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Chapter VII Blackmail

As the introductions and greetings were being made Shadow suggested they all sit down and go over Giles’ plans and objectives point by point. Giles, however, was having a hard time getting both his notes and his head in order due to his distraction caused by the Slayer standing before him.

He watched out of the corner of his eye how both Willow and Xander attempted to make friendly overtures towards her, but she deflected these attempts with ease. When Dawn endeavored to speak with her she looked at her sister as if she had never seen her before and didn’t even bother to respond to her. It wasn’t that she was rude towards them, nor was her behavior particularly cold, it was more a lack of any emotion that sent them away.

Bitterness, anger, pain, that he could have understood and worked with, this thoroughly confounded him. It was similar to the last year in Sunnydale and the way she cut herself off from everyone emotionally, only then he could see the pain and sadness deep within her eyes. Now there was nothing, no feeling whatsoever in her eyes.

‘She didn’t cut herself off from everyone.’ A voice in his head whispered. Giles looked to where Spike stood with Raven tucked in his arms. He was obviously studying Buffy and her interactions with her friends, as well.

Giles had come to understand better the connection Buffy had felt for Spike after the vampire had been gone. Not the emotional attachment the two shared, because Buffy refused to speak of her feeling for the blonde vampire, but more the connection she felt towards him based on ability and experience. Spike was the only one in her group that had the strength and prowess to handle himself, he could be there for her when all the others could do is stand back and watch. He also understood what it was like for her to have to fight every night of her life and he understood the cravings that could develop for the violence even before it was known there was a demon entity living inside each of the Slayers.

More than that Spike had always been able to get through to Buffy when no one else could. He used his brash and often insulting words to get through her walls. Not even Angel had been able to break down those walls after she came back, it had been Spike she confided her deepest secrets to and to Spike she had run to take her pain away.

Giles found himself in the curious position of being relieved that Spike had come with them, especially given his past feeling concerning the vampire, and Giles almost wished that Raven weren’t in the picture so Spike could concentrate fully on reaching Buffy.

Realizing that everyone had by now taken seats and they were now waiting on him to begin, Giles finished sorting his notes and addressed the assembled group.

“For some of you this will be a review of things we’ve gone over a dozen or more times so please bear with me.” He took a deep breath and began.

“Several years ago we discovered that the uprisings we experienced on Hellmouths around the world and various other demonic hot spots were no more than a distraction. After investigating we uncovered the true objective was the raising of an army under our noses. We managed to have one of our team infiltrate and join up with the First Evil so he could send us more information on their plans.
Until recently his reports contained nothing more than daily activities, training methods and the number of troops that had been accumulated. Now, however, their larger plan has been announced and he has even managed to send us a copy of the prophecy they are working from.” Giles looked over at Dawn who had been the key translator to work on the prophecy.
“Dawn would you like to explain what you translated so far?” Giles asked her.

Dawn stood up. “This prophecy was written long before humans were even a thought, as Illyria likes to remind us we were nothing but ooze, then. It talks about various signs events that would occur before the prophecy would start to take place. Illyria’s resurrection and her failure to take over the world, the destruction of the Slayer line, the battle in Los Angeles destroying Wolfram & Hart’s branch there.”

“Wait a moment.” Helena interrupted. “Destruction of the Slayer line? How is that possible? She is a Slayer?” She pointed at Buffy who was sitting there quietly.

“When Buffy activated all of the potential Slayers, it effectively ended the Slayer line. There have been no more Potentials born since then and no new Slayers have been activated since then. We had thought that maybe the line was now running through Faith, but then she died and again no new Slayers were called.”

“So there won’t be anymore Slayers?” Shadow asked curiously.

“Andrew found a prophecy that speaks of a Slayer in the future who has a twin brother or something, but that’s like a thousand years from now” Dawn answered.

“Interesting.” Shadow commented.

“Can I continue?” Dawn asked him, just short of being rude. She felt an instant dislike for this man who in her opinion kept her sister from her for the last three years.

“By all means.” He gave her a winning smile.

“Anyhoo, the prophecy describes how the First Evil and Wolfram & Hart are going to use a ‘warrior of stone’ to reanimate the Thunder Dragon, the most ruthless and savage of the Old Ones. Then they will join their army with his and enslave our world.”

