"This is boring," Faith said as she kicked at a rock in the cemetery.

"Worried?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah," said Faith, hanging her head. "I just wish I knew where he was, ya know?"

"I do," Buffy said. "I'm sure he's fine, though."

"What makes you so sure?" Faith asked. "Cuz, there's a lot of trouble a guy could get into in this town, without even looking for it. Ri kinda seemed like he was. Looking, I mean."

"I don't know," Buffy said. "He doesn't strike me as the self-destructive type."

"Nah, he's not, normally. But these are extreme circumstances, yo. Who knows?"

"Have a little you," Buffy said.

Faith raised an eyebrow at her.

"It's a pun," Buffy said, pouting.

"Oh, I got it," Faith said. "Very clever."

"Thanks."

"How's that working out for you? Being clever?"

"Don't you start that movie quoting crap, too," Buffy said. "I get enough of that at home."

A vampire jumped out of the shadows at them. Buffy dropped to the ground and swept its feet out from under it as Faith plunged a stake into its heart, turning it to dust.

Buffy shook her head. "I don't think we're going to see much more than that tonight."

"Nah," Faith said. "You wanna pack it in?"

"We really should go help with the research."

"You just wanna get back to your guy," Faith said with a smirk.

"Well, I just –"

"I get it," Faith said. "This big thing coming. . . whatever it is we have to do. . . I wanna be with Ri, too."

Buffy frowned. "I'm sure he'll show up."

"Yeah," Faith said as they headed off towards the Magic Box. "I just. . . I feel like something bad's happened, or is gonna happen, or some thing."

"We all get that feeling sometimes. Like back when the Sisterhood of Jhe was here, or the Master."

"Yeah, but you died that time," Faith said.

"But I had Xander to bring me back," said Buffy.

"Hope I get the same treatment from Ri," said Faith.

"Don't doubt it," Buffy said. "He loves you for real. I get the feeling he's a keeper."

"Yeah," Faith said, with a small smile, which turned to a frown after a moment. "I just wish I knew where he was."

Buffy and Faith approached the Magic Box from the back alley, and tested the back door to see if it was unlocked, and found it open. Upon opening the door a crack, Buffy and Faith heard the sounds of fighting from inside and flung the door open, only to see Xander duck under a high kick from Angel. Xander rolled to one side and lashed out at Angel with the side of his fist, hitting the vampire in the face and sending him backwards.

Angel gathered himself and charged at Xander, only to find himself bowled over by a petite blonde girl.

"Stop!" Buffy yelled, causing her boyfriend and ex-boyfriend to come to screeching halts – although it was significantly easier for Angel, who was currently flattened out on the mat.

"I thought you two were over this!" she said. "I thought that you could be in a room and act mature, and I come back and find you fighting! What the hell is wro—why are you laughing?"

"We weren't fighting," Xander said. "We were sparring. Angel said I was telegraphing some of my punches, and we were working on that for a bit. Then we just decided to go all out and test ourselves, although I didn't use my shield, cuz we thought if I train without it, I might be better when I need to use it."

"Yeah," Angel said. "And how come you jumped on me? Since when am *I* the instigator?"

"Well, you were all chargey," Buffy said, pouting as Faith helped Angel off the mats. "And I didn't want him to get hit."

"Aww, thanks sweetie," Xander said as he approached Buffy and wrapped his arms around her waist. "I think we were about done, anyway."

"Yeah," Angel said. "And we should really get into the research anyway."

"Yeah, we'll go do that," Faith said. "You guys take a minute."

Faith grabbed Angel and basically dragged him out of the training room.

"What's that about?" Xander asked.

Buffy leaned back into his arms. "She's having issues with Riley not being around, and she's got a bad feeling about what's going on."

"I know what she means," Xander said as he turned Buffy around. "This guy's really tough, and I got no idea how we're gonna take him. I mean, I'm pretty sure we'll think of something, but. . . what if it isn't enough?"

"Well, before we wonder about that, we have to figure out what it is we're thinking of," Buffy said, before leaning up and capturing Xander's mouth with her own.

