Car Trouble 10
Clan Wars – Revenge of the Six
By The Kings of Mercia
NC17
Disclaimer – we own no rights to characters, etc, this is just for fun

Note: You may need to read Cat Trouble 9 to understand this story better!

Chapter 1


“………Wonderful, yes! That’s what I was ringing about – you can’t imagine how much easier it is to have practically a normal life now for Spike – walking around in the daylight, albeit indoors, but all the same, it’s great, thankyou.”

Buffy was talking to Wesley, she was phoning him to thank him for the Solar-Gon windows he’d sent them as a thankyou for helping to rescue Angel the previous week.

“You’re very welcome – it was about time you AND Spike of course, had some sort of recognition for all the help you give us” Wesley said honestly. Buffy couldn’t help herself but ask,

“What has Angel said, was he annoyed about the cost?”

“Angel – ah…um…well…how can I put this…”

“Don’t tell me, he went ballistic” Buffy said with a sigh, leaning on her other hip.

“No, not exactly…he um…he doesn’t really know yet”

“Oh – what a hit him with the bill at the end of the month then is it?”

“To tell you the truth, he’s still pretty much out of it – all the drugs Darla gave him to keep him KO’d, as he hasn’t got a blood circulation as such, every time he feeds, it just sends the drug coursing through his veins again, and he ends up sleeping most of the time”

“Oh, I see. And how are Darla and Dru taking to their modification chips?”

“Darla is hateful of course, but still spirited enough to try and jump on whoever takes them their animal blood, she gets zapped of course if she tries to bite, but we think Dru is too frightened even to morph as it obviously hurt her at first, she’s hardly fed and is growing weaker by the day, her broken back won’t heal either as she can’t feed” Wesley explained

Buffy glanced at Spike, but he remained impassive reading the paper sitting on the sofa.

Buffy was at a loss as what to say to this, she wasn’t sorry what she’d done to the two vampiresses, she was the slayer afterall, it was her job AND they were lucky not to be dust after their performance in Canada. She suddenly remembered something Giles had said to her the previous night.

“Right. Oh yes, before I forget, Giles said to ring him tonight after nine, he’s at the Watcher’s Council HQ”

“Yes, I know, I should be there too, but with Angel not fit, and Cordy gone, I can’t leave it all to Gunn and Lorne, it wouldn’t be fair”

“Cordelia’s gone?”

“Oh, just a holiday, inconvenient timing I know, but well, she works hard and we didn’t feel like we could say no………oh hell…sorry Buffy, can you just bear with me for a second…I’ve got calls coming in from all over the place here, I’ve got lights flashing and………and I’m not sure……… how to…how do you work this bloody thing…Harmony………HARMONY! –Where is that girl………hold on, this looks like the transfer call button to – “

Suddenly the line went dead, Buffy smiled and put the phone down

“Poor Wesley – he just cut me off by accident!”

“Prat!”

“Be nice, it was him that sent us these windows, allowing you to sit there and read the paper!”

“Yeah, I know – how did the poof take it, hope it’s sent his dark hairs grey and his grey hairs white!!!

“Wes said he doesn’t know yet, the drugs Darla gave him keep him asleep every time he feeds or something…it’s on account of having no circulation. Anyway, it means they’re run off their feet – Cordy’s on vacation”

“Don’t blame her – how anybody can stand being with the poof voluntarily for more than two minutes is beyond me!

“Darla’s being hateful, still trying to bite – although she gets zapped” Buffy said, and she continued, looking at her husband carefully,

“Dru’s hardly eaten at all, her back won’t heal, and she’s very weak”

Spike didn’t turn a hair, he said,

“Well, she’ll learn, it does eventually dull down to a blinding migraine after the first few weeks even morphing for animal blood – and if she doesn’t, well she’ll find out to her cost, it’ll be Dust-Buster city for her, won’t it. Anyway, enough about them, c’mere you – naughty girl you are!”

Buffy giggled and allowed herself to slip off the arm of the sofa and onto Spike’s lap.

“Me? – Naughty – what have I done?”

“As if you didn’t know, sneaking out of bed and getting up before I woke this morning………you KNOW how I’m frisky in the morning!” Spike thrust his hips up for emphasis

Buffy giggled again and put her arms around his neck and said,

“You, are Mr Frisky ALL THE TIME!”

“Do I hear you complaining?” Spike asked, grinning. Buffy leaned forward and gave him a big passionate kiss. He shifted slightly so she slid off his lap and onto the sofa cushions, and he began to lean over her………

“What if somebody comes?”

“Somebody WILL come pet!”

“Spike! You know what I mean…to the………OOOOOHHHHH - door”

“Locked………checked…hmm, oh look, no bra – hmmmmmmm!” Buffy squirmed and writhed as Spike’s cool lips traced lightly over her neck and upper chest

“Ooooohhhhh, ah! Let me………there, look, no panties either!”

“Wicked girl………know what happens to wicked little girls, hmm?”

Spike quickly divested himself of his tee shirt and jeans, knelt down and pulled her legs either side of his slim hips…

“Tell me!” Buffy asked provocatively…

“They get a really big………stiff………talking to – ooooohhhhh yeah, that’s SO good!”

She locked her ankles around his back as he slid into her hot tight depths, and Buffy arched her hips upwards, moaning in ecstasy.

Leaning forward Spike latched onto a rosy nipple, worrying the tip with his tongue sending delicious tingles all over her, all the time thrusting up deep inside her.

Knowing that her orgasm was immanent, Spike moved his head back to her neck.

Buffy panted out,

“Tell me…you love me”

Spike gave a very low growl, and said

“Love you babe, oh – always…you’re mine – my mate, my wife – Buffy…oh babe…”

“Spike! Oh yes, don’t stop – love you…love you – ooooohhhhh!” They came together in a heaving mass of limbs, passionate kisses and erotic moans. Buffy relaxed her legs and smiled up at her husband…

“Work now baby, then tonight, we can – oh, who can that be now?”

“Let the ansaphone get it”

“I don’t think it’s switched on!” Spike helped her up off the sofa and he began to pull his jeans back on.

“Hello – oh, Giles – I spoke to Wesley earlier, and – what………you’re kidding…”

Spike looked over and frowned, Buffy continued the call

“………Yes, course I’ve heard of St Vigius…………”

Spike’s frown got even deeper…

“………Planning on what – oh dear…and what would happen if………yeah, yeah, I get the picture. Are you still at Wanker – I mean Watcher HQ?” Buffy went red, having used the name Spike always called the place!

“………Okay then, and I’ll see what Spike knows………will do, bye”

“What’s up pet?”

“Trouble, you might know!”

“Such as?”

“Well, Giles just told me……………………………”

Chapter 2


Spike stood there trying to think………

“CHINESE equivalent of St Vigius? – Erm…let me think now………it’s something like the ‘Night of the Dragon’s Eye Moon’ or some such, they don’t have saints, why, what’s this all about?”

“Well, apparently Giles has just had some parchment that was sent to Wolfram and Hart translated from Chinese, requesting back the Seal of Clan Tang, High Order of Chinese Warrior Vampires, and they want it back by that date”

Spike sat down heavily on the sofa and swallowed, it was Buffy’s turn to frown. She came over and put her arm around his shoulders, asking,

“What’s up love?”

“It was me that stole it…”

“You?”

“Uh huh………oh god, we could be in for some REAL trouble now!”

“But I don’t understand – when did you steal – hold on, let me see who this is on the phone first……………Hello – Wesley, yes I was just speaking to him…uh huh, yes Spike does know………you think, okay, well we will see you in the morning then………HELICOPTER? Oh well, okay, if you insist – yes, I understand. Um, where will it pick us up………right, okay then see you later” Buffy put the phone down.

“They want us back at Wolfram and Hart ASAP, so he’s sending the helicopter to pick us up in two hours as time is of the essence, Giles is heading that way as we speak. Now, you were saying?………………………


********************

When Buffy and Spike walked into the office, Wesley, Gunn and Giles were all ready waiting for them.

