TITLE: What You Are (Part 8/9)
EMAIL: LaVelleBelle@aol.com
RATING: PG-13
DISCLAIMER: Joss owns all, including my heart. Thank you Joss for giving me so much.

Xander winced as a fresh shot of pain coursed through every nerve on his back. He had only been out of the Emergency Room for 5 minutes and already the few painkillers they had given him were wearing off. He slid into the front seat, careful not to agitate his wound. "Ow," he said, frowning.

"Are you alright?" Wesley asked, settling into the driver's seat and starting the car's ignition. "Do you want me to run inside and get you some more painkillers?"

"No," Xander said, sighing as he leaned his arm out the broken window. "I just want to find Cordelia and end this as soon as possible. I mean- God only knows what happened in the hour we were in the hospital. She could be-"

"She's not," Wesley said, pulling the car out onto the street and driving down the street.

"How can you be so sure? I wouldn't put it past those bastards."

"Cordelia would not allow herself to go out with such little drama," Wesley said, grinning as he made a quick right.

"Such little drama?" Xander asked, amused. "Would you like a refresher course on the night's events?"

"No, I stand by my statement," Wesley said, smiling. "This IS Cordelia Chase we are talking about."

"You do have a point there," Xander said, wincing as he brushed against the seat as Wesley made a quick left onto an abandoned street with rundown factories on both sides. "You know, you're driving like you know where you're going," Xander remarked, looking at Wesley.

"I do," Wesley said, slowing his car down in front of the only factory with a light on inside. "One of the Rogue Watchers, Weatherby, likes to run his mouth off when he's drunk. During his short visit to Los Angeles, he let a little story slip about where they had taken Faith when they captured her a few months back. This would be the place he spoke of," Wesley said, shutting off the engine and nodding to the factory.

"Then this is it," Xander said, his hand on the door handle. "She's inside. We have to get her out of there."

"I know, Xander," Wesley said, looking at the boy. "But we need to be quiet. And careful."

"Careful's my middle name," Xander said, stepping out of the car; in an instant, only steps behind Wesley.

**********

"Tara?" Buffy repeated again, not able to believe what she was seeing in front of her eyes. She turned to Riley, seeing the same confusion on his face.

"Buffy," Tara said, nodding.

"You?" Buffy said, her voice hurt. "You're one of them. They're going to kill me and you're part of that."

"No," Tara said, stepping forward; Buffy automatically taking a step of her own back. "It's not what it seems. Please let me explain."

"Explain what?" Riley said, moving in front of Buffy protectively, although he knew the act probably only served to annoy the Slayer. "Explain how somehow you think you're going to stop us from getting the hell out of here?"

"You can't leave," Tara said again, her voice soft.

"And why not?" Buffy said, angry. "I've never heard of the Council having a valid reason for doing anything before, so I'm kinda interested to hear if you can do any better."

Tara sighed, realizing that now was the time to lay all her cards out on the table. "You can't leave because in three minutes, Xander and a British gentleman named Wesley will walk through that door," Tara said, pointing to one behind Buffy. "And in about three and a half minutes, a group of heavily armed men will walk through that door," she said, pointing to one opposite. "If you leave, there will be a fight and Xander will die."

Buffy stood there, unsure of what to say. "H-how do you know that?"

Tara smiled weakly. "I'm what you may call a seer. I was sent here by the Powers that Be to watch over all of you and to make sure no harm came to you. I have had visions in the past of times when, had I not interceded, there would have been grave consequences. For example, a few months ago, Willow and I performed a spell to locate Adam. Had we succeeded, Giles would have been paralyzed from the neck down. Knowing this, I hid the dust necessary for the spell and at that time, we did not find him."

"That spell," Buffy said, thinking. "Willow always wondered why it didn't work. It was- because of you?"

Tara nodded. "Yes. The other day, I received a vision showing what would happen if you did not show up to intercede here and I needed to make sure you were brought to this factory."

"But-" Buffy started but Tara shook her head. "There is no time. They will be here any second." Tara handed Buffy a sword from behind her back. "You need to get rid of them quickly."

"You mean- kill them?" Buffy said, confused.

"It's the only way," Tara said. "If you do not- if you hesitate- there will be death- and it will not be yours- or theirs." Tara turned to Riley, briefly glancing at him before looking down.

Buffy wanted to cry when she saw where Tara's gaze had drifted to. These were human beings she was to kill- no matter what, she would never be comfortable with that idea.

"Can you help us?" Buffy asked, her hopeful eyes meeting Tara's.

"I can't," Tara said. "I'm needed elsewhere. I can be no help to you here. I need to go to the others."

Buffy nodded. "Take care of them."

"Always," Tara said, turning and disappearing into a cloud of white light.

*****

Wesley peeked inside the window of the factory, glimpsing Buffy inside. "Xander!" Wesley called out as quietly as he could.

"What?" Xander said, crawling to the window and peering inside for himself. "Buffy!" Xander exclaimed, smiling. "Buffy with a sword. One of my favorite sights in the whole wide world."

"Yes, it is comforting, is it not?" Wesley said, standing up and quickly heading to the door. "Let's get inside- strength in numbers sounds like an excellent plan to me."

"I'm not gonna argue," Xander said, following Wesley as they snuck inside an entrance and before he knew it, he was entering the very factory they had spent a half hour staking out.

"Xander!" Buffy said, frowning. "Everyone- stay back and leave this to Riley and me."

"Leave what to Riley and you, Buffy? What's going on?" Xander asked, stepping forward.

As if on cue, the doors behind Xander flew open and five men with rifles barged in.

