Chapter 49: Showtime
July 8, 2003
Rona was the last one off the bus. As she slowly went down the metal steps, she looked around at the deserted area, anxious that no one was there to meet her. She crossed to the payphone, picked up the director dangling from a cable, and flipped through the pages. She found the one she needed and frowned. There was no listing for Buffy Summers.
Then, as she looked up, one of the black-robed, eyeless men she'd encountered before ran full tilt at her. He was armed with a wicked-sharp knife, and his grotesque face was grim with purpose. In terror, she turned to run. There were two more, their curved knives flashing as they arced over their heads.
Panicking, she backed up against the wall, her breath shallow and dizzy as she sank to the ground.
Oh, God, they're going to kill me . . .
The two suddenly sprang into the air and went flying off into opposite directions.
And Buffy and Dawn stood where they had been.
The third attacker tried to retreat and found Faith in his way while The First two rushed Buffy and Dawn. They swiped at the sisters, who in tandem grabbed their hands yanking their knives out of their grips and then stabbing them with their own knives. They doubled over, and the sisters kicked them, hard. After a tussle, they broke their necks.
When Buffy and Dawn looked to see if Faith needed a hand, they saw that the third one lay dead at Faith's feet, his knife stuck in his belly.
Then Dawn, Faith and Buffy walked over to Rona and Buffy said, "Rona, right? We just got word you were arriving."
Rona accepted Buffy's help as she got to her wobbly feet. "You're them," she said, in a daze.
"Here is us," Buffy concurred.
Rona took that in . . . and took in, too, that she had only been in Sunnydale mere seconds before she'd been attacked. "I thought, uh, they told me I'd be safe here."
"You are," Dawn said, "with us around. And we have lots of backup. You know witches and wizards."
"That's good," Rona allowed.
Dawn looked at her sister. "Hey do you think Hagrid could do any damage to the Turok-Han? You know being half-giant and all."
"His strength is probably equal to ours," Buffy said.
Thirty minutes later Dawn, Faith and Buffy walked in the front door with Rona in tow.
Buffy looked around and said, "You guys are still up?"
Xander sat up with a fake smile plastered on his face. "Ah. Who needs sleep?" he said ironically.
"Everybody, this is Rona," Buffy announced.
The others greeted her. Then Rona gestured to Andrew and said, "Why is that guy tied to a chair?"
Xander smiled tightly. "The question you'll soon be asking is, 'Why isn't he gagged?'"
Anya walked into the room with a sleeping bag in her arms and Giles came after, suggesting to Molly that she show Rona where the kitchen was.
"Fair enough. I'm a bit peckish meself," Molly said.
Rona echoed warily, "'Peckish?'"
"It's English," Harry said. "It means she's hungry."
Anya unrolled the sleeping bag and spread it over the floor.
Rona muttered, "Oh. Here I thought 'hungry' was English for 'hungry.'"
Buffy, Dawn and Faith told Harry, Sirius, Anya, Xander, and Giles about the welcoming committee. No one was thrilled. Obviously The First knew that Potentials were arriving in Sunnydale.
"The First's always going to be one step ahead of, Giles," Buffy pointed out. "We need to know how to stop it. No, not stop it, hurt it." Her features hardened as she looked at her former Watcher. "Tell us how."
"I don't know." Taking off his glasses, he squatted on his haunches, eye level with the rest of the room. "I've exhausted all the sources I have left with little result. The Watchers' records are still all we really have to go on."
"I contacted Dumbledore while you were out," Sirius said. "He said he will see what he can find at Hogwarts in the restricted section of the library."
"I made the rounds," Anya said. "Tried to dig up anything useful from the demon community. The ones that didn't attack me, didn't know anything or didn't talk. Either way, we've got squat."
"What about the Turok-Han?" Dawn asked.
"The vampire time forgot?" Xander riffed.
"Time may have forgotten him, but I sure won't," Dawn replied.
"We know stakes don't kill it," Faith said.
"Anything in those ancient books about what does? Sunlight? Fire? Germs?" Buffy asked.
