Sis boom bah

[nred]

Who: Nica, Sam, Lizzie, Warren, Zack, Dot, Catherine, Sherry, Gwen, Eva, Stephan
Where: Sid's Diner
When: Wednesday evening



Nica and Sam were holding down the newly-repaired corner booth, their notebooks and school books and comic books taking up a fair amount of space.

Lizzie headed on in to the diner, looking cheerful.

Warren was following suit, and looking contemplative.

"So what're you doing for Thanksgiving?" Lizzie asked as she headed for a booth. She waved to Nica and Sam. "Hey..."

"Probably working on some of Maya's routines," Warren answered.

"Do you want to come to dinner at my place? I was thinking of trying to make a turkey for me and cousin Kit," Lizzie said.

"Heya," Nica said, and waved.

Sam smiled at lizzie and Warren. "Hey, guys."

"How's it going?" Lizzie asked them.

Zack set up Lizzie and Warren with water. "Hey ... something to drink to start out?"

"Root beer float, please?" Lizzie asked. A little more than a drink, but yum

"Sure... I guess. I dunno." Warren pondered. "If you've got the food, I suppose."

"Yeah, it'll be nice," Lizzie said. "Promise. And if anyone else of the gang doesn't have a place to go for Thanksgiving, they're welcome to come along too."

"Well, I know JOn's family's going to have a big dinner - they usually do," Warren said.

"Do you usually go there?" Lizzie asked, not wanting to intrude on a tradition. "Or is that more of a family thing?"

"Eh... Jon invites me sometimes, but usually I just stay home and work on things," Warren shrugged.

Zack headed off to make a float.

"Well, I'd be honored if you'd take off a day from work to come to mine," Lizzie said. "It's my first thanksgiving after all."

"Alright, alright..." Warren said.

Lizzie smiled and patted his hand.

Zack returned with Lizzie's float. "There ya go ... "

Catherine walked into Sid's, in hopes of grabbing something to eat before a night of training with her Servitor. She walked up to the front counter and sat down at one of the stools.

Sherry walked in, and headed to the counter too. Nica was there- but she knew Catherine better. She waved, however.

Nica grinned and waved back.

"Hi Sherry," Catherine said as she looked up and saw her walk in.

Zack set a glass of water in front of Catherine. "Hey, there, welcome to Sid's. Something to drink to start out?"

"Can I get a coke, please?" Catherine asked.

A grey van drove past the building.

Lizzie waved to Catherine. "Hey..."

Catherine waved back to Lizzie. "Hello."

Anna was heading in, to check on her sister, when the grey van drove past

"Hi Catherine." Sherry smiled "Friends of yours?"

"Yes, she's a friend," Catherine said. "Do you want me to introduce you to her?"

"Sure," Zack said, and turned to Sherry. "Anything for you?"

"Strawberry milkshake." Shery said, to Zack "And, yes, Catherine. It's always nice to meet new people."

The van disappeared around the corner.

Zack made Sherry's milkshake, then headed back to Lizzie and Warren's table. "You ready to order?"

"Yes please- I'd like a chef's salad and some garlic bread," Lizzie said.

"Come on, then," Catherine said, standing up and walking over to where Lizzie and Warren were sitting, and, after waiting for them to finish ordering, smiled at them. "Hello, Lizzie and Warren. This is Sherry, new to our school."

Warren nodded. "Howdy."

"Hi Sherry- nice to meet you," Lizzie said. "You guys want to come sit with us?"

"Pleased to meet you." Sherry said "And, certanly."

"That would be good," Catherine said.

Zack put in Lizzie's order.

Lizzie scooted over to make room for them. "So how's things?"

"Things are ok. Very busy, though," Catherine said, sitting down.

Anna gave Sam a squeeze, and sat next to her.

"I'm still getting used to things." Sherry said, taking a seat "Trying to find my place, and all."

"Where'd you transfer in from?" Lizzie asked.

"Attapulgis Georgia." Sherry said "Not too far from the Florida border, a real tiny little town."

"Oh cool - I'm from the UK myself, so I know about that new-student feeling," Lizzie said, smiling.

"Oh, isn't that interesting?" Sherry wasn't sarcastic, she actually found it interesting "Catherine is from Russia. You two get along pretty well?"

Sam gav Anna a quick hug. "Hey! How're you?"

Warren chuckled. "I'm the only native at this table."

"Natives are hard to find in Sunnydale," Catherine commented.

Lizzie nodded. "Yeah, Catherine's great." A beat. "No pun intended."

"I do get that a lot," Catherine said with a giggle. She actually found puns funny.

"That's kinda cute." Sherry said "Good puns, bad puns... everyones gotta joke sometimes."

"I'm okay." Anna said "How're you? How are you Nica?"

"That just means we're better," Warren said, chuckling dryly.

Lizzie grinned.

"I'm all right," Nica said. "Did you patrol tonight? Anything interesting happen?"

"I'm pretty good," Sam said.

A grey van drove past the building.

"Yeah." Anna said "I'm going out again after I grab a bite, and check on you."

"Maybe," Catherine said with a grin and a shrug. "Just depends on who you ask, I guess."

"Ya'll seem nice so far." Sherry said

Zack handed off food to Lizzie. "Anythign else here?" he asked.

Anna grabbed something from Nica's plate. "So, everything okay with you two? This is good."

