Switcheroony
by alicorn
Chapter 32
[reviews]
Faith could still hear and feel the ringing in her ears as the explosion assaulted her senses. She'd caught sight of a figure dressed in black by the courtyard doors mere seconds before the world had been drowned out by a blinding white light and deafening sound. Straining at the chains, her slayer instincts told her that bad stuff was about to hit the fan and she needed to get free.
Deep male voices broke into her mind as the slayer healing allowed her to recover from the traumatic effects of the blast. "She's at the back" Faith heard one of them say and then the sound of many feet on the mansion's stone floor.
Feeling Cordelia's hand tighten around her wrist, she suddenly recalled that she wasn't alone. "C, you okay?" Hearing a grunt, she added "They're after B. Where is she?"
"What?" Cordelia yelled, trying to regain her hearing.
"Where's B ... and Red?" Faith shouted back.
"At the back ... I think," Cordelia replied shaking her head in the hope of removing the pain in her ears and the camera-flash effect that was fogging her eyesight.
Faith saw more dark shapes passing by her, moving towards the rear of the mansion. She strained at her chains, the need to do something overwhelming her. This was her party and she hadn't invited anyone else. "Buffy!" she called out, somehow feeling that by yelling out her counterpart's name she could at least warn her and help matters. "Someone, get me out of these fucking chains!!" she screamed in frustration, just as she noticed someone moving in front of her. Throwing out her leg, she heard that satisfying sound of him falling.
Xander had closed his eyes in frustration at Anya's behavior just as the flash and bang had hit. Having been deafened, instinct had kept his eyes closed until he heard the sound of running feet. Realizing something was terribly wrong, he pushed himself forward, only to be grabbed by a strong pair of hands and thrown backwards. Glancing up, he saw the familiar black uniform of his earlier attackers. 'Where had they come from? The courtyard ... oh god, Anya?' but just as he was about to anxiously search for his girlfriend, he heard Faith call out, in what sounded like fear, to Buffy. A cold chill ran over him as, turning towards the fireplace, he saw Cordy crumpled in front of Faith, still holding her ears and vainly shaking her head.
For some strange reason he'd expected to see the dark Slayer gazing down at Cordelia but Faith was pulling and struggling with her chains, eyes fixed firmly on the back of the mansion. Turning to follow her gaze, he saw three big men moving towards Buffy and Willow.
Although Buffy was on her knees, he was reassured when he saw her lift her head, as they came towards her. But then Xander saw the expression of sheer confusion and panic on her face. 'Oh God, NOooooo' his mind screamed as he remembered that he was actually looking at Willow.
Willow gazed straight ahead, trying frantically to comprehend what had just happened. One minute Buffy was asking her out and the next she had been blinded and deafened. As her eyes cleared, she saw three men heading towards her. Fear overtook her, as she heard Faith's desperate voice calling out to Buffy. She glanced to her side to see the crouching form of Buffy and her intense need to protect what she had only just found overpowered her fears.
Buffy's world had been turned inside out. Her nervous anticipation of Willow's response to her request for a date had been shattered as she was first blinded and then deafened. Instinct made her drop to the ground, all romantic thoughts driven from her mind, as her senses were assaulted. As she'd buckled, her knees had hit the ground with such force that she was certain there would be yet more bruising. 'How does Willow cope? WILLOW!!'
Ignoring the searing pain in her ears and her temporary blindness, she tried to reach out and find Willow as her hands fumbled in search of her beloved. "Willow!" Shaking her head she tried to clear her vision before attempting to open her eyes. She needed to know what was going on, where Willow was, that she was safe.
Faith saw that the guys moving towards Buffy and Red were splitting up as another three positioned themselves around the room to secure their retreat.
Glancing towards the old hallway, she saw Xander turning his head towards Buffy and Willow but what caught her attention was the sudden look of concern and intensity that crossed his features. Knowing that he was about to throw himself into the fray with little or no hope of winning, she was filled with both jealousy at her inability to do the same and concern for him. And somewhere inside, she was unable to stop herself from resenting the fact that no one had ever done that for her.
A slight moan caught her attention and she looked down to see Cordy beginning to raise herself up from her partly fetal position.
What followed was chaos, as Faith watched Willow trying to regain her feet as two of the three men launched themselves at Buffy. Hearing a scream, the dark-haired slayer glanced to her right to see Xander being thrown to the ground.
She saw Giles was still huddled on the floor as Xander tried to get up again. A body flew past her and, turning back, she saw Willow, having dispatched one of her assailants, turning on the two men now trying to manhandle Buffy to her feet. "Go, Red!!"
Although both Slayers had the intense desire and almost physical need to fight these intruders and protect the others, each ached at her inability to do so. And so Faith physically prevented by her chains and Buffy magically removed from their usual Slayer strength by the curse, found themselves in the same uncomfortable position. Their eyes met in silent but mutual understanding across the room. This sucked big time. But neither one was going down without a fight!
