There are five major torture groups...
Giles shoved Ethan into a large cell, which had a big, sturdy wooden chair -- not unlike an electric chair -- bolted to the floor. It was lacking the bit that went on one's head, though. In its place, there was a leather strap that held the chair's occupant's head upright.
"We're going to have a nice chat, you and I," Giles snarled. "And then, we are going to have another nice chat where I make certain that you weren't lying to me, Ethan."
Buffy was waiting, leaning against the wall where the door was. When Ethan turned around to glare at Giles, he spotted her. She grinned and gave him a small wave.
"Oh bloody hell."
"That's all I rate now? No hello or how's it slaying or I'm really sorry for screwing around with evil forces yet again?"
"But I'm not sorry. I'm sorry I got caught."
Buffy narrowed her eyes and barely held back the urge to punch his face in.
"Of course you are," Giles replied curtly. "I'd expect nothing less."
Giles guided Ethan to the chair, and seated him in it. After the binding spell accommodated itself to the chair as well, Giles began strapping him in.
"This is a bit kinky, Rupert. You certain you want your girl watching?"
"Watching? I think you have us confused. I'm the Watcher," he said with an eyebrow raised. "In any event, she will be participating this evening; if you'd prefer to remain relatively unscathed, I'd watch how much you wind her up. She might just clock you."
"Hmm, typical slayer response. Have you not taught her anything new?"
Buffy's grin was icy. "I cut a man in half. That new enough?"
"Yeah, I did hear something about that. He was evil, though, was he not? While I am certainly not good by any means, I'm not wholly evil. I think you might have a bit of trouble ending me in that case, where as the little redhead might not. Skinned a man alive, didn't she? I'm almost offended I don't rate scary witch torture. But perhaps we're all worried about her backsliding? My sources tell me that her control over herself is tentative at best."
Giles and Buffy looked tense about him speaking of Willow.
"Have I been misinformed?"
Giles smiled. "We decided not to bother Willow with all of this," he gestured, indicating the room, "Unless absolutely necessary. You see, she was hauled in for questioning by the Ministry of Magic, and she would rather like to turn you into a jar of marmite and leave you in a grocer's shop."
"And then," he continued, "We wouldn't have been able to have this nice little chat, isn't that right Buffy?"
"Personally, I'm okay with the jar thing," Buffy said offhandedly. "But that would mean that there will be no answers to questions we have, and you know how thirsty for knowledge Giles is. So, we're going to ask you a few questions and you're going to answer them."
Buffy looked to Giles. "Should we start easy?"
"Of course. I'd hate to put in unnecessary effort."
"So, how did it feel to be caught by a little girl?"
"I think we both know that one isn't just some little girl. I think even she doesn't know how powerful she is. That Sight of hers broke through a demon's spell to find me. She might be the one you need to be worried about this time. Seers are an unsteady bunch, and hasn't she already done a stint in the nuthouse?"
Buffy shrugged. "We have a slayer who has done some time in asylums. There's also one in the other side of the dungeons who likes cutting off peoples hands. I think she'd be happy to talk with you."
Giles inwardly flinched when Buffy mentioned her stint in the psychiatric unit, but he didn't let anything flicker across his face. "We can go and fetch her for you if you like."
"Permanently damaging me will get you nowhere," Ethan said in a nonchalant manner. "Rupert could have told you that."
"I don't know about permanent. We have a pretty nifty healer. He can grow back bones and all sorts of stuff."
Buffy leaned down to look at Ethan in the face. "You hurt one of mine, and I really, really don't take kindly to that, especially with all the mental torture you put my friends through. I've grown up since we last had a confrontation. There is no government to protect you here."
"I can see that you're angry, but who are you so upset about? Surely not the little Seer. Oh no. It's the boy. It's always the boy with you, isn't it? Is he worthy of your devotion, Buffy? Do you know how black his darkness is? But, then you like that, don't you?"
"Time was, Ethan, that you liked that in your boys as well," Giles countered, calmly and collectedly. "Your girls, too, as I recall."
He turned to Buffy.
"He really liked heavy eyeliner."
"Things haven't changed that much with me, Ripper," Ethan said with a smile. "Unlike others of us."