”I tell you that prophecy makes no sense.” Illyria interrupted her. “He will have no interest in enslaving your race, he will wipe you out without a second thought. He also won’t have any dealings with the Wolf, Ram and the Hart, they are too far beneath him.”

“Either way it doesn’t look good for us.” Xander said.

“Do they have the ‘Warrior of Stone’ yet?” Shadow asked.

“As far as we know they do not, although our source indicates they are expecting it to arrive in the next two weeks. They also do not have possession of the coffin yet. The Thunder Dragon had a maze of caverns and tunnels that run through the Himalayas, the coffin was supposed to appear there somewhere.” Giles answered him.

“Do you know who or what the ‘Warrior of Stone’ is?” Simon growled out his rough voice sounded like rocks being ground together.

“We do not.” Giles said tiredly.

“We’ve found different references that describe legendary warriors who were turned to stone throughout the ages and we have several people looking into them, but so far we’ve come up with nothing.” Dawn added. “There is a few more pages to the prophecy that may explain it in more detail, but neither Andrew or I have been able to translate them yet, because they are written in code as well as in an ancient text.”

“J?” Shadow turned to the young man sitting behind them typing furiously on a lap top computer.

“Already on it, Boss.” He answered. “Checking all possible legends and stories for references to ‘Warrior of Stone’.” He looked up at Dawn. “If you can get me a copy of that prophecy I have a program that can decode it in about 5 minutes.”

Dawn gave him a condescending look. “Really. We have a program, too, it still doesn’t come out right.”

“Yes, but my program is custom made and will decipher anything.” He told her smugly.

Dawn turned bright red; she was more than slightly perturbed at the insinuation that she didn’t do her job thoroughly, before she could say anything Giles interrupted the moment.

“Thank you, Dawn.” She nodded stiffly and sat down, still glaring at the Jason.

“So in essence we have to make sure this warrior doesn’t reach their fortress high up in the Himalayas and we should also try to destroy the Thunder Dragons army before he awakens and calls them to arms. That’s simple enough.” Shadow said. “Mr. Giles when are you going to hear from your informant again?”

”He’s scheduled to check in today. He was going to let us know if they have recovered the coffin yet, and transmit a rough map of the tunnels.”

“Brilliant!!” Shadow exclaimed. “And I was worried this mission might actually present a challenge for us.”

“Meaning?” Giles asked irritably.

“Meaning we already have all the pieces to solve this puzzle.” Shadow stood up and turned towards his team. “Simon, Buffy; you will go with myself, the vampires, the Demon Queen, the Witch and the soldiers into the tunnels. We will ensure the Thunder Dragon’s army is neutralized.”

He turned back to face the others. “Meanwhile the rest of you will set up a roadblock above Tongsa Dzong. If they can’t get their statue, then they can’t resurrect this Thunder Dragon. Once both situations have been taken care of we’ll meet back up, call in the reinforcements and take out the main fortress. Its all very simple, as I said.”

”Simple as long as you don’t worry about details.” Angel stood up and confronted him. “How do you plan on Spike and I getting to these tunnels? The closest entrance is a 4 day walk from the road, with no shelter during the day.”

“And how exactly to do you reckon 9 of us can defeat the army of a Demon Lord?” Spike questioned.

“I really don’t think splitting our already limited sources is a good idea.” Giles added in.

”Not too mention where are we going to get reinforcements from? All the Slayers that are still alive are busy guarding Hellmouths and can’t leave. As far as I knew this was our army.” Xander spoke up as well.

“That’s because you don’t know how to utilize your liabilities.” Shadow told them. “That the first thing you learn how to do in Special Ops training isn’t it Thomas?” Shadow addressed the soldier without looking at him.

Thomas stood up straight and immediately went on the defensive, as did his men. “Yes it is.” He answered quietly.

“We’re going to need you to get in touch with Major Finn and tell him we need some of those silent helicopters he has at the secret airbase in Bangladesh to air drop us into Bhutan. We’ll also need some heavy artillery on the ground, tanks or modern armor should do, to set up a roadblock.” Shadow turned around to face the soldiers giving them a cold grin. “And you can tell Major Finn we will be needing reinforcements to take the fortress, whether they are US troops or some other countries we don’t really care.”

“We aren’t authorized to use that machinery, sir, and we certainly can’t commandeer another countries military personnel.”

