The broadcast was over for another week. Richard Wilkins the Third sighed and stood up from his chair. He glanced over at his senior advisers. "Meeting room. There are a few more things we have to discuss." When everyone had settled in Dick glanced around the room. His senior advisers were Colonel Hennessey, Maggie Walsh for science and the Initiative, Rupert Giles for the Watchers Council and International Affairs, Amelia Chung as medical adviser, Thomas Chaffer for economics, Nabiki Tendo as the multi-cultural specialist and Joyce Summers for Agriculture and Social development. Finch was there as a coordinator.

"We have a few changes that we need to make," the mayor said simply. "We need to streamline things so we have a more clear delineation of fields."

"Things have worked well enough so far, couldn't we just keep things the way they are?" This was Thomas (Tom) Chaffer, Cordelia Chase' uncle on her mother's side. He had been a banker and investor in LA before the Shift. Chaffer had been visiting his sister when the city was sent over.

"That kind of thinking is going to get us in trouble in the long run," Amelia Chung said. "We need to change with the situations, if we each have too many concerns we get bogged down."

"Agreed," the mayor said with a nod. "Which is why I would like you to resign as the Director of Sunnydale Medical Center."

"What?" Amelia's eyes almost popped out of her head. She didn't work this hard for so long just to lose it all.

"Instead you will be the general administrator for both SMC and SGH in your position as Surgeon General," Wilkins said simply. "Appoint someone in your stead. I need you to work more for the greater good. You will, of course, still be a doctor, you simply will be running the medical services for the entire city instead of one hospital."

"Oh, well that makes better sense," she said, settling back down into her chair. The mayor turned to the Colonel.

"I am promoting you to General and Chief of Staff of the Sunnydale Self Defense Force," Wilkins said simply. "This will prevent issues that might arise in the future."

"I never wanted to be a general."

"The decision is final. Promote from within the ranks for the missing links," his tone left no room for argument. He turned to Maggie Walsh. "I am removing you from the Initiative."

"ARE YOU INSANE?" Maggie Walsh was on her feet, her fists clenched at her sides, knuckles bone white. Every face in the room was staring at her, all shocked save for Wilkins. "The Initiative is mine! You can't just take it away!"

"I just did, and this outburst is proving I made the right decision," Richard Wilkins said levelly. "You are unable to continue as my science advisor and as head of the Initiative and as a full time professor at UC Sunnydale. You were able to do two full time positions, but three was draining you. You are much more valuable to me as a scientist and researcher than you are as head of the Initiative. The decision is final."

Maggie Walsh sat down and said nothing, but her face spoke volumes. Her expression was one of anger, outrage, and embarrassment, and turned all shades of red. After a long moment she took a deep breath. The mayor turned to Rupert Giles. "This brings me to you, Mr. Giles. I am handing over the Initiative and all its resources to the Watchers' Council. You have complete control over their training and use. I do, however expect you to coordinate with General Hennessey for military exercises." Giles, a little shocked, opened his mouth a moment before being cut off.

"You're giving it to HIM?" Maggie Walsh looked completely outraged. "He can't even keep his one soldier under control!"

"Buffy is not a soldier," Giles muttered bitterly, glaring at the woman. Maggie Walsh glared back. "And she doesn't need control."

"Yes, because Mr. Giles comes from an organization that has had thousands of years of experience," the mayor replied calmly. "And he is one of two people who Buffy Summers looks too for advice and direction. The other being her mother. You, quite clearly, could not deal with her in any way, shape, or form which would help our community. And finally, there is no need to have two demon hunting organizations in this town." He turned back to Rupert Giles. "Mr. Giles, you had a question?"

"If I am to lead the Initiative, this puts me at odds with my position as International Affairs advisor," Giles said, cleaning his glasses. "How can I be a treaty negotiator and head of a military organization? Those two positions are directly at odds with each other."

