A/N: Regarding vampires and permanent injuries, I've found some interesting tidbits. The Three, Kakistos, and Spike himself all sport permanent scars, in Spike's case a cut over the left eyebrow from his first Slayer. But several vampires, notably Spike, Angel, and Darla have proven an ability to very quickly heal wounds ranging from impalement to holy water in the face to third-degree burns. It may be that vampires can choose whether or not to heal somehow, and that Spike kept his scar on purpose as a memento. Other damage, like Glory putting her fingers into his chest, heal no problem, while getting his back broken takes a few months. Just a thought.
Buffy had been hurt before, badly, both physically and emotionally. She'd felt despair, sorrow, anger guilt. But very rarely had she ever felt useless.
This was one of those times.
She watched from the sidelines with Riley as the Initiative took control over what was left of the situation. Shortly after she'd arrived and learned from Riley what had happened while she'd been having a nice little evening walk, the military had asserted its authority over the scene. Now technicians and soldiers swarm over the hospital, collecting evidence, hiding evidence, taking statements, giving alibis, pushing nondisclosure agreements on the security guards, keeping back the police and press, and carting out the bodies of those she'd been too late for. Again.
"This is going to be a mess to keep secret…" Riley didn't look at her as he spoke. He was focused on the second body bag coming out of the hospital. Buffy wondered if it might be Doctor Roy. Only a few days ago, he'd helped bind her wounds that she'd received from an alien. But she hadn't been able to return the favour and keep him safe from the same creatures.
"There's really not much I can do here now, is there?" Buffy said, and sighed. "Everything- or one- who's going to be Slayed already has been."
Riley turned around, and she felt a pang when he smiled at her. The thought hadn't even occurred to him about how this was her fault. But she knew that if she'd been here, she could have stopped the aliens. Of course H-100 is going to try to get its kid back! She berated herself silently. Of course an alien has popped out of that dog that got captured and is full-grown by now! What were you thinking? Even if Riley held nothing against her, she wasn't sure she could say the same of the contents of the two body bags being loaded onto a Humvee.
"Yeah, I guess I'll see you tomorrow," he said. "We'll sort this thing out then."
Buffy forced a slight smile of her own as she backed away. "Yeah. Right. Okay. Bye." She walked away, not looking back, deep in thought.
Ever since finding out about the Initiative, Buffy had wondered how that kind of firepower might have changed things. How exactly did she and her group of friends measure up against these high-tech commandoes with almost everything at their fingertips? What if the Mayor could have been fought by real soldiers, instead of kids with bows and arrows? Would Ms. Calendar still be alive if the Initiative had been in charge of finding Angelus? Buffy knew that she and her friends had never given anything less than their best, but times like this begged the question- how best was their best when it depended on sharp pieces of wood?
Buffy walked home, still thinking. Maybe it was time for her and her friends to start working more closely with the Initiative. They were definitely becoming a major force in the town, one the Scoobies couldn't ignore, and getting closer might be a good way to find out more about the organization's secrets. Their professionalism, skill, seemingly infinite resources, and cool utility belts would be an even bigger help to her once she was plugged into the unit's inner workings, and she was sure that she had just as much to offer them, both in strength and experience. 'Hostile Subterrestial' might sound sexier than 'soulless child-eating hellspawn' but really didn't convey much understanding of the enemy. Nifty protein trackers aside, Buffy couldn't shake the feeling that the government didn't really get what it was dealing with here. Buddying up with them might give her an opportunity to deliver a wake-up call; and provide extra excuses to spend time with Riley.
Suddenly, she realized she was back on campus. Time sure flew when you were brooding. Maybe that was how Angel handled the eternal-life thing.
Buffy entered her residence and went up to her floor, looking forward to getting some sleep. She came up to her room- and stopped dead in her tracks, brooding forgotten. There were claw marks on the door.
Willow regained consciousness slowly, gradually leaving behind a horrible dream involving an enormous centipede and her leg. The first of her senses to awaken was her nose, still full of the chloroform or whatever they'd used on her. The smell brought back the memories of what had happened to her, the discoveries, the break-in, the kidnapping, and she awoke.
Wait… if I'm awake, how come I still feel a centipede on my leg? Willow's eyes snapped open. She immediately wished she'd stayed unconscious.
The 'centipede' was the cold, hard Xenomorph tail resting lightly on her leg. She was in a tiny white cell with a glass shield like the Intiative's, and the alien was lying right there. Green, heavily muscled, and clad in a shell with scalelike ridges, it looked almost like a sleeping dragon. Every inch of its body was relaxed, and it appeared to be completely unconscious, a slow, steady wheeze accompanying the slight rising and falling of its torso. It didn't look like it was going to wake up anytime soon, but this didn't stop Willow from not… moving… an inch.
"You don't have to look so worried, Willow. It's not waking up for at least another few hours. We think."
Willow risked turning her head to her right, and saw Traeten there, beyond the shield. Behind him, she saw that the building she was in wasn't that large; the ceiling was low, and an ordinary door was a few metres away, set in a drably-coloured wall next to a window. On the left side of the room was a gun rack, occupied by an array of automatic weapons, as well as a couple of clubs. The right side of the room was dominated by a laboratory. A bank of computers being run by two white-coated people was situated behind a row of counters occupied by chemistry and biology equipment. The white-coats took no notice of her at all. None of the furniture was bolted down or attached, and the whole set-up looked temporary. The floor of her cell was solid concrete, but outside there was just a metal grille suspended over the dirt.
