Xander groaned, and swatted at the phone, before picking it up. The room
was still dark. "If this isn't the end of the world, I'm going to be very
annoyed."
[Xander.]
"Riley?" Xander said. "Man, it's like 4:30 a.m."
[Is Buffy home yet?] Riley asked.
"What? Yeah, for about two and a half hours. Why?"
[Faith hasn't shown up, and I got worried] Riley said.
"Who is it?" Buffy mumbled from somewhere in her pillow.
"It's Riley," Xander said. "Faith never showed up tonight."
Buffy stirred and turned over. "What do you mean never showed up?" she asked. "She was just taking those two kids home, then going over there."
"She never showed up," Xander said.
Buffy sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "Shady Hills," she said.
"Riley," Xander said into the phone. "Shady Hills. We'll meet you at the west entrance."
Xander hung up, then flopped back on the bed. Five minutes later, he and Buffy were out the front door in matching sweats.
* * * * *
"So it was here," Riley said, kneeling down to the ground.
"Yeah," Buffy said. "We were about two hundred yards east of here, killed some vamps, ran over here and saved some kids from a big demon. Faith told me to go home, said she'd take escort the kids then go to your place."
Riley shook his head. "I don't get it. There's no sign of the demon you killed, or of anything else."
"Maybe the demon was one of those convenient ones that just kind of disappears. We get those occasionally," Xander said.
"But how can we know?" Riley asked.
* * * * *
"No," Pike said, once the Scoobies had found him and Spike at Willy's bar. They had stepped outside for a little privacy. "We had to bury it. It was a big fucker, too, took a few hours. Why?"
"Faith and I killed one tonight, but it's gone," Buffy said. "And so is Faith."
"You mind?" Pike asked, holding up a cigarette. At various shakes of heads, he lit up. "What do you mean so is Faith?"
"Faith's gone. We can't find her," Riley said. "Can you track this demon?"
Pike nodded. "Sure, tracked the last one across half of Oregon. Buffy said she killed it though."
"Yeah, well something got Faith, she wouldn't just disappear like that," Riley said, hotly. "Are you gonna help or not?"
"Yeah, calm down, man," Pike said. "I'll help you track it, don't worry. Let me just get Spike, and we'll go."
"We don't need that goddamn-"
"Riley," Xander said, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder and indicating Pike to go inside. "As much as I hate to admit it, and I do, Spike's a hundred and something year old vampire, who used to hunt people for sport. Combine that experience, with his enhanced vampire sense of smell, and he might be our best asset here. Oh, and Cordelia!"
"What?" Buffy asked.
"Uhh. . . earlier. The spell. Cordelia had a vision of Riley, and it said uh. . . follow the vampire. So. . . uh. Spike. Vampire."
Riley sighed. "Okay."
Pike soon returned with Spike in tow.
"What the bollocks is this now?" Spike asked.
"Doing a little hunting," Xander said.
"Do I get to hit anything?"
"If we're lucky, yes," Buffy said.
"Oh. All right then, let's get on with it. Sun's up in a couple hours."
* * * * *
Spike dropped himself into the sewer, and was quickly followed by Buffy, Pike, Xander and Riley.
"Scent mixes up around here," Spike said. "Either she stopped bleeding, which would make sense for a Slayer, or there's just too many other smells."
"So which way?" Xander asked.
Spike, Pike and Riley all searched around the entrance to the sewer.
"This way," Riley said, pointing to his left and staring at the wall.
"Uh. . . okay," Xander said. "How do you know?"
"Scratches, on the wall," Riley said, pointing to what he saw. "They're fresh, like something was scraped along here. Faith was unconscious when they came this way. They were carrying her."
"What do you think it is?" Pike asked.
"Vampires," Spike said. "I can smell 'em. Or I could, before we came down here."
"You're just full of all sorts of useful tricks," Riley muttered.
"He's like a bloodhound, only much more annoying," Xander said. "Come on, let's get moving."
The group set off in the appropriate direction, stopping at every intersection to search for any clues.
"Hold on," Buffy said after about half an hour. "I hear something."
The group stopped, and Buffy moved up to the corner. She peeked around and saw two vampires talking animatedly with each other.