"Until I have a negotiator as skilled as you have proven to be, you will have to keep both positions," the mayor replied. "You have no other duties until school starts up again in the fall. These two positions should not be at odds until we have a significant increase in diplomats or demons; either of which should lower the number of the other arriving. And besides, the Initiative is already providing security for all our diplomats."

"When will this happen?"

"Mr. Giles, I would like General Hennessey to introduce you at ten tomorrow morning, that should give you plenty of time before the meeting at noon. It will give you a better idea of your recruitment needs as well. After this meeting the two of you should discuss the changeover.

"Well, I suppose that is for the best," Giles conceded. He was not particularly pleased at the prospect. He knew Buffy's status would ruffle edges in all the wrong ways. She could not be in the chain of command, neither taking nor giving orders. The other Scoobies would not be able to function the way they always did. This was going to be difficult.

"The other matter I need to discuss is our Police," everyone cringed at this. It was a topic everyone had avoided for a month because no one wanted to admit the truth: the Sunnydale police force was a farce. A bulging bag of incompetence, the chief of police had become bored with the meetings and had just stopped showing up. "Our entire police force needs to be rebuilt from the ground up. We need people who speak Chinese and Japanese fluently as well as English. We're going to need detectives who understand magic as well as they understand forensics. We actually need any people at all who know about forensics."

"With that in mind, I'll see if we have any police officers in the cruise ships," Nabiki said.

"If you don't mind me saying so, we have more needs than we have ways to fulfill them," Dr. Chung said grimly. "We are going to be very lucky to find professionals anywhere."

"Yes, I agree," Finch said. He had been talking more and giving extra instructions lately. "This is why we want everyone looking for people to join the police. After we have enough to replace the losses, we will reorganize everything from the top down."

"There is also the case of a few rogue officers," Giles put in. "At least one has a personal vendetta against Buffy and a few others. There is the general incompetence of the basic force. My suggestion is find qualified people for the upper positions and make the rest of them street officers."

"I'd actually argue against that myself," Nabiki said. "I haven't had experience with police forces, but I have experienced hostile takeovers. They can be messy and there are often harsh feelings afterwards. People don't always mesh well when those who used to be the bosses are at the same level as the basic worker. I think it should be slower, but steady when we reorganize. Personal evaluations, investigation in their attitude. Talk to people who dealt with the officers in the past."

"I have a few MPs who could take over. They are good men and women, but I think they would be better off as civilians," Hennessey said gruffly.

"We don't want to blur the line between the military and the police too much," Joyce suggested. "People will revolt if they think we are going the same way as the Nazis."

"I resent that statement," Hennessey said. "There has always been a strong connection between ex-military service men and women and the police."

"Sorry, I didn't say that right," Joyce conceded. "If people think we are controlled by the military tensions will flare. It won't be much different from the 60s. We need a visible division between the two."

"Now that I can agree with," said Hennessey with a nod.

"Good," Wilkins said with a simple grin. "I love it when brainstorming works. Oh, two last pieces. I need an educational advisor to oversee the University, the private College and the public school system. Try and think about a good choice."

"Not Snyder." Joyce and Giles said in unison, they glanced at each other and smiled amused.

"He's an utter troll who delights in targeting students, he is unsuited for the job," Giles said with an edge of bitterness. "He also thinks of his teachers as a Gestapo force against the students."

"I agree completely with that," Joyce said. "He seems unable to comprehend that the world is bigger than him."

"I'll take that under consideration," The mayor said with a grin, remembering the real reason for their animosity. "In the meantime, keep an eye out."

The newly appointed General Hennessey had just climbed into bed when the phone rang. The day had been meeting after meeting with what seemed like every person in Sunnydale. He knew there were only more days like this coming more often. With a grumbling sigh, he sat up in bed, slipping his glasses back on. Lifting the receiver to his ear he said: "Hennessey, what is the problem?"

"Sir, Team 24 has reported spotting a large number of orcs headed towards Sunnydale," his second in command stated simply.

"What's their ETA?"

"Five hours at current speed."

"Numbers?"

