Plans in Motion (2/3) – Trump Card

----

The time between hearing the gunshot and Sydney falling to the ground seemed like an eternity to Jarod.  Watching his mentor and best friend shot in the gut was an emotional blow the likes of which he'd never experienced.

In just a few seconds he felt shock, pain and most of all fear.

He didn't have much time to think about it though.  After Buffy realized the sniper was probably after Jarod she pulled him into an alley out of the line of fire.

Angel had rushed over to Sydney's prone form lying on the ground, effectively shielding Sydney from any more fire.  Two more shots went off and ripped into Angel's back.  He tried to ignore the searing pain from the bullet wounds, picked up his friend and brought him into the alley.

Jarod started giving Sydney first aid with Giles helping as best he could.  "He's losing a lot of blood."  He tossed Buffy his phone.  "Buffy call an ambulance!"

"Jarod…" Sydney was barely conscious and weakly muttered his friend's name.

The Pretender ripped off part of his shirt and applied pressure to the exit wound to stop Sydney from losing more blood.  He held up Sydney's head, "Dammit Sydney!  Don't you die on me!"

----

Jarod you have to be the luckiest Son of a Bitch on the face of the planet.

Stiletto could hardly believe Jarod had survived his trap for a third time.

And now the plan he had made up was going to hell.  There was no way to stop what would happen next.

Seeing as how Stiletto hadn't accomplished much by myself.  He decided now was the time to enlist some help.

----

Sunnydale Power Station

"Hey Karl!  Something's wrong.  My computer isn't responding.  How's yours?"

"One sec I'll…shit I'm locked out!"

"Is the node screwing up again?"
"I don't know man.  Hold on something's showing up on the network.  Oh my god there's a virus in the mainframe.  Jesus Christ it's locked out everything!  We gotta cut the connection!"

They didn't get the chance because a few seconds later the station, and most of the city, shut down.

----

In another part of town, the Invisible Man and the remaining Scoobies were in their own world of trouble.

"You're a hard man to find Fawkes.  Should've figured you'd end up with these annoying brats."

Darien had no idea why Mr. Trick had been sent to track him down.  "Is Wilkins that pissed off over a softball trophy?  Look just let these guys go they aren't involved."

Trick could only chuckle at Darien's ignorance.  "You don't get it do you?  They've been more involved in all this than you ever will.  'Sides Wilkins'll give me anything I want if I bring him the Slayer's friends.  As for you…well…let's just say nobody at City Hall will shed a tear if you end in the coroner's office."

Darien made a mock smile and laugh then threw a left hook at Trick.  The vampire took the hit at stared back at him with his game face on before returning the blow.

At this point all hell broke loose.  Oz ran and tackled one of the vampires to the ground.  The other remaining bad guy charged Xander and the two going toe to toe.

All five people in the group were doing their best but unfortunately it wasn't enough since vampires were much stronger than normal humans.

Even though Darien was a fantastic street fighter Trick was beating him by sheer strength and after several punches thrown by both of them Trick had him pinned against the wall and was slowly strangling the life out of him.

The problem with Darien's gland was that whenever he had a rush of adrenaline, whether from being scared or flirting with an attractive woman for example, it would involuntarily kick in.  Slowly being choked to death would probably give anybody a head rush.

So Trick was shocked when his opponent suddenly disappeared into thin air.  He could still feel Darien neck but couldn't see him.  "What the fuck?"

Darien wasted no time regaining the initiative.  He kicked Trick in the groan then grabbed him by the back of the head and slammed him against the wall he was next to.

He then took a second to survey the fight.  Xander and Oz's fights had merged into one big brawl and both of them were getting beaten up pretty badly.

There was a trashcan near Darien with a long metal pipe sticking out of it.  He grabbed it and yelled "Xander!" to get the boy's attention. 

"I'm kinda busy here!"

"Catch!"

Darien coated the pipe in Quicksilver and tossed it to Xander. It had stayed visible long enough for Xander to catch it without it hitting him in the face.

"Cool!  Thanks man!"  Xander found the nearest vampire and connected with a vicious swing that would've made Babe Ruth proud.  The vampire, never seeing the invisible pipe and not expecting any real trouble from this kid, fell to the ground moaning and clutching his head in pain. 

Xander looked rather happy with himself.  He reached into his pocket, then panicked and started going through his other pockets.

I kill a vampire almost all by myself and I forget to bring a friggin steak!  Son of a…

Meanwhile Cordelia started throwing anything heavy she could find in the trashcan at the vampire Oz was still fighting.  It wasn't much more of than nuisance to him but finally he got sick of it and turned around to confront Cordelia.

