Monday, September 1st, Summers House, 6:30PM
Xander, Willow and Giles stepped out the back door to find Buffy spreading cloths over picnic tables in the backyard, Ms. Calendar already arrived and helping to set up.
"Hi, guys!" Buffy smiled, "Miss me?"
"Buffy!" Willow called out, beaming at her friend and hugging her.
"Hey!" Xander calls out, and also shares a hug with the slayer. "When'd you get back?"
"Uh, half hour ago," she replied, "Dad drove me down. So, how did you guys fare? Did you have any fun without me?"
"Just got back myself, Buff," Xander replied, "Wills?"
"Kinda yawn-worthy," the red-head replied. "Our biggest excitement was burying the Master. Giles buried the bones and we poured holy water and we got to wear robes." They all quieted a bit while remembering the fighting against the Master.
"How was your summer, Jenny?" Giles segued from unhappy recollections.
"Extreme. I did Burning Man in Black Rock, ohhh, such a great
festival, you should've been there, Rupert," she smirked. "They had drum rituals, mobile sculptures, raves, naked mud dances, you would've just... hated it with a fiery passion!"
"Naked?" Xander interrupted. "As in, without clothes..."
"It only counts as naked without clothes," Jenny laughed as Giles' eyes glazed over briefly, "Hi, kids."
"Hi!" Willow and Xander both responded.
"How are you?" Giles asked Buffy as she approached the gathered SHS folks.
"Live and kicking," the blonde teen replied, placing food on a table, then started back to the house..
"Oh, uh, Buffy!" he calls out, causing her to turn back. "Uh, I realize you've only just returned, but when you're ready I-I think we should start your training again."
"I'm ready," she replied. "I'll see you after school."
"Well, I-I-I understand if you want a few days to..."
"I'm ready, Giles," she reiterated, "Really."
"Hey, Buff," Xander inserted, "I'll join a little while each session, let Giles only take half the beating this semester. I've been practicing and working out, but only humans as opponents."
"I don't know, Xan..." she replied furrowing her brow in thought.
"One word, Buff," Xander replied. "Darla."
"Hmm, you're right," she agreed slowly, "but wear pads anyway. You still don't have the slayer healing."
"Okey-dokey," Xander smirked in victory. "Enough shop talk anyway, here come your folks" He stood up as Hank and Joyce stepped down into the yard through the back door, carrying food dishes. The group mobilized to help finish getting things set up, and the fire going. Hank Summers, having been introduced to the group, then bowed out, facing a two-hour drive back to Los Angeles.
"So, Xander," Joyce greeted, as he one-arm carried the fifty pound cooler 'effortlessly' from the kitchen. "How was your summer? Do anything different?" They reached the backyard ramada where the others lounged in the shade.
"It was very educational," he demurred, putting his mind on a non-vampiric perspective. "I took up meditation and self-defense courses when I first got to LA, then my uncles convinced the admittance boards to let me enroll at the Police Academy. I enjoyed it a lot." The young man in a barely-acceptable Hawaiian shirt unbuttoned it the rest of the way to facilitate the meat-grilling chores to which he'd been assigned.
"Oh, wow," Joyce enthused, "How far did you get?"
"Well," he sighed, his back to the group. Turning around, he smiled, "I graduated, including SWAT certification."
"What? Really? How?" came the surprised responses from not only Willow, Buffy, and Joyce, but also Marcie, Amy, Andrew Wells, Jonathan Levinson who came around the side of the house carrying food and beverage contributions, and to the high school crowd's shock, Cordelia Chase followed behind carrying a large plant centerpiece, which she gifted to Joyce, earning a nice thank you.
"So you're a cop, Xander?" Amy asked with a surprised look still on her face.
"No, most departments and agencies won't hire me until I'm eighteen," he replied factually, "Though the Mayor offered me a possible job of some kind."
"When did he do that?" Joyce asked. "Didn't you just get back this weekend?"
"Yeah, he was at the graduation ceremony with some lawyer friends of his," Xander deadpanned, placing meat on the readied grill. "He was there for a Sunnydale expatriate."
"Why wasn't anyone invited, mister," Willow chided, amazed that she'd been left out of something. "Or any of us, for that matter."
"Well, for one thing, I tried to keep quiet my being under age eighteen, and while my real paperwork had my real information, I was going under my grandfather's name." Sighing, and slightly bracing, he noticed burgers needing flipping and turned back to his grilling duties. The rest of the evening was spent catching up on things, and relaxing.
SHS Library, Tuesday Afternoon, September 2nd
Buffy and Xander are directed through a series of tumbling and kicking exercises that take them all around the library. Xander taps his 'inner wolf' to keep up with her, surprising her and Giles. They continue training, Buffy and Giles with the quarterstaff, and Xander with twin police batons to learn blocking techniques. Buffy swings it at Giles' hand pads. He retreats as she hits. He ducks a swing but she continues around with the quarterstaff and knocks him back into the chairs by the table. Xander steps back up to keep the momentum going, as Buffy switches to unarmed moves. Buffy suddenly flashbacks to the Master in his lair, and begins to go crazy with speed and strength, flinging fists and kicks against Xander, pressing him to draw on both this training and his spirit at maximum levels, blocking her continuous rapid punches, leaping away from kicks and using martial arts training to throw her across the room twice in the process.
