"How is she?" the First asked and watched as the bringers tied Buffy down on a big marble throne they had placed in front of the seal.

"Her vitals are strong," Andrew said after checking her pulse. "The freezing process didn't harm her, but she might catch a cold with the wet clothes on her."

"She's a slayer," Spike exclaimed with an evil smile. "She can stand the cold."

"Good," the First said and turned to Spike and Andrew. "You two make sure that no one will be able to penetrate our defense." Both nodded at that and left the basement, leaving the First and Amy alone. "You prepare everything we need for the ritual. I'll join you in a few minutes."

"Yes mistress," Amy replied and also left the basement.

After all of her minions left, the First focused its sole attention and the awakening slayer. "Hello Buffy. How are you?"

"C....old," Buffy stammered out. After a few seconds she stopped shivering and opened her eyes slightly, only to be greated by her own immage. "What have you done to Spike?" she finally asked.

"That's all you have to say? I mean, we captured you, tied you up here and all that you can think of is the vampire," the First asked with a raised eyebrow and shook its head. "Your obsession with souled vampires is really sick, even from my point of view. Maybe you should choose some professional help," it mused. "But on second thought, there won't be anyone left who could help you after I'm done with the world."

"What have you done to him," Buffy demanded again, more urgently this time.

"Don't worry blondie," the First said after a few seconds. "Everything will be explained to you in due time. But we have some things to take care of before. So, be a bit more patient, okay?"

Before Buffy could say anything else, the First had already vanished, leaving her completely alone. Finally she opened her eyes completly and took in her suroundings, realising with fear where she was.

*****

Xander and Wood had just finished unloading the last of the cardboard boxes they had liberated from the police station.

"That's the last of them?" Wood asked and placed the last box next to the other ones they had already unloaded onto the sidewalk.

"Yep," Xander replied and closed the trunk of the SUV. "That's all of them."

"So, what are we going to do know?"

"First we check up with Giles," Xander said and walked in the direction of the mansion's front doors.

"And what about the boxes?"

"We'll leave them here for the moment", Xander replied with a shrug. "It's not like there is someone here who would steal that stuff."

Xander opened the mansion's door, only to find the house practically alive with movement. The SITs were busy cleaning out the main rooms of the mansion, while Giles stood in the middle of the chaos, speaking on his cell phone.

"He is here Faith. Wait a second," Giles spoke into the phone and walked up to the other two men.

"Hi Giles," Xander greeted the older man. "How are you guys doing here?"

"We're nearly finished cleaning out the main rooms," the watcher replied qith a shrug. "That is about everything we are able to do right now. I have Faith on the phone. She wants to talk to you," he said and handed the phone over to Xander.

"Faith?" Xander asked once he had the cell phone in his hand

"Hey X-Man," came the instant reply from the dark slayer. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Xander returned. "Any success with your supply mission?"

"We had a few problems at the beginning," Faith admitted. "Some jerks already looted most of the supermarkets in town. But they left the walmart at the City limits untouched. We have everything here that you wanted. Food, camping stuff."

"I just realised something," Xander exclaimed. "Can you fit all that stuff into my car?"

"Nah, that's not a problem. I hotwired a van that still stood in the parking lot."

"Okay. Do me a favour. Check the gun stores on your way back here. The owners probably took most of their stuff with them when they left the city. But maybe they left some stuff behind. Crossbows, knives, the stuff the SITs are familar with."

"You got it X. Okay, I gotta go," she said and ended the connection.

Xander gave Giles his cell phone back. "I don't suppose that Angel left some of his weapons behind?" The shake of the watcher's head confirmed his question. "Damn. We're really lacking in the weapons department."

"We could use some of the stuff that I have in my Office," Wood proposed after a few seconds.

"You got some weapons in your Office?" Xander asked suprised. "How many?"

Wood counted mentally."A dozen knives, two or three short swords and a few crossbow pistols."

Xander nodded. "Not much but its a good start."

"Can't we use the weapons Buffy kept in her house?" Giles asked

"Maybe," Xander mused and rubbed his jaw. "But I don't want to face Buffy or Spike right now. That could cause quite some trouble," he mused and thought about his possibilities. "Okay, that'she plan. Wood and I will get his weapons from the office. That and the stuff Faith hopefully will dig up should be enough to equip the Sits properly: When everything fails, we can still raid Buffy's arsenal."

Both men nodded. "Okay. Giles, take a few of the SITs. We left some boxes in front of the mansion."

"God Xander," Giles groanded. "What did you do this time?"

"We raided the police station," Xander replied, trying keep his face as straight as possible.

"Xander," Giles said and leaned close, so none of the nearby Potentials could hear him. "I don't think that it's a good idea to put a gun in the hand of one of those girls. They justfinished some basic training with mellee weapons."

"That's good to know Giles, because the boxes aren't loaded with guns," Xander explained and walked in the direction of the front door. "The police took all the dangerous stuff with them when the left the town. But they left some other stuff behind," he said and punched the watcher slightly on the arm. "You'll see."

Giles still shook his head as Xander and Wood left the mansion. "Kennedy," he finally called out.

