Fic: Heroes and Lovers (8/?)

["another_soul_lost" <anotherlostsoul@xxxxxxxxx>]

Title: Heroes and Lovers 
Author's Name:  anotherlostsoul
Author's Email and URL: 
anotherlostsoul@xxxxxxxxx,http://www.hopelessdreams.com
Pairing: W/Buffy 
Disclaimer:  Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and a lot of other people own
the show and all the characters.  The plot and the story are mine. 
This cannot be sold or used for profit in any way, shape or form. 
Please don't sue me, because I really don't have anything to take.
Rating: PG, but may vary by chapter.
Spoilers:  Set in season 4 of Buffy, so anything before that is fair game.
Summary:  Spike escapes the Initiative without being chipped.  How
will this effect the Scooby gang?
Author's Note:  This chapter has been adapted as directly as possible
from the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer Episode "Hush" written by
Joss Whedon.  The author of this story wouldn't dream of trying to
take credit for it.

Chapter 8  Hush Part 2

As she woke up, Buffy became immediately aware of the intimate
position she and Will had settled into as they slept.  Willow was
lying on her back and Buffy was pretty much draped across her, using
her as a sort of human body pillow.  She smiled and snuggled closer to
the sleeping redhead, shifting slightly against her.  

Buffy drew in a sharp breath when Willow shifted in response, the
resulting movement had pressed her hip firmly between the blonde's
legs, sending an intensely erotic sensation radiating from the
contact.  It took every bit of her control to keep from moaning and
thrusting back against the pressure.  

Instead, she raised herself up and looked down at the face of the
beautiful woman she was lying with.  `She looks so peaceful,' Buffy
thought, reaching over and brushing a stray, red lock away from her
love's face.  She leaned down and gently kissed Willow; closing her
eyes as she reveled in the feeling of the girl's soft lips.  Opening
her lips slightly, she pulled the redhead's lower lip into her mouth
and began sucking on it tenderly.

She was instantly rewarded with other girl's hands grabbing her hips
and pulling their bodies together even tighter.  Buffy gasped slightly
at the intensity of Willow's embrace, releasing the redhead's lip. 
Before she could pull back, however, a soft tongue, gently probing the
inside of her mouth, had replaced the lip.  

Buffy grabbed lightly at Willow's tongue, grazing it gently with her
teeth before pressing her own tongue against it forcefully.  She could
feel the heat of her growing arousal between her legs.  Suddenly her
eyes snapped open and she pulled back from the kiss as she felt the
redhead's hands slide down and grab her ass firmly.  She stared down
at her friend in shock.

Willow grinned at her wickedly for a moment before putting on her most
innocent expression, batting her eyes at the blonde and mouthing,
"Good morning Buffy."  Her expression changed immediately, mild alarm
and confusion coloring her face.

"What is it Will?" she asked, and was immediately shocked to realize
that no sound escaped her lips.  "Can you hear me?" she felt her own
panic rising in the silence.

The redhead shook her head suddenly, putting her hands over her ears
and silently saying "Oh no, I've gone deaf!"  The panic on her face
was obvious.

Buffy shook her head and put her hand to her throat, "No, Willow it's
our voices&they're gone," no sound came about, but the other girl
seemed to be able to read her lips well enough to understand what was
said and nodded slightly.

Moving quickly and carefully, Buffy got up and went to the door. 
Opening it, she glanced around, noticing a number of people in the
hallways.  Not a voice could be heard.  

She heard Willow get up and move toward the door, when suddenly the
phone rang.  `That's probably Giles,' she thought, closing the door
and rushing to pick up the phone.  As she got it to her ear, she was
greeted with complete silence.  She looked disgustedly at the handset,
`Real bright, make a phone call when no one can talk.'

Hanging the phone up, she looked at Willow, who grabbed a sheet of
paper and scribbled a hasty note, holding it up where Buffy could read
it.  It said simply, "We should get over to Giles'."  She nodded
quickly and turned to get dressed.

* * * * *

`The town is definitely not coping well,' Willow thought as she and
Buffy walked past the Espresso Pump on the way to Giles' apartment. 
She noticed that most businesses were closed due to the town's sudden
affliction and the place pretty much looked one step away from mass
hysteria.

`Okay, maybe less then a step away,' Willow amended, seeing a silent
prayer meeting in progress on the sidewalk.  `Don't see that too
often, even on the Hellmouth.'  Reaching over, she grabbed Buffy's
hand, needing contact to steady herself.

