Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I only borrow the characters and situations of the Whedonverse for my selfish pleasure (and hopefully yours).
Summary: The merging and continuation of BtVS and AtS. Starts just after 'The Girl in Question,' 5.20, and continues from there.
Recap: A few thousand demons, a fire-breathing dragon, and some pissed off otherworldly Senior Partners is just another day's work. Or not? Dawn has a potty-mouth (well, almost), and Andrew's still a nerd. The battle plan is set in motion with General Buffy in command. Spike was a split second away to fitting into an ashtray but was saved by an unexpected visitor.
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Andrew had a plan…well, kind of.
He'd learned a lot during his short career as a Sunnydale Crime lord and Evil Mastermind. He'd paid a lot of attention to Warren, their fearless leader, even though Andrew had been more than a little afraid of the desperate, unhinged look that had occasionally lit his eyes. Even so, Warren had been a good mentor of sorts, and Andrew had learned well.
Plus, nobody could do the Evil Genius laugh better than Warren had.
Aahh, the good old days! Andrew thought with a wistful smile.
Principle Wood watched the scene below, a fierce look in his eyes as, with crossbows in each arm, he fired away upon the large gathering of rowdy monsters, wounding and maiming as many as he could.
They weren't making too much headway in taking them out, but it was almost midnight, and the Slayers would soon be executing The Plan.
Andrew was more worried about how to destroy that cool looking dragon.
"Um, shouldn't we be concentrating our efforts on him?" he said as he pointed to the winged menace that was currently burning as many buildings down as it possibly could with each fly-by. "I don't really wanna wait for him to decide that this building looks extra flammable," Andrew muttered worriedly, watching as it dive-bombed another small office building down the way.
He and Principle Wood both looked to the sky from the roof of their designated post, the impossibility of their assigned task confronting them as the dragon began winging its way nearer to where they stood.
"Well, that's not good," said Robin, in the understatement of a lifetime, as he noticed that the demon with fire spewing from its nostrils had them in its sights.
Even though he was so nervous that Andrew thought he may very well pass out or develop another itchy rash, he tried to reassure the much larger other man.
"Don't worry, I have an idea," he said confidently, much more confidently than he actually felt, as he wondered if it wouldn't be so bad if he did pass out right now.
"Well, you better hurry up with it, little man, otherwise we'll be nothing but kindling in a few."
Andrew shrugged the strap of his duffle bag off his shoulders and unzipped it, revealing a strange looking, and rather shiny contraption.
His secret weapon!
"Keep him busy for a minute, k? I gotta fire this thingy up."
"Oh yah, keep the four ton, flying pyromaniac busy…with what exactly?"
"I dunno, shoot some arrows at it or something."
"Right! 'Cause that'll do some damage," Robin said sarcastically, but took aim with his pair of crossbows anyway. Robin had good aim, but the arrows were too fragile to penetrate the dragon's thick scales. However, it did veer off course at the distraction.
The dragon shrieked as it passed over their heads, clearly pissed off that lowly humans were attempting to fire measly arrows at it. It doubled back, getting ready to make another pass, smoke billowing from it fanged snout.
"Andrew, would you hurry up with that!"
"Ok, ok," he said as he tinkered with some switches and pulled the weapon from the duffle bag, the handle clutched in his small, sweaty and shaking fist.
"What the hell is that?" asked Robin. Andrew just smirked.
Back when he'd been a "guestage" at Casa de Summers during the battle against the First, Andrew had spent a lot of time alone, mostly because they all thought he was a tool. It had left him plenty of free time to reminisce about the good ol' days as a member of The Evil Trio, and he'd decided that some of his plans might actually be useful to the Scoobies, now that he was reformed. So, he'd tried to remember many of their concocted inventions. Having commandeered the Big Board, since no one other than him really used it, he'd spent a lot of hours alone, having nothing better to do anyway, trying to redraw schematics of the very mechanism he now held in his hand in hopes of proving his usefulness to the Scooby gang. He'd never finished it then, but after becoming a Junior Watcher, he'd decided to finish his beloved project.
"It's my new and improved Freeze Ray!" he answered excitedly, still not sure if his plan would actually work. It was worth a try at least. Plus, he couldn't wait to test this baby out!
"Well, now is as good a time as any, 'cause here it comes. You're up Geek Squad."
Andrew looked up just in time to see the dragon coming right for them, deadly intent in its red eyes as it inhaled mouthfuls of air, obviously determined to burn them and the building to a cinder.
His whole body shaking, he brought his Freeze Ray up and pointed in the direction of the dragon. Or what he hoped was its direction. He didn't really know for sure, because his eyes were clenched tight in fear. He turned his head to the side, face still screwed up tightly, as be pulled the trigger and the machine whirred to life, strongly spewing a stream of ice into the air. He shrieked like a girl at the force of the machine's power and hoping to God he wasn't going to die this instant.
After several seconds, he heard Robin's victorious shout from behind him, and only then could Andrew manage to force open an eye to survey what he'd done. The dragon still hung in the air, just barely, covered in ice as it tried to beat its wings to stay in flight. The power and speed that the ice solidified over the beast's body was no match for it though, as it rose up with a last thrust of its wings and then tilted nose-first towards the ground and plummeted like an evil demon snowball to earth.
Robin and Andrew watched wide-eyed as the frozen dragon plowed into the pavement of the street that was overrun by monsters, taking out possibly hundreds of them with the force of its fall. The ground shook as the iced dragon shattered into frozen pieces all over the place, punctuated by the scattered bodies of the demons it had crushed.
