They finally reached the mansion and Xander and Chris dragged Riley inside and tied him securely to the chair.
"I'll watch him. You guys go get some sleep."
Chris sat on the couch and grabbed one of the books on the bookshelf and started reading. She got halfway through the book and a picture fell out. She looked down at it and realized it was a faded drawing of Buffy.
Wow, this is like a mirror image of Buffy.
She placed the picture back in its spot and closed the book. She got up from her comfy spot on the couch and heard Riley stir. She turned to see him slowly open his eyes. She put the book back in its spot on the shelf and walked cautiously toward him, stopping a few feet in front of him. He may be a regular human being, but he was a regular human being with military training.
"Riley."
"Who are you?"
"Another Slayer, Chris."
"Well Chris, you know what you're risking keeping an agent of the government tied up like this?"
"Oh, probably some jail time, but I really don't care."
"Where's Buffy?"
"Oh, wouldn't you like to know."
He eyed her and she shivered. She walked back towards the bedrooms to wake Clay.
She opened the door and found him sleeping on top of the large red comforter. She walked over and shook him gently. He groggily opened his eyes.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"What's wrong?"
"Um, he's awake. Will you come and sit with me?"
"Yeah."
He rolled out of bed and took her hand. They walked back into the living room and he made a fire. They curled up on the couch and waited for dawn.
"You might as well get some sleep soldier boy. You're not leaving any time soon."
"You know it would be a lot easier on all of you if you would just let me go."
"What? And not get to have any fun with you and your boys? Not a chance."
"You really do have a death wish don't you."
"No, I just don't like to leave scum like you free to walk around and hurt whomever you want."
"My unit doesn't do any harm to anyone."
"Oh, and you wanna control the demon population so you can what? Play dress up with them?"
She felt Clay laugh from where she lay across his chest. She looked up at him and he smiled at her.
"Why don't you get some sleep? I'll wake you when Buffy gets here. What time is it?"
Chris rubbed her eyes and looked at her watch.
"5 am. Buffy should be here soon."
She snuggled closer to Clay and closed her eyes. She figured dozing for an hour couldn't hurt anything.
Buffy watched as the commandos filed back into the frat house.
I didn't expect there to be an entire army right here in Sunnydale. Geesh. Well, just a minor set back.
"Don't move."
Ok, so, two minor setbacks.
She put her hands in the air and slowly turned around. There was a commando dressed in fatigues with a gun pointed at her torso.
"You know, you just can't let a girl snoop can you."
She kicked his gun out of his hands and backhanded him across the face. She heard bone crack and figured she had broken his nose. She heard his radio go off.
"Miller, you alright man? Over."
Buffy grabbed the radio and took off around the other side of the building and shimmied up a tree.
Well, maybe this will give me an advantage point for a few seconds?
She looked below her and noticed about five guys running in Miller's direction. She figured she better move positions soon, otherwise, she was majorly risking being discovered. She looked at her watch. 5 am.
They'll be expecting me back at the mansion soon.
She felt a sharp pain in her stomach and she fell out of the tree. She hadn't seen the commando come from underneath her. He checked her pulse. Alive, but unconscious.
"I have the girl Professor. Over."
"Excellent. Bring her in. Use extreme caution. We wouldn't want you ending up like agents Finn and Miller."
"You got it Professor. Over and out."
Forrest motioned for two men to get the girl and follow him back to the facility. Everything was going according to schedule.
"Chris. Chris wake up. We've got a problem major."
Chris sat up with a jolt. She had been having a terrible dream.
"Lemme guess, Buffy got captured by the commandos."
"You guess right.
Dream?"
"Dream."
Chris got up from the couch and walked over to Riley and straddled his lap. She slapped him hard across the face.
"Why do they need Buffy?"
Riley laughed and just smiled at her. She punched him harder. She pulled her hand back, her knuckles covered in his blood.
"Tell me now."
"You think you beating me to a bloody pulp is gonna get answers?"
"Well, I could just kill you now and I could go and find out for my self."
He stared at her and looked in her eyes. He knew she wasn't kidding.
"You've got spunk kid. We could use you."
"I don't work for evil."
"Too bad. I'm gonna hate loosing such a valuable player."
She got up and backhanded him one more time. She turned to her friends. Clay gave her a look she had never seen before. He turned and walked back towards the bedroom.
"Xander, watch him. If he so much as yawn's, come get me."
Xander nodded and she went after Clay. She found him sitting on the bed he had been sleeping on.
"Hey."
He looked at her, disbelief in his eyes.
"What's wrong?"
"You. What was that? I've never seen that side of you before."
"Clay, Buffy is my friend. I'm not going to let some two-bit soldier wannabe take her away from me. You don't understand."
She turned her back on him and felt tears well in her eyes. She felt his arms snake around her waist. She leaned into him.
"I'm sorry I reacted that way. It's just, I see you as this beautiful girl who wouldn't hurt anyone. Not as a person who has to fight the forces or darkness on a regular basis. I know that you love Buffy, and I'll do whatever I have to to help you get her back."
She turned to face him and smiled. He wiped away the few stray tears that had fallen on her cheeks.
"Thank you, for everything."
She kissed him and hugged him as close as she could.
I know he wants to help, but if him helping puts his life on the line, I don't think I could deal with loosing him.
He pulled away from her and kissed her forehead.
"What do you say we go kick some commando ass and save the world?"
"Sounds like fun."
They walked back into the living room.
"Ok, Riley my friend, let's try this again. Why do they need Buffy?"
He looked up at her and gave her a sadistic smile. She walked towards him and hit a pressure point in his neck.
"If you don't tell me where Buffy is and why they need her for this spell, I'm not going to let the oxygen start flowing to your brain again. What was that?"
She leaned down close to his mouth.
"Oh, what does that mean you ask? You'll die. But, hey, you won't be betraying your boys, so I guess it's all worth it."
He took gasping breathes of air and his eyes bulged. He looked at her and shook his head 'yes.' She hit the pressure point again and he gasped for air. He coughed a few times and looked at her through watering eyes.
"You could have killed me you bitch."
"Yeah, I could have. Now, tell me where she is and why they need her, or you get to "go into the light."
She smiled sweetly at him.
"She's at my frat house. Underground, there's a facility, the Initiative. We collect various demons and do experiments on them."
"What kind of experiments."
"Ways to improve them. To make the ultimate army if it was ever necessary."
"Buncha weirdos."
Chris looked at Willow and laughed.
"She's got that right. Go on."
"The head scientist of our unit, Professor Maggie Walsh, figured that if we could control the demons, then we would ultimately seize control over the government. We would be in possession of the ultimate army. Undefeatable. Once we gained control of our government, we would be able to wipe out our enemies."
"You people are really delusional aren't you? You really think that you could get away with this? If we had to spend the rest of our lives fighting you, we would triumph, you know why?"
He stared at her.
"Because bad never wins."
She paused a beat and said a prayer for Buffy, Angel and Giles. She looked at the floor and back at Riley, her eyes dark with hatred.
"Ok, so why do they need Buffy?"
"Along with the dust of that hostile, they need Slayer's blood."
"How much."
"All of it."
