Chapter 13: Revelations Part 1
Arcadia Oaks, January 14th, 2017
"I said someone stole my KEY!"
Buffy Summers froze for a moment. Glory. Here. Outside the building.
"You're under arrest!" That was the cop from before.
She stood. She had to...
"Hey!" The detective was getting up as well. "Stay here!"
She looked at him. He didn't know. This was… "No. You don't…"
The sound of splintering glass and screaming cut off what she had been about to say. Shots followed.
Buffy moved, rushing out of the office, into the larger office. The windows to the street were smashed, and a body was on the floor, amidst the remains of a desk. The cop who had yelled about the arrest.
Willow and Giles were crouched behind a desk at the back. And outside, cops were shooting.
A scream, cut short. More shots.
"Get out the back!" Buffy told the others as she moved to the door.
"Parker!" The detective knelt at the body, reached for the throat of the man, then shook his head. "Get down, everyone!" he yelled.
Another scream followed. No more shots followed.
Then the door was kicked open, and Glory was there.
"Where is my KEY?"
The demon-skank looked around. "Slayer! Where is my KEY?"
Buffy pushed down the terror that briefly filled her. She was the Slayer. She killed demons.
She cocked her head. "You know, you're kinda fixated on that. Have you thought about expanding your hobbies? Or your vocabulary? It's kinda..."
She was already moving, jumping to the side, before Glory reacted. Even so, the hell-goddess almost caught her with a wild swing that left her fist stuck in the wall.
"Stop!" the detective yelled, gun drawn on Glory. "You're under arrest."
The skank looked at him, pouting as she ripped her arm out of the wall, wrecking more of the office. "You're supposed to help me, not arrest me. The Slayer stole my KEY!"
"You've murdered Parker. You're under arrest!"
"He was trying to arrest me," the hell-goddess replied. "And he ruined my dress!"
Buffy glanced behind her. Willow and Giles were gone. Good. That left only the stupid detective.
"Now, will you arrest her?" Glory pointed at Buffy.
Was the hell-goddess so stupid to think this would work, or was this part of another plan? Buffy couldn't tell. But she shook her head. "What key? I don't have a key!"
"LIAR! I felt it in your room! You have my KEY!" Glory stalked towards Buffy.
The detective started shooting - at the blonde's legs. The bullets hit, but Glory didn't even stop.
Buffy vaulted back, landing behind a desk, faked left and jumped to the right a moment before Glory kicked the desk, smashing it against the wall behind it. If Buffy had been there...
"Give me my KEY!"
Buffy kept moving, jumping over the counter near the door, then dropping down to cut the line of sight before scrambling on all four towards the door. She had to lure the monster out of here before Glory killed more people.
The hell-goddess smashed through the sturdy counter as if it was made out of cardboard and came to a stop in the hallway between Buffy and the door. "No more running!"
Buffy clenched her teeth. This was…
A bullet struck the demon's head, ricocheting into the wall. Buffy heard the detective curse.
Then two whirling blades hit Glory from behind, cutting her dress. "Pick on someone your size!"
Jim. That was Jim, standing there, behind the monster. Buffy wanted to slap him. And not for the quip about her size.
And she also wanted whirling throwing blades that returned to your hand. Jim got the best toys!
Glory whirled. "My dress! Do you know how much that cost?"
"No. And I don't care," Jim replied.
"Freeze!" The detective tried again - he had reloaded, Buffy noted. But everyone ignored him.
"It cost more than… how much did your armour cost?"
"More than you could afford," Buffy said. "Judging by how cheap you look."
Why was Jim glaring at her? Did he want Glory to come after him?
He probably did, Buffy realised. The boy was stupid that way. But she was the Slayer, and Glory was her problem. The monster had killed enough people on her watch. "You want your key?" she snapped. "Come and get it!"
She turned and ran towards the back. Willow and Giles had to be gone by now.
"My KEY! My… my Key?"
Buffy glanced over her shoulder as she reached the door to the back. Glory wasn't following her. She was ignoring the detective and Jim. She was staring at the broken window. No, at something outside. Someone.
