Disclaimer: Hellboy is the property of Dark Horse Comics and Mike Mignola. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel are both the property of Mutant Enemy and their affiliates. I own neither, and am writing this neither for commercial distribution nor profit. If they so require I will take this down whenever they ask. Original Characters are my property and may be used only with permission. Seriously folks, all you have to do is ask. I'm writing Fanfiction for crying out loud.

11. The Plague of Frogs

Liz Sherman was not a woman who was truly emotional by most human standards. If she were Connecticut would have disappeared in an atomic fire flash decades ago. But right now she was in a singularly foul mood. She had been doing this job since she was eighteen, and in the twenty years that she'd been doing it she had seen many horrible things, monsters, demons. She and Abe and Hellboy had experienced so much in this life that very little was truly a shock to her. For instance, at the moment she was somewhere underneath Kansas City, wiping the spattered gore that was all that remained of a score or more of frog men who'd decided to jump their little strike team. She didn't even wince at those damn things anymore. Fucking frog men.

However none of the many demons, mutants, and god-knows-what-else had ever pissed her off as much as Ben Daimio. Apparently it was his true gift. She wondered if Manning had placed him on the 'Special Assets' team for it. It was nearly a superpower.

"No," Liz said, her voice firm and hard. "No more agents. No more dead. I've had all of the fact finding I can stand."

The bloated frog queens, heavy with tadpoles that would grow up to be man eating frog creatures were an abomination. Something deep within her recognized it, knew it as surely as it knew the heat of the sun and pounding of her own pulse within her veins. They had to be stopped. She shut the rest of them out of her mind as she reached within herself. The Flame rested there, a power that had frightened her and tormented her for most of her life. Now though, after decades of reluctant practice and two years of training, the Flame came easily to her.

Dimly she was aware of Daimio's near hysterical yelling as he pulled the entire team back. However, it was a small distraction that hardly effected her focus. The Flame rose within her eager and angry. Apparently it didn't like the frog men either.

"The fire is not my enemy," she whispered. She spread her arms wide, dark red hair beginning to dance in air that flowed from the heat she was putting off. Her amber eyes set into a face that was worn before its time by the stresses of her life began to glow within and her slightly careworn features became oddly ageless as she spoke. "It is a part of me. It is mine."

It leaped around her, called from Beyond, bright and hot and furious. The wailing of the corpulent frog queens was music to It, and It danced among them with even more energy. The light became unbearable for any without her eyes as the creatures were burned into mounds of gray ash under an inferno that left the stone beneath her boots glowing a cherry red. It strained at Its chains but it was a mindless thing, willful but without focus. Seal after seal, mantra after mantra she restrained the fire until it slept fitfully within her once more.

She slowly lowered her arms, listening to the creaking of the stones beneath her feet as they released the heat she had forced into them. Liz turned away and walked out of the tunnel. The others were waiting for her on the surface. Daimio looked like he was about to flip out. It made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

"I think we should take off, nuke the site from orbit," Liz said with a very tiny smirk. "It's the only way to be sure."

"Stuff it Sherman," Daimio said, but he was the one who turned away. Liz crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. Just another day in the BPRD 'special talents' corps.

0oooo0oooo0

"So we're going to a place called Sunnydale?" Liz asked with a raised eyebrow. A tiny flame extended from her index finger, lighting her cigarette. She took a puff on it before continuing. "That's overrun with the forces of darkness. My irony sense is tingling. More like screaming."

The briefing table in the BPRD headquarters in the Colorado defense installation was like most of the giant steel building; utilitarian to the point of being nearly useless. It was hard enough to bring one's self to sit in the chairs, but the minimal supports on the table were just the right height to bang your knees on every time you moved. Liz noticed Kate bite back a curse as she shifted in her seat, bumping her shin against the cold steel. In the eternal battle of overworked employee vs. government furniture, government table wins again.

"We've known about the place for a long time," the blonde historian responded. "Just decided there was nothing to be done about it."

Kate Corrigan was an interesting woman. Only a few years older than Liz herself, Doc Corrigan had worked with Hellboy for years before. He'd sort of accidentally dragged her into their world of demons and monsters in a very direct way when they'd run afoul of demon empowered werewolves in Griart Germany. She'd picked up a few more 'practical' skills after that particularly memorable incident. She could drill a silver dollar from twenty yards with a .45. Your average anthropologist couldn't really do that.

Corrigan liked to joke that she was a 'woman of action' and practiced 'applied anthropology'. Though she looked like a very normal, if healthy, woman approaching her mid forties, Kate was as dangerous as just about any normal BPRD agent. She was also one of the smartest people that Liz had ever known. She had been the last one that Hellboy had spoken to before he decided to leave. Kate had seemed strangely torn when he'd left according to Abe. She was happy that Hellboy was looking into things for himself, that much Liz had gotten from her, but she seemed to miss him more than most. Liz wondered and not for the first time if there was something more between the two of them.

But HB would never kiss and tell, and Corrigan would probably do something extremely unpleasant to her if she brought it up. Liz could level a city block, sure, but Corrigan was mean.

"I believe this particular mission will require a degree of anonymity," Johann Kraus said in an amiable tone. "Abe and I will likely not be joining you."

This was true; neither of them were terribly subtle. One was a fish man, and the other was an exosuit that contained Johann's ectoplasmic body. They kind of stood out in a crowd.

"Abe hasn't been doing much since he got back from New England," Liz said, shaking her head. "Not too big a surprise. But why the hush up?"

"These people," Kate said, tossing a folder down on the table. The dossier was thick; much thicker than almost any file that Liz had seen in the Bureau. Picking it up and thumbing through it without truly reading, Liz looked up at Kate.

"Who are they?" Liz asked. Kate laughed.

"Hm, more like what," Kate said, pushing some of her short blonde hair out of her face. Even though she was laughing, Kate's blue eyes were deadly serious. "That girl, the blond skinny one? Name is Elizabeth Anne Summers, age twenty one. Apparently she goes by the name 'Buffy'. She can punch nearly as hard as our big red friend. Although she lacks the built in sledgehammer."

"What's wrong with the name Elizabeth?" Liz groused slightly. Who the hell would want to be called 'Buffy'? She raised an eyebrow. "Metahuman?"

"Oh yes," Kate said. She had a wry expression. "She's called the Vampire Slayer, worked for a society that calls itself the Watcher's Council. Professor Bruttenholm was once a member apparently. However, he resigned when the BPRD was formally created. They have been around a long time; maybe as far back as our recorded history goes. The Slayer herself is an empowered human. Supposedly ancient Shamans took the heart of a Greater Demon and bound it to the soul of a pure human girl, the noblest they could find. It granted her strength and speed comparable with Hellboy and a host of other senses and some degree of prophetic ability."

Liz felt a strange twinge in her chest at that. Something about that story affected the Flame, causing it to stir in its sleep. Liz wasn't sure that she liked that at all. She frowned a little and refocused on what was being said.

"The line is passed down to another soul when the current slayer dies," Kate continued. "And not anyone can be one. Only a young woman no older than sixteen and a descendant of the First Slayer can take up the mantle. However, that's still a huge number of people. It's been a long time since then."

"I confess," Kate sighed. "I thought it was just a myth until I was given this dossier. Apparently she's quite real and so are these others."

Kate's finger pointed at a young woman with brown hair artistically streaked with blonde standing next to the Slayer. The two of them were dressed in dark gray suits, walking through what looked like a park. The younger woman couldn't have been older than sixteen Liz guessed. For all that she looked like a mean customer. She had a lean look that Liz knew well, and she wore an almost artistic scar over her left eye.

