Darla aims to please

One moment future Amy was just staring as a blonde woman named Darla raised the two revolvers in her hands and fired in the direction of Amy's chest. The next, she was chanting "Stabit!" (Latin for "halt) and make a frantic gesture with her left hand.

Suddenly the two bullets that had been intended to pierce Amy's lungs stopped in mid-flight and then dropped to the ground.

Darla swore an oath and then fired again, this time aiming her guns at future Amy's heart. Again Amy chanted "Stabit!" and again the bullets stopped short of killing her.

"You aren't supposed to be able to do that," said Darla. "I shot you in the head back in my home timeline precisely because you could not do that."

"Well, I suppose being a witch makes a fast learner out of you," said future Amy. "Plus the prospect of imminent **** tends to encourage the improvement of one's skills most efficiently. I'm sure that the **** threats my mom made against me back in the library made me remember a lot of stuff I normally would not have remembered until it was way too late. So who else did you shoot in the head, Darla? E.T.? The Easter bunny? Santa Claus?"

"I shot her," said Darla, aiming her guns toward Kennedy and firing them almost immediately.

But again the same scenario played out. Amy did her little chant and the bullets stopped in mid-air.

Darla threw down her guns in frustration and said, "No fair. You were destined to die. Dark Buffy promised."

"Well, I guess Dark Buffy is going to have to break that promise because this witch is not going anywhere," said future Amy.

"Oh, yes, you are," said Dark Buffy. "You might be able to do a lot of stuff, Amy, but as far as I can tell, you still can't fly. So it would not be a big deal for me to just pick you up and --"

Before Dark Buffy said another word, future Amy raised her arms, made a magical gesture and let loose from her hands a burst of electricity that hit Dark Buffy like a thunderbolt. Dark Buffy was so overwhelmed that she fell backwards, only to immediately get up again. Then future Amy unleashed another burst of electricity in Dark Buffy's direction.

Future Amy kept doing so until Dark Buffy finally fell **** and stopped trying to get up. By then, Dark Buffy's clothes were beginning to show scorch marks and Kennedy could smell the scent of burnt cloth and burnt flesh.

Darla looked in confusion at her fallen mistress, then immediately hurried to pick up her guns. But future Amy hit her with a burst of electricity first.

"Stake her, Kennedy," said future Amy.

"No, she's been defeated," said Kennedy. "It wouldn't be right to stake her now."

"Fine," said future Amy. "Then stake Dark Buffy."

"She's been defeated, too," said Kennedy.

"So?" asked future Amy. "Do it anyway."

"You do it," said Kennedy.

"Are you disobeying me?" asked future Amy.

"Yes," said Kennedy. "You won, Amy. You defeated the bad people. Now let's grab Faith and get back to the high school."

"We haven't defeated all the bad people, Kennedy," said future Amy.

"Of course we have," said Kennedy. "Darla is down, Dark Buffy is down, and Halfrek is not in a position to give us any more trouble. Who else could possibly be left?"

Future Amy turned toward Kennedy and smiled a cold smile. "You."