Title: Past Glory Author: Sandy Rating: NC-17 Pairing: Spike/Buffy Spoilers: S5 up to Tough Love, AU after that although elements of S6 will appear throughout the story. Disclaimer: Alas, not mine, I just borrow them occasionally Feedback: Gives me the warm fuzzies A/N: For the purposes of this story, the Knights of Byzamtium, although suspecting that the Slayer is protecting the Key are not aware that Dawn is the Key. Chapter 32 "Are you sure this is the way?" Willow asked as she tripped over another patch of uneven ground. "I'm sure this is where the map indicated." "Well I hope you have a better idea than just a general direction," Xander complained as he too stumbled over the uneven ground. "'Cause all I'm seein' are trees and rocks and the hillside." "It's here somewhere," Jonathan insisted. "We just have to find it." He hesitated for a second and then added, "It was probably easier to find in the daytime." Willow's ankle twisted slightly as she stepped on yet another of the small rocks that littered the ground. "Okay, that's it! We've been stumbling around here for fifteen minutes now. We don't have time to waste." Handing the flashlight to Xander, she stood rigidly raising her arms towards the heavens and started muttering in what Xander took to be Latin. At the end of the incantation, she twirled around spreading out her arms. "Ostendo!" A wave of power was released from her hands like a strong wind ripping through the forest. Seconds later a faint greenish glow emanated from a section of the hillside. "Wow, Will. Way to turn on the lights," Xander said impressed. "Come on," she said taking back the flashlight and leading the way. Jonathan followed behind the other two. He had felt the power Willow had pulled from the very air around them. It had been so casual that Jonathan doubted she even realized that she'd done it. He began to wonder whom he should fear more - Willow and her power or Warren and his mad genius. At this point, it was too close to call. The glow came from the entrance to a cave. Entering cautiously, Willow shined the light around the cave finally locating a tunnel off to the left. Moving forward, she entered and was surprised when within a few minutes she entered a chamber containing a large console filled with computer equipment. "Why would The Initiative have a set-up like this in a cave?" she asked in puzzled voice. "Beats me," Xander answered. "But then I don't know why they did most of what they did." Searching around he noticed a doorway in one of the walls. "Look, Willow, I think that must lead into the base." Going up to it he grinned and said, "When is a door not a door?" Before anyone could answer he gave the door a slight push. "When it's ajar." Willow rolled her eyes and moved though the now open doorway. Shining the flashlight beam around she saw that she was indeed in a hallway. The light caught evidence of footprints on the dusty floor. Speaking quietly she said, "Okay, it looks like they came this way all right. Everyone keep quiet now. We don't want to warn Warren we're coming." She finished her statement with a hard stare at Jonathan. He swallowed and nodded. Okay, he was pretty sure that he was more afraid of Willow right now. Following the trail of footprints, they soon came upon another doorway. It too was slightly open and light shined around the edges. The faint sound of Warren's voice could be heard. Willow clicked off the flashlight and pulled the door the rest of the way open. *** "Andrew, I'm ready for the Pockla to implant the chip. Oh, and Buffy, just in case you didn't get it from Spike's reaction, this is going to hurt. A lot." Andrew's face skewed into another expression of extreme concentration as he forced his will on the Pockla. The demon glided forwarded, its talon-like hand reached out to take the small chip Warren held out to it. Taking it between two long claws, it turned to Buffy and began to extend its hand towards her head. "STOP!" Andrew jerked and glanced up to the balcony that ran across the far wall of the laboratory. A moment of panic filled him when he saw Willow, eyes dark and hair flying eerily around her head standing there like an avenging wraith. Behind her stood Xander holding a crossbow and Jonathan looking scared to death. His break in concentration allowed the demon to regain its will and it lowered its arm from Buffy's head. A shimmering began behind it and it turned to glide into the opening portal. "Andrew, forget about them! We're losing the Pockla," Warren yelled. He turned and ran back towards the console he had been working at earlier. Picking up his taser rifle, he aimed at the intruders on the balcony. Xander saw what he was doing and tackled Willow shoving her out of the way of the weapon's discharge. Jonathan dived in the opposite direction. The sound of Warren's voice brought Andrew back to his senses and he swallowed and began concentrating once again. The Pockla, unable to fight the summoner's control, began to glide back towards Buffy. Willow, pinned down by the taser blasts watched in horror as the demon approached her friend. "Jonathan, can you do something about that demon?" she called out desperately. Jonathan peeked over the railing and saw his friend hiding behind the table where Spike lay. Not knowing what else to do he called out, "Andrew, please stop it." Warren aimed the blaster at Jonathan nearly hitting him. As Jonathan dived back it gave Willow the opportunity to lob a fireball at Warren. He dived out of the way and the fireball hit the computer console sending flames shooting up towards the ceiling. Before he could take aim again, Willow lobbed another fireball at the demon as it reached Buffy, engulfing it in flames. It moved back, but the flames did it no harm and quickly died out. Another taser blast made Willow jerk back once again. "Damnit, guys. I need help here." Jonathan racked his brain trying to come up a way to help. He wasn't as strong magically as Willow and usually needed charms or his magic bone to successfully cast a spell. But desperate times... Sliding along the balcony's floor trying to keep out of Warren's sight, he got close enough to the railing to peer over. Andrew was still crouched down; his control now so fractured that it was all he could do just to hold onto the demon. It stood unmoving several feet from Buffy. Wrinkling his forehead in concentration, Jonathan