Chapter VI Plans & Meetings
I sit beside the dark
Beneath the mire
Cold grey dusty day
The morning lake
Drinks up the sky
Katmandu I’ll soon be seeing you
And your strange bewildering time
Will hold me down
Chop me some broken wood
We’ll start a fire
White warm light the dawn
And help me see
Old satan’s tree
Katmandu I’ll soon be touching you
And your strange bewildering time
Will hold me down
Pass me my hat and coat
Lock up the cabin
Slow night treat me right
Until I go
Be nice to know
Katmandu I’ll soon be seeing you
And your strange bewildering time
Will keep me home
“Peaches, I swear to all that is evil, if you don’t turn off this fucking Cat Stevens song you’ve been playing since we got here, I will climb through this wall and rip your heart out with my bare hands.” Loud pounding followed this announcement. The music in the next room was lowered considerably, but given his vampire hearing Spike could still hear it clearly.
He began to pace in a frustrated manner. They had arrived in Katmandu late last evening and Spike had been antsy ever since. He hated waiting and now that they were so close to actually seeing Buffy it felt like time had simply stopped.
He had tried to get Giles to go over their plans with him one more time to make sure they covered absolutely every possibility. Giles, however, insisted he needed to catch up on his sleep.
Dawn was locked up in her room not speaking to anyone, furious with Giles because he refused to take her with them into Bhutan. He insisted she stay here in and coordinate with Andrew in the London office and pass that information on to them when they were in the field.
Lorne had headed back to the club to close out their bank account and obtain the money to pay the Rogues with. He was also going to talk to a demon who had expressed an interest in buying the club to finance the rest of the money they needed. So far he hadn’t made it back, but Spike knew he would get here at the last possible minute, it was his way of showing how mad he was at Spike for selling the club.
Spike knew that Raven was also upset at his decision to sell what had been their home since they had gotten together, but he didn’t care at this point. It was the only way he felt he could make up for letting Buffy and Dawn down.
There had been no sign of Willow or Xander since they had arrived. Spike figured they were probably holed up together planning what they were going to say to Buffy when she arrived.
Even Raven had abandoned him to go train with the two Hogoshas and Finn’s soldiers.
Spike knew he hadn’t made a good first impression with the Hogoshas. He had trouble with their names right off, one was Myoko and the other was Momoko, he thought. Or maybe it was Myomo and Mimoko. They both seemed to think he was an uncultured idiot.
Spike knew Raven was relieved to be away from him and get in some quality time with her own friends. He knew his constant distraction over Buffy was hurting her, but he didn’t know how to talk to her about it. He honestly didn’t think there was a way he could talk to her about this without hurting her more.
He still loved Raven, he loved everything about her and he wanted to be with her.
But Buffy…
He didn’t know. At one point Buffy was everything to him. He completely remade himself because of her. He changed his entire existence just for a chance to be with her. And now? He honestly couldn’t say.
He didn’t think it was possible for not to love her. It came as natural to him as breathing. However, he knew only too well that it wasn’t enough to love her.
Three more hours until they were due to arrive. What was he going to do until then? If he kept on like this he would drive himself nutty long before they got here. As impatient as he was for them to arrive, he was terrified to see Buffy.
So his thoughts circled again, fear of seeing her and what would he say, questioning his feelings towards her, berating himself for ignoring Raven, guilt over leaving Dawn and Buffy. Over and over again his thoughts swirled in his head, now between the anxiousness he was feeling and Angel’s preoccupation with that damn Cat Stevens song he was ready to climb the walls. Or climb through them.
Down the hall Xander was indeed locked away, but not with Willow.
“Are you here to try and make me feel better about getting left behind?” Dawn asked him. She stood there with her hands on her hips looking at him with stubborn determination that reminded him so much of her sister. “I don’t see what else we would have to say to one another.” She continued.
“Look, Dawn I never meant to hurt you…”
”Hurt me? I threw myself at you and you rejected me. Actually you didn’t even reject me you just walked out of the room and never said a word. That HURT me. However, when I found out my sister had disappeared and that you went off after her without even saying goodbye, I was well beyond hurt.”
Xander knew he couldn’t argue with her, he knew he handled the situation poorly. It ranked up there with leaving Anya waiting at the alter, but just like that he didn’t know how to take it back and make it all better.