"That girl is Summers' sister," Kate said. "Dawn Summers. There have been a lot of claims lately of another superhuman force working on this geomantic weak spot. The Spanish called it the "Boca del Inferno"."

"Mouth of Hell?" Johann asked. Kate nodded.

"Apparently it isn't a huge overstatement," Kate said. "But this new force, well, they claimed that it is creature that can be anywhere, wreathed in green flames."

The next photograph was taken with orbital assets. Liz blinked as she looked at it. It looked like a highway with two incredible splotches taken out of the middle of it. She picked it up and handed it over to Johann in his encounter suit, while turning back to Kate.

"That was bloom picked up by the ASAT defense system three weeks ago," Kate said with a grimace. "Two entities caused that. One of which was emitting a lot of light in the green end of the spectrum. The other was a heat bloom worthy of you Liz."

"This photo got our old friends at the Army's "Initiative", who's been in charge of monitoring the place, to do a little digging. Turns out the little girl here arrived in town the next day in the company of this character."

Another photo was placed on the table, this time of a well groomed gentleman in a suit. He was wearing sunglasses, but...

"And Gary Oldman was most definitely in Spain when this was taken," Corrigan said. She shook her head. "This one we think is a shape shifter of some kind. What, exactly, well... here is the next thing they caught."

This time Liz dropped the photo and whirled on Kate. "You're kidding me. An honest to god dragon is flying around out there and you're telling me we only got this five weeks after the fact?"

"You should be happy you got it at all," Kate said, clearly unhappy herself. "You wouldn't believe the things I found that the Initiative and a few other parties had been doing to keep us out of that part of southern California. It was an incredible effort. That and Dr. Bruttenholm left some instructions that we were to cooperate with a Mr. Travers of the Watcher's Council whenever possible. Manning didn't really care much when our friends across the pond told him not to look. We already had enough on our plate."

"However this frog thing has got the Army jumpy and nervous. Made it a lot easier to get this and a pile of back data. Normally I'd advise that we just stay the hell away from Sunnydale. We have big fish to fry right now. However it looks like advance parties have made it all the way there."

A picture of a frog man corpse, obviously taken by police forensics, was displayed in gruesome detail. The creature had been gutted by some kind of cutting implement.

"It appears the locals do not appreciate the frog men either," Johann observed.

"I wish," Kate said wearily. "But we have to be sure. The real reason we're not sending anyone other than Liz and myself is that we really don't want to attract the attention of the Slayer. She's dangerous and she doesn't really owe that much loyalty to anyone. She just started working with a consulting company, along with her little sister."

A business card joined the rest of the intel. It was covered with an interesting symbol made of an arrangement of three Ss, connected like a triskelle. "Summers, Slade, and Associates Security Contractors?'

Liz looked up as she read aloud. "We help the helpless? What the hell is this?"

"A company founded by the gentle-thing in the Armani suit," Kate said. "And the two Summers sisters. Looks like they have about three or four employees at the moment, but they might have more any time now. They landed two contracts within a month of their founding, both prominent local financial institutions. They do good work too, apparently. They can really poke holes in your average security set up."

"I'll bet," Liz said, putting the photo down and thinking hard. This was going to be... interesting. She looked at Kate. "Well, when do we leave?"

0oooo0oooo0

Dawn slumped into her chair at the Espresso Pump. She rubbed at her eyes and muttered something under her breath. She hadn't felt this exhausted since Nuada's marathon training and hadn't felt this pissed off since Glory. It all came down to the one thing that Sunnydale hadn't had a problem with until now; the fucking frog men. Blearily Dawn examined the mocha in front of her.

She nearly jumped out of her seat when Buffy flopped into the seat next to her. Dawn glared at her. "Don't do that!"

"I thought you were all Miss Sensitive these days," Buffy said with a smug look. Dawn slowly hit her head on the Formica tabletop.

"I have trouble on the Hellmouth," Dawn said into the tabletop. "And after Warren scrambled my brain with that amulet, I never really got it back all the way."

"Poor baby," Buffy smirked, reaching out to rub her sister's back. Dawn made a strange purring sound and leaned back again with a beatific smile. "That's better."

"Thanks," Dawn said. "My back's been really itchy lately. Anyway, how did your team do last night?"

They'd taken to going out in teams. Anything less and you'd get swarmed to death. They found that out the hard way about two weeks ago, and if it hadn't been for the Dawn Summers Dragon Delivery Service (tm) Buffy might have been laid up for weeks. Ten to one odds are tough even on a Slayer. Particularly if the things hit as hard as vampires and work in packs to bring you down.

Ever since Warren had been taken, things had been going downhill fast. More and more of them just kept coming. The strange thing about all this though was that the frog demons didn't seem to be attacking the local human population yet. They'd grab the odd person who was out by themselves, but they stayed away from groups of humans. Supernaturals were another matter entirely. Just about every vampire had gone to ground and most of the demons. They were striking ruthlessly. Last night's attack on the Dragon Wing Tavern was not a surprise. Just about every demon bar in town had either closed down, or become a fortress like the Dragon Wing.

"Pretty well," Buffy said. "That Winky guy is good to have around. We must have gotten at least twenty of them."

"Me, Fred, Xander, and the Jackals got about sixteen I think," Dawn said. She looked up as a pair of fairly attractive older women that she didn't recognize walked into the coffee shop. Both were average height. One of them wore a pair of silver earrings and a leather jacket. Her blonde hair was cut short and she had the same sort of 'tweed spine implant' that Buffy claimed Giles had. Except that she knew how to kill people. Something about the way she walked gave it away. That and the there was a slight bulge of a shoulder holster under her left arm when she turned to order her coffee from Stacy.

The woman that she was deep in conversation with was striking. Her hair was very unusual, a very dark red, almost blood colored. Though she had small crow's feet around her eyes, she was still very fit looking. She wore a pants suit, much like the ones that Dawn preferred, but in black. Her shirt was a deep red, and she wore a striking choker with a silver cross on it. She had a cigarette tucked behind her left ear. For a moment the other woman's eyes flicked around the room, almost in habit. If Dawn hadn't been looking straight at her she might have missed it. But their eyes did meet.

The red haired woman's eyes glowed. They were the amber color of banked coals, and they; well, the only thing she could call it was burned.

And for a second, the power of the Key within her... sang in a deadly harmony. Buffy gave her an alarmed look as her expression twitched into a set combat frown. The redhead matched it, her eyes growing lighter – or maybe beginning to cast light. Buffy reached out and grabbed Dawn's arm.

"What are you doing?" Buffy hissed. "Your eyes are glowing."

"We aren't alone here Buffy," Dawn said. "Turn around and give the redhead and Ms. Tweed a look."

Buffy did so and she also stopped and went completely still. The look on her face was one that Dawn had only seen on her face a very few times. She just couldn't really remember when. It wasn't anger exactly, but there was tension. Tension and a strange vulnerability. The redhead was even stranger to watch. The look of total shock on her face was something Dawn hadn't expected. Not after that soldier's gaze just a second ago.

The blonde next to her finished with the cash register and turned to see the way her companion and Buffy were just staring at each other. Her eyes went wide with recognition, and her hand seemed to go for her jacket with an admirable speed.

However Dawn was faster. At six thirty in the morning the Espresso Pump didn't have a huge number of customers, and none of them were looking their way in the half a second it took Dawn to materialize behind the blonde woman. She flipped the knife she had up her sleeve into her hand and dug the point very gently into the professor's back.