She was feeling weak.  She'd spent far too much energy training with
Giles last night and had hoped to talk to Buffy about feeding from her
this morning.  Of course, waking up without a voice had made the idea
of talking to Buffy about anything impossible and the general state of
the town made it readily apparent that positive emotions were going to
be hard to come by for a while.

Looking over, she saw a man selling dry erase message boards by the
side of the road.  He'd fixed each board with a string so that it
could be worn around the neck.  Willow exchanged a quick glance with
Buffy, and then they each bought a board.  

As they walked, Willow wrote to Buffy, "This is bad Buffy."

Buffy nodded sadly in reply before writing, "Giles will figure it out."

"I know."  Willow wrote in response.  

`I just hope we figure it out quickly,' she added in her thoughts.

* * * * *

Buffy opened the door to Giles' apartment and she and Willow entered
together.  She could tell that something was up with the redhead, but
she wasn't entirely sure what it was.  She seemed&off somehow, almost
like something was physically wrong with her.  

As they entered the apartment, she saw Xander and Giles stand up.  A
quick glance around the apartment revealed that Giles' `friend' Olivia
was sitting in the living room area of the apartment.  The TV was
turned on, with the volume very low.  

She waved `hi' to Xander, who waved back.  `God, he looks depressed,'
she thought.  Giles reached out and clasped her arm, trying to
reassure her, she smiled at him and put her hand over his in
acknowledgement.  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Willow working
intently at writing something on her message board.  When she turned
it around so they could read it, it simply said, "hi Giles."

Giles' desk was covered in open books.  It was pretty obvious that
he'd already been making with the research.  Buffy glanced down at
them, before looking back up at the ex-Watcher and silently asking,
"Anything?"

Giles frowned and shook his head.  She reached up and took off the
message board that was hanging around her neck, setting it on the
desk, when her eyes fell on his notes about the weird dream she had. 
The words "can't even shout, can't even cry" jumped out at her from
the page.  Quickly she scooped it up, and pointed them out to Giles,
who shook his head again and half shrugged.

Suddenly Xander was snapping his fingers repeatedly, trying to get
their attention as he turned up the volume on the TV.

A news announcer was speaking, "Big news item from Sunnydale
California.  Apparently the entire town has been quarantined due to an
epidemic of, as strange at this may sound, Laryngitis. It seems the
town has been rendered unable to speak there's no word yet what might
have caused this or what other effects might be seen from this
epidemic.  Local authorities have issued a statement, a written
statement I should say, blaming recent flu vaccinations.  A few
skeptics call it a citywide hoax.  In the meanwhile Sunnydale has
effectively shut down.  All schools and businesses will be closed for
the time being and residents are advised to stay home and rest up. 
Centers for disease control have ordered the entire town quarantined,
no one can go in or out until the syndrome is identified or the
symptoms disappear. We'll bring you more on that as it develops."

With a frown, Buffy picked up her board and wrote on it, "Will and me
should be in town tonight."  She turned it to face Giles and the
others and was surprised both by the questioning look on Giles face
and the frightened expression on Willow's.

"Why?" Giles asked soundlessly as Willow wrote a response on her board.  

Buffy wiped her board and wrote on it again, responding to Giles'
question, "Chaos = Demon party".  

Giles nodded as he read it and replied "Good thinking."

Willow turned her board around so that Buffy and Giles could read it,
"No Energy.  Need to Feed.  Badly."

`God, that's what's wrong.  She used so much energy training yesterday
and hasn't fed.'  The realization hit Buffy hard.

"Are you alright?" Giles asked, his face clearly expressing the
concern his absent voice could not.

Willow shook her head slightly and erased her board.  She wrote an
answer for them, "Weak and mild dizzy spells."

Buffy grabbed the girl's hand, flashed a brief smile at Giles and
pulled Will into the bathroom with her closing the door behind them.

* * * * *

Willow didn't even attempt to resist as Buffy pulled her into Giles'
bathroom and closed the door behind them.  She had been getting
steadily weaker since she woke up this morning and was in no condition
to actually argue with the Slayer.  

She sat down on the toilet as Buffy wrote something on her message
board.  When she turned it around, it simply said, "Feed from me.  Now."

She looked up at Buffy and asked, "Are you sure?"  The blonde didn't
reply, she just smiled softly and leaned over, capturing Willow's lips
in a passionate kiss.  

