the mansion. "At least we're protected there."

"Best idea I've heard all evening," Maria said.

"All right, children," Giles said to the kids. "Take only what you have on you and get inside. We'll get the rest of the things in the morning." They started for the mansion.

"You!"

Spike looked up to see Maria pointing to him with her shotgun. He put Drusilla behind him, keeping her out of the line of fire.

"If either of you two so much as looks at any of these kids wrong, I'll blow your heads off," she told the two vampires. "Giles may think we can have a truce, and the pimp daddy may think you could be useful, but as far as I'm concerned, you're nothing but murderous fiends from Hell." She lowered her gun and started inside with the others.

Spike watched Maria leave. "Oh, I'll have fun killing her off," he said then laughed. "That's for sure." His laughter faded as he noticed Whistler staring at him. "What's your problem, old man?"

Whistler grinned. "You don't know the half of it, William."

"Call me that again and I'll rip your heart out - "

"And take a big bloody bite out. That's so tired, even for you. But it'd be fun to watch you try," Whistler replied, still grinning. "And I'd keep my hands off the Slayer and her Watcher. For your own good."

"Ooo, the gray light...all around him," Drusilla whimpered, hiding behind Spike. "Nasty man!"

Spike glared at Whistler, but said nothing as he lead a trembling Drusilla into the mansion. He stopped at the threshold and frowned in confusion, tried to take a step in but found himself stuck on the welcome mat.

"The hell?" Spike pushed his hand into the doorway and growled as a gentle but insistent force stopped it from entering the house. "What is this?"

"Baaaad little wall! Let us in this instant," Drusilla murmured, her face an inch away from the invisible barrier. Then she giggled, blurted out "Oh! You talk dirty!" and hopped into the house with a silly grin on her face.

Spike frowned slightly as he stepped through the door, then shook his head when nothing happened.

*******

Darla watched the humans, followed by Spike and Drusilla, head inside the mansion. So...that's where Spike had gone. He'd allied himself with the White Hats.

"Naughty boy," she said, then shook her head. "I have to tell the Master about this." She raised an eyebrow as Spike helped Drusilla into the mansion.

So much for Angelus' protege'.

*******

The others were already moving to check that all the windows were shut and locked. Spike shook his head. Like a puny little piece of metal would stop a vampire from getting in. That magic trick, though, that wasn't half bad. Spike made a note to find out who the sorcerer was and torture the spell out of him or her when this whole sorry business was over with.

"Okay, time to make yourself useful, suckhead," a voice hissed from the shadows behind Spike. He spun, game-face on, and stopped with a snarl when he saw Maria standing there, glaring at him.

"That's a HELL of a bad habit, luv," Spike growled, lowering his claws.

Maria just smirked and pointed down the hall. "Giles and I are going to map out our attack. You're a wormbag just like the Master, so you can tell us what to expect." She smiled sunnily. "I know you're just so happy to help, right?"

Spike nodded stiffly and followed Maria to the kitchen, restraining the urge to pounce on her and have an early dinner. Plenty of time for that later.

The Bronze

"He what?!"

The ferocity of the Master's voice made Darla wince. She watched the Master throw the equivalent of a hissy fit, hurling things around the room. A glass smashed against the wall just above Willow's head.

Willow stopped playing with the chain draped around her neck as the pieces of glass showered upon her. Casually, she brushed the glass off and sighed. "That doesn't make the Master very happy," she told Darla.

Darla was almost afraid to tell the Master the rest, but she had to. "That's not all, Master."

"What?" He turned to her, paused then asked, "How could this possibly get any worse, Darla?"

"The...Slayer has already arrived," Darla quietly answered. "She's with the librarian and his little helpers at an abandoned mansion on the outskirts of town."

"The Slayer is here?" The Master shook his head in wonder. "It amazes me how fast they get here."

"They're well armed, too, Master," Darla added.

"Great!" The Master tossed his hands up. He sighed as he sank down onto his chair. "This is just great! The Slayer, the White Hats and Spike all working together." He looked to Darla, angered. "And now they know our plans, Darla!"

Darla kneeled down at the Master's feet. "Yes, but we have the advantage!" she told him. "We know which one is the Slayer ahead of time."

The Master grumbled something then looked away. "The whole plan is ruined with the Slayer here." He slammed a fist on the arm of his chair. "How could he go to those...those *humans*! He's a traitor to his own kind!"

Willow took a few steps away from the wall. "Bad puppy needs obedience school," she said. She began inspecting the links of the chain, smiling mischievously. "Needs special instruction from *me*." She wove one end of the chain around her right arm.

"He's the least of my problems," the Master muttered. "The Slayer has arrived. Now, to kill these humans, I have to kill her." He groaned. "Thus creating another martyr for the humans and adding more fuel to the resistance against us. They *know* another will come to replace her."

"Not if you don't kill her," Willow said. She twirled the end of the chain so it unwrapped from her arm.

The Master and Darla both looked to Willow. "Don't be silly," the Master told Willow. "Of course I have to kill the Slayer. She'd keep coming back until she succeeded in killing me."

Willow stopped twirling the chain. "We stopped the puppy - Angel - without killing him, Master," she replied, then took the chain in both of her hands, pulling it taut against her back. She closed her eyes and moaned lightly at the moment of pain it caused. She sighed as she opened them, focusing on the Master. "Didn't we?" she added.

Darla looked up to the Master, understanding what Willow meant. "We don't kill the Slayer," she started.

"We merely imprison her!" the Master finished. A wide grin spread across his face as the new plan formed in his mind. His enthusiasm grew by each passing second. "Yes! With the Slayer captured, we can work in peace!"

Darla rose to her feet. "And we can rebuild our depleted forces with the Slayer locked up and the White Hats dead!" She spun around on one foot, throwing her hands in the air. "Ha ha!"

The Master looked at Darla, pleased with her thinking. "Yes!" He nodded. "And then we take back what is rightfully ours!" He laughed then shifted his gaze over to Willow. "That was an excellent suggestion, Willow. You've earned yourself a favor from me in gratitude."

Willow came closer to them, her fingers idly caressing the chain. Smiling deviously, she leaned over to the Master then softly said, "I only want the puppy, Master."

Darla giggled in evil glee. "I'll prepare a plan to kidnap the Slayer!" she exclaimed.

Willow turned her head to look at Darla. "Why bother kidnapping what's gonna willingly come to you, anyway?" she asked. She looked down at the Master who gazed up at her in complete admiration. "Hmmm?"

"The meeting we've planned," Darla suddenly said, snapping her fingers. "That's when they'll strike us, Master."

The Master leaned back in his chair as Willow leaned against it, her dark red lips curved into a vicious grin. "Well," he said, glancing from Willow to Darla. "We'll make sure we're prepared for them, then, won't we?"

West Farm Road

Maria sighed and resisted the temptation to put out her cigarette in Spike's hair. "Look, even a two-bit bloodsucker like you should have some idea on what how many goons the Master will have. You were in the place just two hours ago."

Spike snarled at the Watcher. "It's not like I took a bloody census! A dozen? Two dozen? You're the Watcher, you should know these things."

"People, please, this isn't productive," Giles sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose to ward off a headache. "I think we can safely say that the Master has quite a few vampires lurking about. A frontal assault won't work - we've tried many times. It's suicide."

