Chapter 4: The Hospital

Sunnydale, January 14th, 2017

"Ow! Ow!"

"Just hold still - it doesn't look broken," James Lake Jr. said as he checked Toby's shoulder. But it would bruise something heavily.

"The girl's gone," Claire said. "Out the back door. "There's a training room there - with a smashed wooden dummy."

"What girl?" Toby was still rubbing his shoulder.

"The girl that hit you with a baseball bat," Jim told him.

"She must have been a demon! She snuck up on me and almost killed me!" Tony exclaimed. "A little to the right and she'd smashed my head in like… like a watermelon in an anime beach episode!"

Jim shook his head. "Well, she didn't hit you as hard as a troll would've done." If that had happened, Toby's shoulder would've been pulped. "Now, let's look for the hammer! We can't stay too long!"

"And stop rubbing your shoulder - you'll smear the makeup!" Claire told Toby.

"It hurts!"

Jim shook his head again and started to search the shop. They would have a basement, wouldn't they?

"Here's a hammer!" Claire exclaimed, pointing at a hammer mounted on the wall in the back part of the shop. Freshly mounted, Jim noticed - they hadn't even fixed the wall.

"Great! Let's get it and get out," Toby said. "I need some ice pack."

"Wait!" Jim snapped as Claire reached out for the hammer. "This might be a trap! No one would leave the Hammer of the Troll Gods in the open like that!"

"But it looks like the picture in the book," Claire objected.

"Then it's a trap - or a decoy!" Toby added. "Plant a fake hammer, thieves take it, miss the real one."

"Easy to check," Jim said and pulled the Divine Compass out of his backpack. It pulled towards the hammer. "But it seems to be the real hammer," he mumbled.

"Then it must be a trap. There has to be some curse on it. Or it's like Excalibur, stuck in the stone!" Toby shook his head, then winced and grabbed his shoulder again. "Ow!"

"That wasn't Excalibur but the Sword in the Stone," Claire corrected him.

"Can you tell if there's a curse on it?" Jim asked before they could get into a discussion - or argument. Blinky had been teaching her about magic, hadn't he? She'd read books, at least.

Claire wet her lips and looked at the hammer. "Not without casting a spell."

And they were on a Hellmouth; Blinky had warned them against doing any magic.

"Well, we can't just leave it here." Jim took a deep breath. "I'll take it; my armour will protect me." Merlin had forged it, and there was no way some curse could beat his magic. At least Jim hoped so.

"Jim…" Claire shook her head. "I'll check. One spell won't hurt."

"You know what Blinky said," Jim objected. "And if there's a curse on it, we'll still need to deal with it."

"But we would have an idea about its protections," Claire said.

"We're also running out of time," Toby cut in. "Let's just knock it over with a pole and see if that triggers a trap."

"We didn't bring any pole," Jim replied. "But there's bound to…"

"I saw a pole in the training room!" Claire said, whirling and dashing to the back of the shop.

"Do you think they have an ice pack in the shop?" Toby asked in a low voice. "My shoulder's really hurting. If I get that girl…" Jim glared at him, and he sighed. "I won't hurt her, don't worry. But, really… she tried to kill me!"

"Well, what would you have done in her place?" Claire asked as she returned. "Here!"

Jim caught the pole, a little awkwardly - but he didn't drop it nor his sword.

"That's not a pole. That's a quarterstaff!" Toby said.

He was right, too, Jim saw at once. But it would do. "Good enough."

He stuck one end under the handle of the hammer and lifted it. Or tried to. The hammer didn't budge.

"It must be stuck to the wall with magic!" Toby whispered.

"Or it's just really heavy," Jim replied before Claire could get ideas. "Let's see if physics was right."

"Physics? Oh, leverage!" Toby exclaimed.

"Yes." Jim took a step towards the hammer, then stuck the staff between the hammer and the wall, down between the two mounts. Now all he would have to do was to pull strong enough to dislodge the hammer.

"Wait! Let us help!" Toby said. "More weight is more force, right?"

"Right." Jim nodded. "Everyone, grab the staff."

