"Xander, we've been at this interchange before," Riley said.

"How do you know?" Xander asked.

"I put a mark on the wall when we came through. So we'd know how to get out."

"Wow, you just think of everything don't you? Okay, so. This is fun. I'm completely lost. Buffy?"

"Colin lead me down to the cave last time. I didn't really pay attention to where we were going. What time is it?"

"7:45. You mean to tell me you have no idea how to get where we're going?" Riley asked, with little hope in his voice.

"That's a little too. . . um. . . accurate for my tastes.," Xander said. "I have no idea what to do."

"Guess it's a good thing I showed up then," said a voice from in front of them.

Doing his best impression of a southern lady, Xander yelled "Oh, my savior!" then ran up and tackled the speaker in a huge, showy, and utterly fake hug.

To the surprise of everyone who recognized the voice, it started laughing along with the rest of the group.

"Laughing?" Xander said, incredulously. "Laughing! You're supposed to glare at me and say something like 'That's not funny, Harris.'"

"It *was* funny," Angel said. "So sue me."

"Okay, who is this guy, and where's the broody, soul-filled bastard I know and generally dislike?"

This caused Faith to laugh even harder.

"What are you doing here, Angel?" Giles asked. "Not that, at the moment, I'm inclined to complain."

"Doyle sent me. Got a big vision. Said if I didn't come here and lead you somewhere, the world as we know it would end. I'm not generally in favor of that, so here I am."

"Well it's a good thing you are. This silly bastard can't get us anywhere," Buffy said, indicating Xander. Faith kept laughing. Oxygen was quickly becoming an issue.

"Hey!" he yelled. "I resemble that remark."

Angel smiled and looked at the soldiers. "You guys have picked up quite an entourage since I was last here."

"They just followed me home one day," Willow said. "Giles told me I could keep them."

Faith hit the floor laughing

"I see she hasn't had any ill effects of a coma," Angel observed.

"Nope," Xander said. "She's care-free and redemption filled."

"Good," Angel said. "So, where are we going?"

"Excuse me. . . um, who is this?" Riley asked.

"Riley, this is Angel," Buffy said, handling the introductions. "Angel, Riley. Riley's the leader of these soldiers. They work for a government agency that's all about researching and eliminating demons."

"That's supposed to be a secret," one of the soldiers muttered.

"He's one of the good guys," Xander said. "An old. . . old, old, old, old friend. Except I don't like him. But I trust him."

Angel raised an eyebrow. "Okay. So where are we going?"

"The Master's cave," Buffy said.

"And you were coming this way?" Angel asked.

"Well, we really had no idea where we were going."

"You do know that you've been going in exactly the wrong direction?" he asked.

"Well, you can take us now," Buffy said. "How long do you think it'll take?"

"This whole place is riddled with side passages and re-routes, and we're about a mile and a half north, and another two east of the cave," he said, shaking his head. "Any particular rush?"

"We've got to over come the vampires and then Xander and Buffy must kill the demon by midnight, assuming that is when he will finish the ritual, or every living creature on this plane will suffer eternal torment," Giles said.

"Couldn't you have just said 'hurry'?" Faith asked.

"Dump non-essential gear," Angel said. "We're moving as fast as possible."

"You guys take point," Xander said. "I'll hang back here with the troops."

Angel nodded, then he and Buffy walked ahead.

"Xander?"

"Yeah, Riley?"

"What's with his hair?"

Raucous laughter filled the sewers.

* * * * *

The large-ish group crept along the sewers, moving extremely quietly for a group its size. Angel held up a hand, and everyone stopped. He sniffed the air for a second, then waved Xander and Riley up.

"Down here," he said, pointing down a tunnel that sloped vaguely downwards.

"Great," Xander said. "Okay, so now we need to form a plan of attack. Anybody have ideas other than a full out assault?"

"Well," Angel started, "there aren't a lot of optio-"

"Everybody shut up," Faith whispered.

"What is it?" Giles asked.

"I said shut up."

The Scoobies spread out, and the soldiers hunkered down, keeping all the exits of the room covered with their rifles.

Faith walked slowly towards one of the entrances. As she did so, Angel and Buffy perked up as well, something sparking their enhanced senses. Giles and Willow pointed their crossbows at the entrance Faith was moving to.

