Part 16
Lenox was able to communicate via his head set with his fellow Hunters and that helped them accomplish what they needed to do within a short period of time. LeBeau and Vogel were able to locate the factory where they made their pickup. Then they headed for the Sunnydale Memorial Hospital where they set the chopper down onto the rooftop. Nurses and orderlies helped get Willow onto a stretcher and then they all went into the elevator and headed for the Emergency Room.
It was quite a crowd.
Lenox, Stacy, Buffy, and Xander were with two orderlies and two nurses and one stretcher with Willow lying beneath a sheet.
They went into the ER and were met by Mulder, Scully, and Barrington.
The place was getting just a bit over crowded so a doctor ordered them all to clear out. Stacy and Scully, however, had no intentions of clearing out. They were both doctors themselves and they were both staying with Willow. But the others, however, were given the boot.
The others went into the only room they could...the waiting room. Once there, they discovered another surprise waiting for them.
Buffy looked in surprise at the two people sitting forlornly against the wall. "Giles? Cordelia?"
Giles raised his head. He looked terrible.
Cordelia got up from the chair and walked toward Buffy and the others. "Buffy! Xander!" She looked relieved to see them both. "Please tell me you have good news!" She looked at Buffy expectantly. "Did you find Willow?"
Buffy nodded. "Yes. We found Willow. She's going to be okay. She...she just needs to rest." She turned to Giles with concern. "What are you guys doing here?"
Cordelia opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. For once, she was truly at a loss for words. She turned to look at Giles with concern for him.
Barrington walked over to Giles and sat next to him, watching him with concern. "Rupert...what happened?"
Giles hesitated, "One of Jenny's neighbors had heard a d-disturbance. She- she called the police and-and they found her...bound to a chair." He paused for breath. "She h-had been shot."
Buffy brought her hands to her mouth to keep from crying out.
Xander closed his eyes and squeezed his hands into fists. "I really hate this place..."
Giles couldn't bring himself to look at either one of them. "She's in critical condition. The bullet m-missed her heart...It-it went c- completely through her shoulder."
Buffy knelt before Giles and put her arms around him. "Giles...I'm so sorry."
Giles couldn't bring himself to move. "It-it was my own fault, Buffy. I should h-have told her not to go...I should have insisted that she-she return to the library."
"Would she have listened?"
Giles thought about it. "I suppose she wouldn't have."
Xander shook his head. "You can't blame yourself for this, G-Man. You've got to put the blame where it belongs. To the bastard who shot Miss Calendar."
"Do the police have any leads?" Mulder asked.
Giles shook his head. "They have no clue. They th-think it might have been someone who hates gypsy's."
Lenox paused in thought. "Jenny Calendar is a gypsy?"
Giles looked up at him. "Yes. Th-that's right. She is. Why?" He frowned. "Are you seriously suggesting that th-this is a case of bias bigotry? I-I can't bring myself to believe that! She was after books on vampire lore that-that might have given us a clue as to what is about to happen here tonight! P-perhaps a vampire got to her and made it look like a shooting...to throw us off!"
"Or maybe someone wanted something from her," Lenox suggested. "Maybe a gem or a stone of some kind."
"For what?" Mulder asked.
Lenox paused. "For a nuclear device."
Everyone stared at him.
Xander frowned. "I don't get it. What could a gypsy have that can be used in a nuclear device?"
Barrington had already thought about it. "Plenty of items. Rocks, crystals, orbs, diamonds...Anything like that. Some of these items could have certain qualities that a terrorist would be looking for."
Mulder shook his head. "It's starting to seem like the shooter was the Speaker himself."
"I'm betting he has more accomplices," Lenox commented.
Giles frowned as something occurred to him. "So maybe this whole thing was a ruse of some kind. They wanted us to think that they wanted the location of the Hellmouth revealed to them, but what they really wanted all along was something from Jenny for their device." He froze as it dawned on him. "My God...m-maybe they knew all along where the Hellmouth was."
"Do you really think that?" Xander asked.
Lenox regarded Giles. "Rupert...where is it?"
Giles looked at him. "It's right under the school."
"Where's Crazy Man?"
Giles frowned. "Who?"
"Bill."
"Oh...He's still at the library, researching for me."
Lenox looked at Barrington. "I think it's time we did a little research of our own."
Barrington agreed.
Mulder looked at them. "Need a hand? I just happen to have two available."
"Then bring them along." Lenox clapped Xander on the shoulder. "Let my wife know that the boys have gone out hunting."
