Chapter 3
Rex was having doubts about signing on to the Watchers Council Retrieval Team. He didn't like the way they treated the Slayers, like they were Slayers, and not people. In the Council's view, the Slayers were expendable, and Rex didn't think that people's lives should be toyed with like that. He and Daltone were sitting in the warehouse, in the section made for recreational activities. When Rex had first come to Sunnydale, he had felt something wrong with the place, and he knew that it was affecting him. So far, the only person that Rex had met from the Watchers Council was Daltone, and that was only because in Rex's eyes, Daltone was a lot like him.
"Can ya just hear me out. This is gonna sound crazy, but I just want ya to hear me out," Rex said to Daltone.
"Sure, whatever," Daltone replied.
"Okay. Right… When I first came onto your team, I felt something go through me, and I've been feeling different ever since. I don't know what it is, but somethin's different 'bout me," Rex said, while looking to Daltone for answers. He just saw a blank face. "And, somethin else I noticed. From what I know about the Slayers, they should be flooring us, instead the others on the Retrieval Team can almost match them blow-for-blow."
"It's magick… Whenever the Retrieval team goes on a dangerous mission, someone up there does some kind of mojo on us to make us stronger, faster, and all that," Daltone said.
"Woah-woah-woah. Slow down… We been put under some kind of spell?" Rex asked.
"Yeah. I don't like it, but there's nothing I can do about it," Daltone said. "And, everyone else matching the Slayers blow for blow. It's only experience. I mean, the magick that the big fellas do to us increases our speed and fitness and strength, but being able to block and hit the Slayers is only due to experience… I mean, I've been in this team for eleven years now, and some of the others are approaching fifteen years and such," Daltone explained.
"Magick. Never trust Magick. Something's always going to go wrong," Rex said bluntly. "I learned that the hard way." They both sat there for a while, thinking.
"Hey, you going to see the trial?" Daltone asked.
"What trial?" Rex asked.
"The trial? Don't you know? They took one of the Slayer's friends. The Witch. She destroyed the essences of a lot of Slayers on the Astral planes in a fit of rage. The Council's going to use Magick to get into her brain, and look at what happened, and then judge on the most appropriate course of action," Daltone explained.
"But. What. This… I guess I could come. See what's going on," Rex replied. "How do they know she destroyed things in the astral planes? I mean, how'd they find out?" Rex asked after a while.
"I have no idea," Daltone replied.
In the time before the trial, Rex made his way over to the computers in the warehouse to read up on the Witch that the Council had detained. He wanted to know the background of the person before having to form an opinion about her. As he read over the files, he learn that over the last couple of years, the shy girl that had occasionally helped Buffy out, was now a powerful Witch, and gay. He saw the girl she was in love with, and he recognised her from the hospital, only after briefly glimpsing at her. Rex was slightly put off by the subject and found something else to do.
When Buffy woke up, she was terribly disoriented. Slowly as the memories came back to her, she remembered why she had gone to the warehouse. She was standing up and when she tried to move, she noticed that her hands and feet were chained to the wall. She couldn't see anyone around except two people sitting in the middle of the large room she was in. It had mats on the floor and various exercise machines around the room. She then noticed that it was only a section in a large warehouse. It was then Buffy realised that she was in the Council's main headquarters in Sunnydale. She looked back to the two men and thought about calling out to them, but she quickly dismissed the idea.
The rest of the Scooby gang arrived at the warehouses a bit after Buffy, having to drive and go on Dawn's directions. They had all split up and began searching the thirteen warehouses spread out across the area. Tara was getting worried. It had already been an hour since Tara and Xander began searching, and they didn't find anything, only empty warehouses. As far as Tara could tell there was no Council in the area, but she knew that, that wasn't true.
"The others must have found them by now," Tara said to Xander. "Come on, let's go back to the cars and see if they're there." Xander, knowing that they had already searched four warehouses by themselves knew that Tara was right. There was no sign of anyone in the area they had searched, and there looked to be only abandoned warehouses left for them to search.
When they arrived back at the car, everyone was waiting there for them. Tara was disappointed to see that they hadn't found anything.
"Tara, can't you sense Willow or something with all your Witchy powers?" Anya asked.
"I tried to sense her as soon as we got here, but there's something interfering… It's like, there's something stopping me," Tara explained.
"Magickal?" Giles asked.
"N-no, something else. I don't need magick to sense Willow," Tara replied. Giles asked everyone which warehouses they searched, and then realised that there was only three left, and two looked to be abandoned.
"That's the warehouse we want," Giles said while pointing to the nearest one.
"What. We didn't search the nearest warehouse to the car?" Xander asked. "That'd be right."
They all walked towards the warehouse, but then Giles stopped in his tracks and Anya bumped into him.
"What?" Anya asked.
"I-I can't move," Giles replied.
"Huh?" Dawn asked.
"I-I can't move. I'm stuck in place," Giles said, still not moving.
"Can you breathe?" Dawn asked.
"Yes, I can breathe, and talk. O-obviously," Giles replied.
"Come on, I'll get you out," Xander said while moving to Giles's side. He reached over to Giles's arm, but then froze. "Uh-oh."
