Chapter 16: Watching
Buffy was tired of waiting. If Spike had been able to show, he would have done so by now. It was time to alter the plans a bit. If Spike was still okay, he'd be doing something to help, so for the time being it was best to forget about him. He'd show up when she really needed him.
For now, she had to track Glory. She was the bait and the distraction all in one, and hiding wasn't going to be helping their cause. They had one and a half hours before the ritual, but Buffy couldn't risk Glory hurting her friends.
And she wasn't sure if she had Dawn or not. She was fairly certain that Giles, Xander, and Anya had been taken, but the others were a question mark. Theoretically, the best thing to do would be to hide, since Glory thought she was the Key, but there were factors at play that she didn't understand.
She hated that.
She jogged out of the house and toward the cemetery, keeping all her senses on the alert. She didn't want to be seen by anyone, demon or human. Considering the arsenal of weaponry she was packing, she was bound to cause comment.
She reached the gates of the cemetery without incident, and easily found the tracks of two of Glory's minions, and set about following them. They took her in a direct line away from the centre of town, and there had obviously been no attempt to cover their tracks. Someone else had been this way as well, but they had been much more careful. Buffy only caught signs of their passage once or twice, but it was enough to recognise.
Spike had been this way.
So at least that part of the plan had worked. Spike knew where Glory was, and he'd show up when he was able to. He wasn't the one she had to worry about at the moment. He could handle himself.
She slowed her pace when she heard noise ahead. Coming around a corner she stopped dead in her tracks, hardly believing her eyes. A tower of metal and scaffolding rose high above her, with a platform at the very top. People milled about, some apparently with purpose, others without. Buffy swallowed her rage when she realised all these people had been… what was it Spike had said? Brainsucked.
Glory had made all these people insane.
There were so many. Buffy hadn't realised just how many people Glory had used to preserve her own sanity. So many people she hadn't been able to protect.
Glory was so going to pay for this.
Buffy hated it when she failed people. And in her mind, she'd failed everyone there. So many lives destroyed because Glory wanted her sister. They weren't dead, but there are some things that are worse. Buffy had no doubt that what Glory left behind wasn't a whole lot of fun.
Glory was going to experience some major pain for this.
Shaking herself out of her daze, Buffy moved around the construction site, looking for a good place to enter unobserved. She hadn't seen Glory yet, but there were enough of her demons around the place that she didn't want to risk being discovered.
Finding a likely point she climbed through a small window and found herself in a corridor of sorts. One wall was solid, but the other had panels missing all over the place. The hall itself was deserted, but she could see movement on the other side of the wall. She crept along the wall until she reached the first empty panel at ground level, and then positioned herself so she could see into the room and along the corridor. She hid herself between two large crates, hoping that they were enough to hide her from casual glances along the corridor.
Fixing her attention on the room on the other side of the wall, Buffy tried to identify voices. There was a male voice she didn't recognise, but then Glory's piercing tones cut over him, and Buffy instinctively shrunk back a little, trying to make her presence small and unnoticeable. It sounded like there was an argument going on on the other side of the wall, but she couldn't hear anything clearly enough to make out the words. She concentrated, filtering all the other noise out of her consciousness, and slowly the words began to make sense.
"Get out of my body," the male voice, distorted with strain.
"You don't need it. Give me tonight, I'll make you immortal…" Glory.
"You can't… I won't let you… she's innocent," something about the voice tickled something in Buffy's mind.
"She's not even real. And if you don't help me, you'll die."
"I don't care… you can't…"
The wall in front of Buffy suddenly shook, as if someone had slammed into it. Looking through the gap in front of her, she could see someone's legs, but there was something weird about them. One second they were male, and the next, they looked female. Buffy recalled what the Lancelot-wannabe had told her about Glory, and everything made sense. Whoever Glory was using for her body, he was fighting back. If only she could remember where she'd heard that voice before…
"I can you little worm. You've got one more chance." There was no response, and Buffy could almost feel Glory's grin. "Finally Benjie, you've got the picture. That's my boy."
Benjie?
Oh god. Ben? Buffy had to lean against the wall behind her for support while she got her wits back. Ben was Glory's ride? Ben, the nice hospital guy who tried to ask her out? Who Dawn had said was nice to her when she'd tried to run away from the whole Key issue?
Ben?
There was something seriously wrong with this world.
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Turning a corner, Spike quickly increased his speed. He had about thirty seconds before whoever was following him could see him again. He had to do something to get away from this guy. Everything he'd tried so far had been completely ineffectual, and he really needed to get to Buffy.
