By the time Buffy finally came back, with the lab coat she had found in a nearby room in hand, Pat had managed to get Willow out of the tank, now crouching on the floor with the still shivering witch in her arms; giving the taller woman a worried look, Buffy handed her the lab coat, mumbling that this was all she had been able to find and earning a distracted nod from the demon.

"Willow", Pat then tried to gain her partner's attention again, "come on, we have to get out of here… I just need you to put this on, then we'll get you home, alright?"

"Jesus", Buffy brought out behind her, watching how the demon, with some more mumbled coercing and reassuring, managed to get Willow to her feet, keeping an arm around her waist the whole time, "what the Hell did they do to her?"

"No idea", Pat sighed, briefly glancing at her before her attention moved back to the redhead and to getting the lab coat on her, "I'm not even sure I really want to know."

"Me neither", Buffy mumbled, keeping an eye on the hallway while the demon finally figured that getting the witch to actually put on the coat was impossible in her current state and wrapped her up in it instead, then picked her up on her arms, "we gotta get her out of here, quickly."

"Right there with ya", Pat agreed, her heart clenching up at how Willow was still clinging to her, the redhead having stopped crying by now, but still looking shell-shocked, "lead the way, we can figure out how to deal with those guys once we got her home and she's safe…"

"Don't let them get me again", Willow whimpered in response, prompting her partner to slightly tighten her grip on her in an attempt to reassure her, "please, don't let them…"

"I won't", the demon promised her at once, earning another sniffle from her while she clung to her even tighter, until it almost hurt; momentarily, the black haired woman felt like hunting down Collard and do a lot of horrible things to him, things she wouldn't dare to say out loud in front of the Slayer, then grit her teeth as she forced the anger down, telling herself that getting Willow out and to safety was more important now than her desire for vengeance.

"Come on", she thus told Buffy, growing impatient, a feeling which wasn't helped by how Willow was trembling in her arms, "lead the way, and hurry."

Nodding, Buffy hurried to the door, peering down the hallway before she stepped outside, one hand on the barrel of the gun she had taken from one of the guards; briefly, this gave Pat cause to wonder if the blonde actually knew how to use a weapon, then she shrugged it off, focusing on her surroundings and straining her ears to hear anyone who might approach them before they might notice them.

"I can't believe there are just so few guards", Buffy whispered, as if she had read her mind, "shouldn't the place be crawling with them? When I was searching for clothing, I ran into no one!"

"Strange indeed", Pat agreed, keeping her voice down as well while Willow just kept clutching to her lover, hiding her face in the taller woman's shoulder, "I know I'm probably jinxing it right now, but I got a bad feeling about this."

"You're right", a third voice added before the Slayer could reply anything, startling them both into stopping while the witch let out a breathless whimper as she saw the speaker, her trembles only increasing, "I'm afraid it's the end of your little escape now."

"So you're in on this", Pat gave back, glaring at the young man, "makes sense, the whole setup was just too perfect. What do you want from us?"

"From the Slayer and from you, nothing", Trevor gave back while two of what Buffy had dubbed "the super soldiers" stepped into the hallway behind him, "I'm just interested in the witch. Speaking of which, how are you feeling, Willow? More cooperative, or need some more time in the tank?"

"No", the redhead whimpered in reply, sounding so scared and desperate that it simultaneously made Pat's heart clench up and filled her with deep-seated, familiar rage, "please, no, don't put me in there again, please…"

"You won't touch her", the demon growled, Buffy giving her an alarmed look when her good eye flashed up bright red, "I don't know what you did to her, but I'll make you regret you ever laid a finger on her."

"You'll have a hard time doing that", Trevor gave back, unimpressed, "because I didn't touch her and because you'll be dead in a few minutes. As I said, I don't really have need for you. I did think about keeping you, just to convince our lovely witch here to help, but since the drug works so well, I really don't need to keep the two of you around."

And with those words, he turned to his soldiers, adding "Kill them" in an uncaring and cold voice; a strangled whimper came from the redhead, and for a moment, she felt like crying out and clinging to her lover when Pat started to lower her to the ground, forcing herself to let go of her instead though, knowing that the black haired woman would need her fists to fight those men.

Growling quite loudly by now, the demon stepped forward, making sure that she was between Trevor, his soldiers and her lover – before she pulled out the gun and, without hesitation, opened fire on them, the shots deafeningly loud in the narrow hallway, drowning out the startled shout Trevor let out.


