FicWad

The texaswookie swallows nervously, as he sees the giant figure that is making its way toward him. “You’ve gotta be freaking kidding me.” The writer complains in dismay. “Don’t you think that this is just a little bit of overkill?”

Harry Potter smirks from the nearby doorway. “I don’t know what your so worried about, say the disclaimer and I save your worthless hide. I wish it was that easy to take on Voldemort.”

“Glad to know you think so much of me.” The Texan complains, as he jumps back, barley missing the multiple attacks coming at him.

“I don’t.” The Boy-Who-Lived stated calmly, as he watched the Texan try and stay ahead of Hagrid’s pet Cerebus Fluffy. The Wizarding world’s Chosen One, tossed his wooden owl flute back and forth in his hands.

The Texan dodges again, but the dog manages to knock his Stetson off this time, and stamps on it, mashing the black hat flat. “Now that was just wrong in so many ways.” The writer complains.

“Just say it already. Maybe he won’t drool on it.” Harry said impatiently.

“You have a very warped and twisted sense of humor you know that right?” The writer says, as a paw takes a swipe at him the wind from the blow knocks him over.

The Boy-Who-Lived shrugged. “Well, I got to get my jollies somehow.”

“So you send Clifford the Big Red Dog’s ugly mutated cousin after me?” The writer questions the wizard a bit incredulously.

“Eh, whatever works.” The wizard said shrugging. The writer stops moving to respond, and is instantly pinned to the floor by one of the paws. “Anything you want to say?” Harry Potter asks sweetly.

“Fine.” The writer grumbles, though he is having trouble talking with the giant paw holding him down. “I the Texaswookie, do not lay any claim whatsoever to the characters in this story, since they belong to various other people who make quiet a bit more money than I do. If you need the exact names they’re somewhere in the closer front chapters. Thank you very much.”

“Now was that really that hard to say?” Harry asks.

“Just play your damn flute already.” The Chosen One nods, and plays a slow tune on his flute putting the giant dog instantly to sleep. The wizard then leaves the room. “Hey, your not going to leave me under here are you?” The writer asks worriedly, as he struggles against the heavy paw.

Harry Potter sticks his head back through the door. “What do you think?” He asks, as he disappears from sight.

“Stupid Wizard.”


Casa De Scooby


The Winchester brothers finished off laying the salt down, and were set to leave. The two men had said little to the people living in the house, having little in common with the group. Other than they fought demons, of course; but even their methods of fighting were different. Of course, that could be because they fought a different breed of demon than the people here did; and just like the people here were more used to demons that attacked them in a physical manner, they were more used to the ones that attacked in a more spiritual manner. The main difference in them, though, was that while the Winchester family had chosen to fight demons, these girls hadn’t really been given a whole lot of choice. Some of them were only now receiving training in how to fight. In a way, the two brothers related better to Xander than they did to the various girls, since they had learned how to combat the creatures of evil long ago without the benefit of superpowers.

Even when Sam’s powers were used, they were, at the moment, too unreliable for either of them to trust, and were considered a wildcard weapon for now by both of the brothers. They had instructed the carpenter, geek, and former Principal on how to lay the salt in front of the front door before they went outside, and waited in the Impala for the Slayer.

The two Slayers were hidden away in another room with Willow and Giles. One was busy typing away on her computer, and describing holy or sacred weapons she had found out about, while the other used his books doing much the same thing. Sometimes the two even cross-referenced the other’s search, and pointed something out to them. The two of them finally discovered a temple that might hold some of the answers that they were looking for.

Buffy looked at the bit on the computer with Faith, both women reading over the witch’s shoulder. The two shrugged; this was what the Scoobies had always relied on these two for more than anything else, to give them the information that they needed to take down the big bad. Yes, the magic they had used over the years had been a help, but it had always been the two’s research ability that had helped them, Xander, Angel and Spike the most in beating the big bad of the month.

Shrugging again, Buffy did the only thing she could think to do; she congratulated Willow on finding something so fast. “Great job, Wills. It’s great to see that you haven’t let something like a weapon lost through time slow you down in your searching.”

The redhead blushed happily at this. Despite all of the years, a compliment from Buffy could still make the red head glow.

“E-mail this info to Doc Jackson, Wills. He might be able to see if there’s anything that we’ve missed, or have a brainstorm on something else we can look at,” the blonde Slayer directed her best friend.

The red head nodded, while Giles watched jealously as Buffy pulled out a paper with a handful of E-mail addresses, which had Dr. Jackson, Sam and Riley Finn, one of the Halliwell sisters, and a few others on it. With that list, he could have who knows how many bits of information at his fingertips.

Buffy ignored the geek drool that Giles had over the e-mail list, and pulled out her radio. “Yo, Uncle Connor. Have a couple of your people at a temple, I need an idea of what it is, ‘cause it could hold the answers to the Scythe. Please and thank you, and if you’re nice I might add a cherry on top of that.” She was sure that Connor Macleod could hear the grin in her voice.

“You got it lass, and don’t call me Uncle Connor!”

The Slayer chuckled, ignoring the Immortal as she fiddled with the radio. “Hey Jack. I need you to have a team join me and Connor when we go to check this temple out. It might tell us what kind of toy it is that we got from the winery.” She rattled the address off again. “Bring Doctor Jackson, too. From what you’ve told me, he has Xander’s ability to find the weird stuff; the only difference is that he can actually read what he’s getting himself into.”

“I sometimes wonder how she passed any of her English tests.” Giles muttered to himself, as he began mentally correcting Buffy in her bad grammar.

“Right, kid. You do realize, this ain’t exactly what I had in mind when it came to leading though, right?” Jack asked half-seriously.

“And it seems, that it just might be a genetic trait,” Willow murmured in the watcher’s ear.

“And I’m sure you’d do so much better your first time in the seat when you’ve always spent more time bending and breaking rules,” Buffy sniped, smirking.

“Hey! This isn’t about me, it’s about you,” the colonel defended himself.

“I know, but if this temple is about the Scythe, then I’m probably one of the only ones who can get in anyway,” the Slayer pointed out. She heard a sigh over the radio, as her Uncle Jack seemed to be admitting defeat. “Besides,” Buffy continued, “this time I’m not going in with just a bunch of people, but with a fully trained team, and two of Connor’s friends to act as scouts. That should give us an idea of what we’re going up against, and I want Dr. Jackson to be pulled away from the museum, and help me if there are any old writings I need him to look at. We also need a truck to come and pick up some of the girls for museum duty. Faith should have a list of who’s going, and who’s staying ready by the time that it gets here.”

“Yeah, sure, I’ll do that. Hopefully, Danny-boy won’t be too put out with it, since he gets to see an old temple. O’Neill out.”

