If it was at all possible by this juncture, all hell was breaking loose. Gas bombs exploded right on cue making Batman almost crack a smile. The Turok-Han screamed in pain as they clawed at their eyes to make the hurting stop. However, they still kept coming. Ripper yelled at the ponces as they kept marching towards the humans and sent fireball after fireball out to intercept them as they came. Several Turok-Han went up in flames. Even wounded Doctor Strange was able to wipe more than a dozen from the face of the earth with a gesture.
But more came. And they kept coming. Doctor Strange took a look at the numbers and instantly weaved a barrier around his allies and most of the houses in the area, in case others were inside.
"Why'd you do that?" Spike demanded.
"Because we can't fight all of them like this. Even if one managed to slip by they could get to the house and ruin our best chance of stopping the First. We keep them out and pray that my field holds." Doctor Strange said to the vampire.
Spike was about to press the issue, but the look from Doctor Strange was deadly. He'd do as this guy said. He had stones. Spike could ALWAYS respect someone who had stones. Problem was, he was itching to get some revenge on these big ugly things as the First had one torture him horribly a few months back. Spike didn't have to worry though. The numbers of the Turok-Han kept increasing and they kept pushing against the barrier.
And still more came.
The Astral PlaneBuffy was slammed into the "ground" and stomped on repeatedly. She screamed in pain as the First roared above her swiping away any help with its massive tail. Kennedy charged the monster and jammed a spear deep into its gut. The First merely roared and snapped the psychic spear in half, making it fade from existence, before backhanding Kennedy away. The First then looked back to Buffy.
"Is this it? Is this all you have? Pathetic." It sneered.
"Ugh….come….on….have a little…ugh…..faith." Buffy groaned under the First's foot.
On cue, Faith leapt on the back of the First and swung her morningstar's slamming them right into the First's eyes. The First roared in pain as it tried to throw Faith off. Her legs were tightly cinched around the First's neck as she repeatedly slammed the morningstar into the First's face.
"GONNA RIDE YOU TILL YOU POP, BIG BOY!" Faith snarled as she kept slamming the spinning maces into the demon's face.
Buffy rolled to her broadswords and picked them up. She ran behind the First and jammed each sword through the back of a kneecap, making them burst out the other side. She then withdrew them. The First was standing, albeit it was wobbling badly. All it needed was the proper push to make it fall. Two Potentials, Rona and Amanda saw that and smirked.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?", Amanda asked.
"Hell yeah. Let's take that big son of a bitch down." Rona responded.
The two Potential Slayers produced a psychic chain between them and held each end in one hand. They then ran at the First from behind. The chain struck the back of the demon's legs and pulled it down onto its back. Faith managed to stay on and wrapped her morningstar's chain around the First's throat and pulled as tightly as she could. Kennedy and a few other Potentials came running up and looked at Buffy. Buffy let out a mischievous smirk.
"You gonna stand there gawking all day or you going to help me kick the Devil's ass?" Buffy asked.
Kennedy forged a psychic sword of her own.
"You know, you might be a bitch Buffy, but by God you're a bitch in a way I'm starting to like." Kennedy replied as she, Buffy, and numerous other Potentials all started hacking away at the fallen demon.
Los AngelesThe First rolled on the ground in pain as Thor and Anya hit him with everything they had in their arsenal. The Midnighter just stayed back out of their way and watched. Anya turned and looked to him.
"You going to help or you just going to stand around?" she asked. A second later, a claw strike from the First hit her forehead and drew blood.
"I am helping. Trust me on this." The Midnighter replied.
"Aye. He is staying out from underfoot." Thor said as he slammed Mjolnir into the head of the First, with a crunch.
The First was unsure of what was going on. He was fighting Thor…. no he was trying to throw Buffy off of him…. and as he did that Anya blasted him….or did Faith hit him with a morningstar? It was all so confusing. This wasn't right. He had the power to destroy any of these beings and yet here he was being defeated. Defeat…defeat…. was was that old axiom? Mjolnir and a psychic axe hit his face at the same time, causing a good deal of pain. Suddenly the idea popped into his head. Divide and conquer.
He stared at Warlock in the distance and knew what was happening. He remembered now. They were dividing his concentration by attacking him on both a physical and mental level. Yes he knew exactly what was happening now. Summoning his vast willpower, the First shrugged off the attacks of the Slayers and threw them off of his body. At the same time, Thor's hammer was caught in the First's open palm. A tail swipe knocked Thor away and a blast of energy burned Anya badly. On both fronts the First roared in anger.
"I salute you for your trick Warlock! It was most interesting, but it is utter folly! IT IS FOLLY!"
