Chapter 18: I Robot, You Jane Part 2

Good looking guy—probably a senior, with light brown hair and eyes. He sat on the stone stairs leading down and into the courtyard, staring in disbelief at the screen on his laptop.

"This isn't my report," he said as Willow passed. He wasn't really talking to her, so she paid him no mind, never registering his next, amazed words. "'Nazi Germany was a model of well-ordered society?' I didn't write that!" He looked around, as though he could pinpoint the guilty party. "Who's been in my files?"

Xander buzzed up behind her and slipped his hands over her eyes.

"Guess who?"

"Xander," she said without hesitation.

"Well, yeah. But keep guessing anyway."

"Uh … Xander," Willow said again.

He lowered his hands and skipped around to walk next to her. "I can't fool you. You see right through my petty char-ahde." He looked at her expectantly. "We going to the Bronze tonight?"

Willow shook her head, hoping he would be offended. "Not me. I think I'm gonna call it an early night."

Xander arched an eyebrow. "Oh … Malcolm, right? Yeah, I heard. But you're going to be missing out." He did a little jig as he walked, putting on his best comedic face. "I'm planning to be witty. I'm gonna make fun of all the people who won't talk to me."

"That's nice," Willow said absently. "Have a good time." Lost in her own thoughts and with a smile on her face, she ambled away.

"She certainly looks perky," Buffy said. Xander jumped and Dawn and Buffy grinned at their success in sneaking up behind him.

Recovering, Xander glanced at Willow's retreating figure. "Yeah, color in the cheeks, a bound in the step—I don't like it. It's not healthy." He sent a final, longing stare in Willow's direction, then turned back to Dawn and Buffy. "So what about you two? Bronze? No—you, Buffy, probably have to slay vampires or some lame endeavor like that. What about you, Dawn?"

"Paige has me practicing my power. Don't want a repeat of what happened at the zoo," Dawn replied.

Xander's face was full of exaggerated self-pity. "Everybody deserts me."

Neither Dawn nor Buffy could help but laugh. "Check out the jealous man," Buffy said.

Xander frowned. "What're you talking about?"

"You're jealous!" Dawn said in agreement of her sister.

"Of what?"

"You're the jealous brother," Dawn said. "You want what's best for Will. And while you don't see Willow in that way, you used to being the belle of the ball."

"No, it's just …" He hesitated. "This Malcolm guy—what's his deal? Tell me you two are not slightly wigged."

"Slightly," they agreed.

"It's just the not knowing what he's really like," Dawn said,

"Or who he really is," Buffy added.

"I agree with that," Xander said quickly. "I could say I was an elderly Dutch woman, get me? Who's to say I'm not? If I'm in the elderly Dutch chat room—"

"I get your point." Buffy frowned as things suddenly clicked into place. "I get your point. This guy could be anybody. He could be weird, or crazy, or old or … he could be a circus freak—he's probably a circus freak!"

Xander's eyes were serious. "I mean, we read about that all the time. People meet on the net, they talk, they get together, have dinner, a show, horrible ax murder …"

Buffy's eyes widened as she contemplated this. "Willow, ax-murdered by a circus freak! Okay, okay—what do we do?"

"What are you two doing?" Dawn asked. "Let's not jump to conclusions here till we have more facts."

Xander gave them his crooked, one-of-a-kind grin. "Yeah," he said. "But isn't it fun?"

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Oh boy, Willow thought the next day, more than a little panicked. She barreled up to her locker in the gym room, nearly colliding with Dawn and Buffy as she shrugged into her gym clothes.

"Whoa," Buffy said, between Willow's banging her books inside the metal locker. "You're the late girl."

"I overslept," Willow said shortly.

"Till fifth period?" Dawn stared at her, then looked away. "Talking to Malcolm last night?"

"Yeah," When neither Dawn nor Buffy responded, Willow glanced at the sisters. "What."

"Nothing," Dawn and Buffy said simultaneously.

Willow searched frantically through her locker for the book she hoped to read while waiting her turn on the gym floor. She hadn't studied last night and she desperately needed to do some catch-up before last period. "You two are having an expression."

"We're not." Buffy hesitated. "But … if we were, it would be saying this just isn't like you."

Willow snatched up a biology book and slammed her locker shut. "Not like me to have a boyfriend?"

Buffy and Dawn glanced at each other and then back at Willow. "He's ... boyfriendly?" Dawn asked.

"I don't understand why you two don't want me to have this." Willow tried to keep the frustration out of her voice, but she wasn't succeeding. "I mean, boys don't chase me around all the time—I thought you'd both be happy for me."

Dawn and Buffy took a step towards her. "We just want you to be sure," Buffy said. "To meet him face to face, in daylight, in a crowded place, with some friends. You know, before you become all obsessive."

Willow scowled. "Malcolm and I really care about each other. Big deal if I blow off a couple classes."

"I thought you said you overslept," Dawn said.

Caught, Willow didn't know what to say. Then she folded her arms protectively around her book. "Malcolm said you wouldn't understand."

"Malcolm was right," the sisters replied.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Willow and Malcom—Dawn and Buffy worried over the thought all through P.E. When the class was finally over, they changed back into their regular clothes and headed over to the computer lab.

