Act 4
Cut To:
Int.
Cleveland Alley – Resume
“Lexi! Your six!”
Slaygirl’s eyes went wide as the creature opened its enormous mouth to bear down on Lexi’s shoulder. She reached at her belt and pulled out two throwing stars that landed squarely in the demon’s head. They didn’t kill it, but it did stumble back as it began to grab at the projectiles in its face. The distraction gave Maddie enough time to reach and snap its neck from behind, but not before another demon kicked her in the back, knocking her face first toward the ground. On instinct, she rolled, and immediately the demon who assaulted her fell on the street instead of on her, his intended target.
Slaygirl looked around them. Five other Stake and Crossbow patrons hadn’t fared as well; their lifeless bodies lay bleeding in the street. She looked beyond the fallen slayers to see SlayBae trying to fend off a demon, but failing as it raked its claws across her arm, making her drop her sword. Anisha rushed to help, but the remaining demon turned around from battling Lexi and backhanded her, sending her to the ground.
Slaygirl looked back at Maddie and watched her pull a dagger from her boot, which she drove into the demon’s temple as they both lay on the ground. She sprung back to her feet and looked around at the chaos. The other slayers from the bar weren’t doing much better.
Maddie shouted over to Slaygirl. “What now?” she asked, concerned.
Slaygirl looked worried as well. She took a small canister from her belt. She pulled the pin with her teeth and spit it out as she tossed the projectile toward the center of the melee.
“Retreat!” she yelled. “Retreat!”
The canister exploded and filled the area with billowing gray smoke. Slayers that could still stand helped those who couldn’t.
Slaygirl pulled Maddie aside and ordered, “Get ’em back to the alley,” as she handed the younger woman her sword.
Maddie nodded once and helped Anisha to her feet, while Lexi and Crystal helped SlayBae. Slaygirl provided cover. She waved her hand and immediately what looked like ball bearings rattled around on the street. As the demons began to advance on the retreating slayers, Slaygirl touched something on her gauntlet and immediately an electric pulse leapt from her gauntlet to the balls, creating an electrified grid. The demons within that grid began to scream and smoke as they shook violently. Any demons not caught in the net backed away and ran to look for easier prey.
Cut To:
Ext.
Council Field Command Center – Evening
“Where’s the Grundrun liver?” Dawn asked as she looked through the plastic box of spell supplies. She turned back to Giles. He took a few steps toward her and looked through the container with her. Dawn nervously looked around the area. “Remember, we had to refrigerate it?” she elaborated.
Giles quickly moved to his vehicle and looked in the back, finding it vacant.
“Oh, bugger,” he muttered.
He went swiftly to his passenger door and found nothing there. Quickly, he picked up his cell phone from the seat to see ten missed messages from “Home.” He tapped the screen and then shut his eyes as he heard the ring.
After a single ring, he heard Becca say, “The kids are bringing the liver,” without so much as a hello.
Giles’s mouth worked for a few moments before he managed to say, “Okay. Which kids?”
Becca paused. “All of them,” she finally said.
“What?!” Giles exclaimed, which made Dawn look in his direction.
Although she didn’t come too close, she did close the distance somewhat to try to hear the conversation.
Cut To:
Int.
Giles House – Same Time
Becca spoke in a rush of words. “Lizzie was going to bring it, but Jen said she couldn’t let her go alone. Then Alex said he wasn’t going to leave the two of them alone, and of course Marty said, if the three of them were going, he was going too. And not wanting to feel left out, Nikki decided to tag along.”
“How will they all fit–?” Giles began to say.
Becca cut him off and said, “The Platybus.”
“The what?” Giles asked.
“It’s the name Jen gave the van. Like platypus, but platybus.”
Cut To:
Ext.
Council Field Command Center – Same Time
“Okay, well that’s quite clever…d-do their parents know?” Giles asked.
“No,” Becca said. “I figured it’s best to not worry anyone. Norm knows, since he’s here, but that’s all.”
“Yes, it’s probably best to not distract them. Hopefully they can get in and out. I just…It’s my fault. I should have double a-and even triple checked.”
“Sweetheart, everybody is on edge right now. I can see why it may have been overlooked, since it was in the fridge. Please, just try to be kind to yourself.”
“Still…” he muttered.
“Maybe there’s a reason you left it behind.”
“You mean, besides incompetence?”
Cut To:
Int.
Giles House – Same Time
“No. Fate. Maybe the kids have to be there,” Becca told him. “Maybe that’s what was missing from Faith’s alternate reality…time…thing. I believe everything in this world happens for a reason.”
“Not sure if I quite believe that right now.”
“Hey, about twenty years ago my band booked a gig where I watched somebody get dusted before my eyes. And days later, you walk into my bookstore, looking for a book that I didn’t even know I had. I got attacked, but you came to my rescue. It all happened for a reason. You’ve given me the life that I always dreamed of having. I don’t think that’s just ‘chance’, Rupert.”
“But the kids,” he countered.
“As Liz told me before she left: number one, they understand what they’re getting into, and two, with the exception of Nikki, they’re the same age as the Scoobies were when you first met them in Sunnydale. And the Scoobies have done alright for themselves, haven’t they?”
Cut To:
Ext.
Council Field Command Center – Same Time
Giles bit his bottom lip for a moment. “This feels different.”
