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Beta and Banner by dawnofme
Chapter Twenty-Five

Craig disconnected the phone and stared at it for a moment before turning the ring tone to silent and then putting it in his jacket pocket. How the hell was he supposed to do what he’d just promised? From talking to Maurice about the local area, he knew that the nearest town lay to the east and was about five miles away. He checked the tank of the quad and saw, to his relief, that it was almost full. Before he set off, he called Maurice and was pleased to hear that although still weak, Willow had come around.

Then he began to make his way into the town. He stayed in the fields as much as possible and when he got too close to the town to be able to keep doing it, he parked it behind some thick hedges and hoped it would still be there when all this was over. Walking briskly and keeping to the shadows, Craig scanned the area for what he needed.

His face split into a grin when he noticed the car rental lot on the edge of an industrial estate. He walked the perimeter to make sure that there wasn’t a security guard and then glared at the high wire fence that surrounded it. Getting over it was going to be tricky, but then he thought again of the desperation in his brother’s voice and he somehow managed to scrabble over it. He tore his jeans on the barbed wire at the top, but otherwise was unscathed and landed with a grunt on the other side.

So far so good.

Taking it for granted that the building could be alarmed, Craig didn’t hesitate once he’d broken a window pane and let himself in the rear door of what was little more than a shed.

A box on the wall helpfully provided him with keys labelled with licence plate numbers and the main gate’s key too. He grabbed them all and ran to the lot. There were two vans the size he needed. One was brand new, the other older. Opting for the older one and breathing a sigh of relief that it hadn’t been painted with the company name, Craig jogged to unlock the gates before climbing in and driving away.

In an open all night garage, Craig filled up the tank, pleased that since they’d been run off the road that he’d kept his wallet on him at all times, just in case. He also bought a road map and a couple of screwdrivers. He’d seen enough movies to know what to do next. Ideally he would’ve liked to have gotten a plate from a van of the same make but time was of the essence so he pulled into the first housing estate he came to and took the plates off an SUV and put them on the stolen van. At least now it might give them enough time to get away before it was spotted as being stolen.

Again, thanks to the information gleaned from Maurice, Craig knew exactly where the Initiative base was. With his heart pounding fit to burst, he drove towards the facility, taking care not to exceed the speed limits. The last thing he wanted to do was draw attention to himself. As he drove his cell phone rang several times. Each time he checked it, thinking it might be Cam, and he was disappointed to see it was Maurice. He didn’t pick it up – the less the Carmichael’s knew the better.

When he was about a mile away, Craig pulled into a lay-by and waited for Cam’s call.

*~*~*~*

Buffy jogged almost soundlessly along the corridors. Only a skeleton staff was on during the night and so she was confident of getting to the computer room and back without being challenged. She ran past the door to the cupboard that held the souls, and then skidded to a halt, turned around and let herself in. Unsure exactly what she was looking for or why she needed to look in the first place, she scanned the names on the glass storage bottles as she walked along the row.

One name made her gasp, her hands going to her mouth, as tears pricked at her eyes. How could it be? With shaking hands she turned the jar around to read the additional label that was on the rear of it.

The old copperplate script on the yellowing label read, Captured in 1880 after vampiric demon took control.

She turned it back around and read the name on the front once more.

William Pratt

Another newer label offered more information regarding the soul’s former owner.

Aka William the Bloody

Aka Spike

How could the expelled soul of a vampire be contained for so long? Buffy had no clue but she knew that she wasn’t going to leave it here. She picked up the jar and placed it in the bag that Cameron had made by tying the neck of a scrubs tunic. One thing she knew she’d never find in there would be a jar with Maggie Walsh’s soul in it. The woman might be pure evil but Buffy knew that it was still inside of her.

Carrying it carefully, she continued on her way to the get the computer. She disconnected the computer and was just closing the door behind her when a guard came round the corner. Slayer instincts rapidly coming back to her, Buffy lashed out with her foot, knocking the man unconscious before he’d even had time to yell out.

Grunting with the effort, she dragged him into the computer room and used the cables she’d just disconnected to tie him up. Satisfied that he couldn’t get free of his own accord, she shoved one of the man’s socks in his mouth as a gag and then raced back to where Cam and Spike were as fast as she could.

