Chapter 7: The Initiative

Buffy

A flash of red in the periphery of her vision had Buffy turning away from Riley to check what it was. In the weeks since Halloween, when Spike and Lucy had quietly slipped away while her back was turned, Lucy had been leaving clear marks of her presence around Buffy without actually appearing in person. Marks like Parker walking around with a broken nose the night that those guys at the student bar got turned into cavemen, for instance. Or Riley telling her that her cousin was kind of scary and Buffy having to assume that Lucy had mind-read her psychology TA's possible interest in her and threatened him with bodily harm. Though, with Riley that was probably a good thing. If he was anything like Parker, he'd likely have ended up dead.

Riley had also asked Buffy out on a date after facing Lucy, which was another point in his favour.

Their semi-romantic picnic under a tree on the quad kept getting interrupted by things like the flash of red, which turned out to be a bird. Buffy could feel a vampire watching them, and since the sun was out that vampire had to be Spike or Lucy. Every hint of red, black or bleach blond was suspect until proven otherwise.

"Is something wrong?" Riley asked.

Buffy turned back to him and saw that he was looking in the direction of the bird that had caught her attention. "Nothing's wrong. I feel like my cousin might be spying on us and she wears red a lot so red is being distracting but that doesn't mean something's wrong." Buffy grimaced. "I don't normally babble that much, I swear."

Riley smiled. "I know. We're past first impressions, remember?"

"Oh gods," Buffy groaned. "So past first impressions. Please, forget first impressions." The first time they'd met, Buffy had dropped a textbook on Riley's head.

"I don't know if I can. The knock to the head, you know?" Riley said.

Buffy chuckled. "I'm pretty sure memory doesn't work like that, but you're the psychologist."

Riley shrugged and took a sip of his soda. "We both finished lunch a while ago. We could go see if we can find your cousin if you want. Lucy, right? You can introduce us properly."

Well, they were out of food, and they had been talking for a long time.

"Sure, why not?" Buffy said. She had a lot to talk to Lucy about and after a date was about as good a time as any. They might actually surprise Lucy enough that she didn't disappear right away like she'd been doing lately.

She and Riley packed up the blanket they'd been sitting on and the containers Riley had brought food in. They'd had fruit, sandwiches and homemade chocolate pudding that Riley had admitted was one of the only desserts he could make. Buffy's stomach was already beginning to gurgle. She'd have to go grab a second lunch later. Maybe she and Willow could head to the Dingoes' place and order pizza with the guys. It had been a while since the Sunnydale High graduates in their gang had hung out together without studying happening at the same time.

Buffy picked a direction that seemed promising. There were plenty of people sitting at the tables around the fountain between Dunwirth Hall and the library. It would be easy for Lucy to hide among them.

"So, look for red?" Riley asked.

"I guess so," Buffy said. "And black. Kind of gothy."

Riley nodded. He used his unfair height advantage to look over the gatherings of students. "I think I see her. Two o'clock from the fountain."

Buffy couldn't see that far over people's heads, but she headed in that direction. Riley hadn't steered her wrong yet. Also, unfair height advantage. He'd probably seen something, even if it was only red flowers in a planter.

It wasn't red flowers in a planter, though Lucy's shirt was patterned with red roses.

Lucy met Buffy's eyes as they neared the table she and Tara were sitting at. She had a clear path if she wanted to get away, but she didn't move.

"Hi, Buffy," Lucy said. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," Buffy said.

Lucy tilted her head. "You actually are. That's good."

That creepy mind-reading was one thing Buffy hadn't been missing. Riley gave her a questioning look. Buffy shook her head slightly. She was going to need more time to come up with a lie to explain away Lucy's responses to knowing too much.

"Mind if we sit?" Riley asked.

Lucy shrugged and turned to Tara. The blonde girl looked at Riley with a bit of nervousness but stuttered that it was okay for him and Buffy to join them. Buffy sat in the empty chair closest to her.

"What are you working on?" Buffy asked.

"Verb conjugations," Lucy said. She grinned. "I was trying to get Tara to come to the Bronze with me tonight, but she declined. Maybe you'd have better luck."

