When Buffy was talking into the walkie talkie and distracted from the non
response from the library, Angelus took his chance and jumped down from his
position on the catwalk.
He landed directly behind Buffy. Before the blonde slayer could react Angelus already had grabbed the tranquilizer rifle and knocked her down with its butt .
While Buffy landed on the floor, Faith turned around and aimed with her rifle at the soulless vampire. But again Angelus was faster and shot the other slayer.
The dart hit her directly in the chest and the black haired slayer collapsed on the floor.
Buffy in the meantime jumped to her feet and kicked the vampire in the chest. Angelus staggered a few steps backwards, but was able to maintain his equilibrium.
"You think you can take me lover?" the vampire asked her with an evil smile. "You weren't able to handle me in the past, you only were able to put that annoying soul back in to me because geek boy helped you out. But this time you are all alone."
"I will kill you," Buffy told him with determination and pulled her favourite stake out of her belt.
"We will see," Angelus replied and took both ends of the rifle and handled it like a battle staff.
Buffy jumped and kicked at the vampire's head, but Angelus was able to block this strike. After she landed on the ground she aimed a roundhouse kick at Angelus' mid section, but again the vampire was able to block the kick.
"My turn," Angelus told her and slammed the butt of the rifle into her face. Before Buffy could react Angelus took a large swipe and connected with her side. Seeing that she was dazed, the vampire lifted the rifle above his head and was prepared to knock her out.
But this time Buffy reacted fast enough and was able to get a hold on the rifle before it could complete it's way. Both combatants struggled for the weapon. "Very good," Angelus told her through gritted teeth, the exertion evident on his face.
A fast kick from his side into Buffy's stomach ended the struggle and Buffy fell to the floor.
Angelus didn't wait a single second and kicked Buffy hard against the side of her head. Nearly unconscious Buffy could only watch as Angelus walked around her. "You know, someone told me I was still stuck in the medieval age. But I'm a quick learner," Angelus told her while he reloaded the rifle and aimed it at her chest. "A slayer is really easier to take out if you sedate her."
Angelus' finger tightened around the trigger, when suddenly he felt a small pain in his back. He reached around and surprisingly had a small dart in his hand.
"What the fuck," he cursed before he collapsed to the floor, missing Buffy only by a meter.
Faith stood up from her position on the floor and walked up to the fallen slayer. She quickly checked her injuries. She slapped her twice against the cheek, to bring her out of her dazed state.
"Hey B, you there?" she asked.
"Yeah," Buffy croaked out. "Is he finished?"
Faith looked at the vampire and shrugged. "Seems so," she told her fellow slayer. "Just our luck that Xander wanted us to wear those bullet proof vests," Faith said and showed Buffy the hole in her shirt where the dart was still sticking in the vest. She took it out and threw it away.
Buffy stood up, still a bit shaky on her legs, but Faith stabilized her.
"What we are gonna do now," Faith asked.
Buffy walked up to the vampire and turned him around. She quickly unclasped the medallion around his neck and took some shackles out of her small rucksack.
"Will you tie him up?" she asked Faith and handed her the chains. The dark haired slayer accepted them, while Buffy walked to the walkie talkie and picked it up from the ground.
While Faith was cuffing Angelus' feet and hands together, Buffy brought the radio to her ear.
"Will?" she spoke into the speaker.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
When the vampires opened the library doors and walked into the room they were welcomed by three crossbow bolts, two hitting vamps into their hearts, dusting them immediately.
While the three teens were busy reloading their weapons, Wesley and Giles opened fire, killing three more vampires with their first salvo. The vampires were now clearly confused. They expected only little resistance. But instead they were blown to pieces.
But those thoughts were cut short when not only the Watchers continued firing but also the three teens joined into the battle. Their combined fire killed another three vampires and another one was lying on the ground, his left leg ripped away.
When the shotguns ran dry the remaining three vampires decided that withdrawal was the best defence. So they ran as fast as possible out of the room and down the hallway.
The five Scoobies stood up and looked for several seconds at the dust covered entrance of the library that seconds ago was quite similar to a warzone.
"We did it," Willow finally shouted proudly.
"Yeah, we did it," Giles said and looked with amazement at the shotgun in his hands. But then his eyes fixed on the last remaining vampire. He slowly walked up to the undead creature and loaded another shotgun shell.