Maria shook her head silently, but let Giles continue.

"Now - after the last attempt, Oz and I were able to break into what used to be City Hall and steal some of the plans for the Bronze. We barely evaded being captured by Mayor Wilkins' security forces," Giles said. He stopped and frowned slightly. "A rather convenient escape, now that I think about it. I wonder..."

"The Mayor let you get away?" Maria asked, leaning forward slightly. *This* was interesting.

"Quite possibly. Perhaps he's not quite the collaborationist pig we've always taken him for. At any rate, we've got the blueprints. Perhaps you could figure out some way in - a back door - that we've missed." Giles disappeared into one of the other rooms and returned with a stack of neatly rolled blue prints. He spread them over the kitchen table. "Here we are."

"Well, there's this maintenance entrance into the sewer," Maria said, pointing at a spot in the rear of the Bronze, behind the main stage.

"What's that?" Giles stared at the small symbol on the blueprint as if it had just appeared out of thin air.

"Right here. You guys didn't miss that, did you?" Maria asked in amazement, then shook her head. "Whatever. It looks like from here, it's a straight shot to the main room. Just up the staircase here and down the hall to the backstage door. Okay, perfect. We send a few people up this way - I'm thinking me, you and Faith - while the rest set up a diversion at the main entrance. Wormwood, you and your... friend can help with the diversion."

"Oh, right, into the belly of the beast," Spike snorted, waving a hand at the blueprint. "Bloody wonderful tactics, luv. Whoever goes in the front will get chewed up."

Maria took a long drag on her cigarette. "We attack before dawn. I've got some stuff in the van that we can use to blow the main doors down. Diversion Team comes in shooting and dusts as many vamps as they can in the confusion. The three of us sneak around and take out the Master from behind. It's not much, but it's the best I can come up with without at least a dozen more people and a lot of grenades."

"What makes you think this plan of yours will do any good, anyway?" Spike asked. "What are you, some kind of amateur Napoléon?"

"Shove it, wormwood," Maria snapped. She pointed to herself. "I was on the Balto City Quick Response Team for six years. I know a thing or two about urban assault. This is our best shot at taking the Master down, trust me."

"It's suicide for those that come in the front way, you know," Giles whispered, staring bleakly down at the blueprints.

"Yeah." Maria took one last drag on what was left of the cigarette and blew out a cloud of smoke. "But it's the only way to take the Master down," she replied without looking at Giles. "If you've got any tricks up your sleeves, now's the time to share them."

"I wish I did." Giles sighed and rubbed his glasses clean on his shirt. "So many have died already."

"Oh, boo hoo. You people live such short lives, what difference does a few years make?" Spike asked.

"You piece of..." Maria's hand drifted to one of the knives resting against her hip. "Give me an excuse to cut you into tiny pieces, truce or not."

"Just try it," Spike answered, baring his fangs in a grisly smile. "I'm famished."

"People, please! This isn't helping. Remember that the Master is still out there. We don't have time for personal grudges."

*******

"So, what do you think they're doing in there?" Amy asked as she finished sharpening another wooden stake.

Whistler glanced towards the room Maria, Giles and Spike were holed up in. "Trying not to kill each other. Spike and Maria don't really get along," he replied, then burst out laughing.

Amy looked at Whistler curiously. "Where's the funny?"

"They remind me of my older brother and sister. Long story." Whistler went back to reading one of the books the previous owners had left behind.

"Whatever." Amy set the stake aside and set to work on another one. "Speaking of stories, what's yours?"

"Mine? It'd take way too long." Whistler put the book down and stared at Amy for a second, then half-heartedly smiled. "I can finish those. Why don't you go catch some sleep like everyone else? It'll be morning before you know it."

"There's no way I can sleep," she replied, shaking her head. "I'm too wired."

"Are you sure?" Whistler asked.

"Well..." Amy yawned, tried to hide it, and yawned again. "Well, I guess it can't hurt."

"Right." Whistler watched her leave and shook his head at the ceiling. "Don't say a word. I can have my moments of grace once in a while." He smiled and picked up the half-sharpened stake and began to whittle away.

*******

"We should give them the choice - tell them how dangerous it is," Giles said after a few moments of silence.

"How many do you think would back out?" Maria asked, chewing on the remains of the cigarette.

"Harmony." Giles paused, mulled it over then added, "Possibly Larry."

"I'll be honest. Harmony would probably just be in the way, but every body counts in shit like this. And Larry looks like he knows what he's doing. We can't do it with just two kids coming in the front."

"They have a right to know the dangers," Giles replied.

"Oh, dammit, stop making me be the bad cop." Maria sighed and stared down at her fingernails. "Do you think I enjoy this? Jesus! I've been on the bad end of this kind of deal. If we tell them, and they back out, we'll never pull it off. Then we all die, and...well, it won't be pretty for anybody who's left in Sunnydale, either."

"She's got a point there. Vampires tend to get cranky when people try to kill them," Spike pointed out, not bothering to hide a smile. "Especially old-fashioned vampires like the Master. You botch this up and you won't get a second chance." His smile widened at the pained look on Maria's face.

"We've got no choice," she finally said. "So that's that."

Giles nodded and began to roll up the blueprints. "I'll see that the children are asleep. They'll...they could use the rest."

Maria nodded blankly as Giles left. "Yeah."

"Cheer up, luv. Odds are, you'll die tomorrow too and you won't have to live with it," Spike said, grinning cheerfully. He patted her on the back and slipped out of the room before Maria could react.

She stared at the empty doorway for a few seconds, then shrugged and went back to chewing on the misshapen cigarette butt.

After a long, numb while, Giles came back. He smiled briefly and sat down at the other end of the kitchen table. "They're all asleep except Whistler and the two vampires."

"Good. Morning will be here..." Maria checked her watch. "Too damn soon."

"You might consider some sleep, too. It'll do us no good if you're not at your best tomorrow."

"Heh. I've already done more than my share. It's all Faith. She's the Slayer, we're just cannon fodder. Besides, I'm not about to let those two slugs walk around unsupervised."

"I don't think they'll cause any trouble. The woman is busy fretting about an imaginary doll or something."

"All the more reason, if you ask me." Maria stifled a yawn and smiled sheepishly. "I'll be fine. Just give me some coffee and I can go for days."

"I'm afraid we don't have a coffee maker quite yet."

"I'll live. I won't be perky, but I'll live. Which is more than I can say for the Master, God willing."

"If this doesn't work..."

Maria glanced at Giles, then shrugged. "You know. Nuke 'em from orbit. Not literally," she hastily added at Giles' shocked expression. "But it'll be nasty. In other words, we can't screw this up."

"We'll make do, I'm sure."

"We should. If it was just a question of weapons, we'd be all set."

"If it was just a question of weapons, there wouldn't be a vampire left on Earth," Giles said as he stood up and began pacing.

"Don't I know it. I still haven't entirely adjusted to things walking around after you shoot them. It takes some getting used to, doesn't it?"

Giles sat down again. "I'm afraid I never had much experience shooting things before I became a Watcher."

