Bewitched, Chapter 33/37
Feb. 28th, 2010 08:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thismazBusy weekend. I'll reply to comments on my previous posts as soon as I can.
Title: Bewitched, Chapter 33/37
Pairing: S/X
Rating: Overall NC-17
Summary: Valentine's Day arrived and Dru dipped her finger in the brew, giving it a stir. That was two years ago and the fall-out is still falling.
Word Count: 5,165
Betaed by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sparrow2000 and DJ, for which, many thanks. Thanks also to Sparrow for conflabbing on plot twists and forms.
Comments: Are greatly appreciated, loved and cherished.
Disclaimer: here.
The prologue is here, with a link to the other chapters, or you can find the whole thing, in reverse order, in tags, or in the correct order, in memories. There's a menu of links on the right hand side of my main journal page.
If you were reading this story before it went on hiatus, after chapter 27, there is a recap post here with a link to chapter 28 and all chapters following.
Many thanks tokatekat1010 for the original manip which you can find here.
Chapter 33
Xander was rudely woken by Willow bursting into the room. "Xander, Xander, sorry to wake you, but-" He raised his head from his pillow and peered over Spike's shoulder. Willow was standing frozen in the doorway, her hand still on the knob. "Oh my God!" she gasped and turning towards the hallway shouted, "Giles!"
Giles replied. He sounded like he'd been in the living room, but he was already getting nearer. "What is it?"
It was probably the alarm in his voice that shocked Willow out of her immobility. "Oh my god," she gasped again, in a totally different voice, "Giles!" Spinning on the spot, she stood in the doorway and Xander thought she was hoping to physically block Giles from seeing past her. "Uh, nothing. I, uh, I was just, I mean, I've called Xander and, and I think we should go back in case they've got any more news, don't you? We should wake Buffy, too."
Xander released Spike and rolled over to his side of the bed. He sat up, swung his legs out and leaned down, searching for his boxers on the floor. Spike followed him and curled up around his back, but didn't appear to wake. Giles' voice sounded more clearly from the doorway. "Yes, certainly, but you wouldn't have called me if-" He broke off abruptly. "Oh! Okay, yes, quite," he said. Xander resisted the urge to turn around and when Giles spoke again his voice was deliberately, and obviously, casual. "Xander, the local news has just been on and we feel it might be important. Where do you keep your teabags?"
"Cupboard above the drainer," Xander replied, dragging his jeans up his legs. He needed a shower, but he needed his armour more. When he stood up and turned around the doorway was empty.
Breathing a sigh of relief for the reprieve, he picked up his dirty t-shirt, pulled it on and went to dig clean clothes out of the dresser. He took his time searching for a clean t-shirt, until he had to face the fact that he was prevaricating. With a sigh he gathered his clean clothes to his chest and, pausing only to hang them over the rail in the bathroom, padded through to the living room.
Giles and Willow broke off their conversation when he appeared, but he simply nodded to them as he passed and went into the kitchen. Pulling tea, coffee and breakfast cereals out of their respective cupboards and milk from the fridge, he put them out on the table. "Help yourselves," he said. "I'm taking a shower before I talk to anyone." As he walked back past Willow, he offered her a smile that he hoped was reassuring and got a watery grimace in return. He kept walking. "And if you feel like making an extra, giant pot of coffee, I'll be forever in your debt," he added over his shoulder.
He was tempted to stay in the shower for an hour, but it was an impractical plan - no matter what else was going on, they'd still be there with their questions when he came out and he knew it. If it was any one of them, he guessed he'd be the same. He felt a brief stab of anger directed at Spike for the fact that he got to sleep through it all, but if the up-coming inquisition turned homicidal it was maybe as well Spike wasn't there - a staking couldn't be taken back.
Leaving the safety of the bathroom, he took a deep breath and went to face his doom.
The sound of a female voice alerted him to the fact that Buffy was awake and up, and he hesitated on the threshold. "...heard what you said," she was saying, "but... I mean-" She was interrupted by something from Willow that Xander couldn't make out. "I know," she replied. "And I'm not saying that."
Xander thought he should probably feel bad about eaves-dropping, but he didn't. This was a case where the end justified the means and he needed to know what he was up against. Although he couldn't hear what Willow was saying, he was grateful for the fact that she didn't seem to be crying.
"No," Buffy said. "I know that. I'm just saying that he's neutered, so he can't hurt-" Willow interrupted her with something muted in both volume and tone. "Yes," Buffy replied. "And it's been a long time since Larry." Xander had no trouble hearing her. She had become a lot more assertive and commandery since they blew up the high school and her voice carried well.
He considered that thought and realised that she'd been growing that way during senior year, too. The whole Faith thing was part of it, but so was the complicated mess that was Angel coming back. She spoke again: "Yes, I know that," she said. "Obviously." There was a touch of impatience in her tone, probably because Willow wasn't letting her finish making her point. "All I'm saying," she insisted, "is that Spike's the only guy, other than Giles, he hangs out with."
Xander snorted quietly. So he was desperate. It was better than crazy. Just.
Again Willow said something and this time Xander couldn't hear Buffy's reply. He sighed and prepared to interrupt them when Buffy said one more thing that rooted him to the spot. "No I don't! I think it's a terrible idea! I'm just saying that it's understandable he should have a fling. Spike's a very physically attractive guy." Willow mumbled something else and Buffy laughed. It sounded a little strained, but there was genuine amusement there too. "No way!" she exclaimed. Then, more quietly, but still clearly, she said, "Listen, don't worry. It'll pass. Xander's too sensible to get serious with a demon."
Xander shook his head. How he loved that woman. She'd turned his world up-side down when she entered it. She could be demanding, self-absorbed on occasion and one-eyed in defending her position when challenged, but she was also amazing, wonderful and inspiring. She was brave and loyal, to match her pig-headedness and wise at the most unexpected times. Feeling better for knowing that she was not going to attack him, and even sort of had his back, although she didn't agree with his choices, he stepped into the room.
Willow and Buffy were standing in front of the sofa, Buffy still in her PJs, and they looked around when he appeared. Willow gave a guilty start so he smiled at her and walked quickly through to the kitchen, where he found Giles hiding.
Giles had made tea and was leaning against the counter drinking it. The smell of freshly made coffee filled the air and Xander made a bee-line for the pot. He poured himself a mug and when he turned around, Buffy and Willow had joined them.
