Demolition Woman

by PhynxLegion

Faith, having escaped the fiery destruction of the Cryo-Prison of San Angeles Demolition Man, discovers the Hell Mouth is still active. This is the final edited version. The continuation is now being started and will have its own section. Faith/Other, Willow/Tara.

4. Chapter 4

Part 4

September 20, 2032

San Angeles, (10:00am)

Rising from her bed, Kayla looks around the room with a sleep soaked eyes, and pauses; waiting for the return of the most annoying sound she could imagine this morning. Unfortunately, the spine cringing sound of the doorbell erupts once again. Exhaling sharply, she slips up her robe, and slides herself into her motorized chair, next to the bed. Silently thanking Faith for leaving the chair at the foot of the bed, she ties and tucks the robe in place before leaving the bedroom. Wheeling herself up to the door, she commands the door to open, to face Officer Romero carrying a plastic bag. Wearily she asks, "C-can I help you Officer R-Romero?"

Not too surprised by having Kayla answer the door he smiles confidently, leans against the doorframe, and futilely pours on his lethal charm. "Yes actually. Is Faith here, I wanted to return some stuff she left at my place last night. She was in a hurry to get dressed, and she forgot some of her clothes." He almost sneers when he says the last part, ebbing Kayla into a confrontation. Extending her hand out, Kayla responds dispassionately. "Sh-she's not here now, she stepped out for a minute. I imagine she went to the market to grab some stuff for breakfast…" Kayla's worn and hurt expression, now bordering on tears, slowly begins to shift and edge towards some heightened awareness. Slowly she continues, "…but I'll take them if that's all you came for." Kayla's facial expression suddenly shifts to jubilant surprise, thoroughly confusing Romero. He looks at her peculiarly, and carefully hands her the bag of underwear, on top of the cleaned and dried pants, and shirt. His confusion obviously washes across his face, blowing away whatever edge or intention of a direct confrontation with Kayla. Not passing up the opportunity, she continues. "WOW, she'll really appreciate you cleaning all of her stuff too. She's a very busy girl, you know, and we had a very long night, last night." Brandishing a huge grin, she lurches her chair momentarily forward to watch Romero jump backwards with fear and total confusion. With his entire plan diffused and sinking like the Titanic, he can only watch Kayla ignore his ebbing. She pushes him back out the door; and brandishing an enormous grin, she says, "Thank you for stopping by, I'll let her know you came by. Be well Officer Romero!" Shutting the door in his face, Kayla throws her arms up in victory, and spins out towards the bathroom.

Struggling with a pair of grocery bags, Faith falls through the doorway, and carefully sets the bags down besides the couch. Closing the door, she carries the bags into the kitchen and puts away the milk and eggs. Trying to keep the noise down, she puts the rest of the groceries and shopping bags away. Peeling off her sweatshirt, she tosses it onto the couch and kicks off her tennis shoes. Feeling at ease in just her sports bra and underwear, she drops her sweat pants and sets them across the back of the couch. With a mischievous grin, she opens the bedroom door only to have her smile deflate before an empty bed. Looking around she hears the sloshing of water, drawing her towards the bathroom. With her silver mane drenched and swept back, Kayla meticulously lathers her arms and hands. Paying equal attention to the rest of her body, Faith leans against the doorframe as Kayla continues to wash her chest and defunct legs. After emptying the tub and rinsing herself off, she smiles and says: "Are you just going to stand there or hand me a towel?" Faith snickers slightly, grabs the towel off the toilet, and steps towards dripping Kayla. She starts to hand the towel to her, but pulls it out of Kayla's reach at the last second, saying: "But I like seeing you like this…" Cutting Faith off, Kayla leans forward and asks, "Shivering, cold, and at your mercy?" Laughing, Faith dries Kayla's hair and wraps the towel around her shoulders, and says "Happy and content… oh yah, and the last part you mentioned wasn't bad either." Scooping her up into her arms, Faith carries her to the bedroom and resumes toweling her off. Shaking her head in disbelief, Kayla tugs Faith close to her, kisses her passionately, and says low and intently: "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers." Faith looks at her with a raised eyebrow, unsure what Kayla means. Shaking her head, Kayla tries a different tongue twister. "She sells sea shells by the sea shore." Faith shakes her head, completely clueless to what Kayla is saying. Not set back yet, Kayla tries one more time, exaggerating her ability to annunciate the next phrase. "How much wood can a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"

Faith smiles, but can't hide her confusion. "I don't…" Kayla silences Faith by drawing her hand across Faith's lips; she fights back her frustration and silently mouths: "Think… listen…" She confidently says out loud, "What sounds different now? Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers." Kayla watches Faith's facial expressions transition from utter confusion, to replay, processing, comprehension, amazement, and finally to unbridled joy. Kayla yelps as Faith bear hugs against her shoulder rocking lovingly.

Sidestepping thru the closing gymnasium doors, Faith unhooks her backpack from her shoulder and lazily snags it in her pinky. Looking around, she's honestly surprised by the turnout of officers, even with the thick fog pilling up outside. Fishing out a clipboard from her bag, she quickly checks off a dozen names until Romero steps up to her and squeezes her arm. Nodding dispassionately, she finishes checking off the last four names on her list. With his hands in his pockets, Romero asks: "Gotta sec?"

Faith coldly replies: "Well, not really. I have a class starting now." Looking up from her clipboard, she sees that Romero has no intention on leaving. "Fine." Handing the clipboard to Alicia, Faith leads him to the farthest wall and start exchanging heated words. As Alicia looks on, Officer Connelly, a young recruit who excelled in track and field during his high school years, glides in behind her and whispers: "I suspected they had something going on, but I was hoping I was wrong." Angered by his words, Alicia retorts fiercely, "Hey, you don't know diddly squat, and neither do I! So let's keep the petty rumors to a minimum. Everyone! Lets begins with…" Faith's distinctive voice rings out, dragging everyone's attention towards her as she yells, "You told her what? YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Alicia spins around on her heels as Faith launches Officer Romero into the farthest wall, almost twenty feet away. With the entire class rushing forth to separate the pair, Officer Connelly is the first to the scene. Blind with rage, Faith doesn't let him stand between her and Romero, and tosses him aside like a rag doll. Romero picks himself from the floor, clutching his arm, only to be grasped by his collar and lifted to his feet. Faith snarls as she prepares to give him another flying lesson, but the entire class unexpectedly tackles her. Screaming to get loose, Faith bucks and kicks wildly trying to shake the half-dozen officers still piled on top of her.

Seeing that the pile of officers isn't going to last forever, Alicia grabs Romero and throws him towards the door. Screaming curses towards Faith, Romero is steadily shoved towards the exit and only holds his tongue when Alicia roughly grabs his broken arm. Raising his good hand, he barely stops himself from hitting her. She reflexively flinches, expecting his hand to come across her face at any moment. With anger melting over him, he somehow draws his hand back and down to his side. Turning away, he kicks the door open and stomps out into the foggy cityscape. She turns toward Faith, only to see her running out another exit, heading towards the parking lot. Raising her hands to the heavens Alicia looks at the dazed bewildered officers, who are looking to each other for either an explanation or a plan for what to do now. Breathing heavily, she gathers up her courage, clears her throat and says in her usual mousy voice: "Well… let's get the class started… from the top."

Bursting into the apartment, Faith franticly searches for Kayla. Falling though the entrance of the bedroom, she finds her dressed in her 5-size too big floppy grey sweat suit and typing steadily at a computer keyboard. The infamous San Angeles Driver's Test wasn't an easy test to pass with 6 essay questions, 150 multiple-choice, and 3 separate driving tests on a closed course. Most people simply chose to walk or use the City Transit system, rather than go through the excruciatingly stressful process. Fortunately, thanks to her current employment with the SAPD, she might be afforded a waiver on an essay question or two; and a few officers she knew, were willing to help her pass the closed course portion. Stopping mid-sentence, Kayla spins her chair around, looks at the clock next to the bed, and then turns back to Faith for an explanation. Faith's eyes, red and sore, burst when Kayla stares into them piercingly. Draping her arms across her chest, Faith feels naked against the paralyzed woman's glare. As the seconds tick by, Faith hardy breathes until suddenly they lurch from her lungs as heavy sobs. Kayla releases her hold on Faith by dropping her gaze to the floor, then swiping her sleeve across her own tear drenched face. With a hoarse voice she murmurs, "So I guess you ran into lover boy huh?"

Flying to Kayla's feet, she throws herself to the floor and pulls Kayla to face her. "I'm so sorry! I never meant to…" Kayla clamps her hand across Faith's mouth, silencing her before she can continue. "Don't! Don't say anything, which you…" Kayla shakes her head slowly, "…you can't even explain it away. Don't even try." Almost blubbering, Faith pulls Kayla's hand away and begins pleading uncontrollably, "But please! I don't want to lose you! You're my only…"

Kayla slaps her hard across the face, while never taking her eyes from Faith's; the crack from her hand echoes against the four walls of the small bedroom. Faith tries not to recoil and continues to accept whatever punishment she receives from her lover. Clamping her eyes shut from Kayla's blinding gaze, Faith prepares herself for the next swing and waits hesitantly for an eternity to slowly pass. Through an ocean of tears, she opens her eyes and glares pleadingly for Kayla's forgiving grace. Unwilling to take advantage of her, Kayla holds her hand in the air. As the emotions flood her senses, she feels her anger drained away by the sight of the gorgeous brunette before her. Her will to stay angry dissipates rapidly, as Faith cries and sobs in her lap and the joy of having regained her speech still hangs over her. Breathing raggedly, she uses her raised hand to gently wipe away the tears covering Faith's face. Clasping her hands around Faith's face, she steadily draws her close to her lips and kisses her. Savoring their salty lips, she holds Faith to her for several minutes until she suddenly breaks the mutual embrace. Steadying herself, she speaks forcefully to Faith. "This is it, no more second chances. One more time you even look like you got something going on, I don't care if it's with a skanky-ass vampire, Italian heartthrob, or a three-time Olympic gymnast. You hear me? I won't be humiliated again. Not by you; not like this. You owe me the same respect I afford you! I know what you do at night; I know what you go through just to make it home safe to me! And…" She wipes her sleeve across her sodden face and continues, "…and just because I can't fight along side you any more, doesn't mean we can't love each other any less. It's up to you now, not me. From here on out, the slate is clean; but no second chances. You got that miss hot pants?" Smiling, Kayla kisses Faith and she nods and whispers, "Yes ma'am." As time passes and laughter fills the room, the computer monitor eventually shuts off and eventually followed by the computer itself. The daylight slowly creeps from one side of the window shades to the opposite end, to finally disappearing altogether.

Through the clamor and clash of jubilant partygoers, Romero sits alone hunched over gloomily, staring into the never-reaches of his drink. With the afternoon still festering over him, he relives every moment of the last 24 hours trying to figure out what went wrong, but the truth eludes him. Downing his drink, he considers calling it a night but can't fathom what he'll do after that. As he starts to rise, a massive figure comes from behind and plants his hands on Romero's shoulders. Jumping, he finds himself reseated by the enormous presence of Victor Eiglestraum, the bar's owner. "So, planning to call it a night already? Where's your lady friend?"