"I think we found 'em," Buffy said after pulling back to the others. "There's a couple vamps down there, outside a closed off passage, but there have to be more than that. No way do two vamps take down Faith."
"Okay," Riley said. "So what's the plan?"
"You're mister army guy, you come up with tactics," Buffy said.
"Any way to get to the other side?" Riley asked, looking around at the group.
"I'm not the vamp who spent time in sewers," Spike said. "That poof of a grandsire of mine could get you there, not me."
"We don't have time for it anyway, probably," Xander said. "Two visible, I say we just rush 'em."
They all looked to Riley, who shrugged. "What the hell. I haven't had a good fight in a while. Not one I could win, anyway."
There was a general shrug throughout the group, and as one they lifted stakes from their pockets and rushed down the corridor, Xander and his gym bag keeping towards the back. The two vampires were startled, and quickly dusted. Taking the initiative, Riley bashed down the makeshift door that was blocking off the passage way, and came face to torso with a massive, greenish chest of mottled flesh and metal. He quickly flew out the entrance and hit the far wall, falling unconscious.
Buffy, Xander, Spike and Pike watched Adam's massive frame exit the small room.
"Oh," Xander said. "Shit."
Adam seemed for a moment to sniff the air. "Yes," he said. "Astute observation."
Xander and Buffy pulled swords from the bag as Pike pulled out his guns. Spike stepped up and punched Adam in the gut, to no effect, then was swatted away like a fly. Pike pulled his guns up and shot Adam right in the chest. Adam recoiled from the impacts a few of the slugs sticking in his chest, but was barely affected.
Buffy and Xander rushed Adam, attacking simultaneously. Adam shot one arm out at each of them, grabbing them by their necks. Adam picked both Slayer and White Knight off the ground and flung them into the wall Riley was lying against.
As Pike reloaded his pistols, Spike, Xander and Buffy stood up.
Buffy, Xander and Spike rushed Adam again. All three managed to duck his arms. Xander and Buffy drove their swords into Adam's chest, neither managing to penetrate very far. Spike dove at Adam's legs. Despite Adam's increased weight and size, Spike was able to get enough force behind himself to bring Adam to the ground. Buffy and Xander's swords both slipped from Adam's chest, and they moved as one to hack at him again. Adam reached up from the ground, grabbed both swords, wrenched them away from their owners and smashed them against the ground, breaking them.
Adam kicked his legs out and knocked both Buffy and Xander to the ground again.
"You are strong," Adam said, as he got to his feet. "Not strong enough."
Xander jumped to his feet and attacked Adam hand-to-hand. Adam blocked every blow. Buffy quickly got to her feet and joined the fray. Fists and feet flying every direction, with Buffy and Xander taking more damage on the whole than Adam.
Suddenly, Adam broke through both of their defenses and landed solid punches on first Buffy, then Xander, sending them both flying. Pike emptied two more clips into Adam, moving up his body and hitting him in each eye multiple times.
Sparks and smoke poured from Adam's head as his eyes all but exploded, and his head twitched to one side.
"A minor setback," Adam said as Spike stood up and took another shot at him. Adam took the blow, then backhanded Spike into the wall.
"We shall finish this another time," Adam said, then walked off.
Pike and Spike were about to follow, when a pair of strong hands stopped them.
"Let him go," Xander said. "We still have to find Faith. And I have a feeling that, even without eyes, we're not really a match for him."
"Oh come bloody on," Spike said. "You're just gonna let him get away?"
"Spike," Buffy said as she dragged herself off the ground, "we're not letting him get away." She shook her head. "If anything, it's the other way around."
"Check on Riley," Xander said to Pike, then indicated the room Adam had come from. "We'll see what was going on in here."
Buffy headed into the room in front of Xander, and was immediately set upon by a short vampire. She pulled her stake out and slammed the vampire against the wall, ready to stake him, but stopped just before her stake pierced the skin. Xander rushed into the room and tackled another vampire that was about to attack Buffy from behind.
"Wait!" Buffy yelled, stopping Xander just before he dusted her.
"Why?" Xander asked.
"These are the two kids who Faith and I rescued," she said.
Xander turned to look at her as he held the struggling vampire on the ground. "That's impossible, no way do they rise this quickly."
"I know," Buffy said. "But they are. And I'm not getting a vampire feel off of them."