"It could be a spell," Willow said.
Taking a sip and giving himself a moment to enjoy it before all hell broke loose, Xander shook his head. "It's not a spell."
"It was before," Giles observed. "And I blame myself for not remembering that." One look at his face made Xander wish himself back in the bathroom.
"Giles," Xander said. He could hear the slight whine in his voice and coughed before trying again. "Giles. It's not your fault. Any of it. It's not anyone's fault. It's not a fault thing."
Giles' tea mug paused on its way to his lips and he frowned. Placing the mug carefully on the counter next to him he folded his arms. "Why Spike?" he asked, going on to state the obvious: "He's a killer."
That was the big objection and Xander had no answer for it. The conversation was not going the way he'd expected. He'd expected anger and tears. He'd expected to be able to get angry himself and protect himself behind a shield of self-righteous indignation. His entire strategy, developed while he was washing the residue of Spike from his skin, was based on the idea that Willow would cry, Buffy would be angry and Giles, Giles would be implacable in his disapproval. Buffy's tolerance had cut the ground from under him, leaving him with nothing.
"Not at the moment," he agreed, "and before you say anything," he held up his hand as if to fend them off, "I know that's not an excuse. I'm not trying to make excuses, because I don't have anything to excuse."
He turned to Buffy. There was a speculative expression on her face. "Except to you," he agreed, looking her in the eye.
Buffy nodded acknowledgement. "Yeah," she said casually. "Hypocrite, much?"
Willow interrupted. "If it's magic, can you get it off?" she asked, looking at Giles.
"If it's magic, I might, with time." He smiled slightly and corrected himself: "We might." Turning back to Xander his voice hardened. "Why?" he asked.
And Xander was stumped. "I don't know," he admitted. He tried to smile. "He's sexy. And he likes me. I don't know why, but he does. And he gets me. And," he looked around at them, realising he'd been drawn off-track, "why am I having to explain myself, anyway?" He concentrated on Giles and Willow. "Did you ask Buffy these questions, when she was dating Angel?"
"You didn't like Buffy dating Angel," Willow pointed out.
"I was jealous," Xander agreed. "Do you think I haven't thought about that? But after the spell in junior year, I never said anything against Angel, only against Angelus."
"That's true," Buffy acknowledged.
"Is it a spell?" Willow asked again.
"We could do a test," Giles said. "I think that would be reasonable."
Xander sighed. "Sure, if it would make you happier, go ahead." He fixed Giles with a hard look, knowing Willow too well. "But no other spell casting. Not without my permission. Just detection."
He waited until Giles had nodded his agreement before turning to the girls. "So, any other questions about my sex life before we move on to the important stuff, like why we're all hiding out here, maybe, or whatever it was that made Willow come and wake me?"
"Yes, quite," Giles agreed. He glanced over at the kitchen clock. "The news will be on again in five minutes. Why don't I make some more tea and we can see if they have any new information?"
Xander refilled his mug and as an afterthought picked up the coffee pot and took it with him into the living room. Willow and Buffy followed, Willow hovering in the kitchen walk-through, while Buffy took one look at the coffee pot and went back to the kitchen for mugs, sugar and cream. Xander put the pot down on the coffee table and sank into the sofa to wait for the local news bulletin to start.
When it did, it opened to a smartly dressed woman who looked straight into the camera and it took no great intelligence to realise that the first item was the one that had got Willow and Giles so anxious. In a cool voice that somehow also seemed to be full of suppressed excitement, she announced the murder of a child and switched immediately to a reporter on the spot.
There weren't many details. The camera panned across a road full of flashing lights and the reporter tried to make the most of what they had. "Seven year old Toby Fletcher's body was found in the early hours by a jogger in the woods above Elm Street," he announced, "and a source in the coroner's office tells us that the boy was stabbed. Police have not yet named a suspect and the killer is still at large. Back to you Claire."
Coming out of the kitchen with his fresh mug of tea, Giles shook his head. "There's less there than there was before. Someone must have got to them and made them tone it down."
"The Sunnydale cover-up machine rolls into action," Xander agreed.
"The other report said that the body had been mutilated," Willow said, "and he'd been stabbed with something large."
Buffy had sat next to Xander on the sofa. "Spike?" she asked, incredulously, but Willow's comment caused her to turn back to the room. "Wait," she said. "The Polgara demon had a skewer in its arm and Professor Walsh insisted we bring it back alive."
Eyes widening incredulously, Giles asked, "I was simply thinking that we had another denizen of the hellmouth on the loose, but are you suggesting that she sent it after you?"
Buffy nodded slowly. "And it got distracted." She hunched forward in her seat, her eyes fixed on nothing. "How could she?" she breathed.
In a sudden burst of motion she jumped to her feet, as if she couldn't bear to sit still. Marching towards the spare room, she announced, "I'm going to get dressed and I'm going to the crime scene to see what I can find out. You guys research the Polgara demon. I want to know where it is." Looking back at them from the doorway she added more calmly, but with great deliberation, "When I find it, I'll make it die in ways it can't even imagine.
"I'm coming with," Xander said, getting up. Buffy looked at him, "I'll take a day off work." He forced himself not to fidget under her steady regard, until she shrugged and turned away. Taking that as agreement, Xander went to the phone to call in sick. There was no one there, but he left a message on the answer machine before going back to his room for his socks and shoes.
Bending over the bed, Xander gave Spike's shoulder a shake. "Spike," he urged. "Wake up."
Spike opened his eyes. "What are you doing up?" he mumbled. "It's the middle of the day."
"Houston, we have a problem. And while I don't think Giles would come in here and stake you in your sleep, I don't feel like risking it, so wake up."
A slow grin spread across Spike's face. "Get an eye full, did he?" he asked. "Told you not to do anything stupid."
"Yes, and he's not happy. And it's your fault for climbing into bed with me. You should have known what would happen."
"'M not ashamed of you. If you wanted to keep it a secret, you should have told me."
"And I'm not ashamed of you either, but Giles is not happy and I don't want to come home to find you spread across my sheets doing an impression of the dustbowl, so get your ass in gear so you can dodge if you need to. I have to go out." He pulled away before Spike could say anything more and walked out of the room, carrying his socks and shoes.
