Title: Vengeance Satisfied is Justice Served 8/10
Author: 3D Master
Feedback: 3d.master@chello.nl
Website:
Rating: R
Keywords: X-over BtVS/The Crow, drama, action.
Time frame: S7, starts during dirty girls.
Summary: Buffy has a choice to make: Xander or Spike? Who gets to live? XanderZone Challenge response.
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its characters do not belong to me, but to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy Productions. The Crow and related concepts are created by James O'Barr.
Vengeance Satisfied is Justice Served
Chapter 8: The Power of Three
Xander had just finished digging the graves using the small, tracked, digging machine. The potentials were around, watching. The crow was doing his magic on the marble gravestones pecking away the writing.
Faith stood watching the crow go at, and commented, "Kind of looks like a woodpecker, doing that." The crow suddenly stopped, and turned his head to look directly at Faith's eyes. She blinked, oblivious to the danger.
"Faith," Xander commented gently as he arrived back at the gathering. Faith acknowledged her name, and Xander said, "A piece of advice. Don't ever call him a woodpecker again; he doesn't like it."
"How do you know?" Faith asked confused.
Xander smiled, saying, "Telepathic connection with the beast, again, I advice you don't do it again. Apologizing would be a good idea."
"Oh, okay. I'm sorry," Faith told the crow, feeling ridiculous. The bird inclined his head, turned it, and resumed hacking away at the headstone.
A few moments later two hearses arrived; a deserted town, including deserted funeral homes had their advantages. Wood got out of one car, and Giles out of the other. Then they went back to open the back. Xander nodded to Willow who walked to the back of the cars nervously. Once there she recited a spell, and then the coffins came floating out, and slowly hovered toward the graves. "Uhm, which is which?" Willow asked, and Wood answered. Willow then directed the coffins to the right grave.
When the coffins floated over the graves, the crow finished its hacking and flew away, landing on Xander's right shoulder. Xander walked to in the middle of the graves, then turned around to regard the gathered half-circle of potentials, the Scoobies, Andrew, Wood, and Anya. Buffy stood off to the side, shunned by everyone else but Dawn, who was standing with her trying to lend some form of support.
"We're together here today, to bury to girls. Two girls who were our comrades in arms. Some of you didn't know Chloe Ashton, you arrived after her death, but you should know she was as brave as all of you. Jennifer Evans you all knew, she went to fight an evil far more powerful then herself without fear. These two girls were some of the bravest I've ever met, and both their deaths were needless. Let these graves remind us just how much we screwed up, some more than others, but this all our faults," Xander gave the speech, and saw many of the girls have tears flow from their eyes. He gave a nod to Willow, and with a flick of her wrist the caskets started descending. "But we're not going to stand here and do nothing. These are two wrongs that none of us can right, but we can equal things out. We will demand retribution from the thing responsible." The caskets reached the bottom, and with a new gestures and whispering of a spell, the ground started being shoved into the holes. "We will make sure their deaths weren't for nothing. We will fight the first and greatest evil this universe has ever seen, and bring it to its, and /it/ /won't/ get a funeral." Once the sand was pushed in and stomped tight the headstones were placed deep into the ground marking the graves.
Chloe's read, 'Chloe Ashton, 2-25-1988 – 3-15-2003, One of the brightest souls under the sun.', and Jennifer's read, 'Jennifer Evens, 13-7-2086 – 5-2-2003, Lived bravely, fought bravely, died bravely.' Beneath that, both headstones carried the sentence, 'Gave her life for all of ours.'
Xander placed his hand on Chloe's headstone, his eyes misted up, as he whispered, barely audible only to the Slayers, "I wish I'd died sooner." Then Xander switched to Jennifer's grave, and whispered, "I'm sorry I was late."
Xander slowly walked forward and joined Willow, Andrew, Faith, and a few of the other non-potentials. Xander waited calmly as the potentials - Kennedy went first, taking Willow along and spent more time at Chloe's grave - paid their own personal respects to their fallen comrades. When everyone was halfway through, Chloe's loud voice interrupted them all. "Well, well, well, so you bothered with giving me a funeral after all, how nice of you. Truly, this soooo makes up for leaving me rotting in a shallow grave for two months," the First Evil sarcastically remarked and casually walked into the middle of the group, passing straight through several potentials. Some of them looked shocked at their comrade's reappearance, others just looked apprehensive. "I'm going to have so much fun seeing you all be torn apart," FirstChloe gloated around, then turned into Jennifer. Looking at Faith, she said, "If not her, I will."
"You really are sick, disrupting a funeral like this, a double funeral no less. Trust me when I say, I look forward to the soon to be day you get yours," Xander hissed out, and then turned away from the graves and walked toward the exit of the cemetery. "Come on, guys, we're leaving." Half of the group immediately followed him. Xander slowed his pace and added, "Come on, you can pay your respects when that bitch isn't defiling it." The remaining potentials looked from the First to the graves and then nodded as they followed Xander.
"Hey, you can't just leave!" the First protested.
"We can, and we are," Faith stated with a evil grin on her face.
"Listen, I . . ."
"Blah!" Xander called out loud.
The rest of the them followed suited, turning into a unified throng of voice, "Blah, blah, boring."
The First vanished from site, and reappeared in front of Xander as Jesse, and snarled, "THIS IS YOUR DOING!" FirstJesse accused, but the Xander and the group didn't stop, they simply walked straight through the First Evil. The FE turned around and raged after Xander, "I WILL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS, HARRIS! MARK MY WORDS, I WILL DO IT PERSONALLY!!" It got no reply before it vanished to wherever.
*****
"All right, everybody, gather around, and listen up," Xander called out in the Summers living room. The living room filled with people, and they looked with astounding at the weapons Xander had placed inside. The flamethrower and rocket launchers packed against the wall. The shotguns and a few pistols laying in wait, as well as the ammunition. Andrew and Robin who had helped get it all here still could hardly believe what they saw. "With Caleb's death, the First will have to regroup and bring in reinforcements before it can do much else, which means that we have several days time before it can start anything big." Xander turned toward Robin, and said, "I've heard you know a little thing or two about guns?"
"Not much, but a little, yeah," Robin answered somewhat.
"Good," Xander said with some finality. "You take a few potentials and find the gun shops in Sunnydale. They're either deserted, or someone will be left who will most likely be willing to help. Empty them out of everything useful, and start teaching the girls enough they won't blow their own brains out, or that of any of us." Robin nodded, and waited for more.
Xander turned to Willow, and commanded, "You and Giles find anything you can about Faith's new shiny toy. Scour the internet, books, any remaining contacts, I don't care if you have to hack the INS, I want to know just exactly what the thing is, and what it can do. The First said that it belonged to the Slayer that killed the last real demon with it before they left this realm. Unfortunately the demon's corpse dropped onto the slayer which killed her. It took a mountain along with it and the weapon has remained buried ever since. So I doubt you'll find anything concrete, but every little bit helps."
"All right," Giles answered with a face that spoke of relief.
"Uhm, Xan," Willow replied up a little embarrassed. "I don't think I'm really capable of hacking anymore, I haven't done it in a long time."
"I can," Andrew piped up timidly.
Xander looked over at the geek, and nodded, "Help them out." Andrew smiled widely, glad he could finally help.
"Anya," Xander said, turning over to his ex-fiance. The ex-demon looked up expectantly. "Same mission, find whatever you can about the axe in any demon circles you still have contact with. You have two to three days, so you can take a car and leave Sunnydale if need be. Faith . . ." Xander turned around to face the dark-haired slayer, " . . .if Anya needs to go out, you go with for protection."
"Yes, sir," Faith answered with a big smile, as Anya nodded.
