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Sun is shining, the weather is sweet
Make you want to move your dancing feet
To the rescue, here I am
Want you to know ya, where I stand
Bob Marley – Sun is shining
*Sunnydale University campus*
The sun shone bright in the sky, people walked to and fro, and Spike strolled among them with a smile on his face. He wasn’t in a hurry, he wasn’t dodging the harmful rays, or feeling his chest burn from the heat. He’d even left his duster in the caves, and he’d grabbed a white T-shirt emblazoned with a surfing shark from one of the minions instead of his usual black on black. He’d gone as far as to scrub his nail-polish off.
He was doing recon in the heart of the beast—Sunnydale campus—so for his first foray he’d gone for the ‘random student’ look. It wasn’t that he was afraid of the Initiative. Forrest had been armed to the teeth when Spike had turned him. Each and every weapon had been tested on himself, with the Gem protecting him from all but the worst pain, and he’d been healed in an instant. The problem was he was just one. Even with his power and fighting expertise, the soldiers could simply overwhelm him with numbers. What if one of them used his one working neuron and pulled the ring off his finger? No, he couldn’t risk becoming their new pet project. God only knows what the Initiative would make of the Gem of Amara.
Stealthy infiltration was the way to go. The cover for the base was a frat house, which meant they probably had a lot of parties. All Spike had to do was find out when one of those parties was set to take place, show up, and do a bit of snooping.
As per usual with his plans in this town, something happened: he spotted the Slayer before he reached Lowell House. For all he’d sought her out in the beginning of his stay, and for all he’d imagined he’d do as soon as he found her, actually seeing her in front of him—in broad daylight no less—was a shock.
She’d grown up since he’d seen her last. Sure, he hadn’t been paying much attention, and they hadn’t spent much time together, but she looked... good enough to eat. Wonderful, his almost non-existent hunger decided now was the time to make an appearance. Only it wasn’t really hunger, it felt more like something else.
Spike shook his head to scatter the thoughts away. The last thing he needed was to start lusting after some chit he wanted to fight to the death. That would be just wrong.
And stupid.
And bad.
And it sounded just like something he’d do.
He clenched and unclenched his fists, then remembered his go-to distraction and lit a cigarette.
Better.
“So what do you think of our TA in Psych?” The redhead was familiar to Spike, but he couldn’t be bothered to remember her name.
“Who?” The slayer scrunched her nose in a way that was definitely not adorable.
“You know him, Riley. He’s asked me about you, you know.”
Riley… Where did he know that name from? As if a proverbial light bulb switched on, Spike remembered both the name, and his very brief encounter with the sod. He was in command of one of the Initiative death squads. In fact, Forrest had mentioned something about Riley having the hots for the slayer before he dusted. Spike barely contained a snarl as the two girls passed by him.
Wait. They passed by him without giving him a second look. Even if the Slayer had changed in the previous two years, Spike hadn’t, so her not recognizing him was… neat. Insulting, of course, but neat at the same time. He looked down at his shirt. Maybe this whole undercover business could actually work. Huh.
“I don’t know. Isn’t there some law somewhere saying something about dating the faculty staff?” The Slayer sounded less than enthused about the prospect.
The redhead was visibly flustered. “Uh, since when are you all about the rules?”
The Slayer raised an eyebrow. “Since when are you about not?”
The rest of the conversation was lost on Spike as he focused more on the two girls’ body language, combined with trying to keep a low profile, and dodging students who were dashing from one class to the next. Really, what was it with humans and hurrying to and fro?
He stopped following the girls when they went into a coffee shop. What was his play? Go in and start a fight to the death in broad daylight with the Slayer? He wanted it, could almost taste it, but he couldn’t indulge. There was the Initiative to consider. It would be hard to keep a low profile after beating and murdering a coed on top of their base. He snarled and turned away. His score with the Slayer would have to wait until he eliminated the threat to the broader demon population.
He felt like bashing his own head in, he sounded so righteous.
Soon enough he found himself close to Lowell House. There were no flyers posted, nothing to indicate when there would be a party. Not that he expected any signs of one. Nothing was that easy, at least not in this town.
Staring at the frat house was no more helpful than his earlier staring at the coffee shop, so he whirled away once more, this time without a clear destination in mind.
He ended up in a library of all places. He sat down at one of the tables and just breathed the air in. Books, more books, and freshman desperation. He was deep in thought about what he wanted to do next, when a sign caught his eye. Apparently there was a job opening. Not that he would be of any use to anyone while sitting behind the counter of a college library.
