....."No man, she is at the library, we are heading down there if you want to tag along," said Oz as he noted the slight look of alarm that crossed Cordelia's face. She was still afraid of Angel, or Angelus to be more precise. Sure she knew he had his soul back, but still if he could lose it once, he could certainly lose it again.
.....High pitched whines erupted in the air and within seconds, the front door to the Bronze opened as men dressed in some sort of white armor burst in on the scene. Not just any white armor, they were Stormtroppers and they had laser blasters that they seemed unafraid to use. Laser fired exploded a few times as they shot anyone who tried to make an initial escape.
.....Oz breathed out heavily and then asked, "Stormtroppers in Sunnydale, why is it that I am not surprised?"
....."What is a Stormtrooper?" Angel actually had never seen any of the Star Wars movies as he was just a vagrant vampire living in allies feeding off of rats back in the seventies and eighties when Star Wars was popular.
....."Are you serious?" Cordelia snickered before continuing, "They are like soldiers from Star Wars. Don't you ever go to the movies?"
....."I have heard of Star Wars, I just have never seen it and perhaps I should be going to the movies more often."
....."I was thinking more along the line of you getting Buffy," said Oz. "The skylight again?"
.....The Stormtroppers had every exit covered as they stood guard over their prisoners. However, they had no idea that anyone would try to make it out the skylight, which was lucky for angel, as he began climbing up the far wall behind the stage. However, unlike vampires, Stormtroopers were more alert and he was only half way up to the ceiling when they noticed him and opened fire. Pulses of red laser fire arched across the Bronze exploding on the wall all around Angel as he moved as fast as he could try to dodge the assault. He had almost made it when one shot caught him in the leg exploding in a massage of hot pain. He managed to pull himself out through the skylight and then just lay on the roof of the Bronze for a few minutes letting his vampiric healing factor take over. He then got to his feet and moved off towards the High school, to get Buffy.
.....A man shrouded in a black cloak walked into the Bronze as the Stormtroopers parted to let him through. He surveyed over the crowd, seeing that his princess was not there. Neither was his nemesis, the Jedi Knight named Xander Harris. However, he stopped on Oz and, noting that they would be perfect bait to get Xander and the princess to make an appearance.
....."Well look at what we have here," he said in a British accent. "Xander will come when I hurt his girl and his friend here. You two will make my dreams a reality and I certainly hope that you like torture."
....."Not particularly, I prefer to snag my torture from listening to elevator tunes," replied Oz. Cordelia was trying to hold back a scream that she could feel building from deep within her..
....."Well, you have a smart mouth. No matter, it will still scream when the time is right. However, before I start torturing you, I should introduce myself to you," he replied as he lowered the hood to reveal a face they had seen before. "My name is Spike but you can call me Darth Spike."
.....As Angel made his way towards Sunnydale High, he had run into more Stormtroopers, as they seemed to be moving about Sunnydale securing the city, which to his best guess they had just captured. He simply had no idea how many of them there were, but he did know that they seemed to be everywhere and he only hoped that Buffy and the others at the library were okay. Buffy may have been able to handle herself rather well against demons and vampires, but these Stormtroopers were something else, something far more dangerous than vampires.
....."I don't see how my being a Jedi can be bad, it is a big plus if you ask me," said Xander as Giles skimmed the pages of one of his books looking for something that might help them determine just which genie Xander had dealt with.
....."Xander, why didn't you use your wish to save Willow?" Buffy gave him a hard stare as she was getting good at giving him these types of looks considering all the trouble Xander kept getting himself into.
....."When I made the wish, I thought that it was going to change the past, make it as if I always were a Jedi and then Willow would have been saved," he sad with sadness creeping back into his voice. "Buff, I never meant for this to happen," he said as he gestured towards Willow who was simply pacing in the book cage like a very dangerous caged animal.
....."Buffy," said Angel with a tone that told her that he was relieved as well as worried at the same time as he strode quickly into the library. He looked at Willow who was still in her demonic state and shook his head for a second then looked at Buffy. "What's going on here? I thought we sent her back to the other world?"
....."We did, that is the real Willow," replied Buffy with the slight sound of tears in her voice. Without any further words, she ran to Angel and he scooped her up into a hug. "I am so glad you are here," she said.
....."I am so sorry about Willow, but we have other problems," he said as he broke the embrace with Buffy. "Sunnydale has been invaded by Stormtroopers, they are everywhere."
....."Care to say 'I told you so,' Giles cause you did," said Xander.
....."Just great! Xander if you weren't a Jedi I would send you home. However, this is your mess and you are a Jedi and it looks like you got a lot more than you bargained for with that wish of yours," said Giles with a streak of anger in his tone.
....."Giles, these Stormtroopers are brutal, there are already casualties and I have no idea how we are going to stop them," said Angel in a sad pout. "They have laser guns or something, not very easy to dodge."
