Maybe, the Justice League of America will hear about this and swoop to the rescue...well; it was possible, wasn't it? Buffy groaned as she tried to open her eyes Xander would be so proud. She heard the sounds of small whimpers and when she regained enough actual consciousness she remembered everything and figured that Katia was awake and not loving where she was right now. Buffy knew the feeling. The Slayer blinked a few times and then tried to crane her neck to see the other Slayer but it made pain shoot up and down the neck, where Black had shoved the needle in no doubt. So, Buffy had to settle without looking at the girl as she spoke to her.
"Hey, Katia..." Her voice came out dry, croaky, she needed water "Katia, we're gonna make it through this. I'm stronger than I look...so are you"
"No, I'm not" She rasped back "If I was I would have gotten out of here by now"
"Just surviving as long as you have is a show of your strength"
Katia snorted weakly "Great...so, I'm strong enough to be their personal blood bag. Hooray for me"
Buffy looked at the door to her cage that was still slightly off of it's hinges, if she kicked it anymore now and someone came in then they were likely to see it and probably have it repaired and she couldn't have that. She figured one or two more good kicks ought to do it so instead she looked up at the fixtures that held the chains to the ceiling – they looked stuck in tight. She turned her gaze to the manacles around her wrists and wondered if they were made of the same strength metal as the chains were, Buffy was figuring they were because these guys didn't look stupid and they knew what they were dealing with when they brought Slayers here. However, she had to try and she tried to break them but, predictably, it didn't work.
The Slayer took a few deep breaths and started doing stretching exercises, or as much as she could do, with her legs and arms a little because she had to be limber to attempt what she was about to attempt. She certainly couldn't wait around for Angel to rescue her – it was no telling how long she had been in here already, it felt like weeks. Buffy took a few deep breaths and then started swinging back and forth building up speed.
"What are you doing?" Katia asked and she sounded a little alarmed.
Buffy didn't stop swinging "I'm just trying something don't worry"
The Slayer built it up until she was pretty sure she had enough force and then she swung all the way up like a Russian gymnast. She went vertical upside down in the air and her arms went rigid because they were supporting all her weight. Her hair fell down underneath her and she could see Katia's wide-eyed expression upside down, because she was now facing backwards, it looked kind of funny. Buffy's feet hit the ceiling and she planted them there and then slowly she kicked out at the chain fixtures. They were in damn tight. If she had shoes on it would have been easier but with her bare feet it was really painful. She slipped her big toe into the metal loop and attempted to pull it out, using all of her strength Buffy felt the fixture give a little but not enough and her toe was about to snap in half. The Slayer pulled it out with a frustrated groan. She wished that for once in her life she wore bobby pins so that she could have pulled them down from her hair dropped them, caught them in-between her toes and then swung up, wheedled the fixtures out of the ceiling painstakingly and then got the hell out of this hellhole. Yeah, that would happen.
Buffy kicked at the fixtures a few more times and then sighed and swing back down a little too fast. She braced her legs out behind her so that her feet hit the back bars of the cage and thus broke a potentially nasty bruising of everything. The Slayer then steadied herself and took a lot of long deep breaths, her arms were screaming at her and she groaned.
"That was amazing, you're...you're like Super girl or something!" Katia exclaimed.
"Not amazing enough..." Buffy sighed and then frowned "I'm Super girl? Lame! You could have at least said, I don't know, Trinity or something...Listen, Katia, you're like me. You have this strength too and if you use it you may just help us both get outta here"
"I cannot do that" Katia said with surety "I mean I noticed that I can open the lids on jars a little easier and, yeah, I can almost hit the top on one of those fairground strength testers...but that's it"
She shook her head "No, that's not it. You just haven't realized your true potential"
The other girl groaned in pain "I feel pretty crappy"
"Yeah? So, do I" Buffy flexed her fists "But if we lacked the strength we have and were just 'normal' girls then we would be feeling a whole lot crapper. A 'normal' girl would have been dead from the amount of time you have spent in her but you're not normal, Katia, you're a Slayer"
"A Slay...wha?"
Spike folded his arms over his chest and squirmed as a bespectacled man tried to take his waist measurements. Angel and Fred stood around and both seemed a little amused at his attitude to the tailor
that was trying to get his measurements.
"It looks that way..." Wesley entered the room and then looked up at Angel he had been talking to one of his many contacts on a mobile phone then hung up. He looked worried "We think we know what Buffy's kidnappers wanted with her"
"What?" Angel asked taking a step up to him.