Cam was putting some computer disks into the pockets on his sweatpants when she burst into the room.

“You made it!” His face lit up with a smile.

“Yeah, we’ve just got to get out of here now.”

“That’s sorted,” said Cam. “I need you to put Spike in there.” He nodded to the rear of the room.

“A pod?” Buffy frowned, remembering Spike meekly stepping into one all those years ago.

“Yes. We’ve got to keep him quiet if we’re going to be able to get out of here at all and this is the only way we can restrain him.”

“But how the hell are we going to get that thing out of the facility?” asked Buffy, still staring at it.

“It’s all organised. Come on, Mom! We need to be quick!”

Buffy pushed the gurney holding Spike until it was next to the pod and then managed to haul the unconscious vampire into the pod. Cam checked the feeding reservoir and nodded when he saw that it was full. With his hands feeling like they belonged to someone else, Cam expertly slid the feeding tube into Spike’s oesophagus and then asked his mother to bring the lid down and clamp it shut.

With a shudder, he activated the spinal clamp, but unless he’d used it, Spike would surely have been able to smash his way out. He went to the telephone and dialled Craig’s number. It answered on the first ring.

“Yeah?”

“We’re ready – meet us there in five minutes.”

“Will do, little brother.”

As soon as he hung up, Craig drove towards the delivery gate at the base.

“Who was that?” asked Buffy.

“Our getaway driver.”

Cam returned to the computer and tapped rapidly at the keypad. He needed to get the guards on the gate away from their posts for long enough for them to load Spike up. With the alarms in a different quadrant set to go off in ten minutes, Cam looked up at his mother.

“We need to go now. Can you push the pod?”

“Yes,” said Buffy sounding more confident than she felt. It looked heavy, but she was pleasantly surprised when she began to shove it in front of her, as its wheels glided easily over the tiled floor.

Cameron went in front and pushed his chair as fast as he could, glancing over his shoulder to make sure his mom could keep up. The alarm sounded and Cam fervently hoped that the guards at the door would go to investigate as he really didn’t have a plan B to fall back on.

Their luck held. The exit was unmanned. Mark hadn’t lied about all the exits having steps at them but he’d forgotten that the delivery exit had to have ramps for the pods to be transported in and out of the facility. It was too steep for Cam to manage to push himself though and so Buffy wheeled him up first before going back to get the pod.

They were just going through the outside doors when a voice called out from behind them.

“Stop right there, or I’ll shoot.”

Buffy turned around to see a guard aiming his gun at them. She took a step towards him, ensuring that the gun moved to her and away from Cam. As long as her son was safe she didn’t care what happened to herself.

“We’re leaving,” she said, staring boldly at the man.

“Not gonna happen.”

“Go!” she said to Cam and pushed the pod through the doors.

“I mean it! I’ll shoot.”

Backing up slowly, Buffy kept her eyes on the guard. He widened his stance and moved his finger on the trigger. A shot rang out and with a cry he fell to the floor clutching at his lower leg. Ears ringing from the shot, Buffy whirled around and almost lost her balance when she saw Craig standing in the doorway, with a smoking gun in his hand.

“Craig!” She ran towards him. “How did you get here…the gun…?”

“Now’s not the right time, Mom. We need to get away from here, like ten minutes ago!” He bent down and picked up a bottle, containing a clear liquid with a piece of rag pushed into the top. He lit the rag and threw the bottle inside the building where it shattered and the spilled gas burst into flames.

Together they went outside and between them they managed to lift Cam and his wheelchair into the stolen van. The pod’s legs could collapse like a stretcher and they heaved it in beside Cam then slammed the doors. Once they were in the front seats, Craig burned rubber as he floored the gas pedal and sped out of the compound.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Buffy twisted in her seat to glare at her eldest son.

“Oh, gee, it’s great to see you, Craig. Thanks for saving my life back there.”

“Of course I’m grateful, but since when did you learn to fire a gun and where did you get it from?”

Craig grinned at her, a touch too manically for her liking; she hadn’t seen him this pumped up for a very long time. “From the guard I took out when I drove up to the gate.”

“What did you do?”

“Spike was right. If you kick them hard enough in the bollocks, it gives you time to tie them up.”