"Lucky you." Maria fished another cigarette out of her shirt pocket and lit it with a battered gold lighter. "I was on the Baltimore QRT - like a SWAT team - for six years before the Council recruited me. The perfect job for a borderline sociopath like me." Maria took a long first drag on the cigarette, then blew out a perfect donut-shaped smoke ring. "I was one of the team commanders, not bad for some twenty-five year old Yankee. So I'm fast on the track to becoming a lieutenent when my team gets a call one gloomy Tuesday evening back in '92. Hostage situation or something. Our job was to go in and take down the terrorist. Simple, right? As far as these things go."

Giles nodded and let Maria continue.

"That's what I thought. So my team moves in on this rat trap in West Baltimore. We find the hostages, dead on the floor. Their throats had, you know," Maria made a vague slashing gesture across her neck. "My team pretty much kept it together even after that, but it didn't help. There were four vampires in the place. We opened up with everything we had - full bore rock and roll. I mean, we had enough to take down a busload of crackheads. We never had a chance. I was the last one alive." Maria stopped and nimbly rolled the cigarette around in her fingers. "I used up all the ammo in my rifle and was down to a stupid 9mm when the vampires started exploding into dust. Before I can blink, they're all dead and this teenage girl in sweatpants and a tank-top is helping me up."

"Ah." Giles struggled to find something to say, but could only repeat his sympathetic 'Ah.'

"After that, I took a six month leave of absence that stretched into a year and a quiet pink slip. The day after I got canned, the girl and two old guys in dark suits show up at my front door with an offer I couldn't refuse. So that's how I became a Watcher. How's about you?" Maria asked, grinning despite the tears in her eyes.

"A rather...my family have been Watchers for several generations. I was recruited when I came of age," Giles said, omitting the complete and embarrassing true story. "I was here in Sunnydale waiting for Buffy Summers - the Slayer at the time - when the Master rose. She'd been due for several days, in fact, and I was getting rather concerned. But before I could do anything about it, the bells began to ring."

"Bells?"

Giles nodded. "Oh, yes. I...I...remember it quite, uh, vividly. It was nine forty five at night. I-I-I was almost asleep when the..." A long pause as he removed his glasses. "...the bells began to ring. Ch-churchbells, every single one in town." He stared blankly at the floor as the memories filled his mind. "I knew for a fact that it was....too late to-to...track down the Slayer."

He let out a sigh as his brow furrowed. "It...It, uh, wasn't long before the...s-screams started." Giles glanced over to Maria, who stared at him. "He--the Master--, uh, killed the clergy first, you see. Pulled them all from their homes and dragged them to the park nearest the Bronze to...to...*slaughter* them." He remained quiet for a moment then put on his glasses, meeting Maria's stunned gaze. "It...uh," He cleared his throat then quickly brushed away a stray tear. "..it went on much like that until dawn. Dozens upon dozens died before the sun came up. I...imagine it-it was much the same on the East Coast?"

"Pretty much." Maria shivered and exhaled another smoke-ring. "It took a few days for us - the Council - to realize what had happened. They teamed me up with Faith, probably because I actually knew a thing or two about guns and fighting, and we've been fighting the good fight since then. She's good, you know. If anybody can take down the Master, it's Faith."

"We'll find out tomorrow."

"Yeah." Maria dropped the cigarette to the floor and ground it out with the toe of her boot. "Sic semper tyrannis," she said, eyes gleaming in anticipation.

"Sleep well," Giles said as he stood up.

"Nah. Someone's gotta stay up and keep Lucy and Ricardo from double-crossing us." Maria produced a small silver pistol from inside her jacket. "The time will just fly by."

"Right. Good night." Giles shook his head and disappeared down the hall.

After a few minutes, Maria jammed the pistol into one of her pockets and made her way to the living room. Spike and Drusilla were sprawled out on the couch, staring at the fire someone had made.

"All snug and cozy?" Maria asked, disgusted.

"You're pushing it, woman," Spike answered without looking up. "Nothing wrong with me and my girl having a spot of fun. Your problem is that you're too serious all the time, scowling and squinting like that."

"Spare me. If I ever sink so low to need advice from the undead, I'll jump off a bridge."

Spike laughed and went back to stroking Drusilla's hair.

"Cute." Maria stomped down the hallway and returned a few minutes later with a rifle in hand.

"Whoa! We had a deal!" Spike snarled, jumping up and shifting into demon-face. Drusilla stared blankly at the confrontation, then turned back to the fire and giggled softly.

"We do. That doesn't mean I trust you," Maria replied. She sat down next to the fireplace and rested the rifle on her lap. "Don't try anything."

"You're almost as off your rocker as Dru here is." Spike sat down. "Awfully big gun. Is that some kind of penis envy?"

Maria grinned and stared right back at Spike. "What's to envy?" she asked, shifting the rifle slightly so that it pointed vaguely towards the couch.

"Silly lady. Ignore her, Spike dear," Drusilla hummed, pulling Spike closer.

The two of them cuddling was the last thing Maria saw as she drifted off into slumber, her finger clenched above the trigger of the rifle.

*******

Maria awoke with a start and grabbed at the hand poking her shoulder.

"Whoa, easy!" Whistler said, effortlessly slipping his wrist out of Maria's grip. "Save it for the vampires."

"What time is it?" Maria asked, rubbing sleepgunk out of her eyes. She hadn't meant to fall asleep.

"About two hours before sunrise." Whistler had on a different, yet equally stomach-churning, suit. Noticing Maria's grimace, he shrugged and offered her a hand. "I don't get out much."

"I bet," Maria replied as she stood up. "Who else is awake?"

"Just us and the vampires."

"Great. We're lucky to be alive." Maria reached down and picked up the rifle, flicked on the safety, then flicked it back off. "Might as well get this show on the road."

******

The group was awake, some more than others, and waiting by the front door inside of ten minutes.

Once they were all there, Maria stepped forward and cleared her throat. "Okay, here's the plan. Oz, you, Larry, Amy and Harmony are going to come in the front doors with Spike and Whistler. It'll be almost dawn, so there shouldn't be more than a few vampires up. Take them out. Me and Faith and Giles will be coming up from the back to catch the Master. Once he's down, we'll come up front and we'll all get the hell out of there."

"Are you sure we'll be able to take all the goons in front out? You haven't been there, you don't know how many vamps live in the Bronze," Oz said, a hint of suspicion in his eyes.

"Quite true, but we killed a dozen last night. And, as Maria said, it will be almost dawn. Most of the vampires will be asleep or tired. Combine that with the element of surprise and the numbers should be, well, manageable," Giles replied. "If there are too many, run for it. I must emphasize that your role is to divert attention, not to wipe out all the vampires."

"Right. Go in, smack them around, and run for it. Leave the Master to me."

"Good luck," Larry said, remembering the last two Slayers had made that same promise. "So let's get this over with."

"Hang on. It's weapon time," Maria said.

The van, miraculously, hadn't been touched over the night. Maria opened the thick back doors and began pulling out weapons. Bandoleers of stakes and holy water, two for each of the kids, and an Uzi for Oz.

"This is a little more Rambo than I'm used to," he said, staring dubiously at the sleek submachine gun.

"It'll save your life. I've got it loaded up with armor-piercing bullets. Just point it at a pack of vampires and squeeze. Don't worry about aiming. When it's empty, throw it away. Got it?"

"Yeah." Oz nodded as he looked the gun over. "Point and click."

"Right."

"How come I don't get the other gun?" Faith asked petulantly as she strapped on a Kevlar vest loaded with wooden stakes and a pair of silver bladed knives.