“Of course it does. It’s our kids that we’ve raised. It should feel different. But the situation is the same…they’re destined to save the world, and they’ve had loads more training than their parents at this age…so let them. Let them save the world.”
Giles grinned briefly. “I knew there was a reason I married you.”
Becca giggled. “You call me as soon as you can, and come home safe, Mister. Promise?”
Giles smiled. “I promise.”
Arms folded, fingers drumming on her biceps, Dawn rolled her tongue around the inside of her mouth and rattled off in one breath, “The platybus what?”
Putting his phone back in his pocket, Giles looked over at her, then up and down, “Don’t get your feathers ruffled.”
Dawn’s eyes bulged out of her head as Giles strode past her.
Cut To:
Int.
Office Building – Slayer Spell Staging Area – Same Time
Chaos could be heard in various areas of the city, even through the walls of the office building, as Faith, Kennedy and the Rosenberg children continued to hold hands. A silence stretched out as they looked at one another.
“Feel any different, Slick?” Faith asked.
“No,” she said, “You?”
Faith shook her head.
“Damn,” Kennedy muttered. She looked at the set up in front of them. The hilt of the dagger, inside the salt ring, faced Jake. Kennedy picked up the dagger and set the hilt in front of Faith so that the blade tip was directly in front of her. She put down more salt and, as she finished, a loud boom nearby made the windows around them rattle. The kids visibly held Faith’s hands tighter since the trio were still locked together. For her part, Faith returned their squeeze with one of her own.
Kennedy sighed and then rolled her shoulders before taking a deep breath and taking the kids hands in hers.
“Great Artemis,” Kennedy repeated, “Slayers, both past and present, ask for the power to defeat this enemy…”
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Command Center – Same Time
A young slayerette ran up to Grace at her seat in the bustling Command Center and handed her a piece of paper with handwriting on it. She looked at it for a moment, then set it aside and nodded to the messenger, who ran off as quickly as she had come.
“Communications are down with Sector Charlie!” she called out. “Radios are out.”
Then, to herself, she muttered, “What is going on?”
“I think I know,” Rowena said from behind her. Grace spun, an eyebrow raised, and motioned for the blonde watcher to continue. “Remember when Tess Muller told us that she had heard that Zorgy was approaching a lot of rich people to try to win them over to her side?’
“I do,” Grace said evenly.
“Well, we thought that was just a power grab,” Rowena continued, “but when all our equipment started breaking on the day of the battle, I thought I’d check where all that stuff came from. So I called Xander, and he walked me through how to access the procurement logs, or at least he did until the line went dead, and I was able to find a few things before the computer I was using crashed.”
“Ro, I need you to give me the headline here, I’ve got a whole battle going on.”
“Okay, example, all the radios we’re using out in the field today came from a contract six months ago with ZTech. The CEO of ZTech, Roger Baines, has since retired to his private island in the Caribbean. All those problems we’ve had with people hacking into our network? We’ve been using servers from Delphi Communications for years. The CEO of Delphi went radio silent a month ago, nobody knows where she went. I could go on, but…”
Grace was silent for several moments. Then she said, “You think she got to them.” It wasn’t a question.
Rowena sat down across from her and said, “I think that, like with Gwen, Zorgy chose some of the people she recruited based on their preexisting relationships with the Council, which she then used to subvert our operations in various ways. Today’s technical bugs among them. And as it turns out, most rich people? A lot fewer principles than Gwen. Big shock, I know.”
Grace gave a long sigh. “Boy, I wish that lady was dead. Where are we with that, by the way?”
Rowena looked over her shoulder at a nearby screen. “Well…”
Cut To:
Ext.
Cleveland Street – Evening
Willow let loose with her magic, sending heavy, scalding streams with both hands in Zorgy’s direction. She kept this up for several seconds, kicking up a cloud of dust and broken pavement where the energy of her attack struck. Then she stopped the onslaught and waited.
The dust cleared a moment later to show Zorgy standing in a large hole in the street, completely unscathed. “Huh,” the Empress said, her tone banal. “That didn’t do shit.”
She held her hands slightly out from her hips, palms facing downward, and rose into the air to bring herself face-to-face with Willow. She waved a hand, and Willow brought up a forearm to defend herself. Still, the magic sent her falling uncontrollably backward and through the front window of a nearby clothing store with a crash of broken glass.
Zorgy cackled as Willow tried to extricate herself from the grasp of a fallen mannequin. With only a few cuts and bruises, the witch stepped out from the window and hopped down into the street with a crunch as she stepped on the glass.
“The Council is going to stop you,” Willow said evenly.
“You mean the Council that you quit?” Zorgy shook her head. “Or were fired from? I’m not totally clear on that.” Willow kept walking toward her, and, almost imperceptibly, Zorgy started to float backwards in response. “Look, it seems like my army hasn’t completely broken through yet, and that’s cool. Because the Council needs to keep winning forever. We just need to break through once, and you’re done. I know you think you might have some big weapon or whatever, but trust me, it’s not big enough.”
Willow raised first one hand, then the other, to send magical blasts in Zorgy’s direction, but the demon empress dodged easily.
“Actually, I’m kind of tired of this,” Zorgy sighed. “I guess the main thing I want to tell you is, no matter how big your secret weapon is…” She clicked the heels of her sneakers together once more in mid-air. “…Mine’s bigger.”
Cut To:
Ext.
