Part 14: Lesson the First
#
The decision, in the end, was a pragmatic one.
After some long hours of talking things through Giles and Buffy had agreed that, seeing as Burke, Riley, and company already knew quite a bit about her, the best thing for them to do was to find out as much as they could about them in turn. The easiest method to do that was by joining up. If things turned out fine, just great, if they did not ... well, then they would have to think of something.
Buffy called Riley and gave him Giles' name for that security check Burke had wanted. It took but another two days for Riley to call them back and say that things had checked out. The fact that Giles was not an American citizen had not made Burke all that happy, but in the end he had agreed that the potential gain of acquiring a thousand and more years' worth of demon knowledge was worth the extra trouble of getting security clearance for a foreigner.
It was on Thursday, one day before Angel would come to Sunnydale, when Giles and Buffy were invited for their first tour of Special Domestic Operations.
"This is still a rather improvised location," Riley told them as his car pulled into the warehouse. "Also that vampire Spike did a lot of damage when he escaped from us."
Riley had told them about Spike's capture and escape, leading up to the battle in Buffy's dorm room. Buffy and Giles had silently agreed not to let Riley in on Spike's later fate for now, not that they themselves knew all that much about it. Their mission was to find out more about the commandos before unveiling any more secrets to them in turn.
"Why a warehouse?" Buffy asked as they got out of the car. "I kinda expected something like a super-secret underground headquarters or such."
"You've seen too many James Bond movies," Riley replied, smiling. "How do you suppose we could build something like that without everyone in Sunnydale noticing? Besides, why spend millions on fancy digs when all we need is a staging area. We're not planning to take over the world from here, just kill a few demons."
They reached the deceptively run-down looking door in the back of the parking garage, the only thing suspicious about it its surprising solidity. Riley took a card out of his pocket and swiped it through a carefully hidden reader beside it.
"When do we get cards of our own?"
Riley did not answer, instead ushered them through the opening door and into the main area of the warehouse. It was not exactly what she had expected, Buffy thought, admittedly having imagined to find something out of a James Bond movie. Silver metal walls, high-tech gadgets, maybe some monorails for people to ride around the vast headquarters.
What she saw instead was a rather mundane-looking warehouse that had received something of a face-lift recently. The walls remained gray and what few windows there were had been closed up tight.
One side of the main area was stacked with boxes, a second glance revealing them to be some sort of pre-fabricated housing units. Right next to them were several rows of military-style lockers, one of them currently open with a black-clad young man taking several weapons from it.
The far corner housed an improvised gym. The floor was covered with training mats, several pieces of workout equipment standing next to them. More lockers, as well as some more of those housing units. Probably showers, Buffy suspected.
A metal staircase led up to a second floor of sorts, consisting mostly of a separate room that had probably started out as the warehouse manager's office some time ago. Through its windows Buffy could see several tables stacked with computers and phones, several people operating them.
All in all the place looked a lot less science fiction and a lot more mundane than she had expected it to be. There were maybe a dozen people around at the moment, most of them dressed in civilian clothing. Most of them had turned to look at the newcomers.
"Welcome to our humble abode, Ms. Summers," Burke came up to greet them. "Mr. Giles, it's a pleasure to finally meet you."
Giles shook the offered hand, but said nothing in return for now. The Watcher's eyes were busy taking in the surroundings, lingering for a moment on the only other exit.
"About three quarters of our current operation teams are here at the moment," Burke lead them toward the training area, where most of the people had gathered. "All of them hold some kind of day job here in town to avoid suspicion, so getting them all here at any one time can be a bit of a bother."
Riley, walking ahead of them, was quickly approached by his friend Forrest.
"You're kiddin' me, right?" he asked, seeing Buffy for the first time in the flesh. Riley had told him quite a bit about her, but from everything he had heard he had kind of imagined her to be ... taller. "This is the Slayer?"
"In the flesh," Riley just said.