A huge orb of energy was produced from the First's hands in the real world. It grew bigger and bigger, brighter and brighter. Soon it was the size of a skyscraper. Thor and Anya looked at it in wonder and fear. If it was thrown at them, surely they would die. But it wasn't used on them. It was thrown into the sky where it rocketed off at massive speeds. Anya looked at the direction the orb was flying. She nearly froze in fright.
"Thor, forgive me but I have to go!" Anya said teleporting from sight.
"Go? Go where?" Thor asked as he stood, looking for Mjolnir. He stopped at the foot of the First and saw his mystic hammer in the hand of the First.
"To Sunnydale." The First laughed. It brought the hammer down into the face of Thor, breaking his jaw and making him spit blood. Another hammer strike and Thor's skull was fractured. Another and he was bleeding from the eyes. Another and he was unconscious. The First beat Thor in the face with his own weapon again and again. The strength being used was enormous. To even lift the hammer without being worthy was deemed impossible, but it happened. The First finally dropped the weapon when he considered that Thor was no longer a threat. He looked to the Midnighter.
"Well hello there." The First hissed.
The Astral PlaneThe First tore through the Slayers like a bowling ball through pins. A Potential from New York died. A girl from Mexico was torn asunder. One from Michigan begged. The First's foot crushed her head all the same. Kennedy tried to attack but the First wrapped its hand around her head and lifted her from the ground. Kennedy struggled to free herself frantically. Amanda and Rona tried to help but were casually swatted away. The First squeezed tighter. Faith leapt on his back to see if the same stratagem would work twice. She was thrown and met in the air by the First's tail and hit with force that threatened to snap her spine. Buffy attacked the First's stomach with all the force she could muster to try and free Kennedy, who was growing more still. The First slapped Buffy with an open hand and made her go to her knees.
Buffy looked at Kennedy dangling like a rag doll from the First's hand. Buffy screamed something in rage at Warlock, who she had no doubt was watching from afar before thinking of the pain Willow would feel when she came out of her trance from performing the spell to find that one of her lovers had been killed. Tears began to roll down Buffy's face. She closed her eyes and then decided to do what she always did when something hurt her so deeply. She decided to kill the source. Reaching from a sword, she opened her eyes with a maddening glare. Sending her sword through the First's wrist, she managed to make the monster drop Kennedy. Withdrawing her sword, she jammed the sword through the First's open mouth and out the back of his head.
"Now you've pissed me off." Buffy growled.
The First stumbled back and withdrew the sword, snapping it.
"Likewise."
Above SunnydaleThe orb came crashing across the sky preparing to crash down onto the town. If it hit, the down would be reduced to less than ash. Then California would be feeling the effects of a Hellmouth being breached and having a large portion of Hell energy rising up and incinerating everything within a few hundred miles.
"At least that's the theory." Anya thought as she teleported between the orb and the small city below. She was the only thing standing in the way of Sunnydale's utter destruction.
She looked to the orb and knew she had to try and rupture it before it could hit. It could still be a disaster, but it was what was called for. She summoned all the energy she could. Every last ounce. She drew upon thousands of years worth of power that had been used to grant wishes for Vengeance. Under her breath she wished that she could stop this orb of the First's energy.
Anya sent everything that she had out at the orb and succeeded in slowing its progress. It was now moving very slowly towards her and the town, but it was still coming. Grunting in pained effort, she kept pushing against it, her energies splashing against it. She thought of the one thing in the world that mattered to her. She smiled as she remembered going to the prom with Xander, and how back then he hadn't really liked her that well.
Her energies made a small dent in the orb. Her smile grew larger as she thought about trying to get him to leave town with her when the Mayor was going to Ascend to pure demon form. He refused.
"He's stupid. Noble, but stupid." She thought, as her smile got bigger.
Now she was thinking about the time she stripped in front of him, totally surprising him. They had then had sex for the first time. She began to breach the orb. Anya let out a small giggle when Xander had told her he loved her for the first time. More memories flooded back…the proposal…the spell that made them sing and dance…the wedding that never happened and all the heartache from it…Xander coming to her aid when Buffy was going to kill her for the horrible things she did when she became a demon for the second time. Anya laughed loudly as she remembered how Xander had told her how much he loved her last night.
The orb exploded, thundering high in the blackened sky, producing the first light in the sky for a week. Anya was rocked by the explosion, burned by it, thrown like a twig in a tornado. Thrown downward. Anya fell into a swan dive, horribly injured, but laughing all the way.
The shockwave from the blast had shattered nearly every window in Sunnydale and set car alarms off for miles around. It also shattered the barrier that Doctor Strange had created. Turok-Han roared in triumph as the wall went down. They charged with cries of rage. One charged into a green fist and went down like a sack of bricks.
"Well, looks like we do this the hard way." Gamora said.
