Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy: The Vampire Slayer.
They were all in military planes on the way to the United States, with one of them having Buffy, Gunn, Spike, Faith, Willow and Riley alongside other operatives onboard, while the other plane had Simone and her gang of rogue Slayers in custody.
Gunn was in the infirmary on a stretcher as Buffy, Willow, Spike and Faith approached.
"Thanks for the save." Gunn said.
"It's nothing." Buffy said. "Where's Angel?"
"Last I heard, he was chasing a lead on Drusilla." Gunn said and Spike looked surprised before he rolled his eyes.
"And that blasted git doesn't tell me. Of course he wants to take the credit for taking her down." Spike grumbled and Buffy nudged him, forcing him to shut up.
"Angel told me you all parted ways after Wolfram & Hart disappeared from L.A, but he didn't really tell me any details and Spike wouldn't talk much about it either." Buffy said and Gunn lowered his head in shame as he sighed.
"Why did you leave?" Willow asked and Gunn was unable to look her or Spike in the eye and it was obvious to Spike why.
"Because I was weak." Gunn whispered, all the guilt coming down onto him as he also felt crushed by what had happened to Alonna and Fred. "Because I wanted to be somebody I wasn't. Because I don't know where to fit. Because I never did. Because of thousand other reasons that don't mean a damn."
Buffy, Spike, Willow and Faith then realized that Gunn still had not forgiven himself for what had happened to Fred or when the Senior Partners had condemned Los Angeles to Hell and Gunn had been turned into a vampire, becoming Team Angel's enemy before the Senior Partners reversed time, though Team Angel still remembered and only Spike was aware of the details and he was not really willing to share the details with the Scoobies or Buffy either.
"What's done is done, Gunn. We can't really change that." Spike pointed out. "What matters is what you can do in the future to at least try to make up for it."
"Look, if this is about Fred, you gotta find a way to forgive yourself. Because otherwise at the end, it's gonna crush you." Faith said.
"I don't know how…" Gunn sighed. He knew they were right and while Angel, Spike and Wesley had forgiven him for Fred, since he had never intended for her to die and what had happened when Los Angeles had gone to Hell, it wasn't like he could just let go of it so easily.
"If you're looking for an easy answer, there isn't one. But ask yourself, what would Fred want for you to do?" Willow asked and Gunn considered. Fred wouldn't really blame him for what had happened and Angel had forgiven him for Los Angeles as well as he stared at wall in front of himself contemplatively and they decided to leave him alone with his thoughts.
Buffy then approached Riley as they smiled at each other.
"Thanks for the help." Buffy said.
"It's nothing, really. We've been trying to catch her for weeks, she's ransacked a lot of military facilities, stealing military weapons and equipment." Riley said.
"Yeah, that might've been my fault." Buffy said awkwardly.
"Because you activated all the Slayers." Riley pointed out and Buffy was silent. "Look, I don't doubt that you had the best of intentions at the time, but—"
"I already got the riot act from Faith, OK? I know." Buffy interrupted. "Women who don't deserve that power abuse it because of me. And for every Slayer like me, there might be dozens more of them who are like how Faith once was. And I've been trying to make up for what I did and clean up my own mess."
"I've noticed." Riley nodded as he looked at Buffy. "How much are you doing to find people like her?"
"We're trying." Buffy said.
"You know, some of my superiors blame you for what Simone did. She's killed a lot of innocent people. Military personnel who was just doing their jobs. All because you gave the likes of her the power." Riley said.
"I didn't have a choice back then." Buffy defended. "And the Slayer Organization is doing the best it can to find more uncontrollable Slayers—"
"Even if there might be more of those within your ranks?" Riley snapped.
"Riley, that's not fair and you know it!" Buffy snapped back as she looked like she was going to hit him. It's not like she had expected that Simone would become uncontrollable so quickly and Buffy was trying her best not to let any more Slayers to become the next psychotic Faith or Dana.
"I'm not saying that you're not doing any good, Buffy." Riley said.