"What?" Anya asked.
"I can't move either," Xander said, urgently. He tried to flail his arms around, but they just hung in mid air.
"How can that be?" Dawn and Anya asked in unison.
"Magick," Tara simply replied. "This is the place. It's protected by Magick."
"Oh. Great. Magick," Xander said.
"Can you get them out?" Anya asked urgently. "I can't have Xander unless you get them out."
"I-I'll try," Tara replied. She closed her eyes and used her senses to feel her surroundings, and what was wrong with them. When she visualised the warehouse, she saw half a sphere surrounding it. Gently, she poked it with her power, and Tara let out a little cry as the sphere collapsed. She opened her eyes to see everyone but Giles and Xander looking at her urgently.
"What's wrong?" Anya asked. Tara just looked at her in confusion. "You made a noise."
"Oh. It's just that, I was surprised, the sphere collapsed easily. I just poked it," Tara replied. She got confused looks from Anya and Dawn. She realised that, that made no sense to them. "I was surprised because I made the 'stay in one place' thing go away easily."
"Oh!" Anya exclaimed. She looked to Xander and Giles who were still stuck in place. "Then why can't Xander and Giles move?"
"Um-Ah-Oh-Ah I don't know," Tara replied. She had a quick thought. "When all else fails; poke it," she said to Dawn and Anya. She still saw that Dawn and Anya were confused. Tara walked over to Xander and Giles, and she gently poked Giles in the back with her index finger. He didn't move, and she did it again, harder this time. She watched as he fell face first onto the ground. Tara let out a loud giggle as Giles turned around and looked up at her. She started to turn towards Xander, but Anya rushed up and pushed Xander hard before Tara had the time to poke him.
"I always wanted to do that," Anya said with a wide grin on her face.
"Isn't she just full of love and affection," Xander said from the ground. Tara offered her hand to Giles to help him up.
Once they had all got back on their feet, they moved towards the Warehouse.
"Willow's in there. I can feel it," Tara said to no one in particular. They opened the small door quietly, and snuck inside. Tara couldn't believe what she was seeing. They were standing in something that resembled a room inside the warehouse, and as Tara looked up, she saw that the walls were actually removable walls as they didn't go anywhere near the ceiling. She followed Giles, who was moving towards the highest concentration of noise.
Faith snuck into the warehouse from a small door around the back. She was thankful that the disc that the Assassin had given her had worked. She was surprised to find that there was just about no one around in the warehouse, and then she noticed the soft noise of a crowd talking at once. She gathered that they were all at a meeting of some kind, and she slowly walked towards the noise. She peeked through a doorway to a large communal area, where it looked like everyone in the warehouse was sitting. She knew that if she attacked them she wasn't going to walk away, and to Faith, that was not a problem. She had lost her concentration and was just about to attack when she saw some of the Scoobies walk in from a door on her right. She looked at them, and then looked at what they were all staring at. Up on a stage, was Willow, strapped to a chair and drugged. There was some kind thing next to her, with its hand on Willow's head. The thing next to Willow looked like a person, but was extremely skinny, and had almost pure white skin. Faith didn't know what it was, but when it opened its eyes, they were completely blue. There was no iris or nothing, just blue.
Tara looked up at the sight before her, unable to move. She saw Willow strapped to a chair, and some kind of thing next to her, with one hand on Willow's head, and another on something else that Tara couldn't describe. She looked closer at the thing. It was large with huge long, arms and it had light blue skin. She was startled as images appeared on a screen beside the demon, and Tara immediately realised that it was from their astral. She looked at the screen. She watched from Willow's point of view as the astral took place, and for some unknown reason, Tara could barely move. She looked over at her friends and saw that they were staring, spellbound at the screen as well. Tara hadn't seen the next bit, she had fallen unconscious while in the astral. She was amazed, and at the same time, terrified of what she saw. She saw Willow, with her pupils completely black, destroying everything around her, in an effort to protect Tara. Tara realised in shock that there were hardly any demons around, only white spirits fighting the demons. Tara then realised what that thing was there to do. It was editing Willow's memory as it put it up on the screen. Tara herself remembered that the demons out numbered the Slayers' Spirits at least twenty to one, but on the picture, the Slayers out numbered the demons. She had heard Willow talk about what she had done, but she never knew the severity of it. She watched in pure awe as the landscape shifted, and then as Willow, tears running down her face, ripped a hole in the air and dragged Tara through it. Tara still couldn't move. She was amazed that no one had noticed her and the other Scoobies yet. A voice came out of no where and said,
"All those that agree to the sentence, raise your hand," it said. Tara watched as just about everyone raised their hands. "Then, it is agreed that you, as members of the Watchers Council, agree that this Witch, murdered the souls of Slayers on the astral planes, and is sentenced to…" the voice began.
"Bloody hell! Wait a minute," Tara heard someone shout, and was surprised to hear an Australian accent. "Why the hell is this girl guilty of anything? She was protecting her friend. Uh I-I mean, girlfriend," the man said.
"She is to be executed," the voice said. Pure fear spread throughout Tara's body.
