The time the group needed to break out of their self constructed prison was
enough for Glory escape. That also showed the only disadvantage of the
barrier spell. Although Jenny and Tara provided a lot of the power for the
barrier, it it was Willow that had constructed and controlled it.
With the red head unconscious the barrier stood firmly in place, the rest of the group unable to do anything. When Willow finally came around she immediately lowered the field, which gave them the opportunity to follow the hellgoddess.
But when Xander, Giles and the two slayers finally reached the street, Glory was long gone.
"No," Buffy exclaimed and broke down right on the street. Giles walked up behind and helped her back on her feet, trying to give as much as comfort as possible.
"Okay slayer," Xander exclaimed angrily once Buffy was back on her feet. "You have some serious explaining to do."
Buffy looked up at him, a mix of confusion, defeat and anger mixed in her eyes.
"You send me into a combat situation without giving me all information," Xander continued without considering to give her some to time recover from her shock. "And frankly I hate it when someone is fucking around with me."
"You asshole," Buffy seethed at him, anger finally winning the argument that took place in her head. "If you had just followed my orders Dawn would be safe and not in Glory's hand."
"Okay, that's it," Xander declared clearly upset. "Who do you think you are? Don't you get it. I never follow your orders. Not now and not when I dealt with you precious boyfriend."
That comment was all Buffy needed to lose her temper. Faster than Xander could react, she punched him hard in face. "Yeah, and that worked out pretty good, huh?" she asked him sarcastically.
But Xander just rubbed his sore jaw and smiled at the blonde slayer. "Want to beat me up again Summers," he asked with a raised eyebrow. Buffy backed a few steps away, when she realised what she had nearly done again. Xander used her momentary distraction to his advantage and threw a right hook a slayer, sending her on her back. "Cause I still remember the last time."
But when he walked up to her, Buffy kicked his legs out from under him. Xander immediately fell to the ground. But Buffy didn't waste a moment and jumped on top of her former friend to continue her attack.
But before she could even swing one attack she was pulled from Xander's body, On the other side Faith did the same with Xander, both slayer and Watcher trying their hardest to keep the two separated.
"Are you two out of your minds," Giles exclaimed, addressing the slayer and the assassin. "Don't you have something more intelligent to do."
"He started it," Buffy stated defensively.
"If I remember correctly you were the one to punch me first," Xander responded in an equal matter.
"Stop it," Giles screamed at both of them. Xander and Buffy immediately stopped their struggle, when they heard the authority in his voice. "Both of you. You are acting like two year olds."
When he could be sure that none of them would attack the other, Giles let go of Buffy and turned around to Xander.
"Xander, you're right, we didn't tell you everything," Giles admitted. "And you can't blame us for it. You are or were working for the Brotherhood. We couldn't be sure about your loyalties. And therefore we decided to withheld certain information from you." Giles waited a few seconds to let the information sink in. "Do you hear me. *We* decided it, not Buffy alone."
Xander contemplated the situation for a moment before he answered. "Okay, I can accept that. I probably would have acted the same way," the assassin admitted. "The question is are you willing to tell me now?"
Giles quickly took a glance over his shoulder and looked at Buffy. After exchanging a long look with his slayer, Buffy finally nodded.
"Yes, we will give you all the information we have," Giles told Xander. "But maybe she should do something useful first." The watcher said and motioned at the wrecked campervan.
Xander nodded. "I guess with two slayers we should be able to get it back onto it's tires."
The group silently walked up to the vehicle and only stopped when Spike walked up to them.
"You," Spike shouted and pointed at Xander. "You shot me. Just look at my duster," the vampire said and showed them one of the bullet holes.
Xander exchanged a quick glance with Giles who stood beside him, and after a second the watcher nodded.
Without loosing a second Xander punched the surprised vampire into the face. The force of the blow sent Spike immediately to the ground.
"Tell it someone who cares," Xander called over his should as the group walked past the fallen vampire, ignoring his moans as he nursed his broken nose. Finally Xander turned his attention back to Giles. "Okay, why is Dawn so important?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
Mr. Jones was not someone who was easily to scare. But the fact that his superior demanded to see him was not a very good sign. The head of the Brotherhood's headquarter only requested such visits if something was really important happened.
The elevator came to a sudden halt and the doors opened, giving him sight on the long corridor that lead to the main office. Mr. Jones slowly walked up to the door at the end of it, eying the guards at both sides of the door warily.
When he was only three meters away, the guard opened the heavy oak door. Mr. Jones entered the dark room, the door closing immediately behind him. The total darkness that enveloped him was finally interuppted by the stream of light that came from ceiling. Mr. Jones blinked at first and looked around him, but the room was still covered in darkness.
