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Author's Chapter Notes:
Happy Super Bowl all! Sorry for the delay, I promise I'll try and church these out faster! In the mean time enjoy!
Chapter Five - Game Plan “Already told you watcher, jr.” Spike said leaning back in his chair as Buffy threw her arms around Wes. “That slayer you’re looking for is Buffy. He didn’t believe me, pet.”

Buffy’s bear hug was so severe Wesley had to wheeze his complaints. Spike looked on indulgently but after a few frantic gestures from the former watcher, he had to remind Buffy that Wesley was human and therefore needed to breathe.

“Wesley! What are you doing here?” she demanded, overjoyed to see someone from her past life, her real life in front of her. “I heard you were fighting baddies in LA!”

“I was. I am.” the older man said dazedly. “Until I got a call from an old friend. I must say when I was told we were looking for a slayer I never dared to believe it was you I was searching for.”

“You thought I was dead.” It wasn’t a question. Spike put down the mug of blood he was holding and stood behind Buffy silently offering his support.

Wesley eyed him suspiciously. “Well, the evidence was compelling. They found—”

He felt the slayer tense and immediately held up a hand..

“Maybe gloss over the details a bit, yeah?” He said with a nod.

Wesley nodded quickly and looked contrite.

“But I’m incredibly happy to see you, Buffy.” Wesley was a little ashamed of his own insensitivity.It had been a very strange day, finding himself face to face with William the Bloody and then turning around to see the slayer he had just been informed was dead, was not dead. But running around England with Spike. He wasn't sure what he had expected to find in the little flat,but this wasn't it. He decided not to ask Buffy why she was currently cohabiting with a brutal master vampire capable of untold mayhem. Oddly enough, that fact was not the strangest thing he’d seen today. William the Bloody fixing tea while he heated up blood was. .

“They made it look like I was dead.” Buffy said grimly. Her tone snapped the watcher out of his musings. She was addressing Spike, her expression showed equal parts anger, determination and terror. “They were able to make take us, fake our deaths and play operation and we still don’t know who they are!”

“That’s why the watcher is here, pet.”

Buffy turned so fast a human might have injured something.

“You know who they are?”

“Well, not personally.” He said he gestured to the man he had brought with him.

“As I said, I got a call from an old friend. He was the one who told me about the Genesis Project.”

Spike frowned at the name, but Buffy was all business. She turned her accusing eyes on the younger darker man in the room. He fidgeted a little under her gaze.

“My name is Devraj Prasad.”

She studied the man, who stood and shook her head. He looked South Asian but spoke with perfect Oxford English. He was younger than Wesley, maybe a year or two older than her. He had a thin long face, a tuft of black hair, and a wafer thin lap top.

“As I was saying,” He continued. “I was on track to be a watcher—or rather I was until the Genesis Project killed my father.”

“The who with the what now?”

Devraj turned the lap top to face Buffy. It was playing a slideshow of photos one was of a middle aged man; balding with glasses, next to him was a severe looking woman in her mid-forties. The sent and involuntary shiver down her spine. Even minus the blue gloves Buffy would remember her for the rest of her life. At the back of her mind she knew Wes was talking. He was telling her about his connection to the whole thing but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the face of the woman on the lap top.

Spike noticed the involuntary terror that had seized the slayer. He couldn’t think of a good way to comfort her, not with these new people here. He opted to maybe distract her for a moment.

“Like the hair, love.”

That seemed to snap her out of the memories. She smiled proudly. “I watch spy movies!”

“Not sure how effective that is going to be.” Spike said.

“I was blonde. I’m not anymore.” She replied defensively. “It might count for something."

“I think it looks good!” Devraj volunteered from his post, he got weird looks from the two super-beings for his trouble and he awkwardly went back to his computer.

“I can’t tell you how good it is to see you Buffy.” Wesley said with a smile. “Brunette or otherwise.”

“You look good too, Wes.” She replied ruefully. She gave him a once over. “Much less like I could rip you in half. I thought you were a rogue demon hunter?”

Next to her Spike snorted earning him an annoyed look from the former watcher.

“Right, no. That was a misguided phase.” He said trying to down play the blush creeping up his neck. “Now a days I work with Angel actually.”

“Angel?”

“Listen, I hate to interrupt.” Interrupted Devraj. “But I am not sure how much time we have. And this is not a short story, I’m afraid.”

“Of course.” Wes replied. “Buffy, Raj has some information that I think you will find quite interesting.”

“Okay,” Buffy said. “We’ll do the reunion thing later.” She turned her attention back to Raj. “So what’s the skinny?”

