Chapter 37
"This place you originally saw the First? You say it was in a Christmas tree lot?" Giles asked.
"Under it. There was a hidden cavern. Just happened to be under a tree lot. The Bringers were doing some kind of ritual." Buffy said, then she looked directly at Giles. Giles, this is bad, isn't it? A new kind of bad."
"Just in time for Christmas."
"You know, I didn't even realize it was December. Maybe when we get home, we should decorate the rubble. Think you'll ever show up for a real visit? The kind where the world isn't about to end?"
"If we survive this, I promise."
"Good. Cause I miss you."
"I miss you too."
"We all miss you. Connor.. Well, I don't know if there's a day that goes by he doesn't ask when grandpa Giles is coming home."
"How is he doing? He seems a bit angry with the world."
"He's mad at himself." Angel said. "That Beast Buffy and I told you about. He blames himself for it. The thing came up where he was almost born and Buffy almost died. That's also where Holtz first came in contact with Buffy."
"Not that I remember any of it."
"Well, you were really out of it sweetheart."
"Pain. Lots of it. Oh, hey! I remember that."
Giles smiled at the two as they continued their talk. He loved to see that his Slayer was well taken care off and that she was in love.
"Hey, here it is." Buffy opened the gate to the old tree lot.
"So the entrance to the cave was above ground here?" Giles asked.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was around here somewhere."
"Well, we'll just keep.."
"Buffy!" Angel cried.
"Aah!" Giles turned to look when Buffy screamed. She had fallen through a hole. "Found it!" She called up.
"Good lord, are you all right?" Giles asked.
"Peachy, except my knees bend backwards now. Ok, guys, stay up there. I'm gonna check it out."
"Right."
Giles and Angel watched Buffy move around in the cave. She walked around among the various cave formations. She looked up, she looked down, and then something passed behind her, unseen. She turned to look, but no one was behind her. When she turned back, a hideous waxy creature hissed in her face. Buffy was startled, and the thing took the opportunity to punch her so hard she flew across the room, landing against the wall and falling to the ground. It kicked and punched her with such force that her blocks were mostly ineffective.
Buffy retreated, but it followed. Finally she got some good offensive and moved in, but the thing was able to avoid or block more than half of them. It punched her again, sending her rolling into another room. She got to her feet before the thing could get to her and readied herself with a stake. When it finally came close enough, she staked him right through the heart. It looked at the stake, growled, looked at Buffy, and took out the stake. Buffy stared at the thing in utter shock.
"Buffy!?" Angel called.
The thing punched Buffy and came after her with her own stake. Buffy avoided it's attacks, but her back was literally against the wall. Her eyes were still wide as she watched the thing come after her. It punched her in the stomach and threw her against the wall. She threw a punch at him, but it caught her fist in it's palm and squeezed until it made crunching sounds. Then it twisted her arm and pulled her body by the arm until it slammed her head into a stalagmite, before finally grabbing her throat, squeezing, and lifting her off the ground. Buffy winced and looked around desperately until she found a stalactite. She broke the stalactite off of the cave ceiling and bashed the thing's head with it. It dropped her and fell to the ground.
While the thing was recovering, Buffy made a run for it. She climbed the cave walls toward the hole where she fell in. She was almost out, her hands were on the Christmas tree lot ground, when the thing grabbed her heel. Buffy struggled against him, trying to get out of the hole, but the thing pulled her back in. Angel grabbed her arm and held onto her tightly. She kicked the thing in the head and tried again to crawl out of the hole. She barely got out of the hole and looked up at Angel, who was backlit by the rising sun, which he blocked. The thing started to crawl out of the hole, but it saw the sunlight and retreated back into the cave.
"What the hell was that?" Buffy asked, gasping for breath as she and Angel laid on the ground.
"Let's get you home and fixed up. Those bruises look pretty bad." Giles said, helping her stand and then Angel.
"Giles, no dodging."
"Let's get home and I'll explain it there. Angel's got the Gem of Amara on. If that thing realizes that, Angel could be in danger also."
"Nothing new there." Angel muttered as they walked home.
"Giles, I don't think we should tell the others just yet. It'll give us a chance to.." Buffy trailed off as she opened the door and found the three potentials raiding her kitchen.
"Sorry about the British invasion." Kennedy said.
"We've been up for hours." Molly added.
"4 P.M. London time." Annabelle said.
"Are you all right? You look.." Kennedy said.
"Oh. Yeah, I'm ok. I just got into a fight is all." Buffy said. She turned to Giles. "You want to tell me with what?"
"Yes, Buffy, but don't you think we should, uh, discuss this privately?" Giles asked.
"You mean, not in front of the next generation? No time to coddle them, Giles. Welcome to the war room, guys."
"Uh, what you fought was a vampire, but it was, um, something more than that. It was a Turok-Han. As Neanderthals are to human beings, the Turok- Han are to vampires. Primordial, ferociously powerful killing machines, as single-minded as animals. They are the vampires that vampires fear. An ancient and entirely different race and, until this morning, I thought they were a myth."
