"Shortly after 1:00 AM..."
Buffy hears the reporter on the TV say as she runs into the living room searching around the room desperately. Willow and Xander, who were both perched on the couch eating eggs and bacon glance at the blonde "You missing your bacon Buff?" Xander asks as he glances away from the TV.
"Nope." Buffy mumbles before climbing over the couch to get to the coffee table.
"...three masked robbers approached the armoured vehicle after launching what appears to be—"
"Yes!" Buffy exclaims as she climbs out from underneath the coffee table with Xander's left shoe, she tilts it and holds out her hand to catch her phone as it drops out of the shoe.
Willow frowns at the sight "Buffy, why was your phone in Xander's shoe?"
Buffy shrugs, she really had no idea, she couldn't really remember a lot of last night, she had had more than a couple of drinks last night, which in retrospect was probably not the best idea.
"Beats me. Maybe it was scared." With a shrug of her shoulders, she turns and glances at the TV watching the security footage for a second before heading towards the front door where her bag was.
"Buffy!" Xander calls as she grabs her things.
Buffy tucks her hair behind her ear before glancing back over at her best friend "Yeah Xand?"
Xander tosses her a beeper causing her to chuckle slightly at the slight, it was so 90's.
"I'll call you when I find the next target."
Buffy nods in appreciation before turning to Willow, who was still researching into Wolfram and Hart as well as keeping an eye out for Marcus "Anything?" Buffy asks knowing the redhead would understand her.
Willow shakes her head in disappointment and frustration, she hadn't found anything yet, and it was annoying her that she couldn't get what they needed faster.
Buffy gives her a small smile of reassurance before grabbing her jacket and heading to work.
"I was researching someone." Oliver tells Diggle in the foundry as he shows him the footage of the robbery. He types into the computer bringing up his current suspect "Bodyguard who works for a private security firm, Black Hawk Squad Protecting Group." Diggle's face falls as he spots the photo "His name is Ted Gaynor."
Diggle clenches his jaw as Oliver stops speaking, there was no way in hell Ted was involved with any of this. That was one thing he was certain of. "Oliver, Ted Gaynor was my commanding officer, my first tour in Afghanistan."
Oliver who was leaning over staring at the computer freezes at his words, his jaw slackens in shock as he turns to Diggle "Dig, I'm sorry..." Oliver sighs before slamming his father's book shut "...but Gaynor's on the list." He turns and walks away from Diggle who continues to stay rooted to the spot motionless "Gaynor's a few hundred thousand dollars short of making your list." Diggle points out, refusing to believe that Gaynor would do anything that would warrant him getting on the list.
"I'm here now Xander" Buffy says as she presses her comms before climbing in through the window at the five-star restaurant. As she looks around the stunning white marble kitchen she sighs in relief that the place was under reconstruction otherwise this would get messy and fast.
She glances down at her watch before reaching for her comms "Xand, remember I haven't got long till Stewart notices that I disappeared halfway through a 15-hour shift."
"I know Buffy." He tells her, she listens carefully as he types away at the computer in his office at Queen Consolidated before finally it stops "Okay, Gordon Rivers..." Xander suddenly inhales sharply "Buffy you remember the Gentleman?"
Buffy groans "Creep, floating, likes to steal voices and cut out people's heart? Unfortunately."
"Well, meet their just a creepy and floaty cousin. Deevak. He was a demon crime lord in L.A. He's supposed to be dead go figure."
Buffy sighs "Why can't things just stay dead..." She pauses "...well other than me."
Buffy hears Xander chuckle in amusement before hearing him inhale sharply "Dammit Moira alert. Going silent."
"Got it." Buffy says as she adjusts her mask and switches the scythe to her other hand while she reaches out for one of the doors leading into the dining hall.
As she pokes her head through the door she spots the light haired man standing at one of the long tables in the dining room. He was adjusting the table clothes slightly before making sure that all the cutlery was in line.
Buffy arches a brow at the blonde before rolling her eyes forcing the door open with a loud slamming noise.
Gordan gasps in shock only for his eyes to narrow as they hit the blonde slayer "This isn't Halloween little girl." Buffy merely tilts her head in amusement "You vigilante types really are a pain."
Buffy chuckles in amusement before revealing the scythe that was currently hidden behind her back "I'm not a vigilante."
Gordan's eyes widen at the sight of the scythe, the stories about the last remaining Slayer all described a weapon like that. "Slayer." He hisses as he grabs one of the knives off the table.
As he reaches for the knife Buffy launches the scythe towards him, it slices through his hand and as blood covers the white table cloth he screams in agony.
Running towards him Buffy leaps onto the table and does a spinning kick hitting him in the face. As he drops to the ground Buffy twists through the air landing right next to the scythe.
As she clasps it her palm she feels the rush of power for a moment before approaching the demon. He was gasping in pain as his demon hand forces itself out of hiding to fill the loss of the human limb.
Pinning him with her foot she looks down at him carefully "Let me guess you're a bottom of the barrel type demon." She sighs it was unlikely that she was going to get any information for him about The Triad or Wolfram and Hart.
"Oh well." She says with a shrug before raising the scythe, however suddenly her phone starts ringing making her pause. At her hesitation Gordon kicks her in the stomach making her fly backwards and crash through the adjoining window to the staff room.
Buffy groans in pain as she lands on the hard floor "I really hate this job." She says slowly as she pulls herself up. Glancing through the now broken window she looks into the dining room where the pool of blood in the centre of the room was now empty. Gordon was gone. "Dammit!" She exclaims just as her cell begins ringing again.
