Act 8
Cut To:
Ext.
Cleveland Street – Same Time
“Thank you?” Zorgy asked. “You want the Hellmouth open? Y’know, I thought you might have some sort of weird death wish, but I didn’t think it was this bad.”
Willow didn’t reply to Zorgy. Instead, she looked slightly up and said, “Jeff?”
His internal response was simply, “On it.”
Zorgy’s brow creased in confusion. “On it? On what?”
Willow cleared her throat and calmly said, “I have no use for you anymore.”
Zorgy’s look of confusion turned into one of concern.
Cut To:
Ext.
Slayer Memorial / Near Hellmouth – Same Time
Slayers surrounded the large weapon where Gunn and Xander stood by. They were doing a fairly good job of keeping any demons at bay. Near the weapon, Gunn peered nervously through binoculars. The Vor demons pouring through the open hellmouth charged ever closer.
“Is it time now?” he asked, the stress evident in his voice.
Xander stood next to him, looking through a set of his own binoculars. “No. Not yet.”
Gunn dropped his gaze and looked at Xander. “They’re breaching the Hellmouth!”
“Yep, they sure are,” Xander replied. “It’s an hour between shots with this baby, so timing is everything.”
Gunn gave Xander an unsure look before he went back to watching.
Cut To:
Ext.
Outside Council Field Command Center – Same Time
Liz, still wearing Casey’s helmet, nervously picked up her sword and looked at the hooded demons, each wielding their own curved blades, coming from her left and her right. For the briefest of seconds, she closed her eyes and heard Rowena’s voice in her mind.
“Start with feet in the L position, your heels in a straight line.” Liz lined up her feet, her eyes still closed in thought. “Elbow a fist width from the rib cage with your dominant leg facing forward.” This time Liz moved her arm into position as she slowly opened her eyes. “Non-sword arm up for balance.” Liz raised her arm in a defensive position. The demons were within yards of her and bearing down fast. She looked between them both, trying to gauge which would be there first.
She found her first target. “Front foot heel to toe…back foot follows.” As the demon to her right lunged, Liz countered swiftly. She moved into his space with confidence and knocked his weapon aside. Just as quickly, her arm thrust forward. The blade tore against her attacker’s throat, dropping him to the ground clutching at his neck. She heard, rather than saw, the other demon barreling toward her, his sword above his head, ready to strike her down.
Without looking back, she stepped aside, and the demon missed her entirely, driving his sword into his fallen comrade lying on the ground. Liz took the opportunity to swing her sword up, cutting across the second demon’s throat as well. Even with the battle raging around him, his body could still be heard falling to the ground with a sickening thud. She quickly scanned the area, looking for her family. The first people she recognized, however, were Slaygirl and Shannon running toward her with a group of other women.
The sound of an immense growl made her turn sharply. Seeing a demon was only steps away from her, she tried to raise her sword before it arrived. As the beast raised its talon-like hands to shred her, it suddenly stopped and tried to reach behind its back. Liz had to jump out of the way as it landed face first with an axe in its back. Jen stood several feet away, breathing hard.
Nearby, next to the Platybus, Martin, Nikki and Giles watched as Alex stood in front of them, hurling fireballs at any demon that came within a few yards. Their backs were up against the side of the van, allowing them to see their attackers coming.
“We need reinforcements,” Giles said.
Martin searched around and noticed a radio several feet away. He took off in a run toward it.
“Martin!” Giles yelled.
The sound got Alex’s attention, and he quickly began to provide suppressing fire from his fingertips so that Martin could make it to the radio. In the nearby distance, Jen saw the explosions and Martin running, so she pulled Liz along in the same direction.
Martin picked up the radio microphone, but before he said anything, he paused to listen closely. He shook his head, trying to regain his focus, and pressed the button.
“To anyone listening,” he said. “Council needs reinforcements to the remaining spell site. Copy?”
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Command Center – Same Time
Rowena picked up her microphone and looked at the feed of the action playing out in front of the spellcasters. She touched a few buttons on her screen and said, “Copy that…Marty?” she then asked.
“Yeah,” he replied. “There’s something else coming through the radio that sounds like…Juipp, a very old Vor language. I’ll stay here and listen as long as I can, but we need backup to keep the covens safe.”