Xander nodded, and then continued, "Buffy . . ." Buffy's head jerked up in surprise that her name was called. " . . . you and Faith - if she doesn't need to leave with Anya - will teach the potentials hand to hand, and short range weapons. Practicality, no fancy or standardized moves, got that?" Buffy nodded. "Dawn," Xander turned to the last of the people he had instructions for, remember Buffy had already been teaching her sister in last years summer vacation, and the time before the potentials arrived. "Help teach the potentials, and learn whatever Buffy and Faith are teaching them that you don't know yet."
"Yes, sir," Dawn answered with a big grin, glad she wasn't overlooked for a change.
"All right then, now that that's out of the way, the big announcement," Xander said with a confident face. "I've got a plan on how to beat this bitch. I can't risk telling you what the plan is, in case the First is watching and listening to us invisibly. But to make the plan work I'll have to go out of town to collect some ingredients." The potentials seemed disappointed and a little scared. "Don't get scared, you guys can handle yourself. Until I get back, Willow is in charge. Faith, Giles, Robin, and Dawn, you'll be her lieutenants." Willow looked somewhat shocked at her appointment, but then quickly recovered, and looking determined. "Finally, the First needs Buffy alive, she's the origin of the imbalance that the bitch is capitalizing on. So as long as she's inside of this house, they won't dare blow it up. They might come in here individually, but they won't dare to take out the whole place. Everybody understand?" The group of people answered positive. "Also what their tasks are?" Once again everyone answered positive. "Good, then I'll be off."
Xander started walking toward the front door when Giles asked, "Are you certain your plan will work? Can we beat the First?"
Xander turned back around, and walked over to Giles. He looked him square in the eyes, and smiling he said, "No, Giles, not beat the First; kill the First, destroy the First, wipe it off the face of existence, oblivion. Get it?" The other group of people looked somewhat confused at the scene. Giles nodded in reply. Xander again turned around and walked out the front door. He turned around said, "Cheer up girls, I /will/ be back. Don't worry, see you all in a day or two." He turned back around and walked toward his car, and then Faith quickly bolted from her position, to say her personal goodbyes. Slowly Willow followed her, deciding she too wanted to say a private goodbye.
"Hey, Xander," Faith called. Xander halted and turned around. He looked at her questioningly and she caught up to him outside the house and looked up into his eyes. "Thank you," she whispered throatily, and Xander's eyebrows raised questioningly. "For everything."
Xander frowned and grinned at the same time. "I didn't do that much," he answered confused.
Faith smiled. She couldn't believe this, here she was actually developing feelings for the goofball Xander Harris. He'd always seemed fuckable, but the lightness she felt coursing through her she had never expected, least of all for him. She cared for him, yes, she had tried to kill him while he tried to be a good friend. Something like that is not something that a repented criminal who had been wracked with guilt like her easily forgets. But these kinds of emotions? Now? In the middle of the battle for the whole universe? That just wasn't her, and yet, there was no denying it. It concerned her, sent fear going through her body. Every instinct inside of her told her to run as far as way and as fast as she could . . . but she couldn't. She couldn't help but admire at him. Here was a guy, just a normal guy with no special powers, and he fought this fight along side his friends and family. This guy who had killed who knew exactly how many demons, probably more than some Slayers. Saved who knew how many lives, one thing was for sure; she, Buffy, Willow and the whole world were part of it - two of which were super powered, chosen to fight the darkness. Than the greatest evil of all kind rears its changeable head, and he finally falls - not one on one, but against one to four odds. But does he stay dead? Nope he resurrects himself, digs himself out of his grave - newly super powered - because he can't bear to see his friends lose the fight. Then he proceeds with saving even more lives, and brings a new structure, hope, and philosophy - life above death, and not a necrophiliac philosophy - to the good guy team, and all he had to say is 'I didn't do that much'.
Dang it, he was like this back then as well. Always humble, never one to toot his own horn, unless it was absolutely necessary. Faith winced inside, wishing she had bothered to take a closer look at Xander Harris years before, perhaps then she hadn't tried to kill him, and averted her subsequent downfall. Faith pushed it away, she had fantasized enough 'what if' scenarios in jail. Faith looked up at him, uncertain about what to do next.
Willow - coming out of the house moments earlier - looked at the pair, and was struck with how uncharacteristically quiet, and gentle Faith stood there, then watched with astounding, and strangely a sense of elation, as Faith inclined her head, and lifted herself toward Xander's face.
Xander pulled back, and looked somewhat angrily at the brunette. Faith closed off immediately, a flash of hurt coursing over her face. "You want some more flesh?" Xander asked, his own resentment taking over. Back in his mind he knew why Faith had been the way she had been, he had sensed it himself, but that hadn't really curved his own pain.
"No," Faith answered, half surprising herself. Obviously part of her wanted Xander like that, but she wanted more, most of her she found, just wanted to be held, to kiss him. "I want more."
"Why now?" Xander asked bitterly. "Because I'm strong now? 'Cause I'm important?"
"How about I'm not locked away behind steel bars?" Faith bit at him angrily, the life long betrayal she felt taking over her thinking. She turned on her heel, and started stalking toward the house in anger. She was stopped almost instantly at the loud sound.
Willow looked up astonished, as Faith did the same. Moments later a lot of the SITs came out and joined the others looking up. Then two large helicopters arrived. Military transport helicopters, with two large rotor blades on top: the Chinook. They turned and hovered over the front lawn. Sliding doors opened on both helicopters, followed by two ropes, and fully packed soldiers came sliding down them. Once down, one of the soldiers walked briskly over to Xander, while the soldiers behind him united into two squadrons.
"Who's in charge here?" the soldier asked.
"I am," Xander answered, in a military command tone, taken from his soldier memories. "Alexander Lavelle Harris."
The soldier give a quick salute, and answered, "Sergeant Eliott Powell, reporting for duty, sir."
"Good, what have you got here?" Xander asked, indicating the soldiers with a nod.
"Army, Marines, Navy Seals, you name it," Powell answered quickly, "We're a special case, sir."
"I'll give you a quick briefing," Xander stated with force, the sergeant and the soldiers were at immediate attention. "We're facing the First Evil. An incorporeal force of chaos, darkness, and evil, and it wishes to destroy the universe. It can't touch you, or hurt you, or vice versa but it can appear as any dead person, that means fallen teammates, your dead relatives, anyone or anything. Every fifteen minutes you touch whoever is nearest to you, anyone talking to you strangely, or dejectedly, you touch, you can actually touch them you know it isn't the First."
"Yes, sir," the soldiers answered in chorus, as the potentials, and even Willow looked with astonishment at the precise answer.
Xander continued, "Normally this thing can't even come into this realm without three of his minions summoning him, chanting in a nice ritual, but there's been a weakness, an imbalance, in the Slayer line. Know about the Slayers?"
"We've been briefed," the sergeant replied curtly.
Xander nodded, "It's been trying to wipe out the Slayers, it's been killing potential Slayers until now. Somehow the imbalance has something to do with Buffy, and the First needs her alive; as long as she is in the house, we don't have to worry about the house being blown up. There could be a more personal attack, he's got a way to summon pre-historic vampires from a seal underneath the highschool. There faster, and stronger than any of the vampires you've met before. Stake hardly helps, they've got a cartilage around their hearts as protection, you get a stake through, that stake will also be ruined."
"Understood, sir," the sergeant stated. He looked back and ordered, "Establish a perimeter around the house, corporals."