They ended up with Toby in front, then Claire, and Jim behind her. Which was very distracting. At least he was wearing armour. If he were wearing a barbarian costume… "Alright!" he snapped. "Pull!"

And he pulled with as much force as he could manage. For a moment, he felt the hammer starting to move.

Then the staff broke, and everyone fell on Jim.


"Yes, there were three demons - green-skinned humanoid demons," Buffy Summers explained, again, to the others. She was aware that her smile was too toothy to be considered friendly, but she didn't care. "You can see where they smashed the climbing pole." The remains were still smoking, after all.

"Three demons? And you let them escape?" Travers probably sneered even when he was unconscious. Buffy had half a mind to find out.

But that would make her fail the test. Review. Inspection. Whatever. So she kept smiling. "All of them had magic weapons, but I was about to take them down when they fled using a magic portal thingie." She ignored Giles's wince. 'Thingie' was a perfectly fine word - she used it all the time!

The other guy, Nigel, scoffed. "How convenient." He looked around. "For a serious demon attack, there's a suspicious lack of blood. You claimed to have fought armed demons yet suffered no wound? Nor did you spill the blood of any of your enemies?"

"Are you calling me a liar?" Buffy spat. She could show him how she spilt blood! With a very personal demonstration!

"The traces on the ground certainly indicate a battle," Giles said. "You can see where heavy steps left marks on the soil - if you care to look instead of letting your prejudices and preconceptions form the base of your argument."

Yeah, go get them, Giles!

"Really, Rupert - this is, or was, a children's playground," Nigel replied. "Of course the brats will leave tracks."

"You have no idea about kids or tracks, do you?" Buffy asked.

"Kids don't destroy climbing poles, either," Willow cut in.

"No matter how much we might want to," Xander added. "Might have wanted to, I mean."

Nigel rolled his eyes. "And the Slayer's 'friends' vouch for her - how very convincing."

"You really are prejudiced," Willow told him with a stern face. "That's not a good attitude for anyone conducting a review. With such preconceptions, you'll be unable to get an objective result."

"I think that's their goal," Xander stage-whispered.

"Oh."

"Look, you must have run into the fleeing families," Buffy said. "They didn't run from me. I saw the demons here - green-skinned, with a scaly forehead, wearing armour. Both the tin can variety and the skanky leather bikini armour."

"Bikini armour? Really?" Xander blinked with a slightly goofy expression.

"Behave, buster!" Willow whispered.

"Sorry."

Giles cleared his throat. "Anyway, green-skinned humanoid demons with scales on their foreheads - that indicates Deathwok Clan demons."

"Yes." Travers nodded. "And it's telling that the Slayer didn't recognise them on sight."

"Oh, for…!" Buffy started to say when her phone started vibrating. "Oh. Sorry - I have to take this call. My Mom's in the hospital, you know."

She ignored the muttered "Another problem" from Nigel, but it took an effort not to crush the phone. "Yes?"

"Buffy!" That was Anya - and why was she whispering? "Deathwok Clan demons are attacking the shop! Spike fought them, but they teleported him away, and Dawn ran away! They're looting the shop!"

Buffy gasped. Dawn? What was Dawn doing at the shop? Had the brat sneaked out of their home again? And… Spike was gone? "The demons are attacking the magic box!" she yelled, already turning to rush back. "This was a distraction!"

They lured her away and then took out Spike to get Dawn! Of course, the demons wearing skimpy armour would be working for the skanky bottle-blonde demon!

Buffy clenched her teeth as she ran all-out. They wouldn't get her sister! She'd kill them all!

She jumped over the fence surrounding the park, landed on an ugly car - though not Giles or one of the Council's - and jumped off. While the car alert sounded behind her, she ran down the street, cutting across the crossing and ignoring the cars honking and braking. Dawn! She had to save Dawn! And for that, she had to kill the damn demons!


"Oof!" James Lake Jr. was glad he was wearing armour able to deflect a blow from a troll - both Claire and Toby were lying on top of him.

"Get… off… squashing… me!" Claire muttered.

"I think I have a splinter in my hand!" Toby returned.

