Cordelia wakes up with a groan on a hard wooden table. Surrounding her are her old friends from Sunnydale, "Ugh, Giles?"
Giles nods, "Hello Cordelia. How have you been?"
"Fine. What's up with your voice?"
Xander chuckles hysterically, "Phenomenal cosmic power, itty bitty living space. Well, actually, it's girls only, but, you know, why ruin a perfectly good line."
"Um, where am I, and who are these two?"
Giles points at Tara and Anya, "These are Tara and Anya. And, um, it seems like Buffy forgot she was holding you, when she flamed back here."
It's at this point that Buffy chooses to flame back in, "Hey guys, I found out who killed the people on the train. Couldn't find Angel though, so I don't know why she's left LA. Oh, Cordelia, I thought you were at the party."
Giles sighs, "Yes Buffy, she was at the party. You forgot you were holding her when you came her for the flyer."
Buffy looks at Cordelia, "Oh, yeah. You're really light, you know that don't you. You should eat more."
Cordelia laughs bitterly, "Oh, hardie ha, make fun of the poor ex-rich girl."
Buffy cocks her head to one side, "Oh, I didn't realize, sorry." She clicks her fingers, and a crab appears on the table, "Here, that should keep you going while I wrestle your new bodyguard away from Glory."
Cordelia scrambles off the table, and backs away from the crab, "How did that get there?" As Giles, Tara, and Willow, seem to be trying not to laugh, she zeroes in on Xander, "Xander, what's going on here?"
Xander shifts uncomfortably, "Um, well, you see… Um, Buffy, that is, she…"
Anya huffs, "What Xander's trying to say is that Buffy got infected with some alien parasite thingy, and it gave her weird funky abilities, and the ability to make people like her, become like her, not like her like her. She's now decided that we're, us humans and ex-demons, are too fragile compared to those that she's adopted into her family. So, she's assigned some of her children to look after us. I haven't seen them yet, but Xander has."
There's a pop, and a sleek, black, xenomorph appears standing by Buffy, and she absently reaches down to stroke it's back, "Here we go Cordelia. Even if you were a bitch at school, you were still my friend, and I don't have so many that I can afford to lose any. So, here's your new bodyguard."
Cordelia doesn't here her, as her eyes have fixated on the xenomorph, and she's whimpering, "The black tide, the black tide, the black tide is coming."
Buffy scoffs, "No, the black tide isn't coming. And, unless someone actually manages to kill me kill me, it will never come."
Cordelia's eyes flick up to Buffy, "You're the Black King that's fighting for the white."
Buffy sighs, "No, I'm a queen, and this isn't chess. Anyway, can one of you guys take her home, as mom wants to talk to me."
Giles stands up, "I'll do it, I haven't seen Wesley in ages anyway."
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A few days later, Buffy and Dawn are sat on the couch while Joyce shows off her new backless dress.
After doing a twirl, Joyce looks at her daughters, "So, what do you think?"
Dawn shakes her head, "I dunno, can you give us another twirl?"
Joyce gives another twirl, "So?"
Buffy shakes her head, "I'm not sure, do another one, more slowly this time."
Joyce obliges, and looks at them expectantly, only for Glory so say, "It looks good for something bought in a charity shop… Or a small city like Sunnydale. Why didn't you let me know you were going on a date, I'd have taken you to New York."
As Joyce looks a little upset, Buffy says, "Mom, ignore her, it looks fine. I'm sure your date will love it. Anyway Glory, what are you doing?"
"Me, nothing... I'm just waiting for my minions to find some more acceptable targets that Buffy won't object to turning into incubators."
Dawn's eyes go fuzzy, "Glory, why are you picking the stitches on Bens pants?"
"Because I'm not going to let him go to the Spring party with such horrible fashion."
As the good natured, and somewhat spiteful bickering starts, Joyce gets caught up in the back and forth, and forgets about her anxiety over the upcoming date.
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Tara and Anya are strolling through the pathways of Sunnydale just talking with each other.
Tara shakes her head slightly, "I still don't get computers. I mean, I've got access to all of Willows memories, but they still don't make sense to me. Do you really understand all that?"