"Yes, sir," one woman, and a man answered. The two made some orders and then the squadrons dispersed, rapidly, and with purpose. One of the corporals made hand signals to the helicopters, and they lowered down again. Sandbags were tossed from the helicopters, and the soldiers started picking them up and carrying them to open places. Then the helicopters left.
The potentials looked with wide eyes as the smooth operating of the squadron, working like clockwork. "Now that's an army," Kennedy whispered to Willow at the sight.
The sergeant returned to face Xander, and asked, "Anything else, sir?"
"Anyone else coming?" Xander asked sternly.
"Yes, sir, we're just the first batch, the rest is coming over land. We even have some tanks," the sergeant answered smoothly, then a smirk crept up his face. "You said, you needed everything, sir. Agent Finn and her husband are coming in later as well, they're still tied up with a little demon nest in South America."
The other soldiers smiled as they we're busy with their jobs, but Xander didn't get it, asking, "I thought Sam kept her maiden name?"
"She did," Powell answered, his grin deepening, showing teeth. Behind him the soldiers made different degrees of amusement audible; some chuckled, others laughed out loud.
Xander got the joke, and laughed. When he stopped laughing, he added, "One last thing: I have to leave, pick up some ingredients. In the mean time, Willow Rosenberg, the redhead witch over there is in charge, she fill you in on all the details, you will also take orders from Faith over there, as well as Rupert Giles and Robin Wood. The potentials still need lots of weapons training, I think some of you will be able to assist Wood with that."
"Yes, sir, but I don't think its wise for the commanding officer to leave in the middle of a war," the sergeant replied.
"It isn't," Xander conceded with a neutral look. "But I'm the only one who can get the ingredients, and we absolutely need those ingredients. Don't ask, it's a magic thing."
"I hate magic," Powell replied nodding thoughtfully.
Xander nodded an acknowledgment and walked past the sergeant. "Xan!" Willow called out, and Xander turned around. "Be careful."
Xander smiled. Nodding, he answered, "Always."
"Bye, Xan," Dawn added, waving her heard.
Xander waved lightly back, and answered, "I'll be back soon, Dawn." Then Xander turned around and left the house.
*****
Some time later
The potentials under Robin Wood's lead had just returned, and had placed their loot - weapons in all shapes and sizes - neatly in several rooms. They had gone to bed afterward, they needed their sleep, and it was well after midnight already. Faith was sitting at the table in the kitchen, casually twirling with a knife. She was restless, her Slayer constitution and instincts telling her to go outside and hunt. That very same constitution also allowed her to get by with far less sleep, so she wasn't in danger in keeling over during a battle some time later, which allowed her to just sit. She liked some of the soldiers, others not so, one of the women she had had quite a conversation with.
A handful of soldiers were holed up in the living room. Some of them were sleeping on mattresses, in sleeping begs right next to some of the potentials. A few of them were awake. The rest of the soldiers were outside, keeping watch out of sight. Willow sleepily came down the stairs, and reached the kitchen, rubbing at her face. "Hey, Red," Faith greeted casually. "What are you doing up?"
"Bathroom," Willow commented barely awake. "Hungry."
Faith grinned, and offered, "Let me fix you a sandwich, I'm bored to death, I need the distraction."
Willow nodded, replying, "Nice, thanks." She plopped herself down on a stool and watched as Faith started fixing her sandwich by taking out a bread knife, and the bread first. Willow watched sleepily, fighting to keep her eyes open.
"Hi, honey," Tara's voice sounded. Willow was instantly awake, cold chills running down her back. As Faith started whistling some kind of tune, Willow whirled around on her stool and looked into the face of her dead love.
"Tara," Willow whispered in disbelief.
"How are you, sweety?" Tara asked and took a step forward, closing the distance.
"F-Fine," Willow answered softly, hoping her voice didn't carry over Faith's whistling. Willow knew this wasn't Tara, that it was just the First, but she wanted to drink in Tara's visage one last time so badly.
"I should never have gone back to you," Tara whispered hatefully in Willow's right ear. A tear instantly sprung from the redhead's eyes as Tara continued. "I would still be alive, and I wouldn't have fallen for a lying, stinking, raping bitch." Willow's heart broke even more. "I've stopped using magic, look at you now. Tried to end the world, and still with the magic." Willow looked at the blonde in anguish, her body almost starting to wrack with sobs. "Better yet, I wouldn't be burning in hell, you people, you Jews with your bible are right, Willow. My family was right. All magic users end up in Hell, we're nothing but demons."
"Hey, Red, your sandwich is ready," Faith's voice interrupted Willow's desperate spiral toward towards oblivion. The witch's eyes widened, and she got up from the stool. Briskly she walked over to Faith and took the sandwich.
"Hell, Willow," the First said again, and then Willow started humming out loud, lightly surprising Faith. The redhead put two fingers in her ears, and humming loudly she started walking back the way she came. "Listen to me, Willow, you still have a chance," Tara called out, walking after Willow after the witch had walked straight through. The soldiers looked up in surprise as they saw the humming girl stomp through the room. They were unable to see the First following her, saying, "Stop the magic now, and you might still go to heaven." Her words were futile, Willow heard nothing, humming her jaunty tune through her full mouth - on occasion taking a hand from her ears to take a bit from her sandwich - Willow resolutely walking up the stairs. The First didn't follow her up, a grin spreading on her face.
"Well, that's one way to do it," one soldier commented, realizing why Willow was doing that, and he followed the humming Willow with his eyes.
"Effective to," Faith added. She was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, and too following the witch. She shrugged and turned around, going back to be bored in the kitchen, not really caring if the First appeared to her once again.
Sergeant Powell was inspecting his machine gun. "Hello, Sarge," a voice spoke suddenly, and Powell looked up, looking straight in the face of a dead fellow soldier, except he seemed quite alive. He looked around quickly and the others didn't seem to see his once friend. "You've been promoted huh?" the dead man taunted.
"I know what you are, so bug off," Powell stated and returned to inspect his gun. His fellow soldiers looked up at his statement, but didn't see anything.
"Oh, I'm not the First Evil, and you don't get away from me that easy, you left me for dead, you son of a bitch," his dead friend hissed.
"Mark, you were already dead. If I had stayed, not only would you be dead, but so would I, and the entire squadron," Powell returned, a lump forming in his throat.
"Sir," one of the soldiers called. "What's going on?"
"And what about me?" a new ghost from Powell's past asked, materializing next to 'Mark'.
"And me?" another asked, and another, and another. More and more of them arrived, people he killed, or couldn't save, or chose not to save, they rapidly filled up the room. Powell's eyes widened with shock, and took a step back.
He pointed his gun at some of them, thinking his couldn't be the First, so many at the same time. "Stay back," he warned scared, but the ghosts advanced on him, twisting into horrible demonic versions of themselves, ready it seemed to tear apart Powell.
"Sarge, there's no one here!" a soldier called out desperately, as they tried to stay out of the way of the gun, and try to wake some of the those asleep so they wouldn't be caught unaware.
"It's this First Evil thing, remember?" another soldier called out. "It's not real."
The demonic ghosts charged Powell, and he pulled the trigger. All hell broke loose. Those asleep were instantly awake, some of them screaming in pain. One soldier went down, clutching his leg, while some of the others charged the sergeant, trying to stop him. "Stay back!" he screamed, pulling the trigger again, causing them to dive to the floor.
Faith was a whirlwind, even as Powell warned to stay back again, she reached him. Faster than his eyes could follow she had squatted aside his gun, and forced him down to the floor. "GET A GRIP!" she screamed in rage, and even fear at him. A bullet could hurt her just as easily as anyone else. "WHATEVER YOU'RE SEEING IS NOT REAL!!" Powell reached for his handgun tucked behind his belt. One of his men grabbed the arm and pulled it back, Faith did the same with the other. Both of them held the crazed sergeant down. "GET A FUCKIN' GRIP!" Faith screamed again, as several of the soldiers who were outside came charging in, a medic pulled out his medical kit and went to the injured. Powell looked up, and saw the demonic ghosts laugh out loud, and then disappear all at the same time, and he calmed down.