Raj studied the two superbeings closely, especially the slayer. He had heard so much about her. She looked like a slip of a girl, but even after everything she had been though she was still every little bit the trouble maker that the Watcher’s council made her out to be. Raj felt like he was defending his dissertation again. And he was failing. He cleared his throat, feeling the need to straighten his spine and get on with it. In the last few seconds he had seen this woman go from being visually terrified to beaming pride to defensive to slayer, and she did so at a dizzying pace. Any reservations he may have had that this spitfire of a girl was the key to avenging his father and bringing down Genesis faded.

“My father is-was-Ravi Prasad. He- He was a good man. Had wanted to become a doctor, but the watcher’s council has been a part of our family and upbringing for generations. He did go to medical school and began studying the science of the supernatural. He was dispatched to Germany to check a spike in paranormal activity he was their medic. The people they had come to observe knew they were coming. My father survived. He warned me against the council. He told me that Genesis had them. At the time I did not know who the Genesis was. He returned to the house only to take some personal belongings.” Raj didn’t let his breath hitch but he chanced a glance at Wes, someone he had always considered a big brother. “When I found him, they had ripped-nevermind. I’ll spare you the details, but he managed to hide some of his papers in a place only I knew to look for them. Clandestine hiding spots are rather a standard operating procedure in a watcher’s house. The report of the German incident was there along with a hastily scribbled note telling me there was a traitor in the watcher’s council—That they had tried to recruit him. They said his expertise was necessary. From the name I was given, I tracked their activities to the factory in Newcastle. Those people who had kept you in captivity, we are as of yet unsure of their leadership but we do know that they have been responsible for a good amount of kidnappings over the last year.”

Neither vampire nor slayer had relaxed.

“It was I who shut down the power the night I believe you escaped. I called Wes as soon as my father died. He’s been helping me gather some intelligence about Genesis. We meant only to do so momentarily so I could introduce a Trojan,” At their blank looks Raj continued. “It’s a kind of computer virus. I meant the disruption only to be a flicker of the lights but something blew and we had to get out of there. I didn’t know that they had you until I heard their wet works crew discussing the slayer. I jammed their tracking signals, but by the time we made it to your location you had gone and their team had destroyed your hotel room. And you are not easy people to find.”

Spike smirked.

“S’standard operating procedure.” He said. “How’d you finally manage it then?"

“I tried.” He mumbled. Next to him Wes grinned triumphantly.

“That was leg work on my part.” He said. “You two have created quite the disturbance in demon circles trapezing around cemeteries and chatting about the slayer.“ He was quick, however, to respond to Buffy’s stricken look “thankfully, I doubt your pursuers would be well versed in the London Undergound.”

“I thought the Undergound was the subway.”

“Er yes, but in this case The Underground is what the Watcher’s paper pushers call demon circles. Not in the least because most of the establishments are in fact underground.”

Buffy shrugged. “So, So we weren’t keeping the lowest profile, but we’re leaving soon. Right Spike?”

“Right.” The vampire answered her, but his eyes were on the former watcher. Clearly he wasn’t focused on their slapdash plans. “Oxford, You’re here for a reason, yeah? Not just bending our ears about some story of who’s followin’ us. What did you have in mind?”

Wesley studied Spike intently. Angel had told him stories of the bleached blond vamp, that he was brutal, effective and brash. The man in question however was neither bleached blond nor the brute Angel and Cordy’s stories made him out to be. Although he could believe the brutal part.

“I came at Raj’s behest. When he told me about his father things got a little more personal. We went to Newcastle we were looking for “the package” it must be their version of the Holy Grail. Or at least that’s what their intercepted communiqués are saying.” He explained. “Now all that chatter has changed. It seems The Package they were talking about is in Germany but now they intend to move it. While the lights were out, Raj downloaded as many files as he could onto his machine. It’s a lot to wade through, but some of the digital communication has indicated the Package is there now. I think it’s imperative that we found out what it so precious to them. Maybe we can surmise their motives and leadership from there.” He leaned forward in his seat steepling his fingers in front of his face. “I had thought that you would welcome the chance to sabotage Genesis’s plans in anyway. I don’t know what the package is. But we cannot let them get their hands on it. From what they are saying, it would be providing them with immeasurable power.” He paused. He had thought both vampire and slayer would be gunning to get back at the people, who had them, but Buffy had gone white as a sheet and Spike kept glancing at her and fidgeting. Whatever Genesis had done it must have been worse than he had ever thought. Wesley pushed down his own concern and tried to ignore the bubble of hatred he already had for Genesis and their goons. “I understand that you’ve been through quite an ordeal. I assumed you would want to do something about it. We’re old hat at this, Buffy, we’ve been in danger before, I’ve seen you deal with the end of the world. Raj and I know how their systems work and have inroads in their operations. We simply aren’t suited to the actual infiltration. It exploded in our face the last time that we tried.”