Ripping off her mask she grabs her phone "What!" She asks not bothering to look at the caller ID.
"Buffy, it's me." John Diggle's voice says urgently.
Instantly Buffy tensed up "Dig, what's wrong?"
"I need you to come watch Ted."
Buffy frowns it had been a long time since she had heard that name "Wait, John what's going now isn't exactly—"
Buffy is cut off as Diggle's voice cuts her off "Buffy, The Arrow went after Ted."
In that moment Buffy freezes, Ted had been there during her first tour in Afghanistan, it had been John's third and both he and Ted had helped her out so much. Taking a deep breath Buffy puts her mask back on before reaching for her comms "Xander I'm heading off mission. Find an excuse for Stewart I'm going silent."
Buffy doesn't give him a chance to respond as she switches off her comms and brings her phone back to her ear "I'm on it."
"I could have shot you." Oliver says furiously as he slams his bow down on the table before turning to glare at Diggle. He couldn't believe his partner had been so reckless showing up at Ted's like that. Oliver growls in frustration, he could have killed Diggle because of this recklessness "I could have killed you." He continued "What the hell were you thinking?!" He exclaims as he stops in front of Diggle who was merely glaring at him with crossed arms.
At that Diggle snaps "I'm not going to let you William Tell an innocent man." Diggle hisses as he points an accusing finger at Oliver.
"Gaynor isn't innocent, Diggle." Oliver argues as he turns his back on the other man.
"You seem to think that mainly because of what's in your damn book which you apparently trust more than you trust me."
Oliver's eyes glaze over before he turns back to Diggle "I—I trust my father, and he explained to me that every name on that list has a reason to be there."
Diggle frowns in confusion for a second, that wasn't what Oliver had originally told him about the book "I thought you took that book off your father's dead body. How could he have been so chatty?"
Oliver pauses, his jaw clenches unsure if he should tell Diggle what really happened, "A few years ago, I found a message he left me explaining the list."
Diggle's anger grows at another one of Oliver's vague answers he was getting really sick of the not knowing, and the being left in the dark "Oliver, how was that possible? You were on a deserted island."
"I didn't say that I found it on the island." Oliver forces out, finally admitting the truth "Diggle, for the past four months, I have lied to, hurt, and hid things from all the people that I care about. Do you really think that I would do all of this if I wasn't sure?"
Buffy watches from the fire escape opposite the alley that Diggle had asked her to meet him at. With a sigh she glances at her phone, two missed calls from Dean, one from Stewart and five from Xander.
Buffy groans before closing her phone, she knew Xander was worried and from the looks of it, the excuse he used to get her out of work had worked.
Glancing back down at the alleyway she runs her hands through her hair, it was getting late now, after making sure that Ted had gotten back to his home safe she had come straight here. That had been half an hour ago.
"Come on Dig, where are you?"
As the words leave her lips a car pulls up and the door slams open, Buffy glances down and sighs in relief as she spots the man in questions now standing just below her. Grabbing onto the bars of the fire escape she lifts her body into the air before allowing herself to drop to the ground, landing right in front of Diggle.
Diggle jumps slightly, forgetting how much like an assassin she actually was, he could have sworn that whatever had caused her to get super-strength also made her part cat.
Buffy tilts her head at her friend before lowering her mask "You wanna explain to me what's going on? Why is the Hood going after Ted?"
Diggle sighs, he was still furious at Oliver "He has this list." Dig says hesitantly as he rubs his head before gesturing to his car.
Buffy nods and climbs into the car waiting for him to sit back down before turning to him "Alright what is this list?"
Diggle groans "Those people he's been going after, they're all on this list."
"So it's a list of bad guys. Huh. I have the same one. But mine is most probably prettier. It's pink."
Diggle doesn't seem to share her amusement like he normally does, he clenches his fist holding the steering wheel tightly "Ted's on the list."
"What?" Buffy asks astonished, she couldn't believe that someone would believe that Ted of all people would ever hurt anyone "No." She shakes her head refusing to believe it, Ted wasn't they type of person The Hood would go after. He just wasn't. None of this made any sense.
Diggle nods in agreement, he knew what she was thinking because he had been thinking the exact same thing several hours ago. "We need to protect him."
Buffy nods in agreement "We will Dig. I promise."
"Come on, come on!" Willow exclaims as she hits the computer screen repeatedly, the computer was so slow that she could have probably walked to L.A straight into Wolfram and Hart to get the information before the page even finished loading.
Willow groans in frustration and pulls at her hair: she was sick of this everything was so slow. Taking a shaky breath she thinks back to years ago where she would have merely raised a hand and the page would have told her everything she needed to know in a matter of seconds. Magic had been an addiction, one she had always had trouble shaking. Without even realising it she had raised her hand towards the computer screen.
Just as her fingers are about to make contact however her eyes widen as she realises what she is doing. She lowers her hands and rolls her shoulders before huffing out a breath of air.
At that moment her phone starts ringing, thankful for the distraction Willow grabs the phone "Hello?"
"Yes, Willow...It's Giles."
Willow smiles at the sound of the older man's voice, it had been such a long time since she had seen him. Since the fallout between him and Buffy after Lincoln's death, Buffy had refused to see him. She would work with the council but she wouldn't see Giles. Because of that, the relationship between the original scoobies all felt fractured.
As much as she had hated Giles for what he said to Buffy, Willow couldn't help but miss the man, he had been such a big part of their lives and he still was.