Buffy was apparently still getting dressed, but Willow was picking up her bag and shrugging on her coat. "I might have an idea," she said. "I'll see you guys later."
She was gone before he could ask what she meant. When he looked at Giles, Giles shook his head, "I don't know, she didn't say. Something about a girl at school and a spell to locate demons." Turning away, he walked back to the kitchen and picked up the kettle to fill it again.
Xander pulled on his socks and shoes before following him. "Umm, thanks for backing me up back there, with the divert," he said.
Giles busied himself with rinsing his mug and finding a clean teaspoon, but just when Xander had decided that he wasn't going to say anything, he turned and looked at Xander sombrely. "I'm very disappointed," he said. "Of everyone here ... you were the one... I thought you were wiser, had learnt more than this suggests." He stopped and took a breath; he almost seemed to give himself a shake. "But you were right, we do have more important things to worry about at the moment than your ill advised fling with a neutered vampire." The sound of a door closing interrupted him and he looked past Xander to the living room. "If you're going with Buffy," he said, "you'd better go. Try not to get into any more trouble."
*****
There was an ominous quiet about the streets. It was not the eerie quiet of the day The Gentlemen stole everyone's voices, but a tense, waiting quiet, as if the residents of Sunnydale were holding their collective breath. As Buffy and Xander walked towards the town centre, they saw the occasional pedestrian and private car, but there didn't seem to be nearly as much traffic as Xander would expect on a normal weekday morning.
Turning a corner they got a possible explanation for why. Ahead of them a small convoy of military vehicles was pulled up at the side of the road. On the sidewalk, a soldier was holding a gun on an elderly couple who cowered away from him. Another soldier, an officer, was in the old man's face, shouting. Buffy broke into a run and Xander did his best to keep up.
The officer was holding some sort of device which he ran up and down the man's body from a distance of about twelve inches. "Stand still," he ordered.
Buffy interrupted as soon as she got close enough to be heard. "Hey, leave them alone," she shouted. "What are you doing?"
The officer turned on Buffy. "Stay out of this," he snarled."
"What are you doing to this man?" Buffy asked again.
They were closer now and Xander could see that the couple were scared but didn't appear to have been physically harmed.
"Nothing," the officer said. He turned back to the couple. "You can go." It was more like an order than a pass.
The man immediately took his wife's arm and they hobbled off as fast as they could manage.
Xander had bent over to catch his breath, resting his hands on his thighs, but he looked up at this. "Are you crazy?" he gasped. "You can't just stop people in the street like that."
The officer hardly spared him a glance. He understood who was the dangerous one of the two civilians challenging him and he kept his attention on Buffy. Xander guessed that he knew who she was from her brief tenure as an official visitor to his command. "We can and we will, until the threat is contained," he said, pointing his detector at Xander. The soldier redirected his rifle towards Xander and Xander stood up straight, feeling his back stiffen with apprehension. The officer looked at the screen on his device and gave a grunt. "He's human," he said.
"What threat?" Buffy asked.
Having apparently verified Xander's humanity, the officer lost interest in them. "Get out of here," he ordered, walking towards the vehicle at the head of the convoy.
Buffy looked like she was going to continue to argue with him, but Xander grabbed her arm and held her back. "We need to report back to Giles," he urged.
She pulled free of his grasp, but made no further attempt to follow the officer to his jeep. "No, we need to see if there are any clues in the woods and we need to find Riley," she said. "He'll stop this madness. He has to."
"Okay," Xander agreed, "but I'm not letting you go alone."
"Xander," Buffy said. She was still watching the soldiers and her voice was firm. "You should go and report back and see if any of this," she waved her arm to indicate both the army vehicles and the scene they'd just witnessed, "has made it onto the news yet. I don't mean to be harsh, but what can you do to help here?"
"I can be here," he insisted stubbornly. "If any of the soldiers was in on a plot to kill you... It'll be more difficult for them to do anything with a witness. So if you won't go back, let's go for a walk in the woods."
The military convoy pulled away and the elderly couple turned the corner at the end of the street and disappeared from sight. Buffy looked up into Xander's face, her lips pursed as she studied him. He straightened his back and did his best to stare her down. Eventually she nodded. "Okay," she agreed. "But stay behind me and let me do the talking if we run into any more of them, okay?"
Xander nodded back. "Okay," he agreed.
It only took ten minutes to reach the bottom of Elm Street and begin the climb towards the woods. After another ten they rounded a bend, passed a number of police cars and topped a small rise.
Ahead of them stood another figure in full combat gear, rifle held at rest. It was Riley. "Buffy," he said flatly when they drew close, "and Xander."
Twenty yards behind him a couple of men appeared from the trees carrying bags of equipment and loaded them into a police van. The back door was slammed shut and Riley turned his head sharply to watch.
Buffy stopped walking and so, so did Xander. "Hey," she said.
Riley didn't respond. It was as if he'd used up all his limited politeness in his abrupt greeting. He looked at them impassively.
"Look, I'm sorry about yesterday," Buffy continued. Xander could see that Riley's attitude had surprised her, but she persisted. "I was a bit shaken up by Professor Walsh trying to kill me."
Hitching his rifle in a seemingly casual move that left it pointing only slightly off to their right and in a position nearer to ready, Riley spoke, his voice almost equally casual, "Forrest said you were using me to infiltrate our operations," he said. His voice became harder and more interrogatory when he asked, "Are you a spy?
Xander wanted to laugh, but Riley seemed too on edge. Buffy took a step backwards. "I was trying to find out what you were doing," she admitted, throwing a perplexed glance at Xander.
"But not spying for anyone," Xander said. "Not spying for the enemy, or for a foreign government. Just spying for herself."
Riley ignored him, keeping his eyes fixed on Buffy's face. "Maggie, Professor Walsh, she's dead," he said.
It was like all the jigsaw pieces suddenly fell into place. Xander looked at Buffy, but she seemed to be stuck on shock. He remembered, belatedly, that she had known and admired Professor Walsh, before Walsh had tried to kill her. "What? What happened?" she asked.
Riley's face was cold. "That's classified."
"Classified?" And in some places she was way ahead of him. "Oh, you mean the Polgara. It got her and escaped. Didn't it?"
Reluctantly Riley nodded.
"I'm gonna find it," Buffy swore. "I'm gonna find it and destroy it.
Riley half raised his gun, but in doing so aimed it further away from them. "No!" he ordered. "Leave it to the professionals."
