"The Girl of Your Dreams…"
Archived at the Buffy Rebecca verse, . .
Disclaimer: All BTVS characters remain the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and all other owner/creators of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series...
Summary: Another unholy alliance of Amy and Warren Mears creates another doorway for Buffy's demon Anne to escape Hell…Unfortunately…They miscalculated slightly…
"*$H$!ing, stinkin' human?"
But our Annie will find her way…
Part III…
"Quite a Lear jet, you guys have here…" Andrew noted…Looking out the window of the corporate Lear jet Angel had reluctantly agreed to provide…Though a Watcher pilot at the controls for Council security…Following a full sweep for surveillance devices and removal of several…
"Really something…I love the minibar…Ummn…It is ok?..." he raised the collection of candy and snacks he'd taken… "Just some stuff for the ladies…"
"Fine…" the grim reply of his seat mate…
"Gretch…" Andrew offered the armful to a Slayer seated across the aisle on what William grumpily noted was guard duty… "Could you take this back to the other guys?...Thanks…"
"Yeah…A neat thing to have…" Andrew resumed his seat and efforts at conversation… "Wish the Council could see their conservative way tow…"
"Look, Wells…" William frowned at him…
"I agreed to come…It doesn't mean I agreed to make polite chatter all the way…Unless you have something real to say to me…Lets enjoy the view in silence…"
"Sorry…I have my…"
"So you keep saying…"
"Spike, if you'd told me to tell her…Or just come with me…Even if Chairman Giles…" he began…
"I dug my own grave as always…Got it, thanks…" William nodded…
"She wants to see you…"
"Can't imagine why…Hunt down her assailants perhaps?..."
"I couldn't compromise the operation…Back in Rome, I mean…For her safety and yours…"
"Thanks…Always nice to know the COW cares…"
"She wasn't with the Immortal…Angel said you both knew that…"
"Yeah…Too bad, he seems the perfect guy for her…Since she's moved on…"
"Will you ever get off that?...The 'moved on' was my idea…I admit it…I based it on her cookies speech…"
"Well, congratulations…You certainly improved on her performance…"
"William, when she heard about the thing in LA…It wasn't Giles who demanded immediate mobilization…Though he was prepared to support you guys…"
"Mop up after our deaths you mean…"
Andrew sighed…
Well…
"Regardless of the Chairman's motives and desires, she accepted his story about Angel…Didn't question Angel's turning to the Dark Side…All because of that amulet…She was sure Angel gave it to her to give to you deliberately…Spike, she blamed Angel almost as much as…"
"Pardon me…" he pulled at a ringing cell phone…
"Yes, Mr. Chairman?..."
William staring at him…
Hmmn…The silent treatment's workin' reasonably well…He's close to spilling it all…Though…To his and Giles' training's credit…So far nothing I didn't know or guess…
My God…She really believed that bag of crap about Angel Giles fed her?...After all their years together…?
Poor Angel…Geesh…
But on the other hand…
Nah…She believed Giles because she's always believed Giles…He says Angel's gone bad…Gotta give him credit for a good performance, though no doubt his ever-present hatred of Angelus helped mightily…And Buffy Summers believes daddy two…And Angel to the doghouse…
No doubt I'm lucky not to have been included…And only because Wells actually managed to keep me a secret…Until Giles' people spotted me in LA and the jig was up so far as the Chairman was concerned…
"We're getting near, sir…About another twenty minutes…Yes, sir…" Andrew, choosing words carefully…
He's not bad, all in all…Will noted…I'd have to say the Watcher career is working out for him…
Andrew ended the conversation and put his phone away…
"Giles need proper coordinates to shoot us down…?" Will asked politely… "Can't have us hitting a passenger jet by mistake, eh?..."
Hmmn…Andrew pondered…With the Chairman one never knows…
Still, Buffy…He's accepted we must do this for her…
"No, he just wanted to know if we were close…Buffy's asking for you…A lot…"
Will's face paled even more than Andrew could have thought possible…
"Is she that…?"
"She's not that…Physically…But she's not responding as she should…She needs you, Will…" Andrew noted firmly…
"Vampiral transfusion…?" he asked…
Andrew frowned… "Look, be as mad at me as you like…But from the moment she knew you were…"
"Yes…?"
