The First was struck on two fronts at once. He was struck by the god of Thunder come Skyfather known as Thor, and by a being who was now potentially even more powerful in the sole Vengeance Demon known as Anyanka (Anya to her friends). Thor's uru hammer rebounded from the First's skull with an immensely loud clanging sound. A particularly potent blast from Anya helped to send the First staggering back. Anya smirked as she saw the First swinging at things that were not there.
That meant Buffy was doing her job on the astral plane. She, Faith, and the Potentials swarmed over the First like ants, striking with their psychic weapons. An axe here, a spear there, a sword there. Buffy herself did what Xander would call "A very Matrixy dropkick" to the First as Faith just roared in aggression and struck it in its gut with an axe. For a moment it looked like things were finally working out.
But only for a moment. In the real world, energy lashed forth and burned Thor badly as a brutal backhand met Anya's face. On the astral plane, one of the Potentials….Lei Ping…..Lei Ming……….,Buffy couldn't remember her name, moved in and sliced at the First with a sword. A moment later, the girl, or at least her psychic image was lifted into the air and torn in two. Back on earth, the Asian Potential's heart and breathing stopped.
"Now then," the First growled as it popped its neck, on both fronts, "It would appear that I have already adapted to your attack. I fear this doesn't go well for either contingent."
Buffy looked at Faith, who nodded.
"Fall back! Psychic arrows! Nail him from a distance!" Buffy shouted as she and Faith pushed the Potential Slayers back.
Instantly arrows of blue light issued forth at the First. The First merely covered itself with its wings and let the arrows hit them. For several long minutes the arrows rained down on his wings, coating and making the First resemble some bizarre pincushion. Then the wings swung out flapping and sending the arrows flying back. There were screams of pain and fear from the Potentials as the arrows came back at them. Faith cursed in pain as one cut into her arm. She yanked it out with a guttural growl and threw it to the "ground". Several Potentials had been hit and were being tended to. At least one more heart stopped in the real world.
"I told your little red witch once that I was not a fan of easy death. You'll all die. Some, if they beg, could be my lapdog. Provide a few moments of amusement before I mercifully kill them. The rest will beg for death and shall not find it." The First smiled.
"I've died twice baby. Not exactly begging for it." Buffy said, spinning two broadswords.
"Yet." The First replied.
Miles away in a figurative yet literal sense, Warlock and Thanos watched the battle as it raged. It was not usual for Thanos of Titan to feel dread, but he did at the moment. If the Slayers fell then Adam's stratagem was folly. If it WAS folly, the omnipotent being would no longer concern himself with the battle. Leaving only a universe of victims. Thanos was determined to never be a victim.
"Calm yourself Titan." Warlock said sagely.
"I find that rather hard at the moment. I should be down there. They would have my power added to theirs." Thanos said.
"No. Even Thanos can be defeated here. Even if you are immortal, if your mind is injured you can become a vegetable if substantially injured there." Warlock explained.
"Fear of that will not stop me." Thanos replied.
"I know. But you have another purpose to fulfill. One that could not occur if you were down there helping them. For now simply lend them your energy, you power, and let them fight this battle." Warlock stated. Thanos stared off and focused on giving the Slayers more strength. He smiled as the First roared in pain as Buffy jammed both broadswords into its chest.
"Are you ready to tell me about your contingency plan?" Thanos asked.
"You will see it when the time comes." Warlock smirked.
"It had best be good Adam. It had best be damned good." Thanos scowled.
"Trust me. It will be marvelous." Warlock smiled.
Sunnydale
"All right. We need to know how to do this and we need to know now. This is going to be rough." Angel said. His ears were now picking up the roars of the Turok-Han as they drew closer. Spike nodded in silent agreement as he heard them too.
Doctor Strange stepped up, "Batman do you have gas bombs?"
"I do. Plant them in strategic areas?" Batman asked.
"Yes." Doctor Strange said.
"How is gas supposed to hurt those things? If they're like vampires then they don't have to breathe." Xander explained.
"No. But tear gas plays hell on enhanced senses." Batman replied, "I need someone to cover me while I plant these."
"I'll do it."
Heads turned and were surprised when it was Connor who volunteered.