Cleveland Lakefront – Same Time
Beyond the raging battle at the Slayer Memorial, Lake Erie stretched quietly into the distance. The quiet did not last long. The surface of the water began to churn and roil.
Then, all at once, a towering figure rose, waterfalls pouring from its sides. The monster dwarfed even the skyscrapers of the Cleveland skyline. It was lizard-like in appearance, covered in scales. Its eyes shone red for the briefest of moments once they had opened, before constant streams of fire billowed out of the sockets. It stood on all fours, each leg as thick as a building. It opened its mouth and roared, and the deafening sound rang out across the entire city.
Cut To:
Ext.
Slayer Memorial Grounds – Same Time
Slayers and demons alike looked up at the monster, which could be seen hulking beyond the central statue.
“Oh…oh, hell no,” Shannon said, taking an instinctive step backward.
Cut To:
Int.
Council Mobile Command Center – Same Time
Skye peered up out the side of the bustling tent, while Dawn continued to chant behind her. “Uhh…guys?” she called to the rest of the Coven. “I think we might have one of those, whaddayacallem, unforeseen variables coming this way?”
Cut To:
Int.
Spell Staging Area – Same Time
Emma peered out the fifth story window at the giant lizard, seeing that it was much taller than even her current position. She turned to the rest of the group and said, “So yeah, Zorgy’s got a fucking kaiju.”
Kennedy, Faith and the two younger children stared at her, wide-eyed. Finally Sophie, her tone extremely serious, said, “You swore.”
Emma continued to look out of the window; however, she quickly ducked down. In the seconds later a winged horse-like creature flew by, their wings hitting the window. As they made their ascent, one of them hit a powerline on the building and sent the line sailing and sparking outside the building. For a moment, the lights dimmed, but the sound of generators quickly followed as power was restored.
Emma, Faith and Kennedy shared a nervous glance.
From the other side of the room there was a sudden crash of breaking glass and the winged creature she just watched a moment ago was now destroying the glass around the window and trying to drive their way inside. Emma ran over, sword at the ready and drove it upward into the creature. When Becky and Charlotte began to make their way over too, Emma shouted, “No! Guard them!” as her head motioned toward the spellcasters.
The beast reared back to attack, but Emma was quicker and drove the sword through its neck and into its head. It slumped to the floor lifeless and a moment later, Emma moved to the floor as well and then using her feet and legs, kicked the creature out of the window. She jumped back to her feet and pointed at Charlotte and signed as she said, “Guard this area,” which the younger slayer quickly obeyed as Emma went back to her post on the other side of the room.
Cut To:
Ext.
Cleveland Lakefront – Same Time
The enormous lizard raised a single huge front leg and took one step. When it brought it down, the ground shook all across downtown Cleveland.
Cut To:
Ext.
Cleveland Street – Same Time
The ground beneath Willow shook with each of the monster’s steps. She put her arms out to steady herself on the next.
“I call him…Mi’ke,” Zorgy explained with a cackle.
Willow stared up at her for a moment. Another crashing footstep shook the street around them. “Its name is Mike?” she finally asked.
“No,” the empress said quickly, sounding annoyed. “Mi’ke. There’s an apostrophe.”
“I’m not…I’m not hearing the difference.”
“You pause in the middle. It’s Mi’ke.”
“I’m still not getting it, you’re saying it’s different but you keep saying Mike.”
“No, you keep saying Mike. I’m saying Mi’ke, it’s not…it’s different. I’m telling you it’s different.”
“Okay, but I’m telling you I’m not getting it, and you keep saying it, it’s not–”
“Shut up!” Zorgy finally yelled. She let loose with twin blasts of magic in Willow’s direction. The ground shook again with another step from Mi’ke.
Cut To:
Int.
High Rise Building – Lobby – Moments Later
Spike stood next to Angel as the remaining large windows on the first floor of the office tower rattled under the weight of something large marching through the city. The windows directly in front of them had been broken out to create what looked like a huge doorway. The vampires standing behind them, with their slayer blood packs in hand, nervously looked at each other.
“Getting some serious alley déjà vu,” Angel crooked his head to the right, cracking his shoulder.
“So, what’d ya think it is, mate?” Spike asked.
Angel shrugged. “Don’t know. But it sounds…big.”
“You don’t say?” Spike said with a momentary grin. “What gave it away? The building shaking to the rafters or the sound of imminent destruction near the lake?”
Angel ignored the comment as Spike looked up impatiently at the clock, which now featured a handmade sign to the right that read, ‘Sunset – 8:41 P.M.’.
“This has to be the longest two minutes of my unlife,” Spike said, as the clock read 8:39 PM.
“Come on, come on, come on,” Angel muttered as he also stared at the clock.
Again, another loud crash shook the foundations of the building. Seconds later, the leader of Vampires Anonymous approached the pair, holding his blood pack.
He asked Angel, “Is it true that this slayer blood will make us more powerful? Or is that a myth? Rumor has it that slayer blood once saved you, so you’ve tasted a slayer, right?”
“He’s not the only one,” the blond vampire muttered.
“Spike,” Angel spat his name in warning. He then addressed the questioning vampire. “Yes, it can’t give you a soul, but it can make you faster and stronger.”
Spike pointed at the clock. “Speaking of which…” In a louder voice, he addressed the legion of vampires behind them, holding up his own blood pack. “It’s happy hour! Game faces, Ladies and Gents!”