"So, the First shows up, then the Beast, and now this? You think it's a coincidence?" Angel asked.
"I think it's more likely that the Turok-Han is here as an agent of the First. As for the Beast, I don't really know."
"Um, did you slay it? The Turok thing?" Annabelle asked.
"No, it's still out there, somewhere." Buffy said.
"What's it want?" Molly asked.
"All of us dead. But for now it looks like sunlight is keeping this UberVamp away."
"So, until sunset, I suggest you get some rest. A few hours sleep will do a world of difference." Giles said.
"No sleep today. Can't."
"Oh, come on, you're exhausted."
"Ah, it comes with the gig. Somehow I don't think taking on prehistoric evil comes with naptime. Sorry, potential guys. I know you came a long way, and you wanna get into it, but the best thing you can do right now is just sit tight, wait it out. I'm gonna go to work, see what I can find out. I'll be back before sunset."
"How do you plan to research something as ill-defined as the First?"
"I have the best plan ever." Buffy walked out and headed towards her bedroom.
Angel followed. "Work? This really isn't the time for work, honey."
"I know, but I need to do something to get my mind off of.. Everything."
"I'm coming with you then."
"No. Someone needs to stay here and watch the girls. The Bringers could come back."
"Faith's here. She can handle it."
"I don't think Principal Wood would like it if I brought you to work. It's not exactly show and tell."
"I'm going with you."
"Fine. I don't wanna get punched."
Angel rubbed his jaw where Buffy had hit him not long ago. "I don't wanna get punched either."
Buffy nodded and finished putting her shirt on. They walked out and headed to work. Angel sat behind her in her little cubicle flipping through a file from the Watchers Council while Buffy researched the on the Net and talked to Faith over the phone.
"Yeah, well, I already re-checked the basement. Wait, you know, hold on, I'm gonna try something." She typed and then sighed. "Maybe the First isn't ready for modern technology. Displaying results 1 through 10 of 900,517. Ok, I gotta narrow this down. I'll call you back? Yeah."
Principal Wood walked up and read her computer screen. "Manifestations of evil?" Buffy typed more in the search field and he read what she had typed. "In.. the.. movies." He looked at Buffy. "You're searching for evil movies?"
"Uh, I know it's not the all-time most kosher use of my office hours, um, but, you know, looking at some down time. And what can I say, I just love those evil, evil movies. Like Exorcist, you know, Blair Witch.. Right honey?"
Angel turned around. "Yeah. She's a sucker for em."
"Hmm. As opposed to Rob Schneider's Oeuvre." Wood said.
"Different kind of evil." Angel said with a slight shudder.
"Yeah. Buffy, you know, I'm not that big a fan of scary movies, even the hokie ones. Sometimes they go to a place that I think kids could stand to avoid." He sat in the chair in front of her desk and crossed his arms and leaned forward on her desk.
"Well, it's not for the kids." Buffy said.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm only saying that once you see true evil, it can have some serious after burn, and then you can't un-see what you saw. Ever. That's just one opinion. I better get back to work." Wood stood up and started to leave.
"What kind of movies do you like?" Buffy called after him.
"Oh, me? Mysteries. I love finding out what's underneath it all at the very end." He walked away.
"That guy has some creepy issues." Angel said.
"Uh huh."
They both went back to researching. After a while, Buffy decided to go to the bathroom. She walked down the hall and entered the ladies restroom. The school bell rung. Buffy washed her face in the sink. She touched a sore spot on her face, then went to inspect her arms as well. She unzipped the arm of her blazer to reveal scrapes and bruises worse than she'd ever seen on herself. She winced as she touched them. Then, someone's loving touch and Buffy turned to find her mother in their bathroom at home.
"Buffy, what happened?" Joyce asked.
"Uh, oh, it's ok, Mom." Buffy said.
"I tried to warn you, but.. right. The last thing you need now is one of helpful Mom's guilt trips. I'll get you some ice."
"No, Mom. I-I can't."
"Buffy, you have to heal."
"I don't have time."
"Are you worried about the sun going down? Because there's some things you can't control. The sun always goes down, the sun always comes up."
"Everyone's counting on me."
"Well, they do that, and I'm sorry, Buffy, but these-these friends of yours put too much pressure on you. They always have."
"Something evil is coming."
"Buffy, evil isn't coming, it's already here. Evil is always here. Don't you know? It's everywhere."
"And I have to stop it."
"How are you gonna do that?"
"I-I don't know yet, but.."
"Buffy, no matter what your friends expect of you, evil is a part of us. All of us. It's natural. And no one can stop that. No one can stop nature, not even.."
The school bell rang and Angel was rubbing her back and saying quietly, "Buffy. Honey, wake up."
Buffy looked up, forgetting that she had been talking to a student. "Oh, um, I'm sorry. What were we talking about?"