Buffy faked gagged. "You are not allowed to talk about eyeliner again, Giles." She tried to imagine Draco or Theo in eyeliner and scrunched her nose up. She couldn't see it.
Giles only glanced in her direction with a raised eyebrow. "Yes, well... That was long ago. Though, I must say that Willow was very fetching when she had herself all done up as her vampire alter-ego."
Off Buffy's horrified look, he responded, "Oh grow up. You lot were eighteen."
Ethan chuckled. "Yes, and I do hear your redhead had a rather fetching look when evil as well. The underground here seems rife with rumors about her. Interesting ones. She spends a lot of time in the bad part of wizarding town, has questionable friends there?"
"Oh, but that was because she was looking for you, my friend," Giles commented, walking around the chair. "The things that go bump in the night are frightened of you, old man. Would you care to share why? I don't seem to remember you being that frightening."
"Do let's be honest, Ripper. Your redhead was making visits to the wrong side of the wand long before I even entered the country. She wasn't looking for me. Still isn't. Never was. Because if she had been, she'd have found me long before the Seer did, but your redhead was not asking. Oh she tld you she was, I'm sure, but had she actually asked, she'd have found me. I made sure of it."
Giles knew that Ethan was trying to wind him up, but there was a niggling bit of him that knew that it was entirely possible that she had not been going down there to ask questions.
"And you'd rather see a little redhead over your old mate? I asked some questions too, and I came up with exactly naught." Giles' eyebrow was raised. "Nevermind. I just want to know what you've been doing and why you've been doing it. A friend of mine has provided me with this --" He pulled a small vial of some clear liquid out of his pocket "-- and Miss Summers will be assisting me in administering it to you."
Ethan was careful to keep the grin off of his face. He knew what it was. He had old friends as well.
"And that's... what? Excatly? Tap water? Blessed tap water? I'm not a vampire, old boy."
"Actually, It's potassium cyanide," Giles retorted. "Once ingested, you will have approximately forty-five minutes to 'spill your guts' before you perish from Cardiac Arrest. Of course, if you cooperate, I might be inclined to give you this." He pulled another few vials out of his pocket. "This is the standard cyanide antidote kit from the infirmary."
He turned to Buffy. "Open his mouth."
She'd been keeping leaned against the wall with her hands behind her back for fear of pummeling the bastard for talking about Willow like that. But at Giles' order, Buffy moved away from the wall. "Gladly."
A slayer grip on a pressure point did the trick and although he tried to keep his jaw clenched, the pain made him lose focus. Not caring if she bruised him at all, and if she was honest with herself she was aiming for bruising, Buffy grabbed a handful of his hair and his bottom jaw and wrenched them open. There was a moment of satisfaction when she heard his jaw pop repeatedly.
Ethan had prepared for this. He knew what to say, and he knew how to make it convincing. There would be just enough truth in his lies.
He coughed, not knowing for certain if he had, in fact, been poisoned. The fact that one of his new demon friends assured him that he could not die until he completed his task was only mildly comforting. He worked his jaw experimentally.
"You might have been a bit more gentle so it's not so difficult to talk."
"But that wouldn't have been fun," she said in mock cheerfulness. "Now be a good boy and answer Giles' questions before you die."
"So... Who are you working for?"
"Pack of werewolves," Ethan answered distractedly.
"Yes, yes... And I myself am working for A Flock Of Seagulls. Do these werewolves have names?"
Ethan would say he hated throwing those wolves to the figurative wolves, but that wasn't true. Anything to save his own hide. The wolves did want something from him, but it was not what he was after. If he had time to get their item, then he would. That would be a bonus, but he had bigger things to worry about than a pack of lycanthropes.
"Their leader is named Gaylen. They want the Sais of Sun to bring back their former pack leader. They hold some resurection magic. They want to harness that."
Ethan sighed and hunkered down.
"Might I be un-poisoned now? Dammit."
"No," responded Giles. "Make certain that that's the truth, please Buffy."
"You're going to check this out in forty minutes? Right," Ethan snapped.
But he knew it would check out. That pack wanted their alpha back. Gaylen wasn't good at it. They'd do anything. It just so happened their favor and his agenda meshed rather well at the moment.