The second she started shooting, the soldiers started moving, with that uncanny speed again, so fast that they blurred; they both shielded Trevor from the bullets, one of them twitching as they hit him before he went down, the other one aiming his rifle at the demon, only to have Trevor shout "no!" behind him, sharp enough to make him hesitate.

"You can't shoot her, numbskull", he added as the soldier lowered his rifle again, "you might hit the witch!"

"Our aim is perfect", the soldier replied, kept the gun down though, briefly making the demon wonder if the soldier actually was physically unable to act against orders from the young man; and then, the soldier slung his rifle onto his back and started moving towards the two of them, his companion still down on the ground, blood seeping from the bullet holes in his upper body.

"At least they can be killed", Buffy mumbled to the taller woman while she slid into a fighting stance, the demon doing the same next to her, nodding her agreement; behind them, Willow was trying to crawl into the wall, her eyes never leaving Trevor, still filled with fear and terror.

"But we know they're good at hand to hand", Pat still had time to remind her – before the soldier unexpectedly blurred into motion again, zooming down the hallway and slamming into Buffy hard enough to send her flying, a low grunt coming from her as she hit the floor.

"Damn you", Pat cursed, letting her fists flame up now that no one who would be shocked by this was around to see, "coward, stand still and fight like a man!"

In response, the soldier turned towards her, just in time to get a burning fist straight in the face; there was a low, metallic clang as the demon punched his helmet, and managed to hit him hard enough to actually make him stumble back a few steps – before he blurred yet again, moving past her so fast it nearly made her head spin, his foot shooting out and smashing into the hollow of her knee with painful aim and strength, her strangled cry of pain mixing with the awfully loud snapping sound coming from somewhere within her leg as she went down on the other one.

"Oooh, ouch", Trevor commented, a nasty smirk curling his lips, "it can't be good to hear that coming from inside you. Come on, finish her, and then the Slayer, we don't have time to play."

"No", Pat heard Willow whimper behind the soldier, the desperation and fear in the redhead's voice giving her a new burst of strength; ignoring the pain in her leg, she tightened her grip on the gun, letting it happen that the soldier grabbed her at the throat and lifted her off her feet, a move she was quite fond of, as well, another chuckle coming from Trevor at the sight.

"Bet you regret it now that you wasted all your bullets on one guy, huh", he then teased while the grip around her throat started to cut off her flow of air; still she smirked, just long enough to let the soldier holding her notice, his eyes widening behind his helmet – before she brought up her arm and pressed the gun into the gap between the helmet and his throat, hearing Trevor cry out behind her.

"Problem is", she then pressed out between grit teeth, the grip the soldier had on her tightening, even though he had to know it'd be fruitless, "I didn't."

And then, just as he reached up as well, she pulled the trigger; the gunshot was deafeningly loud again, and seconds later, she was back on the ground, biting back a yelp when her injured leg hit the floor, then gave in beneath her, sending her down on all fours with a low thud, a vaguely relieved noise coming from Willow as the soldier swayed on his feet, blood running out from beneath his helmet – before he fell, hitting the ground with a low thud, his arms and legs twitching a few times before he laid still.

"Well", the demon growled, turning to face the shocked Trevor, managing to look quite menacing even though she still couldn't stand up, "looks like it's just you against us now."

In response, Trevor stared at her for a few more seconds, his eyes wide and full of shock – and then he turned and ran off, prompting the taller woman to let out a harsh curse as she realized that, after what the soldier had done to her leg, there was no way she could chase him and stop him before he could get reinforcements.

"Buffy", she thus snapped, glad when her voice was enough to tear the Slayer out of her impact-induced stupor at last, "help me up and then get Willow, we have to get out of here, fast!"

Still looking a bit dazed, Buffy nodded, hurrying to where Willow was still sitting, mumbling reassuring and calming words to her while she picked her up, the redhead immediately clinging to her; at the same time, Pat was using the wall for support as she struggled to her feet, gritting her teeth against the pain in her leg, giving her best to ignore the fact that it felt as if it would give in beneath her again any second as she stated moving down the hallway as fast as she could, still using the wall for support.

"Why don't you demon out and heal that", Buffy wanted to know as she caught up to her, earning only a grumbled "no time now" in reply; even though she wasn't sure if this was true, the blonde decided to accept it after a moment, merely nodding as she moved past the taller woman and took the lead again, eager to get them all out of there before Trevor might come back with more of his soldiers and do even more damage than he already had.