Queen C got nervous when she saw the vampire coming toward her.  "Xander!"

Her boyfriend turned to face Cordy's attacker but the pipe he was holding jumped out his hand by its own power.

Willow was behind with a look of concentration.  She levitated the pipe and used her mind to fling it at the last standing vampire hitting it in the face.  That distraction gave Oz just enough time to pull out a steak and turn him into ash.

Darien held his neck as he watched this last part play out.  "Hey Xander you alright?"

He could hear Xander mutter something about 'Lost Glory'.  His face looked pretty beat up and was covered in bruises and few cuts.  "Darien I feel like a used piñata."

"Ouch.  So this is what you guys do for fun, huh?"

"Not much else to do in this town."

"My God why do you guys do this?  I mean I didn't have a choice in the deal when they shoved this gland in my head."

"Hey the Buffster is our friend.  That's all that matters."

The circumstances causing Darien Fawkes to become the invisible weren't under his control.  That along with constant injections of Counteragent to keep from going crazy, the lack of decent pay and respect at the Agency from everybody but Hobbes and Claire and the fact that he really didn't control his life as much as a normal person caused no end of grief for him.

So the fact that Xander, Willow, Oz and Cordelia were helping Buffy without any coercion or regard for themselves led him to believe the Slayer had some real friends to count on.

And Darien suddenly had a newfound respect for these kids who put their lives on the line when they didn't have to.

The Scoobies were beginning to group back together.  Xander came over to Cordelia, who was near Darien.  She held Xander's face and tried to stop the bleeding from a few of the larger gashes.  Oz was being tended to by Willow as well.

But while they were going about this, they neglected the two remaining vampires.  Both of them were down but by no means out.

Darien wasn't expected that however.  So it came as a complete surprise to him when Trick got back up.  He threw a hard blow to Darien's midsection.  When Darien bent over in pain he then brought his knee up into his face sending Darien to the ground.  The vampire then backhanded Cordelia, who fell into Xander knocking the both of them over.

Trick yanked Darien's up from the ground and sank his teeth into the Invisible Man's neck.    What should have been a typical feed to him got complicated when Darien's gland kicked in again. 

The vampire threw Darien away and hunched over coughing and gagging after finding out Quicksilver doesn't taste very good.

Adrenaline was pumping through Darien.  That was causing his Quicksilver gland to kick in way too many times.  He was already dangerously close to reaching his limit to how much Quicksilver he could use before he red eyed but the fight pushed him over the edge.

It all became too much to handle and Darien collapsed to the ground as he became visible again.   Thus Darien Fawkes' eyes went blood red as he entered Stage 1 Quicksilver Madness.

Cordy was the first one to notice something was wrong.  "Hey what's happening to Darien?" 

All of the Scoobies stopped and looked at their fallen comrade. 

Since Darien had trusted Xander enough to tell him about his gland, he was the only one who had some idea of what was going on.  "Oh crap!  We gotta get him outta here!

The Scoobies ran over to help him but much to everyone's surprise the power suddenly went out. 

If that wasn't enough a black BMW, disoriented from the blackout, ran right through the group slamming into a telephone poll.

----

It takes most people a few hours to drive from L.A. to Sunnydale.

Miss Parker made it in just over one.  She was blazing along the highway, effortlessly passing cars doing *only* 80.

Broots was in the front passenger seat and couldn't tell if he was going to throw up from carsickness or have a heart attack.

"Miss Parker would you please slow down?"  Miss Parker's off handed jab this morning about taking decaf was beginning to look appealing to him.

"Broots if you have problem with my driving then shut your eyes."

She hung a hard right onto Main St.  The power going out didn't faze her much. 

Of course she wasn't expecting a massive fight involving four kids, three vampires and a secret agent going on in the middle of the street.

Miss Parker only had a second to react.  She swerved the car to the right, just barely missing Oz as the other Scoobies dove out of the way.

The BMW she was driving smashed into a fire hydrant, knocking it off the ground from the sheer force of the impact, and stopped after bouncing off a telephone pole.

When Miss Parker came to several minutes later, her head was spinning after slamming her car into a telephone pole.  "Broots you okay?"

She managed to walk away from a head-on collision.  She couldn't tell if it was from good reflexes or just luck.

The hacker wasn't in much better shape than Miss Parker.  "I think so. We drove right through a street fight didn't we?  Oh my God!  We might've killed somebody!"

Miss Parker looked around.  The broken hydrant was shooting water everywhere and she quickly moved to the other side of the car.  The one functioning headlight on her car was the only light source for an entire block as she looked around the street.

