Author's Note: Long part. Longer than normal. But I couldn't see spreading this part out over two sections, and I didn't want to condense it. So, in the tradition of NBC, enjoy this "Supersize" chapter of "The Sum of Their Parts."
On second thought, those Supersized eps usually stank, didn't they? Never mind. Forget I said anything.
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon owns all of the Buffy characters. Glenn Eichler owns Daria. I own the plot, Cameron Kim, and Lynette Vaughn. Also, I've been borrowing a few lines from the episode "Spiral" and I do so here as well.
X X X X X
As Cameron Kim walked down to the street where Lynette Vaughn's car was parked, she called Lilah Morgan. "Time for plan B," she said.
"This soon?" Lilah said. "Why?"
"Because Glorificus is convinced she knows who the Key is," Cameron said, and told Lilah what had happened that morning. "I said I'd go with them, but --"
"No. Good idea. You can be ready if Glorificus tries anything, and you can keep an eye on Morgendorffer along the way." Good point. "Do they trust you?"
"Not really," Cameron said. "At least, Daria Morgendorffer and Lynette Vaughn don't seem to. My rescue this morning bought me a little, but not much. As for the rest of them, they all got very quiet when I mentioned the Key. Buffy Summers slammed me up against a door."
"They know who it is," Lilah said. Cameron had reached the same conclusion. "In any event, if they're willing to let you come along, they obviously trust you that far. Cultivate that trust. I want them thinking of you as an ally. See if they let anything slip." After a second, "In the meantime, do you have any idea who the Key actually is?"
"No. Glorificus seems to think it's Tara MacLay. But then, as you've told me, she's an idiot."
"She is," Lilah said. "It doesn't mean she's wrong."
"Right. Anyway, the Slayer and her friends were certainly protecting MacLay as though she were the Key."
"They would have done that anyway," Lilah said. "The good guys are like that. I'll have some of our people do some research to see if we can figure out whether it is Tara MacLay."
"Do we have any interest in the Key?" Cameron asked.
"Not really. Except, of course, we want to make sure that Glorificus doesn't use it. We have much less destructive methods to use if we want to travel the dimensions -- Glorificus doesn't want to do all the work, she just wants to rip open a tear in reality and go directly there. Still, if we figure out which one it is, and it looks like the hellgod's anywhere near actually figuring out how to use it, you're going to have to kill them."
"Understood," Cameron said. She hoped it didn't come to that. Killing in cold blood was not something she had any fondness for doing. Right then, Lynette Vaughn and Daria Morgendorffer exited from the apartment building, "I'm going to need to get going. Oh -- the company car I used is parked in a UC-Sunnydale parking lot --"
"We'll take care of it. Now get going."
They hung up.
X X X X X
Buffy had had this contingency plan prepped and ready to go for weeks now, if the Glory situation ever got this desperate. Anya's ideas to use the Dagonsphere and Olaf's Hammer had been good ones-- it was just that they no longer had the luxury of sitting around and trying to map out a plan. Even with Daria/Faith's help, and maybe the help of a shapechanger who wouldn't even tell them who she was working for, they didn't have enough firepower.
Maybe, just maybe, they could still win this thing. If they bought themselves enough time.
Running like hell fought against almost every instinct Buffy had. Rule number one of being a Slayer might be "don't die," but she didn't like to run away.
She ran down the stairs of Xander's apartment building -- Dr. Vaughn, Daria, and Cameron Kim were nowhere in sight. Damn. This would have been easier with a ride.
Well, no help for that now. Slayer strength translated to Slayer speed and endurance. No, Buffy couldn't run as fast as Glory had, but she could run as fast as any normal human sprinter at top speed, and keep up the pace for a lot longer. She made it to Spike's crypt in slightly under ten minutes.
She didn't bother knocking. Spike was in bed when she got there, but woke up at the sound of his crypt door slamming open. "You'd better --" he shouted. "Oh. It's you. What do you need?"
"It's time," Buffy said.
"Time for what?" Spike asked. Buffy just kept staring. "Oh," Spike said. "You sure?"
