Spike let out a low and dangerous growl as the Slayer ran towards the weapons locker and started passing out weapons. The time, it seemed, for trying to find out who was trying to get to her was now at an end. Grabbing a huge battle-axe and a morningstar, he also checked for some spare stakes in his duster. Buffy took down several crossbows and handed it to Xander, Anya, Tara, and Willow - then included stakes and short swords for them as an after thought. For herself; Buffy took down the long sword she appropriated from the Knights of Byzantium, a few stakes, and then glanced Chad's way. She found him staring as something at the bottom of the weapons cabinet, shrugging, she drew it out for him and everyone else to see. It was a long, black collapsible scythe. It was one of the overstock items accidentally sent to the shop - but since they couldn't trace who sent it by mistake, they kept it with them among the other weapons.
"Do you know how to use one of these?" She asked.
"I dunno, I think I can." Chad answered, testing it for balance and weight. "I'll find out anyways. What do you think Spikey?" He showed the scythe off to the vampire like a prized toy.
The blonde vampire growled. "Damn, do you wanna change? I'll trade you the battle-axe for the scythe."
"Sure," Anya quipped. "Make it a size issue! People, Dawn is in danger and it's not even a Tuesday!"
Buffy nodded, then she asked the young woman where they were with Dawn last. After a few more words, they all closed up the shop, escorted the girl and a few of her friends who elected to wait outside home and started looking for Dawn.
There were signs of a major struggle as they passed through that part of the park in which Dawn and her friends used to cut through the streets towards her house. Upon closer inspection, it seemed that it was the same monster that attacked them last night. Spike sniffed the air, feeling that something was not right. Putting on his "game face", his senses tried to home in on Dawn's scent. The hairs on the back of Buffy's neck tingled as she felt the strangeness too with her Slayer sense, but it was Spike who nailed it down when he screamed a warning that came too late.
"It's a trap!"
Amorphous shadows of varying sizes surrounded them as they formed a defensive circle.
"Shit!" Buffy exclaimed, taking up a stance. "And we walked right into it."
"Well, color me blind and stupid." Chad gritted his teeth as he snapped the scythe at the ready.
Tara saw her first as the creature Buffy described came out of hiding behind a large tree carrying a bound and gagged Dawn on its shoulders just beyond the site of the oncoming battle. "Dawn!" The blond witch called to her.
That's when the shadows attacked.
The Slayer and company tried their best in a vain attempt at defeating the dark amorphous shapes that were clearly more than a match for them. Neither one of them came close to hurting the things. The same could not be true, however, with how the shadows dealt with them. The dark shapes tore through each of the warriors standing as the Termagent Demon stood, watching in satisfaction. Anya was the first to go down as the shadow she was fighting morphed into the shape of a giant rabbit; the poor ex-vengeance demon fainted dead away. Buffy was suddenly thrown toe to toe with a shadow that assumed her outline and knocked her out after several rounds – the Slayer and her shadow were more than evenly matched. Spike was doing no better as he faced three of the dark shapes and found himself playing a humanoid ping-pong game as he was tossed and kicked between his three adversaries, his axe only cleaving nothingness. Xander's opponent blinded him as the young man began swinging wildly and accidentally connected with Willow's jaw, sending both of them tumbling onto the ground, out cold. Tara was about to release a shielding spell until something grabbed her from behind and slammed her against a tree, making her see stars before she closed her eyes. Chad's predicament was far worse, having gained most the things' interest – his scythe wasn't effective at all as it simply passed through the dark shapes, leaving them unharmed. He sure as hell wasn't going to try his chest bursting technique since these things didn't look like they had a body. He was running out of options, they were just too many! He could have handled them if they were somewhat humanoid or simply corporeal – but as it was, it was like hitting empty air. They cornered him near a streetlamp and whaled into him when something surprising happened. Chad's shadow, which was cast by the streetlight, split it into three – and they suddenly rose up as its owner fell into unconsciousness from that last hit and took over the battle. Making it two days in a row that he was beaten. The larger, and darkest of Chad's shadows had a shadow mirror copy of Chad's scythe, and it drove the rest of the enemies back – fighting on equal terms since it was a shadow itself - while the lighter and lightest ones kept defensive positions around the defenseless heroes.
