"The Powers?" Buffy asked.
Nargul walked a little further into the room and turned on a light. "The very ones."
"I thought they were the good guys."
"They don't have a side. They're just there for the balance."
"They hired you to kill us?" Connor asked.
"I'm not at liberty to tell you that. You are in my home though, and I kill intruders just because they piss me off. So I get to kill two birds with two stones."
Buffy looked at Connor and then they both kicked the desk. It flew up and hit Nargul in the chest, knocking him back. Buffy and Connor turned and dove out the window. They landed in the side yard and took off towards the back. Faith and Spike came running out of the back door and the four ran with all their might back to the car. They could hear guards yelling and car doors slamming behind them.
"Did you have to make so much noise, pet?" Spike asked. "Or did you forget about the dozen guards with dogs walking around the property."
"Nargul showed up." Connor said as Buffy sped away.
"What? I didn't hear anything."
"He was there."
"Bugger must've slipped right past us."
"Hold on." Buffy made a hard right turn and then another hard left turn.
"I think we've lost them." Faith said.
"Not taking any chances."
"Doesn't matter anyway. The guy knows where we live." Connor said.
"Did you find out who hired that guy?" Spike asked.
"Oh we found a lot more than that." Connor held up the files they had managed to get away with.
"Good God!" Faith said. "What is all that?"
"It's everything on us." Buffy said, speeding around another corner and then finally slowing down. "And I mean everything. We grabbed what we could, but this guy's got a never ending drawer full of files on all of us."
"How's that?" Spike asked.
"The Powers That Be."
"What?"
"No freakin way." Faith said.
"I don't know if I can believe it or not." Buffy said.
"Well, I can." Spike said. "It's about bloody time that those ponces show their true colors." They all looked at him. "You can't tell me you haven't thought of it before now."
"The thought did cross my mind, but I thought they were supposed to be on our side."
"Please. They abandoned humanity. You don't think they couldn't've stopped all those apocalypses from ever starting? Smacked down the Senior Partners before they got too big for their britches? Taken out the First?" The car was quiet. "Look at the way the first Slayer was made. You two girls said it yourselves that those three men raped her with demon energy. It's not like the Powers couldn't've intervened on that one."
"Spike….." Faith started.
"You know it's true."
"Then why now? Why haven't they tried to stop us before?" Buffy asked.
"Maybe they got tired of letting everyone else do their dirty work and having you….. All of us thwart them. Until you came along, evil was chugging along at more than a brisk pace, luv. And I don't think they counted on you finding that scythe either."
"Why?"
"Because that put more power into your hands than you realize. With all these Slayers, you have the power to destroy all evil, Buffy. I think the Powers are finally stepping up to the plate."
"If you're right, and I'm not saying you are because I really don't want to think about it that way quite yet, but if you are….. Do you realize what we're up against?"
"I think I got the picture." Connor said.
"No. The Powers That Be….. They control everything."
"Not everything luv." Spike said.
"What do mean?"
"If they did, you wouldn't be here."
Willow, Xander, Angel, Dawn, and Illyria all sat on the opposite couch staring at Buffy, Connor, Faith, and Spike. The files were laid on the table in front of them according to the person. They had just told the others of what they had discovered and the theories that had been developed on the car ride over.
"The Powers?" Willow asked.
"That's what Nargul said." Connor said.
"Can you run that by me again?" Xander asked.
"What's there to not get!" Buffy asked, standing up.
"I'm sorry Buff, but it's really hard to wrap my mind around the fact that the guys that we always thought were batting for our side have been slowly disintegrating our team from the inside."
"Look, I know this is confusing. But the way we figure it, they've been playing ALL the good guys from the beginning. It wasn't until our team came up to bat that they decided to start playing ball." She started to pace. "The Powers are threatened by us. For the first time, we've broken all of their rules. We've started playing against them and….."
"We've severely paid for it." Angel said quietly.
"What?"
"Look around, Buffy. They've taken some of our best people. Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, Fred, Lorne, Tara…. Who's next?"
"I don't know."
"I do." They all stared at him, but his eyes were on Buffy. "We're next. You and I."
"What do you mean?"
