AU from Primeval, the story so far: As Buffy faces off with Adam, the spell is performed but the demons break through. Buffy gets distracted and tries to save her friends, but fails. Spike gets her out and they escape, parting ways. Years later they meet again, and travel together on their way to fight Adam in Washington and end the worldwide tyranny of the cyborgs. They have befriended a young couple and reconnected with Oz and Giles, and are now caught up in an army assault…..
DISCLAIMER: All BTVS characters belong to Joss, I'm just borrowing them. Couple of OC's in there that are mine.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm British. Therefore we have motorways and they may be differently laid out than major roads in America. As I have never been there I am relying on Google Earth to get by here!
I-E-H
The sky was overcast with clouds and the humidity indicated a storm either passing over or getting ready to hit. The road was bumpy and the Jeep none too comfortable. The roads were proving hard to traverse where they had been disused for so long. Burnt out buildings lined the sides of the roads and corpses weren't hard to miss. Men sat, their heartbeats racing at the thought of going into a fight they weren't sure they could win. One young lad of about twenty gripped his gun tightly, sweat beading on his forehead and running down his pale face. He looked terrified, drawn and pale. The entire Jeep smelt of old blood, anger and fear.
But the vampire sat at the back cared only that he wasn't with Buffy. She was in the Jeep behind and he longed to be next to her. They'd only agreed to split up to share their expertise. Spike just wanted this all to be over so he could hold her in his arms again, just in case the fight in DC was the last they ever shared.
He'd been lumped in with the Watcher of course. He knew that wasn't a coincidence. Giles was wary of him, watching him with both eyes intensely as he held onto the Jeep with his one good arm. His eyes carried mistrust and hatred, both of which Spike couldn't blame him for. He'd lost his love to Angelus, and Spike's own behaviour before the robo-takeover was less than stellar. But he knew this situation was not his fault.
If it weren't for him, Buffy may not have made it out alive.
Giles knew this.
Spike knew it was probably the only reason he wasn't dust.
The Watcher cleared his throat and the vampire knew the lecture was coming. Questions about his intentions and suspicions brought forth from the past.
'Joyce told me of your work in the southern colonies.'
That was a posh way to describe a rag tag bunch of humans hiding underground. The old man was too English for his own good.
'What of it?' Spike asked, his eyes focusing on the young soldier sat in from him. The poor lad looked like he was going to shit his pants.
Giles grimaced. 'She said you had changed. I am coming to believe that she is a good judge of character. Buffy believes you are a different vampire to the one that double crossed us two years ago.'
There it was, condemnation.
'Yeah, I am.' Spike didn't particularly want this conversation. His mind was in the other Jeep.
'I'm rather suspecting that you are in love with my Slayer.' The vampire's head whipped round at that but he didn't answer, just furrowed his brow at the seemingly older gentleman. Giles nodded, a small smile catching the corner of his mouth. 'I believed as much. I also believe you are waiting for me to condemn your behaviour. You'll be waiting a long time.' Spike looked confused. Giles openly smiled. 'Much has changed in this world, Spike. And I did a great deal of reading on you when I heard you were in Sunnydale. You were openly devoted to Drusilla, and I know she was not the most faithful of women.' Spike looked away again, his mouth a thin line in the face of that knowledge. He'd known it….but it still hurt to think of his one time princess and her inability to keep her legs shut for any amount of time.
Giles cleared his throat again and continued. 'I do not believe you would pledge your love without being truthful. You are a sharp witted creature but as it has been documented, you are very ruled by your emotions. And I do not believe that the display of affection you have demonstrated in the few hours I have seen you with Buffy is a lie. You care for her. You love her. And I am hoping it will be enough to keep her alive during this fight. She needs that devotion. She needs something fight for. I was rather worrying that she would have already perished without her friends.' He leaned forward. 'Do not think that I like you Spike, or that I will ever like you. You still remain the embodiment of everything I hate.' He sat back, and the vampire eyed him warily. 'But for her sake, for her happiness….I will not be the one to destroy that which she needs to fight. To stay alive.' He fixed a steely gaze on the vampire. 'Do not disappoint me.'
Spike gulped a little. This was the Ripper he'd heard many a tale about then. He nodded slowly. 'I'd be dust before I left her Watcher. And I won't see her hurt again.'
