Simple Choices
by rebelrsr
Chapter 5
[reviews]
Disclaimer: All things Buffy belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and lots of people in expensive suits. I'm not making any money here, just trying to create a happier Buffyverse for my favorite characters.
Spoilers: I borrow heavily from "The I in Team" for this chapter. Big alterations ahead for the remainder of S5.
A/N: Thanks to the best beta crew: Zigpal and Zenithar. There would be no writing without you guys.
The conversation with the professor bothered the Slayer as she traveled through Sunnydale. Riley and the guys had been called out on a security problem. That sounded way more important — and dangerous — than the peaceful demon. Buffy needed to get answers. She entered the sewer Walsh had indicated on the map, and pulled her thoughts back to the job at hand.
The tunnel reeked, and discolored liquid flowed sluggishly in the drainage channel. Brandishing the tazer rifle with her right hand, the Slayer held the microphone from the headset tightly to her cheek. She continued walking, senses on high. Despite the information supplied by the Initiative, the blonde didn't see any sign of demon habitation. In fact, other than the usual vegetation hanging from the ceiling, the tunnel was amazingly clean. Maybe Professor Walsh had been mistaken. Buffy took a couple more steps into the sewer, considering a swift return to the base. It never happened.
Her senses sounded an internal alert. "Professor Walsh?" The blonde spoke urgently into the headset. "Are you getting this?" No response sounded in her ear, but the Slayer continued providing an update. "That possible HST? Make that a definite." The demons were closing in. She heard movement ahead in the tunnel. From the noises, it was more than just one opponent. Two robed and armed figures walked slowly into the passageway. "He's brought along a friend. They seem..."
The Slayer broke off. The duo seemed familiar. The lab! Professor Walsh and some scientist types had been examining the same kind of creature when she had gotten the grand tour of the base. *What the hell is going on?* Raising the rifle, Buffy vowed to get the truth from the humorless professor. The weapon was awkward, and the blonde wished she'd brought something from her own arsenal. Taking aim, she pulled the trigger.
Electrical current slammed through her system. A hoarse scream tore from her throat, and she staggered back, dropping the sparking gun. Behind her, metal grating descended, cutting off her exit. *OK. Answers not needed. This is so the setup.* Anger quickened her pulse. The emotion helped keep the fear at bay. A quick scan showed nothing she could use as a weapon.
Deciding to go for broke, the Slayer leapt off the raised pad she stood on. Performing a flawless scissor kick, she drove both demons back several feet. She landed and faced off with her opponents. "So, guys, did you just take a wrong turn or did someone drop you off here?" Two green-mustachioed faces looked at her expressionlessly. "OK. Not the talkative types I see." Buffy found herself bracketed by the strange looking demons and traded blows with each. They were good, maybe too good. One of the robed figures managed to connect with its axe handle. Buffy went down hard, the communications headset sliding across the floor. Direct attack wasn't going to work.
She and Riley had been working on different styles of combat, and the blonde realized it was time to turn practice into reality. Clambering to her feet, Buffy dove between the two demons, tucking and rolling until she stood behind them. Taking advantage of their momentary confusion, she swept one's legs, sending it crashing to the floor. The other swung the large axe. Ducking, she used the heavy weapon's momentum. Grabbing the handle of the three foot wooden piece, she swung in the direction of the original blow. The demon came off the ground, flying across the tunnel. He hit the wall with terrible force and lay motionless after sliding to the ground.
"Oops! Sorry about your friend," she quipped, facing off with the final demon. It seemed confused and weakened with the loss of its partner. Using the axe from the downed demon, Buffy finally managed to behead the creature.
"Now, how do I find out if you were planted here?" The Slayer roughly searched both bodies, grimacing at the gruesome sight of the headless torso of the nearest one. Nothing. No clues anywhere. "Well, fuck. What did I expect, a tattoo saying "Property of the Initiative?" The blonde glared at the bodies, thinking about the demons' actions. Despite the strength of their attack, they'd been wooden, unimaginative.
*I wonder...* Reaching for the loose head, Buffy grumbled, "Damn. I really liked this top." The axe was not the correct tool for exploratory brain surgery, but it did the job in a pinch. Covered in gore, the Slayer examined the computer chip she'd located in the brain of the demon. "Think I owe Will more than just a mocha for this one."
***
The blonde witch screamed. "Tara, what is it?" Willow shot forward, grabbing her friend's hand. "Tara?" she said, getting no response.
Staring into space, the blonde was frighteningly still. Careful not to break the Circle, the younger witch climbed out of the bed and moved to stand next to the frozen woman. "Hey, come on. You're scaring me." She shook the girl by the shoulder. It seemed to help; a spark of life showed in the blue eyes. "Tara? What happened? What did you see?"
Tara blinked slowly as the vision faded. Looking up, she saw a frantic Willow at her side. "Willow, we-we ha-have to get out of here."
"Why?"
At any other time, the blonde might have thought the constant questioning cute. Right now, it wasted time. "There's a demon at the Initiative. He killed the faerie and he's tracking our spell."
"Oh. Oh!" Green eyes widened. "We can go to Giles.'"
Unfurling from her lotus position, the older witch merely nodded. She had to take down the Circle before they could leave. Normally, Tara was careful when grounding magical energy. Tonight, speed won out over safety. Murmuring a few words, she made a slashing motion with her hand. The Circle flared a brilliant blue before exploding in a shower of energy. The particles of magic floated to the ground and were absorbed back into the mystical power lines under the building. "Let's go."