Faith's jaw dropped with guilt as she saw Buffy giving her all as she tried to fight them off even though she no longer had her slayer abilities. Her attempts were nothing but an annoyance to the men. The dark-haired slayer yanked at her chains again as Willow grabbed one attacker by the scruff of his neck and simply pulled him off her best friend, kicking out at his partner's knees. She then launched into them with the same ferocity Faith had recently experienced herself. There was no technique, no style, just brute force. She could almost taste the raw anger in Willow.
Cordelia slowly stood up and glanced to her left, checking on Faith and having done so she took in the scene. Instinctively evaluating how best to help, she realized that they needed to get Faith unchained. Glancing back towards Giles, she made the assumption that the Watcher would have the keys and she launched herself towards him. However an arm appeared from nowhere and yanked her back by the neck of her blouse. Clutching her throat, she fell to the ground.
Xander saw Cordy being thrown to the floor and his male instinct to protect took over as he stood and yelled at the curled-up Watcher. "GILES! Get up damn it!" Ducking beneath the fists he knew were heading his way, he stepped forward dropping his head to barrel into his attacker.
Faith noticed Cordelia starting to regain her breathing when a thought occurred to her. "Cordy," she called out. "Get Buffy's weapons bag."
Cordelia glanced at her in confusion. "What?"
"The bag on the table. Get it to Buffy!" she instructed, nodding her head vigorously towards the stone table on her left.
Finally understanding, Cordelia slipped slightly as she regained her footing and she half-crawled and half-walked towards the table, still trying to recover her breath and stay out of their attackers' way.
Xander watched Cordelia's progress, and realizing where she was heading, he swerved to his right, just missing an upper cut intended for his chin. He embraced the first positive thought he had had since the attack had started -- 'The tranquilizer gun.'
Buffy was furious and still a little dazed as she watched the battle before her. Willow was busy pounding the stuffing out of two black ops guys but through their arms and legs she saw two more men heading towards her Willow. Instinct took over and she moved behind Willow, momentarily forgetting her powerless situation. Finally past her initial attackers and closer to her weapons bag, she screamed "Here Cordy, to me."
Cordy shot a glance to her left as she reached the table and summoning her remaining energy she grabbed the bag and not having time to gauge its weight, she threw it towards Buffy. It fell short, twisting around as it skidded across the ground.
Xander realized he could probably reach it so he launched himself towards it. Sliding across the floor on his side and reaching out, he pulled the bag towards him. Glancing up, he realized he was now facing Willow and her attackers. He began to open the bag and, plunging his hand in, grabbed the stock of the gun pulling it out barrel first.
Buffy was almost there when she saw Xander slide to the bag. He didn't seem to see her as he glanced past her towards Willow. She fell to her still sore knees and reached for the gun, sliding her left hand into the trigger guard as Xander continued to raise the barrel. The next sound she heard was the whoosh of air as something shot past her left ear.
Buffy and Xander's eyes met in surprise as they realized what they had done and both looked back towards Willow just in time to see her freeze, stare back at them in shock and then fall to the floor. "Willow!!" they both screamed.
"No!" Faith exclaimed, seeing what had occurred. She gave a final, mighty yank at her chains but she only succeeded in causing her wrists to bleed.
Their attackers took a moment to realize what had happened but upon seeing that their only serious opposition had been taken out, they went right back to their mission. Turning towards Buffy, they moved in. Xander tried to get up but a kick to his gut came out of nowhere.
"Get off her, you limp mothers," Faith screamed as she saw them shove Buffy to her feet before placing a chloroform-soaked rag over her mouth. Then she saw Cordy launch herself at the man holding Buffy's right arm, only to be swatted aside by him with an elbow to her face.
"Cordy!" Faith screamed, hating how helpless she felt in the midst of the chaos and the injuries her friends [yes, friends] were sustaining.
Giles suddenly appeared out of nowhere, slamming his fist into the side of one attacker's face. 'Way to go,' thought Faith, as Xander positioned himself at the feet of the same man and threw his weight at him. "Knock his lights out," Faith yelled as she saw him fall over Xander. But when she saw the assailant careening towards her, she thought 'Oh hell.'
Buffy couldn't get free. Her only thought was that she needed to get to Willow but no matter how she hard she fought, she couldn't seem to get away from the strong hands holding her. She could hear voices yelling and she knew she was in a fight that she probably couldn't win but for once in her life she didn't care. Then a hand covered her mouth and the strange sweet and yet bitter smell brought the darkness.
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She had seen a flash of light and heard a loud bang as she reached the top of the stone steps. Not sure what was going on, as well as hesitant and nervous, Anya cautiously made her way down the steps. Looking around for a weapon, she cursed herself for not bringing something with her. 'This is Sunnydale for goodness sake. I should always carry around an arsenal.'