"I wouldn't do that," she said quietly. "I'd hate to have to snap your neck, and my sister really hates guns. You don't want to piss her off. Makes me look like an amateur. Now, my name is Dawn Summers, and I've been up late killing frog men all night. So why don't we make this easy? You two come and sit with us and we have a nice little chat, eh? What's your name? No bullshit."

"Kate," the woman said, relaxing very slowly away from her pistol.

"Pleasure to meet you Kate," Dawn said. "Now sit. You too Sparky."

The redhead whipped around to look at her, as if noticing her there for the first time. She smiled at the redhead as she flipped the knife over her palm and slid it back into its sheath. The redhead looked back at Buffy almost furtively, and then nodded with the same practiced slowness that 'Kate' had.

"Any trouble?" Stacy asked. Dawn looked over at her shook her head negative. Stacy, a girl who'd been in the year behind Buffy, was one of several people in Sunnydale that the Scoobies had saved and she had some vague idea of what the two of them did to keep the people safe. She wouldn't cause problems, but she might call the cops down if she thought Buffy and Dawn were in trouble.

"No we're fine," Dawn said. She picked up the two coffees that Kate had abandoned on the countertop. "Just decided to have a business meeting unexpectedly. No big here."

Dawn took the coffee over to the table and the two newcomers sat down. Buffy was watching the redhead with a singular focus, and had the slight scrunchy face that Dawn knew meant she was thinking really fast. As if something about the redhead was familiar to her.

"Now," Dawn said with a Cordelia Chase style smile. "Why don't we get to know each other like civilized people. Let's begin with this. Who the hell are you?"

0oooo0oooo0

Liz massaged her temples. "Look, Kate, I need coffee. You need coffee. Why don't we just go get some coffee? This is going to be a long enough day as it is."

"Fine," Kate said with a slight frown. She pushed the door to the 'Espresso Pump' open and walked inside. "Just thinking of all the reports that are waiting for us to comb through them gives me a headache. Maybe coffee would be a good idea."

"I hear that," Liz said. She tucked a cigarette behind her ear and rubbed her hands together. She frowned at the display as Kate stated her order. She turned to Liz who shrugged. "Whatever they have that can remove paint from metal."

"Oh, we call that a Summers Special," the far too bouncy for this early in the morning brunette said from behind the counter. Her name tag read 'Stacy'. She proceeded to do some kind of complicated little dance behind the counter. Liz suspected it would involve some kind of espresso combination that would probably make her vibrate like the strings of violin, but she could use it today.

Out of habit she did her usual thirty second scan, looking around the room quickly. Her eyes swept over a blonde woman who was hunched forward wearing a well scuffed leather duster and curled around her coffee like a protective lioness curled around her cubs. Her gaze continued when her eyes locked with the blonde woman's companion. She was young, and her brown hair was streaked with blonde. She was dressed in a shorter leather jacket and grubby jeans. Her emerald eyes met Liz's and there was a sensation; a flicker. Instead of staring at a girl with blonde hair, she was looking at an ageless being with brown and green hair whose eyes glowed with an inner radiance.

Liz felt the Flame raise up in defiance. But for the first time in a long time the Flame, which had burned one of the Ogdru Hem and Rasputin himself to a crisp like an impudent child, felt threatened. It was all she could do to keep it from raising up against the strange girl-woman who was staring at her.

At least until the other woman turned around. Then the world froze.

Her eyes were the blue of a clear sky, and when the looked at Liz the Flame which had been banging at its cage so fiercely simply went... quiet. Completely silent. She felt a strange calm fall over her as she watched the blonde react. There was an odd sensation of lightness in her heart; but only one thought came to her clearly.

I know this woman.

She knew her like she knew her own heartbeat and the pulse of the Flame within her own soul. Vague memories that were not her own tried to force themselves to the surface of her mind, but all that made it through was a vague fog of recognition and a strange sense of peace. She hardly noticed the fact that the green haired girl was behind Kate now. Until the woman addressed her. She turned to her and barely registered the words through the pounding of her own pulse in her ears. Liz was aware that she was nodding and then she was sitting with her coffee in front of her. Both Kate and the girl (Dawn Summers?) were looking at her and the blonde woman with concern.

"Liz? Are you alright?" Kate asked. "Dawn here just asked a question I thought you should help me respond to."

Liz looked away from the other and towards her old friend. She felt the very foreign sensation of a genuine smile on her own face.

"I can't hear it," she said quietly. Kate's eyes went wide.

"I assume it is what I think it is?"

"Yes," Liz said looking back at the blonde. Very slowly she extended her hand to the blonde woman. "Elizabeth Sherman."

"Buffy Summers," Buffy said in a strangled tone. The touch was strangely electric and Liz felt the tingles of power that ran between them. "How... I know you. How do I know you?"

"I don't know," Liz said after a moment. Dawn cleared her throat.

"So, you guys aren't from around here," Dawn began, looking desperate to control the flow of the conversation. "Who do you work for?"

"The U.S. Government," Kate said after a moment of consideration. Dawn's head jerked around and her eyes became emerald slits.

"The Initiative?" Dawn asked. Kate shook her head quickly.

"No, in fact if anything we're a rival organization," Kate said. "We're older too. We were founded back in the thirties to fight Hitler's occult forces."

"That crap actually happened?" Dawn exclaimed. "Next thing you'll tell me is that Lobster Johnson was real."

Kate made a face. "I refrain from comment. Now..."

"He was real," Dawn said with wide eyes. "Oh... Xander is going to flip."

"Lobster Johnson?" Buffy asked, the bizarre name shaking her out of her reverie. Dawn grinned a little.

"He's the guy that The Shadow and probably Batman were based on," Dawn said. "According to the urban legend he fought against crime, Nazis, and weirder things in New York City during the twenties and thirties. Of course, no one ever really saw him do anything. Didn't even really know what he looked like. Xander was such a fangirl when he was younger."

"He wore a jacket like yours," Liz said, looking away from Buffy to Dawn. "Bomber style. Wore a cap and goggles too. Word has it he had a hell of a right hook. Or so an old friend claims."

"Myth aside," Kate interjected. "We... well we're here for a few reasons. Perhaps there's somewhere we can go and talk a bit more privately. It has to do with what Dawn mentioned more than anything else."

"I have a place," Dawn said after a moment of deliberation. She looked over at Buffy and gave a small nod. Buffy shrugged.

"Fine by me, it's your office, and you're the bossy lady," Buffy smirked.

"Oh that is so not fair," Dawn huffed as she got up, taking her coffee with her. "I have nothing on Buff-zilla. Ugh. All right ladies, step right this way."

Liz got to her feet along with Kate. The two of them followed Dawn out of the coffee shop, taking a turn around into a fairly abandoned alleyway. Buffy followed, looking like she was kind of in a haze. Liz swallowed some of her coffee to wet her rapidly drying throat. Dawn turned around and looked at them with a sweet smile.

"Alright," Dawn said. "Time for the express. Hold on to your hats ladies..."

There was flash of light and Liz felt the terrible sensation of falling through the universe. She looked around her, and in that instant she saw it. The substructure of the universe laid out like the I beams within a building, the stuff that held the universe together. Then the falling was over and she stumbled into a room that she didn't recognize. It was a beautiful office, like someone who ran a law firm would have, but the obvious key motif running through the furniture and the great seal set into the black marble of the floor gave it an edge. It reminded her of Professor Bruttenholm's office. Where he'd died.

A man in a leather jacket with graying brown hair jumped in surprise. Dawn turned to him as Liz and Kate fought to regain their balance after the mind warping journey.

"Dawn! I was just her cataloging the demonology books that we were bringing up from the Magic Box and..."