"So what can I do for you Giles?" Willow asks curiously after a moment, it was normally Xander who acted as the buffer for the group, not her.
"Yes, Xander mentioned that you had been looking in Wolfram and Hart and The Triad. I may have some information for you..."
"Two days later, I am still digging regurgitated tacos out of the car vents and he asks me why I won't turn on the AC." Ted finishes his story making both Buffy and Diggle burst out in laughter.
Buffy smiles at their old friend, it felt good, she had lost contact with a lot of people after Lincoln's Death, with her travelling so much, it had been hard.
She chuckles in amusement at his joke before snacking a chip off Diggle's plate as he had left the Big Belly Burger to get cold.
"All right, you win." Diggle says with a laugh as he admits defeat "Bodyguarding Queen was never that bad."
"Six years serving my country and the only thing I'm qualified for is babysitting spoiled brats."
Buffy chuckles "That's cause you didn't have much brains to begin with."
As Diggle laughs Ted glares at the blonde playfully "Well not all of us are smart enough to become medics. And here I thought the blonde had seeped to your head."
Buffy shakes her head in amusement "Remember Ted, I can still kick your ass."
"Maybe you should take over my job." He suggests half-heartedly.
"Nah." Buffy says with a shrug "I think I'll take injured people over spoilt brats any day."
Ted chuckles in amusement before raising his mug of coffee "I'll drink to that." He says with a smile.
Diggle frowns "Well, Ted, they're not all like that."
"I haven't met one yet that would survive a single day in county" As Ted speaks Buffy glances over at Diggle who didn't seem so pleased with the response.
Trying to lower the tension Buffy turns to Ted "Hey your judgment isn't exactly great. Remember you thought I was a silly little weak blonde girl who couldn't take care of herself."
Ted laughs slightly nodding in agreement, he had seen her as nothing more than a little girl when she first showed up, but after seeing her toss 6 of the best-trained soldiers as well as Diggle around the room easily he had quickly changed his mind. "You were different Buff, but being around these kids...it sometimes makes me wonder what I was doing over there."
At that moment before Buffy or Dig could say anything else Carly heads over and places another plate in the middle of the table "Speciality of the house."
Buffy grins as Carly places a large piece of cake in front of her "You are a God."
Carly grins, "I know, sweetie." She says before placing a plate of cake in front of Ted as well. At that Diggle turns to his ex-sister in law an appalled look on his face "Where's my cake?"
Carly merely glares at him and places her hands on her lips, as she does Buffy looks over at Ted "He's angered the beast."
Ted nods in agreement before gulping slightly.
"No." Carly says strongly as she turns to Diggle "Tired of listening to you complain about the dry cleaner shrinking your suits."
Buffy laughs almost spitting out the food in her mouth before glancing at Diggle with an arched brow who was now looking down at the ground "Oh, yeah." He mumbles as Carly grins successfully.
Buffy watches Carly for a moment before turning back to Diggle, who had a goofy smile on his face "How long?" Ted asks her gesturing to Carly.
Diggle frowns in confusion "What?" Buffy merely ignores him and turns to Ted "Way too long." She tells him before slapping Diggle's fork away as he tries to go for a piece of her cake.
Diggle rolls his eyes at the blonde before looking at both his friends "What are you two talking about?"
Buffy rolls her shoulders "Your turn. I've tried already."
Ted sighs before turning back to Diggle "She likes you." He says gesturing to Carly.
Immediately Diggle's face goes serious and a wave of protectiveness can be seen crossing his features "She's my sister-in-law, Ted."
"Not anymore."
Buffy glares at Ted for the way he said it and turns to John who had a look of grief on his face now "Smooth Ted."
Ted sighs before focusing on Diggle seriously "Your brother's gone, John, but you are here." Ted turns his focus on Buffy "Don't even get me started on you and Lincoln, we'll be here for hours."
At that moment a taller man approaches the three of them, as he does both Buffy and Diggle instantly tense up.
"Car's waiting outside. Got a client to drop off at a shakin' art gallery opening."
Ted nods before turning to both Buffy and Diggle who were clearly not happy with the appearance of the other man "John, Buffy you remember Paul Knox."
"Unfortunately." Buffy hisses as she turns to Paul who smiles at the young blonde "Good to see you too Summers."
"It was better when I was kicking you ass." Buffy says, not even bothering to hide her distaste for the man who treated her like a piece of ass rather than a soldier.
John places a hand on Buffy's knee trying to keep her from battering the man who now had a hand outstretched towards him "Pleasure to be working with you." Diggle shakes his hand for a brief moment before pulling away.
"I'll wait for you outside." Knox says to Ted before glancing at Buffy "Hope to see you again, Summers."
As he leaves the room Buffy turns to Ted "Did I mention he's still a creep?"
Ted sighs but before he could say anything Diggle leans forwards towards him "I didn't know Knox worked at Black Hawk."
Ted nods "They recruited him when his tour ended last month." John glances at Buffy who still looked furious. Knox had been horrible during her first tour, had tried to make her look weak and undermined her whenever he had the chance. That was only one of the reasons why Diggle didn't like the man himself.
"People change, John and everyone deserves a chance to prove it."
Five Years Ago – Westbury, England
"So how is it there in England?" Dawn asks her sister as they speak over the phone for the first time in over a month.
Buffy glances around her hiding place on the roof, she had been hiding up here for several hours trying to avoid the girls. They were driving her completely insane, it was like living with 200 different versions of Dawn all at once.
