August 28: Inquisition: Bishop, Part IV
Title: Inquisition: Chapter 10: Bishop, Part IV
Author: 3am_moonlight (MirroredIllusions on TtH)
Crossover: BtVS / NCIS
Rating: Teen
Word Count:2,817
Timeline: BtVS: Post-Chosen & NCIS: anytime after Ellie joined but before Abby left.
Disclaimer: Nothing copyrighted belongs to yours truly.
Summary: Vampires, witches, Slayers, and what goes bump in the night has been exposed to the public. The vampires have become media darlings while Slayers are being painted as evil. After four years of being hunted by law enforcement, Buffy has allowed herself to be captured. Major AU.
Author's Note: Written for Day 28 of the 2022 August Fic-A-Day.
Previous: Gibbs - Torres - Bishop - Bishop Part II - Bishop Part III - Gibbs Part II - Mallard - Vance - Torres Part II -
Buffy Summers, the most hated person in the world, left the NCIS Headquarters precisely 50 hours after getting arrested. Legally, they could only hold her for 48 hours unless they had hard evidence and legally charged her with one or more crimes. They hadn't, and she had even gone through the trouble of asking. They had informed her that it didn't apply to her, which was untrue, and they all knew it. Just like they also knew there wasn't anything she could do about it unless she tried to break out, in which case they would have something to legally charge her with.
Breaking out of the holding cell had been easy enough. Subduing the two guards right outside the door hadn't sat well with her, but it was necessary so she could get out of there. There would be no lasting harm to either of them, other than a dented pride. Despite the alarms going off when she broke the door, she was able to get all the way outside before she ran into any agents.
Specifically, Agent Bishop was waiting outside with her gun still holstered, and her hands folded in front of her. She also made no attempts to reach for it when she saw Buffy exiting the building. Next to her was a tall woman wearing checkered black and white pants, a black open overcoat with a black frilly blouse underneath it, knee-high platform shoes, and her hair up in two high twintails. They both looked determined, but also a little uncertain.
As soon as Buffy had cleared the door and closed it behind her, Bishop spoke up. "I'm coming with you, wherever you're going."
"That's a terrible idea, especially since your people are going to charge me for kidnapping a federal agent in addition to the charges for escaping custody and probably harming the guards so I could get out."
"That's why I'm here," the unknown woman tried to reassure her in a slightly raspy voice. "I'm going to tell everyone that Ellie left with you voluntarily and that it was all her idea." She smiled, or tried to, but ended up looking more concerned. Whether the concern was for Bishop, Buffy, or the guards was uncertain.
"It's still an awful idea, especially since they're just going to assume that you're either working with me or that I did something to you to convince you to believe you were helping me. You'll end up in trouble either way."
"No, I won't," the woman insisted. "Gibbs will believe me and he'll make everyone else believe too."
Buffy glanced back towards the building she had just left. It wouldn't be long before someone tried the same exit since there were cameras everywhere. She didn't have time for this.
"I need to leave. I'm sorry, Agent Bishop, but bringing you along won't help. Both you and your friend will get in legal trouble, and there's a pretty good chance you might even get executed. No one is thinking clearly. The spell or whatever won't allow it. All they'll see is someone helping a Slayer, and they will be convinced you're guilty. Your lives will be over."
"We have already considered the outcomes, and how this will affect our lives, but you know something you haven't told anyone during the interrogations." Agent Bishop was looking intently at her now, clearly also aware of the time constraint. "You got information about whatever's going on during that telepathic conversation down in the morgue, and you're going somewhere to try and stop it. Or prevent it from getting worse, or I don't know what. But it's important. And you're right, we need to leave now before someone sees us on the cameras."
Buffy scrutinized the woman in front of her. Agent Bishop had shown more patience with her than any of the others save for Dr. Mallard, and she was being honest, but that didn't mean there wasn't something going on here that Buffy didn't know about. Five sets of hurried footsteps coming their way forced a decision, at least for the time being.
"We're out of time. Fine, you can come along, but we're leaving right now." She gave the dark-haired woman a look she tried to not make look pitying, but she probably failed. "Thank you, but I really hope you understand that this is going to be horrible for you."
"I know. Go!"
Buffy lead the way but at a much slower pace than she would've done if she'd been alone, and Agent Bishop followed as fast as she was able. If she'd been alone she would've taken the sewers to get away faster without anyone being able to track her movements, but with a companion who didn't possess any kind of non-human abilities that would just cause even more problems. Which meant she had to improvise the escape rather than follow the plan she and Willow had come up with before Buffy had allowed herself to be captured.
