We would have run all the way to Willow's place, but unfortunately Xander couldn't maintain such a swift sprint for as long it took to arrive at Willow's house. It wasn't a huge delay, but it was enough of one to make me very worried we were too late.

Of course, this worry proved to be true as we came up and saw the front door ajar. Buffy slowed down and groaned while Xander swallowed nervously and looked at us, his boyish face creased with worry.

"If anything ever goes according to plan," I told them as we approached the open door, "pinch me, because I will more than likely be dreaming."

We all started calling Willow's name as soon we entered the house, and Buffy immediately rushed towards Willow's room, with Xander and I right on her heels.

Willow, of course, was not in her room. But she had been, recently, too. Her scent was still strong, and there was something else, as well.

"Someone else has been here." I informed Buffy, inhaling deeply with a frown. "Fritz." I decided, facing Buffy. "He took her."

"But where?" Buffy demanded, desperation creeping into her voice. I felt the same way, but I was trying to keep a control on my panic. After all, this was Willow in danger. Our Willow, the sweet little mousy one. The thought of something happening to her…it was enough to make me want to cry and also fly into a rage.

"What about C.R.D.?" Xander asked. Buffy nodded.

"That's probably Moloch-central, after all," She said, "And that's our best lead I guess." She glanced at me. "Is that where the scent is headed?"

I shrugged.

"I won't know until we're headed that way." I told her.

"Then it looks like that's where we're going." She said, "I just hope Giles will be able to back us up."

"He will." I said with certainty. Though, to be honest I really wasn't at all sure of how on earth he was going to pull this one off, but I had to have faith in something tonight or I'd be a nervous wreck. The thought of a demon with Willow in his grasp…oh perish the thought.

"Should we call him first?" I asked as we headed back the way we had come.

"I'll call him when we get there." Buffy answered over her shoulder.

And so we were off again, with Buffy charging ahead as usual.

When we reached C.R.D. , Buffy called Giles to let him know what had happened and where we were.

It hadn't taken long for me to confirm that this was where Fritz had taken Willow, which was both a relief and a bother.

Apparently Giles was already underway with trying to get Moloch off the internet, because Buffy finished their conversation with: "Here's a tip: hurry."

Then she turned to us and motioned at the fence. It wasn't barbed at the top, so it would be an easy climb.

At least, it was for Buffy and I. We simply launched ourselves over the top, while Xander had to climb over. At the top, he lost his footing and fell with a rather comical yell which I unfortunately stopped short by catching him and setting him back on his feet.

"Stout fellow." I commended him, patting him on the shoulder to soothe his ruffled feelings. To my surprise, he blushed and looked sullen.

"Look, it's bad enough I slipped, you don't have to call me fat, too." He muttered.

"It means I think you're brave." I hurriedly explained. I forgot that expression wasn't exactly very popular anymore. Which is a shame, because it was a fine expression, I thought. Xander didn't look as though he really believed me, but he smiled, nevertheless.

"So," he said, turning to Buffy, "back way?"

"Back way." She agreed, and then rushed for said back way.

I had thought our approach was meant to be stealthy, but Buffy kicked the doors down as we approached and marched in as though she was ready to break someone's neck.

"Which way?" she asked, turning to let me get in front.

There was something dark in the air, here. Something very dark and very powerful, and it obscured the other scents almost entirely. Thankfully Willow's scent was a very familiar one to me, and I soon honed in on it after a moment of concentration.

Wordlessly, I led them through the building, unintentionally speeding up with every turn we took through the corridors.

We made our way down to the labs, and I pointed at the door we had to go through next, but it was locked.

"I can't bust it," Buffy said after futilely yanking on the handle, "it's heavy steel."

"Then we'll have to find another way in." Xander shrugged, starting for another door. Before he reached it, however, an eardrum shattering siren went off, accompanied by a flashing red light that could not mean anything good for us.

"What's happening?" Xander demanded. Buffy looked up and frowned.

"Security systems are computerized." She growled. I looked up as well. Well, that was just plain inconvenient. On the bright, side, however, we'd have a certain element of surprise, since cameras can't record my image. For all intents and purposes, to anyone watching, I wasn't there.

"Woops." Xander said, summing up the situation very well.

No sooner had he said this, than some sort of gas started being sprayed from the ceiling. I felt another burst of panic. Not for myself, since I could just hold my breath for, well, years if need be, but the two children couldn't, of course.

Buffy began pounding on the door, already beginning to cough, while Xander staggered towards us, trying to cover his face with his sleeve.

I rushed to the door and tried to aid Buffy. I held up three fingers, then two, then one, and then we both slammed into the door as hard as we could. The door buckled inward with a groan, but still held.

I ground my teeth and began the countdown again, when we were interrupted by a scream.

'Willow.' I immediately though. I back up a few steps, then snarled and sprinted for the door, using my body as a battering ram. The door collapsed this time, and me with it.

Buffy stumbled into the room, dragging in Xander, and both gulped in the clean air while I struggled to my feet, ignoring the bruise I could already feel forming on my right shoulder and thigh.

I looked up, and tried to assess the situation. Willow was all right, for now, thankfully, but standing across from her was a huge, metal, horned being with glowing red eyes. It turned to face us at the sound of our unorthodox entrance.

Buffy didn't hesitate, but ran straight at Moloch and tried to kick him down, but bounced off with a metallic klang and fell backwards.