Buffy clicked the radio off, as she turned to regard her counterpart.

“Pick the ones that will work the hardest and fastest, without needing a whole lot of questions,” she began. “My cousin Scott will be sending some of his people by, and there’s also a military truck that will take some of the girls, and at least one of his, to the museum. It’s your call who goes and who stays; there’s still a few Council-raised Potentials that should know some of that stuff. Just be sure they’ll work, and that they can keep their flirting down to a minimum,” Buffy concluded, pulling the tie out from her hair and fixing the braid she’d confined it in, and then replacing the tie. She then tucked the braid down the collar of her shirt so that it wouldn’t get caught on anything.

“You sound like you’re worried about our girls getting horny, B.” Faith said suggestively. “Someone you ain’t told us about yet?”

“With metal boy, I’ve got reason to worry,” Buffy said. “Scott’s also leaving some people to help with security, and give you guys time to talk about what you learned. Okay, I got other things to do, so I’ll have the brothers drop me off at the temple. Keep that radio on, just in case. There may be more happening than any of us are really ready for. Xander should still remember the correct soldier lingo to use with it, if you don’t send him off with the artifact team, that is.”

“You got it, B,” the dark-haired Slayer told the blonde. “You sure you don’t want any of us to join you?”

“Nah, I got it. This will probably be a simple thing, and it’ll be done in an hour or so. I’m taking a team with me ‘cause there are a few rules and such things that I have to follow, whether I like it or not. If it weren’t for me being one of the only ones probably able to figure out what the whole Scythe thing means, I probably would be stuck in the command room, while someone else investigates.”

The two shared a knowing look, knowing that, if the blonde failed, it would then be up to the other Slayer to find out what the Scythe was. “You just make sure the girls stay alive; without them, we’ve got no future,” Buffy said quietly, holding Faith’s eyes with her own.

“You got it, B,” the brunette reiterated. The blonde nodded, and walked out, joined the two brothers in the car, and told them to drive.

A few minutes later, Faith had arranged a team that she thought was best situated for the upcoming job. “You girls listen to X, now. He happens to know what he’s talking about when it comes to things not to touch, but that’s only because he’s already had to go through all the transformations or spells that are side effects of playing with them. We got an E-mail that says all of the Egypt stuff has to be packed up, minus Xander’s mummy girlfriend, that is.”

“As long as we’re not digging around the College I’m there,” Xander said. “I so do not want malaria, dysentery and whatever else it was that those Indians gave me, and why is it that we always have to remember my screw-ups, and not everyone else’s?”

“Because they’re the ones that almost always leave us with the craziest adventures,” Dawn replied with wide-eyed innocence.

“Yes, and since you never let me talk about my orgasms -- when we were having them, that is -- there is really very little else about you that is of even the slightest bit of interest. Whereas Dawn has her Key thing; after all, being able to open portals between dimensions is pretty impressive, even if she does have to die to close it. Giles has his Watcher and Ripper thing; Willow has her whole being a witch, and formerly practiced with the dark arts and killed a guy. Buffy has the whole Slayer bit, and now her powerful family, while Faith has that whole redeemed crazy Slayer thing going for her. Spike happens to be a vampire with a soul, and I happen to be an ex-demon. You just aren’t all that interesting when it comes right down to it. Though, you are very accomplished in the bed.”

“Thanks, Ahn,” Xander said dryly, covering the former demons mouth before she could go on about sex. He steadily ignored the snickers from most of the other people in the room. “You know just what to say sometimes. So, when does that truck get here?”

“Not trying to change the subject, now, are we, Xander?” Giles asked, as he returned his glasses to his face after polishing them on his shirt.

“Nah, if I was trying to do that, I would be asking you where I could get me a monocle. It would go with my eye patch, don’t you think?” he questioned, with a sarcastic smile.

“And there’s the truck,” one of the girls said, pointing to a pair of headlights that was coming their way.

Giles watched, as three people got out, then allowed the ten Potentials and the carpenter that been chosen to load up as well. He then watched as the truck roared off to the museum. The watcher hoped that this was a good idea, or else trouble might come from all of this.


Sunnydale Museum


The Potentials and Xander followed after the soldiers that were leading them into the building, which Xander was extremely familiar with. He had fought many a demon in here, and had been nearly killed here a few times, too. Then there were the number of stolen and destroyed items that the Scoobies had had to pretend to know nothing about. The one-eyed carpenter looked at the girls that he had been put in charge of. They were armed with stakes, crossbows and a couple of swords. Xander had actually gone for an axe himself, hoping that he could use it to at least protect himself. Against Bringers, he was good, or at least he had been good. He hadn’t fought any of the silent blind guys since he had lost his eye; but as for uber vamps, he knew he didn’t stand a chance against those particular beasties before or after his encounter with Caleb.

The soldiers, he had noted, were armed with a variety of weapons: there were stakes at their sides, but they also had P-90’s, as well as sidearms, and a few of them had weird bluish metal looking gun things that looked like they had come straight out of a sci-fi movie. The only person that wasn’t armed was the kid in a black leather outfit, which was similar to Buffy’s, except for the fact that his was sans sleeves. The kid had been referred to as Colossus, for some reason or other, but he knew better than to question why an unarmed kid was with them right now. Xander doubted that the kid could go head to head with an uber vamp, no matter how big the guy was. Someone that they would just have to watch, he guessed. There were also a few other random civvies that he didn’t know who they were, but he was sure that they were probably somebody or they wouldn’t even be here.

The group stopped in one of the rooms, and one of the people began giving orders. “All right, girls; I want you to strip these statues of their belongings, and start placing them in those boxes over there. Just be careful, ‘cause there’s no telling what might be on the clothes of these people. Sometimes the smallest and most unexpected thing can be something that will help you or kill you.”

A few of the girls tried to smile, but with Xander’s agreeing nod, they were back to being serious. “Just be careful with these things, some of them are extremely old, sometimes hundreds of years.”

“Or older,” Xander said, as he drew an ax from the belt of a knight. “This is a demon ax, not human. So while it might be a few hundred years old, it also might be a few thousand years as well.”

“How can you be so sure it’s not human make?” one of the soldiers, a dark-haired woman, asked.

The carpenter pointed to the engravings on the side of the blade.

“Because this is a really old demon clan symbol. It’s one of the few symbols that I actually know at a glance, since it’s mentioned as one of the oldest demon cults. I’m just surprised that I can actually remember it. I usually can’t remember things like this. Though the handle has been changed from whatever was originally in it. You can see that this wood is just too new to be anything else.”

“Well, we never can be sure till we try,” the woman said, congratulating him on his ability to identify the weapon. “All right, you have your assignments. Alphabetize the statues, and then number the items. Like, this guy’s helmet might be something like ‘L5’. Think you guys can do that?”

