Chapter 2

The Test

"What is he doing here?" Riley Finn demanded as he pointed at Spike. Spike felt a fresh flare of hatred for Buffy's former all American boyfriend. He had gotten rid of the blighter just 5 months before, and now he was back with his rugged good looks and his shiny damn soul.

"He was with us because he was willing and able to help, Riley," Buffy replied. "And I was willing to take whatever help I could get."

"You know he is just trying to get in your...well, you know," Finn said.

"Maybe," Buffy said. "But you haven't been here. He could have...he was tortured but he didn't...he may not have a soul, but he was very brave. Much braver than he needed to be."

Buffy looked around at the men who had come in with Finn. She was clearly not ready to blab in front of the strange men that Dawn was the Key. Spike felt a momentary smug sense of superiority. He may have been a soulless vampire, but the Slayer still trusted him more than these new men.

The Slayer took an especially long look at the big red demon. Spike had never seen his type before, except in once or twice in the World Weekly News. The red demon, in turn, was staring a hole through Spike.

Try it, big guy. Spike thought. You I can hurt.

"Finn, you said he has one of Walsh's chips in his head, and it's working?" the big red demon asked.

"Yeah, but it only keeps him from attacking humans, so it won't work with you, Red," Riley said. "Just a heads up."

"Red" took out the biggest handgun Spike had ever seen in his unlife.

"No problem," Red said.

"You sure he's OK?" Buffy said, jerking her head towards Red.

"He's one of the good guys," Finn said. "Really one of the good guys, unlike a certain Billy Idol wanna-be."

"Billy Idol wanna be?" Spike yelled indignantly. "Where the Bloody Hell do you think he got the idea to..."

Spike noticed that everyone was now staring at him. "Red" had a smirk on his face.

"...never bloody mind. Slayer, I'm just going to stand over there out of the way, while you catch up with Captain Vanilla T. Cardboard."

"That's Major Vanilla T. Cardboard to you, pal," Riley said.

Spike snorted.

"Whatever. Let me know if there is anything I can help you out with, Slayer."

So saying, Spike went over to the furthest corner of the abandoned gas station. But not nearly so far that he couldn't hear or see whatever conversation took place between the Slayer and Finn. Vampire hearing was useful for something.

Then, before Spike's outraged eyes, Riley Finn handed Buffy a note.

...

Buffy stared at Riley's handwritten note.

BUFFY, I THINK IT'S BEST WE FIND SOMEWHERE ELSE TO TALK. SOMEWHERE SPIKE CAN'T HEAR US, UNLESS YOU WANT ME TO STAKE HIM.

Buffy looked up at Riley and shook her head. Riley nodded and held his hand out for the notebook sheet he had handed her. He quickly wrote some more and handed the paper back to her.

OK. HAVE IT YOUR WAY.

REAL QUICKLY. THERE ARE ALIENS OUT THERE AS WELL AS DEMONS AND VAMPIRES. WE HAVE REASON TO BELIEVE A VAMPIRE HAS KILLED AN ALIEN WE CALL A PREDATOR, AND HAS SINCE MADE IT TO THE PREDATOR HOME WORLD TO KILL SOME MORE.

WE THINK THIS VAMPIRE IS DRUSILLA.

Well, that explained why Riley did not want to talk in front of Spike. Who knew how hearing the name of his sire and First True Love would affect him? Drusilla seemed to be able to make Spike almost as crazy as she was. And after all, it wasn't as if Spike was really burdened with a conscience or anything. Buffy did not want to find herself in a situation where Spike was choosing between her and Drusilla.

Buffy wrote back.

So, what? Are the aliens threatening to invade the Earth or blow it up or something unless someone does something about Drusilla?

Riley took back the paper, read her note, and looked up and stared at Buffy, his eyes wide.

He wrote back.

AS ALWAYS, GOOD GUESS.

"Damn," Buffy said. "So let me guess some more, these aliens want me to be the Slayer to the stars, as in literally to the stars?"

Riley took the paper back and wrote a little more.

YEAH. ABOUT THAT. THEY WANT YOU TO TAKE A TEST FIRST. AND FROM WHAT I HAVE BEEN TOLD ABOUT THESE PREDATOR GUYS, THE TEST WON'T BE EASY.

