Fic: Murphy's Law (8/12) - finally!
Title: Murphy's Law 8/12
Rating: R
Pairing(s)/Character(s): Just the canon ones for Season 6.
Disclaimer: Not mine. It all belongs to Joss.
Warnings: Character death. Really and seriously, this is not (and will not be) a happy or lighthearted fic. Note that this warning applies for the entire fic.
Summary: What if Giles hadn't killed Ben in The Gift? It is now mid-season 6, and the Scooby gang is falling apart when Ben awakens from his coma, letting loose an angry Glory. Buffy, dealing with post-death depression, bills, an "evil" Trio, and a faltering support system, now has to contend with a vengeful hellgod. Just when things couldn't get worse.
Author's Note: Hey, look! An update! Yes, I finally got my butt in gear and finished the next chapter of Murphy. Previous chapters are here. I have no excuses for the delay. I'm just a horrible writer.
I'll be including the final scene from Chapter Seven in order to jump-start your memory on what's going on. Please enjoy. :)
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Chapter Eight: Interruption
They'd all had a late night, what with the fight and the subsequent nursing of wounds. It was afternoon when Tara woke up. Everybody else was still sleeping.
There was something buzzing in her head. It was calling her. Without any awareness of what she was doing, Tara rose from her sleeping bag and began walking out of the school.
There was a room waiting for her. She'd been there before. A tiny room. Dark and noisy. She had escaped from it once. But something now was calling her back to it. She had to go back to it.
Tara's bare feet moved softly across the grass of the lawn in front of the school as she walked away.
***
Jonathan saw her in his dreams. She never said anything. She'd descend the basement stairs like the ghost he knew she was and stand across from him, blocking the view of the television. Then she would look at him. That was the most frustrating part. He couldn't get away from her eyes, accusing and questioning him for his part in her death.
Some nights he would apologize to her and beg her forgiveness. Other nights, he would yell at her that it was her fault for what had happened. Still other nights would find him sitting across from her, simply staring back with the knowledge that nothing he could say to her would really matter at this point.
That's why she never said anything to him. She didn't care that he was sorry or that they hadn't realized what they were doing. That wasn't her purpose in going to him.
No, he knew why she was there.
Every night she would visit him as a reminder of what he'd done. Her real body lay decomposing at the bottom of the river. It was only in dreams that she could ensure that he wouldn't forget: there was one less person in the world because of him.
Katrina was haunting him.
He'd found himself on several occasions walking past her house, even though it was out of his way. He thought to alleviate his guilt by confessing what he had done to her family. He knew they were worried about her. They had signs up looking for her.
Every time he went past, though, he ended up walking away rather than going to the door. He knew that Katrina would be there at night to remind him of what he should have done. He also knew he was just too scared to do it.
Warren didn't help. Warren hadn't been helping for a while now. And Jonathan knew with every ounce of resolve in his body that Warren was trouble. Any decent person would leave, turn Warren in, just walk out.
Jonathan apparently wasn't that decent person, though.
It was a clear night when they went 'Slayer-sighting'. Warren had been frustrated at the Slayer's disappearance and had been taking them out nightly to look for her in the cemeteries. She never showed. Instead, Jonathan had to sit in the van, listening to Warren and Andrew's banal banter. As if they didn't have blood all over their hands.
Was he the only sane one? The only one who recognized that what they had done was very wrong?
Warren leaned back, contented smile on his face as his fingers tapped the keyboard. He sifted through different camera views. The Summers residence. Spike's crypt. The different graveyards. All empty.
"I'm telling you. She left town to hone her powers!" Andrew's petulant voice rang through the van. He was outside on patrol, having lost their game of rock-paper-scissors. "We should be looking for old wise senseis with convenient access to waterfalls!"
"Yeah, no," Warren rolled his eyes. "She wouldn't just up and leave like that. The Slayer's still here somewhere. And we, as her nemeses, need to find her."
"To kill her?" Jonathan asked from his corner of the van.
Warren turned a heavy gaze on him. "To defeat her. We are super-villains, Johnny-boy. It's what we do."
"I think I liked it better when we just made ourselves invisible and stole money," Jonathan mumbled. Though even those memories were sour to him.
"Eagle Alpha," Andrew's static-laden voice resonated in the small area. "I've spotted one of the Slayer's allies. Um...do you want me to...engage? Over."
Warren and Jonathan both tensed. Though Jonathan could tell by Warren's small smile that he was excited, not nervous as Jonathan was.
"Copy that, Eagle Omega. Which one is it?" Warren asked.