"That wasn't what I meant," Giles responded. "Buffy? Please begin."
It took her a while to figure out what kind of torture would be best. Scaring Ethan with physical torture wouldn't do it. They didn't exactly have an iron maiden lying around. It hadn't come to her until there had been an accident during training.
Buffy walked over to Ethan and put a hand on his arm and the other on his shoulder... and pulled. The shoulder dislocated with a loud crack.
Ethan groaned and clenched his jaw. Even through the pain, he forced a chuckle out. "A dislocated shoulder? That's your genius torture plan?"
She shrugged. "Breaking fingers is so last year. Plus, once it's broken then we have to have it healed and it's a long process there could be blood and I'd hate to ruin my shirt. I can dislocate your joints and put them back as many times as I want. Did you know that there are about 300 joints in your body. Bet I can find them all."
"I believe you know I do not like pain. I told you everything I know," Ethan said, adding desperation to his voice. "They were going to pay me. Plus it would cause chaos. What else do you want?"
"A credit card with no limit, my sister to finish college at the top of her class, my slayers to start listening to me and to go on a decent date," she rattled off. "Here. I think you're shoulder's displaced. Let me help you with that."
Buffy wrenched the joint back together quickly.
Ethan shouted in pain. Those demons had better appreciate what he was going through for them and their little powertrip.
"The wolves want the sais to raise Greyback! I was making the marks burn to keep the focus there!"
"And what was to be your payment," Giles inquired.
"I get one of their young ones to keep. Sound investment, a child. Bit of a problem with the lycanthropy bit, but I understand it can be controlled. I decided another Rayne would not be amiss. I also get their protection. Gentleman like myself makes a lot of enemies."
"Buffy, please add human trafficking to the list of crimes that he's guilty of. Also, dislocate his other shoulder."
She did as she was asked. "Enemies? I thought everyone loved you, Ethan?" With a quick twist of her wrist, his other shoulder was dislocated. "Apparently you need to work on your people skills."
He could taste blood from where he'd bitten the inside of his cheek in an effort to keep from crying out. Didn't really work.
It was then that he heard the screaming.
Finally, Ethan thought.
This would at least get them to back off with the physical torture. He smiled as it dawned on Rupert and his girl that the voice behind those screams was their redheaded witch. It must have taken the demons longer to break through the witch's wards. The spell was complete now, and thanks to the bit of hair one of his associates had managed to get from Willow on one of her frequent trips into Knockturn, any torture they inflicted upon him would now be felt my the witch.
Buffy knew her face showed her outright panic. She quickly looked to Giles. "That was Willow."
"Yes it was." A switchblade knife appeared in Giles' hand. "And if Ethan knows what's good for him, he will tell us why Willow just screamed." He released the blade.
"Because she's probably feeling like her shoulder was just dislocated."
Buffy lunged for him.
"Careful. You damage me, she feels it too, slayer. Little insurance policy in case I was ever captured by you lot. I knew you would not be able to resist the torture part. I do wish it had worked before I was poisoned and then damaged. You might want to fix this, by the way, so Willow can use her arm." Ethan looked at the knife. "And that... I wouldn't. Unless you feel like cutting on your witch as well."
Now Ethan was feeling quite pleased with himself.
Buffy clenched her jaw so hard it was almost too painful. "You bastard," she hissed, even as she walked over to him. "One of these days, you're going to run out of tricks, and I'll be there to pound you into the ground."
As much as she would have loved to wrench his arm completely off of his body, she put his shoulder joint back in, hoping it didn't hurt Willow too much.
Ethan grunted in pain. Willow screamed again. He smiled, knowing they would now do nothing to him. Oh he knew what would happen now. They'd lock him up until they figured out how to break the link. Then they'd come right back here. Ethan just hoped he could figure out a way out before they figured out how to counter the spell.
She figured she was no longer, and she really wanted to check on Willow. Buffy looked over to Giles. "What now?"
He put the knife away. "Do you, by any chance, still have Kathy's music collection?"
Buffy made a face. "You mean the one that everyone thought would make their ears bleed? Yeah. It's in storage somewhere."
