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~*~
Chapter 6
~*~

Spike awoke in total darkness. For a moment, his memory flashed back to when he’d first risen in his coffin as a vampire. The memory caused panic to flood his mind and he struggled to move his hands to claw his way out. His limbs wouldn’t cooperate, however, and the panic began to increase with each struggling movement. The last memory he had was of that wanker, Finn, and a taser. What did the bastard do, break his bones and bury him?

Collecting himself, Spike stopped breathing and listened to try to discover as much as he could about his circumstances. He could hear voices talking all at once. "Well, then, seems I’m above ground at least", he thought to himself.

"……told you it wouldn’t be a problem. I knew he’d be drunk. Predictable Spike, gets his toys taken away and crawls into a bottle". Definitely the wanker speaking there..

"Still, Ri, you should have had backup. He may be chipped, but he’s still strong enough to cause trouble. I would have been more than happy to come along. Could
have gotten a few licks in myself in mother’s honor, too". The second voice was feminine and completely unfamiliar.

"If you two will just stop with the water under the bridge, we can load this thing up for transport. The docs will be waiting to get busy on him and we are wasting
time here rehashing the decisions of the past", added another, also unknown, male voice.

"THIS Doc would like to know why there does not seem to be any place for me in this helicopter. You promised that I would be there to see him get what’s coming to him", said yet a third male. This voice sounded vaguely familiar to Spike, although he couldn’t place it. The sound of it managed to ring warning bells in his mind, however, and he was sure that the memory tickling his consciousness was not going to be a good one where this blighter was concerned.

"Yes, well, you’ve been of great help. But you see, you are a demon and we kill demons", Finn said matter of factly.

Spike heard much shouting and scuffling. Then whatever he was encased in was knocked about and finally toppled over, setting Spike ass over teakettle in a headstand.

Outside, Spike could still hear the sounds of a struggle.

"Watch his tongue, Ri", warned the female.

"Get the taser, damn it. Hit him!", yelled Finn.

The struggle continued for some time until suddenly everything grew quiet. Spike felt quite forgotten and was beginning to get a headache from the blood rushing to
his brain.

"You okay?" The female’s voice sounded concerned.

"Yeah, bastard was hard to kill. Wonder what kind of demon he was anyway?. Maybe we should take the body with us so the docs can check it out", speculated Finn.
"He had some fancy moves for a little old guy though."

Spike suddenly had a vision of a tower, his Bit bleeding and a demon wizard that seemed impossible to kill. "That was the face that went with the voice", Spike realized with a shudder. He’d just bet the old sod wasn’t really dead either. And no way did Spike want to stick around for the encore.

"Hey, you bloody wankers, let me out of this box before I rip my way out and disembowel all of you", Spike yelled from his position upside down in the box.

"Not likely, Bleach Boy. You’re going on a little trip and need to be safely strapped in. We’ll let you out in good time. Welcome back, Hostile 17".

Being called by that name caused chills to run down Spike’s spine. He had the feeling things were rapidly going from bad to worse and he’d better get his
mind working in top order as fast as possible.

The trip was uncomfortable and noisy. It had not been possible to tell anything about the direction they were going or make out any of the conversations. Spike used the time to try to break the bonds that held his arms and legs tightly. If he could just break through, he’d give them a surprise greeting when they opened the box and make his move to freedom while he had half a chance.

Judging by Soldier Boy calling him Hostile 17 and the talk of docs wanting a looky-see at ol’ Spike, it didn’t seem like any party he was wanting to attend any time soon.

Spike was going to have to act quickly if he was going to break away. Where there was one wanker in camo, there was likely to be plenty more. Best be long gone before the reinforcements had any chance of stopping him.

He wondered briefly if Buffy had even noticed he was gone and if she’d even cared enough to find that the crypt was empty. His silent questions were answered when Finn leaned close to the seam in the box to tell Spike that everything had been given Buffy’s seal of approval.

Spike refused to believe the Slayer would be party to his kidnapping, but Finn kept on with the story he was spinning to his captive audience.

"Yup, she didn’t want to help out. Said it wouldn’t feel right after sleeping with you and all, but Buffy knew. I told her that you had to be taken down after the whole demon egg gig. She believed, of course, that you were selling them as weapons. It was great, Spike, she never once questioned me or any of the facts I gave her! See the advantages of being a human being, of having a soul. Gives that edge of credibility. Now you…well, vampires are notorious liars, Spike. If it makes you feel any better, she wasn’t happy about it, but knew you had to be dusted.
I think she was just glad that she didn’t have to be the one to do it. Awkward end to an affair that way, you know. Buffy just seemed more embarrassed than anything else, I guess".