"This close, and you can't sense them?"
"No," she said. "Only one in the area is Spike."
"I hear my name?" Spike asked, entering the room. He laughed as he lit a cigarette. "Well, well, well. If it isn't the Bobsey Twins."
"Hello, William," said the girl Xander was sitting on. "You turncoat."
"You know these guys?" Xander asked. "Why am I not at all surprised?"
"These two wankers used to follow Angelus around like little dogs," Spike said. "And he didn't even turn 'em. Penn did. This chicky here is uh. . . Elizabeth-"
"I go by Liz now," she interrupted.
"Be sure to tell me that again when I care," said Spike. "That poofter over there is James. What the sodding hell are you two idiots doing in Sunnydale."
"There is power here," James said. "We desire it."
"Yeah, well, in case you didn't notice? Power just walked out the door and left you to be staked," Buffy said. "Where's Faith? And how come I can't sense them?"
"She's over behind that pipe," Spike said, pointing across the room with his cigarette as Pike helped a still-woozy Riley into the room. "I can smell her. And this little bitch here has some magical training. She can mask their presence from Slayers."
"Okay," Xander said. "So why are you working for Adam?"
"He told you," Liz said. "Power."
"Where's his hideout?" Xander asked. "Where does he stay?"
"We don't know," she said.
"You know, normally, I'm against excess use of force," Xander said. "But you kidnapped a very good friend of mine."
Liz screamed as Xander broke her left arm.
"WE DON'T KNOW!" she yelled. "We were met by a vampire soon after we arrived in town. He told us how we could. . . get a piece of the action. This was our first assignment."
Pike lead Riley over to the corner, where Riley leaned down to next to Faith.
"What did you do to her?" he asked quietly.
"We injected her," James said as Buffy applied a great amount of force to his arms. "A serum, delivered by our contact."
"How do we fix it?" Buffy asked.
"I don't knoOOW! I swear!" James yelled, as Buffy all but took his arm out of his socket. "The.. the serum. The syringe is in my pocket."
"Little help, Spike?" Buffy said.
"Oh do it your sodding self, Slayer," Spike said. "I've done enough already. Tracked 'em, fought, got my ass handed to me with the rest of you wankers. I think I'm done here."
Pike helped Riley kneel next to Faith, then brushed roughly past Spike to reach in the vampire's pocket.
"Got it," he said, glaring at Spike.
"Hey, don't think you can guilt me," Spike said. "I'm evil, remember?
"Whatever," Pike said. "I think we've got everything?"
"Looks like," Xander said. He and Buffy barely moved as they thrust their stakes into the vampires they were holding. Xander stood and walked to Buffy, laying a hand quickly on her arm and healing some cuts. Xander then moved over to Faith and laid his hands on her.
"Nothing," he said after a few seconds. "But we need to go."
"You need a hand to carry her?" Pike asked of Riley.
"I got it," Riley said softly, cradling Faith in his arms and slowly rising to his feet. He swayed a little bit, and Pike placed his hand on Riley's back to steady him.
"You sure?" Pike asked. "Because I can-"
"I said I've got it," Riley all but snarled.
"Just trying to help, man," Pike said, raising his hands in surrender.
"Sorry," Riley said. "I just-"
"Don't worry," Pike said. "I get it. Let's go."
Pike led the group out of the room, followed quickly by Spike, then Buffy and Xander, and finally Riley, carrying a still-unconscious Faith in his arms.
* * * * *
"GILES!" Xander yelled as he, Buffy and Riley, carrying Faith, all but broke into Giles' apartment.
"Put her down on the couch," Buffy said to Riley, who quickly moved to do so as Xander ran up the stairs.
"Giles," he said, bursting into the older man's room.
"Xander?" Giles asked, pulling his glasses from his bedside table and putting them on.
"It's Faith," Xander said. "She was injected with some sort of serum. She's unconscious, and I can't wake her up."
Giles nodded. "I'll be down in a moment."
Back downstairs, Xander put some water on for tea.
"Where's the syringe?" Buffy asked. Xander pulled out of his pocket the small instrument Pike had given him before he and Spike retired to their crypt.
"I think there's a little bit left in there," Xander said. "Not much, though."
"What's happened?" Giles said, coming down the stairs wearing a robe.