Giles raised an eyebrow meaningfully.
A slow smile blossomed over her face. "I'll have Alice go get it. I think she's the one who put it up for me."
"We're going to have a nice chat, you and I," Giles snarled. "And then, we are going to have another nice chat where I make certain that you weren't lying to me, Ethan."
Buffy was waiting, leaning against the wall where the door was. When Ethan turned around to glare at Giles, he spotted her. She grinned and gave him a small wave.
"Oh bloody hell."
"That's all I rate now? No hello or how's it slaying or I'm really sorry for screwing around with evil forces yet again?"
"But I'm not sorry. I'm sorry I got caught."
Buffy narrowed her eyes and barely held back the urge to punch his face in.
"Of course you are," Giles replied curtly. "I'd expect nothing less."
Giles guided Ethan to the chair, and seated him in it. After the binding spell accommodated itself to the chair as well, Giles began strapping him in.
"This is a bit kinky, Rupert. You certain you want your girl watching?"
"Watching? I think you have us confused. I'm the Watcher," he said with an eyebrow raised. "In any event, she will be participating this evening; if you'd prefer to remain relatively unscathed, I'd watch how much you wind her up. She might just clock you."
"Hmm, typical slayer response. Have you not taught her anything new?"
Buffy's grin was icy. "I cut a man in half. That new enough?"
"Yeah, I did hear something about that. He was evil, though, was he not? While I am certainly not good by any means, I'm not wholly evil. I think you might have a bit of trouble ending me in that case, where as the little redhead might not. Skinned a man alive, didn't she? I'm almost offended I don't rate scary witch torture. But perhaps we're all worried about her backsliding? My sources tell me that her control over herself is tentative at best."
Giles and Buffy looked tense about him speaking of Willow.
"Have I been misinformed?"
Giles smiled. "We decided not to bother Willow with all of this," he gestured, indicating the room, "Unless absolutely necessary. You see, she was hauled in for questioning by the Ministry of Magic, and she would rather like to turn you into a jar of marmite and leave you in a grocer's shop."
"And then," he continued, "We wouldn't have been able to have this nice little chat, isn't that right Buffy?"
"Personally, I'm okay with the jar thing," Buffy said offhandedly. "But that would mean that there will be no answers to questions we have, and you know how thirsty for knowledge Giles is. So, we're going to ask you a few questions and you're going to answer them."
Buffy looked to Giles. "Should we start easy?"
"Of course. I'd hate to put in unnecessary effort."
"So, how did it feel to be caught by a little girl?"
"I think we both know that one isn't just some little girl. I think even she doesn't know how powerful she is. That Sight of hers broke through a demon's spell to find me. She might be the one you need to be worried about this time. Seers are an unsteady bunch, and hasn't she already done a stint in the nuthouse?"
Buffy shrugged. "We have a slayer who has done some time in asylums. There's also one in the other side of the dungeons who likes cutting off peoples hands. I think she'd be happy to talk with you."
Giles inwardly flinched when Buffy mentioned her stint in the psychiatric unit, but he didn't let anything flicker across his face. "We can go and fetch her for you if you like."
"Permanently damaging me will get you nowhere," Ethan said in a nonchalant manner. "Rupert could have told you that."
"I don't know about permanent. We have a pretty nifty healer. He can grow back bones and all sorts of stuff."
Buffy leaned down to look at Ethan in the face. "You hurt one of mine, and I really, really don't take kindly to that, especially with all the mental torture you put my friends through. I've grown up since we last had a confrontation. There is no government to protect you here."
"I can see that you're angry, but who are you so upset about? Surely not the little Seer. Oh no. It's the boy. It's always the boy with you, isn't it? Is he worthy of your devotion, Buffy? Do you know how black his darkness is? But, then you like that, don't you?"
"Time was, Ethan, that you liked that in your boys as well," Giles countered, calmly and collectedly. "Your girls, too, as I recall."
He turned to Buffy.
"He really liked heavy eyeliner."
"Things haven't changed that much with me, Ripper," Ethan said with a smile. "Unlike others of us."
Buffy faked gagged. "You are not allowed to talk about eyeliner again, Giles." She tried to imagine Draco or Theo in eyeliner and scrunched her nose up. She couldn't see it.