Buffy looked at him in amazement. "You just don't get it, do you?" she asked. "I'm the professional here. You and your people are the civilians."
Riley's shoulders tightened and his expression hardened, but he kept his rifle pointed towards the trees. After a moment of impassive staring, he turned and walked away. Buffy watched him go, looking slightly lost. "I kinda liked him," she observed, inconsequentially Xander thought, until the sense penetrated.
"I'm sorry," he said.
The police van drove past them, heading back towards town and from over the rise Xander heard the other vehicles start their engines too. He and Buffy were left alone with the road, the trees and the receding view of Riley's back.
The crime scene told them nothing. It was in a clearing in a hollow, only a few yards from the road, surrounded by trees that were dense enough to block the view of any passing motorist but spaced widely enough to allow easy passage. There was little undergrowth and the bare earth was scuffed and dry. The body had been taken away and the forensics team had obviously scoured the area. They'd left nothing but the flimsy yellow tape that they always left, like an official tribute to the life that had been taken. Xander and Buffy cast around, in hope of finding something, but he was not surprised when they failed.
They were about to leave when a man stepped out of the trees at the top of the low ridge. Standing above them with the morning sun behind him, he was in silhouette. Big and bulky, he stood with his feet apart like a soldier at parade rest. He made no hand gestures and he didn't shrug or fidget when he said, "I've been thinking about the world." His voice carried across the clearing, the tone deep and thoughtful, and the incongruity of his words sent a shiver down Xander's spine. "I wanted to see it. Learn it. I saw the inside of that boy and it was beautiful." Although horrified by what he was saying, Xander wasn't surprised. He was surprised at how unsurprised he was. The man was still talking. "But it didn't tell me about the world. It just made me feel."
He stepped forward, walking down the slope towards them. Beside Xander, Buffy gave a small gasp as he came clearly into view and she said one of the strangest things Xander had ever heard: "I recognise that arm."
A part of Xander admired her for her ability to form any sort of sentence. He was speechless in the face of the monstrosity before them.
He had the form of a man and half his face looked human, as did his fatigue pants and army boots, but the other half of his face was green and his upper body was a badly made patchwork of green, pink and brown flesh and metal. He raised his left arm, twisting it thoughtfully and looked at it as if he had never seen it before. He flexed the fingers and a long spine projected forward from his wrist. About two foot long, it appeared with enough speed to suggest powerful spring loading and a deadly impact. "Yes," he said, his voice still calm, containing a note of innocent wonder. "It comes from a Sub-T:67119, Demon class, Polgara species, captured three nights ago."
"You're 314," Buffy said and Xander was more than willing to second her on the wonder and horror in her voice.
"I am a kinematically redundant, biomechanical demonoid. Designed by Maggie Walsh," the monster stated. "She called me Adam and I called her Mother."
"She pieced you together from parts of other demons?" Buffy asked.
Adam tilted his head, regarding them both. He raised his left arm again and looked at it, then his right which was mostly brown and scaly. "And man. And machine. Which tells me what I am, but not who I am."
"And you killed her."
It was as if he hadn't heard. "Mother wrote things down. Hard data, but also her feelings. That's how I learned that I have a job here. And that she loved me."
"Why are you telling us this?" Xander asked.
Looking up, Adam focused on Xander for the first time and it was like being studied by a robot. A particularly freaky and evil robot. "Because I wish to know what you are," he said, still in that calm, unemotional tone.
"Get back, Xander," Buffy ordered.
Adam started walking slowly towards them again and Buffy ran to meet him. She launched a punch at Adam's midriff. Adam didn't even flinch. He backhanded her across the face, so fast that Xander barely registered the movement, sending her flying high across the clearing to crash into the ground. Xander didn't think he'd ever seen anything get past her guard so quickly and with so little apparent effort.
Adam lurched towards her. He walked very clumsily for someone who was so fast and accurate with his arms. Xander ran forwards, unsure what he could do but determined to intercept. Adam's hand came out of nowhere and a moment later Xander was on his back, too, the breath knocked out of him.
Lifting his head off the ground he watched Buffy as she began to move. She rolled down the slope, enough to get her hands and feet under her, then pushing with her arms, sprang upright again. She launched herself towards Adam, landing a powerful looking round kick to the side of his chest. Adam hardly rocked under the impact. He looked at her and smashed his fist into her face. She retaliated with another punch to his midsection and Xander thought she bounced off, for all the effect it had. The hand Adam had used to punch her slammed down and caught her squarely on the shoulder. She buckled under it and almost fell, but managed to hold her feet.
Ducking around and away to the side, dancing out of his reach, she yelled, "Xander, get up and get back."
Xander did his best to obey. His head was foggy and his ribs hurt, but he managed to roll over onto his front and get to his hands and knees. Using a tree as a climbing frame he got himself onto his feet. Turning towards the clearing again, he saw Buffy land another punch, which achieved nothing.
Holding one arm around his ribs, Xander began to stagger down towards them. "No, get back," Buffy shouted, her momentary distraction rewarded by another punch that sent her reeling.
She stumbled out of reach until she was able to find her balance again and danced around Adam, He simply turned slowly on the spot, following her movements. She was favouring one leg slightly and blood was pouring down her face from her nose. In spite of that, she managed to land another kick straight into the ugly join between two obviously different demon parts, this time making him stumble. In response, he lashed out with the arm that held the concealed spike and she ducked under the swipe which was clearly aimed at her head.
Recognising that his presence was worse than useless, Xander scrambled up the slope towards the road. It was empty, but a quick glance back at the fight showed him that he needed to do something fast. Adam hit Buffy again, and again she flew through the air to slam into a tree. Xander turned back to the empty road, raised his arms above his head, waving, and shouted, "Over here, quickly, please. Over here!"
Below him, Adam stopped and looked up at him. Buffy pushed herself away from the tree trunk and with a quick glance back at Adam, started to run up the hill towards Xander. Xander resumed his yelling, "Yes, over here. Thank you!"
Buffy reached his side, panting, and he turned back to look down into the hollow. It was empty.
Note: Some bits of dialogue borrowed and adapted from episodes 4.13 and 14, The I in Team and Goodbye Iowa
Chapter 34
Title: Bewitched, Chapter 33/37
Pairing: S/X
Rating: Overall NC-17
Summary: Valentine's Day arrived and Dru dipped her finger in the brew, giving it a stir. That was two years ago and the fall-out is still falling.