"Mr. Jones," came the booming voice of his superior from somewhere around the room, but he couldn't make out from where. "I'm glad you came this fast."
"It has to something important," Mr. Jones responded as calmly as possible.
"It is," the voice responded. "How is our operation regarding the rouge slayer proceeding?"
"I sent one of our best assassins after her," Mr. Jones explained. "He should have taken care of her by now. I'm only awaiting the conformation of the assassination."
"I fear it's not that simple," the voice stated casually. "I've contacted one of our seers and she reported that no new slayer was called during the last few hours."
"I don't understand that," Mr. Jones mumbled to himself. "She should be dead," he exclaimed. "That either means that Alexander failed or that he..."
"That he spared her life," the voice finished his train of thoughts. "You are in deep trouble Mr. Jones. The contractor is someone with a lot of influence. This contract has to be taken care of as fast as possible."
Mr. Jones nodded. "I will contact team Abraxas. They could be in the area in."
"No," the voice interuppted him. "I think it would be more fitting if it were you to go after assassin Harris," the voice declared. "You will scout out the area in Sunnydale and assassinate the slayer and if necessary our former employee."
"Yes sir," Mr. Jones dutifully responded.
"Good," the voice said and the doors behind Mr. Jones opened. "You can go now."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
"Okay let's get this straight," Xander exclaimed after Giles told him all the facts regarding Dawn. After he and the two slayers had lifted the campervan, Xander had changed the flat tire. That was all that was needed to make the campervan ready to go back to Sunnydale. The Scoobies now sat in the campervan, nursing their wounds and listening to Giles's explanation. Willow still held a pack of ice to her head where Glory's fist had hit her.
"Dawn is in reality a ball of energy called the key. In order to protect it, some monks send it to Buffy and gave her the form of her not existent little sister. They changed everybodies memories, so they would remember her. And Glory needs her in order to return to her own dimension, but that would rip the very fabric of reality apart," Xander summed everything up. "Did I miss anything?"
"No," Giles responded dryly. "That's all."
"Just checking," Xander muttered absently.
"She is not real?" Faith asked confused.
"Well, it's complicated," Giles admitted. "But yes, she is real. She shares the same memories we have. She is Dawn Summers, nothing above or beyond that. Apart from having the energy to destroy the world."
"Why can't you remember her?" Willow asked Xander, questioning something that had bugged everyone since his return.
"The Brotherhood has methods to protect the minds of their operatives," Xander explained. "When the spell was cast it didn't affect me because I was under their protection."
"Well, that explains at least one thing," Giles commented.
"But are we going to do now," Tara asked after a long and silence moment. "I mean our first real battle with Glory and we didn't do too good," she said and glanced at Xander and Faith. "No offence, but you two were not anymore useful than the rest of us."
"Yeah, we lost," Xander admitted. "But we also had a lot against us. She had the initiative, we only could react. She also surprised us. Next time those advantages will be on our side."
"He is right," Giles agreed "The outcome of our skirmish with her would have been different if we would have been prepared."
"Well, let's head back to Sunnydale," Buffy said and stood up. "Let's see if we can convert some of these ideas to reality."
While the Scoobies arranged themselves for the journey, Xander walked up to the door and left the campervan.
"Xander?" Buffy called after him. "What are you doing?"
Xander turned around and for the first since his arrival he smiled. "I'm not coming with you," he declared.
"Ah," Spike responded knowingly from behind Buffy. "You are chickening out."
"No," Xander said, drawing the word out, but he could hear the muttered 'damn' from Spike. "I'm going back to LA. I have some equipment there that would help us. The BMW is a bit crushed but I should make it."
"Okay," Buffy said and walked up to him. She searched through her pockets and finally found the desired item. "Here," she said and handed him the business card. "It's the address of the Magic Box. You can find us there."
Xander nodded and stuffed the card into his jacket. "Try to gather as much intel about Glory as possible. Where she is hiding, what you could use as a weapon against her."
"Okay," Buffy said. "Good luck."
"You too," Xander said and walked in the direction of the wrecked car.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
Xander reached his destination about an hour later. He parked the car beside the garage he had rented and stepped out of it. He quickly opened the door And pressed the light switch.
The light revealed a black van that took most of the place in the garage. But what he wanted was in the back of the room. He walked past the car and up to the boxes that were lied in the.
He had already made a list in the back of his head, so it didn't take him long to decide which of the weapons he would take with him.
I took him a few minutes to load all the equipment into the van. When he was finished he drove the car out of the garage and closed the door behind him. He decided to leave the BMW where it stood. The car was too wrecked to be any use from him anymore. Someone would probably take care of it.