Accompanying Traeten were the henchman who'd taken her, along with two new ones. The beady-eyed guy was nearest to her, knife now tucked in his belt. Behind him was a red-faced man next to the gun rack, with a glassy, vapid stare. Traeten was flanked by a bearded guy, and by the great black man, who was leaning carelessly against the fragile science equipment, still smirking. All were clad in the same black clothing.
"How are you feeling?" Traeten said pleasantly. "Sorry about the accommodations, but this facility has no residential section. And even if it did, it would be employees-only." The guards snickered at this.
Willow ignored them, and looked at the alien again as she gingerly moved her leg out from under the tail. She realized that it fit the description of the DemAlien Buffy had captured, and wondered what it was doing here. Had Traeten stolen it from the Initiative? And why was it so sound asleep? According to Buffy, nerve gas hadn't been able put this thing under. Ravnon must have had a real whammy up its sleeve.
"Willow, you have a Ravnon guarantee that the alien isn't waking up for a while. But it will wake up. What's up to you is whether you're in there with it when that happens. If I were you, I'd try to be somewhere else, or else you might wind up aiding us in our research on Xenomorph dietary habits," Traeten advised.
"What do you want?" Asked Willow. "How long have you been watching me?"
The corporate representative smiled. "Like I said when I first met you, you're quite good with a computer. But all the electronic assets of my company and its associates are heavily guarded, not only with the programs you were able to get past, but hidden ones to let us know when an enterprising individual like yourself has managed to see things she's not meant to see. We were alerted to your investigation the moment you broke into EEC's more sensitive data. We simply needed to wait until you were alone," he said. "Now, all we need is some information, Willow. What exactly did you find out? Who did you tell about what you found? And is it recorded anywhere else besides on your computer?"
Willow stared at him. "You really think I'm gonna just go 'okay, Mr. Traeten, here ya go! A complete list of which of my friends you need to kidnap next! I even colour-coded it for you!"
Traeten chuckled slightly and moved closer to the cell. Willow got to her feet and faced him through the shield. "Try to look at it from my point of view, Willow. I have to work with Professor Walsh on a daily basis. Do you think she'd be very happy if she was aware of my… prior experience with the Xenomorphs? To say nothing of the U.S. Government itself. Ravnon occupies a very lucrative but very small market, completely dependent on America's secret projects. That's why for us, the only good publicity is no publicity. So if you just tell us how far this… misunderstanding has spread, we can get everyone together here, clear it up- it's all quite easily explained, you see- and we can all get back to being friends again."
"Well, maybe you could look at it from my point of view, Mr. Traeten," Willow shot back. "Maybe you're telling the truth about this all being a misunderstanding, or maybe it's a big fat lie like almost everything else you've told us seems to be. But either way, I'm willing to bet that before your alien can wake up and hurt me, Buffy and my friends will find out what you did and come hurt you. And then everyone will be together and you can still 'clear it up'- without any kidnapping."
"Actually, Willow," Traeten said, "as far as your vampire-slayer friend knows, you've been taken by an alien to their Hive for impregnation. We did a very convincing mock-up of a Xenomorph attack in your room. She'll come to rescue you all right, but it'll be in the wrong spot. Somehow, I don't think even she could make it out of that place alive. I'd like you to keep that in mind, Willow. Your stubbornness could get your friend killed, as well as anyone else she brings with her."
Hive? Thought Willow. There's a Hive now?
Traeten smiled again. "Now I know that this is something that might require some time to think, but unfortunately I can't wait all night for an answer. I have some business to conduct. Don't worry, I'm leaving you with some human company too. You've already met Colt and Toni." He indicated the big guy and the knife-wielder. "And these are Russell and Nale." The empty stare of the man by the gun rack didn't change at the sound of his name. Nale, on the other hand, straightened up noticeably, as though his name being mentioned was high praise. "And, should you need any more attention, there's another man on watch outside, as well as Doctors Cottle and Frasier by the lab. Oh, and each of them knows about your magical proficiency, and will flood the cell with anaesthetic gas if you try anything." Traeten turned to leave. "I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you or your friends Willow, really," he said. "Colt has my number if you make the smart choice."
And then it was just Willow and a vicious alien behind a high-voltage shield, with four guards outside. Without any supplies, there was no spell she could safely cast that would break the shield. And even if there was, she had no way of dealing with all four of the guards, especially without waking up the alien. She briefly considered levitating the weapons on the rack and forcing them to release her at magical-gunpoint, but the guns were too heavy and too far away for her to lift with her mind. And even if she could, she had no idea how to release safeties telekinetically.
Willow just stood in the corner furthest away from the alien- which still left a scant two feet between her and its claws- and tried to think of something, anything. If Traeten was telling the truth, then Buffy, Xander and Giles might walk into a deathtrap trying to rescue her. But if she talked, they'd get taken by Ravnon too. Willow was sure that Traeten had a plan for dealing with Buffy that was just as well thought-out as her kidnapping seemed to have been.
"How d'ya like your roomate?" asked Colt sardonically. His voice rumbled like thunder, and provoked guffaws among his colleagues. Willow sighed. It was going to be a long night.