Dawn turned around and walked to the window. “Would it be different if I was a real girl instead of just a blob of energy made into a girl?” She asked quietly.
“WHAT?!?” Xander grabbed her arm and turned her around. “Are you kidding me? I’ve always thought of you as a real girl. You are a real girl, Dawn. That’s the problem, you’re a girl and Buffy’s little sister on top of that. I just don’t see you in that way.”
“And you couldn’t bother to stick around long enough to explain that to me instead of running away in the middle of the night? It was like I lost my sister all over again, only this time I also lost one of my closest friends.”
“Dawn, I know I messed up, but I wasn’t even thinking clearly. I had been living on almost no sleep for several weeks between rescuing Buffy and then taking care of her. I was completely burnt out. Then one night I go into my bedroom and I find you in my bed naked. I didn’t even know how to react at that point, it was almost like one of those dreams you have where you are on the school bus and suddenly you realize you somehow got on the wrong bus and you aren’t sure how it happened.
All I could do at that point was just walk out and I just kept walking. When I got back the whole place is in an uproar because Buffy went missing again. I wanted to talk to you before I left, but what could I say? I thought I could make it better when I brought Buffy home. I never wanted to hurt you.”
Dawn sighed. “Déjà vu.” She muttered.
“Huh?”
“I had this same conversation with Spike the night he arrived.”
“Wait, You hopped in Spike’s bed naked too?!”
“No.” Dawn told him exasperated. “I was reading him the riot act for not being around and the conversation went pretty much the same way. He said he thought he was doing the right thing, too.”
“Oh. Ok then. Look Dawn I know you have problems with people leaving you, but we don’t do it to hurt you. Just like Giles wanting you to stay here, you know you will be more help to us in the research department and we are only a phone call away with these neat satellite phones.”
Dawn spared him a look. “You do know that saying neat is so out of date, don’t you?” She asked him. “So what you’re saying is its time for me to grow up and stop thinking the whole world revolves around me?”
“I would never say it like that, but in a nutshell, yeah.”
Dawn looked at him and smiled. She reached out and gave him a big hug. “I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too.”
Dawn sat down on the bed and looked up at him.
“I don’t know how I’m supposed to act when I see her.” She said sadly. Xander knew without asking she was talking about Buffy.
“I don’t either.” He told her as he sat beside her and put his arm around his shoulder. She leaned her head against him and for a few minutes the two friends just sat there and comforted each other’s fears.
“Peaches I swear to all that is evil, if you don’t turn off this fucking Cat Stevens song you’ve been playing since we got her I will climb through this wall and rip your heart out with my bare hands.”
Spike’s voice came clearly through the doorway, breaking the mournful mood that had occupied them. Xander and Dawn looked at each other and burst out laughing.
“We better go keep an eye on Dead Boy Jr. or we may be down one team member by the time they get here.” Xander offered
“Oh!! I know!! Let’s get Spike and take him to go pick on Riley’s soldiers. That way he can work of his nervous energy and we get to be entertained.”
“Dawn, that’s just mean and evil.” Xander sounded like he was about to scold her. “I like it!!” He finished with an evil grin.
Next door Angel had just started playing Katmandu again, it finally pushed Spike over the edge.
“That’s it Peaches, I warned you…” He threw open his bedroom door to see Dawn and Xander standing there.
Next to them Angel’s door opened. “Just because you can’t appreciate good music doesn’t mean the rest of us have to suffer, Spike.” He snapped before slamming his door shut.
“Maybe if you didn’t play the same song over and over again. Just because we are in Katmandu doesn’t mean you can’t play another song, you know?” Spike yelled. He moved to go kick in Angel’s door and destroy the source of the music once and for all.
“Easy there, Spike.” Xander said placing a hand on his arm to get his attention. “Why don’t we go pick a fight with the soldiers instead of taking out the allies we can actually trust?”
“Raven and the other girls already beat us to that idea, mate.” Spike said.
“Well then we’ll just go downstairs and see if we can’t find some other kind of trouble to get you into.” Dawn suggested.
“Fine, I didn’t want to waste my strength on that pansy anyway.” Spike yelled at Angel’s door.
He knew that they were trying to distract him and he was extremely grateful for the gesture, especially coming from Dawn. It seemed his Lil’ Bit was warming up to him. He hoped their talk would help her get some of her anger at him off her chest so she could begin to let go of it. It appeared to have worked.
