There was a long moment of stony silence before Giles finally interrupted it.
"This is very bad." He said, beginning to pace again. I looked down at my hand and started removing the tiny slivers of glass that had become imbedded in the skin, and tried not to think about how vast an understatement that sentence was.
"Are we overreacting?" Xander asked. I paused and turned slowly to look at him, unable to keep an incredulous look off of my face. "I mean, he's in a computer," Xander continued, "what can he do?"
I stared at him.
"Xander, sweetling," I said slowly, "there's a demon, in the computer. Anything short of blowing the school up is not going to be an overreaction methinks."
"Besides," Buffy broke in, "he already convinced a perfectly nice kid to try and kill me."
"Precisely." I nodded.
"Plus," Buffy continued, "he could decide to just mess up all the medical equipment in the world. For kicks."
"Interfere with traffic signals?" Giles offered.
"Leak government secrets?" I said.
"Access nuclear launch codes." Buffy continued.
"Destroy the world's economy." Giles said. Buffy frowned.
"I think I pretty much capped it with the nuclear missile thing." She said. Giles looked huffy for a moment, then cleared his throat and shrugged.
"All right, yours was best." He muttered.
"Okay he's a threat," Xander said, "I'm on board with that now. But what can we do about it?"
"I believe finding Willow should be our priority right now," I broke in, "she needs to be warned right away about who 'Malcolm' really is." I frowned. "If it's not too late already." I finished quietly.
"Okay, what does he want with Willow?" Xander demanded.
That was a very good question, but Buffy answered for me when she said: "Let's never find out."
"Regardless, we need to find her right away." I repeated.
"Right," Buffy nodded, "Okay," she turned to Giles and Xander, "We'll check the computer lab, and you guys try and call her at home."
As the boys fell to their task, Buffy and I all but ran to the computer lab, but as we neared the darkened room, a feeling of apprehension and dread crept over me. I had a feeling we were too late. A feeling which was quickly cemented when we entered the room, and, of course, found it empty.
"If anything ever goes according to plan," I told Buffy as we cautiously crossed the threshold, "pinch me because I think I'll be dreaming." Buffy chuckled, but the sound felt strained, which was only amplified by the atmosphere in the room.
I frowned and sniffed the air. It smelled like…
Fresh meat
My head snapped to the right, following the scent, and in the darkness, I could see a body suspended from the ceiling. Buffy hadn't noticed it yet, so I grabbed her arm and gave it a warning squeeze.
"What?" she hissed.
"Look." I told her, motioning towards the hanging figure. She turned then, and gave a startled gasp and looked at me with wide eyes.
I sniffed again, and gave a sigh.
"It's Dave." I answered her unspoken question. The words felt as heavy as my heart. Despite the attempt on Buffy's life, I couldn't believe he was completely evil. I knew evil when I saw it and Dave hadn't been. Not yet, anyway.
And besides, he'd been so young…
"There's a note." I informed her, seeing it flutter gently as the body twisted on its rope. She stepped across the room to read it, while I stayed put. I had no desire to see another dead young boy up close. Especially not with Jack still fresh in my mind.
Buffy started to come back, but when she reached the center of the room, all of the computer monitors came on at the same time. Buffy stopped short in surprise, but I was in no mood to have another conversation with 'Malcolm'. I grabbed her arm and jerked her towards the door.
"There's nothing more we can do here." I told her, hurrying back out into the hall and breaking into a jog for the library.
As we came back into the library, the news wasn't much better from the lads' end, either, apparently.
Xander turned towards us as we entered, and looked extremely frustrated and worried.
"She's not home." He informed us.
I suppose we must have looked a grim lot because Giles looked at me and a worried frown pulled his mouth down.
"What did you find?" he asked.
Xander caught on.
"Willow, she isn't-?" he left the questions unasked but I knew what he was asking. I released Buffy's arm and shook my head.
"Dave." Buffy corrected. "He's dead." Both of the boys looked at us in surprise.
"How?" Giles demanded.
"It looked like suicide." I answered. It seemed far too convenient for Dave to kill himself after having a change of heart concerning Buffy. Far, far too convenient.
"With a little help from some friends?" Xander guessed. Buffy and I nodded.
"I'm guessing Fritz." She said, "or some other zomboids from the C.R.D." she sighed, then rallied herself and straightened her shoulders, turning into the Slayer.
"Okay," she said with more authority, "We three," she made a circular motion to encompass her, myself, and Xander, "are going to Willow's house. Giles, you need to come up with a way to get Moloch out of the internet."
Giles looked as though she had struck him.
"I-I have records of the ceremonies," he said, "but they're for a creature of the flesh. This could be something completely different." I bit my lip. He had a point, unfortunately.
"Well, maybe you could get Miss Calendar to help?" Buffy asked. I stared at her. I couldn't see how that was a good idea at all.
"Well, perhaps but how am I supposed to convince her there's a demon on the internet?" Giles demanded. Even saying it aloud did sound ludicrous. She would think he was simply being paranoid about technology again. Not to mention she would think him insane.
"Okay fine, then stay here and come up with a better plan." Buffy said, then grabbed hold of my coat sleeve and pulled me toward the door, while I did the same with Xander.
"You can do this, Giles," I called over my shoulder. The poor man needed some encouragement, after all.