Chapter 3: Mark Her Well
School was just letting out when Buffy decided to slink out of the library. After having a long introspective with Giles, ice cream and all, the slayer had said her goodbyes and left before anymore unwanted visitors could drop by. Thanks to her superior hearing, Buffy was able to avoid her friends as they made their way outside. If she ran into Xander right now...well, the blond didn't even want to think about what she'd do to him.
Fortunately for the hapless teen, he had decided to stick with Willow as she rolled out of her classes. Therefore, Buffy was one of the first people out of the school. She had dropped by her locker on the way out and grabbed all the books she'd need for tomorrow's exams. Now, standing at the curb just outside of the building, Buffy was wondering if she would have to walk home. Thankfully that question was soon answered.
"Miss Summers?" The sudden voice surprised Buffy enough that the teenager nearly jumped. Behind her, a rather feral looking man in a suit and dark glasses was staring back. "Your car is this way, Miss Summers." The agent(?) motioned to a black sedan idling on the curb across the way.
What limited senses Buffy did have ringed in her head that this man wasn't human. The slayer inside of the girl was screaming that this thing should be dead, but it was obvious the demon was on the clock. "My car? Since when do I have a car?" Hell, Buffy didn't even have a learners permit yet.
"The Mayor is waiting for you at City Hall. You're due for a meeting at seven o'clock."
"Then why pick me up now? We have a few hours and I need to study for exams tomorrow!"
The demon grunted. "I was told to take you around to buy furnishings for your apartment."
Buffy sported a distinctive grin when she heard the demon's reluctance. "So, you're like, my chófer for the day?" This more than made up for the reunion from hell with her mother. Before the poor ghoul could answer, his "boss" was already over at the car. Maybe this was punishment for having muddy shoes that one time, or tipping over the Mayor's favorite coffee mug? Whatever it was, it wouldn't happen again.
Sunnydale itself had more furniture outlets than one would imagine. Buffy surmised that it might be because a lot of the houses were in a constant flux of ownership. In a town that had more murders per-capita than any other on the east coast, it certainly was a valid idea. As sad and morbid as it may sound, this was good for Buffy as it was a buyers market. Store after store fell to the slayer's appetite for burning credit. Absolutely nothing was spared; couches, a bed, sheets, curtains, electronics (including a Nintendo 64), and just about anything else a loft that housed a teenager could possibly need.
The sun was already starting to slip when Buffy and her designated bag-carrier stumbled out of the last clothing shop in town. Bags were hanging off of the poor demon's arms as he tried to keep up with his hyperactive charge. "It is getting late, we should be making our way to City Hall now." It was nearly an hour early, but he was eager to end this little venture.
"It is? I guess we can get over there early." Buffy wasn't ready just yet to get to work, but, amazingly, there was really nothing left to buy. Most of her stuff would be delivered over the weekend so all she had now was time. "Alright, let's go."
Thankfully for the demon, City Hall wasn't too far away. For sure he was going to reevaluate his life to see just what he had done to deserve the hell he had been put through today.
The ride over was spent with idle chatting on Buffy's part. She learned that the demon used to work out of Cleavland before coming to Sunnydale to try and find a new clan to join. It was a bit of an eye-opener to the slayer to hear what things were like on the other side of the fence. Going to where the work was or where there were more opportunities. No excuse for being part of a doomsday cult, of course, but to some extent Buffy could sympathize. Not much, though.
"Miss Summers, please continue up to the office. The Mayor is having a meeting and tells me your presence would be appreciated."
Okay, that didn't sound good. Buffy didn't quite run up the stairs, but she did jog. The slayer personality was in full swing as she burst through the door to the Mayor's office and, upon not seeing him there, she ran to the adjacent room. What awaited her on the other side was absolutely shocking.
Whatever one would expect from an adjacent room to the Mayor's office was not what they would find. The room was large and obviously took up most of the second floor of the building. At least sixty by fifty feet, it was pure brick and concrete without any dressings. The windows were high on the walls and only provided scant light. The glow in the middle were from odd runes painted onto the floor with a small candle in the middle. There, with the candle, was the suited Mayor Wilkins sitting cross-legged.