"She needs to see you…" Andrew finished…Setting jaw firmly as he could…
Hmmn…Again not bad…
And I doubt thrall would go over well with his four Slayer escort even if they seem very friendly to me…And were a bit hostile to poor ole Angel back in LA…
Besides…Put ole Wells in thrall and probably have him on my doorstep for life…
"Andrew, how can it violate security to tell me how she found out and why…She didn't…"
"Why didn't you?..." Andrew asked…
London…The restored (following a tragic gas leak explosion) Antiquarian Hall…Office of the Chairman of the Royal Council of Antiquarians and Library Scientists…
"So…What do we know?..." the voice from behind the desk of the Chairman, the Chairman's chair leaned back to a dangerous angle…
"Andrew's got Spike in a jet…They'll be there in just a few…" the figure seated on the edge of the desk noted…A female voice, a bit strained… "And we oughta be there…"
"Buffy tole us to go…And Giles wanted us in London in case this represented a real attack…" the voice in the chair noted… "But do we know anything else, especially about these guys…?"
"We know they were definitely human…Thanks to Mia's running down one…" a second female voice, seated in chair…Rather primly…As if a bit nervous to be sitting in the Chairman's office, sans Chairman…Which indeed the red-haired speaker, Ms. Willow Rosenberg, was…
"And we know if Giles finds out you were doing that to his chair, Xander…" she eyed the reclining Xander who immediately sat up…
"We oughta be with her…Especially if Spike's coming…" Dawn Summers the first female speaker, repeated her previous statement…
"Dawn…" Willow sighed…
"I'm inclined to agree with Dawnie…" Xander noted… "If Giles had told me Spike was on his way…"
"Buffy begged Giles to get him in…" Willow shook her head… "And he still has the soul…Xander, he did save us all back at Sunnydale…"
"So what was keepin' him from coming to England and looking her up there when we were still settling in?..." Dawn queried, a pouting look… "He wasn't any more anxious to come than…Some of us…Were to have him come…"
"I would've like to see him come…" Willow said, quietly… "I only wish I'd helped Buffy try and reach him…I still feel guilty letting Giles talk me into dodging her when she started asking…"
"Soul or no soul, this is Spike…" Xander said… "And he has a way of tearing Buffy up whether his intentions are good or bad…Right, Dawn?..."
Dawn?...He looked over where she was looking down…
"That's not fair, Xander…" she said quietly… "I didn't want Buffy to be alone seeing him again…And I'm furious at Giles for sending us away without telling us he'd agreed to bring him in to her…But it's not fair to blame William for Spike's actions…We never blamed Anya for Anyanka…And I didn't mean to imply I was one of the 'some of us'…I wish he'd come, too…"
He looked at the two facing him… "I stand by what I said…Spike isn't what Buffy needs right now, good or bad…I wasn't calling him evil, just trouble…And that was a cheap shot, Dawn…" he rose out of the chair…Went to the door…Willow now a bit anxious, nervously eyeing Dawn to make quick amends…Dawn showing the beginnings of relent and moving off the desk as he opened the door, turning to…
"And…I hear that lady, so we'd better get the hell out of here…"
All three hurriedly left…Dawn taking Xander's hand briefly… "Sorry…" she hissed…
"I don't mean William any ill…But my concern's with Buffy…" he replied as they passed Giles' secretary in the corridor, coming in for the day…She frowning slightly at the three guilty faces…
Well…Willow shrugged internally…Giles' office is the most secure place here…And we're tired of him shoving us around as he chooses…We needed a chance to talk things out a bit…
Though unfortunately, this leaves us with nothing settled…Xander came back to her…
"Do we go or stay?..." he hissed…
"Xander, even if I could pump enough power up…And you know my battery's way down since Sunnydale…We'd get there too late and we'd probably just be in the way…"
"Exactly…" he noted sternly…
Xander…
Despite her annoyance at Warren's insistence on their leaving for the lab only separately and after dark and in a non-descript coat and hat with face covered by upturned collar and pulled down hat …For God's sake, who cares…No one's been looking for Warren, defleshed or otherwise, and certainly no one gives a damn about me…And we look more suspicious than if we simply drove over together to the warehouse in the middle of the afternoon…Amy followed his instructions and arrived just before 8:30 pm to find him contentedly adjusting some equipment…
"Welcome…" he said, a bit formally… She restraining an urge to eye roll…
Warren, I helped you move in and set up the place…
"To the next phase…Where Science takes its rightful place in the lead…"
"Great…" she sighed… "So is it working or…"
"It's working…" he beamed…Then frowned slightly…
"Or it was, a few minutes ago…I'm sure this time I've got the main pump set…"
"Lets hope so…" she noted… "Summers' and Angel's people will be hunting and tracking our friends down with everything they've got…And she won't be down for long…"
"We'll be ready for them…Come and see…" he offered her his hand…
Wow…She thought, dryly…You'd almost think he wasn't planning to stab me in the back first chance he gets…As soon as he either doesn't need me or finds a way to suck out my powers…Or finds a more powerful witch who's willing to back him…
But what does it matter to dead and forgotten…But not yet buried, not yet…Amy…?