“Copy that,” Rowena replied. She hit a few more buttons and said, “Kadin? Can you get to the Memorial spell site now?”
“On our way,” she replied. “Ken’s team still on the move?”
Rowena grinned. “They’re making their way to the Interstate, then to Becca.”
“Thanks, Ro. Tell ’em support’s on the way.”
“Will do.” Rowena again hit a button and said, “Kadin’s team is coming. Sit tight if you can, Marty.”
Cut To:
Ext.
Outside Council Field Command Center – Same Time
Marty couldn’t answer. He had to duck as a slayer and demon went up and over the table he was sitting at. Thankfully, the slayer was victorious as the two came rolling to a stop.
While still on the ground, he began to look through the makeshift desk and found a pad and some pens. He reached up, trying to avoid being seen, and grabbed a pair of headphones from the top of the table. He plugged it into the radio before ducking back under the table with his supplies in hand. He hunkered down, listening intently and quickly making notations on the pad.
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Command Center – Same Time
From the center of the bustling Council Command Center, Jackson waved to Rowena, who began to make her way over.
“Ma’am,” Jackson told her as she approached, “we’re picking up a language that might be Vor in nature. I can’t quite make it out.”
Rowena tried to hide her smile, but not particularly effectively. “It’s Juipp. Martin Giles is a step ahead of you, but get more translators on it now.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” he said.
Cut To:
Ext.
Slayer Memorial – Same Time
Although the slayers already defending the Council’s Field Command Center were holding their own, they didn’t seem to be making any headway in the fight, since each slayer was taking on four or more opponents at once. As Shannon arrived with her platoon, she surveyed the battle and noticed that the demons were starting to close in on the tent in the near distance.
“Over there!” she shouted to Slaygirl. “Protect the Coven at all costs.”
Slaygirl nodded and the other lancers followed her as she moved in the direction of the command tent.
Maddie looked around and found demons of all shapes and sizes besieging slayers from practically every angle. One slayer, however, stood out. She moved with speed and grace, making her more of an acrobat than a warrior. Maddie grinned and looked closer. It was Jen Rosenberg.
Seconds later, Maddie watched a fireball fly past Jen and smack a demon straight in their chest, sending them to the ground. She followed the line of fire back several yards to see Alex holding his own and casting left and right at various demons, trying to provide cover to Martin, and now Liz, who were under a table with radio equipment. Her initial smile at seeing Alex turned into concern when she turned to look at the battle again. Three more demons made their way toward an unsuspecting Jen. The lancer quickly began to run in her direction.
Maddie came up behind two of the demons pursuing Jen and cut them down. At the same time, Jen swung her sword and cut down two herself leaving her only two more demons to face. However, Maddie looked up and saw a huge beast with curled horns and enormous teeth quickly closing in on Jen from behind.
“Jen, watch your six!” Maddie shouted.
A peculiar look came to Jen’s face, which quickly turned to one of recognition.
“My six!” Jen said in appreciation.
Rather than turn to look behind her, the blonde squatted and held her sword behind her back. When she quickly rose, she brought the sword with her, effectively gutting the potential attacker without so much as looking behind herself.
Once the demon fell to the ground, Maddie took down the two remaining demons and ran up to her. Jen looked, astonished, at the demon she killed moments before.
“Pretty fugly, huh?” Maddie remarked.
Jen stood still, her eyes fixed on the dead demon.
“He’s from my dream,” Jen said out loud, more to herself than Maddie standing beside her.
“He looks more like somethin’ outta my nightmares,” Maddie replied.
Jen broke out of her musings to look at Maddie. Without so much as a word, Jen immediately pushed Maddie to her left, and the lancer stumbled to the ground.
Maddie, prone on the grass, turned around with an angry expression.
“Again?! What the h–?!” she started to say.
She cut herself short when she watched Jen run her sword through a demon, which only seconds before would have blindsided Maddie. Jen promptly pushed the demon off of her sword with her foot, and it fell to the ground with a wet thud. She then turned to offer her hand to Maddie, pulling her back to her feet.
“Thanks for the help,” Jen told her.
“Yeah,” Maddie said, looking at the dead demons around them. “Back atcha.”
Jen pitched a thumb backward over her shoulder. “I’m trying to get through this chaos. We got separated, and my brother’s by our van,” she told her. “Liz still has my hat too,” she said in afterthought. “Wanna come?”
