Interrogation

Timeline: Season 2, 'The Dark Ages'

Disclaimer: don't own. Just using for a fanfiction. Belongs to M.E.



"I think he's working with people," Buffy the Vampire Slayer said to her Watcher and her friend the next morning after regaling them with the events of the previous night.

"Buffy, from your own words, that girl has never worked with him before," Giles stated, "What makes you think he's working with someone?"

"It's just a feeling," she admitted, it was thin but, not as thin as they were making it out to be. Her intuition was telling her that her former friend was working with someone…but, who, she had no idea, "But, Giles, you know he shouldn't be out there. Come on, you've gotta help me get him back. If we can get him to come back, then we can get him to stop going out there."

"The odds are that you are right, Buffy," the Englishman regarded, "But, that is all dependant upon convincing Xander to join the fold, and you know he will not do that unless you two," he indicated Buffy and Willow with his fingers, "Agree to him patrolling with us. And just judging by the look in your eyes, I'm guessing that won't happen anytime soon," Buffy nodded angrily, realizing that Giles was right, "Then, I'm afraid that Xander will not be joining with us anytime soon. I doubt anything short of an apocalypse will bring him back."

Buffy sagged at that, realizing that Giles was one hundred percent correct in his estimate.

Dumb, stupid Xander, she thought to herself, Why can't he see that I was doing it for his own good?

Willow, meanwhile, had taken Giles's message in a different way.



"Hey, Miss Calendar," Xander greeted his favorite teacher as he came in early that morning, "How did…you know…"

"…She's a very troubled girl, Xander," Jenny said to the young man with a sigh, "She's been through quite a lot. I'm still amazed to think that she managed to find anything to gain out of it. She's resourceful, I'll give her that much, but…we've got a long way to go before she gets better."

"…I heard about a little fight in the library," he grinned at her, and she blushed slightly, not having been aware that the events of that day had circulated throughout the school, "Slapping all of them, twice? I appreciate the thought, but, don't you think that's a little too dramatic?"

"I didn't slap them all twice," she paused, recounting the events, before nodding and saying, "I didn't. I slapped Buffy twice. Once for me, and once for you."

"In that case," he silently clapped, "Applause, applause. Still…I know it probably ruined most chances you had with G-Man," he ordinarily wasn't one to get involved with Giles's relationship but, he felt that he owed it to his past father-figure to stick his neck out for him, "But…don't throw that away for me. You two have something special…no matter how much I'd love to see them get pain, he doesn't deserve to lose you."

Jennifer stared at the young man, not really knowing what to say to that. It was so…odd, getting relationship advice from a child…or, to be fair, a young adult. Still, his words spoke to her…she hadn't been thinking about their relationship…she'd been too worried about dealing with Susannah and Xander's issues to even think about hers and Rupert's relationship.

She would have to think about that.



That night, Willow had checked out several very dangerous books from Giles's collection, without his prior and, hopefully, without his future knowledge. She had, in her own opinion, gone far beyond the point of desperation.

She was still in love with him and, even though she couldn't stand up to Buffy, she could find a way around her.

"Ah," she said as she came to the chapter she'd wanted, "'Hallucinations.'"



"Ah, Xander," Timothy greeted his somewhat friend as he entered the shop, "Good. I've come up with a few ideas that I think you'd appreciate."

"Let's hear them," Xander took a seat on a bucket and motioned for him to continue.

"Wait," a voice to the back called, and Susannah walked into the shop with a smile, "Don't start without me."

"Hey, Susannah," Timothy greeted his cousin, "Have a seat."

"Ooh," Xander interrupted, an idea popping into my head, "Would you mind if I invited someone else to this little meeting?"

"Who," Susannah asked.

"A girl named Samantha Burke," he explained, "I ran into her last night. She hunts, like me."

"…How do you know she's trustworthy," Timothy asked, equally suspicious as Susannah.

"Her father was turned," he stated.

"…Call her up."



Drusilla smiled as she listened to the stars. They spoke of such wicked, horrible things, things that made her flesh crawl with pleasure. The stars spoke of violence, death, chaos…the things that made her nightmares such fun.

