Ted Buchanan's residence Sunnydale, November 21st 1997
Ted used rope to tie Joyce to a chair, down in his hidden basement (or what the Scooby gang would have called his "bunker o' love"). He ripped off a piece of duct tape and put it on the Summers woman's mouth. "I'm sorry, pumpkin. But I can't have you screaming for help, now, can I? That always ruins everything…"
He smiles at Buffy's mom, not caring that she was out cold. "Oh, I hope you don't mind the smell down here. And I'll also have to take your cell phone. Annoying things, aren't they?" He took Joyce's cell before calmly walking up the stairs, and then the Ted-bot secured the trap door in the floor.
Whistling to itself, the robot figured that even if Joyce did somehow escape from being tied to the chair, it wouldn't matter. She had no chance of breaking out of the underground basement. Ted had no idea, though, that a demon had followed him to his house...
{ Not yet, not quite, } Drej thought to himself, keeping eye out for the Scooby gang to show up before heading in to reduce Ted to spare parts. { Almost time, though. Very soon now… }
Elsewhere, Xander took Cordy to the local hospital instead of taking her home, just in case. Luckily, the staff at Sunnydale General Hospital weren't too busy with 'wild animal attacks' and 'victims of gangs high on PCP' to help her. A nurse and an intern put Cordy on a gurney and rushed her out of the ER, while Xander called her parents on his cell phone.
"Hello, Chase residence," a calm, accented answered the landline phone.
"Hi, this is Xander Harris. I, uh, I need to speak with Cordy's parents, please," he said, stumbling slightly.
"May I ask what this is pertaining to?" the voice – probably the Chase family butler, now that Xander thought about it – replied in that calm and collected voice.
"Uh, Cordelia's in the hospital. Sunnydale General. She fell unconscious as I was driving her home," Xander semi-babbled.
"One moment, please." There was silence as he was put on hold, and then the line exploded back into life as a male voice shouted, "What's all this about my little girl ending up in the hospital?!"
Xander explained to Mr. Chase what had happened, and that he hoped that Cordelia was going to be okay, before the man hung up on him without warning. { Well, that could have gone better, } Harris thought to himself with a sigh, before he decided to find the waiting room and wait for Cordelia's parents to show up.
Back at Giles' home, earlier that night, both the Watcher and the Slayer drank their tea as Rupert wondered how to answer Kendra's question about Xander – diplomatically.
"Is Xander seeing anyone? Err, I don't – that is, I-I don't like to pry into other people's personal lives, Kendra. I just wish that, that Buffy wasn't dating a vampire," he sighed.
"Buffy is dating Angel?!" Kendra gave him a puzzled look. "And you permit dis, sir?"
"It's not, um, a matter of, of granting permission, it's more – well, I already know that even if I forbade Buffy to see Angel socially, she'd continue to do so in secret, with Willow's help," Giles confessed. "Since I'm not her parental guardian, and ah, since Buffy's mother remains ignorant of her Calling – well, I'm sure Mr. Zabuto has taught you the value of knowing which battles need to be fought and which ones don't, a-as it were."
"Dat is true," Kendra said musingly, before her mind focused back on Xander and whether it'd be worth getting to know him better. Her Watcher had never allowed her to so much as look at a boy her own age, unless he was a vampire and she had to slay him. { Still, everything is so different here… it's like the rules back home don't really apply. At least, I don't think they do! }
Back at 1630 Revello Drive, Buffy started to wake up from the effects of the drugged food – and instantly, she noticed that her mom was gone and the front door was wide open.
"Mom!" Buffy cried out as she ran out of the house. Only to see the family Jeep still parked in the driveway. It didn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two together and Buffy cursed, "Damn it! That asshole Ted drugged us!"
She went back inside to wake her friends up. "Willow! Oz!" She started shaking both of the robot spies. "Wake up!"
"Buffy?" the Willow-bot suddenly ceased playing possum, as did its so-called boyfriend. "Oz?"
"Feeling kinda funky, but yeah," the Oz-bot lied.
"Ted drugged us and kidnapped my mom!" Buffy told the two robots worriedly. "We gotta get her back!"
"Right. I'll call Xander," Oz replied, as takes out his cell phone and started punching buttons.
"There's no time! And besides, what's he going to do?!" Buffy demanded, her unfortunate choice of words indicating her true feelings about her male friend. "Your van's outside, we know Ted's address – so why the hell are we still here?"