"Buffy, that's enough," Giles calls out, watching in concern and amazement as she seems to border on the berserk and Xander is still able to keep up somehow. Jenny and the other Slayerettes had wandered in at his point to watch as Xander barely manages to drop down to the floor to avoid a slayer blow and kicks her feet out from under her in the process. His eyes tinged green as he drew to the extent of his reserves. Giles shouts as he approaches, quickly but warily, "Buffy!" She stops, regaining control of herself as she gets up from the floor.
"Uh, safe to say you've both stayed in shape," Giles noted, still watching both of his charges, "Though I'm unsure as to that display of excessive aggression. Is there anything the two of you would like to share?"
"Just keeping up with Buffy," Xander responded, "But at the end there I was really pushing the wolf a bit hard."
"Err, Uh, I just wanted to see how far Xander could push it," Buffy hedged, "Maybe a little much at the end. I'm ready. Whatever they've got coming next, I'm ready. Xan?"
"As ready as can be," Xander replied, grabbing his duffle bag and towel. Then nodding in amusement at the appreciative looks the girls were giving him, "Ladies, I have to change clothes and head out. Any of you interested in buying me dinner and going dancing?"
"That'd be me, lunk head," Cordelia Chase answered as she came through the doors of the Library. "But you're paying."
"I-I think he was talking to those of us in the room," Willow retorted, with a slight glare, "Which would mean that I-I'll be going out with Xander." 'Go Willow' the other girls in the room thought loudly.
Xander guided both girls toward the doors, and nodding good-bye to the rest of the group, directed his comments those vying for his culinary-related company, "Well, I guess that means the three of us will be dining out. Cordelia, I'll be by at seven, Willow, about ten after. Oh, I'm not quite as spastic at the dancing as I was before, so no need to wear the steel-toed work boots with your semi-formal attire."
Streets of Sunnydale, 11PM
Xander stepped aside, the first of the three vampires zooming by on the left as the young demon hunter fired his .45 into its head, taking it out of the fight.
The other two vampires, seeing their companion downed so quickly, were stunned into inaction at the unexpected turn of events, allowing Xander the opportunity to fire into both of them. Both vampires screamed in pain and rage, shot in collarbones and left shoulders as the power of the rounds knocked one down and the other back two steps. Xander leapt forward, firing twice into each vampire's head, dusting the standing vampire as its neck and spine exploded, the other rendered unconscious. Xander turned to the sound of two more vamires dusting about ten feet behind him.
"Hey, Angel," Xander greeted the souled vampire. "Thanks for the assist. Thought you'd be catching up with Buffy?"
The darkly dressed fighter finished sweeping dust off his clothes as he approached the young looter of the undead. "She seemed a bit...out of sorts when I saw her," Angel said, frowning slightly. "I don't know why..."
"Well, I'm sure it's nothing," Xander replied, sending the second vampire to a final death. "She seemed okay enough yesterday, and only a little off at training this afternoon."
"What do you mean?"
"Well..." the dark-haired teen considered, pocketing cash and bagging the other items for police investigation, "she seemed to lose control when we were sparring today, like she was somewhere else...fighting a vamp. I managed to throw her after five minutes or so, and Giles snapped her out of it."
"What do you think it is?" Angel asked, looking intently. "Is it the slaying or..."
"Don't know, man," Xander considered, checking addresses on vampire identification, and handing Angel's share of the cash, minus ammo replacement. "Maybe she's just trying too hard to rush getting back into things. You want in on the apartment looting?"
"I have nothing better to do," Angel admitted, matching Xander's direction and pace. "I hear you went out with Cordelia and Willow?"
"Yeah, why?" the younger man smiled, expecting a 'razzing.'
"Oh, nothing," the vampire smirked. "I'm just surprised that your patrol wasn't delayed by a third world war."
"It went surprisingly well," Xander chuckled. "Once Cordelia's away from her girl gang, she lets herself be...herself. And is fairly smart. Besides, they tend to have the same pet peeves and such when it comes to me..."
"So the enemy of her enemy?" Angel chuckled.
"Exactly," Xander laughed, rolling his eyes.
Wednesday Morning, September 3rd
Buffy and Willow chatted as the blonde swapped books in her locker.
"Angel stopped by?" Willow pressed, hoping for gossip, "Wow. Was there... Well, I mean, was it having to do with kissing?"
"Willow, grow up," Buffy replied, rolling her eyes, "Not everything is about kissing."
"Yeah, Willow," Xander snorted, coming up to his friends. "Some stuff's about groping. It wasn't about groping?"
"It was pure shop talk," Buffy asserted, rolling her eyes, "So no more kissing or groping than you two and Cordelia had on your date last night."
"Wow, that much!" Xander explained feigning shock, "Go Deadboy!"
"Xander!" Willow blushed and choked in shock as her friends laughed.
"Oh, hey, did you guys hear that Cibo Matto's gonna be at the
Bronze tonight?" Xander asked, "Amy and the Junior Slayerettes are planning on going. How 'bout the three of us link up with them?"
