Chapter 34: Changes
Once everything quieted down, Matasumi realized Buffy and Dawn were there and hustled them back to the infirmary with four of the remaining guards.
Buffy spent the next few hours lying on her cot, staring at the lights blipping on Bauer's machines. She thought about her daughter, someone she had never thought she would ever see again. She wondered if the Powers had manipulated things so that Savannah would be returned to her. It was entirely possible. Then something stirred in her, grief. Her daughter would grow up, age and die and she would have to watch it. Did she really want to do that? Watch her daughter die sometime in the near or even distant future?
With morning came breakfast. Neither sister touched it. Their minds dwelled on Savannah. Carmichael arrived at her usual time, shortly before eight, a brusque "How are you?" the only indication that anything had happened the night before. When Buffy and Dawn said, they were fine, she studied them for an extra second, grunted, and began her paperwork.
Around mid-morning a soft moan roused Buffy and Dawn from their thoughts. They glanced up. Bauer moaned again. She dug her head back into the pillow, face contorting in pain.
"Doctor?" Dawn said as she and Buffy stood up. "She's coming to."
Carmichael strode across the floor as Buffy leaned over Bauer, whose eyes flew open.
"Hello, Sondra," Buffy said. "We—"
Bauer bolted upright, thin restraints snapping, and slammed against the Buffy causing her to fall back. Dawn leaped in and tried to restrain Bauer, who grabbed Dawn's shoulders and hurtled her across the room, crashing into the wall.
Buffy raced to her sister and helped her to stand. Carmichael shouted for the guards. Bauer sat upright, struggling to get out of bed, sheets twisted around her legs. Buffy and Dawn ran to the bed and threw themselves across Bauer.
"Keep your fucking hands off me!" Bauer roared. "All of you! Get back! Don't touch me!"
"Delirium," Carmichael panted as she raced to the bed with stronger restraints. "Dawn, Buffy, you two said it was one of the steps."
"Right," Dawn said. "Where the hell are the guards?"
The guards were right there, doing what they did best—holding their guns and waiting for the signal to fire. Carmichael threw the restraints at them.
"Tie her!" she said. "Now!"
Before they could move, Bauer bucked and sent both of the sisters flying. This time they stayed on the floor an extra moment to regain their breath. She stopped struggling and sat still as a statue.
The four guards surrounded the bed, tensed, restraints in hand, none wanting to make the first move. She moved her head from side to side, eyes scanning the room. They stopped at an empty spot to her left, and she lunged forward, held back only by the ripped sheets.
"Get the fuck out of here!" Bauer yelled.
No one was there.
Buffy and Dawn crawled to their feet. "We have to restrain her," Buffy whispered.
No one moved.
"Give me those," Carmichael said, reaching to snatch the restraints from the nearest guard.
"No," Buffy said. "Let them and Dawn do it. I'll get closer and run interference if she attacks. You get a sedative ready and stand back."
Dawn turned to the guards. "Wait until Buffy is beside the bed. Then move quickly, but carefully. Sondra doesn't know what she's doing. We don't want to hurt her."
Which of course, was easier said than done. While Buffy crept across the room, Bauer kept still, staring and cursing at unseen intruders. Yet the moment the guards and Dawn touched her, she exploded, summoning up the unexpected strength of delirium. All of them working together could barely wrestle her onto the bed.
Once Bauer was down, Buffy and Dawn helped the nearest guards fasten their restraint.
As their fingers worked at the clasps, Bauer's arm seemed to shimmer and contract. They shook their heads sharply, feeling the pain inside it bounce around like a red-hot coal. Their vision blurred.
"Buffy? Dawn?" Carmichael grunted as she fought to tie one of Bauer's leg's down.
"We're okay," Buffy said.
They watched as Bauer's arm convulsed, the wrist narrowing, the hand twisting and contorting into a knot. It hadn't been a trick of their eyes. She was Changing.
"Dawn! Buffy!"
"Sedate her!" Buffy shouted.
"But you two said—" Carmichael begun.
"It's too soon! She's not ready! Sedate her! Now!" Dawn said.
Carmichael jabbed the syringe into Bauer's arm. Her body jerked several times, then she gave a low snuffle, and her eyes widened as if in surprise. She blinked once. Then she slid down onto the bed and fell asleep.
Armen made another visit to the infirmary. They picked up the conversation where they'd left off. He had a plan for escaping that involved another medical ruse, thereby bringing him up to the second floor with the sisters, which was much easier to escape from than the well-secured cell block.
The rest of the day passed quietly, but the night made up for it, plaguing the sisters with strange and disturbing dreams. They started the night at Stonehaven, playing in the snow with Clay and Nick. They were in the middle of a snowball fight when a new dream overlapped that one, cutting in like a more powerful radio station. In the other dream, Buffy and Dawn were lying in bed while Paige attempted to contact them. The two dreams spliced together: One minute they'd feel icy snow dripping down their neck, the next they'd hear Paige calling them.