Anya looks back at Tara, "Oh. Well, at first it was confusing. Just the idea of computers was, like, 'Woah, I'm 1,100 years old'. I had trouble adjusting to the idea of Lutherans."
"Well I go online sometimes, but everyone's spelling is really bad. It's depressing."
"But you have to try online trading. It's great. The secret is avoiding the tech companies everyone was jumping on, and going with the smaller firms that supply the basic components."
Tara expression says that she very much doesn't get it, yet she responds with a positive, "Uh huh."
"Anyway, I took the money from working for Giles, and I tripled it."
With a sense of disbelief, Tara says, "Tripled? Like, first money, then money, money, money?"
Anya smiles, "Yes. I'm thinking about buying something very expensive, maybe an antelope."
Their conversation is interrupted by a young woman trotting up to them and stopping just inside their personal space with a wide smile, "Hi."
When she doesn't say anything else, Anya ventures, "Hi."
"I'm looking for Warren. Do you know where Warren is? And if you do, could you tell me?"
Tara frowns, "Um, I don't think we know a Warren."
The woman nods and smiles, "Well, all righty. No harm in asking. Thanks." She then walks past them to a person sitting on a bench, to ask the same question.
A moment later, the two of them continue walking, and Tara carries on from where they were interrupted, "You can do all this stuff with a regular computer?"
Anya looks so happy when she says, "I'll show you. You can also see the website I designed for the magic shop. Huge photo of me."
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Later, Buffy and her friends are all at the university's spring party. As she finishes her obligitary dance with Xander, Buffy moves off of the dance floor, over to the punch bowl, where she doesn't need to be so careful about her tail.
As she leans against a pillar, and starts to people watch. Ben walks over to her, holding a cup of punch, "Buffy"
Buffy looks over at her name, "Ben! Hey. I wasn't expecting to see you. I see you managed to find some non-medical clothes to wear."
Ben looks down, "Actually, these are orthopedic pants." Buffy looks down, and grimaces, so Ben adds, "Man, that sounded so funny in my head."
Buffy sighs with relief, "Oh good, you didn't have wardrobe problems."
It's Ben's turn to grimace, "Actually, I think I did something to annoy my sister, and these were the only ones I could use."
Buffy shrugs, "At least she's laid off on the random killing of people that annoy her."
Ben looks thoughtful, "Yeah, not sure what's going on there. Or how you know so much about it."
Buffy shrugs, "We had a conversation a while ago, and I made it clear that the key's off limits. We reached an agreement, and we've started including her in some of our social stuff."
Glory laughs, "Ha! As if, you gave me a choice of involuntary exile somewhere who knows where, or basically submit to you. I'm so proud."
Ben takes a sip of his drink, "Anyway, are you having fun?"
Buffy smiles and nods, "I am actually. Though I've recently discovered the joys of people watching. What about you, are you enjoying yourself?"
Ben smiles, "I am now. Look, I just need to dump this, I'll be right back." He indicates his empty cup.
Buffy nods, and goes back to leaning against the pillar and listening to the life that's happening all around her.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the party, by a bar, Willow, Xander, and Anya, are all chatting. Anya picks up a bowl of snacks, and takes out a square snack that looks like it's been woven together, "Look at these tiny grain patties. They're woven. That's craftsmanship."
As she eats it, Xander makes an Um shape with his mouth for a moment, before saying, "They aren't handwoven, you know."
Anya looks up at him, before going back for another handful, "Then how?"
"Well, it's a machine, and it's… It sort of… It presses. And there may be a mold of some sort…" Xander trails off as a young woman, with long straight dark hair, starts to make her way through the crowd, "Who's that?"
Anya turns around and cranes her neck to see. When the girl calls out "Warren" loud enough to be heard, Anya nods as she finishes a mouthful of snacks, "Oh, that girl. Tara and I met her. She speaks with a strange evenness, and selects her words a shade to precisely."
Xander gestures with his hand, "Well, some of us like that kind of thing in a girl."
Tara joins the three of them, "What girl?"
Willow nods in the woman's direction, and Tara follows her gaze, "Oh, yeah, that one. She was a bit freaky, even by Sunnydale standards."