"Get… Off!"

Jim helped Claire out and pushed Toby off them.

"Thank you." Claire sighed, smiling at him. And lying on top of him. In her skimpy demon costume.

Jim regretted wearing armour. And then he was glad again he was wearing armour. "Anytime," he managed to say.

They smiled at each other for a moment.

Then Toby broke it. "I think I made my shoulder worse," he said. "And we didn't budge the hammer. It must be magically stuck to the wall."

Claire got up and recovered her staff. "No. It moved a little. But we can't transport it like this. I can't even push it into a portal."

"Perhaps it's like the Sword in the Stone," Jim speculated as he got up. "Just… on the wall."

"It is magically protected," Claire objected to his plan before he could voice it. "And there might be bad curses."

"Are there good curses?" Toby asked, still holding his shoulder. "Ow."

"That depends on who got cursed," Jim quipped. Or tried to. "But we…"

The front door being smashed open interrupted him. He whirled and gasped - the Slayer was coming right at him! Damn!

Jim brought his blade up - in the cramped conditions of the shop, the Slayer couldn't just…

But she could. Right before she would have impaled herself on his sword, she jumped to the side, into the wall - but feet first. Then she launched herself off the wall, cracking the plaster, and flew over his swing, landing on the counter in a crouch. Jim started to turn, but she was already in the air again, and this time descending on him.

One hand swatted his sword to the side. The other came straight for his throat. Jim yelped and ducked, but her blow clipped his helmet and sent him reeling back. Before he could recover, a kick caught him in the chest. He flew back, his breath knocked out of him, then crashed into the wall and barely managed to catch his fall with both hands.

"You won't get my sister!" the monster snarled.

"Jimbo!"

That was Toby!

The Slayer turned to face Claire and Toby! No! Jim forced himself up. "Your fight is with me!" he wheezed, summoning his sword and facing the Slayer again.

The demon sneered at him, cocking her head sideways, then rushed him. Just before she reached him, though, a portal appeared in front of Jim. Yes!

Then the Slayer appeared over the portal - she had jumped over it at the last moment! And she'd flipped in the air, coming at him feet-first.

Jim raised his left arm in time to receive her and still was knocked into the wall again - then barely managed to whip his head to the side to avoid her follow-up punch that went through the wall. The brick wall!

This was too much. So much power in such a small frame - they couldn't fight her here. "Run!" he yelled, scrambling away from the monster.

"Run where?" Toby yelled back, trying to heft his hammer with one arm. "There's more of them coming!"

Claire was already creating another portal.

But the Slayer was turning towards them. "No!" Jim yelled, throwing himself at her.

She turned to deflect his blade - but he rammed his shoulder into her, smashing her through a display case into the shelf behind it. Too close for his blade. He struck with his gauntlet - and she caught his punch! And smiled at him.

"Surprise!"

His eyes widened as she pulled her knees up and placed the heels of her boots on his chest.

"Not agAAHHH!"

He was launched backwards head over heels, clipping another display and sending it crashing to the ground before he slammed against the counter.

"Jim! The portal!" Claire was standing at the portal. No, inside.

Jim snarled, grabbed the wrecked display and threw it at the Slayer. The woman ducked to the side, and Jim dashed towards the portal. The Slayer whirled and launched herself at him, but he flew through the portal a moment before she reached him.

He smashed against a trash container, crumpling its side, and rolled over a dirty floor, in pain from all the blows he had taken, but he didn't mind for the moment as he lay there, panting.

His friends were safe. He was safe. Even though they had fought a monster that hit harder than a death-roll of Draal!

And Blinky had some explaining to do. How were they supposed to recover a hammer they couldn't move?


"Did you see them this time?" Buffy Summers snapped as she turned to the Council guys. "Three demons, magic items, portals!" She gestured towards the wrecked back of the shop. "Right here!"

"That seemed to have been a portal, judging by the way the last demon disappeared through it," Travers said. "And they did look like Deathwok Clan demons."

"You let them escape again," Nigel commented.

"'Let them'? I'd like to see you catch a bunch of teleporting demons!" she shot back.

