With the arrival of Angel and his crew, including the witch Amy Madison and newcomer Charles Gunn, a very large young black man who had spent much of his life protecting his sister and friends from vampires in LA – and was complimented up and down for his hubcap axe – the group got down to some serious planning. Tara, Willow and Amy went over the spell in intricate detail, while Riley and Davis – who had arrived sometime before the L.A. group – planned out a tactical assault based on their maps of the Initiative and what they could remember of the cave system.

"We have to assume they'll have some way to open the holding cells," Riley said. "It won't be much of a fight if the demons are all in captivity."

"Which means we're going to need to figure out where they'll head for," Davis said. "We know where they are, and they'll be itching for a fight. I think they'll head for the scientists here," Davis pointed at the labs, "and the soldiers." He pointed to the subterranean barracks.

"No," said Riley. "Not the barracks. They'll want to draw the soldiers toward them, so they'll get where big stuff is, make a lot of noise. Here." Riley pointed at the main room of the Initiative compound that contained a tremendous amount of equipment and twice the space needed to house it.

"That's a big field of engagement, too. You're probably right."

They continued to pore over the diagrams, making slight adjustments to them, as the non-witchy Scoobies and most of Angel's crew were engaged in less vital conversations. Some were less vital than others.

"They were so getting high all the time," Xander said.

"You're delusional, Xander," Cordelia said. "You're just propagating something you read somewhere. You always believe what you read."

"Oh come on, Cor. Open your eyes," Xander said. "The truth is that Shaggy and Scooby were getting high every chance they got. They always had the munchies! Fred and Daphne were always going off and screwing each others brains out, and hey, do you wanna hear my theory on Scrappy Doo?"

"No!" Cordelia said. "God, when did you become such a conspiracy theorist?"

"It's not a conspiracy when it's right there for everyone to see," Xander said. "You just gotta learn to read between the lines a little, that's all."

"There's a difference between reading between the lines and reading things into shows that just aren't there!"

Gunn leaned over towards Angel. "Do they always do this?" he asked.

"Huh?" Angel asked, turning from his conversation with Buffy and Giles to see Gunn watching the sparring pair. "Oh, no, sometimes they argue," he said.

Gunn raised an eyebrow at this, and leaned over towards Wesley, who was engrossed in a book Giles had shown him. "Hey, English."

"Yes?" Wesley asked without looking up from his book.

"Do they get worse than this?"

"One would assume you mean Xander and Cordelia?" Wesley asked.

"Yeah, them."

"Have the words 'dweeb boy' 'Queen C' or any of the various incarnations of the word 'idiot' been exchanged?" Wes asked.

"No, they're just calling each other by their first names," Gunn said.

Wesley chuckled. "Not even on last names, yet? Then yes, they get much, much worse than this."

"How come they don't get along?"

Wesley looked up, a confused look upon his face. "They get along fantastically," he said. "This is just what they do."

"Weird," Gunn said, turning back to watch the argument – which had suddenly and inexplicably shifted gears.

"I cannot believe you said that," Cordelia said. "Sean Connery was totally the best Bond ever!"

"Look," Xander replied, "all I'm saying is Pierce Brosnan's got a certain something that Connery doesn't, that I think makes him a better fake spy."

"You're delusional! Sean Connery was hands down the best Bond ever. Survey the rest of 'em, I bet I'll win."

"It's not about what they think, it's about my personal opinion," Xander said. "And I think it's Brosnan."

The bell over the door jingled as Pike held the door open and a flaming Spike ran into the shop.

"You know, I will never get tired of seeing him on fire," Cordelia said, a dazzling grin gracing her features.

"Ah, something we agree on," said Xander.

Pike took the duffel bag from his shoulder as Spike rolled around on the floor, putting out the flames.

"That," the vampire said once he recovered, "was hot."

"What's in the bag?" Xander asked.

"Guns," Pike said. "The guns Davis and his men brought with them. I figured we can use them against the demons."

"I don't use guns," Buffy said.

"Good, I wasn't going to give you one anyway," Pike said.

"What? Why not?" she asked, pouting.

"Buff, have you ever used a gun?"

"I've used a crossbow," she said.

