Police Precinct

Mid Afternoon

In the precinct, some Detectives were questioning some cops when Peter burst into the room. At the sight of him, the captain of the Precinct walked over to him.

"Peter," the captain greeted.

"Captain Lance. You wanna tell me where my girlfriend is?" Peter asked angrily and Lance sighed.

"I'm really not sure how to explain it. One of my officers was bringing in this perp and he just…he snapped his handcuffs like twigs and got a gun. He put it to Dawn's head and said if we didn't let him go or called for backup, he'd blow her brains out. I wasn't willing to risk Dawn's life, so we let him go. He had help waiting on the outside, a getaway car. We got a pretty look at his plates and ran them through the system but it was a dead end. We put a BOLO out for the car and the perp," Lance explained as Peter listened worriedly.

"Did this guy say anything about what he wanted? Anything at all?" Peter asked and Lance hesitated before answered.

"I normally would tell you this, but since its Dawn…he said something about someone called 'The Goblin' wanting to see her," Lance said and Peter fought hard not to react to this. "Does that name mean anything to you Peter?"

"No, no it doesn't," Peter lied and Lance eyed him for a moment before sighing.

"We'll keep you up to date. We'll find her Peter, I promise," Lance said.

Peter merely nodded before heading out of the precinct, trying not to give anything away as he headed back to his car. He got in the driver's side and turned to Spike.

"It was the Goblin. He made one of his vamps kidnap Dawn," Peter said.

"Why would he do that?" Spike wondered. "It doesn't make sense, why go after Dawn?"

"Does it matter? We have to find her," Peter said and Spike nodded.

"Yeah, but how?" Spike wondered.

"Willow's one of the most powerful witches in the world, I'm sure she can locate Dawn if she tried. Here's where they're staying, go to them and explain everything," Peter said, quickly writing the address of the hotel the Scoobies were staying at down on a piece of paper and handing it to Spike.

"Dawn's not gonna like this," Spike pointed out.

"And when we have her back safe, she gets a vote," Peter said bluntly and Spike nodded.

"What are you gonna be doing?" Spike raised an eyebrow.

"I'm going back to those demon hangouts, seeing if I can get more information about The Goblin," Peter said and Spike scoffed.

"Hate to break it to you Spider, but they weren't very chatty when we were there before," Spike pointed out and Peter looked at him with an unreadable expression.

"They won't be talking to Peter Parker this time."

Unspecified location

Not long after

Dawn was in a dark room with little light, handcuffed to a wall. She guessed she was in some kind of basement, although she wasn't sure where, they'd put a bag over her head on the way here.

The room was suddenly filled with light when the door opened. Dawn looked up to see two vampires enter the room.

"The boss wants to see you," one of them said.

Hotel

Not long after

"This is hopeless," Buffy groaned, putting a hand to her head. "We've been at this for hours and the only thing we've figured out so far is that someone is using the victims to send a message. And we still haven't figured out what 'Goblin' means'."

"Perhaps a break would help," Giles suggested, taking off his glasses and cleaning them. "We have been doing this for hours, as you pointed out."

"A break would probably give us a chance to recharge, come back with fresh eyes," Willow agreed.

Buffy mused; about to agree when there was a knock on the door.

"Anyone order room service?" Xander asked only to receive four shaking heads.

Frowning, Buffy got up and walked over to the door. Looking through the peak hole, Buffy stepped back in surprise before opening the door to reveal her boyfriend on the other side.

"Spike," Buffy said in surprise before seeing the look on his face. "What happened?"

Unspecified location

Same time

Dawn was led down a long hallway by the two vampires, looking around wearily. It seemed like a school, but it was run down, clearly having been abandoned for some time.

Dawn found herself shoved into an office, the vampires quickly leaving. Someone was sitting at a desk, but the chair was turned away from her so she couldn't make out who it was. But what drew her attention was the wall.

They were filled with pictures. Pictures of her. She saw one of her and Peter at home, then one of her at work. Turning her head, she saw one of her out at lunch with some friends. There was even one of her with Peter, Faith and Willow from last New Year's Eve party.

As she looked around, she noticed something: While there were several pictures of her, the majority of the pictures seemed to be of Peter. At work, at home, out in public. Dawn froze as she even saw one of him as Spider-Man.

"That's right," Dawn almost started as the chair whirled around, revealing a Latino man in his late twenties. "This was never about you. This was about him."

"Then why take me?" Dawn demanded and he smiled unpleasantly.

"He caught on to my plans. As such, I was forced to accelerate them," the man said and Dawn stared at him for a long moment.

"Who are you? Why are you doing this?" she asked and the man chuckled.

"You may call me The Goblin. And why does anyone do anything? Revenge," The Goblin said with a twisted smirk.