Swallowing hard, Romero says dryly. "Her dyke roommate has got her wrapped around her little finger too tightly. I tried everything you told me, but she just reeled her back in with her shitty smile and looks. I can't believe she chose that whorish bitch over me! Maybe I should just forget her and move on, no chick is worth this much bullshit." If on cue, a waitress drops off another drink as Mr. Eiglestraum begins to speak. "Nonsense! She's a hot number, and you two make a great looking couple. I've got a little something in my backroom… a little something from my contraband days… which could help you to win her over a bit easier, if you know what I mean." Smiling, he rises and briskly massages Romero's shoulders before he heads towards the storage room. "I'll be right back killer, and we'll devise a new strategy to win her from the evil clutches of this other woman." Laughing and carrying on, he strolls towards the darkly lit storage room and closes the door behind him. Looking along the shelves, he pauses between the middle shelves, as if looking at the previous upper shelf. Giving no warning he thrusts his fist into the darkness between the two racks, and rips a small robed figure into the dim light. Raising him to eye level he snarls at him and revels in the fear in the tiny man. "Ah if it isn't the little Dumut. The prestigious Gowen finally gave you an errand to do all by yourself? You're moving up in the ranks. It's good to see you again." He holds the small creature suspended in the air, milking every ounce of sweaty fear from him, before finally setting him on his feet.

Feeling a bit more at ease with his feet on the ground, he adjusts his robe and fishes out a small bag from his pocket. Clearing his throat, he tightens his posture and says boldly, "My master has requested an update on your efforts to eliminate the slayer, and to take out an additional contract on another adversary residing within the city." The bewildering presence of the storeowner towers over the meek figure. Reaching easily over Dumut, he silently continues scouring the shelves for the mysterious item; and only after the third shelf does he speak over his shoulder. "Tell your employer that 'updates' weren't part of our agreement. I'm not getting paid until this job is completed, so my style will not be questioned nor scrutinized by anyone. If he wants to hire someone and they were to kill her off before me, I would have no harsh feeling, nor would seek reparation for my time. WE agreed that I would do it my way or no way, and nothing has changed. I'm on to her, and I'm slowly witling away her emotional support, and soon she'll be ripe for the picking; a time and place of my choosing, not hers. So, if he continues to send peons forth who could possibly tip her off to my plans, I WILL become upset, and demand reparations. GOT IT? Good. So, who's this other target he wants eliminated? It had better not be some local official; that will be more difficult and more troublesome than it's worth."

Dumut strolls over to the shelf the Swedish storeowner persistently scrutinizes. "Ah, but my master offers you more than just the standard fee, he's quite aware of your desire to find and destroy a certain warrior… the child of light." Mr. Eiglestraum freezes in place at the sound of Dumut's final words. Removing his head from between the shelves, he steps back and beams at the small figure. "Don't screw with me! If it was here in the city, I'd know!" Dumut begins stammering uncontrollably, and is suddenly lifted from his feet to see eye to eye to the huge Swede. He makes a final plea for his life, as the end is apparently near. "BUT SIR! I only can say that I've seen with my own eyes that the child does live in the city! We had a Maradan Gem and it was glowing brighter than it has ever been seen in decades. We know where it is and… it is a she." The Swede's face transitions from glowing red-faced anger to a jubilant row of teeth; offset by a vicious set of canine fangs, the fangs are set wider apart than any vampire Dumut had ever seen. If it weren't for the fact Mr. Eiglestraum's face never contorted to a demonic state, he'd easily mistaken him for a vampire. Setting the poor Dumut down, he crouches to the small man's eye level and flashes a wide smile, complimented by his rows of perfect white human teeth. "Dumut! You are moving up in the world. Gowen sent you here as a sacrifice, believing I would refuse your offer and or kill you outright. But instead, you'll live; for I was the one who sold you that gem, remember? And that gem was a real Maradan Gem, not some cheap knock off like Gowen thought." Standing, he leads the small Dumut to another secret door, and says: "Wait in here until I return. Have a seat. Relax. There's beer in the small fridge, fried chicken, fresh brownies, and inside the Lay-Z-Boy chair are some playboys; help yourself, they are from my private collection. I'll be a few hours so don't worry. When you return to your master, Gowen will have his position threatened and you will be one step closer to having his job."

Closing the door behind him, the hulking Mr. Eiglestraum pauses at the exit to the storeroom to revel at the possibility of finally destroying the only creature that could prematurely end his days on this world. The ongoing fear that it might discover and slaughter him without warning had woken him from his sleep too often. The thought that he could finally destroy the creature responsible for single-handedly executing his entire clan of demons from this world, nearly 2500 years ago, was intoxicating. Grabbing a small blue vial of liquid from a box from a shelf, he retreats from the storeroom and practically dances his way through the bar for the remainder of the evening.

September 21, 2032

San Angeles, (11:30am)

Pacing back and forth, Tara murmurs and chants insistently before dozens of scrolls spread around her. As if called upon to stop, she looks across the room at Willow exasperated and says: "It's no use. I can't make heads or tails of these. I've tried every known language, translation spell and gesture... other than a few I'm fairly certain would be of no use. They won't reveal themselves for what they are. The language is not of this world, nor of human tongue." Willow replies filling in the blanks. "Alticia was a powerful witch who spent the first hundred years of her life discovering the secrets of the universe; and the second hundred trying to tap into the secrets of the demon worlds. I heard rumors she spent the last of her years trying to decipher some demonic treasures she had somehow obtained. What has always been anybody's guess." Tara leaves Willow's side and gathers up the scrolls and puts them back in their cases. "So I guess the cats out of the bag, huh? Now we're no closer to discovering their contents than she was." Willow nods as if all knowing and finally says, "So why does the buyer want them, and how did we get them?" Crossing the room, Tara sits besides Willow, and lays her arm around the aged witch. "And that's the million dollar question, isn't it." Looking closely at the scroll case, she notices a green sticker at the lower flat end of the case. Twirling it in her hand Willow stops as she pauses to stare at the sticker, more closely. Faded orange ink, barely visible after countless years, seems to bare no real shape. As she moves to set it down, Tara giggles and casually asks: "That's a cute sticker of a rabbit… how'd that get there?"

September 22, 2032

San Angeles, (1:15am)

Lacey stumbles through the front door of Willow and Tara's apartment, not surprised to find the mess of countless scrolls strewn across the floors and tables. Recognizing the difference between a mess and organized chaos, she respectfully crosses the room, careful to not disturb any of the small piles of books and papers. Interrupting another passionate moment between her mothers, she says sarcastically, "You know there are things like locks and doors you two can use, if you want a bit of privacy." Setting her gym bag by the door to the bedroom, she leans against the door frame waiting for either of them to reply. It doesn't take but a second to get Tara to reply, "It's kind of pointless when you don't use the door chime or even knock before you enter, don't you think?" With her tired body expression, she smiles and agrees. "Point taken. So, these things will be coming by for those scrolls in a couple of days, I can't stall them anymore. Got anything on them yet?"

Willow chimes in, lacing the conversation with unforeseen enthusiasm. "Absolutely nothing! A real mystery, if I say so myself… which I do. Alticia couldn't decipher them, and neither can we. The only useful bit of information we know about them, is that they are for a ceremony… of some sort."

Interrupting Willow, Tara grabs the moment by saying, "Or it could be the world's oldest known recipe to something like potato soup or how to make the best stuffed crab."

Taking the initiative, Lacey continues the idea by adding, "Or it could be like, how to prepare dish water or how to prepare lamb…" She's cut short by Willow interjecting proudly, "Or like how to prepare man! Or…" Willow pauses as the full effect of her words immediately extinguishes the humor from everyone's faces. A cold chill runs through everyone and Willow stutters out, "I meant it like that really old movie, with the space aliens… which… doesn't help my case one bit. I'll shut up now."

Tara compassionately squeezes Willow's hand and mouths that it's okay, and says finally, "Nonetheless, we aren't going to be able to read them, no matter what we do. I wish we had been here when those creeps showed up. They won't reveal who their employer is; and though the money their offer is very considerable, it doesn't help my obvious concern and curiosity about selling these scrolls. Anya couldn't tell me anything about them, only that they were listed as dangerous, explaining the reason she put the sticker on the cases; but no one knows why. She knows them by reputation alone, and nothing more. Most demons have never heard of them, and those who do, often ask why they are dangerous as well."

Willow breaks her silence by saying, "And I even made a call to England and talked to the coven there, and they didn't claim to know anything more than I told them I knew. They did say they tried calling a distinguished witch here on the west coast a number of years ago, but she never returned their calls. Harriet Gould, if I remember correctly. I tried the number, but got only an answering machine, like they did. She's known by name and reputation, but no one knows anything specific about her."

Tara nods in agreement, and replies, "Yah, I've heard her name mentioned numerous times at the annual witches council meeting. They always reserve her a seat, but she never shows. I heard they've been doing that for as long as anyone can remember, before I was even born. It seems incredible, but I've been assured she still lives, but doesn't concern herself in day to day witch politics. Like she's doing just what Alticia did eons ago."

Silence descends over the family, as each privately speculates on the scope and meaning of the world around them. Without breaking the silence, each rises and sets out cleaning up the mess of scrolls, and returns the small apartment back to its original immaculate condition. As Tara and Lacey lift and put away the heavy locked chest of scrolls, Willow suddenly appears presenting each with a steaming cup of tea and honey. As the veil of silence lifts, they slowly relax and unwind from their long exhausting day. As if to redirect their fears, Lacey enthusiastically declares, "OH! I checked on Kayla this afternoon, while Faith was off teaching her class." Their morbid expressions are suddenly lifted by their attention switching to the small woman. Tara asks anxiously, "And? Don't hold back now! How's she doing?"

Laughing Lacey continues, "She's fine! She's actually better than fine, she's phenomenal. You can tell by her skin tone, the texture, her eyes… her eyes have life in them. I've never seen greener eyes in anything before, in my life! Before they were just average, and had some brownish tint to them, but now… wow! She glows. I think Faith is incredibly lucky, right now, to have her. And…I saw her actually smiling, today; a genuine smile. That girl can really bounce back after all she's been through. I have no idea how she does it."

Coming up behind Lacey, Willow wraps her arms around her and squeezes lovingly. "And that's why you don't take life for granted. Just as you think you got it all figured out, something like her comes round, and rewrites the books. There's a reason Faith and her are still together, and I can't for the life of me solve that puzzle; but there is a reason. That demon seed would have destroyed anyone else, but somehow it couldn't extinguish the light in her heart. A true miracle, Lacey; don't over analyze or rationalize this stuff."

Nodding in agreement, Lacey returns the hug, and finishes the last of her tea before leaving to her own apartment down the hall.

Wednesday, September 24, 2032

San Angeles (7:30pm)

Wheeling herself into Willow and Tara's apartment, Kayla smiles to Lacey, who has buried herself in an old book. With a grin, Kayla sarcastically asks, "You even going to say hi, or what?" Surprised by Kayla's words, she pulls herself from the pages, and says apologetically, "Oh! I'm sorry, this book has been swallowing all of my attention since dinner. I can't seem to put it down." Intrigued, Kayla sets her gym bag behind the couch, and wheels herself to Lacey's side. Looking at the cover, the title 'Necronomicon and Other Obscure Events' doesn't strike a chord of recognition with her. Shaking her head, she says, "Nope, doesn't do a thing for me."

