Don't Mess With A Slayer's Friends

Buffy quickly surveyed the area before she gave the gang the signal to catch each member of the Troika. Xander roughly handled a frightened Andrew as Tara and Willow both took on Jonathon. Both of them hadn't put up a fight knowing that the gang wouldn't dare to hurt humans. They both stood awkwardly as the gang held them tightly and made sure that they couldn't make a move. Buffy on the other hand was getting a little impatient and began to advance on Warren.

"So, this is what you've been up to. Didn't anyone ever tell you not to mess with a slayer?" Buffy warned.

"Uh, um, uh, uh," Warren stammered as he was being backed up into a wall, "You can't hurt me, you wouldn't dare hurt a human,"

"Watch me," Buffy said as she picked up Warren by his collar and shoved him against the wall.

Buffy was going to start bashing Warren with some cutting remarks when she heard some movement coming from Spike's cage. Not loosening her grip on Warren at all, she turned her attention over to Spike who was thrashing about the cage. Spike couldn't help himself as he tried to stand the pain that the chip fired. He did everything that he could but nothing helped. Finally, he just started to thrash about; he punched the bars of the cage as hard as he could, despite his weakened state. The electricity from the cage couldn't stop the frustrated vampire as it activated at the moment his skin touched the bar. She couldn't help but watch in terror as he convulsed in pain and as shots of electricity traced up his arm every time he bashed it into the cage. A smile crept up on Warren's face as he realized what the slayer had gotten herself into. He regained his courage and didn't mind being pushed back into the wall anymore. Buffy and the gang watched intently as the pain finally got to Spike and he slid into unconsciousness. But for some odd reason the chip was still going off and it was obviously hurting Spike as the blood started to gush out of his nose and pool beneath his face. Jonathon and Andrew couldn't help but feel bad for the vampire. They stared at the wounded vampire, as they were held captive. Buffy blinked back the tears in her eyes and brought her attention back to an unusually happy Warren.

"What did you do?" Buffy asked angrily as her grip tightened on Warren.

"I didn't do a thing, you did that," Warren stated as he nodded towards a hurt Spike.

"Don't talk in riddles, Warren. I don't have the time or the patience for it. Spill it before I spill your guts," Buffy threatened.

"Hey, hey. All I'm saying is that the longer you have me pinned against the wall, the less time the pitiful vamp has to live," Warren said vaguely.

Buffy eyed Warren suspiciously before she moved him away from the wall. Without letting him go, Buffy looked over to Spike and found that his body was neither convulsing nor writhing from pain. He was sleeping soundly in his unconscious state. Turning her attention back to Warren, Buffy put one hand on Warren's hands and held them together, and then she began to search his pockets for anything that could answer her question.

"Hey…hey!" Warren protested as Buffy probed through his clothing.

Worried that her search was going to be unsuccessful, Buffy tried feverishly to find anything. Finally, she felt something in Warren's back pocket and she quickly grabbed it. It was a button, the masterpiece that Warren had created that could trigger Spike's chip. While Warren was backed up against the wall, the button was being pushed, which caused Spike's chip to set off.

"What is this?" Buffy asked as she shoved the button in Warren's face.

"I, um," Warren tried to stall but was ineffective and Buffy pushed him back into the wall.

"What. Is. This?" Buffy asked once again but this time making sure that Warren got the message.

"Uh, well, thatsthethingicreatedthatsetsoffspikeschip." Warren rushed though his sentence.

Buffy, confused for a second, had to let the words sink in. Her face started out to have a look of confusion before it turned into anger and hatred.

"You used this to fire Spike's chip?!" Buffy shouted into Warren's face.

Buffy stared into the face of a heartless man as he looked back into her face. Xander couldn't help but feel a twinge of sympathy for the Evil Undead. The Nerds had really gotten to him. Buffy was about the smash the contraption into the ground before Jonathon spoke up.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Jonathon said as Willow and Tara held him back.

"Why not?" Buffy asked as examined the button.

"Jonathon, don't do this," Warren tried to persuade him, but was only to be answered by Buffy tightening her grip on him.

"Continue, Jonathon," Buffy said mock sweetly.

"If you break the central unit, we don't know what can happen," Jonathon started, afraid, "It might just stop or it could fire the chip forever."

"Jon-" Warren tried to say.

"How do we un-fire, uh, chip, work it?" Buffy stumbled over her words.

"Jonathon-" Warren managed to get out a full word before being interrupted.

"We'd have to go through the same process that we did to control it with the button, but just backtracking," Jonathon continued to spill.

"Do it," Buffy ordered and signaled Willow and Tara to let Jonathon do his business.

Jonathon quickly ran over to the computer before Buffy decided to do him good. He started typing a few things and he started to get really into it. Buffy had tied Warren and Andrew up to a pole and had made Xander keep an eye on them. Willow had joined in on the computer goodness and helped Jonathon detrigger the chip, which made the solving twice as fast. Tara and Buffy kept an eye on Spike just in case he woke up or something happened.