“Angel’s still fast asleep, and we, or rather our science lady is working on something to try and counteract the effects of the drugs that Darla has given him – oh, and speak of the person herself, how are you doing, Fred?”

A slim dark haired girl wearing glasses and a white lab-coat knocked and entered the office

“Here we go, I’ll just administer this, it should counteract the soporific effects of the narcotic Darla gave him, so be careful, don’t anybody stick yourself with the needle, you’ll else you’ll be awake for a month! This has got cocaine, well, extract from the white poppy pod anyway, caffeine and artificial adrenaline in it, I’ve had to make it extra strong, to over compensate for his lack of circulation, he’ll need this and a pint or two of blood, and he should be fine”

“Excellent, right then, can we leave you to administer that and we’ll crack on here, Spike’s just about to tell us what he remembers about the Seal of Clan Tang” Wesley said, and Fred nodded and left for Angel’s room.

“You’ll have to forgive me if I’m sketchy in parts, it WAS over a hundred years ago…” Spike began

“Go on, just tell us what you remember, Angel might be able to fill in things you’ve forgotten”

“Huh, HIM – Actually, now I think back, it as all his bloody fault………It was February, 1900, we were in Hong Kong”

“We?” Gunn asked

“Angelus, Darla, Dru and me…”

“Oh, right, sorry, go on”

“Well, you see we HAD been living in the lap of luxury, thanks to me that is anyway, we’d been staying in the Emperor’s palace, not that he knew mind, it was just that it was so vast, it had hundreds of rooms we could just pick one and move about every couple of days, all we had to do was keep quiet during the day and hide away from his minions and that, and at night we’d be out hunting…and revelry, not get back till just before dawn…”

“Was the Emperor a vampire then?” Gunn asked

“No, he was just an ordinary bloke, well, like royalty to the Chinese, but he wasn’t a vampire, anyway, one morning, just before dawn, we slipped back into the palace via the dungeons, and we find some Chinese vampires, who were doing the same as us, living there – anyway, we weren’t having that, it was OUR territory…so we got rid of them…and I found this nice shiny trinket, picked it up. I didn’t know what it was – my first thought it was something I could give to Dru, and I was just about to put it in my pocket, when Peaches asks me what I got, I showed him, he took it off me”

“What, just like that, he took it and you let him?” Giles asked incredulously.

Spike looked indignant

“Yeah Rupes, just like that – what you’ve got to remember is, I’d only been a vamp for 12 years, I was still wet behind the ears! I wasn’t the hardened vamp I was yet to become, and it wasn’t Angel we were talking about, it was Angelus, anyway, he seemed pleased with it, believe me, it was far nicer having him in a good mood rather than a bad one, so, we get to our rooms, he announces we should party.

Earlier on that evening we’d raided an opium den…killed everyone in there, and had it away with let’s just say, the bag of opium we took would be worth millions today the amount we took from that den…but, I digress, they start to party. I didn’t smoke any of the stuff, I liked to be in control – but the others are carousing about, making too much noise and we are discovered, and we had to leave, those Chinese servants were all experts in the martial arts – it wasn’t the fight, it was just that there was too bloody many of them.

Anyway, the Boxer Rebellion is beginning outside, it’s chaos, people running about, things set on fire, and as every building was made of wood, not a place to stick around in – so we left. That’s all I know – I took the seal, but Angelus took it off me”

“And you’ve no idea where it is now?” Gunn asked

“Not a clue mate, you’d have to ask the poof”

“Right then, as soon as Angel’s awake, we’ll ask him” Wesley said, ordering coffee and sandwiches to be sent to the office.

“Ask me what?”

Angel walked wearily into the office

“Hey, how are you feeling?”

“Okay, look, lets crack on shall we, I’ve missed enough already, okay, Wes, get me back in the loop – what’s going on?” Angel sat behind his desk

“Right well um, yesterday morning, we had this piece of parchment delivered here, first mail………Giles had been here helping me put the daemonology books on a database, I showed him the parchment piece and he said he’d take it to Watcher HQ to get it translated” Wesley explained

“So Giles, enlighten me” Angel said, stifling a yawn.

“It was basically a threat – The great Tang Clan of Warrior vampires want their Seal back, their oldest vampire and clan chief Quong Ping Yip is no more, they need the seal for the investiture of Lin Pao Tan, the new head. And they say if they don’t get it………”

“What, what’ll happen?” Gunn asked looking from Giles to Spike to Angel

“Well put it this way…have you see the film ‘Kill Bill’?” Spike asked

“Uh huh!”

“Well, you know the bit where the Bride goes after Lucy Liu’s character, O-Ren, and she has to fight the Crazy 88 gangsters first?”


“Yeah” Gunn said, a little uneasily

“Well, it’ll be just like that, except there won’t be 88, there will be bloody eight million and bleeding 88, EACH – Chinese, there’s millions of ‘em!”

Buffy gave a huge sigh.

“So, I suggest we find it and give it back, pronto – they want it for the end of the month” Wesley said

“Great – so where’s the problem?” Angel asked

“Well, there isn’t one, just so long as you know what you’ve done with it” Spike said

“ME – what makes you think I know anything about it?”

“Because I took it, and you took it off me”

“When – I did nothing of the sort!”

“February, 1900, Hong Kong, start of the Boxer rebellion – we had to leave the Ming palace, thanks to you I might add, and we stumbled on those Chinese vampires, we dusted them, I picked up the seal they were holding, YOU took it off me”

“And that’s your story is it, why should I believe you?”

“Because it’s the bleedin’ truth, that’s why, and I don’t expect you to remember anything about it because you were off your face on about half a pound of opium”

“You’ve no idea where it is?” Wesley asked

“Not the first clue – it could be anywhere…where did we go after Hong Kong, Spike?”

“Prague”

“Oh...right, yeah…”

“Giles, have you got that piece of parchment with you?” Spike asked

“Er, y-yes, here”

Giles produced and envelope from his inside jacket pocket and handed it to Spike, who carefully unfolded it and began to read, a huge grin appeared on his face, much to the surprise of everyone else in the office……………

Chapter 3


“What’s so amusing, Spike?” Wesley asked

Spike put the piece of parchment down on the table and said,

“Who’s the pillock that translated this?”

Giles stood from perching on the desk, took off his glasses and began to clean the lenses vigorously.

“Um well, chap – man at the Watchers council…why?”

“Because Rupes me old mate, he’s made a right balls-up of the translation, that’s what – this isn’t a ‘bring us back our seal or we fight’ thing, it’s an invitation”

“Invitation, what to – and I didn’t know you could read Chinese!” Giles replaced his glasses.

“Well, you didn’t ask, did you! It DOES say that there is to be a new head of clan to be inaugurated, and as head of Clan Aurelius I’ve been invited to go, with a delegation of my own clan to see the spectacular – I was wondering how they thought we’d got their seal, coz that day we dusted every last one of those Chinese vamps we found with it. I wonder why it doesn’t mention other clans…Clan Pandora…or even the Judas clan. But that is all by-the-by anyway, because…it is also a trap”

“A trap? What kind of a trap, and how do you know?” Gunn asked

“I’m not really sure at the moment, but this is all wrong – it’s in a mixture of ancient and modern Chinese characters which they would never do, the parchment is…(Spike felt it between finger and thumb) wrong, feels………I don’t know, waxy or oily, weird anyway, there’s nothing on here that smacks of authenticity, no wax seal, there’s something else, but I can’t put my finger on it………”

Everyone frowned, Angel held out his hand, and Spike passed him the piece.

“Hmm…he’s got a point – it does feel all wrong for Chinese parchment” There were quite a few raised eyebrows at Angel agreeing with Spike!

“So who do you think is behind it then?” Wesley asked, taking and scrutinising the piece of parchment from Angel

“I’ve no idea…the Watcher’s maybe?”

“Don’t be silly – we’d know if the watchers were planning something” Wesley said to Angel, passing the piece onto Gunn.

“Huh, they’re not that bloody clever to come up with anything like this anyway!” Spike said, making both Giles and Wesley frown at him.