Upon seeing this outcome, the monster's face fell and decided that the better part of villainy was to make itself as scarce as possible. Tucking Dawn under one arm, it ran for its master.
A few more minutes later, the darkest of Chad's shadows exhaled a sigh of relief as the enemy shadows dispersed. "Sheesh!" it said, "Some bodyguards we are. We almost got the boss and his friends whooped by those stinking amateurs. C'mon, we don't have all night." He gestured to the unconscious Scoobies. "Let's get them somewhere safe till we can figure out why those morons are after the Slayer and her pals."
"What about the sister?" the lighter one asked, as it hoisted Xander on one arm and carried Willow with the other.
"There's nothing we can do right now," the lightest of them supplied as it went over to carry Tara and Anya. "These guys should regroup and start making plans before trying to fight any more of our brethren. As of now, they just barely escaped from this donnybrook."
The darkest shadow glanced back at where Chad lay and noticed another shadow lying alongside him, being cast from the glare of the streetlamp. Snorting, he went over and kicked the shadow up. "Hey! Wake up, ya bum! Get the hell up and carry the boss while I take the Slayer and her vampire boyfriend. We're boating out before those idiots come back."
The last shadow rose and gently picked up Chad as they all marched towards the Slayer's house. The last shadow grumbled back at the leader, "When the hell are gonna let the boss know we exist? I mean; they nearly got turned to sushi tonight just because he doesn't know we're always around him. He's gotta start learning on how to summon us to fight effectively. We can't just wait for him to regain his memory even if we don't know if it'll come back or not!"
"How the hell do you think he lost them in the first place, you knucklehead?!" The darkest one glared back.
"Hey, at least we saved him back up north!" The lighter one said as it tried to wedge an impasse at what could become a growing argument – looking at its lightest kin as it grunted in acknowledgement. "And at least he woke up in a hospital bed rather than in the middle of nowhere."
"WHATEVER!" the darkest one growled. "But I still think that it is too soon for him to know."
"Hmph." The last shadow continued. "We don't have that luxury of time anymore, he's gonna be needing us soon now that the enemy knows we're working for him. It's just our bad luck we wound up on the Hellmouth that's all. Just think of it as another stroll down the fright lane like that few couple of days the boss spent with that kid from outer space down in Kansas, what was his name again? Clark or something?"
"All right. ALL RIGHT!!" the darkest shadow gave in, "We get him to wake up and explain a bit of what's been going on after they went beddie-bye. Besides, no way are the others gonna be convinced that the boss carried them all by himself back to the Slayer's house. He could probably make up a story better than we can at this point."
"But know this," he emphasized, "The boss is the only one who needs to know right now, not the others. Is that clear? Anything else after that is for the boss man to decide!"
They all agreed and the rest of the way home was spent in silence.
Chad had the feeling of swimming across a great distance. He heard voices speak to him, coaxing him up towards the surface. Needing air so badly, he rushed toward the sounds. He wasn't prepared for what greeted his eyes as he opened them to full wakefulness however. Seeing the four shadows around Buffy's living room brought him up to a fighting stance in a matter of seconds.
Waitasec… what are we doing in Buffy's living room again? Weren't we supposed to be out in a big bruhaha looking for the Slayer's kidnapped sister?
"WHOA boss, easy there!" the closest and darkest amongst the shadows there spoke. "We don't want you passing out again before the others wake up. We have got some serious talkage to do before the rest of them rose and shone, if you get my drift."
"What games are you playing?" Chad replied, fists still up.
"No games." The darkest one said, "We took over the fight when you got K.O.'ed and brought you guys over here. We're not like the ones you and your friends were fighting, well, maybe a little like them – but definitely with more brains and attitude! In plain simple terms: we saved your butts."
"So how do I know this isn't some elaborate sort of trap?" the young man ground out.
"Because we serve you, and only you." Came the unexpected reply. "Implicitly."
Chad's jaw sagged in disbelief. "SAY WHAT?!"
TBC