Only, now…there was something new…a new threat was present, and it was demanding all her attention…well, half of it, anyway.

"Spike," she called her pet to her, and he came running.

"What is it, my sweet," he asked.

"They're going to ruin it all," she told him, "The kitten, the mechanic, the naughty nurse, and the maiden. They're going to ruin it all."

"Naughty nurse," Spike focused primarily on that part, "You wanna play dress up?"

"Later, dearest," she cooed, "Spike…bring me the boy's head on a platter."

"Boy," Spike wondered aloud, "What boy?"

"The one whom the Angel-beast tried to feed to you," Drusilla said, "Send him away…"

The message finally got through to the platinum vampire, who smiled and said, "Right. Anything for you, ducks."

He left her for a moment and ordered his vampires to attack the boy in the Slayer's group, and they set forward to their task.



"Thanks for inviting me, Xander," Samantha thanked her newly found friend as she sat down beside him.

She was dressed in her ritualistic armor, along with her long sword sheathed loosely to her side. She had met everyone briefly and had already discovered what Xander'd said was true…everyone, except himself and her, were brand new to the hunting game.

"Alright, here's my ideas," Timothy started in, "We'll need a vehicle, so, I'm going to turn the truck into our Batmobile. I've got this idea for a stake-gun that we can mount atop it. I'd need your help designing it, but, I think we can do it."

"…We can probably design something like a .50 cal," Xander muttered, "Just substitute the bullets for stakes, roughly the same size and weight, maybe add some ball bearings, or put metal on the inside."

"I was thinking about another thing," Timothy said, "Are vampires harmed by just sunlight? Is it just the light or is there a specific part of the light spectrum that causes them to burn?"

"…I don't know," he admitted, "But, that's a good question. If it's a specific ray, then, we can put special lenses on the headlights to send off that kind of light."

"Um," Sam had her hand raised, getting their attention, "I hate to say this, but, I've never fired a gun before. The closest I've ever come is a crossbow, and I couldn't shoot it worth a damn."

"I'll get to training everyone in their chosen forms of combat later on," Xander said to her, "The plan for right now is to come up with these weapons, then, to train with them. Do you know how to construct swords?"

"Not entirely," she told him, "But, I could stumble my way through it."

"Then, if you'll agree, we'll have you and Timothy work together to build swords and other weaponry you're familiar with, while me and him work together to build the weaponry that I'm familiar with. How does that sound?"

"…Alright, so long as I can keep some of the things I help make," she smiled.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," he grinned at her, "Timothy?"

"What she said," the young man said.

"Susannah, would you be willing to help us," Xander asked her.

"Certainly," the young nurse said, "Any way I can be useful."

"Don't worry," he said to her, "We'll make sure there's something for you to do. Except in the field, then, we're hoping you'll have the least amount of work to do."

"Great," she said, "A field medic without any work. Joy."

"Damn straight," he muttered, "Alright…so, you're thinking about giving us a vehicle. What about communications? We might get separated and be in need of a lift out."

"Already thought of that," Timothy beamed with pride, "Two-way radios, attached to a utility belt. You, me, Susannah, and…Sam," she nodded, letting him know that he'd got her name right, "Can work on what we all need in them. Obviously a sheath for weaponry, maybe one for a stake and another for a blade."

"A holster in each belt, too," Xander put forth, "We'll need it if we get into too sticky of a situation."

"Maybe a compartment for medicine, too," Susannah suggested, "Some morphine, bandages, a belt for a tourniquet, some rubbing alcohol to slow down an infection."

"Replace the rubbing with real alcohol, something that'll burn well," Xander said, "You never know when you need the Molotov cocktail."

"And have a place for a canteen," Sam said, "And have all the water blessed. You may run into a vamp that gives you a last request, and that can always be a drink of water."

"Smart," Xander said, "And, make sure the canteen has a cross on it. And, everyone wears a cross, from now on. If I had the money, I'd probably get a bunch of tattoos of holy symbols around my neck, and have the ink blessed."

"Hey, maybe we could all do that," Susannah half-joked, "Make it a group thing, or something."

"That's actually not a bad-"

At that moment, the windows and the doors exploded in.