"Thanks," Lizzie said and snagged her food. She glanced out the window, noticing a van passing. Hm, didn't that happen just a minute ago?

"Medium well New York Strip." Sherry said, to Zack "Steamed veggies, french fries."

"Can I get pancakes and sausage, please?" Catherine really had taken to American food since her relocation here.

Zack was writing this down.

Lizize pushed her salad towards Warren. "Wanna share?"

"Sure," Warren nodded, and snagged the fork to stabbity stab some green things.

A girl in a loose white T-shirt and jeans wandered in, with a duffel bag slung over one shoulder, looking tired and out of it. She settled into a booth.

Zack paused by the Anna, Nica and Sam table. "Anything here?"

A shopping bag slung over her shoulder, and her hair tied back into a loose ponytail, Gwen walked in, looking all Rock Grrl in tight blue jeans, biker boots, and a faded Metallica baby tee.

"Fries. A burger... hmm... a milkshake? Thanks, hon." Anna smiled

Dot was on her break, thanks to Zack. She was perched up at the counter, looking tired.

"Hey Gwen," Lizzie called, waving.

"Yo, Liz!" Gwen pointed and waved, setting her bag down on a nearby table.

Catherine waved to Gwen.

"Just some more coffee," Nica said. "Please."

Warren waved to Gwen, smirking.

Eva headed in, with a Stephan. She looked a little like she wasn't sure about being there. She' probably been dragged out.

"I'm good," Sam said, shaking her head.

" ... it's a nice night, I figured you could do witha break, anywa," Stephan was saying to her.

"You make me clumsy." Eva said, to Stephan

"Gwen, meet Sherry. Sherry, this is Gwen," Lizzie said, making with the introductions.

Gwen grinned and yelled over to Warren. "Yeah, you laugh, buddy... where's my bachelor party? You're my best man, which means it's your job to take me to look at big naked titties."

"Hello." Sherry said to Gwen "It's nice to meet you." she held out a hand

Lizzie raised a brow at that.

Nica heard Gwen's titty comment and nearly choked on her coffee laughing.

Gwen shook Sherry's hand and grinned. "Pleasure's all mine, chica."

"I'm getting to it. I'm just trying to find some you haven't seen yet," Warren countered.

Anna was kind of used to Gwen, so she didn't really react.

Gwen arched a brow and sighed. "Oh please. I've seen 90% of all titties in this town. But as of the wedding? No more titties for Gwen. So... yeah. Any will do right now."

Lizzie, who had just sipped her root beer float, had to cover her mouth quickly to keep from spewing it out from laughing.

"Either this town is smaller than I thought, or it's full of loose girls." Sherry said "Anyhow, I just moved here. Have a seat so I can make friends."

"Well, then, let me know when you're free," Warren said.

"A little of column A, and a little of column B," Catherine told Sherry, repeating a phrase that she heard on TV today.

Gwen grinned at Sherry. "Pardon me ONE moment. Warren! When am I NOT free? I don't have a job. I'm basically fighting, fucking, or in school."

The girl calmly reached into her duffel bag, took out a large axe and a knife, and threw the knife directly at Catherine.

Dot blinked. What the --

SHerry happened to glance over, and tried to puch Catherine out of the way.

Anna noticed the sharp weapon throwing, and jumped out of her seat, and headed towards the girl

"...the FUCK?" Gwen jumped up, and in one fluid motion whipped a small switchblade from her boot, flipping it open.

"Oh, holy hell," Nica said, and ducked under the table, yanking Sam down with her.

A knife passed Catherine's head, bounced off the table, and skittered offwards.

The girl calmly got up with the axe, and a disturbingly serene smile on her face.

Catherine went sprawling toward the floor, both from getting herself out of the way and with Sherry's push.

Stephan blinked. "Umm ... what the hell?"

Once over to the girl, Anna attempted to kick her in the back of the knees, so she'd lose balance

Dot scrambled behind the counter, looking for a phone.

Lizzie looked freaked, and stood up and raised her hands up with a big ball of fire on the end of them - unfortunately for those in the path between her and the girl- she wasn't all that good at controling them yet.

Eva pushed Stephan to the floor, and crawled under a table. She sighd when she realized it was attahed to the floor

"Ah, shit, not again," Zack muttered, and ran for the kitchen.

The girl very politely attempted to chop Anna's leg off the second she got within range.

Stephan was pushed. "Gang violence?" he suggested.

Dot grabbed Zack as he ran by. "Where's the phone?"

Anna jumped out of the way of the blade.

Warren decided to take the better part of valor and let other people deal with the problem while he got the heck out of their way. He wasn't in the mood to be set on fire, in particular...

Catherine got up off the floor, pulling out a knife that she had hidden in her boots for just such an occasion.

Zack was already dialing. "Hello ... yes ... this is Sid's Diner, we've got some bitch going berserk with a freakin' axe, you wanna send us a little help?"

Sherry, from her spot on the floor in the booth, calmy went through her purse, looking for something.

Axgirl, yes, had an axe, and was perfectly willing to use it on anything that got close. Her swipe chopped deeply into the table instead of Anna's leg. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to have any problems getting the axe back out, either.

Gwen looked over to Catherine. "We ready to show this twat what the two of us can do, girlie?"

Dot nodded to Zack, then peeked up over the counter.

