See Part One for Disclaimers

The gathered Slayerettes stared at Buffy.  What she'd just said sounded like utter insanity.

"Am I crazy?" she asked.

"Well, crazy is such a strong word," hedged Willow.

"Let's not rule it out, though," said Giles.

Buffy hadn't.  If her idea to dress Willow up as her doppleganger had been "really bad," this idea verged on the horrendous.  But Buffy honestly didn't see any alternative.

"You don't think it can be done?" she asked Giles.

"I didn't say that," he said, then added, "I might, but not yet."

"I personally don't think it's possible to come up with a crazier plan."  That was Cordelia, of course.

"We attack the Mayor with humus," suggested Oz.  Everyone looked at him.

"I stand corrected," said Cordelia.

"Just trying to keep things in perspective."

Buffy smiled and shook her head, not blaming Willow at all for her choice in men.

"Thank you."  Cordelia gave a shrug.  "My point however is, crazy or not, it's pretty much the only plan. Besides, it's Buffy's, and she's slay gal, you know, Miss Little Likes-to-fight. So . . ."

Xander interrupted her before she could disclaim herself out of her own opinion.  "I think there was a 'yea' vote buried in there somewhere."

Thank God for small favors, thought Buffy.  "Well, I'm going to need every single one of you on board."  The Slayer looked at Xander.  "Especially you Xander. You're sort of the key figure here."

Xander perked up.  "Key? Me?" He took a deep breath.  "Okay -- pride, humility . . . and here is the mind-numbing fear." He sighed.  "What do I have to do?"

"Do you remember any of your military training from when you became soldier guy?" Buffy asked.

Xander lit up like it was Christmas morning.  "Ooh!  Rocket launcher?"

Buffy shook her head.  "Rocket launcher not going to get it done. I mean, it took a volcano to kill one of these things last time."

Giles stood and walked toward her.  "Um, Buffy, all of this is rather dependent on your being able to control the Mayor."

Can't blame him for being skeptical of that part of the plan, Buffy thought.  "Faith told me to play on his human weakness."

Willow's brow wrinkled.  "Faith told you? Was that before or after you put her into a coma?"

"After."

"Oh."

There didn't seem to be any follow-up to that.

"His weakness," Giles finally said.

"Right."  Buffy really wanted to avoid the question she knew was coming next.

"Which is?" Giles asked.  There it was.

"You know I do all this planning," Buffy said, giving her best impression of her mother's most put-upon voice.  "I'm in charge here, even though I am really not at my best . . ."

Giles put his glasses back on.  "Well, let's, let's, ah, let's think."  Great.  He was stammering.

Oz looked across the room to where Angel stood in the shadows. "Well, Angel, you hung with him the most. Is there something that he's afraid of?"

Buffy silently blessed Oz for drawing Angel in.  For some reason, she was unable to look at him.

"Well, he's not crazy about germs," Angel told them in his quiet, gray voice.

With that, Cordelia was off and yammering about attacking the Mayor with Ebola.  The rest of them just stared at her.

Xander leaned over to Oz.  "I'm starting to lean towards the humus offensive."

"He'll never see it coming," murmured Oz.

"Faith."  The single word came from Angel.

Buffy forced herself to look at him.  "Faith?"

"At the hospital, he was grieving," said Angel.  "Seriously crazed, and not just in a homicidal 'I want to be a demon' way.  She is his weak link."

"Faith." Buffy nodded, trying to suppress her feelings.  "I can work that."

Wesley entered, walking quietly up behind Buffy.  "You haven't an enormous amount of time," he stated.

"Hey, it's Mr. States-the-Obvious," announced Xander.

Buffy didn't even turn around.  "The council is not welcome here," she told him.  "I have no time for orders. If I need someone to scream like a woman, I'll give you a call."

And faced with the Slayerettes' (not unearned) hostility, Wesley said simply, "I'm not here for the council. Just tell me how I can help."

"That is so classy!" gushed Cordelia. "Isn't he just so classy?"

Xander rolled his eyes.

For the first time since she'd known him, Buffy looked at him with something like respect in her eyes.  "It's a start."

There was plenty for everyone to do.

***

First came the research.  All the books containing anything having to do with Ascensions were broken out as Buffy refined her plans.

" 'Darkness will follow and day becomes night,'" Wesley read from one of them.

"An eclipse," deduced Buffy.

"That puts me back into the game," noted Angel, standing next to her.  Xander was standing by him.

Buffy looked at them.  "Yeah, it does. You and Xander are going to have to work together now. Can you guys handle that?"

Neither one looked especially enthusiastic.

"But I'm still Key Guy, right?" asked Xander.