"Well, a demon contact of mine on the black market tells me that there is a rush in sales of a bottled liquid which is said to be Slayer's blood. It seems that the local, and not so local, vampire population is going crazy for it. It is very expensive and so it is the most powerful vampires that are getting their hands on it" Wesley finished looking even more worried.
"That's not good" Fred's eyes darted about.
"We've gotta go now!" Spike looked around "They're draining Buffy dry"
"Hold on, Spike" Angel put a hand up "If they're taking her blood there is no way they would kill her – why bother when they could keep her alive and get a constant supply?"
Spike's eyes widened "You think she'd just let them take her blood? You're a bloody moron! The Slayer would rather die then provide vampires with their equivalent of a nice bottle of port!"
"They're sedating her," Angel reasoned "Like when they shot her with a tranq dart in the street. That's how they're doing it"
Fred cleared her throat "I don't wanna sound rude but there is a way we could use this to our advantage in getting Buffy out of there"
"And how do you figure that?" Spike gritted his teeth.
"Well, we were gonna send you in as a representative of Wolfram and Hart just doing routine checks but now we can send you in as a client of Wolfram and Hart's – a powerful vampire client who would just love to get his hands on some –"
"Slayers blood" Wesley nodded "That's a good idea, Fred. It's more likely to work also they won't be suspicious. They will assume that we're bringing business their way"
Angel shook his head "Why wouldn't he just buy it off the black market like everyone else?"
"He is very picky and wants to see the actual Slayers, get the blood fresh" Wesley had it all worked out.
Angel took a moment "I still think I should do this"
"They'll recognize you as the boss of Wolfram and Hart. We were sending Spike in before because the boss would not be doing 'just routine checks' but now we can't send you in because they know who you are" Fred looked at him apologetically "But you still have a big part to play, Angel, remember?"
"Right" He sulked.
"This isn't gonna bloody work," Spike snorted and looked at Angel "I say we go in there and throw down"
"That won't work" Angel replied.
"He's right, Spike. We looked over the club and it has a lot of security not to mention it turns out that the underground of the club it built like a high-tech prison – which is most likely where Buffy is, so it would be stupid to just charge in there" Fred nodded.
"Told you that you're stupid" Angel said childishly.
"It's your sodding security! Recall all your guys" Spike pointed out.
Angel sighed "If we do that they'll get suspicious and run, taking Buffy with them or worse..."
Spike let out a sound of protest as the tailor tried to take his inside leg measurement "Oi! Hey, back off, mate" He growled and shook his leg away.
The tailor sighed and stood up, nodded at Angel and then went to busy himself. Spike loosened up and then began to pace back and forth as he had been doing since he had woken up finding himself back in Wolfram and Hart and not with Buffy safe at his side. The vampire had cursed Angel and tried to kill him but hadn't gotten very far.
Spike cleared his throat "They'll recognize me as well, Fred. I got shot in the head by their bloody wanker of a getaway driver"
"That's why we're making changes to your appearance. You and Angel are the only vampires strong enough to do this op...unless you wanna send Harmony in?" The brunette quirked an eyebrow.
He ignored that and pulled his duster on "I was just pointing it out. Can we go now?"
"It's still light for another two hours Spike," Wesley pointed out.
"And?" He shrugged.
"And you're playing the part of a powerful and rich vampire. Who would only come out at night and not run around burning in the sun"
Spike sighed and started to pace again "I just wanna get her out of the bleeding place!"
"We all do" Angel said.
"Besides, Spike, we still have some work to do to make sure they don't recognize you" Fred started walking towards him a gleam in her eyes.
"What? I don't think so, luv..." The vampire started to back away "Fred?"
"Lorne!" Fred yelled.
The green demon popped his head around the door "You rang, sweetener?"
"We're giving Spike a makeover" She smiled.
"I'll get my make-up kit!" Lorne announced.
Spike shook his head rapidly "Oh no you won't! No way, no how..."
Spike grumbled and groaned to himself as he made his way to the side entrance of Blood Red. Fred, Wesley and Gunn all sat in a van across the street watching him and he continued to muttered obscenities before he knocked loudly on the door. He reached up and straightened the tie around his neck, god, he hated suits. Spike ran a hand self-consciously over his hair and then cleared his throat and stood still and calm as the door was yanked open suddenly.
On the other side of the door stood a man who was in his late forties/early fifties with dark blue eyes that skated over Spike quickly and then landed on his eyes. The man gave a very large, very cheerful smile and stuck his hand out for Spike to shake but all the vampire wanted to do was punch those pearly white teeth out. The man's gray hair was cut short and neat and he looked as though he shaved every day and he wore a navy suit with white shirt and black tie.