"Nah, it must have been nothing," she said, while motioning Buffy closer and signaling Xander and Riley to continue talking. Faith and Buffy pulled stakes from their waistbands and moved to the wall.

"So, is there anything else we can do other than just rush in?" Xander asked.

"Not if there aren't any other entrances, no."

"Okay," Xander said. "Here's the plan. Angel, Buffy, Faith and I will rush in first to clear some room. You guys follow us and shoot anything that moves that isn't us."

"Sounds good," Riley said. "Okay men, gear up."

They looked at Faith for confirmation, and she nodded.

As the commandos let their guard down and prepared their weapons, an attack came from the side where Faith and Buffy were waiting. Three vampires rushed through the opening. Two of them were turned very quickly to dust from stakes thrust through the back of their chests. The remaining vampire froze at the site of Giles' and Willows' crossbows aimed at it. Giles allowed a small smirk to cross his lips as he let his bolt fly. The vampire looked shocked as it turned to dust.

"Good sensing, Faith," Buffy said.

Faith smiled at her. "All in a day's work."

Buffy and Faith joined the boys at the front of the group.

"Same plan as you said?" Buffy asked.

"It should be about as effective as anything else we've got," said Riley. "Although, I don't quite understand why Angel's going in front."

"Oh, I'm-"

"A really good fighter," Xander said. "Trust us, he should be up here."

Riley looked at Xander oddly for a second, then nodded. "Okay. Whenever you're ready."

The four champions readied their individual weapons. Xander handed his sword to Buffy, who looked up at him.

"Like you pointed out," he said, grinning, "I got it last time."

Buffy gave him a quick kiss and switched weapons with him. Faith and Angel just rolled their eyes at each other.

"If we're all settled now?" Angel asked, impatiently.

Receiving nods all around, the four Champions moved slowly and silently into the tunnel and downwards.

"How come you didn't tell them what I was?" Angel asked Xander as they moved ahead.

"I know your motives and objectives. I trust Riley, but the rest I'm not sure about."

"Is that concern for me, Harris?"

"Concern for the 'good fight, 'Deadboy."

"Ah."

"And for Cordelia."

Angel stumbled, but Faith caught him and glared at Xander, who was grinning ear to ear.

* * * * *

The scene was complete chaos.

Xander, Faith, Angel and Buffy had been set upon as soon as they entered the chamber where the Master had been. Between them, they had taken out almost a dozen vampires. Angel even recognized a few. These were no fledglings, some of them were over a century old. That made them tougher.

"You know," Xander said as he parried a blow from one of the vampires he was fighting, "When Willy said thirty, I thought he was just trying to scare us."

"Well," Buffy said as she cut one's head off and kicked another in the chest, "Willy does have a tendency to exaggerate."

Angel grunted as he caught a blow to the solar plexus. A crossbow bolt from Willow dusted the vamp who had downed him, and he jumped back up and into the fray.

"I think your snitch boy underestimated a little!" Faith yelled.

A quick survey of the chamber would have borne out that conclusion. No fewer than 40 vampires remained, and they were all protecting the Fargath demon. The soldiers from the Initiative were laying down covering fire, but they were only able to hold the vampires off, not actually kill any of them.

"This could get pointless, really quick," Angel yelled as he ducked a pulse rifle shot that sent a vampire flying to the other side of the room. As front-lines went, this was a good one, but even champions get tired.

"Riley, any ideas you've got would be appreciated!" Xander yelled.

"One minute, I'm working on something!" came the reply from behind him.

Three vampires had gotten through the front line, and about nine soldiers were currently engaged in holding

"One minute and we could be toast!" said Buffy.

"I'm just waiting for something interesting to happen!" Faith yelled above the fighting as she staked two vamps in a row with the dull handle of her battle axe.

"Fifty vampires guarding a demon about to end the world and she's waiting for something interesting," Xander muttered to Buffy. "This job allows us no perspective whatsoever."

"Everybody down!" came a yell from among the soldiers. Two pulse rifles were flung over the heads of the fighting foursome, who kept up their battles.

"I really wanna know why that guy's throwing away weapons," Angel said.

"You should hear what he said about your hair," said Xander.

Angel released a powerful, wood-filled haymaker at a vampire's chest at the same moment that Xander decapitated another.