"Looks like!" Angel said, running a Turok-Han through with a sword. The Turok-Han roared and basically bitchslapped Angel hard. Angel went flying back, but he regained his balance, drew his blade and cut off the head of the offending demon, watching it turn to dust.
Spike was swinging an axe in hand with every bit of force he could muster. He was managing to keep a few Turok-Han back but that was about it. Oz and Gaira savagely attacked the hordes of Turok-Han, but despite even their feral might, they were soon overrun. Doctor Strange, further weakened by his collapsed barrier, and Ripper joined forces and tried to eliminate as many Turok-Han as they could. Batman struck at the Turok-Han but despite his skill he soon realized even he wouldn't be a deciding factor here.
Ernie grabbed two Turok-Han and slammed their heads together. He was probably doing the best of anyone. He or Gamora that was. Connor was eager for battle, but he also felt a twinge of fear. He knew they were all going to die. All of them. He shook off the feeling and attacked, doing as much as he could. All things considered, it wasn't much.
Gunfire rang out, from Wesley, from Xander, from Riley and Sam, but it was all but useless. The Turok-Han were overwhelming the defense force. They were too strong and too many.
The Turok-Han pushed past everyone. A voice in their heads blared for them to primarily ignore these foes and kill their natural enemies. A mantra of "Kill Slayers!" went through their heads. They growled and knocked any and all opposition out of their way. They were to kill the Slayers without question. They could smell Slayer blood in the house ahead. Wesley was thrown off the porch with a thud, losing his shotgun. He had managed to take at least one Turok-Han out as they approached but that was all. Dawn was sent screaming across the porch. Andrew was thrown into the porch swing, making it collapse. The Turok-Han growled and salivated. They were almost to their destiny. One reached for the doorknob and turned it. The door opened and an interesting sight greeted the Turok-Han warrior vampires. A huge man in blue and gold armor with purple skin.
"Not that any of you creatures understand this, but Adam told me that coming out of my trance and doing work here was my part to play." Thanos smirked as he folded his arms across his chest.
The Turok-Han cocked their heads at him not comprehending.
"In other words," Thanos said, his eyes and fists lighting up, "This fight is over."
Los Angeles"Looks like it's down to you and me." Midnighter said, leaning against a building without a care in the world.
The First approached, "This is a conflict that you can't possibly win."
"Yeah. I've run several million scenarios on a fight between us, and you win every single time. I can't even hope to beat you. That much I know. But I also want to explain a few things about superpowers." The Midnighter smirked.
The First was amused, "Do you?"
"Yeah. See I got mine from a government project. I'm a living weapon, capable of running millions of combat scenarios with my computer-like brain, in addition to some enhanced physical things like strength, agility, and healing. My lover Apollo, well he gets his powers from the sun. Kind of like Superman when you think about it. Was a good thing when we fought a guy named Winter a while back. Winter was a hero once, with energy manipulating abilities. He even piloted the Stormwatch space station into the sun to keep the earth from being overrun by this species of alien. Well, we thought he had died but instead he became the living embodiment of the sun. Started raining all kinds of destruction down onto earth, as I'm sure you know. We managed to absorb his essence in this tiny little universe thing of ours." Midnighter stated.
"You're stalling for something." The First said, with a wary look.
"Damn right. Then there's people like my friend Angelica Spica or the Engineer as we call her. She and guys like the Martian Manhunter have a sort of telepathy. Angie basically keeps us all connected with it. The Manhunter's is a bit more diverse. He not only read minds, but alters them too. Say take the mental blocks out a person or two to make them realize their full potential. I bet you're wondering where this going?" the Midnighter smirked.
The First knelt down and looked right into the Midnighter's eyes, "The thought had occurred to me."
"Okay, well I'll lay it out real simple for you so you understand. What happens when you take one part Midnighter watching you fight tons of heroes while running all possible combat scenarios, one part Engineer with her mental link-up, one part Winter, one part Martian Manhunter taking down the blocks of two parts Superman and Son Goku?" the Midnighter asked as an earth-shattering boom and light issued throughout the air.
"I'll tell you what. You get a Winter charged Superman, essentially sun dipped, and Son Goku up to the fourth level of Super-Saiyen. Both capable of totally kicking your ass because I know exactly how to fight you because I ran a million scenarios on YOUR combat techniques and had them telepathically downloaded into their brains. To qoute Braveheart, "The Lord says he can get me out of this mess, but you, you're fooked." Door." Midnighter said as he leaned backwards into the Carrier's interdimensional door and disappeared.
The First looked to the sky where Superman, now almost golden in color, and Goku with a sort of violet fur on his body in addition to his monkey-like tail sprouting out, floated.
"Excuse us sir, but we're going to have ask you to leave the planet." Superman said, smiling.