"There's nobody here.  Don't worry Broots you don't have to be somebody's girlfriend in prison."

"Not funny.  Listen, I need to find my computer but the compartment light is busted I can't see a thing."

A lighter was casually tossed to him after his boss lit a cigarette. 

Already I don't like it here.  Jarod where the hell are you?

Suddenly an ambulance came speeding through the street.  It went through a large puddle from the hydrant, soaking Miss Parker in the process.  She looked at the vehicle swearing more times than Broots thought was humanly possible.

The ambulance was forced to swerve to avoid the crashed car.  It caused the back loading door to fly open and a familiar face reached out to shut it.  Miss Parker only had a second to see who it was but it was all the time she needed.

"Jarod you son a of bitch!  Broots, bring up the G.P.S. on your computer and find the nearest hospital."

----

Sunnydale Hospital was among the buildings that lost power in the city.  After ten seconds the hospital's backup generator activated and the lights came back on.

That didn't stop a panic in the ER.  Doctor's rushed around giving out orders to the staff to ensure all the patients were still in stable condition.

Hobbes and the Keeper were there after their fight with the Kiash Demon.  Bobby's left wrist was put in a split to keep it from getting any more damaged.

Hobbes looked out the window and noticed the power loss wasn't just to the hospital.

"Jesus.  Claire the whole damn town is black."

The Keeper, being a doctor, saw the pandemonium going on in the hospital and felt the need to offer her assistance.  "My God.  Bobby I'm going to see what I can do to help here.  I'll check back with you."

Claire ran out of the lobby leaving Hobbes to just keep staring out at the window.  He had a nagging feeling Darien had something to do with this.  He just couldn't figure out what exactly.

Fawkes what the hell have you gotten into?

The door to the Sunnydale E.R. slid open a few minutes later and two paramedics rolled Sydney in on a gurney with Jarod, Buffy, Giles and Angel close behind.

"We got a gunshot victim!  Blood pressure one –ten over seventy and dropping!"

Jarod, having been a doctor in several of his pretends, was doing his best to help the paramedics with Sydney.

Hobbes did a double take at Jarod, thinking that this was the guy, the D.C.O. Darien was following, that he had been briefed about back at the Agency.  .

Sydney was quickly rolled into emergency surgery.  Leaving Jarod to find the others he came in with in the lobby. 

Giles was trying to pull the slugs out of Angel's back. 

Buffy looked ready to pass out from exhaustion.  "Jarod how is he?"

"They're operating on him now."

That is Jarod!  Perfect that means Fawkes can't be far behind.  So who the hell are these people with him I thought he was alone?

Hobbes sat down in clear view of Jarod.  He wasn't going to let the Pretender out of his sight until Darien showed up. 

For now he was content to watch and let things play out.  The agent noticed the two men who came in with him and didn't want to confront this possibly dangerous man on the losing side of 3-1 odds. 

That wasn't even counting the young girl but Hobbes was confident she wasn't much of a factor.

So Bobby Hobbes, showing a serious demeanor, sat down in a chair directly in front of the exit.  He crossed his arms with his right hand holding onto his holstered gun just in case.

----

The car that mowed through everybody followed by the power outage brought an abrupt end to the fight between Trick and the Scoobies. 

Willow was separated from her friends, couldn't see a thing and knew that two vampires were still somewhere close by.

She made it to an alley near Main St. and stopped to catch her breath.  

The redhead thought she was alone but somebody crashed into Willow and she fell to the ground with the other person on top of her.

Willow wanted to scream but the other person put a finger on her lips in a motion to keep her silent.

Even though she couldn't see, she could tell it was a guy's hand.  Oz!  Oz is okay thank god!

She hugged the dark figure and then shared a deep, caring kiss with him.  "Oz thank god it's you!"

"Willow?" 

The only problem was that wasn't her boyfriend's voice.

Willow's face went beat red.   That's not Oz…   "Xander?!?  I-I thought you were Oz!"

"I thought you were Cordy!"  He sounded just as embarrassed as her.

"Well where are they?"

"I dunno!"

Xander cautiously walked back to the street with Willow behind him.  The crashed BMW was still there, its occupants were unconscious. 

One of its headlights was still working giving some light to see.  Unfortunately, Darien, Oz, Cordelia and the vampires were gone.

"Where are they?"  Willow was getting nervous.

"I don't see them.  Maybe they ran off like we did.  Don't worry we'll find them."

The two of them took off desperately hoping they could locate their friends.

----

"Buffy?"

