"You didn’t offer too much, did you?" Buffy asked Jim who sat to her left.

"No, didn’t figure we wanted the world knowing tazers took our girls down. A few crackpots might try to get their kicks by doing the same."

"And the rest of the investigation?" Buffy asked.

"Everything’s already underway," he answered. "I believe Faith’s got the info," he added as he motioned to her.

"Yeah, movin’ right along on my side of things," she replied.

"Good," Buffy replied. "I want these guys stopped as soon as possible."

"You and me both B," she replied. "Getting tazered is not the most fun experience I’ve ever had. But it does keep you on your toes…well…once your toes become functional again."

"Alright, you know what to do then," Buffy remarked.

"That I do," Faith answered. "I find them and I thrash them within an inch of their lives," she added in a mutter.

"But in self-defense," Buffy stressed. "We’ve got the world watching now."

"It’ll be five by five Buf," Faith said as she held up two fingers and said, "Scout’s honor."

Marissa sat polishing her gun when there was a knock at her door. "Who is it?" she asked without getting up.

"Someone who wants to offer a resourceful young slayer a better life," she heard a man reply.

Marissa opened the door swiftly to find Tyrell standing there with his hands up as she pointed her weapon at him.

"Please young lady. A moment of your time is all I ask. May I come in?"

Marissa looked around. Not seeing anyone else she motioned him inside.

"I’d like to make you an offer," he began as he stepped inside.

- A woman in a suit talks to a young woman in punk apparel outside a café somewhere.

- A man in a three piece suit chats with two girls and hands them a piece of paper on a street corner.

- Another woman in a skirt walks up behind a young lady who’s walking down the street. She taps the girl on the shoulder, making her turn around to reveal the young lady as Mia.

- A man shakes hands with another young girl on a city street before motioning for a taxi.

"Are you interested?" the woman talking to Mia asked.

"Sorry," Mia replied. "Thanks but no thanks."

"Well, if you change your mind or find yourself low on funds give me a call. I’d love to chat with you again," she said as she handed her a business card.

"Thanks," Mia said as she turned and walked away.

Mia examined the card as she moved along but then stuffed it into her front jean pocket.

"So, are you interested in learning more?" Tyrell asked Marissa.

"Sure, I mean it’s just demons right? Not people because…I’m not into that so much anymore," she replied.

"At this time, no," he replied. "Only demons but you should know if humans threaten you we need people who are willing to stand up for themselves."

"Hey, I’m not a pushover if that’s what you think," Marissa said firmly.

Tyrell gave a laugh. "My dear you don’t strike me as such. But I know some slayers have a problem defending themselves against other humans, even at the risk of dying themselves. We need girls who will fight any foe that threatens our girls or our work."

Marissa seemed to consider it. "Okay, I’ll give you a call next week then."

"Wonderful," Tyrell said as he handed her a business card.

The bell above the door chimed as a man entered the store, rubbing his hands together as he came in from the cold.

A young woman stood in one of the aisles, looking at some canned goods. She briefly glanced up at the man as he approached the counter. Her eyes returned to the can and she placed it back down and opted for another brand, which she put in her basket.

"… err … hello my friend, what can I do for you?" the Indian man asked upon seeing the customer.

"Pack of cigarettes and a Diet Coke – cutting down on the sugars," the man answered.

"Cigarettes?" the shopkeeper reiterated with a slight smile, taking a small glance at the rack of cigarettes behind him.

The customer looked at him unsure for a moment. "Oh yeah – Lights …"

"Cutting down?" the shopkeeper nervously added with an exaggerated laugh. The customer only smirked in reply. He pointed behind him to the rack. "I’ll … I’ll get them."

The customer sniffed the air and his nose directed him to the hot food cabinet. "Oh hey, is that a samosa?

The Indian man placed the pack of cigarettes and the can of soda down on the counter. "’Tis fresh."

"Heck, I’ll take one," the customer said.

The shopkeeper took the sweating samosa out and put it in a box. With the exchange of money, the customer left.