"So, how did it feel to be Angel’s substitute, Spike?" Riley continued his taunting, savoring every harsh word. "Did it drive you crazy to watch her close her eyes and
turn her head? Did she tell you to ‘shut up’ so she could live a fantasy, dream of being held in HIS cold arms? Or, did she try to warm your skin up a bit to pretend you were a real boy? How was it, Spike? Was it worth it….being convenient? What was it you said to me? Something about having her, yet not having her I think it was". Finn’s guesses were far too close to reality for Spike to totally dismiss.

"I’m going to enjoy our time together, Spike. I’ve got lots of plans for your entertainment. I can promise that I plan to leave you screaming. Of course the doctors have to do their bit first….a bit of vivisection and poke ‘n’prod I’m guessing. Still, there’ll be plenty of you left for me to play with for a while, ‘til I get bored and send what’s left of you to hell", he threatened.

Spike believed the part about Finn’s plans for him, but he could only hope the part about Buffy knowing had been a lie.

All the years they had danced their dance, she had never truly, wholeheartedly attempted to dust him. If that was what she wanted now, he’d rather be dust anyway.

Still, being dusted and being a toy for a sadist wasn’t the same thing. Spike wasn’t going to go down without a fight. He had plenty of experience, thanks to his early days with Angelus, to fall back on. There wasn’t much they could do to him that he hadn’t already survived. Okay, the threat of vivisection was new, but Spike felt he’d be up to the challenge when he had to be. He might be down, but he was far from dust.



~*~
Chapter 7
~*~

Among the papers Buffy had taken from the abandoned Nerd Central were notes on a planned robbery. The trio of tricksters had carelessly left all the necessary information for someone to find and figure out the planned time and place.

Their intended target was an armored car that would be carrying the profits from
an amusement park. The trio of criminals had not expected Buffy to survive the lame yet effective buzz saw that had booby-trapped their lair but only done
minor damage to Buffy’s coat.

The Scoobies made plans to stop the robbery and arrange for the police to come at the proper time. This would allow Buffy to handle any supernatural elements of the plan without having to make up some unbelievable story for the authorities. Of course, the Sunnydale police seemed to have a limitless capacity when belief needed to be suspended and wild excuses accepted.

The police were the only choice left to the band of heroes since the trio were all human. Giles had stressed that they had to rely on human justice provisions for dealing with human malefactors.

The Scoobies’ plan was simple. Buffy would take them on physically, as usual.
Willow planned to ward off any magic spells Jonathan might try to cast by using a talisman made and blessed by Tara. Xander and Giles would play backup, helping if needed and making the phone call to the police at the right time. Tara would stay at the Summers house chanting protection spells for the Scoobies against any demons the trio might try to summon.

Actually, Willow was only going along because she had begged to be allowed to be there to finally put an end to the irritating group of geeks. It was obvious from
the way she had said their names that she felt the same disappointment in Jonathan as Xander and Buffy did. They had gone to school with the boy and would never
have expected him to choose the dark side.

Willow had been in a magic group with him in High School. Now, she was planning to be there to see him jailed for the rest of his youth. They had much in common, two "geeks" playing with magic to puff themselves up.

Buffy remembered her treasured parasol award that Jonathan had presented to her at the prom for being the "Class Protector". She recalled the scared, hurt boy she had talked out of suicide once upon a time. She wondered when he had gone so far off course. They had much in common, young people overwhelmed with feelings and self
destructive behavior, drifting off course.

Had Jonathan turned to them for help he would have found eager assistance. Instead, tonight would be his last night of freedom in the foreseeable future. Sad really, but necessary. Their crimes were getting more and more bold and people were getting hurt; a girl had been killed.

The Gang arrived at just the right time. The robbery was already in progress.
Buffy attempted to stop the tallest of the trio, but to no avail. Warren, clearly
the leader of the trio, was mysteriously showing signs of superhuman strength! What was happening here?

The other two boys held themselves back from the fight. They looked nervously at one another. While Andrew called words of encouragement to Warren, Jonathan kept calling out something about "the orbs" and pointing at Warren.