"Yeah. She nearly kicked my ass this morning -- she kicked down the door of Tara's dorm room this morning. Somehow she got the idea that Tara's the Key." She gave him a two-minute summary of what had happened. Once she was done, she said, "Now, did you live up to your end of the bargain?"
"I wouldn't muck up something like this," Spike said.
"Good. Where is it?"
"Give me a minute to get dressed and I'll take you right to it."
"That's all you get," Buffy said. "We're on a tight schedule."
As Spike was putting his duster on he said, "Hold a sec, love. You sped through that story so fast I hardly noticed you mentionin' a couple of people I've never heard of before. Who're this Daria and Cameron?"
"I'll tell you along the way," Buffy said.
They had to go underground, of course; it was, after all, daylight. As they ran through the Sunnydale underground, Buffy explained who Daria was. She was about to explain Cameron Kim when Spike suddenly stopped. "You're shittin' me," he said. "She fed you this line and you believed it?"
"It seems to be true so far, Spike," Buffy said. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. We need as much as help as we can get right now."
"Some kinds of help you don't need."
"Exactly what most of my friends are going to say about you when we come roaring up and you're at the wheel of the Winnebago," Buffy said. "Keep that in mind before you start any big fights. I'm not entirely sure whose side they'll all come down on. Now let's get going."
"Right," Spike said as they started up again. "I see the way this is going. And this Cameron git?" Buffy told him who she was. They came to a street access ladder and Spike said. "If you tell me you trust this one, too, I'll know you've gone starkers."
"Trust her? No. I trust that she doesn't want Glory to win -- Glory's not smart enough for subtle. Beyond that -- look. She doesn't know that Faith's still around inside Daria. Don't let it slip."
"I think I've proven I can be trusted," Spike said.
"True. Be careful anyway."
Spike handed Buffy a set of keys. Scrambling up the street access ladder, Buffy opened the manhole, climbed into the street -- a not heavily used one, thank goodness -- and opened the RV's side door. She yelled down to Spike, "Now!" and jumped backwards.
Spiderman himself couldn't have climbed that ladder any faster. Not a wisp of smoke emerged as he made inside the trailer. Buffy ran in after him.
They stopped by the Magic Box, quickly. Daria, Dr. Vaughn and Cameron Kim were in front of the store. "I'll be just a second," Buffy said to Spike, and ran out of the RV.
"That's your plan?" Dr. Vaughn asked.
"I couldn't find a school bus," Buffy snapped. "Daria. Could you give me a hand?"
Daria followed Buffy inside the shop. From the condition of the place, Willow had already been inside -- there were some books missing. "What do you need?" Daria asked.
"Two things," Buffy said. "First, see that giant hammer behind the counter?" Daria nodded. "Get that."
Taking the hammer down, Daria said, "Heavier than it looks."
She tossed it to Buffy, who caught it, spun it a few times, and said, "Good. This'll work." She thre it back to Daria.
"I hope you don't expect me to spin it," Daria said. "I believe I would end up hitting myself in the face."
"Not much practice with weapons?"
"If by 'not much' you mean 'none,' then yes, you could say that."
"You do need training."
"I doubt you're going to be doing any right now. Unless you've suddenly changed your mind and have chosen this place to make a last, heroic stand against the forces of evil." A pause, then, "You said you needed two things."
Buffy said, "Yeah. I'm going to want you in the RV with the rest of us -- and I'm not going to want Cameron Kim in there. I'm also going to want Faith in there."
"Cameron Kim doesn't know about Faith," Daria said. "I hate to have to keep her locked inside me for the foreseeable future. You're right not to trust her," Daria said. "Something --"
"Save it for the trip," Buffy said. "Now, I'm looking for something . . ." she stopped. By the wall to the stairs leading down was a note. "Already got the Dagon Sphere. Willow."
Well, that settled that.
X X X X X
Daria explained to Dr. Vaughn that Buffy wanted her in the Winnebago, and then moved to enter the RV. Buffy yelled, "Follow us," and came in after her.