Buffy relayed the events of the night as Giles checked over Faith.
"There's nothing wrong with her, as far as I can tell," he said. "I am not, however, a doctor. You have the syringe, you said?"
Buffy handed Giles the syringe. He eyed it closely. "Amber in color, viscous. . . oh dear. Xander, I need you to get Willow, and take this to a lab. Have her verify its components, do it as quickly as possible. It is vital. And use as little of it as possible."
"Got it," Xander said. "Buff? Call her, tell her I'm on the way?"
"On it," Buffy said as Xander sprinted out the door. "What do you think it is, Giles?"
Giles took a deep breath and shook his head. "I can't be certain, but it looks like a concentrated form of the serum I injected you with last year, on your birthday."
"Oh," Buffy said, the phone in her hand. "It can have this effect? Because Xander tried to heal her, and it didn't work."
"I don't know," Giles said as Buffy dialed. "But you saw what effect it had on you. You were weak, weaker than normal. Too much of it. . . I don't know."
"Wait, what serum?" Riley asked from his spot at Faith's side.
"Typically, on their eighteenth birthday, the council strips the Slayer of her powers using a serum they have devised. She is then put in a situation where she has to face off against a vampire. It is, ostensibly, used to see if the Slayer has enough ingenuity to survive on her own." Giles shook his head and sat across from the young man, who was on the floor next to Faith and holding her hand.
"That is not the true nature of the test, however," Giles said. "You see, it is nigh on impossible for the Slayer to survive if the council does not want her to. Buffy, in particular, the council wanted to fail. They see it as a chance to rid themselves of Slayers they find too independent, too insubordinate. Buffy is, without a doubt, both of those things. They placed her against a particularly vicious and psychotic vampire, but she overcame it still. Travers had no choice but to certify her as passing."
"So. . . you drugged Buffy?" Riley asked.
"I did," Giles said, solemnly. "It is an action I shall regret until the day I die. And did no good, as I was fired from my post that same day."
"I don't get it," Riley said. "If you did what they wanted, why did the council fire you?"
"The vampire Buffy was to face escaped and killed both of its handlers. I found out and told Buffy about the test, thereby rendering it null. Travers fired me on the spot."
"For being loyal to your Slayer?" Riley asked.
"For not being loyal to the Council," Giles said. He sighed and cleaned his glasses. "It is this serum that I fear has been injected into Faith."
"Will she be okay?" Riley asked.
"If it is the same thing, yes. It will wear off, although it will take some time. If not. . . I cannot be certain, but I assure you that we will do everything in our power-"
"I know," Riley said.
Buffy came over to where the two men were talking and handed Giles a cup of tea.
"Thank you," Giles said, sipping the tea.
"Mr. Giles?" asked a voice from the hallway. A very groggy Amy Madison walked out of the back room wearing Buffy's sweats. "Oh. I did hear voices."
"Amy, good morning," Giles said. "I apologize. We did not mean to wake you."
"That's okay," she said. "Is everything okay?"
"One of our friends has been attacked," Buffy said, indicating Faith.
"Is there anything I can do?" Amy asked. "I mean, I feel kind of. . . indebted to you guys, for me not being a rat anymore."
Giles smiled at the young woman. "No, not at the moment, I'm afraid," he said.
"Okay," Amy yawned. "Well, be sure to tell me if there is."
"I will be certain to," Giles said. "Why don't you go back and get some more sleep?"
"Okay," Amy said, tiredly, as she wandered back down the hallway.
"Hasn't she been asleep since about nine last night?" Buffy asked when the door had shut.
"Yes," Giles said. "However, a rat gets much more sleep in captivity than a normal human does. I imagine her body is still recovering from the switch. What did Willow say?"
"Um. . . Tara said that she'd wake Willow up, and they'd be ready for Xander when he got there," Buffy said.
Giles placed his now-empty teacup on the table, took off his glasses, cleaned, and replaced them. He nodded and got up to fix himself some more tea.
"It's a good thing Xander wasn't here," Riley said. "He'd be wondering just *how* Tara was going to wake up Willow."
Riley ducked the pillow that was thrown at his head, smiled at Buffy lightly, then turned his attention back to Faith.
"Wake up, babe," Riley whispered. Getting no response, Riley leaned up against the couch and settled in for a good deal of sitting.
