Act 3
Cut To:
Ext.
Cleveland – City Street – Resume
Willow opened her eyes to the onslaught of Zorgy’s magic, raising both hands, a glowing arcane disc materialized, its runes pulsating as her eyes flashed a light blue. The energy passed over and around her, flashing purple, black, green and gold. At no point did anything touch her.
After a few moments, the flow of magical energy abruptly ceased. Zorgy walked, nay, sashayed slowly in the direction of the red-haired witch, the footsteps of her red sneakers loud on the empty and suddenly silent street.
“‘Tsup, girl?” the demon empress called with a sly half-grin. “It’s been a minute. Well, not really, but…I was already forgetting you, you know? I think maybe it’s just that you have one of those faces.”
Willow rose to her feet, two hands brushing off the front of her shirt. “Here I was, waiting for a whole big army. I think the briefing notes referenced Lord of the Rings. I can deal with just you.”
“You couldn’t the last time we met,” Zorgy said, as the two women started to walk around each other in a tense circle. “I guess you forgot the part where I almost killed you.”
“Almost is doing a lot of work in that sentence,” Willow bit off.
Zorgy looked at her then laughed. It was almost genuine. She put a hand to her mouth momentarily then pulled it away. “Sorry. You’re cute. I’m very into it. Anyway, you don’t have to worry about my army. They’re here. No CGI or anything.”
Willow spread her arms and looked around. “Where are they?”
As if in answer, a great thrum passed through the world, a bass note almost outside the range of human hearing. Willow whipped her head around.
“Not at the Flats,” Zorgy goaded the witch.
Cut To:
Ext.
Slayer Memorial Grounds – Same Time
Slayers and witches stood ready in trenches and fortifications surrounding the Slayer Memorial. Another thrum, louder in volume, reverberated through the earth.
Shannon stood on the edge of a trench, a sword in a scabbard at her hip. Her hand tightened around the pommel.
“Should we send a message back to Council HQ?” asked a young slayer nearby.
“Trust me, they know,” Shannon said quietly.
Another thrum sounded through the air, blowing her hair as if in a sudden wind.
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Command Center – Same Time
Grace waited in her seat, Rowena next to her. The bustling command center had gone quiet. Then the silence was cut by another thrum. They were increasing in frequency. No one said anything.
Cut To:
Int.
Spell Staging Site – Same Time
Faith, Kennedy and the two Rosenberg kids all looked over at the nearest window at the sound of another deep thrum.
“They’re here,” Kennedy said.
“I’m scared,” Sophie admitted quietly as Jake nodded in agreement. Kennedy and Faith briefly tightened their hands on the children.
“Me too,” Faith told her.
For the briefest of moments, Sophie grinned.
Cut To:
Ext.
Cleveland Street – Same Time
Willow slowly grinned at Zorgy.
“Well, good thing we didn’t send our army to the Flats, either, huh?”
Quickly, slayers appeared in nearly every window above and around them. For the briefest of moments, an unsettled look passed over Zorgy’s face.
“They’re not here for you. They’re only here because I promised my wife I wouldn’t come alone. You don’t need to be afraid of them,” Willow told her.
Her composure regained, Zorgy began to say, “I’m not af–”
“You need to be afraid of me,” Willow cut her off and immediately hit her with a bolt of magical lightning.
Zorgy seemed to catch it, but instead of tossing it back, she rode the energy like a wave to the top of the four-story building behind them.
Cut To:
Ext.
Slayer Memorial Grounds – Same Time
In the center of the memorial grounds, around the towering statue, the thrums increased in frequency until they became a solid hum. A deep groaning of the world. Gradually, a bright white light blotted out the sky and the sun. Those gathered shielded their eyes.
A final note sounded, so deep it could only be felt, rather than heard. The white light flashed even brighter, just for an instant. Then it faded.
In its place now stood dozens of large portals, green, blue and red. And out of them poured demons of every shape, size and description.
Cut To:
Int.
