BtVS: Just Another Day - 6.11 Hero Worship, Part 2
Previous episode here.
With dozens, if not hundreds, of newly vampirized faeries closing in around them in the chamber where they met Leonardo-disguised-as-Persephone, the Slayer fragments are outnumbered and outgunned. But they've faced impossible situations before and won out, so they prepare to fight once again. Taken by surprise and surrounded, the Slayer fragments get off to a bad start. After a faevamp attacks her, Teresa tries to distract it by casting a quick spell that will make its blood smell delicious to other vampires in the vicinity - but unfortunately, the vampire that this ends up attracting the most is Jack, who drains the vampire dry and then continues to be a total loose cannon for the rest of the fight. Joey is also slowly being overwhelmed by a few rapier-wielding faevamps, although he gets out of a tight spot when Leonardo unexpectedly casts a magic shield around him that absorbs some of the vampires' blows. Meanwhile, the faevamps are making life difficult by putting curses on a number of the Slayer fragments; Teresa has to hop on one foot, Tran gets blinded, Joey's sword arm gets perma-twisted behind his back, and something happens to Ally that nobody is really sure of because it doesn't seem to have any impact on the fight. Ally and Simon are also struggling, not so much with their specific battles but because as soon as they kill one of the faevamps, another one comes through the tunnels to take its place.
Ally shouts that somebody needs to close up the two entrances that lead into the chamber, and Joey is all too glad to comply. He tears off his clothing, revealing the skintight silver Spandex he has been wearing underneath for a while know, and activates the spell that will give him the Strength of Colossus. Using his newfound inhuman prowess, Joey charges into the nearest tunnel, thrusts his sword up into the ceiling, and starts ripping out chunks of soil and rock to bury the entering faevamps and collapse the tunnel. Unfortunately, he can't make it to the second tunnel because the faevamps knock him out before he can get all the way across the room (plus the sudden loss of resilience when the Strength of Colossus goes away doesn't help either). Ally shouts for Leonardo to close up the other tunnel, but isn't sure that he'll listen to her. So it's a pleasant surprise when everybody hears the Tetris music get piped into the chamber and a bunch of Tetris blocks start falling down in front of the other entrance. They form a nice barricade, though Leonardo has to redo a few parts of it when he accidentally erases a line by forgetting to leave a gap. Soon, all new faevamps are barred from entering the chamber and the Slayer fragments just need to deal with the six or so that still remain inside.
But the battle isn't over yet. While powering up for what would surely have been a devastating series of kung fu attacks, Tran is swarmed by a mob of faevamps and completely overtaken, ending up unconscious. Seeing his predicament and realizing that she herself is likely to get hurt badly if she doesn't get out of the middle of the fight, Teresa grabs Tran's limp form and teleports both of them out of the chamber and into the Duchess's quarters. With Teresa and Tran out of the picture, Joey unconscious, Jack still a little bit crazy, and Leonardo focused on maintaining his spell, it falls to Simon and Ally to finish off the last of the faevamps, which they accomplish in short order. They then immediately set to bandaging up the grievously wounded Joey, with little time to wonder what became of the rest of their group. At this point, Ally realizes that she's been cursed to speak only in rhyme, saying things like, "I'd like to help [Joey] if I could, but all I've got is this piece of wood" (while brandishing a stake).
Teresa's teleportation drops both herself and Tran into the Duchess's chambers, but she quickly has to drag Tran to a hiding place behind an armoire when she sees that the room is swarming with faevamps who are attacking the Duchess. The Duchess is doing her best to fend them off, but she's fighting a losing battle and becoming more and more wounded as time goes on. There's little that Teresa can do except shake Tran until he wakes up and hope that they're not too late to help the Duchess. Soon, Tran regains consciousness, leaps up, and clears out the faevamps with a little bit of firebreathing Breath of the Dragon action - but although he drives off and incinerates the last of the faevamps (kind of freaking himself out in the process), it's clearly too late to save the Duchess. With Teresa at her side, the Duchess speaks her dying words: "Our home has been overrun. You must find the Summer Prince. He is your only hope to save the ones who still remain."