"Estimated at 800. They drag what look like primitive siege weapons," Hennessey said something very inappropriate in response to the news. "That was very inappropriate Sir."

"Yes, it was. Notify the Watcher's Council, I'll meet them in the war room," Hennessey set the receiver back down on the phone and took a deep breath. He stood up and lumbered over to the closet and dressed in one of his many uniforms. A minute later he was out the door.

Giles was asleep when the phone rang. He had been just exhausted and crashed on the couch, having not even had time to get undressed. His mind sleep addled, he reached around for the portable phone, only to realize that it was still on the charger across the room.

"Rupert Giles."

"Mr. Giles, Col-I mean General Hennessey is requesting the Watchers' Council be present at a war meeting in 15 minutes."

"Oh, Bloody Hell." Giles straightened his glasses. "Tell them I'll be there in twenty."

"Yes sir." The woman hung up. Giles pinched the bridge of his nose as he struggled to remember Buffy's number. It came to him after a moment and the phone rang and rang. After five rings Joyce Summers answered.

"Yes?"

"Oh, Joyce? This is Rupert Giles, is Buffy there?"

"I'll go see, she said she was going for a late patrol and then to bed." There was a clunk as Joyce set the receiver down. After a couple of minutes she came back. "No, she's gone. And so is Drizzt. His cast is tossed on the floor and he left his crutches behind."

"Oh good god." With a sigh, he took a deep breath. "Could you please tell her to call the base when she gets in? We're having a problem, but General Hennessey just requested the Watchers' Council."

"What problem?"

"I don't know. I'm going to get Xander, Willow and Oz for the meeting."

"I'll tell her," Joyce said. She paused for a long moment before she continued in a small voice. "Please look out for my daughter Mr. Giles."

"I will. It's what I was meant to do."

Hours after nightfall, Drizzt was wide awake and wary. He kept thinking about the report he had heard through the grape vine. Recon teams had found an extensive series of caves in a nearby mountain. If they had found caves this meant that some might connect to the Underdark. Sunnydale was almost equidistant between the Drow cities of Menzoberranzan and Ched Nasad. Even Drow avoided the great fungus that existed under the High Forest and so gave it a wide birth, adding much time and distance for travel between the cities. Travel that brought them right below his feet.

Shaking his head, Drizzt dearly hoped there would not be an incursion. These human soldiers were good with their guns, but they were no match against the stealth and cunning of the Drow. A gun, no matter how powerful and deadly, could only kill a target the wielder could see. A well-trained Drow team could take out their perimeter without the soldiers even firing a shot. They would notice the poison crossbow bolts far too late in the darkness. Using his natural vision and stealth, he slipped out beyond the perimeter to patrol the darkness where only one with eyes such as he could see.

"Come Guen," he watched as the fog flew out of the figurine and took shape, becoming his beloved panther friend. He scratched her chin and gave her a little hug, but jumped when he heard the noise from behind him. Spinning around, his sword was out and pointed at the intruder. It was Buffy.

"So that's where you keep the panther: she's magic," Buffy walked over and scratched the panther's head. Drizzt shot the cat a dirty look; even if he had not noticed the Slayer's approach, Guen should have warned him. The cat snorted in derision. "So you snuck out to look around?"

"I have been immobile for far too long," Drizzt replied. "I need to get back in shape."

"That's not it. You think there's something the guards can't handle and you want to see it," Buffy said flatly. "Or at least be able to warn them ahead of time."

"True, but why are you here?"

"Spidy sense is tingling," Drizzt did not understand. "Peter Parker? Spider-Man? Oh yeah. I keep forgetting you're not up on American pop culture. It's-I can sense things and something's gonna happen tonight. I can feel it. So I'm patrolling."

"You can sense when something bad is going to happen? And won't you be tired in the morning?"

"Yep I can, and I only need a few hours of sleep. It's a Slayer thing," Buffy shrugged. "I just knew the spidy sense was tingling and I had to be here."

"This Spidy sense is an impressive ability," Drizzt said. "So are your strength and speed."