"Mr. William Soulman I presume?" The man's hand was still out.
Spike winced at the name inside his head Angelus always did think he was so very funny, but he's bloody not He brushed past the man into the building, looked down at the Rolex on his wrist "I'm a busy vampire..."
"James Hardy"
"I'm a busy vampire Mr. Hardy." Spike looked at him, eyebrow quirked "And I want to be in and out of here as quickly as possible, I have a lot to do tonight. I like to spend my nights to the full, since they are my only time out...amongst people" He looked suggestively at Hardy's neck.
Hardy nodded and his hand unwittingly flittered up to his neck, rubbing it "Yes, of course sir. I understand why a man like yourself would not want to purchase our merchandise from the market, I shall have someone bring you a fresh bottle –"
Spike waved a dismissive hand "You misunderstand, Hardy. Wolfram and Hart ensured me that I could see the specimens and that I could get it hot from the tap, if you get my meaning"
He cleared his throat "Well, it's not policy"
"How else will I know if it truly is the blood of a Slayer and not some normal human dregs blood that you've spiced up with some simple spell or trickery?" Spike held his briefcase tight in his hand wanting to slam it into the man's face.
"I can assure you, sir, that –"
"I will only drink from a Slayer, once I know it is a Slayer," Spike tilted his head up "The only assurance of that is to see the proof myself. I was told this should not be a problem but if it is I shall take my business and my money elsewhere" He started back to the door.
"No!" Hardy grabbed Spike's arm then when Spike bared his teeth he pulled it back "I'm sorry, Mr. Soulman. I'm sure that can be arranged"
"Glad to here it" Spike nodded.
"Follow me"
As he followed the man down a walkway above the main body of the club and loud dance music blared up from the speakers, people dancing down below and drinks being served Spike's anticipation of getting Buffy the hell out of here got larger. He looked up and saw that the whole ceiling of the club was a large skylight and he could see the night sky shining at him. He could feel his fingers tightened on the handle of the heavy briefcase he carried and tingles run up them.
Hardy led him from the walkway to a locked door, which he got the keys for from the loop on his belt. He undid it and then ushered Spike through locking the door behind them. They stood in a darkened space and even the vampire could see nothing just as he was beginning to think it was a set up Hardy switched the light on and it lit up the whole white corridor. Hardy walked down it and Spike followed seeing a flight of stairs in front. They went down the dozen or so steps until they reached another lock door and Spike felt like ripping the doors of their hinges. Hardy retrieved the large number of keys from his belt loop again and then opened this door and shut it behind them.
Spike couldn't believe it when he saw more and more stairs. They spent a long time going down on flight of steps and then through a locked door to another set up stairs to another locked door that Spike began to wonder if where they were holding Buffy was Hell itself – surely the club didn't go this far down. He hoped that the small microphone inside his shirt and the tracer on his belt were still working for the gang outside.
Finally they came to one long corridor and Spike saw that there was a door to the left in the middle of the corridor with a man, or actually a vampire, with dark black hair and blue eyes in a suit standing outside. The vampires turned and looked a little startled to see that Hardy was with someone he didn't recognize. He stepped forward and readied himself for a fight until Hardy put a hand up.
"It's fine," Hardy said "This is a very important customer of ours and I'm going to show him our guests"
Spike's jaw tightened.
"...I still can't believe it" Katia sighed after a few minutes in silence. They had been talking for so long that both girl's mouths were dry "I'm a...Slayer"
Buffy nodded "Hey, Katia, I'm gonna try to get out of these chains again, 'kay?"
There was no answer but she hadn't really expected one – the girl was in shock a little. Buffy started to swing back and forth, back and forth. She hadn't been sedated for at least three hours and she was feeling better for it. She did her whole gymnast flip again and planted her feet on the ceiling. Taking a few deep breaths she kicked and kicked at the fixtures on the ceiling. Buffy was giving it all of her effort now – she wanted to get out of here now. The Slayer kicked and kicked and kicked until she went into frenzy and she entered the part of herself that was all Slayer and no Buffy.
When the fixture for the chains on her left arm dislodged a little she barely noticed and continued to kick and kick until it was almost completely out. She started kicking the right one and it shook a little and then she fell back down and braced herself against the back of the cage like she had done before. Buffy took a long while to gather her breath and let her muscles loosen before she pulled down with all her weight on her left arm and, to her amazement and delight the chain fell loose from the wonky fixture and the ceiling and clanged down onto the floor beside her.