"It's like...well I think I'm going to start going grey if I have to break up one more girl fight."
Dawn chuckles in amusement "Yeah I can imagine. 200 girls not enough bathrooms. Not pretty."
"Exactly."
The two laugh enjoying just getting to speak together. Dawn had been gone for almost three months now and it had been difficult for Buffy.
"So how's the internship?" Buffy asks after a moment.
"It's good." Her sister says strangely before sighing "Buffy, Willow told me that something's up with you. That's why I called. Come on spill."
Buffy groans in frustration and lays back down on the ground letting her hair splay on the ground around her as she looks up at the night sky.
"I just...something just doesn't feel right. I've been training other Slayers since last year to fight...but I just...I thought that I would get to finally have a life, but I'm still here, training, fighting."
Dawn sighs over the phone, she felt bad for her sister, she had given up so much and last year had been one of the worst years of her life, yet she hadn't even taken a moment to herself, she had gone straight back to the fight.
"Buffy...you need to stop doing this. It's making you into a hollow shell. That's not my sister. My sister is vibrant and kind and wants to help people. And my sister deserves to actually have what she wants for once in her life. So Buffy let me ask you a question, what do you want to do with your life?"
Starling City – Present Day
Willow's eyes widen in shock as she listens to Giles as he fills her in on the information he had discovered about the connection between Wolfram and Hart and the Triad.
"Wait, hold on. You're saying that China used to work directly for the heads of Wolfram and Hart?" She asks still in shock.
"Yes." Giles confirms "I spoke to some of my old demon contacts and they confirmed China White was in a very high position at the Hong Kong office. She left in 2008 got into some trouble with ARGUS only to return to Hong Kong 2 years later." Giles pauses for a moment, and Willow can easily tell that he was turning the pages of the files of research before cleaning his glasses, after a moment Giles clears his throat before continuing "I couldn't find out what exactly her plan is now, but I believe that she is the reason for the team up between the two organizations. I believe that Wolfram and Hart are funding a project of hers, in exchange she helps hide the demons."
Willow listens intently as she writes down everything that Giles was telling her, she was trying to avoid putting everything on electronic devices, just in case, someone managed to get by her firewalls, no matter how unrealistic the idea was she couldn't help but be cautious.
"What's the project?" She asks curiously, whatever it was it must be important for her to get funding from Wolfram and Hart.
"I'm afraid I'm not sure. I haven't been able to find any information yet. But I will let you know once I do."
Willow smiles only to freeze as she spots someone entering her office, glancing away from her computer screen she spots Oliver Queen standing at her doorway.
Willow gives him a wave before adjusting the phone by her ear "Thanks so much Giles. I'll let Buffy know."
She quickly hangs up the phone before turning to Oliver "And here I was thinking that my days of being Oliver Queen's personal computer geek were coming to an end."
Oliver who had been looking at the photo's on Willow's desk turns to her "Is that your way of saying you miss me?"
"No, that's me saying I'm bored." She jokes before swinging around in her seat to face him, as she does she catches him looking at the photo of her Buffy, Dawn and Tara.
"Getting a good stare in there huh, Queeny?" She asks making him snap his attention back to her.
"Queeny?" He asks slightly amused "I take it Buffy's been speaking about me?"
Willow chuckles enjoying this slightly, his interest in Buffy was quite obvious even if he himself didn't realize it "If you mean complain then yes. So what story do you have for me today?"
Oliver chuckles before nodding "So a friend of mine is running a scavenger hunt, and these's a case of Lafite Rothschild 1982 waiting at the end. But in order to find it, I first need to get through this." He says as he hands her a small hard drive.
Willow arches a brow before taking the hard drive off him and looking at it intently "Hmm. Security fob." She mumbles before plugging it into her computer.
Turning to one of the screens she watches as a link for Blackhawk comes up, she frowns before looking at Oliver "Blackhawk? Why do I recognize that?"
"It's a security agency." Oliver answers as he circles her desk to stand behind her so he can look at the screens.
Willow frowns for a second before it hits her, that was the same company that had tried to recruit Buffy when she first got out of the military. With a shrug she turns her focus back to the screen "It's PIN protected. This is a military grade cryptographic security protocol." She says slightly impressed as she tries to hack her way inside "Your friend really must be into this game if he went to all this trouble." She says skeptically as she turns to Oliver.
"The idle rich are hard to entertain. Listen, you get through it and one of those bottles of wine is yours."
Willow shakes her head "You're gonna have to do better than that."
Oliver sighs before smirking "I know several available young woman in town who might be willing to experiment."
Willow grins at that, it had been a while and her last date with that girl Claire had been painfully dull, "Speaking to a girl's heart there, Queen."
Buffy places her leg on the pommel horse in the training room as she stretches. Reaching across her body she wraps her hands around her ankle and leans forward for a moment before leaning back up and lowering her leg to the ground.
"So why do you hate this Knox guy?" Xander asks as he walks into the training room still in his work clothes, holding a large file in his hands.
"His a misogynist asshole." Buffy says simply as she turns to him her hands on her hips "What's that?" She asks gesturing to the file in his arms as she grabs the twin sai off the table and begins twirling them in her hands.
Xander places the file on the table in front of her as she continues to twirl the deadly weapons in her palms easily "Willow sent it over, it's everything Giles sent over on Wolfram and Hart and the connection with China White and The Triad."
Buffy does a back flip into a triple tuck before landing on her feet gracefully "Cool." She breaths out as she walks over to the salamander ladder in the corner of the room.