"Dawn? Buffy? Damn it, answer me! Dawn. Buffy. Come on. Wake up."
Buffy and Dawn didn't want to answer, after three days of no contact from Paige they were pretty sure they would not be contacted again. They were pretty sure this was nothing more than a dream.
"Dawn? Buffy?"
The sisters mumbled something unintelligible.
"Ah-ha! You two are there. Good. Hold on. I'm going to bring you both into my body. Fair warning this time. Jeremy's here. Now, on the count of three. One, two, three, ta-da!"
Five seconds of silence. Then,
"Oh, shit."
Paige's curse faded behind the sisters as they tumbled through bits and pieces of dreams, like someone was flipping channels, refusing to pause long enough for them to see what was on. When the flipping channels stopped, they were wolves. Someone ran ahead of them, a shape flickering through the trees. Another wolf. They gave chase thinking it was Clay. Then Buffy glanced over at Dawn and saw not Dawn but Clay. Then she and Dawn knew who they were following, not Clay but Dawn.
Then the dream changed and they found themselves watching Clay and Jeremy fighting, fighting over them. Clay wanted to go in search of them. But Jeremy wasn't about to let him.
Then the dream went back into the channel-surfing world again. Then the dream changed again and this time they found themselves watching Cassandra, the vampire, trying to seduce Clay and failing.
Then the dream faded and Dawn felt she was now alone in the dream. Then she felt someone gripping her shoulders and shaking her.
"Rise and shine, sleepyhead."
A voice. Unfortunately, not Clay's voice. Not Cassandra's voice. Not even Paige's. It was Buffy's.
Dawn mentally frowned. What did Buffy want that she had to wake her? Then she heard him. Ty Winsloe.
"Whaddaya think, boys?" Winsloe said. "Does our sleeping beauty need a kiss to wake her up? Of course, in the original fairy tale, she needed more than a kiss …"
Dawn's eyes snapped open and she bolted upright. Winsloe chortled and beamed a flashlight at the sisters, and then skimmed it over their bodies.
"You two always sleep with your clothes on?" he asked.
"This isn't exactly a private suite," Buffy said.
"What time is it?" Dawn asked.
"Just past three," Buffy said.
"We need your help," Winsloe added. "There's been a breakout."
"What?" Dawn said. The question was more directed at Buffy than Winsloe. But Buffy shrugged she had been woken up seconds ago and then told to wake her sister.
Winsloe prodded the sisters. "I'll explain on the way."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Armen had escaped.
"You want us to track him down?" Dawn said.
"That's what I said. Use your noses. Sniff him out."
"Like a bloodhound," Buffy said.
Winsloe glanced over sharply at Buffy's tone. "Yes, like a bloodhound. Is that a problem?"
Winsloe led Buffy and Dawn downstairs to the cell block to Armen's cell. Inside, Tucker knelt beside a guard, who sat on the floor, cradling his head. "Did you find out what happened?" he asked.
"Seems like Haig made himself a weapon," Tucker said. "Something sharp, like a knife. Caused a commotion when my men were doing their rounds, then pulled this weapon on them when they opened the door. Knocked Ryman here out cold. Must have taken Jolliffe along to get past security. Ryman's okay, but we'd better move if we want Jolliffe alive. We'll need to track him. I've sent Pendecki to get the tracking—"
"No need," Winsloe interrupted. "I've got two world-class trackers right here."
Tucker looked at the sisters and frowned. "That's one of my men out there, sir. With all due respect, I don't think we should fool around—"
"Fool around?"
"I didn't mean it that way … sir. I'm concerned about—" Tucker said.
"Of course, you are. So am I. That's why I brought Buffy and Dawn. Ryman, feeling up to joining us?"
Ryman struggled to his feet. "Yes, sir."
"I think—" Tucker began.
"Don't think," Winsloe cut in. "That's not what I pay you for. Come on, Ryman; we'll see if we can't get this bastard. Maybe get you a little payback for that goose egg on your head."
Outside the compound, they headed into the woods. Then someone shouted "Hey!" behind them. Ryman whirled, gun poised. No one was there. Dead grass crackled farther up the path, and they all spun back around to see Xavier twenty feet away.
"Easy, soldier," Xavier said, hands in the air. "Don't be shooting the friendlies."
"I should," Ryman muttered. "Teach you a lesson."
"What's up?" Xavier asked, sauntering toward them. "I hear Haig made a break for it. We doin' the search-and-rescue thing? Or the search-and-destroy thing?" He saw Buffy and Dawn and stopped. "Whoa, what's the two wolf-girls doing out of their cage?" Buffy and Dawn glowered at him. "That's one lethal look you two have there. Deadlier than Ryman's bullets." He turned to Winsloe. "So what's the deal? Fun and games time? Can I play?"
"Maybe next time," Winsloe said.
