Order of Business

The Dragon sat on her throne and fumed. Eleven times so far she Saw the slayer army arrive to attack. Eleven times she looked the fool, especially the first several false alarms when she had roused the whole of the Council only to be laughed at. Confusion reigned everywhere.

The citizens of the Empire of the Dead did not know if they were supposed to be in the hallways or in their quarters. "I'll kill whoever the fool was that came up with that brilliant idea," she said to herself.

Rollo and the other chieftains were spread out all over the map. The only way to defend against this misinformation campaign was to deploy everyone and sacrifice her reinforcement strategy. Worse than that, her troops had to stay on edge the whole time.

Not knowing when the attack would arrive was stressful and the soldiers had little opportunity to rest in the cramped hallways and commandeered guard rooms. Then of course, they had the worry that the battle could be fought without any vampire aid. The slayers only had to attack in daylight hours, and it would be animals and only the most powerful of vampires to stand against them.

"Faith wants to face me, she needs to face me," the Dragon said out loud. She did not for a moment believe that the slayer queen would wait for daylight. She wants to send a message, coming here and meeting us straight up does that, she thought.

The ancient cast iron bells sounded again and the Dragon grimaced before catching herself. She had not called the alarms. "They are here! To arms, my comrades, the siren of bloodshed whispers in my ear."

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"How long does it take to load my chests?" the praetor demanded to his household staff. The alarms were sounding. The upper-sentries had failed to report in, all sixteen of them.

"It really is too late for this," Marc Antony told his master with a calmness that annoyed him greatly.

"Belle Morte is not here, her army is not here. Our best warriors are being led by a woman who has clearly gone mad. I have no confidence in the Dragon any longer. Would that I had known her state days ago." Cicero calmed himself, it would be to no advantage to let Marcus see him panic.

"It doesn't matter, Pablo told me that all of the entrances were either taken or destroyed at the same moment," Marc replied and knew bitter happiness at Cicero's fright. "The battle is set, our die is cast. Acting a child won't change whatever our fate is to be." .

The praetor took several deep breaths and decided to forgive the rebuke from his human servant. "We are but politicians, we will await the outcome here in my home."

"I am no politician," Marc replied. "And both of us enjoyed our time with the Valkyrie. We will fight before the end of it all." He took out his Gladius short sword and stretched his body as he started to practice with the blade.

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"We'll set up Control here in this room," Buffy commanded. She went over to Xander and listened as he communicated on the short-beam radio head sets that all of the slayers wore. She watched as he switched his control set frequency from Strike-force Leaders to All Personnel.

"You're on," he directed to her and then went to oversee the setup of the video monitors in the center of the room by where Willow's team was setting up their power circle.

"This is Slayer Command. We have achieved entry at all points. All strike-forces considered Weapons Free. Be careful, don't forget your coverage responsibilities, and don't assume an area is pacified until its been swept by a witch team. Medical support available and video will be up soon, try to keep the cameras clear of blood. Good hunting." After the battle orders, Buffy walked over to where the five slayers of Little League waited for her.
That wasn't their real name, Executive Protection Detail was, but the comparisons to the five veterans in Big League were inevitable and the nickname stuck. Much to Buffy's amusement. "Hey guys, ready to hunt?" she asked them as Haven and her lions came and joined the group.

"Always, Boss." Maddy Ives, the team leader, replied to her queen. "Any idea where Faith is now?"

"She takes Point of the Spear seriously. I'm guessing she's deep into it by now."

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"Vi, Rona, take left, Faith whispered. "Caridad, Chao-ahn, take right. Shannon, with me." Followed by the members of Big League, she burst into a heavily populated main hall. Her guests, Jenn and Rami, fell in right behind her as she met the first defenders in a swirl of growls, roars, and flashing steel.

Faith had a small axe in one hand and a short sword in the other. She blocked a sword strike with her axe and stuffed her sword into the attackers face. Kicking another attacker in the gut, she jumped clear over him and took out two more with a slash to each side of her.

"These are Padma's people!" Jenn yelled. She had a score to settle with the Master of Beasts and she searched the battle for him.

Blocking a stab attempt at the blond's back, Rami killed the attacker and said, "Keep your mind in the game, there's time for paybacks later." She spun around and stopped their enemies attempt at circling them.

Faith cut down three more and yelled at the noncombatants clogging the edges of the room to lay face-down on the floor. "Control: need containment at Hilo-7 on the grid, Faith out," she said into her headset.
She was about to regroup when she spotted Captain Carswell disappear down a side hallway with Jenn following after. "Rami! Where's your partner?" she yelled. Rami looked around and took off after the Texan. She stopped herself from ordering Big League to follow. Some things a woman has to do for herself, she thought as an attacker brought the battle back to her.