"So what else is new?" Buffy said. "Why should things start getting easy now?"

...

J held up a jar in front of the wounded man, Giles, and his friends, who had been introduced as Xander, Anya, and Willow. The other girl, who was introduced as "Tara", was muttering about something being "so shiny" while staring at a kid who looked to be on the early side of teenager.

"I know this doesn't look like much, but I swear to you, man, this little guy will make you as good as new," J said.

"What, a leech?" Xander said. "I think medicine has come along a bit since leeches."

"This ain't no leech, pal," J said. "Well, actually, they are known informally as leeches, but that's because they are the best doctors in four galaxies, and yeah, also because they kind of look like Earth leeches."

"So, uhm, how does it...uhm...work?" the red headed girl, Willow, asked.

"Well, it's...it's a lot better than it sounds," J said. "This little guy...it...well, crawls inside you, this time I think it will go through the spear wound...and heals you from the inside. But, it is a really good doctor and..."

"Oh, dear Lord, please stop talking," the Giles guy said. J noticed he was looking rather green.

"...you don't feel a thing," J finished. "I promise."

"Have you ever had one of these things crawl up inside you?" Xander asked.

"Yeah," J said. "I really have. Several times. And it was great. I always felt better than new when Doc Leech was done with me."

Which was true. J, however, omitted the part about his kicking, screaming, and begging K to "get that thing out of me!" the first time "Doc Leech" was crawling into his nose.

Giles, however, who looked to be in his late forties, maybe early fifties, was apparently made of sterner stuff.

"Let's get this over with, then, Mr. J," Giles said.

Xander turned to Anya, who was evidently his girlfriend.

"Let's go," he said.

"No," Anya said. "I want to watch."

"Watch? How can you...?" Xander said, but then he shrugged. "Never mind. For a second there, I forgot who I was talking to.

"Willow?"

"Actually, Xander," Willow said as she swallowed hard. "I...I think I'm gonna watch as well. After all, this is probably the only time I'm gonna get to see an alien doctor in action."

...

Trevor Bruttenholm walked over to the girl, Dawn Summers. It was quite remarkable, really. According to Gregor, Dawn Summers was actually the legendary Dimensional Key, given human life by monks belonging to the Order of Saint Mithras, formerly the Order of Mitra, back in September of 2000. However, when the BPD records clerk brought up the name Dawn Summers, there was a complete life's history, including Social Security Number, Birth Certificate, etc. When confronted with this knowledge, Gregor (who Trevor knew was an accountant in his civilian life) claimed that all that history must have been part of the spell.

However, given the nature of the Key, Trevor suspected something else may have happened. Besides, whatever Dawn Summers "really" was, at the moment she was mostly a very scared little girl.

"Miss Summers," Trevor said.

"Oh, uhm...yeah...who are you, exactly?" Dawn asked.

"I'm Tre...Professor Bruttenholm," Trevor said.

"Broom?"

"Well, that's how it's pronounced. The spelling is a little more complicated."

"Yeah," Dawn said, obviously not really interested in how Trevor's last name was really spelled. "Y'know, it's kinda ironic. I mean, here I am, the big prize for Glory that everyone is trying to protect, and yet as soon as Riley and you guys arrive, no one's even talking to me."

Dawn looked at Trevor.

"I...uhm...I don't think I was supposed to tell you that."

"It's quite all right, young lady," Trevor said. "Gregor here already told me who you are."

"You mean, what I am," Dawn corrected.

"No, I meant whoyou are," Trevor corrected back.

"It's nothing personal, young lady," Gregor interrupted, his chains rattling as he turned his head to look at Dawn Summers. "But you aren't actually human, and if The Beast gets her hands on you..."

"If I'm not human, then why'd you just call me 'young lady'?" Dawn asked. Trevor smiled at Gregor's flummoxed expression. Like all the Knights of Byzantium, he was rather single minded, not to mention inflexible.

Gregor turned to look at Trevor.

"We will destroy it in the end, Trevor," Gregor said. "You know what will happen if we don't."

Trevor turned to his adopted son.

"Hellboy," Trevor said. "Would you be so good as to take Gregor out to get acquainted with Mr. K's pen, like the rest of his company?"