"One, it'd just piss the Master off. Two, you need to get in close and a rifle's no good there," Maria replied, pulling the long-barreled assault rifle off the rack in the van. A nightvision scope and folding bipod were attached, but Maria quickly removed them, as well as the underbarrel grenade launcher. "And three, because *I* get the other gun," she said, grinning as she loaded a double-sized clip into the rifle. "Besides, you've got the sword."

"Well, yeah..." Faith drew the sword from the sheath on her back and experimentally slashed it in the air. "Good point."

"Are you two done playing with the toys?" Spike asked.

"These 'toys' have killed more vampires than you can count." Maria picked up a small steel box crudely labeled 'Urban Renewal Kit'. "Now get in the van, wormwood."

"In there?" Spike said, pointing inside the van then he laughed. "Yeah, right. I'm takin' my own car to this party, luv." He brought out his keys. "In case I need to make a quick getaway."

Maria rolled her eyes a bit as Drusilla joined Spike. "I'm sure you will." She didn't expect Spike to go into the Bronze, not after the way he'd bitched about being stuck in the diversion with the kids. She drummed her fingers on the box as she watched Dru lean against Spike.

Oz pointed to the box in Maria's hands. "What's that?" he asked.

"It's a little thing we like to call boom-boom," Maria replied with a quick grin. "Also known as C4. Knock yourself out, kid." She tossed the box to Oz, who caught it with an alarmed grunt. "Now we're ready to kick some ass."

Near dawn....

The explosion from the C4 blowing the door off the Bronze rocked half the block. Pieces of the door, and the surrounding wall, rained down on Amy, Oz, Larry and Harmony.

"Let's go!" Oz yelled. He charged through the settling dust, the Uzi raised and firing a blast into the Bronze ahead of him.

Larry and Harmony followed Oz, stakes at the ready. Amy stopped when she saw Spike leaned against the front wall of the Bronze smoking a cigarette. "Aren't you going?" she asked, pulling out her own stake.

Spike looked at her, laughed then took another drag off his cigarette. "Not bloody likely," he replied.

Amy narrowed her eyes at him. "Should've known we couldn't trust you!" she snarled then entered the Bronze.

*******

The distant roar of the C4 exploding echoed through the sewer tunnel, sending the rats scattering and squealing.

"Son of a BITCH!" Maria shouted even before the last rumble died down. "They set it off too soon! Come on, go go go!" she groaned, pushing Faith up the rusty ladder.

"Okay, okay, I'm going," Faith yelled as she ran up the ladder and pushed the heavy steel door open. She peeked up and smiled. No vampires in sight, so far so good. She jumped up and rolled into the hallway, sword out and ready. "The coast is clear, come on."

Maria slung the rifle over her shoulder and followed Faith. Giles brought up the rear and propped the trapdoor open with a broken table.

"In case we have to beat a hasty retreat," he explained.

"Good idea. Now come on!" Maria hissed as the sound of gunfire echoed throughout the Bronze.

*******

The initial spray of gunfire hit about six of the vampires. But six out of seventeen wasn't a good set of odds, especially against the strongest vampires still alive and under the Master's command.

Oz felt the Uzi click when the clip ran out. "Damn!" he yelled. A roar caught his attention as a vampire, uninjured by the gunfire, headed for him.

"Oz, watch your three!" Larry yelled then he staked one of the injured vampires.

Oz looked to his right, seeing another vampire, obviously hit by a bullet, coming for him as well. Oz threw the empty Uzi at the uninjured vampire to his left, whacking it in the face. He then grabbed a stake and rammed it into the chest of the injured vamp.

*******

Whistler, hands in his pockets, casually strolled into the middle of the battle. He smiled as the vampires thought twice about attacking him. They growled and backed away as he leaned against a wall, out of the way of the fight.

"Looks like these kids can use some help," he said, watching Harmony stake one of the injured vampires then run to join Amy who just entered the Bronze. He looked up at the ceiling then winked. "Ya think?"

*******

Maria should have known whispering "It's quiet...a little too quiet..." was pushing their luck. Even so, five vampires seemed excessive. The first two went down with bullet holes in their knees and thrashed around long enough for Giles to stake them.

Faith charged the rest, her sword slicing down in a silver arc. The closest vampire stared stupidly as its severed head went flying away from its body, then exploded into dust.

"Come on, where's the witty banter?" Faith grumbled as she ducked low and disemboweled the next vampire. "And you want to rule the world! Gimme a break." A sweeping kick brought the vampire to the ground and a quick slash with the sword turned it into dust.

"Neck or spine?" the last intact vampire growled, managing to land a rough kick on Faith's ribcage.

"Now we're getting somewhere," Faith grunted. She dodged the next kick and caught the vampire's leg with her free arm. A quick twist, snap of bone and a punch to the throat sent the vampire reeling back. Faith smiled as she cut its head off. "Just when I was starting to like you. Okay, boss...bosses...which way now?"

"This way," Maria said, pointing down the hall. "Double step it!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm booking already!"

*******

"Oz-man!" Larry joined Oz as the vampire who had been whacked in the face with the gun came after them. He raised up a stake but the vampire knocked him back.

"Larry!" Oz watched Larry sail through the air and crash into a bunch of chairs. He gasped as the vampire seized him by the shirt, then it lifted him up off the floor.

"I'm gonna have fun with you, boy," the vampire hissed then growled.

Oz's fingers frantically slipped into his jeans pocket, feeling around for something. Where is it? he thought, panicked. Then his fingers wrapped around what he wanted.

The vampire opened its mouth, bringing Oz closer to take a nice, big bite out of him.

"I don't think so," Oz coolly told the vampire as he pulled out a small bottle of holy water from his pocket. He yanked the cork out of the bottle with his teeth then dumped the contents into the open mouth of the vampire.

The vampire's eyes widened as the holy water slid down its throat, burning and eating its way through the vampire's unholy body. It let go of Oz who dropped to the floor and backed away. The vampire's hands went to its throat as it gagged. Oz cringed as the vampire combusted in reaction to the holy water. Dust fluttered down onto the floor. He sighed then ran to help out Larry who had his own vampire problems.

*******

Amy threw another chair at a vampire who came towards her, its fangs bared. The vampire easily smacked the chair away. For a second, the vampire twitched. It shook its head as if it was disoriented.

After looking around, Amy found that Whistler had entered the Bronze. He stood along the sidelines, watching the fight with a confidence. She wondered if his presence had anything to do with the vampire wigging out.

The vampire grabbed Amy by the arm when it got its bearings and hurled her against the wall. She slammed against it with a vicious thump.

*******

Willow lurked in the shadows, off stage, watching as the White Hats battled the vampires. For being the most powerful vampires, this bunch the White Hats fought seemed awfully sorry.

Willow felt an odd, disorienting tingle when another person, someone she'd never seen before, entered the Bronze. No one could miss the guy's entrance, not with that horrible suit, but none of the other vampires dared to attack him. Shrugging the feeling off, she played with the chain wrapped around her waist like a belt as she looked back out to the fight. No Spike.

"Bored now," she sighed to herself. She walked out of the shadows, headed for Amy, Harmony and the vampire the two girls fought. "Guess I'll have to kill someone and feel better."

*******

Outside, Spike took one last drag on his cigarette then flicked the rest of it away. As he exhaled a cloud of smoke, he wondered how many of those dumbass kids were still alive.