On cue, the vampires in the building changed into their demonic form and each one sunk their fangs into the bags, drinking deeply. Spike and Angel did as well and drained their own bags, but all the while kept their eyes on the clock.
8:41.
Angel and Spike looked at each other and nodded in agreement before they tossed the empty bags toward the walls to their left and right.
“Let’s move!” Angel shouted, as he and Spike rushed from the building. Vampire after vampire followed them out with war cries of their own.
Cut To:
Int.
Platybus – Evening
“Are you sure we’re heading to the right place?” Marty asked his sister.
“I think so,” Liz replied, Jen’s gifted World War I Helmet rolling about on her head.
“Think so? Shouldn’t we know so?” Marty stressed.
“No electronics,” she reminded him. “Calling them to confirm might give the game away, and then all this is for nothing in any case.”
Alex held onto whatever he could in the back of the van as Liz raced through the city streets. Marty sat in the passenger seat, cooler on his lap, with Jen between him and Liz across from Alex in the back. Nikki held on for dear life as well.
Nikki called out, “We need to confirm somehow!”
Alex closed his eyes.
“Mom,” he called out, both vocally and with his mind. “Do you hear me?”
“Alex?” Rowena called back. “What are–?”
“No time,” he cut her off. “Yes or no. Has Aunt Dawn’s position changed since we last spoke?”
“No,” Rowena replied after a brief pause. “Why are–?”
Alex cut her off again. “We have a delivery.”
Cut To:
Ext.
City Street – Cleveland – Same Time
Willow’s eyes went wide just as much as Zorgy’s did at the news. Based on the looks on their faces, both of them had clearly heard the conversation between Rowena and Alex. However, Willow’s face showed concern, while Zorgy looked positively delighted.
“We’re heading there,” they both heard Alex say.
Zorgy began to chuckle.
“I gotta hand it to you, Rosenberg. You trained those spawns of yours well. He didn’t give up the location at all. Kudos, lil’ man,” Zorgy called out.
“Fuck you,” Alex’s voice called back inside both their heads.
Zorgy laughed even harder. “Language! Didn’t you teach this boy any manners?” she asked Willow. “Eh, it’s probably the Rowena side in him.”
Willow looked as far from pleased as she could be.
“Fuck you,” she deadpanned.
Zorgy smiled. “Like Mommas, like son, apparently.”
Cut To:
Int.
Platybus – Same Time
“Fuck you too, Alex,” Liz called out.
“No,” Jen told her. “He’s talking to Zorgy. She listened in.”
“Oh, well then, un-fuck you, Alex,” Liz yelled back. “Am I headed–?”
“Same place,” Jen told her. “And fast, so Zorgy doesn’t get the drop on us.”
Liz nodded and announced, “Everyone, hold on! Hard right.”
Marty tightened his hold on the cooler while everyone grabbed on to something an instant before the vehicle lurched to one side.
Cut To:
Ext.
City Street – Same Time
Zorgy cracked her knuckles before telling Willow, “The whole fam is joining the party today? I can’t wait to welcome them. The suspense is killing me.”
Willow didn’t say anything, her face now a mask. She didn’t even move…at first.
Zorgy took three steps toward her, and Willow nodded her head slightly. Suddenly, Zorgy was sent backward through the air, crashing through the windshield of the vehicle behind her and shattering the glass.
Willow raised her hand to cast again, but this time, although Zorgy was flat on her back, she matched her stream for stream. The energy between them built with neither gaining an inch on the other. Unexpectedly, an explosion started where the streams met and immediately expanded to the areas around them breaking out the windows of the nearby building.
Cut To:
Ext.
Cleveland Alley – Same Time
“Now what?” Crystal yelled to be heard over the noise around them just outside the alley. “We’ve lost thirty percent of our troops in, what? Nine minutes?”
“Seven casualties out of thirty-six actually equals nineteen point four percent,” Anisha interjected. When everyone stopped and just stared at her, she then added, “…which isn’t the point you were making. Sorry.”
“Apology accepted,” Crystal replied. “My point is, we’re gettin’ slaughtered.”
About half the girls in the group nodded and grumbled. The other half looked toward Slaygirl to see her reaction.
Slaygirl raised her voice to be heard by the slayers gathered around her. “When we signed up for this, we knew not everyone would make it. We all agreed to that.”
“I agreed to a battle,” SlayBae replied. “Not a bloodbath! Like Crystal said, I don’t want to do this!”
Some girls behind her voiced their agreement, while others shook their heads. The women began to move toward one side or the other in the alley, forming into two groups.
“I didn’t say I don’t wanna do it,” Crystal countered, to SlayBae’s surprise. “Hell, I didn’t get Dylan back from a loan shark just to have this bitch destroy the world. I wanna fight, but we need a better plan.”
At that point, everyone in the group seemed to speak up at once. Maddie and Anisha took a seat on an air conditioning unit next to each other and silently watched the two sides volley with each other. After a few seconds of chaos, the pair watched Lexi walk over, stand on top of the unit and give a loud whistle with her fingers in her mouth, making everyone stop and look at her.
“Yeah, it’s scary and dangerous now!” Lexi yelled over the nearby battle. “But there’s nowhere to run if Zorgy wins! We have to go back!”
Cut To:
Int.