"It's that blonde one that always hangs out with Willow. You know, the quiet one."
Warren rubbed his face. "Damn. Would be nice if it was Buffy's sister," he said off intercom. He switched the radio back on. "Roger that. I'll be right out. We're bringing her in."
Jonathan's stomach sunk through the floor. Through the floor, the ground, and straight on to Hell.
****
"She's not here. Why isn't she here?" Willow didn't like losing her head in a crisis but this...
This wasn't supposed to happen. She was about to start getting better. She was gonna fix things with Tara. She couldn't do that if Tara wasn't there.
"Will," Xander placed a calming hand on her shoulder. "We'll find her. She probably went out for food or something."
Oh, he was so lying. Tara wouldn't wander away like that without telling anyone. Buffy, maybe. Spike, sure. But Tara? No. No, Tara always tried to make sure the group was all together.
Buffy and Spike returned, obviously not having found her.
"Willow," Buffy said. "We're gonna need to find her. Can you do a spell? Location or beacon or...something that says 'Tara is here'?"
Yes, because Willow hadn't been doing enough magic lately.
But this was good magic, and it was for Tara.
She nodded. "Yeah, there's...we did set up a spell a while back to help us find each other."
"That glowy spell!" Xander said.
Willow nodded. The last time they'd used it had been right after they'd resurrected Buffy. Tara had used it to lead Willow to her. Willow would have to modify it so that it took them to Tara.
"Okay," Buffy said. "Will, you do that spell. Spike and I will go get Tara."
"Uh...you mean 'Spike, Willow, and I'. I'm going, too." Willow said.
"No. Glory can sense you outside the barrier. The last thing we need is to broadcast to Glory where we are."
Willow opened her mouth to protest but...it made sense. In that frustrating, 'why does it have to make sense?' sort of way.
"Besides," Buffy added. "I want you here to watch Dawn."
Dawn smiled for a brief second.
Concern for Tara kept a cloud of gloom over the group, though. Smiles didn't last long.
Xander put a supportive hand on Willow's shoulder.
"I'll help you do the spell, Will."
Willow nodded, quelling the surge of panic that was running through her. She had to depend on Buffy. That's what Willow had brought her back for, after all.
****
"So, explain it again. What are we doing with her?" Andrew crossed his arms, eyes shifting from Tara to Warren.
They'd made it back to the basement base without any problems. The girl had been in some sort of trance, but she'd snapped out of it as they'd forced her into the van. She had been disoriented, though, which made it easy to tie her up and -
There was that pang of guilt. That niggling sense that what they were doing was wholly wrong. Jonathan was having trouble ignoring it.
This had been fun, at first. Playing at being super-villains, acting out their fantasies, getting loads of cash. But it was hurting other people. Like that dumb enhancement spell he'd done a couple years ago. He hadn't thought about the other people whose lives he was changing until Buffy told him...
This went above and beyond, though. Why was he Buffy's nemesis again? Wasn't Buffy the good guy? Didn't he want to be the good guy?
"Listen," the girl spoke up. "You don't want to get involved with Buffy right now. Just...trust me. Let me go, I'll walk away, no harm."
Warren laughed. "No, cupcake. You see, you," he pointed at her. "Are our ticket to the Slayer. She's been hiding, but she'll come out to rescue a friend. And when she comes, we will be prepared for her."
"Yeah," Andrew giggled. "See, we have this thing that Warren made - well, I helped. Jonathan didn't do much - but, he made this thing that will - "
"Hey, Jar Jar?" Warren gave an irritated glare to Andrew. "How 'bout we not tell her our master plan?"
"Oh, right." Andrew looked chagrinned. "Cause that's a no-no on the Evil Overlord list."
Warren rolled his eyes, his face tensing in irritation. Standing, he roughly grabbed Andrew and left to go upstairs. "I want you to show me this thing again to make sure you didn't screw it up," he said as they left.
Jonathan was uncomfortable. Left alone with the girl. The tied up girl. The tied up girl they had kidnapped.
He was doing everything in his power to avoid looking at her. He stared at the comic book rack, pretending to be interested in the latest issue of Spider-Man. The cover image blurred and doubled as he lost the will to focus. His entire thought was concentrated on pretending she wasn't there.
"I know you," the girl spoke.
Jonathan closed his eyes. Why wouldn't she leave him alone?
"You did that spell a couple years ago. Right? To make yourself cooler?"
She remembered him. He didn't remember her. He didn't know a thing about her except that she was Willow's girlfriend. What was her name? Did she even have a name?