Clutching her still sore ribs, she moved around the back of the courtyard to get a better look. Anya could hear yelling and shouting coming from inside. But decades of watching mankind and their petty squabbles, as well as her own current uncomfortable mortality, had taught her that charging in when you didn't know what was going on usually resulted in pain, and she'd had just about enough of that — thank you very much. Why everyone always had to refuse to run away when the odds were against them escaped her. Still, even she usually followed the crowd - most of the time unless no one was looking - like now. Although she did so love it when Xander looked sweaty, bruised and manly - she was pretty damn sure that this look was a macho thing, not at all an appealing unisex characteristic.
Anya stared at the two men before her. They were dressed in black from head to toe, loaded down with weaponry and watching events unfolding inside just as she was, perhaps about to join their accomplices. They were dressed just like Xander had last month when they'd enjoyed his new game - 'how ever can I thank you for saving me, Sergeant'.
She caught sight of Xander sliding across the floor and fear filled her as she spotted the three men surrounding Willow. Xander and Buffy seemed to be fighting over something ... 'What the ...? Oh hell!!! They've shot Willow!'
Anya's open-mouthed amazement was tempered with more than a little bit of satisfaction as she saw the shocked expression on Willow's face. 'See, that's what it feels like,' Anya couldn't stop herself from thinking before Willow crumpled to the floor.
Despite the obstacles in her way, she saw Xander move towards 'his Willow' and Anya again felt jealous, wondering if he'd ever really told her the whole truth about his relationship with his childhood friend. He'd slept once with Faith and snuck around with Cordelia. He had always had the 'hots' for Buffy, with whom he spent most of his time getting sweaty and bruised in some battle or another. Now Willow was getting all sweaty and bruised. 'I have bruises. He should be at home finding me sexy', she reasoned.
But her thinking about fairness, truthfulness and what constituted sexy was rudely interrupted when she saw the men pile on Buffy and kick her Xander! Unable to restrain herself, but slowed down by her aching ribs, she forced herself to move towards the doorway. "HEY! Leave him alone," she yelled at the attackers, not one of whom turned to look at her.
Then Anya made a split second decision. Her physical presence wasn't going to prevent a bunch of muscle bound men from leaving the mansion, and in her present condition, there was no way she would be able to help get Buffy away from them. 'But, what if I follow them?'
Her decision made, Anya threw Xander an apologetic glance before stepping back into the courtyard and making her way towards the stone steps. Behind her, she could still hear the fighting inside. 'I should have time,' she decided. Anya headed for Xander's car, shuffling as fast as she dared, holding her ribs at every step, and glad that she had brought her car keys.
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Giles shook his head, trying desperately to clear the effects of the attack from his mind and body. He watched as Xander lifted Buffy's ... no ... Willow's head gently and raised her into his lap, rocking her like a small child and calling her name. "Willow? Willow? Oh god!"
"She'll be unconscious for a while," Giles stated unnecessarily. Still reeling from the attack and having trouble focusing on the fact that they had just lost Buffy, he sat motionless staring at Willow, lying limp and unconscious in Buffy's body. His mind ran through every possible 'could have, should have' scenario. 'I should have sent them home. No. I should have kept Buffy with me. No. I should have released Faith as soon as Cordelia arrived. I should have been expecting something like this. The attack at the cemetery. The attack at Buffy and Willow's dorm room. How stupid could I be?' He was supposed to be the adult, their Watcher. He was supposed to prevent them from making mistakes, help them plan ... Giles felt like a fraud, he felt so guilty. He'd been so wrapped up in solving this damn curse that he had ignored the very real threat posed by the unknown men in black, who had repeatedly appeared to them.
Cordelia groaned as she rolled onto her back, feeling like a train had run her over. "Okay, did someone get the number of the truck that hit me?" But when no one answered, she was forced to look around her. What she saw filled her with dread. Willow lay unconscious on Xander's lap. Faith was barely conscious and still chained. And Buffy was gone. They'd taken the Slayer. "Faith?" she asked fearfully.
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"She kicked like a mule! Are you sure she wasn't the Slayer?" Slim asked holding and rubbing his injured leg. Payback hadn't gone completely as expected, but they got who they'd come for. So even if the score was Sunnydale 2, because of that damn dark-haired Slayer, Black Ops 1, they had ended up with the prize.
" No, she was just filling in for this one," the driver assured him.
"She doesn't look like much to me," he observed, looking back at the unconscious Buffy.
"Fully charged up, she'd eat us for breakfast," the driver stated. "If you'd ever been on the receiving end of a real Slayer you wouldn't be making stupid comments like that."
"Are you sure you tied her up properly?" the guy to his left asked.
"She's trussed up like a turkey. She's not going anywhere — especially in her condition," he responded, smiling in satisfaction at the hog-tied form that was curled up against the vehicle's rear.
Listening to their chatter, the driver responded "I'll call it in when we get back to base." A feeling of relief washed over him, 'about time I got to deliver a positive report.' He had the distinct impression that one more failure to separate the Slayer from the Witch, would have led to his taking quite a fall. Wolfram & Hart didn't really understand or tolerate continued failure from any of their employees; too many screw-ups and you were retired, permanently just as his predecessor had been.