"Mmm," Xander said. "Thinking of what now?"

Buffy smiled, wrapped her arms around him and leaned into his chest. "As much as I'd love to be distracted right now – and believe me, I would – we have work to do."

"I know," Xander said, leaning down to again find Buffy's lips. "But another minute or two won't hurt."

* * * * *

"I got nothing," Angel said a few hours later. "There is nothing here. We haven't heard from Wes and Cordy, so they haven't found anything either."

"Frustrated?" Willow asked.

"Just a bit, yeah," Angel said. "Times like this I wish I smoked, I hear its relaxing."

"Yeah, but then you'd be outside with the Ikes," Buffy said.

"And anyway, smoking's not really my thing," Angel said.

"Well, wait another week or so," Xander said. "Then you'll know what it's been like around here."

"So, is this thing as strong as you guys?" Davis asked. "I mean. . . how strong is it?"

"Stronger," Xander said. "And faster. Adam took out four of us without a problem. We need some way to fix that."

"And you've got all this magic stuff, and you can't find something?" Davis asked as the front door bell jingled

"That's the idea, chief," Faith said. "That's part of what you're here for, to think of things we haven't thought of."

"Going to the military to think outside the box? That's never a good idea."

Faith turned in her chair at the voice to see Pike holding Riley up just inside the Magic Box door. Riley looked pale and was holding his right side, which was soaked in blood from his stomach down past his thigh.

"Oh my god, Riley," she said as she rocketed towards him and took him from Pike. "Xander, he needs help."

"Yeah," Xander said, standing from his seat and clearing some room on the table so Riley could sit upon it.

"What the hell happened to you?" Faith asked angrily. "Where were you?"

"I was uh. . . out?" Riley asked, wincing as Xander pulled his shirt away from his wound to reveal a puncture the size of a half-dollar.

"Jesus," Xander said, looking at the wound. "Uh, Will, could you boil some water to clean this off with? And Tara, could you get the gauze from the first aid kit?"

Both Wiccas rushed off to do as Xander asked, and he held his hand to the wound, his hand quickly coating in blood. Pike shook his head and headed back outside for another smoke.

"What the hell did this to you?" Buffy asked.

"I'm not really sure," Riley said, as Xander applied the gauze Tara had brought to his wound to stop some of the bleeding. "Demon of some sort. I kind of lost track of time and. . . well. . . "

"That was real fuckin' smart, guy," Faith said, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Hey," Riley said, holding out a hand to the woman he loved. "I didn't mean to worry you. I'm sorry."

Faith looked at his eyes for a moment, then allowed hers to soften before taking his hand. Riley smiled at her, then his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell back on the table, unconscious.

"Riley?" Faith yelled.

"Shit," Xander muttered.

"Xander, fix him," Faith said, tears coming to her eyes.

"I'm doing my best here, Faith, but I need the wound clean before I close it," he said. "Otherwise he could get an infection, and you *really* don't want that."

"Coming!" Willow yelled as she rushed out of Giles' office with a pot of boiling water.

"Angel, your car is faster," Xander said. "Riley's lost a lot of blood, we're going to need to get him to the hospital as soon as I'm done here."

"Got it," Angel said, heading outside to start his car.

"Come on, you're not working fast enough!" Faith yelled. Xander locked eyes with Buffy for a moment, then glanced over to Faith.

"Come on, Faith," Buffy said, taking the younger Slayer by the arm and backing her away from the table.

"No," Faith said, struggling to get her arm from Buffy's grasp, and finding the elder slayer to have a rock solid grip. Faith looked down at her arm and then up to Buffy.

"Why don't you write down Riley's insurance info," Buffy said, a confident, comforting look in her eyes, "so someone else can take care of that when you get to the hospital, and you can stay with Riley."

Faith looked over to where Xander was doing his best to treat Riley, then looked back to Buffy and nodded very slowly.