"You broke one! You broke one!" Katia cried in shock and glee.
"Shh!" Buffy warned her but she too was overjoyed, she grabbed her right chain with her free hand that was still weighed down with the loose chain. She flexed her arm and then yanked down tight on the other chain it took a lot more effort and she strained until she snapped that one out of the ceiling too. Buffy fell to the floor of the cell and let out long, deep breaths and just lay there and resting for a little while.
"Get us outta here" Katia whispered but there was an edge of excitement to her voice.
"Oh, right, that little thing" Buffy pulled herself up onto all fours and then stood shaking all her muscles trembling and telling her to lie down but she was a Slayer and that was not an option right now.
She gripped the bars of the door on her cage and pulled but most of the fight had gone out of her at that moment. She was weak and sank to her knees, was about to give up when she heard voices outside her cell and realized that someone was coming and Buffy looked around wondering what the hell she was going to do. She stood up and threw her chains up one at a time and curled them around the broken fixture parts that were left in the ceiling. She hoped no one noticed before she had chance to kill them or knock them out. Buffy braced herself and stood up on her tiptoes to make it look like she was still chained up and straining.
The heavy locks on the door were drawn back and the door creaked open and in stepped Mr. Gray with that charming smile of his as they landed on her.
"As you can see," Mr. Gray was saying but not to her "They are quite...satisfactory"
Buffy's eyes widened as another man stepped in the room and he looked familiar but also...not. She looked into those light blue eyes that skated over her widening a little, presumably at her nudity and knew it was him, it was Spike. His hair was light brown though and curled softly against his forehead, his hair brushed forward now and not backward. He also wore a suit! It was a black suit with a deep red shirt and a red tie with black shiny loafers. The vampire looked fine, even in her tortured, aching state she could see that and she felt herself react to it. Spike recovered and looked into her eyes and she figured this was all part of some covert plan so she looked away. Mr. Gray locked the door behind them.
"Yeah, I'd say they were more than satisfactory," Spike said and his tone was easy but his fists were clenched at his sides "I'd like a taste from that one, there" He pointed at Buffy.
"Of course" Mr. Gray nodded and walked over to Buffy's cage starting to unlock the door "Be careful though, she's a whippersnapper –"
He pulled the cage door open and Buffy jumped down and unwound her chains lashing them out so fast he didn't have a chance. The chains wrapped around Mr. Gray's neck and his eyes bulged as he clamored with his fingers at the chains. Spike pulled a gun from inside his suit jacket and shot Mr. Gray in the back. He fell to the floor and Buffy saw a small dart sticking out of his back.
"See how you like it" Buffy smiled and then all the energy ran out of her and she fell to the floor.
Spike rushed over and laid a cold hand against her back, making a shiver travel up her spine. Buffy looked up and whispered for him to help Katia, the other girl. He pulled his jacket off and laid it over her before leaving her cage and snapping open his briefcase. Spike pulled out a pair of large pliers and made his way over to Katia's cage. Buffy groaned and picked herself up slipping Spike's jacket over her and doing the buttons up it just came to mid-thigh but she didn't much care about that she only cared about getting out of there. The Slayer knelt down next to Mr. Gray and felt around his waist until she got his keys, which she unclipped. As she stood back up she saw Spike helping Katia out of her cage too by supporting her – Katia now wore Spike's shirt done up to the top and Spike was half naked. "Thanks for the rescue" Buffy smiled, leaning against the cage.
She came up next to him and he smiled back "No problem, it's my pleasure. Looks like you were about to hatch your own plan anyway"
"Well, I had the getting out of the cage part just about sussed but everything after that..." Buffy felt her head swim and she almost fell again but Spike steadied her with his other arm.
"We have to get out of here!" Katia cried.
"Shh!" Spike rolled his eyes then clipped the chains around Buffy's wrists with the pliers before he pulled out the tiny microphone that was cello taped to his chest and spoke into it "We're on our way out"
Buffy stood up straight again, rubbing her now free wrists and raised her eyebrows "Never had you down for a secret agent"
He shrugged then looked at her, concerned "Are you –"
"Get me outta here, Spike, and I'll answer that"
The vampire nodded and then he passed Katia over to Buffy and the two girls supported each other, Katia slightly worse off. He took the keys from Buffy and unlocked the large wooden door; Spike stuck his head out.
"You might wanna get in here! Your pal's collapsed" Spike yelled and then stepped back in.
