Chapter 35

Buffy, Angel, and Connor had taken refuge in a small alcove off the main corridor. Zombies had overwhelmed them and forced them in here.

"The only way to kill a zombie is to stop its brain activity." Angel said.

"Cut off its head, smash in its skull.." Buffy said.

"Luckily they're slow and stupid so we have a decent chance of beating them." Angel took a look out into the corridor to find a teeming throng of zombies shuffling toward them. "Unless, of course, there's hundreds of them."

"Wait! Listen." Buffy said. There was a door on the other side of the hall. Fred and Wesley were yelling in there. "Come on." She, Connor, and Angel made a break for it. Buffy shoved Connor through the door first and then headed in herself followed by Angel.

"Connor!" Fred said.

"We got what we came for. Let's go. Wes?" Angel said.

"Only two exits I know of. Third floor and lobby." Wes said.

"That's too far!"

"We can make it." Connor said.

"Not all of us. Too many dead men walking. OH! There is another way. The White Room! It's an interdimensional space here at Wolfram & Hart." Buffy said.

"Sounds kinda portal-y." Gunn said.

"Not exactly. More like a gateway. And there's a little girl there.. Or something old and evil that likes to pretend she's a little girl." Angel said.

"You've seen her?" Connor asked.

"We met her once when we were trying to find you. She might be able to help us." Buffy said.

"So fight seven floors of evil lawyer zombies or sweet talk a nasty little girl. You know where my heart's at." Gunn said.

"Yeah, but I gotta disagree. I vote for the White Room. How do we get there?" Fred asked.

"We're gonna need your help." Angel said.



A growling Spike bit the neck of the wailing Andrew. Faith rushed to his aid, throwing Spike off of him and against the wall. Dawn and Anya rushed into the room and looked after Andrew. Spike seemed confused at the scene. Faith stood and walked to Spike. She kicked Spike in the face, knocking him out. Willow walked over to Faith and pulled her downstairs.

"What happened?"

"I'm not sure. He got out of the chair and.. He didn't seem to want anything to do with me. I mean, he just pushed me aside and charged at the wall." Faith said.

"Are you hurt?" Willow asked.

"Not-not really." Faith said as Dawn and Anya came down the stairs. "How is what's his name?"

"He's got a good chunk taken out of his neck, but he'll be all right. Had to tie him up again, but mainly just to keep him from scratching at his bandages. What the hell happened up there?" Dawn asked.

"I-I don't know. Spike and I were having a conversation, and he was fine. I mean, you know, fine as Spike can be. And then I went to check on you guys, and when I got back, it was like he was a completely different person."

"Different like 'William the Bloody' type different?" Willow asked.

"He was talking to someone. I heard through the door, he was having this conversation. And then he started singing."

"Maybe it's another musical. A much crappier musical." Anya said.

"He-he mentioned something about a song in the cellar. Uh, a-and he changed there, too.. I mean instantly became another person."

"Trigger." Dawn said.

"The horse?" Willow asked.

"No, in his head. It's a trigger. It's a brainwashing term. Xander told me about it after he came down from being Military Guy. It's how the military makes sleeper agents. They-they brainwash operatives and condition them with a specific trigger, like a song, that makes them drastically change at a moment's notice."

"You sure?"

"It makes sense. We've had ghosts or something haunting us, right? Well, what if Spike's ghosts have figured out a way to not only haunt him.. What if they figured out how to.. How to control him?"

"Spike said he's been seeing things since I found him in the basement." Faith said.

"So, he gets his soul back, he starts seeing spooky things, and he goes extra-extra-crazy." Willow said.

"This trigger. How do we holster-safety, or.. I don't know guns. Just medieval weapons. How do we make it stop?"

"Xander said usually the operative completes his task and either blows his head off or steals a submarine."

"All right. I need information. If Spike's a bomb, then I need to know how to diffuse him." Faith looked at Dawn and Willow. "You two, I wanna know what did this to him. Spirits, ghosts, demons? Check the lot of them. Look for anything that could haunt or-or possibly control like this. I need to know exactly what we're dealing with."



Dozens of zombies lurched through the lobby as Buffy, Angel and the crew entered at a run. The men and Buffy punched, sliced, and stabbed a clear path to the elevator for Fred. Angel got there first and pried open the doors for her.

"Do what you can." He said.

He left her to work on the elevator control panel and went back out to join the fray. Hundreds of zombies staggered toward them as Gunn, Buffy, Wesley, Connor and Angel fought furiously to keep them at bay.

"Fred!" Buffy yelled.

"Working on it!" Fred called back. "Come on, Fred, think. Bypass switch for a shutdown command.."

"Come on Fred!" Angel said.

She made a decision and attached two wires. The elevator hummed to life. "Guys!"

"Let's go!" Buffy said.

They broke off and piled into the elevator with her. Angel looked at the call button panel and tried to remember the code.

"Do you two remember the code?" Wes asked.

"Hello? Photographic memory." Angel responded. He punched 18, 23, 20, 28, and 27. Nothing happened.

"Maybe you forgot." Connor said.

"I didn't forget. Let me try again." He started to push in more buttons, but Buffy stopped him.

"I got it!" she said, starting to press buttons.

"No time like the present, Buffy." Wes said.

She pushed the last button and the doors slid shut just as the first of the creatures reached out for them. A new button swirled into existence above all the others on the panel and Buffy pressed it with a triumphant smile.

"Here's hoping she's in a good mood." Angel said.

The elevator faded away around them and the group found themselves standing in a vast room, the walls, floor, and ceiling a glaring white.

"Oh no!" Fred said.