"Giles?"

Willow and Xander found their way into the pitch-black high school hoping their friends were in here but nobody was in the room.

They had tried the Bronze, the Magic Shop and almost every place in between that was still open during the blackout. 

Unfortunately none of the others could be found.  Finally they thought to try in the library but even Buffy and her group hadn't come back yet.

"I can't see a thing.  Xander where are you?"
"I'm here Will.  I…whoa!"

A loud crashing noise came from the other side of the room.

"Xander you okay?"
"Yeah I just tripped over a chair.  I'm trying to find Giles' desk he usually keeps a flashlight in here.  Ah here we go!"

The flashlight gave the two of them some light in the room and aside from them it was empty.

As Xander joined his friend on the other side of the library he said.  "Well Buffy and all them aren't here.  Shit that means Cordy, Darien, and Oz are still out there with Trick.  Will I'm worried about Darien.  His eyes looked really screwed up I think went into that Quicksilver wacko thingy he told me about."

"Oh wait!"  Willow fumbled around in her pocket for something.  "Jarod gave me his cell phone number before they left.  Let's just hope the phone lines aren't down too."

----

It had been almost an hour since Sydney had been brought to the hospital and there was no word in his condition.

Jarod was pacing back and forth in the lobby.  The idea of not knowing how his mentor was doing combined with the strong, thick hospital coffee he just drank meant he wasn't going to stay in one spot anytime soon.

He was so antsy, when Willow's call came through he nearly jumped from surprise.  "Hello?  Willow?  Where are you?  Uh huh…no we haven't seen them.  No I'm not joking.  Listen we're at the hospital…because Sydney's been shot.  Alright get down here as soon as you can."

He looked over at Buffy, Giles and Angel.  "That was Willow.  She and Xander are on their way here now."

"What about the others?"  Buffy asked.

"I don't know she didn't say."

"Jarod!" A familiar voice yelled from down the hall.

He had been expecting this.  The man in question turned around.  Her timing as always is impeccable.

"Miss Parker.  I was wondering when you'd show up.  What happened to you you're soaking wet?"

She ignored that last question.  "You are one hard bastard to find Jarod.  Now you're coming with me."

"I doubt that.  What are you going to do?  Pull a gun on me in the middle of an E.R.?"

Miss Parker seemed to debate that in her head for a second.  A scowl formed on her face when she realized he was right.  "Fine.  Where's Sydney?"

"He's in the E.R."

"WHAT?"

"Stiletto shot him.  He was aiming for me and Sydney pushed me out of the way.  Think about it:  the power convinently going out right afterwards.  He planned this."

"Jarod who the hell is this?"  Angel asked.

He was looking straight at the woman in question as he said.  "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Miss Parker.  The Centre put her in charge of finding me and bringing me back.  Lucky for me she's like an open book so it's easy enough to stay one step ahead of her."

Miss Parker got right in Jarod's face.  "I still have a few surprises.  And like it or not you're not leaving this hospital without me."

"Buffy!"  Willow came running through the entrance to the hospital with Xander close behind. 

The two girls hugged.  Buffy let go of Willow and hugged Xander next. 

"How did you guys get here so quick?  And where's everyone else?"

Xander just twirled Cordelia's key ring on finger in answer to one of the questions.  "You'd be surprised how thin traffic is with the blackout going on."

"Buffy it was horrible!   I-I mean their was a fight…Trick…Car Crash…Darien, O-Oz all of them missing!  Everything's going wrong!"  Willow was rambling.  It happened when she got nervous.

"Wait slow down.  What happened?

Xander decided to step in for his incoherent friend.  "We were going to the Magic shop for something Willow needed for the locator spell.  We got jumped by Trick on the way back."

Buffy heard that and got worried.  Xander was covered in cuts and bruises.  "Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah we're fine but got separated from the others.  I mean…everyone else was in bad shape but Darien especially…something about him didn't seem right."

"What do you mean not right?"  Jarod asked.
"He went all invisible on us then his eyes went all red.  I think something happened to him."

Hobbes was still in the lobby but was almost asleep.  The mention of Darien's name got the man's attention.  Invisible?  Red eyes?  Yeah that's our guy.  

He quickly got over to Xander.  "Hold on.  Are you talking about Fawkes?  You've seen him?  Where is the hell is he?"

Jarod put his hand Hobbes chest to stop.  "Hold on buddy.  Who're you?"

"F.B.I."  Hobbes whipped out his ID badge in a quick motion.  He hoped it would make Jarod buy the idea that he was a federal agent.