----------
End Chapter 17
[Xander.]
"Riley?" Xander said. "Man, it's like 4:30 a.m."
[Is Buffy home yet?] Riley asked.
"What? Yeah, for about two and a half hours. Why?"
[Faith hasn't shown up, and I got worried] Riley said.
"Who is it?" Buffy mumbled from somewhere in her pillow.
"It's Riley," Xander said. "Faith never showed up tonight."
Buffy stirred and turned over. "What do you mean never showed up?" she asked. "She was just taking those two kids home, then going over there."
"She never showed up," Xander said.
Buffy sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "Shady Hills," she said.
"Riley," Xander said into the phone. "Shady Hills. We'll meet you at the west entrance."
Xander hung up, then flopped back on the bed. Five minutes later, he and Buffy were out the front door in matching sweats.
* * * * *
"So it was here," Riley said, kneeling down to the ground.
"Yeah," Buffy said. "We were about two hundred yards east of here, killed some vamps, ran over here and saved some kids from a big demon. Faith told me to go home, said she'd take escort the kids then go to your place."
Riley shook his head. "I don't get it. There's no sign of the demon you killed, or of anything else."
"Maybe the demon was one of those convenient ones that just kind of disappears. We get those occasionally," Xander said.
"But how can we know?" Riley asked.
* * * * *
"No," Pike said, once the Scoobies had found him and Spike at Willy's bar. They had stepped outside for a little privacy. "We had to bury it. It was a big fucker, too, took a few hours. Why?"
"Faith and I killed one tonight, but it's gone," Buffy said. "And so is Faith."
"You mind?" Pike asked, holding up a cigarette. At various shakes of heads, he lit up. "What do you mean so is Faith?"
"Faith's gone. We can't find her," Riley said. "Can you track this demon?"
Pike nodded. "Sure, tracked the last one across half of Oregon. Buffy said she killed it though."
"Yeah, well something got Faith, she wouldn't just disappear like that," Riley said, hotly. "Are you gonna help or not?"
"Yeah, calm down, man," Pike said. "I'll help you track it, don't worry. Let me just get Spike, and we'll go."
"We don't need that goddamn-"
"Riley," Xander said, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder and indicating Pike to go inside. "As much as I hate to admit it, and I do, Spike's a hundred and something year old vampire, who used to hunt people for sport. Combine that experience, with his enhanced vampire sense of smell, and he might be our best asset here. Oh, and Cordelia!"
"What?" Buffy asked.
"Uhh. . . earlier. The spell. Cordelia had a vision of Riley, and it said uh. . . follow the vampire. So. . . uh. Spike. Vampire."
Riley sighed. "Okay."
Pike soon returned with Spike in tow.
"What the bollocks is this now?" Spike asked.
"Doing a little hunting," Xander said.
"Do I get to hit anything?"
"If we're lucky, yes," Buffy said.
"Oh. All right then, let's get on with it. Sun's up in a couple hours."
* * * * *
Spike dropped himself into the sewer, and was quickly followed by Buffy, Pike, Xander and Riley.
"Scent mixes up around here," Spike said. "Either she stopped bleeding, which would make sense for a Slayer, or there's just too many other smells."
"So which way?" Xander asked.
Spike, Pike and Riley all searched around the entrance to the sewer.
"This way," Riley said, pointing to his left and staring at the wall.
"Uh. . . okay," Xander said. "How do you know?"
"Scratches, on the wall," Riley said, pointing to what he saw. "They're fresh, like something was scraped along here. Faith was unconscious when they came this way. They were carrying her."
"What do you think it is?" Pike asked.
"Vampires," Spike said. "I can smell 'em. Or I could, before we came down here."
"You're just full of all sorts of useful tricks," Riley muttered.
"He's like a bloodhound, only much more annoying," Xander said. "Come on, let's get moving."
The group set off in the appropriate direction, stopping at every intersection to search for any clues.
"Hold on," Buffy said after about half an hour. "I hear something."
The group stopped, and Buffy moved up to the corner. She peeked around and saw two vampires talking animatedly with each other.
"I think we found 'em," Buffy said after pulling back to the others. "There's a couple vamps down there, outside a closed off passage, but there have to be more than that. No way do two vamps take down Faith."
