Chapter 2: Under the Ice
The guards had been in and out most of the day, taking each girl in one by one. Shannon had been brought back in tears earlier that afternoon. Now Penny was taken away. The other girls started to make noise and Colonel Johansson paid Sophie another visit. "You haven't been doing your job." He taunted her. "You're their consoler, consol them."
"I can't do that from in here. How am I supposed to keep them calm if I can even see them?" She responded. She had tried to prepare herself for what he might do, she didn't expect him to order the security station guard to open her cell door.
"You can have free range of this block to consol your students." He told her, Sophie cautiously left her cell. He grabbed her hand and pushed her into the wall. "Don't touch anything and if you step out of line…" he didn't have to finish it.
Sophie had gone around to all the girls, trying to calm them down through the glass doors. The guards were keeping a good eye on her the entire time. The girls were tough, they were being trained to be. Shannon wouldn't say much about her time out of the cell. They were mostly concerned about Dawn right now. Dawn hadn't woken up at all yet. Sophie had been keeping an eye on Dawns vitals monitors--they were dropping. Every time she would try to ask one of the doctors about it they wouldn't answer her.
Sophie sat down outside Shannon's cell, Shannon had fallen into a crying fit one the floor. She kept muttering something about someone named Caleb and kept touching the scar on her neck. Sophie was just trying to keep her calm, but was having trouble. There was a beep from Dawn's monitor and she stood up. Dr. Moseily was coming back in. He went straight to Dawn's monitor and didn't even give her a look.
On instinct Sophie lunged for him. She didn't need her slayer strength to fight, she had spent years doing it the old fashioned way. He barely struggled, she always had the upper hand. She ripped the pen out of his hand and pushed him up against the doors to the security room. She brought the pen up to his neck. The girls cheered her on.
By this time everyone in the outer room was on alert many were pointing there weapons at the glass. "It's bullet proof." Said Col. Johansson, to his soldier quietly.
"Let us go! All of us. Now. I'll kill him." She was ready to as well. Johansson came right up to the glass and their eyes meant, he was not worried at all but Sophie knew she wasn't either.
"I believe you, but you won't." He turned to one of the soldiers. Sophie watched the solder go into the lab only to emerge a few moments later with Penny. Johansson grabbed her harshly keeping her at arms length and took out his side arm. He lifted the weapon to press against her golden locks and the 12 year-old began to cry. "If you kill him, I'll kill her. We have plenty more 'Slayers'. Were not going to run out. The choice is yours." There was a stand off, for a few minutes Sophie didn't back down.
Sophia let the doctor go and took a step back. She obeyed the order to drop the pen and go back into her cell. Once it was locked and the field was turned on, Johansson lowered his weapon from Penny's head. Penny tried to hit him but he used the butt of he's weapon to knock her in the head. The little Asian girl fell to the floor. "Take her back to the Lab." He ordered.
Sophie went and sat back down on the bed. She fought her tears back entirely; she couldn't let the girls see her cry. She needed to be strong for them they needed to keep hope. She was already losing it. She couldn't help thinking that maybe Penny might be better of dead, than living through what they were doing to the girls.
She snapped out of her own thoughts when Dr. Moseily entered Dawn's cell. She watched them closely. Dawn looked so sick and weak. Sophie stood again when the doctor injected her with something. Immediately her vitals changed again. Her pulse began to race and her heart was being to beat erratically.
Another doctor comes in quickly after that and injects her with something else. She began to stabilize again. Sophie can hear the two doctors taking. "She's only the second with bad reactions to the formula." Said doctor number two. "Could this be a problem with the other?"
"Not likely, I read the reports on this formula it would be doing any lasting harm to the Slayers. It could be just an allergy." Moseily said looking over the charts. "We'll find a the way around it."
Sophie's mind went through everything she learned when she became a Watcher. She had read all the reports of the Slayers rights of passage ceremony and remember most of it because of how she fought against it. She remembers reading the reports of when they first develop the formula, they couldn't test it on anyone but the Slayer, the Slayers could handle the strong relaxants and surprises they would overwhelm any normal system. Dawn and the other non-slayer they took were in serious trouble if the formula wasn't perjured from there system soon- But then she stopped, there was another, another woman they confused for a Slayer. All she could think was it would have to have been Evan.
"Just write down that subject 19 and 5 are reacting badly. They both had head injures when coming in."
"You have to get her off that stuff now!" Sophie yelled. They must still think she and the other one were Slayers. They ignored her. "You have to stop. She's not a slayer you can check the school records." She demanded as they began to leave, "Her name is Dawn Summers! She's not a Slayer! You've got to stop using the formula."
"Why?" The other doctor said, "So she can get stronger and break the rest of you out of here."
They knew too much to not know there were non-Slayers girls at that school. "You have to help her!" Sophie said getting to close to her cell door. She got thrown back with a shock. It was surprisingly more powerful than she thought. She stayed on the floor, letting her mind go through the effects of the drug on non-slayers. If she wasn't treated soon her heart could stop. She had to do something.