"When did we get this?" She asks frowning, she didn't own one of these, and it wasn't here last time she was in training room.
"Last week. Will must have ordered it." Xander says offhandedly as he flips through files on his phone "Damn I got to go. Moira wants me to meet with some guy from Merlyn Global, something about the tech department. I'm just glad I don't have to meet the man himself."
Buffy sighs before watching her roommate leave the room, again she was alone, with a shrug she looks over at the file before grabbing the metal pole next to her and jumping up onto the first level of the ladder.
Oliver was heading down to the Foundry when his phone started ringing "What did you get?" He asks knowing it would be Willow.
"I think you friend's bodyguard gave him the wrong security fob."
Oliver pauses in his steps and frowns in confusion "Why's that?"
"Well, once I got past Black Hawk's authentication system, there wasn't anything about a scavenger hunt, just a directory. Well, I think you've stumbled onto or gotten me to stumble onto something pretty illegal."
Oliver frowns even more now "Define illegal."
"Oh you know, robbing an armored car with grenade launchers and tear gas."
Buffy glances at her back in the mirror looking at the range of scars on her back, she glances at the tattoo on her arm before turning to look at few scars on her stomach. The one where she was stabbed with her own stake, as well as the one where she was run through with a sword were next to each other. The worse one on her stomach was the bullet wound right above her left lung and the burn mark. She groans as she remembers the hot poker pressing against her skin that day.
With a sigh she pulls on her sweat pants before grabbing her vest off the edge of the bath. Grabbing a towel she runs her hair through it as she heads out of the bathroom.
"The fourth attempted armored robbery was faltered by The Hood however the robbers are still at large..." Buffy hears the TV news reporter saying only for all the lights in her apartment to suddenly switch off.
Buffy frowns before reaching for the light switch only to groan in annoyance as it doesn't work, she looks around the room her TV had been switched off as well. She was left in complete darkness.
Grabbing the twin sais from underneath the nearby table she drops the towel and twirls them in her palms "You know, I don't appreciate people breaking into my apartment. Slightly creepy if you ask me."
Suddenly Buffy hears the ground creak behind her, swinging her leg out she attempts to attack the person who had broken in only for the man to grab her leg.
"I'm not going to hurt you." A gruff voice says making Buffy rolls her eyes "Wish I could say the same." She hisses before forcing her leg out of his grasp and swinging her arm at him, he catches her wrists and twists her body forcing her up against the wall.
Buffy groans before lifting her leg up backwards kicking his knee knocking him down. Buffy turns to face him and steps on his knee forcing herself up before wrapping a leg around his neck and rolling across the floor tossing his body on the other end of the room.
Buffy stands and freezes as he notices the man she had been tossing around the room now had an arrow aimed at her, she scoffs in amusement "The Hood."
Oliver glances at the blonde before frowning at the twin sai in her hands "I thought ex-military keep guns in the house. Not medieval weapons."
"I don't like guns." She says simply before gesturing to the bow and arrow in his hands "Much like yourself."
Oliver smiles slightly but keeps his focus down refusing to let her see his face "I just wanna talk. I'm not going to hurt you."
Buffy chuckles in amusement before lowering the sais "Clearly. Two reasons, one: I just kicked your ass. And two: Diggle would kill you."
Slowly Oliver lowers the bow and raises his hands in defence before placing the bow on the ground "I need your help." He says, his voice masked with the modifier.
Buffy tilts her head in interest before glancing at him curiously, however, she knew what this was about "Gaynor is a good man." She tells him "I took a bullet for him, there are very few people I would do that for."
"Like Diggle?" Oliver asks.
"Of course." Buffy says softly, wondering where he would go with this "Already did."
The Hood nods and steps closer to her while she remains stationary, she was observing him, watching him closely, watching his body language, looking for any sign of a threat.
"Blackhawk. Gaynor's organization, someone there was using their system to find the route and schedules for each of the city's seven major armored car carriers. Including the three that have already been hit, as well as the one I stopped."
Buffy's eyes widen in shock but she shakes her head, she couldn't believe it, that wasn't the man she knew, Gaynor wouldn't ally himself with people like that. "I have proof." The Hood tells her as he slides a hard drive along the floor towards her feet.
Buffy glances down at the hard drive before looking back up at him "Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I need your help. Diggle won't listen to me about Gaynor. You're the only person I know that he would listen to."
Oliver watches the young woman carefully as she contemplates what to do, slowly she reaches down and grabs the hard drive "Paul Knox." She whispers making his attention snap to her face "What?"
Buffy sighs before running a hand through her long blonde hair "Paul Knox. He works for Blackhawk...he's a slim ball me and Dig met him in Afghanistan. If something is going down with Blackhawk I'd bet my life that Paul is involved and Diggle wouldn't doubt it."
Oliver nods gratefully to the blonde before picking up his bow "Thank you."
"Your welcome. Now next time knock this isn't a library where you can just walk in and out."
At Thea's birthday party Oliver and Diggle move into the corner to discuss the car heist "Gaynor wasn't running the rocket launcher." Oliver admits to Diggle.
Diggle nods "I know. I was with him the whole time it was going down."
Oliver clenches his jaw "Looks like you were right."
Diggle sighs before glancing around the party cautiously "Listen if someone at Black hawk is involved I put my money on Knox."
Oliver's head shoots up, Buffy was right "Paul Knox."
Diggle immediately frowns, the fact that Oliver knew that was worrying "How did you..."