Did I just hear that right? Did it say executed? Yes it did. Willow!' Tara thought. She felt her heart had stop and her limbs go numb. She didn't realise that she had shouted Willow's name somewhere in all the confusion. Adrenalin coursed through her body and in an instant she was able to move. She started to run towards Willow, but she was stopped by a big man who shoved her back.
"What are they doing here," she heard a voice shout.
"Hold them back," another voice shouted.
"Take them away, to detention," the voice that came from no where said. She looked in fear as the thing up next to Willow on the stage raised a gun in its hand. To Tara, everything disappeared, and the only thing in the world was Willow. She could see that Willow was waking up, and Tara saw Willow immediately look at the gun the thing was holding. Tara tried to run towards Willow, but people were holding her back. Tara snapped out of it when she saw something take down the thing next to Willow. She heard a sickening sound and saw the thing's head roll down off the stage. She looked up and saw Faith standing at the front of the stage. All eyes turned to her
"Come on people! Let's dance," Faith said, right before jumping off the stage and into the nearest Council members. Tara looked back to Willow, who had just looked at Tara.
"Tara!" she heard Willow shout.
"Willow. Buffy's here, somewhere. Find her!" Tara projected into Willow's mind.
"But? What's happening? Tara!" she heard back.
"Go. Find Buffy. She'll rescue us," Tara said back to Willow. She watched as Willow slowly got up and stumbled around on stage, still feeling the effects of the drugs that the Council had given her. "Willow… I love you," Tara said to Willow, just before she exited the door nearest to her.
"I love you too, and I'm coming back to rescue you," Tara heard Willow say back. She watched as Willow walked out the door.
Faith was having the time of her life. She enjoyed just going full on at the Council's Assassins. She didn't know if she was going to live or die. It was just pure, utter ferocity and animal instinct. She didn't have to hold back. She had a knife in each hand and was stabbing as many of the Council's Assassins as she could. Since she came back from the coma, she had told herself that she wasn't going to kill any more humans. That whole idea went out the door as soon as the person tied up in Michael's apartment - Faith couldn't remember his name - had said that he was from the Council and that he had killed Michael. Deep down, inside her, Faith was glad that if she died right there, and right then, that she would be remembered by the Scoobies as saving one of their most cherished people.
Willow stumbled around the warehouse, trying to find Buffy. She didn't know if Buffy was in her own fight, or just scouting around. She was extremely surprised when she saw Buffy in chains, tied to the wall.
"Willow! Get me out of these things!" Buffy shouted at her. Willow rushed over to Buffy and was glad that the last of the drugs were wearing off. She looked at Buffy's chains and then stepped back.
"Release," she simply commanded and the manacles around Buffy's wrists and ankles opened.
"Come on. We've got to get out of here!" Buffy said urgently, taking Willow by the hand as she started to run.
"Buffy," Willow simply said. "It's Tara. She and the rest of everyone is over there, and they're being taken away," Willow said urgently, tears starting to well up in her eyes. "You can't let them take her away!"
"I won't Will," Buffy replied. She moved off in the direction that Willow had said.
"Oh, and Buffy?" Willow said while following her. Buffy turned back around and looked at Willow. "Faith's there." Buffy just looked at Willow for a moment, and then kept moving.
Buffy arrived in a giant room, with people everywhere. She looked over to the corner where she something happening, she wasn't sure what, but she saw lots of people falling. She scanned the rest of the room, and while most of the people had left, there were still some in there. She saw Xander, Anya, Tara, Giles and Dawn being dragged towards a door. She was shocked to see that the Assassins beat Giles and Xander down, but was surprised to see that they tried their hardest not to hurt Anya, Tara or Dawn.
"Still some decency left in this organisation," Buffy muttered under her breath as she moved towards them. She went straight for the person that had beat Giles down. She hit him on the shoulder, just hard enough for him to turn around and look at her. She punched his nose as hard as she could, and was satisfied to see blood pouring out of it when she brought her fist back. The man fell to the floor, and everyone else around the Scoobies looked at Buffy.
Rex couldn't believe what was happening. He also couldn't believe that he had joined the Council. He was the one who stood up and protested the red head witch's sentence. As far as he knew, he and Daltone were the only ones who didn't raise their hands when the question was asked. Then, all of a sudden, behind them, were the rest of the red head girl's friends, except for the Slayer, which he knew was locked up. After that, the other Slayer had turned up and all hell broke loose. He was doing nothing. He saw the group that had restrained the Slayer's friends beat down the two males. He knew that it was how the Council did things, but he was disgusted as they started kicking the two when they were on the ground. He just saw them get back up, only for them to be beaten down again. He saw the blonde Slayer then, rushing to help her friends. Rex had some hard decisions to make, and he needed to make them now. He realised that he was looking to his left, and he looked to his right, only to see a man go flying towards the stage. He heard something break as they hit the stage, and he realised that it must have been his back. He didn't want to go anywhere near the dark haired Slayer, because he was almost sure that he would suffer the same fate. He quickly made his way over to the blonde slayer and her friends. The Assassins had taken their attention off the Slayer's friends and put it on the Slayer.
