Knights of the Intrepid

Disclaimer: Don't own anything you recognize.

§◙§

The Land of the Rising Sun; Tokyo; Watchers' Council Headquarters; September 28th, 2016:

Keiko watched with silent jubilation as her Slayers moved stealthily through the halls of the building, killing any Watchers they found and enslaving any mages they caught. They had already gone through the process of discovering what they knew, using the two Wiccan Slayers at her disposal to discover what Council and demonic information the Watchers had to offer.

After that, they had begun disposing of the human baggage and took control of the powerful mages. However, they would keep one Watcher, the Head Watcher, alive to continue 'reporting in' while she would train her Slayers and any other allies they could gain in preparation for what was coming.

She looked to her left as she heard a groan of pain from the Head Watcher, and saw the beautiful redhead gasping for breath, with a deep gash inside her left side, leaking blood onto the floor.

"Please," she cried, "Stop this!"

"I don't think so," Keiko sneered, "You're lucky we need you alive, otherwise we wouldn't have done that healing spell. It should be kicking in by now."

"…Why are you doing this," Dawn asked.

"Because," Keiko stated, "It's what we've always done."

§◙§

The People's Republic of China; Hong Kong; Watchers' Council Headquarters; September 28th, 2016:

Chao-Ahn rammed her sword through her Watcher's stomach, reveling in the feel of his life escaping his body as he looked at her in disbelieving shock. He had been an accomplished martial artist before becoming a Watcher, and he had trained her, as well as many other Slayers, well. Now, he wished he had never done so.

She raised her voice above the din and issued out the order to search the premises and kill any remaining Watchers. However, she did tell her lesser Slayers to be wary…some of the people on base weren't Watchers or mages, and they were to be treated well.

After all, they weren't monsters.

§◙§

The Federal Republic of Germany; Berlin; Watchers' Council Headquarters; September 28th, 2016:

Robin Wood backed away quickly, fleeing into the security bunker that had been in place since the days when Hitler had ruled in Nazi Germany, with a multitude of Watchers and mages behind him. The sudden mass coup d'état of every Watcher HQ on Earth escaped his grasp entirely, for he had his own problems to deal with.

The main one at the moment being that every Slayer formerly under his command had committed to destroying the Watchers and doing something strange to the mages.

He came to a stop at the final door that would stand between them and the Slayers (there was one more, but, it was coming down quickly). He stood at the entrance and rushed people inside, trying to get them to what safety he could provide for them.

"Hurry up," he yelled, "Get inside, let's go!"

"Hey, Robin," he stopped to look at Daniel Cohen, a former detective from Oregon who'd joined the Watcher ranks a few years after the Calling, "I remember the schematics to this bunker. There's a secret passage that leads into the sewer system, we can use it to escape."

"Well, get on that," Robin ordered, and Daniel went to try and find it, "Alright, listen up," he shut the heavy door, and two Watchers locked every lock on it that they could, hopefully buying them some time before the Slayers managed to break through, "Everyone will follow Daniel once he gets the passage open, he'll lead you to the surface.

"Now, I need some volunteers…to…stay with me," Robin said heavily, "To buy some time for everyone else once the Slayers break through. I wouldn't ask, but…I didn't think anything like this would ever happen."

As if to emphasize his point, the door was suddenly rocked by a gigantic force…the force of a Slayer embedded her fist into the metal.

"I got it," Daniel said, and a slab of concrete moved over where he was standing, revealing a passageway that would lead them to safety.

"Go with him," he ordered, "Those who'll stay…stay. I'm not telling, nor asking, just stating that…I can't do it alone."

He'd always thought that if the time come, he'd tell everyone to go, sacrifice himself for the greater good. Instead, here he was, trying to keep people with him when he died. Intellectually, it was wise…more people would help to slow the Slayers down. Robin, though, didn't think it was the best thing he could do, but…it was what he was doing.

Sighing, he turned away from the crowd and faced the door, which was beginning to wane under the pressure. He hefted up his sword, wishing that he had a rifle or even a pistol, knowing that it would get him farther than any sword could.

"Here," he turned around and saw people leaving through the passage, but, four people were staying with him. Three were male, the third was a Wicca that had been trained by Willow. She would be the main factor in the upcoming battle, he knew.

The person who had talked to him was one of the men, a middle-aged man with two pistols, one in his right hand, and the other in his left, extended outward to Robin.

"You might live longer," the man, whom Robin regrettably did not recognize, said.

"…Thanks," Wood said, then, he turned his attention to the mage, "Set up a shield around the door."