Tara ducked her head. Buffy didn't know what Lucy was doing trying to get her to go to a club when she barely looked comfortable sitting outside. Probably something evil. Lucy and Spike hadn't done anything worrying in months. They were overdue for a scheme.

"No plans for Bronzing tonight, sorry," Buffy said. Except she wasn't sorry, and she knew that Lucy knew that.

"Maybe another time." Lucy looked back at the textbook in front of her. "I still don't know what tense this is."

"You just have to look at the ending and the word before it," Tara said.

"That tells me what it means, not what the name of the tense is." Lucy put her head down on top of the textbook. "Why can't it be enough to understand what we're reading?"

"You'll get it," Tara said.

Lucy sighed.

"So, were you spying on us or not?" Buffy asked.

Lucy looked up at her. "Obviously. I'm spying on Dev and Kendra's date later."

Well, good that Kendra and Devon were going on a date, bad that Lucy was planning on keeping an eye on them the whole time. That would only end in a fight.

Lucy frowned. "Kendra's going to kill me, isn't she?"

"Obviously," Buffy said.

"I guess I'll keep doing homework instead," Lucy said. "Make sure they're safe?"

"I—Yeah, okay," Buffy said. It seemed easier to agree, even though Kendra was more than capable of keeping Devon and herself safe.

Riley looked like he was on the verge of asking several questions, but he was interrupted by a guy Buffy had seen him hanging out with coming up and slapping him on the back. "Riley, my man, one, house meeting starting in ten minutes, two, you've been holding out on us. I didn't know you knew such lovely ladies."

Tara blushed. Lucy lifted her head and studied Riley's friend. So quickly that only Buffy was able to see it, her eyes flashed yellow. Buffy was pretty sure that wasn't a good sign.

"Give it a rest, Forrest," Riley said. He stood. "Sorry, I should get going. Buffy, I'll see you later."

Buffy nodded. "Have fun with your meeting."

Riley gave her a strained smile that made it clear he would not be having fun. Forrest kept talking as they left, asking him who "the babe in red" was. Lucy glared at their backs.

Tara stood a few seconds later. "I've g-g-got a class."

The scowl melted off of Lucy's face. She smiled softly at Tara. "Have a good afternoon."

When Tara was gone, Buffy and Lucy sat in silence for a few moments. Buffy's thoughts were racing, and she was sure that Lucy was trying to keep up with each and every one of them.

"I think I need your help," Lucy said. "Can we talk somewhere else?"

"I won't kill something for you," Buffy said in a low voice.

"I wouldn't ask you to," Lucy said. "Please?"

And vampire or not, that was still her cousin asking for help. Buffy couldn't bring herself to say no.

"Giles and Jenny have comfortable patio furniture," Buffy said.

It was probably best if Giles was around to hear what Lucy wanted anyway. He could stop Buffy from going too far.

"There's what under campus?" Buffy exclaimed.

"A military base filled with captured demons," Lucy repeated.

Buffy had really been hoping that she'd heard that wrong.

Giles sat back in his chair and took off his glasses. He sighed. "I don't know why I'm surprised. Dare I ask how you discovered that?"

Lucy tapped her temple. "They've got undercover agents all over campus and they don't tend to think quietly. Forrest was practically yelling."

Buffy's eyes widened even further. "Forrest is working for them? Riley's friend?"

Did that mean that Riley was one of the demon-capturing military agents too?

"I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm not," Lucy said.

The handkerchief Giles took out nearly blew away in a sudden gust of wind, but he caught it and started cleaning his glasses.

Buffy covered her face with her hands and breathed for a count of ten. She promised herself that when Pike called her after he was done dealing with that nest of fungus demons in Detroit, she was finally going to accept his offer to give her the phone number of a trustworthy therapist who was in the know. He hadn't been pushing her, but he would be glad she was looking at getting professional help.

"Why do you need our help with a military base?" Buffy asked.

"They've got Spike," Lucy said. "And my friend. She's a Mut'mayer. She has kids."

