DELOS lab, Westworld facility 1999
Trapped inside their human-sized tanks, the same way they'd been for the past two and a half years, the real Willow Rosenberg and Daniel 'Oz' Osbourne start to regain consciousness. But, as always, they couldn't move their bodies at all. It was a nightmare – and they'd have lost their sanity long ago, if not for the occasional feedback from their robotic counterparts on what was happening in Sunnydale.
It wasn't intentional – the robot spies weren't programmed for that. But their link to the human brains went both ways, at least sometimes, and that was the only reason why the two prisoners weren't a brain-dead mess.
Jareth sensed that Willow and Oz were now awake. He grinned, "So, you two have finally joined me, have you? Interesting..."
He got up from his chair. "I'm impressed! Tell you what - I'll adjust the brain tap so you can watch what's happening through your robot counterparts' eyes. But don't bother trying to warn that so-called Scooby gang of my plans. Even if you could talk right now, they can't hear your warnings." He chuckled darkly.
{ How long… } Not for the first time, Oz wondered how he and Willow are going to escape these tanks they were trapped in. And just like always, he refused to accept that he and the redhead were eventually going to die in them.
"I don't get why Xander even came up with that title of the 'Scooby gang', you know?" Jareth sighed. "Those kids don't have a talking dog, they don't unmask villains or even solve mysteries. Let alone look for clues! They don't even know that you, Oz, would have become a werewolf; or that Willow could have been a witch! No matter, things are still going as planned..."
Moving to another part of his office, Jareth adjusted the controls for the neural interface Oz and Willow shared with their android counterparts. And then, both Oz and Willow could see what their robot counterparts saw…
Crawford Street mansion, Sunnydale January 19th 1998
Some of Spike's minions *thought* they were sneaking in with the crates containing two of the Judge's parts. But they instantly got spotted by Buffy, Angel and Count Orlok.
"Oh, damn it! It's the Slayer and Angel, get them!" said the lead minion. The other minions mindlessly dropped the crates to the floor, and obeyed orders.
Count Orlok wasn't sure if he should join in the fight or not. Then he thought to himself, { Nah, I'll just watch instead, at least for now. } So he watched Angel and Buffy fight Spike's minions from the sidelines. { If only I had some popcorn, and a soda with blood in it, this would have been far more entertaining... }
Elsewhere, the robot versions of Oz and Willow took off in Oz's van, while Xander drove Cordelia home. Giles asked Jenny if she wanted to come over for some tea, and she said yes, even though it was a school day tomorrow.
"Er, yes," Giles nodded, hoping his offer hadn't seemed – indecorous. "It's just that I-I-I'm sure Kendra would appreciate having someone new around to talk to, you understand."
"I already said yes to come over to your home, Rupert. You don't need to try to make up excuses at this point," Jenny smirked.
Back at the mansion, Angel side-kicked a vampire in the chest, while Buffy hit one with a vase. He hit the floor and got staked by Buffy, with dust flying everywhere.
"We should get out of here," Angel told her, as he staked another vampire. "The odds are definitely against us!"
"Just a minute, honey..." Buffy called out, busy with her own opponents. "And better grab those crates, if we can – might be something valuable in 'em!"
Spike and Dru could now hear fighting going on from down in the basement. "Go see what's going on – and if we've got intruders, make sure they don't get the Judge's parts!" Spike barked out his order.
The minions left the basement, just as both Buffy and Angel finished off the other minions that had brought the crates with the last two missing body parts of the Judge. Angel picked up a crate and jumped through a boarded up window of the mansion, just as Buffy did the same; and then they were gone.
Suddenly, Drusilla began to giggle as she had a vision of the Scooby gang throwing a book (the one that Count Orlok had told her about a while ago) into a furnace at the high school. "Naughty, naughty..."
"What's that, luv? No, never mind!" Both Spike and her left the basement to see what was taking those idiots so long to report back.
Not far away, the minions stared at the broken, boarded-up window with a look of terror! "Spike won't be happy about this!" one of the undead gulped.
"You're bloody damn right, I'm not!" Spike yelled out, as he and Dru arrived on the scene.
"There's too much dust for it to be otherwise; they must have killed the delivery boys and taken the crates containing the Judge's body parts, sir," another minion voiced his opinion.
"Damn bloody wankers!" William the Bloddy grabbed a flower vase and tossed it down furiously. The flower vase shattered upon impact with the floor, scattering debris everywhere.
"Nice going, Spike. Damage my home, why don't you?" Count Orlok muttered.