After a moment, Willow opened herself up and connected to Buffy.  The
intensity of it shot straight through her, as though she'd touched a
live wire.  Her entire body tingled with the power of the connection.
`Oh my Goddess! Buffy!' she practically screamed in her mind.

`Willow!'  Buffy jerked back breaking their connection abruptly, but
Willow had distinctly heard the other girl's voice in her mind.

Her eyes flew open and the two sat staring at each other with their
mouths open and shock written across each of their faces.

`Buffy, can you hear me?'  Willow thought, focusing on the connection
she could still feel between them.

`Willow&yes, but how?' Buffy's thoughts sounded puzzled.  `Are you
reading my mind?'

Willow concentrated trying to see if she could indeed read the other
girl's mind.  `No,' she replied, `I think we only hear the thoughts we
want each other to hear.'

`Oh,' Buffy replied, an amazed look on her face.  `Does this happen
with everyone you feed on?'

`No, just you so far.'  She grinned, `Maybe because of how we feel
about each other?'

Buffy nodded, `Do you think it's permanent?'

She shook her head, `I bet it'll fade away in a little while.  If it
lasts more then an hour, I'll be surprised.'

`I'm sorry I pulled back, hearing your voice in my head just sorta
surprised me.'  Buffy looked embarrassed at the admission, `did you
get enough or do you need to feed some more?'

She thought about the question for a moment before responding, `If we
weren't going to patrol tonight that would've been enough, but if you
really want me to go with you, I need to feed a bit more.'

Buffy grinned wickedly, leaning in for another kiss.

* * * * *

Xander jolted slightly, startled by the sound of the bathroom door
shutting.  He looked around quickly and noticed that Willow and Buffy
had disappeared.  He got up off the couch and looked at Giles and
asked, "How can I help?"

The former librarian gestured at the desk, piled up as it was with
books.  `Yay, research time,' Xander thought wearily, as he picked up
a book and started working.  `Gotta love that Scooby life.'

A few minutes later Xander heard the bathroom door open again and
glanced up to see Buffy and Willow emerge.  `What were they?' Xander's
thought trailed off half formed, the look on Willow's face reminded
him of the other night at the Bronze.  `Were they just making out&in
Giles' bathroom?' he wondered, looking at his best friends with a
puzzled expression.

Willow just grinned at him in response.  `Great, now she's just
taunting me&' he thought with a mental chuckle as the remaining
Scoobies joined in the research.

* * * * *
Buffy stayed close to Willow as they patrolled through the main
streets of Sunnydale.  She knew that Willow was nervous, this being
her first patrol since her change, and she wanted to be close by if
anything went wrong.  Emotions were running high throughout the town,
and in several places, they stopped to break-up fights between the
human residents of Sunnydale.  

`Where are the cops on a night like this?' Buffy wondered as they
walked past the Espresso pump.  `You'd think they could at least
handle the more mundane peacekeeping.'   She shook her head as she
noticed a car had been abandoned after running into a fire hydrant. 
Water was spraying everywhere.

She felt Willow's hand grasp her elbow and turned to the redhead to
see what she needed.  Her gaze was fixed on something, so Buffy
followed her stare to find Riley, of all people, breaking up a fight
between a couple of guys in suits.  Looking quickly back to Will,
their eyes met and Buffy said silently, "I'll help him out, stay close."  

When Willow nodded in response, Buffy walked over to the altercation.
Riley had turned his back to one of the men, and was completely
unaware that the guy had picked up a piece of pipe and was about to
hit him.  Rolling her eyes slightly, she casually grabbed the hand
holding the pipe and twisted it with a jerk, snapping the bones in his
wrist.  He screamed as he dropped the pipe, clutching at his new injury.

Stepping past the man, she turned to Riley, who looked at her with
concern on his face, "Are you okay?" he asked soundlessly.

She nodded replying, "You?"

He half-shrugged in response as they both heard a crash from somewhere
close by.  Riley pointed down the street, the look on his face saying
clearly that he needed to go.  Buffy pointed back the other direction
toward where she left Willow.   

They started to move apart but Riley reached back and grasped her arm.
She glanced back and saw him say, "Be careful."  

She smiled and replied, "You too."  

Hurrying away quickly, Buffy noticed that Willow was gone.  Looking
around for signs of her love, she heard the distinct clatter of
something knocking over trashcans in a nearby alley.  `Will!'  She
rushed into the alley, turning a corner to see the redhead facing off
against four vampires, one of whom is fumbling around in a pile of
trashcans, trying to stand up.

