Sunnydale library, interior. Bookshelves in a state of disrepair, but mostly upright, frame the walkway behind the central table. A mound of books lie scattered in heaps around the floor and a figure sits at the table, feet propped up casually on on edge near some discarded books, overturned and some hanging open. The figure is holding a steaming mug in one hand while holding a musty tome one-handed in front of his face. He is wearing boots, jeans and a thigh-length brown leather jacket, as well as some sort of vest / shirt combination. He throws the book aside without another thought and brings his cup to his face. It is Giles, without glasses and with a single earring. He sets down his cup, after making a face and grabs another book off of the table, from a neater pile of clearly unread books and opens it and begins to skim.

Pan to the doors, one of which is hanging partially off a hinge. In the shot, we sweep across the cage, which is gouged open, as if some monster tore its way out, and the card index, totalled, with cards scattered all over the floor. A splatter of blood decorates one wall. Willow strides through the doors, followed by the back of a man who proves to be Xander, pulling a body by its legs. Willow is wearing a too-small black denim jacket and black jeans, as well as a red victorian blouse with ruffled sleeves that extend past her jacket sleeves, as well as ruffles down the front, like something Lestat would wear. At one leather boot, she has a survival knife, which looks absolutely enormous strapped to her tiny leg. Xander is wearing a trashed dark-maroon (nearly black) leather jacket that is ripped away along one bicep, exposing his arm, emblazoned with an enamel green and gold oriental dragon motif along the back (which we see as he backs into the room) and bright red chinese characters along the length of the other arm. He wears Angelus' leather pants of evil and doesn't have a shirt on under the jacket. He has large tacky silver rings on one pinky and his opposite index finger. The body he swings across the floor by one leg, almost as if sweeping the area with it, and it circles around and slams to a rest against a table leg. Just before it impacts, Giles calmly removes his mug from the table and dust rises as the table shifts from the impact, and the figure groans. Giles sets his mug back down, still not looking up from the book he is flipping through. A comic book falls out as he turns the page, and Giles catches it with his free hand and waves it at Xander with a long-suffering look.

"Hey, I was wondering where I left that." Xander says with a look that isn't remotely apologetic. Giles tosses it at the pile of other discarded books, and Xander doesn't show any sign of caring, looking instead at the body, which we pan to and see is Andrew. He is in a ratty t-shirt, which is now soaked with blood, apparently from his bruised face, bloody nose or split lip. His jeans are similarly indifferently clean and hang loosely off of him, he has apparently lost a sneaker during the foot-dragging and that foot is bare.

"So," begins Willow, "we bagged their conjurer, which wasn't as easy as it sounds..." "Yeah," pipes up Xander, "look what the little creep did to my jacket!" fingering the torn sleeve. Willow rolls her eyes at the interruption as Xander absently kicks Andrew, who doesn't groan this time, just flips over onto his chest. With Willow-like chirpiness, "Didja find anything?"

Giles just glares at her from over his book and Xander mutters, "That would be a no." He turns, "Well, it's been fun, gotta go," and begins to back out of the room as if he has just remembered something. "Xander. Bring me the books from that shelf. Now." Giles says, pointing absently behind him at a shelf that has not yet been stripped. Xander glares at him briefly, but goes to do it.

"Giles, are you sure that..." Willow begins, leaning on the table casually as she glances disinterestedly at an open book which depicts the cannibalization scene shown in The Pack, before tipping it absently onto the floor as she looks up. She is suddenly rocketed into the wall and Giles hand is on her neck. She has hit the wall so hard, they have moved so fast, that the plaster has cracked and she is practically sticking out of the sheetrock.

Giles says softly, "What did you call me?" as Willows eyes go dark and she begins to flash with dark power. "*I* inherited the mantle of Aurelius from the Master. You do not call me 'Giles.'" Her hands grip Giles arm and one of them rises off, crackling with dark electricity, but Giles arm sweeps her across the library into the cage and she slumps bonelessly to the ground, clearly unconscious. "I'll twist your head off before the fire leaves your fingertips little witch." Giles menaces to the unconscious girl.