"I'm going to help you. Come on, this way!" Rex said quickly to the Slayer's friends. They all looked at him, and he could immediately tell that they didn't believe him. "Come on! I'll get you out," Rex said to them again while offering a hand out.
"Hey! What are you doing!" he heard from behind him. He turned around and saw an Assassin coming towards him. "You can't let them escape." The man swung his fist at Rex, and Rex ducked under it. He brought his head up, only to see the Assassin's other fist swinging towards his face. He ducked it and while he crouched low, delivered an uppercut to the Assassin's mid section. He bend over, and Rex gave him another uppercut. He grabbed the assassin by the back of the shirt and pushed him towards the crowd that was attacking the Blonde Slayer: Buffy. He was satisfied when he saw the Assassin knock over two other Assassins that were attacking the Slayer. He turned back to the Slayer's friends. "Come on!" he shouted. He saw that the red haired witch's girlfriend was the first to follow him, and was happy when he saw the rest take up her lead. He saw a figure moving towards the back of the group in a crouched position. He saw that it was Daltone. Rex was surprised as he put his back to the group of people he was protecting, and he realised that Daltone must have made the same decision as him. He had acquired a broom handle from somewhere and he hit everyone that came near the doorway. They made their way through the warehouse and went outside.
During the fight with her attackers, Buffy had managed to see two of the Assassins helping her friends out the door, and she was glad that she didn't have to worry about them any more. Before she realised it, she was exhausted, and she was extremely surprised to find that no one was attacking her. They were all lying on the floor, either unconscious or badly injured. Buffy looked around the room, and she saw the fight with Faith still going. Buffy looked towards the door that her friends had gone out, and then back at the mob surrounding Faith. She quickly moved towards them and saw with shock that some of them had stab wounds. She looked at Faith, who looked terrible and worn out. Buffy was surprised that Faith could still fight. She saw Faith look at her, and their eyes locked. Buffy and Faith both understood that this was not the time to fight each other, and that in order to get out of the warehouse, they had to help each other.
Faith wasn't sure about dying any more. She had been set at taking as many of the Assassins as she could with her, before she even started the fight, but she was convinced that she was going to die. However, when she was exhausted, she realised that she didn't want to die any more, and knew that she wouldn't be able to get out of the fight. It was then that she saw Buffy charging through the crowd. She looked at the other Slayer's eyes, and saw that Buffy had come to help Faith out. Together, they fought off the remaining attackers, until the room was full of bodies.
Buffy looked over to Faith, and saw that she was almost about to collapse. She grabbed Faith by the wrist and literally dragged her out of the warehouse.
Rex was looking around frantically. He didn't know where to go, or what to do. He was relieved when one of the girls from the Slayer's group pointed towards two cars that were nearby.
"Come on, we have cars," she said.
Willow had found he way out of the warehouse, and as she looked along it, she realised that it was huge. She noticed that there was lot of junk along the wall of the warehouse. Lots of pieces of wood and steel. She looked down the end and saw two of the Assassins come out of the door, followed by Dawn, helping Giles, and then Anya helping Xander, and then Tara. She realised, even from the distance, that the Assassins were helping her friends. She realised that they were moving towards a group of cars, which she saw were Xander's and Giles'. she started heading towards her friends, when a door burst open almost next to her, and Buffy came out with Faith behind her. Willow saw Buffy and Faith look at each other, and then saw them separate. Faith ran in the opposite direction that Willow was headed. Buffy immediately noticed Willow and started to walk over to her. Willow's eyes went wide as she saw what was happening over Buffy's shoulder. Immediately, she started to sprint towards her friends.
Rex was glad that they were almost at the cars. He was glad that he decided to betray the Watchers Council and help out this group of people. From what he had seen, they were good people, wanting to do the right thing. He was pulled out of his thoughts by a shout behind him, followed by a woman's scream. He spun around and saw Ryan holding a knife to the blonde Witch's throat.
"Stop or I slit her throat!" Ryan screamed. Rex had no idea what to do, and he looked over to Daltone, who looked as clueless as he did.
"Let her go Ryan. These are good people," Rex said to Ryan.
"No. Duty comes first. These people can be used to get the Slayer back," Ryan said. Rex still had no idea what to do.
"Let her go," Rex heard the older man of the group say to Ryan.
"Why. I…" Ryan started. Rex saw him slump and fall over onto the ground. He looked up and expected to see the Blonde Slayer, but instead he saw the red haired witch who called herself Willow standing with a metal pole in her hands.
"No one messes with my girl," she said. He saw Buffy run up behind them and look over the group. He looked back to the two witches.
"You're shaking," the blonde haired witch said.
"So are you," Willow said back to her. He watched as they took each other's hand and kissed each other. He was irked by the thought of the two. He saw Assassins come running out of the doors to the warehouse. He was just about to say something when the blonde Slayer kicked in. He saw her grab Willow's hand.
"Smooch later. Run now!" Buffy said while dragging Willow from her partner. "You. Come with me," Buffy said while looking at Rex. "Meet up at the Magic Box," Buffy said to the rest of her group. He watched the Slayer and Willow run away, and he ran after them. He realised the plan. Buffy would run away, and the rest would use the cars. He knew that there were too many people to fit in the cars, even if they jammed them in.