Saddened, Teresa returns Tran and herself to the chamber where the rest of the Slayer fragments are checking the barricades and recovering. A number of faevamps are still milling around outside, but it looks like the walls are going to hold for the foreseeable future. Teresa tells the others about what happened to the Duchess, and adds that because the corridors are crawling with faevamps, it might be tough to actually track down this Summer Prince person without having to go through fights just as difficult and punishing as the one they just finished. Teresa thinks she's heard of the Summer Prince before; it has to do with a faerie tradition in which two different courts, the Summer Court and the Winter Court, rule over different halves of the year in faerie society. The Summer Princ very well might be within this faerie mound, but because it's autumn now, he's asleep and would have to be woken up.
Rather than risk sending out one or many of the injured Slayer fragments to track down the Summer Prince, Ally summons an imp in rhyme despite her somewhat hampered condition ("I'm feeling a little weak, and it's hard for me to speak"). As a sacrifice, since she doesn't have any small animals handy, Ally gets Leonardo to help her by animating a small ball of fuzzy gauze that the imp seems to like just as much. Then she sends it out into the faerie mound to look for evidence of the Summer Prince's quarters, and if possible, figure out how to wake him up.
With that, all the Slayer fragments can do is wait for the imp to come back. During this time, Tran meditates and the others look for ways to pass the time. Joey is still unconscious, and while he's out Ally and Teresa catch Leonardo messing around with Joey's cell phone and call him on it. Leonardo says he was just curious about what other technomancers do, and that given Joey's attitude toward him he doesn't think that Joey would be very forthcoming with that information. This begins a long conversation with Leonardo that eventually turns into yet another attempt by the Slayer fragments to get Leonardo to come around and see their way of thinking. The difference this time is whereas Joey had been talking in terms of right and wrong, Ally points out that if/when the Slayer fragments defeat Persephone, if Leonardo opposes them, the Slayer fragments will have no choice but to treat him the same way they treated her. This seems to make more of an impact, and Leonardo assures the Slayer fragments that he's not so enamored with Persephone's way of thinking that he'd carry on her rituals in her absence - however, nor does this mean that he wants to join up with the Slayer fragments, either. Leonardo thinks that the Slayer fragments have a very black-and-white worldview - they seem to think that anybody who doesn't immediately sign on for directly fighting the forces of evil is probably against them, or at least is only going to get in their way in the long run. Leonardo thinks that's pretty narrow-minded; surely there are people who take neither side directly but that doesn't make them bad people. (Ally disagrees that the Slayer fragments think like this, but Teresa gets a more pensive look on her face when it's mentioned.) If Persephone has truly abandoned him, Leonardo wants to take that third path, but the Slayer fragments aren't so sure they can believe him. For now, though, Leonardo says he'll stick with the Slayer fragments and not cause any trouble because he knows that's his only way to survive the faerie mound.
When Joey wakes up, Ally and Teresa tell him that Leonardo was fiddling around with his cell phone. Leonardo tells Joey he was just curious, and once Joey sees that nothing has been screwed up with regards to his phone, he cautiously enters into a dialogue about technomancy with Leonardo. So maybe it's possible to find some common ground after all.
As this conversation is winding down, Ally's imp returns to the chamber saying that it has found the place where the Summer Prince lies in repose. The Summer Prince will be able to help the Slayer fragments because he can "shine like the sun", thus destroying all the vampires that are infesting the faerie mound. However, getting there will require stealth because the area around the Summer Prince's chambers is populated by far too many vampires for even the Slayer fragments to fight. Another issue is the fact that waking up the Summer Prince will mean that the Slayer fragments will be willfully disturbing a cycle that has existed in the faerie world since the beginning of time. Waking the Summer Prince before his time will lead to an uncertain outcome - will summer ever come again, now that the balance of the natural order has been upset?