"Only my life. You're just like all the others." The boy said.
"No. No, no, no. I'm different. I'm hip. I relate to the young people. No, don't go, uh, uh.."
"Roger." Angel said.
"Roger. See? I knew that!" Roger left. Buffy sighed and hung her head in her hands. "Oh.. You could have kept me awake."
"I tried. Baby, you need to go home and get some rest."
"I can't rest. The world is depending on me."
"Not just you Buffy. It's depending on your friends, Faith, me, and Connor. This is our big battle Buffy. And you need rest. Come on, we're going home. The sun will be down in a couple of hours. I'll sleep with you if it'll make you rest easier."
Buffy looked at him a moment and then nodded. As she got her stuff together, Angel went and told Principal Wood that they were leaving. They got home to find the S.I.T.s raiding her kitchen again and watching TV. Angel forced her upstairs and into the bed. Buffy barely slept, but she did shut her eyes long enough to feel a little more rejuvenated. That evening, they headed back downstairs and started preparing. Dawn and Willow were getting weapons from the weapons chest, Giles was pacing, Xander was finishing up working on the living room window, the slayers in training were sitting on the couch, and Faith and Connor were standing next to Buffy watching everything.
"This day's almost over." Giles said, looking at his watch. "And the sun will go down in 17 minutes."
"Hey, junior slayers, don't look so worried. I mean, sure, we don't know where Spike is, or how to fight the First, or if and when the super style vampire is gonna attack us all. However, the house is boarded up. Now all we gotta do is trap this UberVamp in a pantry, and it's game over." Xander said.
"Xander, newbies. Let's ease them into the whole 'jokes in the face of death' thing." Willow said.
"Who's joking? That pantry thing could work. Are you saying M. Night Shamalayan lied to us?"
"You'll be ok." Buffy said to the three girls on her couch.
"Ok, or even better. It's like our guarantee." Willow said. "Um, Buffy, I just, I want you to know that I'm really sorry for letting you down. You know, here before with the magic going all aah and me going all eeee and everything getting all rrrr. I wish I could help out."
"No one expects you to make everything right." Angel said.
"So, I can't do everything, but I should at least be able to do something. I have so much power, but when I try to use it.."
"Don't, ok?" Buffy asked.
"Ok. But, you need help, Buffy. I know you, and I know you'll never admit it, but you need help."
"I'll be ok. Ok, or better. It's like my guarantee."
"Hey, are we getting weapons? Trained fighters? Patton is coming? I've heard worse ideas." Kennedy asked, walking up to Buffy and Angel.
"We'll be armed when the slayer feels we're ready." Annabelle said.
"I feel ready." Molly said.
"You're frightened. You must learn to control your fear."
"Hey, you know what would help with that? Weapons." Kennedy said.
"Uh, I don't know about that.." Buffy said.
"We're sitting ducks without them."
"We're with the slayer. Safe as houses." Annabelle said.
"Do you see the house we're in?"
"It'll come straight for us, won't it?"
"We should load them up, Giles." Angel said.
Giles nodded and went to talk to the girls about weapons. Buffy, Angel, and Connor followed Xander into the dining room.
"Listen to me, man, I've got a bad feeling about this." Andrew said.
"Of course you've got a bad feeling, dude. You're-you're tied to a chair." Xander said.
"No. Yeah, but above and beyond that. I'm telling you that my spider- sense is tingling. This is gonna get hairy. I'm talking weird with a beard. Better untie me."
"And that'll help us how?" Connor asked.
"Ok, I know what you're thinking. Andrew, bad guy. You think I'm a super- villain like Dr. Doom or Apocalypse or-or The Riddler. But I admit I went over to the dark side, but just to pick up a few things, a-and now I'm back. I've learned. I'm good again."
"And when were you good before?" Angel asked, walking out of the room with Buffy and Xander.
"Ok, technically, never. Touché." Andrew struggled against his restraints. "But I'm like Vader in the last 5 minutes of Jedi with redemptive powers minus a redemptive struggle of epic redemption which chronicles.. These ropes itch."
Connor rolled his eyes and walked out. He walked into the kitchen and sat down on the counter. Angel swatted him off and looked over at Buffy. She was nervously looking out the window of the backdoor. Angel walked up behind her.
"How're we doing on time?" she asked.
"Sunset should be any minute now. We've done everything we can. Don't worry, everyone here understands that you're calling the shots." Angel said.
"I just hope I'm calling the right ones."
"You have all my faith. And they're depending on you."
"Angel, that's not exactly what I needed to hear right now."
"Guys? Annabelle split." Molly said, coming into the kitchen.
"Great. Ok, me, Angel, Willow, and Xander will go out and look for her. We'll try to meet up somewhere near the industrial complex. If we don't find her, Willow, you do a locator spell. Everyone got it?" They all nodded. "Good."