"Okay," Riley said. "So what's the plan?"
"You're mister army guy, you come up with tactics," Buffy said.
"Any way to get to the other side?" Riley asked, looking around at the group.
"I'm not the vamp who spent time in sewers," Spike said. "That poof of a grandsire of mine could get you there, not me."
"We don't have time for it anyway, probably," Xander said. "Two visible, I say we just rush 'em."
They all looked to Riley, who shrugged. "What the hell. I haven't had a good fight in a while. Not one I could win, anyway."
There was a general shrug throughout the group, and as one they lifted stakes from their pockets and rushed down the corridor, Xander and his gym bag keeping towards the back. The two vampires were startled, and quickly dusted. Taking the initiative, Riley bashed down the makeshift door that was blocking off the passage way, and came face to torso with a massive, greenish chest of mottled flesh and metal. He quickly flew out the entrance and hit the far wall, falling unconscious.
Buffy, Xander, Spike and Pike watched Adam's massive frame exit the small room.
"Oh," Xander said. "Shit."
Adam seemed for a moment to sniff the air. "Yes," he said. "Astute observation."
Xander and Buffy pulled swords from the bag as Pike pulled out his guns. Spike stepped up and punched Adam in the gut, to no effect, then was swatted away like a fly. Pike pulled his guns up and shot Adam right in the chest. Adam recoiled from the impacts a few of the slugs sticking in his chest, but was barely affected.
Buffy and Xander rushed Adam, attacking simultaneously. Adam shot one arm out at each of them, grabbing them by their necks. Adam picked both Slayer and White Knight off the ground and flung them into the wall Riley was lying against.
As Pike reloaded his pistols, Spike, Xander and Buffy stood up.
Buffy, Xander and Spike rushed Adam again. All three managed to duck his arms. Xander and Buffy drove their swords into Adam's chest, neither managing to penetrate very far. Spike dove at Adam's legs. Despite Adam's increased weight and size, Spike was able to get enough force behind himself to bring Adam to the ground. Buffy and Xander's swords both slipped from Adam's chest, and they moved as one to hack at him again. Adam reached up from the ground, grabbed both swords, wrenched them away from their owners and smashed them against the ground, breaking them.
Adam kicked his legs out and knocked both Buffy and Xander to the ground again.
"You are strong," Adam said, as he got to his feet. "Not strong enough."
Xander jumped to his feet and attacked Adam hand-to-hand. Adam blocked every blow. Buffy quickly got to her feet and joined the fray. Fists and feet flying every direction, with Buffy and Xander taking more damage on the whole than Adam.
Suddenly, Adam broke through both of their defenses and landed solid punches on first Buffy, then Xander, sending them both flying. Pike emptied two more clips into Adam, moving up his body and hitting him in each eye multiple times.
Sparks and smoke poured from Adam's head as his eyes all but exploded, and his head twitched to one side.
"A minor setback," Adam said as Spike stood up and took another shot at him. Adam took the blow, then backhanded Spike into the wall.
"We shall finish this another time," Adam said, then walked off.
Pike and Spike were about to follow, when a pair of strong hands stopped them.
"Let him go," Xander said. "We still have to find Faith. And I have a feeling that, even without eyes, we're not really a match for him."
"Oh come bloody on," Spike said. "You're just gonna let him get away?"
"Spike," Buffy said as she dragged herself off the ground, "we're not letting him get away." She shook her head. "If anything, it's the other way around."
"Check on Riley," Xander said to Pike, then indicated the room Adam had come from. "We'll see what was going on in here."
Buffy headed into the room in front of Xander, and was immediately set upon by a short vampire. She pulled her stake out and slammed the vampire against the wall, ready to stake him, but stopped just before her stake pierced the skin. Xander rushed into the room and tackled another vampire that was about to attack Buffy from behind.
"Wait!" Buffy yelled, stopping Xander just before he dusted her.
"Why?" Xander asked.
"These are the two kids who Faith and I rescued," she said.
Xander turned to look at her as he held the struggling vampire on the ground. "That's impossible, no way do they rise this quickly."
"I know," Buffy said. "But they are. And I'm not getting a vampire feel off of them."
"This close, and you can't sense them?"
"No," she said. "Only one in the area is Spike."
