Okay….Chapter three. This is a really good idea, come to think of it. I hope you enjoyed the last two chapters.
Buffy looked at the maps spread all over a table. This room was for the prevention of apocalypses only. Well, that and to keep track of the vampire nests in L.A. The others were in the room, surrounding the table. Sam, Fred and Willow were at the computers.
'This is big. We might not win this one." Kennedy watched as Joyce prepared to do a spell to show all hostile forces in their area. She didn't think it was going to work. There was too many of them, she'd overload trying to figure it out.
"Wait a minute. I have a better idea. You said this guy The First is impersonating used to be your friend right? Did he kill any of your squad members?" Joyce asked, and Willow looked up. She didn't like where this was going.
"Yes, he did. Why?" That subject was a bit touchy for John.
"Do you have any of their blood? I have an idea." Joyce walked over to her spell book and started flipping through the pages.
"Uh, Joyce, that's dark magic. Not a very good idea." Willow told her, and gained the attention of everyone else in the room.
"Not really, Willow, not if you think about it. Its more…gray magic."
"I think I might. On my gloves. I never washed them. I might still have them. They have…" He trailed off. Dawn had run from the room, bawling. Spike looked and Buffy and followed Dawn out of the room.
"If you still have them, bring them here tomorrow. I have a hunch." Buffy groaned when Joyce said that. She was always right.
"The First is some all powerful evil thing, right? I'm thinking it has the power to resurrect whoever it wants, and it's resurrected your, uh, friend."
"You're kidding, right?" Sam asked, and Joyce shook her head.
"I'm going to go get them now. I want to see if what you're saying is true." John left house and headed towards his car.
"Hurts, doesn't it?" John looked up and found Caleb sitting on the hood of his car. John stared at him in annoyance.
"Can you get off my car? I need to go somewhere." He was really in no mood to fight right now. All he wanted was to go find those gloves.
" Doesn't it hurt that you couldn't do anything to save your friends? That they all died and you survived?" Caleb taunted. John wouldn't fall for it.
A crossbow bolt narrowly missed Caleb. They both turned and found Dawn in the upstairs window.
"If you ever talk about Michael like that again, I swear to whatever god is up there that I will kill you" Dawn growled, and John moved slightly towards the house.
"Dawn, shut the window. I can deal with this." John told her and Caleb laughed. Caleb turned and walked off into the night, and John heard Dawn drop the crossbow. He heard her muffled sobs and decided this was a job best left to Buffy. He got into his car, and found his rifle sitting in the passenger seat.
Half an hour later John walked back into the house, gloves in hand. He had found them with the rest of his uniform. For some reason he didn't get rid of them. He found Joyce sitting on the floor with a circle of sand around her.
"Got them?" She asked, and he detected a bit of fear in her voice. He handed them to her, and she set them in front of her. Willow stood outside the circle, a small bottle in her hands. She looked ready to pull Joyce out of the circle.
"Okay, here goes nothing. Oh, by the way, who did he kill?" Joyce asked, and she saw John look around for someone before answering.
"Michael." He said, barely above a whisper. Joyce nodded and began.
"Blood of Slain, hear me. Guide me to Michael's killer." Joyce watched a map form on a piece of paper she had set aside for this purpose. She was right. He was resurrected. Not good. And he was at……
Angel's. Shit. Not good. Joyce jumped up, and out of the circle. She headed towards the armory. She was going to need all the help she could get.
Buffy looked at the map, and followed Joyce.
Angel and Fred were sitting in the den, a chessboard open in front of them. Angel was whipped, and he knew it.
"Good game, Fred." Angel got up. He sensed Spike and Joyce, which usually meant Buffy. But there were more heartbeats. And a few he didn't recognize.
"Angel!" Gunn yelled up the stairs. Angel hurried down the stairs and found quite an assembly in his front room. Spike, Buffy, Joyce, Willow, Xander, Giles, Wesley, Kennedy, and a few others he didn't recognize. The one thing he didn't like was the big gun one of them was carrying.
"What's up?" He asked, not like the heavy weapons they were carrying.
"Where's everyone?" Buffy asked, looking around warily. Come to think of it, Angel did feel someone here, but assumed it was one of Gunn's friends.
"Why?" Everyone was here, Cordy upstairs taking a shower.
"Because your friends are paranoid. I don't blame them, either." Caleb, Sarge and the First as Buffy walked down the steps.
Reaper trained his gun on Sarge. Sarge appeared to be unarmed, though..
"Don't let us interrupt your little party. We'll just be taking what we came for and leave." Caleb starts towards Sam. Joyce moved in front of her.
"I don't think so." Joyce snarled. Caleb snickered. This little girl had guts.
"Well, We're after you too, so it's a win/win situation here." Caleb punched Joyce so hard she flew back into Kennedy. The girls fell into a heap on the floor.
Buffy rushed Caleb, but he was much stronger than last time. She was also thrown across the room.
Joyce blinked. She wasn't expecting him to be that strong. Caleb came at her again, but this time, she was ready.