*****

After Buffy had regained some feeling in her legs and arms, she tried her hardest to break the ropes that held her in place. The Bringers had made a pretty good job of tying her down. She had nearly no room to move her hands and feet and no matter how hard she pulled, she couldn't free her hands.

"Don't waste your time," came suddenly Spike's voice from the other side of the room. Buffy briefly turned her head to look at the vampire. "Amy had these ropes enchanted. They pretty much neutralize your slayer's strength," he explained and sat down beside her.

"Fuck you," Buffy snapped at him.

Spike chuckled at that. "So. The boss said you wanted someone to talk to."

"Yeah," Buffy muttered. "I'd really like to know when you betrayed me."

"You're taking it better than I thought," the vampire exclaimed with a chuckle and lit himself a cigarette. "This whole plan has been going on for a few years now." At Buffy's shocked look, his smile grew even wider. "Three years to be exact. Three long years where I had to play the newly reformed good guy. You see, the First recruited me shortly after the ADAM debacle. It was pretty impressed, that I nearly managed to split your group up. It wanted me to do it again, only this time with a bit more backup and success. But I had to earn your trust first. So I started helping you regulary. Staking a vamp here, rescuing one of your friends there. All sacrifices for the greater good."

Buffy leaned back and listened to Spike's tale as he went on-

"And after while it worked," the vampire stated with pride. "You trusted me. You considered me an ally, or at best a love sick puppy that followed you around. That went one for the whole year. Of course there had to be certain key events that had to happen in specific order so the First's plan could actually work."

"Events?" Buffy asked shocked.

"Oh, not what you think," Spike waved off. "We had nothing to do with your mother's death. For once nature played for our side. No, the important thing that had to happen was your death."

*****

"How many?" Xander finally asked.

"I've counted more than fifty right now," Wood replied behind his pair of binoculars. They had arrived at the highshool, only to find it heavily guraded by the First's bringers. The plan to retrieve Robin's weapons was immediatly forgotten. Instead they had taken position on the roof of one of the nearby buildings. The principal was currently observing the school ground with one of the night vision binoculars Xander had given him. "About ten on the roof, twenty at the front entrance and another twenty behind the windows of the second and first floor."

Xander nodded. "Let's double that number to cover the other side of the building," he calculated. "I'd say between eighty and one hundred bringers."

"Fuck. Outnumber us two to one," Wood cursed under his breath. „What the hell are they doing here?"

"There's only one thing I could think off."

"The seal," Robin realised. "Damn. I knew that we shouldn't have left it unprotected."

"Too late to worry about spilt milk," Xander exclaimed and retrieved his cell phone from his pocket. "Giles, it's me," he muttered into the phone. "We've got trouble brewing. The First and its cronies have taken over the highschool."

Xander listened for a few seconds. "Yeah, I know. Bad news. Look, Robin and I'll stay here and see if we can find anything out, okay? By the way, is Faith already back?" He nodded at Giles answer. "Good. I want her and Willow to go on a little mission. Remember the church we told you about? The one where the First was holding its little meeting? I want the two to pay it another visit and see if Willow catches any weird vibes." He waited again for the watcher's answer. "It's just a feeling Giles, but I want to be sure about this. Okay, see ya back at the mansion."

"What's important about the church," Wood asked a moment later.

"Don't know," Xander admitted. "Like I told Giles it's only a feeling."

*****

Despite Buffy's shocked look, Spike continued. "You know, the First ist not that good with the destiny crap. But it can pinpoint certain key events that are going to happen. It knew that you would lose the fight against Glory, that's why it told her where she could find her key. And it knew that your witch would resurrect you after your death. Those were the important things."

"You mean that everything I went through only happened because the First had some kind of master plan in the background?" Buffy spat out angrily.

"You got it," Spike told her with a cruel smile. If the ropes hadn't held her in place, Buffy would have leaped at the vampire and punched that self- satisfied smirk off his face. But instead she had to listen as Spike went on. "Anyway, the important thing wasn't that you died. More important was where you went after your death. But for you to understand that, I have to give a bit of backround info about the First."

"You see, a few millenias ago the First was a really big shot in hell. But at one step or another it pissed of the wrong people," Spike explained. "Bottom line is, that it was banished from Hell and forced to exist from now on on Earth. Now, instead of brooding about the unfairness of all this, it began its plan to take over its new home. And so it created the first vampires, the TurokHahn, as foot soldiers for its army."

"Now, the big boss down there was even more pissed now, cause if the First managed to conquer earth it would made him look bad. So he decided to do something about it. He locked the First away, together with its troops in this giant cave, surrounded by an indestructible energy field that was generated by the seal," Spike told her, but noted that Buffy was only mildly interested. "Okay, back to the why you had to die issue. You see, Satan has a real sick sense of humor. The only way to open the seal is a certain type of energy. The one that only exists in heaven." At that revelation Buffy looked wide eyed at the vampire. "Yes I think you finally got it," he exclaimed with a smile.

"You mean when I died....," she stammered out. "And when I came back....."