Faith rolled her eyes at the last suggestion as she remembered the former Mayor of Sunnydale who had a problem with germs.
From the other room, Andrew called, "So, Giles, with that thing guarding the entrance to The First's crib, how will Buffy get to Spike?"
Giles had no answer to that.
Then the blonde Potential asked, "Well, do we have any kind of plan to keep us from dying?"
Buffy sighed. "We're working on it."
Giles joined Faith, Dawn and Buffy. He said reluctantly, "There is one avenue that we haven't tried yet..."
"Giles!" Anya protested.
"Beljoxa's Eye," Giles continued. "It's an oracle type creature that exists in a dark dimension. Only demons can open the gateway to it."
"Excuse me," Anya said hotly, "Ex-demon here."
"You've still friends in the fold," Giles argued. "Murderous acquaintances, anyway."
Anya appealed to Faith, Dawn and Buffy. "Look there's no reason to think this Beljoxa's eye will have any of the answers we're looking for."
Later Xander was untying Andrew.
"Ow, watch it," Andrew whined. "That's my joystick hand."
"Not touchin' that one," Xander said under his breath.
Buffy went back over the reasons Andrew was being let go. "We don't have time to baby-sit a hostage."
"Especially a hostage that's gotten a little ripe," Xander put in.
Suddenly aware of that, Buffy made a face and took a step back. "So . . . did you ever see the movie Misery?"
"Six times," he answered eagerly. "But the book was scarier than the movie 'cause instead of crushing his foot with a sledge hammer, Kathy Bates chops it off with . . ." And then he got it. He said in a little voice, "I'll be good."
Sirius came in from the kitchen, saying, "Buffy, got word from Dumbledore. Firenze told him that another Potential arrived in town yesterday. He said she's at a place called the Sun Spot."
"The Sun Spot Motel," Willow said putting two and two together. "That's near the highway."
"Firenze said that the one who had been watching had been killed, I would assume before he could tell anyone he'd sent her."
Buffy glanced out the window. There were at least a couple of hours of daylight left.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Buffy had tasked Dawn with training the Potentials. They were currently in the basement . . . and one, at least was very scared.
Her name was Eve, and she was pissing Dawn off with her morale busting whining in her sweet Southern-belle accent.
"Why are we all bothering?" Eve was saying. "It's not like we can make a difference."
"You have to be ready," Dawn pointed out. "If something comes down—"
"Something has already come down," said a Potential named Chloe.
"And what are we supposed to do about it?" Eve asked. "I mean, I've never seen a real vampire in my whole life, much less slayed one."
"I have," Dawn said.
"Of course, you have, you're a Slayer," Eve said.
"True," Dawn said. "But I didn't slay my first vampire till a few days ago. Before that I had never fought a vampire. I'm going to tell you a small story to paint a picture. I was nine years old. I followed Buffy; at the time I didn't even know Buffy was the Slayer. I followed her into this Master vampire's cave. Watched him drain her and leave her for dead. That was when her replacement was called. I cradled Buffy's head in my lap, begging her to wake up. But she didn't. It was a friend of ours, you've met him, Xander. He brought Buffy back. That was my first introduction to a vampire. Years before I was ever called as a Slayer."
"So, you're the current Slayer, right?" Rona asked as Dawn nodded. "That means if you die."
"Then one of you could be called," Dawn said. "Or it could be someone who had never been identified by the Watcher's Council. Buffy, Faith and I fell through the cracks. Buffy and Faith weren't identified till after they were called. The Watcher's Council didn't even know I was a Potential let alone a Slayer. Shoot I didn't know I was a Potential till about six months ago long after I was called. I didn't even find out I had been called as a Slayer till a few weeks ago. I had actually dismissed the fact that I felt stronger for nearly a year."
Eve looked around the basement at each of the Potentials. "Which means as our numbers dwindle it'll just run through each one of us, one after the other. Kinda creepy, huh?" She made a face. "All we do is wait around for each other to die." She sighed and added, "Just my personal opinion, but I don't think three Slayers can protect us from The First."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
At the Sun Spot Motel, Buffy and Faith briefly cased the joint, because the joint was deserted.