When Ally learns this, she becomes very disturbed and starts getting the others to brainstorm other ways of getting out of the faerie mound. The first thing that crosses everyone's mind is to have Tran use House Of Light to help everyone fight their way out - which forces Tran to admit that he is being burned in the sun like a vampire would. As horrifying as this information is, the Slayer fragments can't worry too much about it at the moment except inasmuch as it closes off another course of action to them. In the end, surprisingly enough, it's the imp who points out that if the Slayer fragments don't act, they won't accomplish much being stuck in a walled-off chamber and waiting for a bunch of immortal beings to back down. It looks like they're left with no option other than to wake the Summer Prince.
Since stealth is going to be needed, the Slayer fragments elect to hand this job off to their invisible people - Jack and Tran - with a little help from Teresa. Joey and Leonardo decide to join forces to cast an invisibility spell on Teresa, and send her out in the company of the others to find the Summer Prince's resting place, so that she can teleport the others there when she finds it. Then, after some final instructions from the imp on where to go, Ally banishes the imp and Leonardo opens up the Tetris blockade to let the three invisible Slayer fragments out in search of a way out.
Of course, all three invisible people get separated right away. What is perhaps surprising is the things they see on the way. Tran runs into the spirit of Jake, who tells him that "his secret" (whatever that may be) will soon be let out and when it does come out, he will no longer be able to destroy the Nemesis as he had hoped. Teresa encounters the spirit of Tyron, a friend from the past, who tells her that he has died trying to protect her, and that more will certainly die trying to do the same. Tran does his best to stand firm, but Teresa is very shaken up by her encounter and needs time to collect herself before going on. Eventually, all three wandering Slayer fragments find an ornately decorated golden door that could only be the Summer Prince's chambers. (Jack also seems shaken up at this time but doesn't talk about who or what he encountered.)
Teresa teleports the rest of the Slayer fragments in and they all get to work figuring out the puzzle-like lock that is keeping the Summer Prince's chamber closed. Despite a few close encounters with curious faevamps, everyone gets inside unmolested. In the chamber, the Slayer fragments find a beautiful fae prince, sleeping deeply. Teresa has long since called dibs on waking him up with a kiss, and does just that. The Summer Prince is quite confused and disoriented at first, and after the Slayer fragments explain what's going on, he becomes sad and says that he doesn't know if the faerie mound's society will survive any of what is happening (though he stops just short of blaming the Slayer fragments for what happened - they seem to be doing a good enough job of that on their own). He says he will leave his chambers and drive the evil beings out of the mound, but asks for a few moments to be alone with his thoughts before he does so. The Slayer fragments willingly leave the chambers and go back out into the hall...
...only to run directly into Marie just as soon as the door has closed behind them.
Before the Slayer fragments can say much more than, "Marie, what are you doing here?", Alerion tentacles shoot up out of the earthen floor of the faerie mound, holding the Slayer fragments down. The Slayer fragments are horrified as Marie's features melt away, turning into those of Persephone. And then the spirits enter. Jake and Chris appear, screaming about how they're being tormented in hell. They are followed, to Ally's horror, by Iris, who announces to everyone that Ally arranged for her death against Jack's wishes. Persephone/Marie then banishes the spirits, telling the Slayer fragments that they were fakes all along and she can't believe that they'd be foolish enough to let their fears and desires get the better of them in that way. She says they've been so distracted by self-adulation and their own personal projects that they've ignored the big picture, and now because of that, Persephone is about to accomplish her goals. With a smirk, she reassumes Marie's form and says, "Now if you'll excuse me, Neil, Mrs. Rossi, and Fritzie are waiting for me." She melts into the ground and vanishes, as do the Alerion tentacles holding the Slayer fragments down.
The Slayer fragments can only stand around in mute horror until the Summer Prince exits his chamber and tells the Slayer fragments that they'd better leave now if they want to get free. He opens a door out of the faerie mound and tells the Slayer fragments that they'd better leave now. They run out of the faerie mound as sunlight explodes out of the Summer Prince's body behind them. When the mound closes up behind them, they take a few moments to collect themselves, then head in the direction of Marie's house, hoping they're not too late.