"Because we need to tell at least one other person what's going on. Xander can call Giles and Kendra and they can come rescue us, if something goes wrong," Willow pointed out. "It's not smart to act unilaterally at times like this, Buff. I keep telling you that we're a team, that you don't have to do everything all by yourself with regards to the Slayage – I just wish you'd listen, for once..."
Buffy glared at her best friend (or the robot duplicate thereof), knowing Willow was right but not wanting to admit it – and so she turned her attention to Oz, impatiently waiting for the phone call to end.
At the hospital, Xander heard his cell go off with the Star Wars Imperial March ring tone, before he took the phone out of his jeans pocket. He already knew it was Oz, thanks to his belief that Willow's boyfriend was a good candidate for being a Jedi Master with his laid-back personality and his tendency to give short, monosyllabic replies to other people's questions – and so the ring tone reflected everything that the caller wasn't.
Hey, Xander already knew the group thought he was occasionally weird and strange...
"What is it, Oz-man?" Xander said simply into the cell phone.
"Ted's taken Buffy's mom. We're think kidnapping and hostage type scenario," said Oz on his end. He then told Xander to meet him, Willow and Buffy at Ted's house and call for backup of the Watcher variety.
"Will do calling the G-man and Kendra, but I can't leave Cor now – oh man, her folks just showed up, here at the hospital," Xander told him, spying Cordelia's parents not far away. "Get Will to call in the cavalry?"
"Understood," Oz replied. A moment later, they both disconnected.
"I told Xander where to meet us. But he's at the hospital with Cordelia, along with her parental units." Oz put his phone away. "Guy said we ought to contact Giles and Kendra ourselves." He handed over the cell to his girlfriend, who then proceeded to do so.
"Let's GO!" Buffy demanded, finally losing all semblance of patience. Wasting no time, they took off in Oz's van and drove towards Ted's house.
Back at the hospital, Xander greeted Cordelia's parents. "Mr. Chase, Mrs. Chase. I called you earlier about Cordy?"
Cordelia's father squinted at him. "Wait a minute – aren't you Tony's boy? Haven't seen you since Cordelia's tenth birthday party!"
Xander frowned. "You know my dad, sir?"
"They went to school together, just like most of our generation did. Sunnydale isn't that big a town, you see," Mrs. Chase replied coolly.
"Never mind that – dammit, boy, tell me what happened to Cordelia!" Mr. Chase demanded angrily.
Xander simply repeated the story he had told them before on the phone, playing dumb before the Chase elders went to check on Cordelia in her room. He followed them, waiting outside as they examined their daughter. After Mr. and Mrs. Chase came out, saying they wanted to speak to a doctor, he accompanied them back to the hospital lobby - before ditching the older pair, after getting an idea.
A short while later, Cordelia was finally awake in her room. She felt pretty horrible as Xander walked into the hospital room with flowers and a teddy bear, but instantly she felt better as she smiled at him. "You don't have to get me flowers or even a teddy bear, dork," she thanked him in her own Cordelia-esque way.
He placed them on the cabinet on the side of the hospital bed. "I know that, Cor. But I was worried when you passed out in the passenger seat, after eating those drugged pizzas and cookies."
"WHAT?!" Cordelia instantly looked mad as Xander explained what must have happened, briefly mentioning the rushed phone call from Oz. "That bastard drugged us, Xander. Let's go kick his ass!" Cordy wanted nothing more than to break both of Ted's knees with a baseball bat, at that moment.
"No way, Cordy, you're not going anywhere until the doctors say you're allowed out of that bed." He smirked at her. "Besides, your mom and dad are here, I called 'em after bringing you straight to the ER. You wanna explain to them why you wanna leave here and break some guy's kneecaps, good luck with that!"
Cordelia rolled her eyes at him. She opened her mouth to deliver a scathing reply, before a look of horror appeared on her face. "Oh my God..."
"What?"
"Did I...did I actually invite you to make out with me tomorrow morning? In the school janitor's closet?!" Cordelia now looked officially freaked, as she remembered that part of the evening.
"Coulda been worse; it might have been underneath the bleachers at the football field, where anybody could see us," Xander wisecracked, before he saw the upset look on her face. "Relax, Cor; you were totally under the influence when you made that offer, so I'm absolutely not expecting you to kiss me tomorrow morning. And since no one heard you whisper that in my ear, it'll just be our little secret for the rest of our lives – okay?"