Undisclosed Location – Same Time
Two teens sat in a bedroom looking at a tablet, watching Lexi’s feed and smiling.
“If any of us are going to have a real chance of survival, we’ve got to work together!”
Cut To:
Int.
Undisclosed Location – Same Time
A group of people in an office were gathered around a single monitor, watching with growing admiration.
“We’ve got to make a stand!”
Cut To:
Ext.
Cleveland – Alley – Same Time
Lexi pointed back out toward the battle. “And it’s got to be here and now! So, if anyone wants to leave, then go. I wouldn’t judge you if you’re too afraid to fight. But if you’ve got something in this world worth fighting for, come with me!”
She hopped down from the unit, and Anisha and Maddie shrugged at each other and stood up. They followed Lexi as she took a spot next to Slaygirl. “I’m with you,” Lexi told the superhero. “But Crystal’s right. We need a plan.”
“What if I had an idea, but not a plan,” SlayBae offered.
“Go ahead,” Slaygirl motioned to her.
“I saw the slayers – Council Slayers, I mean. They looked like Romans and they marched in a square formation. The demons came to them, but since they had three hundred and sixty degrees covered, they knocked a bunch out right at the start before they broke apart to take out the stragglers. Then they regrouped and moved along as a square again. I think we can do that. How many squares could we make, Ani? Help me out here.”
Anisha seemed to be running the math in her head as she pointed at the sky, moving her finger as part of her silent calculations. “Since you can’t have nine point six people in a group. I’d suggest creating two groups of twelve. Three people in four rows or four people in three rows. The extra five people could provide backup support. Of course, that’s providing everyone stays.”
The women all began to look at each other as five of them slipped away toward the other end of the alley without a word, walking away from the group.
“Well,” Lexi said, “So much for back up! Let’s do this!”
Cut To:
Int.
Office Building – Slayer Spell Area – Evening
The four spellcasters looked at each other in growing concern as another boom shook, not only the windows, but also the floors slightly.
“Anything?” Faith pleaded.
Sadly, Kennedy shook her head. “It’s not working.”
After another boom, Sophia winced. “It’s hurting the ground. Its steps are heavy. I can feel it. Whatever it is, it’s very big.”
“And it’s heading this way,” Jake added.
“Maybe we need more of a sacrifice?” Faith suggested to Kennedy. Her eyes moved the dagger.
“No!” Kennedy snapped, making the kids jump. “Sorry,” she told them and then looked back at Faith. “That’s not an option.”
“I mean a blood sacrifice,” Faith explained, but this did nothing to change Kennedy’s mind.
“I’m not hurting anyone or doing any black magic. What you’re describing is definitely black magic.”
“I’m not talking about that,” Faith countered as she picked up the dagger.
“Stop!” Kennedy told her urgently. “Death isn’t the way!”
“I agree! Remember how we opened the seal in Sunnydale?” Faith pressed. “We didn’t kill anyone. Sometimes all it takes is a drop of the right blood.”
Kennedy considered what Faith was saying but her thoughts were interrupted by the noise of the battle around them. After the latest blast, she quickly regained her focus.
“I mixed the blood I took from you at the lab with the salt. But…maybe it’s the dagger.”
“Maybe. Or maybe it needs to be fresh blood.” Faith shook the dagger, as if she was trying to jump start it. “Blood of the last of the old line…” She sliced across the bottom of her palm and the blood began to drip. She then smeared her bleeding palm on the dagger blade. Carefully, she handed it to Kennedy. “…and blood of the first in the new line.”
Kennedy took the offered weapon and did the same gesture before placing it inside the circle again, with the hilt facing Faith.
“Sorry buddy,” Faith said as she offered Jake her bloody hand. Sophie took Kennedy’s hand at the same time.
Jake took it without hesitation. “I don’t mind a little blood. I just hope it works,” he said as everyone locked hands again.
The older woman nodded toward him in appreciation.
Kennedy began again, frustration showing through in her voice. “Dear Artemis…”
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Command Center – Same Time
Trina ran into the Council Command Center, holding a paper above her head. Robin trailed some distance behind her, doing his best to keep up despite his artificial leg.
“It’s not gonna work!” she proclaimed.
Grace and Rowena coolly regarded the two newcomers. The rest of the room quieted for a moment, all looking at Trina and Robin.
Robin put his hands on his knees to catch his breath, then straightened up and said, “She means the slayer spell. And I think she might be right. I’m not sure what we’re going to do about it, though.”
Grace motioned them to come closer as the rest of the room went back to work. “Tell me,” she told them.
“I’ve double and triple checked,” Trina explained breathlessly. “It all says the same thing. The spell to reactivate the slayers isn’t going to work without the sacrifice. And I don’t mean possessions.”
“She means we’ve gotta kill someone,” Rowena said quietly.
Trina pointed at her. “Yes!” She looked around at the group. “Listen to me. I haven’t made any snarky comments, okay? I’ve never been more certain about anything in my life. It says ‘a sacrifice of innocent blood’.”
“I get it,” Robin said. “I know why we don’t do this. But we absolutely cannot lose this fight.”
“No!” Rowena said firmly. “We’re not crossing that line. We’ve crossed a lot of lines, but not that one, okay? I know that Willow wouldn’t want that, either, no matter who.”
“I mean, the plan is to kill this Zorgy bitch, right?” Trina asked.