Spike rubbed his chin and sat thoughtfully for a while

Wesley looked at Giles and said,

“Who exactly did the translation for you Giles?”

“Old QT himself!”

“Quentin Travers did the translation…I didn’t know he read Chinese!”

“Neither did I, but I told him what I’d got and he said he’d look at it straight away for me, I knew like all these things that time was of the essence here, so I let him look at it and took his word”

Angel sat behind his desk, he too deep in thought, he then said to Gunn,

“How many enemies have I got, do you reckon?”

“Enemies – how should – oh, you mean since we’ve moved here to Wolfram?”

“Uh huh”

“Few…but I can’t think of anybody that would go about trying to get revenge via this sort of thing”

Spike suddenly sat bolt upright and snatched up the piece of parchment, and sniffed it.

“What is it baby?” Buffy asked frowning

“I know where I last smelt that smell!” Five pairs of eyes looked at him expectantly…

“When they were sorting out the chip in my noggin!”

“When you had the behaviour modifier chip inserted?” Wesley asked

“No, when they took it out…I remember then, thinking what a funny-“

“OUT – you mean you haven’t…and we’ve…oh goodness!” Wesley looked quite shocked

Buffy and Spike were both looking indignant

“The chip was malfunctioning, there was an option, I asked them to remove it” Buffy said

“Well that’s all very well but – I mean-“

Spike stood and walked close to Wesley, who leant away slightly, but stood his ground

“I’ll have you know mate, that I’ve bagged it blood-wise for three years now, and I’m not about to change that, because I know the second I went back to my old ways, I’d loose my beautiful wife, and my existence, and please take note as to which I gave priority to then, because she means more to me than ANYTHING, got it? Doing anything to spoil what I have now ABSOLUTELY isn’t going to happen, understand?”

Wesley nodded vigorously and said,

“Y-yes, yes, I’m sorry Spike, it came as a bit of a shock, that’s all!”

“Ahem…can we get back to the matter in hand here…so you think the Initiative is behind this then Spike?” Giles said taking the parchment piece off Gunn.

“I certainly do…I wonder what they’re up to”

“Well, we won’t know until we get there, will we?” Wesley said

Spike looked at him and replied,

“Hey, hey hold it you, always so bloody quick off the mark aren’t you Geronimo…no wonder we never see you with a girlfriend…”

“Do you mind!” Wesley said indignantly

“Look, mate, all I’m saying is, if you think I’m toddling along to fuck knows where to just be plunged straight into some sort of trap, you can forget it. The Initiative, well, they consider me the enemy again, a Hostile 17 since the chip’s gone, and I do not want to be a guinea-pig for their latest piece of microchip hardware thankyou very much”

“I think we should go though” Angel said

“Oh, you do, do you? Well YOU bloody well go then, what’s stopping you – just remember you might be Mr Soul man to your mates here, but to them it’ll mean nothing – you’re just another bloody vampire, another Hostile 17”

“I don’t know…Riley seemed pretty reasonable when I spoke to him – it was obvious we’d never become best friends, but………” Angel said, with a smirk

Buffy rolled her eyes and looked at her shoes, and Spike glanced at her, and he realised what had happened, that Buffy must have introduced them because she thought Riley was ‘The One’ and she wanted closure with Angel………

“Well then, I suggest you go and reacquaint yourself with over developed hall monitor, and while you’re at it, ask him what’s the catch. But if you suddenly find yourself lying on a table with a green cloth over your forehead and it feels like somebody is digging around in your brain with a blunt fork, don’t say I didn’t warn you”

Giles picked up the phone and said,

“I think I’m going to phone Quentin”

“Do you think that’s wise old man – I mean he got this all wrong” Wesley said waving the piece of parchment.

Giles hesitated

“You think Travers could be in on it too?” Gunn said

“It?”

“Well, what ever that is…Spike thinks it’s a trap” Gunn said pointing to the parchment

“Hmm, okay then” Giles replaced the receiver, and said

“So what are we going to do?”

“YOU can do what you bleeding well like, I want no part of it, once bitten and all that, if you’ll pardon the pun. Besides which, it’s you they want this time, not me, they sent that here, remember”

Angel was deep in thought, idly playing with his pen.

“Will you come with us Buffy?” Angel asked

Buffy looked at Spike, and although he was itching to answer for her, Spike stayed silent.

“What…(ahem) what for?”

“Well…you have an intimate acquaintance there, you hold sway, could have bargaining power”

Buffy looked at Angel and said

“Look, Angel – Riley’s married now, and what he and I once had – huh, well put it this way, I realise now it was all on his side…I don’t see what I could do”

Angel pouted for a second, and concentrated on his pen balancing before he said,

“But if things got rough, you might just talk them out of putting a chip in my head, you talked them into taking out Spikes’ chip!”

Buffy looked at Spike who’d got his arms folded across his chest, and she thought for a second

“That was different – Spike’s chip had malfunctioned - You could tell them who you are, and that you have your own behaviour modifiers, I’m sure that-“

“It’s okay, you don’t have to explain why you don’t want to come…I was told you were getting lax over your sacred duty anyway”

Both Buffy and Spike rankled at this, Spike unfolded his arms and Buffy’s attitude changed, she demanded,

“And just what’s THAT supposed to mean, huh?”

Spike got angry and leant over the desk towards his grandsire and hissed,

“Listen you, wanting the slayer to cover your sorry arse against a nasty is one thing, but this is the Initiative mate, NOT a slayer thing, you don’t have to remind Buffy about her sacred duty, she’s 100% professional, and always will be”

“Hey, look, folks please, let’s not fall out…it might not be the Initiative anyway…” Wesley said cheerfully, but convincing no-one, so he dropped the bonhomie and sighed

Buffy was standing between Spike’s legs, they were cooing at each other oblivious of everyone else.

“How about if we go?” Wesley suggested, patting Gunn’s arm

“What – hey man, nobody is doin’ no brain surgery on me!” Gunn said, rubbing his bald head.

“And what if you go, and all those Chinese vamps are there – they’ll think you’re an English take-away!” Giles said, making Spike grin.

“Where is it anyway, I meant to ask earlier?” Gunn picked up the parchment

“Back of beyond, out it the Nevada desert somewhere” Giles said

Spike clicked his fingers and piped up,

“And that’s another thing, why isn’t being held in Hong Kong, or Peking?”

“Beijing you mean”

“Peking, Beijing, all the bloody same to me mate – why so close to home here for us?”

Wesley said

“Good point, Spike” Causing Angel to roll his eyes…

Chapter 4


Spike got into the car, followed by Buffy, but he didn’t start the engine. He sat there rubbing his hand over his mouth and chin, deep in thought.

Buffy said nothing; she knew he was having a crisis of conscience…

Now Spike stood by everything he’d said in the office, about the Initiative and his wife, but as the others were planning on going anyway, he knew that if anything happened to Angel – it was a family thing………oh hell, if the great steaming pillock wanted to walk into a trap, who was he to say don’t?

“Would you hate me?” Spike asked Buffy eventually

“Hate you – what for?”

“If something happened to the poof? If tall dark and forehead got himself chipped or worse while he was there?”

Buffy smiled and looked out of the window across the parking lot.

“Well, would you?”

She turned to face him and leant close

“You want to go, don’t you?”

“Answer me babe, please?”

“No. I wouldn’t hate you…I could never hate you – he made a choice, you can’t be blamed for that” she slid her hand over his and Spike raised it to his lips and kissed it.

“Suppose we’d better go, hadn’t we…knowing those two English prats…god, it makes me be ashamed to be English sometimes…what’s the betting Wes and Rupes do something to, well exacerbate things, and Gunn might have a good legal brain, but when it came own to the nitty-gritty of a fight, well, Mike Tyson he ain’t!”

Buffy had a far away look I her eyes, but she nodded in agreement.

“So, we go then, yes?” Spike sat up from slumping and reached for the ignition key

“If we go, we go with them – here me out” Buffy held her hand up to stop Spike’s protestations

“They have better vehicles, and they’ll take supplies – we can’t just go haring off into the desert, YOU taught me that”

Spike grinned and leant across and kissed her

“Yeah, you’re right…” They walked back to the building hand in hand. When they got to Angel’s office, only Gunn and Giles were in there.