But Jarod wasn't fooled since he had been an agent in several pretends.  "That's an inspection badge for a government bureaucrat.  This guy's not with the F.B.I."

However, Xander remembered Darien telling about the place he worked at earlier.  Hmm short, bald guy.  I wonder…

"Uh…are you Hobbes?"  Xander asked.

Bobby looked surprised this kid knew him.  "Yeah.  How'd you know that?"

"Darien told me.  Hey Jarod this guy's Darien's partner from that Agency he works at."

"What the?!?  Fawkes told you about the Agency?!?  That's classified!"

Xander couldn't help but laugh.  "Your point?"

Smartass.   Hobbes thought to himself.  It's like I'm talking with a teenage version of Fawkes.    "Fine.  So where is he anyways?"

"Well that's the thing we kinda got separated."

Over the next half hour Xander explained more in depth to everyone what had happened.

"Typical. With Fawkes it's never easy.  Hold on a sec."  Hobbes filtered into the sea of hospital staff.  He came out a minute later with the Keeper.  "These guys have been with Fawkes all night."

Claire seemed a little more hopeful from hearing that.  "You've all been with Darien?  And you were the ones who came in with Doctor Greene earlier, right?"

Jarod immediately rushed over to hear after hearing Sydney's name.  "Yes how is he?"

The doctor explained.  Some of the others who were close with Sydney gathered around her as she talked.  "Well he's out of surgery.  He's lost a lot of blood but thankfully the bullet didn't puncture any of his major organs.  Doctor Greene's in intensive care now.  You're that man Jarod, right? You're close with Sydney?"

"Yes he was my legal guardian."

The Keeper looked a bit more upset as she told him, "Well something else you should know.  He's hooked up to life support now.  We think he has a good chance if he makes through the night but…Jarod the backup generator for this hospital wasn't designed to operate for this long.  If we don't get power back within the next few hours the entire building will lose power and Sydney might not make it."

"No.  I know Sydney, he's a fighter he'll make it through this."  Miss Parker commented.

Hobbes walked over, looking at Miss Parker trying to figure where he saw her before.  It then came to him and arm came up in a weird pointing gesture.  "Hey aren't you that chick from the airport?"

The woman groaned as he recognized Hobbes from LAX the night before.  "Oh this just keeps getting better and better.  Jarod this is all your fault.  Sydney came here looking for you.  If he dies I'm holding you responsible."

Miss Parker stormed off to find the E.R. Several of the people in the lobby looked visibly relived she was walking away from them.

Claire found some medical supplies and started treating Willow and Xander.  "Could the both tell about Darien's condition.  Anything else could really help."

With Miss Parker gone, Jarod to crash into a chair and ran his hands threw his head.  He looked exhausted, both emotionally and physically.

Buffy could tell as much.  She had an idea why.  "Jarod you don't believe what she said, right?"

"Why not?  It wasn't wrong."

"It wasn't right either! 

"Jarod listen to me!  There wasn't anything we could've done to stop this killer."

Angel agreed.  "Jarod she's right.  Whoever this bastard is, he's making this very personal."  Giles pulled one of the bullets out of Angel's back causing him stop talking and cry out in pain.   After a few seconds he stopped yelling and finished telling the Pretender.  "I promise you when we find him, we'll make him pay."

Out of everybody, aside from maybe Willow, Angel seemed to be trusting Jarod the most.  Sydney was Angel's friend for a long time.  Since Angel could see that Sydney was obviously a friend of the Pretender, he was beginning to extend that same trust toward Jarod.

----

Sunnydale City Hall

In City Hall, the Mayor had spent all night directing his subordinates to try and find the Invisible Man.  Mr. Trick had come close to getting him but the thief had again slipped away.

Richard Wilkins was regretting the fact that he canceled his weekly racquetball match since nothing substantial had been accomplished.  That is until he received a surprising phone call.

"Stiletto?"  The Mayor was laughing in his candle lit office.  "Oh no I'm not laughing at you.  That really is a striking name.  It's mysterious yet dangerous.  So you're the one I have to thank for the blackout, huh?    And I just kept telling the City Council something like this would happen if they didn't approve the funds to upgrade our computer security.  You know it's funny you called.  I *can* help you but there's something I want.  You see there's a guy named Darien Fawkes…yes that other man who arrived with Jarod.  He's seen something, something he shouldn't have that could be very incriminating if the moron puts two and two together.  If he tells the Slayer it could be a disastrous.  Take him out and you can name your price.  No don't worry.  We'll make him and Jarod come to you."

The door to Wilkins office flung open. Two vampires brought in Oz and Cordelia and forced them into chairs.