* * * * *  

As Buffy walked toward Riley, Willow glanced around.  She had no real
desire to deal with Riley right now.  She knew that Buffy loved her,
but that still didn't mean that Riley wasn't going to be competition
for the blonde girl's affection.

Willow frowned slightly as the hairs on the back of her neck suddenly
stood up.  She felt something draw her gaze to the mouth of an alley
across the street from where she stood.  As she watched, a vampire in
game face stepped out of the alley and grabbed a young woman who was
walking past.

Willow shot a glance at Buffy and saw her approaching Riley, who was
about to be hit from behind by a man holding a pipe.  `There's not
enough time to get her,' she realized.  `I have to save that girl.' 
She darted across the road and into the alley.  

She ran down the alley after the vampire.  The demon shoved the girl
into a stack of crates and spun to face Willow.  `Must've heard me
running,' she thought.  Focusing her attention on him, she pulled a
stake out of the sleeve of her jacket.  

The vampire sneered at her, clearly unimpressed.  Willow just grinned
and held the stake in front of her on an open palm.  The vampire
charged and with a thought Willow sent the stake flying into his
chest.  His eyes went wide as he exploded into dust.  She frowned for
a moment, realizing that the stake had dusted too.  `Gotta remember to
pull them back after,' she thought walking over to help the vampire's
would-be victim to her feet.

She didn't quite make it that far; however, as four more vampires came
around the corner.  `This is so not good,' Willow thought as she
dropped into a fighting stance.  `I hope you come find me quick Buffy.'

Focusing, she used her powers to make herself stronger and faster; she
smiled slightly as the power flooded her muscles.  The vampires moved
to attack, and Willow went on the defensive, blocking, ducking and
dodging, thankful that she could anticipate their attacks as easily as
she had been able to when sparring with Buffy.  

An opportunity presented itself and she lashed out with a powerful
kick, sending one of the vampires sailing into a pile of trashcans,
which scattered noisily as it landed.  Spinning to face the other
three, she had an idea.  She focused intently for a moment, imagining
one of them bursting into flames suddenly.  The vamps charged her and
she poured her power into the thought.  

The vampire literally exploded as it turned to dust, showering
everyone in the alley with his ashes.  `Oops, too much power,' Willow
thought sheepishly as she ducked one of the vampire's arms and swung a
hard hook into his gut.  As she moved, she caught a glimpse of blonde
hair in her peripheral vision.  `Buffy found me!' she thought excitedly.

The moment's distraction cost her however, as the vampire she'd kicked
into the trash surprised her by hitting her from behind with a metal
trashcan's lid and sent her sprawling to the ground.

`Ouch!' she thought as the lid hit her.  She landed hard on the
concrete scraping her palms and knees as she tried to catch herself. 
Stifling her pains, she rolled quickly to the side, narrowly avoiding
a booted foot as the vampire tried to stomp on her back.  Angry at
having been taken by surprise, she lashed out with her power, throwing
the vampire backward and incinerating him.  A wave of dizziness rolled
over her in response.

`I think I overdid it,' she thought wryly as she struggled to get to
her feet.  Taking a deep breath she managed somehow to stand and
watched as Buffy staked the last vamp.  Willow stumbled backward, her
back landing heavily against the wall of the alley, as another wave of
dizziness rolled through her.  `Yep, definitely overdid it...' She
realized her head was throbbing painfully where she'd been hit.

Buffy rushed over and grabbed her, holding her up.  "Are you alright?"
she asked with a terrified look on her face.

Willow shook her head `no' gently, and staggered from the pain the
movement inspired.  "Used too much power," she replied, hoping that
her mouth was moving clearly enough for the blonde to understand her.  

Buffy nodded quickly and silently spoke a single word before leaning
in and kissing her, "Feed."

Willow opened herself to the power of Buffy's love for her, and as the
energy of the kiss surged through her, replenishing her power, she
slipped into unconsciousness.

* * * * *

Buffy woke up first the next morning.  She hadn't had any trouble
carrying Willow back to the dorm and had spent the night curled up,
sleeping with the exhausted redhead.  She knew that Will would be
fine, though she couldn't really explain how she knew.

Deciding to let her love sleep in, Buffy carefully crept out of bed,
got cleaned up and dressed.  She wrote a quick note so that Willow
wouldn't worry when she woke up and slipped out of the room quietly.

