Wend Their Ways Together: Chapter Twelve

[jesterladyfic]

At Giles’ everyone was arguing. Spike kept insisting that the Initiative were all evil and as soon as Buffy got back, they could prove it. Xander said that was just because they were the cause of him not being a killer anymore. It escalated until Spike jumped up and started pacing, throwing his arms in the air for emphasis.

“Would you just bloody listen to me? This is the government we’re talking about here. Watcher, the American government. All they care about is profit and bleeding efficiency. Demon world is anything but efficient. They are experimenting on demons, not killing them. Anything with supernatural ability is a threat to them. Buffy isn’t safe there.”

“No, none of us are,” said Buffy quietly as she came in the door.

“Buffy, what happened, love?” Spike ran to her. “You’re injured, what happened? Glinda, ice now!” Tara hurried to the kitchen and Buffy sat down on the couch. She smiled gratefully at Tara who handed her ice wrapped in a towel.

“Professor Walsh tried to kill me.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. She sent me after these demons who, I guess, very conveniently, escaped. The doors trapped me in there with them and the gun she sent with me exploded. Guess my hunch on whether she liked me or not was dead on. Emphasis on the dead.”

“So, what now? Do we get to kill her, cause she tried to kill you? I think it’s what you call justice.”

“Not exactly the kind we’re supposed to deal out, Ahn.”

“Oh, shoot. I haven’t killed anybody in a long time.”

“Be patient and I guarantee that you will, in self-defense. The Initiative is up to
something and we’re all in danger because of it.” A frantic knocking occurred at the door. Giles was nearest and opened it to reveal Riley in full Commando garb.

“Buffy, Buffy, are you okay?”

“Riley! What are you doing here?”

“Well, somebody told me what happened. You shouldn’t have done that, Slayer or not,
Buffy.”

“Shouldn’t have what? Stayed alive? Gee, sorry to disappoint.”

“Shouldn’t have disobeyed orders and gone after those demons when you were told the mission was compromised.”

“Compromised by whom? Nobody told me not to go, Riley. Maggie tried to kill me!”

“What? No, not possible.”

“The gun exploding and the door slamming down, trapping me with four very large, very
nasty HT’s, as you call them, would prove otherwise.”

“I can’t believe that, I won’t.” Riley started pacing in distress.

“Believe it or not all you want, Soldier-Boy. Slayer says it happened, it happened.”
Riley stiffened as he caught sight of the speaker.

“Hostile 17! That’s Hostile 17, what on earth is it doing here?”

“He happens to be my husband, and I’ll thank you to mind your own business.”

“That’s Spike? He’s a vampire, Buffy. You married a vampire!” Buffy turned toward Spike
in mock horror.

“Honey, is it true? You’re a vampire! Oh, oh, whatever shall I do?” Then back to Riley in serious outraged Slayer mode. “Of course, he’s a vampire, Riley. Only vampires get named Spike, or William the Bloody, come to think of it.” Spike shifted uncomfortably at this, but said nothing, preferring to glare at Riley.

“Buffy, we’ve been searching for him for months, and all along the Slayer of vampires, has been hiding him.”

“Yeah, I’ve been hiding my husband from the vicious monster-hunters who experimented on him. What of it?”

“It’s a monster.”

“Oi, watch who you call monster, mate. I may be a killer, a demon and a predator, but at
least I never tried to experiment on my victims to see if I could exploit them for money.”

“That is not what we do. We-“ Buffy interrupted him.

“What exactly do you do? Kill anyone who might be in your way? Maggie tried to kill me
because she didn’t want me to know something. Do you know what it is, Riley? Are you involved in this?”

“No, we’re not doing anything wrong. We’re the good guys. I can’t believe she would do that. It has to be a misunderstanding. I have to go and find out what really happened.”

“Fine, but you breathe one word about Spike and I will hunt you down and make you live to regret it. You have the word of the Slayer on that.” Riley took a step backwards.

“I won’t tell. For now, and only because he’s under your guard.”

“One thing more. How did you know where I was?” Riley looked embarrassed and stuttered a reply.

“Well, I-I, I tracked you.” Buffy turned to him with a dangerous look on her face.

“With what?”

“Professor Walsh had a tracking device put on you yesterday.”

“Where?”

“Palm of your hand. It was in the file folder.”

“Get it off me, now!” Buffy’s voice was icy to the extreme and Riley hastened to obey.
They all watched as he removed a tiny, black speck from her hand.