"See we have something they can't ignore.  A trump card you could say."

----

Miss Parker had spent the last hour in Sydney's room.  The doctor was unconscious and resting in a hospital bed.  She had just been sitting there watching him for a while now.

After she and Jarod went at it most of the others figured it would be wise to leave her alone for the time being.

"Hi.  You okay?"  Most, but not everybody, and one of the people who did want to talk to her was Buffy.

"I've been better."

Buffy slowly walked over to where Miss Parker was sitting.  "We were wondering about Sydney."

Miss Parker looked at her.  "There's still no change." 

"You know I saw the way you reacted when you heard.  He's important to you, isn't he?"

Now normally the older woman would've just made a rude comment but with everything that had happened, watching her friend fight for life, she just didn't feel like it.  "Sydney is like a second father to me.  He came here because of Jarod, that's why he's like this."

Buffy ignored the potshot at Jarod. Deciding instead to ask Miss Parker point blank.  "Why are you doing this to Jarod?  Why are you hunting him?"

"Jarod belongs in the Centre."

"He doesn't belong anywhere!  That should be his choice!"  Buffy was starting to see that Jarod was different than what she first assumed.  Much like herself, he was being hunted.  It wasn't because something he did to somebody, it was because of who he was.  And Jarod, like herself, had no choice in the matter.  Buffy had never wanted to become a Slayer, Jarod never wanted to become a Pretender.  Because Buffy never really had the option, she seethed every time somebody else wouldn't be able to choose his or her own destiny.  And the Slayer wouldn't just let Miss Parker come in here and take that option away from Jarod.

"Well it isn't.  Now are you done lecturing me little girl?"  Miss Parker was getting annoyed with this upstart young kid.  At the same time, she almost admired the fact that she didn't appear to take crap from anybody.

Then Miss Parker realized, Buffy was acting like Jarod did.  Trying to push her buttons to get her angry.

"Wow Jarod was right about you.  You are an open book. Okay a really scary one but still."

Miss Parker smiled for the first time since she arrived in Sunnydale.  "What?  Everyone else is too intimidated so they sent you in?"

"Well you didn't exactly make a good first impression."

 "I'm not here to make friends."

"Miss Parker if you're here because you're worried about Sydney that's fine.  But if you try to do something to Jarod…" Buffy returned the same evil grin at the other woman and a hint of confidence in her voice.  "…I'll stop you."

That got a laugh from Miss Parker.  Not only was Buffy almost a foot shorter than her but Miss Parker figured she'd run as soon as Buffy saw the gun she was carrying.  So of course she couldn't help but ask.  "What are you going to do?  Get your boyfriend back there to beat me up?" 

Wow somebody in town who actually hasn't heard of me.   "Ever heard of a Slayer Miss Parker?"

The older raised an eyebrow.  "The band?"

Oh yeah she has *no* idea.  This is gonna be good.   "You think I'm harmless?  Appearances can be deceiving."

Buffy walked out of the room, leaving Miss Parker to wonder about that cryptic statement.

----

It was close to 2 a.m.  Everyone at the hospital had pretty much called dibs on the coffeemaker in the lobby as every last one of them looked really to collapse. 

Jarod was currently in the lead with seven cups of coffee.  Xander and Broots weren't far behind with six.

Between Sydney's condition and the still unknown whereabouts of Darien, Cordelia and Oz they all had a lot to worry about.

When Jarod's phone rang, he was hoping it was one of the three lost people.  "Hello?"

"Well hello Jarod."

The voice was a complete stranger to Jarod.   "Who is this?"
"Well, I guess you say this is the man who's been hunting you for the last two days."
"Stiletto."  Jarod growled. 

After hearing that, just about everyone crowded around Jarod to try and listen in on the conversation.

"Very good.  Lyle told me you were quick on the uptake.  You know Jarod you are one very lucky man.  The old timer that got shot…"

The Pretender interrupted him.  "Why did shoot him you son of a bitch?"

"Well actually I was aiming for you.  It's just that Sydney pushed you out of the way.  Now I'm sick of having to track you down so this is going to end tonight.  I have something you might find interesting."

"You mean the power grid failing?"

Stiletto laughed.  "Among other things."

A few seconds later somebody else was the line talking with Jarod.

"Jarod?"

"Oz?  Oz are you okay?"

"Jarod listen!  This guy it's…"

"Oz?  Oz?"

Stiletto went back on the line before Oz could finish.  "Well as you are now aware I have Oz and that cheerleader bitch with me as well.  There's an old warehouse at the dock.  Building number six.  Be there in thirty minutes or two of your new found friends die."