"Don't you see? Things between us have never been this bad. It didn't even start getting this bad until the last few months."
"Where are you going with this?"
"Buffy, we've relied on each other for strength and hope for years. That's why there have been so many obstacles between us since the very beginning. The Powers, they knew and they tried to intervene."
"But they didn't succeed."
"They're starting to. And they know it now. They're up there, watching us and laughing as we fight more and more on a nightly basis. And we're down here playing right into their hands. I don't want to fight with you."
"I don't either."
"But the urge is there, isn't it?" Buffy nodded. "I feel like I want to rip your throat out for being such….. such….." He growled and then looked away. After a minute, he looked back at her. "We have to fight it."
"It won't be enough."
"What do you mean?"
"She's right." Spike said. "This doesn't stop at you and ducks here. It's all of us. Sure, you two are some pretty hefty glue that holds this pow wow together, but even separated we're all powerful in our own right. Buffy's the super-Slayer. Faith's always relied on herself even before she became a Slayer. I'm a vampire who's survived for over a century. You're Angelus. Everyone here's seen what you can do. Illyria's a god. Big Red has more power in her than the Vegas power plant. Xander's pretty self-reliant. He sees things that no else here can. And Dawn….. She's gotten incredibly good at being Watcher Junior. You see what I'm saying?"
They were all silent, contemplating what this meant. Spike was right. This wasn't just about Buffy and Angel, it was about every last one of them. It was about these eight people standing in the way of a plan to slowly decay the fabric of good and allow evil to sink into the world. It was Illyria who broke the silence.
"Why would they allow a Slayer to be made?"
"What?" Buffy asked.
"If this was their plan, to destroy the world so slowly that no one noticed, why would they allow a champion of virtue that symbolized the very thing they are trying to destroy to be made?"
Buffy thought about that, then said, "To make it look like they were putting their two cents in on good's side to make it even less noticeable. God! Why didn't I see it before? All those times we complained about the Powers never stepping in and helping out…. I should've seen it coming."
"What do we do now?" Willow asked.
Buffy sat down next to Angel and took his hand despite wanting to be on the other side of the room away from him. "I don't know. I honestly don't know."
"We'll figure something out." Angel said, squeezing her hand. "We always do."
Buffy smiled tightly as Xander said, "What about Nargul? Do you think he'll attack here?"
"Odds are, if he knows that much about us, he knows about the protection spell." Buffy said. "But that doesn't mean he won't be lying in wait outside."
"So that means we can't go anywhere?" Dawn asked.
"Not saying that. Just don't go out without a group of people."
"So we're trapped?"
"Not trapped. Just stuck for a while."
"We need to get rid of him."
"I know that Dawn, but I don't know how." Buffy took a deep breath. "Look, all I know is that this guy is hard to kill. His skin is more like armor than actual flesh. We're going to have to do some digging around to find this guy's weaknesses."
"We've been digging, Buffy." Willow said. "This guy….. There's nothing on him but a name and an address."
"Then there has to be more."
"Not unless he wanted to be found." Connor said.
"What?" Angel asked.
"He wanted to be found. Or the Powers wanted him to be found."
"Why? So we could know that they're the real bad guys?"
"Exactly. Throw that fact at us and we lose hope. Like we're doing right now."
"We're not….." Dawn started.
"He's right. We are." Buffy said, standing up. "You guys are acting like a bunch of…. of HUMANS! We're better than this. We stop things like this on a weekly basis. So stop your whimpering and get on it." They stared at her, obviously trying to hide that she'd hurt them. "I'm sorry. I guess the agitation doesn't just stop at Angel."
"Question." Faith said. "Why would you, me, Spike, and Connor be getting along so great when you're feeling like you want to rip everyone else's throats out?"
"I don't know. Maybe because we never hung out this much before and the Powers are trying to separate all of us. Start with the jealousy angle for the people that are closest and then once we're separated, I guess the Fantastic Four was supposed to be next."
"Good answer."
"Thanks."
"Ok. So, Buffy's right." Angel said. "We need to buckle down, focus on this Nargul. Willow, get into other realms if you have to and see what you can find on him. Meanwhile, everyone else keep looking around here. We've got to get more information on this guy so we can take him on."