Oliver hesitates he knew Diggle was going to beyond pissed that he went to Buffy, and basically broke into her apartment, when he opens his mouth and no sound comes out that silence answers Diggle's question.
Diggle's eyes glaze over furiously "You went to Buffy as The Hood?!" He hisses in a hushed tone "Oliver, what the hell!?"
"If it helps she is a tough one." When Diggle gives him an unamused glare he sighs "Look I needed help and you wouldn't believe me. She gave me a name that's it. Then lectured me about breaking and entering."
Diggle sighs in frustration and annoyance and runs a hand over his face, he was beyond pissed right now, but it didn't matter he could still be pissed tomorrow they needed to confirm if all this was true now.
"I injured one of the men." Oliver tells him "He was bleeding pretty badly."
Diggle nods and tries to focus "So if any of Knox's blood is in one of the motor pool vans, we'll know for sure."
Diggle moves to head for the exit only for Oliver to make him pause "I'm going with you."
"No, no, no, no. Listen..." Diggle says putting his foot down, and glaring at Oliver "You have this party and I told you I would handle this. If there's any problems you're just a phone call away." He says not once noticing the bug Oliver had placed on his jacket.
"I'm here now." Buffy tells Diggle as they speak over the phone. She pushes open the door at Big Belly and waves a Carly before making her way to the bar "Thanks, Buffy. Look if anything happens just keep Carly safe, please. And yourself. I don't trust Knox." Buffy sighs sadly she was worried about her friend "I promise Dig. Be careful." She warns before hanging up the phone and heading over to Carly.
"Hey, pretty lady." Carly says as she walks back out of the kitchen with a broom in hand.
Buffy arches a brow as Carly hands out the broom towards her, she couldn't be serious "No." She says with a shake of her head.
"I need the help. If we wanna be able to catch this movie then you're gonna have to help."
When Carly gives her a serious look Buffy groans, there was seriously no saying no to this woman "Fine." She huffs before taking the broom.
As Carly cleans the countertops and the tables Buffy cleans the floors, and as much as she would deny it, it actually felt nice to be doing something like this. It felt so normal.
"So..." Carly says slyly a massive grin forming on her face "I heard that you've been seeing a very attractive doctor."
Buffy chuckles in amusement, Diggle must have told her after he caught her and Dean making out and was scared for life "His name is Dean."
Carly smirks before moving to sit on the counter "And how long has this been going on...and why have I not heard about it before now?"
"Almost two months... Buffy freezes as she notices Carly about to go into lecture mode "And before you start it's good. I like him. His obsession with his car not so much."
Carly laughs and is about to ask for more details only for a shatter of glass to make her pause.
Buffy freezes as she feels something sharp pierce her skin. She blinks slightly and reaches for neck before pulling a piece of plastic out of her neck.
"No." She breaths as she spots the needle, her eyes zoom up to Carly "Carly we have to go now!" She exclaims as she reaches into her bag and grabs a large knife before grabbing her gun from her back pocket. She may not like guns doesn't mean she didn't know how to use one.
"Buffy, what's wrong?"
At that moment six men kick down the entrance door before storming in "Carly run!"
"What about you?"
Buffy turns and pushes Carly towards the back exit "I'll follow you. Go to my car now!"
"Knox." Buffy hisses as he and three other men approach her.
Knox looks at her curiously "That should have taken down a man twice your size." He says as he gestures to the needle in her hand.
"Well guess I'm more of a man than you." She smirks before raising her gun, she shoots one of the other men as he approach her, however then one of them tackles her to the ground, she loses her grip on her weapons and struggles as the man climbs on top of her, however she places her feet on his chest and forces him off her sending him flying backwards crashing through one of the windows.
Knox stares in shock for a moment before turning to his other men "Give her another load. Enough for an elephant." He hisses as he approaches the blonde.
Buffy ducks under a blow from Knox and grabs the back of his arm before kicking him in the face she then twists his arm behind his back and launches him into a nearby wall.
Buffy turns to the other three men approaching her, grabbing her blade off the ground, she grabs the first man and shoves him up against the wall, jabbing him in the throat she then covers his mouth and stabs him through the throat with her blade.
As he drops to the ground the other two men grab her, one takes the chance to inject Buffy in the back with a large needle. Buffy groans as she feels the sedative spread through her veins. She groans before shaking her head she flips in the men's arms and then throws them both away.
Rolling across the ground she grabs her gun and shoots the one approaching her twice in the stomach before shooting him in the head.
As the blood splatters on the wall she stands, running at the other man, she grabs his gun from him and elbows him in the stomach before flipping him over her shoulder. She then kicks him across the room causing him to fly out of the window and into the street where he is then run over by a truck.
Buffy tilts her head before reloading her gun and turning to Knox, Knox swings his leg up at her but she merely blocks the blow she grabs his ankle and spins around lifting him off the ground and tossing him through the wall.
Buffy steps through the hole he had made in the wall and clocks her gun "Where is Diggle?" She asks swaying slightly as the sedative starts to take over, however, suddenly her vision starts to blur and the next thing she knew a large object was hitting her in the stomach sending her crashing to the ground. Buffy screams as she feels a bullet hit her left thigh. She groans in pain before looking up as Knox approaches her "You killed five of my men. I must say I'm impressed."
Buffy glares at him before kicking him where it hurts most causing him to cry out and clutch his groyne.
Buffy grins before kicking him in the face, screaming as the bullet moves in her leg, she flips herself back up before grabbing Knox by the throat and tossing him away from her.