"Cibo Matto?" Willow asked. "They're playing?"
"No, Willow," Xander deadpanned, "they're gonna be clog dancing."
"Cibo Matto can clog dance?" Willow replied, then blushed at a look from Xander and Buffy, "Oh, sarcasm, right."
"We should attend, no?" Xander asks again as Cordelia comes out of class and engages them in the hall.
"Oh, count me there, Musketeers," Cordelia smiled, suspiciously without any apparent malice or ulterior meaning. They look at each other, not sure what to make of that.
"Well, okay, Cordelia," Xander said, "Musketeers?"
"Yeah, the Three Musketeers..." Cordelia replied, pointing at them. "You know, Alexander Dumas, fighting the bad guys..."
"Well, there're three of us," Willow conceded. "Does that mean you want to be our D'Artagnan?"
"Dress like a man? Have a fat little servant run around unable to keep up? In colors that do nothing for me?" Cordelia scoffed, but with mirth, as she headed off, "Hardly."
Bronze, 9 PM, September 3rd
People are gathering and going in, the band Cibo Matto is on stage playing "Spoon". Willow and Xander are sitting out this dance at a table with Amy and Marcie.
"I just think something's up is all," Willow replied
"Willow," Xander returned, "It's probably nothing."
"Buffy's never acted like this before, Xander," Willow responded, Amy nodding in agreement, "Ever since she got back she's... different."
"Buffy's always been different," Xander remarked, "but I have noticed she's a bit off."
"She's never been mean, though," Marcie contributed, sipping a diet soda. The band starts their next number, "Sugar Water." Amy and Marcie grab Xander and drag him out onto the dance floor.
A moment later, Buffy walks into the Bronze. Angel sees her come in and goes over to her.
"Hi," she greets neutrally.
"Hi," he replies, smiling slightly.
"So, is there danger at the Bronze?" she smarts off, "Should I beware?"
"I can't help thinking I've done something to make you angry, Buffy," Angel sighs, looking at her. "And that bothers me more than I'd like."
"I'm not angry, Angel," she says, "I don't know where that comes from."
"Is there something wrong?" he asks, both concerned and a little put off, "What are you afraid of? Me? Us?"
"Could you contemplate getting over yourself for a second?" she retorted, "There's no 'us'. Look, Angel, I'm sorry if I was supposed to spend the summer mooning over you, but I didn't. I moved on...to the living."
Buffy heads over to where Xander, Amy and Marcie are dancing. As Cordelia watches her go by, and wonders about her attitude toward Angel and now the others."
"Hey!" she greets the girls with Xander, the stares into his eyes, pulling on his shirt. "Let's dance."
"Ooo-kay," he replies, looking apologetically toward Amy and Marcie. A slow dance starts up, Buffy's movements becoming very sensual. Xander picks up conflicting pheromones from her, and the wolf spirit enforced attributes and tendencies accentuate the confusion, a mix of the sexual and baiting a foe. He looks up at Angel and Willow as Buffy begins to turn around and spoon in against Xander. He indicates confusion to his friends as she pulls his arms around her waist. She grinds her hips and shoulders against him as he starts to feel his blood pressure and adrenaline increase. She reaches up with her hand and strokes his face. Angel looks on jealously. Willow and the others, including Cordettes, watch in disbelief as Buffy continues her grinding. Buffy turns to Xander and tilts her head up to his, close enough to kiss.
"Xander?" she asks in a sultry voice, "Did I ever thank you... for saving my life?"
"You don't have to, Buffy..." Xander choked out in a whisper.
Buffy slowly slithers around him, making sure not to lose contact with
his body, leaning in close, "Don't you wish I would?"
She breaks off, leaving him standing there. Xander isn't sure what to
make of it all, but he knows he doesn't like it. Buffy retrieves her jacket on the way off the dance floor as Xander begins to rage behind her, the emotions and pheromones felt by those around him, causing the other dance floor occupants to move away as he heads straight for the door. He catches Angel's eye, and the vampire picks up Xander's duffle and the crowd, sensing them either consciously or otherwise, parts quickly. Xander and Angel both barrel out the door, Angel surprised that the young man's mood radiates much as it did before he'd killed Darla months before.
"Cover my back...partner," Xander managed to choke out as he drew, checked and re-holstered his weapons. "I don't know what the HELL that was in there, but I need to kill things badly"
Angel nodded and followed the young man, also welcoming a chance to let go before figuring out the blonde slayer.
Buffy walks by her friends, and exits the building, Cordelia close at hand, and Amy following.
"Buffy," Cordelia calls out, "You're really campaigning for bitch-of-
the-year, aren't you? Why did you do that to Xander?"
"Do what to Xander?" Buffy replied, "I was making Angel jealous."
"I'm gonna give you some advice," Cordelia angrily replied, "You don't do that to some one willing to die for you ...and get over it."
"Excuse me?" Buffy huffed. "What are you talking about?"
'Whatever is causing the Joan Collins 'tude, deal with it," the May Queen asserted, "Embrace the pain, spank your inner moppet, whatever, but get over it. 'Cause pretty soon you're not even gonna have the friends you've got now."