"Tourism must be down," Buffy observed.
"Right in the middle of apocalypse season," Faith mused.
Buffy knocked. "Hello?" Knocked again. "It's okay. We're friendly and we have eyes."
Faith peered through the window. Then she said, "Buffy, kick down the door."
Buffy did. They raced to the body on the floor. It was a girl, face down in a pool of her own blood.
"She's cold," Buffy told Faith. "She's been dead for days." She rolled the girl over and saw her face. It was Eve.
"Eve?" said Faith. "But she's been in the house for a few days."
"That was The First and it's been playing us this whole time," said Buffy as they left.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
In the living room, Harry was really wishing Andrew was elsewhere . . . at least tied up and gagged. Andrew was driving him insane, and he was trying to discover more stuff about The First, maybe something that everyone else had missed.
"Okay, here's another interesting thing: How come the Slayer is always a girl?"
"Personally, I'm alright that it's always a girl," Harry muttered to himself. He already had to worry about Voldemort, he didn't really want to add in being a Slayer on top of it. He didn't know how his sisters could do it. That said, he couldn't see himself not helping Buffy and Dawn either fight the forces of darkness.
"I think a guy Slayer would be badass," Andrew said enthusiastically. "Like, like, if there was this ninja, a guy Slayer would be like, 'You may be silent, but this'll shut you up!"' He did a karate move.
"Buffy and Dawn could defeat them easy," Harry murmured, barely listening.
"The silent warrior? Ha, ha, I think not. They can't even slay that special vampire." Harry glared at him. He shrugged. "Everyone's saying."
Harry glared at Andrew. "You should shut up. Before I ask my godfather for a jinx to make you."
Andrew was hurt, which only compelled him to keep yammering. "And also, why are Faith, Dawn and Buffy so about saving Spike? He's a way worse killer than me by . . . a way lot."
"Sirius!" Harry yelled.
"Harry?" Sirius said as he came into the room.
"Silence him," Harry said. "Please. He's driving me bonkers."
"Silencio!" Sirius said as he pointed his wand at Andrew.
Andrew tried to say something and found no sound came out of his mouth. He had truly been silenced.
"Thanks," Harry said.
At that moment Buffy and Faith burst in, they hurried through the house and down the stairs to the basement.
"Get away from them!" Buffy shouted.
Eve grinned at Buffy. "What's the problem, officer?" she drawled.
"Buffy, what did Eve do?" Dawn asked.
"That's not Eve," Faith announced.
"Eve's dead," Buffy told the group.
They were stunned, backing away from Eve, as Rona said, "I don't . . . I don't understand . . ."
"Whoops, one more down," Eve said cheerily. "Oh, well. Can't save 'em all, can you, Buffy? Faith? Dawn?" She grinned at the Potentials. "Thanks for the slumber party, girls. It's been real fun the last couple of nights. I learned a whole lot . . ."
"Shut up and get out!" Buffy yelled, enraged.
Eve faced Buffy. "Or you'll do what? I'll be sending a guest over to visit y'all later on tonight. After the sun goes down, of course." She smiled like the Southern belle she most certainly was not. "Try and make him feel welcome before he rips y'all to pieces. Bye!"
Then she became a long thread of light that winked out in the middle like an old-style picture-tube TV going off.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
The information the Beljoxa's Eye was imparting to Giles and Anya was doing nothing for Anya's morale.
"It cannot be fought, it cannot be killed," it told them. "Since before the universe was born, long after there is nothing else, it will go on."
"I refuse to believe that," Giles asserted. "There must be some way to destroy it."
"What, am I talking to myself here? There's no way," the Eye insisted.
Giles pressed. "If The First has been around for all this time, then why hasn't it attempted something like this before? Why now?"
"The opportunity has only recently presented itself," the Eye replied. "The mystical forces surrounding the Chosen line have become irrevocably altered, become unstable, vulnerable." It continued, "The First Evil did not cause the disruption, only seized upon it to extinguish the lives of the Chosen forever."
"Then what has caused the disruption?" Giles asked. "What is responsible for letting this happen?"