As she moves to head for the door she feels another needle hit her in the back causing her to lose the feeling in her legs, she drops the ground but forces herself to stay awake. As she tries to move towards the door she vaguely hears Carly scream her name before another figure moves in front of her, he kicks her in the face leaving her in darkness.
Diggle stares at the car in shock for a moment before hearing a gun being clocked behind him "Had a feeling you'd show up." A voice says from behind him.
Diggle raises his hands above his head before turning to the voice "Why is that, Knox?" He arches a brow as he spots the broken nose as well as the limp and the cuts across his face.
"Right after Gaynor got you hired..." Knox says "...someone hacked our system, first person to ever make it through our firewall. Want to tell me how you did it?"
Diggle lowers his arms and shrugs "Not really sure." He says honestly.
"He didn't think you'd be very cooperative. He didn't think Summers would be either."
Diggle frowns in confusion and worries for a moment "Who?"
As Knox pins, his arms behind his back Diggle freezes as he spots Gaynor coming towards him "Hello John."
Diggle stands there for several seconds shocked and disappointed, he couldn't believe it, he had defended this man "Ted, you're part of this?"
"No, not part of." Ted says carefully as he approaches Diggle "My men, my mission."
"Mission?" Diggle asks appalled "This isn't Afghanistan."
"Oh, don't I know that. Over there, we were trusted with millions of dollars in weapons and personnel. We were conquerors. Now we're nannies with tasers."
Dig scoffs in disbelief, he couldn't believe this man who had taught him so much about honour had sunk this low "So that gives you the right to steal, to kill innocent civilians?"
Ted shakes his head, "I'm not going to convince you I'm right. I am going to convince you to join the team. And to get Summers to as well."
"Now I know you're crazy."
Ted merely tilts his head and continues "Earlier tonight was supposed to be our last score but because of The Hood guy, we struck out. Plus it doesn't help that Summers killed five of my men. We're down, 6 men. Considering she took down 5 she takes their place, and you take the last place. Good thing you're qualified and she's a freak."
Diggle freezes at the mention of Buffy killing five of his men. That could only mean that they had gone after Buffy and Carly "Where are they?" He hisses furiously, Knox having to hold him back from killing Ted with his bare hands.
"They are here to convince you." Ted says before reaching for his wrists "Cavanaugh." He calls.
At that moment the backdrop opens and four men enter the room one forcing Carly across the room while the other three drag Buffy in chains across the floor, leaving a blood trail from her still bleeding leg.
"Carly, Buffy." Diggle breaths before glaring at Ted "You son of a bitch." He hisses.
"Dig." Buffy breaths from the ground "I'm sorry."
Diggle glances at his best friend his anger fuelling as he spots the bullet wound in her leg.
"Had to dose her with something that would take down 3 elephants. Tough bitch isn't she, John?" Ted says with a smirk before turning to Knox "Wrap up her leg she's coming with us."
"Buffy!" Carly mumbles through the gag in her mouth as Knox grabs Buffy and drags her across the ground, a gun aimed at her head.
Buffy struggles and swings her leg out knocking Knox onto the ground, she snatches his gun and aims it at his head only to freeze as she spots the other guard raise a gun at Carly's head.
Buffy growls before snapping the gun in two and tossing it away, she tries to stand only to wobble so Diggle quickly catches her allowing her to lean against him.
"I'm gonna kill you." She hisses as she glares at Ted.
"If you do then she dies." He says gesturing to Carly, before turning to look at Buffy "And you well... that bullet hit an artery you'll bleed out the longer this takes. So let me put it this way you can both die tonight, or once we do this, we're on a plane, you...my dear sweet Buffy won't bleed to death and she..." He says gesturing to Carly "Can go home to your nephew. It's your call."
Buffy watches from the car as Diggle stands in front of the van with the launcher, Carly who was currently holding pressure against her wound looks at her with a worried tone "Buffy, you're going really pale."
"It doesn't matter." Buffy says softly as she keeps her eyes on Dig "I'll be fine."
"Won't be so sure about that." Ted says just as Diggle moves out of the way of the van allowing it by.
He yanks Buffy's arm and drags her out of the car while Knox grabs Carly.
"You shouldn't have done that, Dig." Ted hisses as he raises a blade towards Buffy throat.
"Rot in hell." Buffy hisses to Ted.
"Now you've got to watch us kill your pretty little girlfriend." Knox says.
Ted presses the blade harder against Buffy's neck drawing blood while she reaches for the blade on his thigh.
Diggle notices Buffy moving for the knife and tries to keep the other man distracted "You're forgetting one thing, guys."
"Oh yeah?" Ted asks "What's that?"
Diggle grins "I'm the one with the grenade launcher. Buffy now!" As he raises the grenade launcher Buffy grabs the knife and stabs Ted in the stomach before spinning around and kicking him in the chest.
She runs as Diggle fires the weapon and tackles Carly to the ground rolling them so they are behind the van.
"Run!" Buffy yells to Carly.
Carly hesitates but runs as she does Buffy grits her teeth and forced herself to stand, just as Ted rounds the corner Buffy kicks her leg out knocking him to the ground. However, he grabs her wounded leg and forces his fingers into the bullet wound causing her to scream out.
As she topples against the car he takes off running after to Carly.
"Buffy!" Diggle exclaims as he runs over to her and pushes the hair out of her face "I'm fine." She assures him "Go! I'll deal with Knox, go!"