Xander nodded and gave him a thumbs up. "Bag one for me, will you?"
"We'll bag them all. For you and for Willow."
Lenox, Barrington, and Mulder left. Buffy, Xander, and Cordelia joined Giles as they found seats for themselves. As they sat there together, they thought of Willow and Jenny.
Finally, Buffy looked at Giles with concern. "Hey...are you okay?"
Giles let out a deep sigh and he turned his head to look out the window. "The sun is going down, Buffy. Whatever it is that is going to take place...it's g-going to happen tonight. And I'm afraid th-that we're not ready for it." He looked at her, the concern for her safety clearly on his face. He did not want her to face another danger without knowing how to deal with it. After all, he was the Watcher...wasn't he? What kind of Watcher would he be if he failed in his duties?
Buffy tried not to let her fear show. "C'mon, Giles. How bad can it be? There were things that I had to face without being fully prepared before...and I managed to beat those odds somehow. Didn't I?"
"Well...yes, b-but--"
"And I did beat the Master," she pointed out.
Xander nodded his head. "Yes, you did, Buffy, after he killed you," he reminded her.
"I still beat him."
Cordelia tried to lend her support with a cheery victory wave. "You saved us all. Three cheers!"
Buffy frowned. "Look, I'm just trying to say that I'll find a way to beat whatever is next. I have to, Giles. The other option is something I don't want to think about, so...I will find a way to win this. Okay?"
Giles let out a weary sigh. "Buffy...th-this is not the Master you are going up against. This is the Heir, and-and he is already free. There is nothing trapping him from our world like th-the Master was trapped. According to the Codex, he will be just as powerful as the Master was, and he will have an army with him." He looked at Buffy closely.
She took in a deep breath. "Oh, my God...You-you've already found something, haven't you?" She regarded him. "You found another prophecy about me!"
He looked away.
"What is it, Giles? You have to tell me!" She grabbed his arm and shook him. "I won't run like I did the last time, Giles, but please...you have to tell me what you saw!!"
Xander and Cordelia had become silent. They could only sit and watch as their friends, the Watcher and the Slayer, revealed their sorrow and anguish over the past ordeal. And it wasn't over yet. Far from it.
Giles looked at Buffy. "Th-there was something I found," he said quietly.
Buffy waited.
He took off his glasses. Then he quoted from the Codex. "'The Slayer shall meet the Heir and the Heir shall seal his own fate. The Slayer shall fall and a child shall stand to release judgment.'"
Silence filled the room.
"Giles," Buffy finally said, "did I ever tell you how much I hate books?"
asasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasas
Angel and Spike had found the remaining two vampires who had fled from the factory. They had followed them to their lair using the tunnels. They realized that the lair was a place of so much evil that even they could feel its presence. That unnerved Spike. He had always considered himself to be an evil in his own way...but not like this. He and Angel found a hiding spot and they kept low as they watched the proceedings within the large chamber room.
If this had ever been a movie, the eerie music with the deep sounding drums would have begun to play. The camera would have panned overhead to view the hundred vampires standing in formation, periodically bowing to the man lying on the altar. The three who stood at the altar simply remained as they were, waiting and watching.
Suddenly, the man, Rueben Julius, the Knife began to stir.
His hands flexed and then they closed into fists. Slowly, he rose to a sitting position, and his back was straight, his eyes closed. He swung his feet over the side of the altar and stood on his own.
He opened his eyes, and they were red. He flexed his mouth open only to reveal his fangs. His muscles bulged as he raised his arms and looked at them.
He smiled with great pleasure.
His army began to chant.
"MASTER! MASTER! MASTER!"
Julius looked out at them and he knew that they would do his bidding. "I AM ALIVE!" he shouted at them.
"YOU LIVE!" they cried back as one.
Julius paused for affect. "I am alive...and tonight, we shall take Sunnydale and make it our own. We shall feed on some and enslave the rest!" He smiled. Evil radiated from him. "Tomorrow night, we shall take the rest of the world!"
The army of vampires broke into cheering.
Then Julius held up a finger and he shushed his followers who eagerly obeyed. "But first...I must go shopping." He grinned happily. "For a pet!"
The followers puzzled over that.
"This pet already has a name..." He beamed at his beloved followers. "Her name is Willow."
From their hiding place, Angel and Spike looked at each other. Angel didn't want anything to happen to Willow and even Spike didn't want her to end up with this monster as she would be nothing more to him than a pet. They had to stop Julius, but at the moment, the odds were not stacked in their favor.
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TO BE CONTINUED...
