Title: Sanrio Knights

Author: Acerbic

Time: Post Chosen / NFA

Rating: PG-13 (A swear word or two)

Part 5 – Mighty Mouse Trap

Gary, Indiana

June 2007

"So the smokes clears and there he is wearing only a towel knotted at the hip," Ling Ling said, and then took a sip of her chai tea.

"A teeny tiny little towel," Peggy sniggered, holding up her fingers to demonstrate a square inch of cloth. (It was bigger than that. Really. But not much.)

"Oh man, I'd have given anything to see that," Spike said, dragging the sleeve of his leather trench over his eye to scrub at tears.

"That can be arranged," Blake intoned. "We got the whole thing on video." His words set the whole gang to giggling again.

"I'll burn you a copy to dvd," Blake volunteered, and Spike grinned. And, just like that, their friendship (Spike would say that they're 'mates') was cemented.

Of us all, only Ling Ling maintained her composure. The rest of us were laughing hysterically. Sasha and Peggy were both rolling in their metal patio chairs, and even Blake had a hand pressed to his side to keep it from hurting.

I gulped down air, and shifted my drink from the right hand to the left. "Angel was furious," I said. "It took him over an hour to calm down enough to risk letting him out of the summoning circle. And then Ling Ling insisted on doing a spell to be sure he had his soul before we let him go, and that set him off all over again."

"We never attempted another vampire-with-a-soul summoning spell again after that," Ling Ling said.

"Mr. Giles forbid it," Sasha said with a slight smile. Even the reticent Chococat had begun to warm to the camaraderie we'd established over Frappuccinos and double chocolate chunk brownies.

"Since then I've refined the spell," Ling Ling asserted. "However, I've not yet had the opportunity to test it." The Asian enchantress stared hopefully at Spike who shook his head no.

"No way. Find yourself another lab rat, love. This vampire-with-soul is as happy as a pig in mud not being the subject of magical experimentation."

"Just as well," Peggy piped up with a sassy retort. "If magic worked more than twenty-five percent of the time, we slayers would be out of a job. After all, it was traditional hunt and capture methods that caught you."

The blonde slayer was looking at Ling Ling as she spoke, taking a deliberate jibe at the witch. "If we're rating the success of this endeavor on the number of failures per methodology, then traditional methods lose hands down."

Peggy put on one of her patented "What'd she say?" expressions, provoking a snigger from Spike, and a chuckle of approval from Blake. My eyes narrowed in a glare before I could stop myself, and then rounded comically as I tried to correct the revealing expression.

Of course, Spike noticed.

"We caught a Billy Idol look-alike in Vegas," Blake said, laughing. He refused to take any of this negative-talk seriously. Blake has always called our past failures "learning experiences" and said that they'll contribute to future successes. When I'm down, it's Blake who picks me up again. (Stopping now before I burst into an off-key rendition of Wind Beneath My Wings.)

"And there was that other bleached blonde in Albuquerque. That was a close call. We almost had him but he got away," Sasha added. "It's really amazing how many vampires there are with day-glo hair."

Spike glanced sharply at Sasha who stared back. "That was you?" Spike demanded.

"Well, damn. That was you!" Sasha returned with a low whistle. "We were never sure." She and Spike stared a while longer before donning grudging grins.

"All right, this has all been very amusing, but no one has told me yet why the lot of you were trying to catch me in the first place," Spike interrupted, raising his voice enough to drown out some of the din that side conversations and hiccup-like laughing fits were producing.

"If you just wanted to talk, there were easier ways. Didn't have to build a better mousetrap," Spike added, focusing his attention on me. Having those bright blue eyes fixated on your face is like being at the center of a spotlight: it's disconcerting.

"All you had to do was stand out in the open, Bit. I'd have come right to you," Spike continued more softly with words meant for me.

I blushed. (Yeah, again.) "That would have been unsporting," I joked, determined to draw attention off of how flattered and self-conscious Spike made me feel. "I thought about using a mug of hot chocolate with those little marshmallows, but ultimately, a pretty blonde slayer seemed like the best bait."

I know Spike well enough to nail his soft spots. It was his turn to look uncomfortable and glance away. (Oh yeah, someone still has it bad for my sis…)

"Contacting you directly and requesting your cooperation was against the rules," Ling Ling finally supplied, deciding that the keep-Spike-guessing game had gone on long enough.

"Rules? How so?" Mr. Vampire looked intrigued.

"We weren't allowed to use Dawn, or to ask you to cooperate," Peggy said.

"No phone calls, emails, or any other communication that would've tipped you off," Sasha added.

Spike continued to sit there, looking both amused and confused. As a group, we weren't doing a very good job of being enlightening.

"You see, you were our final," I said. "Xander assigned us to capture you without utilizing any unfair advantage or personal connection. We've been after you for a year now." I glared just to show him that I hadn't entirely forgiven him for that yet.

Even though it'd been a fun year. We'd chased rumors of Spike from one coast of North America to the other. We'd partied in Baja, toured the Grand Canyon, attended the Burning Man festival, gone white water rafting, bungee jumping, parasailing, and skydiving. We'd motored around the country in a beat up old van, living out a real life drama of Scooby Doo, only the monster was almost always real and we didn't have a canine mascot.

"This was Harris' doing?" Spike demanded, thoroughly chagrined. Good old Xander had managed to put one over on Spike from 4,000 miles away.

"Yep," I said, smug as could be. "And that reminds me, I need to document your capture." I got out my camera phone and quickly snapped off a few shots of Spike with the gang gathered around a patio table in front of Starbucks. (Spike made one of those rude English gestures in a couple of pictures.)

I sent the pictures to Xander and Giles in London as an attachment, but didn't call. I'd email them a status report later. Right then, I didn't want to disrupt the mood. The Sanrio Knights were feeling really upbeat, having finally accomplished our goal.

"Hey!" I said as the full weight of realization hit me with epiphany-sized impact. "Oh! Oh wow! Do you guys know what this means?"

Everyone looked at me. Most of the girls wore expressions that said, "Well, duh," and Blake had a cute little tolerant smirk on his lips. Only Spike appeared sincerely puzzled.

"We've graduated!" I exclaimed, grabbing Spike's hands. "The Sanrio Knights are now the first official multi-talented, Council-sanctioned field team!"

I jumped to my feet, dancing again, while Spike remained seated. He grinned up at me. "Well, then," he said. "Yeah!"

End Part 5.