”Really? Hmmm. How interesting.” Shadow remarked. “Tell me Thomas, what exactly are your mission objectives here?”

“We are here to aid the Watcher’s Council in this endeavor.” Thomas answered. He seemed nervous suddenly.

“And your secondary objectives?” Shadow advanced until he was standing only a couple of feet away from the soldier.

Thomas didn’t answer him, but one of his hands slid down until it rested on his gun.

“What’s the matter Thomas? Cat got you tongue?” Behind him Helena got a slow grin on her face. Thomas still didn’t answer, so Shadow again addressed the young man behind him typing on the computer. “J, care to enlighten our new friends on Major Finn’s plans for them?”

“Secondary Objectives” Jason began. “Neutralize Hostile 17, Angelus former Scourge of Europe and Buffy Summers, Slayer.”

What happened next was almost too fast for even the vampires to follow.

The soldiers pulled their guns and took aim at Shadow, who promptly melted into the shadows on the floor. There was a loud roar and a blur of color as Helena launched herself 15 feet through the air towards one of the soldiers, tackling him and knocking the gun from his hands. Shadow reappeared behind another of the soldiers and grabbed him around the throat, choking him. Meanwhile, Buffy had performed a series of cartwheels across the room and kicked Thomas in the face on her last somersault. She stood over him hold a gun.

Thomas lay on the ground panting hard with his hand over his heart. “You won’t shoot me.” He told her. “I’ve read your files, you don’t kill humans.”

“Really?” Buffy said. Thomas moved his hand and tried to pull another small gun out of a holster located in his vest near his chest. Unfortunately for him Buffy was faster. She shot him neatly through the hand and into his chest.

“I would recommend updating your files.” She said as she walked away and took her seat again across the room.

“Dear Lord.” Giles cried as he and Willow rushed to the wounded soldier. Dawn stared at Buffy in shock and horror and Angel looked at her with pure disgust.

“Buffy! What did you do?” Xander yelled at her.

“Relax. I was aiming for his hand, I missed his heart by three inches, he’ll live even if Willow can’t heal him.”

The soldier Shadow had been choking had passed out, while Helena crouched over the last soldier growling menacingly. Shadow walked up behind her and looked down at him. “The code to activate your communication device?” He asked him.

The soldier shook his head, terrified. Helena opened her mouth to reveal her sharp teeth. “Are you saying you’d rather play with me? I love to play.” She purred down at him.

“1,6,2,0.” The soldier said quickly.

Spike looked sharply at Buffy, immediately recognizing her old address, but Buffy didn’t seem to notice the coincidence or if she did she didn’t care.

“Thank you.” Shadow told him. “Tie him up, Cat, and don’t forget this other one as well.” Shadow walked over to where Thomas lay. “Fix him all up, yet?” He asked Willow.

Willow glared up at him. “I can’t remove the bullet, but I put a stasis spell on him so he is frozen in time. If we can get him to the hospital soon he should live.”

“Good, we’ll need him for bargaining power.”

“Bargaining power!!” Giles exclaimed. “Now listen here…” Shadow just ignored him and turned away. “How are we coming with that ambulance, J?” He asked him.

“I already contacted the emergency services here and they are sending an ambulance, it should be here any moment now.”

Sirens could in fact be heard approaching in the distance. Shadow walked to where Thomas lay still as death. He searched him quickly for the device he used to contact his superiors; he found it just as the ambulance crew burst in. Shadow pointed down at Thomas.

“This man has been shot.” The EMT’s exchanged a look. “He will also need to be under constant surveillance at your facility. You can tell your Chief of Staff Ian Thorpe requests his cooperation in this.” The men’s eyes widened when Shadow told them his name and the immediately rushed over to begin working on the man.

Willow removed her spell to allow them to work.

Pixie had situated herself near the driver of the ambulance and was using all of her charms to back him up against the door.

“You are an attractive man aren’t you?” She cooed softly to him. The man was lost in her luminous eyes and the sensuality she evoked in him.

“Pixie, they have a job to do.” Shadow reminded her.

”Can’t I go with them and maybe play a little. I like this one.” She told him.

“Tramp.” Helena muttered, as she finished tying up the other two soldiers.

“Jealousy suits you about as much as those claws do.” Pixie snapped at her. “Just because no man would want you is no reason to take it out on me.”