Not more than a few moments later the bell sounded again, and a man entered with his hood up.

"Yes my friend, what can I do for you?" the Indian man asked.

"For a start …" Logan looked up to show his face concealed by a balaclava, and he lunged forward and grabbed the man’s cardigan pulling him in close, "…where’s the security camera?"

Terrified, the shopkeeper shakily pointed to the cigarette rack behind him. The man whipped out his gun and fired a spray of bullets into the rack.

"Now that’s sorted …" The door burst open and nine men, all dressed from head to toe in army surplus apparel with balaclavas hiding their identities, entered the shop brandishing their weapons. "... show us the entrance to The Clinic," Logan tightened his grip on the shopkeeper’s cardigan.

"Oi, boys!" an English female voice shouted out.

The men looked around and brought up their hands to shield against the falling aisle display. For his part Logan tried to duck a shopping basket being hurled at his face at the same time.

The Indian man was set free and stumbled back into the broken rack.

The young woman dived out of the way as one of the men fired his shotgun at her. As she slid across the dirty floor, she shouted out.

"Ramesh! Run!"

"Casey!" Ramesh shouted out.

"Run!" she repeated.

Ramesh, the shopkeeper, took off and raced out to the back of the room. Logan averted his gaze from the woman hiding in between the aisles to see the shopkeeper disappear into the dimly lit back of the shop.

"C’mon," he shouted out to his men before jumping over the counter and giving chase.

Six of the men followed, and the remaining three stayed behind to take care of the woman.

"Over here!" she called out drawing their attention to the other side of the shop.

The men cocked their guns and fired in her direction, but she rolled into another aisle, narrowly escaping the path of the bullets and shells.

"Too slow," Casey said coming up beside one of the men, grabbing the nose of his shotgun and wrestling the weapon out of his hands, before whacking him in the face with it.

The other two men took aim, and she threw the shotgun at them, knocking their weapons out of their hands. She ran to them and delivered a hefty kick to one man’s chest, sending him flying back into the shelves.

Landing back on her feet, she turned to the other man but was blown back by gunshot to her chest. Caseys’ eyes welled, her lips quivering as she tried to hurl back abuse but the man fired another round into her chest and she fell back onto the oily laminate floor.

The other man got to his feet and turned to his comrade; it was then that the third man got back up rubbing his nose.

"C’mon let’s catch up." One of them said, and the three ran behind the counter and out to the back.

Loud bangs rocked the basement, as the mob tried to break down the door in pursuit of the shopkeeper. Each attempt grew stronger until at the peak of the crescendo the door buckled under the strain of the men, and the mob filled the dark musty basement.

"Where the hell did he go?!" one of the men exclaimed as he scanned the basement.

A white-blue light gleamed through the ajar door leading to The Clinic.

"There." Logan carefully approached the door with his handgun raised. He reached out and wrapped his fingers around the other side of the door.

Looking back to his men he said. "One," his men raised their weapons. "Two," they took aim. "THREE!" He flung the door back and his men tightened their aim.

"Clear," one of the men said.

Logan stepped forward and saw the stairs.

"Jackpot," he said casting a glance to his men. "Move it!"

With the orders given, the men filed down the steps with Logan the last to follow.

The frosted glass was blown to pieces by a shotgun blast, scattering thousands of shards of glass across the marble reception floor.

Logan stepped through the doorframe, the shards crunching under foot. The lights were down low what with their visit being outside of business hours; the practice was eerily calm which only heightened the mob’s senses.

"So this is the joint, huh? Smaller than I imagined. Get onto the computer and hit the file cabinets; get us the patient list. Turn the place upside down," Logan ordered two of his men before looking to the rest of the mob. "C’mon boys."

They stalked the hallway leading down to the patient rooms, Doctor Colton’s office and the operating room, with their weapons drawn.

A faint light radiated under the door from one of the rooms; the door was labeled "Patient Room 1."

"Go check out the other rooms," he ordered his men.