Poking her head through the door, Buffy spied Dave typing enthusiastically at one of the consoles. "Hi, Dave." she said when she and Dawn reached him.

There was no response, and the sisters glanced from him to the screen. The words there were moving too fast for them to read and Dave's fingers were a blur on the keyboard.

"Hi there, Dave," Dawn tried this time.

Still no response.

"Anybody home?" Buffy asked amiably and touched him on the shoulder.

He jumped and twisted on his chair. When he saw the sisters, his expression seemed to tense up even more as he folded his hands in his lap, then he relaxed. "Oh. What do you two want?"

"We wanted to ask you something," Dawn said. "If you had a minute."

Dave blinked, as if he were trying to gather his thoughts. "What is it?"

"Well," Buffy said as she and Dawn each snagged a chair from a nearby console and pulled them over, before perching on them. "You're a computer geek—"

Dawn rolled her eyes. "She means you're a computer genius," she said. She knew about computers but just enough to be dangerous. She could scan a document sure, but hacking and stuff like Willow did was out of her league. "We sort of have a technical problem. If we wanted to find out something about someone, if someone E-mailed us, could we trace the letter?"

Dave shrugged and pushed away the thick lock of hair that had fallen into his eyes. "Well," he told them, "you can pull up someone's profile based on their user name."

"But …" Buffy said, "they write the profile themselves, right? So they could say anything they want."

"Sure."

"Wow," she said. "I had knowledge."

Dawn and Dave smiled at Buffy. Dawn turned and looked at Dave. "Well, is there a way to find out exactly where a letter—an E-letter—came from? I mean the actual location of the computer?"

Dave looked thoughtful. "It's a challenge."

Dawn felt obliged to explain. "'Cause you see, Willow's got this friend Malcolm," she said, "and to tell you the truth, I—"

"Leave Willow alone," Dave said. His voice was suddenly cold, his face white.

Dawn and Buffy glanced at each as they sat back. "What do you mean?" Buffy asked.

"That's none of your business." Dave turned his back abruptly.

Dawn and Buffy slowly stood and pushed their chairs they'd borrowed back to their place "Dave," Dawn asked slowly, "are you … Malcolm?"

"Of course not."

Dawn frowned. "Dave, what's going on?"

"Nothing," he said harshly. He brought his fingers to the keyboard, but before he could started typing again Buffy snagged one of his hands in hers.

"Your hands," Buffy said as she stared at his fingers. Every one of them was wrapped in Band-Aids.

"It's nothing," he said and yanked away from her. "I'm typing a lot."

"What's going on?" Dawn demanded again.

"Look," he said. "I'll talk to you two later, okay. I've got work to do."

He turned again to his console and left her standing there, clearly dismissed. She stared at his back for a second, then turned and stalked out of the lab."

"So do we," Buffy muttered to Dawn.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Dawn and Buffy found Paige and Giles in the library and filled them in on what they knew so far. "We're telling you, there's something going on," Buffy finished. "It's not just Willow. Dave, Fritz—they're all wicked jumpy."

Giles didn't seem convinced. "Well, those boys aren't sparklingly normal as it is."

"Giles, trust us," Dawn said.

"We do," Paige said. "What you've told us so far is not telling us anything. What you could do is tail Dave, see if he's up to something. We need more information before we can act."

"Follow Dave?" Buffy said in amazement. "What, dark glasses and a trench coat? Please ..."

"It's not a bad idea," Dawn interrupted. "Think about it Buffy. We need a place to start and following Dave is a good place to start to find the answers."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Dawn managed to talk Buffy into not getting the sunglasses and trench coat. Following Dave wasn't nearly as difficult as they'd thought it would be; Buffy would orb herself and Dawn to the end of a block, hide behind a tree and wait for Dave to pass and the orb the end of another block. They kept up easily doing this and when he parked in a spot at the side of a large, blocky building surrounded by a high fence, they slipped unnoticed into an alcove next to the driveway entrance.

Hanging on the gate was a sign that spelled out CRD in large letters. Beyond the fence a half dozen eerily silent workmen were using dollies and a forklift to haul boxes into the building. When Dave joined them, an expressionless man in a scientist-type coast greet him, then they went inside. The only one left on the dock was an equally blank-faced security guard. Buffy waited awhile, but no one came out and she felt there were too many people around to actually follow Dave into the building.

With little else to go on, she finally headed back to the high school.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Whatever Dave is into," Buffy told Paige, Giles and Xander the next morning when they she and Dawn Dawn arrived in the library, "it's large."

Giles looked at her with interest. "What was the name of the place?"

"Sign said CRD," Dawn said. "We couldn't orb closer to see what it was –"

"Calax Research and Development," Xander cut in. "Computer research lab, third biggest employer in Sunnydale, till it closed last year." When he saw Paige, Dawn, Buffy and Giles gawking at him, he managed to look righteously offended. "What, I can't have information sometimes?"

"It's just somewhat … unprecedented." Giles said, flustered.

"Well, my uncle used to work there," Xander admitted. "In a floor-sweeping capacity."