Buffy frowned. "And you want us to what? Break them out? Don't you have minions for that?"

"They'll think Spike's weak for getting captured. Do you want us to lose control of them?" Lucy raised her eyebrows.

The manpower (or was that vampirepower?) that Lucy and Spike seemed to have based on the times patrol routes had swung by the factory wasn't something that Buffy wanted to see uncontrolled. Knowing Lucy, they probably had more minions stashed somewhere Buffy and Kendra wouldn't think to look.

"Do you have any sort of plan?" Giles asked.

"A very rudimentary one," Lucy said. "It would involve hacking, disguises and going to that party at Lowell House tomorrow night."

That sounded like more than a rudimentary plan.

"Why Lowell House?" Buffy asked. That was where Riley lived, and she doubted that was a coincidence.

"It's the only entrance I know of," Lucy said. "I might be able to find one that's less guarded but that would take time Spike and Cinna don't have."

Giles put his glasses back on. "How long have they been, uh, imprisoned?"

"Since last night. I should have known something was wrong—" Lucy broke off her sentence. "I know you don't care about Spike, but Cinna's good, too good for Sunnydale. I don't want the things they do to happen to her. She doesn't deserve that."

Lucy's voice had hardened into a growl by the time she finished speaking. Buffy and Giles looked at each other. Asking for specifics seemed like something they shouldn't do, but they needed to know what they'd be risking.

"What things?" Giles asked.

Lucy told them and Buffy regretted it. No one—human or demon or anything else—deserved that.

"I see." Giles looked green. "Yes, time is of the essence."

"You'll help," Lucy said. "What about Willow, Xander, Kendra and Faith? We'll need them."

"We'll ask," Buffy said.

She couldn't promise anything more. The Dingoes would help for sure, but Lucy had to have known that already. Kendra would probably want to tear the entire base down when she heard about the "experiments" that were happening. She killed demons, she didn't torture them. The others were a toss-up.

Lucy nodded. She got out of her chair but then hesitated. "I... What should I do?"

Giles raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't dare to tell you."

"Your friend has kids?" Buffy asked.

Lucy looked at her. "Right. I should let Cinna's family know. Hopefully they'll listen."

When Lucy had said her goodbyes and disappeared to tell her friend's kids that their mom had been abducted (hopefully in a nice way), Buffy and Giles went inside and called a Scooby meeting. It took less than twenty minutes for everyone to arrive.

"What's the what?" Xander asked. "Do you happen to know someone who's hiring?"

"The Espresso Pump has a 'Help Wanted' sign," Soul said.

"Really? That's great, thanks," Xander said.

Buffy cleared her throat pointedly. Xander sat back and grinned at her.

"Why are we here?" Willow asked. "You were pretty thin on the details. Something about the military and what if the phones are tapped?"

That hadn't been a pleasant realization for Buffy. She kind of felt bad for hanging up on Willow after saying that.

"According to Lucy, there's a military base under UC Sunnydale and they're experimenting on demons," Buffy said. "They've got Spike and someone named Cinna. She's not a vampire."

Xander nodded. "And why do we care?"

Devon glared at Xander. Sam and Soul each grabbed one of Devon's arms. Hopefully that would prevent him from starting a brawl. Giles and Jenny didn't need holes in their wall or broken furniture.

"Cinna's one of the bartenders at the Shelter," Sam said. "She's helped us a lot."

"Mut'mayer demons such as her are relatively peaceful," Giles said. "In this case we might consider her an innocent."

"We're going to get her out," Buffy said. "Willow, there's a security system in Lowell House we were hoping you can hack."

Willow nodded. "I'll give it a go. But why Lowell House?"

"There's an entrance to the base there." Buffy then turned to Xander. "Have you still got enough of Soldier Booth kicking around to play military agent?"

"I think so," Xander admitted. "Military is military, unless they're navy."

Buffy nodded as though that made total sense to her. It didn't, but no one else had to know that.

"Kendra, Faith, can you cover my patrol route tomorrow night?" Buffy asked.

"Sure thing, B," Faith said.