"I think it's about time you start minding your own business," she replied, then looked into Amy's questioning eyes. "And on that happy note..."
Amy and Cordelia watch in amazement as Buffy walks away and around the corner. Suddenly both girls are grabbed by two vampires coming out of the shadows and dragged into an adjacent building.
Willy's Alibi Room, 9:40PM
The doors of the bar fly off their hinges as Xander plunges feet-first into the midst of the demonic clientele. Early on a slow night, only five vampires and four demons of different species occupied seats. Xander turns to the vamps, twin .45s in hand, firing into their legs and lower torsos. Turning to the other demons as they prepare to fight, the balaclava-and-dark-clothed hunter shouts out.
"I'm only here for the vampires," Xander rasps out as Angel enters the premises, weapons drawn and also 'disguised.' The demons sit back down, quietly and slowly.
Xander proceeds to shoot into shoulder joints as he approaches the downed vampires, removing wallets and such. In five minutes, with holy water liberally used, Xander finds out where three lairs of 'independents' base, and the general area of the real trouble makers. He dusts them quickly, and places three bills on the bar.
"For your doors and inconvenience," Xander spits, "and a round to your customers for the noise." With that, he storms out of the building.
"Why did you let the others live?" Angel asks, "they could be trouble in the future."
"Or," Xander replies forcefully, "we'll concentrate on them and their lairs later." They quietly proceeded to where they'd obtained information that eight vampires were occupying the basement of an older abandoned apartment building in the warehouse district. They checked it out for half an hour, determining also that another half-dozen vampires had established themselves on the third and highest floor.
Xander's uncle came up the alley they'd chosen to prepare in after recon.
"What're you here for, Unc?" Xander asked, surprised and suspicious at the same time.
"Angel called me on the cell, and told me what you're up to and why," the older man chided. "But he also said you're still in control, if barely, so I'm providing extra back up."
Xander stared at both companions, then nodded, explaining they'd start in the basement, then work up the single stairwell to the top floor.
Ten minutes later, Xander repeated his door-damaging experience, flying into the room, gun and super soaker drawn. Spraying four figures to his left, three screamed and vamped out, dropping a sobbing female teen to the ground.
Angel hurled himself stakes first into the identified vampires, dusting one as he tackled the other. Hondo, taking a quick look to ensure their, six, moved in and carefully placed a three-shot into each of the heads of the two vampires grabbing their faces.
Xander pushed by the floored blonde girl, letting his firearm and soaker pour into four other vampires pouring into the room from the rear of the basement apartment. Seven rounds and screams of rage and pain filled the hallway, Xander shouting to minimize pain on his eardrums as he moved up the hall. Dropping the 45, he grabbed a stake as a very large vampire charged him. Xander rolled with the impact, nearly losing his breath, but managing to put the stake where it needed to be. Pushing the vampiric weightlifter a little up and over his floored head, Xander staked the demon, its dust covering Hondo who was moving up to help.
"Gahh, kid," Hondo complained, firing into two recovering vamps, "watch the dust."
"Hondo," Xander called out as he rolled over and finishes off two downed blood-suckers, "Check the girl, and get her to safety. We'll finish off here and maybe the top floor."
"Got it out of your system?" Angel asked Xander, picking up the girl and handing her to Hondo.
"Pretty much," Xander relied, "But I'm still worked up over it. I'm still pissed." The vampire nodded in agreement. They gave the place a quick toss, placed what they wanted in the duffle bags they'd brought, then headed up the stairs.
Slowly they made their way up the stairs, Angel first. Checking out the floors on the way up, but finding nothing,
Cemetery, 10:40-ish, same night
Buffy finishes up an early patrol, only two for the night, and not impressive. Ending in the cemetery where Willow, Giles, Amy and Marcie had buried the Master, Buffy decided to check out the vampire's grave. When she gets there she finds it dug open and his bones exhumed. She quickly steps back and away, turning to look to the edge of her vision, but no one's there. Spooked, and still unhappy about the dance with Xander now that it'd been pointed out to her that she'd hurt both male friends not just one, she headed home.
Vamp Apartment Building, 11:30 PM
Hondo pulled up to the front of the building with his camper-shelled truck and car trailer behind it. Angel, unsuccessfully holding back laughter, was following a slimed and loudly annoyed Xander Harris down the stairs.
"What the hell were those things?!" the young man swore as he threw his duffles into the vehicle and tossed keys and wallet to his uncle. "Yuuuuuck."
"Mating Fyarl demons," the belly-laughing vampire gasped, leaning on the truck. "And you...just charged in and...blew 'em up at their... happy moment." He reached in the back and threw Xander a towel and replacement mask. They watched as Hondo drove two cars into the trailer before they left, Angel calling in the pertinent info to Dave and Fritz .
SHS Student Lounge, Before School, September 4th
Giles obtains a soda from the vending machine as Willow goes on about things.
"She's possessed!" Willow proclaims
"Possessed?" Giles asks, bemused.
"That's the only explanation that makes any sense, Giles." Willow asserted, "I mean, you should've seen her last night. That wasn't Buffy. I mean, why else would she be acting like such a b-i-t-c-h?