"I hear my name?" Spike asked, entering the room. He laughed as he lit a cigarette. "Well, well, well. If it isn't the Bobsey Twins."
"Hello, William," said the girl Xander was sitting on. "You turncoat."
"You know these guys?" Xander asked. "Why am I not at all surprised?"
"These two wankers used to follow Angelus around like little dogs," Spike said. "And he didn't even turn 'em. Penn did. This chicky here is uh. . . Elizabeth-"
"I go by Liz now," she interrupted.
"Be sure to tell me that again when I care," said Spike. "That poofter over there is James. What the sodding hell are you two idiots doing in Sunnydale."
"There is power here," James said. "We desire it."
"Yeah, well, in case you didn't notice? Power just walked out the door and left you to be staked," Buffy said. "Where's Faith? And how come I can't sense them?"
"She's over behind that pipe," Spike said, pointing across the room with his cigarette as Pike helped a still-woozy Riley into the room. "I can smell her. And this little bitch here has some magical training. She can mask their presence from Slayers."
"Okay," Xander said. "So why are you working for Adam?"
"He told you," Liz said. "Power."
"Where's his hideout?" Xander asked. "Where does he stay?"
"We don't know," she said.
"You know, normally, I'm against excess use of force," Xander said. "But you kidnapped a very good friend of mine."
Liz screamed as Xander broke her left arm.
"WE DON'T KNOW!" she yelled. "We were met by a vampire soon after we arrived in town. He told us how we could. . . get a piece of the action. This was our first assignment."
Pike lead Riley over to the corner, where Riley leaned down to next to Faith.
"What did you do to her?" he asked quietly.
"We injected her," James said as Buffy applied a great amount of force to his arms. "A serum, delivered by our contact."
"How do we fix it?" Buffy asked.
"I don't knoOOW! I swear!" James yelled, as Buffy all but took his arm out of his socket. "The.. the serum. The syringe is in my pocket."
"Little help, Spike?" Buffy said.
"Oh do it your sodding self, Slayer," Spike said. "I've done enough already. Tracked 'em, fought, got my ass handed to me with the rest of you wankers. I think I'm done here."
Pike helped Riley kneel next to Faith, then brushed roughly past Spike to reach in the vampire's pocket.
"Got it," he said, glaring at Spike.
"Hey, don't think you can guilt me," Spike said. "I'm evil, remember?
"Whatever," Pike said. "I think we've got everything?"
"Looks like," Xander said. He and Buffy barely moved as they thrust their stakes into the vampires they were holding. Xander stood and walked to Buffy, laying a hand quickly on her arm and healing some cuts. Xander then moved over to Faith and laid his hands on her.
"Nothing," he said after a few seconds. "But we need to go."
"You need a hand to carry her?" Pike asked of Riley.
"I got it," Riley said softly, cradling Faith in his arms and slowly rising to his feet. He swayed a little bit, and Pike placed his hand on Riley's back to steady him.
"You sure?" Pike asked. "Because I can-"
"I said I've got it," Riley all but snarled.
"Just trying to help, man," Pike said, raising his hands in surrender.
"Sorry," Riley said. "I just-"
"Don't worry," Pike said. "I get it. Let's go."
Pike led the group out of the room, followed quickly by Spike, then Buffy and Xander, and finally Riley, carrying a still-unconscious Faith in his arms.
* * * * *
"GILES!" Xander yelled as he, Buffy and Riley, carrying Faith, all but broke into Giles' apartment.
"Put her down on the couch," Buffy said to Riley, who quickly moved to do so as Xander ran up the stairs.
"Giles," he said, bursting into the older man's room.
"Xander?" Giles asked, pulling his glasses from his bedside table and putting them on.
"It's Faith," Xander said. "She was injected with some sort of serum. She's unconscious, and I can't wake her up."
Giles nodded. "I'll be down in a moment."
Back downstairs, Xander put some water on for tea.
"Where's the syringe?" Buffy asked. Xander pulled out of his pocket the small instrument Pike had given him before he and Spike retired to their crypt.
"I think there's a little bit left in there," Xander said. "Not much, though."
"What's happened?" Giles said, coming down the stairs wearing a robe.
Buffy relayed the events of the night as Giles checked over Faith.