SlayBae, who was battling with a demon, pushed it to the ground and then rammed her sword through its chest. Then she looked toward Maddie with a slight grin.
“Go save your boo,” she told her. “We got this.”
Maddie grinned at SlayBae, who pulled her sword out of her previous kill with a squelch and went to look for more demons. She motioned to Jen to lead the way, and the pair began to run.
Over near the Platybus, Alex continued to stand at the table, with Martin still hunched underneath.
“Anything?” Alex asked.
Martin replied, “What?” as he moved his headphones aside.
“Are you done?” Alex asked as he threw another ball of magic and missed. “Damn it,” he muttered at the wayward bolt.
“Yeah, yeah, I think I got it. The message is repeating now. Nothing new. But there’s a sentence I’m not understanding.”
“Jackson’s working on it,” Alex said as he took another demon off its feet with a fireball. “Can we go now?”
“No, I want to try to write it phonetically.” Martin scribbled something on a piece of paper. He then dialed his phone.
On the other side of the Platybus, Giles was shielding himself and Nikki with an incantation and a hand movement. He motioned to Nikki to answer his phone. She grabbed it and put it on speaker.
“Martin?” Giles asked.
“Hey, listen. Do you know the Juipp language?”
“Juipp?” Giles asked. Liz and Nikki looked over with increased interest. “I’m afraid I don’t. Why?” he asked, before immediately going back to his incantation.
“I think we picked up a Vor signal on accident, thanks to our archaic tech,” Martin explained. “But one sentence I’m not getting. It sounds like preomit gewetto vultchan. Maybe Rowena or Jackson might–”
“I think I know!” Nikki interrupted eagerly. “Say it one more time.”
“Preomit gewetto vultchan.”
Nikki smiled.
“You know?” Liz asked.
Nikki nodded in excitement.
Cut To:
Ext.
Cleveland Streets – Same Time
Zorgy tried to defend herself, but Willow simply deflected her attack with a single wave of her hand. She charged Zorgy and threw her in the air without ever actually touching her. Before she could come back down to earth, Willow shot forward and grabbed the demon by the lapels. Taking off like a rocket, Willow pulled Zorgy along with her as the two of them raced through the city in flight. Buildings and street lights whizzed by, becoming little more than streaks of light. Zorgy tried her best to break free, but Willow held on even tighter as the two screamed across the sky.
Zorgy could see the Slayer Memorial approaching fast. When they were yards away, Willow released Zorgy, and the demon empress slammed into the large statue at the right shoulder. The outstretched arm and hand holding a stake flew off, spiraling a few times before crashing to the earth with reverberating crunch and a huge cloud of debris. Zorgy slammed into the ground along with the arm, immediately shielded from view along with the rest of the statue site by the cloud.
Cut To:
Ext.
Watchers Council – Rooftop – Same Time
Amira Aziz, a middle-aged woman wearing a hijab, leaned against the rooftop with a L129A1 sharpshooter rifle, fixed on the street below. She was one of several women perched at the edge of the Council’s roof, looking over the surrounding area from above. She was peering through the scope at the streets below when she heard Robin over her earpiece.
“Amira, do you have eyes on them?”
“Not yet, Mr. Wood,” she replied. “As soon as – wait. Approximately twenty hostiles are heading toward the Council’s main entrance.”
“They aren’t even trying to sneak in,” Robin sighed.
“The odds are not in their favor,” she replied.
Once the demons were a few yards closer, Amira calmly said, “Open fire.”
Her weapon and those of two women next to her shook, while puffs of smoke appeared from the roofs of other nearby buildings, too. Within seconds, the twenty attackers were flat in the street.
“Mr. Wood, are we clear?” Amira asked.
“Yes. Drone shows no immediate threat.”
She nodded and said, “Recovery team, move in now.”
Quickly, Council personnel sprung from the doors of the nearby buildings, each of them pulling a demon corpse with them back into the buildings to hide them from sight. They moved back into place as quickly as they had emerged.
Amira’s observation was interrupted. She looked up as an assortment of colors began to swirl in the air above them in the night sky.
“The spell has begun, Mr. Wood,” she remarked. “Teams, weapons check. Prepare for more hostiles.”