He wondered if he would have the same chance to talk to her sister. He sighed to himself.
Dawn was right about one thing. It always came back to Buffy for him.
Unable to come up with anything else to keep themselves occupied, the three of them decided to head downstairs to find Willow. They had searched most of the downstairs before they found her with Giles in the library.
“Not a fan of Cat Stevens, I take it.” Willow commented as they entered.
Spike grinned. “Heard that, did you Red?”
“I believe the neighbors heard you, Spike.” Giles said dryly.
“Sorry, Watcher, didn’t mean to disturb your beauty sleep.”
“No, its quite all right, sleep is highly overrated anyhow.” Giles muttered.
“I was just telling Giles I think I have all of the information we are going to get on the Rogues.” Willow told the others.
Spike sat down on an oversized couch. “Well then lets here about our new bosom chums, shall we?”
“Where are Riley’s men? I don’t necessarily think they should be part of this conversation.” Giles said.
”Raven and the “M” girls are with them. I think they are comparing fighting techniques.” Spike told him.
“The “M” girls?” Dawn asked Spike.
“Momoko. Myoko. Mimoto. Mikimoto. I couldn’t bloody keep their names straight.”
“Spike there is only two of them and its Myoko and Mimoko.” Willow said.
“Whatever you say…Red.” She rolled her eyes at him.
“Ok, from what Riley sent us and what Lorne was able to uncover through his contacts we know that the Rogues consist of a six member team.” Willow started, going into lecture mode. The others took seats around Spike on the couches. “There are a couple of other various creatures; demons and humans that they sometimes contract to help with specific jobs, but there are only six permanent team members. Here is the information I have on each one,” Willow’s fingers flew across her laptop as she pulled up the files.
“First off, Ian Thorpe, aka Shadow. Age is undetermined, but he is at least 60 years old.”
“He sure didn’t look 60 to me.” Xander commented. “I want in on his health program.”
“It was commonly believed that he was British due to the accent,” Willow continued, ignoring Xander. “But new information indicates he was actually born in India. He has been trained in several different styles of fighting and is reportedly a master of all of them. He gets the name ‘Shadow’ from his ability to blend into and travel along shadows.”
“Have we come up with a way to detect him when he does that?” Xander asked.
“Aside from having Illyria present, no.” Willow said, sounding discouraged. “I won’t be able to work on that until he gets here and I can isolate his energy signature.” Again there was typing on the computer.
“Next is the reason Riley decided to volunteer soldiers to help us, we think. Hostile 8320, aka Simon. Evidently the Initiative never went out of business, in fact from what number they are on I think they have actually gone into hyper speed.”
”What was your number?” Dawn asked Spike.
“17” Giles and Xander both answered.
Spike shook his head. “It would figure you two would remember that tidbit.”
Willow cleared her throat loudly to get their attention. “Simon,” She continued when she had it. “Is a Fyarl Demon that they genetically altered.”
“What a beautiful idea. Let’s take something as stupid and vicious as a Fyarl and give it some extra enhancements.” Venom dripped from Spike’s voice as he thought of what else the Initiative might have been up to in the past 10 years.
“Actually they raised his intelligence.” Willow said.
”Really?” Giles asked intrigued.
“Yeah, his IQ is supposed to be higher than Stephen Hawking’s.”
“A smart Fyarl.” Spike mused. “That sounds even worse than a dumb Fyarl.”
“How is it this Simon is no longer in the Initiative?” Giles asked.
“I’m assuming he escaped somehow, but I’m not sure. The files Riley sent me have a lot of details concerning the method they used to genetically alter him, but they really don’t discuss why they did it or how he came to be out in the world.”
“That’s why you said we couldn’t trust Riley’s men?” Dawn asked her.
“Pretty much. I mean I hate to think Riley would knowingly betray us,” Spike started laughing. Willow just shot him a glare. “I just think we should be on the lookout for anything fishy with them.”
“Don’t worry. I don’t plan on trusting these Meatheads.” Spike assured her. “You all may think Major Cardboard is a real American Hero, but you can’t sell me on that bill of goods.”
“Next we have Helena Valero aka Cat. We actually have a lot of information on Helena, because most of her life is well published in Brazil.”