"Willow, I think we're all a little too old to be spelling things out," the librarian responded as they watched Principal Flutie and Vice Principal Skinner walk down the halls. "I suggest that, uh, the explanation for her behavior may be something more, more mundane."
"She may simply have what you Americans refer to as issues. Uh, her experience with the Master must have been extremely traumatic. Well, she was, for at least a few minutes, technically dead. I-I don't think she's dealt with that on a conscious level. She's convinced herself that
she's invulnerable... for the very reason that she feels..."
"That's a very interesting point about trout, you just brought up now," Xander covers, as Buffy walks up to them, then addresses the slayer in a semi-formal manner, "Hello, Buffy."
"Uh, Hello," Buffy replied, "Master's gone."
"Pardon?" Giles asks.
"The Master," Buffy stressed. "I went by his grave last night, and they have a vacancy."
"What would somebody want with Master bones?" Willow asked, shuddering.
"A trophy, a horrible conversation piece?" Xander darkly joked. "After all, that's why I keep his skull in a box on my mantle with Darla's ashes. Makes me happy when skies are gray."
"You kept..." Giles choked. "I'd wondered what'd happened to it after getting back from that Spring Dance to box up and clean up."
"They're gonna bring him back," Buffy asserted. "They're gonna bring the Master back to life, and I seem to recall you telling me he was history."
"Buffy, I-I-I've never heard of a-a revivification ritual being successful," Giles assured her. "A-And Xander has the most important part in a separate location."
"But you've heard of them?" Buffy queried with rising anger, "Thanks for the warning."
"Well, Buffy, Giles did bury him and..."
"Look, this is Slayer stuff, okay?" Buffy snapped. "Could we have just a little less from the civilians, please?"
"Okay, that's just about enough, lap dancer!" Xander raged at the slayer. Buffy shoots Xander a look both angry and hurt. "You're the Slayer. Big deal. You had to be drafted and empowered, but we chose. You lost princess status and shopping in Beverly Hills. I lost a... brother and my family, but I STILL CHOOSE. Whatever your problem is, get over it. We're gonna keep fighting, and you have no say in the matter. Giles, Willow, I'll happily see you after classes; I need to get to AP Chemistry."
"Y-yes, well, I'll, uh, I'll see you all, uh, in the library later when everyone is in a better mood," Giles recovered. "We'll, we'll continue this discussion then."
SHS Library, 5 PM
"Alright, alright, I-I-I've got something," Giles announced. "It's Latin, so bear with me. Uh, to revive the vampire they need his bones, uh... w-which they have, and, um, the blood... this is very unclear, of the closest person... uh, someone connected to the vampire."
"That'd be me," Buffy stated
"Perhaps," Giles demurred. "But I'll want to go through the translation again to make sure."
"We were close," Buffy grimaced. "We killed each other. It really promotes togetherness." A rock comes crashing through a window, Buffy catching the rock in her hands. It has a note wrapped around it and kept in place with a bracelet, and a scarf.
"This is Cordelia's," Buffy states recognizing the bracelet, and the scarf is Amy's, "'Come to the Bronze before it opens, or we make her a meal.'"
"What do we do?" Willow asks, taking the bracelet from Buffy's hand.
"I go to the Bronze and save the day," Buffy exhales heavily.
"I don't like this," Xander ponders, "there's something not right about this."
"I concur!" Giles remarked strongly.
"Yeah?" Buffy smarted off, "Well, you guys aren't going."
"What do you...really...mean?" Willow asks
"I can't do it anymore," Buffy hotly declared, "I can't look after the three of you guys while I'm fighting." Xander clears his throat loudly.
"Okay, two of you," she corrects, "But Xander should stay here to keep you safe while you research."
"Well, what about the rest of the note?" Willow asked, slightly derisively to everyone's surprise.
"What rest of the note?" Buffy asked, warily.
"The part that says, 'P.S. This is a trap'?" Willow replied reasonably.
"You'll be playing straight into their hands," Giles said, "P-Perhaps Xander should go with you as back up?"
"I can handle this," Buffy asserted.
"Tell ya what Buff," Xander says, reaching for his cell phone. "I'll call Angel on the phone, and have him drive over and pick you up because either he or I will provide back up. And since I was the actual holder of the wood that dusted him...and the owner of the tacky trophy, it'd be a good bet that all of us are targets if Cordelia was."
"Xander, I—"she began, only to have Giles interrupt as Xander hit speed dial.
"Actually, Buffy," the librarian counseled, "Alex-ander has a very good idea. If Angel drives, you'll get there at least as quickly, and if Miss Chase is in need of medical attention, his car would be ideal for getting her to the hospital."
"Yeah, okay, bye," Xander was heard by the others terminating a phone call. "He's already on his way over...Oh, and before I forget, here are cell phones with an earpiece and a lapel microphone; this way even if you're in a fight you can keep talking. Not the best idea in a fight, but at least we can all call for help and keep in contact while running around town at night."
"W-Why, Xander, this is a most intelligent idea," the Watcher declared, as Buffy took her pink phone, briefly distracted. "What made you think of this?"