After a moment of hesitation, he runs off while Buffy twirls the knife she had stabbed Ted with in her hands before moving around the car where Knox currently had a gun aimed at Diggle as he ran.
Buffy launches the knife at him causing him to drop the gun as the knife buries itself in his wrist.
She groans in pain before forcing herself to run at him just as he pulls out two large blades.
Buffy blocks his arms as he swings one of the blades at her, she jabs his elbow causing him to drop the blade as he swings his other arm at her she ducks under his arm catching the first blade in her palm.
She swings her leg out at him but he grabs her ankle and twists it, she screams in pain but allows her body to flip through the air, kicking him in the face with her other leg as she places a hand on the ground so that she ends up doing a cartwheel.
Suddenly an arrow flies at Knox hitting his other wrist causing him to from the other knife. Buffy rips the arrow from his wrists and drives it into neck before leaping up, she wraps her good leg around his neck and twists her body around him so she's resting on his shoulders, she wraps her good leg tighter around his neck cutting off his circulation causing him to drop to the ground.
Just as she hears footsteps approaching Knox manages to grab one of the blades off the ground and drives it into her bad leg causing her to cry out, however, she doesn't release him, she merely tightens her grasp on him before finally twisting violently till she hears Knox's neck snap.
"Buffy!" A voice yells from behind her as she detangles herself from Knox and grabs her heavily bleeding leg.
Just as she clutches the knife prepared to yank it out of the already injured leg a man crouches in front of her.
"Hold still." A gruff voice says. Buffy looks up only to chuckle as she spots The Hood crouched in front of her "Two visits in one day what a pleasure. I feel like the Queen. Plus you got to see me kill. Welcome to the dark side we have cookies."
Buffy freezes as he moves to help her and tries to push him away "Go help Dig, now, he won't be able to kill Ted. He can't."
Oliver frowns at the sight of the young woman, she had a bullet wound and a stab wound to the same leg yet but yet instead of worrying about bleeding to death she was worried about Diggle's conscious.
"You'll die." He hisses before ripping of the fabric at the end of her jeans, he yanks out the blade from her leg and quickly wraps up the wound, before lifting the blonde woman into his arms.
"I'm gonna slow you down." She hisses but he ignores her and moves after Dig "You owe me new jeans."
Just as Ted raises his gun John freezes, this was a man who had saved his life yet now he was going to be the one that ended it. How the hell did that happen?
Suddenly an arrow buries itself in Ted's chest, Diggle stands there frozen watching as Ted's body fell to the ground.
When he hears Oliver approaching him he sighs as he looks down at his old friend "You're late."
"That may be my fault." A voice says making Diggle turn to face only to freeze as he spots Buffy leant against him trying to stand "Knox stabbed me again."
"Tell me you killed the son of a bitch." He says as he wraps his arms around the small blonde "Hell yeah." Buffy mumbles.
"I'm fine." Buffy says as John helps her up the stairs back to her apartment.
Diggle looks at her sceptically before rolling her eyes "I don't care about this extra healing thing you have you got shot and stabbed...again. Protecting me...again."
Buffy chuckles in amusement, she understood the irony of it, almost every time she got shot it was because she pushed him out of the way "It's what I do." She breathes out a heavy chuckle as he pushes the front door open only to immediately be bombarded by Willow and her panicking.
As Willow and Diggle help place her on the couch Buffy turns to John "John, Willow can sew me up...go check on Carly."
Diggle hesitates "Buffy, this was my fault..."
"No." She insists "It's not. Don't blame yourself for the fact that a douche bag shot me. He's dead. I've been worse than this...but Carly she hasn't."
Five Years Ago – Westbury, England
Buffy paces in her room like she had been since her talk with Dawn the other day, she was trying to figure out what she wanted to do with her life. And what scared her was that a part of her knew what she wanted, she had looked into it before Sunnydale was destroyed, not much but a bit. It had just been an idea but now it could be a reality.
"Hey." Willow says as she pops her head into the room, "You okay?"
Buffy freezes and turns to her best friend "Actually I need to talk to you about something."
Willow frowns in confusion before moving into the room and sitting on the edge of the bed watching as the blonde continued to pace around the room like a crazy cat lady "Buffy, what is it?"
"Dawn." Buffy says simply as she stops pacing and crouches down in front of Willow "She asked me what I wanted with my life...and I realised that it isn't this. I don't want to be a general I don't want to lead an army. I've been there and done that." Willow frowns in confusion this all seemed to be coming out of nowhere, they had been here for three months now and Buffy hadn't said a thing. As she thinks it it's then she realises that even though Buffy hadn't said anything, she had been different she was less talkative, she avoided the girls and spent most her time alone on that roof or reading in the library.
Buffy runs her hands through her hair nervously before turning back to Willow "I wanna help people...but not like this. Not by killing... have enough blood on my hands. I want to help people."
Willow frowns "Buffy, what are you talking about?"
"Before Sunnydale when I was reapplying for school I applied for the Paramedic Program. I didn't get it because it was too late in the semester."
Willow's eyes widen in shock, she had had no idea "Wait, you wanna be a paramedic?"
"I don't know." Buffy says honestly "But I liked the idea of helping people without all the fighting. I applied to a Paramedic Program in Boston a few days ago."
Willow who was still stunned, stares at her best friend, Buffy wanted to leave, she wanted to go have a life, she shouldn't be shocked but the idea of not being around her best friend every day upset her "And?" Was all she could muster up to ask.
"I got in."