Six hours later, at noon, they had managed to get to the car Buffy had stashed away for her escape. They were a couple of hours after the schedule Willow had set, but hopefully, they could catch up by skipping a few meals and shortening bathroom breaks. During their time on foot, they had barely spoken, just verbalizing what was absolutely necessary and otherwise kept quiet.
That ended once they had been in the car for twenty minutes. Buffy decided to speak up before Bishop could, in an attempt to try and control the narrative.
"Why would you do something as stupid as insisting to come with me, AND involving a third person? That woman is probably having the worst morning in her entire life right now."
"Something about all of this isn't adding up for me. I don't know what it is, but I know it's there. Abby agrees with me, and she actually confronted me about it. She's been saying all along that vampires are definitely bad. It was her idea for me to go with you, and for her to try and talk Gibbs and everyone else down from trying to charge you with kidnapping me."
Buffy risked a short, sideways look at the other blonde, "But you still believe that vampires are good, Slayers are evil, and all the monsters are just misunderstood." It was more a statement than a question, but Bishop answered it anyways.
"I do."
Buffy carefully considered her next question before asking, "Do you believe all vampires are good, no exceptions? And likewise, that all Slayers are evil?"
"Yes." The reply came after a short hesitation and wasn't as convincing as her earlier answers had been.
"Care to elaborate on that answer?"
She could feel the NCIS agent's eyes on the side of her face, "Not really."
"Why not? We're going to be in this car for hours, days. You and your agency have asked me a lot of questions over the last two days, and you insisted on coming with me. I think the least you could do is help me try to figure out how this spell net works, and how elaborate it actually is. For obvious reasons, we haven't been able to ask a lot of people questions."
Bishop leaned back in her seat and watched the road ahead of them for a few minutes in silence. "I don't know why, but I am certain that vampires are good. All Slayers are evil, no exceptions to either."
"Then how do you explain me not going off the rails when I was arrested or while I was in the custody of NCIS? I could've easily killed a lot of people and done some serious property damage if I had wanted. So, how do you explain that I not only allowed you to tag along with me but also that I have done nothing to hurt you or even threaten you?"
"I can't, and that's part of the problem.
When Buffy didn't ask anything else right away, Bishop got in a few questions of her own. "Who contacted you telepathically? What did they tell you?"
"A friendly witch who has been doing intense research for us for a few years. She contacted me because she found something that might help me break the mind magics or whatever it is. That's where we're going."
Bishop kept asking questions, but Buffy only gave vague answers in regard to where they were going, and what she intended to do once she got there. After a while, she gave up, and they drove in silence.
As Buffy didn't need much sleep, she drove through the night and only stopped when it was absolutely necessary. Bathroom breaks were short and included them stretching their legs while eating small meals. Buffy carefully paid for everything in cash so as not to leave a digital trail. At one point, she had even confiscated Bishop's phone to turn it off and remove the battery so she couldn't be tracked by it, and in doing so she had inadvertently also taken her credit card.
It took four days of near-constant driving to arrive at their destination, and they made it with about an hour and a half to spare. After parking the car in a nondescript parking lot, and Buffy grabbing a backpack from the trunk of the car, they began walking towards the site Willow had concluded that the ritual would be performed. It was already getting dark, and it would probably be full-on darkness by the time she reached the correct place.
It was a park area with a lot of tall, thick trees, well-walked trails, and various camping grounds and resting places. It was late autumn, so there were a lot fewer people around than there would've been in the Summer months. It wasn't completely empty, but the people they saw all minded their own business. It probably meant that they either didn't recognize her or they didn't care for some strange reason.
Willow hadn't known precisely where the site was but had encouraged her to use her senses to see if she could pinpoint the location. Unfortunately, they had lost a lot of time, so Buffy simply closed her eyes and spun around a few times, making it look like the same movement small children sometimes did to entertain themselves. At the same time, she stretched out her senses trying to find whatever dark magic or power was controlling people.
It took a few tries but she got a 'whiff' of something definitely evil and immediately stopped her spinning, opened her eyes, and began power walking in the direction she felt it. Time was running out, and this time she didn't wait for her 'babysitter'. All she did, was give her a warning to stay among the trees and out of the way because the last thing Buffy needed was having to rescue someone she didn't even want there. Then she ran.