Nigel sniffed. "You just have to be faster - you always had them despite your failure to anticipate their moves."

"Really?" Oh, she wanted to show him how she could anticipate his moves - and his screams!

"Yes. If you had had proper training, this wouldn't have happened."

"I've met Kendra, who had 'proper training', and I easily beat her." Buffy did her best to sneer at the idiot. "She wouldn't have survived against this demon, much less all three!"

"Indeed," Giles - looking slightly rumpled, she noticed - added. "Kendra, for all her training, had trouble adapting to the conditions on a Hellmouth. Demons are much more dangerous here - something most of our manuals fail to note."

"And you didn't think to mention that?" Nigel scoffed.

"I mentioned preliminary observations in my reports. Unfortunately, I was fired before I could compile more solid evidence," Giles retorted. Yes! Full broadsides! Or something.

Buffy beamed at him. Then she noticed his frown.

Oh, right. She kinda had wrecked the shop. Oops.

"That wasn't me!" she quickly said. "The demons were looting the shop and broke things." Technically true - even though much of it was broken by their bodies, thrown by Buffy.

"There you are! Why… my shop!" Anya exclaimed.

"I believe it's my shop," Giles remarked. "Even though there might have been some misleading events happening lately."

This wasn't the time to quibble over such things. "Anya! Where's Dawn?" Buffy asked.

"She ran," Anya replied. "Did you call her?"

Buffy blinked. Right, her cell phone. She pulled it out of her pocket and silently sighed with relief - it was still intact. Mostly - there was a crack in the casing, but that had been there before, if not as large. She quickly dialled 'Dawn'.

"Buffy?"

"Dawn! Where are you?" Yes, she was alive and well. Until Buffy was through with explaining to her why she should stay safely at home, at least!

"Did you get the demons?"

"They're gone. Come back to the Magic Box!"

"Don't order me around! Where is Spike?"

"Spike…" Buffy pressed her lips together.

"They sent him through a portal!"

Oh. He was… well, alive was the wrong word. "We don't know. Yet. Come back!"

"Don't nag me! You were the one who ran away, leaving the shop!"

Jeez, she was such a brat! Buffy had been much better behaved at her age. "Just come! Those demons are still around. They're cannibals." She heard Dawn gasp through the phone and grinned without humour. That should scare the pain in the butt straight. At least for a bit. "Dawn?"

"I'm coming." Sullen and pouting, no doubt, but she was coming.

Buffy ended the call and noticed that everyone was staring at her. "What?"

"Completely distracted by her sister." Nigel shook his head and…

"Are you writing this down?" That was so unfair!

"Really, Quentin, I believe we have more important things to worry about than your silly inspection," Giles said, pointing at the green blood the three demons had left.

"More important than the Slayer's ability to do her duty without distractions?"

"Yes. I first thought this was blood, but…" Giles held up a handkerchief. "The consistency doesn't match what we know about Deathwok Clan demons."

Buffy stepped closer and leaned in, sniffing the handkerchief. "That's not blood. That's... " She blinked. "...makeup?"


"Alright! We need to get rid of the makeup, and quickly!" James Lake Jr. said. Posing as demons to lure a demon killer away hadn't been a good idea, he had to admit.

"Not here," Claire replied, making a point of looking around in the side alley they had landed in.

"Where is here, anyway?" Toby asked.

"An alley I saw a cat in on the way to the centre of the town," Claire told him.

Ah. That explained how she had been able to open a portal leading here. There weren't many cats in Arcadia Oaks. Only those who spent the night inside. He shook his head. They had more important things to worry about. "So, back to where we changed the first time?" No one had seen them in the abandoned warehouse near the bus station.

Claire nodded and flicked her staff, opening another portal for them. Once inside the warehouse, she quickly stepped behind the broken machinery that had served as a screen the first time, then threw a pack of wipes over to them.

Right. No peeking. No thinking about Claire stripping behind the… Jim clenched his teeth and was glad that his face was still covered with green makeup. That hid his blush somewhat.

"Careful with that," Toby told him. "My shoulder's hurting. A lot."