Since hanging around a lethally angry boss was a recipe for getting dusted, and it was going to be morning soon anyway, the minions quickly scattered upstairs to their rooms. Spike stormed off down to the basement, while Dru told Orlok that the book he was after had been destroyed by the Slayer's friends.
"Damn! I should have gotten that book when I had the chance," the Count sighed. "Well, never mind – and thank you for telling me, Drusilla."
"You're welcome, ta-ta for now!" the insane vampiress curtsied and left.
Elsewhere, Xander and Cordelia arrived at her home on Parkview Crescent. Oddly enough, Harmony and Owen Thurman were there waiting in the driveway. "Why are those two here?" Xander asked Cordy.
"No idea," Cordy replied, as she and Xander got out of the car. "What are you two doing here?"
"So Harmony was right. You've been hanging out with loser Harris and his loser friends," Owen replied, ignoring the question.
Cordy gave Owen a hard glare. He said nothing back. Xander sighed and rolls his eyes, "Harmony? I don't suppose you've told him what I can do now, that thing with the tennis ball I showed you?"
"Yeah, sure I did. But y'know, seeing is believing and all that. Why are your clothes dusty, Xander?" Harmony asked; she could see the dust on his clothes, which were also ripped in a few places.
"Eh, I was cleaning out the attic. It's very dusty. Hasn't been cleared out in years." He swiped some dust off his clothes. "So, is there a reason why you two are here, spying on what Cordelia is doing?"
"Hey, that's none of your -" Owen started to say angrily. Then he started to gurgle, as Xander's hand wrapped his neck and briefly lifted him off the ground. "Eurgkkkk!"
Xander then let him go, and Harmony dragged Owen away before starting to berate him for not believing her. Then they started to talk in private whispers, with Owen throwing fearful looks in Xander's direction every so often...
"Well. Thanks for the ride, Xander," Cordy said, a small smirk appearing on her lips.
"No big," Xander grinned at his secret girlfriend.
"Maybe we could go see that movie this weekend, the one I wanted to see tonight," she whispered in his ear, so that Harmony and Owen wouldn't hear her.
"I'd like that. See you tomorrow, sweetheart." And with that, Xander took off for home.
Over at 1630 Revello Drive, Angel and Buffy arrived home with the two crates in question. They spotted how Joyce's car was in the driveway, but luckily she was asleep upstairs. Keeping as quiet as possible, they snuck into the house with the crates.
Thank God, my mom is asleep," Buffy heaved a sigh of relief, she couldn't hear any sounds of movement in the house.
"We should make this quick," Angel whispered. Both of them tip-toed downstairs to the basement.
"I get it." And just like that, they were wrapped up in each other's arms and their lips practically fused together!
In another world, they would have then consummated their love and unleashed a soulless monster – but here and now, Angel broke away once Buffy ran out of breath and said, "I should go."
"Right. Right," Buffy said in a strangled tone of voice. "Uh, am I a terrible person for wanting you to stay with me tonight? Like – in my bed?"
Angel's eyes went wide, as he understood what Buffy was saying. "No. But as I said, I should go. I mean, we don't want your mother to discover me here at this time of night, right?"
"Right. Ugh." Buffy made a face. "Okay, you better go, before I change my mind and drag you upstairs..."
As Angel carried the empty crates upstairs, climbed out through the window and then vanished into the night, elsewhere at Oz's place, the Oz-bot and Willow-bot were in the living room on the couch, spying on what was going on at 1630 Revello Drive through one of the bugs they'd planted there.
Luckily, the real Oz's parents were out of town, visiting Oz's Uncle Ken and Aunt Maureen. They made a habit of not being there in their home as often as possible, same as Ira and Willow Rosenberg...
Elsewhere, Jareth sent the Gunslinger to deal with the monks that had sealed an ancient god within a mask. Jareth had made a deal with the ancient god that he would break the seal for him. And in return, the ancient god would transfer Jareth's soul and powers to another body after his death.
The Gunslinger found the mask that contained the ancient god, before it heard the sound of approaching bodies. Naturally, the android opened fire on the monks. One by one they hit the floor, bleeding out, their bodies full of bullet holes...
What the Gunslinger didn't know was that the dead monks – members of the Order of Dagon, here in eastern Europe – had been destined to hide the Key from Glorificus a few years down the line, so that the Slayer would have a sister and be willing to protect the Key from the hellgod in question.
But no way that was going to happen now!
The Gunslinger put his revolver back into its holster, as the mask flew away from its hand.
The mask glowed reddish black! The mask then shattered as it hit the wall, freeing the ancient god….
