"So pretty." Xander commented as he picked up a Carl Gustaf recoilless rifle. "So much prettier than the AT 4 we used on the Judge. And look, there's more."
"The Judge?" Morgan asked.
"Six and half foot blue apocalypse demon that could burn the humanity out of people. Took an army to take it down in ye olden days and the best they could do was chop its head, arms and legs off. The pieces were buried all over the world but a vampire seer found them and had them reassembled. My than girlfriend and I stole an AT 4 rocket launcher from this base back when it was the National Guard Base staffed by morons. After that, the Judge was in thousands of pieces and is once again, buried all over the world. Landfills, roads, volcanoes, the Marianas Trench. There's no putting him back together."
"You stole a rocket launcher?"
"Well, we didn't have cable, so demon hunting was our hobby."
"How old were you?"
"Not far past seventeen, but I grew up here in Sunnydale and if you wanted to survive the nightlife, you had to figure out how to survive."
"You're not apart of this Command, but the General knows you."
"Two temporary assignments with Demon Command since Basic. I'm on leave right now and my wife and I are staying at a friend's place while my wife, who's an actress, shoots some scenes for a movie."
"I take it this friend is with this Command or you wouldn't be here now since only members of this Command live in Sunnydale anymore."
"Faith Lehaine." Xander confirmed, as he loaded the oh so pretty and good sized rifle, into the truck, next to a few more. He didn't believe in overkill, just enough kil.
"The Slayer. I've met her, beautiful and deadly comes to mind."
"True, but she's also a good friend and loves her little sister. She's a whole lot more than just The Slayer. Ready to go?"
"Yeah, you think this will be enough?"
"Illyria's not invulnerable, just able to shrug off pain and ignore injury. We need to destroy enough of its meat suit that it can't regenerate. At least before we can get the remains into an incinerator, which is what we should have done with the Judge, but the guy in charge of our group back than, decided on how to deal with the remains. We hit it simultaneously with multiple rounds from the Gustafs. If that's not enough, than we empty the M16s into it and if that's not enough, we have a whole lot of grenades. We'll empty the armory if we have to, but Illyria can't be allowed to get passed us. If she does, she'll find her Army and it'll be all out war against an army of Old Ones. I sincerely doubt anything less than a nuke, maybe even more than one, would be enough to stop an army of them."
"How do you know?"
"The Mayor of Sunnydale spent a century working black magic and deals with demons to turn himself into the embodiment of an Old One. A sixty foot demon snake capable of swallowing a man whole. That necessitated building a homemade bomb that filled the library of our High School and luring him into it and blowing it in order to stop him. And that wasn't even an actual Old One, more like a permanent transformed costume, according to Samantha. If Illyria gets her hands on that crystal and regains her power and her army?"
"Right, very small window of opportunity to take her out completely, so overkill not a thing." Morgan nodded.
"I have to make a phone call, check the system for Karen Allen's transmitter." Xander ordered, as he pulled out his cell.
"Xander?" He heard Cordelia's voice on the other end.
"Take Dawn and get out of town. I'll call you when it's over. I love you."
"I love you too. Remember Rule One. And what I'll do to you if you do something stupid."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Your wife?" Morgan asked, having been close enough to hear the conversation.
"Yes."
"Rule One?"
"Don't Die. She was also part of our group in High School."
"Good rule. Karen Allen's transmitter is still on the move. She's crisscrossing the town."
"Makes sense, if she couldn't get to a vehicle before Illyria caught up to her, than hiding in the buildings in Sunnydale would buy her time. But she stops to rest and Illyria catches up to her and she has to run again. Like the Terminator, only in possessed human by demon form. Let's go find her and that crystal. We can use the crystal to lure Illyria out of Sunnydale and unload on her out in the desert."
"Works for me." The two men joined the rest of the soldiers in the truck and following the signal from the transmitter, headed out to find and hopefully save, the young woman desperately trying to keep a demon from becoming a possibly unstoppable powerhouse.
Karen stopped to lean against a wall and catch her breathe once again. Illyria wasn't running, just relentlessly walking. No matter where she went, Illyria still found her. Drawn to the crystal, despite the protections on it. Karen thought it hadn't even been a hour, maybe two, at the most, since Illyria had crashed through the door of the lab and Samantha had sacrificed herself to buy time for Karen to escape with the crystal. Karen knew the soldiers from the base would be looking for her, armed with every weapon at their disposal. She prayed it would be enough as she looked up and saw Illyria coming down the street towards her. Sucking in another breath, the determined young woman pushed herself up again and ran.