"No one throws knife at me," Catherine growled. Really, some days slaying sucked.

Nica was dialing her cell phone. "I hate nights like this," she remarked to nobody in particular.

"Sweet. Yo, Anna... here comes the mu'fuckin cavalry!" Gwen snarled and threw herself at Axgirl's back, hoping to take her down.

While Ax girl was raising the ax again, Anna tried to get another kick in.

"Come a little closer," the axegirl crooned in a slightly off-kilter voice as she approached Anna -- and then got knocked sideways into one of the booths, hard enough to make a crunchy pop noise.

Eva grabbed Stephan's arm, and quickly tried to get out of the booth- before the girl could do anything

Lizzie looked for a good time to fling the firey ball - like when people weren't in the way.

Axgirl - now in the booth - promptly started punching Gwen in the face.

Catherine went after the girl with her own knife, trying not to make a face at the crunching noise.

"Yeah, Vito? It's Nica. There's this girl with an axe in Sid's ... yeah ... yeah, she's, umm ... well, I *thought* she was getting her ass kicked, but she's kinda tough."

Anna also went after the girl, trying to slam her into the ground.

"Ow!" Gwen grunted, getting hit repeatedly. "This! Ow! Is! Ow! Not! Ow! Funny!"

"I don't think floating a pencil at her would help," Sam said.

Said girl was already kinda stuffed into a booth, so getting her to the ground would require getting Gwen off of her and pulling her out of the booth.

Sherry found what she was looking for- An air pistol. She was crap at aiming though. "My Daddy gave me tranq darts... any idea how to fire an air pistol?" asked Sherry, to anyone who was around her

On the other hand, her right hand - the one with the axe - is now nailed to the seat by Catherine's knife.

Anna tried taking the axe away, then

Anna now has a nice, large axe.

"Ok... that's it..." Gwen used all her strength to try to knee the girl between the thighs.

Axgirl gets knocked back further into the boothspace -- ripping free rather painfully from the knife in the process, and momentarily stunned. At least, she isn't currently punching Gwen in the face.

"Yeah! Right in the box, beeeeeeyotch!" Gwen grinned.

"Stupid fucking cow!" screamed an enraged Catherine, removing the knife to stab her again. No one throws a knife at Catherine.

She's also currently in a free line-of-sight to anyone not currently in melee, I might add... well, she was, until Catherine tried to climb the table to stab her more.

Lizzie tries to get the fireball out before Catherine gets there

Holding a big ball of fire is annoying.

"Look out for the fire," Lizzie called

A ball of fire goes through the space dangerously close to Catherine, Gwen, and Anna, and sets the formerly-carrying-an-axe girl's shirt ablaze. She lets out a cry of pain as her flesh sizzles.

Sherry aimed her tranq gun, hoping she didn't have to use it... mostly because she sucked at it. She didn't seem fazed though. Hopefully the fireball would take care of her.

On the other hand... for someone who just had a knife rip through that hand, her right hand seems to be balling up into a fist. Goddamn.

"Five," the girl said, as Catherine stabbed her.

Lizzie ducked back behind the booth after that, because she's not exactly a combatant. She glanced around for Warren.

"Jesus, Warren..." Gwen panted as she crouched into a fighting stance, awaiting the burning-girl's next move. "I knew your girl was hot, but this is ridiculous..."

"Five what, cow?" Catherine asked, twisting her knife a little after stabbing the girl.

"You should see her naked," Warren called.

"Four," the girl replied, and slammed her head directly into Catherine's.

Warren was staying the heck away from the melee. He didn't trust his aim, and he actually liked most of the people he could accidentally hit from here.

Catherine stumbled back a bit from the headbut, getting out of the line of fire.

"Aiming a tranq gun." Sherry called "MOVE."

Sherry tried firing the gun

Lizzie stayed by Warren, looking shaken.

"Three," the girl said, and started trying to get to her feet. A dart stuck into her stomach, and she glanced down at it. "Two."

Anna swung the axe at the girl, hoping it would take her down

Anna struck her squarely, embedding it into her shoulder. "One," the girl said, and smiled, her head lolling backwards.

"Yikes... I think the bitch is gonna blow up or something!" Gwen yelled to everyone

Catherine didn't think so, but got behind the counter, just to be sure.

Anna tried yanking the Axe out, hoping she had enough time to get away in case of explosion

Dot ducked down behind the counter, then.

Eva stayed where she was

Zack peered out of the kitchen door. " ... is it over?"

Nice guess, Gwen. Ever see an explosive device detonate from within a person's neck? It isn't pretty, and it sends metal shards, bone fragments and less-than-pleasant things everywhere -- not to mention, a lot of noise.

" .. that would be a no," Zack added, looking like he was going to hurl.

"The bitch blew up," Nica said into her phone.

Catherine poked her head up from behind the counter. "Stupid cow blew up."

Anna ducked the hell out of the way.

The duffel bag, still in its place, began to beep quietly.

"Maybe we run away now," Catherine said, bolting for the door.

Anna eyed the bag, and grabbed it- her plan was to get it outside, and away from people.

Beep... beep... beep...

Catherien ran in the opposite direction of Anna

Anna headed outdoors with the bag. Hell if she was going to le the diner get blown up

Dot ducked back into the kitchen and tried to herd people out through the back entrance.

" ... shit ... " Nica said.