As the woman walks over to the group, Tara and Willow both sigh and face palm.
On the other side of the party, the reason for the face palm is Spike approaching Buffy, "Small world."
Buffy turns to look at Spike with a frown as he blithely continues, "Oh, dear. If looks could stake. Are you having fun, pet? You, uh, trolling for your next ex?"
At the word ex, Buffy's expression lights up like a ray of sunshine, "Oh, Spike, you're back. Drusilla will be so happy."
"Uh… Dru's here?"
Buffy beams a smile at Spike, "Yep, and you're going to have so much fun together. Come, I'll take her to you."
Spike backs away, "No, I think I'm fine right where I am now."
Buffy lashes out with her tail, and stabs Spike through the thigh, before they both pop out, and reappear in Spikes crypt, "Drucilla, I've brought a gift for you!"
Drucilla climbs out of the downstairs portion of the crypt carrying a couple of heavy black, triple lined, golfing umbrellas, "I knew you was coming Spikey. The pixies in my brain told me. I came here to save you, but the pixies were wrong, and you weren't here. Now you're here, and we're going where the pixies don't change."
Buffy give Spike a shark like grin, "Today, you're going to Calcutta. If you ever come back here again, and try any sort of romantic shit with me. Or piss me off in any other way. I'll be sending you to Puerto Williams in Chile, even if I have to swim there myself to learn its location. Unless it's summer, at which point I'll send you to Norlisk, in Siberia. Which is north of the artic circle, meaning the sun doesn't set for multiple weeks at a time. Do you understand?"
Spike scoffs, "Why, are you scared of a little vampire loving?"
"Actually, I'm not interested in any 'loving' and I know you're harmless to the human population. Let's get the two of you out of here, as I think Drucilla has been developing a complex about me and my children."
Drucilla shoves one umbrella at Spike, before opening her own, "Come on Spikey, it will be just you and me, like old times."
Spike opens his mouth to object as the three of them are surrounded by a pillar of fire, and reappear beside a mansion on the edge of Calcutta. As his skin starts to smoke, Spike leaps under Drucilla's umbrella and struggles to open his own.
With a huff, Buffy takes Spikes umbrella, and opens it for him, "There, now you're not going to burn to death. Word of warning, this mansion is a Watcher outpost. So, you may not want to be near here. Goodbye."
Spike starts to swear as Buffy disappears, and he realizes that his life is reduced to this tiny circle of dark shadow from the umbrella.
Drucilla turns around with aplomb, and starts to walk off with her umbrella perfectly positioned, "Come along Spikey Wikey, I have procured us lodgings until night time."
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Wesley's pouring over a thick tome while Cordilla is reading through a smaller, and newer, book looking for any information that could help them with their current case.
Both of them stumble backwards as a xenomorph appears in the office in a pillar of flame. As soon as she recognizes it, Cordelia huffs, rights her chair, and sits back down.
When the xenomorph places a live lobster on the table, she lets out a scream and knocks her chair over again as she backs away from the lobster.
Wesley points in the Xenomorphs direction, "Wh-What is that thing?"
Cordelia shouts, "It's a lobster, get it away from me."
"No, not that, That!"
The xenomorph goes invisible again, as he talks and Cordelia backs against the wall, "That's phantom, my new bodyguard, now do something about that lobster!"
When the phone starts to ring, Cordelia edges around the table, and heads to the desk with the phone, to answer it.
"Angel Invest… Gunn!... Of course we can handle this eye thing without you… That's not the point… Just that maybe we should back you up on this… Because I don't want you to get hurt… Of course I do, but—Hello?"
With a huff she puts the phone down while Wesley carefully grabs the lobster behind its claws and carries it through to the small kitchen area, "What did Gunn want?"
Cordelia sighs, "Ok, Gunn's about to do a really stupid thing."
Wesley starts the water running, "What did he say?"
"Just that in order to find out if the police have been brutalizing and killing people in Anne's neighborhood, he's going to videotape the cops trying to brutalize and kill him."
Wesley pokes his head back through the door, "You can't be serious."
"Nothing says, 'Aha, I'm onto you' like being on the receiving end of a vicious police beating.'"