She made it to the edge of the right cleaning in about 20 minutes, but she had been hearing the seven wizards for a while before that. When her view became unobstructed enough, she saw that there were also four vampires around the outer edges of the cleared area. Judging by the way her skin was crawling with bad magic, they had clearly been performing their rituals in this place for a long time.
The trees and greenery around where they were gathered had also withered and died. Not a good sign at all.
Still, she remained far enough away so none of them would be able to sense her. It had the drawback that she couldn't sense them either, but if Willow was correct then she only needed to kill one of the wizards. All of them would be best, but she had been relatively certain all seven were needed to make the ritual work, and they had to work the ritual at the exact same time as the other teams of wizards on the other continents.
Buffy took off her backpack as quietly as she could, unzipped it, and removed a collapsible bow along with both wooden and metal arrows. She assembled it quickly before laying out the arrows beside her. Buffy took her time assessing her environment, her targets, and how far away Agent Bishop was from her. She didn't have long before the other woman would be close enough for her prey to hear her running in the forest, so she took an arrow and aimed for the man who appeared to be the leader.
It hit her target on the head, slightly off target but lethal nonetheless. As soon as the first one was flying she picked up the next and aimed in for the next one. Four out of seven wizards were dead by the time the vampire bodyguards realized where she was hiding. Although she was pretty certain it had more to do with Bishop not being able to move as stealthily in the woods as she had.
At that point, it didn't matter. They couldn't perform the ritual with only three wizards.
*Willow.*
She didn't have a lot of time for this conversation, but it needed to be made.
*Four of the wizards are dead, and I'm entering the fight to kill the rest along with their four vampire guards.*
*Copy that,* came her friend's voice in her head. *There's a definite disturbance in the spell net, but it'll take a few minutes to be certain if it's damaged enough for people to begin breaking free.*
*Okay. Gotta kick some butt now!*
Buffy broke the link.
While she'd been talking to Willow she had armed her bow with yet another arrow, and as soon as she was alone in her own head again she aimed and fired. It hit the fifth wizard in the neck. Then she dropped the bow and ran over to the remaining vampires and the two last wizards.
She sensed Bishop's eyes on her when she made it to the clearing more than she actually saw her as she was busy turning the second guard into a pile of dust. 25 seconds later and the sixth wizard dropped hard to the ground with a stake in his heart. Soon after that it was only Buffy and the last wizard left, and she gave him a hard hit over the head causing him to lose consciousness.
As she was placing a set of magically enhanced handcuffs around the man's wrists she looked over at the federal agent. Raising her voice a little so it would carry, she asked, "How are you doing over there? Any abrupt changes to your opinions on vampires?"
The horrified look on Bishop's face could either be because of the massacre she had just completed or it could be because she was suddenly allowed to make up her own mind for the first time in four years.
"I think I'm going to be sick." Bishop was swallowing compulsively in an attempt to avoid her latest meal making a reappearance at the wrong end. It wasn't helpful in clearing anything up though.
Buffy used the time to fasten a magically enhanced collar around the wizard's neck. It was one of Willow's creations, made specifically to stop a magical person from using their magic for anything other than self-healing.
The Defender's Council needed him alive and healthy so they could interrogate him. They needed to find out what had gone wrong and make sure it could never happen again. They also needed to know who else was a part of this, and maybe even more importantly who had orchestrated the entire thing to begin with and why.
The wizard was starting to regain consciousness by the time Bishop walked over to them in shock.
"You were right. The vampires are evil, and there's proof that Slayers are not. Proof that law enforcement somehow just trashed or ignored. Oh my god." Then she began apologizing and rambling.
"Bishop? It's okay, I know there was magic behind it." But she wasn't listening. Rather than give her a slap to snap her out of it, she placed power in her voice, "BISHOP!"
She abruptly cut off, mid-word, and just stared wide-eyed at Buffy.
"I know you're sorry, and I also know you were under a spell. It's okay, you managed to partially break free of it. It's more than most people were able to do." She gave her a gentle smile. "Come on, sit down."
*Willow? Is my backup on the way? Because I'm dealing with a very upset agent here, and the remaining wizard is waking up.*
"Yup. They'll be there in about three minutes. And the spell net is falling apart. There's going to be complete chaos for the foreseeable future as everyone is trying to cope with everything.*
Hopefully, Buffy could manage to not get involved in that.