"The Slayers," replied the Eye.
Giles looked at the Eye and he began to understand. Buffy's drowning and resuscitation by Xander caused the disruption to form. As had been evidenced when The First had tried to get Angel to kill Buffy during Buffy's senior year in high school. Faith flatlining and being brought back by the doctors at the hospital the year before when Dawn had been called blew the disruption wide open.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Sirius, Harry, Buffy, Willow, Dawn, Xander, and, unfortunately, Andrew, were holding a pow-wow with the Potentials were gathered around the dining room table.
The girls were in not loving the lack of a countermove against their invasion by The First.
"We should run," Vi insisted.
"And go where, Vi?" Kennedy asked pointedly.
"Annabelle ran," Harry observed. "Look what it got her."
"It's safer in than out," Buffy insisted.
"How can you say that?" Molly demanded, staring at the Slayer. "It was here. In the house. Living with us for days."
"And you three didn't even know it," Chloe added accusingly.
"You're right," Faith said. "Buffy, Dawn and I didn't. No one did."
"It could still be here," Vi said. "It could be any one of us."
Willow spoke up. "No. The First can only take the form of dead people."
"Yeah, well, there'll be plenty more of those soon enough. We're dropping like flies here."
The girls started talking at once, arguing with each other, until Buffy, Dawn and Faith each called out, "Hey!"
They stopped, looked at the Slayers.
"Look, we know you're all scared. You know what? Faith, Dawn and I are, too, but Giles and Anya will be back soon, and hopefully they will have the information that we need to stop The First. In the meantime, we have to stick together, okay? We're stronger that way. We can't afford to fall apart now."
Andrew stepped up to the table. "She's right," he proclaimed. "Where would the Justice League have been if they hadn't put their differences aside to stop the Imperium and his shapeshifting alien horde?" He crossed his arms as if to say, Well?
Sirius glared at Andrew. "Don't make me regret removing that silencing charm."
Xander hesitated, then said, "Faith, Buffy, Dawn when the sun goes down, a Ubervamp will be on its way. A plan would be good about now."
Buffy turned to Willow, "Will."
Willow nodded in understanding as she looked at her wife. "I know. We need a barrier."
"A major one," Buffy agreed. "Something tells me this vampire doesn't need an invitation to get in the house. Can you do it?"
Willow said, "I'll try."
"Try?" Rona echoed.
"You heard her," Kennedy shot back.
Xander didn't want to speak in front of the girls, but he said, "Buffy, wouldn't it …"
"I trust my wife, Xander," Buffy said.
"What if it doesn't work?" Chloe asked shrilly. "What if that monster gets through?"
Buffy, Faith and Dawn looked at each other and then at Chloe. "Then we'll deal with it," Faith said as the Potentials looked at each other in shock.
"Deal?" Rona asked. "Fight, you mean. How are we supposed to do that?"
Vi chimed in, "And with what?"
"With whatever it takes," Kennedy insisted. She looked at the Slayers. "Right?"
Molly was not convinced. "Buffy, Faith, Dawn, you three fought three Turok-Hans," she said reminding them of the cave under the Christmas tree lot. "And they almost killed all three of you."
"And you're the real Slayers," Chloe added.
"What chance do we have?" Rona asked.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
The Harbingers of The First continued to congregate on the grounds of the Summers' home. They seemed to be waiting for something, and their presence was terrifying the girls, who were receiving weapons from Dawn and Faith.
"Why aren't they doing anything?" Molly asked. "Attacking?"
"They don't want in," Dawn told her. "They're here to make sure we don't get out."
Swords, spears, a crossbow for Kennedy, who knew how to use it . . .
"Can I have something?" Andrew pleaded. "C'mon. The Turok-Han's coming for me, too, you know. I have a right to defend myself." Dawn raised her brows and he added weakly, "If you say so."
She handed him a bottle of holy water, who clutched his only defense possessively to his chest.
Buffy watched Willow. "You are going to do fine, baby," she whispered.
Willow smiled at Buffy as she reached across and squeezed Buffy's hand. She picked up a votive candle and held it in her palm. It levitated, hovering in the air for a second before it fell back in her hand.
