9:03 pm, Thursday – Slayer Base HQ

Kennedy approached the group prepped and ready to hand out the details of the mission plan. "Alright, listen up people, 'cause I'm only going over this once: Deirdre and Monica, you guys are crack shots with the crossbow. I want you two to take the higher ground and cover us. Adrienne, Penny, Ling, and Michelle; you guys take surrounding positions around their cars. I don't want to lose them in the area. Rona, Giles, Sara, and myself will come up the front. Got it?"

The girls nodded in response.

"Anything to add, Sara?"

"Yeah," she replied. "From what I heard, these may not be your average axe-and-sword baddies. These guys are delivering something for Amy and they could be packing heat. Be ready for it. Monica and Deirdre: if that happens, you guys need to be 'Janey-on-the-spot' with those crossbows."

"Okay," Kennedy continued, "let's make it a nice smash-and-grab job. Buffy's coming back in a week, and I want the 'Welcome Home' present to be something of Amy's. Mind your teammate and watch your six." After that, the girls headed out back to get into the vans.

"A little over-dramatic." Willow said to Giles.

"Most definitely," he replied. He then turned to Sara, who was looking worried. "Are you nervous, Sara? Being a detective, I'd thought you'd be used to this."

"I'm not worried about me," she replied. "I'm worried about those girls out there. I know that you, me, Willow, Kennedy, Rona, and some of the trained ones have done some covert night raids a few times, but for some of these girls this is their first real mission." A young girl, about fifteen, came to them huffing and puffing while carrying an axe.

"Hey guys. Sorry I'm late, but I had to handle some stuff."

Giles looked at the girl, clearly annoyed. "Tina, we've had this conversation. You're not ready yet for a live mission."

"But I am ready! I took down a vamp two weeks ago," she replied defiantly.

"He fell on your stake." Giles shot back. "Look, I know you want to prove yourself, but you're sitting this one out until you've been thoroughly trained."

"Hey, we're ready to move out," Kennedy said as she came in. "Tina, what are you doing?"

"I want to go too."

"No! You just started out and I don't want you getting hurt," Kennedy snapped.

"Come on," Tina pleaded. "Willow?"

"Sorry, Tina."

"Sara?"

"Look, kid. I know you want to go major league, but you're not there yet. Just go back home."

"Sara…"

"Now," she said in a serious, unrelenting tone.

"Okay." The girl walked away, dejected, mumbling to herself in frustration.

"A bunch of Slayers here and who does she listen to? You," Kennedy said to Sara, confounded.

"It's the cop thing, always gets 'em."

"Let's move out then," Giles said.

"Good luck tonight, guys. I'll stay here with Marie and Diane to 'hold the fort'."


10:02 pm, Thursday – Tribeca

The Slayers had arrived about half a mile from the meeting spot. The meeting was arranged for 10:30 and they saw the points to take position and wait out. The vans were hidden in inconspicuous locations and they all put themselves into position. Sara sat with Giles, Kennedy, and Rona, hoping that everything would go as smoothly as planned. If they could disrupt whatever plans Amy had, it would go a long way to figuring out what she wanted and how to stop her.

"So what do you think Amy plans on getting?" Kennedy asked.

"I have no clue," Giles replied. "But whatever it is, it seems important enough for us to intercept. That's all I care about."

"Ditto," replied Rona.

"Watch out," Sara quickly whispered. They all huddled down behind the gravel mound, as a limousine came by. It was five minutes before the meeting was set to begin and the players were rounding up to meet. The car stopped and a figure in a gray coat stepped out. Sara waited anxiously for things to get started. The sooner they did this, the sooner they would all be home... and the sooner she could stop worrying about the young Slayers, at least for the night.

Three minutes later, two more limousines came up. Stopping a couple of yards away from the previous car, the occupants exited and approached the man in the gray coat. Getting a good look through her binoculars, Sara saw Sean Davidson, Amy' personal attendant. She started to think that if he came to the meeting, then what the Scoobies were planning on acquiring must have been pretty important.

"I see Amy's cabana boy there," she said.

"Sean? This thing must be pretty important to Amy," Rona replied.

"Yeah, I know. Kennedy, hit the light."

Kennedy brought a light pen. She had given one to each of the groups, to signal each other when ready. Flashing two clicks of the pen to the 'snipers' on the walkway, she then flashed the two Slayers on the right flank, which in turn flashed the two on the left.

"Ready?" she asked her comrades.

Sara had her gun drawn and said, "Ready."

Rushing out, the small force rushed out like trained soldiers. Monica and Deirdre had taken positions above the group, just like they were told, while the left and right flanks closed in. Sara rushed ahead of Kennedy, gun trained on Sean.

"Freeze! Nobody move!"

"Detective Pezzini, fancy seeing you out here. Is there something wrong?" Sean innocently inquired.

"Shut up, Sean," Sara replied.

"We weren't doing anything illegal."

"No, but I don't think you came here to discuss the cure for cancer," she quipped.