Right. Jim nodded. "Don't worry."

"I am worrying. Can you at least change out of the armour?"

"Good idea."


"...and that's when we had to retreat," Jim finished his report to Blinky over his phone.

"And then you killed me!" Toby complained for the tenth time or so.

"I didn't," Jim replied. He had been quite careful - but there was only so much you could do when wiping the skin over a bruise when the lightest touch hurt.

"You're still alive," Claire said. She was back in her regular clothes, something which filled Jim with both relief and regret.

"Barely."

"Enough," Jim told them. "Blinky? What's up with the hammer? How are we supposed to recover it if we can't even move it?"

Blinky replied in that cheerful voice of his that so often brought bad news. "Oh, I believe there was a misunderstanding. The hammer has a powerful enchantment on it which means only those deemed worthy by the Troll Gods - or whoever cast the spell so long ago - may lift it. But the trollhunter always qualifies! You were chosen by Merlin's amulet, after all - there's no better judge of character!"

"We couldn't move it even when we used a staff for leverage," Jim told him.

"Oh. That's the misunderstanding - my fault entirely, I'm afraid. I didn't think to mention what was obvious to me. Quite the oversight, in hindsight, so to speak."

"What didn't you tell us?" Jim asked, grinding his teeth. Blinky was great, but sometimes, his tendency to ramble could grate on anyone's nerves.

"Oh. You need to pick it up with your own hand - the hammer wouldn't be able to judge you otherwise."

Jim blinked. "And what about the potential curses on it?"

"Magical defences? Traps?" Claire added loud enough so Blinky would hear her.

"Traps was my idea!"

"Oh. The hammer should be protected against curses. I believe."

That wasn't very reassuring, in Jim's opinion. And, judging by their expressions, his friends agreed.


"What do we do now?" Claire asked after Jim had ended the call. "They know that we want the hammer. And that we tried to lure them away."

"And that we're wounded. Well, I am," Toby added.

"They won't fall for the same trick again," Jim agreed. "And we need to find a doctor to check if you've broken something." This was a mess.

"You said it wasn't broken!" Toby protested, looking afraid.

"I said it didn't look broken - but Mom's the doctor, not me," Jim corrected him. "Though I know that you can break bones, or get hairline fractures, without it being obvious. Until they heal wrong and leave you in permanent pain…" He trailed off when he saw Toby's face. Damn.

"We can't go to a doctor here!" Claire protested. "They'd call our parents."

"Right." They would have to take the bus back to Arcadia Oaks. And then make up some excuse for an accident. "We could say you slipped and fell from your bike and then have Mom check you out." He didn't want to try Trollmarket; troll medicine tended to have some side effects.

"Won't she notice that the wound is' older than that?" Claire pointed out.

"Right. And she would check you out if you go to the hospital in Arcadia Oaks," Jim said. Damn it. If only he could tell Mom the truth - but Strickler would… Jim silently cursed. "Maybe we can make a detour to Los Angeles and get into a hospital there with a fake name and address? Portal out once they're done, no one the wiser?"

"Why would you want to do that in Los Angeles?" Claire asked.

"It's a big city, and the doctors are unlikely to walk into us on the street?" Jim shrugged; it was a spur of the moment idea.

Claire shook her head. "We could do that here; we won't be back after we get the hammer."

"But we don't have the hammer yet," Jim told her. "And the Slayer might've contacts at the hospital to know about demons seeking treatments. Or a victim being treated."

"Yes, that makes sense," Claire agreed. "The Slayer has been in the town for years; she must have undermined the authorities. We can't trust anyone here."

Well, it wasn't as if they could trust anyone with the truth about trolls, anyway. "So… how do we get a fake ID?" And in an hour or so - it was already afternoon, and they had to be back home at eight.

Claire stared at him. "Why do you think I would know that?"

Jim almost blurted out that she was smarter than him, that was why, but managed to turn it into a shrug. "It was just a question. What do you think, Tobes?"

"Huh?"

Toby looked rather pale, Jim noticed. "Tobes?"

"Sorry, not feeling so well," his friend said.