Dawn called, "Guys? Something's happening."
On the lawn, the Harbingers were parting to make way for three Turok-Han, who strode toward the door.
"Here they come," Faith said.
The Turok-Han began to beat on the door, growling.
Willow felt Buffy's hand in her own as she closed her eyes in deep concentration, reaching down to find the power, to wield it . . . "Caerimonia Minerva, saepio saepire saepsi . . ."
The door broke, and the Turok-Han stood on the threshold.
"Saepio impedimentum!" Willow cried, as her eyes went black.
The Turok-Han slammed up against an invisible force field. Enraged, it began to pound violently on the barrier, the impact causing the shield to ripple. With each strike, Willow grunted, her eyes flashing black.
"It's working!" Chloe cried.
"For the moment," Vi said.
Buffy checked in. "Will?"
"It's . . . it's strong," Willow grunted.
"Hang on, baby," Buffy said.
The Turok-Han pounded at the barrier more feverishly. Willow was beginning to convulse.
Harry cried, "She can't hold it!"
"What do we do?" Rona shouted, panicking. "What do we do?"
Buffy looked at her, coming to a decision. "Run. Everybody run!"
Xander led the way outside, leading the Potentials, who were carrying their weapons. Faith, Dawn and Buffy herded everyone along, Kennedy launched into action with her crossbow. Armed with a battle axe, Xander fought hand-to-hand, but he was overpowered. Just as his opponent was about to take him out, Sirius yelled, "Stupefy!"
The Bringer slid to the ground unconscious.
Buffy stabbed the Bringer.
The roar of the Turok-Han carried over them as the barrier fell.
"Come on!" Sirius said to Xander, and everyone raced away as fast as they could move.
They raced away from Revello Drive, trying to put as much distance between themselves and the Turok-Han.
Xander looked over his shoulder and said, "Okay, no Harbringers following. I guess they'll save us for old snaggletooth."
"Baby, take everyone and find a safe location," Buffy ordered, as she yanked Andrew's bottle of holy water from his grasp.
"I know a place," Xander said.
"What are you three going to do?" Harry anxiously asked his sisters and Faith.
"Going to try to slow the Turoks down," Buffy told him. "Lead him away from you guys. Get him to chase us."
Harry looked at Buffy and Dawn as Sirius pulled him along as they followed Willow and Xander.
Faith, Buffy and Dawn faced the Turok-Han. The Ubervamps growled as they stood at the end of the street like a nightmarish gunslinger waiting to draw.
Then the Slayers launched themselves at the Ubervamps, kicking them. The Ubervamps were unphased. They turned and ran. The Ubervamps came after them, and then they stopped.
And then they went in the same direction the others had fled.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Xander had taken everyone to a construction site. A huge pit had been excavated. Scaffolding had been erected everywhere, and Xander exhorted everyone to climb down for their lives.
Andrew whined, "Climbing's not my thing. I got an inner ear condition."
"Is falling your thing? 'Cause if you don't pick up the pace, I'm going to come up there and drop your ass," Xander said.
"Way to keep up morale in a crisis," Andrew sniped. He jumped down. "No wonder Buffy's the leader."
"Some leader," Rona muttered.
Everyone followed Xander around the site to a big open area.
"Future site of the new public library, opening up May 2004. If I ever get back to work, that is."
Rona was incredulous. "You call this a safe location?"
Willow said, "This'll do. Okay, everyone. Spread out, take positions. And don't make a sound."
Rona's voice was shrill. "That's the plan? Spread out? Those things are going to kill Buffy, Faith and Dawn and then they're going to come after all of us. For all we know, they're killing them right now."
Kennedy stared in horror past Rona and said, "Or they could just skip that part and come here."
The Turok-Han strode toward them, death in their eyes, their fingers flexing and eager to rip apart little girls who tear like pink paper . . .
Kennedy loaded her crossbow. Molly began to panic.
Suddenly the flood lights, surrounding the excavation pit, illuminated the pit with an intense glare. And as they all looked up they saw Buffy, Faith and Dawn standing beside the light, arms crossed, on a ledge.