Giles smiled in a friendly manner, and it somehow terrified Spike a little. 'Good. Now you just have Angel to worry about. He'll need more convincing than me.'
The vampire smiled and looked out the window towards the Jeep carrying his slayer. 'Don't worry. I'm not scared of him.'
I-E-H
The convoy of Jeeps rolled to a stop. Buffy scrambled out of her transport and stood on the concrete, staring around at the abandoned cars, some burned out, others with discarded belongings. She walked forward to an old pick up parked a few metres away, doors left open. A Transformers lunch box lay opened and a mouldy sandwich sat inside. A children's jumper, along with an old handheld console sat, dusty and broken. She felt tears prick at her eyes. She should have stopped this before it happened, saved more people than she had. This was her fault.
Strong arms encircled her from behind and she felt Spike kiss her hair as she shut her eyes to the devastation around her. She knew she had tried her best. He whispered the same words to her.
But it didn't matter. It was still her fault. People had nothing because of her. The child owner of that lunchbox never got to finish his lunch, he was probably murdered.
Because of her.
But she couldn't allow the tears to come. This may have been her fault but she had a job to do now. She had to try and save what was left of the ravaged world, save the children that did have a chance. She'd seen them in the camps and they deserved to play in the daylight, not in dried out sewers.
The Slayer turned, all steel and business once more. She gripped Spike's hand and allowed him a tiny smile, before turning her attention to the sign looming in front of them.
"Port Of Baltimore." The only words left visible on the sign. It was half destroyed. The road they had come up had been virtually unscathed, save the abandoned vehicles and the odd weed sprouting through the concrete. But the road beyond the sign was a mass of holes, burnt out cars and what looked like half rotted cyborg corpses. Sergeant Mikels approached her, gesturing to the road they were to travel down.
'We tried to make a stand here last time. Didn't go to well. We've got maybe a couple more miles before we hit trouble, thought I'd give the boys a few minutes.'
'Not a bad idea.' Spike said, standing behind his slayer but keeping his hand on her back, silently letting her know he was still there. Buffy nodded and looked to the road ahead. She spotted Ryan and Tiree investigating a different vehicle on the hard shoulder of the interstate. She called to them and they jogged over, the younger girl looking geared up for a fight.
'We're gonna scout out down by that bridge. We should be able to get a good lay of the land.' She said to the sergeant, who nodded and turned away. Buffy looked to her three companions who nodded their acquiescence and followed her as she moved. With the speed they possessed, it took only five minutes to reach the bridge. Tiree scaled a signpost and was on top of the bridge before Buffy could say anything, and within a few minutes, she was back down again.
'I can't see anything ahead. We should be clear for a while yet.'
The slayer nodded and motioned her head in the direction of the convoy. 'Let's head back then, take some time and push on. We're going to encounter resistance at some point here. Best get prepared.' She grasped Spike's hand and smiled at him fondly as the two younger fighters headed off. He made to follow but she held him back for a second, a strange look on her face. He stopped and turned to her, seemingly following her train of thought.
'Don't make this a goodbye kiss, Slayer.' He said sternly. 'We're going to get through this fight, bring these cyborgs down and live happily ever after.' He said, putting his hands on her shoulder.
'You really believe that?' She asked, her voice slightly more than a whisper. He smiled and one hand smoothed her hair down.
'If I believed anything else, I wouldn't be here.' He said, pressing a firm kiss to her forehead.
I-E-H
It was nearly ten miles before they encountered the resistance they'd been expecting. Spike had climbed on top of the Jeep and kept an eye ahead, his eyesight far keener than any else's in the convoy, save Tiree. He'd yelled as they'd been within 500 yards of the Harbor Tunnel Throughway, seeing a blockade ahead. The cyborgs were well hidden, but as the convoy drew to a stop, a single gunshot rang out from the enemy. It narrowly missed Spike as he jumped down from the Jeep, snarling, gameface in place. It didn't take long for the fight to start. He saw Buffy sprint past him, machete in her hand, surrounded by gun wielding soldiers.
Twenty demon cyborgs clambered over the wall, and were upon them in minutes. Spike saw a flash of magic as Tiree burnt two of them to a crisp. Ryan swiftly decapitated another, and Spike found himself against two opponents, trying to keep his mind on the fight, not looking for the slayer, who had managed to disappear. He punched his first opponent hard, sending him sailing backwards, but probably only incapacitated for a second or two. The second hybrid was quickly dispatched, the vampire ripped it's wire infused spine from it's body with a primal roar. He turned back to the first and rushed it, throwing it to the ground and pummelling it's head into gooey mush. He wiped his hands on his jeans and roared, a gleeful smile on his face.