Wesley goes back to watch the sink, "You couldn't stop him?"
"Hello. Gunn. Stubborn. Synonyms."
"That can't be his plan, can it? I mean, it's a really dumb plan."
Cordelia walks into the kitchen, "Hey, Gunn graduated with a major in Dumb Planning from Angel University. He sat at the feet of the master and learned well how to plan dumbly."
Wesley turns off the faucet and goes back to his tome, "We're just going to have to let him do this."
Cordelia groans, "I'm sure he'll be fine."
"He wants our help, he knows where to call us."
"We'll work our gig, Gunn can work his."
Wesley takes one look at the wall of text in front of him, and looks back up again, "Right. Let's get down there and save him from himself."
"It's not like that third eye's really going anywhere."
With that, they both grab their jackets and leave, locking up behind them. The brief pop as Cordelia's bodyguard teleports outside, going unnoticed.
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Back at the party, Buffy reappears just in time to catch a guy that the strange woman has just thrown clear across a room. Carefully putting the guy down, she walks over to the woman.
"Look, I need to have a word with you."
The woman looks at her, "Do you know my boyfriend?"
Buffy looks at her open mouthed for a moment, "Ok, I thing you need to take a second and stop looking for your boyfriend."
That's as far as she gets, before the woman grabs her by both arms, and tries to throw Buffy the same way. Instinctively, Buffy's tail lashes out to control her fall, and spears its way through the woman's stomach, with a shower of sparks. With the change in momentum, Buffy is able to turn the throw into a flip, into a handspring, twist, and then land on her feet facing the woman cum robot, "Um, Willow, I don't think I can fix this. Help?"
Willow runs in from the other room, and then stops when she sees the woman/robot just standing there, and trying to walk, "Right, um, I can't do anything here, help me get her to the engineering department, and one of the electronics labs."
Once there, Willow first looks for some sort of charging port, and finds a data port in the back of the fembot's head. As she does, Buffy sits beside her and talks to her, while Willow looks for a cable and plugs it in to find out what's in April's head.
"Hey honey, I'm sorry about doing that, and I'm sure that Willow will be able to put you back together, tickity boo. Anyway, what's your name?"
"I'm April, what's your name?"
Buffy smiles, "I'm Buffy. So, why are you looking for your boyfriend?"
"He went out, and forgot to come back to his dorm."
Buffy puts her hand, comfortingly, on April's shoulder, "Oh, hun, I don't think he forgot…"
From behind April, Willow says, "Buffy, I don't think you should pursue that line of thought, I've got massive data spikes, and it's drawing more power than she can afford right now."
Buffy forces a smile, "Sorry about that April, let's table that until you're all better. I know, what are your favorite hobbies?"
April smiles broadly, "Oh, I love cooking for Warren. I love listening to him talk about his day at the lab, and his current projects. I also love to rub Warren, and give him oral…"
Buffy interrupts, "Right, right, I get the picture. Do you ever do other things that you enjoy when he's not around?"
April smiles again, "I buy presents for Warren, and I wait for him."
Buffy looks beseechingly at Willow, who taps a couple of keys on the computer, and April's eyes closed and she appears to go to sleep, "There, I've activated the sleep function. Buffy, April's programming is really screwed up. Who ever this Warren is, he's a genius, he's made April able to think, grow, and learn. Yet he's also an idiot, and locked all of that down so that she would only love him, and do what he says." Willow points at the screen, "Come and look at this. See this program here, 'Find Warren'. April wrote that herself. You can also see here, where she's already compensating for the damage you did earlier. If she had more battery power left, she'd have still been attacking you. Only Warren built a safety into her combat routines, that forces them to end if her available charge reaches a certain level."
Buffy nods along as though she understands, even though she only gets a fraction of what Willow said. Then she grimaces, "Willow, is she a person?"
Willow looks at Buffy sharply, "Yes. Well, not at the moment, but she has the potential to be one. I mean, she created her own program to allow her to come here rather than wait where Warren left her."
Buffy turns back to April and strokes her hair, as she tries to cry, "Then you need to save her. Get rid of all the Warren specific programming and give her the closest semblance to free will you can."