Buffy made her way to the industrial manufacturing complex. She walked past the dumpster and saw Annabelle's body lying still on the ground. Buffy paused, taking a moment to contemplate the situation. Suddenly, the UberVamp attacked her from behind, knocking her to the ground. Buffy crawled away to crouch beside the dumpster. She looked at the UberVamp and then got up to fight with it. She kicked, it ducked. She punched, it blocked. It punched her in the face, then in the stomach, and Buffy fell to the ground face first. It picked her up and tried to choke her, but she spit blood in its face, startling the thing, and Buffy managed to escape its clutches. She ran away, hiding in the nearby factory. The UberVamp licked the blood off of its face, growled, and headed after Buffy.
Buffy ran into the factory and looked around for somewhere to hide. She wasn't making a fast flight since she was limping. She went deeper into the building, which was very industrial in nature with many vertical metal pipes and valves. The UberVamp had followed her to the building and was looking for her. She surprised it by coming from behind it and smacking it in the head with a large metal pipe, but she didn't even manage to knock it down. They fought and the thing wrestled the pipe from her hand when she swung it at the UberVamp again. It threw the pipe to the ground and they returned to martial arts.
It punched her and she bent over at the waist. It kicked her in the chest, sending her crashing into a metal support beam. The thing came at her again, and she dropped to the ground to avoid his fist. Buffy stood, and it punched and kicked her, finally causing her to double over in pain as it punched her ribs. It punched her in the head, sending her to the ground again. It picked her up, backhanded her in the face, then punched her so hard, she flew 25 feet across the room.
It ran toward her, but she looked around and noticed a pulley hoisting a pallet of metal beams. Buffy kicked a control lever for the pulley, sending the beams crashing on top of the UberVamp as it came towards her. Still lying on the ground, Buffy hid her face as they landed. She got up and ran away slowly, still limping, but stopped and turned around. Her eyes widened as she saw the UberVamp rising from the pile of metal beams, unhurt. It leaped out of the rubble and sprinted after her.
In no time at all, the thing had caught up to her, grabbing her from behind and throwing her into a concrete wall. She stepped back, still standing, as the UberVamp literally crawled up the wall to gain momentum and height to kick her in the face, knocking Buffy to the ground. Then it kicked her in the head again before grabbing her arm and throwing Buffy through a concrete block wall. The wall crumbled down on top of her, the roof caved in, and there was blackness.
Angel heard the commotion and ran over to see what had happened. As he rounded the corner, the UberVamp was running off and Buffy was being crushed under a falling concrete wall. "Buffy!" He lifted off part of the metal roof that had fallen on top of Buffy, revealing her body lying there still on the ground in a pile of rubble, her face covered with blood. "Oh God!"
Angel cleared more stuff out of the way and ran over to her just as Willow and Xander ran over. He held her up and started to wipe the blood away with his shirt. "Come one baby, wake up. I can hear your heart. Please." Angel frantically wiped the blood away and stroked her cheek. She groaned and Angel picked her up. They ran home with her and Angel took her upstairs, lying her in the bed.
A few hours or so passed before she woke up. She looked around to find that she was alone in her and Angel's room. Standing painfully, she walked to the door. Voices floated up to her and they didn't sound at all positive. Feeling defeated, Buffy walked over to the chair and curled up, listening to what they were saying.
"We could make plans as we always do, but the truth is, Buffy was our plan. There is no back up." Giles said.
"Giles, she looks bad." Willow said.
"She does. I'm afraid there may be internal bleeding."
"What does that mean? Will she.." Connor asked.
"Die? I don't think so. I don't know."
"What do we do if she can't fight, if she can't beat this thing?" Willow asked.
"We're back at square one."
"Which square would that be, exactly?" Xander asked.
"I'm not sure. The First predates everything we've ever known, or can know. It's everywhere. It's pure. I don't know if we can fight it."
Buffy walked down the stairs. Angel was standing in the doorway brooding. She knew over what. "You're right. We don't know how to fight it. We don't know when it'll come. We can't run, can't hide, can't pretend it's not the end, cause it is. Something's always been there to try and destroy the world. We've beaten them back, but we're not dealing with them anymore. We're dealing with the reason they exist. Evil. The strongest. The First."
"Buffy, I-I-I know you're tired." Giles said.
"I'm beyond tired. I'm beyond scared. I'm standing on the mouth of hell, and it is gonna swallow me whole." Her mood suddenly changed to defiant. "And it'll choke on me. We're not ready? They're not ready. They think we're gonna wait for the end to come, like we always do. I'm done waiting. They want an apocalypse? Oh, we'll give 'em one. Anyone else who wants to run, do it now. Cause we just became an army. We just declared war. From now on, we won't just face our worst fears, we will seek them out. We will find them, and cut out their hearts one by one, until the First shows itself for what it really is. And I'll kill it myself. There is only one thing on this earth more powerful than evil, and that's us. Any questions?"
No one lifted a hand. Buffy nodded and walked outside onto the porch. Angel followed her. He didn't say anything, just walked over to her and held her. Together, they watched the sun come up.
