For Quindecim, RKF22, RAGAnne, and madcloisfan. I really appreciate the reviews!
Sorry for some tense chapters. Promise to make it up to you guys with some cute and sexy chapters later. ;)
Chapter 35
"Crap. Spike?"
"Yeah, Slayer?"
"How do you feel about an all-out brawl?"
Spike suddenly stood at her side. Adam was walking toward them, in no rush at all. Xander came up on Spike's other side, and Willow and Tara on the other side of Buffy. They stood together, a united front, when Adam finally reached them.
"Spike, I had hoped that you and Agent Finn would speak amongst yourselves and come to the correct conclusion in my absence. And I hoped that the Slayer might come to rescue you on her own."
"Scoobies don't work alone, bolts-for-brains," Xander said. Buffy was surprised to hear Spike chuckle next to her.
"I am beginning to understand that as a strategy of hers in battle, yes. The Slayer seems to understand the benefit of combined skills."
"The Slayer is standing right here, bozo," Buffy said. "So let's see what you've got." She waved toward herself.
"Agent Finn, come to me," Adam said, looking off behind them.
"Sorry, mate," Spike growled, tongue sliding over his fangs. "We deactivated the shock collar."
As Spike lunged toward Adam, Xander shot the zapper gun, hitting both Spike and Adam in the process. Spike, completely rigid, hit the ground. Adam, on the other hand, crackled with blue electricity. It all went to the glowy circle near his center and he grinned.
Buffy tossed her zapper gun to Riley, who caught it one-handed. She pulled a dagger from her jacket. Adam had already replaced the demon eye Spike had hit with the crossbow after the Ethan incident. When she pulled back her arm to aim for the human half of his face, he raised his own arm. What looked like a gun unfolding from his forearm.
"No!" Willow shouted. She wrapped her arms around Tara, pushing her to the ground as Buffy dashed out of the way of the bullets Adam was spraying toward them.
Buffy heard shouting around them, but she laser-focused on Adam. Nowhere but his facial region would be affected by anything less than a bulldozer. She hopped to her feet. Adam swung his arm at her, but she swerved and artfully drove the knife into his human-side ear, pulling it back without hesitation.
Adam threw his head back, grabbing at the human side of his face as blood (and some goopy snot-looking stuff) gushed out. Buffy fell to her knees at Spike's side. He was struggling to even sit up, his entire body stuck the way he'd fallen. Buffy grabbed him under his arms, pulling him to his feet. She glanced at Wills and Tara just as they said "reclaim your gift." Suddenly most of Adam's body went still next to them. His one arm still pawed at his wounded ear, but it looked like he couldn't even scream about it. The glowing circle near his heart was dark and he was wheezing.
Tara grabbed Buffy's wrist. "It won't last. Only works on the robot parts."
"But I could—" Buffy stopped when she looked around her. Spike was standing, but looked ready to collapse again; Wills looked about to cry; Tara was still all torn up; Xander was struggling to keep the still-bleeding Riley from passing out. Buffy clenched her teeth. She spun, aiming her blade at the side of Adam's neck. It barely made an impact. She kicked him square in the chest, sending him skidding ten feet across the floor. "Let's go."
xxxxx
"And you said that the electricity deactivation spell did work against his mechanical pieces?" Rupes asked, sipping some tea.
Tara, hands shaking around her own cup of some sort of herbal brew, nodded. She sat cross-legged on the floor of Giles' flat, a blanket wrapped around herself. Buffy sat in Spike's lap, her legs over the side of the armchair. She'd hardly looked up since they'd come over, instead tracing patterns in Spike's shirt. He'd have to ask her later what had her so preoccupied once they were apart from the Scooby crew. Wills, Harris, and Anya had squeezed themselves onto the couch. Finn had insisted on being brought to the Lowell House, and that he didn't know any more than he'd already said. Giles was pacing as they ran through the night's events again.
"Well, this is a good sign."
"If you miss the part where they were all almost ground into a fine paste, yes," Anya volunteered.
"Thank you for your insightful commentary."
"Well, I'm just saying. I personally prefer my boyfriend not... in... paste form."
"Ahn."
"If we combine it with Tara's potion, we should have no problem shutting him down," Willow said. "At least for five minutes. Then one of us can figure out deactivating him permanently... I think. I'd also like to hack into The Initiative and destroy all of their files, personally."
"Witch's got a fair point," Spike muttered. He tightened his arm around Buffy's hip, hoping she'd say something, anything. Even if she were just bein' an airhead or shouting or joking. The silence was reminding him of those days after her resurrection, the blank stares, and he couldn't bear it. "It's not just Adam that's the problem. What's to keep 'em from cooking up a whole army of him?"
"Well, Professor Walsh is dead," Xander said. "So there's that bonus."
"Spike is right," Buffy whispered. "We can't let them repeat him."
"I have a suggestion, but I hesitate to make it." Giles set his cup down. He removed his glasses, chewing on the arm of them.
"What?"
"Spike, you've given me the barest details of the years to come, up to your death. You remember some of the events surrounding Adam."
"But since he was working for Adam last time, he doesn't know how we beat him," Buffy said, looking up to the watcher.
"Hold the phone," Harris said, standing. "You were working for Adam last time? You should be able to tell us a hell of a lot more."
"Witchy ritual. You sent the Slayer in to fight him. Mostly I wanted to get off o' my leash."
"Remind me why we trust him again." The boy rolled his eyes, throwing his hands in the air.