Xander pulled some more clean gauze from the first aid kit and drenched it in the water, wincing as the heat burned his hand. After fully cleaning the wound, he lay both hands on Riley's wound and concentrated. Xander's hands glowed white for almost ten seconds, before Xander finally released the wound.

"Okay," Xander said, taking a deep breath to steady himself, before leaning over and picking Riley up. "Let's go."

As Faith led Xander towards the door, Spike suddenly crashed through the window of the Magic Box, shattering the glass and knocking Faith over.

"What the hell?" Buffy asked.

"Vampires, about twenty of 'em," Spike said with a grin as he pushed himself to his feet and brushed glass off of his duster. "Followed a trail of blood here." Spike walked over and pulled an axe off the wall and hefted it in his hands. "This'll do." With that, Spike jumped back out the window.

Exchanging a quick look, the rest of the Scoobies moved into action.

"Take him," Xander said to Faith, and holding Riley out towards her.

"But, the vam—"she started, looking outside.

"We'll take care of it," Xander said. "Go."

Faith looked in his eyes, then nodded and took Riley from him.

Xander turned and caught a stake that Buffy tossed to him. "We'll clear you a path to Angel's car."

"Thank you," Faith said.

Xander nodded and slammed the door open, to find Angel, Spike, Pike, the twenty vampires previously referred to, and approximately thirty Initiative soldiers picking off vampires as best they could.

"Uh. . . " Buffy said.

"Yeah," Xander said as vampires began dropping across the street.

"Faith, there's a clear path," Buffy said.

"I can drive if you want," Xander said as Buffy slipped to his left, pulled a vampire to the ground and staked it, then entered the fracas for some more action.

"No," Faith said as she slid Riley into Angel's back seat. "I can do it."

Xander nodded. "Angel! We need your keys."

"A little busy!" Angel yelled as he slammed his stake into the chest of a vampire, dusting it.

"There's like four of them left," Xander muttered. "What a wuss."

Angel turned around, ripped his keys out of his pocket and pegged them at Xander's head, before turning back and pounding on another vampire.

Xander's hand shot up and snatched the keys out of the air before they hit his head and tossed them to Faith. "We'll join you when we can," Xander said, closing the car door as Faith slid inside.

Faith nodded at Xander, started the car and sped off towards the hospital, forcing Initiative soldiers to scatter from her path. As the fighting died down and Buffy dusted the last of the vampires, Angel turned to see Xander standing there, heading towards the Initiative soldiers.

"Xander!" he yelled.

"What?" Xander asked, turning around.

"You let Faith drive my car?"

"I let Faith drive my car, what's the big deal?" Xander asked.

"Yeah, but your car sucks," Angel said.

Xander made a rude hand gesture and headed back towards the soldiers. "Who's in charge here?"

"I am," one of them said, stepping forward and extending his hand. "Commander Graham Miller."

"Thanks for the help," Xander said, his body still tensed. "I don't suppose you had any uh. . . other orders."

"Uh, truth is," Graham said, "we're not exactly under strict orders right now."

"Oh?" Xander asked.

"We were looking for Commander Finn and some of our other guys," Graham said.

"So many of you?" Xander asked.

"We uh. . . have a couple questions."

"Just two?" Buffy asked. "Pike, could you go retrieve our guest?"

"Sure thing, Buff," Pike said before heading into the Magic Box.

"Spike, go with him," Buffy said.

"What? Why?" Spike asked.

"All these soldiers, here, looks like at any minute one of them could just pop one off on you. . . which, actually? Stick around, now that I think about it," she said.

Spike rolled his eyes at her and followed Pike inside.

"What is it you want with Riley, exactly?" Xander asked.

"Like I said, just to talk," Graham said.

"Well, he's not here. But we do have someone else you can talk to," Buffy said.

"Sir," Davis said, saluting as he exited the shop.

"Lieutenant Davis," Graham said, snapping off a responding salute. "What is your situation?"

"Sir, I and nine other men were ordered by Professor Walsh to find and terminate the civilians known as the 'Scooby Gang'," Davis said.