Before the vamp could utter a word of protest Giles shot him in the chest and a second later the body vanished in a pile of dust.
He lifted his head and looked at the other scoobies. The ones vaguely familiar with his wild years now knew why he was called Ripper.
"You did a great job," he told them with a proud voice and a smile. "But I think we still have a job to do. Willow?"
"Oh, yeah. You are right," Willow exclaimed and went back to the table where she was preparing the spell.
"Better check on Buffy, to see how far she is," she said and turned the walkie talkie on.
".ill?" came over the line.
"I'm here Buffy," Willow told her.
"Thank God. I thought something happened to you guys when I didn't get a connection."
"Well, you were right. A few vampires decided to pay us a little visit," Willow told her.
"Oh no. Are you okay?" Buffy asked worried.
"Yeah, we are all okay. No problem. How are you doing?"
"Well, we got Angelus and we had no casualties. He should be out for at least two hours. We will bring him to the library," Buffy told her.
"That's good news. We are still preparing the spell, but it should be finished when you arrive."
"Okay Will, see you then," Buffy told her and ended the connection.
Willow placed the radio on the table and continued to prepare the spell with the help of Oz and Cordelia.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
"You will like hell," Xander told the Mayor while he rolled the still tied up man through the corridors of City Hall. The walls were covered with bullet holes and ground with dust and shells. "I heard it's warm almost the entire year there."
They passed a certain point and Xander stopped. He pointed at the C4 package, that was planted to the wall. "You see, that's the reason it took me so long to get to you. Had to prepare the entire ground floor. Tell you, if I blow something up, I do it right."
They Mayor tried to say something, but with the duct tape around his mouth only a slight muffle could be heard.
"Oh, you want to say something," Xander said and removed the tape.
"Alexander, not that I'm not grateful for the little sight seeing tour, but we have been going through the corridors for almost five minutes. If you want to do something please do it now."
"Believe me, everything I'm doing here has a reason. You see, you might survive the C4 on your body and you might even survive the whole building crashing down on you. And if that's going to be the case I'm making damn sure that I don't waste my explosives. I'm going make sure that I take out as many of your vampires as possible." Xander told him with an evil smile. "That's why we are waiting for your reinforcements."
Suddenly both could hear the sound of footsteps from the end of the corridor.
"Well, I guess it's showtime. Now be a good boy and don't warn your men," Xander said and pulled the tape again over the Mayor's mouth.
A second later about two dozen vampires rounded the corner and walked up to Xander and the Mayor. However, they stopped when they saw their tied up and gagged boss.
"What the hell," the leader muttered.
But Xander only grinned at the large groups of vampires. "Hi guys," he said and pushed the Mayor with all his strength. The chair rolled down the corridor and into the vampires.
Not waiting to see the results of his action, Xander turned around and ran in the direction of the other side. During his sprint he took the P8 and fired at the window at the end of the corridor. The glass shattered and a second later Xander jumped through the window.
The vampires in the meantime had stopped the rolling chair and a few of them already started chasing Xander.
"Boss?" the leader asked worried as he examined the Mayor for any injuries. The Mayor however was trying to tell him something, but because of the duct tape the vampire couldn't understand anything.
"What?" the leader asked and removed the stripe from the Mayor's mouth.
"It's a trap," the Mayor shouted at him.
Now for the first time the vampire noticed the packages of C4 that were strapped to the Mayor's body.
"Oh shit," he cursed, before he, the Mayor and the rest of his vampires vanished into a giant fireball.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
Buffy and Faith had carried the unconscious body of Angelus through almost the entire town when they finally arrived at the entrance of the library.
The could clearly hear Willow chanting.
"Asa sa fie! Asa sa fie! Acum!," it echoed down the hallway.
When they entered the library, Willow just finished the last incarnation of the spell.
"Acum!" she finally said and the orb in front of her glowed for a second before it went dark.
Being the center of the attention, no one noticed Buffy's and Faith's entrance.
"Hey guys," Buffy greeted her friends. Now everyone turned around and looked at the two slayers.
"Oh, Buffy," Giles started. "We didn't hear you."
"It's okay," Buffy said while she and Faith carried the vampire to the weapons cage. They dropped him on the floor and Giles locked the door after him.