They all followed here gaze to find the Beast crouched over the girl who lied motionless on the floor. Its clawed hand hovered over the girl's chest, a dense black cloud streaming up from her body into it.

"It was waiting for us all along." Gunn said.

"No, I don't think so. It wanted this. The girl. Whatever she is, it came for her." Buffy said.

"Is there a way out of here?" Wes asked.

Across the room, the girl stirred and looked over at them. She raised her hand and pointed. "The answer is among you."

The black stream pouring out of the girl came to an end and she visibly weakened. The Beast stood up and faced Buffy and Angel. It stepped over the girl and strode toward them, one lumbering step at a time. Angel and Connor raised their swords, ready to fight. With her final breath, the little girl muttered an incantation and gestured with her hand. The place flared white and then Buffy, Angel, Connor, and the others looked around to find themselves standing in the hotel lobby. Lorne looked up from his magazine to see them all suddenly standing before him and looked suspiciously at his Seabreeze.

"Home.. She sent us." Angel said.

Cordelia and Xander looked up, stunned at their sudden arrival right in front of them. Angel set his sword down and headed for the office as Cordelia went over to Connor and hugged him. Buffy hugged Xander and Cordy before following Angel into the office.

"Angel?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"Can we go home? I'm tired of LA."

Angel smiled. "Fine by me."



Spike was lying on the floor in shackles, both hands and feet chained to the wall of Buffy's basement. His eyes were closed. Faith walked downstairs with a bowl of water and went over to him. She dipped a towel in the water and washed the blood off of his face.

"Did I hurt anybody?" Spike asked.

"You took a good bite out of Andrew." Faith said gently.

"Who?"

"Tucker's brother."

"Oh."

"He'll be ok."

"I don't remember."

"It's ok."

"Faith, I don't know why."

"We think we do. Something's playing you. Some ghost or demon has figured out how to control you. Got the gang researching it right now." Spike pulled himself up into sitting position using the chains. "Dawn has this theory that you're being triggered."

"Kill me."

"What?"

"Faith, you have to kill me."

"You don't understand. When I left the room earlier, I heard you talking to someone.."

"Do you have any idea what I'm capable of?"

"I was in the cellar with you. I saw what you did."

"I'm not talking about the cellar. The people in the cellar got off easy. I'm talking about me. Faith, you have never met the real me."

"Believe me, I'm well aware of what you're capable of. Buffy's informed me."

"No, she got off easy too." He stood. "Do you know how much blood you can drink from a girl before she'll die? I do. You see, the trick is to drink just enough to know how to damage them just enough so that they'll still cry when you.. Cause it's not worth it if they don't cry."

"It's not your fault. You're not the one doing this."

"I already did it. It's already done." Spike paced, then stepped purposefully toward Faith. "You wanna know what I've done to girls Dawn's age? This is me Faith. You've got to kill me before I get out."

"We can keep you locked up. Keep you here and we'll figure out.."

"Have you ever really asked yourself why you can't do it? Off me? After everything I've done to you, to people around you. It's not just love. We both know that. Buffy killed Angel and she loved him."

"You fought by my side. You've saved lives. You've helped.."

"Don't do that. Don't rationalize this into some noble act. We both know the truth of it. You like men who hurt you. You always have."

"No."

"You need the pain we cause you. You need the hate. You need it to do your job, to be the Slayer."

"No. I don't hate like that. Not you, or myself. Not anymore. You think you have insight now because your soul's drenched in blood? You don't know me. You don't even know you. Was that you who killed those people in the cellar? Was that you who waited for those girls?"

"There's no one else."

"That's not true. Listen to me. You're not alive because of hate or pain. You're alive because I saw you change. Because I saw your penance."

He lunged violently at her, but the chains held him back. "Window dressing."

"Be easier, wouldn't it, it if were an act, but it's not." Faith walked boldly toward him. "You faced the monster inside of you and you fought back. You risked everything to be a better man."

"Faith.."

"And you can be. You are. You may not see it, but I do. I do. I believe in you, Spike."

"Well, look at that. Little Sister Faith found her inner Buffy." Spike looked at her with a face full of hope and amazement. Just then, the lights flickered and went out. Someone burst into the basement and pushed Faith away from Spike. She fell to the ground. Faith jumped back up and ran upstairs to check on the others after knocking the guy out. She came into the room and grabbed a robed person who kicked her. They continued to fight. Another robed person entered the room.

Faith continued to fight the robed people. Andrew stood and tried to sneak out of the room, but Faith grabbed him and swung him at the robed people, using his body both as a shield and a weapon, before throwing him to the floor. A robed person came at her with silver curved daggers in both hands. She grabbed his wrists, kicked him back, and grabbed the daggers. One robed person lunged at her, and she stuck the dagger in his belly. When the other robed person came at her, she did the same. They screamed and collapsed. Willow entered the room.

"Faith?"

"Where's Dawn?"

"She's ok. Is this it? I thought there was more of them."

"Spike."

The two girls ran down to the basement. The shackles hung on the wall, empty. Spike was gone. Faith lowered her head and turned to go back up.

"They were so fast. And organized." Willow said.

"They were after Spike all along." Faith said.

"And we were just in the way."

Faith knelt to inspect one of the robed people who was lying face-up on the floor. "I know these guys. Buffy fought them before. We aren't being haunted. This isn't some demon. It's all the same thing. Spike's ghosts, the people you guys saw, from beneath us, it's all the same thing. I know what we're up against. The First."

"That thing that haunted Angel over Christmas a while back?" Dawn asked.

"The same one."

"Oh my God! What the hell happened to my house!?" Buffy asked as she and Angel walked in the front door with Connor behind them.