"Well, first of all," the more-confident young man revealed his thinking, "first thing I learned about a group, pack, family or fighting team is that communication is vital...and the cheapest way with at least some security...the phones. A second idea was that I could get each phone to look different so if one of us drops it, on purpose as a bread crumb, or otherwise...we'll know." Angel walked in, and as Buffy got up to leave, Xander added, "and after talking to Angel, if you look at the back side of your phones, I thought Buffy and Willow would like them. Angel, show yours too."
They all turned them over, Giles' had an owl with professor's hat and glasses, the hacker had a computer and a Barbie, the vampire had a bat, Xander's had a wolf, and Buffy's was pink with an ice-skater. q
"Oh, Xander," the girls laughed, then hugged the youth, and at his gesture, Angel as well. He stiffened slightly as he motioned to the vampire, but remembered Uncle Street's words about credit and blame as they'd driven out of Sunnydale months before.
"Okay, you two, shoo," he directed, waving them to the door, "it was important to cover this, but we don't want Cordelia killed." Buffy turned as she left pausing in the door.
"This is my fight..." She emphasized. "But I guess it's yours too."
Willow just watches her go. Xander shakes his head. Giles puts his glasses back on.
"Giles, there really should be a handbook for this...stuff," Xander sighed, shaking his head as he reached for his phone again.
"T-there is, actually," the Watcher replied, looking slightly embarrassed. Then, at the looks he received from the two youths, added, "once I met Buffy, I-I realized her proclivities did not involve research or study..."
"We understand, Giles," Xander replied, all three nodding, "but I want a copy to look over. It may be outdated, but if we tweak it a bit for modern advances..." He looked at Willow.
"...and asked Buffy's opinions about what should go in one," the redhead enthused, "then we could probably have her test out the whole thing!"
"Excellent thinking, the two of you!" Giles beamed at his two students. "We'll make Watchers of you yet!"
"I reserve the right to wear formal attire that isn't tweed," Xander jibed in a very good British accent, "though if it snows...and no one will recognize me, I'll reconsider."
The Bronze
Buffy comes in the front door and looks around as she slowly walks through an empty Bronze as Angel makes his way from the back. The Slayer comes upon a girl crying in a corner as Angel closes on her right.
"That's not Cordelia," Buffy states, as a the girl, a female vampire, laughs and turns around.
"Cordelia couldn't make it," the vamp laughs.
"Where is she?" Buffy demands.
"I'm not supposed to tell," the vampire retorts, attacking. Buffy flips the animated corpse on its back and pins it with her foot. "I don't like this," Angel considers, "There's the bait. Where's the hook?"
"You're right," Buffy agrees. "Why would they send just one?"
SHS Library
Giles and Willow continue researching, calling up Amy and Marcie to help. Xander is in the back changing into his night gear, calling his Uncle Hondo for support after he gets off work..
"I still think we should've gone with her," Willow says, concerned.
"She has Angel as back up," the librarian assures her. "And they have the, er, phones if the situation calls for it." He turns back to his research, a couple minutes pass as they hear Amy, Marcie and Jonathan walk in."
"Ah! Ah, ah, ah! Uh, uh, the Latin is, is translated from the
Sumerian, a-a-and rather badly," Giles grimaces as he relays the information. "Closest to the Master actually translates as 'nearest'. Physically. The, the, the person or persons who were with him... when he...It is a trap." Twenty vampires appear on the mezzanine level above, ready for action. "It just isn't for her."
The Bronze
Buffy and Angel finish tossing the bound vampire into the trunk of his car. They head back toward the high school, planning to interrogate the female vampire in a more secure location.
SHS Library
Buffy and Angel come rushing in to find a place in shambles and as Xander finishes dusting two vampires on the ground. The main table is overturned, and chairs broken, bullet holes in the check out counter sideboards.
"Xander!" Buffy exclaims, rushing over to help him, but he shakes her off, "What happened? Where are the others?"
"I don't know for sure," the angry youth replied, his tone and eyes cold. "I don't know what your problem is, what your issues are. But as of now, I officially don't care. You need to get your head into this or just stay out of the way. I just 'questioned' these two, and narrowed down the directions, and Willow's purse is here so I have something to scent from. Twenty bloodsuckers attacked, and managed to get the others away. We dusted six of them. Now with Angel's car...maybe we can cut them off, then rescue Cordelia."
"Why did they take them and not you?" Buffy asked. "Or me?"
"They tried, and left four to 'grab the kid.'" Xander replied as they headed out of the library toward the car. "Giles said the ritual was, um... They needed people who were close to the Master. Physically close when he died."
Hondo pulled up to the curb speeding, screeching to a halt, windows down, he shouted out.
"Some one grabbed the skull out of your apartment, Alex!" the SWAT veteran declared. "I was heading in to pick up extra gear when I found the door kicked open. What's the sitrep?"
Xander gave Angel directions, then rode along with Hondo to fill him in on the way. Meanwhile, in Angel's car, Buffy was considering ways to speed up the process.
"We need to find out where," she stated.
"How?" Angel replied.
"When we get to the area," she mused, "and if Xander can't sniff it out immediately, we'll question the vamp in the trunk."
Warehouse District 6:30 PM
Buffy is interrogating the female vampire in a shaded alley while the others prepare. The screams stop after about ten minutes. Buffy gives them the sewer route the vampires are taking back to the warehouse a block down the street.