When he heard the door open, the mayor's eyes snapped open. "Buffy! Glad you could join me. Take your shoes off at the door and come on down. Watch the paint, though."
Doing just that, Buffy joined her boss inside the circle. The air was charged with...something and it made the hairs on Buffy's arm stand on end. "What are you doing in here? A sayonce?" She wasn't very comfortable with this. "I didn't know you were into this stuff."
"Oh, you have to be to have this job. This is just a locating spell." With one more mumbled chant, the man stretched and blew out the candle. When he was standing up, the mayor produced a small roll cleaner and began to get the dust off his pants. "That's just what I wanted to talk to you about. We seem to have lost Mr. Finch. Grab that candle for me."
Buffy followed her boss back to his office, but not before giving the strange room one more look. She watched the mayor open his liquor cabinet and replace the candle inside beside a bottle of...whatever. "What do you mean he's lost? Like, he can't find his way back home?"
Wilkins looked perplexed for a moment until he caught the joke. Laughing a bit, he settled back into his leather chair and motioned for Buffy to take a seat as well. "No, nothing like that." He briefly looked through some documents on his desk before pulling out a letter and sliding it over to the slayer.
The letters were all cut out of magazines and there was no signature. Buffy read the letter aloud, "Wilkins, we are holding your bitch until you kill proposition 144. If you do not hold a press conference to pull your support, we will deliver the head of your deputy the next day." The slayer put the letter back down and shook her head. "What's proposition 144?" she asked.
"A push for a new law forcing bikers to wear helmets. Common sense, you'd think." The mayor sighed long and hard as he leaned back. "I just want to make sure no one dies when they don't have to. Now I've dragged Mr. Finch into this."
"What did the police say?"
"That is where you come in, Miss. Summers. This is the work of a group, not a single individual. Bikers, of course, but their leader is a demon. You see why I can't turn this over to the police."
Demonic...bikers? Now Buffy had heard of everything. "So...you want me to go get Finch?" That would make sense. "No problem. I'll go get him tonight."
The mayor held up his hand, but he was sporting a smile. "Now hold your horses! I can't ask you to go alone." He pressed a little button on the intercom sitting on his desk and asked someone to come inside. A few moments later, two nondescript men stepped inside.
Since they were so close, Buffy instantly recognized what they were. "You can't be serious," she deadpanned. "I don't mind going to get Mr. Finch, Boss, but I draw the line at working with vampires." The two undead didn't look too thrilled at working with a slayer themselves.
"Now, now. If you're going to be working for me you'll have to get along with the rest of the staff." This was the first time Buffy had never seen the mayor look anything but happy and it was a bit unsettling. So unsettling, in fact, that the slayer was really starting to rethink her position on working with the two vamps.
Defeated, Buffy held up her hands. "Okay, okay! We'll go get Finch back. Together." Wasn't the first time Buffy had ever worked with a vampire and it's not like she'd care very much if they got in the way of a stake. "Where are these guys at?"
The Mayor's countenance shifted back to his family-friendly fair the moment Buffy had caved. "The old harbor district. Cliché, isn't it? A dark meeting by moonlight, a shady deal in the shadows. Like an old cops and robbers movie!"
"...Right. Just like that." Buffy was wondering if her boss was bipolar at this point. "Shouldn't we get going? Sun's going down and we should try to catch them while they're sleeping." Wilkins' looked disappointed that he didn't get to wax nostalgic any more, but he had to agree. "Alright, let's go ghoulies."
Although they didn't particularly like their new designation, the two vampires complied and filed out behind the slayer. Outside, an unmarked SUV was just pulling into the parking lot and the two demons piled in with Buffy following.
Of course, no one was saying anything. Even though it was a large vehicle, the three were still bunched up together and no one looked very comfortable. "You two, here's the deal; we get in, we get Finch, we get out after kicking butt." Buffy wasn't sure, but having a general outline couldn't hurt. Her "backup" nodded and tried to look like they didn't want to rip out the blond's throat.
It was a valiant effort and Buffy could appreciate it. Just a little.
"So, what are you guys up to these days?"
Yeah, more dead than a crypt. "You guys really don't like me, huh?"