Just let him show Buffy…And Willow…A little of what I've suffered and the darkness their Slayer heroine carries within…And I could be content to let him leave me in a heap of corpses…But not just yet…
They walked into a vast central room…Where, not far from the entrance a large tank lay lengthwise, sounds of water or some fluid, bubbling from the canopied but largely open top…A large control panel at the side which Warren approached…
"Partner…The future…" Warren proudly patted the side of the tank as he stood at the panel… "Once we deal with Summers and co…Mankind reaps the benefits of my research…Cloning at least a dozen years in advance of anything else on Earth…No more waiting for some jerk to crash his or her car to get that heart for lil' Suzie…We'll pop 'em out like Tupperware…And nearly as cheap…Not counting the fees and assorted side costs we'll tack on of course…Still, a huge cost-savings…And a practical form of near Immortality…Just toss that worn out ole bod and get your brain neatly sandwiched into our be-all-you-can-be full-sized and accessorized clone…With a touch of magics to ensure your soul goes along…Supplied by the great Amy…World's leading Wiccan…Hell, you and I will go down as Humanity's greatest benefactors, kiddo…In a year, even those in the know'll have forgotten Buffy Summers and the Slayers ever existed…"
"Thanks…" she glanced around…
Well, does seem like it's clacking along at last…
"…As world-saving heroines, anyway…" he noted…
The sound of an electronic door opening made him pause in mid-self-congratulation to look toward the source…Amy looking over as well…
Up a bit on the left side where a door now stood open, slid back on its rails…
They relaxed their instinctive tensing, product of many weary months of living in secret, dodging any possible surveillance or tracking…The door had opened at the proper administration of codes…Nothing…Probably…To worry about…
Though Amy did a quick, careful magics sweep…
"Two outside…Ours…And Theodore here…" she nodded at Warren, who nodded back…And took his hand off the emergency security button at his control panel…
A pity though…Would have been neat to see a good slash and gut…And it would've been a nice, quiet job…
Still Amy would probably not appreciate seeing a human splattered across the warehouse walls…And Theo and the boys might still have their uses…
"Hey, Theo…" he waved a friendly arm… "Things go well?..."
Theodore, a lanky young burglar/hit man of dark-haired, wiry but non-descript appearance…An appearance perfect for his career choice…Rapidly acquiring fame in the human underworld for his exploits…Raised a sealed metal container to view…
"There she is…" Warren beamed…Striding over, Amy following…
He took the canister from the smiling Theo who nodded to Amy…
Nice-looking kid…Hope Warren doesn't insist on killing him when this one's over…she thought…
"Any…Losses?..." Warren asked…Examining a digital thermostat on the container…Ah, perfect…
"Only acceptable…And no problems stemming…" Theo, significant look…
"And the Slayer?...Alive and kickin'…?" Warren, a tad anxious…
"Yeah…" Theo winced a bit at the memory of the "kickin'"…Bitch really did have superpowers…
"Stuart got in a good one but she's fine…Gave us a good sample but no major damage…"
"Great, great…" Warren beamed… "Here's the remaining code numbers for payment on this one…"
He handed a sheet of paper to Theo who took it with a smile… "Always a pleasure to do business with you, Dr. M…"
Amy did the eye roll at the "Dr. M"…Warren's new evil genius monicker…
Well, he has to call himself something…Just so long as he doesn't pin something stupid on me…
Though…A tad wistful…A new id might not be so…
"Ma'am…" Theo gave her a friendly wave and coded himself out the door…
"Nothing like dealing with professionals…" Warren smiled… "That guy is going places…Either as a semi-loyal carefully watched minion in my future empire or in various pieces if he ever crosses me…"
"He's ok…Smart enough to dodge the Council and the rest with your stuff so long as they weren't ready for him…The others, though…I'm amazed they got to her and only lost…What were 'acceptable', anyway…?"