Giles Basement – Same Time
“Even Matthew will be there,” Alex lamented as he propped his heels up on the end table. He sat on the sofa between his sister and Nikki. “He turned Aunt Dawn into a pigeon, for Gaia’s sake, but he gets to go?”
“Yeah,” his sister answered, “I don’t get it either. If this is a do-or-die situation, we should be on deck and not in the dugout.”
Liz grinned. “Baseball metaphors. You’ve been spending too much time with Shannon.”
Marty snorted in response and walked toward the refrigerator. “Anybody want another pop?” he asked.
They all voiced various sounds of refusal as he opened the door. He stood there for a moment with his eyes and mouth wide open. “Oh shit,” he muttered. In a louder voice, he said quickly, “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.”
Hearing the fear in his voice, Liz was the first to walk over to see what spooked him as Nikki, Jen and Alex just continued to watch from the sofa. Seeing where Marty was pointing, a look of worry crossed her features, too.
“This is so so so not good,” she said.
That response immediately brought the trio to their feet and they raced over to see what the siblings were seeing.
“What’s wrong?” Jen asked as she and her brother arrived and glanced inside the appliance. “I don’t understa…”
She trailed off when Liz pointed inside to a jar that held some kind of internal organ in clear liquid.
“Hey,” Nikki asked, “‘isn’t that supposed to be with the coven?”
“What do we do?!” Marty asked, his voice rising in pitch as the sentence went on. “Call Dad?”
Liz raised her arms slightly as she stared at the refrigerator and said, “First, calm down. And no to calling Dad. Zorgy might hear. Plus, he’s got a heart condition, and I don’t want to be the one to kill him, okay?”
“They can’t do the dimension seal without it!” Alex stressed as Marty told his sister, “He’s gonna know when he opens the spell supplies.”
“I know!” Liz barked at them. “Sorry. O-Okay. Let’s think…It’ll take too long for someone to come get it, so….’we’ve gotta deliver it.” Liz was quiet for a moment and then told Marty, “Get the cooler,” she said as she pointed behind the stairs. She looked at Jen and Alex. “We gotta get all the ice we can find. Then we gotta…”
“Find a way to sneak this past your mom upstairs?” Nikki asked with a grin.
“Shit,” Liz sighed.
“We only got two options as I see it,” Jen said. “If Vanessa and Joyce are being fussy, she might be distracted enough we can slip out. Seriously, she’s got all the Council babies upstairs, along with Norman and Kelvin. As for option two, we do what Aunt Buffy did with her mom when she got caught trying to stop an apocalypse – we just go anyway.”
Alex incessantly wagged his finger at his sister, “I like Jen’s ideas.”
Liz was quiet, her head cocked in thought. “We have a third option…we get everything we need, including a wardrobe change, because I’m not going to battle in a light tank top. Then I have an adult conversation with my mom and tell her we’re going and why.”
“Think that will work?”
“One way to find out,” Liz replied and looked up the staircase. “So let’s get the keys and go. And maybe some appropriate headwear.”
“Again, with the hats,” Jen sighed.
Cut To:
Ext.
Cleveland Street – Same Time
Zorgy stood on the edge of the roof of a multi-story building, silhouetted against the dying sunset. She put her hands on her hips. “You know, it’s not that half-bad of a world. I think I’ll like being its empress. You know, once we get rid of all these pesky little–”
She ducked out of the way as a blast of green energy sizzled just past her ear, but quickly righted herself, glaring down at her attacker.
“Hey, I was talking! No one has any respect anymore. I blame COVID.”
That was all she got out before a flying Willow slammed into her, grabbing her as both women flew across the roof of the building. They sailed several yards before both skittering to a stop across the bare concrete. Willow kept her hold on the other woman all the while. She ended up on top, staring down at Zorgy.
“The Council failed you. I failed you, and I’m sorry,” she said.
Zorgy just laughed. “I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m the one trying to kill you.”
“I’m sorry we didn’t help Vor rebuild. I’m sorry about your family,” Willow continued. “Nobody deserves to lose their homeland or the people they love.”
Instantly, the empress’s smile disappeared. “You’re the one that killed them. You and your Council. It’s your fault your world is about to burn.”