"You only exist to kill us, what do you think?" one of the vampires mumbled.
Yes, a valid point. "I'm not trying to kill you now. Doesn't that count for something?" Buffy thought it should. Her own instincts were telling her to go nuts and start slaying. "If we can't get Finch back, they're going to kill him. He's your boss, isn't he?" Made sense to Buffy. Finch was the Deputy Mayor.
The two vampires started to darkly chuckle. "Finch is nothing compared to the Mayor. He's the only reason we're not ripping you apart right now."
Whatever. If the demons wanted to be like that then Buffy would just ignore them. She had a stake, a cell phone, and short fuse when it came to dead things. As much as the two were posturing, the slayer could tell they would listen to her if she gave any orders. It wasn't due to the vamp's sparkling personality. Instead, the slayer could feel the loyalty of her two underlings. Just something in her mind let Buffy know how the two had more bark than bite.
'That's just weird.' Buffy was used to trusting her gut feelings, but this was beyond her usual experience. It was almost like fighting together with Angel again. During the few times they had been in a fight together they had always synced up a bit in the heat of things. Although, it had always been more Buffy than Angel. She could tell when he was in trouble or being worked hard. Almost linked into her slayer senses. That made no sense, of course. Buffy's own senses had always been much lower than what Giles had described other slayers having.
Before the girl would consider the strange feelings anymore, the SUV lurched to a halt. The driver turned back to the others and informed them they were a few blocks off from the harbor.
"Alight," Buffy began, "We're going to pile out here and walk the rest of the way." The slayer was already out of the door by the time she finished, stake in hand. Her two helpers followed, armed with pipes and chains. The chains were quickly confiscated by Buffy who again reminded them that they were trying to be stealthy. Weren't vampires supposed to be stealthy? Did the Boss toss her the special ed demons?
Fortunately, there weren't many more issues on the way to the harbor district itself. There were a few human guards milling around and drinking. Buffy easily sneaked past them and made sure they didn't end up as snacks for her help. It was disturbing that the bikers were armed, though. Buffy noticed that most of them had hunting rifles and a few had some strange-looking guns that the girl had seen on late night action TV. Although the vampires didn't have to worry about bullets, Buffy was making a point to avoid getting shot at.
There was only one large ship in the harbor and most of the lights were on. That's what Buffy was heading forward. Predictably, there were more guards in this area. Several bikers were huddled around a barrel fire. Seeing an opportunity, Buffy motioned for the vampires to surround the group in the darkness. While they did that, Buffy grabbed some discarded burlap sacks used for packing and draped them over her clothes. Thus garbed, she walked into the fire's light.
"Hey! Who the hell are you?!" Instantly, several guns were aimed at the slayer. The leather-clad enforcers surrounded the girl and one shoved a pistol up to her head. "Did you fucking hear me? Dirty harbor roach."
This closeness was just what Buffy had wanted. Her firsts lashed out and batted away the gun pointed at her head while a kick knocked away a rifle. The other bikers brought their weapons up to blow away the teen, but they were blindsided by Buffy's two snarling vampires. The bikers the slayer had singled out were soon laying on the wooden decks of the pier. A sharp crack from behind brought Buffy's attention back to the others, though.
"You...you..." The other guards were also laying on the pier, but their necks were twisted in impossible angles. "They're dead! You killed them!" Buffy was standing no more than five feet from two dead bodies, two people whom she was supposed to protect. "Why the hell did you kill them?!"
The vamps looked a bit surprise at the rise in hostility and took a few steps back from the irate slayer. "You wanted us to ambush them." That was the best they could come up with.
Buffy's stake was already embedded into the chest of the talkative vampire and he died his second death with wide eyes. His partner fell back on the deck and tried to scurry away from the slayer.
"We saved your life! You'd be dead if it weren't-" His dying words were cut short by a flying stake which easily cut straight through his chest.
It was madness to kill a person so easily. Buffy shuffled over to the two dead bikers and poked them with her foot. The first one was dead as a hammer, his neck snapped in several places. The second, however, was still alive. His neck was bruised and cracked, but the vampire that got him hadn't finished off the job. Buffy ran up to him and checked him over, but there wasn't anything she could do.