"Right now you've got a gun and two crossbows, aimed at you and your cronies, with a bunch of Slayers backing them up," Kennedy said, standing ready with her sword. "So hand over whatever you're getting for Amy and no one gets hurt."

"Sorry, I can't do that," Sean replied.

Sara was indignant. The little upstart was putting on airs with a gun pointed at him. "I don't think you heard her, Sean. She said hand over the package for Amy or there's going to be a serious problem."

"Sorry, detective," Sean repeated. "I think you misunderstand. When I said that I couldn't do that, I meant it because… it isn't here." He smiled at the notion.

"What?" Giles asked nervously.

"It isn't here," he repeated.

A look of sudden realization came to Sara's face. Indeed, it came to her, Giles, Kennedy, and Rona. "It's a trap! They set us up!"

"Right you are." With that, more vampires came out of the three limousines. But they were small compared to what came out of the first limousine: a huge, yellow-and-purple-skinned demon, with bulging muscles and a large mace.

"This here is Krag. He was a prize-fighter in his dimension and does some… physical work… for a reasonable fee."

The Slayers started to get worried. Monica and Deirdre knew they were crack shots, but they were greatly outnumbered. Adrienne, Penny, Ling, and Michelle became anxious as they looked to the Kennedy for answers. Their blood chilled even more when they saw the look in her eyes. She had none.

"Ms. Vitelli thought it was time to put you out of her way. Personally, I'm surprised she put it off for so long. Guess she figured you weren't that important. However, she knows do-gooders like you always seem to come in at just the right moment to screw things up. Hence going to all this trouble." Sean gave one last smile before he made his way back to his limo. "Kill them."

Panic threatened to ensue, but the Slayers' training kicked in. Monica and Deirdre fired off their crossbows into two of the vampires, turning them into dust. As they reloaded, four of the vamps started to make their way up both sides of the steps toward the walkway.

Below, Sara fired off a few rounds into an approaching Krag. Unfortunately, it didn't even slow him down and Sara saw the futility in her approach. Dropping her gun, Sara backed up as Krag advanced on her. Lifting up his mace he swung at her head. Sara rolled to the ground and came back up, the Witchblade's sword unsheathed.

Sara engaged her blade against his mace. The guy was big… and strong. The way he parried and blocked demonstrated that to her. But Sara noted that while he had a lot of power behind his blows, he was all brute strength. Sure he had some technique, but it was all quite limited. Sara decided to use it to her advantage.

She went through some of the fencing and sword moves Giles had taught her. She moved around as elegantly as she could, maneuvering to outdo her opponent. It was all going well… until he punched her in the face. It the third time in two days that she had been hit in the face and she was pissed. The blow was so powerful she thought for a second she would black out. Getting up, she regained her bearings and went on the offensive. Clashing and striking her sword finally hit flesh. The demon roared in pain, the sword run through the right side of his abdomen. Sara pulled the blade out and ducked his mace again, this time piercing him on the left side. Blood dripping from her weapon, Sara realized she was just a big giant bull… and she was the matador.

The demon rushed again, only to have Sara dodge and strike his leg. She engaged her blade again and when she got in close, she hit him in the face. But he retaliated with a shoulder butt, knocking Sara to the ground. Sara backed away as he approached, hoping for enough time to get up and finish the fight. Quickly standing up, she stood ready at the approaching beast. Once more he sung at her head. Sara ducked the swing and sunk her blade into his solar plexus. The demon howled in pain and faltered. Withdrawing the blade she swung it downward on his right arm, severing it at the forearm. He cried out once again in pain and fell to his knees. In her rage, Sara drew her sword back and swiped at his head, decapitating him.

Bending over to rest before helping the others, Sara tried to catch her breath. There was still more fighting left to handle. Giles, Kennedy, and Rona came up to her to see how she was. It was then they heard a click. Sea stood in front of them, with Sara's gun in his hand. They looked all looked at him with fear in their eyes. Sara knew she could block the bullets, but the rest of them couldn't. Just as he was about to fire, an arrow pierced his right shoulder, forcing him to drop the gun.

Looking up Sean saw Monica, bloodied and bruised, reloading. Looking back at the group in front of him, he picked up the gun with his left hand and proceeded to fire. Giles and Rona hid behind the corner of the building, while Kennedy jumped behind the steps to the walkway. Sara stood her ground. Sean fired at her, but she deflected the bullets. She slowly walked toward him, the bullets bouncing off of her gauntlet. Sean tried to fire again, but there was only a click. It was empty. A few of the surviving vampires had started up the limousines and Sean jumped in. Backing up, they narrowly missed Sara and sped off into the darkness. Kennedy emerged from behind the steps to join the cop.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Hey, is everyone alright?" Sara asked.

A bunch of 'yeahs' from both the walkway and the ground greeted her ears.

"Giles told me that thing blocked bullets, but to see it was something else," Kennedy said, impressed at the blade's abilities.

"Help!" Sara and Kennedy were startled by the cry and ran over to Rona, who was kneeling over a motionless Giles. Sara looked at the figure on the ground in horror. Blood was soaking his shirt.

"We need to get to a hospital," Rona said, on the brink of tears.