"Well," he said as he pushed himself off of the wall. "Only one way to find out." He went through the gaping hole which once was the front door of the Bronze.

*******

"Amy!" Harmony yelled. She grabbed a chair and whacked the vampire across the back with it. "Leave her alone, you bloodsucker!"

The vampire whirled around, roaring at Harmony. Amy used the distraction as an opportunity to slip from between the vampire and the wall. She tossed her stake to Harmony. "Catch!"

The vampire stopped three inches from Harmony. Its eyes went from the stake up to the two human girls before it exploded into a cloud of dust.

"Thanks--" Amy panted, but she didn't get to finish her sentence to Harmony. Someone pushed her from behind and she fell to the floor.

Harmony screamed when Willow took hold of her hair. She whimpered as Willow whirled her around so they faced one another.

"I know you," Willow said evenly. She looked Harmony over with a high level of disgust. "You're a friend of Cordelia Chase's." She smiled then licked her lips. "Or...you were."

Amy put a hand to her forehead, groaning. She raised up her head just in time to see Willow seize Harmony by her chin. With one swift jerk, Willow snapped the young girl's neck in two.

"Harmony!" she cried out in complete horror. "NOOOO!"

Willow smiled with evil pleasure as she lowered her gaze to Amy.

"You bitch!" Amy growled. Her expression turned darker as she raised up a shaking hand to Willow. Her voice was cold and gravelly as she hissed, "Goddess Hecate, work thy will!"

*******

Spike entered the Bronze. He was surprised to see these humans actually holding their own in this fight. The two boys had teamed up and were working to stake a vampire. His gaze slid to the other side of the Bronze as Willow broke Harmony's neck. Amy's scream followed.

Well, that bitch, he thought, watching Willow. *I* wanted to be the one to kill that annoying girl!

"The traitor!" shouted a vampire who spotted Spike in the Bronze. It charged Spike, but a wicked punch from Spike sent the vampire reeling backwards. The vampire fell against a piece of wood from one of the broken chairs. In a billion to one shot, the wood went through the vampire's heart. It exploded into a pile of ash.

********

Willow laughed as Amy recited the words to some spell. Casually, she tossed the lifeless body of Harmony into Amy. The girl's concentration was broken and her spell gone. She shrieked when her eyes met Harmony's dead gaze.

"Poor little witch," Willow said as she took slow steps towards Amy. "All alone and no one here to help you." She grinned as Amy crawled away. "What's the matter? Don't you want to join your friend?"

Amy raised up her hand, but the words to her spell got stuck in her throat. She was paralyzed, unable to do anything but watch Willow come for her.

Willow growled as she vamped out. She moved to attack Amy, but was stopped by someone kicking her in the face. It was a powerful someone since the force of the kick spun her around, knocking her to the floor. She shook her head, losing her demonic appearance.

Spike stepped between Amy and Willow. He grinned as Willow looked up at him. "I believe you and I have unfinished business."

Amy scrambled to her feet, going anywhere far away from the two vampires.

Willow pushed herself to her knees, her eyes twinkling. "Ooo...puppy *bites*," she purred as she untied the chain from her waist. "I *like* it!"

Spike took a step back as Willow got to her feet. He flicked his eyes from the chain in her hands to Willow. "Think you're gonna chain me up, luv?" he asked. He held out his arms and smiled. "Give it your best shot."

Willow surprised Spike with a wicked side kick to the gut which caused him to double over. She spun around, hitting him in the head with a fierce hook kick. She grabbed him by his right arm while he was dazed then flipped him forward. Spike landed flat on his back.

"Whoa!" he muttered, realizing what happened. Quickly, he rolled away to his right as Willow brought down her foot to smash in his face. He barely escaped it. Damn! She was good for such a young vampire! "I'll have to reevaluate my approach here," he said to himself.

*******

The Master shifted on his throne and let out an impatient snarl. "Where IS she!? I want to break her," he hissed, digging his talons into the wooden armrest. "I want to make her scream."

Darla frowned nervously. She hadn't expected quite so many humans, especially humans with guns. Hadn't they broken the spirit of this pathetic village already?

"Maybe we should draw and quarter some more people to get them back into line," she offered.

"But we've done that so many times. That tingle just isn't there any more," the Master replied. "And my beautiful machine is in pieces."

"We can build a new one. We'll make the humans build it!"

"That's an excellent - " The Master stopped and stood up, smiling (or what passed for it on his face). "She's here! Finally!" He motioned the guards towards the door just as it disintegrated under the fury a score of bullets. "Kill the humans!"

*******

Oz, his right arm almost useless from a wound inflicted on his shoulder, backed away from the vampire he and Larry fought. They were having a hell of a time with this guy, he just didn't want to die. Larry, blood spattered across his chest from a near miss with a vamp who wanted to slice open his gut, yelled for Oz to move out of the way.

Oz turned slightly but immediately ducked down. It was none too soon either. The cymbal flew over him with a "whoosh!" and thunked into the vampire's chest. It roared out in pain. Oz blinked then look back at Larry, shaking his head. Suddenly he remembered the vamp was down. He grabbed his stake and plunged it into the vampire's heart. It disintegrated, leaving only the cymbal behind.

Larry patted Oz on the back. "You ok, man?" he asked.

"Jesus, Larry!" Oz exclaimed as he jumped to his feet. He looked at Larry in wonder. "I had no idea you were so lethal with a cymbal!" He flicked his gaze back to the pile of dust and the cymbal. "One inch higher and it would've been death by Zildijan."

"Hey, I've been pissed off at them for a long while for killing off most of the entertainment industry," Larry replied. He pointed a finger at the pile of dust. "That's for XENA being cancelled, you bastard!"

"I was a HERCULES fan, myself," said a voice from behind Oz and Larry.

"Please, tell me that was you," Larry muttered as he glanced over to Oz. When Oz shook his head, Larry added, "I get to stake this one. I *hated* HERCULES."

*******

The Master watched as his bodyguards charged the attacking humans. They fought well, as far as mortals could - two of his guards were dead in the first charge, both at the hands of the girl. Obviously the Slayer. The Master grinned and strode forward, pushing his guards aside.

"Slayer! Fight me!" he bellowed, all but shivering in anticipation. It had been so long since he'd fought a Slayer.

The girl looked up and smiled back at him as she stabbed one of his soldiers with the ornate sword that seemed to hum in her hands. "You got it, Big Ugly," the Slayer said with a feral gleam in her eyes. "It's go time."

*******

Spike found himself whirled around by a punch from Willow. Before he had a chance to do anything, Willow tossed her chain over his head. He grabbed hold of it just before she pulled it against his neck.

Willow yanked Spike back to her. Slowly, she ran her tongue up his neck then hissed in his ear, "Willow's gonna housebreak you." She tightened her grip on the chain and forced him down to the floor.

She grinned when Spike took hold of one of her arms as she put him on his back. She straddled herself over his mid-section then growled and jerked on the chain, making Spike gag.

"Or maybe I'll just *break* you," she added.

*******

Faith charged into the fight with the Master, leaving Maria and Giles to fend for themselves. It's not like they couldn't handle the situation, she rationalized. It was only one vampire.

Maria loaded another bullet into the rifle then raised up the gun to blow Darla's head off.