With dozens, if not hundreds, of newly vampirized faeries closing in around them in the chamber where they met Leonardo-disguised-as-Persephone, the Slayer fragments are outnumbered and outgunned. But they've faced impossible situations before and won out, so they prepare to fight once again. Taken by surprise and surrounded, the Slayer fragments get off to a bad start. After a faevamp attacks her, Teresa tries to distract it by casting a quick spell that will make its blood smell delicious to other vampires in the vicinity - but unfortunately, the vampire that this ends up attracting the most is Jack, who drains the vampire dry and then continues to be a total loose cannon for the rest of the fight. Joey is also slowly being overwhelmed by a few rapier-wielding faevamps, although he gets out of a tight spot when Leonardo unexpectedly casts a magic shield around him that absorbs some of the vampires' blows. Meanwhile, the faevamps are making life difficult by putting curses on a number of the Slayer fragments; Teresa has to hop on one foot, Tran gets blinded, Joey's sword arm gets perma-twisted behind his back, and something happens to Ally that nobody is really sure of because it doesn't seem to have any impact on the fight. Ally and Simon are also struggling, not so much with their specific battles but because as soon as they kill one of the faevamps, another one comes through the tunnels to take its place.
Ally shouts that somebody needs to close up the two entrances that lead into the chamber, and Joey is all too glad to comply. He tears off his clothing, revealing the skintight silver Spandex he has been wearing underneath for a while know, and activates the spell that will give him the Strength of Colossus. Using his newfound inhuman prowess, Joey charges into the nearest tunnel, thrusts his sword up into the ceiling, and starts ripping out chunks of soil and rock to bury the entering faevamps and collapse the tunnel. Unfortunately, he can't make it to the second tunnel because the faevamps knock him out before he can get all the way across the room (plus the sudden loss of resilience when the Strength of Colossus goes away doesn't help either). Ally shouts for Leonardo to close up the other tunnel, but isn't sure that he'll listen to her. So it's a pleasant surprise when everybody hears the Tetris music get piped into the chamber and a bunch of Tetris blocks start falling down in front of the other entrance. They form a nice barricade, though Leonardo has to redo a few parts of it when he accidentally erases a line by forgetting to leave a gap. Soon, all new faevamps are barred from entering the chamber and the Slayer fragments just need to deal with the six or so that still remain inside.
But the battle isn't over yet. While powering up for what would surely have been a devastating series of kung fu attacks, Tran is swarmed by a mob of faevamps and completely overtaken, ending up unconscious. Seeing his predicament and realizing that she herself is likely to get hurt badly if she doesn't get out of the middle of the fight, Teresa grabs Tran's limp form and teleports both of them out of the chamber and into the Duchess's quarters. With Teresa and Tran out of the picture, Joey unconscious, Jack still a little bit crazy, and Leonardo focused on maintaining his spell, it falls to Simon and Ally to finish off the last of the faevamps, which they accomplish in short order. They then immediately set to bandaging up the grievously wounded Joey, with little time to wonder what became of the rest of their group. At this point, Ally realizes that she's been cursed to speak only in rhyme, saying things like, "I'd like to help [Joey] if I could, but all I've got is this piece of wood" (while brandishing a stake).
Teresa's teleportation drops both herself and Tran into the Duchess's chambers, but she quickly has to drag Tran to a hiding place behind an armoire when she sees that the room is swarming with faevamps who are attacking the Duchess. The Duchess is doing her best to fend them off, but she's fighting a losing battle and becoming more and more wounded as time goes on. There's little that Teresa can do except shake Tran until he wakes up and hope that they're not too late to help the Duchess. Soon, Tran regains consciousness, leaps up, and clears out the faevamps with a little bit of firebreathing Breath of the Dragon action - but although he drives off and incinerates the last of the faevamps (kind of freaking himself out in the process), it's clearly too late to save the Duchess. With Teresa at her side, the Duchess speaks her dying words: "Our home has been overrun. You must find the Summer Prince. He is your only hope to save the ones who still remain."