"Oh, come on. Don't be a spoilsport. I wanna play."
"Yeah?" Ryman said. "How about you be the practice target?"
Winsloe waved Ryman to silence. "That's enough. Back inside, Reese. I said, next time."
"Fine." Xavier rolled his eyes, then vanished.
"Are we still on track, Buffy? Dawn?" Winsloe asked.
Buffy and Dawn sniffed the air. "Yes, Ar—Haig was here," Dawn said as Buffy nodded. "With someone else."
"Jolliffe," Winsloe said. "Good. Tucker will be pleased. Lead on, then. Ryman, stay behind them."
They headed into the woods.
"Are you sure this is the way?" Winsloe asked ten minutes later.
It wasn't. Buffy and Dawn had branched away from Armen's true path ten yards back. Winsloe shone his flashlight on their faces. They made a show of sniffing the air. "We thought it was," Dawn said slowly.
"The trail seemed to turn this way," Buffy added.
"Undergrowth looks pretty dense," Winsloe said.
Dawn and Buffy hunkered down and inhaled close to the ground. Behind them, Ryman snickered. "You're right," Buffy said. "They didn't come this way. Dawn and I must have been picking up their scent on the breeze. Better retrace our steps."
"Maybe you two should stay on all fours," Ryman said. "Keep your noses to the trail." He smirked.
"That's okay, Buffy, Dawn," Winsloe said. "Take it slow. Don't feel pressured."
"Maybe we are a little nervous," Dawn said. "Sorry."
Winsloe beamed a magnanimous smile. "That's okay. Just take it easy."
Buffy and Dawn backtracked to the real trail, and started again. About fifty yards farther along, Armen's trail veered east. They decided to keep heading south. They didn't get three steps.
"You two sure that's the right way?" Winsloe called from behind them as the sisters froze. "Seems to me they went east. There are some bent branches here."
Buffy and Dawn turned to look at the bushes surrounding the wide gap Armen had gone through. Not a single twig was broken. There was no way Winsloe could tell Armen had turned here. Unless he already knew. They instantly knew that Winsloe was testing them—their abilities and their honesty.
Buffy and Dawn looked from the bushes to the path they'd chosen, pinched the bridge of their noses and tried to look exhausted, which wasn't much of a stretch. They crouched and sniffed the ground, crept over and smelled the bushes, then stood and sampled the air.
"Well?" Winsloe said.
"We're smelling a trail both ways. Give us a sec," Buffy said.
Dawn decided to try something and, in her mind, muttered the telepathy spell Ruth had taught her and hadn't had a chance to try except when trying to contact Jeremy and Paige. "Buffy?" She thought.
"Dawn?"
"Good it worked," Dawn said. "I think we both know that Winsloe probably has already caught Armen. Let's pick the real path and see what happens next. Agreed?"
"Agreed."
The sisters got down on all fours, ignoring Ryman's snickers, and followed both potential paths for several yards.
"That one," Dawn said, pointing at the real trail as she and Buffy got to their feet. "He took a few steps the other way, then backed up and turned down that gap between the bushes."
Winsloe nodded as they followed the trail. They trekked another half-mile into the forest. The scent grew stronger, until they could pick it up in the wind.
"They're close," Buffy said.
"Good," Winsloe said. "Slow down then and—"
Ahead, a clump of bushes exploded with crackles and curses. Two figures flew out of the shrubbery, Armen atop a guard, hands grappling against the man's throat. Winsloe raced forward, yanking a gun from under his jacket. Ryman fired a warning shot. Armen froze. Winsloe launched himself at Armen and knocked him off Jolliffe.
"Dawn?" Buffy thought.
"I know Buffy, we both just want scream at him right now, denounce his "tracking exercise" for what it is. A game. Another juvenile game choreographed right down to leaping on Armen after the poor man was paralyzed by the sound of gunfire," Dawn thought.
"There," Dawn said. "You have him. Good job. Can we go now?"
Winsloe had Armen spread-eagled on the ground and was patting him down looking for weapons. Jolliffe sat in the shadows. Ryman walked over and extended a hand, helping his partner to his feet.
"What happened here?" Winsloe said.
"He had a weapon, sir," Jolliffe said. "He forced me from the cell, took my gun, and made me open the doors, then dragged me into the woods. He tried to kill me. I escaped a ways back, followed, and caught up to him here."
"At which time he held Armen until we arrived," Dawn thought towards Buffy. "After having probably been in radio contact with Winsloe since he escaped from Armen."
Buffy gave the subtlest nod to indicate she agreed with what Dawn had said.
"He was hiding in those bushes," the guard said, continuing his story. "He shot at me. I disarmed him and we fought, then you showed up."