Darla surprised Maria by grabbing the gun by the barrel and ripping it from her hands. Giles came at Darla from the left, a stake in hand ready to take her out. She tossed the rifle aside, tripping the male Watcher. He fell down with a thud and his stake slid across the floor, stopping near Faith and the Master.

"*I'm* the only one who gets to play with guns around here," Darla said to Maria. She pounced upon Maria, knocking her to the floor then kicked her in the gut. "You humans think you're so smart!"

Maria curled up, clutching her stomach. It wasn't like she'd never been kicked in the gut before, but when a vampire did it, the pain was horrendous. She raised up her eyes as Darla morphed into her demon face, baring her fangs.

"I'm gonna kill you and all your friends, then I'm gonna have fun torturing your Slayer!" Darla said. She moved to attack Maria but didn't get far.

Giles threw himself at Darla. He grabbed the vampire tightly in his arms and brought her to the ground with him.

*******

"So you're the Master, huh?" Faith said as she twirled her sword in her right hand. She scoffed as she looked him over. "That short for something? Like 'masturbater'?" She whirled the sword around, bringing it down on the Master.

The Master caught the blade easily between the palms of his hands and smiled. He held tight as Faith tried to jerk her weapon back. "If you're going to use a sword, Slayer, at least have some skill with it," he said. He gripped the blade and yanked the sword out of her hands.

Faith stood in front of the Master, stunned he'd been able to so easily disarm her. Before she had a chance to do much else, she was backhanded by the Master, tossing her to the floor. The slap had dazed her, and she would've been dead if the Master chose to go after her, but he only admired her sword.

"Such a lovely piece," he said then looked at the pretty Slayer sitting on the floor. "It'll look nice on my wall...next to the heads of all your compatriots." He flung the sword behind him, and it landed somewhere Faith didn't see.

Faith pulled a stake out from her belt. She gripped it tightly then charged the Master. The Master laughed as he grabbed Faith's wrist then squeezed until she let go of the stake. He pulled the Slayer face to face with him then said in a low voice, "You won't beat me, Slayer. I've killed your kind before, and you'd be dead...if I wished it."

"I've killed your kind before, too," Faith snarled, narrowing her eyes at the Master. She delivered a fierce kick to his side. That surprised, and hurt, him. He cried out as he let go of Faith's arm. While he was howling, Faith punched him in the face then nailed him in the chest with a side kick. "And *you'll* be dead soon....because *I* wish it!"

*******

Giles wrestled with Darla on the floor. He tried to pin her arms behind her back so Maria could stake her, but she just didn't give up easily. He yelped when Darla got one of her arms free and scratched his face with her nails.

"Hold her still, Mr. Giles!" Maria yelled. She sighed as she tossed the stake aside. "Screw this," she muttered then pulled out a pistol which was nestled in the holster of her left boot. She cocked the hammer then aimed for Darla's head.

"What are you--?!" Giles cried out in terror as he saw Maria taking aim on the vampire. Darla was the only thing between him and the bullets in Maria's gun. And no way would her body protect him.

Darla elbowed Giles in the face then shoved him away. "Get off!" she yelled. She turned her attention to Maria who was applying pressure to the trigger. With lightning quick speed, Darla snatched up the rifle from the floor and swung it around, knocking Maria's feet out from underneath her.

Maria thumped to the floor, firing the gun. The bullet harmlessly imbedded itself into the ceiling of the Bronze. "Shit!" she exclaimed when Darla kicked the gun from her hands. She rolled away when Darla raised up the rifle, aiming for her. The bullet entered the floor right where her head had been.

"Rules of combat!" Darla declared as she loaded another bullet into the rifle. "Protect your weapons with your life, because they can be taken and used against you!" She aimed for Maria again. She grinned when she saw the fear in Maria's eyes, then slowly she lowered the gun then threw it against the wall. Impact rendered the weapon useless. "But I'm that in-your-face kind of action girl. And I'd love to get in your face, bitch."

*******

Amy executed an odd roll maneuver over one of the pool tables. When she rolled off on the other side, she had the table between her and two vampires. She had no weapons to speak of and the panic from the scuffle with Willow seemed to put a block on her spell prepping ability.

"I recognize you!" one of the vampires said pointing at Amy. "You're the little witch who tried to cast a sleep spell on me! Didn't work, did it, witch?"

Amy moved from one end of the table to the other, trying to get out of this mess. She stopped when she spotted the racks of pool sticks on the wall behind the two vampires.

"Cornered with no stake and no spells today, huh, witch?" the second vampire growled.

Amy concentrated on the pool sticks behind the vampires. She raised up a hand. A mystical force picked up one of the sticks. She jerked her hand back, bringing the pool stick flying towards the backs of the vampires.

"What the--?" the first said. It turned around. "Sh--" It jumped out of the path of the stick which staked the second vampire in the back. It looked up to Amy and laughed as it got up. "Bet you can't do that twice, witch!"

"Don't need to," she evenly replied. She smiled darkly as she raised up an open hand at the vampire. "Goddess Hecate, work thy will!" she called out. "Let thine strength flow through me!"

The vampire wobbled as it felt the vise like grip of an invisible force take hold of its body. As Amy closed her hand, the grip became tighter. It could feel itself being crushed.

Amy raised up her arm, and the vampire's feet lifted off the floor. She laughed as it squirmed and kicked, trying to free itself from the spell. "Bet you wish you hadn't taunted me now," she said. She closed her hand into a fist. As she did so, the vampire imploded into a cloud of ash.

Another vampire came at Amy through the dust of the one she'd just killed. Amy raised her hand. One of the pool sticks flew across the room and right into it. She whacked the vampire in the head with the stick, breaking it in half. She looked at the vampire then waved her other hand, sending it flying backwards.

Gripping the stick in her hand, Amy spotted Willow. Willow was on top of Spike, pulling on a chain which was wrapped around his neck. Amy started for the two vampires. She had a score to settle with that bitch. Before she got more than three steps, Amy was grabbed by the other vampire who pulled her back.

*******

Willow groaned a little as Spike struggled beneath her. She closed her eyes, enjoying every single moment of her domination of him. She leaned over as she opened her eyes. "You're much more fun than my last puppy--Angel," she told him. She frowned slightly. "He didn't fight back." She jerked the chain. "Angel liked to help humans, too. Sadly, that's what killed the puppy in the end."

Spike let go of the chain and punched Willow in the face. It didn't knock her off but she did let go of the chain. He let out a groan as he pulled the chain from around his neck then tossed it away.

Willow slowly turned her head back around, an evil, satisfied grin on her face. "You like it rough, puppy," she whispered then licked her lips. "So do I. Do it again."

"Gladly!" Spike replied.

Willow snarled as she grabbed him by the shirt. He'd gained back his mobility though, and the two of them rolled across the floor of the Bronze. When they came to a stop, Spike was on top of Willow. She looked down then clicked her tongue as she met his gaze.

"Too early in our relationship for this," she said. She raised up her right foot then kicked him square in the back with her heel. She backhanded him, hard.

Easily, she slipped from underneath him while he recovered from the hits. She crawled on her hands and knees for her chain. Her hand reached out for it but Spike snagged hold of her left ankle. Her head whipped around and she growled when she saw Spike hanging onto her.

"A rolled up newspaper won't work on you, will it, you bad dog?" she asked then kicked Spike in the face with her free foot. Her hand reached for the chain.....