"Giles," she said, cutting him off. "We have a bit of a problem. Feds, but not Initiative. Someone else."

"BPRD?" Giles asked as he gave Kate a long look. Kate, who had just straightened up, looked surprised.

"You know who we are?" Kate asked. Giles shrugged.

"I knew a Professor Bruttenholm when I was a child. He was an associate of my father, and a fine Watcher. I hope he is still with you."

"No," Kate said, but shrugged. "Before my time."

"He was a hero," Liz said, finally reigning in her rebellious inner ear. "Rasputin and Sadu Hem killed him. Ate his soul. All we got back was an empty shell. But he gave us what we needed to win."

Dawn went pale as a sheet. "You killed one of Them?"

"Burned it alive," Liz said, looking up to stare Dawn in the eye. The Summers girl was looking at her with respect and no little fear. "I've killed it, and I'll kill any others I meet."

"Me too," Dawn whispered. Liz cocked her head to the side.

"What?"

"Gl'athro Hem," Dawn whispered. Buffy blinked.

"The whosy what?"

"The Divine Glorificus," Dawn said. She shook her head and turned aside. "Buffy, could you bring Slade up here? I want all three of us on this."

"Yes oh bossy one," Buffy griped, but she was still too foggy to object to much. She wandered out of the door. Dawn waited for a few seconds in silence before rounding on Liz.

"Alright lady," Dawn said. "What the hell are you? Because you ain't a human."

Liz leaned back as if she'd been slapped. Dawn shook her head in irritation.

"You think I give a damn about whether you're human? My best friend is a troll lady. But I can feel you. You're a..."

"Demon," Liz whispered. Dawn blinked.

"Actually I was gonna go for angel, but okay if you wanna think that fine."

"I'm..." Liz began and paused. "Maybe it would be better if I just showed you."

She pulled out her cigarette from behind her ear and held out a fingertip, lighting the tobacco in a flash. Liz brought the cigarette to her lips and took a drag. She gave Dawn a lazy look.

"Pyrokenisis," Giles said with a tiny degree of awe. Dawn shook her head.

"No," Dawn said. "You're not a psychic like that. There's something in you, isn't there? Just like there is in Buffy. An entity; maybe an Outsider and one powerful enough to kill an Ogdru Hem."

"How could you tell that?" Kate asked. Dawn looked at her and smiled a very strange smile.

"Because I'm not human," Dawn said. "I'm... eh, I guess I would say that I'm an interested neutral party. I've had a lot of things people used to call me. But that isn't important. What is important is what the hell she's doing to my sister."

"Something is wrong with Buffy?" Giles asked warily. Dawn nodded.

"She had this funny look," Dawn said, without taking her eyes off Liz. "And it took me awhile to remember when I saw it. The only person I ever saw get that look was Angel."

Giles stopped his glasses polishing. "Oh my."

"That's what I said," Dawn replied. She turned and gave a sigh, walking behind the huge desk and gesturing towards the seats in front of the oak construction. Liz, slightly confused by this, sat down along with Kate. "All right, all weirdness aside, you guys are here for a reason. What is that?"

"The plague of frogs," Kate said. Dawn raised an eyebrow.

"Great name for it," she commented. Kate gave Dawn a mirthless smile.

"Well that was the prophecy of Sadu-hem," Kate said. "Saint Agnus the Lesser had a way with words."

"You know Saint Agnus the Lesser?" Giles asked with a hint of respect of his own. Kate grinned and the two of them launched into a conversation that lost Liz pretty much instantly. Dawn didn't even bother trying to track it. Instead she seemed to be drilling a hole in Liz's forehead with her eyes.

"What?" Liz shot at her. The younger Summers girl smiled at her.

"Look," Dawn said. She took a deep breath, composing herself. "My sister's... in a vulnerable place right now. I just don't want people screwing with her head, and your very presence seems to do that. So please; whatever is going on in your head right now? I'm not going to tell you to stay away from her. That would be so Buffy of me. But I will give you a warning. Don't hurt her. She's had so much hurt in her life I don't know if she can take any more."

"She's not the only one," Liz said, meeting Dawn's stare head on. They locked gazes like that until the door behind them slammed open and an exuberant looking man in a charcoal suit swept into the room followed by a much more focused Buffy.

"So, what's the rumpus?" Slade asked with a grin. He looked the two BPRD representatives over with a keen eye. "Ms. Summers the Senior says we've got government agents here to help us... kill the spawn of the Ogdru Hem?"

"Yes actually," Kate said. "This was supposed to be a covert inspection of the town. We're actually trying to figure out why so many of the frogs on this side of the Continental divide are moving through Sunnydale."

"The Hellmouth," Slade said with a shrug. "Easy answer. They can hide out here really easily and it's a powerful dimensional rift if you want to summon something from elsewhere. Here, let me show you. I think the visual will help you some. Mr. Wink and I liberated this thing from the remnants of that Initiative base here in Sunnydale."

He walked over to a bookshelf and pulled out a rolled up diagram. He unfurled it on the conference table to the side of Dawn's desk. It was designed like an engineer's blueprints, layers of tunnels, which fit over one another. Kilometers of them underneath the town. Liz's eyes went wide as saucers.

"You've got to be kidding me," she said after a moment. "They could fill all of this if they wanted to?"

"Tunnels aren't unoccupied," Buffy mentioned, leaning over Liz's shoulder to look at it with a thoughtful frown. "But they all converge on the old Sunnydale High School. It's kind of wrecked now, but if I were a slimy toad man with people problems and a love of dank tunnels it's where I would hole up."

Liz looked up at her with a wry smile. "You know, I could get used to working with people who have a sense of humor."

"That's us," Buffy mumbled, looking away. "A laugh a minute."

"I believe that your hypothesis might prove correct if they want to open the Hellmouth for example," Giles stated. "But we cannot be certain of that. I for one would not wish to venture in those tunnels with anything less than a small army."

"We've got one of those Giles," Dawn said quietly. "We have a Buffy, me, Slade, Mr. Wink, Spike, the Jackals and as much as I hate to say it, Willow. Plus the rest of you guys aren't exactly slouches."

"And you have one walking nuclear weapon," Liz said quietly. Dawn tilted her head to the side, but gave a single sharp nod.

"I think recon in force might not be a bad idea," Buffy said. She gave Kate and Liz a speculative look. "Take the government types with us. If they do well, maybe we can talk about working together more."

"I don't know about that," Dawn cautioned. Giles gave a nod of agreement. "As much as I'd like to trust them..."

"They're the government," Slade countered. "Which means they also have money. Money which we need if we're going to continue here. Perhaps if things go well, we could discuss a more long term agreement."

"Bu-but," Giles began. Slade gave him a very sharp look.

"Money equals better library. Government contract equals money. You do the logical transposition. Now, perhaps we should strike during the day. The creatures seem to sleep at such a time, am I correct?"

"That's true," Kate said. "As far as we can tell they really don't like sunlight, even though it doesn't seem to actually hurt them. Not like it does a vampire."

"We can access the tunnel system from here," Dawn said, pointing to a location on the map that marked their building. "We're only about a mile away from the Hellmouth core. Do they spread out?"

"Not so much," Liz said with a grim expression. "They tend to group together in huge hives. They have... queens, I guess. Things that have thousands and thousands of tadpoles. We don't know how fast they mature but given how many of them there are."

"We're all fucked," Slade observed. He rubbed at his goatee and gave Liz a long look. "Alright. Proposals?"

"Get everyone and the Jackals together," Dawn said. Buffy nodded and picked it up from there.