Word Count: 5,165
Betaed by
sparrow2000 and DJ, for which, many thanks. Thanks also to Sparrow for conflabbing on plot twists and forms.Comments: Are greatly appreciated, loved and cherished.
Disclaimer: here.
The prologue is here, with a link to the other chapters, or you can find the whole thing, in reverse order, in tags, or in the correct order, in memories. There's a menu of links on the right hand side of my main journal page.
If you were reading this story before it went on hiatus, after chapter 27, there is a recap post here with a link to chapter 28 and all chapters following.
Many thanks to
katekat1010 for the original manip which you can find here.Chapter 33
Xander was rudely woken by Willow bursting into the room. "Xander, Xander, sorry to wake you, but-" He raised his head from his pillow and peered over Spike's shoulder. Willow was standing frozen in the doorway, her hand still on the knob. "Oh my God!" she gasped and turning towards the hallway shouted, "Giles!"
Giles replied. He sounded like he'd been in the living room, but he was already getting nearer. "What is it?"
It was probably the alarm in his voice that shocked Willow out of her immobility. "Oh my god," she gasped again, in a totally different voice, "Giles!" Spinning on the spot, she stood in the doorway and Xander thought she was hoping to physically block Giles from seeing past her. "Uh, nothing. I, uh, I was just, I mean, I've called Xander and, and I think we should go back in case they've got any more news, don't you? We should wake Buffy, too."
Xander released Spike and rolled over to his side of the bed. He sat up, swung his legs out and leaned down, searching for his boxers on the floor. Spike followed him and curled up around his back, but didn't appear to wake. Giles' voice sounded more clearly from the doorway. "Yes, certainly, but you wouldn't have called me if-" He broke off abruptly. "Oh! Okay, yes, quite," he said. Xander resisted the urge to turn around and when Giles spoke again his voice was deliberately, and obviously, casual. "Xander, the local news has just been on and we feel it might be important. Where do you keep your teabags?"
"Cupboard above the drainer," Xander replied, dragging his jeans up his legs. He needed a shower, but he needed his armour more. When he stood up and turned around the doorway was empty.
Breathing a sigh of relief for the reprieve, he picked up his dirty t-shirt, pulled it on and went to dig clean clothes out of the dresser. He took his time searching for a clean t-shirt, until he had to face the fact that he was prevaricating. With a sigh he gathered his clean clothes to his chest and, pausing only to hang them over the rail in the bathroom, padded through to the living room.
Giles and Willow broke off their conversation when he appeared, but he simply nodded to them as he passed and went into the kitchen. Pulling tea, coffee and breakfast cereals out of their respective cupboards and milk from the fridge, he put them out on the table. "Help yourselves," he said. "I'm taking a shower before I talk to anyone." As he walked back past Willow, he offered her a smile that he hoped was reassuring and got a watery grimace in return. He kept walking. "And if you feel like making an extra, giant pot of coffee, I'll be forever in your debt," he added over his shoulder.
He was tempted to stay in the shower for an hour, but it was an impractical plan - no matter what else was going on, they'd still be there with their questions when he came out and he knew it. If it was any one of them, he guessed he'd be the same. He felt a brief stab of anger directed at Spike for the fact that he got to sleep through it all, but if the up-coming inquisition turned homicidal it was maybe as well Spike wasn't there - a staking couldn't be taken back.
Leaving the safety of the bathroom, he took a deep breath and went to face his doom.
The sound of a female voice alerted him to the fact that Buffy was awake and up, and he hesitated on the threshold. "...heard what you said," she was saying, "but... I mean-" She was interrupted by something from Willow that Xander couldn't make out. "I know," she replied. "And I'm not saying that."
Xander thought he should probably feel bad about eaves-dropping, but he didn't. This was a case where the end justified the means and he needed to know what he was up against. Although he couldn't hear what Willow was saying, he was grateful for the fact that she didn't seem to be crying.
"No," Buffy said. "I know that. I'm just saying that he's neutered, so he can't hurt-" Willow interrupted her with something muted in both volume and tone. "Yes," Buffy replied. "And it's been a long time since Larry." Xander had no trouble hearing her. She had become a lot more assertive and commandery since they blew up the high school and her voice carried well.
He considered that thought and realised that she'd been growing that way during senior year, too. The whole Faith thing was part of it, but so was the complicated mess that was Angel coming back. She spoke again: "Yes, I know that," she said. "Obviously." There was a touch of impatience in her tone, probably because Willow wasn't letting her finish making her point. "All I'm saying," she insisted, "is that Spike's the only guy, other than Giles, he hangs out with."
Xander snorted quietly. So he was desperate. It was better than crazy. Just.
Again Willow said something and this time Xander couldn't hear Buffy's reply. He sighed and prepared to interrupt them when Buffy said one more thing that rooted him to the spot. "No I don't! I think it's a terrible idea! I'm just saying that it's understandable he should have a fling. Spike's a very physically attractive guy." Willow mumbled something else and Buffy laughed. It sounded a little strained, but there was genuine amusement there too. "No way!" she exclaimed. Then, more quietly, but still clearly, she said, "Listen, don't worry. It'll pass. Xander's too sensible to get serious with a demon."
Xander shook his head. How he loved that woman. She'd turned his world up-side down when she entered it. She could be demanding, self-absorbed on occasion and one-eyed in defending her position when challenged, but she was also amazing, wonderful and inspiring. She was brave and loyal, to match her pig-headedness and wise at the most unexpected times. Feeling better for knowing that she was not going to attack him, and even sort of had his back, although she didn't agree with his choices, he stepped into the room.
Willow and Buffy were standing in front of the sofa, Buffy still in her PJs, and they looked around when he appeared. Willow gave a guilty start so he smiled at her and walked quickly through to the kitchen, where he found Giles hiding.
Giles had made tea and was leaning against the counter drinking it. The smell of freshly made coffee filled the air and Xander made a bee-line for the pot. He poured himself a mug and when he turned around, Buffy and Willow had joined them.
"It could be a spell," Willow said.
Taking a sip and giving himself a moment to enjoy it before all hell broke loose, Xander shook his head. "It's not a spell."