No!
Buffy whirled and ran straight at the monster. But before she reached the skank, Glory blurred and disappeared.
And Buffy heard a scream outside. A familiar scream.
Dawn.
James Lake Jr. whirled. And felt his heart sink. Not again! He had let the hell-goddess kill three cops already - she had been too fast for him to react before they had been sent flying by blows more powerful than a troll's - and now she was… across the street, in front of Dawn.
"Leave her alone!" the Slayer screamed and dashed towards the hell-goddess.
Jim charged after her, even though he knew they wouldn't make it in time. Glory was too fast.
"My Key!"
What?
"Leave her alone!" the Slayer repeated herself.
Dawn had the key? As they had suspected?
"I finally found you!"
Dawn was shaking her head, moving back. "No… no…"
Xander was there, stepping in front of her.
Glory casually, almost gently, slapped him away. The man flew back two yards, hit the ground and rolled another two yards. Then he disappeared into a portal.
The Slayer rammed into the hell-goddess, hitting her in the face with a flurry of punches. Glory moved her arm without taking her eyes off the trembling girl in front of him, and the Slayer barely managed to deflect the blow enough so she wasn't smashed into the ground but merely driven back several yards.
Then Jim reached Glory, Daylight flashing as he jumped and slashed at her with enough force to cut a troll in half.
He hit her head, and she flinched. "Ouch! Hey!" She turned - and Jim saw something flutter in the air between them. Strands of hair, he realised.
"What…?" Her eyes widened. "You… you cut my hair!"
Jim managed to summon his shield a moment before she hit him.
Her fist went through it, shattering it, then caught his chest plate in a glancing blow that still flung him back and made him fall down.
"You'll pay for that!" she screamed at him.
The Slayer threw herself at Glory again, but once more, she was swatted away without the hell-goddess bothering to look at her.
"You know how much it costs to style my hair?"
Dawn was running. Getting the key away. He had to buy time. Jim pushed himself up. "You paid for that?" he muttered as he took a stance.
She bared her teeth, and Jim braced himself. This was it. This was…
A portal opened in front of him a moment before the screeching monster reached him. Glory slammed into the portal.
And bounced back.
No.
Jim blinked.
As did Glory after stepping to the side. "What the hell!" She narrowed her eyes at him. "You tried to lure me into a portal?"
"Yes?" Jim replied.
She laughed. She actually laughed. "You idiot! I'm banished to this dimension! Without my key, I can't leave it!"
Oh. Damn. They probably should've thought about that before trying this. But he saw another portal swallow Dawn. Good.
"I'm surrounded by idiots," Glory muttered. "But at least I have found my…" She blinked again, looking around. "Where is it? Where is my…"
"Die!" The Slayer descended from above, hammer held in two hands, and brought it down squarely on Glory's head.
The hell-goddess actually fell, her face hitting the ground, and the Slayer hit her twice more in rapid succession.
"Give me my KEY!" the monster screeched, lashing out with her arms.
The Slayer fell back, parrying another blow with her hammer, and Jim moved to flank the hell-goddess when another portal opened in front of him.
"Jim!"
Claire! He saw her standing at the corner, staff pointed at him.
"Move!"
He shook his head. He couldn't leave. Not when others were in danger.
Something hit him, and he was pushed into the portal.
He expected to hit the ground, but instead, he was floating in space - no, in the space between portals.
"You damn idiot! What were you waiting for, a written invitation?"
And the Slayer was clinging to him. And berating him.
"If the witch with the staff tells you to go through the portal before the hell-goddess squishes you, you go!"
"But…" he started to defend himself.
"No buts! What were you going to do? Give her an even worse haircut? Were you trying to get..." She trailed off. "Where are we?"
"In the space in-between the portals," Jim told her.
"Spike's prison dimension?"
Jim frowned. "It's not a prison. It's..."
"Oh, I get it! It's another dimension - and since Glory is stuck to the Earth dimension, she can't get to us here!"
Jim blinked. "Yes, exactly." Claire must have realised that and sent them here!