Buffy gave an inward groan.  "Right."

Xander looked a little too gleeful at that.  "Then Angel, in his non-Key Guy capacity, can work with me."

Angel gave him a dark look. "What fun."

"Hey! Key Guy is still talking."

An impatient breath escaped Buffy's lips.  She'd about had it with those two.  "Oh, that's good.  Start bickering.  That's going to look great for us."  She walked past them and up the library stairs, tossing one last potshot at them.  "You guys are like little old ladies!"

Xander and Angel exchanged one more less-than-friendly look before getting back to the subject at hand.  "When the sun comes back out, I'll need someplace to go," said Angel.

"Or it's dust time," put in Xander cheerfully, earning another Angelic glare.

"Inconvenient," murmured Oz.  He brightened almost imperceptibly.  "My van?"

"Windows?" asked Angel

"Nope."

"It works."

"It'll be unlocked."

"Thanks."

Willow gave Xander an "Isn't he cute?" look over Oz.  Xander's eyes rolled yet again.

A short while later, Buffy walked over to Oz and Willow.  "So, how are we coming on volcano detail?"

"I think we can work it out," said Oz.

Willow grinned.  "Fun with chemistry."

"Xander said he should be able to get the materials," said Buffy.  Xander had, in fact, gone to do exactly that.

"Who's going to stoke it up?" asked Oz.

Buffy turned to Giles.  "You feel up to it?"

Giles gave a resigned sigh and removed his glasses.  "I suppose it should be I. It's strangely fitting in a grotesque fashion."  He didn't sound too happy.  Buffy didn't blame him.

More students were filling the halls outside the library every second.  The next phase of the Slayerettes' plans was about to go into effect.  One at a time, students were approached by one or another of the Slayerettes.  Each received a simple yet intriguing message.  Buffy was hoping they'd bite.

***

About an hour later, the majority of the senior class was jammed into the band room.  All were curious, some more than others, and a great deal of speculation was going on.  Standing at the front of the room were Xander Harris, Willow Rosenberg, Cordelia Chase, and a rather stuffy British twerp in a suit.  Oz was sitting at a projector in the middle of the room.  The British guy kept trying to get the students' attention but was roundly ignored.

Suddenly, the double doors to the band room opened.  Buffy Summers, recently named Class Protector, walked in, flanked by Mr. Giles, the librarian, and a man a few recognized as Buffy's date to the Prom.  Something was different, though, about all of them.  Buffy suddenly didn't look anything like a high school girl.  She was carrying herself differently, in a way few could put their fingers on, but the look on her face shut everyone up.  Mr. Giles looked different, too.  Intimidating, in a strange way.  And the dark man standing at Buffy's right was downright scary.

Buffy stood at the front of the room for a moment, managing to look both vulnerable and determined at the same time.  Finally, she spoke.

"A few weeks ago at the Prom," she began, "you all voted me the Class Protector.  You weren't wrong.  I . . . can't give you all the details, but I can tell you that I was brought here to do just that."  She swallowed and went on.  "Over the past three years, I've fought every kind of monster you can imagine, some within the walls of this school.  Some of you have gotten hurt.  Some have died.  But you've all noticed that something is wrong here.

"Today, something's going to happen at graduation itself.  Something really bad -- worse than anything I've faced before.  I'd love to be able to tell you all to get away, but the truth is . . . I need you.  I need everyone here to fight beside me.  I'm asking you to trust me -- and to help me.  The evil we're facing today is counting on you not fighting back, and we can't afford that anymore.

"This is going to require a lot of faith on your part.  If you're too scared, you can leave.  If you decide to stick this out with me, you may die.  I won't kid you there.  But if we don't stop this thing, a lot more people are going to die.  No one will be safe.  So I'm asking you to stand with me."

As Buffy finished her speech, there was silence.  Then one person stood up.

"I'm with you, Buffy," said Jonathan Levinson.

Someone guffawed.  Buffy, though, just smiled and said, "I know you are, Jonathan."

"This is crap," came another voice.  It was Darin Hadley, one of the swim team.  "You're talking about some big Evil with a capital 'E', and we're supposed to take this seriously?"

"So how do you explain the weird stuff that goes on here?" asked Jeanne Montrose, a drill team member.  "We all know what this town is like.  I'm thinking we should be paying attention."

"Come on!" yelled Darin.  "Monsters, vampires, demons -- it's all a big joke!"

Angel took a minute step toward Buffy.  "Think they need an object lesson?" he asked quietly.

Buffy was considering it when another voice spoke.