"This place you originally saw the First? You say it was in a Christmas tree lot?" Giles asked.
"Under it. There was a hidden cavern. Just happened to be under a tree lot. The Bringers were doing some kind of ritual." Buffy said, then she looked directly at Giles. Giles, this is bad, isn't it? A new kind of bad."
"Just in time for Christmas."
"You know, I didn't even realize it was December. Maybe when we get home, we should decorate the rubble. Think you'll ever show up for a real visit? The kind where the world isn't about to end?"
"If we survive this, I promise."
"Good. Cause I miss you."
"I miss you too."
"We all miss you. Connor.. Well, I don't know if there's a day that goes by he doesn't ask when grandpa Giles is coming home."
"How is he doing? He seems a bit angry with the world."
"He's mad at himself." Angel said. "That Beast Buffy and I told you about. He blames himself for it. The thing came up where he was almost born and Buffy almost died. That's also where Holtz first came in contact with Buffy."
"Not that I remember any of it."
"Well, you were really out of it sweetheart."
"Pain. Lots of it. Oh, hey! I remember that."
Giles smiled at the two as they continued their talk. He loved to see that his Slayer was well taken care off and that she was in love.
"Hey, here it is." Buffy opened the gate to the old tree lot.
"So the entrance to the cave was above ground here?" Giles asked.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was around here somewhere."
"Well, we'll just keep.."
"Buffy!" Angel cried.
"Aah!" Giles turned to look when Buffy screamed. She had fallen through a hole. "Found it!" She called up.
"Good lord, are you all right?" Giles asked.
"Peachy, except my knees bend backwards now. Ok, guys, stay up there. I'm gonna check it out."
"Right."
Giles and Angel watched Buffy move around in the cave. She walked around among the various cave formations. She looked up, she looked down, and then something passed behind her, unseen. She turned to look, but no one was behind her. When she turned back, a hideous waxy creature hissed in her face. Buffy was startled, and the thing took the opportunity to punch her so hard she flew across the room, landing against the wall and falling to the ground. It kicked and punched her with such force that her blocks were mostly ineffective.
Buffy retreated, but it followed. Finally she got some good offensive and moved in, but the thing was able to avoid or block more than half of them. It punched her again, sending her rolling into another room. She got to her feet before the thing could get to her and readied herself with a stake. When it finally came close enough, she staked him right through the heart. It looked at the stake, growled, looked at Buffy, and took out the stake. Buffy stared at the thing in utter shock.
"Buffy!?" Angel called.
The thing punched Buffy and came after her with her own stake. Buffy avoided it's attacks, but her back was literally against the wall. Her eyes were still wide as she watched the thing come after her. It punched her in the stomach and threw her against the wall. She threw a punch at him, but it caught her fist in it's palm and squeezed until it made crunching sounds. Then it twisted her arm and pulled her body by the arm until it slammed her head into a stalagmite, before finally grabbing her throat, squeezing, and lifting her off the ground. Buffy winced and looked around desperately until she found a stalactite. She broke the stalactite off of the cave ceiling and bashed the thing's head with it. It dropped her and fell to the ground.
While the thing was recovering, Buffy made a run for it. She climbed the cave walls toward the hole where she fell in. She was almost out, her hands were on the Christmas tree lot ground, when the thing grabbed her heel. Buffy struggled against him, trying to get out of the hole, but the thing pulled her back in. Angel grabbed her arm and held onto her tightly. She kicked the thing in the head and tried again to crawl out of the hole. She barely got out of the hole and looked up at Angel, who was backlit by the rising sun, which he blocked. The thing started to crawl out of the hole, but it saw the sunlight and retreated back into the cave.
"What the hell was that?" Buffy asked, gasping for breath as she and Angel laid on the ground.
"Let's get you home and fixed up. Those bruises look pretty bad." Giles said, helping her stand and then Angel.
"Giles, no dodging."
"Let's get home and I'll explain it there. Angel's got the Gem of Amara on. If that thing realizes that, Angel could be in danger also."
"Nothing new there." Angel muttered as they walked home.
"Giles, I don't think we should tell the others just yet. It'll give us a chance to.." Buffy trailed off as she opened the door and found the three potentials raiding her kitchen.
"Sorry about the British invasion." Kennedy said.
"We've been up for hours." Molly added.
"4 P.M. London time." Annabelle said.
"Are you all right? You look.." Kennedy said.
"Oh. Yeah, I'm ok. I just got into a fight is all." Buffy said. She turned to Giles. "You want to tell me with what?"
"Yes, Buffy, but don't you think we should, uh, discuss this privately?" Giles asked.
"You mean, not in front of the next generation? No time to coddle them, Giles. Welcome to the war room, guys."
"Uh, what you fought was a vampire, but it was, um, something more than that. It was a Turok-Han. As Neanderthals are to human beings, the Turok- Han are to vampires. Primordial, ferociously powerful killing machines, as single-minded as animals. They are the vampires that vampires fear. An ancient and entirely different race and, until this morning, I thought they were a myth."