Author: 3am_moonlight (MirroredIllusions on TtH)
Crossover: BtVS / NCIS
Rating: Teen
Word Count:2,817
Timeline: BtVS: Post-Chosen & NCIS: anytime after Ellie joined but before Abby left.
Disclaimer: Nothing copyrighted belongs to yours truly.
Summary: Vampires, witches, Slayers, and what goes bump in the night has been exposed to the public. The vampires have become media darlings while Slayers are being painted as evil. After four years of being hunted by law enforcement, Buffy has allowed herself to be captured. Major AU.
Author's Note: Written for Day 28 of the 2022 August Fic-A-Day.
Previous: Gibbs - Torres - Bishop - Bishop Part II - Bishop Part III - Gibbs Part II - Mallard - Vance - Torres Part II -
Buffy Summers, the most hated person in the world, left the NCIS Headquarters precisely 50 hours after getting arrested. Legally, they could only hold her for 48 hours unless they had hard evidence and legally charged her with one or more crimes. They hadn't, and she had even gone through the trouble of asking. They had informed her that it didn't apply to her, which was untrue, and they all knew it. Just like they also knew there wasn't anything she could do about it unless she tried to break out, in which case they would have something to legally charge her with.
Breaking out of the holding cell had been easy enough. Subduing the two guards right outside the door hadn't sat well with her, but it was necessary so she could get out of there. There would be no lasting harm to either of them, other than a dented pride. Despite the alarms going off when she broke the door, she was able to get all the way outside before she ran into any agents.
Specifically, Agent Bishop was waiting outside with her gun still holstered, and her hands folded in front of her. She also made no attempts to reach for it when she saw Buffy exiting the building. Next to her was a tall woman wearing checkered black and white pants, a black open overcoat with a black frilly blouse underneath it, knee-high platform shoes, and her hair up in two high twintails. They both looked determined, but also a little uncertain.
As soon as Buffy had cleared the door and closed it behind her, Bishop spoke up. "I'm coming with you, wherever you're going."
"That's a terrible idea, especially since your people are going to charge me for kidnapping a federal agent in addition to the charges for escaping custody and probably harming the guards so I could get out."
"That's why I'm here," the unknown woman tried to reassure her in a slightly raspy voice. "I'm going to tell everyone that Ellie left with you voluntarily and that it was all her idea." She smiled, or tried to, but ended up looking more concerned. Whether the concern was for Bishop, Buffy, or the guards was uncertain.
"It's still an awful idea, especially since they're just going to assume that you're either working with me or that I did something to you to convince you to believe you were helping me. You'll end up in trouble either way."
"No, I won't," the woman insisted. "Gibbs will believe me and he'll make everyone else believe too."
Buffy glanced back towards the building she had just left. It wouldn't be long before someone tried the same exit since there were cameras everywhere. She didn't have time for this.
"I need to leave. I'm sorry, Agent Bishop, but bringing you along won't help. Both you and your friend will get in legal trouble, and there's a pretty good chance you might even get executed. No one is thinking clearly. The spell or whatever won't allow it. All they'll see is someone helping a Slayer, and they will be convinced you're guilty. Your lives will be over."
"We have already considered the outcomes, and how this will affect our lives, but you know something you haven't told anyone during the interrogations." Agent Bishop was looking intently at her now, clearly also aware of the time constraint. "You got information about whatever's going on during that telepathic conversation down in the morgue, and you're going somewhere to try and stop it. Or prevent it from getting worse, or I don't know what. But it's important. And you're right, we need to leave now before someone sees us on the cameras."
Buffy scrutinized the woman in front of her. Agent Bishop had shown more patience with her than any of the others save for Dr. Mallard, and she was being honest, but that didn't mean there wasn't something going on here that Buffy didn't know about. Five sets of hurried footsteps coming their way forced a decision, at least for the time being.
"We're out of time. Fine, you can come along, but we're leaving right now." She gave the dark-haired woman a look she tried to not make look pitying, but she probably failed. "Thank you, but I really hope you understand that this is going to be horrible for you."
"I know. Go!"
Buffy lead the way but at a much slower pace than she would've done if she'd been alone, and Agent Bishop followed as fast as she was able. If she'd been alone she would've taken the sewers to get away faster without anyone being able to track her movements, but with a companion who didn't possess any kind of non-human abilities that would just cause even more problems. Which meant she had to improvise the escape rather than follow the plan she and Willow had come up with before Buffy had allowed herself to be captured.