Angel looked at his son and said, "Connor you can't—"
"Yes I can. Of all of us, it was me who did the best against these things. Because I know how to hurt them. Take away a leg or cripple it some other way and they'll turn on the one that falls. Like the demon wolves in the world I was raised on. It's the pack mentality. They keep it strong by eliminating the weak. So I'll go." Connor said. He looked to Batman who smirked as he began to run down the street. Connor was in hot pursuit.
"Kid would have made a hell of a Robin." Batman thought.
"All right. I think this is how it should go. The human fighters should stay back, grouped around the house. Protect the Potentials and Buffy and Faith. The rest of us less than human fighters will meet them head on." Angel explained.
"Uh do all of us less than humans have to be up front?" Lorne asked laughing slightly.
"Should have rephrased that. Everyone who's less than human and can fight." Angel smirked.
Lorne quickly retreated. Clem looked at the others, then back to the humans.
"I'll be with them. Hey Lorne, wait up!" the demon said as he followed.
"Ernie, Gamora, and Doctor Strange will be our big attackers here. The rest of us will be goalies. We kick the Turok-Han back into play if they get around them." Angel explained some more, "Tara, you're our eye in the sky. You need to keep us informed of all of the Turok-Han movements with Poe."
"O-okay." Tara said. She wasn't so used to being ordered like this, but from what she knew of Angel it was for the best.
"Tara, I'd like to have a word with you additionally." Giles said, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder.
"What is it Giles?" Tara asked, more at ease with the more familiar man.
"You're not used to using magick in combat situations are you?" Giles asked.
"Well…not so much. I've been mainly training with Buffy and Spike on the physical stuff. I've neglected the magicks I guess." Tara replied.
"Lend me your magick for the battle. I know how to use it in combat better than you. You still have your unique physical gifts to aid you." Giles explained.
"I know. Willow told me how you kicked her ass last year." Tara said a bit more confident.
"Well at first, yes…. but I—"
Tara covered his mouth with her hand, "Giles as much as we love you, we don't need the usual Giles here right now. We need you to be tough upstairs. We need you mean if we want to live through this. We need Ripper."
Giles looked at Tara in the eyes for a moment, then took his glasses off and stuck them in his jacket pocket. An uncustomary smirk came across his face. He took Tara's hand down then shocked her with his speech. Gone was the proper Queen's English. It was replaced by a rougher cockney.
"Well then, looks like ya got him dunnit?" Ripper smirked as he took Tara's hand. She smiled and sent as much of her magick into him as she could, "Yeah that feels bloody good right there."
"Hey! Don't think you can go around talking like that all the time mate! We only need one guy like me!" Spike warned.
"Sod off Spike." Ripper replied.
"Oh look, the Nancy boy's got a backbone now." Spike said with a smirk, "Guess he got sick of drinking from the Kiss the Librarian mug and decided to act like more than a caricature."
Ripper flipped Spike off. Spike flipped Ripper off. Both men started laughing.
"Those two really scare me." Xander said off hand to Riley. Riley and Sam laughed and looked around for good sniper positions. Xander was left alone and breathed in deeply. He cleared his mind and began to shift to a certain mindset.
"Okay Soldier Guy. Time to come out and play." Xander thought. When he opened his eyes he was ready. He went to the trunk of his car and opened it. Weapons galore were in the back. He grabbed a machine gun and slung it over his shoulder. He grabbed a gun belt and attached it, putting in two .44 magnums he had purchased last year. He placed another smaller handgun in the holster on his right ankle. He then looked down at the large Rambo knife his Uncle Rory had gotten him for Christmas on his twelfth birthday. He smiled slightly and put it in his left boot, "I'm ready now."
Angel walked up beside Oz and looked at the smaller man, "Are you going to join us Oz?"
Oz looked at the vampire beside him, "Yeah. Might want to stand back though."
Angel took a step back. Oz instantly started to spasm. He fell to his knees, as his body seemed to swell. His eyes became a bright yellow as his ears became more pointed. His features changed and became more animal-like as his nails turned into claws. Hair sprouted up all over his body as he tore his shirt off. Angel's face instantly vamped as he saw what was happening. He instinctively growled as Oz's transformation into a werewolf completed. Oz growled at Angel before turning and striding forward. There was always a natural hostility between vampires and werewolves, but for now it was abandoned for a mutual hostility towards the Turok-Han.