Hellboy walked over, easily broke Gregor's chains with his stone hand, and then laid his left hand on the knight's armored shoulder.

"Gladly," Hellboy said. "Come along, you."

Mr. K's very special pen would insure that the trail of Dawn Summers would be cold, not only for the Knights of Byzantium, but for the dreaded if rather dense Glorificus as well.

...

"Don't move," J said.

Rupert Giles felt a rather ticklish sensation under his nose. J held the jar under Giles' nose, and then the next second held the jar up, with the little black leech alien crawling around inside. J held his hand to his right ear.

"Right, Doc," J said. J then jerked his head to a woman who, like J, was wearing a black suit and sunglasses.

"Take Doc to get its myrrathian steak," J said to the woman. "It's earned it."

So saying, J handed the jar to the woman in black and then turned to Giles.

"So, how are you feeling, Mr. Giles?" J asked.

"Quite well, actually," Giles sat up experimentally. He looked down at his chest and gut. There was no sign of the wound whatsoever. And there was no pain.

Giles sat up further.

"Am I really...?" Giles asked.

"Yep, you should be completely cured," J said.

"Remarkable," Giles said.

"That was so cool," Willow said even as she rubbed a calming hand on Tara's palm.

"Yes," Anya agreed. "You should get wounded again, Giles, so that we can see the leechy doctor work some more. It was very entertaining."

J gave Giles an odd look.

"Is she...?" J started to ask.

"Serious?" Giles completed. "I'm afraid so. And if you don't mind, I think I would like to talk to my slayer now."

"Who?" J asked. "You have a what?"

So, this alien wrangler had not been told who or what Buffy was.

"The little blond girl you saw when you came in here."

J stared at him.

"You mean, that little girl is the one the preds want to talk to?" J asked. "She's what you call a slayer?"

Giles felt a horrific chill.

"Preds. Is that short for predators, by any chance? As in alien hunters who come here trophy hunting for armed human prey?"

J looked as if Giles had just told him that he used to be a woman.

"Wait a minute, how the Hell do you know about...?" J started to say.

Giles stood up. His mind quickly transitioned to "Ripper" mode. J, no civilian himself, responded immediately as he sensed the change in Rupert Giles.

"Stand aside," Giles said to J. "Now."

...

Buffy and Riley had moved outside. She was startled to see that the knights, including Gregor, were all gone. However, some of their weapons, an assortment of swords and crossbows, were left behind.

The big red demon guy was smoking a cigar and shooting the breeze with a couple of men in black suits.

But what drew her attention was the set of beings standing off by themselves about 60 yards away. They were big, she could hear them breathing and chittering between themselves. However, the only visual sign that anything was there was that the air seemed to ripple.

"So are those the predators you were talking about?" Buffy asked, pointing to the spot where the air rippled. Riley looked confused.

"What?" he asked. "There's nothing there."

"Yeah, there is," Buffy said. She concentrated, isolating the breathing sounds. She could also hear some light mechanical sounds as well. Thank goodness for slayer senses. Buffy had a feeling that she was going to need them for whatever test the predators were going to set up for her. "I count 5 of them, two of them a lot bigger than the other three."

Riley raised his head and called to a stocky older guy in a dark suit.

"Zed!" he called. "Can you come over here for a second?"

Zed walked over.

"Yes, Major Finn," Zed said. "Have you debriefed Miss Summers yet on what she is going to have to do?"

"OK, pal," Buffy said. "First of all, you want me to do something, you talk to me, not Riley. Second of all, you should know that I have a real difficult time with middle aged men who assume they can tell me what to do. Especially if their initials are not Rupert Giles."

And it was at that moment that Giles himself burst out of the abandoned gas station, followed by Xander, two of the other black suited sunglass guys, and the kindly looking older guy who had politely introduced himself as "Professor Trevor Broom". As Buffy watched, Willow came out and caught the sleeve of the younger of the two sunglass men, as if to ask him a question.

"Buffy," Giles said. "Whatever they are asking you to do, don't do it."

"Dr. Giles," Zed replied mildly. "What we are asking your Miss Summers to do is to save the world. Again. It is my understanding that saving the world is what she does."

Giles came up to Buffy and gently took her arm, escorting her away from Riley and Zed.