"Good. Now, where are the others?"
The others? Claire! Where was Claire?
Jim looked around. He couldn't see her.
A moment later, another portal opened, and Dawn stumbled through, followed by Claire.
"Claire!"
"Dawn!"
Dawn was there! Buffy Summers reached out for her, but in this weird space, she couldn't move. She tried swimming, but that didn't work.
"Dawn!"
"Buffy?"
"Claire!"
"Jim!" the girl blurted out. "Let me get us to a solid part."
"Solid part?" Buffy asked, but they were moving already - towards a floating cloud thingie. No, a floating island thingie, as Buffy quickly realised.
But she was close to Dawn now. "Dawn! Are you alright? Did Glory hurt you?"
"No…" Dawn replied, and Buffy felt her heart skip a beat until her sister continued: "No, she didn't hurt me."
"I got her away," Claire said as if Buffy hadn't noticed. "I got the cops away as well, and Xander - to the hospital - but…"
Dawn hunched over. "Xander's tougher than he looks," Buffy said, mostly for Dawn's benefit. And Xander hadn't been that hard. Unlike… Ah. She pressed her lips together. The cop who had been slapped into the station had been killed. And the cops outside… Damn.
Jim stiffened. "They might call Mum in if there are three emergencies."
"I doubt that Glory will head to the hospital," Buffy told him. She doubted that the hell-goddess knew what a hospital was.
They reached the floating island thingie. It felt good to have solid - or probably solid - ground under your feet again. Slayers weren't made to float in weird space.
"I tried to send her away. Glory," Claire said. "But it didn't work. She bounced off my portal. So I took us here. If she can't leave Earth, then we're safe here."
"Good idea," Buffy commented. Safe was good. A space for Dawn that Glory couldn't reach without Dawn's help! It was perfect. Well, she amended after taking a look around, maybe not perfect, what with all the gloom and doom style, but it was better than dying or destroying Earth.
"But I have no idea where the others are," Claire said.
"Or what Glory is doing now," Jim said. "She's loose in Arcadia Oaks!"
"We can't stay here," Claire said.
"Wait! Why can't we stay here? Or at least… Dawn and the others?" Buffy asked. "They're safe here." Claire and Jim looked around, and Buffy pouted. "You kept Spike imprisoned here."
"He's a vampire," Jim replied. "And it was only for a short time. We can't exactly camp out here."
"Why not?" Buffy patted the ground. "I've been on worse camping trips. At least it's not raining. All the time. Remember?" She looked at Dawn.
But her sister was staring at... somewhere in this space. Or something.
"Dawn?"
"She was after me," Dawn said, without looking at them. "That's why you took me with you, instead of leaving me in Sunnydale or sending me to Los Angeles." She turned, and Buffy saw that she was crying. "Why did she think I was the key?"
"Wait… you don't have the key?" Jim blurted out.
Buffy would've glared at him, but she was focused on her sister. "Dawn…" How best to explain the whole mess?
"I'm the key, aren't I?"
And now everyone was looking at Buffy.
"Err…"
"I'm the key. She wants me to destroy Earth. Why?" Tears were running down Dawn's cheeks. "Why me?"
Buffy bit her lower lip, then reached out for her sister, pulling her into a hug. "Well…" She couldn't tell her the truth. Not now. Not with others here. "It's my fault."
"What?"
"What?"
"How?"
Buffy frowned at the stares from everyone as Dawn pushed her back. "The key is energy. Green energy - like a ball. Some monks guarded it. But when Glory started hunting them, they couldn't keep guarding it. And they couldn't destroy it or something. So they decided to make me guard it - by stuffing the energy into you."
"What?" Dawn shook her head. "They…"
"They're all dead," Buffy said.
"So? How could they do that?" Dawn yelled. "Without asking me!"
"Or me," Buffy pointed out.
"Is that why Mum was so weird before her surgery?" Dawn asked after a moment.
"Yes. She must have noticed the green energy around you." Buffy nodded quickly. Dawn seemed to believe her. Well, it was the truth. Kind of. Almost. And it was for the best. This wasn't the time to tell Dawn that she was the key turned human.