"Listen up, people," Burke said, calling for everyone's attention. "As I've been telling you, we are getting some reinforcements here. This is Ms. Summers, the Slayer. You've all read the briefing documents, I trust? The gentleman to her right is Mr. Giles, her Watcher. I believe our research people are dying to sit down with him and talk shop."
Buffy swept her gaze across the assembled agents. There were twelve of them at the moment, ten of them men, two women. All of them looked to be in top shape and ready for action, though some carried quite a few bruises from recent scraps.
Most of them were giving her looks that ranged somewhere between skepticism and mild amusement.
"Mr. Burke," Buffy addressed the senior agent, "would you mind if we start the day with a demonstration?"
Burke looked down at her, a slight smile softening his perpetual scowl. He knew that most of his people would not accept such a little girl without seeing some kind of proof of her abilities. Riley vouching for her was one thing. Seeing her in action would be another. Besides, he had yet to see her in action himself and was rather looking forward to it.
"Go right ahead, Ms. Summers," he motioned her forward. "They are all yours."
Buffy smiled, then walked right onto the mat into the middle of the gathered agents. She was dressed in blue jeans and a simple white shirt, her blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, a picture of innocence and helplessness.
"Let's start simple, shall we?" she addressed the others. "I'm a vampire, you need to kill me before I kill all of you."
Someone chuckled, obviously amused by the notion of this girl taking on a dozen trained combatants all by her lonesome. The chuckle had barely begun when, without further warning, Buffy exploded into action.
To their credit the operatives reacted quickly when the pretty little girl suddenly transformed into a whirlwind of punches and kicks. Only one of them went down before the others got over their surprise and started fighting back.
It was a new situation for Buffy as well, she mused. Most of the times vampires ran in packs of no more than three or four members, if that many. Most of them did not have any fighting skills worth speaking of, though their superhuman strength and speed usually made up for that just fine. Seldom had she been forced to fight so many skilled opponents at the same time. Had they been vampires she would have been in quite a bit of trouble.
As it was, though, she did just fine.
The fight lasted three minutes before the final member of Burke's teams crashed into a corner, dazed and close to unconsciousness. Buffy stood in the middle of the training mats and contemplated her torn shirt with a pout. One of the agents had gotten a grip on it before she could knock him cold.
"Now that was a slip-up," she sighed.
"I see we need to work on your rear guard some more," Giles deadpanned.
Burke was speechless. He had expected a lot after hearing Riley's accounts, but actually seeing it ... he would have to watch that fight in slow motion later, the cameras having recorded everything.
"That was amazing, utterly amazing."
Buffy turned to look at the newcomer standing beside Burke.
"And you are ...?"
"Daniel Weinheim," he quickly introduced himself, shaking her hand. "Agent in charge of research. I have to say I was skeptical at first despite reading about you in Richard Wilkins' files, but ..."
"The Mayor had files on me?" Buffy asked, looking disgusted. "There were no photos in there, I hope? That guy was really sick!"
"Ah ... no, no photographs. He did not even record your name, just ... well, some notes on how you were dangerous to his plans, but nothing that could not be dealt with in time."
"Ah, how the mighty have fallen," Buffy sighed theatrically.
"Agent Finn was not exaggerating, I see," Burke said, finally regaining his voice. "Those were our best people."
"They weren't bad," Buffy admitted. "I think the basic problem is that they could not adapt to someone as small as me having such speed and strength. Unfortunately that is what they will face with most of the vampires out there, too. Turn a ten-year-old girl into a vampire, she'll be almost as strong as me and perfectly willing to put that strength to use."
Riley, still grinning, went over to Forrest who was trying to get back to his feet just then. He had been taken out a minute into the fight, a roundhouse kick to his jaw having sent him flying into the wall.
"Now that was humiliating," he mumbled, accepting Riley's hand to pull himself to his feet.
"Told you," he just said.
"Yeah, you did. Quit grinning!"
Most of the agents were back on their feet a few minutes later, hurting for the most part, and no longer giving Buffy looks of amusement.