Elsewhere, Xander arrived home. He parked the car in the driveway and got out, quickly entering the house and getting ready to hit the sheets. After brushing his teeth, he headed for bed; discarding his clothes, he fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.
And if his dreams were triple-X rated and starring the one and only Cordelia Chase, so what? Red-blooded American teenage male, okay? Even if he wasn't exactly 'normal' anymore!
At Giles' condo, in the living room, Kendra, Giles and Jenny were drinking tea. Then Jenny stood up, saying it was time for her to go home. "I'll see you both tomorrow, Rupert, Kendra."
"Goodbye, Ms. Calendar." Kendra nodded with respect, and then went upstairs – leaving Giles to give Jenny a quick but intense kiss, before she exited out the door.
Back at the monastery of the Order of Dagon, the Gunslinger scanned the ancient god with its sensors, but the scans came up with nothing at all in its data banks.
"How strange," the Gunslinger commented. The ancient god was dressed in strange old robes that didn't look like they came from any known century, whatsoever. He has black, soulless eyes and a long brown beard.
"So, Jareth sends his henchman at last. And you've been busy, haven't you? Oh well, who cares about those dead monks? I'm free at last!" The ancient god laughed darkly, before he vanished with a flash of red lightning.
Reporting back to its master, the Gunslinger waited until a portal to DELOS appeared, before the killer robot vanished – leaving nothing but carnage and destruction in its wake.
Jareth had no idea that the ancient god was behind all of this and the seer, he'd been working for the ancient god….
1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale January 19th 1998
The day had come and gone, and it was night time again. And while the Scooby gang was busy dealing with vampires and demons, Spike paid Joyce a visit at her home.
Spike had figured out that it had most likely been the Slayer (and his accursed grandsire) that had stolen the crates last night. He'd guessed that they were at Buffy's house, after searching the more obvious places first. It was just Spike's good luck that he'd managed to get here before Giles could, and identify the body parts in question...
The British vampire knocked at the front door. Joyce opened the open the door (big mistake there!) and asked him, "May I help you?"
"Yeah, I hope so. Missus Summers, innit? I'm a friend of Buffy and Angel's," Spike lied to her.
"Really? Oh, that Angel person – he's far too old for my daughter," she said with a sigh.
"You have no idea, Missus Summers." Spike smiled. "May I come in?" He grinned evilly to himself.
"Well, why not. Although Buffy isn't home right now." She then invited Spike inside.
The soulless vampire wasted no time and knocked her out cold, the moment he crossed the threshold. Spike would have killed her, but he knew the Slayer would be pissed if he killed her mum. And he didn't want to deal with a ticked off Slayer - yet. He wanted the Judge active first!
So he carried Joyce to the couch, and, oddly enough, gently deposited her on it. Spike then swiftly searched the house for the Judge's parts. Finding nothing upstairs and on the first floor on the house, he went to the downstairs basement, breaking the door lock easily. Spike then spotted the trunk from last night...
"This is way too bloody easy, Slayer. No fun at all!" He fumed to himself. Without another word, Spike broke open the trunk and took out the wrapped-up Judge parts. He then ran out of the house and disappeared into the night.
Later on the Scooby gang, Angel and Kendra arrived at Buffy's house to get demon body parts from last night. But when they got there, the front door was wide open, which rang alarm bells in the minds of everyone present.
"Why's the front door open, Buffy?" the Willow-bot asked, looking confused.
"I'm not sure." Buffy replied, before she charged into the house. The Slayer then found her mom out cold, laying on the couch. The others arrived inside the house as well, Xander shutting the front door as soon as everyone had entered the domicile. Angel and Giles headed towards the basement, while Buffy checked on her mom.
Later, after Joyce woke up and heard a cover story about why everyone was here, Buffy wasn't too happy about how Spike had tricked her mother to let himself into her home. { Need to do a de-invite thing of some kind, or else that undead monster will be able to come in and kill us all in our sleep! }
A few moments later, both Giles and Angel came up from the basement without the Judge's parts, even though the Watcher had learned enough clues to determine what Angel and Buffy had brought into the house….
And a few minutes after that, Spike and Drusilla successfully rebuilt The Judge, putting the demon version of Humpty-Dumpty back together again. The Judge's eyes opened up, and Big Blue stumbled out amongst the undead.
"WHO BRINGS ME FORTH ONCE MORE?!" the Judge roared, glaring at his audience.
Luckily for him, Spike had never been a coward. He stepped forward defiantly and said, "Me and Dru, ponce. And have we got some choice targets for you to kill..."