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"Control: need Medical at grid Bravo-5, repeat Bravo-5," Camilla Sylvester called into her headset. The commander of Strike-Force Alpha had achieved all of her set goals and was holding firm to set defenses and wait for the battle to evolve. "Squad One, and four, move these damn non-com's into rooms and seal the doors."
She saw a counter-attack come sailing in to her left flank and grabbed all of her reserve squads and personally led them into it. "They're just hairy demons!" she yelled at some of her awe-struck slayers as they stared at the humongous Grizzly bears slamming into them.
"Control: Heavy resistance..." She stared at the vampire that came through her lines so fast that only the rain of blood in her wake signaled her position. "Heavy Target Bravo-5! Heavy Target!" She brought her sword up as the blood wake drove right at her. "Got her," she yelled at the sight of a blood spray. Until she noticed her sword was clean and the blood was spraying out of her own neck. She turned to watch as the blood wake consumed more of her force.
"Oh God...Save my girls," were her last words as the darkness took her.

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"Heavy Target reported at Bravo-5, moving to intercept," Buffy called on the radio-net as her and Little League raced to the grid-point. Camilla's transmission caused chaos at Control. We knew it wouldn't be easy, she reminded herself in an attempt to distract from the growing void of slayers that she could sense in this area.
She thanked God that Andrew had the idea that lead elements should trail a colored plastic tape to help in the maze of tunnels. Yellow was Alpha's designated color and she flew down the hallways and tunnels following it. She leaped over non-com's at regular intervals and after another corner she barreled into Alpha's rear guard position.
Buffy vaulted right over the defensive wall and landed amid dozens of giant bears. She drew her two thick bladed fighting knives and was turning to engage the bears when a slayer's scream caught her attention. She refused to recognize the bloody corpses on the ground as she searched for the source of the scream. Sliding under an attacking bear and gutting him with both knives, she came up on the other side and saw what had to be the Dragon, covered in her slayer's blood, tearing into Anna McIntyre's throat. The vampire threw the still living girl aside like trash and walked towards her.

"I wanted Faith, but you'll do for an appetizer," the vampire said as she licked her lips.

Normally she knew that a witty or insulting comment was due in a moment like this to relieve the tension, but Buffy couldn't get her mind past the bloody piles of rags that used to be her girls. She was too old and had seen way too much to cry now, but anger would do. Her anger fed into rage and Buffy roared as she launched herself to meet the murdering bitch.

Little League, the lions, and the regrouped members of Alpha rallied towards their queen. The giant bears gave ground, knowing that the real battle was behind them. Everyone knew that the real battle was all that mattered and most fell into an easy truce to watch it.

Haven kept both of his pistols sighted on the forehead of the bear in front of him as he stepped towards the circle of viewers Buffy's duel had formed. His lions, mixed with slayers, filled in around him as he stood on the edge of the circle and watched as his fiancee engaged the most powerful vampire that he had ever seen in his life.

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"All things considered, I'm happy to see you with your own, Valkyrie," Captain Thomas Carswell said to the slayer. They were deep in the tunnels and he had noticed her behind him as he was turning at an intersection.

"Where's Padma?" Jenn asked as she walked forward, her eyes focused where his hand rested on the the butt of his pistol.

"I believe my master is about to engage the front of the Dark Knight's position," he replied and held his ground as she neared. He had no illusion that he had any but only the luckiest chance against the warrior, though he would not run or cower. He let go of his gun in the holster and crossed his arms and waited.

"If I kill you, Padma dies." She stopped in front of him. Her battle axe held firmly in her hands.

He nodded, "That is true."

She paused for a moment as Rami came running up behind her and drew her own sword. She signaled Rami to wait and turned back to the British man. "I'm sorry you got stuck with him, Thomas. I remember you being nice to me, but I will kill him and when I do, it will be face to face." She walked past him as he bowed to the two of the slayers.

"Good luck and good journey to you both," he said to them and wished them success after making sure his mental shields were firmly in place.

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"Why aren't we going in Padma's direction?" Rami asked as she noticed that they were walking in the complete wrong direction.

"I have a stop to make," Jenn told her as she turned down a different hallway. "That next door up on the right is Advocate Trask's quarters in case you wanted to know."

"I'll catch you up later," Rami replied as she stood in front of the door. She was about to launch a kick at the lock when she heard the handle on the other side of the door being turned. She waited and smiled at Trask as he appeared in the doorway with a small suitcase under his arm. The vampire paled and ran back into his quarters.
She caught him in his office as he tried to load a double-barreled shotgun. He whimpered as she disarmed him.
"You're not going to fight back at all, huh?" she asked and watched as he tried not to appear as scared as he was.