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Giles had unchained Faith at Cordelia's insistence. His hesitation lasted only a moment as he recalled the way she had baited Buffy and Willow, but also how intent she had been trying to get loose to help them. Although his instincts were telling him she was on their side, he was doubtful that his cognitive abilities had recovered completely from the battle and so he kept a watchful eye on Faith as Cordelia helped her to stand. Faith had been knocked out again. This time by the man who had landed heavily on her during his and Xander's vain attempts to protect Buffy. He could tell that having been rendered unconscious again had done nothing to improve Faith's disposition.
"Christ. Next time can you guys just let Buffy use the tranq gun?" Faith asked as her head continued to spin and her bones ached. She was feeling far more unsteady on her feet than she really wanted to admit and uncharacteristically she was letting Cordy take a good part of her weight as she moved away from the fireplace and those damn chains.
Cordelia smiled at her comments but noticing Faith's tendency to sag slightly at her knees, she realized that the dark Slayer was still trying to recuperate. Helping her towards the stone table where Buffy's weapons bag had been, Cordy helped her to sit. Assuring herself that Faith was not going to just lean forward and fall off, she let go of her and reached down to take a look at her bruised and bloodied wrists.
Ignoring Cordelia's interest in her wrists, Faith swallowed her feelings of failure at having been unable to help them keep Buffy and Willow safe. Glancing at Xander and his unconscious childhood friend, she asked "How's Red?" When no one responded she added, "C, I'm five by five. See to Red."
"There's nothing I can do for her until the tranquilizer wears off," Cordelia stated, glancing at Xander and Willow. The affectionate sight before her seemed to open old wounds and she quickly returned her attention to Faith's injured wrists.
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Anya stayed as far back as she dared. She had seen this done on TV. She knew that every time the rookie cop followed too close - a high-speed chase resulted. Anya didn't do high speeds anymore. She'd promised Xander after that very rude traffic cop had explained that the sign reading 110 she'd seen when getting onto the highway wasn't a speed limit.
The van had shot off at first and she'd almost lost it twice. But now that they'd left downtown Sunnydale and were headed towards the docks she'd found it much easier to follow. Her side still ached and all this concentrating was starting to make her head hurt as well. Anya wasn't exactly sure where she was but what she was sure about was that she needed to do this. She hadn't been able to fight but she could think. She was an intelligent ex-demon and it was about time they realized how useful she could be. She'd show them all that her way was best. Anya smiled to herself in the certain knowledge that Xander would be pleased she had helped rescue his Buffy.
'There will be lots of celebratory sex,' she assured herself.
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Cordelia was right. Damn her! As frustrating as it was, there was nothing that Xander could do but wait for Willow to come out of it in her own time. But that just left him even more time to feel totally guilty. 'How the hell did they get passed us?' he wondered. 'We used to be a pretty tight team. And I'm a main member of the team. Okay, I was more GI Joe than Action Man but, hey, I kill vamps ... well, I help kill vamps. Hey, Willow and I staked four last month.' His mind went into meltdown as he realized that he wasn't going to find a good reason for believing he could have stopped those guys. And, worst of all, that by shooting Willow with the tranquilizer gun, he'd actually helped them take Buffy.
He glanced around him and saw the same mortified look on Giles' face. As their eyes locked, each acknowledged their mutual pain and what was now required - action. Glancing at his body-switched best friend, Xander sighed and released his last self-indulgent thought before slowly removing her head from his lap and gently laying it onto the hastily improvised pillow that Giles had placed below her head. Looking up at Giles, he nodded "Okay G-man, what do we do first?"
Giles stared at him, momentarily at a loss. He knew that something needed doing and for a split second when Xander had looked at him he'd known what it was. But looking at his Slayer ... no ... his temporary Willow-slayer, he was drawn back to his failures.
"I'd say getting Willow the hell out of here before they come back for another round of 'please wup my ass' would be tops on the list," Faith chimed in.
"Agreed," Giles responded before he could help himself. Faith was a Slayer, her instincts seemed good and her thinking seemed a little clearer than his. Maybe if they ... 'What the hell am I doing? She's not my Slayer — Buffy's my Slayer. Faith is at least one of the reasons we're all in this mess,' he reprimanded himself. Fighting the sudden urge to take out his frustration at the recent events on the dark Slayer, he internally shook himself. "I mean ... it would seem that relocating would be the best option. We will need to regroup, gather what we need and let Willow recover before we can do anything else. Cordelia, I need you to get Angel to find out where the devil those guys may have taken Bu ... Buffy. I suggest we move Willow to ..." But he couldn't think of where to move everyone.
Xander stared at Giles and his rather unnerving goldfish impersonation, as the Watcher unsuccessfully open and closed his mouth but remained uncharacteristically wordless, before jumping in. "Back to my place," the young man suggested. "So far, they've visited the dorm, cornered Giles on his way to the magic shop and now attacked us here. They must know where Buffy lives, so it's either my place or over to Willow's mom," he explained in response to their puzzled looks.
