What I Am
by sailor80
Five
[reviews]
Willow tried to study while she waited for Riley at a table on the third floor. 'The Spanish advance into the New World left in its wake,' she began, then sighed and looked toward the door.
Riley was precisely on time. At 7 pm, he appeared in the doorway. He saw Willow and came to sit beside her at the table without hesitation.
After they performed the niceties, Willow got directly to the point. "Have you seen Buffy?"
"Not since, um, day before yesterday. I was hoping to see her after class, but I, uh, had the flu."
"Uh huh. Two cracked ribs or three?" Willow poked his side.
Riley jerked with pain and glared at the tiny redhead. "Four," he hissed.
"You're one of those soldiers. Doing experiments on vampires."
"Not just vampires. All of the HSTs. Seeing how they work."
"Including Slayers." It was a statement, not a question.
Riley's look changed to confusion. "What are slayers?"
She looked at him with disgust. "Slayer comma, the. Look it up." She slammed the book closed and got to her feet. "If you have anything to do with her being gone," she began ominously, then stomped off.
He looked at her retreating back with a frown. He was on sick duty until his ribs mended, and he hadn't been down in the Hole since the night he fought with Buffy. And now Buffy was missing. Riley got to his feet and loped toward the elevators. He collided with a blonde girl on the way, and Willow was gone when he reached the lobby.
He trailed the redhead to her dorm, surprised to find himself knocking at the door for the first time. Riley was aware that the girl from the library followed him here, but he excused her as another dorm resident. Willow opened the door the second time he knocked, and let him in without saying anything.
Riley stood nervously in the center of the room. "Buffy's gone?" he asked.
"Dr. Walsh asked her to stay after class. I waited outside, and she never came out. When I looked in, the room was empty."
"Oh." He frowned again. "What's a slayer?"
"In each generation," Willow quoted Giles speech.
"You're kidding."
"You're part of a secret government organization that put a chip in a vampire's head to cause him severe pain if he even thinks about harming a living being and you think I'm making up a Chosen One?" Willow glared at Riley again.
"It makes as much sense as anything else," he finally conceded. "I'll see what I can find out."
"Thank you."
* * * *
Buffy's head ached, and opening her eyes was a huge mistake. She closed them again, and tried to remember how she had gotten into this condition. It was much like she had felt the morning after Cave Buffy's appearance. There had been no beer this time, and Willow was nowhere near her. 'Where is Willow?' she wondered, and risked opening one eye just a bit. MISTAKE! her brain screamed as she shut it again. The milliseconds it took seemed a lifetime, and the pain crescendoed until she collapsed into darkness again.
* * * *
Willow tried to not let her desperation show as she met with Xander at Giles'. They infuriated her, both of them, pointing out that it wasn't as if Buffy hadn't run away before when under stress. She wanted to scream at them that it was different now, but swallowed her anger and sadly said goodnight to her friends. She walked back toward her dorm, and knew it was no mistake when she met Riley on the way.
"Buffy's in a lot of trouble," he said softly and handed her a book.
She nodded. "C'mon, we'll talk."
In the common room, Tara jumped up to greet Willow. She was wary of Riley, who was stiff and formal, partly from his bandaged ribs and partly from training.
"Maybe we should talk here," Riley suggested. "I'm pretty sure your room is bugged," he added quietly.
Willow opened the book Riley had given her, and Tara read along.
"They haven't really hurt her yet. They're just studying her," Riley said defensively.
"Are there cameras?" Willow asked.
"Everywhere."
"I need a computer," Willow said. She was all ready mapping her way through the networks and subnets to reach the one beneath her feet.
"My room," Tara volunteered, and they followed her silently to the next dorm.
Willow worked silently on the computer. Tara sat on her bed in embarrassed silence. She was uncertain what to think of Riley's presence. He seemed like a good guy, but she wasn't sure. From time to time she glanced at him, standing at parade rest at her door. Then she looked at Willow, haloed in the desk light. She sighed and moved further down the bed. She gestured for Riley to take a seat.
He did, gratefully. He was still quite sore from his fight, though the bruises were greenish and fading. He, too, watched Willow work, and understood a little what drew beautiful young women to her.