Willow looks at Buffy searchingly, "Buffy, what's going on? First, you killed those knights, now you're saving the life of a robot?"
Buffy looks up at Willow with red eyes, "Willow, I've sort of been forced to redefine what a monster is, in my head. Do you know how easy it was to separate the world into humans, demons, and vampires? With all vampires being evil, and need to be staked unless there's something preventing them from being evil. Like Spikes chip, or Angel's soul. Demons, are they randomly killing people, then they're evil monsters, and need to be destroyed. And Humans, they can be evil, but they're not monsters. But now I'm a Monster. Should I kill myself? I tried that. When Spike showed me Riley allowing a vampire to feed on him I went to a beach in LA and tried to drown myself. It didn't work, I just fell unconscious and changed into my queen body. Spent a couple of days hunting larger and larger prey as I molted every time my skin became too tight. When I woke up again, I was full size, and hunted down an orca so that I could make an ovipositor.
"If I'm not a monster, then doesn't that mean that my definition of monster was wrong? So I had to change my definition."
Willow stares at Buffy, her eyes slightly vacant as she looks at the newly available memories, "Buffy, I didn't realize."
Buffy shrugs, "I was hiding the memories from everyone, so no reason you could have known."
"Why now?"
"Because saving April doesn't make sense if you don't know. All people can be monsters, but not all monsters can be people. April might be a robot, but she's also a person; and we have a duty to save as many people as we can."
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In LA, Cordelia walks up the steps to the youth shelter that Gunn's friend Anne runs. There, she repeated knocks on the glass of the door until Anne herself opens it, while holding a pile of washing saying, "Sorry, no more… Hi. What?"
Cordelia smiles at Anne, "Gunn still here?"
Anne sounds surprised as she answers, "No. He left with his friends a little while ago. Why?"
From behind Cordelia, Wesley asks, "Did he say where he was going?"
Anne frowns as she thinks, "45th Street, I think."
Wesley raises a hand as he turns around, "I'll start there. I'm on my cell phone if you hear from him."
Cordelia calls after him, "Check in with me."
"Right."
Turning back to Anne, Cordelia sighs, "Looks like you could use some help."
Anne smiles wryly, "All of my regular staffers were too scared to come in tonight."
Cordelia smiles, "Where do you want me to start?"
Anne hands over the washing, "How are your laundry-folding skill?"
Cordelia looks at it and gapes a couple of times, "I'm an actress. I can fake it." As she turns around, she sees a girl wearing a top that she gave away a few months ago, "Hey! That's my…" As the girl turns towards her, she quickly amends it to, "Sorry. I have a shirt just like that. The girl at the store said it was one of a kind. Big fibber."
Chuckling, Anne goes to shut the door, when suddenly a black man runs up the stairs and holds the door open, "I'm sorry, I'm all out of beds."
The man looks through the doorway, "Oh, come on now, sweet thing. You know it's not safe for man or beast out here."
Anne sound apologetic as she tries to close the door, "I'm very sorry, but I really don't have any free beds."
Forcing his way in, the man closes the door behind him, "You don't have to worry about me, I'm sure I can find someone willing to share." His eyes follow a couple of girls who can't be older than 17 up the stairs, "Oh, yes. Plenty of candidates."
Cordelia throws the laundry on a chair and walks up to the man, "I really think it would be best if you left."
Anne adds, "You should probably go."
The man looks between both women, "This is a shelter, right?" Anne looks at him askance, "Well, it just so happens, I'm in need of a little shelter tonight."
As he bumps past Cordelia, she steps after him, "Hey. Hey!"
Anne touches Cordelia on the shoulder, "Let him go. I don't want any trouble."
Cordelia looks towards the mans back, and sighs.
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It's almost an hour later when Anne rushes to the door as someone urgently knocks on it. As she gets closer, she hears Gunn's voice calling "Annie, open up! It's G! Open up! Hurry!"
As she urgently opens the door, she's shocked to see Gunn and one of his friends holding Wesley up, while an ambulance driver holds an IV bag, and Gunn's other friend is looking around the street wildly.
Anne gasps, "Oh, my God, what happened?"