"So, the First shows up, then the Beast, and now this? You think it's a coincidence?" Angel asked.
"I think it's more likely that the Turok-Han is here as an agent of the First. As for the Beast, I don't really know."
"Um, did you slay it? The Turok thing?" Annabelle asked.
"No, it's still out there, somewhere." Buffy said.
"What's it want?" Molly asked.
"All of us dead. But for now it looks like sunlight is keeping this UberVamp away."
"So, until sunset, I suggest you get some rest. A few hours sleep will do a world of difference." Giles said.
"No sleep today. Can't."
"Oh, come on, you're exhausted."
"Ah, it comes with the gig. Somehow I don't think taking on prehistoric evil comes with naptime. Sorry, potential guys. I know you came a long way, and you wanna get into it, but the best thing you can do right now is just sit tight, wait it out. I'm gonna go to work, see what I can find out. I'll be back before sunset."
"How do you plan to research something as ill-defined as the First?"
"I have the best plan ever." Buffy walked out and headed towards her bedroom.
Angel followed. "Work? This really isn't the time for work, honey."
"I know, but I need to do something to get my mind off of.. Everything."
"I'm coming with you then."
"No. Someone needs to stay here and watch the girls. The Bringers could come back."
"Faith's here. She can handle it."
"I don't think Principal Wood would like it if I brought you to work. It's not exactly show and tell."
"I'm going with you."
"Fine. I don't wanna get punched."
Angel rubbed his jaw where Buffy had hit him not long ago. "I don't wanna get punched either."
Buffy nodded and finished putting her shirt on. They walked out and headed to work. Angel sat behind her in her little cubicle flipping through a file from the Watchers Council while Buffy researched the on the Net and talked to Faith over the phone.
"Yeah, well, I already re-checked the basement. Wait, you know, hold on, I'm gonna try something." She typed and then sighed. "Maybe the First isn't ready for modern technology. Displaying results 1 through 10 of 900,517. Ok, I gotta narrow this down. I'll call you back? Yeah."
Principal Wood walked up and read her computer screen. "Manifestations of evil?" Buffy typed more in the search field and he read what she had typed. "In.. the.. movies." He looked at Buffy. "You're searching for evil movies?"
"Uh, I know it's not the all-time most kosher use of my office hours, um, but, you know, looking at some down time. And what can I say, I just love those evil, evil movies. Like Exorcist, you know, Blair Witch.. Right honey?"
Angel turned around. "Yeah. She's a sucker for em."
"Hmm. As opposed to Rob Schneider's Oeuvre." Wood said.
"Different kind of evil." Angel said with a slight shudder.
"Yeah. Buffy, you know, I'm not that big a fan of scary movies, even the hokie ones. Sometimes they go to a place that I think kids could stand to avoid." He sat in the chair in front of her desk and crossed his arms and leaned forward on her desk.
"Well, it's not for the kids." Buffy said.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm only saying that once you see true evil, it can have some serious after burn, and then you can't un-see what you saw. Ever. That's just one opinion. I better get back to work." Wood stood up and started to leave.
"What kind of movies do you like?" Buffy called after him.
"Oh, me? Mysteries. I love finding out what's underneath it all at the very end." He walked away.
"That guy has some creepy issues." Angel said.
"Uh huh."
They both went back to researching. After a while, Buffy decided to go to the bathroom. She walked down the hall and entered the ladies restroom. The school bell rung. Buffy washed her face in the sink. She touched a sore spot on her face, then went to inspect her arms as well. She unzipped the arm of her blazer to reveal scrapes and bruises worse than she'd ever seen on herself. She winced as she touched them. Then, someone's loving touch and Buffy turned to find her mother in their bathroom at home.
"Buffy, what happened?" Joyce asked.
"Uh, oh, it's ok, Mom." Buffy said.
"I tried to warn you, but.. right. The last thing you need now is one of helpful Mom's guilt trips. I'll get you some ice."
"No, Mom. I-I can't."
"Buffy, you have to heal."
"I don't have time."
"Are you worried about the sun going down? Because there's some things you can't control. The sun always goes down, the sun always comes up."
"Everyone's counting on me."
"Well, they do that, and I'm sorry, Buffy, but these-these friends of yours put too much pressure on you. They always have."
"Something evil is coming."
"Buffy, evil isn't coming, it's already here. Evil is always here. Don't you know? It's everywhere."
"And I have to stop it."
"How are you gonna do that?"
"I-I don't know yet, but.."
"Buffy, no matter what your friends expect of you, evil is a part of us. All of us. It's natural. And no one can stop that. No one can stop nature, not even.."
The school bell rang and Angel was rubbing her back and saying quietly, "Buffy. Honey, wake up."
Buffy looked up, forgetting that she had been talking to a student. "Oh, um, I'm sorry. What were we talking about?"
"Only my life. You're just like all the others." The boy said.