"I hope that's enough to put that bitch into the ground," he muttered while he drove the van in the direction of Sunnydale.
With the red head unconscious the barrier stood firmly in place, the rest of the group unable to do anything. When Willow finally came around she immediately lowered the field, which gave them the opportunity to follow the hellgoddess.
But when Xander, Giles and the two slayers finally reached the street, Glory was long gone.
"No," Buffy exclaimed and broke down right on the street. Giles walked up behind and helped her back on her feet, trying to give as much as comfort as possible.
"Okay slayer," Xander exclaimed angrily once Buffy was back on her feet. "You have some serious explaining to do."
Buffy looked up at him, a mix of confusion, defeat and anger mixed in her eyes.
"You send me into a combat situation without giving me all information," Xander continued without considering to give her some to time recover from her shock. "And frankly I hate it when someone is fucking around with me."
"You asshole," Buffy seethed at him, anger finally winning the argument that took place in her head. "If you had just followed my orders Dawn would be safe and not in Glory's hand."
"Okay, that's it," Xander declared clearly upset. "Who do you think you are? Don't you get it. I never follow your orders. Not now and not when I dealt with you precious boyfriend."
That comment was all Buffy needed to lose her temper. Faster than Xander could react, she punched him hard in face. "Yeah, and that worked out pretty good, huh?" she asked him sarcastically.
But Xander just rubbed his sore jaw and smiled at the blonde slayer. "Want to beat me up again Summers," he asked with a raised eyebrow. Buffy backed a few steps away, when she realised what she had nearly done again. Xander used her momentary distraction to his advantage and threw a right hook a slayer, sending her on her back. "Cause I still remember the last time."
But when he walked up to her, Buffy kicked his legs out from under him. Xander immediately fell to the ground. But Buffy didn't waste a moment and jumped on top of her former friend to continue her attack.
But before she could even swing one attack she was pulled from Xander's body, On the other side Faith did the same with Xander, both slayer and Watcher trying their hardest to keep the two separated.
"Are you two out of your minds," Giles exclaimed, addressing the slayer and the assassin. "Don't you have something more intelligent to do."
"He started it," Buffy stated defensively.
"If I remember correctly you were the one to punch me first," Xander responded in an equal matter.
"Stop it," Giles screamed at both of them. Xander and Buffy immediately stopped their struggle, when they heard the authority in his voice. "Both of you. You are acting like two year olds."
When he could be sure that none of them would attack the other, Giles let go of Buffy and turned around to Xander.
"Xander, you're right, we didn't tell you everything," Giles admitted. "And you can't blame us for it. You are or were working for the Brotherhood. We couldn't be sure about your loyalties. And therefore we decided to withheld certain information from you." Giles waited a few seconds to let the information sink in. "Do you hear me. *We* decided it, not Buffy alone."
Xander contemplated the situation for a moment before he answered. "Okay, I can accept that. I probably would have acted the same way," the assassin admitted. "The question is are you willing to tell me now?"
Giles quickly took a glance over his shoulder and looked at Buffy. After exchanging a long look with his slayer, Buffy finally nodded.
"Yes, we will give you all the information we have," Giles told Xander. "But maybe she should do something useful first." The watcher said and motioned at the wrecked campervan.
Xander nodded. "I guess with two slayers we should be able to get it back onto it's tires."
The group silently walked up to the vehicle and only stopped when Spike walked up to them.
"You," Spike shouted and pointed at Xander. "You shot me. Just look at my duster," the vampire said and showed them one of the bullet holes.
Xander exchanged a quick glance with Giles who stood beside him, and after a second the watcher nodded.
Without loosing a second Xander punched the surprised vampire into the face. The force of the blow sent Spike immediately to the ground.
"Tell it someone who cares," Xander called over his should as the group walked past the fallen vampire, ignoring his moans as he nursed his broken nose. Finally Xander turned his attention back to Giles. "Okay, why is Dawn so important?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
Mr. Jones was not someone who was easily to scare. But the fact that his superior demanded to see him was not a very good sign. The head of the Brotherhood's headquarter only requested such visits if something was really important happened.
The elevator came to a sudden halt and the doors opened, giving him sight on the long corridor that lead to the main office. Mr. Jones slowly walked up to the door at the end of it, eying the guards at both sides of the door warily.
When he was only three meters away, the guard opened the heavy oak door. Mr. Jones entered the dark room, the door closing immediately behind him. The total darkness that enveloped him was finally interuppted by the stream of light that came from ceiling. Mr. Jones blinked at first and looked around him, but the room was still covered in darkness.
"Mr. Jones," came the booming voice of his superior from somewhere around the room, but he couldn't make out from where. "I'm glad you came this fast."