Gwen was now down on all fours, clutching her neck and chest, and believe it or not, trying not to cry. Girl was in PAIN.

Anna is now outdoors, holding a duffel bag that is beeping.

Catherine is now far the hell away from Anna.

Eva grabbed a couple of towels from the counter, and headed over to Gwen

Anna peeked in the bag.

Warren peered out. "Shit, Gwen, you okay?"

Sam crawledout from under the table towards Gwen. "Hey ... hey, let me get a look ... " She tried to figure out how much of the blood was Gwen't, and how to stop it.

The bag seems to contain several textbooks. Whatever is making those beep noises every second is not directly visible.

*Gwen's

"I need to apply pressure to the wounds." Eva said, to Gwen

Once she realized that Anna got away with the bag, Catherine ran back to Sid's to check up on Gwen, remembering seeing her take shrapnel to the body.

Anna didn't trust the beeping, so she started to run far away from the diner, and to an open area

Gwen rolled onto her back, and it was apparent she'd taken several sharp pieces of metal to her throat, neck, and upper chest.

"I need clean water." Eva said "And more towels."

Sam winced, and eyed the damage. "Can't pull any of that out. Dammit ... " She snagged her backpack and pulled out a first aid kit and foudn some butterfly bandages to seal up the open gashes temporarily.

Gwen grumbled a little, trying not to put on a show or anything. "This really... fuckin' blows..."

"Clean water and towels, coming up," Zack called.

"Oh crap!" Lizzie said. She headed over to try and help Gwen.

"Some of it isn't very deep." Eva said "Don't touch the neck wound."

"Can you see? Can you hear okay?" Samasked, still patching her up.

Anna gets away from the diner just fine... at which point, the bag lets out one final long beep and explodes. Anna has the sense to throw the bag when it does that beeeeeeep thing... but still, having a high-explosive go off reasonably close to you - and this time, not covered by a meat shield - is not pleasant territory.

"I won't," she said to Sam.

"Is she going to be okay?" Lizzie asked the wound-tenders.

"So I guess," Catherine said. "Would anyone like to call 911?"

"I'll.. be fine... not lettin' this... get in the way of... ogling titties..." Gwen smirked.

"Got it!" called Sherry, wo was doing that from her cell phone

"Already did," Zack said, returning with water and towels.

"Yeah, she's fine," Warren commented, though he was frowning.

"Yeah," Sam said, trying to sound more positive than she felt.

"Maybe someone should call one to look for Anna, just in case she didn't get rid of beeping bag in enough time," Catherine said.

Eva poured water over a few wounds, and put some towels under Gwen's head.

Lizzie nervously headed for the door to look out for Anna.

Vito slammed on the brakes when he heard the explosion, then drove in that direction, looking for mayhem.

"Guys... I can feel... it..." She made no attempt to sit though. "A few stitches... I'll be fine."

Sam and Eva had stopped the worst of the bleeding, but there were still bits and pieces of things sticking out of Gwen.

"Tell them we've got at least one third degeree lac to the throat, severl second and first degrees to the arms and neck area, and lowering blood pressure. m Shrapnel is still present."

called Eva

Sherry told the people on the phone that.

"Vito's looking for her," Nica said quietly.

Anna was trying to recover from extreme heat action. Just a flesh wound... really

Warren frowned and fidgeted. He wasn't feeling very heroic at the moment, and he didn't really have much to contribute here.

Vito braked again, emittin a slew of cursesbetter imagined than described, and got out of the car, grabbing a small fire extinguisher from the back seat.

Lizzie jogged over to see how Anna was doing. "Are you okay?"

Those listening closely could hear a distant siren.

Catherine made sure to remove her and Gwen's knife from the now scene of the crime.

"...I'll be fine. Slayer healing and all, right?" Anna said "Is everyone else okay?"

Vito sprayed at anything that hadn't ben extinguished yet, and looked up at Lizzie. "Is everybody okay in the diner?" he asked.

Gwen looked around with some despair, and asked Lizzie. "Where's Warren? Is he ok?"

(Er, Catherine! Not Lizzie!)

Sherry quietly tucked her air gun away.

Catherine nodded. "Yes, Warren is fine. Remind me later to give you back your knife." She motioned for Warren to come over.

"I'm fine... I'm over here," Warren said, moving closer. "Shit."

"She'll be fine." Eva said "A few stitches, some rest... don't touch her throat, though."

"Warren, honey... I'll be fine..." Gwen could feel, just from the pain levels, that most of her wounds were superficial at worst, and merely light lacerations. The throat wound had her a little worried though.

"Rest." Eva said to Gwen "Don't try to talk, just rest."

"Warren get you big boobied stripper for this, won't you Warren?" Catherine was trying to distract everyone right now. "Everything be fine."

"You're covered in chunky things," Warren pointed out.

"She'll be fine." Eva said, to Warren "Don't freak her out."

"And yeah, I was thinking of reserving one of the back rooms of the Pink Kitty..." Warren added.

"I'll be there..." Gwen grinned again. "Decapitation... wouldn't keep... me away."

"Gwen got hit," Lizzie said.

"Hell, I buy you one now," Catherine said, although the thought of being in a strip club kind of freaked her out.

"See, your friends are going to dye a cat for you." Eva said, not realizing what the Pink Kitty was "And it's not that bad of a neck wound. Nowhere near decapitation."