"It was before," Giles observed. "And I blame myself for not remembering that." One look at his face made Xander wish himself back in the bathroom.
"Giles," Xander said. He could hear the slight whine in his voice and coughed before trying again. "Giles. It's not your fault. Any of it. It's not anyone's fault. It's not a fault thing."
Giles' tea mug paused on its way to his lips and he frowned. Placing the mug carefully on the counter next to him he folded his arms. "Why Spike?" he asked, going on to state the obvious: "He's a killer."
That was the big objection and Xander had no answer for it. The conversation was not going the way he'd expected. He'd expected anger and tears. He'd expected to be able to get angry himself and protect himself behind a shield of self-righteous indignation. His entire strategy, developed while he was washing the residue of Spike from his skin, was based on the idea that Willow would cry, Buffy would be angry and Giles, Giles would be implacable in his disapproval. Buffy's tolerance had cut the ground from under him, leaving him with nothing.
"Not at the moment," he agreed, "and before you say anything," he held up his hand as if to fend them off, "I know that's not an excuse. I'm not trying to make excuses, because I don't have anything to excuse."
He turned to Buffy. There was a speculative expression on her face. "Except to you," he agreed, looking her in the eye.
Buffy nodded acknowledgement. "Yeah," she said casually. "Hypocrite, much?"
Willow interrupted. "If it's magic, can you get it off?" she asked, looking at Giles.
"If it's magic, I might, with time." He smiled slightly and corrected himself: "We might." Turning back to Xander his voice hardened. "Why?" he asked.
And Xander was stumped. "I don't know," he admitted. He tried to smile. "He's sexy. And he likes me. I don't know why, but he does. And he gets me. And," he looked around at them, realising he'd been drawn off-track, "why am I having to explain myself, anyway?" He concentrated on Giles and Willow. "Did you ask Buffy these questions, when she was dating Angel?"
"You didn't like Buffy dating Angel," Willow pointed out.
"I was jealous," Xander agreed. "Do you think I haven't thought about that? But after the spell in junior year, I never said anything against Angel, only against Angelus."
"That's true," Buffy acknowledged.
"Is it a spell?" Willow asked again.
"We could do a test," Giles said. "I think that would be reasonable."
Xander sighed. "Sure, if it would make you happier, go ahead." He fixed Giles with a hard look, knowing Willow too well. "But no other spell casting. Not without my permission. Just detection."
He waited until Giles had nodded his agreement before turning to the girls. "So, any other questions about my sex life before we move on to the important stuff, like why we're all hiding out here, maybe, or whatever it was that made Willow come and wake me?"
"Yes, quite," Giles agreed. He glanced over at the kitchen clock. "The news will be on again in five minutes. Why don't I make some more tea and we can see if they have any new information?"
Xander refilled his mug and as an afterthought picked up the coffee pot and took it with him into the living room. Willow and Buffy followed, Willow hovering in the kitchen walk-through, while Buffy took one look at the coffee pot and went back to the kitchen for mugs, sugar and cream. Xander put the pot down on the coffee table and sank into the sofa to wait for the local news bulletin to start.
When it did, it opened to a smartly dressed woman who looked straight into the camera and it took no great intelligence to realise that the first item was the one that had got Willow and Giles so anxious. In a cool voice that somehow also seemed to be full of suppressed excitement, she announced the murder of a child and switched immediately to a reporter on the spot.
There weren't many details. The camera panned across a road full of flashing lights and the reporter tried to make the most of what they had. "Seven year old Toby Fletcher's body was found in the early hours by a jogger in the woods above Elm Street," he announced, "and a source in the coroner's office tells us that the boy was stabbed. Police have not yet named a suspect and the killer is still at large. Back to you Claire."
Coming out of the kitchen with his fresh mug of tea, Giles shook his head. "There's less there than there was before. Someone must have got to them and made them tone it down."
"The Sunnydale cover-up machine rolls into action," Xander agreed.
"The other report said that the body had been mutilated," Willow said, "and he'd been stabbed with something large."
Buffy had sat next to Xander on the sofa. "Spike?" she asked, incredulously, but Willow's comment caused her to turn back to the room. "Wait," she said. "The Polgara demon had a skewer in its arm and Professor Walsh insisted we bring it back alive."
Eyes widening incredulously, Giles asked, "I was simply thinking that we had another denizen of the hellmouth on the loose, but are you suggesting that she sent it after you?"
Buffy nodded slowly. "And it got distracted." She hunched forward in her seat, her eyes fixed on nothing. "How could she?" she breathed.
In a sudden burst of motion she jumped to her feet, as if she couldn't bear to sit still. Marching towards the spare room, she announced, "I'm going to get dressed and I'm going to the crime scene to see what I can find out. You guys research the Polgara demon. I want to know where it is." Looking back at them from the doorway she added more calmly, but with great deliberation, "When I find it, I'll make it die in ways it can't even imagine.
"I'm coming with," Xander said, getting up. Buffy looked at him, "I'll take a day off work." He forced himself not to fidget under her steady regard, until she shrugged and turned away. Taking that as agreement, Xander went to the phone to call in sick. There was no one there, but he left a message on the answer machine before going back to his room for his socks and shoes.
Bending over the bed, Xander gave Spike's shoulder a shake. "Spike," he urged. "Wake up."
Spike opened his eyes. "What are you doing up?" he mumbled. "It's the middle of the day."
"Houston, we have a problem. And while I don't think Giles would come in here and stake you in your sleep, I don't feel like risking it, so wake up."
A slow grin spread across Spike's face. "Get an eye full, did he?" he asked. "Told you not to do anything stupid."
"Yes, and he's not happy. And it's your fault for climbing into bed with me. You should have known what would happen."
"'M not ashamed of you. If you wanted to keep it a secret, you should have told me."
"And I'm not ashamed of you either, but Giles is not happy and I don't want to come home to find you spread across my sheets doing an impression of the dustbowl, so get your ass in gear so you can dodge if you need to. I have to go out." He pulled away before Spike could say anything more and walked out of the room, carrying his socks and shoes.
Buffy was apparently still getting dressed, but Willow was picking up her bag and shrugging on her coat. "I might have an idea," she said. "I'll see you guys later."
She was gone before he could ask what she meant. When he looked at Giles, Giles shook his head, "I don't know, she didn't say. Something about a girl at school and a spell to locate demons." Turning away, he walked back to the kitchen and picked up the kettle to fill it again.
