full 3/4 1/2   skin light dark       
 
Ring of Fire by TalesofSpike
 
Chapter 6.07
 
<<     >>
 

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting



Note: Thanks to my beta t_geyer as always for her help and patience. Special thanks in this instance to Lori for stepping up to the plate while t_geyer is out of town.


SECTION 6 - GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN

Some boys take a beautiful girl
And hide her away from the rest of the world
I wanna be the one to walk in the sun

Hey now, hey now
What's a matta with ya?
Girls just wanna have fun now
Come on

(Cyndi Lauper, Album - 12 deadly Cyns... and then some)




Chapter 6.07
Wednesday, May 15th, 2002

"Spike!" With barely half a second to spare before the first bolt should have hit, Buffy shouted a warning. As clearly as he could see Wesley sitting on his hog in front of him, taking off his helmet, Spike could see the three arrows converging on his heart from behind. He didn't question how he knew this, or that it was really happening.

Battening down the instinct that told him to dive for cover, he grasped the outer edges of his coat, pulling it wide to present the largest possible target. He rose up on tiptoe with his feet on the bike's footrests, hoping that if the arrows did hit that they would land low of their mark.

"Bloody hell, if the old watcher was wrong, this is going to hurt," was his last thought before the arrows bounced painlessly off his back without even marking the leather. "All praise the orbs of Nezzla Khan and sheer dumb luck. "

"Watcher!" he shouted to the blissfully unaware Wes. "I'd be immensely happy if you could find some cover that isn't me. Standing here letting wooden arrows bounce off my back isn't my idea of fun. I'd much rather be running toward the bastards with the bows."

The arrows continued to rain in, as soon as the archers got over the shock of the first few just dropping to the ground, and soon it became apparent that Spike was their only target.

After a few seconds, Buffy stood away from the tree she'd been using as cover. "What the heck? These guys take Dawn and then think they only have to worry about Spike?"

"Clear," Wes shouted to let Spike know that he could move without putting the other Englishman in the line of fire.

Spike was off the bike and into a dogleg run as fast as a blink. He'd known his target before he even turned around, the same way he knew that Buffy fell in directly behind him as he made the turn using his body as both a shield and concealment. Always, when he and Buffy had fought, both against each other and on the same side, they had had an intuitive awareness of each other. Now, it was refined to an incredible degree. It wasn't as if they were communicating telepathically. He wasn't aware of what Buffy decided to do. Rather, it was as if they were independent parts of the same whole, they thought as one.

Even though he knew it wouldn't make a difference, Spike raised his arms in front of his face instinctively, as he crashed through the window.

"This is Alpha One requesting assistance, Alpha One requesting assistance," Riley spoke into the walkie-talkie as the tornado of fury and black leather that was Spike and Buffy imploded into the room.

"What do you know? You got any more exes, maybe from when you lived in LA, who're going to get an urge to kill me?"

Riley pulled an asp from his boot, flicking the extendable baton open, but Spike simply ignored the blows that the younger man tried to land.

"Don't you guys ever get the message? You can't hit me. You can't shoot me. You can't detain me."

"Buffy, stay out of this," Riley warned.

"Why? 'Cause you only like to shoot people in the back, or because you don't want to face someone who could actually hurt you?"

Buffy's questions distracted the soldier long enough for Spike to slip past his guard. Spike's arms snaked through under Riley's from behind and then his fingers came up to interlace behind the taller man's head effectively pinning him. Spike dragged him back until the vampire could brace himself against the door into the room, preventing the men upstairs and on the roof from coming to Riley's aid.

"Do you remember when we were sparring and I kicked you across the room?"

"Yeah?" Riley's voice was unsure as he tried to struggle against Spike's grip.

"I was holding back.

There are pretty much two things that make me mad enough that I stop holding back. One is people who mess with my boyfriend. The other is people who mess with my family. I guess you win the jackpot."

It was the type of blow that Buffy rarely, if ever, used. Normally, she didn't really want to get that closely acquainted with her opponent's anatomy and if you needed to resort to dirty tricks it was so predictable that there were generally better targets. However, with Riley pinned in place and her sister in danger, she planned to get her message across quickly. As her kneecap crunched into Riley's pelvic bone with little regard for the more delicate areas in between her satisfaction at the grating sound almost matched Spike's.

Even before the blow, the larger man had been prevented from standing upright by Spike's hold. After it, he slumped like a dead weight in Spike's arms.

"Why?" Buffy asked.

Riley panted for several seconds trying to get his breath. In the lull, the heavy blows of his men, trying to break through what they assumed was a barricaded door, could be heard.

