Author's Note:

Not much happens in this chapter, it's more of a setup for later chapters.

For the entire duration of this story, I have had a couple of things in my mind that I have been working towards and that are key Points in the Story. I thought that I would need to drag out the battles and create plenty of battles etc etc for those points to come around. I have realised that I can considerably shorten the length of this story, but still keep the things I have been working towards.

In other words, I'm getting around to finishing this story a lot quicker than I previously expected. Expect maybe another 10 – 15 chapters or so until the end, if that.

Faith will not be heard from for a while, she's off getting ready for one of these 'points' I've been working towards… just so you know, this point of Faith's that's gonna happen I've had in mind ever since she appeared in Post Grave, so it will be damn good.

The Chapters will be comming along quicker now, i have gone and made a list of everything that needs to happen for this story to 'end'... in other words, a bullet point list of points. All i have to do for each chapter is go and flush them out in cronological order and maybe add in a couple of things. Quicker chapters, ie, one every day, or every two days at worst unless i get stuck.

Chapter 34

Paving the Way

Los Angeles - California

They had made an abandoned apartment building their home over the last couple of days. She knew that they were safe from the commotion going on around them as they had erected a shield around the building. It was here that her and her fellow witches would wait until Amy received word that the time was right to strike out against Willow. Until then, she had been meditating and memorising all kinds of spell techniques and refining her power. Soon, she would be a walking grimore able to do almost anything that was within her power.

He looked up at the large map of Los Angeles that was displayed on the wall in front of him by a projector. It was believed that civilians had evacuated most areas of the city, and those that hadn't and hadn't found a safe shelter were now dead. Other areas of the map showed where the largest concentrations of vampires and the new enemy in the black hoods were located. The green areas of the map showed the areas in which they had received reports of groups of civilians barricading themselves in buildings and forming teams and fighting off any vampires or black hooded beings that they could. Riley Finn and the two police officers had safely made it inside the O Ops, now permanent base in Los Angeles, and Riley was now one of the squad commanders sitting in on the briefing of the circumstances which were now in place. The Commanding Officer of the O Ops facility had set up a defensive electric fence around the compound they were now in. What was happening, as far as O Ops knew, was explained to the two Police Officers, and they had agreed to become a part of the O Ops operation, and had been put into training immediately. The entire O Ops division was being recalled to Los Angeles. Eventually, they were going to try and retake Los Angeles, but the short term goals were to set up some teams to rescue as many civilians as they could.

"What we know is that simultaneously, these black hooded creatures, which we will call BH's, appeared all over the world in all major cities and have now started slaughtering as many things as they could. What makes Los Angeles different from any other city in the world is that we learnt thanks to Colonial Finn, is that there was also an underground vampire movement which was aimed at taking over Los Angeles. Some kind of magickal shield has been put over the city preventing sunlight from reaching the ground, allowing the vampires twenty-four hour access to the city," the General said at the front of the room. "We do know that within the next 24 hours, the President is going to divulge every scrap of information we have to the world's governments and will address the Nation, and every other country receiving broadcast from us." There was a break as the General collected his thoughts and breath. "So far, we know that this is a global, coordinated attack against humanity and has been thoroughly planned out. Recently we learned of coordinated attacks against the Watchers Council, effectively destroying the organisation. We do know that most of the attacks came from within, and we do now know how their ranks were penetrated," the General explained. "Therefore it is going to be standard for a complete security check every time someone comes back onto this base. We do not know anything about these new hostiles, except that a bullet to the head, or a couple to the body will effectively drop them permanently, and we have no clue what kind of hostile, or group of hostiles could orchestrate an attack of this magnitude,' The General Explained. Riley saw an opportunity to interject, and he did so.

"Sir, I have a suggestion as to how to obtain information about these new hostiles, and what may in fact be going on," Riley said to him out loud. The General looked to Colonial Finn

"Well by all means, go ahead Agent Finn," The General said.

"The group of civilians in Sunnydale, The Slayer and her group. We could ask them for information," Riley stated. Riley thought that the General was going to argue against that point, but what came next was a complete surprise to him.

"Very well Agent Finn."

Sunnydale – California

They had managed to fight off the creatures and were all now in the Summers' Lounge room, recuperating. They had learned from Oz, Brett, Naomi and Nicola that the creatures were called Bringers and were agents of The First, and that if they were here in this many numbers, then things were definitely not going good. That had inspired Willow to get acting on her plan immediately, and she was up and trying to get everyone motivated to go out and look at the houses next door and see if the residents had left yet. She was sure that they would have, considering that they would have been killed by these Bringers, if it wasn't for them. Once everyone was up and moving about, Willow started finding some spell books to find a proper barrier spell to use. It was this kind of control that she needed to practice more of. She was absolutely sure that she would be able to create an effective barrier without any spell books, by using her own knowledge, but she also knew that that wasn't the best thing to do. Her knowledge consisted of dangerous shortcuts and incorporating negative magick into the mix. Willow was surprised to find Tara and Nicola come over and help her after a while.

There had been another train of thought running through Willow's mind as well as getting themselves set up defensively, and so far, she had been to afraid and too busy to go down that path. Her mind was starting to wonder down there when the reason to stop worrying came in through the front door, covered in blood.

"Buffy? Where have you been? Are you hurt?" Willow said. Buffy just looked at her.

"No, I'm fine. Where's everybody else?" Buffy asked.

"They're investigating the neighbouring houses for places to stay," Naomi answered for Willow.

"Oh… that's a good idea," Buffy replied.

"Where have you been all this time?" Willow asked her.