He looked around, for something, anything, to hide him. A fence ran alongside one of the buildings, and he immediately saw his chance. He started to run, and jumped up onto the fence before leaping up to the roof. He paused a moment, listening, but he could hear no sounds of his pursuit.
Not that that told him anything, really. He hadn't heard anything behind him all night, there was just a feeling, something that told him he was being watched. That feeling was still there, and not for the first time did Spike wonder if he was imagining it.
He doubted it.
It was just too real, and the sense of danger too great. There was something familiar about it as well, but when you'd lived as long as he had a lot of things were familiar. There was nothing for it but to keep moving and hope whatever was following him got bored or lost him.
He prayed it was soon. He hadn't been caught, but he had a feeling that he was being kept out of the way.
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Buffy shifted her position to get a better look through the hole in the wall. All she could see was Glory - it seemed she had regained control of her body. Or Ben's body, depending on which way you looked at it. Glory was pacing, and cursing quietly. For a moment Buffy couldn't understand why, but then it hit her that Glory was just frustrated.
Buffy had to hold back a snigger. Glory was so unbelievably dense. She still hadn't worked out that she wasn't holding the real Buffy, or that Buffy wasn't really the Key. She could just see the Buffybot lying on the ground, apparently unconscious, and Glory still hadn't clicked.
Buffy could pretend to be the Key because Dawn shared her blood, was made from her. But the robot… Glory hadn't even noticed that it wasn't human. Buffy would have thought she would have tried to test to make sure Buffy was they Key, or something. Not pace and have an identity crisis.
It was really quite funny.
Well, it would have been if not for the fact that some new arrivals had just entered the room. She caught a clear glimpse of Xander, his hands bound behind his back, being virtually dragged into the room by one of Glory's diseased midgets. And if Xander was there, she could assume Giles and Anya were as well. Especially when Anya started mouthing off at Glory.
Okay, so it was still kind of funny.
Buffy heard Xander's voice quietly urge for caution, and Anya subsided. Glory gave a short laugh.
"You've got some brains on you boy," she said, he tone slightly mocking. "Not clever to insult your local god. Your pet vampire did, and I had to get a little creative. Wanna try?"
Buffy could see Xander stiffen. "I'd say you wouldn't have the guts, but I can't. 'Cause aren't you borrowing someone else's?"
Glory smiled, and it was pure maliciousness. "Guts are guts, honey. Want to see yours?"
"I'll pass thanks. Already seen 'em before. I'd like to see yours though, care to share?"
Buffy wanted to smile, but she was getting more worried by the minute. Xander's bravery was laudable, but it was quite possibly going to get him killed. He'd been smart enough to tell Anya to shut up, and then he went and pissed her off himself. Buffy really felt like giving him a good slap upside the head. Maybe it would knock some sense into him.
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Xander tried not to tremble. He'd managed it so far, but Glory was looking at him as though he was a worm and she'd like to go fishing. It wasn't doing much for his confidence, to say the least.
Glory smiled at him, and patted him on the cheek. "You're a darling, boy. I'd keep you around if I could." She sighed, and her next words sounded resigned. "But circumstances… I'm sure you understand."
Xander swallowed, and gathered his courage. "Understand? That you're going to ruin the world? Yeah, I understand. Something tries to do that at least once a week around here, so you get used to it. But," he glanced at the still form of the Buffybot, "I'm not going to let you kill my friend. In a fair fight, she'd probably kick your ass. But you have to play dirty, don't you? You're not strong enough to play it straight." He saw Glory's face cloud over. This was going to hurt.
Glory managed to stop herself from punching the boy across the room. She wasn't sure why, but something told her not to kill him. It was probably just Ben, but there was a possibility that the boy just might be useful.
Xander, Giles, and Anya just stared. It was obvious Glory had been about to rearrange Xander's facial features, and possibly a few of his internal organs as well, but something had stopped her. She smiled again, but this time it was all malice.
"You're lucky, boy" said Glory, still trying to keep control on her temper. "You get a few more minutes. There's no point killing any of you without the proper audience," she gestured toward the Buffybot, and if the situation hadn't been so serious Xander would have had a hard time not laughing.
That wasn't really Buffy, right?
Xander gave his head a slight shake. Of course it wasn't Buffy. How could Glory be this dense? Not only was the Buffy she had captured not the Key, she wasn't even human. Or alive, for that matter. It was ridiculous, and she was meant to be a god. Being friends with the Slayer meant you certainly met some odd people.
Meeting Glory kind of made you want to laugh.
Well, as long as she wasn't trying to kill your friends or end the world. Talking with her for long enough was reminiscent of talking to a Cordilia with a mental problem and psychotic tendencies. It almost made your brain want to dribble out your ears just to get away.