"You want a joke, Darin?"  It was Annie Vaughn, the daughter of the pastor of Sunnydale First Baptist.  Buffy hadn't had many classes with her, but she'd always liked Annie.  She was a nice, gentle girl who paid so little attention to the high school social world that she'd been willing to go to the Prom with Jonathan.  "Here's a joke.  A priest, a minister, and a rabbi came to Sunnydale.  Five years later, only one of them was still alive."  Annie was trembling with emotion.  "Rabbi Greenberg is dead.  Father Marchant is dead.  My father's still alive, but he's in and out of the hospital at least once a year from accidents, illnesses, and attacks.  We've had two houses burned down around us.  We've watched other clergy pack up and leave because they couldn't take the fact that there is something in this town that does not want good men and women to fight back.  Take a look at the town records and you'll find the average tenure of a member of the clergy in Sunnydale is three years.  Three!"

Her voice broke on the last word, and she had to gather herself to go on.  "You can think whatever you want, but I know what I've seen and experienced.  My whole family has suffered attacks, including myself.  I could show you my scars.  Take a look at the records for my church and you'll find that of the last five pastors, only two are alive.  One left not only the ministry but the country, and the other's in a mental institution after having his family slaughtered in front of him.  No other town I've heard of has that kind of lousy record with clergy.  Not one!  You may have been able to be blind to what lurks in the dark in this town, but I don't have that luxury.  I never did."  She turned to face Buffy.  "Buffy, I'm with you.  Show me how to fight this thing."

Buffy looked at her very seriously.  "I will."

Larry stood up across the room.  "I'm with you, too, Buffy."

Jeanne stood.  "So am I."

Percy West waved from where he stood in the back.  "The basketball team's with you.  Willow explained things to me, and we're ready to kick some evil ass!"  A few of the team cheered at that.

Freddy Iverson, the angst-ridden editor of the school newspaper, suddenly stood.  "Okay, so we can show up and not fight and die, or not show up and probably still die, or show up, fight, and maybe still die?"

Buffy gave him a level glare before finally answering, "That's the general idea, yes."

Freddy shrugged.  "Okay.  I'm in."

"Thanks," said Buffy dryly.

Derrick Forbes, a mountainous defensive back for the football team, stood up.  "Hey, if it's up to me, I wanna go out fighting."

That got even more students -- mostly guys with testosterone to prove -- up on their feet.  By ones and twos they stood, until finally, the whole senior class was on its feet.

Buffy watched them with tears in her eyes.  These people were trusting her with their very lives.  If they died . . .

She shook that thought away.  She'd just have to make sure as few died as possible.

"Giles," she said, "show them what we know."

Wesley turned out the lights, and Oz fired up the projector.  Giles walked over to the screen.

"This is Richard Wilkins, the Mayor of Sunnydale," he said, pointing to the slide.  "The only problem is, this picture was taken nearly 100 years ago."  There was a ripple of sound from the students.  "You all know that Sunnydale is a different kind of town.  That's because it's located on a Hellmouth.  I won't go into the full explanation for that, but what it comes down to is that all sorts of evil forces and creatures are drawn to this place.  You've seen some yourself.  Vampires, zombies, hyena people . . ."

"Don't forget Snyder!" someone yelled.  The seniors laughed.

"Even we can't explain Snyder," Buffy said wryly.

"You expect us to believe this?" Darin asked rudely.

"I'll settle for a temporary suspension of skepticism," answered Giles a bit sharply.  Darin subsided.  "However, you can find this photo in any Sunnydale newspaper archive."  With that, he pulled out an old newspaper and passed it to one of the students in the front row.  "Richard Wilkins founded Sunnydale 100 years ago.  He created it as a feeding grounds for demons, and he was rewarded with both immortality and the highest power in the city.  Today, he is being rewarded again.  At the graduation ceremony today, the Mayor will become a demon himself."

"Holy crap!"  It was Jeanne's voice.  She was looking at the paper.  "This is real, isn't it?  I mean, I knew this was real, but this is really . . . real!"  She looked up.  "Sorry, Mr. Giles."

Giles smiled at her.  "Perfectly all right.  At the moment, the Mayor is invulnerable; nothing can harm him.  After the Ascension ceremony, in which he becomes this demon, he will again be vulnerable.  We've found a way to kill him, but we need all your help to do so.  Xander?"

Xander Harris stood forward.  "All right.  Percy, you and the basketball team will go with Angel here.  That would be the charming gentleman in black."  Said gentleman gave Xander a withering stare.  "The rest of you, stay here.  I'll explain what we're going to do."

Angel stepped forward and looked at Percy, cocking his head toward the double doors.  He then left, taking the basketball team with him.  After they were gone, Xander addressed the students again.

"All right.  Here's how things will go down.  We got any archers out there?"

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