"Okay," she agreed, wondering why the heck she was feeling somewhat regretful that Xander hadn't said something like, 'you promised to kiss me tomorrow, so now you gotta keep your word about that!' instead.
{ I officially hate that Ted Buchanan guy, } Cordy thought grumpily, as Xander grabbed an empty vase and filled it from a nearby basin faucet, before placing the flowers he'd bought her in the water. { I swear, I'm telling Daddy to get that asshole arrested – and not just for drugging me and the others tonight, but for messing up what should have happened between me and – no! I did NOT just think that! } she cogitated in sudden horror. { I am *not* attracted to that fashion-victim doofus, of all people! I'm NOT! }
Outside Ted's home, Drej sensed that the Scooby gang was coming to the rescue. So his eyes glowed red, and the demon put his plan into gear.
Not far away, the van containing Buffy, Willow, and Oz developed a flat tire, and screeched to a halt. At the hospital, Cordelia fell asleep – as did Xander. Elsewhere, Giles and Kendra looked at each other in confusion, suddenly unable to remember why they were rushing to the Watcher's car. Drej's eyes then stopped glowing red. He grinned and said to himself, "Now that those fools are all out of the way, time I got those robot parts!"
He didn't want to waste any more time on this assignment, after all. So the demon vanished and then appeared in Ted's living room. Ted was watching something on TV on the couch. He had no idea that someone was behind him, until –
"Hello, Ted!" Drej said in his demonic voice.
"What the hell?" Ted got up from the couch and saw a young man that looked to be in his mid-twenties. The unexpected visitor was wearing a black hoodie, black pants and black boots, and he also had short black hair. In anything, he looked like a Goth. "How did you get in here?" Ted gave his unwelcome guest a death glare.
"Come on, robot, you've been around long enough to know about the things that go bump in the night! And I didn't come here to save Joyce Summers, if that's what you were wondering; I came for your parts, Teddy-boy." So saying, Drej jump-kicked his opponent in the chest, sending him right into the TV set!
Down in the hidden bunker that looked like an apartment straight out of the 1950's, Joyce woke up from all the noise upstairs. She quickly determined that she wasn't within her own home, but someone else's place - and tied to a chair. She tried to get loose, but failed to do so. She couldn't even call for help; her mouth had duct tape all over it.
Unfortunately, her nose was still working, and Joyce could smell something rotten coming from the nearby storage closet. She had enough experience working at her art gallery to guess what that something might be, unfortunately. { HELP! HELP! }
Upstairs, Ted wasn't happy with the new guy and picked up a chair, throwing it at Drej. The demon slashed at the chair while it was in mid-air, destroying it effortlessly with his mind powers. "Well, that's just not on. Mister, I won't stand for that sort of malarkey in MY house!" the Ted-bot growled.
Scowling, Ted jumped over the couch and attacked his enemy, punching Drej in the face - which broke his hand, sparks and the smell of burning oil erupting from the now-useless appendage. Smiling, Drej reached forward and ripped Ted's right arm off with his bare hand. There was a flash of light, metal and loose wires coming out where the insane robot's arm used to be.
"I'll kill you!" His programming becoming entirely corrupted, Ted came at Drej with everything he had left. But the attack failed miserably, as the demon vanished and reappeared behind the robot, ripping off the head with his hands. Sparks flew out of the bare neck, as various systems crashed and shorted themselves out.
Ted's lifeless body hit the nearly coffee table in the living room, which broke roughly in half. Drej just grinned to himself, "Now that was kinda fun…"
Down in the basement bunker, Joyce rocked the chair she was tied to back and forward - until the chair tipped over, hitting the ground. Luckily the chair was pretty old, which meant it broke pretty easily. She quickly freed herself of the rope and the duct tape, before screaming her lungs out. "HELP! HELP!" She could see the extension ladder leading up to the ceiling, but there was nothing in the room she could use to reach up that high. "HELP!"
Over at the old mansion on Crawford Street, Spike found Dru in the garden watching the stars in the night sky. "Whatcha doin', luv?"
She turned around with an evil smile. "Spoike, please, let's have a party; let's build a Judge!" Drusilla grinned at him.