"Oh, the rest of the team proper…" Warren noted blithely… "Any who the Slayer's security people didn't fully nail, Theo took care of…But, he's already found replacements…"
Amy blinked… "All of them?...He…"
…Seemed so nice…But I guess that's the "professional manner"…
"Can't take any chances on this one, sweetheart…Though Theo himself is just too useful…Right now…" Warren smiled… "Now, lets have a look before dinner…" he patted the container…
Well, no need to worry that I'll not have a quick exit when I'm no longer too useful…Amy thought…
"Guess who's coming to dinner…" Warren cackled at the container… "The Slayer's worst enemy…"
"The Girl of Your Dreams…"
Archived at the Buffy Rebecca verse, . .
Disclaimer: All BTVS characters remain the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and all other owner/creators of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series...
Summary: Another unholy alliance of Amy and Warren Mears creates another doorway for Buffy's demon Anne to escape Hell…Unfortunately…They miscalculated slightly…
"*$H$!ing, stinkin' human?"
But our Annie will find her way…
Part IV…
"Ok…" Warren stood on a ladder at his giant tank in the warehouse lab securing a hatch with groaning twists of its wheel, a glass window running along the lower midsection of its steel length revealing a greenish fluid and hundreds of what appeared to be cables and plastic tubes floating loose within… "The specimen is in the initial cell chamber…We can start phase one, initial cell division…" he nodded to Amy who pressed a button on a control panel attached to the lower side of the tank…A green light winked on…Warren climbed down and came to Amy, eyeing the control panel…Nodding…
"There…Assuming even one cell grows…And it will…Tomorrow we begin cell differentiation for the best cell mass…Then we just sit back and wait for our little girl to be born…" he beamed…
"So…Now how long?..." Amy asked…
"I estimate seventeen days…" Warren noted…
"Seventeen days?..." Amy stared… "You never said it would take that long!...In seventeen days the Council or Buffy's pals are sure to track the assault back to us...Willow…"
"Us?..." he eyed her… "I'm dead and skinless, sweetie…And as you love to insist, no one cares about Amy…Besides Theo took care of anyone who survived the attack but him and I think we can trust to his experience to elude Glinda the semi-reformed, Slayer-depowered good witch and her idiot Watcher allies who don't even know who to seek…I'm monitoring the Council…They can't make a move without my hearing of it…Don't fret…"
"And I think seventeen days to grow a full adult female from a cell sample isn't damn bad…" he noted… "After all we want a perfect anti-Buffy, not a 'special' child drooling on her shoes…Now if you really want to avoid any trouble, you just live your normal, dull, nobody cares life, reporting to your normal, dull job, and doing normal, dull stuff for another seventeen days and stay off the magics when you're outside…That's the best way to keep anyone looking for some occult connection to the assault on Fortress Buffy from ending up here…"
"No magics…At all?..." Amy blinked…
"Up to you…I don't think we're in any danger if you don't try teleporting to Willow's bedroom to rant about our coming revenge but you're the one who's freaking and that's the best I can offer…"
"But what about my practice for…The operation?…And aren't we gonna have to talk to…It, again?..."
"Not till the big day, I think…Our negotiations are pretty well set with our little friend from Hell…And as for the rest, I'm convinced you're ready, sweetie…But if you want to practice at that level, use the shielded room in the lower lab…" he grinned at her… "Amy, knowing me as you do…And my healthy sense of self-preservation, don't you think I'd be concerned if I thought there were the slightest danger?..."
She sighed…Well…
"Ok…But can I at least help monitor Buffy's friends and all?..."
"I'd be glad to have the help…Strictly non-occult though, unless I say so, ok?..."
"Right…I actually kinda like to play with your stuff, now I'm getting the hang of it…" she smiled, a little wanly…
"You're a first rate Sith apprentice, kiddo…" he nodded, with smile…
"You really can monitor the Council?...From here?..."
"Everyone underestimates human science…" he shook his head…
"Buffy, fatally…"
A landing field…Location, topmost secret…
Night…
"William…" Andrew struck a formal pose, his four Slayer team at his sides…All showing a bit more interest in William than their Watcher supervisor might have preferred…
"I hope you understand the need for secrecy…After the defeat of the First and now the Partners, Buffy's life is…As this last attack might suggest more than any mere words…"
"I get it Andrew…" William put up a hand… "But if I may make a suggestion…Next time you fly a vampire to Canada, remember we're very sensitive to the sun…Even through an airplane's closed window I could make out where she was relative to us…Then just factor in the time and terrain…And the temperature…"
Andrew blinked…The Slayers showed beams of admiration…
"I'll pretend I don't know…Just keep it in mind for future reference if you bring Angel or someone without a soul here sometime?...Given you're so security conscious and Buffy's life is on the line…"
"Thanks…" Andrew, still blinking…Thinking fast… "But of course all that was a deception, you understand…We're nowhere near Canada…"
"Sure…" Will shrugged… "Now, can we go in and see her?..."