She raised a hand and blew Willow off of her with an explosion of red eldritch energy. The witch made another hard landing on the roof.
Willow groaned as she pushed herself to her feet, then she said, “As someone who’s experienced your whole world ending, I would think that you, I dunno, wouldn’t want to inflict that on anyone else? Just my two cents.”
“You know nothing!” snapped Zorgy. “I heard you were this world’s most badass witch. That’s why I thought it’d be fun to take you out personally. You can’t be this naive. Terror begets terror.” She paused. “Props to me for a solid use of ‘begets.‘”
“If you leave right now, take your army back to Vor, we will let you keep your throne,” Willow said. “Please. The last thing anyone needs here is more death.”
“You’ll let me?” Zorgy repeated, deadpan. “You’ll let me?” She raised a hand with a ball of red magic in it. “I’m going to kill you. Here. Tonight. I’m not sure what part of that isn’t getting through.”
She threw the ball toward Willow, who dove to her right to avoid it, rolling as she did so. A large hole appeared in the roof where the magic had struck it.
“You know that this all started with Vor invading Earth, right?” Willow asked from her position on all fours, her voice remaining calm. “The Presidium came after us, all those years ago. They tested us. They replaced Faith with a duplicate.” She got back to her feet. “They killed people. Including my slayer, Marsha. They’re the reason Vor was destroyed. If you stay and fight, you’re no different from the Presidium.”
Zorgy stalked over toward her, her feet crunching on the debris that was now strewn over the roof. Then she said, “I don’t actually care,” and, with a red burst of energy, summarily pushed Willow through the hole in the roof.
Silence followed. Zorgy walked over to the edge of the hole and peered down into darkness.
Then Willow shot up through the hole in the roof, glowing slightly against the burnt orange sky, and hovered over Zorgy.
“Don’t say I didn’t give you a chance,” Willow said, her voice taking on an unearthly resonance. She let loose with streams of destructive magic from both hands.
Cut To:
Int.
Giles Basement – Evening
“Where are the keys, Liz?” Alex asked, getting frustrated. The teens were all looking around the basement. Jen had the sofa cushions off and was checking inside. Marty searched the studio with Nikki and Liz, and Alex stood in the center of the room. “We’re losing time here.”
“I know I put them here,” she answered and pointed to the ceramic dish in the center of the coffee table. It held other items, like a couple of pens, guitar picks, some paper clips and a pair of nail clippers.
“Well they couldn’t get up and walk away, could they?” Alex remarked sharply.
“Maybe you moved them, huh?” Liz accused. “Yeah, it’s probably your fault, and you just forgot you moved them and now…” Liz trailed off.
“It wasn’t me,” Alex insisted.
“It wasn’t you,” Liz said with realization. “Patrick?” she called out to the ghost. “Did you or Katherine take the keys? Once for yes, twice for no.” Nothing happened. The other teens looked at each other, but Liz continued to crane her neck toward the ceiling. “Patrick?” she said louder. “Please come here. Did you guys steal the keys?” The lights went out once and then came back up. “Listen, Patrick, we need to get to the battle and–”
Liz stopped talking when the lights flashed off and on every half second for several seconds before eventually staying off.
“You don’t want us to go, do you?” she asked. The lights came back on and then off. After a few seconds in the darkness, the lights returned to normal. “I get it. You’re trying to keep us safe, but that’s the thing. If we don’t take this cooler where it needs to go, we’ll all be dead, so…I need those keys and I promise once we get back we’ll do a Fifties Rock-and-Roll Marathon – Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Elvis, you name it. Agreed?”
Nothing happened, and everyone was silent as they looked at one another. Without warning, Marty’s drum made a loud rattling noise that caught everyone’s attention. He turned and reached over his drum kit with a smile. When he turned back, he showed the group he was holding the keys in his hand.
“Thank you, Patrick,” Liz said sincerely. “We’ll be back. I promise.”
Cut To:
Int.