Logan grasped the doorknob and thrust the door open with his gun raised. Inside were a couple of gurneys, the curtains drawn around them as their occupants slept. The only other sound in the room was that of the soft beep of medical equipment as it monitored the patients’ vitals.

"Tyrell was true to his word, bastards are sleeping." Logan smirked.

"Just spray the room with bullets and flames and let’s move on," Paul said, gripping tight to his machete.

"No," Logan replied. "We need the info first. Besides, I wanna see what I’m killing."

He walked forward and parted the curtain to see the shape of a figure snuggled down under the covers. Moving forward, his leather clad hand reached out, hovering above the duvet.

Crouched down behind a stack of cardboard boxes, Ramesh peered around to see if anyone was still in the store. Sweating, he leaned out further to see that all the men had left to go to the basement. With a gulp he stood up and crept over to the door and quietly pushed it shut, then pulled a chair over, sticking it under the handle. Breathing a sigh of relief he leaned back against the door and closed his eyes.

He turned to see a pair of unmoving legs sticking out from the aisle.

"Oh no," he muttered as he moved to his feet again and began to make his way over.

The leather of Logan’s glove cracked as he scrunched the duvet up in his palm.

In one solid swift heave, he pulled the duvet off of the bed revealing Faith underneath sporting a grin.

"Turnabout’s fair play," she sneered.

Logan’s eyes went wide as she rammed her hand tazer into his chest taking him down.

The men backed away and readied their weapons, firing at Faith as she rolled out of her bed to her feet, and ripped the ECG machine from the mains. She tossed the gurney at the men, knocking some of them off of their feet and causing the rest to stumble back out of the way.

Shannon and Lorinda took the opportunity of the distraction and burst out from behind the other curtain in the room, going to their targets.

Hearing the commotion in the other room the men inside tried to double back only to find Vi and Chamique jumping out from behind the curtains, wrestling the weapons from the men’s hands.

Kennedy, Denise and Marie crashed out of the cupboards lining the back wall of the office, taking the men in there by surprise.

Back inside the store, Ramesh’s eyes scrunched when he seemed to notice something.

"No blood," he breathed.

Suddenly, Casey rolled over and her eyes flung open as she veered up trying to catch her breath. Ramesh jumped.

She ripped open her top to expose her bulletproof vest and two crushed bullets sticking out of the thick vest. She reached into her pocket and hit the button on her radio.

"Watcher One. Over?"

Rowena stood next to Willow outside the shop across the street when her radio went off. "Watcher One is here. Over?"

"They’re inside now," the young slayer replied. "I’m bringing Ramesh out. Have Black Ops on stand down."

Rowena heard a third voice say, "Affirmative," and she turned to Willow before saying, "Copy that," into her own radio.

As the pair watched the slayer and Ramesh rush from the store, Willow asked, "Do you think it worked?"

Rowena looked worried. "Yes, but stand by with the magic just in case…I just hope it doesn’t cost us anyone, starting with Ramesh who looks like he could use a defibrillator. Come on," she added as she motioned Willow to follow her to meet the shopkeeper.

Heli dropped from above the door, landing on top of one man, and Marly rolled out from under the operating table and fired her tazer gun into another man’s neck.

Some of the men fell out of the rooms into the hallway and raced towards reception. They skidded to a halt as they saw Kara and her three sisters blocking the way. Kara raised her hand and claws shot out of her paw, tearing through her white gloves. Her sisters followed suit and hissed at the men who advanced on them.

The sisters easily dodged the men’s attacks, and countered by slashing at their bodies. One of the men swung at Kara’s head, but she ducked and pounced up clawing at his face, taking a layer of fabric from his balaclava and a layer of skin clean off.

One of the men managed to get past the sisters and headed for the exit.

He raced back up the steps but the door refused to open. After several kicks it finally broke free and he took off towards the exit.

As the man cleared the exterior door, three Black Ops slayers stood up from behind parked cars in front of the store, their weapons aimed at him.

