Welcome to the latest chapter in this story which is, unfortunately, drawing to its end.
Thanks, as usual to my reviewers Anyankaholic, LadySonics, dreameralways and to those who have made this a favourite or story alert. TechnoFire, DrDamage and Raggedygal.
Now, how are they going to get out of the mess they're in?
More Things in Heaven and Earth
Chapter 21
Subway Tunnels, Saturday, August 28th: 23:47
"'Liv, 'Liv, are you O.K?" Elliot called through the darkness.
"I'm fine." Olivia reassured her partner. "You?"
"Yeah, something knocked me over. I got a few scrapes but I'll live."
"We need some light." Olivia said, beginning to feel around for the dropped flashlight. After some scrabbling she found the device and was relieved to discover that the fall had simply jarred the cap loose causing the batteries to fall out. Further scrabbling found the missing batteries; she jammed them into the barrel and was even more relieved when the flashlight came on. She shone the light towards her partner who grinned at her from where he was laying.
Slowly the two detectives got up and looked around.
"What the hell happened?" Elliot asked as Olivia played the light across what had previously been a cavern.
"Rock-fall; a big one" she replied, shining the beam towards a massive wall of fallen rock, with other large slabs scattered around its foot. "Subsidence, maybe an earthquake?"
"We were lucky." Her partner observed. "If we'd been much further into the cavern we might have been hit by one of those." He pointed towards the loose rocks. "Whatever knocked us over did us a favour."
"Yeah, but what did hit us?" Olivia asked. She shone her flashlight towards the ground around their feet but it was clear of rocks.
"At the moment I don't care, it probably saved our life. First thing is to get out of here."
Olivia wondered if she should mention the green lizard thing she had half seen before the tremors had sent the flashlight falling from her hands but decided against it. Elliot was right; the priority now was to get to the surface. She moved the beam towards the opening by which they had entered the cavern. Apart from some shale littering the entrance, it was clear.
The partners looked at each other. Together they began re-tracing their steps back to the surface.
116th Street Subway Station, Sunday, August 29th: 00:17
Giles sighed with relief and took a large breath of fresh air as he reached the surface and stepped out of the subway station. The air was full of gasoline fumes and the other adulterants of urban living but, after the stench of Temporus' lair and the dust ridden air of the caverns, it was like a taste of the country. He looked round; they had emerged into what looked like a crime scene. The area around the station had been cordoned off. Behind the tape barrier a crowd were being held back by police officers, while, huddled together inside the barrier was a group of people, homeless he guessed from their clothing and appearance; probably the occupiers of the shanty town they had passed on their way through the subway tunnels. The effect of the cave-in had been felt up here too he noted from the litter of rubble around the station but, judging from people's behaviour, it did not seem to have caused any serious injuries or other damage. He frowned as he saw the Police Sergeant approach his group. In Sunnydale they would have been able to quietly fade away but that didn't look like an option here. He was glad that he had thought to hide the Sword of Roland before they left the subway station and the other weapons had been discarded before they had escaped from Temporus' lair.
Fortunately Munch took the initiative. He dived into his jacket pocket, took out his gold shield and walked up to the officer. "Detective Munch, SVU." He introduced himself.
The Sergeant glanced at the shield and nodded. "Hey, Detective." He said. "I thought only two of you went down there."
"What?"
"Two other detectives from your Unit went down earlier, Benson and Stabler?"
"They're still down there?" Munch asked, urgently.
"Not any more!" the Sergeant pointed back towards the Subway entrance, from which the named two dishevelled SVU officers were emerging.
Giles groaned. Things had just gone from bad to worse. He hoped that everyone would be able to stick to the story they had concocted in the face of what was likely to be some tough questioning.
SVU, Sunday, August 29th: 00:47
"You're like a bad penny, Rupert," Elliot Stabler began, conversationally, as he sat down opposite Giles in the same interview room they had occupied only a few nights earlier, "Seems like you're always around when there's trouble comin' down."
Giles forced himself to remain calm, forcing down the feelings of anger and defensiveness he always felt in the presence of the police. Although the crisis had passed, he needed to talk his Slayer, her friends, their detective ally and himself out of any legal entanglements. It was easier now than it had been before now the danger of Armageddon had passed. He raised an eyebrow. "Are you trying to say I was somehow responsible for the recent…err…subterranean disturbance, Detective?" he asked.
"Were you?"
"Don't be ridiculous!"
"So, what were you doing in the subway tunnels?"
"I was with Ms Calendar looking for a number of our pupils who had gone down there. You can check with Detective Munch. He was with us."
This was the story they had agreed upon in case they were questioned. Giles had felt bad, making the Slayer and her friends sound like irresponsible children, but teenage high-jinks was the only even half-way believable reason for their presence they had been able to think up on the spur of the moment. He prayed that the others would not allow themselves to be tricked into making any admissions and that Munch's loyalty to his colleagues would not force him into betraying them.
Stabler looked unconvinced. He raised an eyebrow. "So, what were the kids doing in the tunnels?"
"I may be indirectly responsible for their presence there." Giles admitted, feeling his way through the prepared story. "I have a Doctorate in Mythology and Folklore and I am researching a paper on how each group of European immigrants brought their own folklore to the New World and how these were integrated with each other and Native American myths to form a new, American mythology. A number of the students have been assisting me as an after school project and it appears that they developed what I believe is called a live action role-playing game based on the research and decided to play it here in New York. I…I left them alone in the hotel suite and when I came back, they had disappeared. I called Ms Calendar immediately and we went in search of them."
"And you knew exactly where to find them in a city this size and it just happened to be at the same location where a major emergency took place. That's what I call more than a coincidence!" Elliot said, cynicism thick in his voice.