“Yeah, sure; they’re good. I mean, I don’t think even I can screw something like this up. And I don’t want to hear anyone saying that I could, either,” the carpenter finished, giving some of his Potentials a bit of a glare with his one eye. “Unless, of course, you want to be the ones to help Andrew in the kitchen,” the one eyed man threatened, a dangerous smirk tugging at his lips.

There was a loud clicking sound, as four of the girls closed their mouths as fast as they possibly could.

“All right, well, the soldiers here need to go load up all of the Egyptian equipment, and do we need guards?”

“The Duke boys have got that, ma’am,” another soldier said. “If something does come from outside, they should be able to give us some heads up.”

“Where are they?” asked Prue Halliwell curiously.

“The roof,” the young man replied with a bit of a grin. “With those arrows of theirs, they’ll definitely give someone that isn’t wanted a welcome that they won’t soon forget.”

The witch nodded at this. “All right. Let’s go, people! Mr. Macleod, I believe you were going to start collecting the old weapons, swords, knives and older styled pistols and rifles?”

“Aye, lass, and I’ll do me best to keep a radio open,” the Highlander assured the witch, as he walked off.

“Casey, Beth, help him out,” Xander said. “You do what he says, though.” The two girls nodded, and then went after the long-haired Scot.

Prue Halliwell frowned; she had thought that these kids were going to keep together, though hanging around a man that could only stay dead if his head was cut off was probably safer than some places that they could be in this town.

“Pheebs, Piper, help them out here if they need it,” the oldest of the three witches said, as she went to go and overlook the Egyptian artifacts and make sure that they were being stored correctly. Although, she didn’t really think she had too much to worry about; for a bunch of soldiers, these people seemed to have a healthy respect for old items like these. She certainly wouldn’t have minded having Dr. Jackson helping her direct the people here, however.


Graveyard


Buffy climbed out of the Impala, and waved, as the two brothers peeled out to help where they could. The blonde Slayer walked into the cemetery until she came to the site of the temple. The temple looked kind of like a baby pyramid, and was surrounded by a wrought-iron fence. She nodded a greeting to Dr. Jackson and the two Immortals; she also tossed a quick salute at the soldiers that were waiting nearby as well.

“So, have you been able to break in yet?” she asked of the soldier that appeared to be in command.

“Not yet, the doors are protected by some form of energy shield. We can’t seem to get anywhere near it. The field is emitting an energy that we are unfamiliar with. The type of power it uses seems to keep changing frequency, which means that we may be here longer than you had originally anticipated, at least until we can figure out how we might be able to bring this thing down. We might have to put in a call to Major Carter; she’ll probably be able to figure it out.” The blonde nodded to the soldier, and walked up the steps. “What are you doing?” the non-com asked curiously, as Buffy reached out toward the entrance.

Buffy glanced at the man. “If the Slayer is the only one who can enter at least at first, then it could be that.” Pausing, she pushed her hand through the field, and watched as the field seemed to disappear. “I guess I just have the magic touch,” the Slayer finished, a slight note of satisfaction coloring her voice. She then kicked the door in, and watched the heavy metal door slide down the stairs. “Danny boy, Meth, you’re with me! The rest of you soldier boys set up, and keep the door open for us.” She then turned to look at Amanda. “See if you can find another way in, just in case there’s someone on the inside with a lovely surprise. I wouldn’t be surprised if the bad guys tried to cheat with this now that we have the Scythe.”

“Darling, I’m sure if there’s a way in, I can find it,” the Immortal thief said confidently, as she began to search the area for a different way in than the front door that the other three were using.

Buffy watched silently, chewing on her bottom lip anxiously as she watched the female Immortal disappear around the corner. She really hoped that she was moving people around the right way, but she just wasn’t sure. She just hoped that she didn’t get to many people killed in whatever happened next.

The Slayer, Immortal and archaeologist entered the temple cautiously. The Immortal and Slayer went first, each holding their weapons at the ready in case something decided that they might make a good snack. Daniel followed a few steps behind them, a gun in one hand, and a video camera in the other. The two in the lead chuckled a bit, as they heard the man making comments about the building. “The entire structure has an Egyptian touch to it, suggesting that the Goa’uld at least influenced the building design. The deep narrow stairway is more in tone with European design though, a merging of ideas that is not really seen all that much,” the man concluded, as they reached the ground floor.

“Why not, Doc? This is America, after all. You know it’s got that the whole land of opportunity thing going. Maybe whoever it was doing the building decided that it would be fun to start the whole cultural mixing thingy a bit early,” Buffy suggested, tongue in cheek.

Daniel looked up from his camera. “You don’t really believe that, do you?” he asked, looking at the woman hopefully.

“Dunno; I never really cared that much for these stupid temples,” the Slayer said, as she looked around for a few minutes. It was, at first look, a great deal like a lot of the hundreds of other temples and ceremonial places that covered Sunnydale.

“Hmm, this part of the temple seems to resemble a mixture of Greek and Egyptian construction,” Daniel said bemusedly, as he panned the camera around the room that already had a number of torches that were burning.

“How so?” Methos asked, as he stared suspiciously at the various hiding places for whomever it was that had lighted the various torches.

“See the way the walls are? There are places for not only scrolls, but also the walls are also built to better record whatever symbols are needed for it. And I’ve never seen so many different languages in a place like this before. I see Greek, Ancient Egyptian, Goa’uld, Babylonian, Ancient Latin, Sumerian, Norse Runes, some text in the language of the Asgard, Nox, Furlings, Tollan and Ancients. There’s also a number I can’t even begin to identify,” the archaeologist said excitedly, at the prospect of having something new to learn. “This temple could be like a Galactic Rosetta Stone, and open a number of languages up for us. The only time I’ve ever come close to something like this was when we learned that there was actually a galactic language that all beings could use to communicate. We’re still trying to properly decipher it though.” Daniel’s eyes gleamed with academic fervor.

“Yeah, I recognize some of those as demon languages,” the Slayer said conversationally, nodding to a few symbols that she recognized due to her long hours of having to research various things that were trying to end the world, or go on killing sprees in some stupid, insane way or other. “Record as much of it as you can, Doc; we may not get in so easy next time we try.”

“You call finding a force field that only you can trigger into getting down, and then kicking down a metal door that must weigh around 200 pounds easy?” Daniel was incredulous, looking over the top of his glasses at Buffy and trying not to laugh.

“Um, yeah, we didn’t have to kill any virgins, or at the very least donate blood, or say some complicated words in another language. And while these could be records of things that have already happened, they could also be of what’s to come. You know; the stuff they might not put into the usual books of prophecies.”