Gunn shuffles sideways into the room, "They shot him."
Anne calls after Gunn as he makes his way into the shelter, "Who did?"
"The cops. They're not human."
Anne stands there in shock for a moment, before closing and locking the door, then hurrying after them.
As Phantom listens to Cordelia's breathing and heart rate increase, as though she's under threat. Looking around, she can't see any signs of what could be endangering her, so she flames out to her Queen.
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Buffy looks up alarm when one of her workers appears in the lab where Willow is working to repair the circuitry inside April. As it appears, she dives into the workers memories to find out why it came back, only for her grip to tighten on April's hand until it creaks alarmingly.
Alarmed, Willow shouts, "Buffy, you need to let go before you break April's hands."
Buffy releases the robot's hand, and skims Willow's mind to see how stable she thinks April is, while she also sends a command to the worker to return to Cordelia.
Over the hive Buffy calls, "Anyone that's not currently at a party, or on a date mom, I need you to go to this worker as Wesley has been shot, and the others are in trouble. I'll catch up with you in a moment." Out loud, she turns back to Willow, "Willow, keep working on April, and have Tara help you, as I think she's not suited to what might be happening there."
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Everyone surrounding Wesley, and isn't involved in his emergency care, gasps as a pillar of fire runs across the ceiling.
Ignoring the gasps, Cordelia asks Gunn, "What can I do to help?"
Gunn stands up and hands her a wad of clean surgical pads, "Keep pressure on the wound."
Cordelia nods, and kneels down where Gunn was, before removing the soiled pads, and placing the new ones over the wound.
Less than a minute later, those gasps turn into screams as Phantom reappears in a pillar of fire. The man who forced his way in, draws a gun from his waistband, and opens fire on the space the xenomorph was occupying. Taking a few shots in her body, Phantom disappears with a pop, and pulls house-elf invisibility around herself while stands on the pillar above the man with a gun. As soon as Giles and Dawn appear in a flash of fire, she grabs the man and disappears to the air space above the nest.
Gunn just about has time to shout, "Jackson? What are you doing man!" before he disappears.
Dawn looks down at Wesley, and immediately pulls Cordelia and the padding off the wound, and starts to cry over it. The tears coming easily, as it's the first time she's seen anything like this. At the same time Giles looks around for anyone that might have been hit by the bullets, or the acid from Phantom's blood, and starts to force himself to cry, and apply the tears to the various wounds.
Startled, the EMT reaches out to stop Dawn, only to freeze as the wound starts to heal, "What the hell?"
A soaking wet Buffy appears in a pillar of fire, holding a face hugger, "Well done Dawn, just a few more tears and he'll be safe. Wesley, I'm going to put this on you to keep you breathing and your blood pressure up for the next hour." She glances over at Giles, "I'm sorry it's not a dud, but I only have adoption or live eggs at the moment. That means that you'll be undergoing some changes over the next few days. Do you understand?"
The EMT's eyes widen, "Hey Lady, you can't just go putting alien things on people."
Weekly Wesley nods, "I understand." And Buffy gently places the face hugger over his face. Due to blood loss, Wesley wouldn't be able to put up a fight, even if he wanted to.
Giles looks back and murmurs, "I hope you're not too attached to your masculinity."
As Phantom reappears on her own, Gunn's friends go to draw their knives, but Gunn puts his hand on their shoulder, "Woah, he's on our side at the moment. We can save the slaying till after this is over, and we can talk to the Slayer over there about what the hell is going on."
As if she heard her title, Buffy walks over, "So, Gunn, what's going on? And why are so many cars pulling up outside?"
Gunn gasps, and runs over to the window. Looking out, he swears and shouts, "Lock all the doors! Keep everyone away from the windows."
Anne backs him up, "You heard him. Let's go. Come on."
Buffy rolls her eyes and walks over, "What's going on?"
"We really don't have time for this."
Buffy huffs, "Well, make time, as I can't really help if I don't know what's happening."
"Fine, dead cops that are walking around and beating up innocent black kids who's only crime is to be homeless. We caught 'em on camera, and they shot Wesley. Now they're here to kill us."