But he could do better from a different position.
~~~***~~~
*The Espresso Pump, the next day*
Spike abhorred his uniform. He’d never liked uniforms in general, but the light brown apron was particularly hideous.
It did have its good parts though. One of them was sitting at a table close to the entrance, sipping on her double mocha macchiato through a straw: the Slayer. It was the third time he saw her, and every time he did he couldn’t help noticing she looked so different from the girl he’d first seen. More mature, with more sadness that he could glimpse from time to time, but also more carefree, as opposed to the borderline manic teen he’d helped destroy his great-whatever’s bones.
She was also the reason for the god-awful job. He needed someplace where he could eavesdrop without it being obvious, and when he went out on deliveries he would have the run of the campus, all the while being all but invisible to anyone not waiting for him to serve them.
What Spike hadn’t counted on was overhearing someone being addressed by Riley two tables over from the Slayer. Well, well, well. Spike finished serving his current order and focused on the table with the potential commandoes.
Four young men, well-built, clean-shaven, and with ramrod straight backs were talking together in hushed tones. Bingo.
“I’ve had enough of this frigging heat. I’d like to go somewhere on the Great Lakes for a change.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean.” The lug threw a glance towards the Slayer’s table. “Though this place isn’t without its merits.”
The previous speaker bumped shoulders with the second. “You should forget about it. If Maggie has us running around as she’s been doing lately, you won’t have time to chase a skirt.”
Another guy chuckled. “And if we don’t manage to bring any more animals for her zoo, she’ll have our hide, or the unit will disband.”
The first speaker tapped the back of his hand to the third’s arm. “And that’s why we were talking about where we would like to be reassigned. Where were you a minute ago? Riley, tell them what you told me.”
The second speaker—Riley—cleared his throat. “Yeah, so it seems there’s some pressure from the higher-ups about results. No hostiles, no results, so no base.” He shrugged. “Or that’s how I heard it.”
The third grinned all of a sudden and rose from the table. “Sorry, but there’s this girl giving me the ‘come here’ look.” He got up from the table and spoke louder than before. “Later guys.” He then made a beeline for the table in the corner, where there was indeed a woman smiling at him.
The rest of the conversation was irrelevant to Spike, centering more on various conquests the third guy had managed, and more speculation about the best possible reassignment.
So if the vampire and demon population managed to stay indoors long enough, the Initiative would be a problem that solved itself. Spike grinned as he served the rest of the customers. Things were looking up.
~~~***~~~
*Oz’s hide-away crypt*
Willow had just finished putting the padlock on Oz’s cage to keep him safe during the full moon transformation in a werewolf when there was a noise outside.
Willow turned to him. “Are you waiting for someone?”
Oz gestured to the bars. “Not tonight.”
“Oh. Right.” She started toward the door when it banged open and three black-clad figures burst in.
One of them started talking while holding a hand to his ear. “We have two suspects, normal heat signatures, but one is in a cage. Protocol?” He seemed to be listening to someone as he kept nodding from time to time.
“Um, hello. What can we help you guys with?” Willow pointed at the Tazers the men were holding up. “And could we please do this without weapons?”
The presumptive leader answered her. “Why are you in a crypt, in a cemetery, at night, and why are you holding the male captive?”
Willow was outraged. “I’m not holding him captive.”
The guy pointed to her hand. “Aren’t those the keys to the padlock on the bars?”
She looked at her hand for a second. “Oh. Ups. Can we go with: it’s not what it looks like?”
Oz whispered low enough so the newcomers couldn’t hear him. “Babe? Moon.”
Oh no. She needed to get everyone out before Oz transformed into the wolf and she wouldn’t be able to explain what happened. “Could we take this conversation outside?”
“I think we should take this someplace else, you’re right.” He turned to his men and made a signal with his head. “There’s something very strange here and we need answers, so we’re taking them with.”
The guy on the left grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like ‘and we need to bring in more hostiles.’
“Really, guys, we’re fine, you don’t need to accompany us anywhere.”
“I insist. Get him out of that cage.”
Willow spread her arms out and tried to cover the cage behind her. “No. You don’t know what’s going on here. You should just leave us alone.”
One of the masked men snorted as they converged on her. For the second time, the door was wrenched open and some more people walked in just as one of the initial intruders had grabbed Willow’s hand in a painful grip.