"Ow." She hissed, getting back to her feet.

I started to move to assist when Xander was suddenly grabbed from behind by a man in a white lab coat. I rolled my eyes, walked up behind the struggling pair, grabbed the man by the back of his neck and yanked him backwards.

He gave a startled yelp, which was cut off when I rammed his head into the wall.

He went limp and I quickly turned back to Willow.

Buffy was back on her feet, ready to fight, but Moloch seemed to be having trouble without us. He groaned as if in pain, and clenched his metallic fists in agony.

"I won't go back!" he bellowed.

I smirked.

"Well done, Giles." I murmured.

"Come on!" Buffy yelled, grabbing hold of Willow and trying to run for the door. Moloch collected himself enough to make a grab for Willow.

"No!" he yelled, "She's mine!"

I snarled and rushed him, then, spurred on by the look of terror on Willow's face. I gave a yowl and launched myself at him. I would have bounced off of him had I not grabbed hold of his horned helmet, and I gave a hard wrench to it.

Metal shrieked as his head ripped half off, he snarled in rage and batted at me, so I climbed over the top of him and gripped him by his massive shoulders.

He stumbled, trying to claw at me from behind, and I tried to maneuver him away from the children.

"Run!" I yelled at them when they hesitated. Buffy grabbed Willow and Xander and made a dash for the exit. I felt Moloch start to move to go after them, so I gritted my teeth and grabbed hold of his left shoulder with both hands.

I swung myself to the left, trying to use the weight of my body to turn him.

He outweighed me by at least three hundred pounds but I still managed to turn him away from the door.

I jumped down once I had him facing some electrical equipment, and shoved him as hard as I could into it.

He caught himself on a power box, but his hand went through it, getting lodged. That was all the time I needed.

I turned and followed after children, leaving a raging Moloch behind me as he thrashed about like an angry bull to pry himself loose.

It took me a minute to catch up with them, and I realized that we had gotten turned around. Buffy ran to a set of doors and tried to open them, but they were locked.

"Try these over here!" Xander yelled, bolting towards the opposite end of the hallway.

Just as he started down, however, I heard a rumble huge rumble, and Moloch burst through one of the walls just behind Xander.

Xander whirled around, eyes wide, but before anyone could do anything, Moloch had backhanded Xander and knocked him down.

Moloch turned towards us, and I instinctively stepped in front of Willow, growling a warning at Moloch.

Buffy took the offensive and tried to hit him, but he blocked her and flung her aside like a ragdoll.

"I was omnipotent," he snarled, his nearly severed head twitching spasmodically, "I was everything! Now I'm trapped in this shell!"

So the ritual had worked. Just not as we had expected.

I heard Willow moving behind me, but I didn't look back because Moloch was starting to reach down for Buffy. I began to move towards him, even though I knew there was nothing really I could do. That didn't mean I couldn't try.

As it turns out, I didn't have to.

"Hey Malcolm!" We all turned in surprise at the sound of Willow's voice.

I have never seen Willow look so furious. She had grabbed a large fire extinguisher from a wall unit, and thrust it at Moloch.

"Remember me?" she demanded, her eyes flashing, "Your girlfriend?" with every question she hit him with the extinguisher. "I think it's time we break up, but maybe we can still be friends!" her voice dripped with sarcasm as she thrust the extinguisher at him again.

He knocked it away this time and grabbed at her. I grabbed hold of his arm and pushed it away before he could, but instead he slammed me against the wall hard enough for me to feel something in my shoulders snap.

I hissed in pain, and he tossed me back to the floor, but by this time Buffy was on her feet again.

I looked up at her, and saw she had spotted something I'd missed: a power unit built into the wall.

"This body is all I have left," Moloch continued, moving towards her, "but it's still enough to crush you with."

She smiled sweetly, the power unit behind her head now.

"Go ahead," she said, "take your best shot."

I clenched my jaw to keep from groaning as I rolled back onto my feet, but Willow had to help me up. I stepped back and behind Moloch, my left arm hanging limp from where my shoulder had been dislocated, and my right leg throbbing from the severe battering it had taken tonight.

Moloch drew back to hit Buffy, and as he swung she ducked at the last possible second, while Willow and I both gave him a shove to make sure his arm went into the power unit.

Electricity sparked at the contact with metal, and Moloch began to scream as it coursed through his 'body'.

Buffy and Willow started to rush down the hallway towards Xander as the electricity began to course faster and faster. I tried to hurry after them, but my leg was refusing to cooperate with me anymore.

They both came running back and all but carried me down the hallway. We piled down in the floor, trying to protect each other. We had just managed to get our arms around each other when Moloch, well, exploded.

His head landed at our feet, and his screams finally went silent. Willow gave it a satisfied smile, while the Xander just looked at us dazedly.

"All right," I said, struggling to my feet once again, I winced and shoved my shoulder back into place, trying to ignore the blinding pain that shot through my skull; "before anything else happens, let's go home."

Buffy nodded and helped the other children to their feet.

Willow came over and let me drape an arm over her shoulders as we started to make our way back out of the building.

"Thanks for coming for me, guys," she said, a happy smile on her face, "sorry I…caused so much trouble."

"Not at all, sweetling," I said with a chuckle which turned into a grimace, "just, don't let this be a recurring event when you find a boyfriend, all right?"

Willow blushed and gave her little laugh. Bless her, she was already going back to normal.

"I promise." She said.