"Anyone that can see in low light would be great. Spike, Mr Wink, and I can do that. Get night vision goggles for everyone else? Maybe get the Jackals to bring their flamethrowers on this one," Buffy mused. Dawn made an equivocating gesture.

"Flames like that plus enclosed spaces equals bad Buffy," Dawn said. "On the other hand, mayhem. Choices, choices."

"I know, this is worse than shoe shopping with you," Buffy said. "Look why don't we just have the Jackals take one flame thrower and the rest of them have those carbonite things?"

"The M-4 carbines?" Dawn asked with an arched eyebrow. Buffy nodded and Liz and Kate burst into almost uncontrolled laughter.

"What?" Buffy asked defensively. Liz shook her head with a small smile.

"Nothing, just been a long time since I've been around someone who knew so little about guns," Liz said with a small genuine smile. "Particularly in our business. Who are these Jackals?"

"Hm," Dawn said. "Perhaps it would just be better if you met the Jackals. They down there practicing right now?"

"Yup," Slade said. Dawn nodded. The entire group trailed down the passage ways and down two flights of stairs and further down past a sealed metal door. The basement was quite homey, but the racket could be heard from where they were standing. Dawn walked up to what looked like a newly installed door and clanged on it a few times before opening it. The incredible racket of firearms being discharged in an enclosed space cut off. A group of four feral looking men and women were now standing lazily at ease. They were dressed in the black that most BPRD strike teams preferred and the weapons in their hands looked familiar to them. One other stood aside with his arms crossed over his chest, a lopsided smile on his face.

"Xander," Dawn said. "How goes the racket making?"

"Pretty good," Xander replied. "All we need are some tennis balls."

Dawn couldn't repress her groan and shook her head.

"Ladies, may I introduce you to Xander Harris, head of the 1st Sunnydale Irregulars, the Jackals. This is Tor, Heidi, Rhonda, and Kyle. This is Liz Sherman and Kate Corrigan."

"A pleasure," Xander said. "Well for me at least. You may not think so in a moment. Okay so, looks like we're on already again. What's the story?"

"Well it looks like we may be able to take the fight to our froggy little friends down in the tunnels," Buffy stated. Xander gave her a dubious look.

"Listen, I know you're all 'super lady' but for the rest of us I don't like that scenario thanks. I like my limbs intact and attached to my body."

"We're taking everyone we can," Dawn said. She grimaced. "Even Willow. Look, if we let this get worse it's going to get a lot worse. Apparently these things breed like those lovely roaches you used to have in your apartment."

Xander blanched slightly. "Well, could we at least get a few hours sleep?"

"Yup, I just wanted to let you guys know. Standard contract for this one. You bag it we pay you. Simple and easy."

"Good," Tor said lazily. "I need a new couch anyway."

The other three laughed in a way that was disturbingly manic. Liz raised her eyebrow. At least she knew why they were called the 'Jackals' now. They filed out while Dawn walked over to Xander and laid a hand on his shoulder, giving him an understanding look. He shot her a hollow looking smile, before disassembling the M-4 faster than anyone she'd ever seen. Even Daimio wasn't that fast with Bureau issued case-less battle rifles.

"Um," Buffy said, catching Liz's attention again. She looked over to see Kate and the Giles man drawn into another deep conversation about something completely mind numbing. "So... you wanna get some food? Lay down for a while?"

Liz shook her head. "Too wired. You?"

"Ditto," Buffy said. She frowned. "Well okay. I could show you around the town if you want. Not much of it; my adopted sister used to say it was a one Starbucks town. You know, wrong side of the tracks basically the same place as the right side."

"It didn't seem that bad," Liz offered. Buffy laughed.

"It isn't, and besides it has it's... Hellmouthy charms. Like demons. And frog men who want to turn you into freaky mutant copies of themselves."

"Something every town needs," Liz said sagely. She smiled and grabbed Buffy's hand. "Come on, why don't you show a girl around town."

Neither of the two of them noticed the concerned look that Giles, Dawn, and Xander shared. Kate raised an eyebrow as Liz dragged Buffy out of the room, but otherwise said nothing. However, she was keeping her wits about her.

0oooo0oooo0

For being situated dead on top of a dimensional sinkhole, Sunnydale was a surprisingly nice town. They'd gone out, hit some shops, something Liz hadn't done in ages. Maybe ten years. It was funny, but she felt ten years younger too. They'd ended up back in Buffy's office at the Summers, Slade, and Associates building.

It was a strange room, Liz mused taking a sip through her straw from a raspberry smoothie. The hardwood floors were pretty much the only thing it had in common with Dawn's office. Buffy's desk was tiny in comparison, with only a slightly scuffed looking laptop on it. The walls were lined with racks, most of which held an incredible array of bladed implements of death. Yet there was also the glaringly pink things set at odd intervals. A study in contrasts, that was Buffy Summers all the way through. The idea of fighting evil in a pink jacket just wasn't something the BPRD didn't prepare you for.

Yet here Buffy was, a lover of fashion, if not obsessed. But she also had the steel behind her eyes, the kind that made HB one of the most feared beings in the world. Buffy had stared a God in the eye and the God had been the one to blink.

She also had that hollow look. The look of someone who hadn't decided whether to live or to die. Most of the time she put up a good front. But every once in a while when she thought no one was looking she would slip into the thousand yard stare of someone who has seen such things that they are consumed by it.

Liz knew that look too. It was her look. And seeing staring out at her from Buffy's blue eyes made her heart twist. It was like a brilliant mirror held to her own flaws, and it made Liz feel afraid and compassionate at the same time

"So," Liz prompted, leaning back in her chair. "How did you get into this business?"

"You mean the monster squishing, or consulting?" Buffy responded, sitting down on a couch set against one of the walls. Liz smirked.

"Monster squishing," Liz said. Buffy shrugged.

"Got Chosen by the spirit of the Slayer when I was in ninth grade,' Buffy said. Her eyes were distant. "Before that I was a valley girl, you know like in the worst kind of teen movies. Maybe worse; but then I burned my old school gym down. That one kind of ruined my social life for the rest of high school. Things kind of went downhill from there. You?"

"I was twelve when they took me into custody," Liz said, looking distant. "It was hell. They were terrified of me."

Flame sprang to her hands and she wove it into symbols as she worked through the mudras that the Hyperborean monks had taught her. Buffy watched the dancing flame with wide eyes. Liz smiled a little.

"They wouldn't even... they didn't even talk to me," Liz said. The memory burnt like acid, but she kept going. "I just wanted to talk to someone, but they all ran away from me. It was like being locked away, but worse than the asylum. At least there they didn't wear heat suits."

Buffy twitched and her face went pale. "That would... really suck."

"Until one guy said screw it," Liz said with a small laugh. Her eyes felt slightly damp. "He went in there, no suit no nothing. Just his old canvas duster with too many pockets. He said 'Mind if I come in?'. I was so shocked. I asked him why he was talking to me, he said why shouldn't he? I asked him if he was afraid of me. He said 'nope'. One of the kindest men I ever met. He was a hero."

"Sounds like some guy," Buffy said, slipping into the fey mood that seemed to have descended on the room. Liz nodded.

"The best," Liz said. "Haven't seen him in years though. Still, I joined up because of him. I mean, I kind of did it so they would let me out of the containment room. But mostly I did it because I knew he would approve of it. I've been hunting things since I was your age. Seems like a long time ago."

"I dunno," Buffy said, leaning back and looking at her out of the corner of her eye. "You look pretty good to me for a full time monster hunter."