"You're the key?" Claire asked as if she hadn't heard them.
"Can others see this energy?" Dawn asked.
"No," Buffy told her. "None of us can."
"But…" Dawn sat down on the ground, breaking eye contact. "Glory's after me. She wants me. And…" She shook her head again, "And she'll kill everyone who's in her way!"
"We won't let her," Buffy told her.
"And you're safe here," Claire added. "We know Glory can't enter this space."
"We'll protect you," Jim said.
"Because if she gets me, it's the end of the world." Dawn closed her eyes.
"No! Because you're innocent!" Buffy blurted out.
But Dawn wasn't listening to her.
"She almost had me - she was standing in front of me, looking at me…" Dawn shuddered and hugged herself.
James Lake Jr. clenched his teeth as he heard her sniffle. Dawn was the key - had been used as a vessel for the key, to be precise, so her sister the Slayer would protect her. That had to be a shock. He couldn't imagine how he would react in that case.
"She didn't get you," the Slayer said, hugging her sister. "We won't let her."
"But you can't stop her!" Dawn retorted. "She just… she just killed those men! And she was throwing you around like… like…"
"But we did save you. And we know she can't enter this dimension," Claire cut in. "You're safe here."
Dawn made a sound between a sob and a snort but didn't say anything in response. Jim hadn't known her for long - though the road trip back to Arcadia Oaks certainly had felt like an eternity - but he was pretty sure that Dawn being silent wasn't a good thing.
Though there wasn't much he could do. He couldn't even hug her since he was wearing his armour. And hugging her would… well, if the Slayer didn't kill him, then Claire probably would. He snorted at the silly thought.
"We need to find the clothes and bring them here as well," Claire said. "Then get supplies. Maybe a tent. Sleeping bags. Food and water."
Jim nodded. "Good idea." If they could use this space - this dimension - as a base, then Dawn would be safe, and they could…
"You have to kill me!"
"What?" The Slayer gasped as Jim turned to stare at Dawn.
The girl shook her head, pushing against her sister. "I'm the key. If Glory gets her hands on me, the world ends. You have to kill me. Like those crazies said."
"Dawn!" the Slayer protested. "You're… you're being stupid! We can't kill you!"
"Of course you can! You're the Slayer!"
"But… No! You're not thinking straight. You're under shock. You need to rest and… stop being stupid!"
Jim gritted his teeth. How could Dawn say this? That wasn't how it worked! He wouldn't let her die! He was the Trollhunter - his duty was to protect everyone!
"Killing you might just free the key," Claire said. "And make it easier for Glory to get it."
Dawn gasped, looking at them through tear-filled eyes. "But…"
"No dying, you idiot!" her sister snapped. "You'll stay safe - we'll deal with Glory."
Jim nodded, as did Claire as she hefted her staff.
"But how?" Dawn asked, shaking her head. "She… she's too strong. She swatted everyone around, and she… she was just a blur when she moved!"
"We'll figure something out," the Slayer said. "She has to have a weakness. She's dumb as a rock, for one. And we'll get magic weapons to kill her," she added with a glance at Jim and Claire.
Jim nodded. "Yes."
"But first, we'll need to find the others," Claire said. "Make sure they're safe."
Jim nodded again. "Where would they have gone?"
"That's easy - we'll ask!" the Slayer announced as she reached into her pocket. "Ugh…" She pulled out the remains of her phone. "I'll have to sue Glory for a replacement phone."
It was a weak joke, but Jim snorted anyway - then again at her affronted expression.
"My phone works," Claire said and held it up, "but we need to leave this space to get a signal."
"M-mine should work, too," Dawn said.
"You stay here," the Slayer snapped,
"I can't use it here, anyway."
"You can play games on it while you wait."
"Do you know Willow's number?" Dawn shot back. "Miss 'I can't remember the combination for my locker'?"
"Uh…" The Slayer took Dawn's phone, then turned to Jim and Claire. "Let's hop out somewhere else in town and call the others." After a moment, she added: "Xander. We need to check up on him."