"If I had been a vampire you'd all be dead," Buffy told them. "Vampires come in all shapes and sizes and their strength does not depend on their bulk or gender. Most of them have no trouble passing for human and got decades, sometimes centuries of fighting experience under their belts. They can be hurt, but they don't stay down unless you cut off their heads or ram a stake into their hearts.
"None of you can match strength with a vampire, so don't try! Your best chance is to take them out from a distance. Bullets will slow them down, but only wood will kill them. Crossbows work just fine most of the time, though some vampires are fast enough to catch the arrows in mid-air. If that happens, run! Those are not the ones you want to tangle with.
"If there is no other chance but to get close and personal, team up! At least three or four guys per vamp. Two or more holding him down, one doing the staking. Crosses can repel vampires to a certain degree, keep them from tearing you apart. Holy water works as well, though it's generally not fatal."
Buffy took a breath, looking around to see whether everyone was listening. She felt a little strange to lecture these people, all of them were older than her, but it was good kind of strange. Maybe she could actually get to like this.
"We will set up training sessions with Ms. Summers these next few weeks," Burke announced. "Mr. Giles, Ms. Summers, and myself will work out the program. Standard patrols will continue, but keep actual contact to a minimum for now. That's all!"
Most of the agents headed for the showers, looking forward to soothe their aching bones. Buffy had barely worked up a sweat.
"I would like to begin the training program as soon as possible," Burke told her. "We could start on Saturday and ..."
"I kinda have plans on the weekend," Buffy interrupted him with a sheepish smile. "Can we start on Monday?"
Giles gave her a strange look, unaware of any plans his charge had this weekend, but kept his silence for now. Burke frowned for a moment, but then nodded. It had been part of the agreement that Buffy would be able to schedule her own hours unless some kind of emergency came up.
"Certainly. Mr. Giles, I hope you will be available for consultation before that, though. I believe Mr. Weinheim has about a million questions for you."
The agent in charge of research nodded vehemently.
"Certainly," the Watcher agreed. He rather hoped to receive some answers in turn.
TO BE CONTINUED
#
The decision, in the end, was a pragmatic one.
After some long hours of talking things through Giles and Buffy had agreed that, seeing as Burke, Riley, and company already knew quite a bit about her, the best thing for them to do was to find out as much as they could about them in turn. The easiest method to do that was by joining up. If things turned out fine, just great, if they did not ... well, then they would have to think of something.
Buffy called Riley and gave him Giles' name for that security check Burke had wanted. It took but another two days for Riley to call them back and say that things had checked out. The fact that Giles was not an American citizen had not made Burke all that happy, but in the end he had agreed that the potential gain of acquiring a thousand and more years' worth of demon knowledge was worth the extra trouble of getting security clearance for a foreigner.
It was on Thursday, one day before Angel would come to Sunnydale, when Giles and Buffy were invited for their first tour of Special Domestic Operations.
"This is still a rather improvised location," Riley told them as his car pulled into the warehouse. "Also that vampire Spike did a lot of damage when he escaped from us."
Riley had told them about Spike's capture and escape, leading up to the battle in Buffy's dorm room. Buffy and Giles had silently agreed not to let Riley in on Spike's later fate for now, not that they themselves knew all that much about it. Their mission was to find out more about the commandos before unveiling any more secrets to them in turn.
"Why a warehouse?" Buffy asked as they got out of the car. "I kinda expected something like a super-secret underground headquarters or such."
"You've seen too many James Bond movies," Riley replied, smiling. "How do you suppose we could build something like that without everyone in Sunnydale noticing? Besides, why spend millions on fancy digs when all we need is a staging area. We're not planning to take over the world from here, just kill a few demons."
They reached the deceptively run-down looking door in the back of the parking garage, the only thing suspicious about it its surprising solidity. Riley took a card out of his pocket and swiped it through a carefully hidden reader beside it.
"When do we get cards of our own?"
Riley did not answer, instead ushered them through the opening door and into the main area of the warehouse. It was not exactly what she had expected, Buffy thought, admittedly having imagined to find something out of a James Bond movie. Silver metal walls, high-tech gadgets, maybe some monorails for people to ride around the vast headquarters.