"I-I'm alright," he answered weakly.
Faith took his handgun and tossed it to another soldier. "Rope," she commanded as she pulled Powell off the floor and placed him roughly on the couch. Potentials, one witch and the others came down the stairs and looked around in shock at the devastation.
One soldier pulled rope from his luggage, and handed it to Faith, after which she proceeded to bind the sergeant. "That's not necessary," Powell said weakly.
Faith stared straight in his eyes, and said, "Fuck you." She turned around when the task was finished, and looked in horror at the wounded, and people trying to help them. One soldier with a med kit walked over to her, and pulled out some implements. "I'm alright," Faith answered and tried to wave him off, at which time she felt a sharp pain shoot through her upper arm. She looked and saw blood poor out of a wound, flesh torn. The bullet had only grazed her upper arm, but the damage was done. Until just now the adrenaline had masked the pain. She swallowed, wincing in occasional pain, as the soldier proceeded with treating the wound. Before noon, Faith knew, there wouldn't be anything left of the wound, but now it hurt like a son of a bitch.
A short while later, Giles came to report to Willow and Faith, "Three dead, one potential, two soldiers. Eight wounded, two serious."
"FUCK IT!!" Faith yelled out in anger. "IT'S NOT REAL!! XANDER EXPLAINED IT TO YOU PEOPLE! ARE YOU GETTING IT YET!! IT'S NOT REAL, DON'T TOUCH YOUR FUCKING GUNS!!"
"Ma'am?" one soldier asked nervously. Faith turned around to look at him with blazing anger. "The sarge said there were more than one . . . how exactly do we know the difference between an actual vampire, and a fake one? We might be wasting ammo, if this First Evil decides to send two fake versions along with every real one."
Faith blinked, she hadn't thought of that, and neither had Xander it seemed. They had all mostly assumed the First could only at one place at a time. "I'll make a spell, marking the fake ones," Willow answered, sleep once again coming crashing down upon her, now that the adrenaline rush of the fear was gone. "But I'll do it tomorrow, I don't want to try spell being this tired, might end up blowing us all up."
The group looked around at each other, slowing coming to grips with the events, and then the soldiers got the three bodies and took them outside. Faith stalked back to the kitchen, grinding her teeth together in frustration, and feeling a sadness and pain starting to consume her.
*****
As the plane went to land, Xander looked out the window, seeing the Crow sit on the plane's wing. Xander had no idea how the bird could have been sitting there, but it was. He wondered if anyone else had seen it. Just before the plane was about to land the bird flew away. Xander smiled, as he heard the captain announce they had reached Detroit.
An hour later Xander was following the Crow across the rooftops of the big city, and he went over what the Crow had told him during the flight; his name was Eric Draven, he was killed by a few bastards, while they rapid his fiance, who lasted another thirty hours of anguish in the hospital before dying. Like Xander, his pain had been so great, that he had come back from the dead. Unlike Xander, it had been a year since the event.
*****
Inside the almost empty church, a black man was perched in a side niche, high up. He lifted his sniper rifle, and a crow came in the viewer. Suddenly an additional weight to his gun threw off his aim. A squawk accompanied it, and he opened his eye, seeing another crow sitting on his end of the barrel. "What the . . .?" he muttered, before the crow fluttered off. The moment it was gone a large black form, with a white face landing on the ledge he was using for support for his gun. The man grabbed the barrel of his gun and put pressure on it. As the barrel slowly bent upward, the man spoke, in terrifying low voice, "Didn't you know? We crows never come alone, we come in murders."
Before the assassin could even react, Xander's hand slashed out and tore out his throat. Xander jumped down, as his opponent staggered back. With a quick motion he snapped the man's neck, and he dropped to the floor dead. Xander looked down at the man with a grin.
Down below one man, in similar make-up than Xander stood at the front of the church benches. A man in long hair and pompous clothes, having a sword strapped to his back, came out from behind where the organ should be. "Come on, shoot it!" he called out, when the expected shot didn't arrive.
Eric Draven looked around, a little confused. A caw and a second crow landed on the opposite benches as the first crow sat. Top Dollar frowned, at the arrival. Then a sound and both Eric and Top Dollar watched Xander sail through the air, and land on his feet. The second crow squawked, and flew over, landing on the new arrival's right shoulder. "I'm sorry," Xander said, theatrically turning around, revealing his painted face, "but your associate had an unfortunate accident: I tore out his throat, and broke his neck."
"Now that's just not fair," Top Dollar commented, as Eric Draven's painted face returned to face him with a murderous grin. Eric's kick lashed out, and hit Top Dollar in his chest, sending him flying backward until he crashed into the wall behind him. He tried to move, but the much faster Crow was already on him, holding the man's face.
"I've been holding on to something I long need. Thirty hours of pain, and you get all of it at once," Eric hissed out in anger, and then pored his fiance's last moments deep into the criminal's mind, who screamed out in horror. Finished with that, Eric pulled back. Top Dollar looked up, terror written on his face. With a powerful uppercut, directly under the nose, Eric drove Top Dollar's nose bone straight up into his brain. Several moments later he was dead.
The doors to the church sprung open, and both Eric and Xander turned around to look at a black man enter the church, wielding a shotgun. Xander grinned. The man took in the scene, and then said, "Shit, now there are two of you?"
"Albrecht," Eric greeted with a grin.
A short scream took their attention away. Instantly the three men came into action, Xander being the closest to the door leading to the scream was the first to enter the narrow stairway. He bounded up the stairs, and moments later caught up with the source. An somewhat Asian woman was holding a gun to the head of a little girl. Eric and Albrecht caught up behind Xander. "STOP!" ordered the woman, and added, "Or I'll kill her." Eric and Albrecht froze. Xander smiled and slowly continued up the stairs. "Didn't you hear me?" the woman asked desperately.
"Damn it, stop!" Eric called out pleadingly.
"I heard ya, bitch, I just don't give a damn," Xander stated, smiling evilly all the while. "Really, you have but two options: kill her and I'll tear out your guts and feed them to you, or push the girl down the stairs, make me have to catch her, and hope I don't consider you important enough I'll make sure to catch up to you."
The woman slowly backed up, thinking over Xander's words. Suddenly she threw the girl over the railing down the long hole. Xander immediately dove over the railing, and since he was lower on the staircase he intercepted the girl. He took a hold of her collar with his right hand, and grabbed the rope with his left. Bells started ringing as Xander and the girl went up and down with the rope and bells.
Eric leaned over the railing and called, "Sarah!"
"I'm fine, just go get the bitch!" the girl yelled back. Eric nodded, and sped off in pursuit.
"Well, Sarah," Xander said as he started climbing upward, using his feet predominantly, "nice to meet you, I'm Xander. You're not afraid of flying, are you?"
"No," she answered a little confused.
"Good," Xander looked up at Albrecht, and asked, "can you catch?"
Albrecht put his shotgun against the wall, and while nodding, said, "Yeah." Xander pulled Sarah up, and rapidly moved his right hand onward, then letting go, making the girl sail through the air and lending in Albrecht's arms. He staggered back, and then landed against the wall, holding on to Sarah, before putting her on the ground.
Xander smiled, and then started swinging the rope back and forth, making the bell ring again. Suddenly he let go, and with a somersault he landed on the stairs. "Fuck man, you played with her life," Albrecht admonished Xander.