Rex was having doubts about signing on to the Watchers Council Retrieval Team. He didn't like the way they treated the Slayers, like they were Slayers, and not people. In the Council's view, the Slayers were expendable, and Rex didn't think that people's lives should be toyed with like that. He and Daltone were sitting in the warehouse, in the section made for recreational activities. When Rex had first come to Sunnydale, he had felt something wrong with the place, and he knew that it was affecting him. So far, the only person that Rex had met from the Watchers Council was Daltone, and that was only because in Rex's eyes, Daltone was a lot like him.
"Can ya just hear me out. This is gonna sound crazy, but I just want ya to hear me out," Rex said to Daltone.
"Sure, whatever," Daltone replied.
"Okay. Right… When I first came onto your team, I felt something go through me, and I've been feeling different ever since. I don't know what it is, but somethin's different 'bout me," Rex said, while looking to Daltone for answers. He just saw a blank face. "And, somethin else I noticed. From what I know about the Slayers, they should be flooring us, instead the others on the Retrieval Team can almost match them blow-for-blow."
"It's magick… Whenever the Retrieval team goes on a dangerous mission, someone up there does some kind of mojo on us to make us stronger, faster, and all that," Daltone said.
"Woah-woah-woah. Slow down… We been put under some kind of spell?" Rex asked.
"Yeah. I don't like it, but there's nothing I can do about it," Daltone said. "And, everyone else matching the Slayers blow for blow. It's only experience. I mean, the magick that the big fellas do to us increases our speed and fitness and strength, but being able to block and hit the Slayers is only due to experience… I mean, I've been in this team for eleven years now, and some of the others are approaching fifteen years and such," Daltone explained.
"Magick. Never trust Magick. Something's always going to go wrong," Rex said bluntly. "I learned that the hard way." They both sat there for a while, thinking.
"Hey, you going to see the trial?" Daltone asked.
"What trial?" Rex asked.
"The trial? Don't you know? They took one of the Slayer's friends. The Witch. She destroyed the essences of a lot of Slayers on the Astral planes in a fit of rage. The Council's going to use Magick to get into her brain, and look at what happened, and then judge on the most appropriate course of action," Daltone explained.
"But. What. This… I guess I could come. See what's going on," Rex replied. "How do they know she destroyed things in the astral planes? I mean, how'd they find out?" Rex asked after a while.
"I have no idea," Daltone replied.
In the time before the trial, Rex made his way over to the computers in the warehouse to read up on the Witch that the Council had detained. He wanted to know the background of the person before having to form an opinion about her. As he read over the files, he learn that over the last couple of years, the shy girl that had occasionally helped Buffy out, was now a powerful Witch, and gay. He saw the girl she was in love with, and he recognised her from the hospital, only after briefly glimpsing at her. Rex was slightly put off by the subject and found something else to do.
When Buffy woke up, she was terribly disoriented. Slowly as the memories came back to her, she remembered why she had gone to the warehouse. She was standing up and when she tried to move, she noticed that her hands and feet were chained to the wall. She couldn't see anyone around except two people sitting in the middle of the large room she was in. It had mats on the floor and various exercise machines around the room. She then noticed that it was only a section in a large warehouse. It was then Buffy realised that she was in the Council's main headquarters in Sunnydale. She looked back to the two men and thought about calling out to them, but she quickly dismissed the idea.
The rest of the Scooby gang arrived at the warehouses a bit after Buffy, having to drive and go on Dawn's directions. They had all split up and began searching the thirteen warehouses spread out across the area. Tara was getting worried. It had already been an hour since Tara and Xander began searching, and they didn't find anything, only empty warehouses. As far as Tara could tell there was no Council in the area, but she knew that, that wasn't true.
"The others must have found them by now," Tara said to Xander. "Come on, let's go back to the cars and see if they're there." Xander, knowing that they had already searched four warehouses by themselves knew that Tara was right. There was no sign of anyone in the area they had searched, and there looked to be only abandoned warehouses left for them to search.
When they arrived back at the car, everyone was waiting there for them. Tara was disappointed to see that they hadn't found anything.
"Tara, can't you sense Willow or something with all your Witchy powers?" Anya asked.
"I tried to sense her as soon as we got here, but there's something interfering… It's like, there's something stopping me," Tara explained.
"Magickal?" Giles asked.
"N-no, something else. I don't need magick to sense Willow," Tara replied. Giles asked everyone which warehouses they searched, and then realised that there was only three left, and two looked to be abandoned.
"That's the warehouse we want," Giles said while pointing to the nearest one.
"What. We didn't search the nearest warehouse to the car?" Xander asked. "That'd be right."
They all walked towards the warehouse, but then Giles stopped in his tracks and Anya bumped into him.
"What?" Anya asked.
"I-I can't move," Giles replied.
"Huh?" Dawn asked.
"I-I can't move. I'm stuck in place," Giles said, still not moving.
"Can you breathe?" Dawn asked.
"Yes, I can breathe, and talk. O-obviously," Giles replied.
"Come on, I'll get you out," Xander said while moving to Giles's side. He reached over to Giles's arm, but then froze. "Uh-oh."
