Buffy backed up a step, bumping into Faith.
Guns! The guns changed everything. Not even Tara and Willow, with all the magic they could muster, could go up against guns. "We need to tell the girls," she whispered so only Faith could hear.
"What about them guys? We need to know where they're goin', B." Faith was tense against Buffy's back.
She was right. Buffy weighed their options. "Tell Will what's going on. I'll follow Uniform Guys and meet you by the tunnel entrance." Risking a glance behind her, Buffy stressed one last point. "Don't go into the tunnel until I get back. With all the vamps down there, it will take both of us to handle them."
Faith nodded tightly – but didn't move.
Buffy could see her scowl. This wasn't going to be easy. Bracing for a fight, she added, "Go. Now. Or I tell Will about your wild night at Willy's…"
"You wouldn't!" Faith hissed. Buffy saw her eyes widen and then narrow.
"Bet Will would love the fact you were all cuddled up to a bottle of Jack, huh?" At another time, Buffy would have enjoyed Faith's nearly fearful expression. Right now, though, she had other, more important, things to worry about. The group of uniform-clad men had slipped around the side of the Social Sciences building. If she didn't leave now, she might lose them.
Luckily, her threat seemed to help Faith make up her mind. "Got it, B." She turned away and sprinted back the way they'd come.
Thanking the PtB that her blackmail had worked, Buffy got back to business. She yanked a dagger from her belt and took off in the opposite direction. She couldn't see the men any longer. Putting on a burst of speed, Buffy reached the sidewalk that ran alongside the building in seconds and hugged the brick facade. There were very few bushes to use as cover now. She had to be careful. Straining her senses, Buffy caught a faint sound of metal scraping against metal.
She risked a quick look around the corner of the building.
"Shit!" The word hissed out as Buffy watched the group of men opening a heavy grate covering what had to be the maintenance tunnel. Keeping her back to the wall, she crept around the corner. With all the vampire and demon activity in the area, Buffy's Slayer senses were distorted; however, she was fairly sure the six shapes loosely circling the tunnel were human.
A sudden crackle broke the otherwise still night.
Buffy froze, praying the shadows were enough to mask her location.
One of the men raised a hand, and the rest of the group stared at him. "Finn," he said softly into a radio mic that Buffy realized had been clipped to his uniform.
"…spotted near the Hague…find…bring them in." The voice on the other end of the radio was broken up and too faint for Buffy's enhanced hearing to pick up completely. She strained and inched closer, trying to make out the rest of the garbled words. "The professor…move forward…314."
Buffy bit her lip. The Hague. Something – or someone – had been spotted near the Hague. Even without more information, she had a sinking suspicion the disembodied voice meant her and the rest of the gang.
Those fears were confirmed when the group replaced the grate and turned toward her position.
Did they see her? Not wanting to tip them off, Buffy remained where she was. Waiting was hard, though. Buffy ground her teeth. The men didn't appear to be aware of her presence yet, and Buffy wanted every advantage when the fighting started. Despite being human, each of the uniformed men carried a gun – and Buffy wasn't sure that Slayer skills trumped bullets.
"Fan out, men," Finn, the one in the lead, snapped. "Standard search pattern. Stay alert." He pulled something from a pocket and slowly swept it in front of his body. "Nothing on the scanner. The professor may have been wrong."
That was the second time Buffy had heard about "the professor." The name of the man with the radio… Finn and the professor. It couldn't be…
Before she could follow that thought further, her musings were cut short. The men were getting closer. It was show time. Leaping away from the building, Buffy landed right in front of the lead man. "Hi," she announced in a bright, cheerful voice. "I'm a little lost. Can you point me in the direction of the super-secret underground tunnels?"
The group froze – just as Buffy had hoped.
Spinning on the ball of her left foot, Buffy used the momentum to swing her right leg in a tight arc. With a satisfying thud, her right instep slammed into Finn's temple.
He went down with a clatter as his equipment and weapon landed on the sidewalk.
"Who's next?" Buffy asked; although, she had her next target already picked out. Right on cue, the man who had been to Finn's right charged her.
The attack might have been more effective if he'd used his gun. He must have thought size and muscle mattered more, however. The punch he threw sailed harmlessly over Buffy's head as she ducked, and he grunted in pain when she landed a solid counterpunch to his stomach. Another quick jab to his jaw left him unconscious on the ground – right next to his friend.
Two down. Four to go.
Buffy jumped into the air and somersaulted over the remaining men. This was too easy.
***
The night swallowed Faith and Buffy. "So much for them not charging off to battle," Willow muttered angrily. "Maybe the leash isn't such a bad idea."
Tara edged closer to the other girl and peered through the Meadow. "I'm s-sure they'll be fi-fine. They wo-wouldn't have run off like that if it h-hadn't been important." She hoped. "We'll just st-stay here, like Buffy wanted."
"Tara, we are so not staying here. Did you miss that whole conversation at the apartment? The Chosen Two have this thing about going in with no plan. We had a plan. This is not the plan!" Even in the dimly lit Meadow, Tara glimpsed Willow's clenched jaw.