She nodded and set to work.

"Let's face facts," he said, "We're going to die," they all, save the mage, nodded in agreement, "…If we're gonna die, let's die knowing each other's names."

"…Jerome," the middle-aged gun toting man said.

"Sid," a twenty-year-old WIT (Watcher-In-Training) said, hefting his shotgun up as he did so.

"Lex," the last one, an old man armed with an M-1 Garand from his old unit, said, "And that's my granddaughter, Karen."

"I'm Robin," he told them, "Nice to meet you."

"It's up," Karen said, and it was just in time, for at that moment, the door gave way, revealing the Slayer forces in their entirety…along with their leader.

"Wood," Rona snarled as she and her Slayers stood just at the threshold, with the doors beyond the barrier that had come up completely just after their destruction, "I'm going to enjoy ripping your spine out."

"Why're you all doing this," he asked, truly curious despite his misgivings.

"It's what we do," Rona said with no sarcasm.

She tried to take a step forward, but her face ended up scrunched as she walked right into the barrier.

"What the," she muttered, backing away with a glare, "Oh, I get it. Make a barrier to stop us. Well, don't worry. We know about that passageway that leads into the sewers," Robin backed away from her at that, "My bet is that you should be hit there…right…about…"

Roars filled the air from the passage…very familiar roars.

"Now," Rona finished with a smile.

"Get ready," Robin screamed, and the group set up a defense for the room, centered around the passageway.

"Let's go," Rona said, and the Slayers walked away as the vampires began the blood fest.

§◙§

The United States; Boston, Massachusetts; Watchers' Council Headquarters; September 28th, 2016:

Faith watched with a predatory smile as the Watchers were killed and the mages were taken captive, relishing in the bloodshed that they were doing.

She remembered going from good to bad to good again. It had been a bumpy ride just to end up back where she had been before. She didn't consider herself, or her daughters, to be evil. She just considered them all to be…better. They had a goal, they had plans, and they would see them through to the end.

She sighed as she looked over to the other side of the chamber.

Through those doors, inside of a white padded room, was a wild beast…a beast called Dana.

After her retrieval, Dana had been…well, uncontrollable…unsolvable. None of the Council's healers, shrinks, or mages had been able to help her…and that was for the best, Faith knew that now. Now…they had a highly toned creature that wanted nothing more than to cause death and destruction.

Oh, she couldn't wait to unleash her on the world.

§◙§

Dana writhed in her cell, feeling a horrible amount of pain…not the pain of any of the Slayers, her sisters and two mothers, but that of their victims…people everywhere, dying in agony due to the actions of her brethren.

Dana was unlike any Slayer before her, or after her…she had received her powers while mentally unstable. She heard voices, the voices of people that she had never even met before, the voices of her family…the voice of their killer and her tormentor.

But, the voice that had been tormenting her for years now…it was new, still new to her. It would whisper things to her, tell her to do things…and, sometimes, she found it incredibly difficult to stop herself from doing those things. She heard what it wanted…and, she would probably be out there with them if it weren't for the voices of the past Slayers, the Slayers who had died long ago…they told her not to, helped her, encouraged her.

Now, she knew what she had to do.

The voice itself had stopped not too long ago, only an hour or so, and now, the pain came solely from the headache that came with her release. But, the voices were all doing their part to help her. So, when she ripped through the straightjacket that held her captive, the pain was dulled slightly, but nowhere near where it could have been.

With remarkable clarity for a mad woman, she walked up to the door (with several different varieties of locks, totaling to a staggering seventeen in all) and began to kick it out.

§◙§

"Mistress Slayer," an enslaved mage approached Faith, "Dana has escaped."

"Good," Faith smiled, "She must really want in on the-"

She paused, her eyes going far-off as she stared ahead, seemingly devoid of all life. After a moment, she stood up from her seat, and began running out the office.

"Priority alert," she yelled at the mage, "Dana must be found and killed!"

§◙§

Dana watched from her place in the air ducts as the Slayers milled about, dead bodies completely ignored as though they were nothing. Suddenly, they all tensed up and stared off…then, moving as one, they raced in all directions, taking whatever weapons they could.

They knew.

She crawled through the ducts as quickly as possible, not pausing to pick a direction when she came to a crossing, just continuing to veer right, hoping that she would eventually find her way through to the outside of the building…to freedom.

"There," she heard a voice below her say, and she heard the thwack of bolts coming her way…fortunately, none of them penetrated the duct system. They were wooden tipped and wood simply couldn't cut through metal.