"I guess you went to high school with Buffy...and Willow. I think you're a good person. I know it's hard when you're in a group of people to be able to...still be yourself. To not lose yourself for the group. But...well, you know this is wrong."
It wasn't a question. It was a statement. She knew he knew it was wrong. But she didn't know that he was also a murderer. Kidnapping a girl was just pebbles compared to what he'd done before.
"You can still fix this."
How? Katrina was dead; her body callously disposed of. He couldn't do anything to change that now.
"You want to fix this...don't you?"
Jonathan closed his eyes. It didn't help. He was still a murderer. But...
He did want to fix things. Somehow.
***
The fairy light ahead of them twinkled. It was so bright. It almost felt alive.
Buffy liked it.
Okay, so it was just a magical spell to lead them to Tara. But it felt like she was looking at something inside her. Something she'd just recently found again. It was refreshing.
Course, every silver lining had a dark cloud attached to it. Tara. They were so few now, and Tara's mysterious disappearance was demoralizing. Even as Buffy was beginning to feel better about herself, the situation she'd found herself in had gotten even worse.
Spike and Buffy been following the light in silence together. Not an awkward silence, but a comfortable silence. He had absolved her of her wrongness. It was kinda silly when she thought about it. She'd been convinced he was right. She'd been looking for a reason to be wrong. And...that was the last thing she needed now. Spike knew she wasn't like him.
Which, actually, made him more like her.
But in a good way.
They had reached a neighborhood of rental houses, if the yard signs were any indication. The light had stopped in front of a house with an older car outside. A standard, small house. Blue recycling bin, metal trash can, dark alleyway beside it. Nothing unusual or out of the ordinary. But this was Sunnydale and the dark and demonic usually hung out with the 'ordinary'.
"Glory?" Buffy asked. It didn't make sense. Glory liked upscale places. Penthouses or mansions or temples or something. Not a run-down little rental smack dab in the middle of the 'bad' part of Sunnydale. Wasn't her style.
Spike shook his head. "Don't think this is Glory's doing."
Buffy sighed, frustrated at the thought that there might be yet another enemy for her to fight. She began to move forward but paused, turning towards Spike. She placed a hand on his chest, waiting for the almost-imperceptible wince.
"Your injury," she frowned. The wound Willow had given him was still there. It would be a liability.
He took her hand in his, moving away from his chest. "It's alright. Almost healed up. Vampire, remember?"
He was faking it. She could so tell. Trying to act like he hadn't just gotten a gaping chest wound the other day. Vampire or not, that took a while to heal. But she would likely need him in a fight, and she knew nothing would keep him from helping. She nodded, pulling her hand away.
"Just making sure you're not gonna wuss out on me." His presence still made her tingle. His touch sent a jolt of life through her. Given breaths of life from a dead man. Her world was so strange.
Spike chuckled. "You just do your Slayer thing. I'll be watching your back very closely."
She grinned at the innuendo.
Then Buffy turned back to the house with the fairy light blinking in front of it. Time to rescue Tara.
***
"I still think we should do a ransom note. It's like a classic..."
"Did your brain get replaced with an even thicker rock, dumbnut? One, we're not holding her for ransom. We're using her as bait to get the Slayer to come to us. Two, we don't even know where the Slayer is. Three, you're not cutting up my official Fabbri Star Trek Magazines thosearecollectiblesdammit!"
"But the lettering is perfect! Get away from me, you Wesley-lover!"
Jonathan was barely cognizant of the physical struggle going on between Warren and Andrew. Over a magazine. As the girl they'd kidnapped watched.
Wow, they were really bad guys.
There was a movement on the surveillance cameras. Two figures quickly were approaching the house. Buffy and Spike.
So this is the part where their plan had worked, right?
Jonathan fingered the hastily crafted weapon that Warren and Andrew had made for this occasion. When he looked up, the girl was watching him expectantly.
Funny. He could have sworn Katrina had been a brunette.
***
The house had been easy to break into. A bit of Slayer heft and the deadbolt caved easily, and Spike and Buffy were granted admittance. Buffy frowned and looked back at the doorway. No barrier for Spike.
Wasn't important.
The place obviously wasn't really lived in. No furniture. No lights. No people...
Scratch that. Buffy could hear people arguing loudly. She glanced at Spike, making sure he was in sync.
A sliver of light shone from under the door in the kitchen. Stairs led down to the basement. They'd be walking down into a confined area with only one exit. Everything screamed at her that this was a trap.
And yet, she didn't feel a sense of impending dread. A trap it may be, but not a very good one.
Besides if Tara were down there, they really had no choice.