Office Building – Slayer Spell Staging Area – Same Time
Kennedy formed a circle with Faith directly across from her, Sophie to her right and Jake to her left. All four of them sat close enough that their knees were practically touching as they locked hands. In the center lay a dagger and a stake, surrounded by a white powder that might have been salt.
“Great Artemis,” Kennedy began, “Slayers, both past and present, ask for the power to defeat this enemy. Please hear our prayer and restore what was lost. Artemis, hear our prayer.”
The other three repeated, “Artemis, hear our prayer.”
Immediately, another large boom shook the building slightly. Jake and Sophie looked nervously at each other, while Faith and Kennedy also wore concerned looks but pushed the feeling down with effort.
Cut To:
Int.
Slayer Memorial – Same Time
As the boom echoed through the area, the slayers in formation watched as Vor seemed to blink in and then out of existence. It did stay up long enough that the women in line could see it. Xander looked up from the schematics in front of him in time to see the huge army on the other side.
“A-are they coming here?” a slayer worriedly asked.
“They are,” Xander said, his voice devoid of emotion.
The slayer looked at her sister to her side, and they exchanged a nervous shrug before she squared her shoulders in readiness.
Cut To:
Int.
Giles Kitchen – Moments Later
“We have to go, Mom,” Liz told her mother.
Becca took a deep breath, leaned back on the island in the center of the Giles kitchen, and looked at the teens. Marty held the cooler containing the spell ingredients.
“Let me take it,” she told them.
“No civilians on the roads right now,” Liz replied. “You know that. But we…” She gestured first to herself, then to the rest of her friends. “We’re Council personnel.”
“Except for me,” Marty pointed out.
“Don’t help me!” Liz hissed.
Becca was silent for a moment. “You’re eighteen years old,” she said. “An adult. You can go where you please, but they were left in my care.” She nodded toward the younger teens.
They grumbled and groaned, with Jen adding, “That’s not fair.”
“Life’s not fair. Sooner you learn that, the better,” Becca replied to the slayer, then turned back to address her daughter, “So if you go, you go alone.”
Liz looked back at the group. She walked over to Marty, who looked disappointed but still handed over the cooler without a fight. She turned and started toward the front door of the house. She was about half the distance to the exit.
“Wait!” her mother called out and then sighed. “You’re stubborn like your father…and brave.”
Liz stopped and turned around, but didn’t move back toward. She waited for Becca to continue.
“I knew this day would come,” she told her daughter. “I just didn’t think it would be here this soon.”
Liz shrugged. “Y’know, with the exception of Nikki…’we’re older now than Buffy when she and the Scoobies met Dad in Sunnydale,” she said, motioning to the twins with the cooler. The teens all nodded in agreement.
Becca rose from her seat. Liz watched as she walked over to Marty. She kissed him on the cheek and pulled him into a hug, which he returned.
“You can’t leave without your brother,” she told her daughter.
Becca moved to Jen and repeated the gesture, which the girl reciprocated. As they hugged, Becca said, “Or a slayer to watch your back.” She then hugged Alex and said, “Or a witch to watch them all.”
“I love you, Becca,” he told her.
She smiled and tightened her hold on him. When she pulled back, she kissed him on the cheek and said, “I love you, too.” When she pulled away she said, “I love you all.”
The teens echoed the sentiment, and Becca pointed toward the door. “Go and come back safe.”
She watched the teens start to leave, except for Liz, who handed the cooler to her brother. The watcher waited for her mom, who kissed her cheek and pulled her into an embrace when they were close enough.
“You’re right,” Liz began. “I don’t need your permission, but I want your blessing.”
“You have it, Lizzie,” Becca told her as she hugged her a little harder. “Now go make a miracle happen and come home safe.”
She watched Liz leave with the other teens and then closed the door behind them. Before she walked away, she heard Jen yell from the other side.
“To the Platybus!”
Becca gave a sad smile.
Cut To:
Int.
Slayer Memorial Grounds – Same Time
As the demons continued to drudge through the portals, Shannon screamed “Hold!”