Unfortunately, the situation soon got much worse. The man had enough motor control to wail and he did that as loudly as he could. Unintelligible gurgles and screams into the night made the warehouse in the distance light up like a roman candle. Buffy could hear the distant sounds of motorcycles revving up and worked quickly to hide both the unconscious and the dead. The shouts of other guards were getting closer and the aware biker was still making noise. Buffy pulled the man behind a large stack of cargo containers. Buffy clamped her hand over the man's mouth and tried to control her breathing so no one would linger around too much.
Several moments after Buffy hid, several bikes rolled up to the barrel pyre and heavy books hit the deck. The slayer could hear the clicks of guns being primed for use not twenty feet away. The wounded biker gave a sharp kick and Buffy's hand clamped down even harder. If they discovered her back here she'd be dead. There wasn't anywhere to run on the wide pier.
Tense minutes passed as the area was being given the once-over by the other guards. Buffy could hear them talking to themselves, wondering where the regular patrol was. They found the empty beer bottles and started cursing their comrades before getting back on their bikes and tearing off down the long pier towards the ship in the distance.
Finally, Buffy relaxed her grip and let out a breath. "You almost got me killed, you know that?" The slayer looked down at the biker and her relieved smile slipped. Her hold was lax enough that the guard could start moaning and wailing again, but he wasn't. Buffy shook him a few times and shakily moved her hand down to the man's neck and could feel no pulse.
The limp body flew through the air and landed with a sickening crack as Buffy literally threw the dead biker as far away as possible. The teen's breath was ragged and shaky, her hands trembling. "Oh god, oh god, oh god." The girl kept repeating her little mantra over and over as she stared at the broken body of the person she had just killed. She, a slayer, had just ended the life of another human being. Snuffed a man out with her own hands.
Buffy was running before she even felt herself getting up. Toward the ship, away from the body. Anywhere was better than sitting on that dock at the moment. When her feet finally stopped, the girl slumped down in a heap beside a dock office. Distantly, she heard voices running towards her and the feeling of being pulled to her feet, but these things were only flashes passing her by. When something finally cracked her on the back of the head, Buffy welcomed the darkness.
Light streaming through a window awoke Buffy. She shook her head a few times to get the cobwebs out and willed her eyes to focus.
Given that she could feel herself swaying, Buffy guessed she was now in the large cargo ship and that she had been out for a few hours. Her arms were chained so they knew she was the slayer and all her weapons were gone; Buffy couldn't feel anything in her jacket.
"Are you awake yet, slayer?"
The voice came from a particularly large demon seated atop a container at the far end of the compartment. He was wearing biker leathers and wielding a pistol-grip shotgun which was now slung over his shoulder. "You just had to stick your little nose into my business down here at the docks, didn't you? Killed three of my boys, my riders, you even killed the Night Rider!" Now the demon was getting belligerent. He closed the distance between himself and his prisoner and savagely cracked her across the face with the shotgun. "The Night Rider himself!"
Three? No, Buffy had only killed one. A single human life that she had snuffed out with her own hands.
"No denial? Didn't think so." The demon gave one more kick to Buffy's head and it snapped back and hit the side of the ship. A long stream of blood started from the back of Buffy's head and trickled down her hair until it hit the chains. Still, the slayer didn't respond.
The demon clicked his teeth and stalked out of the room. The thick steel door shut loudly behind him and the room was sealed. The light from the cargo loading door filtered down into the cellar-like area onto Buffy's face. Swollen as it was, she could still open her eyes, but the girl found nothing worth looking at.
She deserved this. This was the logical outcome as her failure as a Slayer: being slain. When she failed in her duty, what else could she hope for? The demon would probably come back in soon and end it. At least she'd be with Angel in hell. Buffy leaned her head back with a small smile. They could be together again.
"A-Are you going to get us out of here now?"
Buffy cracked an eye back open to search for the voice. On the other side of the room, a man in a torn and dirty suit was tied up about like the slayer was. It took Buffy a finite, but eventually she recognized him.
"Finch? Allen Finch?" This was the guy! He was the one whom the Mayor had sent her after. "I...I was supposed to save you, but I can't. I can't do anything."