“Right, sure, no problem,” Daniel said, glad to have an excuse to focus on the walls. Even if he didn’t completely believe in such things as fate, destiny or prophecy the opportunity to learn was too great. He began to slowly pan the camera up and down the wall, trying to capture as much information as he could.

“Meth, see if you can find any cool toys or ways inside,” Buffy suggested to Methos.

The Immortal hesitated a moment before reluctantly going to do what the Slayer told him to. The blonde frowned at him, but shook her concern off. The Slayer hesitated a moment, before she headed for the curtained off spot that was a bit off from the foot of the stairs. Warily she gripped the Scythe, as she approached the cloth that was fluttering in a room without a breeze.

The Slayer was startled when a female voice came from behind the curtain.

“I’d forgotten. I’d forgotten how young you would be,” A woman with white hair and robes said, as she stepped out from behind the curtain. The old woman’s eyes seemed both young and old at the same time, her penetrating gaze seemed to look right into the Slayer’s very soul, making the Slayer feel dirty and wrong next to this unknown woman she was on the verge of christening Mrs. Clean. At least, she would if it didn’t feel so wrong to do.

Daniel and Methos both turned in surprise at this new addition, as they looked at the woman before the Slayer. Daniel was reminded of an Ascended being with the calm that seemed to radiate from her. Methos, meanwhile, was reminded of some of the more powerful Immortals that that he had met over the years.

The woman ignored the two men and focused entirely on the Slayer that was standing before her. “I see you’ve found our weapon.”

The Slayer, despite the feeling that she felt, wasn’t about to let this woman get her guard down, and watched the woman suspiciously. “Who are you?”

The woman didn’t seem to be offended by this; in fact she seemed rather pleased about the response that the Slayer gave. “One of many. Well, time was,” she conceded, “now I’m alone in this world.”

“So what are you, some kind of ghost?” the Slayer questioned her. “Or are you an Immortal like him?” She nodded towards Methos who stood watching them.

The woman smiled at the Slayer, as she shook her head. “Nope, I’m as real, and mortal as you are.” The blonde grimaced a bit at this. “Just, well let’s say I look real good for my age,” the woman said with a smile.

Daniel smirked at this, as he set his camera up to catch the rest of this meeting. If the Slayer was right, and this was one of the few times that they were going to be here, then he needed to get this and he needed to get the walls taken care of. So while the woman silently held her hands out, Daniel finished his setup, and began to film the walls again with a backup camera that he had been carrying just in case something like this happened. He had been geared up to hand the cameras to people that might actually need them while they were working, but this was better, and so he recorded this historical, or at least important event and was able to do his own duties, while the Slayer and Guardian as he heard her call herself began talking about the Scythe and how it had been forged. He listened as the woman spoke.

“We forged this centuries ago, halfway around the world. Forged there, it was put right to use here, to kill the last pure demon that walked upon the Earth. The rest were already driven under. And then there were men here, and then there were monks, and there was a town and now there is you. And the Scythe remained hidden.”

“I don’t understand this,” Buffy confessed to the woman. “How is it possible that we didn’t know any of this?”

The woman gave a light smile. “We had to. We had to, until now. We’re the last surprise.”

Daniel turned and listened, as the Slayer let some of her self-doubt come into play, but the woman merely gave her an evasive answer that would have been worthy of the Nox or the Asgard. There was much that he wanted to ask the woman as he walked around the midsize temple chamber. If she was really as old as she said, then she had so much of the history of the world locked inside of her head, before a number of the ancient tongues had become very popular in recording these sorts of things. He barely caught the last bit of what the Guardian said since he was so lost in his own thoughts, but it was hard to ignore the ominous warning she gave to the Slayer.

“Use it wisely and perhaps you can beat back the rising dark. One way or another it can only mean one thing: an End is truly near.”

The next thing the three in the temple heard was the familiar cracking of bones, and a new voice in the room. “I’m sorry I didn’t catch that last part on account of her neck snapping and all, but did she say the end was near, or here?”

The other two men turned back around, as they saw the preacher from earlier with the beginning of a smirk on his face.

“Definitely not an Immortal then,” Methos mumbled, as his eyes fell to the body of the old Guardian.

The Slayer turned to face the southern gospel spouting church boy. In a way, he kind of reminded her of Luke, the Master’s vampire muscle with the way he used Biblical reference sometimes, though Luke had used some dark book of prophecy instead. She lunged at the man, and it seemed as if he almost contemptuously caught the handle of the Scythe with one hand, then punched her in the face with the other. The two started wrestling for the weapon that they each held onto.

The Slayer managed to twist the weapon out of his grip, and slam the flat of the weapon’s blade into the side of Caleb’s face, and sent him flying back into a wall. While he was dazed, the Slayer hit him in the stomach and forehead with the handle of the weapon, and then she tried to decapitate the man; he ducked the blow and backhanded her into a pillar. The Slayer bounced off the wall, and attacked again, only for the preacher to catch the Scythe by the handle again. Caleb still confidently only used one hand to hold the weapon, as the two struggled for control of the weapon for a second or two, then Buffy kneed him in the gut. The preacher came back up, and punched at the young woman’s head, and she just barely ducked as his fist went over her and into the stone pillar, as if it had been some hollow construct. The Slayer then used a move that looked like it came out of one of Jack’s hockey games, and shoved the preacher back with her shoulder.

The Preacher chuckled at the young woman, as he looked intently at her, seemingly oblivious to the two men that were watching the fight from the shadows. “You’re not slipping out of this fight, girl. Can’t you see? You can’t stop me,” he gloated at her, as he spread his arms out mockingly. “I can just keep going back for more. It’s like being reborn.”

The two combatants were almost surprised when Daniel stepped from around the corner he had been hiding in and took a shot at the preacher. Caleb ducked to the side, while the Slayer stopped to catch her breath. Caleb spun around, as Daniel shot at him again, unaware that Methos had jumped out at the same time so that the bullets and Immortal met together. The Immortal cursed, as he fell to the ground dead. While Daniel was shocked at what he had inadvertently done, forgetting for the moment that the man would rise again in a few minutes, Caleb took advantage of his surprise and grabbed him by the collar of his vest with one hand, and wrenched the gun from his hand with the other. Daniel hissed in pain as he heard the cracking of the bones in his hand. Caleb then tossed him across the room, where he slammed into a wall. He then turned back to the Slayer.

“Now where were we? Seems like you always got someone interrupting us. Well, little girl, not this time; this time we are going to finish this.”