Helena stood up and marched over towards her. “I’ll show you exactly what these claws can do.”

“ENOUGH!!!” Shadow yelled. Helena stopped in her tracks. The EMT’s had loaded Thomas onto the stretcher and were in the process of carrying him out. “Pixie you can go with them, but you have to keep an on our friend Thomas. We don’t want him getting away now.”

“Got it Boss.” She turned back to the still enchanted driver. “Come sweetie, lets go for a ride.” With that they left.

“Is it ok if I go, too?” Buffy asked.

Shadow looked at her. “You have plans tonight?”

“I was hoping to make some rounds and see what I could find. I’m not any good at this planning.”

“Shall I look for you later?”

“You know where you can find me.”

“All right.”

Buffy got up and went out the door. Shadow turned back to Giles and the Scoobies. “Mr. Giles, we need to make a phone call to Major Finn.”

“I’m not comfortable with this at all.” Giles told him.

“We don’t shoot humans.” Angel added. “We also don’t try to blackmail the government.”

”Of course you don’t.” Shadow answered. “That’s why you hired me. If you want to be present for the call we’ll be in the office, its in the back of the house behind the training room.” Shadow told them, and then he, Simon, and Jason left the room as well.

After they left, the only noise in the room was the two Japanese girls talking to between themselves. Raven looked at them sharply at one point and snapped at them in Japanese, the girls immediately looked embarrassed and became quiet.

When everyone looked at her in question she turned red. “They were talking about how this is the reason we usually don’t involve ourselves with the Watcher’s Council. They don’t think you have honor.”

It was Giles who looked embarrassed now. “Please tell them that we thought we were doing what was best. We didn’t know what we were getting into when we agreed to hire these Rogues.”

Raven translated to the girls and they seemed slightly appeased, but still uncomfortable.

“I like their methods.” Illyria said. “They are not bound by the moral issues that impede you from doing you tasks well. They seem to understand that the end result is more important than the means you use to get it done.”

“Well that isn’t really our way of doing things.” Xander told her.

”I know that. That is why you fail.” Illyria answered.

“So now what?” Willow asked.

“I should probably go see exactly how Shadow is going to handle the situation with Riley.” Giles said.

“Honestly, I’m not thrilled about using innocent men as blackmail, but I’m even less thrilled with the fact Riley is trying to have us killed.” Angel said. “I never liked that guy.”

Angel looked over at Spike, but he was just staring out the door that Buffy had just exited through.

“What about Buffy?” Angel asked no one in particular, but it grabbed Spike’s attention like he knew it would.

“I knew it was her as soon as she walked in.” Spike said distractedly. “She still feels the same, but at the same time there is something more there.”

“Yeah, that’s what I got, too. Lorne what did you see when you read her.” Lorne had taken up position in the back after turning over the money and proceeded to drink heavily.

“That girl is so cold she makes Illyria look warm and fuzzy, but she is definitely free from any spells and not under anyone else’s control. There is some strong magicks at work inside her, but I think that is a result of her demons.”

“She feels nothing.” Illyria said. Everyone looked at her surprised. “The emotions she does feel are just diluted fragments.”

“Is she soulless?” Willow asked. “Could she have lost her soul when she was turned?”

”She still has a soul.” Illyria answered. “However, I don’t think she chooses to use it.”

“What does that mean?” Dawn asked.

“It means exactly what I just said. She chooses not to feel things, so she doesn’t.”

“Can we fix her?” Xander asked.

“Why do you assume she is broken?” Illyria questioned. “She was created to be a warrior for the people and to stand alone against evil. What place do emotions have in such things?”

“Emotions give you passion. Emotions give you edge. Emotions make you stronger than you knew.” It was Myoko who spoke up for the first time in English.

Illyria tilted her head and studied the girl. “You are also a Slayer.” She stated.

Myoko nodded. “Yes, I was born with the gift, but my sister was not.”

“Yet, I can still beat her in a fight more than she can beat me.” Momoko added. “Because of emotions and determination.”

“Buffy used to say the same thing.” Giles said sadly, smiling at the girls. They smiled back at him.

“I think I want to go out and see Katmandu.” Willow announced suddenly. “Xander you want to go with me?”

Xander looked over at her and the two seemed to communicate through that look. “Sure, Will. New country, lots of sights to see, I bet. That Ok with you G-man.”