"Halt," they all shouted at once making him stop. "Put your hands in the air and face the wall."

With a deep sigh he did as he was asked and a slayer stepped around to quickly frisk him and take him around to the side of the building.

Once there he was met face to face with a grinning Rowena. "In accordance and conjunction with the Watchers Council and the local, state and federal authorities you are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney and may have this attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed to you by the court. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you?"

"Yeah," he muttered.

"Get him out of here," Rowena told the slayer who then grabbed the guy by the scruff of his neck and led him away.

Rowena turned her head to see Willow grinning and she began to grin herself. 

"What?' the watcher asked.

"You," Willow replied. "All Elliott Ness-y. It's kinda sexy."

"Will," Rowena sighed.

"Maybe later we can play cops and robbers," she replied in a hushed tone.

Rowena smiled. "Let's just get everyone out safe and sound first, okay?"

"Okay...but later?"

Rowena chuckled. "Yes, later."

Cut to:

Faith held the neck of a shotgun above her head, as she grappled with the man on the other end. She brought her knee up into his groin, twisted the weapon out of his hands and butted him in the face with it.

Another man lunged towards Faith with a baseball bat, but she whipped her hand tazer from her holster again and shoved it under his armpit. He tried to continue running but ended up falling to the floor.

Using her smaller height to her advantage, Shannon spun out of the way of Paul who sliced the air with his machete. Coming up behind him she punched the small of his back making him fall forward onto the bed. She grabbed his arm, pulling him up and pushed her tazer into his back. He fell to the floor and she jumped on top of him and cuffed his wrists together.

"Yay! I’ve bagged me a perp!" Shannon smiled.

Lorinda dived around another man as he tried to remove his crowbar from the broken wooden cupboard. Deciding to help him out, she wrapped her hands around the metal shaft and pulled it out, banging it against his head. He dropped to his knees and she snapped a pair of handcuffs on him.

With a proud smile and an arched brow, she looked up at Shannon. "I got me one too."

Faith stood up from restraining the pair she took down, and turned to see Shannon and Lorinda sitting on top of the men.

"You okay in here?" she asked, and the reply she got was a simple nod from both of them.

Faith went to step out into the hall when one of the men stirred, coughing.

"Why ..." Logan spluttered, his body still twitching, "... you ..."

"Seriously dude, if you value your teeth, don’t finish that sentence," Faith told him before turning and leaving.

Vi and Chamique pushed forward the men that they had apprehended.

"That was easy," Vi commented, "Is it wrong for me to have wanted that to last longer?"

"Always the way when you’re on the ball, time just flies," Faith said, "Bring ‘em up to reception. And Vi, tell the others to do the same." Faith said as she walked ahead up to reception. "I want ‘em in the vans, secured and on the way in ten minutes so I might be back in time for the second half of Trading Spouses."

"Got it," Vi replied before entering another room as Chamique escorted their prisoners up to reception.

Faith smiled and pressed her earpiece, "Watcher One. Do you copy?"

"Yeah Faith, go ahead," Rowena answered.

"We bagged ‘em all down here. Everything went according to Dawn’s plan. Send the vans and we’ll pay Daniels and the boys at the PD a visit."

A man in his late thirties, possibly early forties sat behind a desk in a darkened room when his intercom went off.

"Mr. Felix? Mr. Tyrell is here to see you," a female voice announced.

"Please send him in Teresa," he replied.

A few moments later James walked inside. "I’m sure you’ve heard the news already Jason," he began.

"I have," the man replied. "And it’s most disappointing on many levels – the failure of the clinic’s destruction, the attitude of the Council towards monsters...Your methods..."

"Yes but this is just one battle," Tyrell replied.

"True." The man grinned. "Perhaps now you'll agree it’s time for a change in tactics."

"Meaning?" Tyrell asked.

"Brute strength we lack," he replied.

"I am working on that fact," Tyrell offered.

"But, I’m thinking, maybe instead of dealing with the symptoms, we look to curing the disease somehow."

Slowly Tyrell grinned.

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