"The Girl of Your Dreams..." Part III...
reg...@aol.com
Archived at the Buffy Rebecca verse, www.geocities.com/buffyrebecca/Anneverse.html
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Disclaimer: All BTVS characters remain the property of Joss Whedon,
Mutant Enemy, and all other owner/creators of the Buffy the Vampire
Slayer series...
Summary: Another unholy alliance of Amy and Warren Mears creates
another doorway for Buffy’s demon Anne to escape Hell…Unfortunately…
They miscalculated slightly…
“*@$H$!ing, stinkin’ human?!!”
But our Annie will find her way…
Part III…
“Quite a Lear jet, you guys have here…” Andrew noted…Looking out the
window of the corporate Lear jet Angel had reluctantly agreed to
provide…Though a Watcher pilot at the controls for Council security…
Following a full sweep for surveillance devices and removal of
several…
“Really something…I love the minibar…Ummn…It is ok?...” he raised the
collection of candy and snacks he’d taken… “Just some stuff for the
ladies…”
“Fine…” the grim reply of his seat mate…
“Gretch…” Andrew offered the armful to a Slayer seated across the
aisle on what William grumpily noted was guard duty… “Could you take
this back to the other guys?...Thanks…”
“Yeah…A neat thing to have…” Andrew resumed his seat and efforts at
conversation… “Wish the Council could see their conservative way tow…”
“Look, Wells…” William frowned at him…
“I agreed to come…It doesn’t mean I agreed to make polite chatter all
the way…Unless you have something real to say to me…Lets enjoy the
view in silence…”
“Sorry…I have my…”
“So you keep saying…”
“Spike, if you’d told me to tell her…Or just come with me…Even if
Chairman Giles…” he began…
“I dug my own grave as always…Got it, thanks…” William nodded…
“She wants to see you…”
“Can’t imagine why…Hunt down her assailants perhaps?...”
“I couldn’t compromise the operation…Back in Rome, I mean…For her
safety and yours…”
“Thanks…Always nice to know the COW cares…”
“She wasn’t with the Immortal…Angel said you both knew that…”
“Yeah…Too bad, he seems the perfect guy for her…Since she’s moved on…”
“Will you ever get off that?...The ‘moved on’ was my idea…I admit it…I
based it on her cookies speech…”
“Well, congratulations…You certainly improved on her performance…”
“William, when she heard about the thing in LA…It wasn’t Giles who
demanded immediate mobilization…Though he was prepared to support you
guys…”
“Mop up after our deaths you mean…”
Andrew sighed…
Well…
“Regardless of the Chairman’s motives and desires, she accepted his
story about Angel…Didn’t question Angel’s turning to the Dark Side…All
because of that amulet…She was sure Angel gave it to her to give to
you deliberately…Spike, she blamed Angel almost as much as…”
“Pardon me…” he pulled at a ringing cell phone…
“Yes, Mr. Chairman?...”
William staring at him…
Hmmn…The silent treatment’s workin’ reasonably well…He’s close to
spilling it all…Though…To his and Giles’ training’s credit…So far
nothing I didn’t know or guess…
My God…She really believed that bag of crap about Angel Giles fed
her?...After all their years together…?
Poor Angel…Geesh…
But on the other hand…
Nah…She believed Giles because she’s always believed Giles…He says
Angel’s gone bad…Gotta give him credit for a good performance, though
no doubt his ever-present hatred of Angelus helped mightily…And Buffy
Summers believes daddy two…And Angel to the doghouse…
No doubt I’m lucky not to have been included…And only because Wells
actually managed to keep me a secret…
Until Giles’ people spotted me in LA and the jig was up so far as the
Chairman was concerned…
“We’re getting near, sir…About another twenty minutes…Yes, sir…”
Andrew, choosing words carefully…
He’s not bad, all in all…Will noted…I’d have to say the Watcher career
is working out for him…
Andrew ended the conversation and put his phone away…
“Giles need proper coordinates to shoot us down…?” Will asked
politely… “Can’t have us hitting a passenger jet by mistake, eh?...”
Hmmn…Andrew pondered…With the Chairman one never knows…
Still, Buffy…He’s accepted we must do this for her…
“No, he just wanted to know if we were close…Buffy’s asking for you…A
lot…”
Will’s face paled even more than Andrew could have thought possible…
“Is she that…?”
“She’s not that…Physically…But she’s not responding as she should…She
needs you, Will…” Andrew noted firmly…
“Vampiral transfusion…?” he asked…
Andrew frowned… “Look, be as mad at me as you like…But from the moment
she knew you were…”
“Yes…?”