Lenox was able to communicate via his head set with his fellow Hunters and that helped them accomplish what they needed to do within a short period of time. LeBeau and Vogel were able to locate the factory where they made their pickup. Then they headed for the Sunnydale Memorial Hospital where they set the chopper down onto the rooftop. Nurses and orderlies helped get Willow onto a stretcher and then they all went into the elevator and headed for the Emergency Room.
It was quite a crowd.
Lenox, Stacy, Buffy, and Xander were with two orderlies and two nurses and one stretcher with Willow lying beneath a sheet.
They went into the ER and were met by Mulder, Scully, and Barrington.
The place was getting just a bit over crowded so a doctor ordered them all to clear out. Stacy and Scully, however, had no intentions of clearing out. They were both doctors themselves and they were both staying with Willow. But the others, however, were given the boot.
The others went into the only room they could...the waiting room. Once there, they discovered another surprise waiting for them.
Buffy looked in surprise at the two people sitting forlornly against the wall. "Giles? Cordelia?"
Giles raised his head. He looked terrible.
Cordelia got up from the chair and walked toward Buffy and the others. "Buffy! Xander!" She looked relieved to see them both. "Please tell me you have good news!" She looked at Buffy expectantly. "Did you find Willow?"
Buffy nodded. "Yes. We found Willow. She's going to be okay. She...she just needs to rest." She turned to Giles with concern. "What are you guys doing here?"
Cordelia opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. For once, she was truly at a loss for words. She turned to look at Giles with concern for him.
Barrington walked over to Giles and sat next to him, watching him with concern. "Rupert...what happened?"
Giles hesitated, "One of Jenny's neighbors had heard a d-disturbance. She- she called the police and-and they found her...bound to a chair." He paused for breath. "She h-had been shot."
Buffy brought her hands to her mouth to keep from crying out.
Xander closed his eyes and squeezed his hands into fists. "I really hate this place..."
Giles couldn't bring himself to look at either one of them. "She's in critical condition. The bullet m-missed her heart...It-it went c- completely through her shoulder."
Buffy knelt before Giles and put her arms around him. "Giles...I'm so sorry."
Giles couldn't bring himself to move. "It-it was my own fault, Buffy. I should h-have told her not to go...I should have insisted that she-she return to the library."
"Would she have listened?"
Giles thought about it. "I suppose she wouldn't have."
Xander shook his head. "You can't blame yourself for this, G-Man. You've got to put the blame where it belongs. To the bastard who shot Miss Calendar."
"Do the police have any leads?" Mulder asked.
Giles shook his head. "They have no clue. They th-think it might have been someone who hates gypsy's."
Lenox paused in thought. "Jenny Calendar is a gypsy?"
Giles looked up at him. "Yes. Th-that's right. She is. Why?" He frowned. "Are you seriously suggesting that th-this is a case of bias bigotry? I-I can't bring myself to believe that! She was after books on vampire lore that-that might have given us a clue as to what is about to happen here tonight! P-perhaps a vampire got to her and made it look like a shooting...to throw us off!"
"Or maybe someone wanted something from her," Lenox suggested. "Maybe a gem or a stone of some kind."
"For what?" Mulder asked.
Lenox paused. "For a nuclear device."
Everyone stared at him.
Xander frowned. "I don't get it. What could a gypsy have that can be used in a nuclear device?"
Barrington had already thought about it. "Plenty of items. Rocks, crystals, orbs, diamonds...Anything like that. Some of these items could have certain qualities that a terrorist would be looking for."
Mulder shook his head. "It's starting to seem like the shooter was the Speaker himself."
"I'm betting he has more accomplices," Lenox commented.
Giles frowned as something occurred to him. "So maybe this whole thing was a ruse of some kind. They wanted us to think that they wanted the location of the Hellmouth revealed to them, but what they really wanted all along was something from Jenny for their device." He froze as it dawned on him. "My God...m-maybe they knew all along where the Hellmouth was."
"Do you really think that?" Xander asked.
Lenox regarded Giles. "Rupert...where is it?"
Giles looked at him. "It's right under the school."
"Where's Crazy Man?"
Giles frowned. "Who?"
"Bill."
"Oh...He's still at the library, researching for me."
Lenox looked at Barrington. "I think it's time we did a little research of our own."
Barrington agreed.
Mulder looked at them. "Need a hand? I just happen to have two available."
"Then bring them along." Lenox clapped Xander on the shoulder. "Let my wife know that the boys have gone out hunting."