The sounds of struggle got louder as they went down the stairs. The scene that greeted them at the bottom was almost comical.
Two boys were wrestling over a magazine while that short guy - Jonathan - and Tara, who was tied up though apparently unharmed, watched. The action paused as the boys noticed her arrival. With all the grace of a newborn duck, the brunet guy broke off from the little play-fight and scooped up a very strange, sci-fi looking...thing. It had duct tape on it.
Spike snorted with a chuckle behind her, and she couldn't blame him. She crossed her arms.
"Okay," she said, fighting back a smile. "What is this?"
The geekazoid with the sideburns brandished his...thing. "This is your ultimate end, Slayer. We are villains, and we've been working behind the scenes for months now in this town."
The taller, scrawny guy behind him nodded. "We have."
Okay, Loser 1 and Loser 2...not a threat. She turned to Jonathan, who really wasn't looking too good. A bit on the skinny side with some scruffy, unkempt hair.
"Jonathan, what is this?" she repeated her question.
He looked startled by the direct question. "We're the bad guys," he finally replied.
"Fine. Whatever," Buffy started to move across the cluttered basement to get to Tara. "I'm gonna get my friend and leave. You guys have no idea what bigger problems I have right now..."
"Not so fast, Slayer!" Loser 1 shook his thing. She paused, aware that Spike was moving forward to take a flanking position if need be. "This is a very powerful weapon, and I think it would be best that you not take the girl."
"That's not a weapon, you git," Spike said. "That's an old Nerf gun held together by duct tape and wishes."
"Actually," Loser 2 spoke up. "It is a weapon. And, yeah, based on the Nerf gun chassis, but it actually uses the paralyzing agent of a demon called Gnarl, who's this kinda Gollum-type thing...except he eats flesh, which Gollum didn't do. Though he did eat raw fish, but that's kinda different. Actually, Gnarl's not much like Gollum at all except - "
"Okay, En-nerd-ipedia Brown? Cut with the chatter." Loser 1 admonished his partner. "Point is, it can paralyze you. Completely and permanently. Don't think I'm afraid to use it either."
"Yeah, he really isn't," Loser 2 said supportively.
Buffy didn't have time for this. She had an angry hellgod hunting her and her friends down. She'd already lost people. These guys? Were just ridiculous.
She looked to her side, making eye contact with Spike. He gave a barely noticeable nod.
Without any further banter, Buffy surged forward, ducking to avoid any paralyzing blasts. Her objective was getting the gun away from Loser 1. Spike would get Tara.
As she delivered a restrained punch to his mid-section, she heard the unmistakable zap of weaponry going off...then failing as the device sparked and fizzled. Loser 1 cursed as Buffy ripped the object from his grip and knocked him to the ground.
Loser 2 yelled - or rather, wailed - while attempting to...do something only barely resembling actual fighting. Buffy quickly disabled him and sent him to the floor as well.
She turned. Spike was already untying Tara. Jonathan remained seated in front of the wall of computer monitors, watching but not participating.
"You gonna try to fight me too, Jonathan?" she asked.
He shook his head, eyes on the unconscious bodies of his buddies. "I'm actually gonna..."
She folded her arms, waiting expectantly. Spike had Tara freed and was moving her towards the exit.
"We did some bad things," Jonathan finally said. "A girl...she got killed." He paused, brow furrowing. "We killed her."
"I don't think I'm the one you need to be confessing to about that."
He nodded. Finally, he looked up to meet her gaze. "I'll take care of it."
She hesitated. She didn't want to stay away from the school for too long. They were too exposed. Just laying themselves open to Glory's attack. But could she trust Jonathan to do as he promised and get these creepo nerds turned in?
"Really, Buffy. I want to do this. I never wanted to hurt anybody."
She knew that to be true. Jonathan may have been misguided at times, but he was mostly harmless.
Buffy nodded, giving him her best Slayer Look before turning to follow Spike and Tara out of the house.
Back to the safe place.
***
Glory slammed a hand against the window, instantly obliterating it to miniscule pieces. Behind her, Doc went to fetch the broom and dustpan.
Little blonde witch should have arrived by now. Glory frowned. This was getting irritating.
***
Jonathan hung up the phone. It almost slipped from his sweaty palm as he put it back on the base. The police were coming.
He felt his insides bubbling in fear.
They were gonna take him away.
He calmed his breathing as best he could before going back downstairs to watch over Warren and Andrew until the cops arrived.
Jonathan froze at the bottom. His lungs quit working again as a sense of pure panic worked its way through his body.
Warren was gone.
tbc...
