Chapter Thirty – Rendezvous Point
The building was nearly fifty miles outside London. It was an old building. The foundation and basement/dungeons had been built nearly seven centuries ago. The building on top was constructed in the early 1950s to replace the original one that had been destroyed by a German V-2 rocket. Most people assumed the rocket had veered widely off course and missed London. In fact it had been one of only a few V-2's that actually hit its intended target. But that is a story for another day.
The building and its surrounding complex were listed as belonging to some random Ministry of the British government. Nobody really knew which one. It seemed to jump around every few years. The bastard stepchild that nobody wanted and someone got stuck with. In reality the building was the property of the Crown and since the 50's was used by Special Projects. The original building and foundation had been built as a prison to hold some of the very strange people and things occasionally captured by the British government.
While the original building may have been destroyed the foundation and powerful protective wards were still intact. As such the British government rebuilt and used the building and the surrounding complex as the base of operations for the SAS team assigned to Special Projects. The basement still possessed the original warding spells, along with a few new ones, needed to contain powerful supernatural beings.
That was the reason the complex was chosen as the meeting point for the two strike teams. Willow's group arrived first. They handed off their still unconscious and tied up prisoners to guards that were waiting for them.
Willow was talking on her cell phone.
"Gotcha Eric ... Only one man got hurt ... No, no one got hurt on our end. We caught them totally flat-footed. Never even knew what hit them ... Is Faye ok ... That's kind of a normal reaction ... I'll talk to you more when you get here ... I need to tell Dawn how things went ... See you in a few minutes."
Willow clicked off the phone.
"Everything went well with the other strike?" Kennedy asked.
"They got Black and one other guy alive," Willow said. "One of the Death Eaters resisted. The SAS team was forced to kill him," Willow winced.
"I'm sure they didn't have a choice," Kennedy reached out and rubbed Willow's shoulder. "How's Faye taking it?"
"Eric said she's pretty agitated," Willow said. Death never sat well with a Slayer. Particularly the ones from Sunnydale.
Kennedy nodded. "I'll talk to her when we get back to the Council's headquarters. We'll run through everything," the Council had developed an unofficial policy that anytime a person died during a mission, regardless of the circumstances, the Slayer or Slayers involved talked privately with another Slayer. Kennedy lowered her voice, "What's wrong baby?"
"It's too fast," Willow replied. "We don't know enough about what's going on. I know we had a good plan and everything seems to have gone perfectly. This is usually about the time the other shoe drops."
"Don't worry," Kennedy said. "We'll just make sure it doesn't hit the ground."
A short while later Major Chisholm's team arrived. The first van pulled into a small side building that served as the complex's garage. Willow and Kennedy were waiting next to the entrance to the elevator leading down to the holding cells. Three stretchers came out to take the two unconscious prisoners and the body of the third man.
The second van pulled up and Kennedy saw Eric and Faye get out. She noticed the tightness in Faye's shoulders. The way she was looking around. Eric was right. She was agitated. Even this long after the mission the Slayer was still close to the surface. She noticed the other soldiers move away from her as they got out the van. Smart guys.
Eric saw her and Willow and nodded in their direction and started guiding Faye towards them. Kennedy started towards them and passed the three stretchers. Something caught her attention.
"Hold up a second," she said. The men pushing the stretchers looked towards Major Chisholm. He nodded his head and they came to a stop.
Kennedy walked to one of the stretchers. "This guy gives off the same vibe I got from the guy who changed into a rat."
"Sounds like an Animagus," Talerie said, walking up from the third vehicle.
"A what?" Kennedy said.
"An animagus," Talerie said. "A rare talent among Wizarding kind. A few of them can apparently transform into a single animal form. It can be anything. Bird, cat, dog in your case a rat."
"And no one thought to tell us about this before," Kennedy said. "That might have been good to know before one of those guys almost got away. Turned himself into a little three pawed rat. Well, three normal paws and a really ugly silver one. They've got him locked up in small cage downstairs. Still hasn't changed back."
"I'm certain the information was in the basic packet," Talerie said. "I didn't bring it up at the meetings because, as I said, the talent is rare. The odds on meeting one are quite low."
"First night dealing directly with wizards and I've already met two," Kennedy. "You need to revise your odds."
"Kennedy," Willow said. "I'm sure it was an honest mistake. No harm done. We'll just have to go over everything again."
Willow looked over to see Faye standing next to the body.
"Faye?" Willow said. "You ok?"
"He was a werewolf," Faye said.
Major Chisholm looked startled. "Are you sure?"
"She's sure," came the chorused reply from Willow, Kennedy and Eric.
Eric nodded, "Faye's got some the best senses when it comes to the supernatural of all the Slayers."
"I'd say only Faith's are better," Willow said. "When Faye says something like this, you can pretty much take it as truth."
"You got him in his human form," Faye said. "When he was vulnerable."
"Wouldn't have made any difference one way or the other," Lt. Cranston said. "All our weapons are loaded with VAAP clips."
"Vap?" Eric was confused.
"Something we picked up from the Americans," Lt. Cranston replied. "One of the only good innovations to come out of the Initiative. Which also explains the obtuse acronym. VAAP, V. A. A. P. Variable Ammunition Armor Piercing magazine. The clips are loaded with two types of armor piercing rounds," Lt Cranston pulled a spare clip out and popped the first round out and held it up. "The first is a high impact penetration round. This thing can penetrate virtually all standard body armor currently in use and a few that are still in development. Won't kill most demons, but it will get their attention and put most on the ground long enough to get out the stuff that can kill them."
Lt Cranston then popped out the next round in the clip and held it up. "This is also an armor piercing round. But as you might guess from the color, it's made incorporating a hardened silver alloy. Doesn't have the penetration power of the other round. Tends to flatten out too much on impact for that. But it does have stopping power. Knocks most things down and it will kill anything vulnerable to silver."
Major Chisholm picked up the explanation. "Bloody expensive things. Cheaper in the long run though. We don't have to maintain and carry around two separate ammunition loads anymore. We've got one clip loaded with ammunition that can slow down and cripple most supernatural beasties and even kill some. And it saves a hell of a lot of time not having to swap clips in the middle of a firefight," he nodded in Willow's direction. "Your friend Lt Colonel Finn has some interesting stories about the development process. It may seem a simple enough idea. But it wasn't easy to create something that could be relied on in the field."
Major Chisholm motioned with his hand and the men pushed the stretchers towards the elevator to the basement cells.
"What are you planning on doing with them?" Willow said.
"Not much tonight," Major Chisholm replied. "We make certain they've been stripped of any magical devices. Treat their injuries. They'll be kept sedated. We'll also keep them in separate cells and make certain they have no way to communicate. The longer we keep them in the dark about who we are and what's really going on the easier the interrogations will be. We won't be starting in on those until tomorrow morning. Cromwell will be coming out to handle them personally."
"Grayden also needs to get some rest before he can monitor the interrogations," Talerie said. "Most likely all of these men are protected by fidelius charms. There are ways to work around them, but they're tricky and take a long time."
Willow nodded, "All the men we captured had that 'Dark Mark' tattooed on their arms. The wards around the complex are powerful enough to prevent any mystical link they may have to Riddle from working."
"Good to know," Major Chisholm said.
"The rest of the girls have gone home," Kennedy said. She motioned towards Eric and Faye, "The four of us will stick around until you have these guys secured. We'll head back to the headquarters after that. We'll be back out tomorrow morning to monitor the interrogations."
"Sounds reasonable enough," Major Chisholm said. "If you will accompany me I'll show you around the non-classified sections of the complex."