“She’s a demon,” Robin said, “and a pretty evil one, at that.”
“Sure, but she’s also pretty much a human,” Trina insisted. This was met with stares. “I read the transcripts of her little visit, okay? I thought that if Giles caught something you all didn’t, maybe I could, too. Point is, she went to high school. She lived here, for years. She’s got all the pop culture references. You guys keep saying demons are just as good or bad as people are. Zorgy is Exhibit A.”
“I think we’re getting off track here,” Rowena said. “Not to mention, Miss Cunningham, this is a conversation for the adults, okay? Thank you for your research, we’ll take it from here.”
Grace had stayed silent until now, and her expression hadn’t changed. But now she turned to Trina and said, “What are you actually saying we should do?”
“You can’t actually be con–?” was all an incredulous Rowena got out before Grace raised a hand to silence her.
“I can’t make a decision until I know what decision I’m being asked to make,” she said. Her eyes stayed on Trina. “I need to know exactly what you think would make the spell work.”
Cut To:
Ext.
Cleveland – City Street – Evening
Willow’s red hair cascaded over her shoulders, fluttering slightly in the evening breeze. She began to walk slowly in a circular motion, one which Zorgy immediately began to imitate. Based on the sounds that echoed off the skyscrapers, chaos reigned in the streets around them. The area where they faced off, however, was relatively devoid of humans or creatures due to the evacuation.
“I like your hair down,” Zorgy told her, in what sounded like a genuinely complimentary tone. “Those clips made you look too old. ‘Course, it gives me that sexy librarian vibe if ya had a pair of glasses.”
The two of them strolled around each other, not taking their eyes off of one another. They didn’t even take the time to blink. They weren’t particularly near each other, but still close enough that they could have a conversation without straining to be heard.
“Round two,” Willow told her confidently.
“What? No bell?” Zorgy teased.
With the swipe of her hand, Willow manifested a boxing-style bell. She shook her finger at it twice, and it produced a “ding ding!” noise.
Zorgy laughed. “I gotta hand it to you, Rosenberg. You’re big with the showmanship. I respect that about you.”
“Who on earth cares what you think? Definitely not me.”
The two continued to circle one another, and Zorgy held her smile. “Now this is the Willow Rosenberg I wanted to battle at that brewery.”
Willow didn’t smile. Her lips didn’t so much as twitch. “Lucky you. You’ll get your chance today, but be warned…You went after me, you went after my children, but worst of all, for you, you went after the woman I love. You know so much about me? Tell me what I’m gonna do next to you.”
Almost imperceptibly, Zorgy flinched at this. Within a split second, she put her facade of bravado back in place. “Lemme guess. I’ll go missing? Like Warren Mears?”
Willow finally cracked the smallest of grins. “He’s not missing. He’s where he belongs, like you will be after today. With or without your skin, I haven’t decided yet.”
“Oh, the great and powerful Willow Rosenberg is here to teach me a lesson?”
The circles they were making became a bit wider as they continued to walk around one another.
“Lesson time, huh?” Willow asked. “Say, what’s the first thing I ever levitated, besides a feather?”
With no warning, two vehicles from either side of the street lifted off of their wheels and rotated in the air until they hung vertically in the air, headlights pointing straight up. A moment later, they each came careening toward a flat-footed Zorgy. They landed on her upside-down, one on top of the other their roofs pounding her into the pavement.
“I’ve come a long way since pencils,” Willow said. Then she added, “You can come out now.”
Instead of being crushed, the demon materialized, seemingly unscathed, at the top of the pile of automotive debris, a foot planted on each bumper.
Zorgy roared in laughter. “You’re fun! I was going to drown you in your own blood, but I might keep you around as a pet after I’m done here. Might be more fun to let you live with what I’m gonna do to the MILF watcher and your whole brood.”
“Ya gotta catch me first.”
Instantly, Zorgy disappeared and then suddenly reappeared where Willow had just been standing milliseconds before. Realizing that the witch had vanished, Zorgy looked concerned for a moment. A second later, Willow blipped into existence behind her and slammed the demon face first into the concrete with a wave of her hand.
Just as Willow moved to kick her while she was down, Zorgy rolled over in the opposite direction, looking up at the witch with a huge grin on her face. “Is this all you’ve got? I could do this all day. And while you’re busy failing to smear my makeup, the rest of your whole team is getting stomped into Council-flavored pancakes.”
“You mean the giant lizard?” Willow asked. She regained her balance as Zorgy flipped to her feet directly from a prone position. “I’m not worried. I trust my friends to handle it.”
“Wellll, here’s the thing,” Zorgy told her. “Even if that were true, which it, uh, definitely is not…you think you’re the only one with friends?”
One of Willow’s eyebrows went up.
“I’ve been networking,” Zorgy proclaimed with both arms out.
Cut To:
Ext.
Slayer Memorial Grounds – Same Time
Shannon was mid-swing at a demon’s neck with her sword when the largest portal yet opened in the center of the battlefield near the Slayer Memorial statue, emitting a blinding light. She finished her motion, killing her opponent, then stumbled back, shading her eyes with one hand. Around the battlefield, slayers and demons alike did the same.
Then the portal vanished as quickly as it had appeared, leaving in its place row upon row of hovering, winged figures in shining silver armor. At their head, wearing her own armor that seemed less designed to protect than reveal maximum cleavage and wielding a sword that glowed with power, hovered the Fairy Queen.