He turns to see Xander has silently moved behind him and is staring at him with barely concealed fury, his face twisted into vampiric form, fists clenching unconsciously at his side. Looking unconcerned Giles says softly, "Did you have a question?"

His face reverting back to human, but still flushed and angry, Xander replies sullenly, avoiding Giles eyes, "No." Giles seems to be waiting for something, and prompts, "No?" Xander finally mutters, "No, Master." "Good boy," Giles says, patting Xander on the shoulder as he walks back to the table and picks up another book.

Xander crosses to Willow, who is just stirring and helps her to her feet. She is shaken and has no comment, just ends up holding Xander and not speaking. Xander peels himself away as Giles looks up at him with one eyebrow raised, and walks up the stairs to get the books requested earlier, while Willow just stands by the ruins of the card catalog and idly kicks cards around the floor while hugging herself.

"Are we going to turn the conjurer, Master," Willow finally says, as Andrew twitches. Giles doesn't even look up, "I don't think we will have any need of his services. This town has enough demons." The table jumps slightly as Xander drops a ponderous stack of books on the only bare surface. He then wanders over to Andrew and says, "Application denied." stomping viciously on his back with a crunch of splintering bone. Andrew makes a choking sound and Xander continues to grind his foot into the dying mortals spine with a look of cruel satisfaction, clearly venting his aggression. The sounds die out and Xander disinterestedly lifts one of his limp arms with a boot-tip, to let it fall lifeless to the ground. He then leans down, shifts into game-face and stops, just before biting the arm he has seized, looking up to Giles expectantly. Giles has turned and is pointedly looking at him, seeing that Xander has at least made a pretense of waiting for permission, he waves his hand magnanimously and Xander feeds. Willow crosses over, carefully moving in such a way as to step around, keeping Xander between herself and Giles, so that she is never within arms reach and takes Andrews other arm.

Both start, expressions feral and lips coated in blood and Giles looks up with an expression of mild alarm as there is a crashing sound in the stacks behind them. A figure flips agily off of the balustrade to strike at Giles back, but he rises and twists with superhuman speed, throwing his attacker over Xander and Willows heads (they turn to watch, somewhat comically) to land in the floor near the doorway. The figure rolls to it's feet even before the fall is complete, and with a shout of exertion flips to land in a crouch in the midst of the table, scattering books to the floor. (Xander looks annoyed, Willow rolls her eyes) Buffy stands there now, holding a stake, wearing what appears to be Angels leather jacket, slightly torn fatigue pants, a mostly clean white wife-beater t-shirt and at least three sets of military dog-tags.

"Slayer," Giles expositions unnecessarily. He has risen to his feet and appears almost wary, as if gauging his adversary. "Nice reflexes," she says, slipping her stake, which appears to be a sharpened police baton, into a belt loop next to another one. We finally see that she also is in vamp-face. Giles graciously extends a hand and helps her off of the table (more books fall, Xander now rolls his eyes and looks bored, Willows look seems to read 'show-off').

Giles turns to Buffy, draining the last of his mug of what we can now see is blood, seizes her about the waist and she laughs as he kisses her. Both Xander and Willow look slightly nauseated as blood trails down Giles chin and they share the last of his warm blood with their mouths. Her hands do interesting things behind him and Willow drops Andrews arm with an exaggerated gesture of 'whatEVER' and stalks out, Xander following closely.

Giles finally breaks off the kiss, looks up to see his lieutenants have cleared out and leers. "Good news. I've found the ritual, soon we will be able to clear out of this damn town and leave those two far behind. A happy solution for all of us," he looks down almost wistfully at Andrew, "as food is getting hard to find these days."

****************************************************************************

"So they were all robots? Again?" Willow says plaintively, face changing from disappointment to the beginnings of a violent outburst. Her hand is twisted into a claw and smoking initially but whatever force it contained is fading as she makes a fist and practically shakes with rage.