"And Ri-Riley couldn't help either?" Tara asked.
The Slayer shook her head. "It sounds like Adam kept him asleep a lot of the time. Riley knew about the plan to, um, have Spike and I... at the Lowell House. But beyond the hybrid army he's been bragging about, nothing really useful."
"Well, it's understandable, I guess," Red said. "He's been through a lot, what with the kidnapping and hostage shenanigans."
"What does this have to do with what I told you, Watcher?"
"I was thinking that, perhaps, if Willow and Tara and maybe Anya were willing to join me, we could visit the idea of a memory spell."
"A memory spell?" Buffy twisted in Spike's lap so that she was facing the group. He shifted his arms around her waist, and she laid her arms on top of his. "How would that work?"
"Well, I've never done one before. But I imagine some chanting and candles and perhaps a magic gourd."
"A what now?"
"And what, then? You climb inside my bleedin' skull like I'm the Statue of Liberty? No thank you. 'Sides, I told you I didn't want to talk about too much, not yet."
"It would be laser focused, only on any events surrounding Adam, like showing us a video tape."
"An' I don't want you in my head, Watcher."
Buffy wriggled in his lap. "I'll do it."
"What?" Rupert, Xander, and Spike all said at once.
"What? I'm the closest of any of us to Spike. You guys can do the spell stuff, and I'll look for anything that can help us get rid of Adam and The Initiative."
"It's not a totally outlandish idea," Giles said with a shrug. He returned his glasses to their rightful place. "It would get us the information we need."
"And what about anything you don't? You do realize what you're playin' with, right?" Spike couldn't let them know about Bit. She might not come about that way. And if he let Buffy know about her mum or bein' torn out of heaven, he'd never forgive himself.
"We can figure it out," Red snapped. "We're not totally incompetent."
Spike opened his mouth, but the gentle witch interrupted him.
"It's been a long day. Can we, um, maybe talk more about it in the morning? Give us time to think?"
"And sleep," Harris added. "Fighting Frankenfreak really takes it outta ya."
"Sure," the Slayer said, her voice small. "Sundown tomorrow at The Magic Box?"
xxxxx
Buffy kept catching Spike looking at her out of the corner of her eye. They were walking back to Stevenson. Willow and Xander had invited them all for a late night Doublemeat Palace run, but she didn't much feel like hanging out right now. Spike had offered a quick slaying visit to the cemeteries, but she turned that down, too. Now they were walking back to campus in silence.
"What?" Buffy finally demanded in front of Stevenson.
"Nothin'," Spike said. He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his duster.
"Whatever." Buffy turned toward the dorm's doors, but Spike grabbed her by the arm and she faced him again.
"I just... Are you alright, Slayer? You've been awful introspective."
"We're screwed against Adam."
Buffy paused, her heart beating too quickly at the confession. Suddenly, saying the one thing that had been on her mind all night let her say the rest of it, too.
"Did you see us back there?" Buffy began pacing, waving her hands as she spoke. "We were a mess! You and Xander tried attacking at the same time, Willow didn't think I'd help her protect Tara, and bullets? Seriously? I use pointy wooden objects. What the hell am I supposed to do against bullets?" Buffy glared at a random co-ed who was wandering by and gaping at her. He ran in the opposite direction. "We had all the coordination of the three blind mice on a bad day."
"Pet, we'll go in prepared next time. No more Initiative visits until we've got all our affairs in order, yeah?"
"I couldn't even keep you safe!" Buffy rubbed her forehead, wishing her shouting-induced headache would go away. "Adam came and took you and for all I knew could've killed you and I never would've even known. Hell, The Initiative took Tara and I only knew because Wills was looking for her. I'm supposed to be the Slayer, saver of innocents. I can't even keep my friends safe."
Spike closed in on her, grabbing both of her shoulders. Buffy tilted her head at him. "You can't do everything yourself, a'right? You'll figure it out. You hero-types always do."
"All we have right now is a plan to hold Adam in place for five minutes. We've got no idea how to actually keep him down, or how to keep The Initiative from hurting you or anyone else. I'm tired, Spike." Buffy's eyes stung, tears escaping her. "I'm just so tired."
"Shh." He held her close to him. Buffy took comfort in the feel of his leather jacket against her face. "Get some kip. We'll visit the watcher tomorrow, yeah? He's got a good head on his shoulders. We'll get things sorted, and we'll be just fine."
Buffy pulled back, examining Spike. "Did you just compliment Giles?"
"No."
Buffy raised her eyebrows.
"Well, alright. But only to make you feel better. And don't tell Rupert. He'll think I don't hate him as much as I used to."
Buffy smirked. "You're such a freak."
Spike leaned in, nuzzling her ear. "You love it."
Buffy slapped him, playfully, in the chest. "Perv."
Spike raised his scarred eyebrow. Buffy instantly felt better, the routine teasing bringing her back to some sense of normalcy. Sleep would probably help, too. Then tomorrow...
"Are you sure you're okay with the memory spell?"
"What?"
"The thing that Giles wants to do? So we can fight Adam better?"
Spike shifted on his feet, averting his eyes. "There are things I've done, things that happened the first time around... I don't want anyone to know about 'em, least of all you. If I caused you any pain..."
Buffy reached forward and grabbed his hand. Spike looked to her, shocked out of his train of thought. "We've got this."
Spike smiled, kissing her on the forehead. "That's my girl."
Buffy wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close. She made a happy little hum as she snuggled against his chest.