Smells Like Teen Spirit
Summary: One thing changes on the path back home for Xander. Begins at the Zeppo episode.
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"When he rises, you'll have wished I'd kill you all," Balthazar said in one final huff, before dying.
Faith rolled her eyes at the message of doom, having grown far too used to them. She turned around as Angel came up behind her, obviously worried.
"Now can we go and find Buffy," Angel demanded.
"Yeah, let's go find B," Faith said, stalking off towards the exit, "At least then I can bitch at her for ditching me."
Angel frowned after her, but shrugged it off, more concerned with his one and only than anything else.
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Xander walked into the library with a huff, groaning out as he breathed through his nose by accident. He had run out of Faith's happy pills and was currently using an ice-pack to keep his nose in check, as it had swelled up again during the night.
"Giles," he said without looking around, "Do you have any…"
He paused, staring down at the floor, which was covered in dust. He looked up and stepped back in shock.
Lying on the library table was a Hispanic man, his neck bent at an odd angle that shouldn't be possible. Giles, Buffy, and Oz were each lying on the floor, having been brutally beat in some fashion. Xander quickly rushed over to them and pulled them onto their backs, then checked for a heartbeat.
"Thank God," he muttered to himself as he got up and ran for the telephone.
"I'm telling you," he paused as he heard someone talking loudly down the hallway, "She did not ditch you."
"Yeah, well, we'll see," another voice, one he recognized, said in return.
"FAITH," Xander shouted.
"X," she shouted back, and Faith and Angel both ran into the library, coming up short as they saw the destruction, "Oh, shit."
Angel made a beeline for Buffy, kneeling beside her body to check on her while Faith ran over to him.
"What happened," Faith asked, turning away from him to check on the others from where she was, "Who did this?"
"Dunno," Xander said, dialing, "But judging from the dust, I'd say we gave as good as we got. Yes, hello, I need an ambulance."
"Xander," Angel called.
"Hold it," Xander said, "Yes, we're at-"
"What is it, Fang," Faith asked as Xander continued giving directions to the ambulance.
Angel handed her a piece of paper and Faith took it from his cold fingers, read it, and felt herself go cold.
"X," she called out.
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Heidi glared at the being in the center of the circle. Kyle and Greg were each behind the girl, outside the circle, staring at her as well. Jack, however, was on the inside. She was tied up to a chair, her mouth bound and her eyes taped over, but her ears were naked. Jack was sat before her, leaning his body down to look up at her as he scraped his knife against her chair, causing her to squirm every time she heard it and even moreso whenever the blade caressed her skin.
"There was a time," Jack was saying, "When you and I were equals. When I could go to school and sit and not pay attention, and when you too could do the same. I would make F's, you would make A's or B's or whatever, but it was all the same. We were equal, and we didn't take more from each other than what was expected."
The girl called out against her gag, but Jack scraped her leg with his blade and she silenced herself.
"That time has passed," Jack said with a cold smile, one which Heidi was quite sure the girl could hear, "Your friend, Harris, made that pass. He changed the rules when he took my friends from me, and when he took my Katie from me."
She protested against her bonds again, and this time, Jack reached up and removed the gag.
"You're a liar, Jack O'Toole," Willow said to him, "Xander would never do anything like that!"
"Really," Jack said, "Just like he would never do anything with that black-haired temptress?"
Willow remained silent.
"Why, it wasn't even a week ago that I saw them come out of her room, all hot…and sweaty…" he paused for a moment, then leaned in and licked Willow's chin up to her eye, causing her to cringe, "And sticky."
She kept silent, but Heidi could smell the change in her. She could smell the anger…and the tears.
Jack could see the tears coming under her tape, but did not acknowledge them. Instead, he placed his knife gently against her face, causing her to stiffen.
"I'm not gonna touch you," Jack whispered to her, "You're here for us, and maybe…for yourself."
Jack leaned away from her, still smiling as the tears fell freely from behind the tape, running down her face.