"Yours it is," Cordelia decided, a cold shiver running down her spine as she recalled her one and only meeting with Mrs. Rosenberg during that weird MOO incident.
"You had better let Anya know ..." Giles mumbled, before recalling that Anya had been in the area and Xander had been speaking to her when all hell had broken out. "Anya?"
"Anya!!" Xander roared as he shot to his feet and launched himself at full speed towards the courtyard, afraid of what he might find.
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Willow couldn't get the heaviness to lift from her mind and body. She felt as if she was being dragged down into the depths. Something was disabling her sense of up and down, left and right. She couldn't open her eyes. She didn't seem to be able to get her mind under control, let alone her senses. But one single image was burned into her brain - the pained and apologetic eyes of ... herself? ... no ... her beloved.
Why had Buffy looked at her that way? What had she done? How had she ...? No. Maybe it wasn't that she'd done anything. Had Buffy said something? Something important ... something ... bright ... blinding ... black? Her thoughts became jumbled as she tried to catch hold of the answer but it seemed to fly around her, just out of reach, as hands reached out for her ... pulling at her.
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Xander stood at the front of the mansion, his heart pounding and his breath sharp. He'd looked everywhere but there was no sign of Anya. Staring up and down the road he ran through everywhere he'd looked, checking each place off in his mind. 'Oh god, she's gonna kill me,' he thought as he pictured her lying somewhere hurt, bleeding, calling for him. 'They've taken her too! No. Wait. Why would they want Anya? But where is she?'
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his car keys. Turning towards — 'where the hell is my car?' Xander glanced back up the street in case he hadn't parked where he'd remembered parking but nope. His car was gone. Why would my car — 'Anya? She's taken my car. She's run away. But why would she need my ... car! OH!! Oh my god! Anya, you clever little bunny.' He stood staring at the now vacant spot where his car had been, a stupid smirk of satisfaction and pride plastered across his face.
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Buffy opened her eyes - at least she thought she had but all she could see was the same blackness as before and the distant murmur of voices and machinery. Taking a deep breath, she attempted to stretch only to find herself bound. Taking in her situation - her thirst and the strange taste in her mouth, she realized that she'd been drugged ... no chloroformed. They'd used chloroform.
Her attempts to move had been in vain and she realized that her arms were tied wrist to elbow behind her back. She'd felt a mutual and very uncomfortable pulling when she'd tried to move. From her straining, she deduced that her ankles although tied together were somehow connected to her arms. 'Looks like they want me to stay around,' she thought angrily.
They had her hog-tied and blindfolded, and she had no idea where she was. 'Just your average, everyday gig in the life of a slayer. Only I'm not the Slayer ... well not really, not right now anyway. I've been neutered. Willow's the Slayer now ... Oh God, Willow! Did they get her too?' She dragged her mind back trying to recall what had happened just before — oh Goddess — Willow had fallen. She had seen her go down. She had shot her!
"NO," Buffy screamed. "Where is she? What have you done with her? If you harm just one hair on her head I'm going to introduce you to a world of pain. You're going to beg me to kill you," she screamed as a thousand horrifying images filled her mind. Could Willow be bleeding in a dark cell like this one ... alone ... tied and bound? 'OH Goddess!'
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Willow could hear noises ... no ... voices. But what were they saying? She strained through the fog that filled her head. Giles ... that was Giles. What was he saying? He sounded so far away.
"Anya must have seen them come in," Giles reasoned.
"I didn't see her," Faith commented, recalling that she'd glanced at the courtyard more than once to check on the two guys keeping their exit covered. "What was she doing hiding?"
"Knowing Anya, I'm not sure that she wasn't doing just that. Willow broke two of her ribs the other day and I somehow doubt she would have been much use in a fight nor in the mood to throw herself in harm's way again," Giles explained, partly understanding and yet partly resenting Anya for probably just watching.
"Can't say I blame her," Xander stated. "None of us were injured before and look how much use we were," he said, sharing his dismal opinion of their performance.
"So she's taken your car, which you believe means she's trying to follow them?" Giles queried doubtfully, not sure that Anya would be that clear thinking in a crisis.
Faith stared at Xander as if he was crazy. She'd been watching them all for a while now and there was nothing she'd seen that could make her believe that Xander's new squeeze was someone to have around in a fight. All she had concluded was that the ex-demon liked money and sex - not that she could really fault her logic on either score, but that didn't really give you a basis for believing the woman had the balls to follow the guys who had just creamed them all. But she kept her thoughts to herself and her mind open.
Cordelia raised an eyebrow in the direction of Giles before changing the subject. "So let me get this straight. We've lost Buffy, Xander's wheels are — elsewhere, Faith's running on fumes and Willow's still unconscious after getting 'tranqed' by Buffy and Xander. And our best hope is that Xander's ex-demon girlfriend is following the bad guys," she summed up for everyone before turning back to Giles and asking "Okay, so where did you park?"