Spike sat up straight. “Cat? I think I may have heard of her she’s the Jaguar Goddess, right? I was warned to stay far away from her when Dru and I were in Brazil, she supposed to be vicious. Makes the most blood thirsty demon seem amicable.”
Willow made a note in her computer.
“Well, She is 32 years old. She was born in Brazil in the state of Bahia.”
“I’ve heard about that place. That’s where they still practice voodoo, right?” Dawn asked.
“Yep, her father was actually a voodoo priest, her mother had died in childbirth. When she was 14 her father moved from Bahia to Manaus, which is the largest city in the Amazon. He wanted to try and help the Indians who were losing their land there.
Helena and her father were on a trip down one of the tributaries of the Amazon trying to locate one of the tribes, when there was a boating accident. They tried to make their way out of the jungle on foot, but her father was bitten by a centipede and died.”
“He died from a centipede bite?” Xander asked disbelievingly.
“In the Amazon the bloody centipedes are about an inch and a half wide and 9-12” long.” Spike answered him.
”Gross.” Dawn made a face. “Definitely not someplace I ever want to go.”
“ANYWAY!!” Willow called back their attention. “After her father died Helena was found by the Yanoami tribe that inhabits that area. She wound up staying there and living with them for the next 10 years. When she finally returned to civilization it was in support of her father’s dream, to protest the treatment of the Indians. She wanted them to get reparations for the land that was being stolen from them so they had a chance to start a new future in the modern world. She raised quite a fuss, and gained quite a bit of attention for her cause. After a long fight the government agreed to her demands and made payments to each of the tribesman of the Yanoami.”
“So she won why is she so vicious and when did she turn into a Jaguar Lady?” D awn asked.
“When the Brazilian government sent the money into the Amazon they also sent salesmen. When Helena got back, there they had no money left, but every single member of the tribe was wearing new Nike Airs and new pairs of designer jeans.”
“Are you kidding me?” Spike exclaimed. “So they gave them money and then convinced them to waste it on something they didn’t need just so they couldn’t get any rights for themselves?”
“The Indians had no idea what money meant or what they could with it. A week later when they were forced off their land they had no money and nowhere to go. Helena, fed up with the governments tricks, tried to cast a spell by combining Yanoami traditions and Voodoo to call up the Jaguar god of the Yanoami to help them.
Unfortunately it didn’t work as she planned, it may have called the god, but instead of answering their prayers he gave Helena the powers of a Jaguar. For a while she used her gifts to pay back the government officials by attacking the men whose job it was to tear down the Amazon. Finally the Yanoami, afraid of government retribution making their lives in even more miserable cast her out. After she was cast out of the Amazon there is no records of her except for one of Lorne’s contacts who positively ID’d her as being with the Rogues.”
“Helena has spotted skin, with rosettes similar to the pattern of a Jaguar’s coat and her teeth are razor sharp cat teeth. She has the reflexes of a Jaguar, the ability to leap great distances and balance high up on tree limbs.” Willow continued on hoping the others were listening, she was getting aggravated with their lack of focus.
“Cat woman was always my favorite comic book character.” Xander muttered.
“Moving ON!!!” Willow said. “Pixie is a being who comes from the Faery dimension. We don’t have too much information on her except for her abilities; she is able to change her looks so she can imitate any female she comes in contact with, she can also take the form of a small firefly.”
“Hey I saw that in that movie with the unicorns and Tom Cruise.” Dawn said. “Are you sure this is for real?”
“That’s part of the information that came from Lorne. He said it was a reliable source.”
“Let me get this straight.” Giles said taking off his glasses again and cleaning them. “So far we have a Pixie, a Cat Woman, a Fyarl demon, and Thorpe”
“That’s right.” Willow agreed.
”How many more are left?” He asked tiredly. “I’m getting too bloody old for this nonsense.” He muttered to himself, but Spike of course heard him.
“I’ll take a glass of that scotch you are about to pour, Rupert.” Giles nodded his head as he stood up and walked to the liquor cabinet.
“Just two and hey, one of those is a perfectly normal human. Twenty-Five year old Jason Seidman, aka Tech. Born in New York, he is a computer and technological wiz; supposedly he can hack into any computer in the world. He usually doesn’t work in the field so he will probably be here with Dawn working research and reconnaissance.”
“That just leaves us with one more.” Giles prompted.