The silence was broken by a chirp of a cell phone. Raj quickly checked his phone and grimaced.

“We have a slight problem.” He announced. “The Gen Techs have figured out where I am. There’s noise on all channels about infiltration and finding me. If they get on it they’ll track my phone to this address, I would set up a remote server but I need my stuff at home for that.” He snapped the lap top shut. “I have the details of the arrival of their “Package” but to access them I need my desktop. They’ve got my number and they’re going to send a wet works team, though. I’m sure of it.”

Buffy frowned. “Can you track them on that thingy?”

“If they are using frequency comms yes. Mobile phones no.” he said. “I’ve got the scanner set up on my mobile but there’s no wireless here so I can’t connect.”

“Right, well” Wes said clearing his throat “As much as I would like to give you time to think this over, we have to get moving. I suppose we could find a blanket for--”

“Please.” Spike replied with an eye roll. “The street outside the place’s been in the shadow since noon. S’why there are so many vamps in London little streets means it’s easy to get around. Weather permitting.”

Wesley smiled, he’d never known Angel to move about in daylight. Usually the 250 year old vampire liked to keep to the sewers or just get around at night. Angel was not one to be resourceful about his limitations Spike’s problem solving was a welcome change.

“Well, its’ dripping now.” He said. “Which means we can take the car. Shall we?”

Buffy glanced at Spike in askance. Spike nodded once. They had not had much of a plan. With Wes and his friend they could find out a little bit more on that Genesis project who had them and then blow off the brothers and wreak some havoc. But Buffy still wanted to be sure Spike was in. He shrugged into his duster. Survival mode meant that all the important things were close at hand at all times. Buffy took a little time to run upstairs and throw her meager belongings into a pillow case before they were heading out the door. Wes was saying something about the black car on the corner being their ride.

“Six minutes out.” Raj warned. Pushing the group a little faster. Buffy heard Spike mutter a curse and push past Wes to reach the small black car ahead of them. The vampire got in behind the wheel. Wes, to his credit didn’t even check his pocket and slid into the front seat while Buffy and Harry got into the back.
“You don’t think they’ll find it suspect that some car is pealing out of dodge right when they are arriving?”

“Basic strategy, watcher-boy.” Spike said maneuvering out of the parking spot with one hand. ”If your enemies know where you are then don’t be there. It doesn’t matter how many of them there are. They’ll be more than us.”

“Can you monitor them from anywhere?” Buffy asked Raj. Having technology was new to her, The Scooby gang had always depended on Giles’s library more than anything else—except for that one time with the rocket launcher. She had no idea what the limits were, but she was starting to see some of the benefits of it.

Raj shook his head. “Not with this level of equipment, unfortunately. Sorry.”

“But they can find you?”

“No, they found out I was downloading form their closed network so they know this computer’s-er-signature for lack of a better term.” Raj replied sharply. “I shut it down but they know that I was at your apartment so they’ll send someone here—they don’t know whoose apartment this is. I don’t know if they can track me while I’m moving, but I can’t use this mobile as a link anymore. Dammit! I’m sorry! I had a breakthrough this morning and must not have covered my tracks properly!”

Wes shook his head.

“It’s alright, Devraj.” He said taking care to be sure Raj calmed down. “We didn’t expect to have that advantage.”

Spike snorted. He made a few sudden turns some without signaling, but always kept his driving as inconspicuous as he could. After a few moments the rest of the car started to pay attention.

“At some point, Oxford, you are going to have to tell me where to head.”

“Where are we?” asked Wes.

“That’s comforting,” Buffy teased, trying to lighten the mood. “Aren’t you supposed to be knowledge man? I don’t want to be depending on Spike.”

Wesley was still studying his surrounding when he addressed her problem. “I don’t know this part of London very well. But it doesn’t matter. “We have to get out of the city. I’ve holed up in Hampstead Heath. We should stop for provisions and then we intercept The Package.”

“And where are we going to do that?” Asked Buffy as Spike turned onto a highway. Buffy tried not to watch, it was unsettling to have the cars coming in the wrong direction.

“Germany.”


Chapter End Notes:
I could actually use a little help with 2000 era tech jargon so if anyone wants to PM with any mistakes I make and I can adjust accordingly.



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