Lacey finishes the paragraph she's on, and sets the bookmark in place. "It talks about lots of weird rites and rituals, which through time, have been forgotten. The thing is, that's not why I'm reading it." She leads Kayla to another book on the coffee table. "Read this about a 'Child of Light' which the author claimed was lost during the 12th century AD. BUT! In 1849, the watcher Clyde Welbourne, noted that a girl, fitting the exact description as told in the 1267 scrolls, came to the rescue of the Slayer of that time. The vampire queen Drusilla, and about two dozen vampires tried to take them both on; but were driven away by the girl's "unique fighting abilities." She didn't rely on wooden stakes to dust vampires; apparently she used her bare hands. I tried to get a hold of Angel, to see if he knew anything about this, but as usual he's unavailable for comment."

Kayla's apprehension to read the book goes unnoticed by Lacey who continues unabated. "Now here's the clincher! Mom… well both Tara and Willow actually, remember the demon they fought years ago had mentioned something about a creature of light, before they killed it. It said it was the only thing it was really afraid of or something like that. It also says that an army of demons were sent to the Earth over 2000 years ago to kill her, but were vanquished. All by her very own hands. The author suggests that there's a link between slayers and this child of light, but won't say anything specific. Willow says that the Slayers are older than that, and possibly go back to the dawn of mankind on Earth. If that's true, that could possibly make this creature of light even older than that."

Rolling her chair to the dining table, Kayla thumbs through a couple of books lying on top, and says, "I still don't see a connection, or a reason for this sudden interest in this creature of light. That demon, you were talking about earlier, was killed right? So what's the point?"

Closing the books near her, Lacey picks up all the books and deposits them on the dining room table. With a tinge of fear in her voice, Lacey tries to continue. "That's the thing. We thought we had killed, it, but we're starting to get news that a powerful demon, who everyone thought was killed around that same time, is back in action in Sunnydale. Well, at least in the ruins of the town. And we never knew we had to do a ritual destruction of his body, in order to keep him from regenerating. We just burned the creature to a crisp, and left.

As the conversation reaches a long pause, a ring at the door surprises both of them and Kayla rolls herself along the wall, towards the bathroom. Lacey, waiting for her to pass, eventually opens the door to find her guests are the one and only Dumut and Tweela. Throwing on her serious game face, Lacey balks, "What do you want."

Taken back by her cold demeanor, Tweela croaks, "Our master wants to verify that our offer still stands, and he wants to arrange a meeting place outside of the city."

Deciding not to break character, Lacey continues sarcastically, "You mean he's going to make a personal appearance for us? I'm surprised."

Stuttering, Dumut continues. "Why of course not. He's sending a trusted aid to receive the scrolls, and he will pay you. It's so that he can be sure of the authenticity of the scrolls; and if they are authentic, he will pay you. Our employer is very skeptical that you have the real scrolls, and he has to be sure. He wouldn't throw away this much gold for a fake. As you asked, half now, the other half upon delivery. Presenting her with a wooden box, she extends it easily outwards for her to grasp. Deceived by his abnormal strength, Lacey casually grasps the two handles on either side of the box. She nearly falls forward from the sudden weight, as Dumut releases his grasp of the box. Tripping backwards, Lacey twists around lets the heavy box fall onto the couch harmlessly. Quickly looking towards the little guest, He maintains his place outside the apartment, and immediately blasts out a sarcastic smile.

Taken back by its weight and Dumut's strength, Lacey squeaks out, "When do you want to exchange the scrolls?"

Still smiling broadly, he says: "Immediately, actually. How about one hour." Taken back again, Lacey's face can't hide her confusion. "AN HOUR! You said Friday!"

He sneers, "Things have changed. We need the scrolls right away, and he's willing to give you fifty percent more. Rather than give you one more of those boxes filled with gold at the exchange, he'll pay you two, for the inconvenience. What he wants, we try to get. Our employer is quite reasonable."

Lacey can't help to feel the pull of greed versus obvious danger. Giving it several moments, she reluctantly agrees, and sends the pair off to arrange the meeting, after getting the address of where to meet.

After the door closes, Dumut lets Tweela lead him around the corner, out of sight from the apartment entrance. Turning to Tweela, he asks, "Well? Is she the one?" As he stares at Tweela for a response, he steps back suddenly as Tweela immediately doubles then triples in height. Her shape is replaced with the massive figure of Mr. Eiglestraum. He takes his hand out of his pocket and says sinisterly, "Why yes, Dumut, she's the one. You have exceeded everyone's expectations of you. Your master will be replacing Gowen, the next time he sees you." Unsheathing a long serpentine blade, Dumut says, "Then lets finish her off now."

Grasping his head, he pulls him back behind the corner, and says, "NO! Not here. Even I'm no match for her on her own ground. If she's a witch too, she has too much power rooted in her own abode. We'll do it our way, our rules, and in our setting. She'll be powerless to stop us, and we will have both the scrolls and gold." Realizing the wisdom in his words, Dumut accepts his advice and sets off to make the preparations.

With the door closed, Lacey turns around to see Kayla staring at her inquisitively. "Now what was that all about?" Lacey half ignores her to open the small and heavy wooden box. With an agonizing creak, the lid groans open and reveals the golden treasures within. Neatly stacked gold ingots, fill the interior and everyone seems to stop breathing for what seems like an eternity. Engraved on the face of each bar, above the precise weight and purity percentage, the notorious Nazi Swastika screams out their dark origins. A grim mood momentarily passes over them. Finally gasping for air, Lacey casts a quick spell over the box and smiles jubilantly, while Kayla retains her dark demeanor. Kayla's eyes travel far away and she feels her heart tearing and ripping. Lacey, oblivious to Kayla's disposition, cheers out: "It's all real. Every ounce of it is real." Kayla shakes her head in disbelief. "That's not possible… that's worth…" Lacey slowly interjects. "More than I could ever count and we'll get two more boxes, if we deliver the scrolls in an hour."

Shaking her head in continued disbelief, Kayla says bluntly. "Don't do it. There's something wrong with all this. It's too easy, and too good to be true. Let's wait for Willow and Tara to get home, and we can all go together. Hell! Faith will be getting back in a couple of hours too! If we go it alone, we're leaving ourselves open to a serious trap. It's almost as if they want you going it alone."

Ignoring Kayla's words, Lacey springs up, throws the scrolls in a gym bag, and goes to the computer to look up the location of the bar in question. Following Lacey around, Kayla sees where the bar is and says, "And a bar outside of town? Come on, think! This is a trap for you. Use your head." Lacey, with nothing but gold filling her head, fumbles for her car keys, and jacket. "I'll be right back, this shouldn't take more than an hour or so to get there and get back. As soon as Tara and Willow get back, we would have missed a once in lifetime opportunity." Cursing under her breath, Kayla rolls her chair into the kitchen and looks around desperately for a solution. As Lacey walks by she's sees no other way. Purposefully knocking a book from the table, she asks coolly, "Could you get that for me, before you go." Lacey, from the living room quickly rushes to rescue the fallen book. Bending over at Kayla's feet, she hardly notices Kayla's small fingers fly down, plunging solidly into her neck. Like hit with a sledge hammer, Lacey is quickly laid unconscious from the meek blow. Backing away, Kayla says to the sleeping form, "They're expecting you, not me. You'll thank me in the morning." Fishing into her shirt pocket, she plucks out her van keys, and snags the gym bag of scrolls as she leaves the apartment.

Sitting in the farthest booth, Gaymoran sheds his Eiglestraum identity to assume his natural form. The short horns adorn his crowning brow, and his widely spaced canines offer him his sense of wholeness, missed greatly under his human guise. Setting a wilted and dying plant in the center of the booth, he mumbles an incantation, and the plant glows momentarily. As suddenly as it started, the ember extinguishes and resembles the usual dead plant appearance. Extracting the infamous Maradan Gem from his pocket, he calmly toys with it from one hand to another, until it finally starts to glow dimly. With a sinister grin he starts contemplating the guise he'll wear for this engagement. Knowing his blonde ski instructor look won't work, he thinks back to his old favorites. Reminiscing, he grins slyly and chuckles to himself. In moments, the dark foreboding presence is replaced with a short vile eastern Indian man, barely over five feet tall. His deep chuckle transitions to a more appropriate snicker of the vile and degenerative sadist, Dr. Lahzlo Ahmil. After abandoning this guise nearly thirty plus years ago, due to numerous arrest warrants and FBI searches, he confidently relaxes that the world should have forgotten this face by now. Flagging down the waitress, a mediocre vampire in her mid twenties, he rasps cruelly, "I'm waiting for a guest to show, a young blonde girl. Would you please be sure she's not detained, in route to my table?" Laying a 100-dollar bill before him, she quickly snags it up and checks to see it's a counterfeit. Satisfied, she nods and asks, "Anything else to drink for you or your guest?" Smiling, he says, "One more of these and a fruit drink when she arrives. Nothing alcoholic for her." The waitress smiles, and quickly leaves to ensure his wishes are complied with, to his satisfaction.

Panic sets in as Faith's patience fades away. Kayla wasn't at home, and she said she'd be at Lacey's. Outside, Lacey's car is still parked, but no one answers. Furthermore, with a minor abuse of police power, a trace on Kayla's location came back with nothing. Waiting mere moments, which pass as hours, Faith growls impatiently and commands the door to open, using her authority. After a few words are passed, the door relinquishes its hold and parts for the police officer. Surging through, she scans the interior only to nearly stumble across the unconscious form of Lacey. Shaking her vigorously, Faith screams her name until finally, Lacey begins to stir. Grasping the back of her neck she mumbles: "Wha… what time is it?" Looking at her watch, Faith replies impatiently, "Eight thirty… where's Kayla!" Grimacing, Lacey sluggishly mumbles, "I'm fairly certain she decided to make the exchange herself. She was adamant that it was all a trap; I wouldn't listen to her. There was a fallen book, and…" Faith stops her abruptly and lifts her to her feet. "How long ago?" Half stuttering, she spits out: "Tw…twenty minutes."

Parking in the dirt lot adjacent to the address, Kayla disembarks and rolls herself through the pair of swinging doors leading into the notorious demon bar referred to locally as Brood's Pit. No one seems to remember where the name came from, but every owner seems to have liked the name enough to keep it around. The green and red Plexiglas emanate a putrid glow from the lights inside, further casting away the weak hearted. Surprisingly, she encounters no overt resistance to her presence. Glancing around, a young woman, Kayla instinctively guesses a vampire, points her towards the darkest rear corners of the bar. She's actually taken back by the jovial nature of the various demons dancing and celebrating. Whenever she'd been in bars like this, it was always dark and foreboding, like a wake of an old friend. Another pair of vampires, almost out of place in this bar, skips and prances in raw celebration, to some dark future in the air. Actual joy light their faces, and Kayla can't help to be amused. As they part and clear her way, the illusion of peace and joy, immediately dissipates as the dark corner stands before her. Even worse, an evil presence silently beckons her approach.