Giles only glanced in her direction with a raised eyebrow. "Yes, well... That was long ago. Though, I must say that Willow was very fetching when she had herself all done up as her vampire alter-ego."
Off Buffy's horrified look, he responded, "Oh grow up. You lot were eighteen."
Ethan chuckled. "Yes, and I do hear your redhead had a rather fetching look when evil as well. The underground here seems rife with rumors about her. Interesting ones. She spends a lot of time in the bad part of wizarding town, has questionable friends there?"
"Oh, but that was because she was looking for you, my friend," Giles commented, walking around the chair. "The things that go bump in the night are frightened of you, old man. Would you care to share why? I don't seem to remember you being that frightening."
"Do let's be honest, Ripper. Your redhead was making visits to the wrong side of the wand long before I even entered the country. She wasn't looking for me. Still isn't. Never was. Because if she had been, she'd have found me long before the Seer did, but your redhead was not asking. Oh she tld you she was, I'm sure, but had she actually asked, she'd have found me. I made sure of it."
Giles knew that Ethan was trying to wind him up, but there was a niggling bit of him that knew that it was entirely possible that she had not been going down there to ask questions.
"And you'd rather see a little redhead over your old mate? I asked some questions too, and I came up with exactly naught." Giles' eyebrow was raised. "Nevermind. I just want to know what you've been doing and why you've been doing it. A friend of mine has provided me with this --" He pulled a small vial of some clear liquid out of his pocket "-- and Miss Summers will be assisting me in administering it to you."
Ethan was careful to keep the grin off of his face. He knew what it was. He had old friends as well.
"And that's... what? Excatly? Tap water? Blessed tap water? I'm not a vampire, old boy."
"Actually, It's potassium cyanide," Giles retorted. "Once ingested, you will have approximately forty-five minutes to 'spill your guts' before you perish from Cardiac Arrest. Of course, if you cooperate, I might be inclined to give you this." He pulled another few vials out of his pocket. "This is the standard cyanide antidote kit from the infirmary."
He turned to Buffy. "Open his mouth."
She'd been keeping leaned against the wall with her hands behind her back for fear of pummeling the bastard for talking about Willow like that. But at Giles' order, Buffy moved away from the wall. "Gladly."
A slayer grip on a pressure point did the trick and although he tried to keep his jaw clenched, the pain made him lose focus. Not caring if she bruised him at all, and if she was honest with herself she was aiming for bruising, Buffy grabbed a handful of his hair and his bottom jaw and wrenched them open. There was a moment of satisfaction when she heard his jaw pop repeatedly.
Ethan had prepared for this. He knew what to say, and he knew how to make it convincing. There would be just enough truth in his lies.
He coughed, not knowing for certain if he had, in fact, been poisoned. The fact that one of his new demon friends assured him that he could not die until he completed his task was only mildly comforting. He worked his jaw experimentally.
"You might have been a bit more gentle so it's not so difficult to talk."
"But that wouldn't have been fun," she said in mock cheerfulness. "Now be a good boy and answer Giles' questions before you die."
"So... Who are you working for?"
"Pack of werewolves," Ethan answered distractedly.
"Yes, yes... And I myself am working for A Flock Of Seagulls. Do these werewolves have names?"
Ethan would say he hated throwing those wolves to the figurative wolves, but that wasn't true. Anything to save his own hide. The wolves did want something from him, but it was not what he was after. If he had time to get their item, then he would. That would be a bonus, but he had bigger things to worry about than a pack of lycanthropes.
"Their leader is named Gaylen. They want the Sais of Sun to bring back their former pack leader. They hold some resurection magic. They want to harness that."
Ethan sighed and hunkered down.
"Might I be un-poisoned now? Dammit."
"No," responded Giles. "Make certain that that's the truth, please Buffy."
"You're going to check this out in forty minutes? Right," Ethan snapped.
But he knew it would check out. That pack wanted their alpha back. Gaylen wasn't good at it. They'd do anything. It just so happened their favor and his agenda meshed rather well at the moment.
"That wasn't what I meant," Giles responded. "Buffy? Please begin."