The slayer lines remained still as, with a growing thunder, the invading army crossed the grounds of the Slayer Memorial toward them. Many were on foot, hulking figures with horns and claws, while others rode snarling, savage-looking beasts. Slayers tightened their grips on their weapons and pulled back their crossbow strings. The portals began to slowly widen with each demon that crossed the hellmouth threshold.
At another point on the lines, in front of a group of demons and mystical beings dressed in council attire, Kadin waited. She held Marsha on an industrial strength leash as the dragon growled at the oncoming horde, straining forward.
“I know, girl,” Kadin said, keeping her hold on the leash. “I know.”
With a great crash and clang of arms, the first demons reached the slayer lines. Shannon leaped forward, swinging her sword. A demon parried her first thrust, but she made another, slashing down the first attacker. She spun to meet the sword of another. All around her, similar scenes were playing out.
Cut To:
Int.
Cleveland Alley – Same Time
“Welcome to the Slayvengers!” Lexi said, her live-streaming helmet bobbing on her head, as she jumped on the spot, waving her arms in the air at Crystal jogging toward them. Also gathered in the side street were about thirty other women from the Stake and Crossbow bar. All of them wore yellow armbands that read ‘Lisa’s Angels‘.
Anisha turned to Lexi and asked, “Are we certain we settled on that name?”
Lexi nodded enthusiastically, much to Anisha’s chagrin, as Crystal closed the distance.
“Dylan all set?” Slaygirl asked the approaching woman.
She nodded and sounded a little winded as she replied, “Yeah, sorry I’m late. He’s with Lisa. It was…it was tough sayin’ bye.”
“You just got him back,” SlayBae told her. “No one would think less of you if you ducked out to stay with your son.”
The other slayers around her nodded in agreement.
“Thanks, but I protect him more by fightin’,” Crystal told her. “The way it sounds out there…” She nodded toward the main street, filled with the sounds and flashes of war. “…everyone needs to be here.”
“Not everyone is,” SlayBae replied, annoyed. “Maddie is…”
“…never on time,” Lexi said happily as she pointed to the slayer who was running down the street to join the team.
SlayBae moved forward to meet her. “You made it,” she said happily.
Maddie grinned. “If the world does end today, I’d rather be with my girls.”
SlayBae pulled her into a hug that was awkwardly accepted before Slaygirl spoke.
“Everyone remember what Lehane taught us about overwatch?”
“Upside down check mark!” Lexi said proudly, flashing a peace sign.
“You got it,” Slaygirl replied. “This is gonna be a bounding overwatch, so that means something is gonna come at us at some point. Line up, ladies!”
Everyone got into formation, and Slaygirl stood in the middle of the checkmark as they all marched toward the end of the ally.
Cut To:
Ext.
Main Street – Battlefield Cleveland – Continuous
As soon as the lancers made their way into the chaos they were immediately assaulted on all three sides. Slaygirl continuously looked back, guarding their ‘six’ to make sure no one was coming behind them from the alley. They made very little progress, though. In fact, they had only cleared the sidewalk by a few feet when it seemed like they were overrun.
In the slight distance, Slaygirl watched a formation of Council slayers as they moved in a square, shields in hand, much like a Roman legion. Any demons coming at them were quickly disposed of as they moved along down the street with slow but steady steps.
Around her, it was a different story. Demons came at them from all angles. Maddie, Anisha and Crystal were holding their own, barely, but SlayBae and Lexi both seemed to be in trouble. Just as a demon had taken SlayBae off her feet, he began to swoop down for the kill, fangs glistening.
A few feet away, Maddie had just taken out a demon when she saw SlayBae on the ground. She threw her sword directly at the demon, burying it deep in his chest. The action, however, left her unarmed. SlayBae’s attacker stumbled back, and it gave her enough time to get to her feet and drive the sword in even further.
Slaygirl grinned, but it was only for a moment. She saw Lexi battling a demon while another one came at her from behind. Lexi was oblivious to the threat approaching behind her.
“Lexi! Your six!”
Slaygirl’s eyes went wide as the creature opened its enormous mouth to bear down on Lexi’s shoulder.
Black Out
End of Act Three