"That's it pet," Spike told her. "You're pratically charged up with heaven's energy. That was also the reason I could hit while my chip was still in my head. Do you undestand it now? Your sister isn't the only 'Key' around here. Your blood will open the seal and let the First escape from its prison."

"Ah, but I'm still not finished," Spike stated and brough Buffy out of her shocked state. "Your track record shows that you're not easily defeated. That's why the First wanted me to infiltrate your crew. You were all lonely and depressed after your return and blamed your friends that they took you from heaven. And I was the only one you could confide in."

"And I took advantage of that trust at every possible moment to plunge a wedge between you and your friends. And our 'relationship' was just another way to reach that goal," he explained, but had to sigh. "But slowly and steadily you managed to pull yourself out of the hole you dug yourself in, which lead to a last desperate attempt to return you to the darkside," he said and looked at her. "Rape is such an ugly word."

"The First was pretty angry with me that it didn't work out as planned.But there was one last trump card that we could play. So I went to Africa to get my 'soul' back. The catch line is that I didn't get my soul back. The demon cast a pretty effective illusion spell on me, that would fool any kind of detection spell your witch could throw my way."

"Only thing I had to do now was to play the poor tortured soul that was controlled by the bad First Evil to get back into your good graces. And so the game was on again. Only this time we played it a bit harder. We put the responsibility of fighting a war on your schoulders. And the responsibility of protecting all the girls whose watchers we killed. It was only a matter of time before you would snap and your friends would turn against you."

"You got," Spike said and looked at his watch. "Fifteen hours left to live. That's the time Amy need to perform the ritual. And then I'll personally cut you open, using your blood to free the First. I have to congratulate you. You single handedly managed to doom this whole planet."

"Spike," Buffy replied with clenched teeth, barely containing her anger. "Pray that I won't be able to escape. Cause there won't be a place on the whole planet where you could hide from me."

"That's a nice threat luv," Spike told her with a smile. "But reality is, that you won't get out of here. And your friends don't know that you're here. You're finally all alone. And you'll die alone," he said and lit another cigarette and placed it between Buffy's lips."You should try it. Not like you'll make that many new experiences in your life."

Buffy paid close attention as the vampire left the room. When he had finally closed the door behind him, she instantly went to work. She leaned over to the rope that tied her right arm to the arm rest and brought the tip of the cigarette closer to the rope. Thankfully, Amy had chosen the proably cheapiest rope she could find. It took her only half a minute to free her arm. Two more minutes later she was a completly free slayer again and carefully sneaked in the direction of the door.

*****

"Maybe we should go," Wood muttered.

"Let's wait another few minutes," Xander interjected. "Maybe we'll catch something useful."

"Yeah, like a cold," the principal replied sarcastically, but continued observing the school grounds. "It doesn't look like ....wait something's happening down there."

*****

"Luckily none of them is patroling the hallways,"Buffy thought as she sprinted in the general direction of the front entrance. But she already could see the the shapes of the bringers through one of the door's windows.

She quickened her pace and kicked the double doors open, hitting five unlucky Bringer that had stood next to door and knocked them out. That left her and the dozen remaining Bringers that still stood between her and freedom.

But Buffy had actually had to frown. None of the First's minions made a move to attack her, they merely formed a semi circle around her.

"Oh yeah," Buffy exclaimed with sudden realization. "You're not allowed to kill me yet. Well, your bad," she said and kicked the closest Bringer hard in the head, knocking him out.

Before one of the remaining Bringers could react, Buffy had already sommersaulted over their heads and continued her run away from the school grounds.

*****

"Oh no," Spike muttered from his position on the second floor. "You won't get away that easily."

Slowly he lifted the rifle he had in his arms and pointed it at the fleeing slayer. When he had her in the middle of his scope he pressed the trigger.

*****

Buffy felt only a small sting when the tranquilizer dart hit her in the back. But it almost instantly took effect. He movements became slower and less coordinated until she finally slumped to the ground.

A few seconds later the Bringers had caught up with her.

*****

"Come on," Wood urged, but Xander held the other man back. "We have to help her," he said and motioned at Buffy's unconsciousnes body. They had instantly left their position on the roof when Wood had spotted Buffy. But they were already too late. By the time they were outside the house, the Bringers had carried Buffy already halfway back to the school.

"Forget it," Xander exclaimed, equally pissed about the situation. "Too many bringers."

"We can't just leave her in their hands," Wood protested. "No one deserves that."

"We won't," Xander promised. "But we wouldn't be doing Buffy a favor when we get ourselves killed."

"Damn," Robin exclaimed and looked again in the direction of the Bringers. But what he spotted made his blood boil. "Spike," he spat, making the name sound like a terrible curse.

"Where?" Xander said and moved his head in the same direction. Finally he was able to spot the bleached blonde vampire among the group of Bringers. "That lousy motherfucker," he cursed.

"What are we going to do now?" Robin asked after a few seconds.

"Can't do anything about it right now," Xander admitted angrily. "Come on. Let's get back to the mansion. The rest of the guys have to know about about this. But I can already tell, this is a brand new level of bad."