A few seconds passed, the twenty demons of what was probably only the first wave dispatched.
Nothing happened.
The small army remained still, knowing it was not all the enemy had to offer. It couldn't be.
Still, nothing happened.
Then a noise sounded and Spike yelled to take cover. Seconds later, the blockade imploded and fire fell from the air. What seemed like hundreds of demon hybrids emerged from the smoke and all were thrown into the fray.
Buffy had lost sight of her vampire but she knew he would never forgive her if she became distracted. She swung her machete, decapitating one, two, three demons. These were becoming old hat now and she knew she was on the winning side. For now at least. She had no idea how many of these things were between them and the Baltimore encampment but she was full of energy and being in the fight was making her stronger every second. The small cuts and bruises she was gaining meant nothing to her, she was causing far more damage than she was taking.
She thrust her machete through the neck of another hybrid, severing his neurological unit. She didn't know that of course, she took no time to study the creatures, just knowing that the more gruesome ways of killing things usually worked. She cut a swath of fury through the fight, heading closer to the blockade. The enemy was dwindling but there were losses on her side too. A soldier fell in front of her, his throat torn out, blood seeping onto the concrete. She didn't have time to stop, and she pushed down the guilt she felt inside.
The demons were losing and they knew it. But they didn't retreat, just tried to take as many with them as they could. Another soldier fell and she recognised Sergeant Mikels….or what was left of him. She felt sadness but again, could not stop. As she used a concrete block to propel herself onto the front of a lumbering and oversized hybrid, she ripped his head clean from his shoulders and behind him, she saw Spike, disembowelling another creature. She smiled from her temporary perch and landed neatly on her feet as the corpse collapsed below her. Spike finished off his opponent and turned to her smiling in game face, his eyes twinkling with the joy of the fight.
Before long, the demons were overwhelmed and the company moved forward into the city, Jeeps following slowly. Rockets were fired at them but none of the vehicles received incapacitating damage. Before long they were at the harbour, where it seemed the hybrids had formed a hive of sorts on a large military vessel. The boat was badly damaged but afloat. Whilst a few soldiers dispatched the remaining hybrids, they decided not to worry about scouring the city and the colonel sent in teams to sweep the boat. By the time night fell, the hybrids were eliminated.
The colonel decided they would set up camp for the night, as the storm that had threatened seemed to be passing. Buffy and Spike had stayed side by side but could not find Giles, Tiree or Ryan. The Watcher eventually emerged from a Jeep he had been driving and embraced his slayer tightly. Spike left her side to search for the two youngsters but couldn't find them in the vicinity of the harbour area. He returned to a worried Buffy. She looked to Giles.
'Go find them,' He urged. 'The colonel will not miss you whilst we are setting up camp.'
The vampire and slayer turned and went back the way the raiding party had come. A mile back, Spike stopped and sniffed.
'Can smell the boy. He's hurt.' He took off into a run and Buffy followed closed on his heels.
I-E-H
Ryan had been badly hurt. He was in the back of a Jeep, being tended to by a physician who had been made aware of his unique stature. But they weren't sure even vamp healing could pull him through. He'd been impaled from the chest down to the hip and it would take a miracle to pull him through. Tiree was still missing and there was increasing worry on Buffy's part. Both she and Spike had retraced their steps the six miles back to the throughway and had not seen any sign of the girl. Spike couldn't catch her scent anywhere.
They'd eventually decided they both needed rest and Spike insisted Buffy get her cuts seen to. She'd said she felt fine but the overprotective vamp had pushed until she agreed. It was close to three in the morning, and the rest of the soldiers were resting up in a makeshift camp by the harbour. A perimeter had been set up and the soldiers on duty watched as the vampire and Slayer returned.
They found a spot away from the main bulk of the sleeping forces and cuddled up on some stolen blankets. Spike didn't sleep but he watched as Buffy drifted off, his arms secure around them. His mind was full of worry for the fight ahead, even after he had assured his slayer earlier. He also worried for the witch girl, knowing the longer she was gone, the worse it would be.
A/N; This went on a little longer than I thought lol please review :)