Hans wondered where Wolfgang had gotten to. He, Sampsom, and Ben were stuck in the motel room until the others got back. He knew Hound and Jose would be taking their time, and Preacher would take all night if that was what it took to get what he was after, but Wolfgang and Frank should have been back already. They were just going to the stores. "It's taking too long, Sampsom. They should have been back by now." He paced around the room, checking out the window.
"Settle down Hans. This is just a sleepy little town. The only one we have to worry about is the slayer and I'm not even certain she's here. More than likely she just stopped by to get money or something along those lines. As long as Ripper doesn't find out we're here, we're fine." Sampsom leaned back on his bed. He couldn't have been more wrong. From out of the a/c came a creeping fog. As the men jumped up to try and turn the a/c off, thinking it was about to blow up or something, they fell down asleep. A few minutes later, the door opened and Willow walked in. She had magically gassed all of the rooms the mercenaries were in, but this was the only room that was occupied. The others would be here soon to deal with the last of the men Travers had brought to Sunnydale.
Everyone was gathered in the room just half an hour later. Faith was shivering and trying to hide it. "Here," Dean offered her his leather jacket. Wesley was making sure he stood between Faith and the men on the floor. Giles flipped the men over onto their backs with his foot.
"I know this one. Split into two groups and deal with these two. I'll deal with Mr. Sampsom here."
Buffy recognized the look on his face. "Let's go guys, he's about to go Ripper on his ass." The Scoobies grinned and with Spike and Buffy picking up the other two unconscious men, left the motel room. Giles pulled up the best chair in the room and waited for Sampsom to wake up.
"What did Buffy mean?" Dean asked as they walked out to their vehicles.
"Oh, Giles was a real terror when he was a kid, fights, black magic, orgies. You know, the usual for bad boy don't want to be a Watcher types." Xander said as he helped Spike load one of the mercenaries into Spike's Desoto.
"You're joking! Mr. Giles?" Wesley exclaimed looking back at the motel room.
"Jeeves?" Faith looked back as well. "No way!"
"Yep, and the last time he went Ripper on someone he threw a sword through the mayor when he said he was going to eat me." Buffy confirmed. The Scoobies nodded in agreement, while Sam and Dean joined Wes and Faith in staring at the room. John however, wasn't nearly as surprised. Giles had already shown himself to be a man who bucked tradition, and that usually meant rebellion sooner or later. With Sam, that had translated into going to school to pursue a 'normal' life. As the life of a Watcher was full of books, and studies, and as far as he could tell, being a proper English gentleman, John could see a young Giles turning into some kind of punk. John was just thankful that Giles had gone on to become a Watcher for Buffy's sake. He really didn't want to think about what would have happened to her with a regular Watcher.
"So," Xander said, rubbing his hands together. "What are we going to do with these two?"
"I want to save the flag for Travers." Buffy said.
"I vote we tie them up, string them up like worms on a hook, and hang them out over the grotto." Xander spoke up.
"Ok, that's good for him, but what about the other one?" Faith said as she pointed first at the one Buffy had and then at the one Spike had. "We don't want them together."
"Oh, I got an idea!" Spike said. "Leave it to me."
"Ok, but take the guys with you." Buffy said. She hefted her merc into the Impala.
"Hey! No body drives her but me!" Dean said, and ran for the driver's seat, pulling off his gloves as he did so. He never handled his baby with gloves on, it would have been rude. Buffy shrugged. She never drove anyway so it didn't matter to her. She had long since gotten over her inability to drive. Willow and Tara got into the front seat beside him, and Faith, Buffy, Dawn, and Joyce got into the back with the merc stretched over their legs.
Willow provided directions and Dean was glad to get his baby there in one piece. The Impala had been nervous, but settled down once she realized Dean wasn't going to let one of the 'others' drive her. Everyone got out and Dean grabbed the rope from the trunk. It only took a few minutes for them to get down to the grotto and arrange the merc trussed up over the water. He was hanging feet down, and was just waking up as Faith tied off the rope.