Walking down through the dorms, she noticed a green jacketed campus
security guard standing in front of one of the rooms, keeping people
out.   `This can't be good,' she thought with a frown.  Waiting until
his back was turned, she slipped into the room to see what was going
on.  She immediately wished she hadn't.

Lying there on the bed was the corpse of one of her classmates.  His
chest had been opened up and his heart removed.  There was blood
everywhere.  Glancing back at the guard, she took the opportunity to
slip back out of the room unnoticed.  A murder scene was the last
place she really wanted to be found by campus security right now.

A quick walk around the campus revealed that, aside from the murder in
Stevenson Hall, everything was quiet.  After a couple of hours, Buffy
headed back to her dorm, hoping Willow would be awake.

* * * * *

Willow woke up to the sound of someone knocking on her door.  She
quickly became aware that she was still wearing the clothes she'd went
patrolling in last night and that she was alone in her bed.  She sat
up and looked around noticing that Buffy was nowhere to be seen.

Standing she walked over to the door and was shocked to see Xander
standing there.  `What's he doing here?' she wondered and motioned for
him to come in.  He came in and handed her a note.  With a puzzled
look, she opened it up and read the contents.

`Giles has figured something out,' she realized with a grin.  It was
the only possible explanation she could think of for why he'd have all
the Scoobies meet him in a lecture hall on campus.

She looked up at Xander and smiled, scooping up her message board and
scribbling:  "He figured something out?"

Xander shrugged and raised his hands, wordlessly indicating he had no
idea.  Willow frowned.  She could see that it would be hard to go
through anything complex without a voice.  

She glanced toward her alarm clock and noticed a note from Buffy
propped up on the table, blocking the time.  Reaching over, she read it.

Will,

	I'm taking a walk around campus to check for anything weird that may
have happened last night.  Rest up as much as possible.  I'll be back
in a couple hours and you can feed if you need to.
							
Love,
							Buffy

Willow smiled as she read it and then glanced at the time.  It was
nearly noon.  Willow wasn't sure how long before Buffy would be back,
and now they were supposed to meet Giles at 2 pm.  

Willow picked up her message board and wrote on it, "I need to shower
and clean up."  She held it up where Xander could read it.  Xander
smiled and nodded.

He motioned toward the downstairs as he walked toward the door. 
Willow nodded at him with a smile and began to gather up the things
she needed for a quick shower.  She had just finished gathering
everything she needed up, when Buffy came in.

She smiled brightly at the blonde and then noticed how serious her
expression was.  "What?" she asked.  

Buffy picked up her message board, and wrote on it for a moment.  She
turned it around to reveal a short message, "Feed from me so we can
talk."  Buffy smiled as the redhead's eyes lit up.

Setting her things down on her bed, Willow walked over to Buffy and
wrapped her arms gently around the other girl.  Leaning in, she kissed
Buffy passionately, slipping her tongue quickly into the other girl's
mouth.  The blonde wrapped her arms around her love and pulled their
bodies together tightly as Will opened up to her.

Kissing Buffy was always intense for Willow.  Feeding through their
kisses was even more powerful, and she could feel the connection
between their minds instantly.  Within moments, she could feel the
energy tingling throughout her body and knew that she couldn't take
anymore.

Even though she stopped drawing energy from Buffy's kiss, she didn't
want to break off the kiss itself.  She reveled in the contact, in the
feeling of Buffy's lips against her own, and in the heat that was
building between her legs as the blonde slid her hands slowly down
Willow's back.  Finally, she smiled and gasped slightly, pulling back
suddenly as the Slayer's hands stopped on her ass and squeezed firmly.

Willow saw the grin on her love's face and, with a smile, sent a
thought through their connection, `Vixen!'

Buffy's grin only widened as she responded, `You gave me the idea.'

She felt the blush rise in her face and knew that her skin was
probably almost as red as her hair now.   She waited for a moment,
savoring the closeness, before asking, `So what did you find?'

Buffy pulled back slightly, `A dead student.  Someone killed a guy in
his dorm room last night.  Cut his heart out.'

Willow gasped, `What?  Which dorm?'

`This dorm, room 118,' came Buffy's hesitant reply.  `Whatever did it,
I'm betting is responsible for the missing voices.'

Willow nodded, pondering the situation then remembering the note
Xander brought, `Giles' has called a Scooby-meeting for 2 pm, in one
of the lecture halls.  I think he has a lead on what's responsible!'

`Good, we need to find this thing and stop it,' Buffy's mental voice
was hard and Willow could feel just how difficult it was for her.  She
felt responsible for the boy's death.