"You don't look well, either," Claire pointed out.

Pale, not very responsive, recently hurt… Jim clenched his teeth. He didn't know what those symptoms meant, but it wasn't good. "We have to get you to a hospital, Tobes. Right now."

"But…" Claire looked at him and shut up. "Right." She nodded. "Then we need another disguise. And quickly."


Buffy Summers leaned forward and took another sniff at the handkerchief. "It doesn't smell demony," she said. "Just old spicy… Oh." That was Giles.

She ignored his expression and sniffed the green stuff on the corner. "Nope. Nothing demony. Demon-like." She shook her head. She wasn't the best at sniffing out demons - alright, she was the worst; not even having twigged that Angel, Mr 'It's not you, it's Angelus', was a vampire - but she would notice the stench of demon blood. Probably. "It does look like makeup."

"Let me take a look at it!" Willow - when had she arrived? - looked eager. "I can analyse it and find out what it is."

"Why would a demon wear makeup?" Xander asked.

"To disguise themselves, of course," Buffy told him. Duh!

"A demon would disguise itself as another demon?" Xander frowned.

"But Buffy doesn't sense anything demony," Willow pointed out as she stoppered the vial with the samples. "So… what if they weren't demons, but trying to pass as demons?"

"What? Thieves trying to rob the place and framing innocent Deathwok Clan members for it?" Anya sounded livid.

"The Deathwok Clan demons are notorious slavers and man-eaters," Giles told her. "They are hardly innocent."

"They haven't tried to rob me, though!" Anya retorted.

"This is my shop," Giles said in a slightly tight voice.

"But I work here, and all the books I read agreed that workers identifying with their employer is a good thing!"

"Not to the point that they think they own the place."

"That wasn't in the book!" Anya protested.

And the whole bickering wasn't looking good for her review, either, Buffy realised. Damn.


"We need help!" James Lake Jr. exclaimed as soon as he and Claire, carrying Toby between them, entered the lobby of the Sunnydale Memorial. "We were attacked by some weird people wearing costumes!"

"Ah." The receptionist, a middle-aged nurse, looked. "Exsanguination?"

"Ex-what?" Jim asked. He blinked behind the thick-rimmed glasses. He wanted to brush the hair hanging into his eyes back, but that might dislodge his wig.

"We think he's got internal bleeding," Claire replied. She didn't have any trouble wearing her wig, of course. "But we didn't find a wound - he was hit with a club or something - it happened so quickly…" She shook her head, sniffling.

She was a great actress, Jim noticed again. Although Toby really looked bad - Jom knew his friend wasn't a good actor.

Two nurses were already wheeling a gurney in. "Blood loss?" One asked as they lifted Toby onto it.

"Check blood pressure. I see no wound."

"He's going into shock."

And they disappeared with Toby through the doors. The nurse turned back to them. "I need your friend's name for the records," she said.

"Tony - Antony - Smith," Jim told her. "We're from L.A., checking the college here, and we got turned around somehow and…"

"Address?" she interrupted him without looking up.

He gave her the address of the Antony Smith they had found on Facebook. He hoped the guy wouldn't get into too much trouble - but since he had posted that he was 'on a cruise in the Caribbean, so long suckers', he shouldn't have much trouble proving that he hadn't been treated here.

As long as none of the staff here checked Facebook.

The nurse didn't even ask for his student ID or something. Just marked the name and address down. Then she smiled professionally at them and pointed to her left. "Alright. You can wait there in the lobby. The vending machine is stocked, but I wouldn't recommend the coffee maker there."

"Uh… about his insurance…" Claire started to ask.

"We have a fund for accidents and attacks," the nurse flashed another tired smile at them. "Don't worry about it. It's covered."

Jim blinked. Free treatment? For 'accidents and attacks'? That was…

Claire nodded. "Thank you, ma'am. We'll wait."

But the nurse was already staring at her screen again.

Jim followed Claire to the couch in the corner of the lobby. "Free healthcare?" he whispered.

Claire looked as confused as he was. "They must have lots of attacks on a Hellmouth. Perhaps this 'Council' is behind this, covering up the attacks so the town doesn't attract attention?"