She stands in a pile of celebrities, supermodels and porn-stars, at least a half-dozen, all missing various limbs and sparking from severed areas, where wires and circuitry lie exposed. A few other vampires stand around the corners of the room, one of them recognizable as an Initiative soldier, another one barely recognizable as a feral-looking Harmony with matted hair and soaked and rent clothing. Several of the robot arms hold stakes, and a few dusty piles adorn the room.

"All but this one," Xander says, dropping the corpse of Warren Meers to the ground and wiping his bloodied mouth. He sways unsteadily. Warrens hand is holding a pistol, and Xanders chest and stomach has two neat bullet holes, leaking blood. A third can be seen punched through the leather in the lower quarter of his coat. Willow looks outraged, but Xander throws his hands up and backs off, "I saved you some." "Maybe I didn't want sloppy seconds." she says petulantly, but walks over and crouches over Warrens body to feed. Xander looks down, head tilted at Willow feeding, "Looks like third time was the charm. Finally found one that *wasn't* a robot..." He turns to walk among the 'bodies,' idly kicking at severed limbs before picking up the head of 'Elle McPherson,' mouth still moving as if it is trying to speak, he kisses it's writhing lips, smiling at it inanely and saying, "Alas poor... uh," "Horatio" supplies Willow helpfully from behind him, still crouched over Warren, "Horatio, I knew her well," before releasing his grip and letting the head tumble from his hand only to wind up and and drop-kick it across the room. "Score! The crowd goes wild!" he says, raising his arms in a victory-cheer, "Rar!" The head smashes against the concrete wall thunderously, a minion starting as he is almost hit by the projectile, which shatters on impact and leaves a small divot in the cement wall.

Willow rises up behind Xander, not bothering to wipe her face, looks towards the startled minion, and several others, points to the stairs and says firmly, "Out." The minion vampires file out, apparently not getting any of Warrens blood and looking surly about it. She doesn't acknowledge this, having already turned back to Xander, who is still looking absently at where the head impacted, and sees, but apparently doesn't care about, the reactions of the minions. "You know they have found the ritual." she says, catching a finger in a bullet hole in his jacket and revealing the third bullet-wound in his ribcage beneath it, also still bleeding slowly. "Yeah, G-Man still can't lie for shit." he responds distractedly, face wincing, seemingly lost in the sensation of her now poking her finger into the bleeding wound, as if fishing for the bullet. "They were planning on just doing it and leaving us to clean up the last of the Nerd Resistance here. Tonight was just to get us out of the way." she says bitterly. Xander smiles, more of a grimace, since he is clearly in some pain from Willows probing finger, although at the same time he makes no move to pull away, "I know. Good plan. But *we* aren't the ones stuck near the Hellmouth. He is. And when he's gone, we can leave Dummydale far behind. I'm thinking Hong Kong." he says with a bright smile. Willow reaches down to a robot body, this one apparently Tawny Kitaen, and with her foot on it's chest, yanks her bowie knife out of its forehead, inspecting it for damage before sliding it into its ankle sheath.

"Hong Kong?" she looks unconvinced. "I don't know Xander, Chinese? A half-hour later, I'm hungry again." she says, apparently seriously. Xander smirks, "Yeah, therein lies the fun. I *like* to eat," he adds rubbing his tummy. She grins now as well and pats his hand, moving it more in a massaging motion. "Oh yeah. Good plan." She looks down at the body of Warren Meers and his harem of disassembled robot guardians, "Besides, the 'Resistance' is getting a little thin on the ground..."