"What?" Anya asked.
"I can't move either," Xander said, urgently. He tried to flail his arms around, but they just hung in mid air.
"How can that be?" Dawn and Anya asked in unison.
"Magick," Tara simply replied. "This is the place. It's protected by Magick."
"Oh. Great. Magick," Xander said.
"Can you get them out?" Anya asked urgently. "I can't have Xander unless you get them out."
"I-I'll try," Tara replied. She closed her eyes and used her senses to feel her surroundings, and what was wrong with them. When she visualised the warehouse, she saw half a sphere surrounding it. Gently, she poked it with her power, and Tara let out a little cry as the sphere collapsed. She opened her eyes to see everyone but Giles and Xander looking at her urgently.
"What's wrong?" Anya asked. Tara just looked at her in confusion. "You made a noise."
"Oh. It's just that, I was surprised, the sphere collapsed easily. I just poked it," Tara replied. She got confused looks from Anya and Dawn. She realised that, that made no sense to them. "I was surprised because I made the 'stay in one place' thing go away easily."
"Oh!" Anya exclaimed. She looked to Xander and Giles who were still stuck in place. "Then why can't Xander and Giles move?"
"Um-Ah-Oh-Ah I don't know," Tara replied. She had a quick thought. "When all else fails; poke it," she said to Dawn and Anya. She still saw that Dawn and Anya were confused. Tara walked over to Xander and Giles, and she gently poked Giles in the back with her index finger. He didn't move, and she did it again, harder this time. She watched as he fell face first onto the ground. Tara let out a loud giggle as Giles turned around and looked up at her. She started to turn towards Xander, but Anya rushed up and pushed Xander hard before Tara had the time to poke him.
"I always wanted to do that," Anya said with a wide grin on her face.
"Isn't she just full of love and affection," Xander said from the ground. Tara offered her hand to Giles to help him up.
Once they had all got back on their feet, they moved towards the Warehouse.
"Willow's in there. I can feel it," Tara said to no one in particular. They opened the small door quietly, and snuck inside. Tara couldn't believe what she was seeing. They were standing in something that resembled a room inside the warehouse, and as Tara looked up, she saw that the walls were actually removable walls as they didn't go anywhere near the ceiling. She followed Giles, who was moving towards the highest concentration of noise.
Faith snuck into the warehouse from a small door around the back. She was thankful that the disc that the Assassin had given her had worked. She was surprised to find that there was just about no one around in the warehouse, and then she noticed the soft noise of a crowd talking at once. She gathered that they were all at a meeting of some kind, and she slowly walked towards the noise. She peeked through a doorway to a large communal area, where it looked like everyone in the warehouse was sitting. She knew that if she attacked them she wasn't going to walk away, and to Faith, that was not a problem. She had lost her concentration and was just about to attack when she saw some of the Scoobies walk in from a door on her right. She looked at them, and then looked at what they were all staring at. Up on a stage, was Willow, strapped to a chair and drugged. There was some kind thing next to her, with its hand on Willow's head. The thing next to Willow looked like a person, but was extremely skinny, and had almost pure white skin. Faith didn't know what it was, but when it opened its eyes, they were completely blue. There was no iris or nothing, just blue.
Tara looked up at the sight before her, unable to move. She saw Willow strapped to a chair, and some kind of thing next to her, with one hand on Willow's head, and another on something else that Tara couldn't describe. She looked closer at the thing. It was large with huge long, arms and it had light blue skin. She was startled as images appeared on a screen beside the demon, and Tara immediately realised that it was from their astral. She looked at the screen. She watched from Willow's point of view as the astral took place, and for some unknown reason, Tara could barely move. She looked over at her friends and saw that they were staring, spellbound at the screen as well. Tara hadn't seen the next bit, she had fallen unconscious while in the astral. She was amazed, and at the same time, terrified of what she saw. She saw Willow, with her pupils completely black, destroying everything around her, in an effort to protect Tara. Tara realised in shock that there were hardly any demons around, only white spirits fighting the demons. Tara then realised what that thing was there to do. It was editing Willow's memory as it put it up on the screen. Tara herself remembered that the demons out numbered the Slayers' Spirits at least twenty to one, but on the picture, the Slayers out numbered the demons. She had heard Willow talk about what she had done, but she never knew the severity of it. She watched in pure awe as the landscape shifted, and then as Willow, tears running down her face, ripped a hole in the air and dragged Tara through it. Tara still couldn't move. She was amazed that no one had noticed her and the other Scoobies yet. A voice came out of no where and said,
"All those that agree to the sentence, raise your hand," it said. Tara watched as just about everyone raised their hands. "Then, it is agreed that you, as members of the Watchers Council, agree that this Witch, murdered the souls of Slayers on the astral planes, and is sentenced to…" the voice began.
"Bloody hell! Wait a minute," Tara heard someone shout, and was surprised to hear an Australian accent. "Why the hell is this girl guilty of anything? She was protecting her friend. Uh I-I mean, girlfriend," the man said.
"She is to be executed," the voice said. Pure fear spread throughout Tara's body.