*********
At the school, by early evening, things were finally beginning to get organized, everyone had a job to keep themselves busy. Xander and Pike were cleaning up the halls. The girls had woke up, immediately grabbed the weapons stashed around the school and fought back the intruders. Many things got broken but in the process of cleaning up the mess, Xander noticed a bug placed under one of the lights. They searched the rest of the school and found about a dozen in key places in the school. Willow performed a spell that shorted them out and was able to protect their cell phones signal but not the phone-lines so no one was allowed to use them. Fiona and Evan were sent along to located and remove anything that could still be left at the school. When they gave up looking they headed off to the Library to check on Willow and Matt.
Willow and Matt were on the computer look at all of the information that was downloaded and making sure there was no spying in the mainframe. It turned out that Matt was quite skilled when it came to computers.
"The computer's clean." Mathew informed his Aunt, when she came to check on the progress. "They got all the field info for the States. They now know where all the slayers are and who's training them."
"Makes sense." She looked at her list, she had just got from Giles. "All the Slayers they grabbed were in the database too. The ones in the field anyway."
"This isn't right" Willow said, distractedly as she reentered passwords into the computer. "I should have made this a lot more difficult to get into. For all we know they got the names of the Slayers under twelve. Those kids could be in danger-" She dreaded.
"I've been taking to other field slayer." She held up her cell. "They keeping an eye on the others. Some of them are coming here as reinforcement."
"How many?" Matt asked.
"We called ten." Evan answered.
"I hope that will be enough."
"Me too."
---
In another part of the school, Giles, Addison and Robin were going over what to tell parents. They had already put out coded announcements over slayer channels telling them to lie low for a while, if they want to come to the school, but the parents of students were the harder problems. The majority of the girls taken were under fifteen, with there parents most of them made weekly calls one way or the other.
"Well I guess it would depend if their parents knew they were slayers or not on what we tell them." Robin suggested.
"Well of course." Giles said, handing them the files of the missing girls. "Lets sort though these and see which parents would be more responsive to the truth."
"Then no matter what we do were left with three situations." Addison spoke up. "One: We inform all the parents of the truth. Two: We wait until the parents call, then tell them the truth. Third: They call we lie to them and hope when we find their daughters the matter will be under control." They were silent.
"I don't know about the rest of you but option three sounds pretty good." Robin spoke up. Giles and Addison nodded. "For the proposed lie, I say there on a field trip to an area that doesn't get cell phone reception."
Giles sighed. "Find some place, spread it around. Someplace they could spend a lot of time." He took off his glasses and rubbed his forehead, it had been a long day. "We'll say they'll be returning in a few weeks. We have to find these girls, we have no idea what they're going through."
********
Buffy paced the length of her room, one hand held her cell phone to her ear, the other irrationally waving a business card. She spent fifteen minutes on with the receptionist of Wolfram and Hart. They were giving her the run around when she was trying to contact Angel. It took her that long to find the business card with his direct number. Now she was waiting for him to pick up.
"Angel's Office," She heard a familiar yet non-Angel voice say, "Wesley Wyndham-Price, speaking."
"Wes, it's me." She said urgently and with worry in her voice.
"Buffy,
what's wrong?"
"I need to talk to Angel. Is
he there?"
"Not right now, I'll send someone to find him." She heard him bark orders to someone else. "Is there anything I can do. If you tell me I might be able to help." He said kindly.
Buffy gave a heavy sigh and spilled the whole story him.
"Oh, dear." She heard him whisper. "We'll send people to check on the Slayers in this area and anything else you need us to do." He said hurriedly. She could tell he was moving around, directing people to do things.
"Anything you can find out about where they have taken the girls-"
"Of course, I've already started-Angel's here." He cut himself off.
"Buffy." Angels concerned voice was now on the other line. Buffy told him quickly what she told Wes. This time said that Dawn was one of the girls taken. "Don't worry we're already on this." Buffy could tell he was holding back something, probably some comment about Riley which she was glad not to hear again. She could hear Wesley in the background.
"Thank you."
"No thanks needed. Actually ,Wes's watcher instinct is acting up." He let a moment pass. Dawn will be alright. She's very strong." He tried to assure her.
"Like that actually ever helps. No matter how capable and strong she is I'm still going to worry. I guess this is how mom always felt about me." She sat down on the bed.
"Are you okay right now? I mean of course your not but…"
"I can handle this, and I'm going to get them back, all of them." She took a deep breath, "I need to get back to everyone else, call me if you find anything?"
"Of course. Right away. Do you want me to come out there?"
"No, I need you there."
"Alright. I'll be in touch, if I find out anything."
"We think the house lines are tapped call by cell." She said just as he hung up. She sat there for a moment thinking, she has to do something, if she doesn't she'll think too much, but her mind wandered to Angel. She thought about just her time there and the last time… She jumped up from her seat and went straight for her bag. She couldn't believe she had forgotten about it.
Buffy emptied the contents out of her bag onto the bed and swiftly searched through the items. She found it. The tracer that Angel had given to her. She felt so dumb to have forgotten. She picked it up slowly, as if it was to explode.