Toying with the small Maradan gem, Gaymoran calmly monitors the approach of the child of light. The meek glow earlier is but a memory compared to the blazing radiance cupped in his hand. Over the last 20 minutes, he patiently watched the ember grow to the intensity in his hand. Not needing to look up, he confidently gauges her approach and says blindly, "Please Little One, have a seat besides me. A drink first, before bus…" He cuts himself off as he looks up to look Lacey in the eyes, only to find a wheel-chaired lady sitting before him. He feels his jaw drop; and if it weren't for the darkness, his composure would be blown. Panic stricken, he glances down into his hand for reassurance. The brilliance momentarily blinds him, and he looks away. Lost for words, he has no choice but to let silence consume him.

Kayla suddenly halts in her tracks, as the familiarity of the outline of the creature, activates some old terrible fear. As he speaks, his choice of words drives a stake through her heart as the words 'Little One' entangles her spine and sucks the courage from her heart. Fear overcomes her, the blood rushes from her head, and she forgets to breathe, threatening to kill her. Unfortunately for her, that doesn't happen; and uncontrollably, tears begin swell and rain from her eyes, blinding her. Desperately, she wills herself to wheel backwards and runaway, but her arms tremble at her sides uselessly.

Regaining his composure, he realizes that the girl hasn't escaped or ran away. Seeing he's got her completely petrified, it only takes a moment to place her face from his long past. As he keeps her immobilized before him, the realization that he had the child of light in his grasp so long ago completely boggles him. The small girl framed for murdering the backwoods cop; he never thought the child of light would let herself be confined like a common criminal. He knew she was innocent of the charges then, but the allure of playing with such an innocent toy, was too tempting back then. If he had only carried the gems with him, during those days, he would have killed her already. Finally he understood the capabilities of the gems; not only did they detect the child's presence, but also her life force. While she was in the cryo-prison, she was almost dead; thus the gems would only give off a feint glow. When she was awoken, after the prison break, the gem glowed brighter. Everything just made sense to him finally. With sadistic pleasure he gets in character and orders, "It's been a long time Little One, I said have a seat."

With trembling arms, she wheels herself over to the darkened booth. Hoping he'll be content with her close proximity, she stops at the head of the table. Screaming for some strength, she tries uselessly to will her body to stop trembling in fear. From the darkness he orders, "My tolerance for your continued insolence is waning. Now COME and sit by me…NOW." Drawn like a moth to the flames, she can't fight his will to obey. Shivering, she slides up the booth's seat and timidly heaves herself over onto the seat to his right. The tremble in her arms spreads to her body as if the temperature had suddenly plummeted. The vile presence of the doctor, overwhelms her, prevented her from even raising a brow towards him. As he had trained decades ago, she sits submissively with her hands in her lap, waiting for his next instructions.

Satisfied, he looks her up and down and realizes her paralysis isn't a ruse. To her surprise his face flashes that of actual horror. "I can't have caused this! I'm thorough, I'm competent, and I don't make mistakes like this! You left my care with all your limbs fully functional." Unaware of his serious concern for her health she dismally replies, "It… it was the stasis process. They say it's very rare when it happens."

Breathing a loud sigh of relief, Dr. Ahmil nods and says, "Ah, well that's a relief. I'm truly sorry to hear of your condition." Turning to look down at her hunched over form, he speaks clearly to her. "You must understand that I would never willfully do this to you, unless I intended to. It's disgraceful to make an error of this magnitude, and I never wanted you do be like this. It's truly a crime to error in this fashion, and I took great care to ensure this wouldn't happen." Staring at her, he sees his words are falling on deaf ears. Looking over her shoulder, he sees the gym bag. "Is that bag for me?" Motioning for her to hand it over, she moves her hand over to grab it, but stops suddenly as she shifts away from him and raises her hand to strike him. Instinctively, he catches her hand and applies his full strength to crushing it. A pitiful moan escapes Kayla lips as countless bones snap and break through her hand and arm. She raises her left hand to cast a lethal bolt of lighting to her foe, only sense the absence of any magical potential. Similar to a void in a soundproof room, the absence is unimaginably stifling. As her hopes of survival bleed away, Dr. Ahmil snickers and says cruelly, "Do you actually think I would have let a powerful witch just bless my presence. Sorry, but I can't afford to take chances like that. And with the knowledge of who and what you are, I can't afford to let you walk away either."

The blaring music of the bar effectively masks Kayla's raw screams as he pulls her close to him in a bear hug grasp. Spreading his lips, he unsheathes grotesquely long fangs, not too unlike those of vampires. As tears stream from her eyes, the pain of her flesh being penetrated reinforces her terror. False visions of Faith coming to her rescue flash before her; even the unexpected arrival of Willow or Tara would offer a glimmer of hope. Alas, as her vision falters and begins to fade, she realizes that it was all but a fleeting wish. A cold blanket wraps around her and her remaining strength evaporates, before he tosses her uselessly to the bench to die cold and alone.

Coming to an abrupt stop at the entrance of the bar, Faith and Lacey jump out of the car and sprint towards the door. In a mad rush, Faith decides not to risk a careful entry, and kicks the swinging doors open. Red and green plastic fly in every direction, hardly getting the attention of the partygoers. Staring down momentarily, the glitter of green and red plastic causes a flash of déjà vu to slap her. Focusing, she dismisses it and scans the room for Kayla. Heading to the back, she pushes through dancing couples, and looks left and right into every booth. Drawn instinctively, Faith leads Lacey towards the very back of the bar. With fewer and fewer booths left, she eyes a movement in very back corner booth. Keying into that booth she literally throws a dancing pair of vampires apart. Screaming out Kayla's name Faith causes the creature to look up and discard the lifeless form of her lover to the floor. Scooping up the gym bag, he looks for an escape route, and chooses an emergency exit near the booth. Ripping the door from the hinges, he blasts through into the comforting darkness of outdoors.

Sliding to the ground, Faith cradles her lover in her arms, and desperately screams for her to awaken. The motionless silence tells volumes, as tears of loss turn to vengeance. Setting her atop the table, she looks to the door and turns to follow the murderous creature. As she lurches to follow, Lacey screams, "Faith! We need to get her to a hospital, NOW! She's alive, but not for much longer! Feeling the draw to pursue him, Faith starts to step towards the door, once again. "Faith! I can't do it alone… SHE NEEDS YOU NOW! DON'T ABANDON HER!" For an eternity, Lacey's words rattle inside her head, but the idea of abandoning Kayla in her moment of need strikes a mysterious cord, and she dismisses her need for vengeance. Turning back to Kayla, she scoops her up and rushes to Lacey's car.

Opening the door for Faith, Lacey rushes to the trunk and yanks out her paramedic bag. Shuffling through it she swears to herself for not replacing the bag plasma she had always kept. Tearing open a self-healing skin patch, she slaps it against Kayla's neck and orders Faith to hold it there for 45 seconds. Instinctively, Faith already knew that and holds it there while checking Kayla's vitals. Just as she knew how to use the skin replacement patch, she interprets Kayla's condition as critical. With anxious dread in her voice she yells to Lacey who's talking to the hospital on the fiber-op. "She's going into shock! Fast shallow breathing, high heart rate, and decreasing blood pressure! She's not going to make it to the hospital unless she gets blood, NOW!" Lacey, lost to what she should do, asks Faith desperately, "What's your blood type?"

Instinctively Faith belches out, "O negative." Lacey can hardly believe her luck, as she glances over at Kayla's medical records scrolling across her Fiber-Op screen. An eye blink later, she reads that Kayla too is O negative. Keeping the line open with the hospital, Lacey tosses a number of rubber hoses, sealed needles, and small siphon-like pump into Kayla's lap, and throws her jacket off into the drivers seat. Ordering Faith into the backseat with Kayla, she dumps the front passenger seat over, and helps Faith out of her jacket. In a minute, she's got a needle and tube in Faith's arm, and the line clear of air to the small transfer pump, no larger than the palm of her hand. The pump, used mostly to start the initial transfer, lies atop Kayla's lap with a short transfer hose to a needle. Lacey steadies her grip on the needle, and pierces the skin. Looking up to Kayla's face, she had hoped for a painful reaction to the needle; but her hopes drain away seeing no movement or reaction to the penetrating object. Moments pass in excruciating anticipation before any blood from Kayla begins to flow up the line. Barely able to swallow, she clears the line of air, and twists a second valve. Using a small finger bulb on the side of the device, Kayla's blood is forced back into her, and Faith's blood is slowly pumped in. Wiping salty tears off her face, Faith continues to check vitals manually, even though both Kayla's and hers are being displayed on the screen, along side the Fiber-Op phone screen. After several minutes, Lacey stops pumping and verifies Faith's blood pressure is driving the blood by itself. Climbing into the driver's seat, Lacey straps in, and accelerates the vehicle away from the bar.

Bursting through the emergency room entrance, a pair burley orderlies rush gurneys into the sparkling white rooms. Descending onto the pair, dozens of nurses and doctors assist in the transfer of each patient and toil to save their dying patients. The door closes in front of the flustered Lacey, and she paces in mournful fear. Collapsing in a nearby chair, she finally begins to shake and sob uncontrollably, as stress and shock finally overcome her. She never notices the pair of women who perch beside her, and watch over her as she sleeps. As the hours pass a nurse waves towards Willow, who carefully stands to not wake either Tara or Lacey. Going to the nurse, she's told she can see Faith, and is informed of Kayla's current condition. Nodding solemnly, she follows the nurse, and enters Faith's room. Spartan and drearily decorated, she strolls over to the bed and rubs the top of Faith's hand. Slowly Faith opens her eyes and looks around.

Willow smiles and says softly: "Hiya sleepy-head." Coming around, Faith begins to get panicky and asks vehemently, "Kayla!" The expression on Willow's face, doesn't give her much hope. Willow's eyes trace up from Faith's hand to rest on her arm. Gripping Faith's arm, she says pitifully, "She's in ICU… they're going to move her in the morning after the specialist reviews her condition." Willow finds it hard to continue on just one breath at a time.

Faith grabs Willow's hand and demands, "What specialist! What the hell is fucking going on?" A VMA horn squawks off a fine, a system Faith had believed had been disconnected through out the city. Momentarily taken back, she returns her deadly stare towards Willow's drooping face. Wiping her face, Willow finds the courage to continue. "She… she's in a coma. She lost too much blood, and… and she's lucky she made it as long as she did. We almost lost you too; Kayla maybe only had a liter of blood in her when you found her. When you both got here, you only had a little over two and a half liters; the rest went into her. You only have four or such." Curling her hands into fists, Faith smashes them down across the metal bars beside her, bending the steel as if tin foil, and draws them to her face.

From down the hall, Tara and Lacey rush franticly to Faith's room as mournful shrieks and screams erupt. Behind them, numerous orderlies follow to try in vain to bring Faith under control.