Rather then reply, Willow pulled Buffy close into a comforting hug.

* * * * *

Buffy, Willow, and Xander arrived at the lecture hall as Giles was
setting up an overhead projector.  Getting Xander's attention, he
gestured for the boy to close the window shades.  When everyone
settled into seats, he reached over and pressed `play' on the small
tape player he'd set up.

As some suitably eerie classical music began to play, he smiled and
placed the first transparency on the projector.  He immediately saw
Willow and Xander pointing at the screen as though something were
wrong.  Puzzled he glanced back and saw that he'd placed the slide
upside down and backwards.

`Brilliant,' he chided himself as he fixed the slide.  It now read
very clearly "Who are the gentlemen?"  With a quick glance at his
audience, he switched over to the next slide, which read:  "They are
fairy tale monsters" and had a picture of one drawn on it.  

He looked around making sure they all had time to read the slide,
before putting on the next one.  "What do they want?" appeared on the
screen as Giles looked at the rest of the Scoobies.  Willow excitedly
threw her hand up and then pointed at her chest.  He smiled at her. 
`I can always trust Willow to put the pieces together first,' he
thought proudly.

He noticed the puzzled look on Xander's face, however, and as the
others glanced toward the boy, he saw the young man say "Boobies?" 
The disappointed looks he received from Willow and Buffy answered that
for him, and Giles put the next slide on the projector.  The slide
simply said, "Hearts" and had three drawn on it.  

Xander smiled in sudden understanding and Giles tried very hard to
suppress a quiet chuckle.  He put up the next slide:  "They come to a
town."  He pointed to the screen and switched to the next, "They steal
all the voices so no one can scream."  He pointed to his throat,
emphasizing the point.  

He put up the next slide, which simply said "Then" and held up his
index finger as he glanced at the others.   He briefly displayed each
of the next two slides, which depicted one of the gentlemen cutting
out someone's heart and were liberally decorated with red.
He watched as Buffy and Willow exchanged disturbed looks and noticed
Xander writing something on his board as he put up the next slide
which read: "They need seven, they have at least two."

Xander snapped his fingers repeatedly, trying to get everyone's
attention.  He'd written, "How do we kill them?" on his board.  He saw
Xander glance toward Buffy, who spontaneously began pumping her hand
up and down in a fairly disturbing manner.  Everyone stared at her
puzzled for a moment and when she realized that the gesture she'd made
could be misinterpreted; she quickly grabbed a wooden stake from her
bag and repeated the gesture.

Everyone smiled and looked away from the embarrassed Slayer, and Giles
switched to another slide.  It read, "In the tales No sword could kill
them."  He gestured helplessly at the slide, before changing to the
next one.  "But the princess screamed once& and they all died."

He watched as Willow pulled a CD from her bag and pointed to it, then
put her hands over ears and pantomimed dying.  Giles smiled, having
anticipated her thought, and put up the next slide.  "Only a real
human voice."  Willow threw her hands up in frustration and put the CD
back in her bag.  He noticed that Buffy was writing on her board.

"How do I get my voice back?" it said simply.

Giles shrugged and threw his hands out to his sides.  He put up the
next slide.  It read "Buffy and Willow will patrol tonight" and had
pictures of the two girls on it.  Both of the girls looked at the
pictures and back at Giles, and pointed to their selves, silently
protesting that the girls in the picture were far too fat to be them.

`How very drool,' he thought and waved for Buffy and Willow to go on
and get ready for patrol.  He pointed to Xander and held up a book,
indicating that they had research to do.

* * * * *

Willow held up her message board so Buffy could read it, as they were
getting ready to go out on patrol.  It said, "We should split up to
cover more ground."  

Buffy shook her head emphatically and grabbed her own board, writing
"No! Too dangerous."  She showed it to Willow.

Willow sighed.  Trying to discuss this rationally using message boards
was going to take too long.  So she decided to try something else. 
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath using one of the techniques
Giles had taught her, she focused her will on opening a connection
between their minds.  She concentrated, feeding as little of her power
to the connection at a time as she could until she felt it manifest. 
She opened her eyes and smiled.

`Buffy?' she sent tentatively.

The blonde spun around and looked at her in surprise.  `Will?  How?'
came her reply.

`I used a tiny little bit of my power to open the connection between
us back up,' she thought happily.   `It hardly used any energy at all.'  

`Wow, neat.' Buffy smiled at her and they both went back to getting ready.