After another ten minutes, Angel figures it'll be close as to whether they'll beat the kidnapping vampires into the warehouse. Hondo speaks up, balaclava pulled down over his face much as their own are.
"Buffy and I'll do the warehouse attack," the veteran suggested, "Xander and Angel both have the smell and sight thing working for them, so they should take sewer duty. Remember, when in doubt, rescue is the priority. Otherwise kill everything already dead. Sound right?"
"I'm beginning to like your plans," Buffy declared. "Simply slaying."
The Sewers, Bottom of the ladder
Xander drops down next to Angel, eyes flashing green-gold as they adjust. Adjusting for the truly unpleasant smell, they conclude the vamps and hostages passed just minutes before. Angel charges first, soaker and sharpened stake in his hands, Xander with soaker and .45 ready for a fight.
Two minutes later, they come upon the warehouse sewer access, lid left off the haste to move hostages to their Anointed One. Angel and Xander quietly climb the access ladder, listening for a trap, or any sign of activity in the room above.
Warehouse, Main Area.
Collin, the Anointed One, carries a black case past the Master's skeleton, which has been laid out on a table. Absalom places the reclaimed skull and takes the black case.
"Begin, the boy will be brought to us any minute," the vampire named Absalom orders two of his thirty remaining minions, most survivors of the Master's defeat, brought back together and rallied with a few recruits in Los Angeles and along the coast.
Two vampires started pulling on chains, moving Willow, Giles, Cordelia, Amy and Jenny are moved along an overhead conveyor to hang upside down and unconscious above the Master's bones.
"Behold, these mortals..." Absalom intones, gesturing grandly. Buffy and Hondo enter into the warehouse through a side door. Hondo takes up position to blast into the minions without hitting the intended sacrifices.
"Slayer," he whispers, "I can tear up the minions a bit, but there's lots of them. When I stop firing, how about you head for the two real bad guys, then veer toward the gang to get them out. I'll follow you in, shooting up any that get close. If Bat and Wolf jump in, I'll switch to dusting the wounded on floors to make sure we can get back out."
"Sounds good," Buffy nodded, noticing Amy coming to, "I'll distract 'em by killing them after you even the numbers."
"Witnesses to our Master's wretched demise," Absalom began, Collin at this side. "They will breathe their last this night. The blood that pours from their throats will bring--" The rest cut off as a floating stake ended his unlife, and a second barely missed its mark in the child-looking vampire. The vampires look in shock, spinning around in search of attackers. They spot Hondo and Buffy, charging en masse as Hondo opens up at thigh level to disable as many as possible. Fifty rounds go off from a MP5 in no time at all, cutting a swathe in the middle and right, farthest from the sacrifices, accounting briefly for half the vamires. Buffy charges forward as Angel and Xander fly out of the shadows on the far side, Xander blasting the heads off of three vampires near Willow and the others.
At the podium, two curious vampires next to each other dust as a stake appears from nowhere to end them.
"Good work, Marcie," Xander calls out to the invisible girl as he drops a 45 to draw out another. "Try to release the others!"
Firing into the backs of the vampires charging Buffy and Hondo, Xander dusts three more as he and Angel reach soaker range.
Buffy, meanwhile as raced into the midst of the vampires, leaping up to fly-kick the front-most and largest vampire in its face with both feet, the slayer back-flipping off the dead-weight to stop her momentum and begin attacking. Landing gracefully on her feet, Buffy whirls to the right, then the left, rolling under and through the dust to avoid being grabbed or hit from behind. She hears the crack of sidearms, and Xander shouting, both good signs as she faces off six recovering enemies.
Angel, near-mirroring his girlfriend from the rear of the same clump of vampires, whirls, kicks, spins and rolls, lashing out to dust four, before momentum leaves him fighting three vampires, with the backs of three facing Buffy within reach.
Hondo, watching Buffy take out the front vampires like bowling pins, reloads his MP5 once, empties it, and barely draws out his 45 to keep firing when two remaining of ten vampires tackle him, but they overcompensate by continuing to roll as he simply goes limp to keep his hand near a stake.
Xander charges through the wounded vampires, soakering them and staking four downed others with his sharpened kendo sword on his way to intercept the horde attacking his uncle. Reaching Hondo's falling spot, Xander stabs one of the two remaining vampires as it leaps to get up from the floor. The vampire partially atop the retired officer hears the 'poofing' sound, and turns its head to receive a kick to the face from the balaclavaed teen.
Buffy and Angel, shouting to each, whirl and kill by surprise, luck and skill, two of the three vampiric ex-football players that had stood between them. Soaker empty, Angel drew a second stake as back to back the two would-be paramours lashed out with stakes, kicks and punches at their enemies.
Marcie, meanwhile, dusts a lone vampire skulking away and getting too close to the position of the now-conscious hostages.
"Go Marcie!" screams Cordelia Chase with a joyous smile, "Go girl! Hey! I can see you!" Marcie beams with fulfillment of a forgotten need for attention.