He and Xander paused and faced each other.

"What's wrong with my hair?" Angel asked.

"Guys, get down!" Willow yelled.

At that point, a large explosion came from farther down the chamber, followed by a rain of body parts that quickly turned into a shower of dust and ash. Angel and Xander shielded themselves from it with their arms as Faith and Buffy fought through the 'debris'. From the back, Giles could tell the explosion had killed or incapacitated about a dozen more vampires. Which left them with, approximately, Willy's original estimate of thirty.

"Willow," Giles said to the young girl who was reloading her crossbow. "If you had any spells you might be able to cast. . ."

"Right," she said, putting the weapon down. She turned to face the battle in front of her and focused her concentration on a vampire about halfway into the crowd. Her eyes darkened a little and Giles could feel raw power emanating from her as he reloaded his own crossbow.

"Incendiere majoris!" Willow yelled.

A huge gout of flames burst forth from where the vampire had been standing, and caught onto all the others immediately surrounding it. Loud anguished cries echoed throughout the chamber as another half-dozen vampires turned to dust.

Willow sat down roughly on the floor, a little blood trickling from her nose, which she quickly wiped away. There was no need to be making herself a more obvious target.

"Whew," she said, breathily as she leaned back against a wall for a moment. "Let's not do that again anytime soon, how bout?"

Giles smiled at her and handed her his crossbow. "Reload for me?" he asked.

Willow nodded and took the crossbow from him. Giles re-aimed with the one that had originally been hers and shot a vampire right next to Faith. It went through the demon's eye.

"Convenient!" Faith yelled as she grabbed the bolt from its head and stabbed it into the chest, not giving it time to recover. She brought her sword to bear on another attacker cut him down with ease.

"I haven't even broken a sweat!" she yelled. As she whipped around and beheaded yet another vampire, she felt claws rake down her back, and screamed out in pain.

Suddenly, Riley was there punching and smashing and occasionally shooting with an inner fire that had been unseen as yet. He tore into the first couple vampires, staking them quickly as adrenaline surged through his veins. A point blank pulse rifle shot at full power took the head off of another vampire quickly turning it to dust. This gave Faith time to recover, catch her breath and re-enter the fight right next to him.

"What do you think now, Deadboy? Glad he's on our side?" Xander asked as he ducked or blocked three consecutive blows from surrounding vampires.

"I could get used to it," Angel said as he broke one vampire's arm and threw it into the backside of one of Buffy's sword swings, which took its head off.

"I hate to rush you," Giles yelled from the back of the cavern, "but we are on somewhat of a deadline here!" As he said this, Xander flung a vampire over the soldiers. Giles picked it off in mid-air and rained dust down on the army boys.

"We're trying here!" Buffy yelled. "They just keep coming though!"

"By the way," Xander said to Angel as a vampire jumped onto him and started pummeling his shield, "It was light before you got here. Who drove you?"

"Cordelia and Doyle," Angel said. "They were going to go drop in on Joyce and have dinner."

"Uh huh," Xander said as he dusted the vamp on top of him and kicked an approaching one in the groin, flooring it. "And they didn't think we might want some help?"

"Well," Angel said while stabbing the floored vampire and turning to face another. "Cordy just got her hair done, and Doyle's recovering from his vision."

"How bad does a vision hurt?" Buffy asked as she wiped sweat from her brow and then decapitated another vampire.

"Well," Angel said as he picked up a vampire and threw him into some of his comrades behind him. "Have you ever had Faith smack you in the forehead with a sledgehammer?"

"Not recently, no," Buffy said. "I don't imagine it would be any fun, though."

"Damn straight!" Faith yelled while kicking the legs out from under two vampires, staking them and flipping up to kick another in the head.

"According to Doyle, that's about half as bad it is."

A momentary lull in the action followed.

"Damn," said the Scoobies.

The vampires, reinvigorated, pushed forward. Another set of overloading pulse rifles were tossed into the crowd, to much the same effect as before.

A large, green demon floated into the air and shot a blob of jelly-like substance into the gathered Initiative soldiers, sticking many of them in place and stopping much of the covering fire.

"How's that for interesting, Faith?" Xander asked as he flipped a vampire over his shoulder and staked him as he hit the ground.

"Works for me, Boytoy!" she replied as yet another vampire jumped at her.