Buffy pressed one of the buttons that said on and the screen lit up. It was a radar of the area around her. Buffy smiled and ran down the hall.
*********
"This way." Xander called to Pike who was following behind him at a fast pace. The two were carrying a large heavy chest, full of Pike's rifles. They were walking downstairs to the basement where they keep the weapons.
Xander took out a set of keys from his pocket and opened the locked door. Pike followed him in. Xander turned on the light and Pike looked around the small room in amazement.
"Wow," he said calmly. Pike looked up at the assortment of swords on the wall.
"Yeah, the council in England gave us all these." Xander picked up an ax that was on a nearby table. He lifted it and amazed at the light it gave off.
Pike turned to Xander. "I prefer guns though, especially if its just humans we are fighting." Xander helped Pike open the large chest. Pike picked up an M-16. "Easier to kill those bastards."
Pike had many different rifles and guns. "How the hell did you get all these?" Xander asked as he started to hang the guns on the wall.
"Lets just say, I'm a great persuader." And Pike left it at that.
"One time, I had to steal a rocket launcher from the Army. Good Times." Xander said, yet he wasn't smiling.
"Nice," Pike walked over to Xander, patted him on the shoulder. "Listen, she will be fine. She's a slayer right? I'm sure she can handle herself."
"I know, Sophie is strong. But I just found her. I can't lose her now. Especially after what happened to my last girlfriend. But she can take care of herself. Its not really her I'm worried about, its Dawn."
Pike sighed, "Yeah, she isn't a slayer either and a kid. I hope she's still hanging in there. I don't know what Buffy would do if she lost her."
"Become catatonic." Xander muttered, picked up an AK-47. "If anyone touches one of those girls, I will kill them." He said with absolute certainty.
********
Willow and Matt seemed to be glued to the computer. They were going nowhere fast. Willow pushed back away for a moment and stretched her arms. Matt went straight for the keyboard that Willow had been hogging all afternoon. She gave him a sigh, he was concentrating so hard he looked like his head was about to explode.
"This might work." He said and let his program run, "It might take sometime."
"That's okay." She smiled to him. How much had she wished for a hacking partner when she was his age. "I've known Dawn longer than you, she'll be alright, believe me she been through worse."
"The Hell Goddess." He said finally breaking eye contact with monitor. "She told us all about it. Not everyday you date the Key to the barrier between all dimensions." He sighed, staring off into space worried.
Willow nodded and lean back into her chair, then her face fell. "You two were dating?" She asked in disbelief, he nodded. "But this school is way to small for that to have stayed secret."
"We'll the three of us are kind of separated from everyone. We've been together a month, only Evan knows." He got glossy eyed as he continued. "Dawn's great, can always make me laugh…"
Willow couldn't help but think of herself and Xander and Buffy. She hoped that Evan wasn't crushing on him the way she used to on Xander. But than another thought hit her that stopped all thought on that subject, they were cousins, practically like brother and sister. She was probably happy her best friend was with Matt, than one of the girls she hated. Willow didn't want to think about Dawn right now or the other girls. She had to much to do to constantly have her worry for them, in the front of her mind. It could have been helpful to Matt either. "So when did you get so good with the computer stuff?"
"Oh, I don't know, spent a lot of time alone." He sighed.
"Your Dad worked a lot?" Willow asked her hand supporting her head as she leaned on the table.
"It wouldn't matter if he did, I was away at school most of the year. Never had too many mates. Either they wanted to know me to get close to my Grandfather or stayed away because they believed I was too odd." He looked away again.
Willow would have said more but the voices of Evan and Fiona stopped her. "…I mean I should have seen this coming, long before I did." Evan said to Fiona sitting down on the couch.
"No one blames you." Fiona sat next to her.
"You can't see everything." Matt told her.
She didn't listen just continued to sulk.
"Ah, I'm getting tired." Willow groaned.
"Your in good company." Ona said getting up. "Take a break. Come with me and get something to eat?" She asked the witch.
"Definitely." Willow jumped up.
"You two?" She asked her children. They shook they're heads no, Matt replied that he would continue working.
When they left Evan moved into Willow's chair, Matt had gone back to his working position back at the computer. Evan just watched him for a while, a solemn and deep look on her face.
"What?" he asked her after a minute, not turning to her.
"Nothing." She said simply not breaking her gaze from him.
After another minute Matt threw the keyboard down on the desk and turned to her. "What?" she screamed. She could see the fear and pain in his eyes, he was starting to tear up.
"Sorry." He said her own tears forming, and Evan leaned into him and gave him a hug. He tightened his arms around her. "I miss them so much, I'm so worried about what might have happened. I usually know, but I can't see anything." He gave her a squeeze, it was rare for him to see her like this, when she didn't just have a disturbing vision anyway. She was always the tough one even when they first met when his aunt adopted her.
"I know, we'll get through this. We're not alone."
"I know we got each other." She agreed. They continued their embrace.
End Chapter 2.