began to quietly chant a spell. As Xander considered his options he realized that Warren had moved into a position that actually gave Xander a shot with the crossbow he held in his hands. Carefully sighting his target, he pulled the trigger. Reaching the end of his incantation, Jonathan pointed and uttered, "Quiesco." Simultaneously two things happened. The crossbow bolt hit the taser rifle Warren held knocking it from his hand and Andrew slumped unconsciously to the ground as the sleep spell took effect. As soon as Willow saw that Warren was disarmed, she stood and summoned another fireball. Before she could throw it at him however, Warren grabbed up the shattered crossbow bolt and rolled across the floor until he came up against the table to which Buffy was strapped. Rising up, he grabbed Buffy by the hair, pulled her head back and placed the sharp point of the bolt to her throat. "Don't be stupid, Warren," Xander cried out urgently. "No one needs to die here." Warren's laugh bordered on insane. "You don't think so? All of you have done nothing but mess up my plans. You think you can just do that to me without paying?" Drawing back his hand slightly, he prepared to stab the bolt into Buffy's jugular. Before he could begin the downward movement however, his wrist was grasped in an iron grip. The Pockla, now completely free of Andrew's control, had silently glided up behind Warren. As it tightened its hold, Warren began to scream in agony. He struggled helplessly against his captor, his cries echoing throughout the room. The demon's hand slowly tightened and it appeared to the three watching from the balcony that its hand fused right through Warren's wrist. When the bolt clattered harmlessly to the floor, Xander turned away gagging. Warren's now severed hand still firmly clutched the bolt's shaft. The Pockla stared silently into Willow's eyes for several minutes and then, still holding a now weakly pleading Warren, backed into the reopened portal. The portal closed after them and silence descended upon the scene. Xander wiped his mouth with a trembling hand. "Why did it take Warren?" he asked with a shaky voice. Willow looked at her friend and said coolly, "Poetic justice." "Huh?" "Hey, guys?" Buffy coughed as the smoke from the burning console reached her. "You wanna do something about that fire?" Willow and Xander hurried to the end of the balcony and ran down the stairs. Reaching Buffy, Willow began to undo the restraints. Xander grabbed a fire extinguisher from the wall and put out the fire. When he was sure it was completely out, he joined Willow at Buffy's side. "Shouldn't we try to get Warren back?" "Why?" "Because he's human?" The last of Buffy's restraints was released and she sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the table. Rushing over to Spike she snapped, "Who cares, Xander? The lunatic is gone. I don't really care where the Pockla took him or what it does to him. Now help me get Spike untied." Spike was still unconscious and Buffy gently slapped him face. "Spike? Spike, honey, can you hear me? Come on, Spike, wake up now." Spike's eyelids fluttered and he opened dazed-looking eyes. Willow and Xander had gotten his restraints unbuckled and Buffy helped him sit up on the edge of the table. "You okay?" He looked at her blankly. "Spike?" Buffy voice shook just a little, frightened by the empty look in his eyes. He swayed a little and Buffy caught him up in her arms. "We have to get him home." "What's wrong with him, Buffy?" Willow asked in concern. "He... he was hurt in the fight," she prevaricated. "Xander, get on the other side and help support him." Willow looked at Jonathan who had revived the sleeping Andrew. "What are we going to do about those two?" she asked Buffy. Buffy turned to glare at the two remaining boys. "Please, Buffy," Jonathan said nervously standing protectively in front of Andrew. "If you just let us go, we'll leave town and I promise you'll never see us again." "And I should believe you because?" "Jonathan did help us find you, Buffy. And he says the other kid was totally under Warren's control," Xander told her. "You promise to leave town and never come back?" "I promise. In fact we'll leave the country altogether. Mexico or Canada." "Okay, Jonathan, take your friend and leave. And believe me, you don't want me to see you again." Jonathan nodded nervously and led a still groggy Andrew in a hasty retreat from the lab. As they crossed the floor, Buffy heard a faint crunching sound. Leaving Xander to support Spike, she said, "Hold on to him a minute. I want to check something." Searching the area where the sound had come from, she found the crushed remains of a small computer chip. "What is it, Buffy?" Xander asked. "The chip Warren was going to implant in my brain. It's been destroyed." "Good." "Yeah, good." Standing up, she returned to Xander and took Spike's arm across her shoulder. "Come on, let's go." As they made their way out of the lab, Xander asked, "Willow, what did you mean by 'poetic justice'"? "Warren's going to be an experimental lab rat." "Huh?" "The Pockla are like interspecies doctors. And sometimes they deal with humans, but they don't know that much about us. So it took Warren with it to study." "Like a physical exam?" "More like vivisection and amputation." "It's going to kill him?" Xander asked in a slightly sick voice. "Nah. Whatever they do to him they can fix. And then they can do it all over again." Willow's voice held a note of cold satisfaction. "Jesus, Will," Xander whispered. He hated Warren, but it was a hellish fate. Buffy looked at Willow curiously. "How do you know this, Willow?" "The Pockla communicated with me telepathically before it left," she said with a shrug. Buffy made no further comment. She was too worried about Spike to care about Willow mind-melding with demons or about what was going to happen to the bastard who'd caused Spike's injury. When they reached Xander's car, Buffy got into the back seat with a still unresponsive Spike. As Xander drove to her house, Buffy held Spike's limp hand. What if the Pockla had caused irreversible brain damage? Could a vampire get irreversible brain damage? Surely he would recover. And when he did? The chip was no more. It lay smashed to silicon dust on the floor of The Initiative lab and only she knew it. What she didn't know was what she was going to do about it. tbc