The Slayer nodded her head in silent agreement and struck again. Caleb ducked under another swing, and he came back up and looking almost put out, as he caught the Scythe again. He then pulled up, and kicked the Slayer ten feet across the room where she hit the wall, dropping the Scythe as she fell. Caleb walked up to her and kicked her hard enough to make her fly back up and caught her against the wall, slamming his fist into her gut. As the Slayer tried to get back up, Caleb just kicked her in the face knocking her back down. Sensing victory, Caleb reached down for the Scythe, but Buffy rolled forward and kicked the weapon out of his hands and into the air. While he was watching it, she jumped to her feet, and caught the weapon then kicked him, as she came back to her feet. As she flipped Caleb, over she twirled the weapon so that the stake side was pointed downward and aimed at his face and shoved downward, only for him to stop her by grabbing the weapon by the point. The two struggled for the direction of the point; Caleb managed to use his superior strength to twirl the Slayer one way, who fell as she lost her grip on the weapon. Caleb then tossed the Scythe in the other direction. As the Slayer came to her knees, Caleb caught her with two right crosses, followed by an uppercut.

Buffy struggled to her feet, obviously disoriented after the blows, and her next shot was caught as he punched her twice in the face.

Caleb then walked back over to where she had fallen. “Now, I gave you ample warning. I told you not to interfere,” he said as he continued walking past her.

Daniel watched the fight, and decided now was the time that they needed that back up waiting outside for something like this; they should either kill this man or at least hurt him. He brought his radio up to his mouth to call in some more backup when it crackled to life on its own and the sound of gunfire echoed down the stairs. “Commander Summers! We’re under attack!”

“Shit,” Daniel said, before clicking the radio on. He saw Caleb smirking smugly at him, obviously enjoying destroying their ace in the hole. “This is Dr Jackson; Commander Summers is in the middle of what appears to be a fight to the death. What’s going on up there?”

“Sir, we’re being attacked by what appears to be a force using guns, zats and staff weapons,” reported the door guard succinctly.

“Did you just say staff weapons?” Daniel asked, paling at the thought of what they might be facing.

“Confirm, sir. They also have some zat guns,” came the immediate response.

Daniel swore at this. How had they managed to get their hands on a load of Jaffa weapons?

The Slayer climbed unsteadily to her feet, her eyes darting to the stairway. obviously torn between finishing this fight, and helping those in need. “I’ll see if I can help,” Daniel told her.

The blonde nodded reluctantly as she charged at Caleb, only for him to flip her over his shoulder and slam her head into a wall. “Not so fast, there, son; in fact, why don’t you take a seat.” The man’s foot lashed out, striking Daniel in the face; he was then knocked in the gut by the preacher. “Just sit there till I say you can get up,” Caleb said to the now hurt man, before he turned to see the Slayer coming back at him. He flipped her over again, only this time he slammed her onto a leftover stone block with writing on it that had been left there for some reason or other. He then slammed his elbow into her gut again, and she returned the favor by kicking him in the face. As the Slayer pulled herself up, Caleb grabbed her by her equipment vest and slammed her into a pillar, which shook from the impact. The Slayer fell down this time and Daniel was no longer sure about her getting up again. The Scythe was just a few feet from her, and they both watched worriedly as Caleb picked the weapon up as he towered over the Slayer.

He twirled the weapon and they could all hear the weapon hissing, as the blade cut through the air. “I was kind of hoping it would end this way,” Caleb told her, as he pulled back to strike the Slayer.

“Hey!” An unexpected voice said angrily. Caleb turned around, and was knocked down by a dark haired man in clothes easily as dark as his eyes. The Slayer stared in shock for a moment, as the man seemed to enjoy having been the one to come help her. He then helped her up, while making some kind of joke about not liking preachers.

“Angel,” Buffy breathed out in surprise.

The two then began a kind of small talk in the middle of a battle scene; if he hadn’t been hurting so much he might have found it amusing. Instead, he just found it irritating, but he remembered the history of Jack’s relative to know just who this man was. The man turned serious, as Caleb climbed back to his feet, looking angrily at the vampire with a soul that had stopped him from killing the Slayer. The vampire moved to intercept the preacher, but stopped as the Slayer put her hand on his chest, stopping him.

The vampire looked at her knowingly for a moment, and stepped back. “Ah, this is one of those things that you have to finish yourself.” The vampire took another small step back to give her some more room, and to show that he understood.

The Slayer smiled in thanks. “Really kind of is,” she said appreciatively.

The vampire nodded and went to kneel by Daniel, and began helping him up, as he checked the hand and back of his head over. “You are so going to lose,” he said, as he watched Caleb stride forward.

Daniel couldn’t help but be impressed. What was it about this young woman that she could inspire such love, compassion and loyalty into a pair of vampires? A part of him wanted to help the soldiers upstairs, but he knew they needed to be down here to ensure Caleb didn’t get away, and that the Slayer made it out in one piece. Though the Slayer seemed to have regained all her strength back and a bit extra in the few moments that she had been near the vampire.

The Slayer picked up the Scythe, and let Caleb come at her and did a fast spin with the Scythe that Caleb narrowly missed being hit by. She then spun again, but he was ready this time and caught the Scythe again, jerked it from her grasp and shoved her at a nearby wall. Caleb lined the Scythe up carefully and ran at her, intending to impale her against the wall she was leaning on. The Slayer stepped to the side and watched as the weapon actually drove into the wall. Daniel couldn’t help but wonder just what kind of wood that was at the bottom of the weapon. Caleb struggled to pull the weapon out of the wall, but he was unable to do so until Buffy came up alongside the weapon and drew it out, kicking the preacher away from her weapon.

“God, I miss watching this,” Angel said, as he finished the wrappings on Daniel’s hand.

Daniel understood, in a way, what the vampire was talking about. The way Buffy fought was like a kind of living primal art; a number of the inhabitants of planets Daniel had visited would love this. The Jaffa rebellion camp sprang immediately to his mind. The two watched silently as the Slayer took the offensive and did two over head swings that Caleb ducked under; the preacher then came out with a right cross, over-extending himself, and the Slayer took the weakness in his defenses, ducked under the blow, and slammed the blade of the Scythe into his stomach. They all watched the shocked expression of Caleb, as the Slayer jerked the blade out.

Caleb stepped backwards, laughing. The three of them tensed up, uncertain what the man would do next, but then he fell to the ground next to the Guardian that he had just murdered.

Angel watched the Slayer with pride as she breathed in a sigh of relief and turned to the dark haired vampire. “See?” she said. “Under control.”

The vampire then walked up to her. “Well, at least you could tell me you’re glad to see me.” The two joined together in a kiss.

Daniel smiled, though this would probably make a number of Buffy’s family very annoyed, the girl looked like she was happy for the moment. He cocked his head, though, when he thought he heard someone talking; but he heard nothing else so he dismissed it. The two broke apart and spent the next couple of minutes in small talk before they got down to business. The vampire picked up a folder he had laid down earlier, and the two began discussing the problems that were in the town.

Before they could get very far, though, Caleb got back up and hit the vampire in the back of the head, knocking him to the ground.

