Sunnydale, California, Late December 2002 (Sundown The Same Night/Tuesday Fandom Time)

[brat_inslayage]

It was, if Kennedy wanted to be sardonic about it, probably a good thing that Eve had turned out to be the First Evil in disguise; her constant pessimism had been getting on Kennedy's last nerve to the point where telling herself it would be a Bad Idea to punch the girl in the face hadn't been so convincing any more.

Well. It was a moot point if the face-punching turned out to be impossible, wasn't it?

Anyway, being sardonic about it wasn't making her feel any better, and the damage was done-- all of them were freaked out now and knowing the super-strong-even-by-supernatural-standards Neander-vampire was coming for them tonight? Not helping. Annabelle's death at that thing's hands was still pretty raw a couple of weeks after the fact, even before anyone factored in Buffy's inability to defeat it. Not that anyone was in a hurry to bring that up; the last few times they had, they'd gotten a killer glare from Dawn, or a stern word from Xander, or an unhelpful rant from Anya, though in Kennedy's case it had been the quiet, pleading look from Willow that had shut her up.

Little scary how fast that crush was snowballing; Kennedy hadn't realized it until she'd leapt unthinkingly to Willow's defense during the conference-turned-awkward-argument in the dining room earlier and gotten a few raised eyebrows for it.

But now? Time to gear up for battle. The Summers house was buzzing with a kind of frantic activity, everyone picking out weapons and preparing for the attack. Kennedy had spent the last ten minutes in yet another futile attempt to call back to Fandom for backup, but the failure was only making her nerves worse. Finally, she gave up on that and walked over to the kitchen table to look over the gear up for grabs.

"Like this'll do any good!" Rona protested, awkwardly holding the sword she'd been given. "I mean, what's the point?"

Kennedy couldn't resist, and stopped to say, "It's this end right here. You stick that into the bad guys. Any more questions?" She pretended not to notice the dirty look Rona gave her, instead making a grab for the crossbow on the table. It wasn't Joni or even the hand crossbow Karla had given her, and she really missed her own arsenal right now, but the weight of it in her hands was comforting. "This'll do me," she told Buffy.

Buffy	Buffy looked at the crossbow, then back at Kennedy. Forgive her if she looked a little bit skeptical there, but... she was just going to look a little bit skeptical there. "Are you sure you know how to use it?"
Kennedy	Fandom had really spoiled her; Kennedy almost had no idea what to do with people who didn't think she could do things any more. By way of an answer, she went through the motions of winching the string into place, aiming, and firing-- it was stupid how good that felt just because it was familiar. She had a confident smirk on her face when she looked back at Buffy and drawled, simply, "Since I was eight."
Andrew	That didn't intimidate Andrew at all. Or impress him, or make him feel like the only one in the movie who was going to die before they even hit the musical sting for the dramatic climax. Except for how it totally did. "Can I have something?" he asked the Slayer. The actual Slayer. Who wasn't at all intimidating either. Really. "Come on, the Turok-Han's coming for me too, you know. I have a right to defend myself."
Buffy	Oh, yeah? And had Andrew expected that to be met with anything but an Eyebrow Raise of Oh Really, Now? Because that was what he was getting. The Eyebrow Raise of Oh Really, Now?
Andrew	That wasn't a terrified squeak. "If you say so?" That was totally a terrified squeak.
Buffy	Was it wrong that Buffy liked hearing that terrified squeak? Probably, but oh well. Since Andrew seemed to know his place, she felt she could give him something. She went to the weapons chest, looked around for a moment, and retrieved a bottle of holy water which she handed to him. It wasn't much, but it wasn't sharp and it was still something.
Andrew	Which he'd be clinging to like it was the stuffed talking Yogurt that said Use da Schwartz when you pulled the string that his mom threw out when he was thirteen, thank you very much.