"Well, if it avoids any trouble with insurance companies…" Jim shook his head. "But there would be follow-up costs. Rehab, therapy…" Something felt off. He stood up and went over to the vending machine. "Want anything? My treat."

"No," Claire said. She was looking at the floor.

He sighed and bought two Mars bars, then went back to his seat. "For Toby," he said when she glanced at him.

"Ah." She nodded.

Jim leaned back and closed his eyes. This was all his fault. If he had been a better Trollhunter, if he had had a better plan to deal with the Slayer, Toby wouldn't have been hurt. They should've prepared better. Not gone in all half-cocked. He sighed.

"Toby will be OK," Claire said in a low voice. She didn't sound very convincing, though.

Jim nodded anyway. "He's tough." He had fought trolls, goblins, changelings… he wouldn't die to a girl with a baseball bat. He couldn't. Jim gritted his teeth.

He balled his hands into fists. Toby had to survive.


"And those… intruders… defeated Spike - a member of the whirlwind?" Travers narrowed his eyes at Buffy Summers.

She met his glare with one of her own, then glanced at Dawn, who was sitting in a corner with Willow. Her sister looked pretty down - but Buffy couldn't do anything about that right now.

"Yes." The female councilwoman nodded. "I saw it from the door. He attacked them, trying to hold them off so we - I and the Slayer's sister - could escape - and he vanished in that… portal."

"That doesn't sound like the actions a vampire would take." Apparently, Travers didn't even trust his own woman - well, female minion, Buffy corrected herself.

"Indeed. I was as surprised as you are, sir," the woman - what was her name again? Lydia? - said. "But he did throw himself at the demons and told us to run. My interest in his, ah, career, might've appealed to his vanity."

"Perhaps." Travers sneered. "In any case, he's gone now. If they sent him away, he likely appeared outside in sunlight and burned.

Buffy pressed her lips together. Spike, gone? She doubted that. The vampire was a pest, but he wasn't a pushover. And yet… portalling a vampire into the sun would be a very easy way to destroy them. As would be portalling a Slayer a mile or two up in the air, she reminded herself. Those probably-not-demons were even more dangerous than she had thought. "They'll return," she said. "And we need to be ready for them. They must be working for the demon we told you about," she added with a glare.

"We have no proof of that," Travers replied, glaring back at her. "We'll continue the review."

Oh for… She clenched her teeth. She couldn't tell them that the fakey demons were after Dawn - the key Miss Demon-Skank wanted. That would endanger Dawn. "Look," she said instead. "We're having a crisis here."

"A crisis? Whether those intruders were demons that you were unable to identify or humans in disguise, you drove them off. At least you claim so. Do you have so little confidence in your work that you fear they will be back? And that you cannot handle them?" Travers raised his eyebrows. "I might almost suspect that this was an elaborate ruse to make us hand over the information."

She gasped. "You'd think… you honestly think I would do that?" Although, on second thought, it did sound like a nifty idea.

"If we'd done that, we'd hired real demons!" Willow still wasn't helping.

"This is beyond the pale, Quentin!" Giles spoke up. "Are you seriously suggesting this was a hoax?"

"I notice an obvious lack of victims and damage after two supposed attacks," Travers replied. "That, and the apparent fact that those 'demons' were disguised humans, does strongly hint at this being a setup."

"Indeed," Nigel the toady chimed in. "And you calling attention to the disguises is one of the oldest tricks in the book to divert suspicion."

Buffy shook her head. Those Council-geezers obviously had too many James Bondy-types in their Council if they were thinking like that! "I didn't hire them, and neither did any of my friends!" she spat. "And whether they were demons I couldn't smell…"

"Which certainly is a failing on your part," Nigel cut in. "Any Slayer should be able to sense a demon."

She glared at him; it wasn't her fault she wasn't good at sniffing out demons. "...or humans in disguise, they were dangerous. You saw that yourself!" She pointed at maybe-Lydia. "They could teleport!"