Warren was muttering some curses or what not as he sat back to back with his fellow evil-doer. Andrew was tying to focus on something else as Warren tried to figure out a way to escape and unleash his master plan to rule the world or something like that. He sighed a loud sigh that every one turned to. He looked around humiliated and tried to defend himself.

"I'm bored," Andrew pouted.

"And you think watching you is making my day?" Xander sarcastically asked as he leaned against the wall, distraught.

Warren continued to babble and Andrew shifted uncomfortably. He tried to loosen the ropes around his wrist but he found that he couldn't.

"Couldn't you just loosen these ropes just a little? My arm hurts." Andrew continued to complain.

"Can I gag him?" Xander asked to no one in particular.

"Please do," Buffy spoke up and she walked over to Xander.

Buffy grabbed a roll of masking tape that was lying on the shelf and happily applied to a protesting Andrew that tried to weasel his way out of being gagged. Buffy finished gagging Andrew and he slumped down to the ground, defeated. Buffy and Xander both traded glances back at each other. Xander could see the concern etched on Buffy's face. They moved over to the corner and started to talk.

"How's he doing?" Xander asked.

"He's ok, unconscious, but ok. Hopefully, those nerds haven't fried half his brain." Buffy notified Xander as she hugged herself.

"Wouldn't matter would it?" Xander sarcastically asked.

"Xander, please, not now." Buffy begged.

"Hey, I'm all for the lowly brooding, just trying to lighten up the mood," Xander defending himself.

Buffy smiled back at Xander and he smiled back. They both shared a friendly moment before they heard Willow calling.

"Guys, I think we got it," Willow shouted.

Buffy mouthed a 'thanks' to Xander before they walked towards the computers. They walked over to Willow and Jonathon who were talking about something before they noticed their presence. Jonathon didn't seem to be the bad guy after all as he helped the Scooby gang rescue Spike. He nervously shifted as Buffy made her way towards the computer.

"It's a real easy fix, all we need to do is detrigger the button. Basically we just need to unplug a couple wires inside so that it doesn't work," Willow informed the group, "Jonathon said that he knew what to do, he could do it right now."

"All right, you can go do that. So, how do we get Spike out of that cage?" Buffy questioned.

"Um, W-Warren has th-the key," Jonathon uneasily said as he glanced towards Warren. Warren shot back a dirty look to Jonathon and he slouched into his chair.

Jonathon was already way past his neck in trouble with Warren so what's he got to lose? Jonathon was giving away everything to the slayer, Warren's plans, the masterpiece and now the cage. Jonathon was definitely going to pay once Warren was loose once again.

Buffy made her way over to Warren who was desperately trying to hide the keys from Buffy. Warren wasn't going to go out without a fight. Buffy sighed as she watched Warren inch away from her but couldn't get too far because of his restraints. Buffy poked around once more trying to find the keys when eventually they clanged in his shirt pocket. Buffy triumphantly removed the keys from his pocket and threw them to Xander who was waiting by the cage opening. He fumbled with the keys trying to find the right one, finally after four or five keys, he found the golden key and it opened the door. Buffy ran over to the cage and helped a struggling Xander pull Spike out of the cage. Buffy grabbed Spike by his shoulders while Xander lugged him by his feet. They placed him gingerly on the couch before she dealt with an annoying Warren. Buffy kneeled down in front of Warren with an axe just for intimidation.

"So, Warren, you thought that you could pull this off didn't you? You think you know everything there is to know about beating a slayer. Well there's one thing that you don't know," Buffy told, "Don't mess with a slayer's friends."

And with that Buffy stood up and walked over to Tara, Willow, and Xander who were ready to leave. The button had been detriggered and the chip wouldn't hurt Spike anymore; not unless he tried hurting someone, of course. Willow had called the police notifying them of the Troika's wrong-doings. The three would be locked up for stalking/spying and possible murder charges for Warren. Jonathon had been tied up again and the Troika was done for good. Buffy looked the group once over before lifting her axe and smashing it into all the computers. Destroying anything and everything that they had stored on it. She quickly finished her job before she ran back to help the group who was trying to carry a wounded Spike back home.

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A/N: Soooo, what didja guys think? I've got a knot-tying chapter that I'm adding after this one because I know that you're prolly wondering what the heck happens after this, so don't fear! Oh and if you thought that I was going to forget my plugging, you thought wrong! Haha.

Roses are Red,

Violets and Blue,

If you don't review,

I'll find a stake or some other type of wooden material and dust you!

Muahahahahahaha, aren't I just the funniest little freak?

P.S. Rewriting of the third chapter will be done after I finish my fic, if you guys were just wondering. 0: )