Xander pulled on his socks and shoes before following him. "Umm, thanks for backing me up back there, with the divert," he said.
Giles busied himself with rinsing his mug and finding a clean teaspoon, but just when Xander had decided that he wasn't going to say anything, he turned and looked at Xander sombrely. "I'm very disappointed," he said. "Of everyone here ... you were the one... I thought you were wiser, had learnt more than this suggests." He stopped and took a breath; he almost seemed to give himself a shake. "But you were right, we do have more important things to worry about at the moment than your ill advised fling with a neutered vampire." The sound of a door closing interrupted him and he looked past Xander to the living room. "If you're going with Buffy," he said, "you'd better go. Try not to get into any more trouble."
*****
There was an ominous quiet about the streets. It was not the eerie quiet of the day The Gentlemen stole everyone's voices, but a tense, waiting quiet, as if the residents of Sunnydale were holding their collective breath. As Buffy and Xander walked towards the town centre, they saw the occasional pedestrian and private car, but there didn't seem to be nearly as much traffic as Xander would expect on a normal weekday morning.
Turning a corner they got a possible explanation for why. Ahead of them a small convoy of military vehicles was pulled up at the side of the road. On the sidewalk, a soldier was holding a gun on an elderly couple who cowered away from him. Another soldier, an officer, was in the old man's face, shouting. Buffy broke into a run and Xander did his best to keep up.
The officer was holding some sort of device which he ran up and down the man's body from a distance of about twelve inches. "Stand still," he ordered.
Buffy interrupted as soon as she got close enough to be heard. "Hey, leave them alone," she shouted. "What are you doing?"
The officer turned on Buffy. "Stay out of this," he snarled."
"What are you doing to this man?" Buffy asked again.
They were closer now and Xander could see that the couple were scared but didn't appear to have been physically harmed.
"Nothing," the officer said. He turned back to the couple. "You can go." It was more like an order than a pass.
The man immediately took his wife's arm and they hobbled off as fast as they could manage.
Xander had bent over to catch his breath, resting his hands on his thighs, but he looked up at this. "Are you crazy?" he gasped. "You can't just stop people in the street like that."
The officer hardly spared him a glance. He understood who was the dangerous one of the two civilians challenging him and he kept his attention on Buffy. Xander guessed that he knew who she was from her brief tenure as an official visitor to his command. "We can and we will, until the threat is contained," he said, pointing his detector at Xander. The soldier redirected his rifle towards Xander and Xander stood up straight, feeling his back stiffen with apprehension. The officer looked at the screen on his device and gave a grunt. "He's human," he said.
"What threat?" Buffy asked.
Having apparently verified Xander's humanity, the officer lost interest in them. "Get out of here," he ordered, walking towards the vehicle at the head of the convoy.
Buffy looked like she was going to continue to argue with him, but Xander grabbed her arm and held her back. "We need to report back to Giles," he urged.
She pulled free of his grasp, but made no further attempt to follow the officer to his jeep. "No, we need to see if there are any clues in the woods and we need to find Riley," she said. "He'll stop this madness. He has to."
"Okay," Xander agreed, "but I'm not letting you go alone."
"Xander," Buffy said. She was still watching the soldiers and her voice was firm. "You should go and report back and see if any of this," she waved her arm to indicate both the army vehicles and the scene they'd just witnessed, "has made it onto the news yet. I don't mean to be harsh, but what can you do to help here?"
"I can be here," he insisted stubbornly. "If any of the soldiers was in on a plot to kill you... It'll be more difficult for them to do anything with a witness. So if you won't go back, let's go for a walk in the woods."
The military convoy pulled away and the elderly couple turned the corner at the end of the street and disappeared from sight. Buffy looked up into Xander's face, her lips pursed as she studied him. He straightened his back and did his best to stare her down. Eventually she nodded. "Okay," she agreed. "But stay behind me and let me do the talking if we run into any more of them, okay?"
Xander nodded back. "Okay," he agreed.
It only took ten minutes to reach the bottom of Elm Street and begin the climb towards the woods. After another ten they rounded a bend, passed a number of police cars and topped a small rise.
Ahead of them stood another figure in full combat gear, rifle held at rest. It was Riley. "Buffy," he said flatly when they drew close, "and Xander."
Twenty yards behind him a couple of men appeared from the trees carrying bags of equipment and loaded them into a police van. The back door was slammed shut and Riley turned his head sharply to watch.
Buffy stopped walking and so, so did Xander. "Hey," she said.
Riley didn't respond. It was as if he'd used up all his limited politeness in his abrupt greeting. He looked at them impassively.
"Look, I'm sorry about yesterday," Buffy continued. Xander could see that Riley's attitude had surprised her, but she persisted. "I was a bit shaken up by Professor Walsh trying to kill me."
Hitching his rifle in a seemingly casual move that left it pointing only slightly off to their right and in a position nearer to ready, Riley spoke, his voice almost equally casual, "Forrest said you were using me to infiltrate our operations," he said. His voice became harder and more interrogatory when he asked, "Are you a spy?
Xander wanted to laugh, but Riley seemed too on edge. Buffy took a step backwards. "I was trying to find out what you were doing," she admitted, throwing a perplexed glance at Xander.
"But not spying for anyone," Xander said. "Not spying for the enemy, or for a foreign government. Just spying for herself."
Riley ignored him, keeping his eyes fixed on Buffy's face. "Maggie, Professor Walsh, she's dead," he said.
It was like all the jigsaw pieces suddenly fell into place. Xander looked at Buffy, but she seemed to be stuck on shock. He remembered, belatedly, that she had known and admired Professor Walsh, before Walsh had tried to kill her. "What? What happened?" she asked.
Riley's face was cold. "That's classified."
"Classified?" And in some places she was way ahead of him. "Oh, you mean the Polgara. It got her and escaped. Didn't it?"
Reluctantly Riley nodded.
"I'm gonna find it," Buffy swore. "I'm gonna find it and destroy it.
Riley half raised his gun, but in doing so aimed it further away from them. "No!" he ordered. "Leave it to the professionals."
Buffy looked at him in amazement. "You just don't get it, do you?" she asked. "I'm the professional here. You and your people are the civilians."