Back towards the house, the much more human combatants waited patiently. Dawn was scared, but she was recalling everything her big sister had taught her over the summer. She'd do her best or die trying. Maybe both. Principal Wood was not dressed in the conservative three-piece suit now. He was clad in simple blue jeans and a white wife beater, with metal gauntlets on his hands. He'd spent nearly thirty years fighting vampires. He would not back down.
Lorne held a crossbow, as did Clem. Lorne also rather hoped Clem would shut up. Gwen Raiden stood by Gunn on the steps, ready to focus her electrical energy and fire on the Turok-Han at any moment. Gunn was scared. He'd admit it, but he'd fight and fight hard. His girlfriend (was she even that now?) Fred was absolutely petrified. She wasn't a fighter. She was a scientist, a researcher. Wesley perhaps sensing her fear smiled at the girl and reached into his coat pocket.
"Do you know how to use one of these?" Wesley asked, presenting her with a handgun.
"Well enough I guess." She said in the sweet southern drawl that Wesley was enamored with.
"Hey how about giving me one?" Gunn asked.
Wes threw Gunn a weapon as well, "Do YOU know how to use one?"
"Man I was raised in Watts. What do you think?" Gun said with a smirk.
Andrew ran out of the house, frantic.
"The monsters got here yet?" he asked Dawn.
"Not yet. Why?" she asked.
Behind Andrew, a now seven-foot Gaira strode out. Dawn jumped back and Wes, Gunn, and Fred all had their weapons drawn on him. Andrew put his arms in the air.
"Wait wait wait! He's tame! Swear to God he's tame!" Andrew squealed.
Gaira regarded the guns drawn on him with a "shurk".
"Andrew, are you absolutely sure?" Dawn asked, slightly afraid.
"Positive. If he were still a man-eater, he would've eaten Buffy and the others knocked out in the living room first right? Or me while we were in the house. He's tame." Andrew said.
"Why did you make the monkey bigger?" Gunn asked, still uneasy.
"Well I figured we need all the help we can get, so Honey I blew up the Gargantua." Andrew said, hoping to get a laugh. Everyone just looked at him like he had grown another head.
Gunn pointed his handgun at Andrew, "Never call me honey."
"Okay, okay, I'm cool wit 'dat homes. Don't be bussin' a cap in me." Andrew said, trying to salvage the situation by trying to speak ghetto.
"Let me kill him." Gunn said.
"No, me first." Principal Wood growled.
"Andrew, don't ever speak again." Dawn ordered.
"But I have to tell you, a couple of Potentials are dead." He explained.
"What?!" Everyone asked at once.
"I was checking on them after I made Gaira bigger. A few stopped breathing so I came to get someone to help but then there was "whoa, monster"." Andrew explained.
"Xander! Doctor Strange!" Dawn yelled, calling for help.
Doctor Strange turned and instantly tensed. He looked over his shoulder and saw an arrow sticking out of his back. He fell over, face first on the pavement. A Turok-Han roared in triumph atop a house. An instantly later it was ablaze thanks a fire spell wielding Ripper.
"Crap. Scratch that." Dawn said as she finally heard the sounds that were by now only a block away. Horrible, growling, roaring sounds. And the shuffling of feet.
"I tend to agree. For now we have to worry about our own problems. I hate to say it, but we'll attend to the Slayers later." Wesley said, actually fearful.
Connor and Batman came running fast from around the corner of a house down the street, with seven Turok-Han in pursuit.
"This I'm not used to." Batman said running as fast as his legs could take him.
"You would be if you were raised where I was!" Connor exclaimed.
Cordelia Chase watched in fear as more Turok-Han appeared down the street as even more appeared down the block in the opposite direction. She heard blood-curdling screams. The Turok-Han must have been getting into the houses of the few people not wise enough to head to the mountains as soon as the darkness enveloped the world. Cordy held her katana blade hard and whimpered in fear.
"Angel, I'm actually scared." She said.
Angel looked at her and then to the sword in his hand, "I know baby."
Spike strode up beside Angel smoking a cigarette, "Sod the scared talk. We don't have time to get scared. We have to fight. If we live, we live. We die, then we die. That simple."
Angel looked to his grandchilde with a smirk, "What say we get to killing a few of these ugly things then?"
Spike laughed maniacally, "You're speaking my language now Peaches! COME ON YOU UGLY POOFTERS! IT'S TIME TO BLOODY DIE!"