{ The Judge? } Spike blew smoke from his mouth, before putting out the cigarette with his boot. Thinking over the legend, he mused to himself, { Well, why not? It's not the Gem of Amara, but it'll do in other ways… } "Great idea, luv. Okay, first, we need ta replace the minions that were dusted with new ones." He wrapped his arm around Dru, who giggled. "But then, we'll see what we can do to bring forth Big Blue, and burn the righteous down..."
Count Orlok had overheard them, and started wondering where to find a warlock or a witch that could use magic powerful enough to repair the Gem of Amara. If that could be done. The former Billy Fordham didn't fancy being judged and found unworthy...
So he left the old mansion without a word, putting his plan into action.
Back in Ted's basement, Joyce looked around for a way to escape but found none. Her cell phone was missing, so that was not an option. Plus the smell from the storage closet was getting really awful. Knowing she'd regret this, Joyce walked towards the storage closet and opened it - really, really slowly.
Without warning, the dead bodies of Ted's previous four victims came bursting out, falling at her feet.
She almost hurled, but covered her mouth with her hands just in time. Joyce took several steps back, almost fainting from the horror – as she suddenly realized what her unknown kidnapper most likely intended, after bringing her here.
Upstairs, Drej summoned a briefcase from out of nowhere before opening it. There was nothing inside; just darkness, an endless void. The demon casually put Ted's right arm in first, and then the head. Ripping off Ted's other limbs, they went in next along with the main trunk, before Drej closed the briefcase. With a wave of his hand, the case was locked. He then picked up the case, with the expression of a job well done on his human-looking face.
Heading to the kitchen, Drej began looking for something to eat before Jareth met him here. Drej spotted Joyce's cell phone on the kitchen table, but he paid no attention to that. The demon didn't find anything edible, but that wasn't surprising; now that Ted had gotten what he wanted, he'd been planning to vanish off the grid for a while and had no more need for human appearances.
Jareth appeared in the kitchen. "Making yourself at home, Drej?" Jareth raised his eyebrow at him.
"Why not? The job's done," the demon laughed. "The robot is in the briefcase." Drej pointed to it on the kitchen table.
Jareth picked up the case off the kitchen table and smiled. Both of them vanished, taking Ted with them. A short while later, the Scooby gang (or at least, Buffy and the Willow-bot and the Oz-bot) finally arrived on the scene – only to find the Sunnydale cops crawling all over the house.
"Detective Stein, that's a trap door right there!" one of the uniform officers exclaimed, as the balding detective shoved the carpet to one side. "I think there's someone down there, I can hear -"
"Outta the way," Detective Stein said roughly, before blasting the lock with his gun and then lowering the extension ladder after opening the trap door. "HELLO? Is someone -"
"Oh, thank God you've come! I was kidnapped!" Joyce shouted, as she almost ran up the ladder.
"MOM!" Buffy burst into the house, followed by Willow and Oz. "Oh, thank God you're okay! Where is that Ted guy? I swear, I'm gonna -"
"Ma'am, you say you were kidnapped?" Stein interrupted, gesturing at someone to start taking notes.
"Yes, I – I woke up down there, I didn't know what was going on…" Joyce trailed off.
"We got a report earlier tonight that a Miss Cordelia Chase had been drugged after having dinner at 1630 Revello Drive," Stein told her. "Does that mean anything to you?"
"Yes, that's my house, I – my daughter brought her friends over for dinner tonight, including that Cordelia girl! My boyfriend, Ted Buchanan – he brought the food – wait, this is Ted's house! Are you saying – those four dead bodies down there-?" She pointed down towards the basement, with a fresh look for horror on her face.
Stein gestured to his fellow police officers to check out the underground bunker. "Secure the crime scene until I get down there, looks like we've got a serial killer on our hands!"
An APB was put out, but Ted was nowhere to be found. The morgue people came and went, taking away the dead in body bags as Joyce was given a blanket and a steaming cup of coffee to recover from her ordeal. Stein took statements from both Willow and Oz, before ordering the two teens to go home and keep an eye out for Ted (just in case).
"Glad that nightmare's over," Buffy said, as she hugged her mom and gave thanks that she and her friends had arrived here in time. { Still, I wonder – where exactly did Ted disappear off to? }
Elsewhere at DELOS, Jareth laughed in delight…