Six hours later, at noon, they had managed to get to the car Buffy had stashed away for her escape. They were a couple of hours after the schedule Willow had set, but hopefully, they could catch up by skipping a few meals and shortening bathroom breaks. During their time on foot, they had barely spoken, just verbalizing what was absolutely necessary and otherwise kept quiet.
That ended once they had been in the car for twenty minutes. Buffy decided to speak up before Bishop could, in an attempt to try and control the narrative.
"Why would you do something as stupid as insisting to come with me, AND involving a third person? That woman is probably having the worst morning in her entire life right now."
"Something about all of this isn't adding up for me. I don't know what it is, but I know it's there. Abby agrees with me, and she actually confronted me about it. She's been saying all along that vampires are definitely bad. It was her idea for me to go with you, and for her to try and talk Gibbs and everyone else down from trying to charge you with kidnapping me."
Buffy risked a short, sideways look at the other blonde, "But you still believe that vampires are good, Slayers are evil, and all the monsters are just misunderstood." It was more a statement than a question, but Bishop answered it anyways.
"I do."
Buffy carefully considered her next question before asking, "Do you believe all vampires are good, no exceptions? And likewise, that all Slayers are evil?"
"Yes." The reply came after a short hesitation and wasn't as convincing as her earlier answers had been.
"Care to elaborate on that answer?"
She could feel the NCIS agent's eyes on the side of her face, "Not really."
"Why not? We're going to be in this car for hours, days. You and your agency have asked me a lot of questions over the last two days, and you insisted on coming with me. I think the least you could do is help me try to figure out how this spell net works, and how elaborate it actually is. For obvious reasons, we haven't been able to ask a lot of people questions."
Bishop leaned back in her seat and watched the road ahead of them for a few minutes in silence. "I don't know why, but I am certain that vampires are good. All Slayers are evil, no exceptions to either."
"Then how do you explain me not going off the rails when I was arrested or while I was in the custody of NCIS? I could've easily killed a lot of people and done some serious property damage if I had wanted. So, how do you explain that I not only allowed you to tag along with me but also that I have done nothing to hurt you or even threaten you?"
"I can't, and that's part of the problem.
When Buffy didn't ask anything else right away, Bishop got in a few questions of her own. "Who contacted you telepathically? What did they tell you?"
"A friendly witch who has been doing intense research for us for a few years. She contacted me because she found something that might help me break the mind magics or whatever it is. That's where we're going."
Bishop kept asking questions, but Buffy only gave vague answers in regard to where they were going, and what she intended to do once she got there. After a while, she gave up, and they drove in silence.
As Buffy didn't need much sleep, she drove through the night and only stopped when it was absolutely necessary. Bathroom breaks were short and included them stretching their legs while eating small meals. Buffy carefully paid for everything in cash so as not to leave a digital trail. At one point, she had even confiscated Bishop's phone to turn it off and remove the battery so she couldn't be tracked by it, and in doing so she had inadvertently also taken her credit card.
It took four days of near-constant driving to arrive at their destination, and they made it with about an hour and a half to spare. After parking the car in a nondescript parking lot, and Buffy grabbing a backpack from the trunk of the car, they began walking towards the site Willow had concluded that the ritual would be performed. It was already getting dark, and it would probably be full-on darkness by the time she reached the correct place.
It was a park area with a lot of tall, thick trees, well-walked trails, and various camping grounds and resting places. It was late autumn, so there were a lot fewer people around than there would've been in the Summer months. It wasn't completely empty, but the people they saw all minded their own business. It probably meant that they either didn't recognize her or they didn't care for some strange reason.
Willow hadn't known precisely where the site was but had encouraged her to use her senses to see if she could pinpoint the location. Unfortunately, they had lost a lot of time, so Buffy simply closed her eyes and spun around a few times, making it look like the same movement small children sometimes did to entertain themselves. At the same time, she stretched out her senses trying to find whatever dark magic or power was controlling people.
It took a few tries but she got a 'whiff' of something definitely evil and immediately stopped her spinning, opened her eyes, and began power walking in the direction she felt it. Time was running out, and this time she didn't wait for her 'babysitter'. All she did, was give her a warning to stay among the trees and out of the way because the last thing Buffy needed was having to rescue someone she didn't even want there. Then she ran.