“Buffy?”

“Spike talked me into coming along”

Giles raised a brow and smiled

“Well good, glad to have you on board, as they say!”

“Hell yes – I feel much better now I know you two are coming!” Gunn concurred, making Spike smile

Angel and Wesley came back into the office

“Oh, so you managed to talk him round into doing the right thing then” Angel said, with as much sarcasm as he could muster

Buffy saw Spike’s face and quickly jumped in with,

“Actually, it was Spike that talked ME round, I said to hell with your sorry ass………we will be going in an observing capacity only, any shit YOU get yourself into, YOU’LL have to get yourself out of, got that?”

Spike could have danced with glee at the look on the poof’s face!

Angel blinked and said nothing to her, but instead he turned to Wesley and said,

“We’ll need more supplies now, blood and water, food for Buffy of course … … …we’ll go in the mini-bus, there should be enough room”

“Are we taking weapons?” Wes asked

“Weapons, um…”

“Just carry a stake each, that should suffice” Buffy said

“Well, that’s all very well for any vamps, but what about the Initiative – they’ll have-“ Angel began, only to be interrupted by Spike who said,

“They have enough bloody hard-wear to make El-Qaeda jealous, tasers, lasers, stun-guns, heat-seeking thingies, demon tracers, rocket-launchers, machine guns, the whole bit, nothing you can carry could match their fire-power”

“Oh man, I’m rapidly going off this idea again” Gunn rubbed his face and leant against one of the desks.

“You can sit and observe with us if you like mate!” Spike said, and Gunn immediately brightened at this suggestion.


*****************


“Are we-“

“You ask ‘are we nearly there yet’, and I’ll clonk you one!” Spike said to Angel.

Angel rolled his eyes and said testily,

“I WAS going to say, are we going in like we’re going to the ceremony, or do we go in like we know it’s the Initiative, or what?”

“You do what you like mate, coz Gunn, the Mrs and myself are only observing”

“Yeah, only observing, what exactly does that mean, hmm – I mean, why come all this way just to-“

“That’s it! There, look, over there, a huge circle of stones!” Wesley pointed east out of the bus, and everybody looked to where he was pointing

Spike slowed the bus…

“Right, now we know where the venue is, we can hole-up somewhere until it’s dark”

About two miles on, there was a rocky outcrop that hid them and the bus perfectly, and Spike pulled up in the cool shade. It was a welcome break; they’d been travelling all day, 7 hours with only stops to take it in turns driving.

Having had the AC on in the bus at maximum cold, stepping out in the bright, hot sun was like stepping into an oven, and Buffy quickly bought in a cool-box of supplies from the trunk and closed the door again.

Thankfully by dusk the severe heat had gone, and the cooler evening air was far more pleasant.

“Right then, have we got a plan – I’ve learnt by now you like to plan things, Spike”

Spike held his hands up.

“Told you. Not me, well not this time, it’s your shout don’t forget, observers here”

He pointed to his eyes.

“Well I suggest we drive a little closer, then I can see what I can through these babies” Giles held up a small black leather case

“What’s that?”

“My long-range, night-vision field glasses” Wesley came over and said,

“May I?”

Giles let him take the case and Wesley opened it, took out the binoculars

He looked at the range gauge and then looked through them, jumping slightly when catching Angel in the sights at the back of the bus, all he saw was a giant eyeball.

“Oh – they’re strong, good!”

“I wish I knew what we were up against, I think-“ Angel began,

Spike held his hand up and said ‘shush’

“Do you mind, if you’re not coming-“

“Will shut the fuck up for a minute – what’s that noise?” Everybody stopped what they were doing and listened

“I don’t-“ Gunn began

“SHUSH –there, it’s like drumming or…the sound of running feet”

“I’ll go look” Buffy volunteered

“Be careful babe, don’t let anyone see you”

Buffy nodded as she went down the steps of the bus and stealthily went out to look. She came back two minutes later, puzzled

“What was it babe?”

“Exactly what you said, it was a group of about four dozen soldiers wearing desert fatigues and baseball caps, running, all in a line, three across, four deep, a gap then the next lot - they were going at a fair old pace too, thing is, I can’t see where they came from, no camp, no trucks, it’s just miles of sand as far as the eye can see, with the road running through it – they must be super-fit to be running that distance for any length of time, and they’ve what, got another couple of miles to go yet”

There was an assortment of puzzled looks on everybody’s faces.

“Well, I think we should ALL just observe for the moment, until we know what we are up against” Wesley said, and Angel agreed

“I’ll be completely dark in –“

“LISTEN!” Buffy said, and the sound of more running feet could be heard.

This time Angel and Wesley slipped out to observe, the sound went on much longer this time, and when they came back to the bus, Angel looked decidedly worried.

“Hundreds of them, running in at least double-time pace, in neat little groups, and as you say, we couldn’t see where they came from”

Chapter 5


“Have you got your clan Aurelius seal?” Wesley asked, and Angel said he had.

“I don’t want to take it with us though…I know it’s only symbolic, but it really shouldn’t fall into another clan’s hands,




“Typical, had to be a big full moon didn’t it!” Angel groused

“Shush, keep low and get on with it” Spike said testily

“All right! Give me the – “

Spike was already passing him Giles’ field-glasses.

“See anything?”

“Give me a chance! Angel looked through the binoculars, adjusted the range gauge and looked through them again, towards the circle of stones.

“Well, there’s a big entrance way…it’s going underground!”

“Let me see” Wesley held out his hand for the binoculars.

Angel noticed that Spike had morphed into his demon, he could see better with his preternatural eyesight…

“There’s more arriving…I can’t see properly, those big stones are blocking my view, that’s the problem with them being in a circle”

“More arriving, what do you mean – more what, soldiers?”

“Don’t know…see if you can see anything” Wesley passed Giles the glasses

“Well I don’t like it…if that’s the only entrance and exit…then it’ll be very awkward to get out if anything starts” Angel said

“I think mate, that’s the whole bleedin’ idea – we are talking Initiative here, not a boy-scout jamboree”

Angel shot Spike a look

Spike shook his demon away and glared back at his grandsire.

“Quick, get DOWN! - HIDE” Buffy said, crouching

“Wha-“ Wesley started, then he heard the ‘wacka-wacka’ noise of rotor-blades on a helicopter passing overhead

It was making straight for the stones that were almost a mile away

“Do you think they saw us?”

“I think that’s a given pet, six of us, all wearing dark clothing, against pale sand, with bright moonlight – we must stick out like sore thumbs”

“So what are we going to do?”

Giles asked, looking at each person in turn.

“Well…there’s only one thing for it – we go there” Spike said

“WE? – But I thought you said you were only here ‘observing’” Angel made hand gestured inverted comma’s in the air.

“Look, that chopper couldn’t have failed to spot us just then, and if only a couple of us turn up down there, they’ll know where to find the rest of us anyway, so we might as well all go, and stick together, that way we have a better chance I reckon, we don’t know how big this underground place is, it could be huge – and a search and rescue could turn out to be like looking for a needle in the proverbial bloody haystack” Spike said

“Yeah, I agree, but we MUST stick together okay?” Buffy said, and everyone nodded

“Oh hey guys………looks like somebody important’s arriving” Gunn said, looking through the binoculars.

“Oh, why – oh yes” Squinting down to the stones Wesley and the others could make out a couple of rather large cars turning off the roadway towards the stones. They had a escort of motorcycle out-riders who veered off and parked in front of the stones when the limo’s had gone down the tunnel entrance way.

“Come on then, let’s get this over with, quicker we get there, the quicker we can all get home”

“Are we going to walk or take the bus, coz the walks about the same distance either way”

“We go back for the bus, then at least we have a means of transport out of there” Spike said over his shoulder, traipsing through the sand.

*****************

Giles slowed the bus about 200 yards from the stones and asked

“Are we all sure about this?”