“Are you ready to finish this, bitch?” The preacher looked like he was ready to go another dozen rounds now.

The Slayer paused as she saw that Caleb’s eyes were now completely black, just like Willow’s got whenever she decided to do magic these days. He was also bleeding quite a bit of black blood from his eyes, mouth, nose and maybe even his ears.

Daniel knelt beside the vampire and checked for any major damage. “Now what?” he muttered to himself, as he watched Caleb slam a piece of crockery into the Slayer’s face, which sent her tumbling back.

“What do you think you should be doing, Dan’iel?” a familiar voice asked the man. Daniel stiffened as the image of his dead wife materialized before him.

The archaeologist went rigid at the vision of beauty before him, which occasionally haunted his dreams. He didn’t really want to turn away from this, but he knew that he had to. “Sha’uri?” He managed to ask in a raspy voice filled with emotion, as he stared upon the smiling visage of his wife. A wife that he had buried himself, he had to strongly remind himself.

“Wh-what are you doing here?” he asked, as he stared at her. “How are you here?”

Sha’uri gave him one of her most angelic and sweetest smiles, the ones that she had used to give him right before she did something really revealing. “Do not worry, Dan’iel, I am here now.”

“But you’re really not...are you?” Daniel asked, sighing as he finally got over the shock that he was feeling at seeing the woman he had loved so strongly. “You’re nothing more than some form of illusion, that can shift your form to be what you wish.”

Sha’uri’s image scowled for a moment. “You realize, that by letting the Dark One win, Dan’iel, that you could be with me in the afterlife? Think about it, Dan’iel. You and I, together again...” she said enticingly.

Daniel smiled at this thought. “It’s tempting,” he admitted, “but the Sha’uri I know would never have said such a thing.”

“Perhaps you’d rather listen to the odds in a more logical tone, then?” his own voice answered, as an uneasy Daniel now looked at himself.

“Or perhaps you’d prefer someone with a different point of view than you, Daniel,” the form said as it shifted again, this time into the body of Jack. “Someone who isn’t afraid to tell you when they think you’re being an idiot about something just because you got all of those fancy degrees,” it said, in a cold manner completely unlike Jack O’Neill’s usual ‘Space Monkey’ teasing.

Another shift. “Or maybe I can give you a detailed analysis of why even bothering to fight would be a bad idea,” Carter said.

“Okay, now that I wasn’t really expecting,” Daniel said nervously, as he pushed his glasses up.

“Why not? You’ve all been killed at least once,” The First said with Carter’s face, smirking at the man. “And I did tell you that you and your friends would be fun.”

“Whatever,” Daniel returned, “I’ve got more important things to do than listen to an evil echo of my friends and me.” The man turned back to tending the vampire and sending the occasional worried look at the Immortal.

The First shrugged, unconcerned at this, and disappeared in a flash of light. It reappeared instantly, next to the blonde vampire, and in the form of the Slayer. The incorporeal being was convinced that it still had a chance to get Spike on Its side; like his predecessor Angelus, though, you had to know the right buttons to push. With Angelus, it had been guilt; with William the Bloody, however, it was pride.

All those that could, watched as the Slayer was slammed across the room multiple times with the broken crockery.

“Okay,” the Slayer said as she finally got to her feet, “how many times do I have to kill you? Ballpark figure?” The Slayer’s façade of confidence fell, and Daniel saw the worry that she had over this, and couldn’t help but wonder himself. He had gotten a few shots off at the preacher, and the preacher had been gutted with the Scythe. Just how many times could he come back from seeming death?

“You understand nothing,” Caleb replied darkly.

The Slayer ignored him, and spun, crying out as she put her strength into the blow, only for the handle to be caught once again. Pulling the weapon downward he punched the Slayer in the face then came back across with the same fist and hit her in the side of the head send her staggering off to the side.

Neither opponent wanted to release their grip on the Scythe once again, Daniel noted. If the situation weren’t so serious, he would have compared their attitudes similar to kids fighting over a toy; a very dangerous toy, that is. Raising the Scythe up, Caleb delivered an uppercut that pinned the Slayer onto the ceiling for a few moments, and then he slammed the small blonde to the ground, where she lay for a second, dazed, before she began crawling back to her hands and knees.

Taking advantage of her slow movements, Caleb wrapped his hands around her throat, and brought the Slayer up to her feet. “You think you have power over me?” the First’s Vessel snarled at the Slayer.

The Slayer glared in return and broke his hold, forcing him back; she then leaped in the air and delivered a two-kick combo into his face, knocking him to the ground.

“Stupid girl! You’ll never stop,” Caleb said, as he climbed to his feet as Buffy began twirling the Scythe in a complicated pattern before her next attack. “You don’t have the--” Caleb was cut off, as the Scythe came from below in a golf swing like strike. The First Evil’s Avatar gasped in pain, as one of his most vulnerable points was struck.

“Who does nowadays?” The Slayer asked the Avatar, as he stood before her gasping in pain, before she pulled the Scythe up -- slicing Caleb into two pieces.

As the pieces fell to the ground, the vampire sprang to his feet, much to the surprise of Daniel, who had thought that he would be out longer than that. “All right! Now I’m pissed,” Angel stated. “Where is he?”

The three people looked to either side of the Slayer, where half a preacher lay on either side. “He had to split,” Buffy punned, before she started laughing at her own joke, as the stress of what she had been living through with that thing finally caught up with her once again.

Daniel frowned as he thought he heard something again, but passed it off as excitement from the fight. He watched in slight amusement, as they then continued their conversation as if nothing had just happened.



The girl was definitely related to Jack, if Daniel could make that assessment just for her dry brand of humor. Buffy made semi-witty comments about the information which she passed to Daniel, and the odd, ornate necklace that Angel was giving to her. Which was both very powerful, and very dangerous, if the source could be believed. The vampire seemed wary of the source, which was enough for the Slayer to eye the information as beadily as Jack did Tok’ra intelligence. ‘The inscriptions would take a bit of time to work on as well,’ he noted, and wondered if he would be able to get that kind of time before zero hour.

“It’s supposed to bestow strength on the right person that wears it,” the vampire said, nodding to the amulet.

“And the right person is?” Buffy asked, raising an eyebrow as she examined the gaudy amulet.

“Someone ensouled. But stronger than human. A champion. And it isn’t me.”

“Or me.”

“No. I don’t know nearly enough about this to risk you wearing it. Besides, you got that real cool axe thing going for you,” Angel reminded Buffy, smiling slightly.

“Well, that description doesn’t help us a whole lot anymore,” Daniel said from his seat. “With our current numbers, it could be any one of our more than human members.”

“True,” Buffy said.

“More than human?” Angel questioned.