Did I just hear that right? Did it say executed? Yes it did. Willow!' Tara thought. She felt her heart had stop and her limbs go numb. She didn't realise that she had shouted Willow's name somewhere in all the confusion. Adrenalin coursed through her body and in an instant she was able to move. She started to run towards Willow, but she was stopped by a big man who shoved her back.
"What are they doing here," she heard a voice shout.
"Hold them back," another voice shouted.
"Take them away, to detention," the voice that came from no where said. She looked in fear as the thing up next to Willow on the stage raised a gun in its hand. To Tara, everything disappeared, and the only thing in the world was Willow. She could see that Willow was waking up, and Tara saw Willow immediately look at the gun the thing was holding. Tara tried to run towards Willow, but people were holding her back. Tara snapped out of it when she saw something take down the thing next to Willow. She heard a sickening sound and saw the thing's head roll down off the stage. She looked up and saw Faith standing at the front of the stage. All eyes turned to her
"Come on people! Let's dance," Faith said, right before jumping off the stage and into the nearest Council members. Tara looked back to Willow, who had just looked at Tara.
"Tara!" she heard Willow shout.
"Willow. Buffy's here, somewhere. Find her!" Tara projected into Willow's mind.
"But? What's happening? Tara!" she heard back.
"Go. Find Buffy. She'll rescue us," Tara said back to Willow. She watched as Willow slowly got up and stumbled around on stage, still feeling the effects of the drugs that the Council had given her. "Willow… I love you," Tara said to Willow, just before she exited the door nearest to her.
"I love you too, and I'm coming back to rescue you," Tara heard Willow say back. She watched as Willow walked out the door.
Faith was having the time of her life. She enjoyed just going full on at the Council's Assassins. She didn't know if she was going to live or die. It was just pure, utter ferocity and animal instinct. She didn't have to hold back. She had a knife in each hand and was stabbing as many of the Council's Assassins as she could. Since she came back from the coma, she had told herself that she wasn't going to kill any more humans. That whole idea went out the door as soon as the person tied up in Michael's apartment - Faith couldn't remember his name - had said that he was from the Council and that he had killed Michael. Deep down, inside her, Faith was glad that if she died right there, and right then, that she would be remembered by the Scoobies as saving one of their most cherished people.
Willow stumbled around the warehouse, trying to find Buffy. She didn't know if Buffy was in her own fight, or just scouting around. She was extremely surprised when she saw Buffy in chains, tied to the wall.
"Willow! Get me out of these things!" Buffy shouted at her. Willow rushed over to Buffy and was glad that the last of the drugs were wearing off. She looked at Buffy's chains and then stepped back.
"Release," she simply commanded and the manacles around Buffy's wrists and ankles opened.
"Come on. We've got to get out of here!" Buffy said urgently, taking Willow by the hand as she started to run.
"Buffy," Willow simply said. "It's Tara. She and the rest of everyone is over there, and they're being taken away," Willow said urgently, tears starting to well up in her eyes. "You can't let them take her away!"
"I won't Will," Buffy replied. She moved off in the direction that Willow had said.
"Oh, and Buffy?" Willow said while following her. Buffy turned back around and looked at Willow. "Faith's there." Buffy just looked at Willow for a moment, and then kept moving.
Buffy arrived in a giant room, with people everywhere. She looked over to the corner where she something happening, she wasn't sure what, but she saw lots of people falling. She scanned the rest of the room, and while most of the people had left, there were still some in there. She saw Xander, Anya, Tara, Giles and Dawn being dragged towards a door. She was shocked to see that the Assassins beat Giles and Xander down, but was surprised to see that they tried their hardest not to hurt Anya, Tara or Dawn.
"Still some decency left in this organisation," Buffy muttered under her breath as she moved towards them. She went straight for the person that had beat Giles down. She hit him on the shoulder, just hard enough for him to turn around and look at her. She punched his nose as hard as she could, and was satisfied to see blood pouring out of it when she brought her fist back. The man fell to the floor, and everyone else around the Scoobies looked at Buffy.
Rex couldn't believe what was happening. He also couldn't believe that he had joined the Council. He was the one who stood up and protested the red head witch's sentence. As far as he knew, he and Daltone were the only ones who didn't raise their hands when the question was asked. Then, all of a sudden, behind them, were the rest of the red head girl's friends, except for the Slayer, which he knew was locked up. After that, the other Slayer had turned up and all hell broke loose. He was doing nothing. He saw the group that had restrained the Slayer's friends beat down the two males. He knew that it was how the Council did things, but he was disgusted as they started kicking the two when they were on the ground. He just saw them get back up, only for them to be beaten down again. He saw the blonde Slayer then, rushing to help her friends. Rex had some hard decisions to make, and he needed to make them now. He realised that he was looking to his left, and he looked to his right, only to see a man go flying towards the stage. He heard something break as they hit the stage, and he realised that it must have been his back. He didn't want to go anywhere near the dark haired Slayer, because he was almost sure that he would suffer the same fate. He quickly made his way over to the blonde slayer and her friends. The Assassins had taken their attention off the Slayer's friends and put it on the Slayer.
"I'm going to help you. Come on, this way!" Rex said quickly to the Slayer's friends. They all looked at him, and he could immediately tell that they didn't believe him. "Come on! I'll get you out," Rex said to them again while offering a hand out.