"I don't remember this guy from high school," Xander says absently, lost in the new sensation of tummy-rubbing. "He went cross-town, saw him at science fairs, usually chatting with Chris about some boring technical crap that even went over *my* head." Willow says, seemingly more interested in what she is doing with her hands, one of which is under Xanders jacket and doing something on his back (perhaps searching out exit wounds) and sounding almost out of breath, speaking rushed. "Chris? Epstein-Bars Frankentein, Chris?" Xander says, prolonging the conversation, apparently just to frustrate her. Willow pulls back, tired of the game, "Yes, that Chris. And it's Epps, not Epstein-Bars." "Whatever happened to him? I don't remember killing him." "He was number 17 on Cordelias 'list of people who pissed me off.'" she says, sounding a bit irritated now at Xanders wandering mind. "Oh yeah," he says, now genuinely smiling, "now there was a girl with a *mission.* Gotta admire her focus." Peevishly, "Whatever. You know *we* were on that list..." "Yeah," and his look of joyful reminiscence fades into stony indifference, and his voice betrays no sign of remorse as he says, "Too bad she's dead."

He turns to walk away, stepping over a smoldering Amy YipBot, stopping to extend a hand to Willow, who accepts it. She changes the subject, "I can't *believe* they dusted Snyder!" Xander now sounds genuinely put-out, "Oh, don't even get me started! Best.bootlicking.toady.EVER. What the hell am I going to do without him?" Her voice fades as they leave the room, "Clean your own boots?"

***********************************************************************

"They're leaving? You're sure of this?" the older woman insists, practically shaking the smaller man in front of her. "I was there, I heard them breaking in and I knew I couldn't do anything to save Warren, so I glamoured myself to look like a vampire, and it fooled them, even the witch. Willow and Xander were talking at the end, when they thought everyone was gone, but they were still on camera. I turned it up after they left and they said something about a ritual, that they need to complete so that 'he' can leave, and then they plan on blowing out of town as well." Jonathan finishes in a rush. "They said there wasn't enough 'food' left here, and that they were just going to 'clean' us up before they left..."

"What about Andrew?" Jonathan pipes up. "Has anyone heard from him, or," he hesitates, "seen him walking around with them?" Catherine looks away, when she turns back, her face is clearly sympathetic and Jonathan whispers, 'no' "I'm sorry Jon, Marcie says she found him this morning while scouting around the school," as Jonathan starts to perk up, "his body, I mean. She couldn't tell if he was going to rise, so she burned him."

Catherine Madison leans back thinking, fingers steepled, while Jonathan seems to fold into himself and practically disappear behind his glass of water. "So, if they think of us as some last challenge to 'deal with,' we can use that. We just have to let them kill us and they will move on as soon as this ritual is over. I can put a more convincing glamour, a seeming, on some of Warrens simulacra that will fool even a vampires senses..."

"But, what if this ritual does something bad? Like put out the sun or kill a bunch of babies or, something..." Jonathan trails off at the look in Catherines eye. "They've already done 'something bad.' Everything bad, to tell the truth. I want them to pay for my Amy, but mostly, I just want them gone. With them out of the way, we have a chance against any minions they leave behind, but I couldn't handle a direct confrontation with Willow and Rupert Giles." She snorts, "Believe me, I've tried. I barely survived, and..." she trails off. Jonathan leans forward, unsure how to comfort, "I liked Amy, I'm sorry they got her."

"At least they didn't 'get' her, get her, it was hard enough having to see Cordelia trying to kill me, to have to stake her, and we weren't really friends..." Jonathan also trails off, leaving the two of them alone with their thoughts.

"Somehow he is drawing power from the Hellmouth, like that older vampire the Slayer destroyed for him," that must be why he has been staying here, because the power is here. He must have found a way to free himself, to bring that power with him, so that he doesn't have to stay at the high school..." Catherine says to herself absently, working it out in her mind. "I wondered why he never left there." Jonathan says, but is ignored as Catherine continues, "So once he has completed whatever this ritual is, he will have internalized whatever power he stole from 'the Master' and be able to wander free." Jonathan looks up, "That's bad right?" Catherine smiles sardonically, "Bad? For Europe perhaps, but for us? No, it's good, it's very, very good."