Giles grimaced, thinking of his poor Citroen.
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Buffy wallowed in her misery. She had shouted herself hoarse, and now found herself with the time to wonder how she could have been so close to what she had dreamt about and hoped for only to have it all taken away. The attack had prevented her from hearing Willow's response to her request for a date; indeed, it had been a request for a new future. It was like a sick joke was being played on her, on them both. She'd seen the surprise and what she had thought and hoped was joy in her best friend's eyes. And then all hell had broken loose. Sometimes she just wished for a dull, normal life; where nothing unexpected ever happened and no one ever got hurt because of her.
She'd had that life once or so she'd thought. Her parents had still been happily married, she was popular, she was one of the star cheerleaders and she was a girl whom all the people she had believed were the best and right people wanted to be with. Her life was full of achievement, praise, enjoyment, and everything had seemed to come so easily to her. But then he had arrived ... her first watcher, turning everything in her life upside down. And no matter how hard she tried to keep it all together, everything had fallen apart. Somehow she had become one of those people that others talked about in hushed voices, nudging each other as she went past and never daring to meet her gaze. Then they'd just ignored her, something that hurt her more than she cared to admit.
Her mother had moved them after the divorce and her expulsion from Hemery High School, which had resulted due to the fact that she couldn't explain that she'd only burned down the school gym because it housed a large nest of vampires. She'd held out hope that here, well away from her past she could start again with a normal life. But the first day at her new school proved that Sunnydale would be worse than Los Angeles had ever been - her mother had moved them to the Hellmouth.
When she'd met Willow, she found someone she understood and who understood her, someone who deserved more, someone kind and intelligent. Heck, Willow was the resident genius. Willow was someone so special that it constantly amazed her that the girl seemed to be willing to be around her, let alone help her.
Over the years she'd come to think of herself as lucky to have had the experience she'd had of falling from grace in Los Angeles before moving to Sunnydale. Otherwise she would have just slid into the elite world of the popular and overlooked Willow, just as so many others had.
Willow had filled her world with magic and yet with a kind of stability, making what she had to do worthwhile and even enjoyable. She would have given up or been killed long ago if it had not been for her best friend. Willow had stayed when she could have gone. Colleges from all over this and many other countries were falling over themselves to offer Willow admission. She could have moved on with her life, gone to a safer place and left Buffy behind. But she'd chosen to stay, to help her 'with the good fight'. That decision had produced the one moment when Buffy came the closest she'd ever gotten to telling Willow how much she meant to her by blurting out 'I kinda love you' in a moment of relief and exuberance that had been easily misunderstood as a declaration of true friendship.
And then finally, after all that Faith had put them through or maybe because of it, she'd found the courage she had always lacked. She'd overcome her fears, her nightmares. Maybe her eyes had been opened by the body-switch, maybe the sweet taste of heaven in Willow's embrace had pushed her there.
Damn it! How could she be expected to give that up, the feelings, the knowledge of how they could be? Hadn't she given enough up already?
She felt helpless and weak - two things she hated feeling. The last time she'd felt like this - the damned Council had forced Giles to help inflict that sick Cruciamentum test on her. And she and her mother had almost died because of it. But they hadn't died. And she'd learned that being a slayer was about more than her strength, more than her healing powers, more than her training. It was a calling and obligation. 'Oh hell, now I'm starting to sound like Giles.'
But today despite her so-called slayer inner strength, she'd been captured and brought here against her will; wherever the hell here was. And she still didn't have any answers. She still didn't know what was really going on and all she could think of was Willow. What had they done to her? Would she ever see her best friend ... her true love again? Why hadn't she been more forceful, straightforward? 'Damn it! Why didn't I just tell her I'm hopelessly in love with her, and always have been?'
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Anya turned off her lights and engine as she coasted to a stop by the beginning of the wire fence. Glancing to her left, she could just see them. They were struggling with something — 'Oh god that's Buffy.'
She glanced around looking for a sign, anything that might give her a clue as to where the she'd ended up. Then she saw it. The faded blue lettering - 'Aries Holdings' — okay, that's a start. But now she needed a street name or something. What was it with the docks, poor lighting and no street signs? A movement caught her eye and she realized that one of the men was heading towards the gate, towards her. Her heart jumped into her throat and she dropped down behind the steering wheel. 'Why the hell am I doing this? I never had to go through any of this crap with D'Hoffran. He knew I was special.'
She heard the sound of steel wheels moving across concrete and sighed. 'He's just closing the gate.' Slowly she lifted her head, to make sure that she was right, peeking through the upper arch of the steering wheel. Relief washed over her as she saw him padlock the now closed gate and turn back to the warehouse. "Okay, now where the hell am I? I am so making Xander buy a 'sat nav'."
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Giles paid the cabdriver as Xander carried Willow up the stairs to his apartment. The journey had been somewhat stressful and agitating. Giles had been quite forceful with the semi-conscious Willow, who had wanted to head out to look for Buffy there and then. He'd noted that Faith had almost smiled to see her own usual reaction at having to wait in someone else — in Willow.