Thursday, September 25, 2032

San Angeles (10:00am)

Dispassionately reviewing Kayla's records and condition, the doctor smugly rattles off the meaningless technical jargon to Kayla's adopted family. Faith hardly hears a word he says, except the harsh ones like: hopeless, minimal brain activity, and unresponsive. All of her fears and nightmares were slowly coming true. Even after she was convinced to disconnect life-support, she was horrified to be proved wrong once again. Kayla had enough life still in her. When the machines providing life-giving breaths went still, a long moment later, Kayla reflexively sputtered and gasped to life. Faced with the fact she lacked the simple faith in her lover; when the going got rough, Faith had done what she'd always had done best: she ran. Lacking the one quality her name falsely claimed. It was at that moment, years from now she'd look back and recant, her defining moment: an epiphany. In surrealistic fashion, she momentarily witnesses her face transposed on Kayla's. Standing in Mayor Wilkins's shoes, Faith feels transported back to that very night he stood over her and tried to avenge her by trying to smother Buffy. Feeling what he felt, Faith finally understands that just because she'd do the same for Kayla doesn't mean her heart is dark as the Mayor's was. The flood of emotions boiling and coursing through the vile veins of the mayor weren't driven by his dark maniacal soul, but his intense love for his adopted daughter. Feeling the love, the same intense emotion coursing through her soul, didn't mean she was in anyway the same monster he was. He made his choices long before Faith came along. Just because he demonstrated he could love intensely, didn't make the love Faith had, as vile and evil. While enduring a condescending authority that was preaching to that all her hopes were pointless and misplaced, she realized her running days were over. Kayla had refused to let her drift away from this place, so she chose not to slip easily away in the night. Even when offered the chance of painless eternal death, Kayla had chosen to stay. Only after Faith's rigid silence drives the so-called specialist away, does she finally speak. Drained emotionally and physically, she approaches Willow. "You know I'm not going to give up on her. I've been in her shoes, and you can comeback. It's not hopeless!"

Knowingly, Willow nods in agreement, and tells her, "I know; and until you do, neither will we. Whatever happens, you'll call the shots." Exchanging supportive embraces with Willow and Tara, Faith reaches out and tenderly massages each one of Kayla's fingers. Leaning over Kayla, she closes her eyes and tenderly kisses her inanimate lips. Subconsciously praying for her to miraculously wake, she opens her eyes to the pale truth, and leans heavily into the plastic chair.

September 24, 2032

20km West of Jakutsk,

Eastern Siberia, Russia (1:30pm)

Chugging thru the snow, Katya Reminov stops to peer at her pursuers. Over the last ridge of snow, a dozen white-coated beasts plow unhindered through the waist deep snow. Each easily twice her mass, the huge wolves leap over the snow like hunting an elusive rabbit. Unfortunately for her, she was that rabbit. She had a half-mile head start; but in little time, they had nearly caught up with her. Baring their fangs in anticipation at the young prey, they pick up their pace as they watch her stumble and fall into the deep snow. A bone cringing knock sounds, as she seemingly found the rocky soil underneath the 4 feet of snow. Unmoving, she lays unconsciously awaiting her death. Mentally marking the spot, they pour on the speed; and the alpha male growls, asserting his dominance over the kill. His belly will be the first filled, and only then will the others peck over what's left.

Ten feet from the spot, they suddenly stumble and try to reverse course as the snow surrounding them suddenly bursts to life. Twenty feet to their left, right, and directly in front of them, stand snow-camouflaged gunmen. Raising up various types of high caliber rifles, only the three frontal gunmen are equipped with ancient American fifty caliber machine guns. In thick guttural Russian, the center machinegun man orders: "Eat silver, dogs!" The machine guns come to life ripping the animals to shreds. Horrid shrieks of pain erupt from the massive wolves, as they are dissected by the furious waves of bullets streaming thru their ranks. Defying common sense, the alpha male surges forward to at least deliver a vengeful bite on the dubious rabbit of a girl, who led them to their untimely demise. Leaving most of his innards behind, he churns forward, to the unconscious girl. Death is an established fact for him, but he'll at least have the satisfaction of driving his fangs into the seemingly heroic child.

Going headfirst into a boulder wasn't part of the plan, Katya thought moments before she lost consciousness. Swimming into a whirlpool-like dream wasn't expected either, but she suddenly finds herself center stage to a dramatic scene of battle. A vast demonic army ranked with vampires, werewolves, and untold demons stand in a vast coliseum. Looking outward towards the sea, she sees a crumbling gold bridge a vast bay, and the outline of a glorious angel surrounds it. Before a demonic audience of thousands, she stands alone. Armed with only a samurai sword and a simple robe to protect her, she readies herself for the onslaught of warriors who stand between her and their leader. The first dozen beasts fall easily under her steel, but she soon discovers they were only there to slow her down and weaken her. The second squads of troops, mostly trolls, brandish their favorite swords and hammers. Laughing and carrying on while she kills the first squad, they hold their ground until she finishes killing every last one. Her long robe, red from the blood and entrails of the dead, defiantly flaps in the hot wind. Seemingly pleased with her performance, the second squad suddenly charges forward, to test her steel.

In minutes, the last troll collapses to his knees, as if trying to catch its own head before it strikes the ground. Bouncing twice, it comes to rest before her feet, and she casually kicks it aside. Her robe, now dyed with her own blood, displays numerous tears and rips from wounds. Weakened from battle, she confronts ten more squads of demonic warriors all greater than the ones who came before them. Decorated with fresh wounds, she still struggles to walk tall, even as the demonic master comes forward to do battle. Nearly 9 feet tall, it approaches with its head bowed and arms crossed at the chest. She can barely keep her blade steady as it suddenly throws its arms out, and a pair of frighteningly huge wings shoots out from its back. The bat-like wings extend to nearly twice its height, and emanate an evil black aura. Fear fills the void between them, and darkness clouds her eyes. A blast of light blinds the demon, seemingly from her own sword, only to be followed by a stabbing pain in Katya's own right shoulder. She drops from the intensity of the blow, and rolls to her left to avoid any follow up attacks. As she shakes off the pain, she's ripped from the ground into a fully upright pose. All around her, torchlight illuminates the armies of darkness, massed for the spectacle of the Slayer's final demise. Various vampires and demons, normally mortal enemies, stand side by side, desperate to gain a decent view of the impending carnage. An awesome figure stands behind holding her several feet in the air. Hovering 3 feet from the ground, she finds the strength to land a solid blow to its chest, causing it to release her to the ground below. Picking herself up, she delivers another half a dozen sharp blows to its solidly muscular abdomen, knowing full well the uselessness in her attacks. To her rear, a raven-haired girl dressed in black leather, crawls backwards slowly, fear having taken over her motor controls. Petrified beyond her own capacity to think, Katya stumbles mindlessly trying to get far from the approaching demon, and to find her dropped sword. Taking great pleasure in tormenting the small women before it, the demon bellows a menacing roar of laughter and rejoices in the aroma of fear pouring from the two girls. Leaping between the two girls, he concentrates his assault on the other girl, while seemingly ignoring Katya. She looks down to her feet to pick up the blade, only to see the demon's spear-like tail burst thru her belly. To her rear, the girl screams desperately to her, but she doesn't understand the words. Dropping to her knees, she feels her life spilling away. Steadying her with one of its wings, the demon rips its tail free, sending her guts in all directions while keeping her in place. As she prays to lose consciousness, an innocent white-haired child, no more than 12, stands in front of her. Holding the blade of the sword, she holds the hilt to Katya to grasp and asks in perfect Russian: "Do you give yourself freely and willingly?" As she struggles for the meaning of the question, her surroundings transition from utter darkness to complete white. In the snow besides her, the child lies in a death-like trance. She nearly jumps out her skin when the girls eyes pop open and hears her say with unmoving lips: "Your decision will save or damn all creation." Petrified, Katya watches numbly as the girl reaches over to her hip. Unlatching Katya's gun holster, she puts the ten millimeter automatic pistol into Katya's hand. Guiding the gun muzzle up into the air, the child orders calmly, "Shoot." Confused, Katya blinks her eyes and the child is suddenly disappears. Danger fills her and she instinctively follows the child's advice, discharges her gun twice, and rolls to her left. As she stops in her second revolution, she sees a behemoth werewolf land at her previous resting spot. Slowly, the sluggish mental barriers disappear leaving her with a pounding headache. A massive hand reaches down and helps her to her feet. Looking back at the dead wolf, she sees instead the nude figure of one deceased Michale Korik, a wanted felon with too many crimes to list in one or two good breaths, with a huge bullet exit wound in the back of his head and neck.

Panting dramatically, her huge friend asks in Russian, "I thought you were dead for certain. How did you know to shoot? AH…! Excellent ruse! You had us all of fooled! That's why you're the Slayer, I guess!"

Tracing up from her forehead, she winces as she finds a huge knot hidden by her long red locks. Ignoring his questions, she asks coldly, "Do you know what a huge golden bridge, a large bay, and an angel means or is located?" Taken back by the question, he responds in a confused tone, "Uhh… no…"

Cutting him off again she orders, "Then call your Watchers Council, find out, and book us on the first flight out. Give Bravo Company here some time off; they deserve it after this operation. Activate Charlie Company, and tell Sophia to have her Valkyrie unit ready to go. Oh, and Petre, good work." Striding away from the clean up operation, she finds her buried snow bike and jets off to their hotel room in Jakutsk with remnants of her disturbing premonition still churning inside her head.

September 26, 2032

San Angeles, (5:30pm)

Opening the door for Faith, Lacey moves aside and introduces her graciously. "Lady Adriana, this is the vampire slayer Faith." Stepping thru, Faith looks around sheepishly, and sees an elderly woman sitting beside Tara on the couch. Looking at Faith closely, she beckons Faith closer to get a better look. Complying, Faith slowly walks towards her, unsure of what to expect from this special guest from out of town. Willow was very cryptic regarding her, only saying that she had came from very far away to meet her and Kayla. Kneeling in front of her, a buzzing sound, similar to a bee, begins rattling in the back of her head. She tries to fight the urge to pull away from the aged woman, but she feels paralyzed to move. To her surprise, she suddenly feels very relaxed, and she detects the aromatic scent of fresh baked cookies or pizza pie surrounding the old woman. Feeling naked by her penetrating gaze, Faith looks left and right towards Lacey and Willow for some explanation, only to have the woman suddenly sit back smacking her gums. Looking towards Tara she says simply, "She's not the one. She's similar to the one, probably been around the one, but definitely not the one. Where's the other one?"

Taken back by her tone, Faith stands up and says sarcastically, "Nice to meet you too." Around her, everyone but Lady Adriana looks at Faith in horror to her rudeness. Unexpectedly, Lady Adriana erupts in laughter, and shoos Tara off the couch and has Faith sit by her. Leaning into Faith, she says jovially "You're okay, you're supposed to be here. They…" motioning towards Tara and Lacey, "they're not supposed to be here. But you, you're okay. Tell me about your friend… Kayla is it?" Lacey motions for Faith to talk to her, and lets the elder woman's assistant lead the rest of them into the kitchen to talk privately. Out of earshot, he apologizes for the elder's manners. "It's okay. Don't take it personal, she does this all the time. She apparently can perceive some higher dimension, which she compares to this one. I won't try and lead you to believe that I understand half of what she means or says. She's been looking for something… a warrior being of some kind to quote: 'save this world.' She called it a Shaluza. 'Its old, ageless, yet always being born and dying.' She also said this creature would be 'darkened by the seeds of corruption; but this seed, would hide it from the very darkness which strives to destroy it.' She speaks in riddles twenty-four seven; it drives me batty."

A burst of laughter from Faith and the old woman, cause an extended pause from the young man. Tara reaches out and squeezes Willow's hand and says with remorse, "That's… that's the first time Faith has even smiled, to say the least laughed since Kayla went into the hospital. It's tearing her up on the inside." Interested, he asks cautiously, "And the doctors say there is little hope for her? That's not very promising. She says that if she doesn't find it soon, this world won't get a second chance like the last time, whenever that was."