Saddened, Teresa returns Tran and herself to the chamber where the rest of the Slayer fragments are checking the barricades and recovering. A number of faevamps are still milling around outside, but it looks like the walls are going to hold for the foreseeable future. Teresa tells the others about what happened to the Duchess, and adds that because the corridors are crawling with faevamps, it might be tough to actually track down this Summer Prince person without having to go through fights just as difficult and punishing as the one they just finished. Teresa thinks she's heard of the Summer Prince before; it has to do with a faerie tradition in which two different courts, the Summer Court and the Winter Court, rule over different halves of the year in faerie society. The Summer Princ very well might be within this faerie mound, but because it's autumn now, he's asleep and would have to be woken up.
Rather than risk sending out one or many of the injured Slayer fragments to track down the Summer Prince, Ally summons an imp in rhyme despite her somewhat hampered condition ("I'm feeling a little weak, and it's hard for me to speak"). As a sacrifice, since she doesn't have any small animals handy, Ally gets Leonardo to help her by animating a small ball of fuzzy gauze that the imp seems to like just as much. Then she sends it out into the faerie mound to look for evidence of the Summer Prince's quarters, and if possible, figure out how to wake him up.
With that, all the Slayer fragments can do is wait for the imp to come back. During this time, Tran meditates and the others look for ways to pass the time. Joey is still unconscious, and while he's out Ally and Teresa catch Leonardo messing around with Joey's cell phone and call him on it. Leonardo says he was just curious about what other technomancers do, and that given Joey's attitude toward him he doesn't think that Joey would be very forthcoming with that information. This begins a long conversation with Leonardo that eventually turns into yet another attempt by the Slayer fragments to get Leonardo to come around and see their way of thinking. The difference this time is whereas Joey had been talking in terms of right and wrong, Ally points out that if/when the Slayer fragments defeat Persephone, if Leonardo opposes them, the Slayer fragments will have no choice but to treat him the same way they treated her. This seems to make more of an impact, and Leonardo assures the Slayer fragments that he's not so enamored with Persephone's way of thinking that he'd carry on her rituals in her absence - however, nor does this mean that he wants to join up with the Slayer fragments, either. Leonardo thinks that the Slayer fragments have a very black-and-white worldview - they seem to think that anybody who doesn't immediately sign on for directly fighting the forces of evil is probably against them, or at least is only going to get in their way in the long run. Leonardo thinks that's pretty narrow-minded; surely there are people who take neither side directly but that doesn't make them bad people. (Ally disagrees that the Slayer fragments think like this, but Teresa gets a more pensive look on her face when it's mentioned.) If Persephone has truly abandoned him, Leonardo wants to take that third path, but the Slayer fragments aren't so sure they can believe him. For now, though, Leonardo says he'll stick with the Slayer fragments and not cause any trouble because he knows that's his only way to survive the faerie mound.
When Joey wakes up, Ally and Teresa tell him that Leonardo was fiddling around with his cell phone. Leonardo tells Joey he was just curious, and once Joey sees that nothing has been screwed up with regards to his phone, he cautiously enters into a dialogue about technomancy with Leonardo. So maybe it's possible to find some common ground after all.
As this conversation is winding down, Ally's imp returns to the chamber saying that it has found the place where the Summer Prince lies in repose. The Summer Prince will be able to help the Slayer fragments because he can "shine like the sun", thus destroying all the vampires that are infesting the faerie mound. However, getting there will require stealth because the area around the Summer Prince's chambers is populated by far too many vampires for even the Slayer fragments to fight. Another issue is the fact that waking up the Summer Prince will mean that the Slayer fragments will be willfully disturbing a cycle that has existed in the faerie world since the beginning of time. Waking the Summer Prince before his time will lead to an uncertain outcome - will summer ever come again, now that the balance of the natural order has been upset?