“She needs to see you…” Andrew finished…Setting jaw firmly as he
could…
Hmmn…Again not bad…
And I doubt thrall would go over well with his four Slayer escort even
if they seem very friendly to me…And were a bit hostile to poor ole
Angel back in LA…
Besides…Put ole Wells in thrall and probably have him on my doorstep
for life…
“Andrew, how can it violate security to tell me how she found out and
why…She didn’t…”
“Why didn’t you?...” Andrew asked…
***
London…The restored (following a tragic gas leak explosion about which
surprisingly little investigation had been made) Antiquarian Hall…
Office of the Chairman of the Royal Council of Antiquarians and
Library Scientists…
“So…What do we know?...” the voice from behind the desk of the
Chairman, the Chairman’s chair leaned back to a dangerous angle…
“Andrew’s got Spike in a jet…They’ll be there in just a few…” the
figure seated on the edge of the desk noted…A female voice, a bit
strained… “And we oughta be there…”
“Buffy tole us to go…And Giles wanted us in London in case this
represented a real attack…” the voice in the chair noted… “But do we
know anything else, especially about these guys…?”
“We know they were definitely human…Thanks to Mia’s running down one…”
a second female voice, seated in chair…Rather primly…As if a bit
nervous to be sitting in the Chairman’s office, sans Chairman…Which
indeed the
red-haired speaker, Ms. Willow Rosenberg, was…
“And we know if Giles finds out you were doing that to his chair,
Xander…” she eyed the reclining Xander who immediately sat up…
“We oughta be with her…Especially if Spike’s coming…” Dawn Summers the
first female speaker, repeated her previous statement…
“Dawn…” Willow sighed…
“I’m inclined to agree with Dawnie…” Xander noted… “If Giles had told
me Spike was on his way…”
“Buffy begged Giles to get him in…” Willow shook her head… “And he
still has the soul…Xander, he did save us all back at Sunnydale…”
“So what was keepin’ him from coming to England and looking her up
there when we were still settling in?...”
Dawn queried, a pouting look… “He wasn’t any more anxious to come than…
Some of us…Were to have him come…”
“I would’ve like to see him come…” Willow said, quietly… “I only wish
I’d helped Buffy try and reach him…I still feel guilty letting Giles
talk me into dodging her when she started asking…”
“Soul or no soul, this is Spike…” Xander said… “And he has a way of
tearing Buffy up whether his intentions are good or bad…Right,
Dawn?...”
Dawn?...He looked over where she was looking down…
“That’s not fair, Xander…” she said quietly… “I didn’t want Buffy to
be alone seeing him again…And I’m furious at Giles for sending us away
without telling us he’d agreed to bring him in to her…But it’s not
fair to blame William for Spike’s actions…We never blamed Anya for
Anyanka…And I didn’t mean to imply I was one of the ‘some of us’…I
wish he’d come, too…”
He looked at the two facing him… “I stand by what I said…Spike isn’t
what Buffy needs right now, good or bad…I wasn’t calling him evil,
just trouble…And that was a cheap shot, Dawn…” he rose out of the
chair…Went to the door…Willow now a bit anxious, nervously eyeing Dawn
to make quick amends…Dawn showing the beginnings of relent and moving
off the desk as he opened the door, turning to…
“And…I hear that lady, so we’d better get the hell out of here…”
All three hurriedly left…Dawn taking Xander’s hand briefly… “Sorry…”
she hissed…
“I don’t mean William any ill…But my concern’s with Buffy…” he replied
as they passed Giles’ secretary in the corridor, coming in for the day…
She frowning slightly at the three guilty faces…
Well…Willow shrugged internally…Giles’ office is the most secure place
here…And we’re tired of him shoving us around as he chooses…We needed
a chance to talk things out a bit…
Though unfortunately, this leaves us with nothing settled…Xander came
back to her…
“Do we go or stay?...” he hissed…
“Xander, even if I could pump enough power up…And you know my
battery’s way down since Sunnydale…We’d get there too late and we’d
probably just be in the way…”
“Exactly…” he noted sternly…
Xander…
***
Despite her annoyance at Warren’s insistence on their leaving for the
lab only separately and after dark and in a non-descript coat and hat
with face covered by upturned collar and pulled down hat …For God’s
sake, who cares…No one’s been looking for Warren, defleshed or
otherwise, and certainly no one gives a damn about me…And we look more
suspicious than if we simply drove over together to the warehouse in
the middle of the afternoon…Amy followed his instructions and arrived
just before 8:30 pm to find him contentedly adjusting some equipment…
“Welcome…” he said, a bit formally… She restraining an urge to eye
roll…
Warren, I helped you move in and set up the place…
“To the next phase…Where Science takes its rightful place in the
lead…”
“Great…” she sighed… “So is it working or…”
“It’s working…” he beamed…Then frowned slightly…
“Or it was, a few minutes ago…I’m sure this time I’ve got the main
pump set…”
“Lets hope so…” she noted… “Summers’ and Angel’s people will be
hunting and tracking our friends down with everything they’ve got…And
she won’t be down for long…”
“We’ll be ready for them…Come and see…” he offered her his hand…
Wow…She thought, dryly…You’d almost think he wasn’t planning to stab
me in the back first chance he gets…As soon as he either doesn’t need
me or finds a way to suck out my powers…Or finds a more powerful witch
who’s willing to back him…
But what does it matter to dead and forgotten…But not yet buried, not
yet…Amy…?