“Anything else you guys decided to do to me?”

“Nothing that I know of.”

“Right, here’s something for you to remember.” Riley stiffened at the tone in her voice
and anger seemed to pour off Buffy in waves. “How dare you invade my privacy like that! You may be the government, but I am the Slayer and you’re on my turf. If I find out that you or any of your Initiative pals are infringing on anymore of my rights, I will do worse to you than hunt you down. I may have special powers, but I’m human and once more, I’m Buffy. Now get the hell out of this house and don’t come back until you’ve realized what scum you work for.” Riley walked out and Giles shut the door behind him. Xander cheered,

“Way to go, Buffster! That’s showing him. He looked petrified.”

“Anyone would look petrified of my girl,” Spike said proudly, putting his arm around her
shoulders. She smiled up at him and then turned serious.

“We’re still all in danger. Giles, what should we do? They know where I live, they know where you live. They could be coming for us.”

“What about my basement? They don’t know about the dank Pit of Despair, do they?” Xander asked in a cracked, hoarse voice, obviously impersonating something. Blank looks were his reward. “Am I the only one who saw The Princess Bride? Come on, people, it’s a classic!” Giles snorted and removed his glasses.

“I refuse to run from them.”

“Giles, you just don’t want my basement. I’m hurt. I live there, you know. Every day in
fact.”

“Giles, we all need to be safe. Now as soon as it’s sunset, we’ll go. Also, no one is to
patrol except me, Spike, and Oz. I know we’re all especial targets, but we’re also the ones that can best defend ourselves. We all go out together, no one by themselves. Oh and I guess we better warn Jonathan and that other guy. They were probably seen with us, and we don’t want to get them in trouble.”

“Party at my house, with nerds even. Can’t you see the dance of joy?”

“You’re one measly step up from being a nerd yourself. Better not gloat too much.”

“Shut up, Spike.”

***

At the Initiative, behind the Authorized Personnel sign, in a room marked 314, Maggie Walsh worked over a sheet clad form, lying on an operating table. She talked to it as she worked,

“A set back is all today was. I know just the thing to fix her. My favorite child. Adam. You’ll be done in a few minutes and then I’ll have a job for you.” She turned away, putting her instruments on the table. All of a sudden, she gasped in shock and pain and looked down to see a skewer through her chest. Maggie turned her head in terror and whispered,

“Adam?”

“Yes, Mother. I will do your job for you. But you made an admirable test run of my abilities. Thank you.” The former Psychology professor and Head of the Initiative dropped to the floor and Adam left the room through an air vent.

***

The party continued at Xander’s basement with the added Jonathan and Andrew who looked scared out of their wits and seemed interested only in comparing the situation with some James Bond movie. It was decided between Buffy, Spike and Giles that somehow they had to get into the Initiative to find out what was going on. Spike was out of the question to go as he was Enemy Number One to them and would be unable to defend himself. Finally, it was decided that Buffy and Xander would dress appropriately and infiltrate the Initiative the next day.

Meanwhile, Tara and Anya had been arranging the sleeping arrangements. Boys on one side of the curtain, girls on the other. The basement was miserable and tempers were short. One by one, people joined the pact to kill Andrew, who sat on the beanbag, alternating between wishing he was evil and complaining about the lack of entertainment. Jonathan sat beside him, trying to garner as much of Andrew’s attention to himself as possible, by asking what Andrew’s favorite Indiana Jones movie was. Everyone else settled in for the night.

***

Xander shuffled nervously from foot to foot on the way into the Initiative, shooting sidelong glances at Buffy until she couldn’t stand it any longer.

“Would you stop it already? Anyone who looks at you can tell you’re not a real soldier.”

“Hey, used to be one here.”

“For a total of an hour at most. Xan, just pretend that everything is fine. We can’t do
this if you keep looking all shifty.”

“Doing my best, Buff. But this place gives me the wiggins.”

“You and me both, but we have to put that away in a special place and come back to it
later, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Xander!”

“What? You said be all soldiery.” They nonchalantly stepped out into the main area.
Walking quietly, they headed for the locked door, noticing the relative quiet of the vast
organization.

“Something’s up,” said Buffy softly as they reached the door. They hung back until a man
in a white smock unlocked the door, then swiftly snuck in behind him. They saw him unlock
another door labeled 314 and followed him through that one as well. Inside was a
laboratory that smelled strongly of disinfectant. Buffy grabbed the man’s arms and held
them behind him in a tight grip.