Another round of laughter erupts, and Lady Adriana turns towards her assistant and says confidently, "This sounds promising, she must be the one! Only the Shaluza could have single-handedly reformed this hell-child into the holy warrior she is today." Practically jumping in her seat, she continues. "We need to see her first thing in the morning, I can't wait!" Faith looks at her with a mixture of happiness, hurt feelings, and utter confusion. Turning back around in her seat, she looks to Faith once more. "Tell me, how different she was after the seed was removed! And don't leave out a single detail!"

Leaning into her wheelchair, Lady Adriana smiles at the exhausted Faith, and rubs her shoulder supportively. Looking at her watch, Faith can hardly believe she's been chatting with this old woman nearly all night. "It'll be okay. Kayla seems to have a strong spirit, and she'll eventually come out of this okay. Just put your love behind her, and things will work themselves out as they should." Half-heartedly, Faith nods in agreement, and tries to smile. From behind Lady Adriana, her assistant says, "We need to get going my Lady. It's nearly midnight, and Faith has to work in the morning. She's a police officer for this city, remember." Nodding, she's suddenly overcome by a thought in her head. "Ah… see! Faith, only fate could have gotten you here. You were meant to have fought beside the other slayer, on that fateful day, but you didn't. Now you can't avoid your next opportunity, as it will be this Earth's last one…" In an eerie moment, Lady Adriana momentarily enters a prophetic mode and says in a low voice, "…and the Hell Mouth will once again have a sentinel to guard against the night." The three Wiccans' blood turns ice cold at the elder's prophetic words, and they look to each other to verify they had heard her correctly.

September 27, 2032

Sunnydale (2:30am)

A thunderous bellow of laughter rips thru the dark library, unsettling Gowen. Shifting in place, he nervously scratches at his backside and waits for his master to address him. It takes numerous minutes for his master regain his composure, and to finally look at his small band of sages. Along with Gowen, Tweela, and Dumut, in their ranks were the dozen other unmentioned researchers who steadfastly scoured thousands upon thousands of books for all the clues to the Alticia scroll's purpose and location. Gowen was acutely aware that Felix Marlow resembled a human even less, as each day passed. Only the immense power of their true master, could alter Felix this much. Gowen understood better than his colleagues what the fate of Felix would soon be. With the Alticia scrolls, they'd be able to bring back their master's soul and power to this world, once again. Gowen also was sure that Felix knew his fate too and fully accepted and encouraged it. When their master returned, he would inhabit Felix's body. Once in this realm, he would replace Felix's genetic codes with his own. Felix will cease to exist, and their master would be reborn on the Earth.

Looking up, Gowen looks towards Felix as he's addressed. Felix, truly overjoyed by the turn of events, says jovially, "And she was the Child of Light? That's fantastic! Did you confirm her death?" Gowen turns to Dumut, who flushes in terror as he was hoping to avoid answering that question. "Uhh, no… she had lost almost all of her blood, but she somehow survived."

A goblet filled with rich wine, clunks off the side of Dumut's head. Flinching, he rubs the impact area and looks away submissively. Felix screams out, "And yet she lives! Your incompetence is unforgivable! Tweela, sees her opportunity for advancement present itself. "But master, she is in a coma, and their doctors report she won't recover from the brain damage." Gowen and Dumut look to her in shock, as she continues. "Furthermore, she is showing every sign that she'll never reawaken; and if we act carefully, we can ensure that she never does." Felix stares coldly at Tweela, waiting for her to back down, and breaks the stare with an abrupt growl. "Gowen, she's trying to get your job… and she's about there. I think you found your new librarian for the Great Hall. She's outdone herself; she's both ruthless and wise. As the saying goes, keep your friends close, but your enemies even closer. She's a wise choice, and I'll back your decision, if you choose her. Okay, you all didn't recover all of the gold, but you did get two of the chests. Consider those two your bonuses and a partial advance. When the time comes you will finish what was started and the child won't be a factor when our plan blossoms. Understand?" Nodding dumbly, Gowen and Tweela bow as Felix rises from his wooden throne. As he leaves the room, he pauses momentarily to relish in the freakish screams of Dumut, as his very brethren unsheathe their daggers and stab him repeatedly. Striding down the hall, Felix lets the whimpering squeals of Dumut improve his mood, until there's only silence behind him.

September 27, 2032

San Angeles, (8:30am)

Entering the room, Lady Adriana moves with aged grace and zeal towards the comatose girl. Rounding the corner of the curtain, she starts jumping up and down in joy. "It's her! It's really her: the sleeping child who can only be reawakened by a blessed sacrifice!" Her joy and laughter drains away, as she truly sees what everyone else sees. Her mood shifts dramatically, and turns pitifully remorseful. Almost immediately, tears stream from her eyes and she drops onto the bed. Grasping Kayla's hand, she raises it to her face and cries into. Willow joins the woman to comfort her, but is surprised as she pushes her away and gasps in sorrow. "The pain… she suffered so much. The love she radiated, yet was tortured endlessly for it. She disconnected her love and compassion to hide her purity, and then couldn't find a means to reconnect it. The demon fruit was destroying her, but she couldn't perceive it. If only I could have come sooner." Sobbing at Kayla's Side Lady Adriana spends countless hours futilely chatting with the unconscious Kayla.

Willow exits Kayla's room, leaving the elder still chattering endlessly. Sitting beside the exhausted Tara, Willow collapses onto Tara's shoulder, aggravated and hurt. She mews, "You'd think I tried to destroy the world or something by the way she treats me. I don't know what gives." Comforting her, Tara replies: "Hey at least you exist. Apparently I'm not supposed to be here or something, remember?" Nodding Willow lets Tara help her up and they wander down to the cafeteria to grab a bite.

Hours pass slowly for Willow and Tara listening to the Elder Adriana carry on endlessly with the comatose Kayla. As if she had said all she could, she stands and allows her handsome assistant to guide her away. In the hall she stops to give the dumbfounded pair her final blessings. "Young Wiccans. There will be only dark days lying in your future, here." She turns to leave, but stops abruptly and stares intently at them. "I charge you both one task and one task alone. Protect Kayla's body until the dark sun has risen in the west. When that has happened, there will be little either of you can do. Leave her, and see to the defense of the city. I can tell you no more. If there is a miracle left in this world, then our sun will rise again." Not waiting to see or hear their responses, Adriana turns away and strides out into the night. Willow turns to Tara after a long uncomfortable silence, and says matter-of-factly, "Well, at least she acknowledged us."

From the chatter of the bull pit, Faith broods over her burdening situation. Flipping through the wanted sheets on her computer, Faith half-heartedly taps the keyboard built into the desk. Tapping endlessly at the police report forms, she tries to put into words the previous night's events. Words like 'vampire' and 'demons' are difficult to replace for the 'official' reports. After she takes Lt. Huxley's advice on the vocabulary revisions, as she called them, Faith sends the report to her for final evaluation and processing. Unable to dismiss the chaos of the last week, Faith finally sends off the last report with an hour to spare. Having worked through lunch, she stops into the Chief's office to politely beg to get out of work early. He puts on his toughest grimace to the thought of 'cutting out' early, and reviews her lengthy reports. Unable to find any significant faults, he mentions half a dozen minor discrepancies in wording and murmurs, "Fix those items then go home. And… uh… I'm sorry. I don't think I told you that yet, and I should have. When you're done, just leave them in my inbox. Be well." Nodding numbly, Faith returns to her desk, knocks out the corrections in a couple of minutes, and slips away to the hospital. After checking in with the head nurse, Faith wanders into the room, and sets a gym bag beside Kayla. Unconcerned with who hears her, she scoots up a chair to the bed, so she can sit beside Kayla's head.

"Well, I brought you a change of clothes; I remember how much you hate those stupid hospital gowns. I even brought your favorite red Reeboks from storage. They finally got around to releasing all of your stuff from lock up. It was left in a warehouse that was half buried during that big earthquake we slept through. It took a bit of digging, but I got all of our stuff, not just the small personal effects. I know you really don't care, but I got them to look into overturning your conviction. I made one call to your old lawyer, and she filed the paperwork through a friend of hers. Apparently they have some legal precedent, and she thinks that it'll just go through with no litigation. Basically they'll clear your name, and the state has to pretty much kiss your ass from now on. They weren't supposed to suppress a lot of the evidence they did, and there's some major connections proving that they were operating outside of the law. You were railroaded from the beginning. And after the big quake, they never thought anyone would care. The judge was arrested a few years after the quake for accepting bribes and illegally suppressing or denying valid evidence to guarantee convictions. On tape he admitted to have done it his entire career. With that, your conviction will probably be overturned, and they won't go for a retrial considering no one but you are still alive. To top it off, the crap you went through at the state hospital will weigh heavily in your favor. It's a big black eye for the state. A records review should cover it, and I'll be there to personally vouch for you. Oh, as will Lenina, John, Alicia, and even the chief said he'd go on record attesting your moral character. You did it kiddo. You really fucking did it. All you have to do now is just wake up so I can take you home…" Faith can barely continue with tears raining down her cheeks. Wiping them away, she lays her head against Kayla's shoulder and tries to gain some comfort from Kayla's presence.

September 28, 2032

2500 miles North West of San Angeles, (14:10pm)

From inside the cargo bay of the aircraft, Katya Reminov finishes reviewing the sealed files of the Watchers Council, for the third time. Staring intently at the brunette from her dreams, she looks up from her laptop and turns to her trusted watcher, asking sardonically, "And you were planning on telling me about this other slayer when?" The grimace on his face tells he's walking a tightrope between loyalties. "My little Katya, if it were only that simple. She's a convicted murderer, who we imagined never being released from prison. Somehow her parole was approved, despite our specific opposition. The city government of San Angeles, as they now call it, is… unique. And to top it off, the city's utopian image has been in upheaval since it was overthrown. The good news is that it appears her confinement has reformed her; she's a temporary police officer for the city. Another piece of good news is that she's apparently aligned herself with a coven of witches who live in the city; the coven has an excellent reputation with the council, and is on top of the events brewing at the Hell-mouth site. But the council feels they might not welcome an unfamiliar Slayer, suddenly appearing out of no where." Nodding, Katya tries to see the wisdom in their recommendations but it sneaks past her. "Recommendations noted. Well, I'm approaching overload." Katya glances at her rugged watch. "I suggest getting a nap in before we hit the drop site. We should be well rested before then. Make sure you pass out the city passes and passports we got from the United States embassy. If we're separated, we'll meet up at the Taco Bell, and head out from there." Not waiting to hear his response, she leaves his side and crawls into a non-private bunk bed and drifts immediately into sleep.