Just let him show Buffy…And Willow…A little of what I’ve suffered and
the darkness their Slayer heroine carries within…And I could be
content to let him leave me in a heap of corpses…But not just yet…
They walked into a vast central room…Where, not far from the entrance
a large tank lay lengthwise, sounds of water or some fluid, bubbling
from the canopied but largely open top…A large control panel at the
side which Warren approached…
“Partner…The future…” Warren proudly patted the side of the tank as he
stood at the panel… “Once we deal with Summers and co…Mankind reaps
the benefits of my research…Cloning at least a dozen years in advance
of anything else on Earth…No more waiting for some jerk to crash his
or her car to get that heart for lil’ Suzie…We’ll pop ‘em out like
Tupperware…And nearly as cheap…Not counting the fees and assorted side
costs we’ll tack on of course…Still, a huge cost-savings…And a
practical form of near Immortality…Just toss that worn out ole bod and
get your brain neatly sandwiched into our be-all-you-can-be full-sized
and accessorized clone…With a touch of magics to ensure your soul goes
along…Supplied by the great Amy…World’s leading Wiccan…Hell, you and
I will go down as Humanity’s greatest benefactors, kiddo…In a year,
even those in the know’ll have forgotten Buffy Summers and the Slayers
ever existed…”
“Thanks…” she glanced around…
Well, does seem like it’s clacking along at last…
“…As world-saving heroines, anyway…” he noted…
The sound of an electronic door opening made him pause in mid-self-
congratulation to look toward the source…
Amy looking over as well…
Up a bit on the left side where a door now stood open, slid back on
its rails…
They relaxed their instinctive tensing, product of many weary months
of living in secret, dodging any possible surveillance or tracking…The
door had opened at the proper administration of codes…Nothing…Probably…
To worry about…
Though Amy did a quick, careful magics sweep…
“Two outside…Ours…And Theodore here…” she nodded at Warren, who nodded
back…And took his hand off the emergency security button at his
control panel…
A pity though…Would have been neat to see a good slash and gut…And it
would’ve been a nice, quiet job…
Still Amy would probably not appreciate seeing a human splattered
across the warehouse walls…And Theo and his boys might still have
their uses…
“Hey, Theo…” he waved a friendly arm… “Things go well?...”
Theodore, a lanky young burglar/hit man of dark-haired, wiry but non-
descript appearance…An appearance perfect for his career choice…
Rapidly acquiring fame in the human underworld for his exploits…Raised
a sealed metal container to view…
“There she is…” Warren beamed…Striding over, Amy following…
He took the canister from the smiling Theo who nodded to Amy…
Nice-looking kid…Hope Warren doesn’t insist on killing him when this
one’s over…she thought…
“Any…Losses?...” Warren asked…Examining a digital thermostat on the
container…Ah, perfect…
“Only acceptable…And no problems stemming…” Theo, significant look…
“And the Slayer?...Alive and kickin’…?” Warren, a tad anxious…
“Yeah…” Theo winced a bit at the memory of the “kickin’”…Bitch really
did have superpowers…
“Stuart got in a good one but she’s fine…Gave us a good sample but no
major damage…”
“Great, great…” Warren beamed… “Here’s the remaining code numbers for
payment on this one…”
He handed a sheet of paper to Theo who took it with a smile… “Always a
pleasure to do business with you, Dr. M…”
Amy did the eye roll at the “Dr. M”…Warren’s new evil genius monicker…
Well, he has to call himself something…Just so long as he doesn’t pin
something stupid on me…
Though…A tad wistful…A new id might not be so…
“Ma’am…” Theo gave her a friendly wave and coded himself out the door…
“Nothing like dealing with professionals…” Warren smiled… “That guy is
going places…Either as a semi-loyal carefully watched minion in my
future empire or in various pieces if he ever crosses me…”
“He’s ok…Smart enough to dodge the Council and the rest with your
stuff so long as they weren’t ready for him…The others, though…I’m
amazed they got to her and only lost…What were ‘acceptable’, anyway…?”
“Oh, the rest of the team proper…” Warren noted blithely… “Any who the
Slayer’s security people didn’t fully nail, Theo took care of…But,
he’s already found replacements…”
Amy blinked… “All of them?...He…”
…Seemed so nice…But I guess that’s the “professional manner”…
“Can’t take any chances on this one, sweetheart…Though Theo himself is
just too useful…Right now…” Warren smiled… “Now, lets have a look
before dinner…” he patted the container…
Well, no need to worry that I’ll not have a quick exit when I’m no
longer too useful…Amy thought…
“Guess who’s coming to dinner…” Warren cackled at the container… “The
Slayer’s worst enemy…”
***