"Wh—what?" Armen said, struggling to lift his head from the ground. "I didn't—you came to my cell. You brought me out here. You—"
Winsloe slammed Armen's face back into the dirt. Then the sisters recognized Jolliffe and Ryman. They had seen them at the hunt. The two nameless men with Pendecki and Bryce the night they'd hunted Patrick Lake. That wasn't the last time they'd seen them, either. They'd been the two who'd accompanied Buffy and Dawn into the shower with Winsloe. His pet guards. Handpicked for another special mission. Then they knew that Winsloe wanted them to track someone, so he'd gone to the cell block, chosen a target, and enlisted his pet guards to help build the scenario.
"Can we go now?" Dawn asked again. "We have him. We should head back."
Winsloe shifted so he was sitting sideways atop Armen, leaning back like he was in a comfortable chair. "Can't do that, Dawn. Wish we could, but we can't. We aren't done yet." He glanced at Ryman and Jolliffe. The two guards grinned back. "We can't have prisoners escaping, can we, boys? Escaping their cells, and then escaping punishment. No siree. We have to set a standard. No one escapes my compound and lives."
Buffy and Dawn looked at each other. "But—but we thought Haig was an important subject. Doctor Matasumi said—" Dawn said.
"Larry will understand. A prisoner escapes, we hunt him down, and we try to bring him back alive, but … well, things happen. Capturing a prisoner is a delicate matter. So much could go wrong, and of course, we can't risk letting anyone get away and put the project at risk."
"You can't kill him," Buffy said.
Winsloe stretched his legs, settling his weight onto Armen. "You're right. I can't. Well, I could, but I won't."
"Good. Now can we—" Dawn said.
"I'm not killing him. You two are. That's right. You two are killing him. You two are going to Change into a wolf and hunt him." Winsloe stood and put a foot on Armen's back. "Is that a problem, Dawn? Buffy?" Neither sister answered. "I said, is that a problem, Buffy? Dawn?"
"Yes, it's a problem," Buffy snarled. "I will not kill a human for your amusement—" She reeled back as Winsloe slapped her. Then a bullet seared her side, throwing her off-balance.
Dawn turned and ran to Buffy grabbing her before her sister hit the ground. "Buffy?"
"I'm fine," Buffy said.
"One more time, Buffy, Dawn," Winsloe said, walking up to the sisters. "Is that a problem?"
Dawn glared at him and then she and Buffy turned slowly so they didn't have to look at him. Winsloe gave a grunt of satisfaction, thinking that they are sufficiently cowed.
"Answer the question."
"We can't." Dawn inhaled. "We can't do—"
Winsloe brought up his gun hitting Dawn hard enough in the side of the head to cause her to pass out. As Buffy helped Dawn slide to the ground, she glared at Winsloe. The Slayer was screaming at her. Telling her to protect Dawn. But the wolf knew the risks that came from the human world and knew it would be suicide to try and attack Winsloe right then. Buffy quietly listened to the wolf as she promised the Slayer half of her that it would have its revenge in time. She watched and waited for Dawn to regain consciousness.
"This is how it's going to work," Winsloe said when Dawn woke. "You two are going to Change into a wolf. Right here. Right now. Then you two are going to hunt Mr. Haig. When you capture him, you will hold him until I arrive. Then you both will kill him. Any deviation from this plan and you will all die. Understood?"
"It's—it's not that easy," Buffy said. "We might not be able to Change. Even if we do, we won't be able to control ourselves once we catch him. It doesn't work that way."
"It will work any way I say it will work." Winsloe said. "If you two fail, you two will answer to me. And when you're done answering to me, my boys will take their turn, and when they've tired of you two, you both will die. Is that incentive enough?"
The sisters looked at each other and recognized the fear in the other's eyes. After two hundred years. Was this how it was going to end?
"We can't," Dawn whispered. "We just can't."
Winslow kicked Buffy in the side, hitting the bullet wound as she screamed in pain. Buffy and Dawn flung themselves up, throwing Winsloe clear as they scrambled to their feet and turned on him.
"No!" A shout. Armen lunged for Buffy and Dawn as Ryman raised his gun and fired. He hit the ground with a thud. "More merciful. For all of us."
"We're sorry," Buffy whispered.
"Don't—" His eyelids fluttered once as he died.
The sisters hung their heads as they mourned for Armen. They looked at Winsloe expecting that he would turn his anger at them, and kill them. He only smiled; he had gotten what he wanted. Armen was dead.
"Take them back to their cell," Winsloe said, brushing off his jeans. "Then get someone out here to clean up this mess."
Ryman and Jolliffe led the sisters into the forest. They were about halfway to the compound when they were shoved hard from behind. They turned and found themselves staring into the barrels of Ryman and Jolliffe's guns. Buffy and Dawn turned and continued walking. They'd gone about five feet when they were shoved against a tree. They turned to find the guns trained on them again.
"What do you want?" Dawn said. "An excuse to shoot us?"
"We don't need one," Ryman said. "We just tell Tyrone that you two made a break for it and we had to take you down."