"Are you hurt? Did they shoot you?" Allen was frantic in his questions. He had been down in this place for too long and the resignation in Buffy's voice was getting to him.
The slayer shook her head. "I killed someone. I-I let them die to save myself. I'm more of a monster than any of these things!" Buffy slammed her head back on the pipe holding her and slumped forward against her chains. Her dirty blond locks cascaded over her shoulders and directed some of the blood away from her face. "I deserve to die." When Allen didn't respond, Buffy figured he agreed. Of course he would, he was probably disgusted.
Finch was speechless, to be certain, but not for the reason the slayer had imagined. "You...you're going to just give up? We're both going to die! I don't want to die, I want to go back home!" The poor civil servant was jerking against the ropes that held him, trying to get some kind of leverage. "Don't you want to live? It's us or them!"
Ha, "us or them" was so horribly cruel. A slayer had to be above that line of thinking. That was one of the first things Giles had taught. To think like that was human. It was...human...so very normal. Buffy's eyes cracked open and she stared at Allen across the room. She could see and smell the blood on him from where he had cut himself on the ropes in his struggles to get free. Such a human way of reacting. So...animalistic and utilitarian. Unchained.
Buffy's arms flexed against the chains holding her and she pushed them up the pipe so she could stand. The idiot demon hadn't hit her anywhere but her face, so her legs and arms were just fine. "Finch, hold still. I'll be over there in a second." The slayer braced her feet on the pipe and pushed until the chains were cutting into her arms. Finally, just when Buffy thought she would have to stop, one of the links snapped.
Running over to Finch, Buffy easily snapped the knot to the ropes holding him. "Do you know a way out of here?" she asked. The winded deputy mayor shook his head and explained he had been blindfolded all the way to the hold.
"Alright, time for plan B."
Loud shrieks reverberated throughout the ship. Blood curdling in their intensity and pitch, they soon drew the attention of several guards and the boss himself. When they burst through the steel bulkhead, Finch was still screaming. Across the room, in the middle of a large pool of blood, was Buffy.
The demon pumped his shotgun and warily walked over to the girl. "She broke the chains, but busted her arms doing it," he said after seeing the large gashes leaking blood on Buffy's arms and shoulder joints. He poked her once with his foot, but she didn't move. "And she passed out from the pain. String her up on the deck as a warn-" He never got to finish.
Buffy lashed out with her foot and swept the unprepared demon when his back was turned to give orders. The other bikers opened fire with their handguns and rifles, but Buffy was using their boss as a shield as she ran behind some wooden containers in the hold. She pried the shotgun from the demon's death grip and checked her ammo. The bikers were closing in and Finch's sissy screaming wasn't doing anything to help. There was plenty of heavy machinery around, though.
A flurry of gunshots followed Buffy as she darted out into the open. She shot twice at the crane control box and hit it with the second. The box sparked and crackled as random lights started to short all over the ship. The large loading crane that was controlled by the box started swinging madly and the slow bikers were fodder. Two were hit right away and another four were taken out by other debris the crane arm hit.
"Buffy! Help!"
Finch was in tears as the remaining biker started to cock the pistol he was holding to the prisoner's head. The slayer was only ten steps away so she took a chance.
A single shot rose above the noise in the room. Buffy's shotgun was level with the biker's head, while his gun was still pointing at Finch. The slayer did have a fresh wound, though.
Staggering out of the burning rubble, the demon who was responsible for all of this cackled as he cocked the hammer on his revolver for another round. His coat was nearly burnt off, along with most of his skin, but he was still kicking.
"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" the demon rasped. Without turning to his underling, he said, "Take out that sniveling worm. I think Wilkins will get the idea when we give him the heads of the slayer and his deputy." Buffy closed her eyes while Finch started to scream once again. "Game over, Slayer. You lose."
A warm rush of blood hit Buffy's face as she squeezed the trigger. Instantly ducking down, Buffy pumped the shotgun and chambered another round as the demon's own shot went wide. She aimed at the biker's chest and blew a foot-wide hole in it.
"No, not over. It's just the start of a new game."