*******

Faith's concentration had been broken by the gunshot. She'd been whaling on the Master pretty damn good up until that point. That moment she took to turn around and check on Maria and Giles had cost her in the fight. The Master was back in control of everything now.

The Master took Faith by her hair and forced the Slayer to her knees. "You fought very well, girl," he said, impressed. "Much better than the last Slayer, indeed." He placed his free hand on the girl's face and smiled. "You're very entertaining, I'm going to enjoy keeping you locked up."

Faith brought up her right hand in an attempt to smack the Master's hand from her face.

He hit her in the shoulder, dislocating it. He enjoyed the Slayer's scream as her right arm fell useless to her side. He chuckled. "Oh, how I *love* that sound!" he exclaimed then kneeled down in front of Faith, bringing the young girl closer. She was no longer a threat to him, disarmed and in terrible pain.

Faith kept her gaze stony as she gritted her teeth. She heard Maria cry out something, but the pain was all she could comprehend. "You're going to die," she snarled at the Master as he drew her closer, turning her head so her neck was exposed. Her fingers brushed across the shaft of a stake - the one Giles had dropped. She smiled through her pain as the fingers of her left hand curled around the stake.

The Master laughed as he leaned closer to Faith. "What do you say to a small drink before I knock you out then slaughter your friends?" he asked the Slayer in a murmur.

Faith smirked a bit. "Bite me," she growled then raised up the stake. She surprised the Master as she drove it clean through his heart. He stared down at the protruding oak shaft, then up at Faith, his mouth open in an O of disbelief.

"Bitch!" the Master roared, hitting her with the back of his hand. Faith went flying and landed against the wall. "BITCH!" He clawed at the wooden stake with frantic, jerky motions, then froze and, so fast the bones in his neck snapped, lifted his gaze to the roof.

The stone above the Master's head seemed to part. There was a far-off rumble of thunder, then a voiceless scream as the Master vanished in a pillar of blue-white fire that appeared like an accusing finger from on high. The flames utterly consumed the vampire in seconds, but did not so much as scorch the ground under his feet. All that could be seen of the Master was a hazy dark shape in the midst of the eye-searing brightness.

Faith gazed at the flames with wide eyes until a woman's voice called out "Don't look at it!" She turned away and shielded herself with her uninjured arm.

There was a final whoosh of heated air and then the column of fire collapsed in on itself and shot back up into the shimmering hole in the ceiling. A faint circular blue-white glow, then not even that. The broken, black bones of the Master rested on the floor, covered in dust.

*******

Willow's hand froze over the chain as the Bronze filled with a brilliant bluish-white light. It originated from the back of the building, where the Master and Darla were. Across the Bronze, Amy finished off the last vampire and looked up at the brilliant lights. She, Oz and Larry stood, practically mesmerized by it, wondering what was taking place.

Whistler grabbed Oz and Larry, shaking them. When the boys looked at him, he urgently said, "Turn away! Now!" Oz and Larry did as they were told. Whistler bounded across the Bronze, tackling Amy to the ground as the light grew brighter and a loud thunder rumbled. "Close your eyes!" he ordered her. He shaded her eyes by yanking his jacket over her head.

Willow whipped her head around, burying her head in her arms as the Bronze shook. Loose pieces of wood, metal and plaster rained down on her and everyone else. She whimpered, terrified at feeling growing deep inside...something was very wrong. Spike shielded his eyes as a white flash filled the Bronze then it subsided.

The light faded away quickly. Oz and Larry slowly opened their eyes, looking around the Bronze. Whistler sat up, pulling his jacket away from Amy's head. He sighed, nodding a little. Amy rubbed her eyes, blinking a few times.

"Wow...that brought back the memories," Whistler said, grinning. He flicked his gaze over to Amy, making sure she was ok.

"What was *that*?" she asked, pulling her hands from her eyes.

Willow sat up, her eyes wide in apprehension. "Master," she whispered. She tensed up as Darla came barreling out of the back room. The look on Darla's face confirmed Willow's worst fear--The Master was dead.

Darla shoved her way past Oz and Larry, headed for the hole in the front of the Bronze. She glanced over her shoulder, whimpering, still traumatized at what she'd just witnessed back there. She'd never encountered anything like that in all her 400 years of unlife. Outside, she skidded to a halt. Her head whipped from left to right as she tried to decide which direction to go. She went right, heading up the side alley of the Bronze.

*******

Inside, Spike looked from Willow who scrambled to her feet and ran for the back of the Bronze to the hole where Darla had escaped. Drusilla was outside in the car. He glanced back to Willow. She was shaking her head and whimpering like a little child. He could always come back and finish that bitch off.

*******

Darla noticed a black junker of a car clogging up the side alley. Enough space on the left side of the car drew Darla to go that way. She had to get away and fast, she knew. With the Master dead, the vampire hierachy--especially in Sunnydale--was in disarray. She was no longer safe.

I'll get together my own army, Darla thought. And I'll come back here and kill th--

WHACK!

The back passenger's side door opened up, hitting Darla. She smacked into the door, banging her forehead on the blackened window with an enormous amount of force. Dazed, she stumbled back, falling on her backside with a thud. "Oooohhhh," she groaned as she put her hands to her forehead. She tried to make the world stop spinning around and around.

Drusilla gracefully stepped out of the car, left hand hidden behind her back. She slammed the door shut and grinned as she looked upon Darla. "Shame on you!" she scolded, pointing a finger at Darla. "T'isn't lady-like to run."

Darla blinked a few times as she lowered her hands. She raised up her eyes to Drusilla as Drusilla kneeled down before her. This must've been who'd hit her with the damn car door. "Who are you?" she grumbled, narrowing her gaze at Drusilla. Drusilla came into focus more...and she recognized her as being with Spike at the mansion the night before.

"You," Drusilla said as she leaned forward, up into Darla's face. She tilted her head to the left, studying Darla closely. "You're the one who made my Angel, aren't you?"

Darla snorted. "*Your* Angel?" she replied. She laughed as she felt her strength returning to her. "Not quite, hon," she added. "He was always mine...always."

Drusilla's eyes narrowed at Darla. She raised up her right hand, her index and middle finger pointing towards Darla. She moved her hand from side to side. "Look at me, dearie," she hissed. She smiled, pleased, as Darla's eyes fixated on her fingers. "Be...in...me," she soothingly purred, bringing her fingers up to her own eyes.

Whatever strength Darla regained was paralyzed when she locked gazes with Drusilla. Her eyes, almost like a doll's eyes, stared back at Dru. Her manner became distant, like she was drunk. Desperately, she tried to shake off the whammy Drusilla placed on her, but it was useless.

Drusilla giggled as she lowered her hand. Keeping her eyes on Darla's, Dru swayed from side to side which Darla mimicked. She pulled her left hand from behind her back, brandishing a long, sharp stake in Darla's face. "Will you do something for me?" she asked as she positioned the stake over Darla's heart. Her smile faded to a frown. "When you see him, tell my Angel I miss him."

Darla could only stare at Drusilla, unable to make any attempt to stop the other vampire from shoving the stake into her heart.

******

Spike came around the corner of the Bronze, stopping when he heard the roar of a vampire being staked. "Dru," he said then ran up the side alley.