Riley's shoulders tightened and his expression hardened, but he kept his rifle pointed towards the trees. After a moment of impassive staring, he turned and walked away. Buffy watched him go, looking slightly lost. "I kinda liked him," she observed, inconsequentially Xander thought, until the sense penetrated.
"I'm sorry," he said.
The police van drove past them, heading back towards town and from over the rise Xander heard the other vehicles start their engines too. He and Buffy were left alone with the road, the trees and the receding view of Riley's back.
The crime scene told them nothing. It was in a clearing in a hollow, only a few yards from the road, surrounded by trees that were dense enough to block the view of any passing motorist but spaced widely enough to allow easy passage. There was little undergrowth and the bare earth was scuffed and dry. The body had been taken away and the forensics team had obviously scoured the area. They'd left nothing but the flimsy yellow tape that they always left, like an official tribute to the life that had been taken. Xander and Buffy cast around, in hope of finding something, but he was not surprised when they failed.
They were about to leave when a man stepped out of the trees at the top of the low ridge. Standing above them with the morning sun behind him, he was in silhouette. Big and bulky, he stood with his feet apart like a soldier at parade rest. He made no hand gestures and he didn't shrug or fidget when he said, "I've been thinking about the world." His voice carried across the clearing, the tone deep and thoughtful, and the incongruity of his words sent a shiver down Xander's spine. "I wanted to see it. Learn it. I saw the inside of that boy and it was beautiful." Although horrified by what he was saying, Xander wasn't surprised. He was surprised at how unsurprised he was. The man was still talking. "But it didn't tell me about the world. It just made me feel."
He stepped forward, walking down the slope towards them. Beside Xander, Buffy gave a small gasp as he came clearly into view and she said one of the strangest things Xander had ever heard: "I recognise that arm."
A part of Xander admired her for her ability to form any sort of sentence. He was speechless in the face of the monstrosity before them.
He had the form of a man and half his face looked human, as did his fatigue pants and army boots, but the other half of his face was green and his upper body was a badly made patchwork of green, pink and brown flesh and metal. He raised his left arm, twisting it thoughtfully and looked at it as if he had never seen it before. He flexed the fingers and a long spine projected forward from his wrist. About two foot long, it appeared with enough speed to suggest powerful spring loading and a deadly impact. "Yes," he said, his voice still calm, containing a note of innocent wonder. "It comes from a Sub-T:67119, Demon class, Polgara species, captured three nights ago."
"You're 314," Buffy said and Xander was more than willing to second her on the wonder and horror in her voice.
"I am a kinematically redundant, biomechanical demonoid. Designed by Maggie Walsh," the monster stated. "She called me Adam and I called her Mother."
"She pieced you together from parts of other demons?" Buffy asked.
Adam tilted his head, regarding them both. He raised his left arm again and looked at it, then his right which was mostly brown and scaly. "And man. And machine. Which tells me what I am, but not who I am."
"And you killed her."
It was as if he hadn't heard. "Mother wrote things down. Hard data, but also her feelings. That's how I learned that I have a job here. And that she loved me."
"Why are you telling us this?" Xander asked.
Looking up, Adam focused on Xander for the first time and it was like being studied by a robot. A particularly freaky and evil robot. "Because I wish to know what you are," he said, still in that calm, unemotional tone.
"Get back, Xander," Buffy ordered.
Adam started walking slowly towards them again and Buffy ran to meet him. She launched a punch at Adam's midriff. Adam didn't even flinch. He backhanded her across the face, so fast that Xander barely registered the movement, sending her flying high across the clearing to crash into the ground. Xander didn't think he'd ever seen anything get past her guard so quickly and with so little apparent effort.
Adam lurched towards her. He walked very clumsily for someone who was so fast and accurate with his arms. Xander ran forwards, unsure what he could do but determined to intercept. Adam's hand came out of nowhere and a moment later Xander was on his back, too, the breath knocked out of him.
Lifting his head off the ground he watched Buffy as she began to move. She rolled down the slope, enough to get her hands and feet under her, then pushing with her arms, sprang upright again. She launched herself towards Adam, landing a powerful looking round kick to the side of his chest. Adam hardly rocked under the impact. He looked at her and smashed his fist into her face. She retaliated with another punch to his midsection and Xander thought she bounced off, for all the effect it had. The hand Adam had used to punch her slammed down and caught her squarely on the shoulder. She buckled under it and almost fell, but managed to hold her feet.
Ducking around and away to the side, dancing out of his reach, she yelled, "Xander, get up and get back."
Xander did his best to obey. His head was foggy and his ribs hurt, but he managed to roll over onto his front and get to his hands and knees. Using a tree as a climbing frame he got himself onto his feet. Turning towards the clearing again, he saw Buffy land another punch, which achieved nothing.
Holding one arm around his ribs, Xander began to stagger down towards them. "No, get back," Buffy shouted, her momentary distraction rewarded by another punch that sent her reeling.
She stumbled out of reach until she was able to find her balance again and danced around Adam, He simply turned slowly on the spot, following her movements. She was favouring one leg slightly and blood was pouring down her face from her nose. In spite of that, she managed to land another kick straight into the ugly join between two obviously different demon parts, this time making him stumble. In response, he lashed out with the arm that held the concealed spike and she ducked under the swipe which was clearly aimed at her head.
Recognising that his presence was worse than useless, Xander scrambled up the slope towards the road. It was empty, but a quick glance back at the fight showed him that he needed to do something fast. Adam hit Buffy again, and again she flew through the air to slam into a tree. Xander turned back to the empty road, raised his arms above his head, waving, and shouted, "Over here, quickly, please. Over here!"
Below him, Adam stopped and looked up at him. Buffy pushed herself away from the tree trunk and with a quick glance back at Adam, started to run up the hill towards Xander. Xander resumed his yelling, "Yes, over here. Thank you!"
Buffy reached his side, panting, and he turned back to look down into the hollow. It was empty.
Note: Some bits of dialogue borrowed and adapted from episodes 4.13 and 14, The I in Team and Goodbye Iowa
Chapter 34
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Date: 2010-02-28 11:13 am (UTC)i love the little relationship-builders, like spike curling up against xan, and xander waking him before leaving. just too cute. i'm glad no one has gotten too upset about it yet, but i'm sure once things calm down again, they will.~
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Date: 2010-02-28 03:40 pm (UTC)Yeah, once everything calms down... *g* Thank you very much.