She made it to the edge of the right cleaning in about 20 minutes, but she had been hearing the seven wizards for a while before that. When her view became unobstructed enough, she saw that there were also four vampires around the outer edges of the cleared area. Judging by the way her skin was crawling with bad magic, they had clearly been performing their rituals in this place for a long time.
The trees and greenery around where they were gathered had also withered and died. Not a good sign at all.
Still, she remained far enough away so none of them would be able to sense her. It had the drawback that she couldn't sense them either, but if Willow was correct then she only needed to kill one of the wizards. All of them would be best, but she had been relatively certain all seven were needed to make the ritual work, and they had to work the ritual at the exact same time as the other teams of wizards on the other continents.
Buffy took off her backpack as quietly as she could, unzipped it, and removed a collapsible bow along with both wooden and metal arrows. She assembled it quickly before laying out the arrows beside her. Buffy took her time assessing her environment, her targets, and how far away Agent Bishop was from her. She didn't have long before the other woman would be close enough for her prey to hear her running in the forest, so she took an arrow and aimed for the man who appeared to be the leader.
It hit her target on the head, slightly off target but lethal nonetheless. As soon as the first one was flying she picked up the next and aimed in for the next one. Four out of seven wizards were dead by the time the vampire bodyguards realized where she was hiding. Although she was pretty certain it had more to do with Bishop not being able to move as stealthily in the woods as she had.
At that point, it didn't matter. They couldn't perform the ritual with only three wizards.
*Willow.*
She didn't have a lot of time for this conversation, but it needed to be made.
*Four of the wizards are dead, and I'm entering the fight to kill the rest along with their four vampire guards.*
*Copy that,* came her friend's voice in her head. *There's a definite disturbance in the spell net, but it'll take a few minutes to be certain if it's damaged enough for people to begin breaking free.*
*Okay. Gotta kick some butt now!*
Buffy broke the link.
While she'd been talking to Willow she had armed her bow with yet another arrow, and as soon as she was alone in her own head again she aimed and fired. It hit the fifth wizard in the neck. Then she dropped the bow and ran over to the remaining vampires and the two last wizards.
She sensed Bishop's eyes on her when she made it to the clearing more than she actually saw her as she was busy turning the second guard into a pile of dust. 25 seconds later and the sixth wizard dropped hard to the ground with a stake in his heart. Soon after that it was only Buffy and the last wizard left, and she gave him a hard hit over the head causing him to lose consciousness.
As she was placing a set of magically enhanced handcuffs around the man's wrists she looked over at the federal agent. Raising her voice a little so it would carry, she asked, "How are you doing over there? Any abrupt changes to your opinions on vampires?"
The horrified look on Bishop's face could either be because of the massacre she had just completed or it could be because she was suddenly allowed to make up her own mind for the first time in four years.
"I think I'm going to be sick." Bishop was swallowing compulsively in an attempt to avoid her latest meal making a reappearance at the wrong end. It wasn't helpful in clearing anything up though.
Buffy used the time to fasten a magically enhanced collar around the wizard's neck. It was one of Willow's creations, made specifically to stop a magical person from using their magic for anything other than self-healing.
The Defender's Council needed him alive and healthy so they could interrogate him. They needed to find out what had gone wrong and make sure it could never happen again. They also needed to know who else was a part of this, and maybe even more importantly who had orchestrated the entire thing to begin with and why.
The wizard was starting to regain consciousness by the time Bishop walked over to them in shock.
"You were right. The vampires are evil, and there's proof that Slayers are not. Proof that law enforcement somehow just trashed or ignored. Oh my god." Then she began apologizing and rambling.
"Bishop? It's okay, I know there was magic behind it." But she wasn't listening. Rather than give her a slap to snap her out of it, she placed power in her voice, "BISHOP!"
She abruptly cut off, mid-word, and just stared wide-eyed at Buffy.
"I know you're sorry, and I also know you were under a spell. It's okay, you managed to partially break free of it. It's more than most people were able to do." She gave her a gentle smile. "Come on, sit down."
*Willow? Is my backup on the way? Because I'm dealing with a very upset agent here, and the remaining wizard is waking up.*
"Yup. They'll be there in about three minutes. And the spell net is falling apart. There's going to be complete chaos for the foreseeable future as everyone is trying to cope with everything.*
Hopefully, Buffy could manage to not get involved in that.