After Buffy had walked Dawn safely to Janice's, she went back home. Willow and Tara were sitting on the staircase, looking depressed, knife and stake in hand.
"Come on, guys, get up." Buffy insisted. "We have work to do." She handed Tara the axe and grabbed a sword for herself. Willow looked at her.
"What is all this for? And this time, can you answer me?" Willow asked harshly.
"Will- we don't know what Anya is capable of. I need you to be ready, you know, the witch kind of ready. We may need you." At this comment of Buffy's, Willow nodded and the three of them rose to their feet and out the door.
Anya was back at the magic shop, and this time, way more pissed of than before. Who would have known that Xander was adopted? Had Xander even known? This task was going to more difficult than Anya expected. But she had an idea.
That moment, the exact moment when she had that idea, Buffy and her little crew burst through the door with all their macho weapons.
"Oh, well, look at Three Musketeers. Have you come to kick my ass?" Anya questioned the three soldiers smartly.
"Anya, we want to help you." Buffy reasoned
"Oh, yeah, help me by, what? Sticking a sword through my heart, or maybe chopping off my head? Yeah, totally seeing the help."
"Anya-" Willow started, but was abruptly interrupted when she was flung against a wall. Tara rushed over to her, but Anya stopped her by doing the same. Buffy gawked at Anya. She raised her knife in the air and flung it at her.
"Now, why would you want to do that?" Anya smirked, stopping the knife in mid-air, and, with a twirling motion, sent it back at Buffy. She ducked just in time, the knife instead hurtling into the door. Buffy held her sword high as she rose back to her feet.
"Stop it." Anya said firmly, as if disciplining a badly trained puppy. She stepped up to Buffy and cornered her against a wall, where she wrapped her hands around her neck. Buffy protested, kicking at her, but Anya's grip around her neck was strong enough to kill. Buffy gasped for air, and just when she thought she was about to die, Anya suddenly went flying through the air and against the counter.
Buffy took a while to compose herself, taking deep breaths of air. She had never let that happen before, just let someone do that to her. But Anya was strong, really strong. Except, now Anya was lying limply on the floor by the counter, and both Willow and Tara were trying to get up. So who…
"I guess right now wouldn't be too appropriate to ask this, but, how are you doing Buffy?" Giles stood at the door, his hand still raised. He lowered it.
"Giles! I'm peachy." Buffy ran to him and hugged him. "What are you doing here?"
"The Council knew. Everything. They sent me to stop Anya." Giles reported. He had a distant look in his eyes.
"So… they knew. About Xander?" Buffy questioned gently.
"Yes." Giles walked over to Willow and Tara and helped them up.
"Giles!" Willow screeched, and jumped into his arms despite her many bruises. Tara looked at him awkwardly.
"Hey, Mr. Giles." She said, and he offered her a quick hug.
"Are you all okay, nothing broken?" Giles questioned, inspecting the three of them.
"Nothing broken, I don't think." Tara offered, although she said nothing about the "okay" part. They then all focused their attention on Anya.
"What are we going to do, Mr. Giles? Can you restrain her somehow?"
"Yes, Tara, I've gotten something ready. It's kind of like a bonding circle. It'll keep her there for now." Giles clenched his fists then closed his eyes. He moved his lips, murmuring something silently. He then opened his fists and directed the palms of his hands at Anya. A blue bubble-like substance floated to her, then around her. It then became dimmer and dimmer, until you couldn't see it. But it was there. Giles demonstrated by throwing a book at her. It bounced off the invisible wall.
"She can't get out, we can't get in." Giles stated.
Anya was thinking something else, though.