As before, her dreams turn to visions of the impending battle and her final moments on this earth. With the Demon landing to her rear, she wills herself to get clear and grasp the dropped sword. Unlike her previous vision, the carnage pauses like a movie stuck on a single frame. Frozen in place, she's helplessly leaning forward to grasp the hilt, and unable to move. The sword, just a hands length away, might as well be miles while she's in her frozen state. Out of nowhere, the girl suddenly appears before the sword and reaches down to pickup the sword. Tucking the blade behind her, she reaches out and takes Katya's outstretched hand. Her touch releases her from her paralysis, and she's able to stand erect. Looking down at the child, she wants to thank her, but the words fail her. Thousands of questions flood her, but she can't make up her mind which one to ask first. Before she chooses one, the child speaks to her. "You must recover my sword. I buried it for safe keeping long ago. When the time comes, I will lead you to it, and you will carry it into battle. For this, I ask you to believe if there were any other way to spare your life in this battle, I wouldn't ask you to surrender yourself. But your sacrifice will save countless lives, not to mention the world; and I will allow a piece of you to live on. Another slayer will follow you, and one will be here in your place, as the ancient ones decreed at the dawn of man. I will be reborn with your sacrifice and the Earth will be given another 5000 years of life. Evil will be defeated, and you will go to a better place for your selflessness. That I have seen." She smiles warmly and rubs Katya's hand. "So many questions, so little time. I will find you when you get closer and take you to the place. Sleep now… rest." As if dunked in a pool, her surroundings change to her home and the family she left behind to be a slayer. The warmth of her mother and father's love fill her, and she feels at ease and whole.

September 28, 2032

San Angeles, (15:30pm)

Appearing at the Rosenberg's apartment with her hair still dripping and her shirt clinging to her damp skin, Faith strolls in and asks, "Okay this had better be good! I barely had time to dry off before getting here because you said it was an emergency." Willow replies, "Well it is…" She immediately notices Faith's lack of undergarments, in their crispy cool air-conditioned apartment. "Uh… maybe emergency wasn't the right word, but it's definitely urgently important. Gritting her teeth, Faith finds a clear spot on the couch and plops down, crossing her arms. Tara takes off where Willow was leading.

"Over the last week, all of the vampires, demons, trolls, you name it, have been massing in the remains of Sunnydale. Yesterday, one of my sources was been able to get away long enough to warn me of this, and give us some specifics. Remember when we told you how Buffy died and everything? Well it appears that we didn't dispose of the demon's body right, or a piece of him survived somehow. Well, he was able to resurrect himself; and in three days, he'll have to conduct a ceremony to finalize his return. If not, he'll be stuck in between our world and his world forever, neither here nor there."

Willow chimes in upon returning from adjusting the thermostat, "I've been in touch with the council, and they agree with our analysis of the demon. They say they've sent reinforcements, but wouldn't give any specifics. Not even who or when. Very weird."

Lacey exits the kitchen and passes Faith some coffee, and says: "As usual, more like. They act like they have to control every miniscule aspect, and keep the rest of us in the dark." Faith takes the cup, and replies, "I'm with you on that. I remember that those ass... jerks were always doing that, even when B was running the show. Right Willow?"

Nodding, Willow crosses the room and joins Tara on the couch. "Oh yah. I remember Buffy getting the exact same cold shoulder from these people; it's like they are afraid to admit that we might be more important than they are."

Faith sips at the hot tea, and finally asks the obvious question. "So what next? Did the council say to wait for backup or take care of it ourselves in the mean time?" A ghastly silence enters the room. No one seems to want to respond, but Willow chugs ahead. "Faith, when I said all of the monsters, I meant ALL of them. There must be thousands, maybe tens of thousands." Everyone watches Faith's blood drains away, as she finally unravels the true meaning of her horrific nightmares. From the great battle with demon hordes, to her final minutes on this earth, everything was suddenly obvious. She finally breaks away from her revelation by saying, "Damn. Normal swords won't affect him, right?" Willow responds by grimacing, "Kinda, but it was only after I did my little number on him. He was weakened enough that we were able to get close enough to press our attacks, and dismember him. It seemed like only after he was critically injured could we really put it to him, so to speak." Tara interjects abruptly, "What we need are real weapons. The glow-rods, utilized now, are practically useless." Faith nods, while intently reliving something from her dark past. As Lacey offers to try and get some shipped here through the old black market routes, Faith suddenly blurts out grabbing everyone's attention. "Kayla. Kayla had a sword that we buried the night before we turned ourselves in. It was a samurai kind of sword, I think you call it a katana?" Everyone's attention turns to her outburst, and the minor glimmer of hope it offers. Silence rings out, and is broken by Lacey who asks, "Please tell me it wasn't in Sunnydale." Faith shakes her head and replies, "Nope right here in L.A. or at least what use to be here. Kayla had me remember exactly where it was in case she couldn't retrieve it herself. Funny huh?"

Lacey stands and fetches a map. Laying it across Willow's table, she lays a transparent map of the current layout of the city and its perimeters. As she points out the location, Faith can't help but to dwell on the turn of events, and how her nightmares are becoming more like prophecies. After Lacey calculates it's distance and precise location, she points out the bad news. "That's the worst place to go, too. Even with you being a cop, we'll need a special travel order to get access to that zone. There have always been a lot of 'dog' attacks after dark in that area; and four years ago, they restricted all travel there. Werewolves for some reason love that area, and packs use those old mausoleums as dens." Faith curses under her breath, and replies: "I don't care about that. If she has a weapon, we're going to need everyone we can dig up. I had to memorize the name on the headstone and the cemetery number, and I'm going to get it for her, if nothing else."

Willow immediately injects, "You will, we just have to wait until morning. By then the wolves won't be a factor, and you can get a travel order from your work. It'll take an hour to get there, and if we leave early, we'll get there by mid morning. Faith nods, and jumps ahead in her thoughts. "Or I can call work right now, and get that travel order for the morning, so we can get there just after sunrise. I meet you here at 5 am."

Sprinting out of the apartment, she calls the department and easily arranges the travel order; but she discovers getting the sword back into the city wasn't an easy task. By coordinating with Lenina, the Queen of Contraband, she was able to get the necessary forms approved and filed just as the business day ended for the city. Logging off of her computer, Faith gathers her stuff and leaves the Bull Pen. Unlocking her car, she instinctively spins around, grabs the shirt of the person sneaking up on her, and throws him onto the hood of her car. Romero throws his hands in front of his face, protecting him from any further bashing. With anger rising from the pit of her stomach, she seethes, "Get lost!" Yanking him upright, she shoves him aside. Stumbling backwards against another car, he replies: "I was just going to tell you… sorry. Sorry I got in between you and Kayla, and sorry about Kayla. I heard all about it. I don't know why I acted how I did, and I can't understand who I was, or the whys, but I do know I'm sorry. I'd tell her myself, but now I can't. So, now I tell you. I'm sorry for what I did, and if I could take it back I would. Please believe me that I have no idea why I acted like I did; it's like I was trapped inside myself, and I couldn't stop it. Please tell Kayla I'm sorry. I… I won't bother you two anymore."

Watching him walk away defeated, Faith stares at him a bit longer than she should have. Some part of her knew he was sincere, but the core of her being hated him to terrible extremes. He drifts to his car, and speeds away. Out of sight and out of her life for good. Sliding into her car, Faith knows she was harsher than she should have been, but she can't live with pain she put Kayla through. Just being near him, causes her stomach to churn, and adrenaline to pump into her veins. Breathing deeply, she forces the anger to subside and shifts her focus to the next morning.

September 28, 2032

San Angeles, (21:30pm)

Landing hard, Katya rolls along the ground, releases her chute, and finally coming to an abrupt halt against a tree stump. Cursing loudly, she kicks away from the obstruction and suddenly finds herself face to face with a magnificent white owl. Nearly three feet tall, it stands on the stump casually admiring Katya's rough landing. Realizing it's completely out of place, Katya stares intently at it. As if listening to her thoughts the owl spins its head around to capture Katya's glare. Minutes pass; and when she considers the foolishness of her endeavors, she's suddenly rewarded by the owl momentarily resembling the child from her dreams. Her heart nearly skips a beat, and she twitches backwards reflexively. As the last of her team hit the ground, Katya backs away and collects her gear, while keeping an eye on the perched bird. Unlocking the three large pallets, Petre along with a dozen other soldiers from the Watchers Council inventory the weapons and begin unpacking the ATVs. Katya checks her weapons and strides to Petre's side. "Petre, got a bike ready to go yet?" Looking over his shoulder, he murmurs: "Yes, number three and five's power cells are fully charged. HEY! Demitre! Get geared up!" Katya spins in her tracks in protest. "Stand down, I'm going out alone!" Petre defies her by commanding: "Not this time! By your orders earlier, 'no one will venture off by themselves for any reason.' Remember saying that? Well, you fall under those same rules." Katya rebuts immediately, "I didn't say that." Petre, unimpressed, staunchly resists her ignorance. Giving in, Katya reluctantly surrenders and says to Demitre: "Fine, but don't do or say anything unless I TELL YOU TO! Got it?" Nodding, he gets his rifle, and hops on one of the ready ATVs. Katya grabs a foldable shovel, hops onto the four-wheeler, and leads Demitre to the waiting owl. Wanting to ask the purpose of waiting at the owl, he wisely stays quiet. Coming alongside the owl Katya says blandly, "Well, I'm ready." As if on cue, the owl suddenly explodes into flight and Katya spins off in pursuit with her companion in tow.

Arriving at a cemetery, Katya drives into it and arrives at a crumbling headstone. The owl, nobly perched atop, watches as Katya and her escort drive up to it. Shifting nervously back and forth, the owl waits for Katya to approach despite the howls of wolves not too far away. Looking around suspiciously, Katya murmurs to her companion to cover her, as she strides towards the grave stone with shovel in hand. Stopping at the foot of the grave, Katya watches the bird jump to the ground and paces around the plastic flowers. After ripping away the plastic flowers, molded and discolored from ages of neglect, the owl begins pecking at the cup itself. After a minute of this, the owl stops, flies back up to its previous perch, and looks to Katya to act. Shrugging her shoulders, she unfolds the shovel, locks it into place, and puts her back into digging.

After ten minutes of digging, she finally gets two feet down and hits a wooden box. Digging around it, she's able to pull it free after another five minutes. The box, nearly six feet long, practically falls apart as she brings it out of the ground. Cursing for not having the right tools, she uses the shovel to break the latch on the lock. With a loud metallic crack, the pieces shoot in all directions and she cracks the lid open. Wrapped in two long plastic bags, Katya tears it open to find the sword to be an old Japanese Katana. Whistling through her teeth, she snaps out of her awe, as a howl erupts only a hundred yards away. Looking up, she sees half a dozen werewolves charging towards her. Gunfire erupts from her friend, but it doesn't seem to slow any but two. As she contemplates reaching for her guns, she feels compelled to draw the sword instead. The owl, seemingly unaffected by the rising danger, bursts into flight and perches safely atop a high branch. Katya grasps the hilt and is surprised in the ease which the blade clears the scabbard; the blade seems almost weightless in her hand. Setting the empty scabbard down, she walks to a small clearing and waits for the wolves to arrive. As they get closer, the wolves split into pairs and they seek a quick meal. As the first wolf nears Katya it suddenly leaps to pounce on Katya, but only meets the cold steel across its belly, spilling its guts along its path of travel. Even as the first wolf crashes and collapses across the ground, the second barely misses Katya and feels a light strapping blow across its back. It spins around to get a quick nip at its target, but panics as it sees its rear half landing on the ground beside it. Katya spins to meet the wolves that got past her and is shocked to see the carnage. She spends countless moments in disbelief looking at the sword. Gunfire to her left snaps her out of it, as her partner sends out a continuous stream of bullets at the wolves surrounding him. Screaming defiantly, Katya charges and draws them away from the man. As easily as the first two, the next two offer no extraordinary difficulty to dispatch. Without a scratch on either of them, Katya retrieves the scabbard, bows slightly towards the perched owl, and gets onto her ATV. Pulling into the temporary base camp, Petre asks, "How was the ride?" Katya smirks and replies, "They run nice and smooth, five by five." As she strides into the weapons locker, she can't imagine where she'd gotten those words from.