“Yes…we can’t back out now – let’s just go get it over with, whatever ‘it’ is” Spike said, holding Buffy’s hand, and tugging it gently to get her attention

“Babe”

“Hmm?”

“Look, kitten, I just want to say, if anything happens, and I don’t come out of this, well, being with you, and being married to you has meant the everything in the world to me – don’t put yourself in any danger if things get rough for me, and always remember I love you”

Buffy teared up and cupped his cheek, leaned forward and gave him a soft kiss

“Same with me, and I love you too, and stick to me like glue – I won’t let them do anything to you, not again”

Spike pulled her close and gave her a big passionate kiss.

The inside of the bus got lighter as they entered the tunnel, and Giles rolled the bus to a stop at a barrier

“And you are?” a uniformed guard with a clipboard asked

“Um…Clan Aurelius delegation” Giles said

The guard ticked them off on his sheet, and speaking into a chattering radio that was attached to his collar he said,

“Final Clan are here, just sending them on down”

Rather looking at what was going on, Gunn was looking out the back of the bus and he noticed that some big sliding door was closing off the entrance

“The entrance is closing guys”

Wesley and Giles turned and looked, feeling more than a little apprehensive.

“Okay………that’s it, cut the engine now” The guard banged on the side of the bus when Giles had parked up.

“Well, good luck, folks” Gunn said and Giles opened the doors.

***************

“Follow me”

The six of them dutifully followed the guard to a door, he opened it, and stood to one side to allow them through.

Two absolutely huge soldiers covered in the latest hardware of weapons scanned them, with what looked like a yellow ‘night-sick’ starting with Angel, then Gunn.

“You’re not a vampire”

“Yeah, I know”

“Then why are you here?”

“I’m with him” Gunn pointed to Angel

When Wesley and Giles showed that they too were not demons, the soldiers began to question them again.

Spike was scanned and Buffy, the soldier ran the ‘wand’ over her and he frowned

“What are you – some sort of hybrid? – it doesn’t show if you are or are not a demon”

“Trust me, you don’t wanna find out”

Buffy followed the others into what looked like a function room of all things

“Champagne?”

“Wha – what oh um…n-no, no thankyou!” Buffy frowned and the white jacketed waiter turned away and proffered the tray to Giles and then the others.

Everyone declined, and was frowning, there was hundreds of vampires standing round in groups, drinking champagne.

“Help yourself to party snacks” a passing waiter said

“PARTY snacks – where the bleedin hell are we…this is a strange - BLOODY HELL!”

“What, what?” Buffy grabbed Spike’s arm and glanced around wide eyed.

“Lazarus…from Clan Nero – Angel, remember him in Prague?”

“What, who, where – oh god HIM!”

“Just keep your eyes peeled, this isn’t a reunion, you know” Wesley whispered

“Do you know him over there, with the long frock-coat, looks like an undertaker?” Angel asked Spike in a quiet aside

When Spike shook his head, Angel said,

“Crippenwald, from Clan Caligula, he was the one who used to take Darla and Dru on the rampages through the orphanages in the Old Country”

Spike pulled a face, he hated it when Dru used to take children for food, he’d never do it, even when she taunted him saying he was weak and pathetic, that was one thing he wouldn’t do, feed from a child.

Suddenly Chinese music began to play, and the lights were dimmed

A Chinese woman’s voice came over a speaker system and curtains drew back on a stage at the front of the room. Everybody stopped talking and watched.

Suddenly, the room was bathed in purple light, and anything white showed up as luminous. Spike felt the flesh on his forehead and cheek begin to sizzle, and he shouted to Angel to ‘take cover’ both immediately threw off their leather dusters and put them over their heads and ducked down, Wes, Giles and Gunn of course were totally unaffected, opened their jackets and stood round the crouching pair to shield them more – all around was chaos, screams and vampires exploding to dust in the ultraviolet light.

Buffy ran to the door that they had came through, and punched the soldier on the jaw, hardly ‘pulling’ it, the size he was. He didn’t flinch, he didn’t even raise his head

To her surprise and great pain, her fist connected with not flesh and bone as expected, but solid, hardened carbon steel.

“OW, OW FUCK!” Grimacing she waggled her hand and was nearly doubled over with the sick feeling that hit her stomach. She flexed her fingers and heard all the joints click back into place

“BUFFY, GET THE DOOR OPEN!”

“I’m trying – fuck – he’s NOT human!”

Mayhem all around, soldiers came running off the stage, and ran into the room, upending tables that vampires were trying to hide under so the light would hit them.

Suddenly the soldier that Buffy had hit became activated, and he raised his head and strode into the room, ignoring Buffy and the others, he took one of the weapons from the arsenal he was carrying on his back and fired into the room.

Buffy wasted no time and grabbing the door handle she twisted as hard as she could, there was a sound of metal crunching and springs being sprung and the lock gave way and she pulled the door open………………

Chapter 6


“Quick, come on!”

Not needing to tell them twice, Gunn, Wesley and Giles managed to steer Spike and Angel out of the room and into the relative safety of the normally lit corridor, with Buffy leading the way.

“Bastards! Why were we so fucking STUPID AS TO WALK INTO THAT!”

“Recriminations later Spike, let’s get out of here first!”

Buffy stopped and motioned for everybody to halt, she flattened her back against the wall and everybody copied her. A ‘unit’ of soldiers ran by, at the end of the corridor in double quick time, luckily looking straight ahead so they remained unseen.

After they had passed, she beckoned for the others to follow again…

She turned left down a corridor, and risked a look through into the first door’s portal window. It looked like a changing room, with bench seats in the middle and lockers lining the walls. She tried the handle and the door opened.
Motioning with her head for them to follow Buffy went inside.

Once inside they shifted the benches to across the doorway, sat on them and turned the light off

“Right, now we must be quiet, first of all, babe, are you okay?”

“Yeah darlin’ – mad with myself though”

“Well never mind about that now, Angel, are you okay?”

“Fine…my left hand is-“

“Shush!”

Footfalls in the corridor suggested a least another unit of soldiers were running passed.

“Now, anybody got a torch, any one will do”

“Here, got a pen torch, will that do?” Gunn switched it on and handed it to Buffy

“Just press the top to switch on or off”

“Thanks, right I’m going to climb up there, and try and see where we are”

Buffy shone the pen torch at the wire mesh covered air vent on the wall

“Not on your own your not!”

“Yes on my own, we don’t want to make too much noise until we have an escape route, and I’ll make less noise on my own, I’ll be okay, I promise”

She clasped Spike’s hand in her own and gave it a squeeze.

The sound of more soldiers running passed and when they were gone, Buffy stood on the end of the bench, hoisted herself up on top of the bank of lockers and as quietly as she could, pulled at the fine wire mesh cover until if gave and came off.

“Be careful babe”

Easily crawling through the air vent, she held the pen torch in her mouth, but soon realised that she didn’t need it as there were lots of vents lining the walls, about every 10 yards or so, with light streaming in them.

Stopping to look through the first one, she saw a room identical to the one she’d just left the others in, a locker room.

The same went for the next two, but as she made her way along carefully to the fourth vent, she could hear talking as she neared.

Hardly daring to breathe, she crawled to the very edge of the vent and looked into the room.

It was a control room, with maps on the wall, she counted…eight computers, but only two were being used

“Robodier units Alpha and Omega to section 4G, commence with second wave of vampire clan destruction”

Buffy saw the door to the room open and went wide-eyed with shock and recognition, and then she was totally puzzled.

The woman in the lab coat was smiling to the man she’d held the door open for, and he too was a surprise for Buffy…or perhaps he wasn’t such a surprise after all…………

The woman leant on the desk of one of the computer operators, leaning over him and talking, but what she said Buffy couldn’t make out what she said.

A thunderous noise started up, and a flurry of dust as huge extractor fans to Buffy’s right began to turn. She felt her nose prickle and her eyes go gritty, and clamping her hand over her face so as not to sneeze and give the game away, Buffy decided to go back the way she came.


“Thank god! – Are you okay babe?”