Xander shook his hand, and replied, "No, she played with her life, no matter what I'd done, Sarah here, would have always been in the same danger of dying."
A high pitched scream sounded, and then the Asian woman came falling through the shaft, banging against the railings on occasion. There was a sickening thud as she landed, and then her screaming stopped. Xander looked over the railing, and then ushered the two back down. Once back down below, they waited, Eric arrived moments later.
"Eric Draven, I presume," Xander answered with a smile. "My name is Xander Harris, and I need your help."
Eric shook his head, and said, "I'm done, it's finished."
Xander's smile deepened and explained, "I'm facing the First Evil. It's an incorporeal entity that wishes to destroy the whole universe. Only with your help, and one other can I beat this thing."
Albrecht and Sarah looked a little disappointed when Eric answered, "I've had enough, I just want to see Shelly."
Xander nodded, "Well, I tried." Xander turned around, and faced the dead body of Top Dollar, while Albrecht and Sarah didn't know what to think. Xander bent down and pulled the katana from the Top Dollar's back, admiring it, as Eric slowly slogged away. "Oh, one more thing, you hear me say he wishes to destroy the universe, did you?" Xander asked faking intrigue. "That includes heaven or wherever your Shelley is. When he gets there, he'll destroy her soul along with everything else."
Eric suddenly went rigid, and turned around, looking at Xander inspecting the blade. Xander clanged the blade to a metal piece, and his eyebrows raised at the sound. "Damn," he said with surprise. "This is a real one, battle ready, worth sixty thousand dollars, at least."
Eric reached Xander, and asked, "Shelly?" Xander nodded. "I'm in," Eric answered him.
"Great, I knew I could count on you," Xander answered, inspecting the handle of the sword. "No number, probably means it was a new sword, not an actually used antique."
"Why? What's the number?" Sarah asked somewhat intrigued.
Xander grinned, explaining, "Back in the day, they did a test, they lined up prisoners and chopped. The number they engraved in the handle, were the amount of heads severed with one stroke. Five or six was considered very good, if the sword couldn't decapitate one person it was considered useless." The three of them looked at Xander as he made a practice swipe and smoothly cut through a church bench. "Great, now all I need is a permit, then we'll go find the third one."
"You know who?" Eric asked darkly, already envisioning killing the thing that was threatening his fiancee even now.
"Yeah, Alex Corvis," Xander answered with a smile.
*****
Back in Sunnydale
The First stood in front of the grave. A few bringers behind her. She grinned, reading the name on the gravestone that was inconsequential. "If they think a vampire is the only demon that can animate a corpse, they've got another thing coming," the First, in his true monstrous form said with a smile. She reached out her clawed hand, and started mumbling words that hadn't been spoken in billions of years. Her hand glowed, and a black missed came from it, and pored itself into the grave.
Moments later a delicate hand shot out from the grave, followed by another, and finally the entire body of the blonde female appeared. She stood in front of the First, and whispered, "Master?"
The First grinned, and said, "Yes, I'm your master." She looked into the blonde's pitch black eyes, not even white eyeball was left. The eyes seemed to be dumb, that of a dimwit, but rapidly they filled with intelligence. "Now listen to me, my sweet, you will have to lead my troops, while I make preparation to bring in a true demon."
The blonde girl inclined her head, and she did the equivalent of vamping out. She grew somewhat in size, her skin turned orange, and rough, hard, her fingers gained sharp nails, turning them into claws, several metallic spikes formed on her arms. Two horns grew on her head, a long, thick, round slithered from her mouth, and she gained fangs easily five centimeters long, and gave deep, dangerous growl. "As you command, master," the orange demon, still with the blonde hair, ground out.
"Go. Lead," the First said with a grin, and then laughed out loud as the newly risen demon joined the Bringers, ready to lead them. The First disappeared, and the demon and the bringers walked away, leaving the grave the name engraved on the stone: Tara McClay.
*****
With heavy rumbling the three tanks rolled in front of the Summers home, humvees pulled next to them. A few moments later several new squadrons of heavily armed soldiers arrived. They walked to the house, and realizing it was rather full, they asked if they could set up tents in the front lawn and the back. Willow approved.
Half an hour later, Faith was pacing through the Summers' living room like a caged animal. "I need to do something," she hissed at nobody in particular. The room was filled with people, some just waiting, others reading, or doing something else to pass the time. Powell was still tied up on the couch. Some of the new arrivals had looked strangely. One higher ranked soldier had questioned why, and got a good solid answer from Faith, and enough innuendo he didn't dare question the wisdom. "I feel like I'm going to explode."
"Xander told us to wait, Faith. So we wait, there's nothing to be done about it," Rhona answered the agitated Slayer with a snippy tone.
"He never said that," Willow cut it. "He said I was in charge till he gets back." The redhead walked to the center of the room. In a corner, Buffy looked with sad eyes, feeling useless and dejected. When she noticed she was sitting next to Andrew, who smiled at her, her mood went downhill fast. Willow continued, "He did not tell us we couldn't get him some more information, or take out some important part of the First's organization."
The soldiers perked up; they were asked here apparently for the big final fight, and all they had been doing was lazying about. Faith too looked with giant expectant eyes at Willow. "The question is, does anyone have any ideas?" Willow asked interestingly.
"We could check out the Seal?" Rhona suggested.
"No," Willow replied. "That won't do anything. The seal is closed, it's just sitting there. And the First doesn't seem particularly interested in it. It wants to do something else entirely, the seal seems to be just one little cog in his plan."
Heads nodded. Faith then made her own suggestion, "We could kidnap a bringer and make it talk."
"Now that is a good idea," Willow replied with a little command in her tone. She thought she was getting the hang of it.
"Exactly how are we going to find any Bringers when they don't want to be found?" Anya asked around room. "I mean, ever since Xander kicked Caleb's ass, and did the same to a bunch of Bringers, I really haven't seen any around, have you?"
"That shouldn't be a problem," the female Corporal who first arrived with Powell stated. She lifted up a portable computer and held the screen toward the group. "This isn't a bringer isn't it?"
"Yeah, that's a bringer," Giles answered in surprise that she had them in their little gadgets.
The Corporal nodded, and explained, "We came across a group of them a little over a year ago in the jungles of Africa. We were hunting a very different demon. Either way, they were looking for some kind of weapon if I remember correctly. We captured one, killed the others, we put them in the scanner. This will lead us to one or more without much trouble."
"Africa, a year ago?" Dawn asked intrigued. "What could they have been doing there? A weapon you said?"
Faith pulled her axe from behind her back, where she had it strapped, and asked, "Something like this?"
"No, wasn't it a dagger?" the woman asked one of her team mates.
"Yeah, a dagger, one of them got away with it," one of her soldiers answered.
Willow looked at Kennedy, and she nodded. She disappeared, and returned quickly, holding the dagger Andrew had used to open the Seal. "This one?" Willow asked.
"God damn, yeah," the corporal answered, recognizing it now, surprised it was here. The woman shook her head, freeing herself from her surprise, and said, "We have a problem though. Bringers have no tongue, it was cut out."
"That's not a problem," Willow answered with a smile. "I know a spell that will circumvent that."
*****
Catching a Bringer had been easy, and they had it chained to the wall of the basement. Willow was busy with a spell. The female corporal, Giles, Kennedy and Andrew were present as well.
"Speak to us," Willow commanded once she was done with the spell.
Andrew commented, "Maybe I should rough him up a little."
"Andrew!" Denise, the female corporal hissed. She had known the annoying troll barely a day, and already she preferred to tear of his head and bathe in his blood.