"Yes." Jim tried not to look grim.
Claire nodded and raised her staff. "I'll open a portal to… the school. No one will be there."
"Won't she sense it?" Dawn asked. "Or… she sensed me opening those green portals, didn't she? Green, like the key! Oh God! It was my fault that she arrived and killed the cops! If I hadn't played around… If I hadn't taken the staff, no one would've died!"
Jim gritted his teeth as the girl started crying again.
"Glory killed the cops; you didn't do anything wrong - we didn't know she could sense you," the Slayer replied.
"But you thought it was possible!"
"Only after I saw the green portals."
"It's still my fault. All my fault." Dawn sank to her knees, arms wrapped around herself, and sobbed.
Jim didn't know what to do. And it seemed that the Slayer was at a loss as well - she knelt to hug Dawn, but that didn't stop the crying.
"Gunmar has my brother, Enrique," Claire spoke up. "If I had been home, if I had paid better attention to what was going on…" She shook her head. "But I didn't kidnap him. Gunmar's followers did. They decided to break into my home and kidnap him."
Jim nodded. "If I had been there, I could've stopped them. I'm the Trollhunter - I knew such things were happening. But… you can't blame yourself for the actions of others. Glory murdered the cops. She, and no one else."
Dawn kept sobbing, but Jim thought she was calming down. It wasn't much, but it was something.
Buffy Summers wanted to hit something - anything. Preferably Glory. Her sister was crying, and she couldn't do anything to make her feel better. She could only hold her, which, obviously, wasn't working - Dawn was still crying.
Though she wasn't shaking as much any more. Or talking about dying. Or getting killed.
Buffy gritted her teeth. That was all Glory's fault. And probably the Knights', though they were already dead, and, possible zombie plague excepted, hitting them wouldn't do anything to help anyone. And it would be gross, too. Probably illegal as well.
She sighed. "Just… don't do anything stupid, OK?"
"Like using a magic staff?" Dawn replied.
"No! I mean, yes - but…" Buffy huffed. "I mean, don't talk about dying. Or having yourself be killed. Or…" She couldn't say that.
Dawn didn't answer.
"That's where you say 'Yes, Buffy', Buffy prompted her. She pulled back so she could look at Dawn and forced herself to smile.
Her sister smiled back. It was a weak, fake and tearful smile, but Buffy was taking what she could get.
The snot running out of Dawn's nose, though… She reached into her pocket for a handkerchief and handed it to her.
And while her sister blew her nose, Buffy stood and cleared her throat. "So, let's go round up the others!"
"Right." Jim nodded.
Claire nodded again, then raised her staff, and a portal appeared in front of them. It looked like… "A PE shed?"
"It's the shed with the track and field gear," Claire confirmed.
"Oh! So, you're familiar with it?" Buffy grinned, then glanced at Jim and back at Claire, whose eyes widened before she started blushing.
"We've got PE twice a week, and Coach likes…" Jim trailed off, finally catching up, and blushed heavily.
Buffy chuckled, and even Dawn managed a small snort.
Then they stepped through. "Keep the portal open," Buffy told Claire. The girl seemed about to protest, but a glance back at Dawn shut her up.
She scrolled through Dawn's contact list. Willow and Xander would be down... "Dawn! Why is my number listed under 'PainInTheA..'?"
"Cause it's true!"
"Oh, you!" Buffy clenched her teeth, then smiled - that sounded more like her sister. Who was the actual pain in the butt. But here was Willow's number, right above Xander's.
She dialled Willow's first.
Willow started talking before Buffy could say anything, "Dawn? Are you alright? Is Buffy alright? We can't reach her. We couldn't reach you until now - were you in portal space or too far away to have a signal? We…"
"Willow!" Buffy interrupted her. "It's me. I broke my phone, and Dawn loaned me hers. Where are you and Giles?"
"Buffy!" She could hear her friend gasp, relieved. "Is everyone OK? We're walking towards the hospital. We thought, if anything happened…"
"Xander should be there. We'll come to fetch you," Buffy said. "Did you see the detective?"