There was a bleach blond man behind the wheel, and all of the windows were covered over with aluminum foil, except for a small hole in the front side. "And you are?" Daria said.
"Spike," the man said in a generic lower-class British accent. "And I don't care what line of crap you've managed to sell to the Slayer back there; I'm just letting you know: Cause her or her sister any grief and you'll be answering to me."
"Excuse me?" Daria said, putting the hammer down. The hammer, for what it's worth, hadn't felt awkward in her hand, the way it would have if she'd picked it up back in Lawndale. The echo had told her that while Slayers needed training to make certain they were experts in using whatever weapons they used, that they had learned quickly and seemed to have an instinctive grasp of how to use them at a basic level. "You won't be able to take on the three musketeers the first time you pick up a sword," she'd said. "But you won't make a complete ass of yourself, either." Still, she was going to leave the weaponry to Buffy unless there was no other choice.
"You heard me, Faith," Spike said.
Daria said. "Ah. I see. You've heard the explanations, you don't believe them, and now, in an exaggerated attempt to prove your masculinity, you're going to threaten me with death, dismemberment, or possibly being staked out on an anthill while you cover me in honey. This was mildly amusing the first time it happened. It's no longer amusing or entertaining. So go on and believe what you want to believe. I have better things to do with my life."
As Spike began to formulate a retort, Buffy said, "Stow it, Spike. She's coming, you're coming, and there's nothing you or anyone can do to change my mind, up to and including, 'she goes or I go.'"
"Right then. Still think you're making a mistake." Buffy walked to a small table, sat down at it, and opened up a map as Spike pulled the Winnebago to a stop. The door opened and everyone came in, first Willow, supporting Tara on one shoulder -- Tara got the seat next to Buffy -- then Dawn, and finally Giles, Anya and Xander.
Giles said, as soon as he saw Spike, "What's he doing here?"
Smirking, Spike said, "Just out for a jaunt. Thought I'd swing by and say howdy."
Humorlessly, Giles said, "Out." Daria had no idea what Spike had done to warrant this treatment from the rest of Buffy's friends. Not that she was particularly bothered by it. She was just curious.
Looking up from her map, Buffy said, "He's here because we need him."
Angrily, Xander said, "The hell we do."
"If Glory finds us," Buffy said, "He's one of the few people here with any chance of protecting Dawn."
Xander pointed to Daria and said, "Daria has Faith inside her. I'd trust her before I'd trust Spike. Hell, I'd trust Faith before I'd trust Spike."
"I appreciate your high evaluation of my worth as a human being," Daria said.
Buffy said irritably, "I think when Daria showed up we had a similar show of hands. Wasn't a democracy then, isn't one now. Spike stays. Daria stays." When Xander opened his mouth, Buffy added, "This isn't a discussion. Get over it." Then she jumped up from the table, grabbed a map, and strode back to the back room, where she slammed the door.
As Spike started driving, Xander came over to Daria and said, "I hope you didn't take that the wrong way --"
"Oh no," Daria said. "I took it the right way. You all loathe Spike, for some reason, and in your estimation I'm slightly better than that. How could I possibly take that as an insult?" Then she walked over to the table. "How are you feeling?" she asked Tara.
"Awake," Tara said. "Mentally, anyway. The, the rest of my body doesn't seem to have caught up yet. Daria must have let a brief worried look cross her face, because Tara said, "I should be fine in, in a day or two. But casting the spell spontaneously like that really drained me. I probably couldn't summon up enough magic right now to, to boil water for tea."
Eventually, Buffy came back out of the bedroom, glaring at everyone in turn except for Daria and Spike. No one said a word, about Spike's presence, or her own, for that matter.
She came up to Daria. "I think you said you had something to tell us?"
"Yes," Daria said. "Dr. Vaughn and I know who Cameron Kim works for. She doesn't know we know, however, and I'd prefer to keep it that way. We still don't know why she was sent to aid me in prison -- or why she's been following me around, recently."
"Who are her employers?" Giles asked.