Mr. Black ran into the room and as he did Spike clubbed him double fisted on the back of the head. The vampire fell forward into the bars of the cage where he hit his head on one of the bars hard. Spike pulled a stake out of his waistband.
Buffy held her hand out "He's mine"
He looked at her for a moment and then tossed the stake. As he lay sprawled out on the floor and then started to rise up she sunk down and stabbed him through the back into the heart. His eyes didn't even look surprised.
"Told you" Buffy whispered before he exploded into a shower of dust.
Spike dragged Mr. Gray into the cage Buffy had been in and locked the door he kicked away all possible weapons and then looked around, nodded.
"Let's get you two out of this pig sty" Spike walked over to the door and held it open for the two women.
They hobbled out and then they were making their way quickly down the corridors and after a while Spike got fed up of unlocking the doors and instead started kicking them down. Buffy watched from behind as he back muscles ripped and the tendons in his thighs tensed when he booted the doors. She wanted to help more but she was weak and she needed to help Katia, who was far worse, along anyway. As they got closer and further up Buffy heard music and she looked at Spike questioningly who quickly explained that they were in Blood Red a club. They met a few more acolytes on their way up but Spike dispatched of them pretty easily and Buffy helped where she could.
However they were human so he didn't kill them and as they were almost to the top level Buffy heard one of the guards they had left sprawled out on the floor with a broken leg using a radio to tell people in the club to lock down all the exits.
"Spike!" Buffy motioned to the man using the radio.
Th vampire gave her a wicked grin "Not a problem, luv"
She frowned but followed as he picked up the pace until she was almost dragging Katia who was trying as best she could to walk but it was like she had forgotten how after being chained up for so long. Spike kicked down one last door and it flew open onto the top level of the club and he strode out and elbowed a guard who had just been approaching. Buffy stepped out with Katia and saw the people down below in the club start to get panicked as the doors were all slammed shut and the music hit fever-pitch she could not see a way out.
"We're in position!" Spike yelled into his microphone over the sound of the screams from down below.
Suddenly Buffy, and everyone else in the club, heard a loud and almost deafening sound from above and she turned just in time for the glass skylight to shatter above them. Buffy ducked and shielded Katia whilst Spike flung himself against Buffy to protect her. Once the glass had finished falling and everyone in the club was screaming in alarm and pointing upward Buffy looked up too as the cold night air streamed through the ceiling.
There hovering above the club was a black shiny helicopter and leaning out of that helicopter was a certain vampire with a soul that had been her first love. He held his hand out to her and then turned back into the helicopter. Angel came back out and threw a rope ladder out of the helicopter and to them.
Spike grabbed the ladder and then turned to Buffy "Grab this, go!"
"Katia first" Buffy demanded as she saw more guards running up the stairs towards them.
The girl was weak and she had to use all of her remaining strength to hold on but she could not climb and Angel had to lift the long ladder up manually which meant they lost precious seconds. Three guards ran at Buffy and Spike down the runway and Spike pulled out his tranquilizer gun from his waistband and shot them all then tossed the gun away, obviously it was empty.
The ladder was thrown down again
"Buffy go!" He handed her the rope.
"You're coming with me!" She yelled back over the sound of the helicopter as her hair whipped about her face.
Spike shook his head "I've got to keep these guys back, there's more of them. You better move, Buffy, I'll handle them"
"I've heard that before, Spike" She looked deep into his eyes "Last time you said that you died. You are coming with me now!"
"I have to –"
"Now is not the time for heroics" Buffy grabbed his arm and pushed him against the ladder "Besides, I'm weak I need you to help me"
Spike looked disbelieving but as she grabbed onto the ladder and climbed a little way up he grabbed hold of it too and covered her body with his so that if she did lean back she would fall into him and not to her death. There were guards rushing at them now and Spike shouted up at the helicopter, which quickly zoomed up and pulled them out of the reach of the guards and then out of the club. They were whizzed up above the city of Los Angeles and Buffy held on not wanting to look down but wanting to at the same time to see the city's glittering lights.
The vampire pressed against her whispered in her ear "I was so worried 'bout you. I would have come sooner by myself and –"
"And gotten killed" Buffy answered, closing her eyes and enjoying the feeling of having a welcome, familiar body next to hers "It's okay, Spike. I'm...Katia's a Slayer too and we need to train...we need..."
"You rest now, luv," His voice stroked down her spine "You're safe with me"
Buffy smiled and closed her eyes, willingly this time.