"I'm guessing we're playing distraction?" Soul asked, gesturing to himself and his bandmates.

"And emergency getaway drivers, if Oz doesn't mind letting us use his van," Buffy said.

Oz nodded. No problem there then.

After a bit more planning, Willow said that she was going to head back to campus. She wanted to get started on breaking into Lowell House's security system and her computer was still in her and Buffy's room.

"I'll go with you," Buffy said.

"Me too," Xander said.

Oz also stood to leave with them, but Devon grabbed him for band practice. Buffy didn't think it was the time or the place, but it was Devon. He was obsessed with the band to an almost worrying degree. He could reel it back enough not to risk them getting killed though, so no one bothered to intervene.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Xander asked when Giles's door had closed behind them. "Since when do we help Spike?"

"Since there's a non-violent mother involved," Buffy said. "And they've got scientists cutting into demons' brains. Even Spike doesn't deserve that."

Xander shrugged. "Okay, if you say so."

"Wait, they're cutting into brains?" Willow asked. "That's bad. That's really bad. Unwilling experimentation with brain-cutting is really bad, like, super unethical bad."

"Yeah," Buffy said. And that wasn't even the worst thing that Lucy said Forrest had seen happening.

Willow's expression morphed into her patented resolve face. When they got back to the dorms she immediately got onto her computer. Her fingers flew across the keyboard and she muttered to herself angrily. The odds of her coming up for air before she'd broken into the security system the base was using were slim to none.

"Do we actually need to be here?" Xander asked quietly after several minutes of typing.

Buffy shrugged. "We could figure out our disguises?"

They spoke in low voices even though not much short of a demon attack could distract Willow when she was in the zone. Xander made notes on a loose sheet of paper that he'd take with him when he left to prevent any of the undercover agents on campus from getting hold of it. It would be easy enough for some of them to dress as scientists, but they'd need more information about what the agents wore while they were in the base. Hopefully Lucy had gotten a clear picture out of Forrest's head.

When the sun began to set, Buffy and Xander took a break to put together something for dinner. Buffy and Willow had enough food in their fridge for all of them to eat but they'd have to go shopping sooner than they'd planned.

"I did it!" Willow exclaimed half an hour after Xander had coaxed her to eat. "It took some technomagic, but I've got a back door into—they call themselves the Initiative—I've got a back door into their systems. Lowell House has a retinal scanner and voice recognition that I'll be able to trick so we can get in. And plus, good news, the phones aren't tapped!"

"Way to go, Willow," Buffy said.

There was a knock on the door, but it didn't open. Buffy and Willow looked at each other. They didn't usually get visitors who knocked and then waited. The whole gang would peek inside to make sure no one was getting attacked by demons. Even Tara would open the door a little to give them another indication that she was there.

Buffy went and answered the door. She had a split second to process Spike standing in the hallway supporting a woman with midnight blue skin and sutures in a line on her shaved head.

"Let us in, Slayer," Spike said.

Buffy didn't hesitate. "Spike, Cinna, come in."

Spike half-carried the woman into the room and Buffy closed the door behind them.

"Were you followed?" Buffy asked.

"I don't know," Spike growled. "The stink of those soldiers is all over this bloody place."

The woman squinted at Buffy. "Do I...know you?"

"Lucy's my cousin," Buffy said. "We were going to help her break you out. You're Cinna right?"

"Yes," Cinna said. She swayed on her feet. Spike and Willow helped her lie down on Willow's bed. "My kids, are my kids safe?"

"Soldier boys don't know you from Adam, Cin. The kids have to be fine," Spike said.

Cinna turned to Buffy. "Do you know?"

"Lucy went to check on them." Buffy was pretty sure that Lucy would have told them if something had happened to Cinna's kids. She had more sense than to go charging into the Initiative without backup.

"I'll call Giles," Willow said. "Maybe he's heard from her."

While Willow dialed Giles's number, Xander eyed Spike with clear suspicion. "How'd you manage to escape?"

"Made a chance. Took it," Spike said shortly. "I'm not about to let my girl worry for long."