"No, but we kind of… We ran from the cops. Does that make us fugitives?" Willow asked.
"I think evacuating civilians in such a situation is the norm," Buffy heard Giles comment in a dry manner. "I hardly think they'll charge us for saving our lives, although my trust in the American judicial system might be slightly misplaced."
"Giles!" Buffy smiled. He was alright as well. "We'll meet you at the hospital. Uh… not at the front door. Is there a parking lot?"
"Yes, there is," Jim said. "And hurry - we don't want to risk Glory finding us here."
Right. No attracting the hell-goddess when you were standing near a portal to Dawn. Wait - the skank couldn't go through the portal! But she could take hostages… "Alright. See you soon, Willow!"
She hung up. "OK. Let's go back, then open a portal to the hospital's parking lot!"
Jim and Claire looked at her before nodding in agreement. What was this about?
But they stepped back into the weird portal space. Back to Dawn.
"Willow and Giles are OK. We're calling Xander as soon as we're at the hospital."
Her sister nodded.
Claire opened the next portal without saying anything, and they stepped out into the darker part of a typical parking lot. Buffy looked around, then sniffed the air. "They aren't here yet."
"Did you just… try to smell them?" Claire asked.
"Slayer senses. Magical," Buffy told her.
"Oh. Can you track a scent?" the girl asked.
"If it's particularly obnoxious." It wasn't as if she had been trained as a bloodhound. And it wasn't as if Buffy wanted to be able to smell everyone - hygiene standards at school had been pretty bad, and they hadn't really improved at college. The number of people who didn't shower after an all-nighter...
But it came in handily at times. Like when looking for cookies. Or tracking down a little sister. Or… She cocked her head, then turned to face the road leading up to the hospital. "They're coming."
"What about Xander?"
"Right." Buffy opened Dawn's contact list again and dialled Xander.
He wasn't answering.
The Slayer stared at the phone as if she wanted to crush it. James Lake Jr. cleared his throat. "He's probably in surgery and can't answer his phone."
"In surgery?" The Slayer whirled to stare at him, then scoffed. "Right. He would be hurt. But surgery…"
Jim winced when she wasn't looking - he had meant to be comforting, not alarming.
"Let's go and check, then!"
"We should wait for the others," Claire said, shaking her head. "If something happens and we're split up…"
"Alright. You wait here, I'll go look for Xander," the Slayer said.
"You can't take the hammer with you," Claire pointed out. "Someone else should go. Like Mr Giles."
"Giles? But…" The Slayer closed her mouth, and Jim almost expected to hear her teeth grind together. "Giles, then. At least he's got the most experience with hospitals."
"What?" Claire blurted out.
"He keeps getting hurt. He's not a Slayer."
"Oh." Jim pressed his lips together to avoid agreeing.
"Neither are your other friends," Claire pointed out. She sounded tense. Or annoyed.
"And they should get hurt, either," the Slayer retorted, frowning at Claire.
"That's not your decision," Claire told her, lifting her chin and narrowing her eyes.
Jim winced again, not that either of the two others would notice. "I can't enter - if Mom is working and sees me…"
The Slayer sighed. "Giles, then. At least he has that 'worried person of authority' vibe going for him."
Jim had a feeling why Mr Giles would be good at that.
"Say, where's your Giles? The Blinky troll?"
"Blinky? I sent him back to Trollmarket. To the entrance, not directly to his home," Claire explained.
Jim sighed, relieved - and feeling a little guilty that he had forgotten about Blinky.
"Good thinking." The Slayer nodded, then sniffed the air again. "Willow and Giles are coming."
Jim couldn't see or hear anyone. Her nose apparently was as good as she had claimed. He wondered how she had survived high school - some students had really nasty perfumes or deodorants. Or none at all. On the other hand, if the Slayer told you to switch your deodorant, who would dare to disagree?
"There they are," Claire announced. Jim turned and saw Willow and Mr Giles enter the parking lot, looking around.
"Over here!" the Slayer snapped, and the two looked into their direction, then hurried over.