"Thanks," Liz said, letting her smile widen. "But I've led a hard life. Smoked too much, gotten stabbed too many times. I can't really cut a bikini anymore."

"That's a shame," Buffy said, getting to her feet and walking over to the large open space that dominated her office. "You have the figure for one. More than lil' ol' flat chested Buffy here."

"That's kind of you," Liz said. "But I know better."

Buffy gave her a skeptical look. There was silence for a moment. Buffy grinned. "Still antsy huh?"

Liz nodded. "You?"

"Yeah," Buffy said. She slid into a stance, giving an inviting look to Liz. "This usually calms me down. It was something... an ex taught me I guess."

"You guess he taught you?" Liz said, getting to her feet. Buffy grimaced.

"More the ex part," Buffy replied. "We had a complicated relationship."

"More than I can say for me," Liz said, sliding into a passable copy of Buffy's stance. They transitioned into another position. "Never had anyone really."

"Why's that?" Buffy asked, sweeping low in a graceful maneuver.

"No one wanted to date a walking holocaust," Liz said. Buffy winced.

"I could see how that could be harsh," Buffy said. "Well, I didn't get out much anyway. He was kind of a special case, and it ended... really badly. Most people just knew I blew up my high school gym. Pretty much branded as a psycho from day one in Sunnydale."

"God," Liz said with a shake of her head. "I never even went to high school. Just got my GED and learned how to keep from blowing everything up."

"You got one up on me," Buffy muttered. "I blew up two high schools. I think that's a record somewhere."

There was silence after that, and Liz found that as she slid through the Tai Chi motions alongside Buffy, her head did clear and the grating nervous feeling she always had before missions was fading quickly. At last they slid into the final position and Buffy looked over at her.

"Better?"

"Much," Liz said. Perhaps she would have said something more when there were a pair of sharp knocks on the door and Dawn stuck her head in. She looked much better than before, the dark circles under her eyes not nearly so pronounced.

"Hey guys," she said. "Thirty minute prep before we head out. Get yourselves ready."

0oooo0oooo0

Liz was impressed with them. That was hard to do these days.

They moved professionally, a team that had worked together in the past, one that had seen blood and hate and death. One that was still standing. They had split up into two teams. As big as the underground was, it wasn't big enough for all of them at once.

Liz had been assigned to Dawn Summers' team. Consisting of Mr. Wink, Winston Slade, and a witch by the name of Willow Rosenberg, they were a tight team for the most part. Apparently Dawn Summers hadn't been kidding when she said her best friend was a troll. Mr. Wink was surprisingly civil, but he was in fact a nine foot tall troll. However, their absolutely professional demeanor was comforting to Liz. The only one who really smacked of 'civilian' was Rosenberg. However, the palpable aura of power around her was making Liz's hair stand on end.

The tunnels beneath Sunnydale were eerily quiet. Far different from the living breathing town that they had seen above. The stone walls were old... much older than the new California glitz above them. The walls were curved, but vaulted more like a cathedral than the half pipe sewers that Liz had grown so tired of. Liz's team moved from point to point, covering every entrance with practiced eyes and a motley assortment of dangerous looking weapons.

They came to a void ahead of them, Dawn's eye shining in the dark like green lanterns. The younger Summers held her arm up and immediately everyone tensed. Searching the darkness with her own sight, Liz realized what it was that had caused Dawn to pull up short. They were finally here.

The ceiling retreated into the darkness above them, and Liz could make out with her own augmented eyes the forms of a half dozen frogs poking around in the rubble in front of them. Wreckage that could have been the sub-basement of the high school Buffy had mentioned scattered on the tunnel floor. Dawn made a gesture to Willow and Slade. She mimed something that Willow seemed to understand, because she nodded and moved in front of Liz. Slade, wearing armor that she would swear was Hyperborean in design, flexed his fists. A pair of two foot long blades sprung out of his gauntlets and he nodded to Dawn.

Dawn and Slade just vanished. Willow closed her eyes and began a silent chant. Liz could see the power rolling off of her. The air itself distorted around the bookish redhead, and when Willow's eyes snapped open they were the black of a clouded midnight sky.

Then the death started.

The frogs below began to die, so fast that Liz could barely follow Slade and Dawn, but she did see a flare of black armor here or bronzed gauntlets and stainless steel there. The two or three frog men who ran from them went straight for Willow. Liz shouldered her rifle, but Willow shook her head and gestured broadly with her arm. A trio of black bolts sprung from her hands, and the frogs disintegrated under her touch. Only small bits of blackened skeleton remained to indicate where they'd fallen.

It probably only took fifteen seconds from start of mayhem to finish. Very effective.

Dawn motioned for them to come forward. They did so cautiously and Dawn pointed over her shoulder to a shaft that seemed to lead eternally downward into the darkness. Liz could feel it. Like sandpaper crossed with goosebumps across her skin. Dawn gave her a mirthless smile.

"El Boca del Inferno," Dawn said. Her voice echoed strangely in the open space. "Welcome to the Hellmouth. Alright guys let's check the bottom levels of the High School and the surrounding tunnels. Hopefully nothing horrifying is sitting here right now."

0oooo0oooo0

It turned out this time that Dawn got away with courting the Demon Murphy. There wasn't anything there. Plenty of tunnels, true, but after checking through the high school and its environs and then checking in with Buffy's team that was handling the northern half of the ruins, there was simply not real activity here. Buffy's group had ambushed several frog men, but there had been less of them than Dawn's team had encountered.

They were sitting, feeling slightly stumped when Mr. Wink had pulled Dawn aside for a moment. Listening intently, she nodded a few times, and then rejoined the larger group.

"Well folks, this just got interesting," Dawn said. "Looks like they were holed up here. At least until a few days ago. Maybe a week. It looks like our froggy friends here have decided to move. Of course, they didn't hide their trail very well. Mr. Wink thinks he can follow it. Do we go?"

"I say yes," Buffy stated. "We need to put the pressure on these guys for once."

Dawn shrugged and turned to Slade. Slade nodded once. "I agree with Buffy. We should also move quickly. We are burning the daylight hours away."

Mr. Wink's ability to track in the gloom was invaluable. Liz would have been lost a dozen times in the insane labyrinth that ran underneath the town of Sunnydale. She could feel the presence of the frogs though. The Flame was stirring restlessly in its sleep. She also had the feeling she was being watched, but by what she couldn't say.

"We're under New Hope," Dawn muttered behind her. The green haired girl that was not a girl was distracted by something as well. She shot Liz a look. "Can you feel that?"

"Yeah," Liz said, adjusting her grip on the M-4 in her arms. "But I have no idea what it is."

"Well, let's keep it together here," Dawn said. "And watch for any signs of ambush. These things may not be as smart as a human, but they are smart enough."

Liz shrugged. The winding tunnels were growing wider and wider, but here it looked as if the excavation was quite a bit more recent. The stone had not been dulled with age, and the sharp imprints left behind by a digging tool of some sort were obvious to see. The widening tunnel finally gave way to a huge open chamber. At the far end of it, perhaps a hundred feet away, was a solid spike of some kind of rock that was different. It was darker, more solid; ancient, really.

At the peak it was flattened and a weapon unlike anything that Liz had ever seen was embedded in the rock. It's blade had a red cast to it, and it tapered down to a wooden spike at the end. Standing behind it was a frog man who wore an amulet that burned with black fire. It watched them with eyes that were dark with malevolent intelligence.

The silence stretched out as Dawn's entire team froze. Dawn looked like she was trying to process too many things at once. Slade had a look of recognition, and Mr. Wink kept his beady eyes on the priest, a growl coming from deep within. Willow just looked confused, shaking her head as if her ears were ringing or something.