"Sometimes. I was always stronger than the average human, but it's been getting more so lately. In my old world I could have never strangled a giant or fought that dragon," Drizzt could see his new friend was a little scared of her abilities.

"You have not told anyone about your fear have you?" She gave him a scared look and stared at him wide-eyed for a long moment before sagging.

"No, you're the first," Buffy answered. "I guess it's just easier speaking to another person who isn't human."

"…But you are human?"

"I'm not so sure anymore," Buffy said. They walked alongside one of the terraces built into the side of the mountain. "I'm so different from everybody else, not just strength and speed. I almost wonder if I'm as much a demon as those I fight."

"I can understand what you feel," Drizzt said after a long silent moment. "When I was living wild in the Underdark there was something that took me over. I call it the Hunter. I am at my physical peak, but I am little more than a beast. I feel it at other times sometimes. Once I became the Hunter in a crowd of children. Luckily I snapped out of it before I hurt anyone besides a statue. I doubt there is much difference between our situations."

"I guess even though we are different species we aren't that different after all," Buffy said with a sad grin. "Demons in mortal form."

"Perhaps that is not exactly-" Drizzt cut himself off in mid sentence. He held up a hand. Buffy glanced around them, her Slayer's night vision catching every bit of movement. With his keen ears the elf could hear someone off in the distance, just out of sight. He motioned Buffy to follow. Creeping forward, the three stalked forward and peered over the edge of the ledge. Far down the mountain was a giant spider, the biggest Buffy had ever seen. It was a misshapen form with barbs on the forelegs, and gobs of fowl saliva dripped from its fangs. She glanced at Drizzt. He was staring at the creature with complete horror. "Bebilith."

"What?" Buffy hissed the question trying to keep quiet.

"Spider demon," Drizzt managed to say. They knew he was here. He had to warn the soldiers, to get the people away. His fears from earlier that night were coming true. In a flash, his hands were on the hilts of his swords. Or where the handle was supposed to be. He cursed himself silently for not replacing the stolen sword after so long. Grimacing, he pulled the single sword out of the scabbard. He glanced around for the heat signatures of the Drow that had to accompany the demon. "My people have come for me."

"Go warn the soldiers. I'll take care of it," Buffy said with determination. Her hand was already gripping the emerald stake known as Mr. Pointy.

"Buffy, the bebilith is not something you can kill alone," Drizzt cautioned.

"Maybe on Earth, but I'm Super Slayer now. Now go!" She leapt up from their perch and cleared the next three terraces before leaping again, clearing the next three. The panther looked at Drizzt and followed the blond girl. Drizzt watched as the two heat signatures faded into the darkness ahead. The bebilith was pacing around a hole in the ground, clearly visible in the moonlight. Guen was catching up to the Slayer, but it would be some time before the dark elf could clear the same distance. He glanced at them once more before turning and running back to the soldiers.

Buffy almost flew down the side of the mountain, bouncing from rock to rock. She looked down at the spider demon, never letting it escape her gaze. A rock crumbled under her foot and all stealth was lost. The massive creature turned to glare at her with its eight glowing eyes. Shit. Faster than she would have believed the creature scrambled up the bebilith leaped up to her level. It was too fast. Unable to dodge, Buffy took a nasty claw to the gut. She went flying into a rock wall. Mr. Pointy wasn't going to help much. She rolled to the side at the last moment, a claw striking where she had been a moment before. Her skin wasn't pierced, but it hurt like hell. Bouncing to her feet, she struck out at its joint with a fist. It didn't react with pain, but instead knocked her off her feet once more. This time Buffy was too slow and the demon pinned her with a claw. Buffy screamed as the fangs pierced her shoulder. With her good arm, she stabbed Mr. Pointy into the demon spider's eye. It threw its head back with a roar. Even if Drizzt had not gone for help, the soldiers would have heard the ear shattering bellow of the bebilith echo off the mountain sides.