"Yeah, but skinning Maya up to look like you would just weird people the fuck out," Warren commented.

"Shit." Ana frowned, and got up. "Ow.. and.. how is she? I need to check on her."

"I think she's going to be okay... but the wound on her neck looked pretty bad," Lizzie said, frowning.

Vito was having a look at Anna to make sure she was okay. "Yeah, you'll be okay ... that might blister, but I think you're fine."

"I'll be fine." Anna said, to Vito "In an hour I'll be all healed up, ok hun?" she started to head back for the diner

"Besides... the wedding is in a week..." Gwen took a deep breath, wriggling a little. "Not gonna let your girls miss seeing you three in tuxes..."

Lizzie headed back for the diner with Anna.

"Heh. It's not that impressive of a difference," Warren commented.

"Stop trying to talk." Eva orderd Gwen "You need rest."

"Tuxes make guys automatically look good. Don't you know that already, Warren?" Catherine told him. She was very much looking forward to seeing Jonathan in a tux.

"Heh. Tuxes make James Bond look good. They make me look like a fourteen-year-old lounge singer," Warren said.

Sherry was still on the phone with the 911 people. It sounded like she was bitching about slow response times

Vito headed along with the Anna, too.

Sirens were beginning to sound in the distance - but, yes, they were running pretty slow, from all appearances. One might think they were trained to give whatever caused the trouble ample time to leave.

An ambulance screeched to a halt in front of the diner, and a police car pulled up right behind it. Then another.

"Shit, guys... no hospital." Gwen shook her head slightly. "Just do... a Rambo... and stitch my ass up. I got no insurance..."

"Stop talking." Eva said, sharply

"We pay, shut up," Catherine said. "Or your Servitor pay. Whatever."

"Don't move either." Eva added.

Anna headed over to see how Gwen was doing. "Uh... sorry about this, babe..."

Eva glared. Gwen wasn't supposed to be talking

Things suddenly got hectic inside the diner. There were paramedics with a stretcher, and several uniformed cops looking around.

Lizize pads back over toward Warren, looking unhappy.

"Plus, we do surgery on you, you wind up with a trachiotomy," Warren pointed out, and looked up to Lizzie.

"Hey.. how's Gwen?" she asked.

Gwen, trying to listen to Eva, just reached up and squeezed Anna's hand confidantly.

"She's fine," Warren said, though he didn't look convinced of that.

"Young woman, aged 17-24 attacked customers." Eva began, when a cop approached "The victim attempted to subdue the suspect, where she was hit by shrapnel from an explosive device planted in the neck. Blood pressure is low, the rest of the wounds aren't as severe."

SHerry hung her cell phone up, and hoped the cops wouldn't see her. SHe heard about Rodney King

The paramedics were getting ready to lift Gwen onto the stretcher. " ... thanks," one of them said to Eva. "Wow, you sound like you know your business." She took hold of Gwen's shoulders, and a guy had Gwen's feet.

"Careful," the guy said. And then Gwen was stretchered.

Warren sighed, and started wandering outwards.

Gwen gave her friends a thumbs-up as she was carted off. "I'll be ok, guys... I love ya..."

"Want me to call Skylar?" Catherine asked, following Gwen out a bit.

A police officer eyed what was left of the attacker. " ... spontaneous neck rupture?" he said.

Lizzie followed Warren.

"No, suicide bomb!" Catherine called back to the police officer.

Anna ran after, and rode to the jospital with Gwen.

"Spontaneous neck explosion, more like," Warren muttered.

Nica crawled out from under the table and hugged Vito. "Okay, somewhere else? Now?" she said.

"Yeah," Vito said. "Somewhere else. Guys, regroup at the Sunset?" he added to anyone in earshot.

Zack just stood at the counter, looking unhappy and disgusted.

"We should go to the hospital," Lizzie said, and quietly hugged Warren.

"I'll need a ride." said Sherry, getting up

Catherine looked around. "You want help clean up?" Seriously, this place was a mess.

"Yeah," Warren said. "Think Kit'll give us a ride?"

One of the cops looked at Catherine. "Nobody's cleaning anything up until we get this body out of here."

"Good luck. She in pieces." Catherine shrugged. "Suicide bombers suck."

"Of course- let me call him," Lizzie said and dialed her phone to do that.

Eva thought the cops were going about this all wrong, so she headed back over to where she left Stephan

"I can fit about two people in my car," Vito offered. "Along with the Nica and Sam ... "

"Yeah- Kit- I need a ride. No... no you don't have-- no, it's not - yeah. Something happened, I'll tell you about it when you get here. Just... okay, yeah. Thanks," Lizzie said.

Stephan was climbing out of the booth. "You know ... I heard this town was freaky ... but, seriously, what the hell was that?"

"It was a suicide bomber who threw a knife at my head, stupid cow," Catherine said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Where did you think you more, Beverly Hills?"

"What did it look like?" asked Eva "And, we're going to have to go somewhere else. I don't want a cup of coffee from here right now."

"Yes, yes, thanks for the obvious," Stephan said, looking annoyed. "It's still a wha-the-fuck moment, don't you think? I'm parked around the corner."

Warren trudged. "Does he know where to go?"

"Yeah, I told him where we'd be earlier...." Lizzie said.