“Yeah, I – ATISHOO! Shit! A-a-atishoo! Bloody dust, the extractor fans started up and –atishoo! You’ll NEVER guess whose – a-a-a-!” Giles quickly stood and clamped his hand over her mouth and nose, and Buffy went wide-eyed – but Giles had good reason, and they all heard a unit of soldiers run passed the room.

When they’d passed, Giles removed his hand, and Buffy found the urge to sneeze gone.

“So, are you going to tell us who’s behind all this?”

“You might know, bloody low-down, dirty two-timing creep he-“

Suddenly, they all heard a voice, coming from a small speaker on the wall, everybody turned and looked at it………

“Miss Buffy Summers, Rupert Giles, Wesley Wyndham Price, Charles Gunn, and the two hostile 17’s, kindly step away from the door of Locker Room 1. We know you are in there, and retaliation is futile, escape impossible. If you come out with your hands up, you will find to your advantage that we will treat you with the courtesy you expect. All we want is the two hostile 17’s, with you – your lives are not in danger – I repeat, your lives are not in danger, we only want the two hostile 17’s you have with you”

Angel and Spike exchanged a look

“What are going to do?” Wesley asked, with a pained look

“Up there, quickly, come on, it’s our only chance”

“But they said –“

“Never mind that, just go, - GO! Go on…get up here, put your foot in my cupped hands, and I’ll – “

“Oohh!” Buffy in her haste to get them all into the air vent practically threw Wesley up into it, but he quickly scrambled round in the mouth of the vent and helped Giles, and Gunn, while Spike and Angel held the door shut.

When the three were safely inside the vent, Buffy went over to the door

“Go on, now you two, and get ready to grab me”

Spike jumped from bench to locker top with ease, Giles helping him to slide into the vent head first, he scrambled round to help Angel.

Buffy was having a game holding the door closed; until she saw Spike’s head pop out of the vent

“Ready when you are kitten!”

Buffy leapt on the bench, did a quick handspring off the locker top and Spike caught her hands and pulled her through.

“Which way?” Wesley’s voice echoed and Giles pushed his shoulder towards the left hand turn, which Wesley took.

Quickly as they could, they crawled arm over arm until they came to a vent that had much wider mesh, and they could see into large ‘operations’ type room, with banks of computers. It was empty.

“Stop – lets kick it out………altogether, after three…1, 2, 3!”

The cover went flying off, and one by one they slipped down out of the vent to the floor.

“Why didn’t anybody follow us?” Gunn asked puzzled

“Never mind about that now – come on, lets get outta here!” Angel said.

“You never said who’s behind this!” Wesley said, turning towards Buffy.

“Didn’t I? – Oh – well it’s……………

Chapter 7


“GET DOWN!”

Everybody immediately reacted to Gunn’s command, and they dropped to the ground as a unit of soldiers ran by

Buffy peeped from behind one of the computers she’d hidden behind to see if the coast was clear

“S’ok, they’ve gone”

Slowly everybody stood

“Look, lets see if we can get a map of this place, and find a way out of here” Wesley suggested, tapping away on a keyboard

As everybody’s attention was on Wes, and not the door, they didn’t notice when a soldier opened the door, and it was too late for them to duck

Spike went to go forward, but Buffy stayed him with her hand on his bicep

“Look at him”

The soldier scanned the room, his head slowly moving left to right, not stopping to look at any of them, and he left.

“He didn’t see us – how could he possibly have not seen us?” Angel asked

“Yeah, and how come nobody followed us through that either?” Gunn said, indicating the air-vent

“I’m sure they’re robots – and if they’re not programmed, then they can’t do what would be a natural human reaction! – Hey, do you reckon that’s it?” Buffy asked grinning

Giles looked thoughtful

“Could be………it might go someway to explaining why they go everywhere at double time too, without getting out of breath”

Angel and Spike smiled and nodded at this.

“Hold on, there’s another one coming in…I’m going to test the theory!” Wesley said.

When the ‘soldier’ entered the room, Wesley stood in front of it, and the soldier took a sidestep, and scanned the room

“Who are you looking for?” Wesley commanded

The robot soldier turned to look at Wesley, and after a few seconds a metallic artificial voice said

“I do not recognise your voice pattern – it is not one I’m programmed to respond to”

“Well that’s tough, mate…where is the exit?” Spike said, and went to walk towards the soldier, until Buffy saw a tiny red beam scan her vampire, and she quickly pulled him down, just before a laser beam fell onto one of the computers blowing it up

“Hostile 17 - destroy” the soldier said

Spike went wide-eyed and covered his and Buffy’s head from the shower of sparks

“Bloody hell!”

Angel thought it best to move from the line of fire

“Where is the exit?” Wesley asked

“I do not recognise your voice pattern – it is not one I’m programmed to respond to”

“Well recognise it now, and-“

“Place your identity card into the information tray, then punch in the voice recognition code”

“Ahh…um – oh look!”

From out of the soldier’s abdomen, a little tray slid out, just big enough to hold a ‘credit’ sized card

“Place your identity card in the information tray, then punch in the voice recognition code,” the robot soldier repeated in its flat monotone.

“You have 30 seconds to comply, then you will be considered hostile” the soldier said

“Oh…shit!” Wesley muttered

“I’ll do better than that” Gunn picked up a chair and bought it crashing down on the robot soldiers head

The soldier remained standing, but crumpled to one side, the face part popped off, revealing a circuit board and two weird looking ‘eyeballs’

The thing started marching on the spot repeating the one word, ‘Error’

It started to smoke and spark, and it was then everybody decided to take cover.

Five seconds later, there was a bang, and peeping from around the door Wesley saw the head had exploded and was now melting in flames. He grabbed a fire extinguisher and put the robot out.

“We need to get outta here, and fast, HE might not have been programmed to recognise us, but the next lot might, they know we’re here from that message we had in the locker room.” Gunn said

“Hey, look what I’ve found…quick, lets put them on – it might help us disguise us until we can get out!”

Wesley had pulled open a cupboard door and found some uniforms.

Quickly going over to the cupboard, they pulled out a desert fatigue jumpsuit each. After putting them on, Buffy said, (whilst trying to find her hands in far too long sleeves)

“We look ridiculous”

Truth be known, the uniforms only fitted Wes, Gunn and Spike. Buffy’s uniform arms and legs were about a foot too long, Giles’ were about a foot too short…the trouser part of Giles’ uniform stopped halfway down his calves, the top part the sleeves stopped half way to his elbows, and Angel was too fat to get into one at all………

“I’ve got over-developed thighs – the uniform is too small”

Spike rolled his eyes and said,

“Over developed thighs bollocks! Told you before mate, try getting your hands dirty once in a while, then you might not have such a lardy fat arse…to match your lardy fat head”

Angel went to turn on Spike and Buffy stood between them saying,

“Look, we can pretend we’ve got you as our prisoner – lets just get out of………oh shit!” Everybody turned and looked to where Buffy was looking.

“YOU – but I thought, I mean…you’re dead!”

Spike said frowning, pointing to the woman in the white lab-coat standing in the doorway.

The woman smiled, and was joined by none other that Quentin Travers himself.

“Good afternoon…you’ve met Dr. Maggie Walsh I believe – um, oh my – do you really need telling just how ridiculous you look?”

Quentin covered his mouth with is hand to smother a grin at the sight of Buffy and Giles in their ‘uniforms’.

His mirth contained, Quentin said,

“You know, this could have been so simple, but you just HAD to complicate things, didn’t you”

“Look Travers, I don’t know what you think your game is, but whatever-“

“QUIET! You know, for a slayer, I thought you’d be grateful to us; after all we’ve just eliminated half the vampire clans in the US for you…”

Buffy scowled at the senior watcher and hissed

“I don’t just stake vampires!”