"Like rabid dogs," Jolliffe said as he and Ryman laughed.
The sisters turned and walked away, they weren't going to give Ryman and Joliffe the satisfaction.
Jolliffe and Ryman strode up beside them and grabbed their arms and slammed the sisters against a tree and forced their guns to the sisters' temples.
"Don't ever turn your back on us, bitches," Ryman said. "Cliff and I were looking forward to some fun tonight. You two ruined it. Maybe Ty's willing to overlook that, but we aren't. Who the hell do you think you two are anyway? Defying Tyrone Winsloe? Attacking him? Spoiling our game?"
"Take your hands off us," Buffy said.
"Or what?" Ryman asked. "What are you two going to do if we don't?"
Someone chuckled to their left. "How about … rip out your fool throat, tear off your testicles, and carve you up like a Thanksgiving turkey. Not necessarily in that order." They turned to see Xavier leaning against a tree, he strolled over, and tugged Buffy and then Dawn out of Ryman's and Jolliffe's grasps. "You don't wanna be messing with these two. Did you see what this one," he pointed to Buffy, "did to that other werewolf? Ripped his leg open … while wearing handcuffs. Now you boys might have guns, but I wouldn't want to see how much damage she or her sister could do before they went down." He hooked his arms around Buffy and Dawn's waists and led them back to the open path, heading for the compound.
"They seem to tolerate you just fine," Jolliffe muttered as he walked up behind them. "Something we should be telling Ty about, Reese?"
"I'm not crazy enough to trespass on the big man's territory," Xavier said. "Can I help it if the poor girls got a thing for me?" He grabbed Buffy's ass.
Buffy knew he was the only thing standing between her and Dawn, the two guards, and a potentially nasty situation. "Dawn?" She said. "Play nice, okay? He's the only thing between us and the guards."
Dawn nodded. "I know. We're trapped between a rock and a hard place and Xavier is the lesser of two evils."
"Think Tyrone will let me have them when he's done?" Xavier asked. "All three of us could run away together, build a hut on some deserted island, live off coconuts, sunshine, and sex. What do you say, Buffy? Dawn? We'd all make beautiful babies. Think about it. We could single-handedly turn wolves into a vanishing species." He, Buffy and Dawn laughed, but they were the only ones. "No laughter from the peanut gallery. Guess they don't get the joke. Want me to explain it to you, guys?"
"We want you to fuck off, Reese," Ryman said. "Like right now."
"In front of you guys? I'm a demon, not an exhibitionist." Xavier walked a bit faster, propelling the sisters alongside him. "Anyway, we're almost at the compound. Larry was wondering what happened. Getting pretty worried about his star subject. I volunteered for the search party. Think I'll win a prize?"
"Not when Matasumi finds out what happened to that star subject," Dawn murmured.
Xavier kept talking until they arrived at the compound. Then he took the sisters through the security door, letting it bang shut on the two guards. They were almost in the elevator when Jolliffe grabbed the doors at the last moment. Ryman and Joliffe got on and pushed the button for the cell block. When the car stopped on the middle floor, Xavier tried to lead the sisters off.
Ryman and Jolliffe snatched Buffy and Dawn's arm. "Ty said return them to their cell," Ryman said.
Xavier sighed. "He meant the infirmary. That's where they sleep now. He must have forgotten."
Ryman shook his head. "He said the cell."
Xavier nodded. "He made a mistake." He then leaned out the elevator door when he heard Carmichael's voice. "Doc? I have Buffy and Dawn here. These guys tell me Tyrone wants them taken back to their cell."
"He must have made a mistake," Carmichael said as she approached.
Xavier smiled. "That's what I told them."
Carmichael stopped in front of the open elevator doors. "Cliff, Paul, take them to the infirmary. I'll be right there."
Xavier didn't leave the sisters alone for one moment till Carmichael joined them in the infirmary. He tried to stay longer, but she shooed him out, grumbling that the sisters sleep had been interrupted enough. As he left, Xavier mouthed, "You two owe me."
Carmichael then asked them if there was anything they'd like to talk about. Buffy hesitated and then told Carmichael what happened. The doctor cursed. She noticed then Buffy's wound and frowned. She put two and two together as she cleaned, stitched and bandaged Buffy's wound. All the while muttering to herself.
Before Carmichael left, she fixed them a cup of tea. From the medicinal smell, they knew it contained a sedative, but drank it anyway. That was the only way they were going to fall asleep that night and they desperately wanted to sleep, to sleep, to forget … if only for a few hours.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
After breakfast the next day, Bauer awoke.
"Doctor?" Dawn said.
Carmichael glanced from her paperwork and saw Bauer was awake. Bauer tried shifting onto her side, but the restraints held her back. Her mouth opened, but only a whisper came out. Carmichael got the message, though, and quickly loosened the arm restraints.
"Uh, that's not such a good idea," Buffy said.
"She's too weak to talk, much less move," Carmichael said.