"Ok, guys." Sherry said "What's the plan? Now, I just met some of you, and I want to know ya'll will be okay tonight."

Catherine shrugged at Stephan. Really, she was jaded. "I have to go meet Servitor," she told Sherry. "Although, if I late, he will understand after I tell him this."

A grey van drove past the building.

"Hey, Sherry," Vito said, just noticing her.

Sure enough, Kit eventually pulled up to pick them up. "What's going on?"

"Someone exploded at the diner, and Gwen got cut up," Warren summarized gloomily.

"A person went crazy in Sid's, then exploded," Lizzie said.

"Did they eat the chilli?" Kit asked.

"Last time I ate that, I felt like I was going to explode."

"... no," Lizzie said, as she got in. "We need to go to the hospital to see Gwen."

"Ok... I'm going off with my relatives." Sherry said "WHere ever they are going. Call me, okay? We need to hang out."

"Hang out when people aren't blowing themselves up," Catherine told her.

"Yes." Sherry agreed

"Sound like a plan," Catherine said.

Vito started heading outside towards his car.

Kit drove towards the hospital. "Is someone calling it in?"

"Anna and Vito were there, so I assume they are," Lizzie said.

Sherry followed, because, hey... free ride- and, her stepmother had stolen- er, borrowed her car again.

Warren muttered something equivalent to 'who gives a flying demon monkey fuck.'

Lizzie took Warren's hand in the backseat and squeezed it comfortingly.

Catherine headed out to meet her Servitor, only a little late for it.

Eva bossed around the cops a bit, then got kicked out. She headed for sunsetness with Stephan.

{{[Eva]: Cops ... ur doing it wrong}}

Vito did, indeed, call the incident in to OSI, en route from the cafe to the Sunset.

Warren just looked moody.

Lizzie frowned and just sat quietly after that.

Kit drove over to the hopsital and parked.

Anna was pacing around the ER, as they worked on fixing Gwen up.

Vito called Anna next, to find out what was going on at the hospital.

Anna's phone went to voicemail.

As soon as Skylar got the call, she drove like a bat out of hell to the ER, running into the waiting room. She looked around for Anna.

Warren got on out, and headed on inwards.

Anna waved to Skylar. "They're still working on her, but they think she's going to be okay."

"Tell me what happened. All of it," Skylar said. Anna had really only given her the basics over the phone.

Gwen headed in with him.

Vito headed inside, Nica and Sam trailing after him.

"This chick came into the diner, threw a knife at Catherine, then got an axe out. I ran to get it from her, she started atacking. Gwen and Catherine came to help, she attacked them. Lizzie set her on fire, some chick fired darts into her... and she was counting down from five. Then, she exploded, and shrapnel hit Gwen."

Anna hoped that was a good enough summary

Skylar nodded, understanding that Gwen was doing her job. Still, this was pretty much all of awful for her. "I see. Are you sure that they said that she would be ok?"

Warren followed the hospitaller crowd along.

"The chick at the diner said she'd be fine, and the paramedics seemed to think so too. They were laughing and shit until I told them to shut up and work."

"Hey," Lizzie said to Anna and Skylar as they approached.

Skylar nodded, but still looked on the verge of tears. She had cried the entire way over as well.

"Hey." Anna waved

"Come here, hun." Anna said, to Skylar "She'll be fine."

"I know," Skylar said, her lip quivering. "It's just..." Tears started running down her face before she finished.

Lizzie frowned, looking awkward. She was glad Anna was here to handle the comfort thing.

Anna gave Skylar a hug. "Look, I promise, shes going to be fine, and she helped a lot of people tonight, okay? She'll be all fixed up for the wedding."

"The wedding can be put off if need be. I'm worried about her," Skylar said between sobs, trying to get herself under control. "Of course, knowing Gwen, she'll have herself sitting on a gurney at the wedding."

"Babe, she'll be fine. I think I saw her flip off one of the paramedics." Anna said

Skylar couldn't help but smile. "She would do something like that."

"See? She's fine." Anna said "A few stitches, and she'll be all ready to get back to her normal life."

"Can we go see her?" Lizize asked.

"The doc hasn't said so yet..." Anna said "Oh, there he is." she pointed

The doctor came out, and said it as fine.

Skylar took off to the room as soon as she found out which one Gwen was in.

Lizzie headed towards the room with the rest of the gang

Gwen was laying there, her throat and shoulder bandaged up. She looked a little weak (mostly from blood loss) and more than a little aggravated.

Anna stood off a bit, but was there too

Skylar ran into the room, possibly knocking down orderlies in the hallway on her way. "Are you okay, Gwen?"

Gwen beamed upon seeing Skylar, though, she was still a little pale. Ok, more pale than usual. "Hey baby... I'm fine. Little bit o' metal in the throat never killed nobody. Ok, it prolly has, but not this time."

"Good, because no one would want to deal with me if something even worse happened," Skylar said. Seriously, have you dealt with an angry southern woman?

"Make sure Warren knows..." Gwen gave Skylar a serious look. "I appreciate how worried he was. And since I got hurt trying to make sure he didn't, the strippers better be EXTRA hot."

Skylar laughed. "I'll let him know. Extra hot strippers for Gwen."

"And don't even CONSIDER postponing the wedding." Gwen knew damned well how Skylar worried. "I'd have to be in a coma to miss it. I'm seriously not hurt THAT bad. I lost a good bit of blood, but other than that... I'm fine."