It took her a while to figure out what kind of torture would be best. Scaring Ethan with physical torture wouldn't do it. They didn't exactly have an iron maiden lying around. It hadn't come to her until there had been an accident during training.
Buffy walked over to Ethan and put a hand on his arm and the other on his shoulder... and pulled. The shoulder dislocated with a loud crack.
Ethan groaned and clenched his jaw. Even through the pain, he forced a chuckle out. "A dislocated shoulder? That's your genius torture plan?"
She shrugged. "Breaking fingers is so last year. Plus, once it's broken then we have to have it healed and it's a long process there could be blood and I'd hate to ruin my shirt. I can dislocate your joints and put them back as many times as I want. Did you know that there are about 300 joints in your body. Bet I can find them all."
"I believe you know I do not like pain. I told you everything I know," Ethan said, adding desperation to his voice. "They were going to pay me. Plus it would cause chaos. What else do you want?"
"A credit card with no limit, my sister to finish college at the top of her class, my slayers to start listening to me and to go on a decent date," she rattled off. "Here. I think you're shoulder's displaced. Let me help you with that."
Buffy wrenched the joint back together quickly.
Ethan shouted in pain. Those demons had better appreciate what he was going through for them and their little powertrip.
"The wolves want the sais to raise Greyback! I was making the marks burn to keep the focus there!"
"And what was to be your payment," Giles inquired.
"I get one of their young ones to keep. Sound investment, a child. Bit of a problem with the lycanthropy bit, but I understand it can be controlled. I decided another Rayne would not be amiss. I also get their protection. Gentleman like myself makes a lot of enemies."
"Buffy, please add human trafficking to the list of crimes that he's guilty of. Also, dislocate his other shoulder."
She did as she was asked. "Enemies? I thought everyone loved you, Ethan?" With a quick twist of her wrist, his other shoulder was dislocated. "Apparently you need to work on your people skills."
He could taste blood from where he'd bitten the inside of his cheek in an effort to keep from crying out. Didn't really work.
It was then that he heard the screaming.
Finally, Ethan thought.
This would at least get them to back off with the physical torture. He smiled as it dawned on Rupert and his girl that the voice behind those screams was their redheaded witch. It must have taken the demons longer to break through the witch's wards. The spell was complete now, and thanks to the bit of hair one of his associates had managed to get from Willow on one of her frequent trips into Knockturn, any torture they inflicted upon him would now be felt my the witch.
Buffy knew her face showed her outright panic. She quickly looked to Giles. "That was Willow."
"Yes it was." A switchblade knife appeared in Giles' hand. "And if Ethan knows what's good for him, he will tell us why Willow just screamed." He released the blade.
"Because she's probably feeling like her shoulder was just dislocated."
Buffy lunged for him.
"Careful. You damage me, she feels it too, slayer. Little insurance policy in case I was ever captured by you lot. I knew you would not be able to resist the torture part. I do wish it had worked before I was poisoned and then damaged. You might want to fix this, by the way, so Willow can use her arm." Ethan looked at the knife. "And that... I wouldn't. Unless you feel like cutting on your witch as well."
Now Ethan was feeling quite pleased with himself.
Buffy clenched her jaw so hard it was almost too painful. "You bastard," she hissed, even as she walked over to him. "One of these days, you're going to run out of tricks, and I'll be there to pound you into the ground."
As much as she would have loved to wrench his arm completely off of his body, she put his shoulder joint back in, hoping it didn't hurt Willow too much.
Ethan grunted in pain. Willow screamed again. He smiled, knowing they would now do nothing to him. Oh he knew what would happen now. They'd lock him up until they figured out how to break the link. Then they'd come right back here. Ethan just hoped he could figure out a way out before they figured out how to counter the spell.
She figured she was no longer, and she really wanted to check on Willow. Buffy looked over to Giles. "What now?"
He put the knife away. "Do you, by any chance, still have Kathy's music collection?"
Buffy made a face. "You mean the one that everyone thought would make their ears bleed? Yeah. It's in storage somewhere."
Giles raised an eyebrow meaningfully.
A slow smile blossomed over her face. "I'll have Alice go get it. I think she's the one who put it up for me."