Kadin looked up at the new invaders from the midst of her group of Council-friendly demons, struggling to hold back Marsha as the dragon strained on her leash.
“Who are these renfaire rejects?” one of the demons asked derisively.
“Oh God,” Kadin breathed, realizing what she was looking at. She touched her radio and spoke urgently. “This is Van Helsing. I sure hope we have iron weapons. A buttload would be a good amount.”
“This is Field Command,” Xander’s voice crackled over the radio, but then began to fade in and out. “We…a stockpile…some…in the field. Coordinating. All forces…fairies. Use…weapons. Repeat…iron weapons.”
The Fairy Queen turned to her own troops and spat, “The humans have taken our world and befouled it. See this ground. It was once a verdant forest. The humans have cleared it, destroyed it, built upon it with cold concrete. Not even for their own use, but for their dead. No longer shall we keep them as playthings, as slaves to our will. Now they shall die at the hands of the Sidhe, we who are more ancient than the roots of the trees.” She turned back to the battlefield. “Let them join their precious dead. Keep none alive.” She surveyed the battlefield one last time, then nodded directly toward Kadin. “Leave that one for me. Her life is mine.”
With this, she flew at the Council lines with incredible speed, her weapon raised. The young female watcher operating the “Merlin machine” tried to dive for cover, but was cut in half before she could finish the movement. The Queen blurred to a stop as the two halves of the woman’s body fell in either direction. She took a deep breath, taking in the stench of the battlefield. Then the smallest of smiles appeared on her lips, and she zipped back into the Council lines, leaving a blood red mist in her wake.
In another part of the battlefield, Shannon turned at the last moment to stop the sword of a speeding male fairy with her own. She stared him down for a few moments. “You know, when I was a little girl, I used to love fairies,” she growled through grit teeth. “Now I finally get to meet one. Must be my birthday.” She quickly parried two more thrusts from her silent attacker. “Good thing I pay attention in briefings and I happen to know this sword’s sixty percent iron.”
With that, she swung her sword and struck the fairy in the side of his abdomen. But instead of slicing into him, her sword shattered on impact with a crash. She stared at the hilt in her hand for a moment, temporarily dumbfounded.
“I try a quip once…” she sighed. Then she activated her radio and shouted, “Iron’s not working. I thought iron was supposed to work!”
Without waiting for a reply, she chucked the hilt of her broken sword to the ground, let loose with a wordless battle scream, and dove forward, tackling the fairy.
Cut To:
Ext.
Battlefield – Same Time
Kadin had to pull back hard on the leash attached to Marsha’s neck as the dragon growled at the Queen of the Fairies. Around them, the fairy army crashed into the Council lines at unnatural speed, leaving death and screams of pain in their wake. Kadin’s head swiveled from this scene to the ongoing destruction caused by the giant lizard stomping around the city.
“Wait!” she urged the dragon. “I know you remember her, but we can’t just go charging into every meat grinder. We’ve got too many to worry about right now.” She sighed, her eyes still staring, unfocused, toward Mi’ke’s hulking form. She blinked. “Wait.”
Kadin put a finger to her headset. Static ensued. She turned to a demon next to her, black skin with red eyes. The same species that the security guards had been for the pharmaceutical company.
“I need to get a message to Jeff,” she said. She quickly turned back to Marsha. “I know how you can help me and Momma. You ready?”
The dragon excitedly danced in a circle.
Cut To:
Int.
Council Mobile HQ – Minutes Later
“Shit!” yelled Wilton, as the ground beneath the Council’s Mobile HQ tent shook again. “We need to stop that thing!”
“Oh yeah, Desert Hearts?” Skye growled, halfway to vamp face. “What do you suggest?”
“Hey, I’m Gina Gershon in Bound, if anything!” Wilton yelled back.
The pair sat as part of a group of Coven members in a circle, hands held, around Dawn in the center. Her eyes were closed and she was murmuring something under her breath. The ground shook again, though Skye barely noticed through her laughter.
“What?” Wilton growled.
“You’re Jennifer Tilly if you’re anybody, dumbass!” Skye crowed back.
As she said this, a demon with black skin and red eyes came up to the group and handed a piece of paper to Jeff. He looked at it for a moment. Then he looked up, his thoughts going a mile a minute behind his eyes.
Then he raised his voice and said, “I need a couple volunteers to do a thing with me. Safety not guaranteed. Who wants it?” Several hands went up – though neither Skye’s nor Wilton’s – more than he apparently needed, and Jeff pointed to three of them. “You, you and you, come with me.”
As the four witches all rose and the rest of the group’s hands linked with each other to close the gaps in the circle, Wilton said indignantly, “I’m not Jennifer Tilly.”
“You’re right,” Skye agreed solemnly. “Her boobs are way bigger than yours.”
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Command Center – Same Time
“It has to be a real sacrifice,” Trina explained to Robin, Grace and Rowena. “So no, just bleeding someone won’t work. To get your slayers, you’re going to have to kill someone. And it can’t be just anyone. It has to be ‘innocent blood’.”
“So I’m thinking Faith’s out,” Robin said, “given how many non-innocent things she’s done over the years.”