Guenhwyver appeared, finally having caught up with Buffy. The six hundred pound cat landed claws first on the demon's neck. Below, Buffy threw up on the ground, holding a hand to her shoulder to stop some of the bleeding. She was feeling ill and suddenly realized her shoulder was feeling numb. Somewhere in her mind she realized she had been poisoned by the venom. A brief thought passed her mind about being bitten by a radioactive bebilith a moment before the demon attacked again knocking her across the clearing.

The war room was just another room in the base. It looked like any other and it was in the process of being outfitted with everything a war room needs. The process was about half finished and wires were splayed all over the place, although most of them were not yet connected to anything. Monitors and computers, using the latest in military software had been set up to help a small team of people organize and direct any defensive or offensive action.

As General Hennessey strode in the officers instantly went to attention and saluted. Lieutenant Louise Gardner, the blond recruitment officer and Hennessey's personal aid, greeted the newly appointed general formally. "Congratulations on your promotion General."

"At ease. Thank you Lieutenant," he said with a nod. "Report."

"At 2248 Team 24 spotted movement into a nearby valley to the west," she reported dutifully. "After reporting the action, they investigated further and identified the movement as a large force of the species referred to as orcs. An estimation of their numbers puts them at about 800. After additional observation it was clear the force was marching directly towards Sunnydale. By the number of armaments and siege weapons it is clear they have arrived with hostile intentions. ETA four hours, forty-five minutes at current speed."

"Good work Lieutenant," Hennessey nodded in appreciation. "Do we have visual?"

"Not at present, sir," Gardner answered sharply. "The monitor is currently being installed and we should have visual in ten minutes. In the mean time I can show you their location on the maps provided by the aerial photography."

"Thank you. Send out a aircraft to get visual as soon as possible," he said before straightening his glasses and glancing down at the maps. "Now show me where these orcs are."

"Understood sir."

Drizzt, almost back at the perimeter, cringed when he heard the bellow. He knew something was seriously wrong. He bounded up the hill with the stealth and speed only an elf could combine. He was in luck there was a patrol right in front of him.

"Demon attack!" the soldiers turned to his voice. He recognized them as the team that had been fighting the orcs the day he had arrived in Sunnydale. Riley Finn trained his gun at the approaching dark elf a moment before he recognized him. They had been on alert the moment they heard the roar.

"Drizzt you aren't supposed to be outside the perimeter," Agent Finn cautioned.

"Too late for that. Buffy is fighting a demon down the mountain," Drizzt said glancing down the mountain where he had come. "I do not believe that it is alone, and a bebilith is not a feeble opponent."

Riley nodded once. He turned to the rest of team 3. "We go in fast and hard. Graham, sound the alert before we head in." He turned back to Drizzt. "Show us the way."

At the foot of the mountain Buffy was not having an easy time. The creature struck fast and often, but it had only bitten her once and she was still able to move. The poison was spreading and she was weakening every moment that passed. Guen's timely arrival had saved her life, but only for the moment. She had taken out one of its eyes, but it had seven more. She decided she needed to get away while the panther distracted it. Unfortunately, Guenhwyvar was only distracting it for a moment. The spider demon pointed its tail end at the cat and shot a web at the cat, entangling it on the rock wall. The creature turned to face Buffy and it knew she could not escape. It would savor this. The bebilith had not feasted on human in many years.

It threw another web, this time at Buffy, pinning her to the ground. Buffy struggled and tried to escape to no avail. She looked up at the spider demon and thought she was about to die. Instead the creature paused to glance back at the hole it clamored up from. Following its gaze, Buffy saw green-gray skinned orcs climb out of the hole bearing battle axes and torches. Each wore a strange, twisted form of plate armor with spikes over almost every inch. The bebilith made a noise of disgust. Buffy began to use pure strength to escape the webbing; it was working, but it would take some time. The strange hunch backed orcs growled something at the demon. She was too addled to understand their words, but kept trying to free herself.