`We have to split up tonight Buffy,' she sent through the link.  `If
we don't then someone else might get hurt.'

`No.  Willow it's too dangerous.  I won't be there to help you!'

Willow looked at her love and smiled gently, `I love you and I
appreciate that you want to protect me.  But this isn't about
protecting each other.  Not this time.'  She walked over and gently
put her hand on the blonde's cheek.  `It's about protecting everyone
else.'

Buffy reached up and laid her hand over Willow's squeezing it lightly
to her face.  `I know Will, but I can't bear the thought of losing you
again.'

`You're not gonna lose me,' she thought reassuringly.  `I'll stay
safe, I promise; but we don't know where the gentlemen are and we
don't know where they might strike next.  If we split up we're much
more likely to find them before someone else gets hurt.'  She put on
her resolve-face.

Buffy sighed slightly, `Okay Will, you're right.  You take the campus
and the immediate area, I'll start in some of the residential areas
and work my way back toward you.'

Willow smiled and kissed Buffy gently.  `It'll all work out fine,' she
sent through the link.  `You'll see.'

* * * * *

It was after 1 am and the streets of Sunnydale were almost completely
deserted.  So far Buffy hadn't found any sign of where the Gentlemen
might be hiding.  She was beginning to wonder if she was even going to
find them.

Just as she was about to give up and go find Willow, she spotted one.
She noticed immediately that the corpse-like figures didn't walk;
they floated a few inches above the ground and seemed to glide through
the air.  She reached for her crossbow only to have another creature
spring up from behind a bush and hit her in the face, sending her
staggering back.

`Figures,' she thought as she quickly recovered from the punch, `of
course they'd have lackeys to do the physical work.'

The lackeys were humanoid creatures, with their faces wrapped in
pinkish bandages and wearing straightjackets.  Only the jackets
weren't fastened, leaving their arms free.  As she saw another coming
at her, she noticed they walked more like apes or monkeys, using their
hands to help support them rather then standing upright.    

Buffy lashed out, kicking the one that had attacked her and pummeling
it with a fast barrage of punches before spin-kicking another as it
charged toward her.  She noticed two more lackeys coming after her as
the one who'd hit her first tried to grab her from behind.  She deftly
flipped him over onto the ground and swung a hard backhand at the next
one as it got close enough, knocking it into a tree.

Breaking away, Buffy hurried up the street after the Gentleman she'd seen.

* * * * *

Willow spun, hearing the distinctive sounds of someone tripping and
books scattering across concrete.  She saw a vaguely familiar blonde
girl trying to quickly scoop up her dropped books.  As she hurried
over to help, she saw a far more distressing sight.  Two of the
Gentlemen and two of their straightjacket wearing lackeys were heading
toward them.

The girl looked up and saw her just as she grabbed hold of the
blonde's arms and pulled her to her feet.  Suddenly Willow remembered
the girl, her name was Tara and she was in the Wicca group on campus.
Pulling her along, Willow started running, she needed to get Tara
somewhere safe before she could do anything else.

* * * * *

`I really hope these guys aren't as un-killable as the stories say,'
Buffy thought wryly as she snapped the neck of one of the lackeys. 
When the creature fell to the ground unmoving, she smiled slightly,
`at least that's one less to worry about.'  The other two she'd been
fighting bolted, running toward a deserted building with a clock tower
up the street from where she stood.

She sprinted after them.  She could see shadows moving around inside
the building and rather then taking the time to use the door, she
threw herself through a boarded up window, smashing a shoulder block
into a lackey just inside the building. She saw one of the mystery
commandos was in the room, fighting the lackeys as she snapped a fast
kick into a second lackey before grabbing a third and tossing him into
a set of wooden shelves.

Grabbing her crossbow she spun toward the commando, uncertain what to
expect.  Nothing could have prepared her for the shock of seeing none
other than Riley Finn staring at her down the sights of some kind of
rifle.

* * * * *

`Okay, this is bad,' Willow realized suddenly as Tara stumbled and
fell clutching her ankle.  `I'm gonna have to do something.'  Despite
their odd gait, the lackeys were quick, and unlike Tara, they didn't
seem to get tired.

The lackeys caught up with them as Tara tried desperately to get to
her feet.  Willow quickly increased her strength and speed, the same
as she'd done against the vampires and lashed out with a spin kick
that caught the first one in the face and knocked it down.   She
blocked the second one as it swung a roundhouse at her and slammed her
fist into its throat as hard as she could.  There was an unpleasant
cracking noise and the creature fell to the ground clutching at its
neck and twitching.