"So what are you trying to say?" Buffy demanded.
Riley was silent for a moment as he took a breath, trying to find the right words. "What I'm trying to say is that you need to think long-term and consider what consequences your choices might have, since like it or not, if you make the wrong choice, it's not just you and the people you love that pay the price for it."
"It's not that black-and-white, Riley." Buffy said.
"But can you honestly tell me that I'm wrong right now?" Riley asked and Buffy realized she couldn't really deny the fact that he had a point. "Don't get me wrong, Buffy, I'm not questioning your motives. But sometimes you chip in much bigger stakes than you intend to and you don't even realize it."
Buffy felt like she was being attacked and humiliated, but the rational part in her mind knew that Riley wasn't trying to tear her down, he was just worried about her. And Angel had once given her a similar lecture once she had found out about the fiasco with Andrew and Dana and Giles and Fred that she needed to learn when her trust was misplaced, since Andrew was far from a trustworthy ally and had only come to the Scoobies for protection from the First Evil and how many times had Giles gone behind her back and broken her trust, like when he had drugged her and stripped her of her powers or conspired with Robin and tried to kill Spike and the fiasco with Dana and Simone made her realize she should have thought more through the activation of all Slayers around the world. She sighed heavily, losing the energy to argue as she sat down.
"I get where you're coming from. But at least we finally got them." Buffy said tiredly.
"And what happens when another Slayer becomes the next Simone or Faith?" Riley pointed out.
Buffy considered and she realized that she couldn't deny that Riley was right. She had to be ready if another unstable Slayer showed up. Though if it was that difficult to catch Simone and her gang, what if she would have to… No. She immediately dismissed that thought. Slayers don't have license to kill. Besides, Willow could reverse the activation spell and strip Simone and her followers of their Slayer powers with the Scythe once they were ready.
"I'll handle it." Buffy said, though Riley didn't seem convinced as he looked at her with crossed arms, but decided not to say anything else on the matter, knowing that there was no point arguing anymore.
The military choppers landed as Simone and her Slayers were being carried in cuffs that Willow had enchanted to hold them even with their Slayer strength down the military base.
Xander, Giles, Dawn and Satsu, Vi and a small group of Buffy's Slayers were also waiting alongside Sam and other soldiers as Simone didn't seem either angry or sad, nor did she have any quip prepared.
"Enjoy the last few hours of Slayer strength." Xander said as they walked down the base into the detention area.
Buffy, Spike and Faith frowned though as they observed the rogue Slayers being escorted, all three of them having narrowed eyes.
"Something's not right." Buffy said.
"Yeah." Faith nodded.
"Glad I'm not the only one thinking that." Spike said.
"What is it?" Dawn asked.
"They didn't put much up of a fight, when we caught them." Buffy explained.
"Neither did they resist or try to escape." Faith said.
"Almost as if they wanted to get caught." Spike said.
"You think they wanted to be brought here?" Giles questioned and all three of them nodded.
"So it's not over yet." Xander realized, shuddering, realizing something was wrong.
"She didn't seem saddened or mad. This whole time she's been acting like she was in control. She let herself get caught. The real question is 'Why?'" Buffy wondered.
The question hanging in the air made them all uneasy, wondering what was Simone up to. Either way, the Scoobies had a gut feeling that it was far from over.
Simone and her Slayers were all standing in front of cells with metallic door opening as they entered and sat down before the door closed, with a pair of guards with military assault rifles stationed at each cell.
The rogue Slayers entered their cells and sat down, though Simone's lips curved into a sadistic smirk just a moment before the door to her cell closed.
In another part of the military facility, a rat was scampering its way down the corridors until it snuck down the gap in the door and entered the locker room. The rat then morphed into a naked woman with dark blonde hair.
"Well, then, let's get this party started." Amy said with a smirk on her face.
The conversation between Riley and Buffy is inspired by Stand with Ward and Queen's one-shot 'A matter of trust'
And it's about to get very ugly.
So, what do you guys think?
Please review and let me know if you have been enjoying this so far.