"Are you sure? I don't want to have to walk down the ilse to a gurney," Skylar said that with a grin. She'd rather go through with the wedding as well. Seeing Gwen made her feel a little better.

"Make sure Wes and Laili know what happened, and that I'm ok? Cos I doubt I'll be going home before tomorrow morning."

"I'll call and let them know, sweetie," Skylar said, stroking Gwen's hair. "Want me to call them now?"

Warren peered on into the room.

"No... for now, just stay with me?" Gwen nuzzled Skylar's hand gently, closing her eyes. "All I could think about was you. When it happened... my first thought was that no matter how bad it was, I couldn't leave you."

"How's she look?" asked Anna

"Okay, I'll stay for now." Skylar motioned for Warren to come in as well.

"Not so bad," Warren said, and slipped inwards. "Hey, Gwen. You look very non-dead. So ready to go to the party?"

Lizzie leaned up against the wall in the hallway, not wanting to crowd the room.

"You okay?" Anna asked Lizzie

"You bet your ass I am, War. Is Anna here? Gotta thank her for savin' my sweet ass." Gwen grinned at him, truly touched that he was so worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Lizzie said, though she was kinda lying.

"She's out in the hall. If too many people come in here, the oxygen machines might break down and crippled children will die," Warren explained.

"I don't know you that well." Anna said "But if you need to talk, and if I'm not killing anything at the moment, I'm all ears."

Gwen raised a brow. "Dude, fuck the kids, I matter more."

"Do you think we have time?" Warren asked.

"Thanks," Lizzie said. "It's just... meh. That was really scary."

"...Yeah." Anna said "It was, but I'm really glad no one else was really hurt... I still feel kinda bad about the girl, though."

"Any ideas who orchestrated this?" Skylar asked.

"That was creepy," Lizzie said. "And... poor Gwen getting hurt like that."

"Seriously, though, as long as you aren't going to bleed out the next time you try to eat out your girlfriend, I'm sure the hospital will let you go in a few hours, so sit tight, hm?" Warren suggested.

"Yeah.." Anna frowned "I should have pushed her out of the way."

"Yeah, true." Gwen smirked, and looked at him. "War? I kinda love you. You know that, right?"

"You can't be everywhere at once," Lizzie said. "I tried to help, but..." She frowned, rubbing her eyes. "I'm not really good at that."

"Yeah, I know. I love you too. Now I'd better get out of here so other people can babble on about how scared they were that you were going to die in front of them or whatever," Warren said.

"You shot a fireball at her." Anna said "That was damned good."

"You shoot fireballs? Cool," Skylar said, grinning.

"Well, it was just the one... and it didn't really help all that much," Lizzie said.

"We actually had a good group of people in the diner." Anna said "Shit, if I hadn't gone there to check on my sis... But I think you guys would have handeled it."

Warren grinned, and headed on out to wave in the next person.

"Who else there?" Skylar asked, not sure if she'd even know them or not.

*"Who else was there" I'm slipping into Catherine speak here.*

Lizzie looked up at Warren when he came out. "Hey..."

"Hey. She's looking good, if you want to go in and say hi," Warren said.

"Okay," Lizzie said, and slipped in for a moment.

"Hey Gwen..."

"Hey Liz." Gwen gave her a slightly embarrassed grin. She felt stupid laying in a hospital bed, and looked quickly to make sure Skylar was still in the room.

Warren leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.

"You okay, Warren?" asked Anna

Skylar was still sitting next to Gwen.

"Yep," Warren said.

"How are you feeling?" Lizzie asked. "I'm glad you're mostly okay..."

Anna was quiet for a moment. "Sorry I didn't push her out of the way for you. Friends are really important. She's fine, though, right? So you've got more time to figure out team strategys for such things..." Anna was trying to help, really

"Yeah, I'm good. I'm just glad you guys are ok. I was just doing my job, ya know? Protecting the innocent, blah blah." Gwen tried to brush off how close of a call it had been.

"Yep," Warren said. He was awfully monosyllabic at the moment.

"Well... yeah but... it was rough," Lizzie said. She patted Gwen's hand. "I'll let Anna come in... I should go and... stuff."

Lizzie bit her bottom lip and headed out of the room before she started crying.

"Call me if you ever need me." Anna said, to Warren "Aw crap. You two hug or something." she referred to Warren and Lizzie

Anna headed in to see Gwen.

Warren nodded, and hugged Lizzie. "You okay?"

Skylar looked up as Anna came in. "Are they okay outside?"

Lizzie hugged Warren and sniffled. "Yeah... it's just... everything could have been so much worse. It's pretty much the worst thing I ever saw ever, when that lady's body blew up in all those pieces and everything..."

"I told them to hug." Anna replied, not wanting to upset Gwen.

"Yeah," Warren agreed. "I'm starting to think I'm not cut out for this."

Gwen blinked at Skylar. "...the fuck is Liz crying about? Last I checked, I'm the one who took a shot to the neck... is she ok?"

"They'll be fine." Anna said "Someone kinda blew up, and she's your friend, so she cares about you, of course shes upset."

"I'm sure that they are worried about you, and what they saw in the diner," Skylar said, more than a little grateful that she didn't have to watch a girl blow herself up.

Lizzie held him tighter.