Buffy and Angel slowly force the fight closer to the platform upon which their friends await rescue. Two vampires break away from fighting the slayer and race for a door in the rear, their path taking them dangerously close to Marcie and Cordelia in particular when a tall figure leaping flies into the larger of the two and tackles the first undead monster, and a short dark-haired figure stabs out from behind the gang with the broken handle end of a large sledgehammer..
"Leave Marcie alone, monster!" the youth cries out, driving the pointy end into the vampire's chest as it tries to stop, abruptly tripping.
"Jonathan!" Marcie screams, running over as the floor-braced sledgehammer handle ends the unlife and showers the dust over the knocked-down youth. "Oh, Jon, are you okay?! I told you to wait outside int the getaway car!" the visible-to-him girl with pretty eyes fusses over her short hero.
The other vampire met a similar but more spectacular end, Xander managing to roll up onto his feet and draw a stake just as the stunned minion struggles to escape by hiding behind the hostages, closing on Cordelia, Willow and Amy.
"Arsum!" Amy shouts, kinda pointing her finger at the vampire's back, but only manages to scorch him a little.
Surprised and fearful of fire, the vampire whirls, giving Xander time to grab Jonathan's sledge and crush the vamp's head, dusting it in a spectacular manner as he yells out, "NOBODY TOUCHES MY GIRLS!" Dusting himself off, he adds, "or stuffy British mentor-figure." This earns him relieved chuckles as within seconds, the sounds of fighting end, only the occasional scream or poofing sound from the main floor carry over from where his uncle is looting and dusting the few bads left. Maybe seven had escaped, none without harm.
Buffy and Angel walk over, simply dusting a few lingering vamps on the way to their friends. They help everyone down as Xander piles up the Master's bones. Xander turns to find Buffy starting to tear a bit as she stares at the remains of the enemy that killed her. Taking the sledgehammer, Xander grabs a few toe bones and renders them in a single stroke into dust. Then, removing the three pounds of gold coins he'd hidden in the skull previously, he steps over to his family.
"Those bones were for each of the people you've been mean to since coming back," Xander explained, then lifting Buffy's hand, places the sledgehammer into it. "However, the other two hundred bones are there...go get 'im Buffster."
Buffy slowly walks over to the Master's skeleton and looks at it a moment. Then she swings the hammer back behind her and arcs it directly into the Master's skull, shattering it to pieces. She keeps whaling on the Master's skeleton as everyone follows to watch and give support. Angel and Xander remain next to her as she continues until there's nothing left but dust and very tiny fragments. She stops and bursts into tears, dropping the sledgehammer to the floor.
"It's okay, Buffy," Angel says comfortingly as Xander empties a quart refill of his soaker onto the fragments to eliminate them further, "It's okay."
Buffy turns around and leans into him, crying into his shoulder. Angel
gently holds on to her as she cries. Xander comes up to them after a moment, and takes Buffy aside with a nod from Angel. Faintly whispering so not even Angel hears, Buffy smiles at whatever it is Xander is telling her.
SHS Quad the next day
Jenny and Cordelia walk across the quad, as Giles and Buffy follow behind.
"What an ordeal," Cordelia gripes, "And you know what the worst part is?"
"What?" Jenny Calendar asks.
"That Harmony Kendall was attacked by vampires the same night I was, and is getting all the attention of being saved from a 'street gang' by Xander Harris and his uncle, and I can't say anything about our ordeal."
Giles and Buffy catch up with them to hear the details of Harmony's embellished account, which ends as Xander and Willow meet up with them.
"Hey, Buffy," Willow greets, wearing 'concern-face.'
"Little Sis," Xander greets with a smirk and smiling eyes. "Ready for some real activity tonight?"
"Hey, all," the blonde teen replied with a wary smile, "What do you have in mind...'bro'"
"I'm thinking the whole Last Night crowd get together for dinner tonight, and talk about anything except the slaying."
"Sounds good to me," Buffy smiled, her new relationship with Xander somehow feeling right, "Everybody?" They all nod
"A-an excellent idea, Xander," Giles remarked. "A-and it will offset any lingering discomfort from last night."
"Hey," Cordelia inserted, "What's with the sis and bro talk?"
"Oh," Buffy blushed, "After the last couple of days, Xander explained his real feelings for me now, and...we're trying a more...family relationship." She reached for his hand, and put her head against his shoulder. "He's my big brother until I get over this whole dying thing."
"Wow," Willow and Cordelia both exclaimed before Willow continued, "that's a quick change."
"Not really, Wills," Xander explained, "She's dating a beta male in the pack acceptable to my alpha-wolfy thinking, I love her but haven't had the other crush or stronger feelings in a long time, and I was very confused about the vibes and pheromones given off during a certain dance." Buffy blushes deep red and turns her forehead into Xander's shoulder in embarrassment. "And, most importantly, when Buffy's mom asked me at the Labor Day barbecue which girl I was dating when it was clear it wasn't Buffy, she asked me to watch after her so things don't get as bad as Hemery. So...she's my little sis. Oh, and invite your mom, Buff. I might invite Principal Flutey and his wife."
"A-As usual, Alexander," the librarian mused, "your path of pseudo-emotional logic eludes me, but ends up in the right place." The bell rang and they all headed off to their destinations.