For good measure Kennedy, added, "Quiet!"
Giles and Willow starred at the bringer, and Willow said, "Weird, that should have worked."
Andrew spoke up, sounding strange in soft and monotonous tone, "I am a drone in the mind that is evil."
Denise stated with extreme irritation, "Could you just shut up?"
Andrew calmly added, "I say I'm part of the great darkness."
Kennedy rolled her eyes in annoyance and said, "Somebody needs a reality check."
"Or a muzzle," Denise suggested.
Giles looked over at Andrew, and said lowly, "Wait."
Andrew added, "I'm only a fragment of the We. We work as one to serve the First."
Denise and Kennedy stood up and backed away from the table where Andrew was sitting. Giles and Willow stood up as well, and they all stared at Andrew. Willow than asked, "OK, what do you - the We - do for the First?
Andrew, who everyone now understood was speaking for the bringer, answered, "We work to prepare for the inevitable battle."
Kennedy grabbed the Bringer's knife off the table and held it to the Bringer's throat. She demanded, "How? Tell me exactly what the Bringers are doing."
"Kennedy, he can't see the knife," Giles said.
Andrew replied, "We can feel the knife."
Giles held out his and, and prompted, "Kennedy?" She got up, standing away from the Bringer, and after a moment's hesitation gave the knife to Giles.
"We attend to the needs of the infinite evil. We exterminate girls and destroy the legacy of the slayer. We build an arsenal beneath the dirt," Andrew droned out.
"What do you mean, 'beneath the dirt'?" Denise asked rapidly.
Andrew slowly looked at her, and replied, "We build weapons to prepare for the coming war . . . at the farthest edge of town. We are everywhere. We are like the ocean's waves. We watch your efforts and are not scared. We will laugh at you as you die."
Giles suddenly lashed out with the Bringer's knife and slit the Bringer's throat with it. The Bringer went limp, almost instantly.
Andrew, once again himself, stood up, and exclaimed, "What the bananas?! You are so lucky that you did not just . . . magically decapitate me."
Giles turned to Willow, and said, "We've got enough here. We need to find a subterranean space large enough to house an armory."
As everyone else except Andrew started to leave, Denise looked at the Bringer, a nagging sensation that that went to easy, but then decided to ignore it, and followed the others. Andrew followed after her, and complained, "I feel used and violated, and . . ." He held his throat gingerly, before finishing, " . . . I need a lozenge."
*****
A squadron of soldiers, Willow, Faith, and a group of potentials stood in front of the cave entrance. The soldiers were armed with their guns, Faith with her new magic weapon, and the potentials with crossbows, and stakes and swords, two of them also carried guns. They were fifteen in total.
They stalked into the cave, the soldiers in a formation that made all the guns point outward, the potentials in the middle and point. "Dark here," one potential commented. Before Willow could utter the spell to illuminate the place, several soldiers had already turned on powerful flash lights and the cave was instantly alight.
"Onward," Faith ordered, and the group continued, going down winding patterns, Willow holding up the map. The soldiers GPS units mapped the place at the same time. Halfway to their destination they got too deep and the connection with the satellite was severed, leaving the machine only to map, but not able to show where they were, and how to get out. until they reached the end of the tunnel. Eventually they reached an end, with an opening leaning to a large room to the right. Before they could find out what was behind it, Bringers dropped onto them from above. Gunfire sounded, several bringers went down. Faith sliced two in half with one swipe of the axe, and the potentials staked, or skewered a few, then all was quiet. Faith looked around confused, so did the potentials.
Faith decided to looking into the room to the right, but Willow - veteran in practical battle situations - stopped her, bye saying, "No, Faith, this way too easy. This is a trap."
"She's right," one of the soldiers stated, more toward the potentials than to anyone else, most of the soldiers, each combat veterans themselves, recognized a trap just as well. "Move! We need to get out of here, now."
The soldiers turned around, when they noticed the potentials, a little confused weren't coming with them immediately they grabbed them by their upper arms, and pulled them along. Soon the whole troop was running for their lives. Faith quickly found point with her superior skill, and with her Slayer sense of direction lead the group back up. Halfway up, the GPS devices beeped, indicating they had reconnected to the satellites, but none bothered with getting them out, realizing that Faith was leading unerringly back to the surface. A few moments later the explosion sounded, and the caves rumbled. But they were far enough away not to be threatened by the explosion by then.
Just as the they reached the surface, a whole Turok-Han appeared at the entrance. "Shit," Kennedy muttered, and before she even finished talking one soldier fired a grenade from his large machine gun / grenade launcher combo, and hit a Turok-Han dead on. The explosion ripped the ancient vampire into a thousand pieces, which dusted a moment later. The fire caught to more vampires and they caught fire. They flailed around before they dusted as well.
Faith staked one vampire, with the stake part of her weapon. The magic imbued weapon sliced through the cartilage like a hot knife through butter, and the thing dusted a moment later. Soldiers opened fire on the Turok-Han, aiming for there heads. The things jerked under the barrage of the automatic weapons, and once so many bullets were pumped into their heads, they were more lead then flesh, they burst into dust. Kennedy slid underneath a Turok-Han's swipe, and sliced her sword through its knee, sending it crashing down. As she got up, she commented, "Strong, fast, but dumb, just the way I like 'em." With a swipe she severed its head, and it too burned to dust.
Next to her, Faith sliced two Turok-Han in two, with one slice. As both of them turned to dust, Faith commented, "God, I love this weapon."
"Ignis," Willow said, with black eyes, for fire balls left her hands, and a moment later four Turok-Han burst into flames, screaming in pain, and then they turned to dust.
"Was that all?" a soldier commented dryly. "I was lead to believe things were supposed to be tough. I've faced much tougher." The others soldiers nodded, along with Willow, and Faith.
"Yeah," Faith added admiring her Axe, as the group trudged outside. "I wish I had this thing with me when I faced the Beast. The thing was all rock, practically invulnerable. I'll bet this would have sliced through his hide with ease."
"That wasn't everything," a melodious voice said, as the troop reached the forest. They turned around, and looked straight at the demon animated corpse of Tara McClay, her black eyes peering at them. "I'm glad to help you get rid of your disappointment."
"Tara," Willow whispered in shock.
The soldiers instinctively opened fire, as Faith yelled, "No, it's the First." To her shock, the bullets ricocheted off of a blue shield surrounding the lovely form of Tara McClay. Willow looked in shock, she knew that spell.
A grenade had the same effect on the shield as the bullets, and Tara started to casually walk forward, saying, "You should look better. If I were a form of the master, do you think I would have these?" Tara pointed at her black eyes. The potentials got scared, really scared. Faith gnawed her teeth together in anger, and ran over to the demon, swinging her axe with great strength. It sliced through Tara's shield, as it lighted up at the strain. But before the axe could hit the demon, Tara grabbed its handle, and said as she morphed into her bigger demon-guise, "Sharp weapon, but you'll have to hit me with it in order to cause me damage." Halfway the sentence her voice had turned to a permanent growl. With one punch she sent Faith and her axe flying off to the right. She didn't stop until she smashed into a tree.
The demon Tara pounced and a moment later she was at Willow, who was in the center of the group. "Hi, lover, how have you been? I missed you," the demon growled, and then laughed out loud. She grabbed Willow then, who got zapped by the shield continuously when the demon held her up. "I want you so much again, Willow," the demon growled, and its thick tongue licked across Willow's throat. Her hand whipped down into her pants and felt around. "And you're already wet for me," Tara added with a chuckle.
"Get your stinking hands off my girlfriend!" Kennedy raged and hacked her axe at the demonic Tara. The axe got imbedded in the shield, and Kennedy was instantly shuddering, as if being electrocuted, then she shot away from the demon and landed painfully on her back.