"Buffy, what have they told you?" Giles asked.

Buffy didn't have to think long about her answer.

"Not much," she replied. "Apparently there are these aliens called predators. By the way, I think they may be partially invisible, I count 5 of them standing over there."

So saying, Buffy pointed to the spot where she saw the air ripple and heard the breathing and mechanical noises.

"Oh dear lord, they're cloaked," Giles said. "Did they say anything about why these predators want you?"

"Yeah," Buffy replied. "Apparently, a vamp has gotten loose on their home world. It seems they want me to go there and get rid of (Buffy almost said her)...it."

Buffy leaned forward. The sun was setting, but it was still out, and Spike was inside. He could probably hear their conversation at normal voice, but from out here even he couldn't hear them whisper.

"They think the vamp is Drusilla," Buffy said. "Keep it quiet. We don't want Spike hearing this."

Giles took Buffy's arm and steered her further from the abandoned gas station and also Riley and the other men. Xander was standing with them, trying awkwardly to engage Riley in a conversation.

In other words, Xander was trying to keep Riley and the other men occupied so that Buffy and Giles could have a private conversation.

"OK, Giles, you're freaking me out," Buffy whispered. "What do you know about these things?"

"What you should know," Giles said. "One, these predators are trophy hunters. They come to this planet to hunt the most dangerous game that they can find here, and that game tends to be armed humans. On two occasions, they found what they considered truly exceptional prey."

Buffy was too emotionally drained by recent events to work up a chill, just a kind of resigned irritation at having yet another enemy to fight.

"Let me guess," Buffy said. "They hunted slayers."

"Twice," Giles said. "The first time, back in medieval Poland, a predator succeeded in killing a slayer. The predators take the skull and spine of humans as their prize. This slayer's watcher found..."

"Never mind, Giles, I get the idea," Buffy said. "What about the other slayer?"

"Well, uhm, yes, the other slayer was Nikki Wood."

"Who?"

"The slayer who was killed on a New York subway by Spike."

"So, she killed the predator that hunted her?"

"Not exactly, although according to her report she was winning when the predator was taken."

"Taken by what?" Buffy asked.

"By one of the vampires she was hunting," Giles replied.

"Must have been a bad assed vamp," Buffy said.

"No, not at all," Giles replied. "In fact, Nikki subsequently disposed of the vampire quite easily. Predators see in the infra-red spectrum. Thus, they see us primarily through body heat."

"Which vamps don't have," Buffy said.

"Right," Giles replied. "They also don't breathe or have heartbeats, which means when they aren't talking, and otherwise making every effort to be quiet..."

"...they're completely invisible to predators," Buffy said. "Got it. The big bad predators can't see vamps until its too late."

"Quite," Giles said. "But they don't have that handicap with slayers."

"Giles, I don't think they want to hunt me," Buffy said. "They want my help."

"They want a slayer's help," Giles said. "Buffy, after Nikki Wood had her encounter with a predator, a representative from a previously unknown government agency, I suspect quite possibly that very man there..."

So saying, Giles pointed at Zed.

"...visited with the leadership of the Watcher's Council. It seems that the predators, quite rightly, see vampires as unnatural, and therefore in their eyes an abomination. They also see vampires as a potential threat to the galaxy if they ever got off of Earth. Mr. Zed and his agency apparently assured the predators that we would contain the threat."

"You mean 'we' being the Watcher's Council, which really comes down to the Slayer, which means, at the present time, it all comes down to me."

"Yes, but it is my understanding that the predators know how the slayer transition works. Zed and his associates had to explain that to satisfy them that we had a means to contain the vampire menace."

"You mean the part about how when one slayer dies, one takes her place?" Buffy felt her disgust return. "Riley said there would be a test. I'm guessing that the test is a fight to the death."

"I believe you are correct," Giles said. "The predators are probably going to make certain they have the right slayer, and in their minds, that means testing slayers until they find one that passes the test, by killing her opponent."

"How do you know all this?" Buffy asked.

"I don't know it, I infer it," Giles replied. "Aly...an old friend of mine, in fact rather ironically the nephew of Nikki Wood's watcher, was also hunted by a predator. He...he is an accomplished big game hunter, and he is also an exceptional forensic investigator, and after he survived his encounter with a predator, he looked into them, and his investigations eventually led him to the records of the Watcher's Council. What he discovered greatly improved our own intelligence on the things.