"How do we know that it worked," Buffy asked her Watcher.
"Oh, I found a spell for that. We can check this way if his soul returned or not," Willow told her, but winced when she saw the slayer's face for the first time. "God Buffy, what happened to you?"
Buffy touched her face and noticed for the first time the various bruises that covered her face.
"Man, Angelus really got some good hits on me," Buffy said, and winced when she touched a rather large cut on her forehead.
Giles in the meantime went to his office to retrieve his first aid kit.
"That's it, no one is going to take any pictures of me at the graduation ceremony," Buffy exclaimed while she sat down. "At least not with this face."
"Oh, it doesn't look so bad," Willow tried to reassure her. " You still look.."
".like hell," Cordelia interrupted the witch. Everyone now looked at the ex- cheerleader. "What? Never heard of the little thing that is called truth?"
"And again thanks for your bluntness," Giles said and sat down in front of Buffy. Carefully he started cleaning her wounds.
"Have you heard anything from Xander," Buffy asked.
But the rest of the scoobies shook their heads.
"No," Willow told her, the worry evident in her voice.
Suddenly the phone rang. "Cordelia, could you please answer the phone?" Giles asked while he bandaged the cuts on Buffy's head.
The brunette walked into the office and returned a few seconds later.
"Buffy, it was your Mom," Cordelia told her, now also worried. "She said we should turn on the tv."
The whole scooby gang now gathered in front of the small tv on the library's counter. Giles turned the tv on and in a second they were greeted by the picture of a female reporter who stood in front of a burning building.
"This is Heidi Moure for Sunnydale news," the reporter started. "I'm standing in front of what was about an hour ago the City Hall of Sunnydale. The building was completely destroyed. Citizens reported a large explosion, but when the fire brigade arrived it was already too late," the woman reported and the camera moved to the fire fighters, that were still trying to get the fire under control. "This is of course only a small summary of the events that took place here. We will report later once there is more information. But one thing is sure at the moment: If there were still people working in the building, they didn't survive the explosion."
The last statement caused look of disbelief on the faces of all the scoobies. Hope almost completely vanished and they looked sadly at the tv.
"Man, I really did a number on them," came a familiar voice from behind them.
He landed directly behind Buffy. Before the blonde slayer could react Angelus already had grabbed the tranquilizer rifle and knocked her down with its butt .
While Buffy landed on the floor, Faith turned around and aimed with her rifle at the soulless vampire. But again Angelus was faster and shot the other slayer.
The dart hit her directly in the chest and the black haired slayer collapsed on the floor.
Buffy in the meantime jumped to her feet and kicked the vampire in the chest. Angelus staggered a few steps backwards, but was able to maintain his equilibrium.
"You think you can take me lover?" the vampire asked her with an evil smile. "You weren't able to handle me in the past, you only were able to put that annoying soul back in to me because geek boy helped you out. But this time you are all alone."
"I will kill you," Buffy told him with determination and pulled her favourite stake out of her belt.
"We will see," Angelus replied and took both ends of the rifle and handled it like a battle staff.
Buffy jumped and kicked at the vampire's head, but Angelus was able to block this strike. After she landed on the ground she aimed a roundhouse kick at Angelus' mid section, but again the vampire was able to block the kick.
"My turn," Angelus told her and slammed the butt of the rifle into her face. Before Buffy could react Angelus took a large swipe and connected with her side. Seeing that she was dazed, the vampire lifted the rifle above his head and was prepared to knock her out.
But this time Buffy reacted fast enough and was able to get a hold on the rifle before it could complete it's way. Both combatants struggled for the weapon. "Very good," Angelus told her through gritted teeth, the exertion evident on his face.
A fast kick from his side into Buffy's stomach ended the struggle and Buffy fell to the floor.
Angelus didn't wait a single second and kicked Buffy hard against the side of her head. Nearly unconscious Buffy could only watch as Angelus walked around her. "You know, someone told me I was still stuck in the medieval age. But I'm a quick learner," Angelus told her while he reloaded the rifle and aimed it at her chest. "A slayer is really easier to take out if you sedate her."
Angelus' finger tightened around the trigger, when suddenly he felt a small pain in his back. He reached around and surprisingly had a small dart in his hand.