Oh my God, that was so cool! thought Andrew in awe.
"Wow," said Robin, impressed. "You really came through there."
Andrew whirled around, suddenly so excited he thought he might pee his pants. He grabbed Robin's bicep in his zeal, jumping up and down like a little kid in a sugar rush.
"Did you see that? It was awesome. I so rule! Can you believe that actually worked?" the giddy grin remained in place even though Principle Wood rolled his eyes at Andrew's very unmanly display of self-importance.
Robin shrugged his arm out of Andrew's white-knuckled grasp because the boy was just too wired. Andrew smugly looked at the wonderful damage he'd created and chuckled as a thought came to him.
"Well, at least we won't have to clean up the mess when the dragon pieces start to thaw…"
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She stood over him in the rain, wet clothes clinging to her skin, loose blonde hair hanging in dripping tendrils. She looked small but fierce, her strong stance and intense expression completely at odds with her miniscule size. She was a warrior though, no doubt about it. His gorgeous, brave Slayer.
She'd never looked more beautiful to him.
Spike stared his fill, and she returned his intent scrutiny. If his heart could beat, it probably would have stopped the instant he'd seen her, standing there with that wicked looking scythe clutched in her small fist.
Was she really there? Was she even real, or a figment of his imagination? Had he died and gone to Heaven? Spike didn't know what was going on, but she had to be real. He really couldn't bear it if she weren't. But no, he could smell her, the sweet and subtle scent of her that he'd always been addicted to. It brought back so many emotions and memories that for a minute he felt like he'd just woken up to find that the past year he'd spent in L.A. had been nothing but a dream. That he had been by her side the whole time. He was completely baffled.
What was she doing here?
"Buffy?" he whispered, still not sure why she'd saved his sorry ass.
Spike watched in fascination as she finally moved, all grace and strength, bending down and offering her free hand to help him up from where he still lay on the slick pavement. He gawked at it like a ponce, admiring how small and warm it looked, scared that if he grabbed it, she would disappear from him again…Like she had every night in his dreams, when he'd tried to touch her.
But, no. The steady rhythm of her heartbeat told him that she was not a figment of his imagination, no dream Buffy this time. She was flesh and blood, his Slayer, and he grasped her hand tightly with his own, reveling in the feel of her. He'd never thought he'd get the chance to just touch her again.
Spike found himself on his feet, face-to-face with her, and he was taken aback by the look in her hazel eyes. He'd never seen that look in her eyes before, had never expected to see it directed at him especially, and he wasn't quite sure if he was reading her right. He looked harder, but there it was, plain as can be: pure and utter joy.
Spike gasped at its implications, but all thoughts were driven from his bleached head as Buffy grabbed the lapel of his duster with her free hand and forcefully pulled him to her, claiming his surprised lips with her own hungry ones.
Spike groaned at the contact, dizzy from the warm pressure of her soft lips against his. She opened her mouth, inviting him in, and he took complete advantage of her offer. He had to taste her, there was absolutely no stopping it. Her tongue tangled with his for several breathtaking moments that warmed him to the very core. She was delicious.
Oh, God! She felt like home to him, and that was a strange feeling considering he'd never had place that he'd ever considered home. It was an unfamiliar feeling, but one which he was desperate to hold on to. Just like he was desperate to hold onto her. His arms wrapped around her small, soaked body as he kissed her back, giving her all of himself, his strength, his soul, and his love. Everything she deserved.
"Oh, god…Buffy," he muttered shakily as she pulled away, hand still clutching the front of his coat. "Wha—?"
His question was interrupted when, in the next instant, she had shoved him away as she slashed through the ugly beastie that had been about attack Spike from behind. He blinked in astonishment as their surroundings and situation rushed back to him with a vengeance.
Angel's suicidal plan. Massive demon hoard. Fighting for his life…Right, time to get to it.
Buffy bent down, retrieved his forgotten sword where it lay on the pavement, and threw it to him. He nearly dropped it when he heard a massive commotion in the street beyond, and saw demons being bowled over like ants by a huge, steaming mass that hit the ground with a deafening crash and shook everything within at least a mile radius. Shattered pieces of the huge ice chunk fell from the sky like shrapnel, littering the streets.
"What the bloody hell was that?" Spike asked, thunderstruck and eyebrows raised in alarm.
"Wow…it looks like Andrew and Robin managed to take down the dragon after all," Buffy muttered, obviously impressed. Spike just gaped at her. There was no way that Andrew could manage to do that…was there? Before he could contemplate it further, he was alerted to Buffy's eyes falling on a movement from behind his shoulder.
"Fight now, talk later," she instructed as she moved past him to fight the next oncoming monster with a ferocious glare, and Spike just watched in awe as she quickly executed a perfect roundhouse kick to the demon, momentarily knocking him back.
"And Spike," she said, looking at him from over her shoulder as she blocked his next attack with her arms raised, holding both ends of the scythe, "we will get in that question and answer session when we survive this." She threw a sassy wink his way before kicking the demon in the head and then decapitating it with a full swing of her powerful arm. She fell back into her fighting stance, awaiting their next attackers as she faced the entrance of the alleyway.
Spike, finally deciding that he couldn't keep standing in the alley while staring like a bloody git, moved to her side, raising his sword and bracing himself for the ensuing battle.
They watched as a dozen more growling demons filled the mouth of the alley, no doubt intending to rip them to pieces. Buffy and Spike remained perfectly still, waiting for them to attack first. When the demons started charging, the blond warriors both looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes and Buffy grinned wickedly before they jumped into action.