***

Willow	Willow? Nervous? Of course not. Maybe more like terrified that she was going to lose control and go all evil veiny world-endy Willow again. Which, for the record, would be bad. Willow figured the best thing she could do was practice. She could do a nice, simple, non-evil candle floating spell just to start with. Nothing to be scared of with that, right?
Kennedy	It was just floating things. Nothing to be afraid of. Why would there be? Still, when Kennedy noticed that Willow had snuck off she went after her, because the nervousness had not gone unnoticed and yes, she was a little concerned. See above re: snowball. "Floating stuff, huh?" She wasn't surprised or anything, more matter-of-fact. "Getting warmed up for the main event?"
Willow	Willow's concentration broke. The candle fell, but she caught it before it hit the ground. She put it away on a shelf. "Just practicing."
Kennedy	"Can't let the basics get rusty, right?" Kennedy still didn't know that much about magic, admittedly, for all that she'd spent so much time around it. She shifted her grip on the crossbow in her hand and tilted her head, curious. "Heard some stuff--" thanks, Andrew-- "about you going all scary once." And while she wasn't stupid enough to think that would be cool... "You're not worried about that happening now, are you?"
Willow	"No?" Willow replied. Totally convincingly.
Kennedy	"It'll be fine," Kennedy tried to reassure her, in her blindly confident way. Which, for once, wasn't so much an attempt to win herself any brownie points. "It'll totally be cool. You can do it. You'll be awesome."
Willow	"You don't know what happened the last time I tried to do big magic," Willow said, even though Kennedy had started the conversation by mentioning that she knew about before.
Kennedy	"Okay, point." Kennedy still had a hard time wrapping her brain around that concept-- she'd sort of relegated it to 'more of a problem in other people's worlds'-- but she was trying here. "Was it really bad?"
Willow	Willow nodded. "Last time I tried a spell... The First... it... had me. Got inside. I felt it. In every fiber of my being. Pure, undiluted evil. I could taste it."
Kennedy	"Oh." Wow, Kennedy wished she had a better frame of reference for this now. She really should've paid better attention. And so, failing at coming up with anything more intelligent to say, the next thing out of her mouth was: "How's evil taste?"
Willow	"Like cilantro," Willow said. "Though less soapy."
Kennedy	"Duly noted," Kennedy said, laughing. She was kind of enjoying the moment, which naturally meant it was about to be over, wasn't it? The answer to that question was yes, actually. Like she was right on cue, Dawn called them over to the living room. Shit was, quite possibly, about to get real.

***

So the plan as far as they knew relied on Willow doing the barrier spell that had her so nervous, and... then what? Kennedy was completely fuzzy on any points past that. When the plan had actually been put together was a mystery, unless it had happened at some point during the big argument in the dining room while Dawn was trying to tell the younger Potentials that no, there was no Geneva Convention of Evil that would buy them any time and Kennedy was yelling at them about getting off their asses and fighting instead of sitting around whining like wusses.

Which... well, she wouldn't have noticed any plan-forming in the middle of the yelling.

But here they all were, standing in the foyer with weapons while a bunch of Bringers and that Ubervamp thing worked on breaking down the front door.

Given the whole house was practically rattling, that probably wouldn't take long.

Willow	It was hard to remember lessons about grounding and centering and avoiding mistakes that led to dark magic when you had a horde trying to tear the house down by the hairs of theirs or anyone else's chinny-chin-chin. But Willow knew she had to try for everyone's sake. She gathered up her magic and started chanting. "Caerimonia Minerva, saepio saepire saepsi..."
Andrew	"Deflector shields up! By Grabthar's hammer, you shall not pass!" ...Thanks, Andrew.
Buffy	It was getting easier and easier to selectively ignore Andrew. Especially since Willow magicking things still didn't make Buffy feel even a tiny bit at ease. Thus, the "Willow-" that she didn't get to finish.
The Chaka-Khan The Turok-Han	Not before the Turok-Han broke down the door anyway. That got a reaction out of the Potentials; Rona didn't need to know about the vampire-invitation rule that this Ubervamp was breaking to be worried when the fact that it, you know, broke down the door was scary enough. So: cue a chorus of muffled squeaks from the younger Potentials, and an only slightly quieter gasp from Kennedy. Because, you know. Super-scary supervampire that didn't even look human, right there in the foyer, probably with Bringers and their sharp, sharp knives right on its heels.
Willow	Willow wasn't completely listening as she focused on finishing her spell before the uber-vamp could rip hers or anyone else's faces off. "...Saepio impedimentum!" she said, concluding her spell.
Kennedy	And wow, look at that, a barrier. Last time Kennedy'd seen anything like that, it had been Lucivar shielding Agio from the Jhinka attack, and that had been impressive. This was pretty impressive too, though, if trippy what with the funky transparent rippling when the Ubervamp pounded on it. "It's working," she heard Chloe exclaim. "For now," Vi added, and Kennedy shot her a Look.
Buffy	Later there'd be a sigh about how this could have maybe worked before she had a door to fix, but right now Buffy was slightly more worried about Willow and what the spell might do to her. Also, Ubervamp. There was really a lot to worry about right now. "Will-"
Willow	Willow tried really hard to concentrate and keep the barrier up. Really, really hard. Unfortunately the ubervamp tried harder, which was why Willow's eyes flashed black. "It's strong!"
Kennedy	Yeah, Kennedy had seen that happen before. Under totally different circumstances, granted, but... The magic is driving, was the explanation she vaguely remembered. She'd never really bothered to ask too much about why or how, but she got that this might be bad. "It's hurting her," she blurted out, looking at Buffy. Hi, reflexive protective streak, where did you come from?
Buffy	The black eyes never struck Buffy as being a good sign, but the Ubervamp was a bigger threat to more people right now. "Hang on, Willow," she said, figuring support was the best thing she could do right now.
Willow	Willow wanted to, really she did. But every time the ubervamp charged her eyes went black again. "I - I don't know."
Dawn	"She can't hold it," Dawn said, voice rising a little. It was freaking her out to see Willow like this again anyway, but to have it be for nothing--
Rona	"What do we do?" Rona wasn't even trying not to freak out any more, and that was the kind of freaking out that could get really contagious really fast. And was, judging from the other girls' reactions.
Buffy	There wasn't anything they could do. She didn't like what was happening to Willow, and if she couldn't hold through it, they'd be in trouble anyway, and with everyone panicking... "Run," Buffy ordered, though she'd be holding ground till she couldn't not. "Everybody run."