“No, you don’t, do you? - You bed them too, isn’t that right Miss Summers … really, I despair of the Chosen Ones these days, I really do”

Buffy’s face hardened and she threw off the uniform and came towards the pair, fists clenched


“Why you…”

“Babe, be careful, I wouldn’t trust these two as far as I could throw them” Spike warned

“Sensible words from your pet vampire, I’d listen to him if I were you Miss Summers, because hitting me would hurt you far more than it would hurt me”

“Oh yeah, wanna test that theory do you?” Buffy balled her fist and was just about to punch Travers out, when Spike saw a tiny red beam come out of Travers right eye, and he ducked and ran the length of a bank of computers, each one exploding, sparking and catching fire as the laser beam hit them.

“What the – in the melee, Buffy grabbed the nearest thing to hand, and picked it up and threw it at Maggie and Travers. They both easily brushed off the computer chair and advanced towards her.

“Get out, get out while you can, run!” Buffy urged Spike and the others, but they were having none of it.

“Not bloody likely babe – WATCH OUT!” Spike managed to pull his wife out of the way, as ‘Maggie’ had just reached for the slayer, only to crash against the table, she had bright blue sparks arcing from her fingers that made a sizzling sound.

Angel was cowering in the corner behind Wesley and Gunn, while Giles, Spike and Buffy carefully eased back and away from what seemed super-robots, Quentin and Maggie…

Spike saw his chance and pulled the cable from the back of a working computer. There was a bang and the cable sparked as it was still plugged in.

“Come on then, come on if you think you’re hard enough you bastard!” Spike waved the ‘live’ cable in front of Travers, and Buffy saw the beam from the robot’s right eye,

“Babe, the laser!” Buffy warned, and Spike ducked and managed to touch the cable onto Travers leg. There was a big blue flash, a bang and the whole robot shook as little bolts of yellow lightening covered it completely – there was another bang and the face popped off before the whole thing started to smoke and was then engulfed in flames.

“Quick – come on, lets get out of here!”

Buffy pushed the Maggie-bot into the path of the flaming Quentin robot, and the clothing and hair caught fire – but she carried on after them, flames shooting out until she short-circuited and blew all her fuses…

Everybody ran down the corridor, to be faced with several units of soldiers running towards them.

“Ignore them, with any luck they’ll ignore us!” Buffy said and she was right, the two units ran straight passed. They reached the bottom of the corridor and were in a quandary which way to go.

“I vote left, right seems to take us further in, if you get my drift” Spike said,

“Yeah, I agree, come on” Gunn said, and they all turned left.

They turned down a wide corridor with cage type ‘cells’ either side, the noises and smells were inhuman

“Ugh – ew, oh god, I’m going to be sick!” Giles, Wes, Gunn and Buffy each put their hands over their mouths and noses to keep out the horrible stench

As Spike and Angel didn’t need to breathe, the smell didn’t bother them, and they looked into the cages

“Oh good grief………is that a – it is, that’s a Maharmos demon………my god what have they done to it?” Spike looked horrified at the pathetic lump quivering in the corner

“I think that’s a chaos demon in there, I can just about make out the drippy horns…” Angel said frowning

“Get- out here – arrgh the smell!” Buffy gasped and they started to run

They turned right this time; they had no option, and came to a locked door. Buffy soon made short work of it and it opened out onto two sets of steps, one going down on the left, the other the right, both leading to the same place

There were soldiers milling around, driving forklift trucks, there was a brightly lit room in the middle of everything

“There…that’s where we need to go, that’s the hub of this outfit I’m sure” Giles said pointing to the room

A siren sounded, and suddenly it was like all hell had been let loose. Spike and co watched as barriers came down over certain doorways and a metallic voice repeated, ‘Emergency…Emergency…code red – this is a code red – all robo-diers trained in seek and destroy combat please report to sector Alpha – Repeat, all robo-diers trained on seek and destroy combat please report to Alpha sector as soon as possible’

“Bet that’s for our benefit” Angel said. Spike gave him and incredulous look, and said sarcastically

“Gee, d’you think?”

“I was just saying!” Angel groused

“Well it was a fucking no-brainer – but then again why should we be surprised at you saying something like that…okay kiddies – Old Spikey’s got a plan…”

Chapter 8

“Well come on then, the suspense is killing me!”

Spike shot Angel a ‘look’ and then he said,

“We wait until all these ‘robo-diers’ have stopped milling about, then we make a dash for that room – chances are all the robots that can seek and destroy us are off for a briefing” They all watched as squad after squad of soldiers formed and ran off in units further into the complex.

“Right…just keep your wits about you, come on – lets go!”

“So this is it, is it? – The great plan – we don’t even know who’s in that room”

Angel groused

“Well then Einstein – what do you bleedin’ well suggest, huh? We walk round in fucking circles until the squadrons of seek and destroy robots find us, hmm?”

“Not now you two, come on – oh it’s locked…Buffy?” Wesley chided Angel and Spike

Wesley stood away from the door and Buffy did her thing, the lock crunched and pinged and the door sprang open.

Quickly they all went inside

A woman dressed in civilian clothing stood and said,

“Who are you, what are-“

“DON’T touch that alarm Miss, if you know what’s good for you…now sit down, do as you’re told, and nobody will get hurt, okay?” Gunn said, his hand on her shoulder. He immediately could tell by her warmth and softness she was every bit human

The woman nodded and sat back down in her chair.

“Right, do you know the codes to de-commission the robo-diers?”

“Y-yes”

“Type them in them…chop-chop, and no funny business, else I’ll let Peaches eat you for dinner”

Angel gave Spike a filthy look, but said nothing.

The woman began to type quickly, and then she said

“I need an authorisation code to do this, or the order will be countermanded in 30 seconds, and a Superior Red Alert sounds, there will be total lock-down and a sleeping gas will be sprayed into the atmosphere” she looked up at Spike expectantly

“Maggie Walsh”

“Dr Walsh?”

“Yeah, her”

The woman typed and a warning notice came up on screen that said

‘WARNING’ Does not have authority for such commands”

“Try Quentin Travers” Wesley said helpfully, as they watched the counter in the corner of the screen countdown the thirty seconds………17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, thankfully it stopped.

‘MISSION ABORTED’ Flashed in bright yellow capitals

Everybody breathed a sigh of relief. Buffy came over from watching the door

“What’s going – SAM?”

“Buffy? – What are YOU doing here?”

“Could ask you the same question! I’m here with Clan Aurelius…we were suspicious…”

Sam looked at Gunn and Wesley a little warily

“You know her?” Spike asked

“Yeah, this is Sam Finn, Riley’s wife”

“Um, actually…we’re separated” Sam said

“Oh…well tables have turned…I’m married now – to Spike”

“To Spike – but isn’t he…um oh, hold on”

There was an incessant beeping, and Sam answered the phone

“Sorry…everything’s just gone off line…well don’t shout at me, it’s not…okay, apology accepted………YES, I’ll keep trying…NO – I mean no, there’s no need for you to come down, there’s nothing you can do – besides which, I won’t be able to open the door if all the computers are down, will I? – Yes, I will” Sam replaced the receiver.

“Okay, I’ve put security off – I presume you want out of here?”

“That’s the general, yeah”

“Right then, follow me”

Spike looked at Buffy, Angel looked at Wesley and Gunn, and Giles looked at Sam

“We can trust you, you aren’t about to double cross us, are you?”

“No, I’m not – for the simple reason is, I want out too – they won’t let me leave, I’m the only one who knows all the codes and although I’m free to roam wherever I want here, I’m not allowed anywhere near transport, and there’s no way I could trek across the desert, so I’m stuck”

“Right then, we’ve got ourselves an extra passenger – come on, I suggest we scoot”

Sam nodded and stood up

“We’ll still have to be careful, there are still some active human units at the base, but if you all follow me, there shouldn’t be too much problem”

They quickly made their way out into the main complex and Sam walked them to a security box

“Don’t worry, it’s a robo-dier, all he needs is a password, which I choose every morning. Today’s word is….

They got to the booth, and Sam flashed her security pass and said,

“Stratocaster” The barrier went up and they were allowed through.

“How much further?” Buffy asked, catching Sam up

“About a ¼ of a mile – there is one more security post, there might be a problem, as he will be human”

“Don’t worry pet, we’ll take care of him” Spike said, and they quickly walked on.