*******

Drusilla sat on the ground, humming a tune while she used her finger to draw designs in Darla's ashes. She wore a silly grin. "Bad, bad girl," she said to the ashes then poked them with her finger.

"Dru?" Spike called. He sighed in relief upon finding her sitting safely by the car. He dropped down beside her gently placing a hand on hers, halting her artwork. "What happened?" he asked.

Drusilla smiled up at him. "The rude girl went POOF!" she answered. She laughed as she waved at the ashes. Her mood swiftly changed as she looked back to Spike. "The Master is dead," she told him a low voice. "I saw the pretty light." She closed her eyes. "Shhhh....he's not gone away just yet. He's alllll around--waiting." Her eyes opened as she grasped Spike's arm, a worried expression on her face. "I...feel...his power all over me." She moaned as she fell into him. "He calls to me!" she wailed.

Spike held onto Drusilla as she continued to moan. He looked up the alley when he heard voices--mostly Maria's. "Come on, baby," he said to Dru as he put an arm around her waist.

"Mmm," Drusilla monotonously whimpered as Spike hauled her to her feet.

"Just hold on," he said as he opened up the back door of the car. "We'll be gone from here soon." He sat her down on the backseat then lifted her feet into the car as well. "And you'll be fine." He jumped a bit when Drusilla grabbed him the shirt with both hands.

Drusilla slid her gaze to him, a devious grin planted on her face, as she pulled him closer. "When I rise again," she said in a low voice definitely not her own. She paused to let out a short laugh. "I'm going to kill you, you traitor. I will destroy you all!" Groaning, her hands slipped from Spike and she fell back on the seat.

"Dru?" Spike asked. He reached out to her, turning her head to find her eyes closed. She'd passed out or something. When I rise again? he thought as he shut the back door of the car. Then it dawned on him. Somehow, the Master had spoken through Drusilla. "Don't worry, baby," he said as he ran to the driver's side of the car. He jumped in, started up the car and glanced back at Dru. "I'll get us far away from here."

*******

Willow's eyes narrowed as Spike's car tore out of the alley. She'd watched him fawn all over Drusilla in a stomach-churning manner for a minute or so. She'd also overheard what the girl had said. The Master wasn't quite gone. She stood straight when she heard voices from the front of the alley.

The White Hats had to have noticed she'd disappeared by now. No way she could battle them all. She frowned when she realized she was the only survivor of the massacre in the Bronze. Growling lightly, she backed away from the building. Another day, she thought. She turned to leave but walked right into the guy who sported the bad suit. She took a step back, shifting into her game face.

Whistler smiled. "Hi," he greeted, not at all fazed by her vamping out.

Her demonic appearance melted away as she took a step back as he came closer. She looked him over, making a face. "What are you?" she demanded as she met his gaze.

Whistler shrugged. "What does that matter, really?" he replied. He chuckled when Willow attempted to get around him. He grabbed her by the left arm then threw her against the building. "I want to talk to you."

Willow shook her head as her right hand rubbed her left shoulder. She shifted her eyes from the manhole cover she'd made a move for up to the ever brightening sky. Day was coming fast. She could feel it.

Whistler noticed this and smiled even wider. "It'll only take a minute," he assured her. When Willow looked at him, he continued. "You are to leave Sunnydale, never to return."

"Don't wanna," Willow replied. She tried to kick Whistler but he easily blocked it. She then attempted to run past him again but he caught her in his arms, holding onto her this time. "Let go!" she ordered, squirming in the demon's powerful grasp.

"I have all day," Whistler told her. He half-smiled when she stopped her struggling. "But you don't, do you?" He raised his eyes to the sky. "Yep. The sun'll be up very soon." He met her gaze. "But...if you do as I ask, you might make that manhole in time."

Willow glared at him for a few moments. "I won't come back," she flatly replied.

Whistler jerked her back when she tried to get away. "I'll know if you come back here..." He paused to let that sink into Willow's head. "And you won't last long in town all by yourself."

"Why are you letting me go?" Willow asked.

"So you can tell every vampire you meet about this day--the day the Master was destroyed," Whistler replied. He checked his watch then released Willow. "The sun is almost up. I suggest you leave now."

Willow noticed the weak rays of light streaming into the alley. She growled at them then dashed for the manhole. Easily, she slung the cover off then dropped through the hole and into the sewer.

*******

"This isn't the most subtle means of cleaning out a nest, you know..." Giles said as he shook the red plastic container. A few drops came out and merged into the puddle at Giles' feet. He quickly side-stepped to avoid getting his shoes soaked in gasoline.

"Yeah, I know, but fire is purty," Maria replied with a grin. "Pour encourager les autres and all that jazz, right? Look, when people see this, they'll be dancing in the streets. Besides, this place is uglier than sin." She searched her jacket for a few seconds and finally pulled out a box of matches. "Okay, kids, step back, this is gonna get hot real fast," she called out as she pulled a match out of the box. A flick of the wrist and a tiny flame burst into existence. "Here we go." The match dropped from her fingers and contacted the gasoline. Flames shot out, racing along the gasoline trail up the walls and into the open front door of the Bronze.

In seconds, the Bronze was utterly consumed in dancing flames that eagerly explored every crevice of the building. Thick black smoke began to billow out from the broken and boarded up windows, caught on the morning breeze and drifted out towards the faraway hills.

*******

Whistler turned around, looking up to the Bronze. Smoke billowed from the roof of the former vampire haven. "It is accomplished," he said, nodding. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he walked up the alley, away from the front of the Bronze. "Where to next?" he asked. After a pause, he looked back to the sky. "Cleveland?" he said. He shook his head. "No. Cleveland isn't nice *any* time of the year, Boss." Whistler shrugged and continued onward. Cleveland. Great.

*******

For such a large building, the Bronze burned surprisingly swiftly. The sun was still low in the sky when the last fires died out.

"Well, that was neat," Faith said after even the embers had begun to cool. "Isn't this the time where we ride off and leave people to wonder who the women in black were?"

"No. We're through with that Lone Ranger shit. We should print out business cards so the little bastards know how to spell my name," Maria said, rubbing the ugly bruise on her cheek. "If we're gonna win, we have to make the vampires scared. I want them to run when we come into town."

"That's great, but doesn't that require we do the 'come into town' part first?"

Maria sighed and fished the van keys out of her pants pocket. "Fine, fine. Start it up. You're driving." She tossed the keys to Faith, who caught them on the blade of her sword and ran over to the van. "We'll be lucky to make it to Las Vegas alive..."

"I heard that!"

"I know!" Maria none-too-gently punched Giles in the shoulder. "You're doing a good job here. I'll let the Council know."

Giles bit back a wince and smiled at Maria. "Thank you. We - all of Sunnydale - owes you quite a bit."

"Eh..." Maria shrugged it off. "Team effort." She nodded at the loitering kids and shivered when the sudden ear-piercing honk of a car horn split the early morning silence.

"She's a tad impatient, isn't she?" Giles smiled sympathetically.

"Christ above, don't get me started. But she's the Slayer, so I let her have her fun. Okay, I better go before she deafens us all. Keep up the good work, kids." She squeezed Giles' shoulder and jogged over to the van before Faith could sound the horn again.

"So where are we going, anyway?" Faith asked as she floored the gas pedal.

"Cleveland."

"Cleveland? Great."

FINI ----