"Kali, Hera, Kronos, Tonic. Air like nectar thick as Onyx. Cassiel by your second star. Hold mine victim, as in tar!" Joyce cried. Caleb smashed his fists on the barrier in anger. Joyce's eyes darkened, and Willow called out to Joyce, but she didn't listen.
Sarge rushed Joyce, and Joyce cried out another spell.
"Vincire!" A glowing green restraint pinned Sarge's arms to him. He yelled in anger.
"Nifty little spells you got there. I wonder how easy it would be to undo them." The First walked around, a smirk on its face.
"Good luck." Joyce growled.
Willow dug into a bag of magical powder, and threw it on Sarge. "Discede!" Sarge disappeared. She did the same with Caleb. The First scowled, and left.
"Well, that was fun" John remarked. Angel snorted, and helped Buffy on her feet.
"You gonna introduce us to your friends?" Fred asked. But Buffy wasn't paying attention. Joyce and crossed to the window, and she heard Joyce curse.
"Enemies Fly and Fall, Circling arms, Raise a wall!" Joyce cried, a barrier raising itself around the building. Willow looked out the window, and saw vampires and demons. Willow cursed too.
"That won't hold them for long. We're gonna have to fight hard to get out of this one. Someone go get Cordy." Joyce loaded a repeating crossbow, and took aim. The barrier began to weaken.
Reaper checked the ammo on his gun before lifting and bringing a particularly nasty demon into the sights.
Buffy raised the scythe. Considering what she had put up with for seven years of her life, this was going to be easy. She saw Angel and Spike slip into their game faces, Willow and Fred standing near the center of the room. Those two weren't fighters, they were researchers, the bookworms.
"Kennedy, Stay with Will and Fred. Sam, unless you have any combat training, I suggest you stay with them." Buffy ordered, and the women nodded.
"Slayer, we're back!" someone called from the entrance way. Sounded like a male, but none of the ones she'd talked to.
A tall youth followed by Sarge, Caleb and Drusilla entered the building. Dozens of demons followed them, coming from the back entrances too. Dawn snarled.
" You're gonna make me cry, baby. It's me!" The First said, and if looks could kill, The First would die thousands of horrible deaths.
"You're not the Kid" Reaper growled, and The First smirked. It walked closer to Dawn, who backed up, into the protective arms of Spike.
The lights cut off in the building, sending the room into pitch darkness. Buffy didn't like that.
Willow pulled a little bottle out of her pocket, and knowing Joyce could see, tossed it to her.
"Fiat Lux!" Joyce smashed the potion on the ground, and the room lit up in a warm glow. The vampires cringed for a moment, the light momentarily blinding them. That's all the time Buffy needed. She threw herself forward, and started hacking away with the scythe.
Demons rushed to fill the gap left by Buffy, and Joyce unloaded the repeating crossbow. Kennedy fought off the odd demon, her sword moving so fast it was like a blur to Willow, Fred and Sam.
Angel and Spike rushed forward, flanking Buffy as she fought towards the door. Willow picked up a knife lying on the ground and decapitated a vampire. She then proceeded to levitate the knife and hurled it towards a chaos demon, hitting it square in the eyes.
The chatter of gunfire started, but from the outside. Reaper had long abandoned his gun and was effectively cutting down demons with a battleaxe. Buffy threw a look at Spike, who was as confused as she was.
She could hear men talking outside, and a woman barking orders. Soldiers rushed inside, and Buffy groaned. The Initiative. God, this was not what she needed.
Samantha and Riley Finn stepped into the room, lethal looking weapons in their hands. Spike growled, and Reaper picked up his gun, and reloaded it. These were humans, that much he knew. And humans die when they get shot.
"Riley. Nice of you to crash our party." Buffy said dryly, twirling the scythe.
"You know, I'm still alive, somewhere." Dawn whirled around, and the First, in the guise of the Kid, smiled sadly at her. Dawn fell backwards, and hit Angel. Angel turned, saw Dawn horrified, and looked around. Nothing. The First was there alright. Angel picked Dawn up and glared at the direction that Dawn was staring at.
"I don't know who you're impersonating, but you better leave Dawn alone." Angel growled menacingly.
"Look, Buffy, you're going to need our help on this one. You're not going to be able to do this alone. So lets put whatever past behind us and work this out. Then you can go back to hating me." Riley said, and Buffy shook her head.
"How about you leave, and let us do this ourselves. We have all that we need." Buffy told him, and John stepped up next to Buffy, sizing this Riley character up.
"And this would be?" Riley asked, as Samantha stepped farther into the room.
"Corporal John Grimm." John answered shortly, not even bothering to tell anyone he really didn't have a rank anymore.
"You're….the lone survivor of that mission on Mars." Riley took a step back. He'd heard people around this guy tended to die.
"Yeah, he is. What's it to you?" Sam asked, stepping up next to her brother, putting an arm around his shoulders.
"Nothing. Well, it seems that you have things covered. We'll leave." Riley and his soldiers left, and Buffy heaved a sigh of relief.
"Uh…can we get back to the house? Not that I don't like it here, I just want to get this gooey demon blood off of me." Everyone turned to Joyce, whose red shirt was covered in dark blood.
"Yeah. Lets go. We have a few things to explain to our friends here anyways."