"He took my friends…he took Katie from me," Jack said, "And he took you…didn't he?"
Willow said nothing…she didn't have to.
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"Jack," Xander muttered to himself later at the hospital, "That bastard."
"You iced his crew, didn't you," Faith asked, earning herself a shocked glance from Angel and a nod from Xander.
"I should've known he'd be back, the bastard," Xander sighed, turning his attention back to the ambulance, "At least he only beat the crap outta them."
"That doesn't explain the vampire dust, though," Angel pointed out.
"No time to worry about that," Xander said with a sigh, "All we know is that Jack and whoever he's got working with him drugged and beat them to send a message. He wants me to meet him at the Bronze for a fight at midnight, so we have…one hour to figure out where he is and rescue her."
"How in the fuck do you plan on doing that, X," Faith asked, "He could be anywhere in Sunnydale, and that's not a small amount of ground to cover."
"Um," a frightened voice in the back called, "I think I c-can help you w-with that."
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Rhonda sipped on her water as she came to a stop with her story. She had included everything she could think of, starting from when Heidi had came into her home and ending with Heidi's declaration that Rhonda would be her secret weapon.
"So, it's Jack, Heidi, Kyle and one other dude," Xander said, thinking hard, "And only Jack isn't possessed…well, thank God for small favors."
"So, you were possessed by a hyena," Angel asked, still somewhat lost as he hadn't been around for the events of two years back.
"We were," Rhonda answered for him, not liking him for reasons that she couldn't understand, "It was…"
"Horrible," Xander finished for her, and she found herself nodding along with him, that submissiveness from being around him coming back to her, "So, we've got four people to deal with…the Scoobies were unconscious when we got there, but they were sitting…why would they put them into a seated position?"
"Excuse me," a nurse came behind them, "Are you with Rupert Giles?"
"Yes, we are," Angel answered, coming up to her.
"Well, it looks as though Mr. Giles was either the victim of a drugging or was a heavy user," the nurse responded, giving him a withering look, "Are you aware of any-"
"Giles does not do drugs, ma'am," Xander replied, looking sternly at her.
"Well, then, tell me another reason why his toxicology reports came back saying that he'd taken a near-lethal amount of GHB," the nurse replied scathingly.
"…The cookies," Rhonda answered, looking shaken.
Something clicked in Xander's head.
"In the police reports, amongst the evidence, they found boxes of cookies. Have them tested, and you'll see that they were drugged," Xander informed her.
The nurse scowled at them, obviously not believing him.
"Just do it," Angel said to her, his eyes beseeching her.
Finally, the nurse nodded, and walked away, trying to decide if she would do it or just call the police and have them placed underneath their custody.
"Jack drugged them somehow with your cookies," Xander said with a sigh, "You got them from a guy named Ted, didn't you?"
"How'd you," Rhonda began, but Xander cut her off.
"It doesn't matter. Right now, we need to figure out what we're gonna…" Xander trailed off, a thought coming to mind, "Has anyone called Willow?"
Angel and Faith shared a look, followed by shaking their heads.
"She wasn't with them," Xander said, "…They took her."
Rhonda unconsciously backed away and fled into herself, feeling his rage from where he was. Angel could smell it recognizing the quiet rage as the same that had come against him over a year ago, when Buffy had gone to face the Master. Faith saw it in his eyes, and for a brief moment, felt a spatter of jealousy enter her mind, wishing that someone would care that much about her one day.
And, perhaps, something more.
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Jack stared out from behind Willow, with Greg and Kyle behind him, and Heidi off near the bars, smiling that cocky smile as she idly stroked her stolen book. All their eyes were on the entrance, and their noses were alert, smelling them coming from a mile away.
Finally, Xander entered with Rhonda a half-step behind him, obviously quite scared.
"Harris," Jack greeted him with a snarl.
"Jack," Xander returned quietly.
"I want my knife back."