What she saw instead was a rather mundane-looking warehouse that had received something of a face-lift recently. The walls remained gray and what few windows there were had been closed up tight.
One side of the main area was stacked with boxes, a second glance revealing them to be some sort of pre-fabricated housing units. Right next to them were several rows of military-style lockers, one of them currently open with a black-clad young man taking several weapons from it.
The far corner housed an improvised gym. The floor was covered with training mats, several pieces of workout equipment standing next to them. More lockers, as well as some more of those housing units. Probably showers, Buffy suspected.
A metal staircase led up to a second floor of sorts, consisting mostly of a separate room that had probably started out as the warehouse manager's office some time ago. Through its windows Buffy could see several tables stacked with computers and phones, several people operating them.
All in all the place looked a lot less science fiction and a lot more mundane than she had expected it to be. There were maybe a dozen people around at the moment, most of them dressed in civilian clothing. Most of them had turned to look at the newcomers.
"Welcome to our humble abode, Ms. Summers," Burke came up to greet them. "Mr. Giles, it's a pleasure to finally meet you."
Giles shook the offered hand, but said nothing in return for now. The Watcher's eyes were busy taking in the surroundings, lingering for a moment on the only other exit.
"About three quarters of our current operation teams are here at the moment," Burke lead them toward the training area, where most of the people had gathered. "All of them hold some kind of day job here in town to avoid suspicion, so getting them all here at any one time can be a bit of a bother."
Riley, walking ahead of them, was quickly approached by his friend Forrest.
"You're kiddin' me, right?" he asked, seeing Buffy for the first time in the flesh. Riley had told him quite a bit about her, but from everything he had heard he had kind of imagined her to be ... taller. "This is the Slayer?"
"In the flesh," Riley just said.
"Listen up, people," Burke said, calling for everyone's attention. "As I've been telling you, we are getting some reinforcements here. This is Ms. Summers, the Slayer. You've all read the briefing documents, I trust? The gentleman to her right is Mr. Giles, her Watcher. I believe our research people are dying to sit down with him and talk shop."
Buffy swept her gaze across the assembled agents. There were twelve of them at the moment, ten of them men, two women. All of them looked to be in top shape and ready for action, though some carried quite a few bruises from recent scraps.
Most of them were giving her looks that ranged somewhere between skepticism and mild amusement.
"Mr. Burke," Buffy addressed the senior agent, "would you mind if we start the day with a demonstration?"
Burke looked down at her, a slight smile softening his perpetual scowl. He knew that most of his people would not accept such a little girl without seeing some kind of proof of her abilities. Riley vouching for her was one thing. Seeing her in action would be another. Besides, he had yet to see her in action himself and was rather looking forward to it.
"Go right ahead, Ms. Summers," he motioned her forward. "They are all yours."
Buffy smiled, then walked right onto the mat into the middle of the gathered agents. She was dressed in blue jeans and a simple white shirt, her blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, a picture of innocence and helplessness.
"Let's start simple, shall we?" she addressed the others. "I'm a vampire, you need to kill me before I kill all of you."
Someone chuckled, obviously amused by the notion of this girl taking on a dozen trained combatants all by her lonesome. The chuckle had barely begun when, without further warning, Buffy exploded into action.
To their credit the operatives reacted quickly when the pretty little girl suddenly transformed into a whirlwind of punches and kicks. Only one of them went down before the others got over their surprise and started fighting back.
It was a new situation for Buffy as well, she mused. Most of the times vampires ran in packs of no more than three or four members, if that many. Most of them did not have any fighting skills worth speaking of, though their superhuman strength and speed usually made up for that just fine. Seldom had she been forced to fight so many skilled opponents at the same time. Had they been vampires she would have been in quite a bit of trouble.
As it was, though, she did just fine.