She started to examine her rifle.
“Amira? We’ve got another set that appears to be coming from the East,” Robin said.
She stood up, but she couldn’t see anything from her perspective.
“How many?”
“Perhaps a battalion.”
She was quiet for a moment.
“This may require reinforcements,” she said, voice still calm as ever.
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Command Center
Robin looked at the monitor. It showed the approaching demons and there were many.
He opened his mic and asked, “Do we have any teams near the Council for assistance? We have enemies approaching fast.”
Cut To:
Ext.
City Street – Same Time
Buffy marched down the street with retired slayers and Spike and Angel’s vampire company in tow when the call came over her earpiece. She stopped her movements, and the others stopped behind her. She was at a literal crossroads.
In one direction was the Slayer Memorial, where she could hear the fighting. The other, toward the Council, seemed quiet and vacant.
“How many, Robin?” Buffy asked.
“At least a battalion’s worth.”
Buffy closed her eyes. “In English, please,” she replied in frustration.
“About four hundred of them,” he replied.
She looked behind her to see about a hundred helpful vampires and demons and about fifty reactivated slayers. Angel could see her silently calculating in her mind. She looked in both directions again.
“Buffy?” Robin prompted when he didn’t get an immediate response.
“Give us a minute,” Spike said to Robin. He motioned his head toward Angel, who nodded. They turned off their mics and closed the distance between the three of them.
Angel put a hand on her shoulder. “If you want to be with Xander and guard the weapon, that’s understandable. There are slayers guarding the Council already,” he pointed out. “You can leave the work to them.”
“And plenty more slayers at the slayer shrine,” Spike added. “They’ll look after the b…Xander if you want to defend the Council.”
“Point is,” Angel continued. “Whatever you want to do, we’re with you.”
“Absolutely,” Spike agreed.
“I don’t know how long these slayer powers will last,” she quietly admitted. “I don’t know if four hundred is just the start. It might be even more, and if the Council falls…But if I die and Xander dies, then Joyce…”
Angel and Spike said nothing. They simply let her consider the situation. Buffy paused a moment longer, then nodded and turned on her mic. “Robin? We’re enroute to the Council. Make sure Amira and the roofers don’t take us out by accident. Remember, some of us look lumpy, okay?”
“Message received,” he replied.
Cut To:
Ext.
Slayer Memorial – Same Time
Lancers, slayers and demons alike all glanced up at the colors intermittently swirling above them in the night sky. The demon army from the Hellmouth continued to get closer, while the slayers stayed upright, battling for all they were worth.
Shannon saw and heard something tremendously destructive coming toward her on the left, sending demons flying left and right through the air. There was finally a break in the chaos, and she was able to see Kadin, in all of her blue glory, slashing and burning her way through the demons.
Her smile was short-lived as she watched Slaygirl raise a weapon at the perceived intruder. She broke into a run and quickly grabbed the sword hand of Slaygirl before she could bring it down, while using her other hand to gesture to Kadin to keep back.
“Stop! She’s with us!” Shannon shouted to Slaygirl.
Kadin looked like she was going to strike the lancer with her raised talons, but Shannon pointed to a cluster of demons heading toward the spellcasters.
“Stop them!” she shouted at Kadin.
Kadin snarled and then ran in the direction the lead slayer pointed.
Cut To:
Ext.
Watchers Council – Los Angeles – Same Time
Andrew sat with his coven on the roof of the Los Angeles Council headquarters. Just as in Cleveland, the evening sky was filled with a parade of colors and lights as they all joined hands and recited an incantation just above a whisper.
“Hana?” Andrew called out, and then in Japanese he asked, “Ready?”
Cut To:
Ext.
Mt. Fuji – Same Time
Hana answered in the affirmative and likewise the area surrounding Mount Fuji was a cascade of colors, swirling toward them and then back up to the sky.
Cut To:
Black Forest Germany – Same Time
Hannah and her team grinned as they watched clouds that looked like watercolors swirling above them.
Cut To:
African Pyramids – Same Time
Even in the dead of night, the colors lit up the sky around the pyramids and the coven joining hands in a circle below.
Cut To:
Australian Outback – Same Time
The aborigines continued to dance in a circle as the colors began to swirl in the same formation over the coven.