Previous Chapter | Chapter List
Rating: R
Pairing(s)/Character(s): Just the canon ones for Season 6.
Disclaimer: Not mine. It all belongs to Joss.
Warnings: Character death. Really and seriously, this is not (and will not be) a happy or lighthearted fic. Note that this warning applies for the entire fic.
Summary: What if Giles hadn't killed Ben in The Gift? It is now mid-season 6, and the Scooby gang is falling apart when Ben awakens from his coma, letting loose an angry Glory. Buffy, dealing with post-death depression, bills, an "evil" Trio, and a faltering support system, now has to contend with a vengeful hellgod. Just when things couldn't get worse.
Author's Note: Hey, look! An update! Yes, I finally got my butt in gear and finished the next chapter of Murphy. Previous chapters are here. I have no excuses for the delay. I'm just a horrible writer.
I'll be including the final scene from Chapter Seven in order to jump-start your memory on what's going on. Please enjoy. :)
Previous Chapter | Chapter List
Chapter Eight: Interruption
They'd all had a late night, what with the fight and the subsequent nursing of wounds. It was afternoon when Tara woke up. Everybody else was still sleeping.
There was something buzzing in her head. It was calling her. Without any awareness of what she was doing, Tara rose from her sleeping bag and began walking out of the school.
There was a room waiting for her. She'd been there before. A tiny room. Dark and noisy. She had escaped from it once. But something now was calling her back to it. She had to go back to it.
Tara's bare feet moved softly across the grass of the lawn in front of the school as she walked away.
***
Jonathan saw her in his dreams. She never said anything. She'd descend the basement stairs like the ghost he knew she was and stand across from him, blocking the view of the television. Then she would look at him. That was the most frustrating part. He couldn't get away from her eyes, accusing and questioning him for his part in her death.
Some nights he would apologize to her and beg her forgiveness. Other nights, he would yell at her that it was her fault for what had happened. Still other nights would find him sitting across from her, simply staring back with the knowledge that nothing he could say to her would really matter at this point.
That's why she never said anything to him. She didn't care that he was sorry or that they hadn't realized what they were doing. That wasn't her purpose in going to him.
No, he knew why she was there.
Every night she would visit him as a reminder of what he'd done. Her real body lay decomposing at the bottom of the river. It was only in dreams that she could ensure that he wouldn't forget: there was one less person in the world because of him.
Katrina was haunting him.
He'd found himself on several occasions walking past her house, even though it was out of his way. He thought to alleviate his guilt by confessing what he had done to her family. He knew they were worried about her. They had signs up looking for her.
Every time he went past, though, he ended up walking away rather than going to the door. He knew that Katrina would be there at night to remind him of what he should have done. He also knew he was just too scared to do it.
Warren didn't help. Warren hadn't been helping for a while now. And Jonathan knew with every ounce of resolve in his body that Warren was trouble. Any decent person would leave, turn Warren in, just walk out.
Jonathan apparently wasn't that decent person, though.
It was a clear night when they went 'Slayer-sighting'. Warren had been frustrated at the Slayer's disappearance and had been taking them out nightly to look for her in the cemeteries. She never showed. Instead, Jonathan had to sit in the van, listening to Warren and Andrew's banal banter. As if they didn't have blood all over their hands.
Was he the only sane one? The only one who recognized that what they had done was very wrong?
Warren leaned back, contented smile on his face as his fingers tapped the keyboard. He sifted through different camera views. The Summers residence. Spike's crypt. The different graveyards. All empty.
"I'm telling you. She left town to hone her powers!" Andrew's petulant voice rang through the van. He was outside on patrol, having lost their game of rock-paper-scissors. "We should be looking for old wise senseis with convenient access to waterfalls!"
"Yeah, no," Warren rolled his eyes. "She wouldn't just up and leave like that. The Slayer's still here somewhere. And we, as her nemeses, need to find her."
"To kill her?" Jonathan asked from his corner of the van.
Warren turned a heavy gaze on him. "To defeat her. We are super-villains, Johnny-boy. It's what we do."
"I think I liked it better when we just made ourselves invisible and stole money," Jonathan mumbled. Though even those memories were sour to him.
"Eagle Alpha," Andrew's static-laden voice resonated in the small area. "I've spotted one of the Slayer's allies. Um...do you want me to...engage? Over."
Warren and Jonathan both tensed. Though Jonathan could tell by Warren's small smile that he was excited, not nervous as Jonathan was.
"Copy that, Eagle Omega. Which one is it?" Warren asked.