"What the fuck," he cursed before he collapsed to the floor, missing Buffy only by a meter.
Faith stood up from her position on the floor and walked up to the fallen slayer. She quickly checked her injuries. She slapped her twice against the cheek, to bring her out of her dazed state.
"Hey B, you there?" she asked.
"Yeah," Buffy croaked out. "Is he finished?"
Faith looked at the vampire and shrugged. "Seems so," she told her fellow slayer. "Just our luck that Xander wanted us to wear those bullet proof vests," Faith said and showed Buffy the hole in her shirt where the dart was still sticking in the vest. She took it out and threw it away.
Buffy stood up, still a bit shaky on her legs, but Faith stabilized her.
"What we are gonna do now," Faith asked.
Buffy walked up to the vampire and turned him around. She quickly unclasped the medallion around his neck and took some shackles out of her small rucksack.
"Will you tie him up?" she asked Faith and handed her the chains. The dark haired slayer accepted them, while Buffy walked to the walkie talkie and picked it up from the ground.
While Faith was cuffing Angelus' feet and hands together, Buffy brought the radio to her ear.
"Will?" she spoke into the speaker.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
When the vampires opened the library doors and walked into the room they were welcomed by three crossbow bolts, two hitting vamps into their hearts, dusting them immediately.
While the three teens were busy reloading their weapons, Wesley and Giles opened fire, killing three more vampires with their first salvo. The vampires were now clearly confused. They expected only little resistance. But instead they were blown to pieces.
But those thoughts were cut short when not only the Watchers continued firing but also the three teens joined into the battle. Their combined fire killed another three vampires and another one was lying on the ground, his left leg ripped away.
When the shotguns ran dry the remaining three vampires decided that withdrawal was the best defence. So they ran as fast as possible out of the room and down the hallway.
The five Scoobies stood up and looked for several seconds at the dust covered entrance of the library that seconds ago was quite similar to a warzone.
"We did it," Willow finally shouted proudly.
"Yeah, we did it," Giles said and looked with amazement at the shotgun in his hands. But then his eyes fixed on the last remaining vampire. He slowly walked up to the undead creature and loaded another shotgun shell.
Before the vamp could utter a word of protest Giles shot him in the chest and a second later the body vanished in a pile of dust.
He lifted his head and looked at the other scoobies. The ones vaguely familiar with his wild years now knew why he was called Ripper.
"You did a great job," he told them with a proud voice and a smile. "But I think we still have a job to do. Willow?"
"Oh, yeah. You are right," Willow exclaimed and went back to the table where she was preparing the spell.
"Better check on Buffy, to see how far she is," she said and turned the walkie talkie on.
".ill?" came over the line.
"I'm here Buffy," Willow told her.
"Thank God. I thought something happened to you guys when I didn't get a connection."
"Well, you were right. A few vampires decided to pay us a little visit," Willow told her.
"Oh no. Are you okay?" Buffy asked worried.
"Yeah, we are all okay. No problem. How are you doing?"
"Well, we got Angelus and we had no casualties. He should be out for at least two hours. We will bring him to the library," Buffy told her.
"That's good news. We are still preparing the spell, but it should be finished when you arrive."
"Okay Will, see you then," Buffy told her and ended the connection.
Willow placed the radio on the table and continued to prepare the spell with the help of Oz and Cordelia.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
"You will like hell," Xander told the Mayor while he rolled the still tied up man through the corridors of City Hall. The walls were covered with bullet holes and ground with dust and shells. "I heard it's warm almost the entire year there."
They passed a certain point and Xander stopped. He pointed at the C4 package, that was planted to the wall. "You see, that's the reason it took me so long to get to you. Had to prepare the entire ground floor. Tell you, if I blow something up, I do it right."
They Mayor tried to say something, but with the duct tape around his mouth only a slight muffle could be heard.
"Oh, you want to say something," Xander said and removed the tape.
"Alexander, not that I'm not grateful for the little sight seeing tour, but we have been going through the corridors for almost five minutes. If you want to do something please do it now."
"Believe me, everything I'm doing here has a reason. You see, you might survive the C4 on your body and you might even survive the whole building crashing down on you. And if that's going to be the case I'm making damn sure that I don't waste my explosives. I'm going make sure that I take out as many of your vampires as possible." Xander told him with an evil smile. "That's why we are waiting for your reinforcements."