"Yes!" Anya nodded vigorously. "And if they could easily get in here to steal our goods, imagine what they will do once they set their eyes on your vaults!"

That finally seemed to make the Council guys listen - Buffy could see them exchanging glances.

"Yes!" Xander nodded as well. "If we could hire those people, why wouldn't we have hired them to break into the Council's archives?"

And now the Councilfolks were glaring at them again. Good going, Xander! With such friends, Buffy didn't need any enemies. Or something.

"Nigel," Travers said.

"I'll inform headquarters so they'll increase security," the toady said.

Which meant Buffy's new alternative plan to get the information wouldn't work anymore. Well, no big loss - she hadn't yet worked out how to make the not-demons teleport her around.

"Dear Lord!" Giles shook his head worse than the time Buffy had totally-accidentally mixed up his register cards. "Quentin! We can't afford to play stupid power games! We are facing a demon of unprecedented power, which might have access to a trio of powerful practitioners and experienced thieves. Thieves wielding powerful magic artifacts. I don't need to tell you how dangerous such a group is by itself. Now imagine if they are working for the demon we're fighting!"

Go, Giles! He would've totally convinced Buffy if she hadn't been on board from the start.

Travers, though, was frowning. "I'm afraid that this incident only makes the necessity to thoroughly review your operation here more obvious."

Buffy really wanted to hit the old man. Perhaps taking him hostage would work? Probably not; Giles had been vocal about that when she had mentioned it.


"Mr Miller? Miss Garcia?"

Oh! James Lake Jr. blinked and looked up. A doctor - well, he looked like a doctor - was smiling at him and Claire. "Yes?"

"I'm Ben. Ben Wilkinson. I'm here on my internship and I'm the physician who was treating your friend. One of them."

"How is To-Tony?" Jim nodded, then controlled himself. He couldn't risk dislodging his wig.

"He'll be fine." Ben smiled. "It wasn't life-threatening. He did have internal bleeding, but we could treat it, and he'll recover without a blood transfusion."

That was good, wasn't it? Jim smiled.

"But he was so pale," Claire said. "And shivering."

"Yes, but we stabilised his circulation with an infusion. We'll have to keep him for a few more days until he's healed from the surgery."

That wasn't good! Toby needed to be home at eight! And… "Surgery?" Jm asked, a little more loudly than he had intended.

"We had to fix the bleeding." Ben shrugged. "It was a simple procedure - they let the intern close up the incision afterwards," he added with a grin.

Jim forced himself to smile at the joke. Claire managed a giggle, but Jim could tell it was fake. "So," he went on, "we can't, uh, transfer him to a clinic in our… L.A.?"

"Well, you could, though that will take some time - probably a day at least. Then a day to transfer him…" Ben shrugged. "You wouldn't really gain any time that way."

"Ah." Then they would have to spring Toby from the hospital. "But he's safe now, right? This is just procedure? My.. dad's a doctor, too," he lied.

"Ah!" Ben's smile grew a little. "Yes, it's mostly procedure."

Good. That meant they could take Toby from the hospital and get him home. "Thank you," he said.

"Thank you so much!" Claire added.

"It's my job," Ben replied. "Well, my internship."

"Can we see Tony?" Claire asked.

"Well, he's still asleep, but in a few hours, you can see him. Where are you staying?"

"With friends here," Claire said. "My mum's best friend from college moved to Sunnydale. We'll be back in a few hours, then."

"Ah." The man smiled at them, then turned and left.

Jim sighed. "We need to get Toby and get him home," he whispered.

"But not right now," Claire whispered back.

"We can't leave him here for long. What if the Slayer is looking for us? Toby's helpless!" Jim replied.

"Yes." Claire nodded. Then her eyes widened. "But… what if she's moving the hammer?"

"Oh." Jim clenched his teeth. That would render everything they had done so far pointless. "I'll check. If the hammer's moving, then she isn't looking for us right now. Let's go outside."

They went out of the hospital, and Jim looked around. No one was looking their way. Then he pulled the Divine Compass out of his backpack and activated it.

And gasped. It was pulling towards the hospital! The hammer was inside the clinic!