"Oh! You're awake. That's good, now don't you struggle too much." Joyce called. "I'm not sure what is down in that water, but considering everything else that lives in this town, it can't be good. Now, all you need to do is stay still, and you'll be just fine. We'll let you go as soon as we've dealt with that awful Mr. Travers." Hans looked around wildly. There was no way he could get down without getting dropped into the water. He was stuck, and the slayer Faith was standing right there with a bunch of other girls. He sighed and agreed to the lady's request. He'd known things were going to go wrong.
The guys piled into the Desoto and Spike drove over to a restaurant he knew. When questioned by the others he just smiled. He picked up a bunch of rope. "You lot get him tied up. I'm going to set the stage." Smiling, Spike slipped into the kitchen through the back door. Shrugging at Spike's behavior, John supervised as Sam and Xander tied up the unconscious merc.
Spike came out with a demon dressed in a traditional chef's outfit. "Don't you worry none about this bloke. They don't eat humans here, but he won't know that." He grinned as the merc started to wake up. "Ok then, get him up."
Ben looked around, and wished he wasn't gagged so he could curse. That idiot Travers had gotten them in it now! He was dragged into the kitchen of a restaurant, but not a human one. This one was manned by demons! He was placed in a corner with a bunch of bags of supplies. He watched a blond man shake hands with a demon who was apparently the one in charge of the kitchen. Ben paled; the demon was paying the man. He walked by Ben and leaned down to whisper in his ear. "You shouldn't have gone after Faith, mate. She's got a lot of friends in this town. We like slayers here."
Sampsom woke up. He immediately knew he was in trouble. Rupert Giles was standing over him, cleaning his glasses. "Hello, Sampsom. It has been a long time. Now what are you doing, being so stupid as to take a job with Quentin Travers? I know you've done you're homework. You knew this was my town before you ever set foot in it."
"The Watcher's Council put up a big price on this job, $1.5 million for the capture and return of one of their people who went over to the other side. I had no idea we would be coming here. I only found out you were here at the last minute. I had already taken the down payment. We couldn't go back on the job after we took it." Sampsom hoped like hell that Ripper would accept his explanation; it was the truth after all.
"Well, this only complicates things a little. You see, I know exactly who you are trying to capture for the council, and I must tell you that neither you nor the council will be allowed to touch her. Faith had a mental break down, you see. It was a terrible thing. She might have never gone as far as she did if Travers hadn't interfered. She has recovered although she is still in the process of healing right now. So you see; it is not Faith who is in the wrong at the moment. She was sitting, voluntarily I might add, in a prison cell, trying to pay for the crimes she had committed. She was also getting the psychiatric counseling she needed. She was well on her way to becoming a warrior for the light once more when Travers interfered again. This time it will not be permitted. You may keep the down payment for the work you and your men have done so far, but the job is finished. All of your men have been dealt with, and Travers will be dealt with in the morning. You lost this time. I cannot let you leave town however, without keeping my promise." Giles reached down and dragged Sampsom to his feet.
Great, Sampsom thought, I had really hoped he had forgotten that. The beating he received was short, but brutal. When it was over, Giles stood there wiping his hands on his handkerchief. "Don't think you're off the hook yet, Sampsom." He said, and he pulled out a bottle with an oddly shaded green liquid inside out of his pocket. He calmly opened the bottle and poured it over Sampsom's head. Sampsom began to shrink and change color. Shortly a bullfrog sat where Sampsom had just a moment before. Giles picked up the frog and put him in his pocket.
Giles entered the bar where John's friend Frank was drinking and waiting for the outcome of the confrontations he knew were coming for his teammates. He looked up when Giles sat down in front of him. "You are Frank Holt, I believe?"
"Yes, that's me. You're one of John's new friends right?"
"Yes. I do believe that this is yours." Giles pulled the bullfrog out of his pocket and set him on the table.
Frank looked down at the frog. "He looks a little worse for wear."
"The spell will last as long as the bruises. I'm afraid it is the result of a promise I made to him many years ago. You will find that Travers will be unable to pay you anymore for your time." With that information, Frank put it together. With the British accent, an old promise, and Sampsom's absolute belief that Rupert Giles wasn't someone to mess around with, this had to be Sampsom.