The pause was broken when Buffy's team shuffled into the open chamber from behind. They pulled to a stop, and the frog man smiled at them.

"Eh nog so na Thoth ma," the frog stated. "Ne nov Anum je veth Anung un Rama."

Liz felt her heart pound and she fell to her knees with a gasp. For a woman who lived a life of pain, this was definitely on her new top 10 list for torture. Anung un Rama... she knew that name, had heard it before, but her memory was failing her in her agony. Through the haze of... whatever was happening to her she saw that Buffy had reacted in exactly the same way. The frog reached out and caressed the handle of the weapon. Spears of agony ran through Liz as he did so. The Flame was screaming at her now, but something was restraining it. Which was actually good, because she sure as hell couldn't.

"Ve ja neth mo," Dawn shouted back. The frog man looked at her, and while his attention was elsewhere Willow began to chant behind them. Dawn's voice became deeper in its fury and a chorus began to join in, as if she were speaking in a hundred different voices at once. "Na Anum ma so naa j'neth."

"Naa then Noth?" the frog asked in amusement.

"Jev ne ...," Dawn shot back and the last word she spoke was something that Liz just couldn't hear. She saw Dawn's mouth move, and sound was present, but it was totally incomprehensible. Greenish white fire transformed her hair into a glowing mane, and her eyes cast out beams like a lighthouse in the gloom.

The frog man took a single step back. It had an expression, not of fear, but of supreme wariness. Liz felt the strange muffling of her power and the pain fade away again. She was able to stand shakily and glare at the creature. It hesitated for a moment, but quickly regained its balance. When it tried to step forward again however, it bounced off of a distortion in front of it, the impact sending hexagonal ripples of light in a plane in front of it. The creature screamed in frustration.

Liz turned to see Willow, her eyes black as midnight and right arm outstretched, straining to hold the barrier. Before Liz could truly register what was happening, Buffy was in motion. She was a blonde and white blur. The frog-priest gave a horrible croak just as Buffy's hand closed around the haft of the weapon and effortlessly pulled it from the stone.

Then all hell broke loose.

The frog men poured in from every direction, from tunnel entrances that Liz hadn't even noticed. However, not everyone had been as paralyzed as she had been. One of the Jackals, a blonde girl, had planted a curved device facing back the way they'd come. Yellow text stood out to her eyes as the woman slammed it home into the dirt.

"This end towards enemy."

Dim memory caused Liz's eyes to widen and she turned away just in time. The claymore antipersonnel mine was not a new device. Devised almost forty years ago now, it was designed to be a force equalizer. Effectively it was a directional charge embedded with hundreds of ball bearings. Red had once said that they were "BPRD Buckshot". It certainly lived up to Hellboy's nickname this time. There was thunder and flying rock and then there was that eerie calm that descends when your eardrums are a hair's breadth away from shattering. It added to the surreality. The horrible din from the Jackals' rifles and the infernal heat of their single flame thrower were a sensory overload.

The passage they had come down, which had been filled with frog men was now filled with cooked hamburger. Xander and the others were snapping off three round bursts with a speed that was much higher than human normal. They were like machines, pushing back the tide with lead.

However, contrary to popular fiction, bullets that fit into a personal rifle didn't have the force to actually knock a human aside, let alone a rampaging monster. And there were a lot of rampaging monsters. The first of them reached the Scoobie lines in seconds only to be met by the snarling dragon in bronze. He was fast and strong, though not as fast as Buffy had been. Liz was still raising her rifle when Slade smashed into the frog's lines like a bowling ball into a neatly arranged stack of dominoes. They barely even slowed him down, bodies flying everywhere.

Liz whirled just in time to put a three round burst into a frog man that was reaching towards her with its tongue. Mr. Wink's huge cleaver swept in front of her killing another four frogs. Heart pounding Liz could see Buffy hacking her way back through the frog men towards them. But her strength; it was impossible. Nothing slowed her blade down, flesh parting like air. And the speed... Liz watched as five frogs were caught by her sweeping scythe, sending them flying to crack their heads on the far wall almost a hundred feet away.

Then she was lost in the firing and the blood and the death. She felt a very human hand on her should and turned to see Kate motioning to her. Blood trailed down the side of Kate's head from a glancing blow, but she seemed alright. The Jackals had pushed back into the tunnels, and it looked like they were fighting to get clear. With a sense of relief she saw that Dawn and Buffy had fought their way clear and were now holding the horde back with spear and scythe, covering their retreat.

Liz turned to Kate feeling a sudden calm come over her. She raised her hand in the signal that Kate knew very well. The anthropologist blanched and began hustling the rest of the teams towards the doorway. Reaching within herself, she calmly walked backwards.

"The Fire is not my enemy," she said, though she could not hear her own words. Flame sprang to life on her arms. Dawn, seeing this, brought her arms together and then apart. It was almost like watching Moses part the Red Sea. A wave of force spread out in front of her, knocking the frogs onto their backs. Grabbing Buffy, Dawn vanished. Liz saw Willow placing another mystical shield in place as Corrigan shouted in her ear. There was a snap, and a sparkling wall of light separated the tunnel from the rest of the main chamber.

And now Liz was alone in the den of the monsters. Just like she always was.

"It is a part of me," Liz said as the frogs struggled to their feet. The heat around her was too intense now, and the creatures began scrambling to get away from her. It was far too late for that though.

"It is mine."

The shock wave incinerated every frog man in the room in a holocaust of fire and death. All of the frog men except for one.

The priest walked forward through Liz's flames, his own black fire protecting him even as the Flame howled for his blood. The ambient air temperature was high enough to melt steel, but the frog looked unperturbed.

"Vril nath Anum," the frog said, tilting its head in a gesture of respect. "Joth na sommen."

She felt almost as if it was apologizing to her as it drew a black stone knife from a rawhide belt that it wore. It leaped at her, the obsidian weapon glittering in the light. There was nothing she could do now. She would loose control if she moved. The slowness with which the arm descended towards her chest was agonizing.

Liz was going to die alone. And in that moment she realized something. She really didn't want to die. The universe's irony machine must have been working overtime.

The priest was heavy as it knocked her to the floor. The coolness of the black knife as it entered her shoulder was a strange sensation, until the searing agony overrode every other feeling. It raised the knife again to stab downward when there was something... else.

A flash of white, and the priest was howling as it flew through the air to smash into the far wall. Liz's uncomprehending eyes focused on the face above her. Blonde hair waved in the superheated air. She was haloed by brilliant white light that flickered across her body the way the flame danced across Liz. Clutched in her left hand was the scythe, and as she extended her right hand down, Liz remembered.

I know this woman.

Her right hand reached into the heavens and drew her forth, the stolen flame of Creation. But she could not love Her any less for Her sins. Cradled in the Right Hand of Anum, she was aware and alive. The Flame wove herself into Anum's Heart even as She brought forth the Great Dragon. Forever together and separate.

"Vril nath Anum," Buffy said with a beatific smile. The white light that shone from her now golden eyes was gentle and fierce at the same time. Something more than the troubled woman was looking out at Liz in that moment. Something as old as the world itself. Hesitantly Liz grabbed Buffy's arm and it was cool to the touch. "I can't leave a girlfriend behind can I?"

"How?" Liz asked. Buffy gave her a sardonic smile as she holstered the scythe where her axe had been, now lost in the battle. She hoisted Liz bridal style like she weighed nothing.

"You can't hurt me with the Flame," Buffy stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "It's a part of me, just like we're part of you."

