Act 2

Fade In:
Int.
Watchers Council – Coven Room – Later that Day

“I can’t do it,” Willow told Buffy and Rowena.

“What do you mean you can’t?” Buffy asked. “There must be something –”

“And even if I could, I wouldn’t,” Willow replied.

“Wouldn’t? The world is ending here, Will. We’ve got –” Buffy argued.

“Buf, we can’t just hand that kind of power over to everyday people. There’s a reason that not all women are slayers. If I gave that power to everyone, think of how much more damage that could do.”

“What about temporarily?” Rowena asked. “Just for a short time – enough for us to win.”

Buffy nodded in agreement with the idea.

Willow looked frustrated. “No,” she answered, which obviously annoyed Buffy and Rowena. “The effects might not wear off, guys, a-and it might have ill effects on the girls already slayers. Besides, Gaia told me that we have the answers here, which is why I’m on my way back to the library. I’m gonna go over everything we’ve gotten from Giles.”

“There’s gotta be something we can do,” Rowena said.

“There is. Find out how Wagner is connected to all this. She’s got hefty mojo going for her, but there has to be a way to destroy her, so find it. That way when I do find the answer, she won’t interfere again,” Willow said. Then she swiftly left the room.

Buffy turned to Rowena. “I guess she told us, didn’t she?”

Rowena sighed and motioned with her head for Buffy to follow her.

Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Conference Room – Moments Later

Jackson, Andrew, Tracey and Giles were working in the meeting room when Rowena walked in.

“Any news?” she asked.

“You want to tell her, or should I?” Andrew asked.

“There’s a temple,” Giles began. “It holds keys to Wagner’s history, Guardian spells she knew and things of such nature.”

“Where?” Rowena asked.

“This is the cool part, well, not so cool, actually,” Andrew added.

Rowena looked to Giles for him to continue.

“Atlantis,” Giles answered.

“As in the Lost City Under the Sea?” Rowena asked, making Giles nod.

“Now all we need’s a Stargate and a ZPM,” Andrew added, making Tracey grin and slap his arm.

“What?” Giles asked, annoyed.

“Campy TV show,” Tracey offered.

“Can I see that, Giles?” Rowena asked, pointing to the materials in front of Giles.

Rowena and Andrew looked a notepad over for a moment and pointed. “What about this?” he asked.

“What about what?” Giles sighed.

“This,” Andrew pointed. “Thirty-three, forty-five, eighty-four and twenty-three.”

“It’s a numerical sequence of some sort.”

“Maybe we’ve got an address,” Rowena remarked. She looked to Andrew, who at first appeared as confused as Giles. Suddenly, his face lit up with understanding and he got up and went to one of the computers with the pad.

“Right. Maybe we don’t need a Stargate,” Andrew said. Referencing the pad, he began typing in the numbers.

“What are you doing?” Giles asked.

“Checking possible latitudes and longitudes,” he replied. After a moment, he said, “That’s not it,” and proceeded to type some more. “Nope,” he said after another try. Finally, on the third set of keystrokes, he said, “Ahh…Hey Giles, maybe your languages are a bit rusty?”

“Excuse me?” Giles asked.

“Thirty-three, north, forty-five, and eighty-four, west, twenty-three isn’t Atlantis, but it is the location of AtlanTA,” he replied.

“That must be it,” Rowena replied. “We don’t know how old the temple was that we discovered. Other information could have been added within the last hundred years. Heck, it could have been added in the last twenty, for all we know.”

“Atlanta, yes, perhaps the cave is in Atlanta,” Giles replied. “But we don’t have a branch in Atlanta.”

“No, but we’ve got a watcher and a slayer there now,” Rowena reminded them.

“Okay, forget the Stargate then…we just need a car,” Andrew added.

“Call Dawn,” Giles told Rowena.

Faith and Kennedy both walked into the library. “We tried to find B,” Faith said, “but we don’t know where she’s at right now.”

“What’s wrong?” Giles asked.

“Good news is, the demons gave up on getting in here,” Kennedy replied.

“Wonderful,” Giles said, with a sigh of relief.

“Bad news is, they’re taking off deeper into the city,” Faith finished.

“Not so wonderful,” Andrew added.

“All right,” Giles said, “keep some slayers here at the headquarters, but send some out to try to keep the peace and get people off the…streets…Who are they?” Giles pointed to the reporter and his cameraman, who stood in the doorway and began to wave.

“Faith’s new groupies,” Kennedy teased.

“You guys wanted to tell the world what’s up,” Faith explained, “and I can’t shake them, so I told them they could stay as long as they keep out of my way.”

“Fine…Just handle as many demons as you can, and please ladies…be careful out there,” Giles told them.

“Come on, Slick,” Faith said as she waved Kennedy to follow her. “We’ll see if we can’t find a few groupies for you.”

“Gee, thanks,” Kennedy replied, as they both walked out.

Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Library – Day

“Arghhhhh,” Willow complained incoherently from her seat in the library.

“Problem?” Becca asked.

“Yes,” Willow answered. “The world is ending. I’ve got tons of clues and no way to link them together.” She began to read from her notes. “‘And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.'” She put the notepad down and looked at Becca. “What in the world is that supposed to mean? I’ve looked through everything and…bubkes.”

Becca cocked her head, as if remembering something, and began to look around at the books scattered across the table. Behind her, Rowena walked into the library.

“Do you know it?” a hopeful Willow asked Becca.

“Did Rupert see this?” she asked, pointing at Willow’s notes. She continued to lean over the table, but gripped her back while doing so.

“No. Why?” Willow asked.

“Because then I won’t have to yell at him for being a doofus.”

“Okay…I’m confused,” Willow replied.

“You’ve got every book in the known universe here about good and evil, except the one you need most,” Becca explained as she continued to search, lifting various copies of bound manuscripts.

“We have an extensive collection here,” Rowena answered. “Maybe it’s part of Giles’s private library or –”

“The Holy Bible,” Becca told her, cutting her off. “That quote Willow just read is from Chapter 7 of the Book of Revelations, or to be more accurate, The Revelation of Jesus Christ unto his servant John. It’s part of the New Testament.” She turned to Willow. “I can’t believe you didn’t know that.”

“Hello?…over here… being Jewish,” Willow said, raising her hand. “How am I supposed to know?

“Oh, right,” Becca said. “You didn’t get the end of the story, did you?” she asked with a slight grin. Willow gave her a look that appeared to be a sarcastic “very funny.” “What’s your excuse?” Becca asked, turning to Rowena.

Rowena looked dumbfounded for a moment. She opened her mouth and shrugged. “I’m-I’m not quite sure what we’re talking about here,” she sputtered.

“We need a Bible,” Becca told her. “I want to double check, but it seems like the information you guys uncovered isn’t just truths, fables or predictions from one particular religion. You’re dealing with several teachings and deities – from Lord Krishna to Jehovah. We need a stack of every single holy book ever written.” She paused and rubbed her back. “So bring me your Torahs, your Quran…your huddled masses yearning to breathe free and all that jazz.” She gave another groan.

“Are you okay? Have you seen Dr. Miller yet?” Rowena asked.

“I’m resting like I’m supposed to. I’m fine. I just strained my back carrying Liz and doing the one-hundred-yard dash at the same time.”

“Come on,” Rowena said, taking her by the arm. “I’ll get my Bible, but first you’re going to see Dr. Miller.”

“But –”

“No arguments,” Rowena said firmly. “Let’s go.”

Cut To:
Ext.
Cleveland Lakefront – Moments Later

“‘Let’s corral as many as we can,'” Kennedy said in a mocking tone. “Great plan, Faith. Now what?”

Kennedy, Faith and about ten other girls had the lake to their back, and at least fifty demons were in front of them. The demons were slowly pushing them toward the water’s edge, surrounding them in the front.

“I’m working on it,” Faith grumbled.

All at once, the demons looked above the slayer group, and the slayers also turned at the sound of splashing water. The lake behind them began to take shape into a figure that Faith recognized.

“Necksa,” she said softly.

The water titan seemed to smile for a moment, but it kept growing even larger. “Run,” he told the slayers, and with that he began to fall backward.

At first, no one moved, but as the water began to rise, Faith realized what was happening and grabbed Kennedy by the hand.

“Follow me!” she shouted, running along the shoreline instead of toward the street. From several feet away, the reporter was giving commentary.

“This is absolutely incredible,” he said. “Faith and her team –”

“Move to high ground!” Faith shouted to the cameraman and reporter. The cameraman didn’t need to be told twice, and he swung the camera over his shoulder by the strap and began to climb up the twelve-foot chain-link fence behind him. The reporter soon followed.

Faith, Kennedy, and the other slayers began to shoot the curl as a gigantic wave crested over on top of the demons. The slayers all hit the fence and started to climb up. The cameraman had worked his way to a nearby roof and was now filming as Faith, the slayers and his reporter all tried to climb the fence.

The reporter slipped, however, and fell back down to the ground as the wave began to pour into the city.

“Get the girls up,” Faith shouted to Kennedy. She let go of the fence, landing next to the reporter.

Before he knew what was happening, Faith had him by the collar and the belt buckle. “Don’t forget to grab on,” she told him.

“Grab what?” he started to say, but then she threw him into the air with all her strength. Not having enough time to climb herself, Faith wove her fingers into the fence and held on as the wave pounded against her.

“Faith!” Kennedy yelled down.

It was too late – Faith was already out of sight, buried by the water. The other slayers helped pull the reporter up to the top of the roof. Another slayer moved to jump in after Faith, but Kennedy stopped her.

“No, the current’s too strong right now,” she told her. “You’ll get washed away.”

Cut To:
Int.
Cleveland Bar – Same Time

The crowd of people watching the television report went silent for a moment.