Xander caught a glare from Giles, and it plainly told him to keep his mouth shut. They were safe as long as the Buffybot didn't move, and it was meant to be programmed to stay unconscious until Buffy or Spike showed up or Glory worked out it wasn't the Key. Antagonising Glory would only be detrimental to their survival chances, no matter how satisfying it might be.
Glory had apparently had enough of them, as she turned her back and walked over to a chair on the other side of the room. After a moment Giles sat down, awkwardly because his hands were bound, and Xander and Anya did the same. Xander's gaze lingered on the Buffybot before he turned his attention to Glory, praying Buffy would be able to get them out of this alive.
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Spike had had enough. Whoever was following him was doing a damn good job of it, but they hadn't attacked him or even done anything to indicate they were actually there. He knew there was someone, but they obviously hadn't planned on making an actual visible appearance.
It was getting ridiculous. He had important things to do tonight, and whoever was following him was clearly trying to keep him away.
Damned if he was going to let something too cowardly to face him make his decisions. If someone really wanted to keep him away from Buffy and that tower where Glory was holed up, then they would attack him before he got there and he could deal with it if it happened. Anything had to be better than this. He'd been running around for over an hour trying to avoid whoever was following him, and nothing he had done had worked.
Anything could be going on. This wasn't a contingency that they had planned for. He knew that Buffy would have worked something out for herself. There was no way she would still be back at the house.
He figured Buffy would be wherever Glory was. She would have found out where she was somehow once he didn't show up on time. The Slayer never was one for sitting around and doing nothing. If he knew her she was probably getting herself into some very big trouble right now, and she had no right to be having fun tonight without him.
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Buffy watched through the gap in the wall until Glory moved out of her sight and she saw her friends sit down, apparently unconcerned with what might happen to them. She knew them better than that though, and their lack of fear was mostly faked. She couldn't tell, but she knew them. She was terrified, and she wasn't even in the room.
Glory had that effect on her. She had faced powerful enemies before, but none of them had wanted to kill her sister so they could get home and end the world in the process. She'd had emotional attachments to her fights before (can you say 'Angel'), but they'd been about her. No one else.
This time it wasn't about her.
All this was for Dawn. The world could take care of itself for all she cared at the moment. Dawn was the major issue, and Buffy was determined that she would not get hurt. So far it was looking good, despite Glory somehow capturing Giles, Xander, and Anya. At least Dawn was still safe with Willow and Tara, although Buffy didn't see how. If Glory had taken Giles' group, she surely would have tried with Willow as well.
Maybe Willow and Tara had been powerful enough to get away. Maybe Glory hadn't wanted to risk capturing witches. Buffy didn't care, as long as Dawn was safe and somewhere far away from here.
Spike was a problem. She had no idea where he might be or what had happened to him, but she was worried. She almost laughed at that - she'd been worried about him from the minute he'd been late. Well, not exactly worried so much as concerned. Spike could take care of himself, but she needed him here.
As if her thoughts had been a herald, Spike slung himself through the same window she had climbed through to get inside. He looked around as if death itself was at his heals, and in this town that could always be a possibility. He sensed her immediately, but hid himself away from her, up the hall.
She shot him a questioning look, and he inclined his head towards the window. Someone was following him. Buffy got the message right away. A minute passed, and she glanced at Spike. He shrugged his shoulders, and crept over to her position.
"Hey luv," he whispered. "How's it going?"
Buffy could have punched him if the noise wouldn't have alerted someone. How could he be that casual?
"Where have you been?" she hissed.
"Trying to lose my soddin' tail. Something followed me around for a bloody hour and I couldn't shake it."
"So you came here? What were you thinking?" What was he thinking? Was he mad?
"I was thinking, pet, that someone was trying to keep me out of the way. They'd had their fun long enough, and it was really pissing me off." Spike voice was a low growl.
Buffy just shrugged. He probably had made the right decision, so why argue? "Fine. Look, Glory's in the room behind that wall, and she'd got Giles, Xander, and Anya in there as well. And me," she added as an afterthought.
"She didn't take the Nibblet?" asked Spike, concern and worry clear in his voice.
Buffy shook her head. "She's waiting for me to wake up so she can kill them while I watch. I don't think I need to tell you how much I don't like that idea."
Spike chuckled softly. "It's getting pretty weird hearing you talk like you're two people, Slayer." Buffy glared at him. "Yeah, yeah. I get your soddin' point. What's the plan?"
"We wait. As long as possible."
End Chapter 16