She sprinted towards the passageway at a speed that left Liz breathless, and then they were on the other side of the shield. The amazed faces of the 'Scoobies' were fixed on Buffy, who smiled and promptly passed completely out. Only quick action by Slade and Dawn kept Liz from cracking her head on the stone wall. Gently Dawn lifted her sister up, giving the scythe on her back a wary look. Slade picked up the much heavier Liz with the same ease that Buffy had.

"So, is this the kind of thing you guys usually end up doing?" Kate asked, exhaustion clear in her voice. The Jackals looked at one another and then back at their leader. Xander un-shouldered his M-4 and shook his head.

"Naw," Xander said in a casual drawl as he passed her to take up point position. "Sometimes it really sucks."

0oooo0oooo0

"How are you doing?"

The voice jolted Liz out of her reverie. She looked over to see Dawn leaning against the door jamb. They were in Buffy's apartment at the headquarters building. They'd put her here for now, and she'd so far been asleep for almost twelve hours. Liz hadn't left her side yet, despite both Kate and Slade protesting that she needed sleep. Dawn walked into the room and sat down on the bed, next to Buffy and facing Liz in her chair.

"I'm fine," Liz said. Dawn laughed.

"You say that a lot don't you?" Dawn asked. Liz gave her a haunted look and Dawn's expression became sympathetic. "You know I'm beginning to realize just how alike you both are."

"What do you mean?" Liz asked. Dawn shrugged.

"You have the same expressions," Dawn said. "You've seen things that you ought not to have. And you keep going because it's what you do."

Liz shrugged, turning to look back at Buffy. "It isn't much. I am who I am I guess."

"And modest too," Dawn's voice was sardonic. "But we can work on that. Liz, what happened down there?"

The sidelong look that Liz shot Dawn made the younger girl harden her gaze.

"That's my sister you have right there," Dawn said. "She manifested powers that she never has before. I beat her once in a fight; I'm not sure I could now. She's faster, stronger, and apparently has a heat resistance better than asbestos. So what the hell lady?"

"I don't know," she said after a moment. "What did you and the priest talk about?"

Dawn looked uncomfortable. She crossed her arms under her breasts as if she was cold, though the room was warm enough. "He said 'Welcome to this place fragment of Anum and friend of Anung un Rama.' Then he started torturing you guys so I told him to... well fuck himself really. He asked me who I was to say that; so I told him exactly who I was. That seemed to get his attention."

"Yeah, it did," Liz said. She was silent for a moment, looking at the sleeping Buffy. "She's never shown any powers like that before?"

"Not in my presence," Dawn hedged. "I heard once that they managed to channel the pure power of the Slayer through her. She was kind of a bitch, but she was a walking superpower. She was... I dunno. She moved at Matrix speeds, you know? Stopped bullets with her hands. Maybe even weirder stuff."

"Yeah," Liz said, thinking of how Buffy had rescued her.

"Powers like that aren't without precedence," a voice said from the shadows. They turned to see Spike standing there.

"What?" Dawn asked, looking mildly irritated. Spike had a thoughtful expression.

"Saw her do a jump that might as well have been flying the other night," Spike said. He cocked an eyebrow. "Come to think of it, she did it right about where that Holy Hand Grenade, or whatever it is, was buried."

"Giles, Fred, and Willow are working on that," Dawn said. "We have to figure out what it is. Heck, even Kate has been nice enough to do a little discreet research into it with her Bureau resources. You think it has something to do with the Slayer?"

Spike nodded, but Liz violently shook her head.

"No," Liz whispered. "It's... It isn't just that. It... dammnit, I don't know how to say it! It's old; older than the Slayer. And it has a greater purpose than that. I know that much just from being around the thing."

Further questions were forestalled by Buffy letting out a groan and her eyes fluttering open. She sat up with a start until Dawn and Liz placed hands on her shoulder and gently lowered her down. Collapsing into the bed again Buffy coughed once or twice.

"Ugh," she said. "Did you get the plates of the semi that hit me?"

"No, sorry," Dawn said. "I was too busy dragging your heavy butt here. I have some questions though. What happened down there?"

"I... I don't know," Buffy said, sounding almost irritated with herself. "I remember the shield going up, and I remember Liz being in trouble. Now I'm here. In the bed. And I have a hangover, which by the way, so not fair."

"Er," Dawn hemmed, leaning forward and handing Buffy a mirror. "You're gonna want to look at this."

"Why, is something wrong with my hair or something?" Buffy asked.

"Or something," Dawn said.

Buffy held the mirror up and stared. Into eyes that were now an almost sulfur yellow, bright and shining like a cat's. "Whoa..."

"That's what I was thinking," Dawn said. "But you see alright, yeah?"

"Yeah," Buffy replied, still a little speechless. "Maybe even better; I dunno."

"You don't remember anything?" Liz asked hesitantly. Buffy shook her head again, lowering the mirror with a frown.

"No; it's like, I dunno, it's on the tip of my tongue or the edge of my memory. But I can't remember it. The harder I look the further away it keeps getting."

"Oh," Liz said, looking slightly downcast. "Well, are you feeling okay otherwise?"

"Yup," Buffy winced. "Just another day on the Hellmouth. Only, you know, with frogs instead of undead who look at us like juice boxes. Offense intended Spike."

"Oh look, she's back to picking on the defenseless vampire," Spike mocked. "She'll be up and about in no time. Now that I know you aren't going to die, I think I'll be off elsewhere. Cheerio."

And like that Spike wandered out of the room. Buffy and Dawn followed him with narrowed eyes.

"You know," Buffy said. "Sometimes I just want to stake him."

"I know the feeling," Dawn muttered. She looked over at Liz. "Kate's been in contact with someone she calls Director Manning. You know him?"

"Yeah," Liz said, taking a cigarette out of a rumpled pack in her combat vest and lighting it. She breathed in deep and then exhaled. "He's not bad for a government asshole. But he's still a government asshole. He is the Director of the BPRD."

"Well apparently we're going to send some representatives to Colorado, maybe work out a mutual sharing thing, maybe help each other out more," Dawn stated. "We're on the same side, especially with the froggies."

"I guess you'll be seeing more of me then," Liz said. Buffy smiled a little.

"I wouldn't mind that," Buffy said. "For an old lady you fight pretty well."

"Old...," Liz spluttered for a second. She frowned. "I'll show you old you..."

Dawn and Buffy laughed, despite the weak joke. Liz leaned back into her chair and allowed herself one of her rare actual smiles. For the first time in a long time, it really felt good to be alive.

0oooo0oooo0

The crumpled form of the priest lay smoking on the ground beside where the scythe had been buried. It could not help but feel a sense of frustration. All of the followers of Katha-hem were gone; who was it to shepherd now? And so it laid on the blasted ground, unblinking as it tried to understand what the next step should be.

What was the will of Katha-hem, Changer of Worlds?

The crunch of boots on gravel caused the despondent frog-priest to look up and blink once. Its eyes traveled up the form of the man thing in his pitiful environmental suit, watching with wariness.

"Mr. Mears?" the suited figure asked. "Are you still... in there?"

The frog priest shook its head. That was a name, yes. A name that it remembered from another time. A petty time, before it was the arm of Divinity. It decided a single croak was good enough for the simpleton in front of it.

"Excellent," the figure said. There were a half dozen 'whift' sounds, and then the priest's vision was clouded. The last thing he saw before the darkness claimed him was a single word; a word that he had seen in visions; dreams. And there it was, so simple; the will of the Gods. Emblazoned on the speaker's clothing in black and orange. The symbol of the Herald itself.

ZINCO