Buffy walked into the living room of her apartment and looked at Angel brooding on the couch. "I thought we weren't going to be mad at each other."
Angel looked at her. "I'm trying not to be, but it's like now that I know what's wrong, it's harder to hold it back."
"Maybe we shouldn't hold back. Maybe we should get it all out in the open."
"Why, so we can kill each other?"
"No, so we can clear the air, maybe start fresh."
"And how would that work, smartie?"
"Watch it." Buffy shook her head. "It might relieve some tension between us."
"You don't want to get into our issues, Buffy. It'll take longer than we have and more energy than you've got."
"Hey, I'm gonna live forever. I got time."
"Is that what's been bothering you?"
"What, that I'm never going to grow old and I have to sit back and watch the people I care about wither and die? No, Angel, that doesn't bother me at all."
Angel took a few deep breaths. "I know how you feel. That's one reason I pulled away from people for so long. I didn't want to be witness to their lives and then their deaths. It's a lot to carry."
"It's a burden I didn't ask for."
"And I didn't either, but we'll have to live with it."
"What if I don't want to?"
"Then kill yourself. Take the coward's way out."
Buffy blinked. "That was little harsh."
"Well, it's true. If you're going to whine about being immortal, do it to somebody else who isn't. Been there done that, Summers. Get over it and move on. I did."
"Oh, you arrogant…."
"Buffy….."
"No. We're not going to stop there. Time to get this crap out of the way."
"Fine, I'll play."
"Good, cause we already are. I'm tired of you treating me like some little girl. I can handle myself and I don't need to answer to you every five seconds."
"Sorry if I care. Just wanted to make sure my WIFE wasn't laying dead in a street somewhere. Or worse, sleeping with someone she claims is just a friend."
"Oh, you canNOT pull that on me. Spike and I are over with. It was one night."
"Yeah. And you're going to tell me that you two haven't been spending all this time together over the last year and not tried anything."
"Sorry if I have a life outside of you, Angel. I have a right to it, you know. Spike's my friend, nothing more. If anyone has the incentive to be unfaithful, it's you. You're the one that's lived for 300 years. You've got to be bored with me by now. Maybe I should go look up someone else."
"I have never been unfaithful to you."
"Does the name Gwen the Electro-Slut ring a bell to you?"
"She kissed me!"
"And you didn't pulled away until you knew that I was standing there."
"You cannot be serious. You've been pissed at me about that for all this time?"
"And I saw the way you looked at Eve. If I hadn't of been there, you'd be screwing her brains out just because she was Lindsey's girl and you would have just loved the opportunity to show him up."
"Now that was uncalled for."
"And let's keep going, shall we? Nina. The girl's had the hots for you from the first tranq dart. And you didn't do anything about it until I told you to."
"Why would I go for Nina? You've got plenty of screwed up issues to keep me busy for the rest of my eternal life."
"I'VE got issues? What about you Mr. Killing Spree? It seems like you can't go a year without killing at least one good guy."
"You can't use Angelus against me and you know it."
"I wasn't talking exclusively about Angelus."
"Then what are you talking about?"
"Let's see, what about the name Drogyn? Does that ring anything?" Angel didn't say anything. "Thought so."
"You're being an irrational child."
"ME?"
"Yes, you. You're brining up all these old issues that got resolved a long time ago."
"Well maybe they were never resolved."
"Then you're one hell of an actress."
"And maybe loving you was all an act."
"What would you even get out of it?" Angel noticed they were face-to-face, pressing in on each other. "Huh?"
"This." Without another word, Buffy crushed her lips to Angel's. He hungrily accepted and grabbed her waist. She shoved him away and he fell onto the couch. Within milliseconds, she was straddling him and ripping his shirt open, sending buttons flying. He brought her lips to his again greedily and then picked them up off the couch. Buffy wrapped her legs around him and worked her way down his neck while he pried her shirt off over her head and slammed her against a wall. She dropped to the ground and yanked his pants down around his ankles. He waited until she was standing straight again before he picked her back up and carried her to the bedroom, slamming the door behind them.