"How do I know you won't just kill all of us?"

"You don't.  But I do know if you don't show up, you'll find them floating in the harbor tomorrow morning.  Come alone or bring your new friends at the hospital with you if you have a death wish for them it doesn't matter to me.  Goodbye."

Jarod slowly brought the phone down not saying a word.

"Well?  Where's Oz?"  Willow asked.  The redhead had tears coming down her cheeks.

"Stiletto has him and Cordelia."  Jarod finally got out.  "If I don't show up at the docks in…" He looked at his watch.  "…twenty-eight minutes he'll kill them both."

"So when do we leave?"  Buffy said.

But Jarod wasn't about to go with Buffy's line of thought.  "No!  I can't ask you to do that!"

"You don't have to."  Angel got up and stood behind Buffy.  Giles did the same.  "We're coming whether you like it or not."

"So am I."  Hobbes said.  "You guys are my best chance to find Fawkes.  Besides, I think this is what Fawkes woulda done if he were here."

"So the four of you are coming?"  Jarod asked.

"Five!"  Willow yelled out.

"No!"  Buffy responded worrying about her friend.

"Buffy this is Oz we're talking about!"

"Will listen to me!   We are probably walking into a trap.  You nearly got killed tonight!  I'm not asking you I'm begging you please stay here!"

Xander walked over to Willow and put his hand on her shoulder.  "Willow I think she's right."  He then walked back to his seat.

Willow just about lost it and fell into Buffy's arms sobbing.  "Please…just find him."

"I promise."  Buffy told her.  "We'll get Oz and Cordelia back I swear."

While this was going on, Claire had called over Hobbes and Jarod.  She pulled a small metal case out and opened it to reveal a shot of counteragent.  "If you find Darien, he needs an injection of this to cure his condition but be careful.  Quicksilver Madness causes his minds' ethical arguments to break down so in his psychotic state he'll be very dangerous."

"Don't worry Keep I'll find him."  Hobbes said.

"So is everyone ready?"  Jarod asked.

Suddenly, the sound of a gun being pulled could be near him.

Miss Parker was standing behind him with her sidearm pointing directly at Jarod about three feet away from his chest.

I'd figured she'd try this sooner or later. "Miss Parker we don't have time for this."

"You're right we don't.  I told you you're not leaving this hospital.  I'm getting you and Sydney and we are getting the hell out of this god-forsaken town."

"I can't do that.  Two people are going to die if I don't do something."

"That's not my problem."

"What would your mother do if she were here?"

Miss Parker uncocked her gun.  Everyone couldn't tell if she was going to shoot Jarod or break down and cry from what he just said.  "Don't you dare talk about my mother Jarod!"

Over twenty years ago, Miss Parker's mother had been shot in an elevator.  She later learned her mother was going to attempt to rescue Jarod, herself and several of the other young children in the Centre who were being groomed to become Pretenders.  Her murder left several unanswered questions that were only being slowly uncovered over the last two years by her daughter. 

When Jarod drew the obvious similarities to this situation, he was trying to get Miss Parker to back away or in the best case scenario try to help them.

But it appeared to be a stalemate.  Jarod wouldn't go with Miss Parker but she wouldn't let him leave.

Hobbes, using his one good hand, pocketed the syringe Claire gave him and slowly reached inside his jacket for his gun.  This could get ugly.   He thought to himself.

Then in what seemed like the blink of an eye, Buffy's arm came up and pulled the gun out of Miss Parker's hand.  The older woman blinked a few times, trying to figure out what had just happened.

Buffy handed the gun to Jarod.  Then she got right in Miss Parker's face and told her, "We are going to deal with Stiletto.  You can either help us or stay out of our way."

She turned around and joined Jarod, Angel, Giles and Hobbes and walked out of the hospital.

Normally Miss Parker would be livid but much Broots' surprise, his boss just smiled a little and let out a soft laugh.

"What's so funny?"  Broots asked.

She shook her head.  "I like that girl."

"Huh?"

"It's just…she reminds of myself at that age.  She doesn't take shit from anybody." 

"Okkkaayy…so what do we do now?"

Miss Parker looked at her subordinate, her composure becoming more serious.  "Broots stay here.  Makes sure nothing happens to Sydney."

"W-where're you going?"

"To find the bastard that shot him."

Miss Parker ran after Jarod and the others.  That left Broots with Willow, Xander and the Keeper in the lobby and a nagging feeling that as long as he was in this town he was in over his head.

Nobody said anything for a while.  Broots and Willow stayed silent while Claire was treating Xander.