So they ran. Through the kitchen and out into the back yard, tangling with a few Bringers on the way, half blind and rushed and no chance for anyone to appreciate how neatly Kennedy'd put a crossbow bolt between a Bringer's... freaky scarred non-eyes, but at the moment she didn't care about that anyway. Not when Buffy and Willow hadn't made it out of the house yet by the time Kennedy, Dawn, and the Potentials barged through the back gate, and she was half sure she'd seen Xander get knocked down by the Bringer who'd grabbed the haft of his axe and maybe she should go back after him, but if she did, who was going to keep an eye on these girls (oh, and Andrew), and and and...

But everyone was okay, at least for the time being; they all got a minute or two to regroup in the middle of an empty street, right under a streetlamp, and really, nobody in Sunnydale batted an eye at a bunch of people standing around holding medieval weapons?

...no, really, they literally got just a minute or two to breathe before the Turok-Han caught up to them and Buffy sent everyone on ahead again. And yeah, okay, Kennedy could've kept being grumbly over getting shot down when she'd volunteered to help Buffy hold off the Ubervamp, but they had this whole running thing to do, and that was distracting.

If seriously confusing.

"Where are we?" Kennedy heard Molly ask.

Oh, good. Apparently everyone was confused.

Xander	"Future site of the new Sunnydale Public Library, opening up May 2003," Xander answered, shoving a sawhorse aside to give the group room to walk across the open floor. "If I ever get back to work, that is."
Kennedy	Who in Sunnydale, assuming they'd been there for any length of time, would schedule a grand opening for May? "Oooh, just in time for my birthday," Kennedy drawled sarcastically, taking in the construction site. "This is a safe location?" That was Rona, wide-eyed and incredulous and clutching her borrowed sword in an awkward, barely-functional two handed grip, and oh good, not-Eve's skeptical questioning habit was rubbing off on everyone. Kennedy had to agree, though for once she kept her mouth shut about it; big, open space all walled off? Really not reassuring, so what in hell were they doing here?
Vi	"It's in the middle of nowhere," Vi added. She craned her neck, trying to see if there was anything here besides ... well, besides a lot of nothing.
Willow	"It'll do," Willow told them. Organizing she could do no matter what was happening. "Everybody spread out. Take positions."

That was enough (yeah, it was sad, she knew that and she didn't care) to get Kennedy to shut up and go along with it even though spreading out seemed to have dubious tactical merit given the combatants. Andrew... not so much, which got Rona questioning the plan, too.

It was all a moot point once the Turok-Han showed up. Kennedy had a clear shot at it and she was sure she'd have been able to take it out, but Willow told her to just watch, and who was she to argue?

Maximum points for drama: Buffy showed up in a nicely timed burst of construction site floodlights and gave one hell of a cool you and me are throwing down speech to the Ubervamp, one that sent Andrew into throes of geeky ecstasy while Dawn blurted something out to Willow about how this had been the plan all along.

And then? Then, to the sound of the younger Potentials' nervous squeaks, Buffy proceeded to royally kick the Ubervamp's ass. It was rough and brutal and all-out and awesome, and Kennedy didn't know when she lost the feeling in her fingers from gripping the scaffolding in her total fangirly rapt attention. Kennedy had seen Faith fight before, and she had a pretty decent concept of vampire speed by now, but this? This was like a textbook case of How These Things Should Be, turned up to 200 percent, and it would be a total lie if Kennedy claimed she wasn't being a complete geek about it in her own way.

Because that thing had been a primal, superpowered killing machine, emphasis on the had been thanks to Buffy's creative use of a piece of barbed wire, and now? Just dust. Not so tough after all, and the speech Buffy gave them afterward was even bigger on the dramatic flair than the last one had been. Sure worked on the girls-- everyone seemed to have a renewed spring in their step when they headed back to the house. Poor house, with the broken front door Xander was going to have to fix now.

But, you know. They'd get a chance to go back and fix it. That was sort of the big thing.

[[3 of 3, done for the week, yay. preplayed with thanks to my cast: annieadderall as stillbaking, needsaparrot as xander and andrew, willbedone, life_inshadow as cutestripeyhat, and regretiz4suckas as inthekeyofme. adapted, riffed on, folded, spindled, and mutilated from btvs 7x11, "showtime." nfi/nfb/ooc-okay/blahblahdeeblah et cetera.]]