"You really are stupid, aren't you?" Tara asked with laughter in her voice at the fallen potential. The other potentials decided it was best to back away. The soldiers looked stunned, not really knowing what to do about the force field. "Wait, you're not wet for me, you're wait for /her/," Tara hissed out at the redhead in her hands still being wracked by the energy from the shield. "You little unfaithful bitch," Tara hissed at her former lover.
"/You/ are /not/ my Tara," Willow hissed out, as her eyes blackened. She stretched out her hands toward the demon with difficulty. She mumbled a few words, and then a shockwave came from her hands, sending the demon staggering back, and Willow flying backward, hitting a tree.
Tara roared out in frustration, and stabbed to her left, slicing her metallic protrusions on her arm through a soldiers neck. He fell to the floor to bleed to death. Tara turned around grabbed a potential, and easily snapped her neck, throwing her aside. The soldiers fired again, but the shield held, allowing Tara to bash aside a female soldier, and kill another male one.
Willow put herself to her hands and knees, and concentrated. She snapped open her eyes, when she found the source of the shield. Her eyes went black, and she weakly stretched out a hand, mumbling several unintelligible words, and a fireball formed in her hands, then fired it.
Tara was about to laugh at Willow's pathetic attempt, until she noticed the fireball streaking past her, directly at . . . "Damn it," Tara cursed. The fireball streaked through the woods, directly on target, a group of three Bringers chanting around a wildly dancing fire. The fireball smashed directly into the fire and exploded mightily, shredding the Bringers instantly, and throwing them apart.
The shield around Tara flickered, and was gone. Kennedy noticed it, and got back up, with a primal scream she swung her axe imbedding it in Tara's chest. It sliced in one centimeter, before it stopped completely, and stayed stuck. Tara roared in pain. Kennedy pulled, but the axe wouldn't come out. Gunshots rang out moments later, each bullet imbedding themselves into Tara's body, making her scream out in pain. Then she jumped over the combatants, landed and ran off, yelling back, "We're not finished yet!"
Kennedy ran over to the Willow and held the now crying redhead. "You all right, Willow?" Kennedy asked concerned. Soon the surviving members of the group joined around, and looked at the couple. Faith looked as well, feeling defeated.
*****
Not long after they were standing at Tara's grave. Despite the answer given by the turn up ground, Faith, and a few soldiers dug with shovels. They found the casket empty.
Willow broke down in crying once again, and held onto Kennedy tightly. "It's a demon, Willow, like a vampire it animated her corpse. It's not really her," she whispered soothingly.
*****
San Antonio, Texas
Eric Draven and Xander ran across the rooftops. Xander with a certain enjoyment. "Man," Eric Draven commented with anger, "Being framed for the murder of your girlfriend and being given the chair . . . they really did a number on him."
"Yeah, you can't get much worse," Xander answered, his new katana strapped to his back, "No wonder he came back."
The two quickly reached the building of their destination, their crows circling in the air for a few moments, until they settled on their shoulders.
"Parking garage, huh?" Eric asked. Xander nodded unnecessarily, by now, Eric's crow had filled the musician in on everything. Or perhaps Xander's crow had, Xander wasn't sure, despite his telepathic connection, the birds remained mysterious.
"Let's go," Xander said, and the jumped down.
*****
Erin Randall ran. She was scared. Her sister had been murdered three years earlier, and up until a few nights ago, she was lead to believe her sister's boyfriend had committed the crime. Now she knew better. The real murderer was right behind her, and despite the fact she knew that Alex was still back there somewhere, she had no idea whether he could get to her on time.
She dove behind a car, and ducked. She looked back, when she didn't see him, she ran onward and rounded a corner, and bumped into someone. She was about to scream, when a hand clamped around her mouth. She looked up, into a scary visage. The man was painted white, his mouth was painted black, and two curved lines flowed from it. His eyes were painted black, with two short lines running down the middle of his eyes. He placed a finger in front of his mouth, and said, "SSSSHHHhh." Then he smiled broadly.
Erin's eyes stayed wide, as he slowly released her mouth. "You're like Alex," she whispered.
He nodded, and said, "Eric Draven." Then he turned around and pointed.
The Chief of police came stalking down the parking garage, a gun in hand. "Erin, come her Erin, I won't hurt you," the man said, a little fear slipping in his voice. A sound made him jump to his right, and he saw a dark man, pale white face, black eyes, black mouth, and two long, sad, blood-red lines through his eyes, down to the lines around his mouth squatting down on the hood of his car.
The man cocked his head bird like, and said, "You're so screwed."
The Chief instantly raised his gun at him, and Xander laughed. He jumped smoothly off the hood and walked forward, stopping inches short of the gun. "You think that'll help?" Xander asked casually.
"BASTARD!" A voice called out, and moments later Alex Corvis came into view, holding a metal pipe like a club. His mouth too was black, with elongated lines. His eyes were similarly black, and four lines ran across his eyes. Two from the middle, ran all the way down his mouth lines. Two shorter ones lightly curved on the outer sides of the longer lines. He had brown hair, and an average build. "What the . . . ?" he muttered as he saw Xander standing there, the police Chief couldn't keep his gun hand steady. One of them was bad enough . . . "Huh?" Alex said, and blinked. The Chief looked over, and Erin came walking into view - a murderous smile on her face - behind a third guy. He too had make-up on.
"He's all yours, friend," Xander commented, and gestured at the police chief. Three crows arrived, each landing on the hood of a car, and cawed.
Alex broke into a grin, and raised the pipe. "Wait," Erin said, interrupting Alex. "I have a better idea."
*****
Eric and Xander watched dispassionately as the Chief fried in the very same chair that killed Alex. The other crow watched with glee, Erin was - quite surprisingly to the two outsiders - the one who had pulled the switch.
Once the murderer was dead, Alex turned to the two others like him, their crows on their shoulders, and asked, "I take it your not here to see him fry."
"No," Xander stated neutrally. "The First Evil, ancient entity that helped create the universe, wishes to destroy it. He's one of the wrongs I have to right. It requires three of us to destroy him."
Alex absorbed the information. Part of him wanted to dismiss the guy as a lunatic, but he had been resurrected from death, who was he to argue with what was and wasn't possible. He looked up at Erin, the only remaining living direct relative of the girlfriend he loved more than life itself. If this thing succeeded . . . "I'm in," he stated.
"Great," Xander said, with a smile. "You'll have to get rid of the make-up while we're on the plane."
Alex looked at him, and said, "It's not make-up. It got burned into my skin when I was in there."
Xander smiled, and said, "Then we'll have to cover it up." Xander turned around, ready to leave, and Alex saw the katana really for the first time.
"What's so special about a katana anyway?" Alex asked without thinking about it. "I've always wanted to know."
Xander chuckled, and turned back around. "What happens if you throw a handkerchief in the air, and hack at it with a sword?"
Alex raised his shoulders, and guessed, "You pull aside the handkerchief?"
"Correct," Xander grinned, and called out, "Hey, Erin, you have handkerchief?"
The girl climbed down from the controls confused, and pulled out a handkerchief. "Here. Why?"
Xander grinned, he threw up the handkerchief, and in one smooth motion drew the katana and sliced the sword through the air. A moment later there were two pieces of handkerchief whirled downward to the ground. Xander plucked the two pieces from the air, and gave them to Alex. "That's what's so special about a katana," Xander answered, and then turned around and started walking. A grinning Eric joined him, and Xander said, "Come on, we don't have much time."