Buffy looked thoughtful. "But it closed."

Xander nodded. "Uh-huh."

"Looked pretty functional from where we stood." Dawn crossed her arms. "We don't have a clue what they were doing, though."

"If CRD was a computer research lab," Paige said. "They could have needed Dave for something related to computers."

"He is off-the-charts-smart," Buffy agreed.

Giles shoved his hands into his pockets. "We still don't know a terrible lot. Whatever's going on there could be on the up and up."

Xander shook his head. "If CRD re-opened, it would have been on the news."

Buffy lifted her chin. "Besides, I can just tell something's wrong. My spider-sense is tingling."

"Your 'spider-sense'?" Giles asked, puzzled.

"Pop-culture reference." Paige said by way of explanation.

"Sorry," Buffy added.

Giles looked at the others. "Yes, well, I think we're at a standstill. Short of breaking into the place, I don't see—"

"Breaking in," Buffy said brightly. "This, then, is the plan."

"I'm free tonight." Xander and Dawn offered.

Buffy nodded. "Tonight it is."

"Just a moment," Paige said. "Giles did not suggest you break into the place. If you three do it, the two of us can't know."

"Don't forget," Buffy said with a smile. "I have a way of getting in there now, without being seen."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Willow glanced around the computer lab just to make sure she was alone, then smiled as she read the words on the computer screen in front of her.

I've never felt this way about

anyone before, Willow.

Her smile widened. "I know what you mean," she said, echoing the words aloud as she typed the return message to Malcom. "I feel like you know me better than anyone."

I do.

Willow took a deep breath. "Do you think we should ..." She hesitated, then went for it. "… meet?" She hit the Enter button before she could change her mind.

I think we should. Soon.

She swallowed and let her fingers type out the truth. "I'm nervous."

I'm not. Isn't that strange?

"That's what Buffy and Dawn don't understand," Willow told Malcom in her reply. "How comfortable you can make me feel."

Dawn and Buffy just make trouble. That's why they got

kicked out of their old school.

Willow froze, unsettled. "How did you know that?" she typed.

It's on their permanent records.

She sat there, trying to digest this. Buffy and Dawn's permanent records? But how would Malcom know that unless he had access to the files? And why would he want to, anyway?

You must have mentioned it.

Willow stared at the words. Finally she typed the only thing she could think of to say. "I guess."

Let's not worry about them anymore.

She hesitated, and then decided things were just a little too freaky right now to continue. "I have to sign off," she typed decisively. "I'll talk to you later."

Don't.

But her mind was made up. "Bye." She sent it and turned off the screen before Malcom could try to dissuade her, then left the lab with a troubled look on her face.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Giles."

Giles came out of his office to find Paige looking at the books that had been scanned. "Did you go through all of these?" she asked.

"No," Giles said as he walked across the library to Paige. She held up the book she held in her hand. "Why?"

"It's blank," Paige replied.

Giles took the book from Paige and closed it. They saw an elaborate horned image cut into the book's cover.

"That's not what I think it is?" Paige asked as she looked at the book's cover.

"I would say it is," Giles said. "The image of a demon."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"But, I checked the computer!" Dawn heard one of the school nurses tell a teacher as she walked past the two outside the building. "And there's nothing in his file about being allergic to penicillin."

Before Dawn could think further about what she'd heard, someone touched her arm. Turning, she saw Dave waiting to talk to her. "Dawn."

"Dave. How're you doing?"

"Okay." Despite his words, he wouldn't meet her eyes. Instead, he looked over her shoulder, at the sky, at the ground. Anywhere but at her face. "I'm … sorry about yesterday. I haven't been sleeping much."

"Don't sweat it," Dawn said.

He scuffed at the ground with one shoe. "Uh, Willow was looking for you and Buffy."

"Oh, good," Dawn replied, "we need to talk to her. Do you know where she is?"

He shoved his hands deeper into his pockets. "She said she would be in the girl's locker room."

"Great," Dawn said again. "Thanks," she added and headed back toward the locker room. On her way there she saw Buffy and filled her in.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Will?" Buffy and Dawn called out as they moved through the totally empty locker room until they came to the end of the row. No one was around, and certainly not Willow. They were about to leave when they heard one of the showers start up, the sound of the water echoing off the walls.

"Willow?" they called.

"Will, you taking a shower?" Buffy asked as she angled her head around the corner, but the tiled shower area was empty. "Guess not."

Dawn glanced behind them, but there was still no one there. "There is no one here," she said.

Buffy nodded. "This," she muttered as she stepped into the rapidly spreading puddle of water to turn off the faucet, "is how droughts are started."

"Buffy—get out!"

Buffy and Dawn spun in surprise and saw Dave standing at the other end of the locker room. His expression was full of horror and regret, his gaze frozen toward the wall at the opposite corner of the room. When she jerked in that direction, Buffy saw why: a cord dangled from a gutted light fixture high on the wall, the bare-ended wires lying on the floor—

Only a fraction of an inch away from the creeping puddle of water in which she now stood.

Instinct made Buffy orb out just as the water touched the wires. She orbed back in beside her sister who was staring at her shocked.