Spinning back around, Willow scooped Tara up in her arms, relying on
her enhanced strength to carry the other girl and ran into Stevenson Hall.

* * * * *

It seemed like an eternity that they stood there staring at each
other, before they heard one of the lackeys move and spun back to the
fight.  She couldn't think about Riley right now, it was time to
concentrate on the battle.  She shot one of the lackeys with her
crossbow and kicked a second one in the head as she heard a crackling
sound and caught the smell of ozone as Riley fired his weapon.

Grabbing a rope hanging nearby, Buffy swung into one of the lackeys,
sending it sailing through the air where it crashed through a support
pillar.  Riley shot her an amazed look, just as the lackey he'd shot
got up and grabbed him from behind.  

Buffy watched as another lackey darted up the stairs, she looked at
Riley in time to see him slamming his rifle down on the head of the
lackey that had grabbed him.  Moving quickly, she chased the fleeing
lackey up the stairs.

* * * * *

Willow felt her strength fading as she hurried down the corridor. 
`There's no way my strength will last long enough to get upstairs to
my room,' she thought.  `The laundry room door has a lock!'

She reached the room mere steps ahead of the remaining lackey and
quickly bolted the door shut.  She walked further into the room,
gently putting Tara down before spinning around to look for a way to
brace the door as the creature began beating on it.

Her eyes fell on the soda machine.  It was way too heavy to move
manually.  Closing her eyes, she concentrated, using the techniques
Giles had taught her for the second time that evening.  She opened her
eyes and the machine virtually jumped across the room, settling in
front of the door.

With a sigh, she sank to the ground to sit beside Tara, confident that
they were safe now.

* * * * *

`Definitely came to the right place,' Buffy thought as she reached the
top of the stairs and glanced around.  There on a table she saw the
box from her dream along with five glass jars containing human hearts
and two more empty jars.

Before she could move, she felt something hit her solidly from behind
and she fell.  Three lackeys quickly grabbed hold of her restraining
her tightly as one of the Gentlemen floated toward her with a scalpel
in hand.  As he's about to cut her, there's a crackling sound and the
Gentleman is struck by a blast of electricity from Riley's weapon.  

Surprised, one of the lackeys released her, just as second blast from
the rifle struck it.  Taking advantage of the situation, she flipped
over the two that still were holding her and kicked another one that
was approaching from behind.  Twisting her upper body sharply, she
used the leverage she'd gained to break free.

She quickly ducked a roundhouse punch as one of the creatures that had
been holding her attacked and kicked the other hard in the back,
sending him sprawling.  She ducked a second roundhouse and laid into
her assailant with a brutal uppercut, whipping his head back and
knocking him to the floor.

She threw a quick glance at Riley, just in time to see him slam a
lackey's head into a bell, hard enough to ring it.  A sudden sharp
pain ripped through her back and she realized that the Gentleman Riley
had blasted just stabbed her from behind.  She fell forward as one of
the lackeys grabbed her and threw her into a large spool of rope
beside the table she'd seen.

Weakened by the stab, she wasn't strong enough to throw off the lackey
as it grabbed her around the shoulders and neck, holding her down
against the spool.  Her eyes fell on the box, but it was out of reach.  

`If only I could&' she thought.  Glancing at Riley she waved trying to
get his attention only to see he was looking the other way.  She
banged her hands on the spool to get his attention.  He looked at her
and she looked pointedly at the box.  

Getting the point, he ran to the table and smashed a glass bottle that
was lying next to the box with the butt of his rifle, looking at Buffy
with a smile.  `Idiot,' she thought rolling her eyes.  She quickly
pantomimed opening a box.

"Oh!" he said simply, getting it.  He pulled his rifle up again and
smashed the box.  A pale mist surged out of it.

The lackey holding her shifted slightly and threw Buffy down suddenly.
A stream of the mist went into Buffy's mouth.  She drew a deep breath
and screamed as loud and as long as could.

The Gentlemen and their lackeys froze at the sound, quaking for mere
moments before one-by-one their heads exploded into greenish goo.

As the last of the now headless bodies collapsed to the floor with a
disgusting splat, Riley simply stared at Buffy, completely shocked by
what he'd just seen happen.

"What are you?" he gasped.






"It's a good fight, Buffy, and I want in."
"I kinda love you."
Buffy & Willow, 'Choices'

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