"Which is nice, but entirely different," said Pike. "While I'm sure you could figure out one of these a lot faster than most people, we don't have time to train you. Stick with hand-to-hand, it's what you're best at."

"So who's getting the guns?" she asked.

"Me, them," he said pointing to Riley and Davis, "Wes and maybe Giles."

"Giles?" Xander asked. "You've got assault rifle experience?"

"Ah, well, council training did include a... modicum of modern weaponry, yes. I'm familiar."

"Huh," Buffy said. "Never knew that."

"What about me?" Riley asked. "I thought I was staying out of the fighting today."

"You are," Faith said, concernedly.

"Yeah, I figured," Pike said. "But unless you're *all* completely stupid, you've figured out somewhere for the spell to be cast by our three witches – Hi, Amy – that's out of the way."

"Well, yeah," Riley said as Amy waved shyly at Pike.

"I figure, it's out of the way, but they'll all be distracted. On the off chance something comes by, somebody should be equipped to deal with it. You and one of these M4 carbines might do the trick."

"That's... a really good idea," Buffy said. "How come we didn't think of that?"

"Perhaps," Giles said, "we are all merely *very* stupid, not completely so."

"The point is, it was thought of," Wesley said, "And thus we are not left with dead comrades."

"However," Giles said. "You have also assumed that Davis will be fighting with us. We do not know that to definitely be the case."

Everybody turned to the soldier. Davis frowned and nodded.

"I'm in," he said. "I can't just blindly follow Walsh, and I can't just sit this one out. I'll fight."

Giles looked to Riley, who nodded shortly.

"Good," said Giles. "Welcome to the team."

* * * * * That Evening.

"What?" Riley asked.

"I didn't—"

{Hello? Is anybody out there} squawked Davis's long-forgotten radio.

Davis looked to his shoulder, where the radio sat, then to Riley. Riley looked around at the Scoobies, all of whom shrugged. Riley nodded at Davis.

"Yeah," Davis said into his radio.

{Oh, thank God. Listen something – who is this?}

"This is Davis. Who are you?"

{Private Rodriguez. Man, I thought you were –}

"Listen, is there something happening or not?"

{Yeah. I think so. I'm not sure. I'm locked in the comm. room and something... I don't know. The power's gone out, and I can't reach anybody here. Where are you?}

"Out," Davis said into his radio. He looked around and saw the whole group gearing up to move. "If the power's out, how are you operating?"

{I've hooked the radio up to a battery supply} said the young man on the other end. {Something's happening. The cells... they're all opened. Those things got out. I managed to lock myself in here, but... I think I hear gunfire.}

"Okay," Davis said. "Listen, sit where you are. Help is on the way. Don't leave, and if you're armed, make sure you're loaded."

{Okay. And Davis?}

"Yeah, Rodriguez?"

{Hurry. I think it's getting closer.}

"Be there as soon as we can."

Davis clicked off his radio and turned to the rest of the group. He caught the assault rifle Pike tossed him, clicked off the safety and chambered the first round of the clip.

"Let's go."

* * * * *

"Okay," Riley said, hefting his assault rifle onto his shoulder. "I think this is it."

Willow surveyed the area. "Yeah, this should do," she said. Willow and Tara began removing items from their backpacks, and Amy and Cordelia started clearing the area.

Xander took Buffy's hand in his as Faith took Riley's in hers.

"You be careful, you hear me?" Xander said, pulling Buffy into his embrace.

"Hey," she said, leaning up and giving him a light kiss on the lips. "I'll have you with me. I'll be fine."

"I know," Xander said, stroking her cheek with his thumb. "Just make sure you come back to me."

"Always," Buffy said. Smiling, she leaned up and kissed her boyfriend passionately.

"Don't wear yourself out now," Faith said to Riley. "You need your energy."

"I know," Riley said. "Don't worry, I'm just babysitting. I don't plan on any heavy exertions here."

"Good," Faith said, kissing the much taller man's chest through his shirt. Riley ran his fingers through her hair.

"You just be sure nothing gets the drop on you," he said. "I don't think I could get to sleep without you snoring next to me."

"Hey, I don't snore."

"Sure, you don't."

Riley kissed Faith on her forehead. "Now get going," he said, slapping her on the butt. "Save some soldiers for me."