....."Obviously we have to undo Xander's wish and hopefully that will restore things back to normal. However, that will not be so easy since we don't have a single clue as to the identity of the genie. I don't think a direct assault will accomplish much other than perhaps getting ourselves killed."
....."Giles," said Angel as an idea popped into his head. "If we are going to do anything, we will need as much help as possible and I was thinking of the soul restoration spell and the possibility of using it on Willow."
....."Well, yes, I still have the spell here and I think we still have the ingredients, it might just be worth a try."
....."Let's do it,' said Buffy with some hope in her voice. She may have lost Willow, but if she could return Willow's soul, it would be almost like having her old friend back.
....."Let's do what?" Wesley posed his question as he walked in through the library doors.
....."We are going to restore Willow's soul," replied Giles as Wesley noticed Willow locked up in the book cage. "If you could work with Xander finding the genie he encountered while Angel and I deal with Willow, it would be a great help."
....."What genie, why does it seem that I miss everything?" Wesley shook his head and joined Xander and began scouring through books. "Perhaps you should tell me about this genie so that I know what I am looking for."
....."It was your typical hard body in veils, the type of girl we all wish for," Xander shot back with a sarcastic edge. "Wait a minute, we are searching for a needle in a haystack when we don't have to. I can use some of that Jedi magic to find the proper book." With that Xander closed his eyes and concentrated, clearing his mind of all other thoughts except the book that they sought. Within seconds, a book began to shake on a nearby shelf and then it slide out and hovered in front of the bookshelf before floating through the air to land in Xander's hands.
....."Awesome is too tame of a word for that," said Xander with a hint of ego in his tone. "I think I like being a Jedi."
....."Xander, I have seen the Star Wars movies and if you are a Jedi, wouldn't the temptations of the dark side of the Force apply to you?"
....."Wesley, trust me, I am not about to become some psycho lightsaber wielding maniac," replied Xander as he pondered the point Wesley had just made. Xander turned around to see the crystal orb glow which meant that Giles was at the completion of the soul restoration spell. He had hoped that it worked and walked over to the cage to see if there were any changes in Willow. He caught a brief pulse of light off to the right where Giles and Angel were casting the spell and then he saw a white glow of light pulse around Willow's eyes. Her demonic features dissolved away and he saw pain in her eyes, it had worked, Willow had a soul again.
....."Will, its you, you are back," he said as he opened the cage not waiting for the okay from Giles or the others.
....."Yep, it's me, but what happened? Oh no, I remember, I am dead, I'm a vampire," said Willow in an almost panicky voice. "Xander, how could this happen to me?"
....."Willow, you're back," said a tearful Buffy as she rushed in and hugged her friend. "We used the soul restoration spell on you, it worked, it worked," she said in glee.
....."I hate to break up this party but we have to go to the Bronze," interjected Xander with a look of concern on his face. "The Stormtroopers, they have a leader and he is there with Oz and Cordelia, he is going to torture them if we don't stop him."
....."Cordelia, oh my," said Wesley.
....."There is something else, this person, he is called Darth Spike and he is expecting me and Buffy to arrive, it is a trap and we have no choice but to walk into it or Oz and Cordelia will die."
....."Well, if we have no choice, then lets do it," said Buffy a little steamed. "Spike, how is it that that just doesn't surprise me? Willow, we will save Oz, I promise."
....."I know Buff, besides this little smart girl is now a whole lot meaner, lets go kick some Imperial butt."
....."What the hell is going on in here?" Principal Schneider looked beyond perturbed as he burst into the library. "Giles, you had better have a good explanation for all of this," fumed Schneider. He was well aware of what they were doing, but the Mayor had asked him to disrupt their base of operations and Schneider knew very well that one does whatever the Mayor wants, that is if they cherish life.
....."Um, oh, I think you should mind your own business," stated Giles knowing very well that Schneider knew that they used this library after hours almost religiously.
....."You do not want to cause any trouble,' said Xander in a very calm and hypnotic voice.
....."I do not want to cause any sort of trouble," repeated Schneider as if he were in a trance.
....."There is nothing going on here," further voiced Xander.
....."Nothing is going on here," mumbled the principal.
....."You are tired, you want to go home and get some sleep," said Xander with the beginnings of a smile. "You will forget about my detention tomorrow, you know I couldn't have made lewd comments to a very attractive substitute." Buffy rolled her eyes and Giles groaned.
....."I'm tired, I am going home," principal Schneider said as he turned around and walked out of the library the same way he had come.
....."I'd like to see a girl turn me down for a date now," quipped Xander with a big smile on his face.
.....Darth Spike smiled at Oz as he picked him up off of the floor by the neck. Oz struggled to breathe while Cordelia screamed again. Spike was almost certain that just leaving Cordelia alone was torture enough for her as she was certainly a scary person to be around. As soon as Spike noticed that Oz was drifting towards unconsciousness, he simply dropped him onto the floor where Oz pulled himself into a fetal ball and gasped for breath.
....."I have only just begun Oz and you can be certain that I am going to hurt you quite a bit. It is not bloody likely that you will live through this night. But then again you will have plenty of your friends joining you in death."