When Ally learns this, she becomes very disturbed and starts getting the others to brainstorm other ways of getting out of the faerie mound. The first thing that crosses everyone's mind is to have Tran use House Of Light to help everyone fight their way out - which forces Tran to admit that he is being burned in the sun like a vampire would. As horrifying as this information is, the Slayer fragments can't worry too much about it at the moment except inasmuch as it closes off another course of action to them. In the end, surprisingly enough, it's the imp who points out that if the Slayer fragments don't act, they won't accomplish much being stuck in a walled-off chamber and waiting for a bunch of immortal beings to back down. It looks like they're left with no option other than to wake the Summer Prince.
Since stealth is going to be needed, the Slayer fragments elect to hand this job off to their invisible people - Jack and Tran - with a little help from Teresa. Joey and Leonardo decide to join forces to cast an invisibility spell on Teresa, and send her out in the company of the others to find the Summer Prince's resting place, so that she can teleport the others there when she finds it. Then, after some final instructions from the imp on where to go, Ally banishes the imp and Leonardo opens up the Tetris blockade to let the three invisible Slayer fragments out in search of a way out.
Of course, all three invisible people get separated right away. What is perhaps surprising is the things they see on the way. Tran runs into the spirit of Jake, who tells him that "his secret" (whatever that may be) will soon be let out and when it does come out, he will no longer be able to destroy the Nemesis as he had hoped. Teresa encounters the spirit of Tyron, a friend from the past, who tells her that he has died trying to protect her, and that more will certainly die trying to do the same. Tran does his best to stand firm, but Teresa is very shaken up by her encounter and needs time to collect herself before going on. Eventually, all three wandering Slayer fragments find an ornately decorated golden door that could only be the Summer Prince's chambers. (Jack also seems shaken up at this time but doesn't talk about who or what he encountered.)
Teresa teleports the rest of the Slayer fragments in and they all get to work figuring out the puzzle-like lock that is keeping the Summer Prince's chamber closed. Despite a few close encounters with curious faevamps, everyone gets inside unmolested. In the chamber, the Slayer fragments find a beautiful fae prince, sleeping deeply. Teresa has long since called dibs on waking him up with a kiss, and does just that. The Summer Prince is quite confused and disoriented at first, and after the Slayer fragments explain what's going on, he becomes sad and says that he doesn't know if the faerie mound's society will survive any of what is happening (though he stops just short of blaming the Slayer fragments for what happened - they seem to be doing a good enough job of that on their own). He says he will leave his chambers and drive the evil beings out of the mound, but asks for a few moments to be alone with his thoughts before he does so. The Slayer fragments willingly leave the chambers and go back out into the hall...
...only to run directly into Marie just as soon as the door has closed behind them.
Before the Slayer fragments can say much more than, "Marie, what are you doing here?", Alerion tentacles shoot up out of the earthen floor of the faerie mound, holding the Slayer fragments down. The Slayer fragments are horrified as Marie's features melt away, turning into those of Persephone. And then the spirits enter. Jake and Chris appear, screaming about how they're being tormented in hell. They are followed, to Ally's horror, by Iris, who announces to everyone that Ally arranged for her death against Jack's wishes. Persephone/Marie then banishes the spirits, telling the Slayer fragments that they were fakes all along and she can't believe that they'd be foolish enough to let their fears and desires get the better of them in that way. She says they've been so distracted by self-adulation and their own personal projects that they've ignored the big picture, and now because of that, Persephone is about to accomplish her goals. With a smirk, she reassumes Marie's form and says, "Now if you'll excuse me, Neil, Mrs. Rossi, and Fritzie are waiting for me." She melts into the ground and vanishes, as do the Alerion tentacles holding the Slayer fragments down.
The Slayer fragments can only stand around in mute horror until the Summer Prince exits his chamber and tells the Slayer fragments that they'd better leave now if they want to get free. He opens a door out of the faerie mound and tells the Slayer fragments that they'd better leave now. They run out of the faerie mound as sunlight explodes out of the Summer Prince's body behind them. When the mound closes up behind them, they take a few moments to collect themselves, then head in the direction of Marie's house, hoping they're not too late.