“No, that’s too…simplistic,” Trina said. “No offense.” Grace gestured for her to go on. “If I’m right, and I mean, let’s be honest, I haven’t been wrong in a while, it needs to be somebody who doesn’t have anything to gain from the spell, someone who’s innocent of that desire for power.”
Rowena threw up her hands. “What are we doing here, then? How are we supposed to sacrifice someone for a spell without that person doing it because it’s going to make the spell work?”
“Yeah, magic’s super dumb sometimes,” Trina commented.
“We’re going to need a different plan then, right?” Robin pointed out. “We need, I don’t know, something else. We don’t have enough slayers to stop Zorgy without the spell.”
Grace looked at him then said, “I don’t know. But we have to tell the spell team. Otherwise they’re going to keep bashing their heads against the wall until they’re overrun.” She turned to a nearby watcher and said, “Get me the slayer spellcasters on the radio.” He nodded and went to work.
Rowena put a hand on the Chairwoman’s shoulder. “Grace, what are they gonna do when we tell them? You do this, you’re leaving the soul of the Council and the fate of the human race with Kennedy and Faith.”
“Do you trust me?” Grace asked. Rowena just nodded. “Then trust Ken and Faith, too. Somebody has to be the person on the spot and unfortunately, as watchers, a lot of the time that’s not us. All I can do is give our people all the tools I can, the rest is up to them.”
“There’s no reply,” said the watcher Grace had ordered to contact the team.
Rowena and Grace both turned to look at him. “What?” Rowena asked.
“The line is dead,” the watcher elaborated. “Neither Kennedy or Faith is responding. Seems like their radio might not be functioning. There’s a lot of that going around.”
Grace looked up at the ceiling in frustration.
“I guess they’re gonna have to make all those crucial universe-shattering decisions without all the info,” Trina commented.
Rowena turned back to the teenager. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”
“I mean, we’re all probably gonna die now anyway.” Trina gestured to the many screens showing the ongoing battle. “I’d rather be able to watch it coming on TV.”
Cut To:
Ext.
Slayer Memorial – Same Time
Xander and Gunn stood on either side of a large, cannon-like weapon as the massive kaiju continued to lurch through the city, while in the distance slayers continued to battle both the demons from Vor and the fairies that made their way through the ever-growing hellmouth opening.
“We need to move this weapon now?” a stressed slayer asked, pointing over the horizon to where the lizard approached.
“No,” Xander and Gunn both said at the same time. “Sorry,” Gunn added to Xander. “Didn’t mean to step on any toes.”
“You’re cool. Only toe stepping I’m worried about is that big lizard,” Xander replied.
“Exactly! The monster–” the slayer began again.
“Is a distraction,” Xander finished. “We stay here. Your job is to protect this machine where it sits. Understood?”
Although she still seemed confused, she nodded and walked over to the other slayers guarding them with a look of exasperation.
“Okay,” Gunn began, “I figured this thing was just too big to move. That’s why I said no. So what’s your reason?”
“The monster is here to pull focus. We guard the Hellmouth, and when it’s time…well, you’ll see.”
“If we’re not stomped to death, you mean?” Gunn threw in with a smirk.
“Well, yeah, but that goes without saying,” Xander replied with a slight grin of his own.
Cut To:
Ext.
Alley – Same Time
Lexi held up a detached trash can lid and asked, “How about this for a shield?”
“Oh yeah,” SlayBae said excitedly and then ripped the top off another trash receptacle.
Slaygirl examined it and began to nod. “Can you get your arms through the handles?”
Crystal gave it a try and then grinned when her arm went through so she could hold the lid like a shield.
“Trash can army,” Maddie sighed. “We’re all gonna die, aren’t we?”
For a few seconds they said nothing. They just looked at one another.
“Statistically, no,” Anisha said to no one in particular. “So that’s positive, right?”
“Let’s find more lids,” Slaygirl instructed, avoiding the question.
Cut To:
Ext.
Outside Council Mobile HQ – Minutes Later
Jeff and three other junior Coven Members stood in a circle, arms linked, as the sounds of battle and kaiju rampage continued in the distance. The ground shook again. Then the group looked up and saw a winged shape in the sky above them, getting closer by the moment.
Marsha swooped down from the sky and into the center of the circle. The other witches took a step back, eyes wide, while Jeff smiled. “Okay, guys, let’s do the four points of the compass here. Follow my lead.”
Cut To:
Ext.
Downtown Cleveland – Minutes Later
Mi’ke’s enormous, clawed foot slammed down into the center of Euclid Avenue, effortlessly crushing a vehicle that erupted into flames . When he raised his foot again, it left a giant footprint-shaped hole in the center of the street. Behind him, his tail swung carelessly, slamming into a ten-story office building and shattering it as if it were matchsticks. The structure collapsed, leaving a pile of debris where the building had stood moments earlier.
The creature raised his head and let out another unearthly roar. But as he did so, the ground shook again. He was not the source. Startled, Mi’ke quickly turned his head, immediately followed by the rest of his body. His tail and torso created a wide arc of destruction as he did so.
Marsha now stood next to the Slayer Memorial statue, and she was the taller of the two. The dragon now stood at least fifty feet high. She raised her head in a challenge, wings spread, and let out a stream of fire high in the air. Mi’ke answered the challenge with his own roar.
The two enormous reptiles strode toward each other, crunching cars and buildings beneath their feet as they did.
Fade Out
End of Act Four