“Fine, but don’t be out too late, who knows, we may be jumping out of helicopters tomorrow night. Angel, perhaps you and Illyria should come with me to speak with Shadow about his way of doing things. Spike would you like to join us?”

“I’m thinking we should just head up to bed. Its been a long day and we could use the rest.” Spike told him. Raven looked up at him surprised, but didn’t say anything.

“All right then, good night.”

“We’ll see you all tomorrow.” Willow called as she and Xander headed out the door. Spike watched them intently as they left.



Once outside Xander turned to face Willow. “You think you can follow her now?”

“There is still something blocking her signal from me, so I tried to put the spell on her vest instead.”

“You put a tracking spell on a piece of clothing? How would that even work?”

”I don’t know that it did, that’s why we’re going to have to try it out.”

“Well then, lets try.” Xander agreed. The two moved off down the street, Willow was chanting lightly trying to get a reading on her spell.

After several blocks of turns and meandering and still nothing she sighed, frustrated. “Well, that didn’t work.”

”It was a good try Will.” Xander assured her. “Now I’m just wondering where we’ve wandered off to.”

Willow noticed their surroundings for the first time. They were in what appeared to be a back alley with no other exit than the way they had entered through.

“I’m not sure, but its probably a good idea to go back to where we can find more people.”

“Why would you want to do that?” A heavily accented voice asked from behind them.

They turned to see a gang of about ten young men blocking the exit. “Look we don’t want any trouble…” Xander began, surreptitiously reaching for the knife he kept hidden in his coat.

“We don’t want any trouble either, friend. We just want your money.” The man said.

“If you leave now, we won’t hurt you.” Willow told them and Xander could hear the power in her voice. He knew she was getting ready to protect them as well.

Before anyone could react, Buffy dropped down from above and landed before the men. They looked at her in surprise, but she didn’t give them a chance to do anything more than that. She spun quickly and kicked one of them back down the alley in the direction they came from. Two of them pulled knives and ran at her, but she dodged them easily, grabbed their forearms and swung them together with a loud smack.

Willow, afraid the fight was going to turn deadly for the gang, chanted a spell that set off bright firework type lights throughout the alley. The rest of the men ran away frightened before Buffy could get a hold of them.

Once they had run off Buffy turned to Willow and Xander. “Wandering down dark alleys, at night, in Katmandu is not usually recommended.” She commented, then turned and started walking out of the alley.

Willow and Xander hurried to catch up to her. “Wait, Buffy!!” Willow cried. Buffy stopped and turned towards them.

“Yes?”

They stopped quickly when she turned around and then looked at each other unsure of what to say now that they were face to face with her alone.

“So, um, how’ve you been?” Willow asked weakly. “I see you cut your hair. It’s a different look for you. Not that it’s a bad look, just different.”

Buffy tilted her head and looked at her in a way that reminded Xander way too much of Illyria.

“You both are out here tonight looking for me, aren’t you?” She asked them.

“We missed you, Buffster. We wanted to talk to you. See how you are, where you’ve been, what’s new with you.” Xander told her sincerely.

“I’m fine, I’ve been traveling with the Rogues and I’m not insane anymore.” Buffy answered his questions one at a time.

“Ok.” Xander said.

“We read, or we heard, um, that you and Shadow were together.” Willow commented, hoping that talking about something personal may draw her friend out.

Buffy shook her head. “Look, I know you just want to reconnect with your friend, but I’m not that person anymore. I’m not together with Shadow, we do have sex occasionally, but that isn’t any of your concern. I’m only here for this mission; I’m not here for you or Giles, or Dawn, or Angel. That isn’t my life anymore.”

Xander and Willow just looked at her sadly.

“So what you are saying is you don’t care about us at all?” Xander asked her bitterly.

“Don’t take it personally. I don’t care about anyone.” Buffy started looking around the alley. “You should get back to the house. Even with your skills, this is a dangerous place to go wandering when you don’t know your way around.”

Realizing they weren’t going to get anymore conversation out of their old friend Xander and Willow left her standing there and headed back to the house.

Buffy waited until she heard them leave the alley then looked around again. “You might as well come out Spike, I know you’re there.” She called out into the darkness.

There was a blur of black, and then Spike stepped out from the back corner of the alley. “Hello, Buffy.”





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