Faith nimbly ducked the vampire and Xander swung his sword around, slicing the vamp in half. Another quick slash decapitated it.

Willow had recovered and was standing again, when she saw what was going on.

"Giles?" she asked meekly. "Does that demon look like it's squatting?"

Giles looked up from reloading his crossbow. "Oh my. . . XANDER! BUFFY!"

"Kinda busy, Giles!" Buffy yelled out as she sliced through two vampires with her sword.

"The demon is squatting! The ritual has begun, you have five minutes until the next chance to kill it!" Giles yelled.

"What's this?" Angel asked while backhanding another vampire and sending it flying.

"We need to get through the vampires to kill the Fargath," Xander said.

"In five minutes?" Angel asked.

"Yeah, in five minutes. Earlier would be good so we have time to get ready."

Angel nodded, kicked a vampire out of the way and paused to look around the chamber.

Xander blocked a couple of vampires from getting to Angel while he was surveying the room.

"Do you think your toy soldiers can hold their own?" Angel asked, re- entering the fight with a devastating haymaker to the face of one of the vampires.

"They can hold some vampires back, if that's what you mean," Xander said, stabbing a vampire in the stomach with his sword then decapitating it. "But they sure as hell can't take them all."

"I think between me and Faith," Angel said, staking a vampire, "We could toss the two of you over most of the action. We'd need a few seconds to set up, when the soldiers would have to keep these bastards back."

"Buffy, what do you think?" Xander asked.

"It sounds like our only shot," she yelled back, sweeping the legs out from under a vampire and rolling to avoid an attack from another. "Up for it, Faith?"

"You know me, B. You got a crazy-ass plan and I'm in."

Angel grinned.

"Gah!' Xander yelled, noting the expression on Angel's face. "What's that?"

"What," he asked. "I'm not allowed to grin?"

"No!" Xander said. "You're freakin' me out!"

"Riley!" Buffy yelled to the leader of the soldiers. "Can your boys take point for about a minute?"

"No problem!" he yelled back.

The soldiers moved forward with surprising speed, shooting vampires left and right, just managing to hold them back.

Faith, Buffy and Xander paused a moment to catch their collective breaths. Angel just waited.

"We ready?" he asked.

Buffy and Xander looked at each other and nodded. A scream distracted them as a soldier went down and a vampire broke through the ranks. Giles quickly shot it with a crossbow bolt, dusting it.

"Let's go," they said

Buffy and Xander backed up a few feet to get a running start, then Angel and Faith got set. A few moments later, Buffy and Xander were flying through the air over the fight. They landed simultaneously, rolling to lessen the impact. Coming up, they noticed a few vampires redirected their attacks to come at them.

Buffy was set on by one vampire. After a fast series of kicks and blows, it was obvious she had the top hand in the battle. The vampire quickly switched to the defensive, dragging the fight out longer.

Two vampires attacked Xander, and while he was able to hold his own for a few seconds, these were more experienced and better fighters than most of those he had faced at the front of the battle. While he dispatched the first fairly quickly, the second was landing blow after blow, weakening his shield. Xander dropped and rolled just as the vampire slashed at him with his claws. Fire raced across his chest as they penetrated his shield, slicing into him. Xander was forced onto the defensive, blocking and parrying with all available speed, just to be able to stay in the fight. He was pinned against a stalagmite, deflecting blow after blow when the vampire turned to dust and revealed a sweaty, tired and bruised Buffy standing there.

"Took a little out of you, did he?" Buffy asked.

"More than I was willing to give," Xander said. "You see a virgin anywhere around here?"

Buffy turned and pointed to where the Fargath was continuing its ritual.

"How do we time this?" Xander asked, leaning against the naturally formed pillar to regain his breath. "We need to kill it as it's sacrificing, but we also need to keep her alive."

"Where do you think he'll cut her?" Buffy asked.

"I think the Evil Villains Handbook indicates the throat as the best place for bloodletting. I'm guessing we shouldn't let that happen."

"But Giles said the blood needs to be flowing."

"I dunno," Xander said. "Maybe we. . . kick him as he brings the knife around and hope he misses?"

"That's not the best plan ever, Xander."

"No, it's not."

"How much time do we have?"

"Less than a minute."