"Wolfram & Hart," Daria said.
This didn't seem to mean anything to Xander, Dawn, Willow, or Tara. Giles swore and Spike, from his position in the drivers' seat said, "You're bleedin' kidding me."
"Yes. I thought this was the perfect time for some of that wacky humor I'm so well known for," Daria said.
"For the benefit of anyone who isn't aware," Giles said, "Wolfram & Hart is the name of an evil law firm. If I remember correctly, for the past two years they have been Angel's chief opposition."
"You remember correctly," Daria said.
"And we're letting her tag along why?" Xander asked. "For all we know, she's working for Glory."
"Then she would have snatched Tara instead of attacking Glory," Buffy said. "No. She's working her own angle on this, I'm sure. But right now, we're simply keeping her nearby so we can keep an eye on her.
"Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer," Anya said. Buffy nodded. "I never liked that. I've always been a big fan of killing your enemies as soon as you identify them. That way there's less chance of them killing you."
"Well, she stays, too," Buffy said. "But I'm not as married to this idea. If she so much as looks at Dawn funny, out she goes."
Daria asked what seemed to her to be a perfectly logical question. "Why would she want to look at Dawn?"
X X X X X
Faith came to in the middle of a crowded RV, barreling down the road -- well, from the feel of things, barreling wasn't the right word. Maybe crawling would've been. Giles was up in front, driving, and Spike was standing in front of her. "Okay," she said, "What's with the road trip?"
"We're running for our lives," Anya said. "Buffy's afraid Glory's going to kill us all." When everyone glared at her, Anya said, "Well, so am I."
This didn't sound like the B she knew. "Hey, B. This true? We really takin' it on the road?" Then it hit her, "And where's the doc?"
"Yeah, it's true," B said. "I don't like having to do it -- I'm supposed to be the Chosen One, after all, all defender-y and everything -- but here we are. And Dr. Vaughn is driving behind us." Then B told her what had happened that morning.
When she was done, Faith said, "Well, I can't say I woulda done it the same -- but then, I ain't had the experience with this hellbitch that you have. If thing's bad enough that you think you need to run, I ain't got standin' to argue."
"I'm glad you understand. If you'll excuse me, I think I'd like to be alone for a bit." B walked to the back of the RV and shut the door.
"So," Anya said perkily. "Who's up for some food?"
"An," Xander said. "Now isn't the time for you to test your cooking skills."
"I may be dead soon," Anya said. "And when I get to wherever I'm going I don't want to hear them say, 'Nice gal. Too bad she never learned to cook.'"
Dawn was heading to the bedroom. Faith caught up with her and said, "You gonna try and cheer up big sis?"
"Yeah. Why. You wanna try?"
"Yeah. See, I kinda get what she's goin' through."
Dawn looked like she wanted to say something up, but said, "Whatever. Just don't make it worse."
Faith knocked on the bedroom door, opened it without waiting for an answer, and said, "Heya, B."
"I meant it when I said I wanted to be alone," she said.
"Yeah. But I'm kinda thinkin' that ain't what you need right now. See, way I see it, this runnin' business's got you more upset than you're even showin' out there. We may not be exactly the same, you and me, but we got one big thing in common. And part of that is that it sucks when we lose." B didn't say anything. "I know you always hated it when you lost to me."
That shook her. Faith knew it would. "I never lost to you," she said.
"Go on tellin' yourself that if it makes you feel better," Faith said. "Anyway, that ain't the important thing. Runnin' feels like losin' to you."
"The bad guys are supposed to run from me," B said. "Not the other way around."
"You wouldn't'a made the call if you didn't have good reason," Faith said. "I know you, B. Maybe it seems like you're givin' up. But this'll give us time to figure out how to beat this bitch."
"That's just it," she said. "I'm not sure we can."
Faith laughed. "'course we can. We're the Chosen Two. And together, we can kick anyone's ass. It's me and you against the world, babe. When do we attack?"
B laughed. Faith had been hoping she would.
And that's when the arrow came through the window.