Bauer's eyes went from the sisters to Carmichael, following their exchange. She searched Buffy and Dawn's faces with no flicker of recognition. Then they saw the flash. She remembered them. Her eyes narrowed. "Wh—" She stopped and swallowed. "Wh—why are they here?"
"Dawn and Buffy's been helping me, Sondra. Since your … mishap." Carmichael said.
"Mi—?" Bauer said. "What mishap?"
Carmichael nodded. "Grab Sondra a glass of water, Dawn."
"Memory loss is understandable," Buffy said as Dawn went to get the water. "Dawn didn't remember anything about it when she was first bitten. She blocked out several days leading up to. I myself blocked out the minutes beforehand."
Carmichael nodded in understanding. That meant she would have to talk to Bauer. Dawn then returned with the water. "Have the guards take you two for a walk. I need to speak to Sondra." She then shooed them away.
Buffy and Dawn didn't want to leave the infirmary. It wasn't safe for Carmichael to be alone with Bauer. So, they settled for leaving with the in-room guards and advising the door guards to take up posts inside. To the sisters' surprise, they obeyed.
After their walk, Tucker met the sisters outside the infirmary. "Drop them off with Peters and Lewis inside," he said. "Then get down to the cells and escort Miss O'Donnell into Zaid's cell."
"I thought Doctor Matasumi canceled all visits," one of my guards said.
Tucker nodded. "Katz—Doctor Matasumi changed his mind."
"But I thought he said—"
"He changed his mind. Miss O'Donnell will visit Zaid for one hour, followed by a one-hour visit with Miss Levine."
"How is Savannah?" Buffy asked, concerned for her daughter.
Three pairs of eyes turned on Buffy and stared at her for a moment before Tucker said brusquely, "She's fine."
"You know, I wouldn't mind seeing her myself," Buffy said. "Maybe cheer her up a little."
"Miss O'Donnell can do that," Tucker said, then turned and headed down the hall.
The guards led the sisters back into the infirmary as Carmichael motioned Buffy and Dawn to silence. "I know it's a shock," she murmured. "But you're in good health and—"
"Good health?" Bauer spat. "Do you know what I feel like right now? This—this isn't my body. It's not me. It's—it's wrong. Horribly, disgustingly wrong. And the dreams. Oh, God. The dreams." Then she saw the sisters. "Get them out of here."
"I realize Buffy and Dawn might not be the people you most want to see right—"
Bauer frowned. "Get them out of here."
Carmichael squeezed Bauer's hand. "I know they're a reminder of what's happened, but you need them, Sondra. They understand what you're going through, and they can help us. Without them—"
"Without them?" Bauer snarled. "Without them, I wouldn't be here."
"I understand your anger, Sondra. If it hadn't been for Dawn and Buffy coming here, this would never have happened. But you can't blame them—"
"Can't blame them? Can't blame them?" Bauer's voice rose. "Who the hell do you think did this to me?"
An hour later, Buffy and Dawn were back in their cell. The guards brought their breakfast two hours late, dropped it off, and left. Then they brought lunch. Nothing happened in the interim. Around mid-afternoon the door opened, a guard walked in, set a vase of flowers on the table, and left. They turned the flowers around and read the card.
Dawn and Buffy,
Sorry to hear what happened.
I'll see what I can do.
Ty
Dawn slammed the vase off the table and clenched her fists, seething with fury.
At seven o'clock that evening, the door opened. A guard walked in. "They need you two upstairs," he said and they saw the look on his face.
"What's happened?" Buffy said, as she and Dawn got to their feet.
He didn't answer, only turned and held the door. They were led upstairs to the waiting room outside the infirmary, which was filled with seven guards, Tucker and Matasumi.
"What's going on here?" Winsloe's voice said from behind the sisters.
Winsloe shoved past the sisters to look through the infirmary door window. "Holy shit!" he said. "Did Dawn or Buffy do—oh, shit, I see. Jesus fucking Christ, would you two get a look at that!" The sisters were pushed toward the door as he sidestepped to give them room. He put his arms around their waists, pulling them in. "Can you believe that? I guess you can, right?"
As the sisters looked through the window they saw blood stains and following those they found severed limbs that had once been human. Then they spotted it, yellowish-brown fur. And they knew what had happened. Bauer had Changed and the body parts scattered around the room were Carmichael's.
"Tranquilizers," Dawn wheezed. "We need to sedate her. Now."
"That's the problem," Tucker said. "It's all in there."
"All of it?" Buffy inhaled. "There must be a backup supply."
"She's fully Changed," Dawn said. "You have a fully Changed, half-mad werewolf in there, and if you don't act fast, she'll come right through this door. Why's everyone standing around? What are you going to do?"
"The question is," Tucker said. "What are you two going to do?"