"It's that blonde one that always hangs out with Willow. You know, the quiet one."
Warren rubbed his face. "Damn. Would be nice if it was Buffy's sister," he said off intercom. He switched the radio back on. "Roger that. I'll be right out. We're bringing her in."
Jonathan's stomach sunk through the floor. Through the floor, the ground, and straight on to Hell.
****
"She's not here. Why isn't she here?" Willow didn't like losing her head in a crisis but this...
This wasn't supposed to happen. She was about to start getting better. She was gonna fix things with Tara. She couldn't do that if Tara wasn't there.
"Will," Xander placed a calming hand on her shoulder. "We'll find her. She probably went out for food or something."
Oh, he was so lying. Tara wouldn't wander away like that without telling anyone. Buffy, maybe. Spike, sure. But Tara? No. No, Tara always tried to make sure the group was all together.
Buffy and Spike returned, obviously not having found her.
"Willow," Buffy said. "We're gonna need to find her. Can you do a spell? Location or beacon or...something that says 'Tara is here'?"
Yes, because Willow hadn't been doing enough magic lately.
But this was good magic, and it was for Tara.
She nodded. "Yeah, there's...we did set up a spell a while back to help us find each other."
"That glowy spell!" Xander said.
Willow nodded. The last time they'd used it had been right after they'd resurrected Buffy. Tara had used it to lead Willow to her. Willow would have to modify it so that it took them to Tara.
"Okay," Buffy said. "Will, you do that spell. Spike and I will go get Tara."
"Uh...you mean 'Spike, Willow, and I'. I'm going, too." Willow said.
"No. Glory can sense you outside the barrier. The last thing we need is to broadcast to Glory where we are."
Willow opened her mouth to protest but...it made sense. In that frustrating, 'why does it have to make sense?' sort of way.
"Besides," Buffy added. "I want you here to watch Dawn."
Dawn smiled for a brief second.
Concern for Tara kept a cloud of gloom over the group, though. Smiles didn't last long.
Xander put a supportive hand on Willow's shoulder.
"I'll help you do the spell, Will."
Willow nodded, quelling the surge of panic that was running through her. She had to depend on Buffy. That's what Willow had brought her back for, after all.
****
"So, explain it again. What are we doing with her?" Andrew crossed his arms, eyes shifting from Tara to Warren.
They'd made it back to the basement base without any problems. The girl had been in some sort of trance, but she'd snapped out of it as they'd forced her into the van. She had been disoriented, though, which made it easy to tie her up and -
There was that pang of guilt. That niggling sense that what they were doing was wholly wrong. Jonathan was having trouble ignoring it.
This had been fun, at first. Playing at being super-villains, acting out their fantasies, getting loads of cash. But it was hurting other people. Like that dumb enhancement spell he'd done a couple years ago. He hadn't thought about the other people whose lives he was changing until Buffy told him...
This went above and beyond, though. Why was he Buffy's nemesis again? Wasn't Buffy the good guy? Didn't he want to be the good guy?
"Listen," the girl spoke up. "You don't want to get involved with Buffy right now. Just...trust me. Let me go, I'll walk away, no harm."
Warren laughed. "No, cupcake. You see, you," he pointed at her. "Are our ticket to the Slayer. She's been hiding, but she'll come out to rescue a friend. And when she comes, we will be prepared for her."
"Yeah," Andrew giggled. "See, we have this thing that Warren made - well, I helped. Jonathan didn't do much - but, he made this thing that will - "
"Hey, Jar Jar?" Warren gave an irritated glare to Andrew. "How 'bout we not tell her our master plan?"
"Oh, right." Andrew looked chagrinned. "Cause that's a no-no on the Evil Overlord list."
Warren rolled his eyes, his face tensing in irritation. Standing, he roughly grabbed Andrew and left to go upstairs. "I want you to show me this thing again to make sure you didn't screw it up," he said as they left.
Jonathan was uncomfortable. Left alone with the girl. The tied up girl. The tied up girl they had kidnapped.
He was doing everything in his power to avoid looking at her. He stared at the comic book rack, pretending to be interested in the latest issue of Spider-Man. The cover image blurred and doubled as he lost the will to focus. His entire thought was concentrated on pretending she wasn't there.
"I know you," the girl spoke.
Jonathan closed his eyes. Why wouldn't she leave him alone?
"You did that spell a couple years ago. Right? To make yourself cooler?"
She remembered him. He didn't remember her. He didn't know a thing about her except that she was Willow's girlfriend. What was her name? Did she even have a name?