"Hey! What are you doing!" he heard from behind him. He turned around and saw an Assassin coming towards him. "You can't let them escape." The man swung his fist at Rex, and Rex ducked under it. He brought his head up, only to see the Assassin's other fist swinging towards his face. He ducked it and while he crouched low, delivered an uppercut to the Assassin's mid section. He bend over, and Rex gave him another uppercut. He grabbed the assassin by the back of the shirt and pushed him towards the crowd that was attacking the Blonde Slayer: Buffy. He was satisfied when he saw the Assassin knock over two other Assassins that were attacking the Slayer. He turned back to the Slayer's friends. "Come on!" he shouted. He saw that the red haired witch's girlfriend was the first to follow him, and was happy when he saw the rest take up her lead. He saw a figure moving towards the back of the group in a crouched position. He saw that it was Daltone. Rex was surprised as he put his back to the group of people he was protecting, and he realised that Daltone must have made the same decision as him. He had acquired a broom handle from somewhere and he hit everyone that came near the doorway. They made their way through the warehouse and went outside.
During the fight with her attackers, Buffy had managed to see two of the Assassins helping her friends out the door, and she was glad that she didn't have to worry about them any more. Before she realised it, she was exhausted, and she was extremely surprised to find that no one was attacking her. They were all lying on the floor, either unconscious or badly injured. Buffy looked around the room, and she saw the fight with Faith still going. Buffy looked towards the door that her friends had gone out, and then back at the mob surrounding Faith. She quickly moved towards them and saw with shock that some of them had stab wounds. She looked at Faith, who looked terrible and worn out. Buffy was surprised that Faith could still fight. She saw Faith look at her, and their eyes locked. Buffy and Faith both understood that this was not the time to fight each other, and that in order to get out of the warehouse, they had to help each other.
Faith wasn't sure about dying any more. She had been set at taking as many of the Assassins as she could with her, before she even started the fight, but she was convinced that she was going to die. However, when she was exhausted, she realised that she didn't want to die any more, and knew that she wouldn't be able to get out of the fight. It was then that she saw Buffy charging through the crowd. She looked at the other Slayer's eyes, and saw that Buffy had come to help Faith out. Together, they fought off the remaining attackers, until the room was full of bodies.
Buffy looked over to Faith, and saw that she was almost about to collapse. She grabbed Faith by the wrist and literally dragged her out of the warehouse.
Rex was looking around frantically. He didn't know where to go, or what to do. He was relieved when one of the girls from the Slayer's group pointed towards two cars that were nearby.
"Come on, we have cars," she said.
Willow had found he way out of the warehouse, and as she looked along it, she realised that it was huge. She noticed that there was lot of junk along the wall of the warehouse. Lots of pieces of wood and steel. She looked down the end and saw two of the Assassins come out of the door, followed by Dawn, helping Giles, and then Anya helping Xander, and then Tara. She realised, even from the distance, that the Assassins were helping her friends. She realised that they were moving towards a group of cars, which she saw were Xander's and Giles'. she started heading towards her friends, when a door burst open almost next to her, and Buffy came out with Faith behind her. Willow saw Buffy and Faith look at each other, and then saw them separate. Faith ran in the opposite direction that Willow was headed. Buffy immediately noticed Willow and started to walk over to her. Willow's eyes went wide as she saw what was happening over Buffy's shoulder. Immediately, she started to sprint towards her friends.
Rex was glad that they were almost at the cars. He was glad that he decided to betray the Watchers Council and help out this group of people. From what he had seen, they were good people, wanting to do the right thing. He was pulled out of his thoughts by a shout behind him, followed by a woman's scream. He spun around and saw Ryan holding a knife to the blonde Witch's throat.
"Stop or I slit her throat!" Ryan screamed. Rex had no idea what to do, and he looked over to Daltone, who looked as clueless as he did.
"Let her go Ryan. These are good people," Rex said to Ryan.
"No. Duty comes first. These people can be used to get the Slayer back," Ryan said. Rex still had no idea what to do.
"Let her go," Rex heard the older man of the group say to Ryan.
"Why. I…" Ryan started. Rex saw him slump and fall over onto the ground. He looked up and expected to see the Blonde Slayer, but instead he saw the red haired witch who called herself Willow standing with a metal pole in her hands.
"No one messes with my girl," she said. He saw Buffy run up behind them and look over the group. He looked back to the two witches.
"You're shaking," the blonde haired witch said.
"So are you," Willow said back to her. He watched as they took each other's hand and kissed each other. He was irked by the thought of the two. He saw Assassins come running out of the doors to the warehouse. He was just about to say something when the blonde Slayer kicked in. He saw her grab Willow's hand.
"Smooch later. Run now!" Buffy said while dragging Willow from her partner. "You. Come with me," Buffy said while looking at Rex. "Meet up at the Magic Box," Buffy said to the rest of her group. He watched the Slayer and Willow run away, and he ran after them. He realised the plan. Buffy would run away, and the rest would use the cars. He knew that there were too many people to fit in the cars, even if they jammed them in.