Buffy finally understood that Jonathan was trying to help. She saw a bulge in the pocket of her opponent and broke what proved to be mystically powered orbs. The
fight was soon over as Warren returned to normal human strength.

Willow saw Warren strip off his jacket and expose a weird sci fi style rocket strapped to his back. She lunged at him just as he pulled the cord and they
both shot skyward.

Andrew was attempting the same getaway only to knock himself unconscious as his head hit the roof he had been standing under while the fight had been going on.

Warren and Willow were barely visible as the wannabe bandit struggled to shake off the unwelcome passenger on his odd mode of escape. Finally, he kicked Willow forcefully in the face, knocking her loose and sending her plummeting. She landed in a broken heap on the ground.

Giles had already telephoned the police to pick up the other two misfit miscreants. Buffy had even tied them together so they would be a nicely wrapped package for the usually inept keepers of the law on the hellmouth. Christmas was coming early this year for Sunnydale’s "finest".

Both Giles and Buffy ran to the spot where Willow’s unconscious body now lay, but Xander beat both of them to his fallen friend. "Oh, God, Will, NO! No, you can’t leave me. Willow, don’t leave me. I can’t bury another friend". He kept murmuring softly, words that begged his oldest friend to fight, to stay in the world with him.
He reminded her of Tara and how they were so close to getting back together and that Willow couldn’t do to Tara what he had done to Anya, leaving her alone and grieving. Xander rocked back and forth in his misery, tears streaming down his face, splashing on the battered friend he cradled gently in his arms.

Giles felt himself sicken as he saw Willow’s broken body looking so much like Buffy’s had after her leap from the tower. He quickly checked her vital signs and issued a sigh of relief that Willow was alive--badly hurt, broken and unconscious, but still alive.

Buffy had already pulled out her cell phone and called for an ambulance. As soon as she finished that call, she made another call to Tara to let her know that
Willow needed her and that she should get to the hospital as quickly as possible.

"Yeah, Tara, the keys to mom’s Jeep are on the front table. We’ll meet you there", Buffy promised "Um, I don’t know, she’s kind of unconscious and the paramedics aren’t here yet. Yes, Giles checked. Tara, I don’t know, just get there, okay?" That done, she pocketed the cell phone and headed over to Xander. He appeared as broken in spirit as their friend was in body.

"Xan, she’ll be okay, she’ll be fine. The doctors are great and she’s so strong. Tara’s going to meet us there and you know how strong they are together. Please don’t fall apart on me, Xander. I need you to be 'Strong XanMan' now and so does Willow. You and Giles need to stay here and handle the cops and the ambulance. I’ll meet you at the hospital as soon as I finish this", Buffy pledged. "I’m not good with words, you know that. Give me something pointy and I’m your girl"..

Buffy looked over where she had left the other two criminals and threw her shoulders back, putting a look of determination on her face. She marched over to Andrew and Jonathan and the look she gave them chilled their blood. "Okay, which one of you is going to be smart and tell me where your buddy is, cause I promise you I AM going to get one of you to tell me", she said in a steely voice.

Jonathan had already given up all hope of any happy ending for himself or his two former friends and was more than happy to sic Buffy on Warren.

"You shouldn’t have told her, you butt wipe", whined Andrew. "Warren would have gotten us out of this. We would all be in ‘Meh-he-co’ by tomorrow. We still had
some money from the bank robbery. We could have gone to Brazil like Butch and Sundance and lived like kings".

"Sure, nimrod, and THEY had a real happy ending too, didn’t they? Gunned down in some little Brazilian town by federales. I’d rather live, thank you. The Slayer would have taken us apart if we hadn’t talked. At least we have a chance to get out of prison in a few years with all of our parts intact", Jonathan replied.

"Besides, I like Willow". Jonathan sounded strangely like a lost little boy. I don’t want Warren to get away with killing another woman. That’s not what I signed on for. And, weenie, if you think Warren is going to even THINK about you, you’re deluded. He’s not picturing himself giving you rides on bicycles singing ‘Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head’ someplace south of the border".

Buffy had taken off at a run in the direction Jonathan had given her. She had a purpose now and it was one she was good at. Warren was toast. Buffy only hoped he’d try to fight a bit. She might not be able to kill a human, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t play a short game of ‘whack the mole’ if he started it. And oh, how she hoped he would start it!





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