"I think we can be civilized here. I could be a perfect source of intelligence for your army." He actually smiled at her.

She belted him and he screamed as she grabbed the shotgun and held it to his crotch. She listened to him beg...just like she had begged. She pulled both triggers. No one knew how he had soiled her. Captain Maruk hadn't even known about it. "Now no one will," she said as she took his head and heart.

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Xander watched as the medics rushed wounded slayers and witches and two werelions through the portal Willow's team had just finished building. "They're yours, Giles." He said into his communicator. The Seattle University Hospital had agreed to be their triage point, and Giles was there to coordinate the incoming wounded and think up an excuse when the government came to ask why.

"How is it going, Xander?" The question from his mentor filled him with apprehension. They were at the point where everything could still go in the wrong direction and they wounded were pouring in.

"We lost Camilla...I'll keep you updated as more reports come in," he said with as little emotion as he could for the lost future that the bright young girl would never see, for all of their futures that would be lost now.

"Keep your chin up, Xander," Giles replied. "The troops get their will from the officers. We will carry the day." .

"At what cost?" he said into the dead mic.

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Faith ducked under a four-legged wereleopard that was trying to pounce on her back. She twisted and side-kicked it before it even landed and then punted the spotted cat right into a wall.
"You okay?" she called to Rona as the slayer was trying to stop blood from going into her eyes from a nasty looking gash across her forehead.

"She's fine," Vi responded before Rona could. "If they wanted to hurt her, they should have targeted a body-part that she actually uses." She smiled as she ducked an axe swing from a half-transformed weretiger and kicked him solidly in the knee, destroying his kneecap and then rode him to the ground and bashed his head against the floor until he stopped moving.

"You're a funny girl, Tex," Rona said. She tore a strip from some dead guy's turban and tied around her head. She would duck lower the next time someone swung a battle hammer at her.

"I saw your scalp flapping in the wind and I thought we lost you," Faith said as she grabbed the girl and checked the wound. The whole top of Rona's scalp was detached and Faith was about to start the argument of sending her back to medical when the Master of Beasts appeared at the other end of the room.
"Big League, form up and cover each other. Caridad, call in heavy target sighting and get Meds here for Rona. I've got a date."
She walked away from them and made her way through the carnage, catching the vampire's gaze. She laughed as his attempt to roll her washed away.

"Join me now, Dark Knight, and I'll see no more of your slayers are harmed," he called out to her as she approached.

"You really are a fucking idiot. Ya know that? When you die, I want you to know that it's for touching my slayer." She sped forward to meet his enraged charge.

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"Hello, Darling," Marc Antony said as he set down the forum newsletter that Walter Winchell printed every week. The Valkyrie had just crashed through their doors and wiped out the guards. She then strolled right into the lounge where he waited. The Praetor Cicero, with his mighty courage, was hiding under the desk in his office.

"Marc," she acknowledged him before walking to the center of the room and started moving furniture out of the way of what was to come.

"Not much of a gentleman, am I?" Marc said as he quickly helped her move the large table and took one end of the thousand year old couch and move it too a far wall.

"No, you're not," she said as the two of them worked side by side to clear the room of the antiques. She had no idea why it mattered to her but it did. The old works of art had survived this long and she didn't want something as hollow as vengeance to cost the world their beauty.

"For what it's worth, you're a fine girl and will make a fine woman. You didn't deserve what I did to your mind. No one deserves the tragedies we suffer." He bowed to her.

"Doesn't change anything," she replied as she picked up her axe from where she leaned it against the wall.

"I know." He drew his sword, an exact replica of the one he had carried at Caesar's side in battles all across Europe. He set the sword down on the floor and walked over to a closet. He could feel her watching him as he changed out of the modern clothes into his Roman emperor's armor.
He had hoped the residue of his possession was still within her, but some powerful vampire had clearly undone his work. Sighing, he put his black plumed helmet on and went to reclaim his sword.
"I've been alive a long time, Valkyrie, and even though I was a slave to a worm that I hated in life, I find myself hesitant to start the final dance."

"Even now, I want to let you live, Marc. It's probably part what you did to my mind, but only part. But then I get to thinking about all the other girls you've had helpless before you and..." She spun to dodge the bullets from the pistol that appeared in his hand.
One of the shots clipped her arm and she continued the spin to drive her axe in a massive swing that took him right under his left shoulder. Everything paused as the haze of his blood drifted in the air before the top half of his body slid to the floor. His bottom half stood in place for nearly half a minute longer before falling over.
She threw up on the ancient couch at the side of the room.

Rami found her and together they took Cicero's head and heart just to be sure.

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End of The War: Part 1