....."So how are we going too handle this, a direct assault would be tantamount to suicide," said Giles as they looked at the Bronze from across the street noting that there were two Stormtroopers positioned at the door.
....."I'll go in and face Spike, that will hopefully offer you a distraction while I try to bring him down," replied Xander. "This is like out of Star Wars, he will want to face me, the Stormtroopers will not interfere."
....."I hate to say this, but he may be right," interjected Buffy. "I think though we should take out the guards on both doors and that will at least give us some laser thingies."
....."Yes, Willow and Angel can do that since they won't die if they get shot," said Giles.
....."I'm the Slayer, I think I can handle it Giles," said Buffy with a slight twitch to her mouth. "Besides, three to two is better odds than two to two."
....."Why don't I just haul their weapons away from them with the Force on my way in," said Xander as he even amazed himself at how clear his thinking had become since he became a Jedi. He only wished he could have been this clear-headed back when he wrote his SAT's.
....."You can do that? Of course you can do that as you are a Jedi," stated Giles not knowing what to make of the Jedi Xander and the situation he had gotten them all caught up in.
....."Okay, Xander use the Force to unarm those not so nice Stormtroopers and we will move in after you to secure the entrances. We will then give you enough time to get in and confront Spike in I'm taking it to be a lightsaber duel or some other Jedi game. While you do that, the rest of us will move in and deal with the Stormtroopers and rescue Cordelia and Oz," said Buffy.
....."Um, yes that seems to be the plan," verified Giles. "Once we rescue them though, we will fall back and retreat to the library and hopefully find some answers as to how we can reverse Xander's wish."
.....Spike halted his advance on the fetal Oz and lifted his head up to the air before commenting, "Xander is here, I can feel him. Let him enter and see that he is not interfered with as I will deal with him personally," Spike said to his troops with a smile as soon he would have an ally in Xander, that is once he turned him to the dark side of the Force.
.....Xander walked swiftly towards the guards positioned outside of the Bronze's door and they showed no sign that would indicate that they planned to stop him. This was as he had expected, Spike was waiting for him and the Stormtroopers would let him walk right into Spike'' trap. Unfortunately for these two guards, he had other plans and they were taken unaware as he pulled their blasters free from their grips using the force. Before the Stormtroopers could respond, Buffy and Angel had the weapons and had them leveled at the Stormtroopers. Xander looked back and smiled at them as he entered the Bronze.
....."Well, what are we going to do with them?" Buffy wasn't about to kill them if they were some innocent humans caught up in Xander's wish. However, she doubted that as Spike had become Darth Spike, she suspected that the Stormtroopers might very well be vampires. She reached out and removed one of their helmets to verify her suspicions as the yellow eyes, demonic ridges and sharp fangs stared back at her from beneath the helmet.
....."Big surprise here," said Buffy as she wondered how they were going to kill them since the armor protected their hearts. "Giles, did you bring a sword by chance?"
....."Well, yes as a matter of fact I did," he replied as he pulled a sword out from the inside of their weapons bag. Buffy took the sword handing him the blaster and with a quick swing decapitated the two Stormtroopers who exploded into a puff of dust.
....."Well, I guess I will use the sword and the rest of you can offer me cover while we dance with these sci-fi vamps."
....."I have been expecting you young Xander," said Spike as he ignited his lightsaber, which hummed like a viscous buzz saw and flared up into a bright crimson blade. "Yes, it is time for you to face your destiny. It is time for you to join me on the dark side of the Force."
....."Is that the best the dark side recruitment slogans could come up with? Now if you really wanted to tempt me, how about promising that I would get more babes as a dark Jedi?" Xander ignited his lightsaber, which had a gentler hum to it and its blade glowed a bright green in color as it yearned for action.
....."Xander, you are undisciplined, I can smell your fear and it will be your undoing," boasted Spike as he moved towards Xander raising his lightsaber for the first attack. Spike swung it down in an arc which ended against Xander's blade which came up to block the attack in a display of color and the sound of energy on energy as the lightsabers met.
....."I think you are smelling yourself and if you dark Jedi smell so bad, no wonder you don't get the girls," replied Xander as he tried to thrust his lightsaber into Spike who was able to deflect the shot.
....."Not bloody likely, you can not win Xander, you see I will kill all of your puny friends if I have to. Nothing will stop the accomplishment of my goals. There is no escape, you see. I have Stormtroopers all over the city waiting to strike on my command. Even now, your friends who are going to attempt to rescue Oz and Cordelia are walking into a trap. There are hundreds of Stormtroopers ready to move in and surround the Bronze once they enter this building," bragged Spike as he took two quick swings at Xander which he was able to block.
....."We will win," replied Xander feeling anger building within him. He had to calm down or Spike was going to be right and he was going to turn to the dark side of the Force. He could not let that happen, he was a Jedi and he would use that Jedi self discipline to keep him away from the dark side.