September 28, 2032

San Angeles, (22:25am)

Katya sits at the aluminum conference table studying the ancient Japanese weapon, while Petre rambles on about the disheartening photos emailed to him from satellites and remote recon planes. As he pulls more and more experts around his laptop to decipher which blob is what, he slowly pears around the display to see Katya completely disinterested in the ranks of trolls and monsters massed in the forgotten rubble of Sunnydale California. The numbers exceed the tens of thousands. With his curiosity peaking, he manages to ask his slayer from around his display, "How did you find that again?" Barely registering his question, she brings herself out of delirium to mumble simply: "A little bird told me."

September 29, 2032

San Angeles, (07:20am)

Using a GPS hand-held tracker, Lacey leads Faith through a collapsed portion of the cemetery wall, where Faith instinctively takes over. Picking up her pace Faith strides around the headstones and graves and enters City Cemetery number fifteen. Leaving Lacey behind she plows ahead but stops abruptly, allowing her to catch up. Whistling through her teeth, Lacey evaluates the carnage, and hesitantly makes her way out to each of the six naked bodies. Shooing away the scavenging birds and animals, she takes out her pocket scanner and verifies her initial thoughts. Returning to Faith's side, she says bluntly: "Werewolves."

Faith looks at her with a peculiar expression, picks up a stick, points at the halved body, and replies, "Werewolves did this? I know I was in the freezer for a while, but when did werewolves go around using swords or machetes?"

Lacey shakes her, as if clearing her last thoughts from head. "No… the bodies. They were werewolves." After showing Faith the display on her palm scanner, she continues. "They are all highly infected with lycanthropy bacterium. They've been werewolves for a long time; the contagion is deep in the bone marrow. This went down about 8 to 12 hours ago. Two people, I'd say, wearing military boots. They had conventional automatic rifles and one really sharp sword. Faith nods her head of her assessment, and says, "Yup. Looks like the person with the sword, did most of the work, though…" She trails off remembering the purpose of their morning trip. "SHIT! Kayla's sword!" Sprinting over the headstones, she arrives at the lonesome grave of one Lieutenant Pauline Schultz. Lacey scans the epitaph:

Born the first day of April,1969

and left this world on June 30, 1999.

She lived her life making it safer

for the ones who will follow.'

Her eyes shoot immediately to the cup which the flowers were normally placed. The dirt, piled all around an empty hole, tells Faith that the hidden treasure had been reaped only recently. Faith can only say one thing: "FUCK!"

As faith rants, kicks, and screams, Lacey meanders around the area and finds the fresh tire tracks leading off towards the south. In between Faiths screaming and cursing, Lacey gets an edge in and yells, "Hey! We need to get going. If we're not back soon, all hell will break loose. So much for all that paperwork you did."

Still enraged by the loss of the sword, Faith smashes a branch against the wall and storms into the van. Jumping into the driver's seat, Lacey tears away from the cemetery unsure what how the future will fair without the sword.

Decked out in her black police uniform, Faith strides thru the halls of the station, passing countless dazed and perplexed officers. The atmosphere of the station reeked utter turmoil and fear. The intense gaze Faith gave off, usually capable of parting the Red Sea, is completely ignored by her counterparts. Bursting thru the Bull Pen doors, this attention grabbing action goes completely ignored by the room of officers. As she scans the room, Officer Huxley grabs her arm, and drags her into her office. Dressed in Kevlar riot gear, she forces a large box into Faith's arms.

"Get suited up! We're going to form up in fifteen minutes." Officer Huxley says while urgently showing Faith how to don the body armor. "While you were gone, we've received a number of warnings from the Governor in the last two hours. They've rallied the National Guard north of here in New Bakersfield, East in Barstow, and as far south as Old San Diego to contain the insurgents. The military can't rally enough troops to drop here before night fall, so they are pretty much writing us off. They said if we can make it thru the night, they'll consider dropping in a brigade or something like that."

Synching up the armor, Faith shakes her head trying to make sense of the entire turn of events. "But how did this all happen? When did they get there…" She doesn't finish her sentence as she remembers the great massing of demons and monsters in Sunnydale. Following Lenina into the Bull Pen area, Chief Earle is approaching burnout and struggles to keep himself composed. With the arrival of Officers Spartan and Hernandez, the chief beckons the crowd of officers to quiet so he can speak. Referencing a series of overhead displays he begins.

"In the last twelve hours there have been an extraordinary series of events. If anyone has kept up on their local folklore, you know just south of here was the infamous Sunnydale, destroyed during the Great Quake." Lenina feels obligated to fill in the history.

"It was rumored to have been the murder capitol of the west, and had the largest number of missing person reports per capita. Furthermore…" The chief cuts her off before she can continue.

"Thank you Officer Huxley. Anyways, satellite pictures from the FBI have shown a great number of unknown assailants massing in the ruins. They have advised us that they are not friendly, and we should expect them to attack the city by nightfall, four hours from now. The military has conducted numerous air strikes, but all have been inexplicably ineffective. The earliest troops can arrive here is by 0800 tomorrow. At this time they have taken up positions to our north, east, and south to contain the assailants when they pass through our city."

The room erupts in verbal pandemonium, as the officers struggle to cope with the desperation of their situation. Once again the chief screams to regain order so he can continue.

"Listen everyone! That maybe their plan, but ours is quite different. We have issued a complete lockdown of the city. All residents in the eastern zones will stay in their homes, while we evacuate the southern and western zones to San Angeles Central Hospital. That structure can house the majority of the residents in their fallout shelters, and we intend to make this our fallback position. City planners have spent all afternoon reinforcing the hospital district, and we believe this will be our strongest defendable position. If these assailants get past us, no one in the city can be saved."

John Spartan keeps anyone from speaking, by immediately interjecting, "Listen up! This is our only hope if we want to save our city, and I'm not interested in giving it up that easily. We have taken all the weapons from the museum, and made as many as we could serviceable, but that's only a hundred or so. On the bright side, we requisitioned the armor you're wearing today from the museum's overflow warehouse. This riot gear will protect you from small arms fire, and the average rock thrown, but nothing more. We've labeled the hospital rally point, for obvious reasons, the Alamo. When we give that signal, this will be where we fall back to. We will resist along your given sectors; but when you're told to fallback by your team leaders, don't hesitate to do so. We don't have enough personnel to realistically secure our borders, but we'll wear them down. Hopefully by the time they get to the hospital, they'll be too worn out to effectively fight. We've discussed this with the military, and they believe that this is the best plan under our current situation."

As the chief tries to explain to the vast number of questions his officers inundate him with, Lenina motions for Faith to follow her back to her office. Officer Spartan joins them a minute later, accompanied with Officer Hernandez. Lenina begins as the door closes.

"All right, we have our zones to cover, and Faith I've been told that you're not to report to your zone. For reasons that are beyond our understanding, the chief was instructed by the governor himself to release you from duty. The chief was speechless for once and the governor gave no details, other than you're to have unlimited access to and from the city. I don't suppose you want to share any insight into this?"

Faith finds herself compelled to remain silent, as her heart aches to be honest with her newly found friends. "I'm sorry, but some things are just too complicated to explain, like my other life when I'm not arresting bad guys, is a bit too…complicated for a quick explanation. It's something that I have no choice to do…it's my job." Faith turns to exit quickly, but hesitates at the door. She turns back to her dumbfounded friends and colleagues for some parting words. "I'm not good at this. I mean that I always seem to find myself running from this sort of thing, but this time I'm actually doing the exact opposite. Lenina, you have been the greatest friend I could ever ask for. John, thank you for showing me that I wasn't just some stupid punk, not worth the time of day. I…I don't know if I'll make it back here by morning, but I want you to know that's because I can't, not because I'm too scared to face up to my future. If I don't make it back, please tell Kayla that…that…well, you get the idea." Faith turns and runs out the Bull Pen before anyone can respond or stop her.

Assembling at Willow and Tara's apartment, Faith changes out of the riot gear into more flexible and comfortable attire: her black leather pants and a black sleeveless shirt. Keeping her police issue steel toed boots, she leaves the rest of it in the apartment and flops onto the Rosenberg's ultra comfortable couch. Waiting for the coven to finish packing their books and gear, Faith finds her thoughts drifting not to the imminent battle, but the defenseless Kayla lying in the hospital. Fishing out a locket of Kayla's hair in her pocket, she treasures the token of Kayla's love and tries to use it to regain her focus for the coming battle. As the four run to their waiting van, Willow explains how they didn't make a mistake in the spell casting when they first fought the demon.

"So you see, it didn't matter that we didn't make any mistakes, if we didn't consecrate every major part of the demon. Blood aside, we thought we'd gotten everything, but it turns out we had missed one of its hands. Don't ask me how we missed it, but we did. I guess we were really stressed, and got clumsy. This time, we won't let that happen." Willow is interrupted by Tara who interjects in a promising tone.

"Even better, the Watcher's Council said they've sent a special ops unit to meet us at the site. They also confirmed that they sent the Raven Claw Coven from England, and they too will meet us there to help us with the casting." Tara's voice seems to trail off as Faith is lost in thought.

Almost in an epiphany, Faith realizes that there's more to lose if the hordes of monsters and demons make it to the Hospital. As the van passes the side entrance of the hospital, Faith screams out to stop the van. Screeching to a halt, Faith looks to Lacey and says, "Look, there's going to be enough witches there to shake a stick at right?" Not waiting for a response Faith urgently continues. "One more isn't going to make a difference there, but one witch here at the hospital could save hundreds if not thousands of lives. These guys will be defenseless against just one evil demon who uses magic, right." Willow jumps into the discussion by saying, "Well, most demons don't use magic very often…" This time Lacey is the one who adds her two bits worth. "Mom, she's got a point. They don't stand a chance against just one magic flinging monster, and the possibility that at least one of them can cast a flame snake, would just decimate their morale and ranks. Faith's right. I need to stay here, at least one of us should, that is."

Tara looks at her watch as the seconds tick by and waits silently as she faces off against her adopted daughter. Huffing, she admits that they are right, and shakes her head. "Those witches better know their crap, or we're screwed." Pointing to the entrance of the hospital, she directs Tara to drive by the ambulance entrance; and after letting Lacey exit, they are speeding towards the western gate out of town.

Without a conventional engine in the van, Faith can not quite get the feeling of their urgency from the sound of the van alone. Faith finds her thoughts drifting back to Kayla's situation at the hospital, and she longs to have her at her side at this battle. With the visions of imminent death and destruction still fresh on her mind, sleeping was not something she longed for often. Willow and Tara chatter endlessly about spell tactics, and Faith feigns sleep to keep from showing her pain and fear. Thoughts of how to defeat this monstrosity flash through her head, but the vision of Kayla's sword keeps worming in. Faith's last thoughts are of panic as the van tumbles end over end and the world around her is swallowed by a black void.