What followed was chaos. Willow heard herself scream, but she couldn’t stop for the life of her. Oz had started morphing behind her, so he was whimpering and growling. The ninja-wannabes were fighting off the newcomers, who turned out to be two vampires and two other demons Willow couldn’t remember the names of at the moment. The fight was short, brutal, and it ended with one dusted vampire, the other unconscious, and the two demons limping out while carrying the vampire between them. The three masked men, on the other hand, were all dead, two of them with broken necks, and the third with his brains splattered across one of the crypt walls. Willow was still screaming.
Just before the demons walked out, one of them turned and grunted. “You’re welcome, witch.”
Willow made to take a step back, only for werewolf-Oz to take a swipe at her. She curled up in a corner as far from both the cage, and the dead bodies, and wept.
There was a noise coming from the body of the dead leader that broke through the sounds of her sobs and Oz’s howling.
She really didn’t want to, but she crawled closer to the carnage.
“Team 3, come in. What’s happening? Did you apprehend the hostiles?”
Not good. Totally of the bad. Willow glanced once more at the prowling Oz. She needed to get Buffy. Buffy would know what to do about this. Willow needed help before whomever the people the intruders were talking to decided to come and see what happened to their friends.
Still on shaky legs, Willow stumbled out of the crypt and rushed to find the Slayer.
~~~***~~~
*Spike’s cave headquarters, later that night*
“You did what?”
“Struck back for once.” The Kris’nick demon raised his head in defiance. “And we even brought back your minion.”
Spike looked the speaker up and down. “You’re bleeding like a sieve, your friend over there is three minutes away from the big Hellmouth in the sky, or whatever it is you lot go to after you die.” He sighed. “And you got one of my best fighters killed, while letting the bloody army know we can fight back.”
“Maybe if they lose enough men, they’ll lose interest and leave us alone.”
“The Japanese tried that tactic in World War Two, and got a couple of nukes dropped on their heads for their troubles.”
The Kris’nick furrowed his brows. “You are worried they will nuke Sunnydale?”
Spike snarled. “No, I’m not worried about the army nuking an American town, what I am worried about is them bringing in the big guns, declaring this place some sort of contaminated area, and wiping us out.”
There were gasps from around the cave, where Spike’s minions were listening in. One of them murmured “They can do that?”
Spike took a step forward and raised his voice. “You lot think this is a game? We’re fighting the Nazi inspired part of the US Army. Don’t underestimate the bastards, and don’t take them on until we’re ready.” He ran a hand through his hair. “We had a plan. Hell, we had several. We were going to let them think the Hellmouth was empty of demons.” He pointed at the Kris’nick. “You lot just made sure they won’t go away. Leave no man behind, and all that rot. They just lost a team after weeks of almost no contact. They will send everything they have to try to root out who did it. They’ll send for reinforcements.”
“So by killing the soldiers they did something wrong, Master?” Spike saw he was one of Sunday’s gang. With such a brain trust to work with it was no wonder the late would-be Mistress never had the balls to take on the Slayer.
“It sure didn’t bloody well help.”
“Didn’t you kill and turn one of them?” The Kris’nick was looking at him with superiority.
“I didn’t know what we were up against then, did I? We needed information, and I got it. Had I known then what I do now, I never would’ve touched the annoying bugger.”
He looked down at his hands. The gem was glinting in the torchlight and Spike had a brief image of Angelus wearing it while he bathed the world in blood. Such was the stuff of nightmares. He raised his gaze and made eye contact, one after the other, with almost everyone present. This was his army.
He realized with a start that, despite the grumblings and stupid questions, they all trusted him to make the decisions. In his hundred years plus with Dru he’d never had someone look at him with such trust. If he were to do a bit of introspection, he’d probably find that it was one of the reasons he’d abandoned his initial plan of ‘make the Slayer dead,’ rinse, repeat.
Of course he’d had minions before, he’d even led a nest or two over the years, but it was always a temporary gig, dependent on Dru’ whims and needs. Nothing compared to what he had now, though: a group of vampires and even some demons ready to take orders from him, ready to die for a cause.
He had a cause. The thought almost made him snort. In all his life, and even more so in his unlife, there never had been a cause. He’d had goals. Take care of Mum, try to win over Cecily, make Dru happy, make Angelus proud, and of course: make Dru happy.
Yet here he was: the rebel with a following. He grinned. He’d rewrite the book on the Helmouth.
“Right, mates, new plan, listen up: it’s time we struck back. The time for hiding is over. We’ll have two teams: one will hunt the bloody wankers—don’t let them rest a second; the second team will have to get captured. We need men on the inside so that when we attack, we blow the place up from both sides. It’s going to be delicious.”

Sun Is Shining lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.





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