"I guess you went to high school with Buffy...and Willow. I think you're a good person. I know it's hard when you're in a group of people to be able to...still be yourself. To not lose yourself for the group. But...well, you know this is wrong."
It wasn't a question. It was a statement. She knew he knew it was wrong. But she didn't know that he was also a murderer. Kidnapping a girl was just pebbles compared to what he'd done before.
"You can still fix this."
How? Katrina was dead; her body callously disposed of. He couldn't do anything to change that now.
"You want to fix this...don't you?"
Jonathan closed his eyes. It didn't help. He was still a murderer. But...
He did want to fix things. Somehow.
***
The fairy light ahead of them twinkled. It was so bright. It almost felt alive.
Buffy liked it.
Okay, so it was just a magical spell to lead them to Tara. But it felt like she was looking at something inside her. Something she'd just recently found again. It was refreshing.
Course, every silver lining had a dark cloud attached to it. Tara. They were so few now, and Tara's mysterious disappearance was demoralizing. Even as Buffy was beginning to feel better about herself, the situation she'd found herself in had gotten even worse.
Spike and Buffy been following the light in silence together. Not an awkward silence, but a comfortable silence. He had absolved her of her wrongness. It was kinda silly when she thought about it. She'd been convinced he was right. She'd been looking for a reason to be wrong. And...that was the last thing she needed now. Spike knew she wasn't like him.
Which, actually, made him more like her.
But in a good way.
They had reached a neighborhood of rental houses, if the yard signs were any indication. The light had stopped in front of a house with an older car outside. A standard, small house. Blue recycling bin, metal trash can, dark alleyway beside it. Nothing unusual or out of the ordinary. But this was Sunnydale and the dark and demonic usually hung out with the 'ordinary'.
"Glory?" Buffy asked. It didn't make sense. Glory liked upscale places. Penthouses or mansions or temples or something. Not a run-down little rental smack dab in the middle of the 'bad' part of Sunnydale. Wasn't her style.
Spike shook his head. "Don't think this is Glory's doing."
Buffy sighed, frustrated at the thought that there might be yet another enemy for her to fight. She began to move forward but paused, turning towards Spike. She placed a hand on his chest, waiting for the almost-imperceptible wince.
"Your injury," she frowned. The wound Willow had given him was still there. It would be a liability.
He took her hand in his, moving away from his chest. "It's alright. Almost healed up. Vampire, remember?"
He was faking it. She could so tell. Trying to act like he hadn't just gotten a gaping chest wound the other day. Vampire or not, that took a while to heal. But she would likely need him in a fight, and she knew nothing would keep him from helping. She nodded, pulling her hand away.
"Just making sure you're not gonna wuss out on me." His presence still made her tingle. His touch sent a jolt of life through her. Given breaths of life from a dead man. Her world was so strange.
Spike chuckled. "You just do your Slayer thing. I'll be watching your back very closely."
She grinned at the innuendo.
Then Buffy turned back to the house with the fairy light blinking in front of it. Time to rescue Tara.
***
"I still think we should do a ransom note. It's like a classic..."
"Did your brain get replaced with an even thicker rock, dumbnut? One, we're not holding her for ransom. We're using her as bait to get the Slayer to come to us. Two, we don't even know where the Slayer is. Three, you're not cutting up my official Fabbri Star Trek Magazines thosearecollectiblesdammit!"
"But the lettering is perfect! Get away from me, you Wesley-lover!"
Jonathan was barely cognizant of the physical struggle going on between Warren and Andrew. Over a magazine. As the girl they'd kidnapped watched.
Wow, they were really bad guys.
There was a movement on the surveillance cameras. Two figures quickly were approaching the house. Buffy and Spike.
So this is the part where their plan had worked, right?
Jonathan fingered the hastily crafted weapon that Warren and Andrew had made for this occasion. When he looked up, the girl was watching him expectantly.
Funny. He could have sworn Katrina had been a brunette.
***
The house had been easy to break into. A bit of Slayer heft and the deadbolt caved easily, and Spike and Buffy were granted admittance. Buffy frowned and looked back at the doorway. No barrier for Spike.
Wasn't important.
The place obviously wasn't really lived in. No furniture. No lights. No people...
Scratch that. Buffy could hear people arguing loudly. She glanced at Spike, making sure he was in sync.
A sliver of light shone from under the door in the kitchen. Stairs led down to the basement. They'd be walking down into a confined area with only one exit. Everything screamed at her that this was a trap.
And yet, she didn't feel a sense of impending dread. A trap it may be, but not a very good one.
Besides if Tara were down there, they really had no choice.