They were walking along to what looked like a dead end, Sam moved forward and reached for the door, but it was locked

She frowned and said,

“Strange, this should be open”

“Here, let me” Buffy took the handle and did her ‘super-strength’ trick.

“Of course – it’s the transport room – what sort of vehicle did you come in?”

“A bus”

“Right…can you see your keys, by any chance?”

The whole wall seemed to be covered with sets of keys…

“Look for a brass dollar sign, it was the key-fob” Giles said, and they all started scanning the keys.

“Did any of you notice what parking bay you were in?”

“Actually yes, it was section 8 – we were the last in” Giles said

“Section 8………section 8, right then, if you were the last in, you should be near the bottom of-“

“BINGO!” Gunn snatched the keys off the hook and handed them to Giles, who smiled

“That’s them, alright!”

“Good, come on, only a couple of hundred yards to freedom!”

“You REALLY didn’t think it was going to be that easy did you?”

The smiles left everyone’s faces as they turned to leave, as in the doorway stood Quentin Travers, and Maggie Walsh. In his hand Travers had what looked like a remote control box

“Oh shit!”

“I’ll have those, hand them over” Travers held out his hand towards Giles and waggled his fingers for the keys

“YOU AGAIN? Just what does it take to get rid of scum like you” Spike asked

Travers chuckled

“Scum? I’M scum?”

“Glad you agree!” Spike said dryly, folding his arms and leaning back against the wall

“Keys, Rupert, I won’t ask you again”

Outside, Buffy could see a few units of ‘robo-diers’ massing

Angel looked at Buffy, as did Spike, she mouthed the words ‘down in three’

Giles was just about to hand over the bus keys, when Buffy shouted ‘Now!’

Both Angel and Spike ducked, and Buffy roundhoused a kick straight to the new Maggie-bot’s chest, this sent it crashing against Quentin Travers, who stumbled and fell, and much to their surprise, they found out it was the REAL Quentin Travers, and not another robot. Buffy immediately saw the dropped remote control and stomped down hard on it shattering into tiny fragments.

The she quickly grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and hauled him in front of her, telling Spike and Angel to get behind her.

The Maggie-bot couldn’t stand, and was paddling on the spot, firing her laser-eye into the ceiling

“Right, we’re leaving, so you better get your bloody tin-soldiers to stand down, coz if anybody here gets hurt, I’ll let you live just long enough to make you severely regret it, you got that?” Buffy spat out

Travers forced out some strangulated words, and Buffy released the pressure slightly on his neck

“WHAT?”

“They can’t hurt you…they’ve been de-programmed, I bought them here to frighten you”

“Can we just kill him now, babe?”

“Unfortunately not baby, much as I’d like…we don’t kill humans, do we?”

“No...not anymore – well I mean I don’t” Spike did voice the ‘more’s the pity’ he was thinking.

“Just answer me one question Travers, why? Why all this trouble?”

“MIND OUT!” Wesley pushed everyone out of the way as a chunk of ceiling that had given way from being fired on by the Maggie-bot’s laser fell down.

Coughing and choking in the plaster dust, they all went outside, except the Maggie-bot that had been crushed by the falling masonry.

“Command these to go back to where they came from…go on, NOW!”

Buffy forced Travers to face the robo-diers

“Alpha and Beta units, stand down, repeat, stand down”

Suddenly each robot’s head dropped and they noticed it went quiet

“Now mate, you were going to tell us why?”

“Well…to be truthful…we, that is the Watchers council in conjunction with the Initiative don’t think the Chosen Ones are enough anymore…” Travers said

“You ungrateful bastards!” Spike said

“Tell them the rest – go on, because if you don’t, I will” Sam said

Quentin Travers sighed

“Tell us what?” Buffy asked

Sam piped up,

“They knew you’d come, basically it was a trap to get you here too Buffy, they wanted to clone you, to get your super-strength – they’ve tried with the robots, but there’s too much circuitry to go wrong, they only have limited use and have to be programmed and re-programmed all the time – they wanted your DNA to make a race of super breeds. They’ve been doing all sorts of experiments, on demons, the ultra-violet light to dust the vampires was a new invention”

Buffy scowled at Travers and shook him

“Were leaving, NOW, and if I ever, EVER set eyes on you again, it’ll be too soon – now get us out”

Buffy held tightly onto his arm, and Travers did Buffy’s bidding, he didn’t have a choice.

***************


On the freeway back to Sunnydale Buffy chatted to Sam

“So, you said you were separated, I’m sorry to hear that, really”

Sam shrugged

“Riley, well he changed, he isn’t the guy I married – I thought, well hoped that when he’d finished his stint with the army, we could find ourselves a place to live, settle down, start a family…”

“But he didn’t want that?”

Sam shook her head

“He’d not been back from Belize a week, and he was crawling round the apartment like it was a cage, he kept on saying he needed orders, needed a purpose, so he hooked up with the Initiative again, I joined him, thinking he’d get bored – but he’s more engrossed than ever, that was 7 months ago, I left him 3 months ago”

“Right, the airport did you say, Sam?”

“Please…well, it’s been nice to catch up with you, sorry it was in such nasty circumstances”

They said their goodbyes and Giles headed the bus for home.

“Come with me” Spike said, and he gently pulled Buffy to the back seat

“What baby?”

“That bloody lot wanted a piece of you…you’re DNA, well they couldn’t and you know why?”

Buffy smiled and asked why

“Coz you’re 100% mine…c’mere!”

Buffy shrieked and giggled as Spike began to nibble on her neck

“Spike stop – not on the bus, everyone’ll hear us!”

“So – what do you think back seats are for, huh?”

“Not for getting frisky on!”

“Tis!”

“It’s- ooohh – n-not- will you stoppit! Ah, ah, ooooohhhhh”

“Really Spike, do you have to, there’s a time and a place for every-“

“Sod off Wes!”

“Sorry…sorry”


Angel sulked and put on his headphones.

Spike had managed to pull Buffy’s pants down just enough, and he’d freed himself from the confines of his jeans, and closing his eyes and shuddering with ecstasy, he’d sat her on his lap, entering her tight wet heat in one thrust. Buffy went very red, she wanted to cry out how good it felt, but they both had to keep quiet – it was sheer delightful torture! Buffy slowly bobbed up and down, ground her hips into his lap, and clenched her inner muscles until Spike was ready to go off like a cork…it was just then that Giles hit a patch of very bumpy road, sending the couple into a deep orgasm each, but it was almost agonising as they couldn’t cry out!

Buffy moved off him carefully and cleaned up with a wodge of tissues.

“You know what we must do, don’t you?” Buffy whispered to Spike

“It again?” he asked with a wide grin, and Buffy popped him one on the arm

“OW!”

“Serves you right, you randy sod!”

“Are you complaining?”

“Look, we must say thankyou to Angel, for the windows”

“What?”

“The windows, what Wesley sent us!”

“Don’t see why…all he did today was scream and hide behind people like a big girl!”

“Never the less, come on”

Spike’s only saving grace was the fact that sitting by Angel he would be able to smell that they’d just been intimate…

“Angel…Angel…ANGEL!” Buffy poked him in the shoulder

He pulled the earphones off and looked up at Buffy and smiled, until Spike stood right behind her and Angel caught a whiff of their intimacy…

“What?”

“We, that is Spike and I , well, we just wanted to say thankyou – for the windows, it was very generous of you as we know how expensive they were, and we appreciate it, don’t we Spike…Spike?”

“Wha- oh yeah…’preciate mate, yeah”

“Windows? – What windows?”

“The Solar-Gon that Wesley sent us, we know they were expensive, and to do the whole house for us must have cost a fortune – but like I say, we do appreciate it, Spike being able to walk around the house normally in day light”


Angel looked across to where Wesley was sitting and saw him nervously sink lower in his seat

“The WHOLE house did you say?” Angel asked

“Uh huh, every room – including that little garage window – it’s great! – Come on Spike let’s sit, we’re nearly home”

“Wesley…I want a word with you!”

The End