Xander looked over at the Fargath demon, who was kneeling inside of a pentagram. There was a small brown pile behind him and a young woman with dirty blonde hair tied up a foot or two away.

"And we're sure we can't save her before?" he asked.

"We're sure," Buffy said.

"I hate waiting. Can't he speed this up?"

As Xander was speaking the demon, huge and green with bone fragments sticking out of its spine and claws almost a foot long, stopped chanting and pulled a jewel-encrusted knife from under its leg.

"Here we go," Buffy said. She and Xander gripped the sword together and ran to the demon. As they ran, it grabbed the girl and with one swift slash, laid her throat open from ear to ear. The ground started to shake as the blood fell to mix with the feces in the pentagram.

Buffy and Xander jumped as one and slammed the sword into the back of the demon. It roared in agony, but kept the girl over the pentagram, her blood still spilling from her neck. Xander and Buffy pulled the sword from the demon and, with a little awkwardness come from not normally sharing one sword between two people, sliced the demon's head off.

A huge onrush of energy spewed forth from the demon, knocking Xander and Buffy back about ten feet. The shaking stopped.

Xander and Buffy rushed forward, Buffy removing the remains of the Fargath, Xander tending to the girl. With both of his hands on her throat, Xander concentrated as hard as he could. The now-familiar white glow emanated from his hands and closed the wound on her neck. Xander checked for a pulse and found a very weak one, then fell backwards, exhausted.

Angel, Faith, Riley and Giles were mopping up the last of the vampires. . . those which had not already fled at seeing so many of their number decimated.

"MEDIC!" Buff yelled.

A young soldier tapped two of his compatriots, who then fired covering shots, driving away a couple more vampires, and raced towards where the girl lay.

After a quick inspection, he looked up.

"Well, she's obviously lost a lot of blood," he said. "But if we get her to a hospital quickly, she should be okay. Where was she cut?"

"Throat," Buffy said. "Ear to ear."

The solider looked back down at her. "There's no scarring," he said. Then an idea occurred to him and he looked at Xander. "Your work?"

Xander nodded. "Yeah. Wiped me out, too. Wouldn't happen to have some water, would you?"

The soldier tossed Xander his canteen and checked the girl again.

"Her pulse is steady, if low."

The rest of the group then approached, having driven off the last of the vampires, Willow being helped by Giles.

"Angel," Xander said as he stood up slowly. "You know the way out of here best. Can you take her to the hospital? She needs blood."

Angel nodded at him and quickly picked her up and swept out of the cavern.

"And get her name!" Xander yelled.

"Why her name?" Giles asked.

"So we can check on her," said Willow. "Duh."

"Yes, of course," Giles said. He surveyed the site of the ritual, nodding at various inscriptions drawn on the floor around the pentagram.

Riley, who had been conferring with what was left of his men off to the side, approached the Scoobies.

"So the apocalypse is over?" he asked tentatively.

"Yup," Faith said. "Evil's been pushed back one more night."

"What's your casualties?" Xander asked.

"Four dead, nine injured, one. . . missing."

"Missing?" Buffy asked.

"Forrest. . . that's my second in command, saw Lieutenant Horn being dragged off as the fight ended. He tried to pursue but. . ."

"Sorry," Xander said. "For everyone."

"Thanks," said Riley. "But they died doing what they were trained to do, what they have lived to do for the past few years."

"They died heroes, even if they didn't set out to be them," said Giles. "Without your men, there is no way we could have held off the vampires, and the world would be at this moment sucked into a hell dimension."

"What will you tell their parents?" Willow asked.

"Command has a line set up. Their parents know nothing about this stuff. Nobody does. It has to stay that way."

The Scoobies nodded.

"Do you want some help carrying your men out?" Xander asked.

Riley looked over at the bodies that were strewn about the floor of the cavern and the injured soldiers limping towards them.

"No," he said. "This is something we need to take care of on our own."

The remnants of Soldier-Xander understood.

"Okay," he said, taking another swig of water from the canteen. "We'll clear the way to the nearest exit, you and your men can follow."

"Thanks."

The Scoobies milled around a little until the soldiers were ready to leave, then they headed out, Faith and Xander in front, Giles and Buffy behind. The soldiers marched through the sewers, carrying dead comrades and scars that would never let them forget what they had done.

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End Chapter 28