"We can't reach Xander," she told them right away. "He must be in surgery or... sleeping."
"Yes!" Willow nodded several times. "I'll go check."
"We thought Giles should go."
"They might wonder what his relationship to Xander is," Willow retorted. "I can say I'm his friend or girlfriend."
That was a good point. Jim briefly wondered what would've happened if Strickler hadn't been a teacher. He might have set the cops on the monster. But that would've just led to dead cops. Like today. He pressed his lips together.
"Alright. Willow goes in. Keep your phone going so we can get you out if anything happens."
"They don't have no-phone zones, do they?" Willow asked. "Like MRIs?"
"I don't think so," Jim said. "Mum mentioned something about the budget not allowing such a machine."
"Ah."
"You should be fine, Willow," Buffy said. "Though we should've kept some of Riley's gear - they had some nice radios. Not quite Slayer-proof, but they held up much better than a phone." She turned to Jim. "You know how annoying it is to have to keep buying the cheapest phone because stupid demons keep breaking them? Everyone thinks you're poor!"
"As I recall, I suggested buying a cheap phone for patrolling," Mr Giles commented.
"But stuff keeps happening when I'm not patrolling! Or when I am on the way to a club after patrolling!" the Slayer protested.
"I'm going to look for Xander," Willow said.
"And Giles can go join Dawn. I told her that the monks put the Key energy into her, so she's been all down and gloomy," the Slayer.
"You told her?" Willow seemed surprised. "Oh."
Mr Giles merely nodded. "Good thinking."
The Slayer stared at both, then nodded.
Jim had the impression he had missed something, but Willow was already walking towards the hospital.
Though then she turned. "Oh, Riley!" She rushed back to them. "Buffy! We might need to call the Government! This isn't Sunnydale!"
"Oh, right." The Slayer grimaced. "I almost forgot about this. The local cops won't file this as a drug-crazed gang attack, will they?"
Jim stared at her. "They do in Sunnydale?"
"Yes. Didn't I tell you?"
She had, actually - but to cover up an attack on cops…
"You can call the government?" Claire focused on something else.
"Oh, yes, they owe us one since we saved their butts." The Slayer nodded.
"Their entire underground base," Willow added. "And the world, probably."
"Underground base?" That sounded like a James Bond movie, Jim thought.
"We have a working relationship with most of the governments," Mr Giles said. "Though our recent involvement with the American Military certainly didn't hurt. I'll make some calls."
"Thanks, Giles. I would do it, but… Riley." The Slayer grimaced again.
Jim had the impression he was missing something else.
And there went Willow again. Buffy Summers clenched her teeth as she watched her bestie walk into the hospital. She should be there, checking up on Xander.
"Quentin? I know it's late, but we have a situation."
Oh. Giles had already called... Travers? Buffy hadn't known that he had the direct number of the old geezer. She cocked her head to listen in.
"A situation?"
"Glorificus attacked a police station in Arcadia Oaks, a Californian town north of Los Angeles. He tracked us there when we were evacuating," Giles reported. "There were several casualties amongst the police officers present, at least one death."
Buffy heard Travers sigh. "And the Slayer was involved?" Hey! That made it sound as if Buffy was at fault!
"Yes," Giles replied. "She was giving a statement - in our absence, the hell-god had ransacked our hotel rooms, and the police insisted on interrogating us."
"And they're never around when you need them." Another sigh. "We're on the way to London already. I'll make the calls to our liaison to stop this in its tracks. And this after we already had to intervene about the incident in Sunnydale!"
They had intervened? Buffy blinked.
"Thank you. We're working on acquiring magical weapons which might be able to hurt the hell-god through local contacts here. Apparently, the weapons need to have a rather strong divine component."
"A divine component?" Travers didn't sound optimistic. "I assume a blade blessed by a priest won't be sufficient?"
"I doubt it, but we'll check," Giles told him. "Though we might have found a way to keep the key from Glorificus - the hell-god cannot enter portals."
"I see. Quite logical, in hindsight."