"Just let me get clearance…" he turned to a Slayer who handed him a large cell phone…
"Come in…This is Wells…Rover has found his sister's pup…Repeat…Rover has found his sister's pup…"
William rolled eyes…
Now I'm her pup?...I hope that's a promotion from love bitch…
"Ok…We're coming in…" Andrew closed phone…
"Please stay with us at all times, Spike?...This place is well guarded against otherworldly types…Buffy would not be pleased to hear you got fried or dusted coming to see her…"
"Right…I'm pleased to hear it would spoil her day…"
"William…" one Slayer, a dark-haired tall Asian frowned at him… "Don't be like that…You'll be very sorry…And we and Buffy wouldn't want that…Ever…"
He frowned…Now wait a mo…
"Ever…" the other Slayers repeated…
"Lets go…Ladies…" Andrew insisted… "Spike, all questions under level2 security clearance will be resolved in just a few moments…"
"Is she really bad?..." Spike asked the Asian Slayer…Who looked at bit nervous as Andrew eyed her…
Slightest of nods…
"Ok…Lets move…" Will nodded…
Secret Watcher facility…1000 feet down in an old abandoned mine in central Ontario, Canada…
"And she really didn't know about me?..." Will was now pumping the young French Slayer in Andrew's team as the group made its way on foot through a long tunnel…A lovely blonde, slight…Rather a mix of Buffy and young Julie Delpy in appearance…She sighed… "Sir, I'm really not supposed to say anything to you…" trace of accent…The Asian Slayer from the plane frowning at Will…
Sir…
"No, she didn't…" the third Slayer in the group, a brunette, hefty Irish girl with piercing blue eyes frowned at Andrew's frown… "Oh, for the bloody love of Christ, Mr. Wells…There's no harm in him knowing that…She didn't, William…"
"Ladies, please…" Andrew tried… "Leave this to Ms. Summers and our senior staff…It's dangerous to dispense information like this…If he were a shapeshifter or Spike possessed…This could be valuable intelligence…"
"Wells is right, girls…Sorry to keep pressin'…" Will cut in… "I'll try to restrain myself a bit longer…"
"There is one thing, William…" Andrew began…
Alarms blaring suddenly…With red lights flashing…
"No, Will!..." the Irish Slayer, Margaret, grabbed at him as he tried to push ahead…
He pulled up as a laser sliced into the rock just before him, zipping his way…Margaret and the French Slayer, Amelie, managing to shove him out of harm's way just in time…Andrew hastily pressing buttons on a hand-held control…The laser stopping as quickly as it had started…Alarms continuing…
"Defense system..." he explained… "You can't go alone around here, Spike…It's too sensitive to demonic presence…"
Amelie was on cell phone…
"Well then, tell me, what the hell is going on?...Was that all for me?..." William stared…
"She's out again…" Amelie sighed…Wan smile at William…
Yeah, she heard…She nodded…
"This is not good…" Andrew shook his head… "Did they manage to restrain her?..."
Lights ahead flickering, then out…Crashing sound…Faint cries…
"Off-hand…" Will grinned… "I'd say…"
"William?..." Buffy's voice from the tunnel…Followed by Buffy's immediate appearance in hospital gown…Hair matted…IV line flapping… "You get away from…" she waved what appeared to be a long bar…A piece of bed-rail, Amelie noted, at the others…And suddenly collapsed…
"Buffy!…" William was at her side…Amelie and Margaret hurrying to keep by him…Andrew immediately closing up, pulling his cell phone out…
"We have an emergency here!..." he told the phone…
"Buffy!..." Will patted her hand…Kneeling beside her… "Sweetheart, it's me…"
"Yes…" she sighed, opening eyes briefly… "I see that…Took you long enough, husband…" she closed eyes...Margaret checking pulse…
"She'll be ok…I think it's mainly the sedatives…"
William still blinking, staring at the prone Buffy…The three Slayers grinning at him…
"Husband…?"
And when the hell did Buffy pick up a British accent…?
"I was just about to get to that…" Andrew began…