Buffy smiles broadly, "Yay! Guilt free slayage."
As she pops outside, Glory appears in a flash of fire, and her eyes go vacant before she pops outside too.
When the kids that are moving furniture against the windows scream and gasp, Gunn rushes to the window, and stops as his mouth drops.
Outside, a much, much, larger version of Phantom is fighting/playing alongside Glory, while the dead police officers are emptying their weapons into the two of them.
Gunn jumps when Dawn squeezes in front of him, and starts cheering Buffy on.
With Wesley now clear of strange people crying on him, the EMT carefully probes the wound area, taking note of every time Wesley winces. Looking up at Cordelia, he says, "I think he's bleeding internally."
Cordelia takes Wesley's hand, "How long do we have?"
The EMT shakes his head, and takes the pulse at the ankle, "I don't know. He's blood pressure's normal, but his pulse is virtually non-existent at his ankle. That means he's body is prioritizing the brain and vital organs. Beyond that, I'm just an EMT, he needs a proper hospital. The saline will help, but if he's lost too much blood, he'll need an infusion to increase his hemoglobin levels."
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Once it became clear that these police officers could take grievous wounds, and keep going. Buffy and Glory silently seem to turn the fight into a game, where they'll see how much damage they can do to the bodies before the animating magic gives up.
Around 5 minutes into the contest, the kids at the window have either cleared out, or are cheering the two of them on. Abruptly, all of the officers that are still moving, stop moving, and their features return to that of whatever stage of decomposition they were in when they were animated.
Buffy shrinks down into her human form, her hands on her hips, and looks at them, "Oh poo. I was sure the next one would win, I was going to carve his head and heart from the rest of his body."
Glory laughs, "I win. Yay for guilt free slayage. You should find more things like this, it's fun. Oh, and dibs on the new worker."
Buffy looks at Glory, "What new worker?"
"The one that Cordelia's bodyguard took away when he started shooting at her." Buffy opens her mouth to say something, but Glory smiles, "Don't worry, I'll just go and fix him to the wall so he doesn't drown once his face hugger falls off."
As she disappears in a pillar of fire, Buffy turns around, only to see Gunn and Cordelia carrying Wesley out to the Ambulance, that's parked just outside the shelter.
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Buffy and Dawn return home just in time for Joyce to push open the front door, "Buffy, how could you let Dawn go into a situation like that?"
Buffy laughs, "Mom, how exactly would I have stopped her. Now, how was your date. In your own words, not your memories."
Joyce smiles widely, "It was wonderful. Brian was absolutely charming, and we've agreed to meet up again."
Buffy pushes the door closed behind her mom, and Joyce turns around mischievously, "Oh darn, I left my bra in the backseat of the car."
Dawn covers her ears and runs up the stairs as Buffy exclaims, "Mom! Are you pulling my leg?"
Joyce smiles widely, "Of course I am dear… I actually left it in the restaurant."
"Mom! I don't need to know this!"
"On the dessert trolly"
Buffy flees upstairs herself.
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Wesley's eyes flutter open, to find himself lying in a hospital bed. Movement to one side has him glance down to see Gunn sitting there.
Gunn says, "Hey."
Wesley whispers "Hey." As his throat feels sore.
Gunn smiles, "How you doing?"
"Ah… I feel I should be in a great deal of pain."
Gunn cocks his head, "They had to cut the bullet out of you, as it was caught in a muscle. They also had to drain your abdomen of blood, shit, and viscera."
"And yet…" Wesley lifts up his left hand and looks at it, "Is this morphine?" Gunn nods, "Well, it's bloody lovely."
They both share a chuckle, and a couple of fist bumps.
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Outside the room, Cordelia approaches Angel from behind, as he's watching through the window to Wesley's room.
"What are you doing here?"
Angel looks uncomfortable, and puts his hands in his pockets, "I heard about Wesley."
Sarcastically Cordelia says, "Well, that's great. Too bad it takes a gunshot wound to make you give a crap…" Angel stares at her silently, "Wesley doesn't need you right now. We don't need you. You walked away. Do us a favor and just stay away."
When Angel doesn't respond, she walks around him to Wesley's room, Phantom following behind her.