"Alright," Frank sighed. "You just let me know when I can get the rest of my team. We'll leave as soon as I can get them altogether." Frank saluted Giles with his beer and watched him walk off. "Hell, Sampsom, you said he was a mean mother fucker when he wanted to be, but damn!" He shook his head. He was very glad that John had spotted him and let him get out before anyone did anything to him.
Quentin Travers was absolutely miserable. He could barely gag down the food that the kitchen had sent up. The temperature in the room was far too hot and nothing he did could get it to go down. The bathroom had nearly scalded him when he tried to take a shower. The less said about the bed, the better. He had the worst case of indigestion he'd had in years and he was far too uncomfortable to rest. When the door opened at five in the morning, he was ready to call it quits. This was the worst hotel he'd ever had the misfortune to stay in.
However, when Wesley Pryce walked in followed by Rupert Giles, Faith, Buffy and Buffy's family, (although he didn't recognize most of them) he blustered at them as though he was in the Watcher's Council Headquarters themselves. "How dare you barge in here! It is bad enough that you are interfering with council business, but must you disturb me in my own hotel room?"
"It is you who are interfering with my duties to my slayer. I will not allow you to do so again, considering the consequences last time. Faith is my slayer. You washed your hands of her a long time ago, and we of you." Wesley stated as calmly as he could.
"We are here, Quentin, to show you that we are supporting Faith and Wesley." Giles said. "You will leave them alone, or face the consequences."
"I'm also here to make good on the threat I gave you the last time you showed up here." Buffy said. "Did you really think you could come here of all places, and I wouldn't find out about it?" Faster than he could see, Faith and Buffy grabbed Travers arms and forced him back onto the bed. Wesley came up and opened Travers pajama top. Willow traded places with him and set a stick on plastic American Flag on his chest. It glowed for a moment and then Willow removed it. Travers now had a magical tattoo of the flag on his chest. She signed her name underneath it and it too, became a tattoo. She passed the pen to Wesley who signed and then passed it to Giles. Giles signed and passed it on as well. This way all of those present added their names to the tattoo, including Buffy and Faith. When it came time for Tara to sign, she added a bit of a geas as well. Travers would be forced to travel back to London as soon as it was possible to do so.
"This is outrageous! You can't do this!" Quentin raged.
"That's the trouble with you, Quentin. You think that just because you are in charge of a terribly rich and influential organization you are immune to receiving the results of your own actions." Giles stated plainly. "You brought this on yourself. We know exactly what you had planned for Faith. It will not happen. There will be no Cruciamentum for Faith. You are not going to use that as a method of execution to cover up what is plainly your mistake. Faith is regaining her health in spite of you. The mercenaries you hired have been dealt with. They will not help you any longer as you are unable to pay them. You may check your accounts. You won't even be able to use the Council's accounts to hire anyone else. They also believe that you are a first class idiot and the only reason they listened to you at all was that you were paying them too. If you had bothered to even notice the slightest thing around you, you would have known that quite a few people share this opinion. I will state this just once. Leave the United States and do not return. The consequences should you return will be more than just a tattoo you cannot remove next time." With that, they all left the room.
John was quick to let Frank know just where each of his team mates was, although the condition each was in was rather surprising to the other members of the team. Preacher had actually fallen asleep. Jose was still tied to the chair, but he had set off the bomb and was now naked and laying on his side. Wolfgang was crying and begging to be put out of his misery. Hound was doing his best not to puke, but once he was out of the chair and away from the mirror, barely made it to the bathroom in time. Hans was trying to remain as still as possible because there were things swimming around under his feet. Ben was terrified he was about to be cooked, although the head chef reassured the team that no one in the restaurant ate humans. Sampsom, of course, was still a bullfrog. The team went back to their rooms where John met with Frank and got a promise to get together for a few beers the next time Frank was in the area. They quickly evacuated their rooms and headed out of Sunnydale as fast as they could. They would never work a job for Quentin Travers again, they agreed.