*****
Sunnydale
A day later
"Damn it," Andrew uncharacteristically cursed out loud, looking at the screen. Giles, Willow, Faith, and Buffy were present, sitting in Willow's bedroom. Willow was still somewhat in shock at the demon version of her lover, but she had already vowed she would destroy it, and giver Tara peace. "I can't find anything."
"That isn't too surprising," Willow commented looking at the screen. "Xander didn't really expect there would be any information on it." Willow tapped the axe that was lying on the desk.
"I know, but I had hoped . . ." Andrew sadly trailed off, scrolling down a web page, and found a link, of which the color indicated he hadn't followed it yet. The picture belonging to it represented an 'm' like thing. He frowned, and clicked on it. A new web page came up, with descriptions of weapons, and in the middle once again the same symbol. "What's that? Looks like an 'm' question mark," he asked.
"That's an ancient symbol," Giles answered looking at it. "Hieroglyphs, I'm remembering something. 'M' plus glottal stop that's what it is, it's commonly thought to symbolize a sickle or scythe, it's in thousands of carvings. In Egypt, throughout the ancient world."
"Carvings like you'd find in a Pagan temple?" Willow asked intrigued. "Like the one we found out was buried beneath the vineyard?"
"Perhaps we should find out where these pagans buried their dead," Giles commented with raised eyebrows. Buffy watched dejected, wishing she could do something, wishing to be trusted again.
Faith was about to speak up, but Andrew exclaimed excitedly, "That's easy." He opened another browser window, and flicked through several quick searches, slipping through a few firewalls. "There," he said proudly, an old map of the area on screen. He tapped in a few commands, and quickly found a description of a pyramidal tomb in one of Sunnydale's many cemeteries. Something was bugging Andrew though, something about the former page. Why hadn't he found it a day earlier for example? He returned to it, his mind on the problem, practically ignoring what went around him, and he started hacking.
"So what do we do now?" Faith asked, to no one in particular. "So we have a demon animated Tara, Xander isn't here, and a friggin' pyramid. Exactly what could we hope to find in a pyramid? Something . . . I don't know . . ."
Buffy's hand snaked out, and grabbed the magical Weapon. Everybody called out in shock, rousing even Andrew from his work. "Don't!" Willow and Faith called in unison.
"No!" Buffy stated at them, holding up the weapon. "I'm going to show you, I'm not useless. I'm going to get the answers to this thing."
"Damn it!" Faith cursed out loud. "You will stay here with that weapon." Buffy didn't listen and ran out the door. Faith was about to follow her, when Andrew stopped her by calling out his name.
Faith was torn between catching up to Buffy and staying here, and decided she better be the smart one. Turning back, she hissed, "What in blazes does the stupid slut think she's going to do at a pyramid all alone anyway? It isn't like she can read any of the damn writing, she would need an entire entourage of language experts to figure them out! What is it, Andrew!? And hurry up!"
"I thought this was too convenient," Andrew explained rapidly, with the internet he was in his element, and confident. "Two days of searching and we find nothing, and then suddenly there's a link I missed that had all the pieces of the puzzle right there? I went back, hacked the page." Andrew pointed at a modified date.
"That's today, two hours ago," Willow muttered looking at the date.
Andrew nodded, and said, "The page with the information was made around the same time. This is a trap."
"And Buffy is walking right into it," Giles stated shocked.
"As usual!" Faith exclaimed in irritation. She was about to turn back toward where Buffy had run off to, when a loud caw interrupted her. The whole group looked and saw, a crow sitting in the window, and then flew off.
"I think Xander is on it," Willow said, looking at the group. Faith nodded.
*****
Somewhere in Sunnydale
Six Bringers were sitting in a circle, the First Evil was smiling evilly. "'What are you going to about it?' 'Blah, blah, blah, boring!' 'Your Bringers need to learn how to fly.' I'll show him!" she hissed out angrily.
The First stretched out her arm, and started chanting. The Bringers joined in, and suddenly they went rigid. They groaned, and then screamed, as if there very essence was burning up. Which was exactly what was happening. Flames burst from them, shooting up like pillars, their very spirits the fuel. Soon there was nothing left of the bringers but energy, and it formed into a big ball in the First's hands. Grinning evilly, she chanted onward, stretched out her hand, and the energy shot forward.
*****
Elsewhere
Lightning flashed, and thunder rumbled. The place was a wasteland. In the distance volcanoes constantly shot out fire. Rivers of lava flowed everywhere. A being jumped past, and ran. Despite its rocky hide, and rocky, not so expressive face, fear was clearly seen on its face. The thing was big, and bulky and seemed downright indestructible.
"Where are you going?" a voice asked, and the figure that the voice belonged to landed in front of the beast. It skit to a halt, and looked with fear at he figure. It was almost twice as tall almost three meters altogether, and it had large leathery bat-like wings on its back. Its hide though was black; a shiny black obsidian. Its eyes were blazing, bright yellow - just short of actually giving off light - with red pupils. Its teeth - visible as it smiled in a predatory grin - were all razor sharp points, of the same black obsidian as its hide. It wore a red loincloth, and red boots.
The rock beast roared, and threw a punch. It landed on the obsidian demon . . . and did absolutely nothing. "You pathetic bastard, you went over to the other side, and you expected not be punished?" the black demon growled out.
"It wasn't me! That was just someone of the same species, I'm not even related to the bastard!" the beast roared out plaintively.
"I don't care, you all must pay," the demon growled out, and landed a punch on the beast's chest. It was flung back, and roared out in pain as cracks formed in its rock hide. Lava flowed from the cracks, the beast's blood, and it would heal the cracks, providing it lived that long.
The beast pushed back, sliding over the hard rock of the surface, as the black demon walked over with slow, deliberate steps. The beast got up, and threw two desperate punches. The black demon grabbed both fists, and squeezed. The beast sank to its knees, roaring in pain. "Pathetic," the demon hissed and let go. He slammed his hands on either side of the beast's head, its eyes bulged with fear and pain. The black demon pulled the beast up, and squeezed, and squeezed. Once again the beast roared in pain, as his head slowly deformed, and cracks formed in the rock, revealing lava inside again. The black demon grinned evilly, and put the beast back down. It looked up in the blazing yellow eyes with a look that showed he had given up hope. With powerful punch, the black demon bashed his fist straight through the rock hide, and into the beast's gut, cracks scissoring out from where there hand disappeared into the beast's body. Lava flowed out from the wound, the hot orange substance coating the black demon's arm as it flowed out and down.
The demon laughed, pulled its hand out, and backhanded the beast, sending it sprawling to the floor. The demon grinned, and placed his hands forward, pointing at the beast, who was just moaning in pain. The hands revealed two yellow see-through spots in the middle of the palms, and they were starting to glow. They gained brightness quickly, and then two short beams of bright yellow energy shot from them, straight at the beast. On impact they exploded, sending pieces of the beast flying everywhere, leaving nothing but the lower legs, and a partial head, which quickly destroyed themselves in a spectacular show of fireworks. The demon laughed, and then looked dejected. "Way too easy," it muttered disappointed.
Suddenly a wind whipped up, and the demon turned around, looking astounded at a bright green light quickly growing bigger. The wind picked up more. "Wha . . .?" the demon muttered and started backing off. But the light blossomed open in a gateway, and its pull was much too great. Instantly the demon was pulled off its fleet and he went headfirst into the maw of the hole in space and time.
*****
Back in Sunnydale the demon tumbled from the hole and was dumped on the ground. The hole closed quickly behind him. "Who dares . . .?" the demon roared as it got up, and then saw the First Evil. The demon's eyes widened in shock surprise, and then it knelt down. "Master," it said.
The First laughed.