“The Slayer.” Willow said, with a sigh. “No real name known although we have some suspicions. Her age is also unknown. She is reportedly the most ruthless fighter they have. She stays away from most of her team members with the exception of Thorpe who she is reportedly involved with.”
Willow didn’t look up as she said this. She didn’t want to witness the look on Spike’s face. Dawn, however, watched him carefully. She could clearly see the pain there when Willow spoke of Buffy being involved. Dawn wondered what was going to happen when Buffy actually arrived. She had noticed the hurt look in Raven’s eyes as she tried to get Spike to talk to her about what was going on, but he just kept brushing her off. Dawn didn’t know anything about their relationship, but she was betting there were going to be some major problems real soon if they weren’t already.
“That isn’t everything is it?” Spike demanded of Willow.
”I’m afraid so. Every report says the same thing: fierce warrior, loner, doesn’t interact with anyone except Thorpe.”
“Do you think he has her under a spell?” Xander asked.
”He has to. That doesn’t sound like her at all.” Spike agreed with Xander.
“I don’t know, but he said we could check to make sure she wasn’t under any spells.” Willow argued.
“Any thoughts on how to go about doing that yet, Willow?” Giles asked her.
”I think the best thing to do will be to have her sing for Lorne. That will be the least intrusive way to do it and that should tell us everything we need to know.”
“When is the Green Dude getting here?” Xander questioned. “You don’t think he ran off with all that cash, do you?”
“No he’ll be here.” Spike was happy he sounded more confident than he felt.
“What about the other spell you’ve been working on?” Giles again addressed Willow.
“I’ll have it ready.” She said quietly. “I just hope it will work in the way we want it to, we still don’t know what effect casting it had on Buffy, I can’t be certain what will happen when we reverse it.”
“It’s only going to be used in the worst case scenario.” Giles assured her.
”What are you two on about?” Spike asked.
“Remember how I told you I taught Buffy to partition her mind to separate the Demon part from the Slayer part? Well, it was right after that she escaped, before then she couldn’t do much of anything, because she was so torn up inside.”
“And?” Spike prompted when Willow didn’t continue.
Giles answered him instead of Willow. “Spike if she is indeed running around killing or hurting innocent people it is our duty to incapacitate her. I have given Willow permission to take down the partitions in her mind.”
“You would drive her mad again?” Spike shouted.
Dawn stood up. “You can’t do that to her.”
“Buffy would never do anything so vicious as what has been described to us that these people have done. Do you really believe she is in her right mind if she is committing atrocities? If Willow takes down the partitions we may have a shot of healing her completely and getting our Buffy back.” Giles tried to explain.
“Its what Buffy would have wanted.” Angel’s voice came from the doorway.
“What do you know about it?” Dawn demanded. “I don’t remember you being around her much before she was kidnapped how can you claim to know what she would want?”
“Dawn please calm down. We don’t know yet that this will even be necessary.”
“Fine. I just want to go on record as saying this is a terrible idea. You don’t take someone who has been through what Buffy has been through and try to mess with her mind. What if you can’t fix her? Are you just going to leave her insane and trapped inside herself? Why don’t you just kill her then? I think my sister would prefer death, then to spend the rest of her life strapped to a bed because she tries to claw her heart every time she is free!!”
“We can’t let a violent killer run free.” Willow told her gently.
Dawn just shook her head.
“I can feel the fear and anxiety coming off of you all from upstairs.” Illyria spoke as she entered the room. “Why do you choose to torture yourselves in this manner?” She asked.
“Its called guilt. I don’t imagine you know anything about it.” Giles told her.
“You are all thinking of the damaged Slayer.” Illyria stated. “How can you blame yourselves for occurrences that were not of your design?”
“They may not have been of our design, but had we been better friends maybe we could have stopped them from occurring.” Xander explained to her.
“So you sit here and blame yourselves, while you mourn for the friend you lost. That is stupid. Your friend is still alive, instead of mourning the person she was and punishing her for not being that person anymore, you should concentrate on knowing who she is now.” Illyria tilted her head and focused on Spike. “I thought you understood this. You were the only one who was able to accept that I wasn’t Fred after I took over this shell.”
“Its not the same thing there, Blue.”
“No, its not, but it still applies to this situation as well.”
“She’s right.” Xander admitted. “It might be a lot easier on all of us if we don’t expect our Buffy to walk in the door and I think we should wait on performing any until we have a better picture of what’s going on. Like seeing her butcher children with our own two eyes, or one eye in my case.”