The girls reacted, asking questions, while Kennedy aimed her crossbow at one of the Turok-Han.
Willow gestured for her to cease and desist. "It's showtime." she announced. She led the group from the pit, and they all climbed the scaffolding. They hung onto the crossbars; Andrew looked as if he were in a state of ecstatic bliss.
Buffy said to the Turok-Han. "Looks good, doesn't it? They're trapped in here. Terrified. Meat for the beast, and there's nothing they can do but wait."
Buffy, Faith and Dawn executed perfectly timed forward somersaults into the open area. "
"That's all they've been doing for days," Dawn said.
The Slayers strode toward their enemies.
"Having nightmares about monsters that can't be killed," Faith said. "But we don't believe in that. We always find a way. We're the things that monsters have nightmares about. And right now, we're going to show 'em why. It's time."
"Welcome," Dawn said distinctly, "to Thunderdome."
"Two men enter," Andrew murmured reverently. "One-man leaves."
And they clashed, the Slayers and the great evil that The First had unleashed upon them. It was brutal, and punishing, the Ubervamps gaining the upper hand almost at once. Buffy, Faith and Dawn were rammed into the ground. They got back up.
They were thrown across the pit.
Dawn grabbed Kennedy's crossbow and shot her Turok-Han. The bolt to his heart gave him only a moment's pause, and then he came for her again. She tossed the crossbow back to Kennedy who began notching another arrow.
A pipe from the scaffolding became a staff for Faith, then a pole to vault away from her Turok-Han. He followed.
Buffy swung a pickaxe at her Turok-Han, but he ducked . . . and then he pushed her into the construction trailer wall.
And as they battled, Harry realized that his sisters and Faith had set this up, concocted a plan with Willow and Xander to bring all the Potentials here so they could watch Buffy, Dawn and Faith take out the Turok-Han . . . or die trying. Because Slayers fought; they did not cower.
Harry looked at his godfather. "Did you know?" he asked.
"No," Sirius replied. "Buffy and Dawn likely figured if I had known I would try and talk them both out of it."
"Would you?" Harry wondered.
"I don't know," Sirius answered. "On one hand I don't want to see them hurt. On the other this was a good plan if they can do it."
On one of Dawn's assaults, her Turok-Han grabbed her by the throat and lifted her off her feet, crushing the air out of her. Dawn's struggles were to no avail.
"It's killing her," Rona said, her Slayer's heart kicking in.
"We . . . we have to do something!" Molly cried.
"Wait," Willow told them.
Then Dawn reached down to the arrow protruding from the vampire's heart, and twisted it. That hurt him; she snapped the bolt in half and plunged the broken shaft into his eyes. He roared with pain and dropped her.
Buffy, Dawn and Faith each summoned every last ounce of their Slayer strength, they began to pummel their Ubervamps, dealing them severe, bone-crushing volley of punches and kicks.
Staggering, the Turok-Han tried to fend off the blows. The Slayers pressed their advantage, merciless, driving the super vampires back where they could bang their heads into the metal scaffolding.
Then Buffy, Faith and Dawn each grabbed some barbed wire and wrapped it around the Turok-Hans' necks and pulled with all their strength, garroting them.
The heads were severed from their bodies, and they exploded into dust.
The Potentials watched in silent awe as Faith, Dawn and Buffy each wiped their hands together.
"See? Dust. Just like the rest of them," Buffy said in clear, ringing tones.
"We don't know what's coming next," Faith said.
"But we do know it's going to be just like this," Dawn added. "Hard. Painful."
"But in the end, it's going to be us," Buffy said. "If we all do our parts, believe it: We'll be the ones left standing." The Slayers regarded them all. "Here endeth the lesson."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
A shimmering green portal snapped into existence as Buffy and Dawn stepped out into a cave. With the Turok-Han out of the way they knew they could retrieve Spike.
"You can't hurt me. You're just a bloody figment," Spike murmured.
Buffy moved in and started to cut his bindings.
He began to weep.
Then slowly, she let him lean on her, and they followed Dawn back through the portal.