"It has to something important," Mr. Jones responded as calmly as possible.
"It is," the voice responded. "How is our operation regarding the rouge slayer proceeding?"
"I sent one of our best assassins after her," Mr. Jones explained. "He should have taken care of her by now. I'm only awaiting the conformation of the assassination."
"I fear it's not that simple," the voice stated casually. "I've contacted one of our seers and she reported that no new slayer was called during the last few hours."
"I don't understand that," Mr. Jones mumbled to himself. "She should be dead," he exclaimed. "That either means that Alexander failed or that he..."
"That he spared her life," the voice finished his train of thoughts. "You are in deep trouble Mr. Jones. The contractor is someone with a lot of influence. This contract has to be taken care of as fast as possible."
Mr. Jones nodded. "I will contact team Abraxas. They could be in the area in."
"No," the voice interuppted him. "I think it would be more fitting if it were you to go after assassin Harris," the voice declared. "You will scout out the area in Sunnydale and assassinate the slayer and if necessary our former employee."
"Yes sir," Mr. Jones dutifully responded.
"Good," the voice said and the doors behind Mr. Jones opened. "You can go now."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
"Okay let's get this straight," Xander exclaimed after Giles told him all the facts regarding Dawn. After he and the two slayers had lifted the campervan, Xander had changed the flat tire. That was all that was needed to make the campervan ready to go back to Sunnydale. The Scoobies now sat in the campervan, nursing their wounds and listening to Giles's explanation. Willow still held a pack of ice to her head where Glory's fist had hit her.
"Dawn is in reality a ball of energy called the key. In order to protect it, some monks send it to Buffy and gave her the form of her not existent little sister. They changed everybodies memories, so they would remember her. And Glory needs her in order to return to her own dimension, but that would rip the very fabric of reality apart," Xander summed everything up. "Did I miss anything?"
"No," Giles responded dryly. "That's all."
"Just checking," Xander muttered absently.
"She is not real?" Faith asked confused.
"Well, it's complicated," Giles admitted. "But yes, she is real. She shares the same memories we have. She is Dawn Summers, nothing above or beyond that. Apart from having the energy to destroy the world."
"Why can't you remember her?" Willow asked Xander, questioning something that had bugged everyone since his return.
"The Brotherhood has methods to protect the minds of their operatives," Xander explained. "When the spell was cast it didn't affect me because I was under their protection."
"Well, that explains at least one thing," Giles commented.
"But are we going to do now," Tara asked after a long and silence moment. "I mean our first real battle with Glory and we didn't do too good," she said and glanced at Xander and Faith. "No offence, but you two were not anymore useful than the rest of us."
"Yeah, we lost," Xander admitted. "But we also had a lot against us. She had the initiative, we only could react. She also surprised us. Next time those advantages will be on our side."
"He is right," Giles agreed "The outcome of our skirmish with her would have been different if we would have been prepared."
"Well, let's head back to Sunnydale," Buffy said and stood up. "Let's see if we can convert some of these ideas to reality."
While the Scoobies arranged themselves for the journey, Xander walked up to the door and left the campervan.
"Xander?" Buffy called after him. "What are you doing?"
Xander turned around and for the first since his arrival he smiled. "I'm not coming with you," he declared.
"Ah," Spike responded knowingly from behind Buffy. "You are chickening out."
"No," Xander said, drawing the word out, but he could hear the muttered 'damn' from Spike. "I'm going back to LA. I have some equipment there that would help us. The BMW is a bit crushed but I should make it."
"Okay," Buffy said and walked up to him. She searched through her pockets and finally found the desired item. "Here," she said and handed him the business card. "It's the address of the Magic Box. You can find us there."
Xander nodded and stuffed the card into his jacket. "Try to gather as much intel about Glory as possible. Where she is hiding, what you could use as a weapon against her."
"Okay," Buffy said. "Good luck."
"You too," Xander said and walked in the direction of the wrecked car.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
Xander reached his destination about an hour later. He parked the car beside the garage he had rented and stepped out of it. He quickly opened the door And pressed the light switch.
The light revealed a black van that took most of the place in the garage. But what he wanted was in the back of the room. He walked past the car and up to the boxes that were lied in the.
He had already made a list in the back of his head, so it didn't take him long to decide which of the weapons he would take with him.
I took him a few minutes to load all the equipment into the van. When he was finished he drove the car out of the garage and closed the door behind him. He decided to leave the BMW where it stood. The car was too wrecked to be any use from him anymore. Someone would probably take care of it.
"I hope that's enough to put that bitch into the ground," he muttered while he drove the van in the direction of Sunnydale.