Spike shook his head. “I’m going to check on Raven and the M’s.” He told them storming out of the room.
Spike found Raven in the back of the house, in the large training room. When he walked in she was facing one of the soldiers. Spike remembered his name was Thomas, whether that was a first or last name he did not know. He ignored the glares he got from the soldiers and the quiet whispers that went on between the two Japanese girls as he focused on Raven.
Thomas attacked, but Raven defended against him easily. He gave her an impressed smile before attacking again. This time Raven allowed him to land his blow, but then she used his momentum to pull him forward and flip him onto the floor.
“You’re good.” Thomas said appreciatively.
“Thank you, so are you.” Raven answered politely. Then she noticed Spike in the doorway. He couldn’t help but notice how she immediately tensed up and the sadness in her eyes returned.
“Looking good as always, luv.” He greeted her. He tried to keep the possesive look out of his eyes, but seeing her fighting with one of Riley’s soldiers made him grit his teeth.
A small smile crossed her face. “Well that really wasn’t too much of a challenge.” She could see the jealousy in his eyes and it lifted her heart to see that he still felt jealous of her. Maybe she could remind him of a few other things.
Spike smirked. “Really? Think I might offer more of a challenge for you?.”
Raven turned away from him and shrugged her shoulders. “You could try.” Inside she trembling with anticipation. She missed sparring with him, fighting together had always been one of their favorite activities. Of course what usually happened after the fighting was her FAVORITE activity. Hopefully she would have the opportunity to remind him about that as well.
Her casual words were all the invitation Spike needed, he launched himself at her. She didn’t even have to turn around she simply tucked down and when he got close enough she reached up and grabbed his outstretched arms and flipped him over her. When he landed on the mat she quickly straddled his hips. He could have easily escaped her, but feeling her sitting on top of him made him forget everything else that was happening right now. He could just pretend for a few moments that they were back at home and their biggest worry was whether they had enough staff to cover the club that night.
“I thought there was supposed to be some sort of challenge involved here.” Raven joked. Spike was happy to see her eyes no longer looked so sad. He felt himself harden as Raven rubbed her body seductively over his. He missed that too. He hadn’t had any real contact with her since they left for London. It was probably the longest they had gone without having sex since they got together.
“It was a challenge all right.” Spike told her, before he pulled her down towards him for a deep kiss. Spike was considering dragging her upstairs right now. He was sure the she could help him work off some of his nervous energy.
“Uh guys.” A voice called, but Spike ignored it. “GUYS!!!” This time Xander’s voice was right next to him.
Spike turned his head a growled at him. “Something you wanted Whelp?”
“I thought you might want to know Lorne is here and Illyria says that the Rogues have also arrived, an hour and a half early.”
Spike felt like he had just been kicked in the stomach. He had been planning on going upstairs with Raven and completely forgot about Buffy. How could he do that? Did Buffy really have a relationship with Thorpe? Could she really get close to someone after everything that had happened to her?
He swallowed thickly. “Right then, lets go meet our new team mates.” Xander backed up and left the room, Spike noticed the soldiers and the ‘M’s” were also leaving.
“I don’t suppose they’ll let me get away with calling them the “M” girls to their face, ey?” He asked Raven. She didn’t answer him and when he looked up at her he could see the fear was back again, worse than before.
“Here now,” he whispered. “None of that. I love you, you should know that by now.” He ran his hand lightly over her lips, deliberately not thinking of Buffy and how she had done that their last night together.
“I know you do, but I’m still afraid I’m going to lose you.”
“No chance of that.” He assured her ignoring the voice inside him calling him a liar. He kissed her again before moving her off of him. He stood up and then helped her up, he took her hand.
Together they entered the foyer where everyone else was already gathered. Spike saw Thorpe standing in front of Giles. Next to Thorpe Spike immediately recognized Simon, it was hard to miss Fyarl demon. Helena stood towards the back, her dark brown hair and dark skin made the jaguar markings not as noticeable as he would have thought. There was definitely a wild beauty about her. Next to her was an awkward looking young man, who had to be Jason, the computer whiz. Of Buffy and the Pixie there was no sign.
“Is this everyone then?” Thorpe asked Giles.
“Yes Mr. Thorpe it is.”
“Please call me Shadow, we’re business associates now. No need to be formal.”