Willow made a beeline for the desk, not following Tara to the door. "Will, hurry!" The blonde could feel the magical trace getting closer.
"I am! But we may need my laptop to get more information. And," she grabbed a fanny pack loaded with holy water and a cross, "it won't do us any good to get munched on the way."
They startled a few students as they sprinted down the hallway and slammed into the stairwell. "Is there any way to block the tracking spell?" Willow's mind raced along, creating and discarding solutions to their problem.
"Maybe," Tara panted. She was already tiring, and they hadn't left the quad. "I can't do it, though. The tracer spell is locked onto my signal. If I draw in too much energy, it'll be like setting off a homing beacon."
"Got it. No spells for you." Willow grabbed the slower girl and pulled her along. "Could I do it?"
Tara didn't answer immediately. They pounded down a walkway that ran along the edge of the campus. It went through some dangerous territory for night travel, but it was easily the fasted route to Buffy's Watcher. "Yeah. I think you could do it, but not while we're running. We'd have to be stationary and I'd have to write the incantation down for you."
"Think we can wait til we get there? Or should we stop?"
"No. No stopping." Tara was sure of that. She couldn't probe too hard if she wanted to avoid alerting her follower. However, reaching out along her power signature, she could still sense the demon. It had located the dorm room. "They've found the dorm."
They stopped talking and concentrated on running. By the time they reached the stairs to the Watcher's apartment, both girls were exhausted. Willow dragged herself to the door and pounded on the wood. It was late and no lights shone through the window. She kept pounding until an irritated voice called out, "Hang on, you bloody blighter!" The door wrenched open, and Giles glared at the redhead.
"Oh, good Lord," he exclaimed, seeing her condition. Willow couldn't speak, too busy sucking in air, but she waved at Tara, leaning against the railing. "I've got her, Willow. Go on inside."
The young witch was only too happy to stagger into the apartment, where she immediately dropped onto the couch. Giles joined her minutes later, the blonde in his arms. He settled his bundle into the recliner and stepped back. "Have you recovered sufficiently to explain, Willow?"
It still hurt to breathe, but the Scooby knew she had to help Tara hide from the tracking spell. Concentrating on choosing words to quickly get her point across, she stared directly into questioning brown eyes and said, "Initiative...spell...found lots of demons."
Luckily for Willow, Giles had grown adept at figuring out his young charges' often strange patterns of speech. Making sure he had translated correctly, he repeated, "You did a spell and located many demons at the Initiative." He was rewarded by a blinding smile. "While I appreciate the importance of the information, my dear, I'm sure it could have waited until morning."
The young girl leveled a fierce glare in his direction and tried to explain. "One demon...traced spell...need...hide Tara."
"Bloody hell." Giles looked at the unconscious witch in his favorite recliner. "There's a spell." He began pulling books from the shelf behind Tara. Mumbling to himself and wildly turning pages, he hunted for a particular incantation. "Here!" He moved to the couch and shoved the spellbook at Willow. "It will let you disrupt her power signature."
"Me?" the redhead managed. "I can't..."
"You have to. It takes a witch." The older man rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I've dabbled, but I don't have the talent or the training for this."
Swallowing hard, Willow took the book and glanced at the spell. She frowned. It was in a spidery script and in an obscure dialect of Sumerian. Glancing at Tara, the young witch vowed to get this incantation correct. "OK, Giles. I need salt, bay leaf, essence of toad, and...umm, a knife."
They rushed around the tiny apartment, hurriedly gathering supplies. Willow wasn't sure how much time they had, but she was sure it wouldn't be long. Piling everything on the end table, the redhead rushed through the incantation. Tossing the ingredients into a bowl and mixing them, she began to chant the words of the spell. Holding her arm over the mixture, Willow reached the final stanza. Using Giles' paring knife as her athame, the witch drew the tiny blade across the palm of her hand, letting blood fall into the ingredients just as she finished chanting. Smoke exploded from the bowl, all the lights in the room sparked, and Willow felt an electronic buzzing fill the air.
"We're good, Giles. No more tracing going on in here." She was flushed with excitement. Her spell had worked.
"Marvelous job, my dear," the Watcher commented. "Now, you seem to have recovered. Could you possibly elaborate on the earlier tale?"
Nodding rapidly, the young witch dropped back on the couch. "Yeah. I don't know it all. Tara did the spell at the dorms, but I'll tell you what I know." She highlighted the purpose of the casting and the alarming return of the faeries. "Tara told me there was a demon at the Initiative who could do magic. He was the one who started the trace on her power signature." She grabbed her computer bag and pulled out the text she'd 'borrowed' from the Englishman. "We used this to identify the types of demons the Initiative was holding." Ignoring his reproving look, she finished her story. "The faeries only pointed out a few demons before they came to show Tara their casualty. Whatever's going on down there, I don't think the Initiative is here to help with the Slaying."
"No, they're not."
Watcher and witch spun around. Buffy stood by the entrance to Giles' tiny kitchen, covered in grime. "Professor Walsh sent me on a rigged mission, trapping me in the sewer with two of her pet demons. I dug this," she held out the computer chip, "out of one's head." The blonde looked fierce. "If she thinks that's all it takes to kill a Slayer, she's got another thing coming."