"Anyhow. I think she'll be out tonight," Warren said. "Otherwise they wouldn't have her in this section."

"I worry about that too," Lizzie said. "But if we don't fight these things, who will? What if we weren't there... innocent people could have gotten killed."

"I don't mean to sound bitchy!" Gwen quickly corrected herself. "I just figured... worst is over, right?"

"Eh. If we weren't there, then the chick would've been slightly less singed. Little else would have changed." Warren started heading outwards, looking moody.

"What if whoever attacked you tonight does it again?" Skylar asked.

Lizzie looked hurt, but followed after him. "I did the best I could..." she muttered, aware that her fireball hadn't been all that effective.

"I know V probbaly called it in." Anna said "And people should take care of it." The slayer looked down for a moment

"Sweetie, then we kick it's ass again. And again. And again if need be. It's what we do." Gwen squeezed Skylar's hand, aware of the irony of being the hurt one, comforting others.

"You're fine though, right?" Anna asked Gwen "Next time, I'll push you out of the way."

"Yeah, and I didn't do a damn thing," Warren grumbled, "except practically freak out. Very helpful."

"Bullshit, Anna. You're the Slayer, not the Gwen-Shield." Gwen smirked at her newest friend. "You did a great job."

Warren stopped, bitchslapped by a thought.

"She's still alive, and that's what really counts," Skylar added.

"Hey Anna... not the best time, I know... but you wanna come to the wedding? I know we just kinda really started bonding and junk... but I'd like you to be there." Yeah, Gwen was a regular wordsmith.

Lizzie nearly ran into him. "...?"

"Yeah..." Anna said "I couldn't help that girl though. Look, I'll see you tomorrow, okay? I need to go eat or sleep or kill something."

"Wedding..sure." Anna replied

Anna wanted a wedding one day... "I'll bring a gift."

Gwen grinned around the pain there. "Good. I'll hold you to that. And as for a gift, PLEASE. Just show up. Gift enough right there."

"I just thought of something," Warren said, beginning to smile. "What's-her-name exploded, and that duffel bag that she'd been carrying around exploded, right?"

"Right," Lizzie said, wondering why he ws smiling about that.

"It's no problem." Anna said, still looking thoughtful "You've got my number, right?"

"So that means that there's pieces of the bomb out wherever Anna took it. And if we can find some of the pieces, we might be able to figure out where the bomb came from, and stop this from happening again," Warren said. "As opposed to waiting for another explosives-laden person to arrive."

"Yup." Gwen laughed sweetly there. "I think all the Special Gym girls got each others contact info."

"So we find Anna, we find out where she threw the big boom, we go looking for parts, we solve this," Warren said, undeterred by the fact that the practical likelihood of doing so was much, much higher in his mind now that he'd thought of this as an idea.

"We'll call if we need anything," Skylar reasured Anna.

"Catch you later babes." Anna said, heading out to find something to eat, kill, or going home so that she could sleep.

"So, does this mean I get to wear the nurse outfit?" Skylar asked Gwen playfully. "Will that make you get better quicker?"

"Hey! Hey! Anna!" Warren called, waving.

"That's a good idea," Lizzie said.

"Yeah?" asked Anna "Do you need something?"

"Where'd you throw that duffel bag?" Warren asked.

"Yes, the nurse outfit would be a GREAT help." Gwen giggled there, the thought making her almost blush.

"I'll show you." Anna said "I waited too long to throw it, so it didn't excatly hit the ground. It had books in it."

"Books... hm. I wonder if she was a college student?" Lizzie asked.

"Alright. We need to see if we can find any of the parts that made it, so that we can see if anything traceable is in the remnants." Warren seemed a lot less depressed now.

"I didn't get a good look at them." admitted Anna "And I couldn't tell where the beeping came from."

"I think Kit's still outside - he could drive us there," Lizzie said.

"Ok." Anna said

Lizzie headed out where sure enough, Kit was waiting and reading a book in his car.

"Well, we won't know anything else until we look," Warren said.

Anna fidgeted a bit, but followed along.

"Kit, we need to go back to the scene of the crime," Lizzie said.

Kit grunted. "Any particular reason?"

"Evidence," Lizzie said.

"Yeah. We're looking for bomb parts so we can find whoever did this before they do it a second time," Warren said.

"Mm, okay." Kit drove back towards the diner.

Anna pointed out the location for them.

"Alright..." Warren looked thoughtful and enthused.

"That's where I started to throw it." Anna said "I didn't see where the pieces went. Sorry."

Kit pulled over so they could search.

Warren got out, and made with the searching.

Anna frowned for a sec, and got out to search too. She was restless.

Lizzie got out to look.

"Well, here's a scrap of the bag..." Warren said.

"This is... something." Anna held up what could have been a piece of a book

Warren went around picking up bits and pieces of whatever looked like it might have been involved.

Anna picked up stuff too. It was nice and easy to focus on finding things.

Lizzie helped pick up stuff.

"Is this gonna help?" asked Anna, breaking the silence

"Of course it will," Warren said, confidently. "If we can find enough of it, we can at least rebuild the electronic components, and from there, figure out where they came from. Of course, it'd be easier if we could find something with a name on it, but hey."

Lizzie kept searching, glad to be doing something productive.

"I can see if Nica can draw a pic of her." Anna said "She only saw her once, but that's all she needs."