Chapter 11: The Takedown

Challenge: #3064 'conception by conspiracy *non-stargate*' by shelli.

Thanks to my betas: AerynSpeedleCaine, zigpal and AshDawnSoulmates.

Disclaimer: BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. NCIS characters belong to Donald Bellisario, Don McGill and CBS Paramount Television. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.


Ari's hideout

Luckily for everyone's nerves, Buffy only had two more contractions while they waited for the people behind her kidnapping to show up. Gibbs and Giles hid Ari's body, then stayed out of sight when they heard a couple vehicles pull up. Meanwhile, Buffy was telling Leo the details of her capture so he could pretend to be Ari better.

Walking into the room and seeing Buffy bound and gagged, Colonel McNamara remarked, "I'm impressed, Mr. Haswari. Not only did you manage to capture her, but she doesn't even look damaged."

Leo himself was a kind, compassionate person, but knew from Buffy and Gibbs' description that Ari was his polar opposite. During his years as a whitelighter, he'd witnessed how sociopathic people behaved and drew on that knowledge to complete his character. "Just have to know the right persuasion tactics." He turned to smirk at the seemingly helpless Slayer. "She apparently thought the people in the doctor's office were more important than her or her baby."

"I can't believe she didn't break your arm once you got here!" Forrest exclaimed, forgetting that they hadn't warned him of the danger he was in.

'Ari' simply scoffed at the idea, remembering in time that Buffy didn't think that the real Ari knew of her Slayer status. "She might be willing to risk a bullet to the chest, but a few inches lower, and you have a very cooperative girl. You really think she could have broken my arm? With how pregnant she is?" he asked pointedly.

Before the Colonel or Forrest could answer, the third man – another Initiative soldier by the name of Dixon – commented, "Man, you are cold!" He had heard of Haswari's reputation, but couldn't believe half of the things before seeing him in person.

"I'm just willing to do whatever it takes," 'Ari' replied, turning his deadly gaze on Dixon, who stepped back in fear. It didn't matter that they were technically on the same side in this mission; the guy was terrifying.

In the other room, Gibbs shuddered at how much Leo sounded like Ari right then. His jaw clenched in frustration when he heard Buffy cry out through her gag as another contraction hit her. At the same time, Giles was grinding his teeth at the realization that it was the people responsible for his Slayer being pregnant in the first place who tried to grab her and the baby.

Dixon momentarily forgot about the Mossad agent and cried out, "What the hell?"

"How long has that been going on?" Colonel McNamara demanded.

Waving his hand dismissively, 'Ari' answered nonchalantly, "She's only had a few contractions in the past hour. It's nothing to worry about until they're five minutes apart," he explained.

The Colonel nodded in understanding. "Still, we'd better get her someplace secure before it comes. We don't want anything to happen to our property."

Despite his nature being non-violent, Leo felt the urge to hit the man. Whether he was referring to Buffy and/or the child, it was wrong. But he needed to make sure of something before he and the others could make their move. "It's just the three of you? From the way you were talking just a few minutes ago, it sounded like you would have come here with a squad or something," he said, trying not to sound like he was fishing for information about how many people were there.

"We have you for back up," Forrest answered, sealing his fate and the fate of the two people with him. "If you could get her here by yourself, then why would we need more than us to get her back to the facility?"

Buffy spit out her gag to retort, "'Cause you guys are a bunch of idiots?" Somehow it wasn't a big surprise that it was these morons and not the Council; the Council would have been sneakier about it…maybe used that drug on her again to keep her weak.

Before the soldiers could react, Giles and Gibbs burst into the room with their guns drawn. Leo/Ari shifted so he stood between Buffy and the rest of the group.

Convinced that Ari was still on their side, Colonel McNamara threatened, "Come any closer and Mr. Haswari will kill your precious Slayer!"

"I doubt that, seeing as how I put two bullets in him before you got here," Gibbs said almost gleefully.

Seeing the confusion on their faces, Buffy snarked, "Did you forget who you're dealing with? Thank goodness none of you ever really accepted the mystical side to our lives. We got ways of doing things you can't even imagine. Now, are you going to cooperate with us willingly, or do we have to do this the icky way?"

Forrest glared at the person he blamed for all the bad stuff of the past year. "And you claim to be a hero," he snarled at the Slayer in disgust.

At that, Giles barked out in incredulous laughter, "A little hypocritical of you, wouldn't you say? You claim to be good guys also, but are willing to impregnate a girl against her wishes, then kidnap her to steal the child from her."

"Sometimes you have to do bad things for the big picture. Besides, it's not as if she's human or anything," Forrest commented, the venom practically dripping from his voice. His identity was the Initiative, and she destroyed him when she destroyed the program.

Buffy glanced at Gibbs who looked about two seconds from pulling the trigger. "God, Forrest, you really loved the stupid gene, didn't you? Is that why you went back for more of it? You have two men with guns pointed at you – at least one of whom I am sure would kill for me," she pointed out as a warning.

Without looking back at her, Gibbs corrected her, "Two. We're both willing." He guessed that he was the one she wasn't sure about. Surprisingly, he was happy that she didn't doubt Giles would kill for her.

"Fortunately, we have other options available to us," Buffy said, nodding to 'Ari', who dropped his disguise – only to trade it for another. He grew several inches, filled out about 75 pounds and had the markings of an assassin demon. A couple years later, Leo would realize that his disguise was very similar to Belthazor – even though he didn't know the demon yet.

Now came time for the bluff. Buffy started to explain, "See, not all 'HSTs' work for evil. I've earned a few favors here and there – especially after shutting down the Initiative. Before you get all high and mighty on me, if I had any proof that they were harming humans or even helping demons who were harming humans, I killed them. It's ones like Mick over there that became my friends."

"We never had him in custody," Dixon claimed, knowing that he would remember an HST like that one.

In keeping with his new persona, 'Mick' growled, "But you had somebody I cared about there."

Buffy knew that she had to speed this up before she had another labor pain. "I figure that you can either answer our questions fully, and we'll turn you over to the authorities for kidnapping me-"

Forrest scoffed, "Yeah, right!"

She continued as if he hadn't said anything, "…Or I can have Mick yank the information out of your brains with his mind-reading skills, then turn you over to him to…dispose of however he sees fit. I think he knows of one or two dimensions that would love some fresh human prey."

"You wouldn't do that. Riley's description of you indicates that you have the need to protect all human life – not just those you like," Colonel McNamara reminded her, feeling a strong tendril of fear for the first time since that bloodbath that basically ended his career.

The look Buffy gave him was cold enough to freeze hellfire. "Ahh, but there's something you're forgetting, Colonel. You guys came after my baby. Even though I didn't choose to get pregnant, he or she is my flesh and blood. The Slayer's protective nature for humanity doesn't overrule the mother's instinct. In fact, it actually works with it – just not in your favor. Since I obviously can't trust you to stay away, getting rid of you is my only other alternative," she said, studying them like they were bugs to be dissected and squashed.

It was that look in her eyes which was enough to convince them that she really wouldn't hesitate to kill them herself, much less ask someone else to do it for her. All three of them had the exact same thought at the exact same time: 'Oh, shit!'


A/N: BtVS canon change – Mason was Riley's team member killed by Adam in the caves. Forrest was still alive after the Initiative was shut down. Thanks to AvaMclean and DeepBlueJoy on the forums for their help in naming the other Initiative team members.

A/N2: Next…an interlude of something Musie wanted to write. Oh, and an explanation of what happened to the people responsible for the pregnancy/kidnapping.