"Terminate?" Graham asked, his eyes wide with shock.

"Yes, sir," Davis said. "While following through with these orders, we were –"

"No need for formality, John," Graham said. "Just tell me what happened."

"Sir, they kicked our ass. Each and every one of us was incapacitated in less than a minute."

"Where are the rest?"

"Uhh. . . " Davis looked to Buffy.

"They're in my basement," Buffy said. "One of them shot my sister and my Watcher. He's being kept unconscious for the most part, except to give him some food and water. The rest are awake but tied up."

Graham looked at her for a moment before nodding. "Why did you let him loose?"

"Riley pegged him as the leader," Xander said. "And he agreed to help us, so here we are."

"Okay. Do you know where Commander Finn is?"

"On his way to the hospital," Xander said. "The blood trail these vamps followed was his."

"His blood? Is he okay?"

"He will be," Xander said. "I got the bleeding stopped and all that, he's lost a lot of blood, but he'll be okay."

"Good," Graham said. "Now what's all this about Walsh?"

"Wait," Xander said, holding up a hand. "There's like thirty of you here. I'm no mathematician, but that's a significant percentage of the entire squad."

"Yes," Graham said. "We were all ordered out by Walsh. With all the activity recently, she wanted us to be on full alert. We decided on our own to look for Riley and the others. I'll have most of the rest of my guys patrol. Can I go see your basement?"

"No," Buffy said. "Go see Riley. If he says yes, then you can see my basement."

"Fair enough," Graham said.

"Don't come back unless you have Riley's okay, either," Buffy said. "Thanks for your help out here, but we still don't trust you guys."

Graham nodded, then went to talk to his troops. Buffy, Xander and Angel headed back inside.

"Did you guys have fun lollygagging?" Willow asked impatiently without looking up from her book. "Cuz we have work to do."

Buffy and Xander rolled their eyes and sat down to get to work.

* * * * *

"Heya kiddo," Faith said from the doorway.

"Faith, hi," Dawn said as Giles and Joyce turned to see the new entrant.

"Is everything all right?" Joyce asked, noting the redness around Faith's eyes and the blood on her clothes.

"It's gonna be, yeah. Ri got into a bit of a jam and needs a few pints. Should be five by five, quick as you please."

"What happened?" Dawn asked.

"Demon stuck him, and he dragged himself back to the Box. Xan healed him up pretty good, but he lost a good bit of blood. He's tough, though. Just needs some rest."

"Yes, it sounds as though he'll just be fine," Giles said, making as though to rise from his chair. "Would you like to sit?"

Faith shook her head. "How's things in here?" she asked, hugging her arms to herself.

"I feel fine since Xander worked his mojo," Dawn said. "But the stupid doctors won't let me leave until tomorrow. Do you wanna see my scar?" she asked hopefully.

"Sure," Faith said, kicking away from the door and entering the room further. Dawn pulled her gown aside and showed Faith the small puncture wound where the bullet had entered her. "Wicked," she said. "Just don't get too many of those, or your mom here'll have a fit."

"I already had a fit," Joyce said, squeezing Dawn's hand.

"How are things coming with the research?" Giles asked.

Faith shook her head. "Nothin' so far, boss. There's some spells Red's been looking at, but nothing that jumps out and says 'beat the big bad cyborg demon man.'"

"I'm sure you guys will find a way," Dawn said. "You always do."

"Yeah," Faith said. "We do. Though, this guys a bit tougher than normal."

"I suppose he must be," Joyce said. "I haven't seen anybody this worried since graduation."

"Yeah," Dawn said. "It's too bad you guys can't just, like, multiply your powers. Then you could take this guy no problem."

Giles looked up at Dawn. "Multiply their powers. . . oh dear lord," he said.

"What?" Faith asked.

Giles handed his keys to Joyce before giving her a peck on the cheek and standing up.

"Come, Faith," he said, grabbing the younger Slayer and dragging her from the room. "This could be the key to everything."

Dawn and Joyce looked at each other and shrugged.

----------

End Chapter 28