“Ok, I want answers, Doctor-Man. Why did Maggie want to kill me?”

“Personal vendetta,” the doctor managed to choke out.

“Hmm, well, in that case, I guess you’re innocent. Maybe I’ll let you go.” The doctor
nodded, relieved. “Or maybe, I’ll make you take me to her so she can explain herself.”

“Maggie’s dead, Buffy.” Buffy turned and saw a weary Riley walking toward her.

“What do you mean, she’s dead?”

“When I got back last night, they found her in here, impaled with something, looked like a
stake to me. Happy now? Did you do it?”

“No! I didn’t. I may have been angry with her, but until I knew why, I would never have
done something about it, let alone kill her.”

“Well, if you didn’t, who did?”

“Me.” Everyone looked up and were shocked at the sight that greeted them. Well over six feet of monster stood on the ledge above them. His face was half human, but half demon and metal. The rest of his body was the same mixture of parts. His legs were covered in Army camouflage and his feet wore heavy Army boots.

“And who might you be?” asked Xander, nervously. “Not scaly enough for Godzilla, not hairy enough for King Kong, some Frankenstein wannabe, I’m guessing.”

“Xander, be quiet,” Buffy hissed.

“My name is Adam. Maggie Walsh designed me, created me from various creatures and objects
and had in mind for me a grand purpose. But.” He jumped down from the ledge. “It seems I have a design flaw. I know perfectly well what I am, but what I would like to know is who I am. And until I know this, I am not inclined to follow the perimeters set for me by my Mother. Accordingly, I killed her. But that did not satisfy my desires or my questions, so now I will have to find other ways to do so. But don’t worry, I will not be gone long or that far away.”

Adam turned to go, but Riley charged at him, furious at the death of his mentor. Without even turning around, Adam carelessly tossed his fist in the general direction of Riley’s face, and sent him flying, crashing across a table and into the wall. The doctor tried to run and Adam extended his arm and a long skewer shot out of it and into flesh. He fell to the floor, bleeding heavily as Buffy stared in horror.

She attacked, but the monster blocked her at every turn and seemed to not feel her blows at all. He knocked her flat on her face and Buffy felt dizzy from the impact. Xander rushed the monster with no more effect than the others, gaining unconsciousness from his effort. Riley lay on the floor, unable to move as Buffy got up to fight again. But Adam wasn’t there. Looking up, she spied him on the ledge and he looked down at her thoughtfully.

“This has been most interesting, thank you.” With that, he vanished into an air duct and Buffy turned to help the others. Xander was okay, but would have a hefty lump on his head for awhile. Riley’s arm was broken and his left leg wouldn’t straighten out completely, add to that a sure concussion, and Buffy was amazed he was still conscious.

“Riley, you have to get out of here. Don’t you see how dangerous it is?” Stubbornly, he
shook his head.

“No, this is my home and I have to protect my family. I agree something went wrong, but I’ll deal with it. Go home, Buffy.” She gave him an exasperated glance before picking up Xander and heading out, bypassing people who had come running at the sounds of the fight. Buffy didn’t stop until they reached Xander’s. As they entered, Anya gave a cry and ran toward Xander.

“Xander! What happened? I told him very clearly before he left he wasn’t allowed to be killed. I’m going to be very angry with him. Xander, wake up!” Buffy laid him on the couch and hurried to reassure the distraught woman.

“It’s ok, Anya. It’s ok. He was just knocked out, he’ll be fine.” Quickly, Buffy told
everybody what had happened. Obviously, no one was indifferent to the news.

“It’s just like the Star Trek episode where Kirk-” Everyone blocked out the rest of Andrew’s comment, except for Jonathan.

“What are you going to do, Buffy?” Giles asked quietly.

“Be ready,” was all she could say.


***

The next few weeks were relatively quiet, but there were some interesting murders committed. Upon viewing the remains, all Buffy could conclude was that Adam was doing some dissecting for scientific information on who he was. The Initiative remained on the down low, more secretive and protected than ever, but they were busily investigating Maggie Walsh’s secret projects and appropriating a new Head, as well as trying to figure out everything they could on Adam. Everybody moved into their own homes again and Spike and Buffy enjoyed a few honeymoon weeks before the inevitable happened. The return of Willow.