"Xander, get down!" Buffy called out and Xander couldn't help but oblige. He crawled underneath a truck, wincing as the sound of gunshots and the pain in his back brought him back to the reality he wished he could escape.

Wesley was beside him in a flash, digging inside his jacket and emerging moments later with a knife. "I have to help her," Wesley said, looking at Xander. "Stay down. You're hurt already."

Before Xander could protest, Wesley was up on his feet, frowning as he saw several body parts lying on the ground; Buffy all the time wielding her sword, slicing through any man who would come up against her.

Riley was busy throwing punches, fighting hard to get the rifles away from the men before any more stray shots could be let off. The boy had several cuts already on his head from the scuffle, yet he showed no signs of slowing down. Neither of them did, and this gave Wesley comfort as he threw himself into the heat of the battle.

He grabbed the butt of one of the few remaining men's guns, quickly forcing it into the man's face; automatically followed the distinctive sound of the man's nose breaking. Wesley grabbed the gun away as the man brought his hands to his nose in pain. "Now tell me," Wesley said, pointing the gun at the man. "Where is he?"

"Bloody Travers. I know the prick is around here somewhere."

Buffy had just finished off the last man when she heard the name. "Travers. Quentin Travers?"

"The very one, Buffy," Wesley said, nodding as he watched Riley and Buffy walk over to where he held the gun on the man. "He's behind this, I can feel it. It has the coldheartedness that is his signature."

"You're a smart man, Wesley," Travers said, walking out of the very doors that he and Xander had only moments before. "You've wisened since your sorry tenure in the Council."

Buffy gripped her sword tight, an uncontrollable feeling of rage filling her at the sight of this man and all he represented. "Don't speak to him like that," Buffy said, angrily. "He was a better Watcher than you could have ever been in your lifetime."

Wesley was taken aback by Buffy's words. He had only hoped someone would say something like that about him, but he was afraid that with his shoddy history, it was a phrase he would have to accept would only be heard in his head. His eyes connected with hers and though the words were unspoken, the look in them conveyed all the thanks and gratitude for her words.

"Yes, it's easy for you to say, Miss Summers but somehow I doubt the man who made you quit the Council was considered a good Watcher by you."

"You always like to talk about things you have no clue about, don't you?" Buffy said, seething. "I quit the Council because of you. Wesley wanted to help with Angel- he went to you to get the cure and you denied him. You denied me and THAT is why I quit. I may have been angry at Wesley then, but only because I saw him as the living embodiment of the Council. Since then, I realized I was wrong."

"You were wrong about many a thing, Buffy," Travers said, raising his hand and quickly knocking the gun out of Wesley's. "Including Mr. Wyndam-Price's worth. It's very little, I assure you," he said, shooting Wesley in the chest.

"No!" Buffy screamed, watching Wesley drop to the ground and Buffy's heart stopped in her chest as she kneeled down beside his limp body, the tears falling down her cheeks. "You bastard," Buffy said, looking up at Travers.

"I've been wanting to do that for years," Travers said, laughing. "Felt better than anything before, I must say. Although, I'm starting to wonder if killing your boy wouldn't feel just as good," he said, pointing the gun at Riley, who knelt beside Buffy, holding her as she sobbed.

Buffy looked up, fear in her eyes. He would do it. He would kill Riley. Then Xander. "What do you want? Do you want to just kill all my friends? Is that it? Where's Cordelia? Did you shoot her too?" Buffy said, rising to her feet, her body shaking in grief and anger.

"Cordelia Chase is still alive, for now," Travers said. "It all depends on your actions, Ms. Summers. You do as I say and Ms. Chase, Mr. Finn live. You don't and I'll add them to the pile," he said, nodding in the direction of Wesley's lifeless body.

Buffy sobbed, trying to control herself. "What do you want? Do you want me dead?"

"Yes, actually," Travers said, smiling. "That is precisely what I want."

"Then do it," Buffy said, wiping her tears away. "Kill me and leave them alone."

"Buffy, no!" Riley said, grabbing a hold of her. "You can't do that."

"You misunderstand, Mr. Finn. It is going to come to that regardless. I'm just giving Ms. Summers the chance to sacrifice herself for you. You know it's true. I can kill them all with time. You resist and Ms. Chase will be dead in minutes. Mr. Finn- seconds after. There is, of course, Mr. Harris who ran away to alert your friends approximately 3 minutes ago. We'll let him run to them and take them all out at once. Maybe I'll let you live- attend their funerals- grieve like a good little girl who let them die-"

"Stop!" Buffy said, holding up her hand as a sort of surrender. "Stop it. Explain something to me," she said, trying to collect herself.

"Yes?"

"You could have shot me by now. Why haven't you? Why are you playing these games?"

"You don't understand," Travers said, smiling. "I always knew you weren't as bright as Giles claimed you to be. You can heal- instantaneously. If I shoot you, you will but heal in mere minutes. To kill you- we need to go to great lengths. You remember the Judge, do you not?"

Buffy nodded, realization setting in. "You need to-"

"Yes," Travers said, nodding. "We always knew this day would come and have, for centuries, attempted to avoid it. Surely you didn't think the Cruciamentum was meant to test the strength of the Slayer? It's a silly notion- if a Slayer lives to the age of 18, obviously she is a capable one."

"What are you saying?" Buffy said, holding on to Riley for support.

"The Slayer is not meant to survive the Cruciamentum. It was designed to kill you and you are the only Slayer to have survived it," Travers said, keeping his gun aimed at Riley's chest should Buffy be prone to any fits of anger.

To Be Continued...