Buffy hefted a bag full of weapons to her shoulder as the assault group moved off towards the Initiative's back entrance. Pike turned and tossed a small bag to Riley.

"Flares," he said. "And some extra clips. Just in case."

Riley nodded. "Good luck."

"Don't need luck, mate," Spike muttered. "We've got higher moral ground."

"A first for you," Angel said.

Xander and Riley stood there, watching the group leave.

"Sending the women off to war," Xander said. "Never thought I'd be doing that."

"It's all this feminism," said Riley. "Warps our manly sensibilities."

Xander sighed and shook his head. His voice dropped almost a full octave. "I'm gonna marry that girl."

Riley turned to the younger man. "Yeah?"

Xander took out his wallet and removed small slip of paper that only Willow had seen. He handed it to Riley.

"This is a receipt from a jeweler's," Riley said.

"Yeah."

Cordelia looked up. "You went jewelry shopping? Without me?"

"You mean, you're actually going to..." Tara began.

"Yeah," Xander said.

"I can't believe you went without me. How do you know you didn't pick out an ugly-ass ring?" Cordelia asked.

"Oh, uh..." Willow said. She reached into her backpack, rummaged around for a minute, and pulled out a picture she had printed out. "That's the ring."

Tara, Amy and Cordelia looked at the picture. Cordelia let out a long, low whistle.

"Xander, you are officially permitted to buy me jewelry," Cordelia said.

"Not for a few years I'm not," he said. "I'll be paying for that for a while."

"Well," Riley said. "We haven't known each other *that* long, but you don't really seem to have a lot of guy friends. If you find yourself in need of a best man..."

"Love to offer it to you, but that spot is already filled," Xander said.

"By who?" Cordelia asked.

"By me!" Willow said. "And I'm not about to give it up, either."

"I don't mean to interrupt all the nice future planning, but shouldn't we make sure everybody doesn't die, first?" Amy asked as she continued to lay out ingredients.

"Details, details," Xander muttered. "Okay, what do I need to do?"

"Strip," Willow commanded.

"Whoa, wait, what?" Xander asked.

"Remove your clothing. Get nekkid. Strip," she repeated, with a wave of her hand.

Xander blinked. "Why?"

"I-it's for the spell," Tara said. "You need to be free f-from impurities for it to have its greatest effect."

"Man-made clothes, shoes, things like that, are considered impurities," Amy said. "So you need to be naked."

"Yeah, but... I mean... girls..."

"Xander," Willow said, an air of frustration in her voice. "You're talking to a couple of lesbians and a girl who, unless I miss my guess, has seen all you have to offer."

Cordelia nodded.

"Riley and Amy haven't," Xander said.

"Oh please," Amy said. "I think we're a little old for such juvenilities. Besides, it's the fate of the world here. And your girlfriend."

"And mine," Riley said. "And if you naked makes Faith safer, I'm all in favor of it. Although I have to say, I've never stood watch over a naked man, three witches and a seer before."

"Hey," Cordelia said, pulling a finely crafted axe from her waistband. "I'm watchin' over myself here, buster."

"Still," Riley said, unslinging his gun. "It's a unique group. Now, Xander? Strip." He shook his head. "Never thought I'd ever say that."

"Fine," Xander said. He disrobed quickly and sat in the circle the girls had drawn. "Now what?"

"Get comfortable," Amy said as she knelt in front of him. She dipped her finger into a small mortar and drew a cross on his forehead from the concoction within. "You're in for a while of sitting," she said.

Amy stood, turned around and mouthed a silent, wide-eyed 'Wow!' to Cordelia, who responded with an equally silent 'I know!'

Riley shook his head.

"Okay," said Willow. "Now, we chant. Riley, Cordelia, we're going to kind of go limp after a while. Don't worry, it's part of the spell. We'll come out of it after a few minutes, and there should be a kind of a glowy thing emanating from Xander, which will then bleed off as his power is transferred to Buffy. Everything goes right, the three of us should then be able to act under our own power."

"How do we break the spell once we're done?" Xander asked.

"A simple incantation," Willow said. "We'll perform it once Buffy and the others meet back up here."

"Good," Xander said. "Let's go."

Amy, Tara and Willow nodded at each other and sat down in a triangle around Xander. They began chanting.

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End Chapter 31