Cut To:
England – Same Time
Althenea watched the colors above Devon multiply and become brighter as the smile on her face grew larger.
“Stay focused, witches,” she said happily. “Almost there.”
Cut To:
Cleveland – Spellcasting Area – Same Time
All the various covens who had gathered began to experience the colored lights swirling above their heads. Dirk Stenson and his coven looked up in amazement at all the colors around them, but continued their incantation.
Jeff Lindquist was in the center of them all. His body began to give off a glow, and his eyes became a bright blue light when he opened them.
Cut To:
Slayer Memorial – Same Time
Zorgy screamed and jumped on top of the giant broken stake that now rested on the ground mere feet away from the open Hellmouth, a jagged, rippling hole in reality, where on the other side the demon army was getting closer and closer. She tried to charge Willow, but the witch ducked and backhanded her, sending her to the ground with such force it made an imprint in the fallen cement. The witch then grabbed her and tossed her with enough force that she went through the Hellmouth, where she skidded to a stop just beyond the border. With a growl of determination, she jumped to her feet and then flew toward Willow, who was ready and waiting.
Cut To:
Int.
Watcher Council – Control Room – Same Time
Grace was watching the battle unfold on the screens in front of them. She focused in on one slayer moving at near-breakneck speed with agility and grace. She zoomed in, and that was when she saw it.
It was Casey.
She turned to look at Rowena, who was watching a drone feed of Jake and Faith on their motorcycles. She looked back at the monitor and moved in closer. The blonde hair. The helmet. She knew her slayer. The way she moved and sliced her way through the enemy. She knew it had to be…
Jen.
Grace teared up as Jen moved through the traffic with the style of a highly trained dancer, Maddie trying to keep up behind her. Her sad smile reflected on the monitor.
“Casey’d be proud,” she whispered to herself.
Cut To:
Int.
Cleveland – Spellcasting Area – Same Time
Jeff closed his eyes, and his mind called out.
“Xander…fire when ready.”
Cut To:
Ext.
Slayer Memorial – Same Time
Xander grinned at Gunn. “Let’s warm her up,” he said.
Gunn looked genuinely excited. Someone else nearby, however, did not.
Anisha wore a look of concern. She examined the weapon, where it was facing and then the weapon again. When she looked back at the open Hellmouth, she raised a finger and started to move it about on an imaginary white board.
“God, I hope this works,” Xander said as he and Gunn waited for the weapon to warm up.
“It won’t!” Anisha suddenly shouted.
SlayBae noticed Anisha’s hand movements and came over.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“This weapon. They’re going to miss,” Anisha told her, before she rushed over to Xander. “Are you in charge of this weapon?”
“Who’s asking?” Xander asked.
Anisha ignored the question. “You’re going to miss if you’re aiming at the hellscape.”
“Hellmouth,” Gunn corrected.
“Technically it’s a hellscape, because you’re not aiming at the mouth itself, you’re aiming at the…” She shook her head, getting back on track. “If you fire here, you’re going to miss. You need to be fifteen point seven feet back.”
“What?” Xander replied. “Again, who are you?”
Gunn looked at SlayBae and said, “Yo, you’re SlayBae!” with admiration.
SlayBae tried to look modest and failed. “Yeah, I am. And this lady here is a literal genius, so if she says you gotta move this, then you better move this or you’ll miss.”
“Fifteen feet back, huh?” Gunn said as he popped the brake and moved to the front of the carriage.
“Fifteen point seven,” Anisha clarified. “or fifteen and half, since an inch or two won’t affect the impact that much. At least, I would hope. I tried to take wind speed into account and–”
SlayBae just patted Anisha on the arm to stop her rambling. Gunn began to try to push the enormous contraption back on his own, but wasn’t getting anywhere, so SlayBae called over to Crystal. Seeing what was happening, Crystal ran over and began to push along with SlayBae and Xander, while Anisha stood watch.
“Stop!” she yelled a moment later. “Right there!”
Gunn ran back and locked it down again.
“Everyone stand clear!” Xander shouted. He climbed into the gunner chair behind the barrel. “Here’s hopin’ we don’t blow up.”
Gunn, SlayBae, Crystal and Anisha looked at one another and at the same time said, “What?!”
Xander closed his eyes and slammed the fire button.
Black Out
End of Act Eight