Above the battlefield, the alarm sounded, and the strange orcs turned to look at the lights shining off the top of the plateau. They started charging up the hill with their axes in hand. With a final grunt of exertion, Buffy extracted herself from the webbing. The bebilith turned back to face her. Wounded, hurting severely, Buffy was not beaten.

"Hey web fangs! I killed your little sister yesterday, it was living in my mom's flowers and had to go," she gave a wicked grin when she realized it understood her words. She ran in the opposite direction, drawing the creature away from the site. It followed. Every so often she had to change directions to dodge the nasty claws. As time went on, she felt pain in her shoulder. That was a good thing. It seemed the poison had run its course and her Slayer healing factor was kicking in. If she managed not to get hit, she would be feeling better. The bleeding had already stopped.

She turned to face the creature. "Beetle-Bub! I'm thinking of having you stuffed and hung on a wall. What do you think, east wall or west wall?"

The spider demon attacked, missing her just barely. She suddenly realized that even if the poison was loosing its effect, she had not in fact healed the wound. She was moving sluggish and a single misstep could prove fatal. This demon was no idiot, the next time it attack, it struck out with both claws, forcing her to drop to her knees to avoid the attacks. A claw swung around, connecting with the side of her head, knocking her to the ground.

Drizzt saw the tanarukks before the soldiers. He drew his scimitar and leaped into the fray before anyone could stop him. He was at a distinct disadvantage fighting with only one blade, but it would have to suffice for now. The demon orcs were notorious even in the Underdark. Leaping out of the shadows, he slashed one across the face. Unfortunately the armor prevented his second strike from being a kill. His scimitar bounced harmlessly off the armor spikes.

"Drizzt, down!" even in the middle of battle, Drizzt leapt out of the group and hit the deck. From their position above, Riley Finn and others fired their guns. Two of the orcs went down out of the twenty, but several of the bullets bounced off the armor and the tanarukks' tough skulls. The group began to split up, terrified by the roar of the guns that had struck two of their number dead. Orcs or not, they were not as stupid as their mortal brethren and they split into two groups with the second charging for the stairs. Luckily for Team 3 each ledge was ten feet high and the trail was a good distance away. Drizzt got back on his feet and jumped towards the trail. When he was almost there, he spun around and blocked the way. "What the hell are these things?"

"Demon orcs," Drizzt called back. "Their hides are tougher than most armor. And they're wearing armor."

"Great, bullet proof cavemen," Forest grumbled as he fired repeatedly at the creatures.

"Sir, switching to Blaster," Graham said. The bullets weren't having the needed effect so he dropped his weapon and pulled out the other side arm. He aimed and fired. The blue energy bolt struck a tanarukk, and knocked it off its feet. Graham didn't wait to see if it worked, shooting everything in his sights.

"Seems to be working," Forest nodded, moving to switch arms as well.

"It's the metal armor, conducts a charge better," Riley said with a grin.

Drizzt was reaching his peak. Grabbing a fallen torch from a felled tanarukk, he used it to parry blows while stabbing forward with his scimitar. One, two, three demon orcs went down. There were still six to go. He did not even glance at the others, only the one in front of him. When that one fell, he fought the next. Drizzt started to slip away and the Hunter took over.

"Sir! We have reports from all over the city of orcs attacking!" General Hennessey spat out something no child should ever hear.

"Where did they come from?" There was no way they could have reached Sunnydale so quickly. The marching orcs must have been a diversion.

"From the sewers and the hole the dragon made," his subordinate answered, glancing at the reports.

"This is the last thing we need," he grumbled. "I want everyone up and armed now. We need to drive them back." He reached for the phone and dialed the mayor's number.

"Mr. Mayor, we have a problem…"

Buffy and company is owned by Joss W. and Mutant Enemy.
The Forgotten Realms and such are created and owned by Ed Greenwood and Wizards of the Coast and the various authors of the fiction.
Ranma 1/2 is owned by Rumiko Takahashi.

Thanks go to Janessa Ravenwood for editing this massive literary beast.