“ Buffy!”

The Slayer and the psychic wheeled. Buffy ran into the open arms of Willow immediately. Then, two more cries went up.

“ Missy!”

“ Tallus!”

Brother and sister rushed to each other as well.

“ Buffy, this is my brother Tallus, the one who was imprisoned!” Missy said to her friend.

“ This is Missy everyone,” Buffy said, introducing her to Cirrus, Faith, Oz, and Willow. “ Who’s the other werewolf?”

The red wolf stepped forward and looked to his son for an introduction. Oz explained to Buffy, “ This is my father. Dad, this is Buffy, the other Slayer.”

“ You may call me Abraham,” he said with a canine smile.

“ So we’re all here for the same reason right?” Oz asked. “ To kill Overlord?”

“ Right,” Buffy said. “ Willow, you and Amy and that funky-looking guy over there stay here. I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“ But...” Willow started to protest.

“ No buts Will!” the Slayer insisted. She moved to her friend and embraced her again. “ I’d never forgive myself if you got...” she trailed off. “ Just hide somewhere and wait for us.”

Willow turned away slowly and went with her fellow witches to hide in the shadows.

“ Let’s go,” Cirrus hissed, her one good eye flashing.

It was amazing the lack of security outside the tower. Unfortunately, the guards made up for it inside. The first band was the inferior pigmen, who were easily vanquished by the werewolves, who made up the front assault line. The next were a bit bigger, a bit stronger. One of them threw Abraham off the stairs and onto the landing below. He roared in pain and sent one of his fireballs up to the smirking hulk, setting him ablaze. That took away his grin fast. The others were eventually kicked off the stairs and out of the way. The landing was crushed under their weight and they fell to be impaled by bone shards.

The next bunch was significantly harder to defeat. They were tall, well over eight feet, and skeletally thin. They also had the benefit of wings. They fluttered around in the cramped hollow of the tower, throwing sharp objects at the invaders. Faith grunted as her arm was sliced by one. The werewolves, being a bit taller than the others, clawed at the harpies’ legs while Missy used her mental abilities to slam them around and into each other. Abraham sent bursts of energy to knock them low enough for Oz and Cirrus to rip their wings, and, using that pattern, they finally won. They were cut in several places and bleeding though. It was the last group of guards, and Overlord’s throne room loomed at the top of the stairs before them.

“ You sure you’re ready?” Missy asked Buffy as they took the final steps.

“ I told you, I’ve got a plan.”

Suddenly, they were all in the doorway, and there was no going back.

“ Well hello Slayer,” Overlord said, rising from his seat. He was immediately surrounded by four creatures in fully-covering, though tattered, and stained crimson robes. “ I’ve been expecting you, and actually you’ve all done quite well. I didn’t think you’d be here for awhile yet. And Tallus... how good to see you again. I knew my little expulsion couldn’t keep you away. You do so desire to die...”

“ It’s you who’ll die Overlord!” the gargoyle roared, charging forth. The foremost Wise One chanted a few words and suddenly Tallus was smacked back.

“ You see what happens Tallus? You see where your humanity gets you? I taught you a lesson a long time ago, but you still come back. I won’t be merciful this time!”

Buffy wasn’t as impatient. She hung back while the battle began to rage, waiting for just the right moment to set her plan into action. The opportunity came when Faith pinned a Wise One to the floor. The blonde Slayer rushed forward and, taking out a small blade she had stolen from a dead soldier earlier, and stabbed the thing to death. It worked just as she had anticipated, and Overlord screamed, throwing back his scaled head and showing the rows of pointy and serrated teeth. Then Buffy was kicked back by the invisible rush of power that another Wise One sent her way. It was almost impossible to hurt them after that; they never let anyone get close enough. Abraham blew his fireballs, each barely searing them, until he collapsed from weakness. But with the loss of their fellow, the power of the Overlord and the three remaining Wise Ones was weakened, and they were forced to pause for a split second to draw up more strength.

That second was all the warriors needed.

Cirrus and Faith, working as the undefeatable team they had become together, beat another one against the wall and the werewolf plunged her great paw inside its chest, finding the heart and crushing it in a shattering grip. Overlord shrieked yet again, louder, and more painfully. He fell to his knees, writhing. When they had regained their power but a moment later, Cirrus was sent hurtling out the doorway and tumbled down the stairs, breaking her arm. Faith landed next to her, and the Slayer was knocked out.

The next pause came sooner due to them suddenly being at only half strength. Buffy and Oz took the next in much the same way Cirrus and Faith had worked before them, this time the Slayer crushing its skull with a good downward kick when it was on the floor. The burst of power that fought them that time was incredibly weak, and werewolf and Slayer managed to land on their feet. Overlord was spasming at that point, and his screams deafened all. The last Wise One could not keep them back and Missy and Tallus went in at last.

Missy tossed it around the room, bashing it into everything she could. She finally suspended it above the cold iron spike jutting from the center of Overlord’s throne. Tallus stood over Overlord, growling at the demonic master, now pathetic and groveling between howls.

“ You see Overlord? See you where your cold heart gets you? Overlord, you die now.”

And Missy brought the Wise One down. As he was impaled, the wail from the Overlord echoed throughout the realm and he exploded into a great orb of darkness and then faded slowly away.

They woke up in Sunnydale. Tallus and Missy weren’t with them, but for some reason the vampires had returned. Cordelia snagged a quick pre-dawn snack before Angelus dragged her off to the mansion to escape the rising sun.

Buffy woke as the sun touched her face. She roused the others around her, making sure they were all right. Cirrus’ wounds were the most serious among them, and thank goodness, the Slayer thought. No one was dead. Residents of the town spoke nothing of it, and Buffy couldn’t tell whether they remembered it or not. Willow did, and Amy and Gary did. Everyone who had fought remembered. They found Xander later that day in the hospital, along with many of the town’s young men, being treated for burns and mild poisoning. The news later described it as a ‘strange, unexplainable epidemic’. Cirrus and Faith went into seclusion as Cirrus healed herself. Willow and Amy and Gary went of their separate ways, but not before promising to get together again and discuss their ‘abilities’. Buffy returned to her home, thankful her mother had gone to LA before the whole mess had started and that Giles was away at a nearby Watcher thingee.

“ Boy,” she said to herself, chuckling. “ Will I have a story to tell him!”