She grabbed the bracelet she'd been forced to wear and chucked it back down behind her, as far as she could.

"After her," she heard below her, followed by the sound of running.

Sighing, Dana continued along her way.

After another quarter hour, she was at a vent that led outside to a grove of trees, trees which gave way to a stream, and that stream flowed down to Boston.

She kicked the vent out and leapt down to the ground below, climbed over the fence, and ran as fast as she could into the trees.

As she did so, she felt eyes on her back.

§◙§

Faith watched with a scowl as Dana made her escape.

§◙§

The United Kingdom; London, England; Watchers' Council Headquarters; September 28th, 2016:

"I don't understand why she would do this," Willow said to Kennedy as she followed her down the hall to where Xander's cell lay, "He defended himself after two Slayers attacked him. Even if they were underneath some kind of influence, it was still life or death!"

"They were Slayers, Willow," Kennedy reminded her.

Willow stared at her girlfriend in disgust. After Sunnydale, she and the Hispanic girl had had an on-again, off-again relationship, one which was infamous amongst most mages and Slayers. They were back on again, and showed no signs of going off…that is till Xander had been locked up for killing two Slayers.

Willow and Xander had worked hard after Sunnydale to rebuild their relationship and, she thanked the Goddess for this every day, they had finally gotten back to where they had been before Buffy's arrival in Sunnydale. Back then, she would have sided with Buffy or Kennedy immediately but, she had learned her lessons when it came to friends. She was going to be there for him now, no matter what anyone said or did.

Kennedy got the meaning of her look and hastily added, "Buffy just wants Xander safe. You know some Slayers won't care if it was self defense, they'll want his head anyway."

Willow sighed, realizing that Kennedy had a point. It was one thing to lock someone away because they'd killed someone you'd liked better, but, it was a completely different story when you locked someone up for their own good.

"Why are we down here, anyway," Willow asked, "These are the apartments for the Watchers who stay over to do work."

"Buffy put him in the room right here," Kennedy pointed, "She wanted him to feel comfortable."

Willow smiled, completely convinced now that Buffy had had her friend's best interests in mind. She and Buffy hadn't been on speaking terms since she'd started to date the Immortal and they had momentarily connected again after she'd dumped him but, then, she'd started this whole new string of 'We're Slayers, we rock, you're nothing!' It was nice to see that she was doing better.

Willow opened the door and walked inside, saying, "Hey, Xand," as she did so, only to stop as she found that the room was empty.

"What-" she was cut off as she felt herself pulled backward suddenly, then, pushed away.

Willow hastily turned around, glaring at Kennedy as she did so. The girl had a smug look on her face.

"Where's Xander," she demanded, getting angrier by the moment.

"Where he belongs," Kennedy said, "He killed two Slayers, Will. No matter what you think, we'll always be more important than some one-eyed idiot."

Willow snarled, her hair starting to turn black and her eyes going even darker than they had before. She started to build up power to launch an assault, only to stop as she heard Kennedy say something. All of a sudden, she felt her very life flow out of her, a feeling she remembered well from Halloween of '97. She fought for it with all her strength and magic, and managed to keep it in. Kennedy shouted, and the pull increased, sucking even more of her away. Still, she fought, despite her growing fatigue. Kennedy shouted three more times, rapidly, and that was enough to force Willow down, the necklace that she had not noticed sucking away her will.

She collapsed to the floor in a heap, convulsing worse than ever.

§◙§

Kennedy turned around as she felt the presence of the most powerful being on the planet…she was smiling.

"You did well," Buffy said as she entered the room, "I knew she'd put up a fight, but…"

"Now, I get to do what I've always wanted to," Kennedy said with a triumphant smirk, "Kill Xander."

"I know how you feel about him," Buffy responded with a smile, "It's good. But, it's not good for us as a whole. Willow fought, hard, and she almost beat you. If Xander were to die, she'd feel it…then, will or no will, she would kill us all."

Kennedy sighed in frustration but, nodded all the same. She would obey her superior's orders.

"No one in London knows what's happened," Buffy stated with a grin, "It will be a few more days before we take the most powerful Watchers. Till then, keep silent about this. And be ready to act when necessary."

"Right," Kennedy agreed.

"In the meantime," Buffy glanced back at Willow, who was now simply lying on the floor, breathing and blinking as was instinctive, and doing nothing more, "Have fun."

"I will," Kennedy smiled.

As Buffy left, the girl turned back around and stared at the will-less form of her girlfriend.

"Stand," she ordered, and Willow obeyed, "…Take my clothes off."