"Why not? He's just another monster." The soldier finally gasped out his reply. "One of these days that chip's going to stop working. He's already got you and the others in his thrall. What's going to happen then?"

A low dark voice spoke softly in Riley's ear. "She already knows you're a bigoted bastard who can't accept that in the end the better man won. She was asking about her sister, asking what Dawn's boyfriend did that made you leave him lying in an alley to die."

"What? We never. Buffy, he's lying. He set this up. We don't hurt people. We protect them from things like him."

The thuds against the door at Spike's back stopped to be replaced by the sound of running feet. Buffy looked toward the smashed window frame, only to recognise the faint shimmer in the air that denoted one of Willow's barrier spells.

"Yeah, right," answered Spike. "That why you were in Nepal? The yetis not quite managing to hide as well as they used to, so you thought you'd go wipe them out? You ever heard of anyone being attacked by an abominable snowman, love?"

"You make it sound dirty. All we're doing is protecting our own."

Buffy's fist smacked into Riley's jaw as Spike gave his opinion on the man's comments.

"Bollocks. It was bollocks when the Nazis said it and it's bollocks now."

"Hey, I'm not some-."

"Genocide is genocide, Jews, gypsies, blacks or demons."

"So what does that make Dawn? Let me guess, Class 3 subterrestrial, not normally aggressive," Spike gave a small snort at Buffy's description. "Minimal threat, especially if the big brave soldiers can drug her and her boyfriend before they shoot him and kidnap her. How'm I doing?"

"Buffy, I don't know what you're. talking about." Riley hesitated slightly as Buffy's phone began to ring.

Buffy pulled the phone from her pocket turning her back to the two men as she answered.

"Buffy Summers."

"Miss Summers. It's Andrew Michaels here."

"Hi, Mr Michaels. How's Brandon?"

"He's still unconscious, but he's talking in his sleep. Now, I can't think of a single reason he would be dreaming about his grandparent's dog, so maybe you know another Sam he might be talking about?

I also thought you should know, I've spoken to Brandon's godfather about this evening's events. He has some influence at The Pentagon. He's going to see that there's a full inquiry and that those involved are held accountable for their actions. I know it doesn't help you find your sister, but those responsible aren't going to get away with it."

"Thank you, Mr Michaels. You've been more helpful than you know. I think we know exactly who he means, and we're currently .interviewing someone who should be able to help us find her."

"And Miss Summers. What I said before about not wanting Brandon around you? He's never been wrong about people before. I guess when he comes round he'll make his own decisions, anyway."

"Teenagers generally do."

"I hope you find her, Miss Summers."

"It's Buffy, and we will. Thank you."

Buffy closed the phone and launched into a spinning kick that caught Riley on the opposite side of his jaw from her earlier punch.

"Steady, love," Spike cautioned. "Can't tell us what we need to know if he's got a broken jaw."

"Okay, Riley. How about you start with the truth this time. What has your wife done with my sister?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. Sam and her team had reports of a Polgara over the far side of town. They took it out, finished early and she went back to Lowell for some R and R."

"And I'm supposed to swallow that? Just like I was supposed to believe that those Nevilles-."

"Nevlons," Spike corrected.

"Whatever. Don't interrupt," she snapped before returning her attention to her ex. "Just because you fooled me with those baby demons and your stinky clothes, don't think I'm stupid. Maybe you got past me at the time but I have a brain. Those stupid crabby things were never going to grow up into that thing I killed and I bet the reason you didn't want the thing killed was so that it could lay some more seriously lucrative spawn for you and your honey.

How damn feeble-minded do you think I am? Now tell me where your wife has taken my sister."

Spike felt the fight go out of the bigger man as the meaning of Buffy's words seeped into his resisting brain.

"I- It can't." he stammered.

Spike loosed his hold on the younger man letting him slump to the floor. "I think he thinks you're a bit less stupid than he is, pet."

"You mean. ?" Buffy couldn't bring herself to believe what Spike seemed to be suggesting.

"She fooled you lot. Guess you weren't the only ones."

Buffy couldn't bring herself to gloat over the fact that Riley's perfect life was so very far from perfect after all, but that was okay, because Spike could revel in his opponent's misery quite enough for both of them.

"And you," she turned to her fiancé. "The term is African-American."

"Funny, I was talking about Hitler. He did most of his killing in Europe and Africa, not America, and it's just a statement of fact. I'm white. You're white. Martin Luther King was black. It's not like I called him a-."

"Mouth. Shut. Now," Buffy snapped.

"Bloody hell." Spike leaned back against the door and lit a cigarette.

"Riley, your wife took my sister. She's not being held at the Initiative; in fact we have reason to assume she may be aboard a train of some sort. Now, tell me what you know."
 
<<     >>