Although Willow had a point, Tara wasn't ready to run blindly after Buffy and Faith. Before they had taken off, she thought she'd seen Buffy point at something. "M-maybe they saw som-something," she tried to explain. "I don't th-think Buffy would just r-run off with-thout a reason."
"You haven't been a Scooby long enough. Give it a few weeks then you'll see." Willow crossed her arms and glared at the area where Buffy and Faith had disappeared. "She only pretends to be different than Faith."
Rustling branches warned of someone approaching. "Willow…" Tara started. She never had a chance to finish as Faith burst out of the bushes and skidded to a halt in front of them.
"We got trouble," she panted. "B's checking it out, and she wants you two at the tunnels, like, yesterday." Faith gripped Willow's hand and nearly dragged her across the Meadow.
"T-trouble?" What kind of trouble? Tara jogged after Faith and Willow, barely holding back her questions. Why was Buffy investigating alone? "F-Faith, B-Buffy c-can't fight m-magic…" Talking was harder than usual, thanks to her struggle to keep up. As she ran (and gasped for air) Tara realized Willow might have been right earlier. The two Slayers did seem to share a need to do things without backup.
Faith didn't answer her question. Instead, she led them in a zigzag path through the bushes and flowerbeds until they were near the Social Sciences building. "Listen up." For once, Faith was all business. "I'm going in first."
Perhaps sensing Willow about to protest, Faith's hand snapped up in a very clear "stop" gesture.
"I'm going in first," she repeated. "The guys she was followin' were human – and not the spell throwin' kind. If B ain't beat us to the tunnel, and I don't see anything waiting to munch on us, then you two can do your thing." Steel suddenly gleamed in the faint light from a nearby lamppost when Faith pulled a dagger from her belt. "Stay put until I check things out." Faith looked straight at Willow as she talked.
When Willow nodded reluctantly, Faith crept toward the building in a crouch and disappeared into the shadows in seconds.
"Come on." Willow imitated Faith's crouch and began making her way out of the protection of the shrubbery.
Tara reached for her – and missed. That left only one choice. Tara trotted out of the bushes, too. If they managed to survive their fact-finding mission, Tara silently promised herself that she would lead a discussion on the meaning of planning and following directions. She trailed Willow slowly. Every sound – from the wind whispering through the leaves to the muted song of the crickets – had her jumping. Her heart hammered. Her legs trembled.
When Willow stopped suddenly at the side of the Social Sciences building, Tara was so focused on overcoming her own fears that she slammed into the other girl. "S-s-sorry." Goddess, if she kept this up, it wouldn't take a vampire to kill her. Terror would do it. Tara sucked in a slow, deep breath and clenched her teeth. She had to get control. Now. Otherwise, none of her magic would be of any use – not even with Willow's help. Centering through sheer force of will and profligate use of a meditation mantra, Tara slowed her heart rate.
She was just in time. Willow ducked around the corner of the building, still in pursuit of Faith.
Tara's new-found calm wavered for a second. No. She would not backslide. The wizard from the bar might be here. And, as she'd tried to remind Faith, Slayers couldn't fight magic. Only she and Willow could do that. Repeating that over and over in her head, Tara snuck after Willow again – and stopped three steps later.
Buffy and Faith fought four large, uniformed men cutting off their access to the maintenance tunnel. Tara caught a glimpse of the grate covering the tunnel entrance and Willow standing motionless only a few feet away; however, most of her attention was on the fighting.
She'd never seen anything like it.
It was fast and brutal. Soft grunts and the thud of feet and hands meeting flesh overrode the normal nighttime sounds. As if they had rehearsed, though, Buffy and Faith moved together. Synchronized. Beautiful. And deadly.
Tara moved closer, awed.
One of the men lashed out with his foot, and Buffy blocked it with an upraised arm. Before her attacker could retract his leg, Buffy's hand closed around his ankle. One quick pull put him right where she obviously wanted.
Buffy's foot rose and landed with unerring accuracy in the man's groin.
Even from where she stood, Tara heard his choked cry. The man went down in an ungainly heap – and stayed there.
Only two more men remained. While Tara had watched Buffy, Faith had dispatched her own man.
"This ain't no fun, B." Faith's voice carried clearly as she stalked toward the men as they huddled together. "Even newbies put up a better fight."
***
Buffy shrugged. "They're dumber than vamps, too." She didn't explain how, though. She wasn't really interested in her usual quips at the moment. Instead, Buffy leaped forward and grabbed each man by the side of the head. Well, maybe one quip. "Night, night, boys."
She slammed their heads together and watched in satisfaction as they slumped to the ground.
"Fuck! What did ya' do that for? One of 'em was mine," Faith whined.
"Get a grip, Faith. You can feel the vamps in the tunnel. I think you'll get enough action with them." Buffy turned away and hunted for the first man she'd fought. She needed to check on something far more important than arguing with Faith.
It took a minute. The uniforms – helped by the bad lighting – made him hard to find.
Finally, though, Buffy found him. She gripped him by the shoulders and dragged him down the sidewalk to the only light. It revealed what she'd expected. "Damn it." Raising her voice, Buffy called out to Willow. "I told you Professor Walsh was evil. Her TA just tried to kill me."