That was surprisingly sweet for a vampire but about par for the course for Spike. They really should have accounted for him making his own escape attempt in their plans.

Willow paused her babbling into the phone and listened to what Giles was saying on the other end. From what Buffy could hear in his tone he had been reaching the end of his rope and was very glad that Willow had called.

"Your family is with Lucy at Giles's, Cinna," Willow said. "They're all safe."

Cinna closed her eyes and let out a sigh of relief. Her entire body relaxed.

"I guess we have to figure out how to get you off campus now," Buffy said.

"And how're we going to do that without being seen?" Spike asked. "Cin's a bit obvious."

"We could have Oz wait for us at a side door," Willow suggested. "Then we only have to get through the building. Hey, Giles, is Oz—"

The lights went out and the hum of the refrigerator died.

"Call me Capitan Obvious, but I think that's a bad sign," Xander said.

The phone made a soft click as Willow hung up. "The phone lines are down too. At least, ours is."

During orientation, their floor's resident assistant had told them that during a normal power outage the telephone lines would always still work. The phones being out definitely made this power outage a bad sign.

Doors opened throughout the building. Buffy could hear a lot of people asking what was going on. There were also the sounds of dropped objects and collisions with furniture. It seemed like the entire hall was dark.

"Bugger," Spike muttered. "You hear those footsteps, Slayer?"

Buffy listened. She could hear footsteps. Some of them were steadily creeping through the floors below and above them. Others were running up the stairs. They had at least two people headed their way, presumably Initiative agents.

"We're boxed in," Buffy said. "Can you go out the window?"

"I can, Cin can't," Spike said.

Cinna tried to stand up. Buffy and Spike caught her before her fall could hurt her even more.

"Buffy can carry her and if they come in here, we'll stall?" Xander suggested. He seemed to be trying to look from Buffy to Spike but keep being slightly off. He couldn't see in the dark as well as Buffy and Spike.

"I don't know if I can," Buffy said. The outside of the building was too smooth for her to be confidant about climbing down without dropping Cinna.

"I can cast a veil." Willow felt her way along the furniture and opened a drawer of her desk. "Um."

The sounds of footsteps were getting closer.

"Kind of need to hurry this up, Red," Spike said.

"I know, I know." Willow moved her fingers over the contents of the drawer and pulled out a crystal. "I hope this is the right one."

"Willow!" Buffy said.

Willow held up the crystal. "Celare!"

There was a flash of light and a second later the door burst open. Buffy yelped.

"Nothing," the man who'd come through the door first said after he and his partner had pointed their futuristic guns around the room. "It's gone!"

The faces of both men were concealed by their army-issue night-vision goggles, but Buffy could have sworn that the second agent glared as he looked around the room again. "It must have escaped out the window. Surveillance, do you have eyes on Hostile Seventeen?"

"Negative," a voice said through the radio. "The window hasn't opened. Can Hostile Eighteen teleport?"

The voice was Riley's. Buffy didn't have the emotional bandwidth to deal with that right now.

"Unknown," the first man said.

"You'd think it would have escaped earlier if it could," the second man said.

"Check the other rooms," radio agent said. "Hostile Seventeen can't have gotten far."

The other two agents agreed.

"Make sure the door's closed," the second man said. "We don't want whoever lives here losing their pets."

"Is it safe to have cats and a ferret in the same room like that?" the first man asked as he closed the door behind them.

"None of our business," the second man said.

Everything was still for a few moments after the door was closed. Then one of the two cats turned to the ferret and narrowed her eyes.

What did you do? Buffy thought.

Ferret-Willow squeaked. Oops.

The other cat hissed and Spike's voice sounded in Buffy's head. You better be able to fix this, Red.

Uh...I might need Jenny's help, Willow admitted.

Cat-Spike hissed again.

The dog that stepped between Spike and Willow was slightly larger than the cats and thought with Xander's voice. Hey, they ignored us. This spell worked, really.

Buffy, Spike and the literal platypus that wiggled out from under Willow's pillow who had to be Cinna glared at Xander.

Xander winched. I'm just saying.