"This is your problem, not ours," Buffy said. "We warned you. We warned and warned and warned. You used us to help her recover, and then you threw us back in our cell. Now things have gone wrong and you want us to fix it? Well, we didn't screw it up in the first place."
Tucker waved at the guards. One moved to the door, checked through the window, and turned the handle. "You'll find sedatives in the cupboards along the far wall," he said.
"No way," Dawn said. "No fucking way."
Four of the remaining guards lifted their guns. Trained those guns on Buffy and Dawn.
"We will not—" Buffy said.
The door opened. Someone shoved the sisters inside as they fell to the floor in front of Bauer, who growled. Buffy and Dawn looked away and stayed down, the wolves in them telling them they couldn't attack Bauer when she was Changed and they weren't. While they couldn't die Bauer could do a great deal of damage to them. For that reason, they couldn't Change either. Which meant the only way they were getting out of that room was to sedate her. And therein lay another problem by the time they could even get to the sedatives Bauer would have already pounced on one if not both of them. So telepathically Buffy and Dawn planned their movements.
Buffy stepped forward and hoped that Bauer could sense the Alpha in her and would submit to her. Sadly, Bauer didn't submit as Bauer's hind quarters shifted up as she leapt.
Buffy's Slayer instincts kicked in and turned her toward the attack. She wouldn't win. Not by a long shot. But if luck held out, she could hold Bauer off for a few seconds before she found her own body parts all over the room. Bauer hit Buffy knocking her backwards. Buffy smirked as she ran. "Remember Brandon?" Buffy thought at her sister.
Dawn nodded and understood. The old bait and relocate. Buffy took off around the room as Dawn flipped to face the cupboards and searched both sides for syringes filled with sedative. Instead, she saw a box of plastic-encased syringes and rows of labeled bottles. She grabbed two syringes, better to be safe than sorry, and started scooting down the counter toward the bottles.
"Hurry, she will catch me before too long. Especially in this small room."
Dawn reached the bottles, scanned them for a familiar name. She saw pentobarbital, recognized it from Jeremy's medical bag, and reached for it.
Bauer had finally caught up with Buffy and grabbed her left leg at the knee, yanking it out from under her. Bauer's fangs sank in and Buffy screamed. Dawn tore the seal off the bottle and filled both syringes. She then jumped off the cabinet and tried to slowly make her way around behind the wolf.
The problem was that Bauer saw Dawn and turned towards her. She leapt at Dawn and they grappled. Dawn briefly looked behind Bauer at Buffy to see that Buffy was not moving, that her sister's leg was torn open and it would take at least the night to heal.
Dawn managed to get both her legs up and thrust them into Bauer's stomach. She fell back. As Dawn scrambled from under her, something moved to her left. Xavier. He waved his arms. "Here doggy, doggy," he called. "Time for a new chew-toy."
Bauer kept coming at Dawn. Xavier lunged and grabbed a handful of tail fur. When she whipped around, he vanished and reappeared a few feet away. She charged. He popped to the other side of the room.
"Over here, doggy," he called. "Come on, Dawn. You have to hit the plunger for the stuff to work."
"I know that," Dawn snarled.
Bauer wheeled and charged Xavier again. This time, Dawn tore after her. Xavier waited until the last second, and then disappeared. Bauer tried to stop but had built up too much speed and plowed into the wall. Xavier reappeared next to Buffy grabbed her and disappeared again.
Dawn jumped on Bauer's back and slammed the syringe plunger down. She leaped off and ran as Bauer followed. She jumped onto the counter as she heard a thud. When she looked back Bauer lay crumpled on the floor.
An hour later Dawn and Buffy were back in their cell. The door of the cell opened. Dawn glanced up to see Xavier, for once using the conventional method of entering a room. He closed the door behind him and waved a bottle of Jack Daniel's.
"Thought Buffy could use this," he said as he looked at Buffy, her eyes closed. "She will probably pass right now though. Anyways probably not up to your standards, but Winsloe keeps moving his stash of the good stuff."
"I'm awake," Buffy said as she opened her eyes. "Just letting my healing, try and heal the leg. Jack Daniels? Normally Dawn and I don't drink. But I could use something to dull the pain." She sat up in the bed as Xavier and Dawn moved chairs close to her.
Xavier nodded as he filled three tumblers he'd brought, handing one each to Buffy and Dawn. "You still have your Slayer healing?"
"Yes, thank god," Buffy said. "Where were the guards?"
"They'd decided guards weren't necessary," Xavier said. "Sondra was still partially restrained last time I saw her. Either she broke free or the good doctor released her. A guard stopped by at six-thirty and found Sondra chowing down on her first wolf meal."
"No one heard anything?" Dawn asked.
"Hey, they bought the best soundproofing on the market, remember? I'd bet Carmichael hit the intercom buzzer but didn't have time to stand around and chat. Of course, no one in central security admits he heard the buzzer," He said as Buffy downed her whiskey. "I've saved your asses twice now. With Ryman and Jolliffe yesterday and now with Sondra."