Cordelia stood by the cab, still supporting Faith as they glanced at each other, both unsure what was coming next. But now that they had arrived at Xander's, they both knew that some serious discussions were about to happen.
"Shall we?" Giles encouraged, his instincts still kicking in where Faith was concerned.
Cordelia turned to Faith and smiled reassuringly. "Trust me, it'll be okay."
"Sure," Faith muttered without much confidence as they made their way towards the stairs.
"Listen. Trust me. Xander may think he's a major player now but even he's not dumb enough to get on the wrong side of the two of us. We know too much," Cordelia pointed out.
"Yeah. Cool," Faith responded, a small grin spreading across her face. She nodded behind them towards Giles, "If granddad gets out of line, I'll take his left leg, you take his right," she suggested raising a wicked eyebrow. "Pretty soon he won't have a leg to stand on."
Giles was slightly disconcerted by Cordelia's sudden laughter and the backward glance of amusement she threw over her shoulder at him. But what had really caught his eye was the way that Cordelia, a woman he'd always known to be more interested in her own reflection than anyone else, appeared to be going out of her way to look after Faith. Hearing her defend the dark slayer was one thing but watching her offer comfort and support was quite another.
There was more to these two than met the eye and Giles wondered if he could really trust Cordelia's loyalty to them to override her apparent loyalty to Faith. Things could get tricky if he was going to have to watch both of them.
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"Yes sir. We have her secured at the agreed location," the leader of the attack squad assured his boss.
"Good. It's about time. I was beginning to wonder if you were up to the job." the lawyer commented, not trying to conceal his threat at all. He had never felt that praise worked as an incentive with these damn Rambo types. He wanted to make sure that they didn't slacken off and relax. The last thing he needed right now was to lose the advantage he had worked so hard to achieve. "Check in every eight hours and be prepared for anything."
"Sir, our exit was 'text book'. They have no idea where we are," he was assured.
"Trust me when I say that not knowing where you are will not last for long. Do not underestimate this group. They are resourceful. We only have tonight and tomorrow to get through. Tomorrow night the lunar eclipse takes place. Remember all you need to do is keep her away from the Witch. Keeping them apart until sunrise - that's your job," he stated, laughing to himself because he knew that if everything went according to plan there would be no sunrise.
"I'm aware of my orders sir," he almost snapped. God, he hated sucking up to the suits. He'd like to get them all out on just one of his training gigs and see how they coped.
"I'm sure you are. But be assured that should you lose control of the situation again, I will have to carefully reconsider your future with the firm," the lawyer threatened one last time, just for fun as he began to feel success approaching. This had taken a lot of planning, and at first it had almost seemed improbable that it would succeed. But then the dark slayer had fallen into his lap. His standing with the senior partners would be assured, as long as everything went according to plan. And for that, he needed his men motivated.
"Yes sir," the attack leader responded, feeling the beads of sweat beginning to form on his forehead as he tried to recall if he had set up the sentries.
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Cordelia had settled Faith on the wrap-around sofa and made her call to LA. Giles had tried to listen to what she'd said but Willow had been pretty much ranting for action through most of it. Only when Xander stepped in to remind her that if the attackers had wanted Buffy dead they'd have just killed her back at the mansion, did Willow finally relent long enough for the Watcher to catch Cordelia's parting instructions.
"Okay. Well, get back to me as soon as you can," she directed. "No, no. We'll call if we need you." Hanging up the phone, she stared at it, deep in thought for a moment before turning to Giles and seeing his concerned expression, offered him assurance. "We should hear something soon."
"Right then. Well, in the meantime and without interruptions," he stated glancing meaningfully at Willow, "I think it would be useful if Cordelia and Faith ran us through the events that led to the body-swap."
Cordelia looked at him with concern and throwing a very slight glance towards Willow she asked him "All the events?"
"Buffy's been captured. I really think the time for keeping certain things to ourselves, not matter what the reason, has passed," Giles stated firmly.
"Keeping what things?" Willow asked, before realizing what he was referring to. "OH!" she muttered, no longer sure that she wanted to find out in detail what the future events were that Cordelia had seen.
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Anya slowly made her way back to town; at least she thought she was heading towards town. She could make out some very bright lights ahead of her. Turning left, she almost plowed into a parked construction crane before slamming on her breaks. "Where on earth did that come from?"
Getting back into downtown Sunnydale was not going to be as easy as she had thought. Cursing herself for going against her instincts and trying to be helpful, she reversed the car back into the road she had just left, and this time she went to the right. "Ma Jun, where are you when I need you?" She fondly recalled her time in the three kingdoms of China. "Those were the days; honored and feared, not forced to go on senseless, dangerous missions to ensure sex." Ma Lun had offered her all of his nephew's inventions to prevent her from exacting the terrible revenge his wife had called for — "A south pointing chariot that's what I need. No, no, that's not what they call it now. A compass, that's it! People navigate using a compass. I could learn how to ... but I don't have a ..." She glanced up at the darkening sky. "Where the hell am I?" she yelled, pulling the car to a stop.