Suddenly both could hear the sound of footsteps from the end of the corridor.
"Well, I guess it's showtime. Now be a good boy and don't warn your men," Xander said and pulled the tape again over the Mayor's mouth.
A second later about two dozen vampires rounded the corner and walked up to Xander and the Mayor. However, they stopped when they saw their tied up and gagged boss.
"What the hell," the leader muttered.
But Xander only grinned at the large groups of vampires. "Hi guys," he said and pushed the Mayor with all his strength. The chair rolled down the corridor and into the vampires.
Not waiting to see the results of his action, Xander turned around and ran in the direction of the other side. During his sprint he took the P8 and fired at the window at the end of the corridor. The glass shattered and a second later Xander jumped through the window.
The vampires in the meantime had stopped the rolling chair and a few of them already started chasing Xander.
"Boss?" the leader asked worried as he examined the Mayor for any injuries. The Mayor however was trying to tell him something, but because of the duct tape the vampire couldn't understand anything.
"What?" the leader asked and removed the stripe from the Mayor's mouth.
"It's a trap," the Mayor shouted at him.
Now for the first time the vampire noticed the packages of C4 that were strapped to the Mayor's body.
"Oh shit," he cursed, before he, the Mayor and the rest of his vampires vanished into a giant fireball.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
Buffy and Faith had carried the unconscious body of Angelus through almost the entire town when they finally arrived at the entrance of the library.
The could clearly hear Willow chanting.
"Asa sa fie! Asa sa fie! Acum!," it echoed down the hallway.
When they entered the library, Willow just finished the last incarnation of the spell.
"Acum!" she finally said and the orb in front of her glowed for a second before it went dark.
Being the center of the attention, no one noticed Buffy's and Faith's entrance.
"Hey guys," Buffy greeted her friends. Now everyone turned around and looked at the two slayers.
"Oh, Buffy," Giles started. "We didn't hear you."
"It's okay," Buffy said while she and Faith carried the vampire to the weapons cage. They dropped him on the floor and Giles locked the door after him.
"How do we know that it worked," Buffy asked her Watcher.
"Oh, I found a spell for that. We can check this way if his soul returned or not," Willow told her, but winced when she saw the slayer's face for the first time. "God Buffy, what happened to you?"
Buffy touched her face and noticed for the first time the various bruises that covered her face.
"Man, Angelus really got some good hits on me," Buffy said, and winced when she touched a rather large cut on her forehead.
Giles in the meantime went to his office to retrieve his first aid kit.
"That's it, no one is going to take any pictures of me at the graduation ceremony," Buffy exclaimed while she sat down. "At least not with this face."
"Oh, it doesn't look so bad," Willow tried to reassure her. " You still look.."
".like hell," Cordelia interrupted the witch. Everyone now looked at the ex- cheerleader. "What? Never heard of the little thing that is called truth?"
"And again thanks for your bluntness," Giles said and sat down in front of Buffy. Carefully he started cleaning her wounds.
"Have you heard anything from Xander," Buffy asked.
But the rest of the scoobies shook their heads.
"No," Willow told her, the worry evident in her voice.
Suddenly the phone rang. "Cordelia, could you please answer the phone?" Giles asked while he bandaged the cuts on Buffy's head.
The brunette walked into the office and returned a few seconds later.
"Buffy, it was your Mom," Cordelia told her, now also worried. "She said we should turn on the tv."
The whole scooby gang now gathered in front of the small tv on the library's counter. Giles turned the tv on and in a second they were greeted by the picture of a female reporter who stood in front of a burning building.
"This is Heidi Moure for Sunnydale news," the reporter started. "I'm standing in front of what was about an hour ago the City Hall of Sunnydale. The building was completely destroyed. Citizens reported a large explosion, but when the fire brigade arrived it was already too late," the woman reported and the camera moved to the fire fighters, that were still trying to get the fire under control. "This is of course only a small summary of the events that took place here. We will report later once there is more information. But one thing is sure at the moment: If there were still people working in the building, they didn't survive the explosion."
The last statement caused look of disbelief on the faces of all the scoobies. Hope almost completely vanished and they looked sadly at the tv.
"Man, I really did a number on them," came a familiar voice from behind them.