"No. No, no, no. I'm different. I'm hip. I relate to the young people. No, don't go, uh, uh.."
"Roger." Angel said.
"Roger. See? I knew that!" Roger left. Buffy sighed and hung her head in her hands. "Oh.. You could have kept me awake."
"I tried. Baby, you need to go home and get some rest."
"I can't rest. The world is depending on me."
"Not just you Buffy. It's depending on your friends, Faith, me, and Connor. This is our big battle Buffy. And you need rest. Come on, we're going home. The sun will be down in a couple of hours. I'll sleep with you if it'll make you rest easier."
Buffy looked at him a moment and then nodded. As she got her stuff together, Angel went and told Principal Wood that they were leaving. They got home to find the S.I.T.s raiding her kitchen again and watching TV. Angel forced her upstairs and into the bed. Buffy barely slept, but she did shut her eyes long enough to feel a little more rejuvenated. That evening, they headed back downstairs and started preparing. Dawn and Willow were getting weapons from the weapons chest, Giles was pacing, Xander was finishing up working on the living room window, the slayers in training were sitting on the couch, and Faith and Connor were standing next to Buffy watching everything.
"This day's almost over." Giles said, looking at his watch. "And the sun will go down in 17 minutes."
"Hey, junior slayers, don't look so worried. I mean, sure, we don't know where Spike is, or how to fight the First, or if and when the super style vampire is gonna attack us all. However, the house is boarded up. Now all we gotta do is trap this UberVamp in a pantry, and it's game over." Xander said.
"Xander, newbies. Let's ease them into the whole 'jokes in the face of death' thing." Willow said.
"Who's joking? That pantry thing could work. Are you saying M. Night Shamalayan lied to us?"
"You'll be ok." Buffy said to the three girls on her couch.
"Ok, or even better. It's like our guarantee." Willow said. "Um, Buffy, I just, I want you to know that I'm really sorry for letting you down. You know, here before with the magic going all aah and me going all eeee and everything getting all rrrr. I wish I could help out."
"No one expects you to make everything right." Angel said.
"So, I can't do everything, but I should at least be able to do something. I have so much power, but when I try to use it.."
"Don't, ok?" Buffy asked.
"Ok. But, you need help, Buffy. I know you, and I know you'll never admit it, but you need help."
"I'll be ok. Ok, or better. It's like my guarantee."
"Hey, are we getting weapons? Trained fighters? Patton is coming? I've heard worse ideas." Kennedy asked, walking up to Buffy and Angel.
"We'll be armed when the slayer feels we're ready." Annabelle said.
"I feel ready." Molly said.
"You're frightened. You must learn to control your fear."
"Hey, you know what would help with that? Weapons." Kennedy said.
"Uh, I don't know about that.." Buffy said.
"We're sitting ducks without them."
"We're with the slayer. Safe as houses." Annabelle said.
"Do you see the house we're in?"
"It'll come straight for us, won't it?"
"We should load them up, Giles." Angel said.
Giles nodded and went to talk to the girls about weapons. Buffy, Angel, and Connor followed Xander into the dining room.
"Listen to me, man, I've got a bad feeling about this." Andrew said.
"Of course you've got a bad feeling, dude. You're-you're tied to a chair." Xander said.
"No. Yeah, but above and beyond that. I'm telling you that my spider- sense is tingling. This is gonna get hairy. I'm talking weird with a beard. Better untie me."
"And that'll help us how?" Connor asked.
"Ok, I know what you're thinking. Andrew, bad guy. You think I'm a super- villain like Dr. Doom or Apocalypse or-or The Riddler. But I admit I went over to the dark side, but just to pick up a few things, a-and now I'm back. I've learned. I'm good again."
"And when were you good before?" Angel asked, walking out of the room with Buffy and Xander.
"Ok, technically, never. Touché." Andrew struggled against his restraints. "But I'm like Vader in the last 5 minutes of Jedi with redemptive powers minus a redemptive struggle of epic redemption which chronicles.. These ropes itch."
Connor rolled his eyes and walked out. He walked into the kitchen and sat down on the counter. Angel swatted him off and looked over at Buffy. She was nervously looking out the window of the backdoor. Angel walked up behind her.
"How're we doing on time?" she asked.
"Sunset should be any minute now. We've done everything we can. Don't worry, everyone here understands that you're calling the shots." Angel said.
"I just hope I'm calling the right ones."
"You have all my faith. And they're depending on you."
"Angel, that's not exactly what I needed to hear right now."
"Guys? Annabelle split." Molly said, coming into the kitchen.
"Great. Ok, me, Angel, Willow, and Xander will go out and look for her. We'll try to meet up somewhere near the industrial complex. If we don't find her, Willow, you do a locator spell. Everyone got it?" They all nodded. "Good."
