Author's Notes: After a short period of having absolutely no idea what to do, I finally came across an idea (with Hex's help)
Just another reminder, that this fic does not contain the characters Anya, Riley or Tara. I have nothing against these characters – apart from Riley – I just can't write them. By the way, later on I introduce the L.A. gang. If I get anything wrong, I apologise. This is my first time writing them (aside from humour fics, which doesn't count)
Dedicated to Pippa – love you.
And also to Hex, for helping me with ideas.
Spike barely had a chance to blink before Ropen pummelled into him. He felt his body flying through the air to slam violently into the other end of the crypt. He lay broken against the wall, eyes searching desperately through the darkness for Ropen. Nothing. Everything was silent. No movement anywhere.
He started to drag himself to his feet when a sudden rush of wind blew past him and Ropen was suddenly there, standing before him. Ropen laughed.
"You weak fool. I was obviously mistaken to consider you any sort of a warrior. See how quickly you have been defeated!"
Then in a flash Ropen bent down, and roughly threw Spike across the crypt. He was obviously playing with him, before moving in for the kill.
But then Spike realised Ropen had made a slight miscalculation – he had thrown him through the crypt opening. He could make his escape! Using his remaining strength, he slammed the door of the crypt shut, hoping to buy himself precious time. He was aware Ropen could simply split the large stone in half in about 2 seconds flat, but in 2 seconds a vampire could cover about 10 metres in distance. That gives me a good head start on that overgrown terminator.
Spike half ran, half stumbled as swiftly as he could with his injuries in the direction of Giles' apartment.
They were his only chance.
* * *
Xander rubbed his neck. I see researching ain't one of those things where practice makes perfect. He still found sitting for hours on end looking up references in Giles' dusty old tomes as dull, boring and restless as ever. He, Buffy and Giles had been sitting around seemingly forever looking for information on what was after Spike. Willow was out of town for a few days with Tara, at some witch's convention thing. Whatever.
He'd had enough. He stood up.
"Now guys, much as I have...enjoyed...spending my afternoon developing back cramps, I'd say we could call it a day. If we haven't found anything by now, we aren't gonna. And can we think rationally for a moment...it's Spike! If some guy is wantin' to reunite him with his long lost cousin 'Mr. Stake' then who cares?!"
He looked around the room, expecting to get rebuked for his outburst. To the utter astonishment of every person present, Giles closed his book.
"Much as it pains me to say, I do believe Xander has a point. Now perhaps had we been given a slightly more detailed description of our adversary, we would have had better results. But all we know is that something tore apart a bar. We haven't the slightest idea of the species of the attacker."
The debate was cut short when there was a loud pounding on the door.
"Who's there?" Giles called out.
"It's me, you pillock! Open the bleedin' door!" Giles glanced at Buffy. She rolled her eyes but nodded. Giles strode forward and opened the door, and immediately Spike fell to the floor.
"Bl, bloody hell," he coughed. Buffy ran forward to help him up, and dragged him over to the couch. She took in his battered appearance.
"Mind explaining who dropped a bus on you?"
"We don't have much time. He'll be here any minute. You've got to listen to me very carefully, or we're all going to die."
Something in the sincerity of Spike's word got through to Buffy. Silently she nodded.
"The person who did this is an assassin. His name is Gabriel Ropen. He was the one who did a number on Willy's bar. I'm his Target. He won't stop till I'm dead, and he'll murder anyone who gets in his way."
"What? You mean to say you've led him to us?!" Xander yelled.
"Be quiet, whelp! We've got to get out of here. Now." Spike kept his voice calm and level, with an intensity Buffy hadn't seen before. She knew she should be mad at him for putting them all at risk, but there was no time - if this guy had Spike scared, then he was seriously dangerous.
"Giles, can we take your car?"
* * *
Ropen moved rapidly through the cemetery. He had under-estimated the Target, and his foolishness had allowed it to temporarily escape. No matter. He would soon re-acquire it, and this time he would be sure to go for an instant extermination. He was hunting the Target by it's minuscule imprints in the ground. Invisible to everybody else, Ropen had built in sensors capable of identifying the Target's unique tracks.
He followed the Target's trail to a small building which Ropen sensed was inhabited by a...human male, of around 55% through it's life span. Unless this human male attempted to prevent Ropen from annihilating the Target, in which case it was 100% through it's life span.
Ropen punched the door, smashing it into several pieces. He entered the building and immediately knew that it was empty. The Target had obviously departed with whoever had been present. Ropen was not used to having his assignments last so long. But, he did not feel pressured. They could not have travelled far in the short time period available. Ropen would track them down.