They were chatting far too friendly for Buffy's taste. Far too British, too.
"We'll be looking through the archives."
"Thank you." Giles switched his phone off.
"That was quite friendly," Buffy commented.
"I don't think I want to know what you'd consider unfriendly rather than merely being polite," Giles replied.
"Ranting, cursing, threats, shouting," Buffy told him anyway with a bright smile. "Trying to strangle you? Giving you homework or detention?"
"We're British," Giles retorted.
"So, that was a British argument?" She cocked her head sideways.
"No. That was a pragmatic call to work together for the greater good of us all." He sighed. "We can only hope it'll be enough. But the massacre in Sunnydale made national news, so I have my doubts about this. The police are already aware of our connection to Sunnydale, and should they have reports about a violent blonde woman being involved, they are unlikely to drop the case even if ordered to. Detective Scott didn't strike me as the sort of man to bow to pressure."
"Hey! I'm not violent!" Buffy protested. "And they can't blame me for this!"
Giles looked at her as if she had said something dumb. As did Claire and Jim. Giles cleared his throat. "I was talking about Glorificus's current form, not about you."
"Oh." Now she felt dumb. But she had been blamed for everything that totally hadn't been her fault before. It was all Snyder's fault. And whoever framed her for Hemery burning down.
"In any case, we've set things in motion. Now we just have to recover Xander - if he can be safely moved - and we can retreat into this alternate dimension to plan in relative safety," Giles said.
"That's my plan," Buffy reminded him. "Dawn will be safe in there." Bored to death, probably, but safe. Well, they could get her some books. And a laptop with some downloaded movies and series.
She looked at the phone in her hand. Dawn's phone. Matter of fact, she could check her sister's favourites and start downloading them right now.
A few clicks and swipes, and she was looking at the menu. And blinked.
"Dawn!"
James Lake Jr jerked when he heard the Slayer hiss her sister's name and drew Daylight. "What's wrong?" He looked around. She couldn't have been attacked inside the portal dimension, could she? Had someone snuck past them? Angor Rot?
No, Dawn was sitting on the floating platform, looking at them. "What?"
"What are you watching?" the Slayer shook her head. "This is…"
"You were in my account? You had no right!" Dawn protested. "That's violating my privacy!"
"And what you're watching is violating the law!"
"It's perfectly legal!"
"Not for minors!"
"Everyone's watching it!"
"And if everyone is jumping off a bridge, it's OK to do it?"
Jim winced. As did Claire. And the Slayer.
Dawn, though, didn't seem to have made the connection. "Don't act like Mom!"
"What? Well, Mom will act on her own once she hears about this!"
"I'll tell her you violated my privacy!"
"It was for a good cause!"
"Children…" Mr Giles shook his head. "While I have no doubt that Dawn's media preferences might be cause for concern, we do have slightly more important problems to worry about." He looked around. "We are rather exposed here, and I would prefer not to attract more attention, given our current situation. Being mistaken for fugitives from the law - a not quite as far-fetched possibility as I would like it to be - could worsen our problems."
"I thought your call solved it," the Slayer replied.
"We'll be calling upon the federal government. Unfortunately, local authorities might not heed its orders and advice as they should," Mr Giles told her.
Jim nodded. They'd had that in civics. And you always saw that in crime series when the FBI arrived and tried to tell the local cops to butt out of a case.
"Heads up!" The Slayer spoke up. "Ambulance coming!"
Jim looked towards the road. There was an ambulance driving towards them. With all the lights and the siren on. Another emergency, then. "They'll call Mom for sure," he muttered.
"They might call my mother, too," Claire added. "This is probably the biggest thing in Arcadia Oaks."
"It is? Wow! And here I thought the small town paradise was a myth," the Slayer commented. "This wouldn't rate much in Sunnydale."
"You sound as if you are proud of it," Claire told her.
"What? No! Oh, look at that!"
The ambulance pulled up, and the paramedics took the gurney out with the patient on it. Though there was someone else with them, wrapped in a blanket. Someone familiar.
"Ben the intern?" Jim muttered.