"Sorry, but they confiscated our checkbooks when we arrived. You'll have to bill us," Buffy quipped.
Xavier grinned. "Money isn't everything. Or so they keep telling me. This seems a good time to test the theory and try an even more time-honored method of commerce. The barter system. A tax-free exchange of services."
"Uh-huh," Buffy said.
"Oh, don't give me that look, Slayer," he said, tipping another few ounces into her glass. "I'm not talking about sex. You would eat me alive if I even laid a hand either of you. You may be a werewolf but the Slayer instinct is still in there. And I would bet that the Slayer in you protects those it cares about. Am I right?" Buffy and Dawn nodded. "Anyways what I meant is that you two owe me big-time, and someday I will collect."
"We're sure you will," Dawn said.
"And so long as you're running a tab, here's a bit of advice you can add to it," Xavier said. "You two have overstayed your welcome. All three of us have. The big man is plenty pissed with us right now."
"Winsloe." Buffy closed her eyes and winced. "Now what did we do?"
"Enough. I know you two must be making escape plans, so I'd suggest you bump them up before he erupts." He lowered his voice to a near-whisper. "Now, two things you have to be careful of when you break out. First is Katzen—"
Dawn nodded. "The mysterious sorcerer. Buffy and I haven't even met the guy. And for some reason I can't sense his magical energies. Probably blocking me, like he is with my teleportation spell."
Xavier nodded. "He's a paranoid son of a bitch. Won't deal with anyone except—"
The cell door opened. Winsloe walked in with Ryman and Jolliffe.
"Too late," Xavier murmured around the rim of his glass. He took a slug, and then waved the empty glass at Winsloe. "See what I have to resort to? Jack Daniels. Barely drinkable. You get me hooked on the good stuff, then keep hiding it on me. Sadistic bastard." He grinned. "You owe me a bottle of cognac anyway. I like the Remy Martin XO, not the VSOP. You can have someone drop it off at my room later."
Winsloe arched his brows. "And how do you figure that?"
"I saved your girls. Twice now, actually." He grinned at Ryman and Jolliffe. "But we won't get into that first time, will we, guys? I'm no tattletale. Besides, that wasn't a big deal. But upstairs there? Whew. Another minute and Dawn have been a goner, then the wolf would have turned back towards Buffy."
"You think?" Winsloe said.
"Oh, yeah." Xavier said. "No offense, Dawn … Buffy, but you two were in way over your heads."
"Thanks," Dawn and Buffy said.
"So, you owe me, Ty. Drop off that bottle anytime."
Winsloe laughed. "You've got balls, Reese. Fair enough then. I owe you. You'll get your cognac. Stop by my room in about an hour and pick it up. Maybe I can rustle up a few glasses of the Louis XIII for us, make that XO taste like bad moonshine."
"Sounds like a plan."
Dawn and Buffy could tell from the tension in the room that Xavier had been right. They were sure that if Xavier went to Winsloe's room he would not come out alive. They knew this was the last time they would see him inside the compound and when he came to collect that IOU it would be somewhere out in the world.
"So, I'll see you in my room?" Winsloe said. "In an hour?"
"You bet," Xavier said and then he teleported.
Winsloe looked over Dawn and Buffy. "That's the same clothing you two arrived in," he said. "They've given you other stuff to wear, haven't they? What about those shirts I brought you two?"
"It's a werewolf thing," Buffy said. "Laundry soaps, fabric softeners—the smell's too strong."
"You two should have said so. I'll tell the staff to get unscented detergent. Don't bother with the clothes Sondra supplied. I'll order new things for you two." Winsloe plopped onto the bed next to Buffy. "Can you two believe what Sondra did to the doc?"
"It … happens," Buffy said.
"You two ever do stuff like that?"
"We're Pack werewolves," Dawn said.
Winsloe hesitated. "But you two could do it. Obviously. You two are stronger and much younger."
Dawn and Buffy mentally laughed. Much younger, yeah right, they were well over two hundred years older than Bauer. But Winsloe didn't need to know that.
He hopped to his feet and rocked on his heels. "You two did a helluva job evading Sondra. Better than the doc, that's for sure. Too bad Xavier interfered. I'd hoped you two would fight Sondra."
"Sorry," Buffy said.
"You two should have fought her," Winsloe said. "I would have liked it if you'd fought her. I would have liked that."
"Why didn't you say so?" Dawn said. "I guess we got the impression you guys wanted Bauer alive. We should have asked."
"We're sorry, Ty," Buffy said. "We're both tired."
"You two didn't look tired when I walked in. Standing around, chatting it up with Xavier," he said. "You three seem pretty tight."
"We were just thanking him," Dawn said. "He did Buffy and I a big favor, jumping in—"
Winsloe snapped his fingers. "Favor. That reminds me, there's something I need to ask you two about. Hold on and I'll be right back."