"It's gonna be a while, guys," Willow said without looking away from the screen or slowing the movement of her fingers on the keyboard. "No need to stare."
"S-sorry," Tara said softly.
Riley shrugged and turned his attention to the walls of Tara's room. It was quite different from his, and Buffy and Willow's, and pretty much every room he had ever been in. His sisters' rooms had been girly and bright. It took a long time to look at everything, and when he finished, he looked speculatively at Tara, who refused to look back but blushed all the same.
The room stayed silent except for Willow's fingers on the keyboard. What took so long was finding a way in that wouldn't trigger security logs. Riley left. "Curfew," he explained apologetically. Tara fell asleep, and still Willow worked. When she reached her destination, the bank of cameras showing all the cells, Willow swore softly. Buffy was in one cell. Faith was in the next. In the hallway between them was Dr. Maggie Walsh. She minimized the feed and broke the connection long enough to call Xander and Giles to summon them to Tara's room.
By the time they arrived, Tara was awake. She stood behind Willow and watched the screen, but yielded her spot to Xander, then to Giles, who left in a hurry to begin making the many phone calls it would take to free both Slayers to the appropriate keepers. Xander kept saying, "I don't believe it."
"Xander, stop," Willow demanded. She was terrified for Buffy and had no idea how they would get her out. She wasn't sure that the Watchers' Council could secure the Slayers' freedom, or that they wouldn't take both of them.
Three sharp raps on the door drew their attention from the computer screen. Willow minimized what they were looking at while Tara opened the door. It was Riley again, and she let him in silently.
Willow stood up for the first time in hours and looked up at him. "If you aren't here to help, you need to leave now."
"I'm here to help," he answered.
She studied him a moment longer, then nodded her acceptance. "This is Xander." Willow gestured toward her longtime friend. "Xander, this is Riley."
They shook hands, and Willow returned to the computer. She brought the camera display up again. In the time she had been gone, both Slayers had been removed from their bright, white cubes. "Shit," she said softly, then turned back to look at Riley. "Where would they take them?"
"Testing," he answered softly. "Those cameras aren't part of the network. They record to a mainframe and the researchers log in and view the files separately." He wanted to comfort Willow, but didn't know how, even if her friends would let him near.
"How do we get them out?" Willow asked.
"What them? I thought we were talking about Buffy." Riley's confusion was genuine.
"There's another Slayer there with her." Xander spoke up.
"But you said there was only one," Riley looked at Willow.
"It's a long story," Xander volunteered.
Riley looked speculatively at him, then shrugged. "It might be easier to get two out than one, especially if they're different from the others."
"You have a plan?" Willow asked hopefully.
"Not yet," Riley answered. "There's a lot of things to go over first. Then we'll plan."
"What things?" Willow asked.
"What tools we have. What options are available."
"What do you need now?"
"A place to work mostly," Riley said. "We can't use my room. We shouldn't use yours."
"You can work here," Tara offered.
"I need a reason to be coming here," Riley said.
Willow and Tara looked at each other and snickered. Xander suggested, "Tara could be your new girlfriend."
The witches broke into open laughter.
"What?" Xander demanded.
"Nothing" Willow told him when she regained control. She didn't look at Tara when she asked her "You still in?"
"Yeah" Tara said. She looked at Riley with a grin. He nodded at her.
"Ok" Willow began. "We have us. And Giles. He can get pretty much anything we need. Computers aren't a problem." She looked at Riley.
"They're being kept underground. Top secret classified bunker and research facility. I can get in but I don't know anyone else can go with me. They work around the clock so we can move at odd hours.'' Riley said.
"How many entrances and exits are there?" Xander asked. "What kind of ID do you show to get in?"
''Three exits two entrances. Biometric at the main entrance. Keycard at the other. That one's kinda hidden."
"Uniforms? Weapons? Inside security?'' Xander peppered Riley with questions.
"BDUs or lab coat depending on classification. There's an armory but weapons are discouraged in the lab. Once you're in access is by keycard. There are cameras everywhere. They're monitored in a control room."
Within an hour they had a plan to get in, get the Slayers, and get out.