Then she heard it. An engine and music! Glancing in her rearview mirror, she was almost blinded by two bright headlights and what appeared to be a halo of blue lights in the shape of cow horns. As the eighteen-wheeler whooshed its air brakes and pulled along side, she glanced up to find a large hairy-armed man staring down at her. "Well hello darling," he greeted her with a Texan twang. Anya was struck by how much like Olaf he looked - large, dim and easily distracted by a friendly female. Anya smiled, 'Thank goodness men are so stupid.'
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Faith hadn't been able to look at Willow as Cordelia had recounted her vision. She knew the pain that she would see in Willow's eyes; the kind of pain she had often brought people in what she fervently hoped was and would remain her prior life. She shrank into herself, recalling how she'd once captured Willow, how badly she had treated her. Only now did she realize the kind of pain Buffy must have experienced not knowing, having to decide what to risk to get her back.
"I'll kill him," Xander exclaimed, unable to drown out the boiling anger that welled within him as his mind visualized all that Cordelia had described.
Giles, however, merely nodded before adding "I see. Well, that certainly explains your somewhat eager and unorthodox approach to bringing Willow and Buffy together." He had long since removed his glasses and now he found himself staring at them blankly.
"You think?" Cordelia responded. "We couldn't risk letting that happen. Okay, maybe our plan was somewhat extreme," Cordelia noted, glancing at Faith, "But the general feeling was that only drastic action would drag these two out of their respective closets."
"Not in a closet," Willow grumbled, her brain scattered into fragments. It was one thing to suspect what Cordelia had seen. It was quite another to know exactly what the powers that be had shown her. She found herself numbed and enraged, swinging from disbelief to anger to guilt.
Cordelia ignored her comment; pretty sure that it didn't need a response. "The switch was meant to end at the lunar eclipse and Faith came here to keep the vamps at bay in the meantime."
"I thought by now ... something would have ... happened', Faith commented.
Giles looked towards Willow whose face was frozen. "I believe that something did," he stated. "However, it appears that events have overtaken your wishes on this subject." He glanced outside into the dark night, 'where had the day gone?' "We now have only one day in which to find Buffy."
"One day?" Cordelia questioned.
"The lunar eclipse will occur tomorrow night and our understanding of the subtext within the curse is that unless we find Buffy, and she and Willow deal with the curse before then, the sun will not rise again," Giles explained.
"We'll find her," Willow declared, raising her chin in grim determination.
Xander sighed, "It's not just finding her though, is it? Will, you need to tell her."
Willow glanced into his concerned face and bit her lip, "I know. I almost did. She ... she asked me ... Before we were attacked Buffy asked me ... for a date."
"Buffy did the asking?" Cordelia jumped in, almost unable to believe that the straight-laced blonde had found the guts to ask.
"Oh Will! That's great, that's wonderful. Then you two ... Hold on if you two had ... You're still Willow right ..." Xander rambled before turning to Giles in confusion and asking, "Why didn't they swap?"
"I didn't get a chance to say ... Yes," Willow explained, her head dropping in sheer embarrassment and guilt. If only she'd spoken ... if only she hadn't made that silly quip about Buffy's choice of words.
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"Have you checked on her yet?" the attack leader asked, his memory of the lawyer's threat still fresh.
"Like she's going anywhere soon," Slim cracked in amusement.
"Just do as you're told. Check on her now," he growled in frustration.
"Okay, okay, no problem," the other replied in an annoyed fashion, before trudging off.
Picking up his radio, he hit the ALL button and ordered, "Guys I need you to keep focused. We cannot afford to underestimate this group. Hell, we've already had our butts handed to us twice by one of them. Keep it together," he ordered.
Turning the radio off, he sighed. 'It shouldn't be this hard."
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Willow had made her way onto the balcony in need of some night air. Everyone was talking as if she wasn't there anyway.
The room was hemming her in and all she wanted to do was go, search and find her beloved. And tell her YES. Tell Buffy that she'd been waiting most of her life in the vain hope that she would one day want her, need her, care for her. To let her know that she would happily spend the rest of her life loving her, supporting her, keeping her safe ... 'Oh, and you did such a bang up job of that, didn't you?' she berated herself.
'I'm a joke as a slayer. I'm all book learning, research and no experience. I'm surprised Giles let me out at all. I could've got us all killed. Who the hell did I think I was - Sylvia Stallone? I should have stuck to what I know — Magic.' "MAGIC, why the hell didn't I think of that before?" she shouted to the world in general before gathering her thoughts.
'There has to be a way to combine them.' Giles once explained how magics had been used to create the slayer. Therefore, she reasoned some residual magic must exist within the line. Maybe that was what laid dormant in potentials?
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Much Thanks to Lilly the Treasure