Hotel

Same time

"Willow-" Buffy started once Spike had finished catching them up to speed.

"I think I can track her, I just need something of hers," Willow said after a moment and Spike quickly reached inside his jacket.

"Will this work?" Spike asked as he pulled out a ten dollar bill. "She gave it to me my first night in town."

"It might. One way to find out," Willow said as she took the Bill from Spike.

"Why would this Goblin be after Dawn?" Giles wondered, trying to make sense of it.

"Well Rupert, let's find her and we can ask," Spike snapped and Giles scowled but didn't say anything.

"Shouldn't Pete be here?" Faith asked with a glance towards Spike.

"Pete?" Xander repeated in confusion.

"Dawn's boyfriend. And he's… going down a different web," Spike said vaguely and Faith nodded, understanding.

Demon bar

Same time

A vampire screamed as Spider-Man yanked on the webbing and its head came off, the head and body both turning to dust.

"So, I'm gonna ask one more time: anyone know where I can find The Goblin? Because I'm going to start getting angry if someone doesn't start talking," Peter said as he looked around at the room.

For a moment, the room was silent. Then, a voice spoke up.

"I-I heard something," Peter turned to a brown skinned demon who looked at him fearfully. "I have a cousin who says that he helps The Goblin. He said he operates out of some school, one that was abandoned a few years back."

"What school?" Peter demanded.

Hotel

Same time

"Well that was a bust," Willow said as she handed back the bill to Spike. "Guess it's not Dawn-y enough."

"I'll go grab something from her apartment, I'll be back," Spike said as he turned around, about to head to the door.

Before he could take two steps, his phone started ringing. Pulling it out, he saw it was Peter and answered.

"Hey, you found something?" Spike asked hopefully.

"The Goblin operates out of Midtown High," Peter said, taking Spike aback.

"Your old high school?"

"It was condemned about three years back, they were supposed to tear it down but never did. It's the perfect place to hide if you're making an army of brainwashed vampires," Peter explained.

"Have to admit, it's not a bad plan," Spike mused. "We'll meet you there."

"Is it really a good idea to bring a civilian into this?" Xander wondered as Spike hung up.

"Says the useless dolt with one eye," Spike grumbled and Xander glared at him.

"Peter's not exactly a civilian," Willow said as she and Faith exchanged a wary glance.

"What, he's part demon or something?" Buffy asked.

"Not exactly B," Faith said with a smirk. "Can I tell them?"

"They're gonna find out anyway," Spike said with a shrug.

"Tell us what exactly? Who is this man Dawn is dating?" Giles inquired.

Midtown High School

Night

"So you're telling me Dawn, Dawn, is dating Spider-Man?" Xander asked as the Scoobies and Spike stood underneath some bushes, watching the school.

"How many times has he asked that by now?" Faith asked Buffy.

"I lost count a while ago," Buffy told her sister Slayer.

"He says it one more time, I might just hit him," Spike grumbled.

"How about you hit the bad guys instead?"

Almost everyone jumped as Peter, dressed in his Spider-Man suit, lowered himself down on a line of webbing upside down.

"It's him," Xander said looking star struck. "Hi. Xander. Huge fan."

"You can ask for his autograph later. You see or hear anything?" Faith asked and Peter nodded.

"There's a gap in the roof above the gym. We can sneak in through there, hopefully fight off whatever vamps are in there, get Dawn back and take down this Goblin guy," Peter said.

"As good a plan as any. Let's do it," Buffy said, steeling herself.


After webbing the Scoobies and Spike all up to the roof, Peter led them over to the hole in the roof and, using his webbing, lowered them all down before jumping in himself.

"Okay, we're in now. Let's go find my sister," Buffy said before Peter's Spider-Sense went off.

"Wait! Something's wrong," Peter said alarmed.

"A little late for that."

Suddenly, the room was filled with light. The group stared, stupefied at a large number of vampires blocking the exit.

"Uh-oh," Xander summed up what they were all thinking.

"Okay, how did we not notice them?" Buffy asked in disbelief.

"A cloaking spell. The Goblin masked their presence until he was ready to spring the trap. The Goblin isn't a demon, he's a Sorcerer," Willow realized in horror.

"Clever, witch. Didn't take you long to put it together."

At the sound of the voice, some of the vampire parted and The Goblin walked into view.

"Sorry for the rude summons. I had lots of plans to get us here, but you finding out about me caused me to accelerate them. It's good to see you again, Pete," The Goblin said as, behind his mask, Peter stared at him wide-eyed.

"Ned?"

And we've finally met the Goblin. And yes, it is Ned. Why he's doing this and how will be revealed next chapter.

Until next time.