Chapter 24:

Xander peered out from behind the bushes, sword in hand. Beside him, Anya also rose to her feet. Giles hopped down from the cockpit, where he'd been crouching, waiting for Buffy's signal, having crept in whilst everyone else had been distracted.

Buffy lifted her head, as the blades slowed to a standstill, a temporary silence having settled around them. Slowly, she got to her feet, before proffering a hand to Dawn who took it.

"Have you left Ethan all alone in my kitchen?"

Dawn avoided her eyes.

"Dawn!"

"Well, what was I meant to do? Bring him with me?"

"You were meant to stay at home"

"What? And just wait for you all to die? Hardly" Dawn retrieved her crossbow that had fallen to the floor and swung it back over her shoulder. "I couldn't do that"

Buffy gave her a tired look, but pride was in her eyes.

Xander and Anya came to join them, Anya requesting that Giles pick the leaves out of her hair. The Librarian, rather exhilarated with his excellent helicopter blade activation, did as he was told.

"Nice shooting Buff" Xander commented. "You should enter the Olympics with aim like that"

"Under what category Xander?" Giles said distractedly.

"I dunno – The Slaying Heptathalon?"

Just then, there came a crash, as a figure rolled dramatically through the undergrowth to their left, rising up on one knee, before losing balance and crashing to the floor.

"These…these guys are dead" Dawn informed her friends.

"Really?" Xander glanced them over, the guy with half a face and the man on the floor who was lacking a foot. "Guess that means we've got to 'H' then"

Giles and Buffy exchanged a worried glance.

"That's probably unfortunate" Anya commented quietly.

Dawn gave them a look. "'H'?" She asked.

"The…the reversals caused by the Orb, they happen alphabetically" Giles said, taking off his glasses.

"But these guys have been around for ages…"

Officer Tomlinson cleared his throat, as Lieutenant Kash got to his foot and hobbled forward.

"Actually Ma'am, Sir" Kash began "Our resurrection has nothing to do with The Orb of Apoc, though we are aware of it's power. Rather, our return is a quota precaution"

"A what now?" Xander questioned.

Kash cleared his throat, and Officer Tomlinson continued the explanation, firstly pulling his nose back into a more central position and straightened his eye socket. The small blonde woman was rather intimidating.

"Due to the, er, rather unfortunate political situations, since the early 1950's the American Government have had a Supernatural Resurrection Clause installed into every Army member's contract"

"A resurrection clause?" Xander said incredulously.

"It's only implemented during times of duress, and only when the supernatural is involved"

"I hate these Government types" Xander muttered.

"I assure you Sir, it's humane and very economic"

"I bet" That was Giles. "And you say this has been going on since the 1950's?"

"Yes Sir. A supernatural death activates the clause and we are resurrected till we have fulfilled our duties. Like I say, it's very efficient."

Giles shook his head and sighed.

"So do you know Riley Finn then?" Anya chirped in cheerfully. The Slayer looked at her curiously, as Anya continued "Only Buffy used to have sex with him, and if he'd been dead and resurrected, it would explain a whole lot"

Buffy shot her a glare (as opposed to an arrow, which would've been far more fatal, and much more satisfying).

"Finn…" Kash mused "Isn't he the guy married to the alcoholic robot?"

"So I was right!" Xander exclaimed. "Come on guys, pay up, Ahn, you owe me ten dollars"

"Sam's a robot?" Buffy intoned. Then she blinked, and turned to Xander. "Should I be insulted?"

"Just be grateful you've had one long term boyfriend who wasn't the undead. Otherwise people are gonna think you've got problems"

Buffy stared at Xander.

"Not that I can talk…" He added hurriedly.

Giles cleared his throat, and tried to direct the conversation back onto the main road.

"So you've been resurrected from a source other than that of the Orb?"

"For a limited period of time, till we complete our mission, yes"

"And then what?"

"And then we die…properly this time"

Officer Tomlinson pushed his eyebrow further up his forehead. He was rather conscious of it dangling where his left eye used to be, and he didn't want to make a bad impression on these people.

"And what is your mission?"

"To return the helicopter after survelliance work on these now-dead demons"

"Ah. And once complete you…"

"We die and stay dead, yes"

"Well, for one, I'm glad about that!"

"Dawn!" Buffy exclaimed.

"These guys were gonna trade me for the helicopter!"

"They were?" Buffy turned to study Lieutenant Kash, who stood at an horizontal angle due to his mono-foot status, avoiding her eyes.

"Well, you are only a child. It makes economic sense"

"Anya!"

Anya looked irritated. "Giles, you missed some leaves"

"Oh, ok, right"

"Is that true?" Buffy said slowly.

The two men exchanged glances, before nodding an affirmative. Buffy swung her crossbow back on her shoulder.

"If I didn't have apocalypses to worry about, and you weren't human and already dead…I'd kill you for that"

"Right" Tomlinson and Kash said in unison.

Assured that the two Army officers weren't particularly evil now that the demons were dead, Buffy turned to the others.

"Come on, we need to find the Orb to Rule All Orbs"

"I hear ya" Xander said, waving his sword in the air a little and nearly chopping off Dawn's nose.

"Does this mean we get to sing now?" Anya inquired.

"Probably"

"Yay! I've been thinking, does anyone object to a bit of Simon and Garfunkle…"

"Yes" Came Buffy, Xander and Giles' reply.

"Who?" Dawn said. Anya sighed, and pulled a list from her pocket, crossing off the top title.

"Do you happen to have any idea where the orb may be situated?" Giles asked Kash and Tomlinson.

"Possibly. We were surveying the demons in a clearing towards the centre of these woods. We believe the only tree in this clearing is used as their Information Centre. It's linked directly to the cooling centre, you see"

Giles didn't see, and if Giles didn't see, then the other most certainly didn't (apart from when Willow was just on a wacky course of spell destruction).

"Right. Well, uh…where is this tree?"

Lieutenant Kash gestured towards the centre of the wood.

"Over there. We'll give you a lift if you like?"

"We get to ride in a helicopter?!!" Xander squealed. Anya gave him a dubious look. He sobered. "Even I know that was way too excited"

Buffy gave him a smile. "It would be pretty cool"

"Yeah…" Giles agreed, and then realized that was entirely inappropriate for a man who has got over his mid-life crisis many years ago. "We'd be very grateful"

"No problem"

Officer Tomlinson took Buffy's arm and led her towards the cockpit.

"This way"

Buffy did as she was told, and the others, collecting their weapons that had been dropped in haste earlier, fell in line.

"So, are you by any chance, the infamous Sunnydale Slayer?" The Officer enquired.

"The one and…not so only. Yeah, that's me"

"Wow" Tomlinson grinned, and really really wished he had a complete lower jaw. "Could I have your autograph?"