And when he did, he would destroy them all.
* * *
"How ya doin' back there, Dead Man...barely-Walking?" Xander poked his head back at Spike, stretched out in the back of the car.
"Shut your mouth, poof. I'd like to see you go up against Ropen and do any better." Spike grinned evilly at the image of Xander being ripped apart by Ropen. But the pain of his injuries - although healing rapidly – prevented him from staying too cheerful. Bloody hell, I think my ribs are broken. He grimaced.
"So Spike," Buffy changed the subject to avoid any Spike Vs. Xander verbal sparring. "What's that Rooper guy's story anyway?"
"Ropen. His name is Ropen."
Buffy ignored him. Spike sighed and carried on.
"I've heard of Ropen from way back. Never met him, but heard stories and seen pictures. He used to go about killing just about anything; humans, demons, vampires; for the highest bidder. Nobody exactly knew why he kept this up, I mean it's not like the guy needs to stick to legal ways of getting money. If he wanted to, he could probably be richer than the bloody Queen."
"It's because unlike some, Spike, Ropen has a sense of honour," Giles said quietly from where he was driving. "I've heard of him too, he believes to simply steal money would be shameful."
"And viciously murdering innocent human beings is just peachy in his book?!" Xander demanded.
"He loves the Hunt," Giles continued in a low, grim voice. "The adrenaline, the chase, the kill. It's all a game to him."
"I guess he hasn't heard of the wonders of Travel Scrabble then, huh?" Xander quipped.
"This is not time for jokes, Xander. Our lives are all in danger. We must find somewhere safe to stay while we research further on ways to defeat Ropen."
"Oh, I gotta way! Pound him into kitty litter!" Buffy suggested. Giles shook his head.
"Much as I respect your strength and skill Buffy, I don't think Ropen will be that easy to vanquish. This is going to require a lot."
"Where are we gonna go anyway?" asked Xander. "We've been driving for like half an hour now."
Spike looked at the boy. He had already figured it out, of course.
"Where else? L.A. Looks like I'm goin' to be paying me old Grand-Sire a visit."
* * *
At Angel Investigations, everything was quiet. The last case the group had had was a reporting of a large scaled monster down in the sewers – it had turned out to be someone's pet crocodile which had been flushed when it was younger. Honestly. The pets people keep nowadays.
The other members of the agency had left a few hours earlier, letting Angel have some time to quietly reflect. Or, "brood" as everyone else seemed to call it.
The peacefulness of the moment was lost when Angel heard a loud banging on the door. Getting up, Angel was shocked to find his visitor to be Buffy, along with Giles, Xander and...Spike?
Angel swiftly grabbed a stake from his pocket and dove at Spike, who seemed a little too out of it to put up much of a fight. Just as he was about to drive the stake home, he heard Buffy cry,
"No! Angel, don't kill him!"
"Give me one good reason." Angel said darkly.
"He's helpless."
Angel turned to his past love. Confusion shone on his face.
"What are you talking about? Spike's a killer." Buffy shook her head.
"Maybe before. The short version is: a military group called 'The Initiative' put a behaviour modification chip in his head, preventing him from hurting any living creatures. He can still hurt demons though, and he even helps us from time to time. I know I shouldn't care, and that I should stake him, but...I can't. Not like this."
Angel understood what she meant. He nodded.
"Alright. Come in, guys. Spike...you too."
Buffy gave Angel's hand a small squeeze and entered. The rest followed her, Spike giving Angel a quick nod in thanks. They assembled in the main office.
"Not that I'm not glad to see you guys, but – mind telling me what's going on?" asked Angel. Buffy looked to Giles.
"Ah, yes. It appears that someone has hired an assassin to kill Spike. Tell me Angel, do you know who Gabriel Ropen is?"
Angel's face, normally blank, showed dread upon hearing the name.
"You might say that."
"Yes, quite. Ropen has already destroyed Willy's bar and possibly broken some of Spike's ribs. We barely managed to escape. I suppose what I'm trying to say is: we need somewhere safe to stay."
Angel nodded. "Of course, you guys can stay here as long as you need to."
"Thank you." Buffy gave Angel a small smile.
"Yeah, we owe you one Big Guy." said Xander.
"At least you didn't call me Dead Boy." Angel said, giving the boy a grin. The tension broken, Giles took control of the situation again.
"I've brought some text's with me, we need to find a way to beat Ropen."
Everyone set about finding what they needed to know. It was going to be a long night.
Chapter 4 Coming Soon!