“All right then, Shadow. This is everyone.”
“I didn’t know we were expecting Initiative Troops.” Shadow commented.
Giles looked at the soldiers guiltily. They were standing there looking about as unfriendly as you could get. It was easy to see that they would not hesitate to raise their weapons at the slightest provocation.
“We weren’t aware of the history between members of your team and the Initiative when we accepted their help.”
Shadow watched him as if trying to gauge the truth of his words.
Spike saw what looked like a drunken firefly come floating past his head and into the room. There was a bright flash and in the place of the firefly there stood a woman who could only be Pixie. She had brilliant red hair and green eyes that could be seen glowing from across the room.
“He isn’t lying this is all of them.” Pixie told her boss in a very musical voice. “I’m pleased we have so many attractive men with us on this job.” She threw a flirtatious smile over her shoulder. “I look forward to getting to know all of you better.”
“You should be kept in a box.” Helena said loudly.
“Down kitty. No need to be all jealous-like.” Pixie giggled at her.
“Ladies, please.” Shadow admonished them. “So I assume you have chosen to accept our proposal?” Shadow then asked Giles.
“Yes, provided everything you told us was true.” Giles answered him.
Shadow looked back at Helena and nodded. She walked to the door and opened it.
“You are on.” She said to the person outside.
Even before she walked through Spike knew it was her. He recognized the feeling of her. It was Buffy. It was his Buffy. Every muscle in his body was taut with anticipation.
Yet, the woman who walked through the door looked nothing like his Buffy. Her once honey blonde hair was now a dark brown, cropped close to her head. She wore black pants and a black tight fitting shirt, on her feet were heavy combat boots. It was obvious she dressed for practical matters more than fashion now.
However, Spike knew immediately that appearances weren’t the only difference. Her smell was different and when he concentrated he could even tell that the feeling of her was different as well.
She walked into the room looking at each one of them in turn. Spike searched her eyes for the passion she once held. Instead he saw nothing, not the hatred and bitterness he so feared. No sadness over her life, but certainly no joy either.
Once she stood directly in front of Giles she stopped.
“Hello.” It was just one word but it made Spike want to sob in relief, there was no hint of madness in her voice. It was calm and collected.
“Buffy.” Giles breathed. “We’ve missed…”
Buffy cut him off before he could go any further. “Do you have our money?” Again her voice was calm. It could have been easy to be hateful, but there was simply no emotion what so ever.
Giles blinked at her rapidly before nodding. “Er, well yes we do.” Giles stuttered, he looked around, before remembering he wasn’t the one with the money. “Actually Lorne has it.”
“Right here, boss.” Lorne stepped forward towards Buffy. He had two large suitcases in his hands. Buffy reached out to take the suitcases from him. “Hold on one moment, sweetie, you want the money you have to sing.” Buffy looked at him confused, then looked back at Shadow.
“What is this?” Shadow asked.
”You said we could perform any spell we wanted to make sure she wasn’t under anyone’s control.” Angel told him coldly. “Lorne is an empathy demon, but he can only read people when they sing.”
“How very clever of you.” Shadow looked at Lorne. “I may actually be able to use your services when I am interviewing potential clients if you are interested.”
”Sorry, I don’t even want this job.” Lorne told him, he looked at Buffy. “So are you going to sing or not? This is my livelyhood in here and if you don’t sing I don’t have to give it up.”
“Fine.” Buffy said, she sounded slightly irritated, but not as mad as she normally would have over the prospect of being forced to sing. “What do you want me to sing?”
“Whatever your heart desires.”
Buffy stood there for a few more seconds before opening her mouth and singing. “Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb…”
”Stop!” Lorne told her quite upset. “She’s completely in control of herself.” He told the others. He looked back at Buffy as he handed her the suitcases. “You are nothing like the girl I’ve heard so much about all these years.”
Buffy just looked up at him with no expression on her face. “No, I’m not.” She agreed as she took the suitcases from him. She walked them over to Simon, placed them on the floor and opened them. He bent down and watched as she thumbed through them quickly.
“Its all here.” His voice came out as nothing but a growl, but it was surprisingly easy to understand.
“Very good.” Shadow said. “Mr. Giles you’ve just hired the Rogues.”
A/N: I apologize for the song, but it got stuck in my head and it wouldn't go away the entire time I was writing this chapter.
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