"They're tenacious, Buffy, and they're proud. They won't be happy about having to turn to a human to help them, and they will want that human to prove herself to them."

Buffy thought for a second. She already had problems with Glory, the mad God(dess?) who had just learned that Dawn was the Dimensional Key. Glory wanted to sacrifice Dawn so that she could open a gateway between Earth and her home dimension. Not only would that be bad for Dawn, but for the entire world as well. According to Giles and the Watcher's Council, if Glory used the Key to open a gateway to her hell dimension, she would open multiple gateways, and Earth would be overrun by as many as a hundred hell dimensions.

Maybe, just maybe, this invitation to hunt Drusilla on another planet was an opportunity. An opportunity for Buffy to take Dawn where Glory would never find her, much less reach her. A way to keep both the world and Dawn safe.

That made the decision easy.

"Let's get this show on the road, then," Buffy said.

"Buffy, no!" Giles exclaimed.

"What, you don't think I can do what your friend did?" Buffy asked. "Is he even a slayer?"

"No...but..." Giles sputtered.

"And Nikki was beating one of those things years before she lost her fight with Spike. Me? I've kicked Spike's ass several times.

"Have some faith in me, Giles. I will win this."

Then Buffy walked back towards Zed, leaving Giles standing speechless.

...

J couldn't believe what he was hearing. Zed was talking to the little blond girl. K, meanwhile, had gone over to where the preds were standing. K could understand and approximate almost 200 alien languages, including 6 of the 7 primary pred languages.

"You'll be fighting one of the males," Zed said to Buffy. "These things are very fast, and even though they like a challenge, they don't fight fair. He will cloak himself, and he will have a multitude of weapons, including the equivalent of a tank gun. Plus, they are extremely strong. Their home world has two and a half times our gravity, which means that a 7 foot tall predator will have enormous strength."

"That means that the predator will also be really heavy, right?" Buffy asked. She didn't seem at all bothered by the prospect of facing a predator. J had been in MIB long enough to become accustomed to things, and especially beings, not being what they seemed, but this was different. This wasn't an alien disguised as a human girl, this was a human girl, from Earth. Giles had called her a slayer, but did that really make her a match for a predator?

Then Buffy picked up one of the swords those rejects from a Robin Hood movie had been carrying around, twirling it around experimentally like it was made of hollow plastic instead of steel. She also looked like she knew her way around the sword. Still, a sword was nothing compared to the weapons that a predator would bring to bear.

"Yes," Zed said to Buffy. "A male predator will weigh about half to three quarters of a ton."

"Uhm, how much is that in Earth pounds?" Buffy asked.

Zed looked at her oddly.

"One thousand to one thousand five hundred pounds."

Oh, man, J thought. She's a ditz. This girl is doomed.

Then J remembered that the girl had immediately figured out that a big alien from a high gravity world would weigh a lot.

" Miss Summers," Zed continued. "You have to realize that a predator is used to feeling much heavier on his own world. He may be heavy for his size to us, but from his standpoint he will feel as light as a feather."

Buffy gave the sword one more experimental twirl.

"Well, Zed," she said. "I can relate to that."

J wanted to tell Zed to stop this. He knew there had to be a lot more to the girl than met the eye, but why did the predators think that she could help them with their exotic wildlife problem?

Then, J was startled to find Hellboy standing at his elbow.

"Hey, Father," Hellboy said to Bruttenholm. "We need to get this show on the road, it's almost sundown."

Bruttenholm turned to Zed.

"He's quite right, you know."

K walked back from where the preds were standing.

"We've got a problem, Zed," K said. "The preds are insisting that the girl fight a female."

"What?" J exclaimed. "Zed, we can't let her do that! It's crazy enough that she was going to fight a male predator!"

"Let me guess, with predators the female is the bigger and badder sex, right?" Buffy asked.

"Yes," Zed replied. "But it's worse than that. The males are the predators who travel to different planets to hunt prey. Some they kill for themselves...but...they will capture other prey alive to take back home. The females, you see, are homebodies. They have territories on their home world, and in certain reserves close to the home world. And the males, they bring live prey for the females to hunt, as tribute."