“Spike said…” She glanced over her shoulder, but the rear of the van was separate from the front and so all she saw was white painted metal. “Nice shooting, getting that guard in the leg like that.”

“Um…not really, I was aiming for his chest.”

“Craig! You could have killed him!”

“He was going to kill you! What was I supposed to do?” Craig slammed his palm on the steering wheel. “Would you rather be lying on a slab in there? Cam needs you, if he’s going to make it through this.” I need you!

With a sigh, Buffy said, “So I’m guessing this van is stolen?”

“Yeah. The idea is to drive to the cottage, unload the pod into the garage there and then I’ll drive this a few miles away and dump it.”

Buffy nodded and leaned her head against the seat. “Sounds like a plan. But where do we go from there?”

Craig shrugged. “I dunno – that’s up to you and Aunt Willow to work out, I guess.”

“Willow! How is she?”

“Exhausted, but okay, last I heard.”

“Last you heard? Please don’t tell me that you haven’t told the Carmichaels what we’re doing?”

Craig dug in his jacket pocket and tossed her his cell phone. “Uh…I thought they might take it better from you.”

“Oh, for God’s sake!”

By the time that they pulled up at the cottage, Maurice had opened the garage doors, so Craig reversed the van as close as he could and then helped them unload the pod. Maurice and Craig lifted Cameron and his chair out.

Willow appeared in the doorway of the cottage. “Craig, I’m coming with. I’ll teleport us back here.”

“Are you sure you’re up to it?” said Buffy.

“I’ll be fine. And time is of the essence.”

As Willow and Craig drove away in the van, Maurice patted the top of the pod.

“So your vampire is in here?”

“Yeah,” said Cam. “It was the only way we could do it. I’ll just check to make sure the feeding tube is working okay.”

Buffy opened the lid and recoiled as she saw the snarling face of Spike. Teeth bared, growling quietly due to the paralysis making it almost impossible to draw air into his lungs to enable him to make sounds.

“Bloody hell!” Maurice’s eyes widened when he peered in at Spike.

A tear traced a path down Buffy’s cheek. “I know. They’ve really messed him up. We’re not sure we can get him back.”

“The feeding tube’s fine,” said Cam. “I think we need to go into the cottage and lock this place up.”

Reluctantly, Buffy pulled the lid down and went into the cottage with Maurice and Cam.

Thirty minutes later, a gust of wind blew around the living room as Willow and Craig arrived home.

“I’ve contacted the Watchers’ Council,” said Willow as they all sat around the kitchen table drinking cups of tea or coffee. “They’ve got a safe house we can use. The only problem is that we’re going to have to transport Spike and the pod there by road. There is no way that I can teleport them.”

“I’ll drive,” said Buffy. “We just need to hire a van.”

“No, Buffy. We guessed what Craig was up to when he went missing and so Maurice and I have had time to work things out. I’ll teleport you and the boys there, then travel with Maurice in a van. That way if there’s any trouble I should be able to use magic to cover our tracks.”

Buffy glanced at Dora, wondering what the woman was making of it all, not least the fact that her husband was going to be driving the stolen vampire and pod across the country. Noticing her watching her, Dora reached out and squeezed Buffy’s hand.

“We’re with you one hundred percent, love. After seeing what they’ve done to your family, there is no way that we couldn’t offer to help you with anything you need.”

Tears glistened in Buffy’s eyes, and not trusting her voice, she nodded her thanks and squeezed Dora’s hand until the older woman gave out a low grunt of pain.

“Oh! I’m sorry,” said Buffy, letting go.

“I’m all right.” Dora rubbed her hand. “Nothing broken.”

With a few more details discussed, Willow took Buffy, Cam and Craig to the house in the middle of the East Anglian fens, before returning and being driven to a car rental depot. Making sure that it wasn’t the one that Craig had stolen the van from.

To appear more inconspicuous, they rented a large SUV with removable rear seats and blacked out windows. If the Initiative were searching for them, the chances are they wouldn’t think of looking for such a vehicle.

Leaving Dora to drive to a hotel in the centre of London, rather than going back to the cottage, Willow and Maurice loaded up the pod and set off for the safe house. Depending on traffic, they should arrive there in a couple of hours.


Chapter End Notes:
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