The fight lasted three minutes before the final member of Burke's teams crashed into a corner, dazed and close to unconsciousness. Buffy stood in the middle of the training mats and contemplated her torn shirt with a pout. One of the agents had gotten a grip on it before she could knock him cold.
"Now that was a slip-up," she sighed.
"I see we need to work on your rear guard some more," Giles deadpanned.
Burke was speechless. He had expected a lot after hearing Riley's accounts, but actually seeing it ... he would have to watch that fight in slow motion later, the cameras having recorded everything.
"That was amazing, utterly amazing."
Buffy turned to look at the newcomer standing beside Burke.
"And you are ...?"
"Daniel Weinheim," he quickly introduced himself, shaking her hand. "Agent in charge of research. I have to say I was skeptical at first despite reading about you in Richard Wilkins' files, but ..."
"The Mayor had files on me?" Buffy asked, looking disgusted. "There were no photos in there, I hope? That guy was really sick!"
"Ah ... no, no photographs. He did not even record your name, just ... well, some notes on how you were dangerous to his plans, but nothing that could not be dealt with in time."
"Ah, how the mighty have fallen," Buffy sighed theatrically.
"Agent Finn was not exaggerating, I see," Burke said, finally regaining his voice. "Those were our best people."
"They weren't bad," Buffy admitted. "I think the basic problem is that they could not adapt to someone as small as me having such speed and strength. Unfortunately that is what they will face with most of the vampires out there, too. Turn a ten-year-old girl into a vampire, she'll be almost as strong as me and perfectly willing to put that strength to use."
Riley, still grinning, went over to Forrest who was trying to get back to his feet just then. He had been taken out a minute into the fight, a roundhouse kick to his jaw having sent him flying into the wall.
"Now that was humiliating," he mumbled, accepting Riley's hand to pull himself to his feet.
"Told you," he just said.
"Yeah, you did. Quit grinning!"
Most of the agents were back on their feet a few minutes later, hurting for the most part, and no longer giving Buffy looks of amusement.
"If I had been a vampire you'd all be dead," Buffy told them. "Vampires come in all shapes and sizes and their strength does not depend on their bulk or gender. Most of them have no trouble passing for human and got decades, sometimes centuries of fighting experience under their belts. They can be hurt, but they don't stay down unless you cut off their heads or ram a stake into their hearts.
"None of you can match strength with a vampire, so don't try! Your best chance is to take them out from a distance. Bullets will slow them down, but only wood will kill them. Crossbows work just fine most of the time, though some vampires are fast enough to catch the arrows in mid-air. If that happens, run! Those are not the ones you want to tangle with.
"If there is no other chance but to get close and personal, team up! At least three or four guys per vamp. Two or more holding him down, one doing the staking. Crosses can repel vampires to a certain degree, keep them from tearing you apart. Holy water works as well, though it's generally not fatal."
Buffy took a breath, looking around to see whether everyone was listening. She felt a little strange to lecture these people, all of them were older than her, but it was good kind of strange. Maybe she could actually get to like this.
"We will set up training sessions with Ms. Summers these next few weeks," Burke announced. "Mr. Giles, Ms. Summers, and myself will work out the program. Standard patrols will continue, but keep actual contact to a minimum for now. That's all!"
Most of the agents headed for the showers, looking forward to soothe their aching bones. Buffy had barely worked up a sweat.
"I would like to begin the training program as soon as possible," Burke told her. "We could start on Saturday and ..."
"I kinda have plans on the weekend," Buffy interrupted him with a sheepish smile. "Can we start on Monday?"
Giles gave her a strange look, unaware of any plans his charge had this weekend, but kept his silence for now. Burke frowned for a moment, but then nodded. It had been part of the agreement that Buffy would be able to schedule her own hours unless some kind of emergency came up.
"Certainly. Mr. Giles, I hope you will be available for consultation before that, though. I believe Mr. Weinheim has about a million questions for you."
The agent in charge of research nodded vehemently.
"Certainly," the Watcher agreed. He rather hoped to receive some answers in turn.
TO BE CONTINUED