Chapter 4: Scoob Central

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....That evening, at the Magic Box....

The bell jingled as Giles entered.

"Sorry I'm late, got caught up in some research... ah, since we're all here, let's proceed. Buffy, why don't you tell us why we're here?

Buffy nervously stood up from where she'd been sitting at the table with the rest of the group.

"Ok, here's the deal. First of all, don't wig."

"Not too reassuring there, Buff," Xander groused.

All the Scoobies were both curious and worried, since Buffy had decided to wait until everyone was present to explain.

"Just listen, ok? I was talking with Spike this morning, and, well, we got into a fight, I hit him, he hit me back... and there was no pain."

Mutterings and a few startled gasps arose from the group. Xander was clearly going to yell and try to attack Spike, but thankfully Anya was able to restrain him.

Raising her voice to be heard, Buffy continued, "Now, we're not certain if this is because his chip suddenly stopped working, or, well... if maybe I came back wrong."

A loud chorus of denials resounded from the group, especially from those who'd been involved in her resurrection.

Spike spoke up for the first time since he'd arrived. "She's definitely human, don't get yourselves all worked up. But still, there was a lotta powerful magic used to bring 'er back, and maybe that's confusin' the chip."

Before any more chaos could ensue, Giles firmly recommended, "Why doesn't Spike try hitting someone else, first, before we go any further down this path."

"You offerin', Watcher?"

"Oh, bloody hell, all right then," the Watcher cursed, starting to put away his glasses.

Anya poked Xander.

"What?" he asked, annoyed, and rubbing his shoulder.

"Xander! You should volunteer!"

"What? Me?! Why?"

"Well, you've been so mean to Spike, he deserves to hit you!"

Spike smirked. "Thanks, pet."

Anya continued, "And besides, Giles shouldn't be hit! He's old!"

Giles raised his eyebrows. "Oh, thanks ever so," he said sarcastically. "All the same, I would appreciate it if you would do the honors, Xander."

"Fine! Doesn't look like I have a whole lotta choice... come on, Spike, gimme your best shot."

Everyone watched with trepidation as Spike headed over to Xander, whose face was all scrunched up, waiting for the pain.

Spike drew back his arm, and punched Xander in the face, hard enough so the man staggered.

"OWW!" Xander yelled.

But he was the only one in pain.

For a split second, Spike considered pretending the chip fired, before deciding against it. It would be a difficult ruse to maintain, since the chip went off if he so much as accidentally jarred a human, and Buffy would definitely stake him for sure if she figured it out.

All eyes were on Spike. He shrugged. "Nope, nothin'. Maybe I should try again," he said with a wicked expression, heading towards Xander again, who rapidly backed away. Buffy stepped in between them, and Spike raised his hands in surrender.

"Just kiddin', pet... Though I think I do deserve a few more hits to the Whelp."

"I agree," Anya piped up.

"Ahn! You're supposed to be on my side!" Xander wailed.

"I am, sweetie," she assured him. "But I wasa vengeance - ah, justice - demon for a thousand years. Wanting justice is natural for me!"

The rest of the gang ignored the squabbling couple.

"Now what?" asked Giles heavily.

"Wait a sec!" Xander interjected loudly. "Why don't we just stake the jerk?"

All of the girls glared at him. The Slayer growled, "Because he's been very useful to us for the past several years, and one of the best slaying partners I've ever had, that's why!"

Knowing he didn't have a chance on this one, Xander quieted down, grumbling a bit under his breath.

Spike grinned quietly at Buffy's compliment, although he'd like to be more than 'useful' to her.

Giles cleared his throat. "Ahem, well, as I was saying, what course of action do we take now?"

"Well, Spike had a few ideas...." Buffy said, motioning him to speak.

"First off, I know it's a long shot, but I don't s'pose you lovely Wiccas know of a spell to prevent someone from harming humans?"

Both girls shook their heads, although Willow was frowning thoughtfully.

"Bugger. Thought so. Anyway, my other thought was that we try to track down one of the docs who worked for th' Initiative, get him to fix my chip."

Everyone was just as startled at his suggestion as Buffy had been that morning.

"You'd really be willing to get the chip repaired?" Giles asked, surprised.

"Bloody hell!" Spike rolled his eyes, exasperated at being asked this yet again. "I don't love the bleedin' thing, but havin' it beats bein' staked!"

Giles nodded, seeing the vampire's point. "So, our first priority then is going to be finding an Initiative doctor. Willow, perhaps you could - Willow?" he repeated, upon finding that she wasn't listening. "Willow!"

"Hmm? Oh! Oh, what? Sorry, Giles, I just thought of a spell."

Everyone groaned except Tara.

"Hey! Anyway, honey, didn't you once mention some kind of binding promise spell?" she asked her lover.

"Y-yes, I saw that somewhere... but it's rarely used."

"Why's that?" Giles asked.

"Well... I don't remember all the conditions exactly... hang on, I think I know where the spell is."

The gang waited quietly while Tara searched for the spell.

"Oh, here it is... let's see... Well, first of all the spell can only be used on demons.... They must speak the words of the binding promise of their own free will, which probably explains why it doesn't get used that often. Oh, and there's a note here to be very wary about the wording of the promise - not surprising, wording is often taken literally with magic... also, the spell is apparently bound with the lives of the spellcasters. There can be anywhere between two to six spellcasters; when they're all dead, the spell is broken."

"Sounds feasible. Is it very difficult?" the Watcher wondered.

"Ah... no, nothing we can't handle... though it does require a few rather rare spell components."

"Still, sounds a good deal better than trying to track down some doctors from the Initiative. Good idea, Willow." She beamed as Giles continued. "Besides, even if they could fix the chip, there would still be the danger of it failing again."

"Well, the spell will fail when the spellcasters all die, and sincewe're mortal, and Spike's not, that could be a problem," Tara pointed out.

"Hmmm..." Giles frowned thoughtfully.

"Oh!" Willow exclaimed. "Oh... I just had a really bad idea..." Seeing everyone was looking at her, she explained. "Well, I was thinking that maybe some demons could be spellcasters?"

"They would likely have to be willing as well," the Watcher said.

"Um, well, I was kinda thinking some, you know, good demons... like, well, Angel..." she trailed off apologetically, glancing at Buffy.

Seeing how uncomfortable Buffy was with the idea - and not being terribly fond of it himself - Spike suggested another possibility. "Or Clem could do it. I could probably find a few other old friends to help out... although, strike that, no one else I could trust."

After some further discussion, it was decided that it would be safer to have more long-lived demons involved. Someone would go try and get Angel, and see if he had any recommendations for anyone else they could trust.

The question being hotly debated was who would persuade Angel. Xander, Buffy, and Spike definitely counted themselves out, and Tara and Anya didn't even know Angel. That left Willow or Giles.

It was eventually decided that Giles would go, since Willow insisted that she stay there and research what all the spell entailed.

The Scoobies saw Giles off before returning to work. The prospect of seeing Angel again elicited mixed feelings from the group.

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A/N: Ok, you know what to do! Please do review - I'm gettin' a tad discouraged by the lack of reviews... thanks bunches to those of you who have reviewed!