“I’ll explain in a minute,” the Slayer promised. “So you’re going to be with me in this?” she questioned with traces of hope and doubt.

“Shoulder to shoulder; I’m yours,” Angel promised the young woman.

The Slayer opened her mouth to say where she thought that she needed her first love, but stopped. If she couldn’t stop the First Evil here with all of the power that her family, both by blood and love, brought, then there as no way that Angel and his group would be able to stop the hordes of monsters to come, no matter how good they were. “All right,” she conceded, “but there is a condition.”

Angel smiled at this; he had expected the Slayer to put up some kind of fight, maybe even make up some kind of excuse to get him to leave. “All right, what’s that?”

“No trying to fight, or kill, anyone on our side, no matter what your personal feelings are toward them. Or I will boot you out of town so fast it’ll make your head spin,” she warned him, gazing seriously into his dark eyes.

The dark garbed vampire sighed at this condition. “Is this about Spike?”

The Slayer looked at him worriedly.

“You’re not telling me something. The scent?” Angel added, tapping the end of his nose. “I remember it pretty well.”

“Um, can we finish this after we save the others?” Daniel asked, pointing toward the stairs where the occasional bursts of weapon fire was being heard.

The Slayer sent him a thankful smile. “I like that idea.”

“Seems like a good one, but we are finishing this conversation later,” Angel said glaring at the Slayer slightly.

“Dealy-o,” agreed Buffy, matching Angel’s glare.

“Good, so who’s the new guy?” he said, nodding toward Daniel, as the man climbed to his feet.

“A friend of the family. Kinda,” Buffy replied.

“Kinda?”

“Part of that long story.”

“You sure we don’t have time for the Cliffs Notes version?” he asked worriedly. She may have won this fight, but she seemed a lot more stressed than she normally did when dealing with the end of the world type of things.

Buffy smiled at him. This was Angel, the original Mister Mysterious, but hating it when he didn’t know what was going on. “Later.”

“Okay then; to the rescue we go,” he said, as enthusiastically as he could manage.

Daniel rushed up the stairs ahead of them, fumbling for a gun. Just as he reached the top of the stairs, a figure stepped out of the shadows and backhanded him, sending him flying back down the stairs. “Ouch,” the man grumbled, as he slowly pulled himself back into a sitting position. ‘Maybe I should have brought a chair, or at least a cushion,’ he mused, as his fingers felt the back of his head.

“And so we meet once again, Dr. Daniel Jackson,” a deep voice said.

Daniel put his glasses back on, and looked at the figure in front of him. “Seth, I presume?” he asked. While looking at the familiar figure before him, he also looked around for a weapon, since he seemed to have lost the last of his guns. Jack was never going to let him here the end of this one, he thought grimly, as he tried to stay off his injured arm.

“You would be correct, Dr. Jackson. I shall enjoy ripping you apart,” the Goa’uld said, smiling cruelly at the figure that lay helplessly on the floor before him as he walked down the steps to finish the job.

“You know, pal, I just promised I wouldn’t take out the preacher. I never said I wouldn’t hurt you.”

The two turned to see the vampire leaning against the wall, with the Slayer standing a bit behind him. He jumped up the few steps that parted them and grabbed the Goa’uld by the front of his shirt, and flung the alien across the room. “You don’t mind if I play the hero with this guy, do you?” he asked, as he turned to look at the Slayer.

Buffy smiled at this. “No, go ahead and hero away; hate for you to think that you made the trip here all the way for nothing.”

“Thanks,” the vampire said, as he turned back to face the alien.

“Though, the whole business about me being the only one to enter is crap, and the Guardians need to seriously go over their security arrangements,” the Slayer commented, as she looked at the figure before them.

The Goa’uld glared at the new arrival and challenger as he rose to his feet, its eyes flashing brighter for a moment. “You insolent fool! You dare to place your hands upon a god?”

“What? You think having glowing eyes makes you something special?” Angel asked mockingly, his face then shifted, as his eyes turned yellow and his brow rose, and a set of fangs grew from his mouth. “Trust me, I’ve met and beaten things that are much scarier looking than you.”

“Very well, then, you inferior vermin, we shall see if you are more than boasts,” the Goa’uld said, as it clenched its hands in anger.

“Bring it on, Bright Eyes,” the leader of the Scourge of Europe and heir to the Aurelius line sneered at the minor Goa’uld.

“Very well, then prepare to die!” The Goa’uld rushed at Angel, swinging his right fist. The vampire ducked under the right cross, and came back up with an upper cut that knocked the alien back.

Shaking its head, the Goa’uld performed a spin kick, smashing its foot into the face of the vampire. Angel staggered backward as the blow connected. The alien then followed up with a couple of shots to the stomach.

Angel grabbed the Goa’uld in a hip lock, and tossed him into a wall. The Goa’uld’s eyes flashed again, as it climbed back to its feet; Seth then plucked a sword from its resting place on the wall, and gave it a few twirls, as he adjusted to the weapon’s weight.

“It figures,” the cursed vampire muttered, “of all the walls I could throw you into, I had to choose the one with a weapon hanging on it.”

“Silence, creature,” Seth ordered, “it is time for you to die before me.”

“Well, you see, there’s just a bit of a problem with that plan,” Angel mocked, as he ducked under a vicious swing. The vampire kicked Seth in the chest. The Goa’uld growled as he knocked Angel down. The Goa’uld held its weapon over the vampire.

“You see, I’m already dead,” Angel said, as he rolled out of the way of the weapon that shot up sparks in the air as it struck the ground.

Methos watched silently from where he was lying on the ground, but could still see everything. He had to grudgingly admit that this vampire impressed him. He watched as the vampire ducked two more blows, and then jumped back from yet another slicing blow, though a thin red line was now decorating the front of his shirt where he hadn’t moved far enough back. The Immortal thought the blow a bit deeper than the vampire had expected the Goa’uld to get, and was moving slightly more warily now. At this rate, the vampire would most likely be killed unless he, or was that it was helped. If he helped, the vampire might win, but if he left well enough alone and satisfied himself with just watching, then the First might begin to think that he was leaning toward its way of thinking, and that would give him some bargaining room if the First won. The Immortal stayed in the shadows where he had fallen, and watched to see how the fight would turn out.

The vampire backed up slightly, as the Goa’uld advanced on him.

“Catch!” Daniel called out, tossing a sword to the vampire, praying that he was making the right decision.

Angel spun around out of another deadly slice, and caught the sword; the two old weapons crashed against each other. The vampire grinned through his fangs, as they pushed against each other. The two broke away from the grapple, and eyed one another with greater caution, now that their fight had gotten slightly more deadly for the both of them. One was a parasitic creature that wanted to rule the universe, with over a thousand years of knowledge in combat and deceit, while the other was a cursed creature of the night that had put the fear in the bodies of human, demon and vampire alike. As the Scourge of Europe, he was one of the most feared beings with nearly two hundred years of unlife in this dimension, and about another hundred in a hell dimension.