"Would you believe, dying, being brought back to life better than before, and kicking the ass out of these creepy things with no eyes?" Buffy replied.

"Yes, I would," Willow, Tara and Naomi replied instantaneously. Just then, the phone rang. Buffy let it ring for a while before she went over and answered it. Willow just heard her say Hello and then didn't hear anything for a few minutes. Then, she heard Buffy stammer and say something about Giles. Willow watched as Buffy went out the front of the house, and came back in a minute Giles in tow. Buffy then came and plonked herself down on the seat across from Willow.

"Who was it?" Willow asked. Buffy looked up at her.

"It was Riley, with some really bad news, and needing our help," Buffy replied. Willow hadn't been expecting that.

"What was the bad news?" Tara asked her.

"I'll let Giles tell everyone, he'll be able to explain it better," Buffy replied. There was a silence as no one in the group knew what to say. Willow wanted to know how their attempt was to get to Dawn, The Key, or whatever she was now, but she didn't want to bring up the subject in case she hurt Buffy, and from the sounds of it, it didn't go well at all.

Highway into Sunnydale – California

They were the only car headed into the now deserted town. All other vehicles that they could see were heading away from Sunnydale, and Towards Los Angeles, which would prove to be a fatal move by the residents of Sunnydale. Those residents which were fleeing in the opposite direction towards San Diego would have better luck. For Darla and Drusilla, it didn't matter. Darla was on the way to Sunnydale to look in on Connor, and if possible at all, make contact with him. Drusilla was just in for the ride, claiming that 'the Hellmouth's chomping away at the world' and that 'it was a sight she needed to see'. They were in a car that they had conveniently borrowed from Wolfram and Hart, and Darla was sure that their time was limited. Wolfram and Hart was helping them in a way by outfitting all of their vehicles with the same plexiglass that they used in their Offices, allowing Sunlight to stream in through the windows and have no affect on the two vampires. This allowed them to travel by day, as they were doing now. Darla was hoping that she could come to Sunnydale and stay underneath the radar, both that of Wolfram and Hart and that of the Slayer and her group.

Elsewhere in Sunnydale

Lindsey's week wasn't going too well at all. He had 'lost' Caelecae, the Old One that he was meant to be looking over on behalf of Wolfram and Hart, and 'guiding' her in the ways of the New World. So far, she had evaded him, and only come back to him every now and then, like a bird that knew that a particular house put food out every couple of days. He had come up with a couple of leads however on the whereabouts of the other two, Inanna and Illyria, and he was sure that Caelecae wouldn't be too far away. Last he heard, her mission was to find the pair of them, beyond that, he had no clue. The takeover of Sunnydale was going smoothly, as planned. The Bringers, Turokhan and Vampires were making short work of the remaining populace that resided in the city. After that was complete, they would move to attack the Slayer's residence. He was walking towards King Man's Bluff, confident that he would find one of the three Old Ones there. He emitted a magickal field which alerted the Bringers roaming the streets not to attack him, that he was on their side. It was a clever move by the magickal department of Wolfram and Hart right before the Bringers were brought into this plane of existence. He stepped into the middle of the street, and the air in front of him shimmered. A figure hidden behind a red cloak appeared along with a Syopher on either side of him (Reference to the Red Hooded Figure found in Chapter 22 – Catching Up which made the attack on the Summers' Residence when Oz Arrived). It pulled back it's cloak and looked to Lindsey.

"You're meant to be dead," Lindsey said to the figure. "I thought you had an accident in the O Ops containment cells, something to do with the electric field containing you?"

"All an illusion my friend," the figure replied. Lindsey looked to the two Syophers on either side of the person before him.

"You work for The First now?" Lindsey said, more of a statement than a question.

"I'm one of it's main magickal men now, hence the escort," the figure replied while pointing to his two sides.

"What do you want with me?" Lindsey asked.

"I have a job for you and your new protégée," the figure replied. There was a slight pause before the figure continued on. "She's headed towards Main Street to kill some Bringers because she's frustrated by the weakness of this world, just so you know," the figure added.

"Just so I know, thanks Ethan," Lindsey replied with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "What do you want us to do?"

"In exactly one week, I want you to be at the Hellmouth with Caelecae, and possibly Illyria or Inanna if you can manage it. The First has something it needs to do with them," Ethan Rayne said to Lindsey. "And if you're not there, let's just say that these two are very good at all kinds of torture," Ethan added.

"We'll be there," Lindsey replied.

Sunnydale – California

They had all learned from Giles that the Bringers that had appeared in Sunnydale had appeared in every major city around the world and that thousands were presumed dead. From what Giles had told them, Riley had contacted them from Los Angeles which was not only infested with Bringers, but also vampires. They had learned that the entire military division of the Occult or O Ops as it is called is going to try and retake Los Angeles. They had also learned that the President would be addressing the nation and revealing all information that they knew about the occult, vampires, and the recent information that Giles had provided them about The First. They were now in the house behind the Summers' Residence, moving in all their things and setting it up. Angel's group, consisting of Wesley, Gunn and Connor were in the house beside them, diagonally opposite the Summers' residence, and the Potential Slayers were in the house next to the Summers'. Soon, they would begin setting up defences, Willow, Tara and Naomi already working on collecting everything needed for the barrier which would be set up around the four houses. Giles and Wesley were currently working out the logistics of effectively setting up a 'base camp' in which they would have to reside in indefinitely. As far as Oz was concerned, he had to make the house that they were staying in his new home, because they were going to be there for a while.

That's that, reviews would be much appreciated.

Much more will happen next chapter, I promise.

Next chapter, Chapter 35 – Hide and Seek

5