Buffy made her way to the industrial manufacturing complex. She walked past the dumpster and saw Annabelle's body lying still on the ground. Buffy paused, taking a moment to contemplate the situation. Suddenly, the UberVamp attacked her from behind, knocking her to the ground. Buffy crawled away to crouch beside the dumpster. She looked at the UberVamp and then got up to fight with it. She kicked, it ducked. She punched, it blocked. It punched her in the face, then in the stomach, and Buffy fell to the ground face first. It picked her up and tried to choke her, but she spit blood in its face, startling the thing, and Buffy managed to escape its clutches. She ran away, hiding in the nearby factory. The UberVamp licked the blood off of its face, growled, and headed after Buffy.
Buffy ran into the factory and looked around for somewhere to hide. She wasn't making a fast flight since she was limping. She went deeper into the building, which was very industrial in nature with many vertical metal pipes and valves. The UberVamp had followed her to the building and was looking for her. She surprised it by coming from behind it and smacking it in the head with a large metal pipe, but she didn't even manage to knock it down. They fought and the thing wrestled the pipe from her hand when she swung it at the UberVamp again. It threw the pipe to the ground and they returned to martial arts.
It punched her and she bent over at the waist. It kicked her in the chest, sending her crashing into a metal support beam. The thing came at her again, and she dropped to the ground to avoid his fist. Buffy stood, and it punched and kicked her, finally causing her to double over in pain as it punched her ribs. It punched her in the head, sending her to the ground again. It picked her up, backhanded her in the face, then punched her so hard, she flew 25 feet across the room.
It ran toward her, but she looked around and noticed a pulley hoisting a pallet of metal beams. Buffy kicked a control lever for the pulley, sending the beams crashing on top of the UberVamp as it came towards her. Still lying on the ground, Buffy hid her face as they landed. She got up and ran away slowly, still limping, but stopped and turned around. Her eyes widened as she saw the UberVamp rising from the pile of metal beams, unhurt. It leaped out of the rubble and sprinted after her.
In no time at all, the thing had caught up to her, grabbing her from behind and throwing her into a concrete wall. She stepped back, still standing, as the UberVamp literally crawled up the wall to gain momentum and height to kick her in the face, knocking Buffy to the ground. Then it kicked her in the head again before grabbing her arm and throwing Buffy through a concrete block wall. The wall crumbled down on top of her, the roof caved in, and there was blackness.
Angel heard the commotion and ran over to see what had happened. As he rounded the corner, the UberVamp was running off and Buffy was being crushed under a falling concrete wall. "Buffy!" He lifted off part of the metal roof that had fallen on top of Buffy, revealing her body lying there still on the ground in a pile of rubble, her face covered with blood. "Oh God!"
Angel cleared more stuff out of the way and ran over to her just as Willow and Xander ran over. He held her up and started to wipe the blood away with his shirt. "Come one baby, wake up. I can hear your heart. Please." Angel frantically wiped the blood away and stroked her cheek. She groaned and Angel picked her up. They ran home with her and Angel took her upstairs, lying her in the bed.
A few hours or so passed before she woke up. She looked around to find that she was alone in her and Angel's room. Standing painfully, she walked to the door. Voices floated up to her and they didn't sound at all positive. Feeling defeated, Buffy walked over to the chair and curled up, listening to what they were saying.
"We could make plans as we always do, but the truth is, Buffy was our plan. There is no back up." Giles said.
"Giles, she looks bad." Willow said.
"She does. I'm afraid there may be internal bleeding."
"What does that mean? Will she.." Connor asked.
"Die? I don't think so. I don't know."
"What do we do if she can't fight, if she can't beat this thing?" Willow asked.
"We're back at square one."
"Which square would that be, exactly?" Xander asked.
"I'm not sure. The First predates everything we've ever known, or can know. It's everywhere. It's pure. I don't know if we can fight it."
Buffy walked down the stairs. Angel was standing in the doorway brooding. She knew over what. "You're right. We don't know how to fight it. We don't know when it'll come. We can't run, can't hide, can't pretend it's not the end, cause it is. Something's always been there to try and destroy the world. We've beaten them back, but we're not dealing with them anymore. We're dealing with the reason they exist. Evil. The strongest. The First."
"Buffy, I-I-I know you're tired." Giles said.
"I'm beyond tired. I'm beyond scared. I'm standing on the mouth of hell, and it is gonna swallow me whole." Her mood suddenly changed to defiant. "And it'll choke on me. We're not ready? They're not ready. They think we're gonna wait for the end to come, like we always do. I'm done waiting. They want an apocalypse? Oh, we'll give 'em one. Anyone else who wants to run, do it now. Cause we just became an army. We just declared war. From now on, we won't just face our worst fears, we will seek them out. We will find them, and cut out their hearts one by one, until the First shows itself for what it really is. And I'll kill it myself. There is only one thing on this earth more powerful than evil, and that's us. Any questions?"
No one lifted a hand. Buffy nodded and walked outside onto the porch. Angel followed her. He didn't say anything, just walked over to her and held her. Together, they watched the sun come up.