Seth held his weapon in a standard fencing position while Angel had lowered himself into a crouch, as he watched the other being, unsure what sort of move he would make.

As one, they attacked each other, Angel going low, while Seth came in high. The vampire hissed as Seth’s forward lunge brought the blade into his shoulder, while his own swing scored on striking the other in between the ribs.

“I shall grind your bones beneath my foot, you pathetic vermin,” the Goa’uld spat at the Powers’ Champion, before it ran at him again.

Angel moved out of the way of the blow just in time, though he did see the tail of his jacket flutter to the ground. “All right, now you’re annoying me,” the vampire said, as he reached out and felt the jagged spot where the back of his jacket used to hang. The vampire’s foot lashed out and hit Seth’s sword arm at the elbow; the vampire smirked as he heard the bone cracking under the blow.

Roaring unintelligibly, Seth rushed at the vampire and managed to body slam Angel into the wall. Seth then punched Angel a couple of times, since they were now too close to easily use their swords. The Goa’uld then grabbed the vampire by the front of his shirt, and tossed him over his shoulder.

Angel panted a bit from his spot on the floor, and didn’t say anything as Seth stepped on his sword hand, slowly grinding his heel into the vampire’s hand.

“That the best you got?” Angel asked after a moment.

“Trust me, vampire, you do not want me to truly give you my best,” sneered the former System Lord.

“Your loss,” Angel said, as his other hand shot out and grabbed the Goa’uld by the foot and flipped him, causing him to fall to the floor. Angel then jumped back to his feet, still holding his sword in a now mangled but quickly healing hand. Seth flipped himself up as well and stood facing the vampire.

“So does this guy have any weaknesses?” called Angel over his shoulder.

“Same as a human would, he’s just stronger and faster,” Daniel said from the floor, as the Goa’uld’s weapon snaked out and made a small cut on Angel’s shoulder. Had Angel not moved, he would have been stuck to the wall; instead he had only a minor wound.

“That’s good to know,” Angel said as he slashed again, this time knocking the sword up. Taking advantage of the opening, he rushed forward and dealt two punches and a knee to the Goa’uld, then ducked the counter-swing and managed to shove the Goa’uld away before it could make another strike. He then spun around with the blade fully extended, slicing a nice gash across Seth’s stomach. Moving quickly, the vampire stabbed his sword deeper into the stomach of the alien. “Next time, how about you stay away from my girl, okay?” he asked as cheerfully as he could manage, before he kicked the Goa’uld off of his weapon, twisting it as he shook it off. Seth’s eyes flashed bright yellow one more time in defiance, before he fell to the ground.

Angel grinned as he walked over to Buffy. The sword was placed on the floor. “Not bad for a bit of hero work,” he said proudly.

“Yes, it was very good hero work,” Buffy agreed, nodding and smiling at this somewhat lighter Angel. “And you were all dashing like, too, with the sword and all.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“Um, much as I hate to ruin a moment, but there are people who may or may not be dying up there,” Daniel said, nodding toward the stairs. This shook the two of them out of their daydreams and had them heading toward the stairs.

“Look out!” shouted Methos weakly from his sprawl on the floor.

Angel spun around, and caught the cream colored thing that had leaped at the back of his head. The vampire looked oddly at the creature that squealed loudly at him, and writhed in his hand trying to get near his head. “So, what kind of fish do you catch with a worm this big?” he asked, as he snapped its back in one swift motion.

Daniel shook his head at this. Jack called them snakes, and this guy called them worms, when in reality, he guessed, they looked like a cross between the two things. Still, he couldn’t really complain what he called them, as long as Seth was dead.

“Hey Meth, you okay?” Buffy asked, as she checked on the Immortal, who gasped for breath as he finally came fully back to the land of the living.

The Immortal nodded, gazing at the split halves of the preacher and the remains of a human lying against the wall with his stomach cut open-- a very painful way to die. He should know; he had killed a number of people that way.

“Well come on, we have to go save the army again,” the Slayer said, smirking at Angel.

Death fumed as he got back up and followed after the others. He had hoped that the military would lose some of their forces so that he could see how dedicated to saving the world they really were. Sometimes the military had strange ideas.

The group climbed up the steep steps as fast as they could, staying low to the ground as several blasts of energy came flying through the door. They heard the rattle of a couple of guns, and a few Latin words; evidently a few wizards had been drawn into the fight as well.

“Don’t suppose any of you guys have a plan on how to get out of here?” Daniel asked hopefully, as he ducked under a red beam of light that had come a little to close to his head.

“Hey, these are the people that you usually fight, we thought that you would have a plan!” Buffy shot at him, as she ducked an angry purple blast of fire. “And to quote Xander: ‘Plan? We don’ need no stinking plan.’ ‘Sides, don’t you have some kind of super laser gun or something that can get us past this?”

“Sorry, I left all my super laser cannons back at the base,” Daniel informed her with his dry sarcasm.

“Can the boys we left outside give us some cover so that we can get out of here?” Methos asked. He really didn’t like being a stationary target, and now that the temple had served its purpose, he supposed that it would be too much to hope that it would stay up. So, in his opinion, getting out would be a really good idea right now.

“Only one way to find out.” Daniel reached for his radio. “This is Dr Jackson, can you guys give us some covering fire while we get out of here?”

“I’m afraid not, sir, they’ve got us pretty much pinned down at the moment,” came the harried reply.

“Looks like we’re stuck here for the moment,” Daniel said, as he watched the others duck a few more multicolored blasts that could be the assault from either magical or Jaffa weapons.

“Great,” was the muttered response from the others, as they watched the blasts sail overhead.

“Can we call in any more backup?” asked Angel.

Daniel shrugged, and changed the station on his radio. “Hey Jack, is there any chance on you being able to send more troops to relieve us? We’re kind of pinned down at the moment.”

“You and just about everyone else,” Jack’s voice said in return. “Seems like everyone is getting attacked, and I already sent some wizards to help your people on guard duty out.”

“Yeah, well, they’re all kind of busy trying not to get shot, Jack. Looks like the bad guys have reinforcements as well. On the good side, though, Seth is dead this time.”

“Really? Old Snakeface dead? Someone must have gotten lucky,” O’Neill remarked dryly.

“Yeah, so what’s this about everyone getting attacked?” Buffy asked, taking the radio from Daniel.

“Just what I said; the guard station, the mansion, the base camp, and even the kiddies’ camp are all being attacked by various people,” replied Jack.

“All right, keep us posted,” Buffy requested.

“Will do,” the Colonel returned. “O’Neill out.”