"We can't just stay here!  Oz and Cordelia are in trouble and we're doing nothing!" Willow suddenly yelled out which was unusual for her.

"This might not be any of my business but I have to agree with your friend.  You two are in pretty bad shape."  Claire told her while applying disinfectant to the wound on Xander's head.

The redhead grudgingly admitted Claire had a point.  That still didn't suit Willow and she just sulked in a chair.

Broots had been watching this play out.  After Willow finished an idea sprung into his head.  He introduced himself to these people.  "Uh…Hi!  I'm Broots"

"Hey.  I'm Xander.  That's Willow and this is…um…" He tried but he couldn't remember the Keeper's name.

Claire smiled and shook Broots' hand.  "I'm Doctor Claire Keeply."

"Okay.  Hey Willow?  Jarod said earlier this guy Stiletto hacked into the power grid, right?"

"Yeah that's right."

Broots pulled out his laptop and held it up.  "Yeah m-maybe there is something we can do."

Willow's eyes lit up as she realized what Broots meant.  This was right up her alley.

"Doctor Keeply?  Is there someplace we can set this up?"  Willow asked.

"Please Willow its just Claire.  How about Doctor Greene's room?"

"Yeah that'll be great."  Broots said.

The two hackers walked up to Sydney's room enthusiastically talking about how to break into the power grid with Xander and Claire close behind.

----

Sitting at one of the chairs in the waiting room was a man who seemed unusually calm with all the problems happening tonight. 

If Hobbes still had his thermal goggles on, he would've seen the man had no body temperature. 

He pulled out a cell phone after Willow, Xander, Broots and Claire walked away and casually said.  "Jarod and most of the others just left the hospital."

"What about Fawkes?"

"He wasn't with them."

"Well that's…disappointing.  I guess we'll deal with him later.  Listen there's been a change in the plan.  Once you're sure they're gone, kill the old man and anybody with him…"

----

"…our friend should take care of Jarod and the others."

Trick turned off his cell phone and smiled.  As he opened his car door and climbed in somebody slammed the door into him.  The vampire fell to the ground and his head was crushed into the door.  The blow would've killed any normal person.

"Hello Trick."

"Darien."  The vampire spat out in disgust. 

He couldn't see Darien as he was invisible.

"You remembered!  I'm touched."  Darien slammed his head in the car door a second time and Trick screamed in pain. 

The Quicksilver fell off him and what little light being given off by the overhead compartment light in the car showed a very sadistic man with blood red eyes.  "Now I'm only gonna ask this once.  Where Is He?"

----

It was obvious what warehouse Jarod was told to go to because it was the only one with the lights still on, albeit they were very dim. 

He assumed the warehouse had it's own backup power supply.

The group went over to the front entrance but the massive sliding door had a lock on it.

"It looks like he doesn't want us coming in through this way."  Giles observed.

Hobbes seemed ready to take charge of the situation.  "Okay here's what we'll do.  Jarod and Giles'll go around the left side for another entrance.  Angel and Buffy can check the other way.  Me and Legs here…" Miss Parker rolled her eyes.  "…will stay here to try and pick the lock."

Buffy casually reached out, grabbed the lock and in one quick movement ripped it off the wooden door.

"Or…uh…yeah that'll work."

The door slid open and they all entered into a large, empty room that covered almost two-thirds of the warehouse. It was just a huge open room, with only a catwalk surrounding the walls.

"This place is huge."  Giles observed.

"Yeah and there's one hell of an echo in here.  Looks like our boy doesn't want us to know where he is."  Hobbes added.

Sure enough a voice could be hear yelling.  "Drop your guns!"

Jarod and Hobbes instantly pointed their weapons and scanned for Stiletto.

"I know what you're thinking Jarod.  But I'll probably be able to kill the teenagers and some of you before you figure out where I am.  Now Drop Your Guns."

After thinking about it, Jarod looked at Bobby and nodded.  They both dropped their weapons and kicked them away.

Giles, much to the outsider's expectations, looked incredibly angry.  "You bloody bastard."

Buffy also had a vicious scowl on her face.  Angel looked the same way.

"Um Giles you know this guy?"  Hobbes asked.

"He should.  We're old friends."  Stiletto said.  "Isn't that right Ripper?"

----

TBC

"Passion is the source of our finest moments. The joy of love... the clarity of hatred... and the ecstasy of grief."
-Angelus

Next ch. - People's lives hang in the balance as Jarod, Buffy, Giles, Angel, Hobbes, and Miss Parker desperately try to stop a killer once and for all.