Giles shrugged and continued his story. "Not really. I recognised the herbs and liquid residue they had left behind. According to folklore these substances can be used as a weapon against what are called Fulroc demons. The books I have been consulting state that Fulroc demons live underground. Given the students lack of knowledge about New York, the subway system seemed like a good place to start."
"There's a hell of a lot of subway, how did you find them?"
"It wasn't really hard. Not knowing this city it was unlikely they'd stray far from those areas they were reasonably familiar with. The most likely places were around the hotel and Columbia University." Giles relaxed a little. As an explanation, it was weak but it covered all the bases.
Elliot sat back and studied him. "So," he asked casually, "why didn't you call the cops when you found five of your students missing?"
It was an obvious question. Giles went on the offensive. He leaned forward and stared hard at the cop opposite. "I would have if we hadn't been able to find them quickly but given that my first experience of the police here included allegations of child abuse and the raking up of episodes from my past of which I am now heartily ashamed I was afraid that you would waste time accusing me of kidnapping rather than actually look for them! Fortunately we ran into Detective Munch. Once we'd explained the situation, he agreed to assist." He relaxed and sat back, now try a little soft soap. "Detective, I admit I was a wild youth and I did a lot of things which I now deeply regret but, for the last twenty years I have been living a law abiding life and, even if I say so myself, making valuable contributions to the scholarship of my subject areas. Isn't this meant to be the land of second chances?"
"Yeah, your 'scholarship'." Elliot grunted, putting inverted commas around the word. "Why did you leave a well-paying job in one of the world's great museums to move to a one-horse town and a two-bit job as a school librarian?"
'Why did this cop have to ask such searching questions?' "I…I. As I've grown older, I've wanted to give something back, help young people to avoid some of the mistakes I made. I wanted to come to the U.S. anyway to assist with the research into my paper and working as a school librarian not only allowed me sufficient leisure time to conduct the research, it also provided opportunities to act as a mentor. The money was also welcome."
"Nice story, Rupert." Elliot said. "Now, tell me why you needed to hire a van to search subway tunnels…?"
SVU, Sunday, August 29th: 00:47
"So, Buffy, the guy you stole that book from at JFK and the two detectives who were with him have positively identified you as the perp. You're in big trouble. The best thing you can do now is tell us everything. If someone forced you to do it we need to know now!" Fin Tutuola sat back and studied and petite girl sitting opposite.
Buffy put on her patented air-head expression while she considered. She didn't believe for a moment that David de Groot had given her up. Why should he? As a member of the Council he had wanted her to have the book. So, if this cop was lying about that, he was probably lying about being positively identified by the other two cops as well. "I haven't stolen any book and I haven't been to JFK since we got here." She frowned. "Are they saying I stole this book then? 'Cause that was like a week ago. Why are you asking me these questions now?"
Fin sighed; it was amazing how often those sorts of shock tactics worked, particularly with inexperienced suspects. "Look." He tried again. "We just want to help you here. Tell me what happened and I'll try to work something out with the D.A."
The airhead tactic seemed to be working so Buffy decided to keep it up. "You want to help? Then let me go back to the hotel. I need a bath, a change of clothes and a full facial to get all this yuk off." She gestured to her torn and dirty clothing and generally bedraggled appearance. "Those tunnels were really skanky you know." She made a moue of disgust. "Nobody told me 'bout that when I said I'd play the game."
Fin did not believe this girl's act for a second. According to Olivia Buffy had shown above average intelligence during their talk only a few days ago. Of course, she did have a juvie record so it could be she wasn't as naïve as her appearance suggested. He decided to take it step by step. Get the facts and see if he could tease out any inconsistencies. "So, tell me 'bout this game," he said, "who's idea was it?"
SVU, Sunday, August 29th: 00:47
Willow Rosenberg sat opposite Olivia Benson on the mezzanine floor of the Squad room. She looked scared. After considering her tactics Olivia had decided to start the interviews of the four remaining teenagers with this girl. Her record showed her to be an outstanding student with a need for approval from authority figures so she seemed likely to be the weakest link in the group. "So, Willow, sure you don't want a soda or anything?"
The girl shook her head. "No, thanks." She added, almost reluctantly.
Olivia smiled to herself; it looked like she had made the right choice. "O.K. Look we need you help to sort out what happened here. How did you and the others end up outside the 116th Street Subway Station?"
Willow frowned in thought. "Well it really started in Sunnydale when we were helping Mr Giles with his research. The guys thought that they could base a really good LARPG on it. That's Live Action Role Paying Game." She added.
Olivia nodded her understanding and smiled at her to continue. Reassurance and approval were needed at this point.
"Anyway," Willow continued. "After what happened to Clark…and then it seemed like you thought Mr Giles was involved…it just seemed like a good idea to take our minds off how horrible it all was. So, we got the stuff the books said and we went down to the subway tunnels to play the game. Then, there was this rumbling and the roof started caving in and we ran for it. That's it, really."
"O.K., now you seem like a responsible person Willow, so I have to ask, why didn't you leave a note telling your teachers what you were doing? Didn't you think they would be worried?"
'Oh fiddle!' Willow hated lying and knew she wasn't much good at it. She hung her head. "I didn't think." She mumbled.
Olivia did not believe this for a second but she accepted it, for the moment. "So, how did you happen to meet up with your teachers and Detective Munch…?" she asked.
SVU, Sunday, August 29th: 00:47
John Munch stood in front of his Captain's desk while Cragen looked him up and down. "O.K., John," he said finally. "Care to tell me why you risked your pension and possibly a prison term by assisting in the kidnap of a suspect?" His voice was calm but there was an edge to it that Munch recognised. His future, possibly his freedom were genuinely on the line here.
"Captain," he began. "This is what happened…"
T.B.C.