"There's nothing wrong with her, as far as I can tell," he said. "I am not, however, a doctor. You have the syringe, you said?"
Buffy handed Giles the syringe. He eyed it closely. "Amber in color, viscous. . . oh dear. Xander, I need you to get Willow, and take this to a lab. Have her verify its components, do it as quickly as possible. It is vital. And use as little of it as possible."
"Got it," Xander said. "Buff? Call her, tell her I'm on the way?"
"On it," Buffy said as Xander sprinted out the door. "What do you think it is, Giles?"
Giles took a deep breath and shook his head. "I can't be certain, but it looks like a concentrated form of the serum I injected you with last year, on your birthday."
"Oh," Buffy said, the phone in her hand. "It can have this effect? Because Xander tried to heal her, and it didn't work."
"I don't know," Giles said as Buffy dialed. "But you saw what effect it had on you. You were weak, weaker than normal. Too much of it. . . I don't know."
"Wait, what serum?" Riley asked from his spot at Faith's side.
"Typically, on their eighteenth birthday, the council strips the Slayer of her powers using a serum they have devised. She is then put in a situation where she has to face off against a vampire. It is, ostensibly, used to see if the Slayer has enough ingenuity to survive on her own." Giles shook his head and sat across from the young man, who was on the floor next to Faith and holding her hand.
"That is not the true nature of the test, however," Giles said. "You see, it is nigh on impossible for the Slayer to survive if the council does not want her to. Buffy, in particular, the council wanted to fail. They see it as a chance to rid themselves of Slayers they find too independent, too insubordinate. Buffy is, without a doubt, both of those things. They placed her against a particularly vicious and psychotic vampire, but she overcame it still. Travers had no choice but to certify her as passing."
"So. . . you drugged Buffy?" Riley asked.
"I did," Giles said, solemnly. "It is an action I shall regret until the day I die. And did no good, as I was fired from my post that same day."
"I don't get it," Riley said. "If you did what they wanted, why did the council fire you?"
"The vampire Buffy was to face escaped and killed both of its handlers. I found out and told Buffy about the test, thereby rendering it null. Travers fired me on the spot."
"For being loyal to your Slayer?" Riley asked.
"For not being loyal to the Council," Giles said. He sighed and cleaned his glasses. "It is this serum that I fear has been injected into Faith."
"Will she be okay?" Riley asked.
"If it is the same thing, yes. It will wear off, although it will take some time. If not. . . I cannot be certain, but I assure you that we will do everything in our power-"
"I know," Riley said.
Buffy came over to where the two men were talking and handed Giles a cup of tea.
"Thank you," Giles said, sipping the tea.
"Mr. Giles?" asked a voice from the hallway. A very groggy Amy Madison walked out of the back room wearing Buffy's sweats. "Oh. I did hear voices."
"Amy, good morning," Giles said. "I apologize. We did not mean to wake you."
"That's okay," she said. "Is everything okay?"
"One of our friends has been attacked," Buffy said, indicating Faith.
"Is there anything I can do?" Amy asked. "I mean, I feel kind of. . . indebted to you guys, for me not being a rat anymore."
Giles smiled at the young woman. "No, not at the moment, I'm afraid," he said.
"Okay," Amy yawned. "Well, be sure to tell me if there is."
"I will be certain to," Giles said. "Why don't you go back and get some more sleep?"
"Okay," Amy said, tiredly, as she wandered back down the hallway.
"Hasn't she been asleep since about nine last night?" Buffy asked when the door had shut.
"Yes," Giles said. "However, a rat gets much more sleep in captivity than a normal human does. I imagine her body is still recovering from the switch. What did Willow say?"
"Um. . . Tara said that she'd wake Willow up, and they'd be ready for Xander when he got there," Buffy said.
Giles placed his now-empty teacup on the table, took off his glasses, cleaned, and replaced them. He nodded and got up to fix himself some more tea.
"It's a good thing Xander wasn't here," Riley said. "He'd be wondering just *how* Tara was going to wake up Willow."
Riley ducked the pillow that was thrown at his head, smiled at Buffy lightly, then turned his attention back to Faith.
"Wake up, babe," Riley whispered. Getting no response, Riley leaned up against the couch and settled in for a good deal of sitting.
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End Chapter 17