"Sort of like their version of flowers?" Buffy asked.

"More like their version of an engagement ring," Zed said. "But you have to understand. Many species and cultures have seen a male predator hunt, but none of them have seen a female predator hunt. No prey to our knowledge has returned from the predators' home system to describe how a female predator hunts. We do have intelligence that if a male's tribute fails to impress a female, then he is expected to offer himself up as quarry. We also know that they are much larger than the males, even their mandibles are twice as large as those of their male counterparts. But it is highly unusual for a female predator to leave her home world."

"So they must be really desperate then, huh, for some of their precious females to travel here," Buffy said.

" I don't think that predators can feel desperate, Miss Summers," Zed replied. "K, we need to negotiate with the preds some more. For them to request that Miss Summers, even if she is a vampire slayer, fight a female predator is completely unreasonable."

"Wait...Zed, did you say vam...?" J didn't finish his question before he noticed something else. Buffy Summers was leaving them and walking to the spot where the preds were waiting. "Zed, look."

"Damn," Zed said.

"OK," Buffy said to the predators. "Let's get this over with. My favorite show is on in 30 minutes."

...

There was a small part of Buffy's mind, probably the most rational part, telling her that she was being extremely reckless. However, that part was being shouted down by three other parts in her mind.

The first part, the protective big sister, wanted to get Dawn off world ASAP. Glory would still cause a lot of damage searching, but if Dawn was on another planet, the mad God(dess) probably wouldn't destroy the world if she couldn't leave it. She liked to shop too much.

The second part was a memory. As she looked over at the rippling air where the predators were standing, she started remembering Nikki Wood's fight with the predator as if it had been her own. She had had a similarly vivid experience when Spike was telling her how he had killed Nikki on a New York subway. She had been there with Nikki, indeed as Nikki, before Spike broke her neck. And now, she was remembering her fight with the predator just as vividly. As a result, Buffy knew more about fighting a predator than anyone, including the predator she would be facing, could possibly guess. Just to be safe, she hadn't even tipped her hand to Giles. Nikki Wood's memories told her that the predators had exceptional hearing, either their own or technologically enhanced. No need to blab about her hidden advantage.

As for the third part, well, the third part was really weird. Buffy felt an excitement, similar to the one that she sometimes felt when she hunted vampires and demons. Dracula had called it the darkness within her.

You don't know what you are, what you will become. You haven't even begun.

When K had told them that she was to fight a female predator, this third part of her mind became positively giddy. It was this third part of her mind, even more than the other two, that caused her to step away from the men in black and get this test started.

One of the larger ripples in the air separated itself, no herself, from the rest. Then, lights flashed and the air shimmered, and the cloak fell away.

She wore a fierce looking helmet (one that looked somewhat familiar thanks to Nikki's memories). She also wore the cannon on her left shoulder, again, much like the predator Nikki had faced.

But, this female was much bigger, much more powerful looking, and as she threw back her head and roared, the rational part of Buffy's mind was absolutely terrified. As the Slayer, Buffy had faced many terrible beings, but nothing as fierce as this thing looked.

However, the wild part, the ancient part of Buffy's mind that went back to the first slayer, simply bared her teeth, and snarled.

...

Dawn was terrified. The alien monster was huge. And it had weapons, lots of them.

"Willow," Dawn said. "Do something. You can stop this! You have to stop this! "

Willow didn't answer.

Dawn turned. Willow was kneeling next to Tara. Tara seemed to be asleep on the ground. Next to Tara and Willow was an empty jar. Willow was chanting a spell quietly under her breath. As Dawn watched in horror, a slimy worm like thing crawled out of Tara's left nostril.

Dawn immediately realized that Willow was trying to restore Tara's mind. The mind that Glory had destroyed.

Dawn turned back and looked at Buffy and the giant alien thing she was facing. Then, before her horrified gaze, the alien's image seemed to dance, shimmer, and then vanish.

To be continued

Warning: Slight spoiler for the Predators movie.

As you can see, I have come up with a different explanation for the two varieties of predator in that film.

Next: Buffy versus a female (wolf) predator, chica a chica.