Xander nodded and gave him a thumbs up. "Bag one for me, will you?"
"We'll bag them all. For you and for Willow."
Lenox, Barrington, and Mulder left. Buffy, Xander, and Cordelia joined Giles as they found seats for themselves. As they sat there together, they thought of Willow and Jenny.
Finally, Buffy looked at Giles with concern. "Hey...are you okay?"
Giles let out a deep sigh and he turned his head to look out the window. "The sun is going down, Buffy. Whatever it is that is going to take place...it's g-going to happen tonight. And I'm afraid th-that we're not ready for it." He looked at her, the concern for her safety clearly on his face. He did not want her to face another danger without knowing how to deal with it. After all, he was the Watcher...wasn't he? What kind of Watcher would he be if he failed in his duties?
Buffy tried not to let her fear show. "C'mon, Giles. How bad can it be? There were things that I had to face without being fully prepared before...and I managed to beat those odds somehow. Didn't I?"
"Well...yes, b-but--"
"And I did beat the Master," she pointed out.
Xander nodded his head. "Yes, you did, Buffy, after he killed you," he reminded her.
"I still beat him."
Cordelia tried to lend her support with a cheery victory wave. "You saved us all. Three cheers!"
Buffy frowned. "Look, I'm just trying to say that I'll find a way to beat whatever is next. I have to, Giles. The other option is something I don't want to think about, so...I will find a way to win this. Okay?"
Giles let out a weary sigh. "Buffy...th-this is not the Master you are going up against. This is the Heir, and-and he is already free. There is nothing trapping him from our world like th-the Master was trapped. According to the Codex, he will be just as powerful as the Master was, and he will have an army with him." He looked at Buffy closely.
She took in a deep breath. "Oh, my God...You-you've already found something, haven't you?" She regarded him. "You found another prophecy about me!"
He looked away.
"What is it, Giles? You have to tell me!" She grabbed his arm and shook him. "I won't run like I did the last time, Giles, but please...you have to tell me what you saw!!"
Xander and Cordelia had become silent. They could only sit and watch as their friends, the Watcher and the Slayer, revealed their sorrow and anguish over the past ordeal. And it wasn't over yet. Far from it.
Giles looked at Buffy. "Th-there was something I found," he said quietly.
Buffy waited.
He took off his glasses. Then he quoted from the Codex. "'The Slayer shall meet the Heir and the Heir shall seal his own fate. The Slayer shall fall and a child shall stand to release judgment.'"
Silence filled the room.
"Giles," Buffy finally said, "did I ever tell you how much I hate books?"
asasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasas
Angel and Spike had found the remaining two vampires who had fled from the factory. They had followed them to their lair using the tunnels. They realized that the lair was a place of so much evil that even they could feel its presence. That unnerved Spike. He had always considered himself to be an evil in his own way...but not like this. He and Angel found a hiding spot and they kept low as they watched the proceedings within the large chamber room.
If this had ever been a movie, the eerie music with the deep sounding drums would have begun to play. The camera would have panned overhead to view the hundred vampires standing in formation, periodically bowing to the man lying on the altar. The three who stood at the altar simply remained as they were, waiting and watching.
Suddenly, the man, Rueben Julius, the Knife began to stir.
His hands flexed and then they closed into fists. Slowly, he rose to a sitting position, and his back was straight, his eyes closed. He swung his feet over the side of the altar and stood on his own.
He opened his eyes, and they were red. He flexed his mouth open only to reveal his fangs. His muscles bulged as he raised his arms and looked at them.
He smiled with great pleasure.
His army began to chant.
"MASTER! MASTER! MASTER!"
Julius looked out at them and he knew that they would do his bidding. "I AM ALIVE!" he shouted at them.
"YOU LIVE!" they cried back as one.
Julius paused for affect. "I am alive...and tonight, we shall take Sunnydale and make it our own. We shall feed on some and enslave the rest!" He smiled. Evil radiated from him. "Tomorrow night, we shall take the rest of the world!"
The army of vampires broke into cheering.
Then Julius held up a finger and he shushed his followers who eagerly obeyed. "But first...I must go shopping." He grinned happily. "For a pet!"
The followers puzzled over that.
"This pet already has a name..." He beamed at his beloved followers. "Her name is Willow."
From their hiding place, Angel and Spike looked at each other. Angel didn't want anything to happen to Willow and even Spike didn't want her to end up with this monster as she would be nothing more to him than a pet. They had to stop Julius, but at the moment, the odds were not stacked in their favor.
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TO BE CONTINUED...