The sounds of struggle got louder as they went down the stairs. The scene that greeted them at the bottom was almost comical.
Two boys were wrestling over a magazine while that short guy - Jonathan - and Tara, who was tied up though apparently unharmed, watched. The action paused as the boys noticed her arrival. With all the grace of a newborn duck, the brunet guy broke off from the little play-fight and scooped up a very strange, sci-fi looking...thing. It had duct tape on it.
Spike snorted with a chuckle behind her, and she couldn't blame him. She crossed her arms.
"Okay," she said, fighting back a smile. "What is this?"
The geekazoid with the sideburns brandished his...thing. "This is your ultimate end, Slayer. We are villains, and we've been working behind the scenes for months now in this town."
The taller, scrawny guy behind him nodded. "We have."
Okay, Loser 1 and Loser 2...not a threat. She turned to Jonathan, who really wasn't looking too good. A bit on the skinny side with some scruffy, unkempt hair.
"Jonathan, what is this?" she repeated her question.
He looked startled by the direct question. "We're the bad guys," he finally replied.
"Fine. Whatever," Buffy started to move across the cluttered basement to get to Tara. "I'm gonna get my friend and leave. You guys have no idea what bigger problems I have right now..."
"Not so fast, Slayer!" Loser 1 shook his thing. She paused, aware that Spike was moving forward to take a flanking position if need be. "This is a very powerful weapon, and I think it would be best that you not take the girl."
"That's not a weapon, you git," Spike said. "That's an old Nerf gun held together by duct tape and wishes."
"Actually," Loser 2 spoke up. "It is a weapon. And, yeah, based on the Nerf gun chassis, but it actually uses the paralyzing agent of a demon called Gnarl, who's this kinda Gollum-type thing...except he eats flesh, which Gollum didn't do. Though he did eat raw fish, but that's kinda different. Actually, Gnarl's not much like Gollum at all except - "
"Okay, En-nerd-ipedia Brown? Cut with the chatter." Loser 1 admonished his partner. "Point is, it can paralyze you. Completely and permanently. Don't think I'm afraid to use it either."
"Yeah, he really isn't," Loser 2 said supportively.
Buffy didn't have time for this. She had an angry hellgod hunting her and her friends down. She'd already lost people. These guys? Were just ridiculous.
She looked to her side, making eye contact with Spike. He gave a barely noticeable nod.
Without any further banter, Buffy surged forward, ducking to avoid any paralyzing blasts. Her objective was getting the gun away from Loser 1. Spike would get Tara.
As she delivered a restrained punch to his mid-section, she heard the unmistakable zap of weaponry going off...then failing as the device sparked and fizzled. Loser 1 cursed as Buffy ripped the object from his grip and knocked him to the ground.
Loser 2 yelled - or rather, wailed - while attempting to...do something only barely resembling actual fighting. Buffy quickly disabled him and sent him to the floor as well.
She turned. Spike was already untying Tara. Jonathan remained seated in front of the wall of computer monitors, watching but not participating.
"You gonna try to fight me too, Jonathan?" she asked.
He shook his head, eyes on the unconscious bodies of his buddies. "I'm actually gonna..."
She folded her arms, waiting expectantly. Spike had Tara freed and was moving her towards the exit.
"We did some bad things," Jonathan finally said. "A girl...she got killed." He paused, brow furrowing. "We killed her."
"I don't think I'm the one you need to be confessing to about that."
He nodded. Finally, he looked up to meet her gaze. "I'll take care of it."
She hesitated. She didn't want to stay away from the school for too long. They were too exposed. Just laying themselves open to Glory's attack. But could she trust Jonathan to do as he promised and get these creepo nerds turned in?
"Really, Buffy. I want to do this. I never wanted to hurt anybody."
She knew that to be true. Jonathan may have been misguided at times, but he was mostly harmless.
Buffy nodded, giving him her best Slayer Look before turning to follow Spike and Tara out of the house.
Back to the safe place.
***
Glory slammed a hand against the window, instantly obliterating it to miniscule pieces. Behind her, Doc went to fetch the broom and dustpan.
Little blonde witch should have arrived by now. Glory frowned. This was getting irritating.
***
Jonathan hung up the phone. It almost slipped from his sweaty palm as he put it back on the base. The police were coming.
He felt his insides bubbling in fear.
They were gonna take him away.
He calmed his breathing as best he could before going back downstairs to watch over Warren and Andrew until the cops arrived.
Jonathan froze at the bottom. His lungs quit working again as a sense of pure panic worked its way through his body.
Warren was gone.
tbc...
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