“Where’d she go?” one guy asked. “Anybody see her?”

“Did you see how she saved that reporter’s ass?” Stan commented. “She tossed him like twenty feet in the air.”

“It wasn’t that high,” the other guy replied.

“Maybe,” Stan agreed, “but damn. I’d like to see you throw someone like that!”

“Anybody see her yet?” someone else asked.

“No,” Stan replied, as he stared intently at the screen.

Cut To:
Ext.
Cleveland Street – Same Time

The demons that had been confronting the slayers at the edge of the lake were running in various directions, but as the waves swept through the city streets, they began to tumble and fall, becoming buried by the water. Those that did make it to the surface and tried to swim soon found themselves face to face with undines, who worked their way into the demons’ mouths, ears and noses until they, too, sank.

From the rooftop, one of the slayers pointed and said, “Over there!”

Everyone, including the cameraman, turned in the direction she was pointing to see Faith’s arms climbing up the chain-link fence until, after several moments, her head emerged.

Cut To:
Int.
Cleveland Bar – Same Time

All at once, the bar gave a cheer and high fives went around the room.

“That was totally cool!” Stan exclaimed.

Someone from the front door shouted, “Get upstairs! Water’s coming in!”

Everyone in the bar began to dart toward the stairway, moving as fast as they could. When the last few people were making their way up, the door and windows of the bar crashed open from the force of the water filling the streets.

Cut To:
Ext.
Rooftop – Same Time

The slayers reached down once Faith was close enough, and collectively they all pulled her to the top.

“Again, great plan,” Kennedy teased.

Faith shrugged. “Don’t mention it.”

“You’ve just turned Cleveland into the new Venice,” Kennedy told her. “And took five years off my life,” she added in a mutter. 

Faith coughed up some water, but smiled. “Hey, we just helped the Cleveland tourism council,” she replied. “And a little scare now and then keeps the blood pumpin’.”

She gave Kennedy a wink and the younger woman just smiled and shook her head. 

They all heard a whistle and saw a man from an apartment above them.

“Great show!” he told them, as he began to toss towels out the window. “Looks like you could use these.”

“Thanks!” Faith waved up.

“Hey,” he said, making her look up again. “If you ever decide to run for office and leave the slayer life, you’ve got my vote! Talk about your real Governators who can get things done,” he teased.

“This is easier. I wouldn’t want the headaches of politics,” Faith called back.

The man laughed and gave her a wave before going back inside.

“How about that, Faith?” the reporter asked, putting the microphone back in her face. “Would you run for office?”

Faith began to laugh. “Can I dry off first after saving your hide before I answer that question, Derrick?”

“Oh, uh, sure,” he replied, before turning back to the camera. “We’ll be back in a few moments folks, so stay tuned.”

Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Infirmary – Day

Dr. Miller looked at a monitor for a moment, then began to turn off the equipment as Becca and Giles looked on.

“Nothing, right?” she asked.

“You’re in labor, Becca,” Dr. Miller replied, concern sweeping over his face. “It’s not a backache, it’s contractions. We have to get you to a hospital.”

“If you haven’t noticed,” Becca told him, “that might be a little difficult right now.”

“Regardless,” he told her. “You need a hospital. I have some equipment for delivery, but this baby will need much more than I can provide if it’s expected to survive. I wish I could help, but really, I can’t. I don’t have the means for a delivery two months early.”

“We’ll-we’ll get there somehow,” Giles replied. “T-Thank you, Dr. Miller.”

“I’ll arrange an escort immediately,” Dr. Miller told them, and quickly left the room.

Once the doctor was gone, Becca turned to Giles. “I’m so sorry, Rupert,” she told him.

“This isn’t your fault. If anything, I-I shouldn’t have left you alone,” he replied.

“Let’s make a deal then,” Becca told him, her voice breaking. Giles looked over at her. “I won’t blame you if you don’t blame me, okay?”

Giles gave her a slight smile and kissed her gently on the lips. “I’ll get the car,” he told her softly.

Suddenly Vi, Angie and Xander were in the doorway.

“Dr. Miller stopped us,” Xander told them. “Heard you guys needed a lift and a slayer escort.”

Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Library – Same Time

Rowena dropped her pen to her pad and rubbed her eyes.

Noticing her mood, Willow asked, “What is it?”

“Do you want the good news or the bad news?” Rowena asked.

“Good.”

“I uncovered more about Wagner from Giles’s notes.”

“Really?” Willow perked up. When she noticed Rowena’s expression didn’t change, she said, “I bet that’s the bad news.”

Rowena nodded. “From what I can make out, only Satan can kill Wagner, since she offered her total loyalty to him. She’s indestructible.”

“Oh, lovely,” Willow replied.

Buffy popped her head inside the room. “Hey guys, they have a decision on Faith.”

Willow and Rowena both looked at each other nervously.

Black Out

End of Act Two