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Double Trouble by Sandy
 
Chapter 8
 
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She awoke to the feeling of motion. Shifting slightly, she heard a metallic rattling and opening bleary eyes she looked around what appeared to be the inside of a large van of some kind. Sitting up, she realized that her wrists were shackled to the walls by thick chains. "Oh no," she moaned, "Not chains again. Where's Spike when you need him?"

At least this time she had enough play in the chains that she could move around a bit. As her head cleared, she realized that the van was slowing down, then stopping. She could faintly hear the voices of men and then the van started backing up, the irritating clang of the backup warning signal ringing loudly. The vehicle once again stopped and the engine was shut off. She could hear the men coming around to the back and decided that playing possum was probably her best strategy, at least until she knew for sure whom she was dealing with.

"Check on the bint while I call in." She wasn't sure, but she thought she recognized the English-accented voice. The back door of the van was opened and Buffy lay perfectly still regulating her breathing so that it appeared she was unconscious. "Still out," another Englishman said. "She should be out for a couple more hours yet, the dose we gave her."

"Yeah, well she's a Slayer," the first voice said. "Don't trust that'll hold true."

The door was closed again and Buffy relaxed. She had an idea now who had her. Last year the Watcher's Council had attempted to take Faith back to England for counseling after she had accidentally killed the Deputy Mayor. But instead of helping Faith, they had only made matters worse with the end result that Faith turned rogue and eventually ended up in a coma in the hospital thanks to Buffy.

Now it seemed the Council was back at it, once again trying to expatriate Faith to England. Well this was just great, Buffy thought. She wasn't sure how she was going to convince these guys that they had the wrong Slayer, but she knew that she had to get back home as quickly as possible. She didn't know exactly what Faith had done to her, but the fact was Faith was now in Buffy's body and the harm she could do terrified Buffy.

The men were coming close to the van again and Buffy heard, "All right, lads. We have the go ahead. Let's get this over with as soon as possible so we can pack her up and ship her off. I want her dead before she has a chance to wake up."

Buffy's heart started pounding in her chest. Dead? They were just going to kill her? Not her, she thought, Faith. They were going to execute Faith. Buffy didn't think that any amount of talking was going to save her. She wouldn't believe her, so why would they?

Lying perfectly still, she waited while the door was once more opened. This time she felt the rocking of the van as someone carefully entered. All senses alert she waited until she felt the hand on her arm and then using all her Slayer strength and speed she sat up and in one rapid movement wrapped her legs around the man's torso holding him restrained while she simultaneously wrapped a part of the chain around his neck. Shocked eyes looked in at her and her captive.

"Unless you want to be minus one buddy," she ground out, "I suggest you throw me the keys to these chains."

The man in the doorway narrowed his eyes looking from her to her prisoner. "You kill him, we still kill you," he said coldly. "You'll gain nothing. Let him go."

"No," Buffy said. "I know you won't believe me, but I'm not Faith, I'm Buffy Summers. She did something, switched our bodies somehow. Let me go and I'll help you capture her. After she's switched us back."

The man laughed at her. "I'll give you this," he sneered, "You've got a rich imagination." With eyes gone flat and cold, he repeated, "Let Smith go. You let him go, we kill you easy. You kill him, you'll die slow and painfully."

"I'm not letting him go, and I'm not letting you kill me," she hissed.

"We'll see about that, bitch," the man said as he closed the door.

"Collins!" the man cried out, but there was no answer from outside the van.

"Looks like you friend doesn't care too much about you," Buffy said coldly.

"Let me go," Smith said in a shaking voice. "You don't want to mess with Collins. He will make you pay, believe me."

"Yeah, yeah," Buffy said. "I heard him. I don't suppose you have a set of keys on you, do you?" she asked. When Smith shook his head she shrugged and said, "Hope you don't mind if I check it out for myself. Oh, and I think it'll be easier if you aren't awake to fight me." With that she unwrapped the chain from around his neck, moved her arm in its place and then squeezed. He fought against the pressure, but soon slumped forward unconscious.

Buffy checked through his pockets coming up with a syringe. Shuddering, she slammed the needle into the floor of the van, breaking it and then tossed the syringe away, careful to not get any of the liquid on her. True to his word, there were no keys on his person. Shoving him aside, she carefully looked over the chains, trying to find a weakness. She suspected they were magically enhanced, just as the Gr'Racka's had been, which meant that she couldn't break the chains. But maybe... Getting up on her knees, she twisted around and looked at where the chains were attached to the van walls. Wrapping the chains around her hands, she began pulling with all her strength.

If she had been in her own body, Buffy was pretty sure she would have had no problem pulling the chains from the wall. Stupid men. What good were magically enhanced chains if you just hooked them up to regular steel? Breathing heavily, Buffy rested a moment before pulling again. Faith's body was weakened from her long coma, but even a weakened Slayer was someone to be reckoned with and mere steel didn't stand a chance. Little by little the steel hook pulled free until at last it popped from the wall of the van causing Buffy to fall over. With her arms free, she started pulling on the hooks that held the chains attached to her legs. She quickly had them free as well. Gathering the chains up in her arms she quietly moved up to the end of the van and looked out the narrow window in the door. Two men, Collins and someone Buffy didn't recognize, were seated at a table loading a rifle.

"Shit!" Buffy hissed. Looking back over her shoulder, she quickly made up her mind. Scurrying back to Smith as silently as possible, she grabbed him and dragging him forward she placed his body in front of hers. Reaching for the door handle, she threw it open and then jumped out using Smith as a shield. Collins sprang to his feet aiming the rifle and firing only to have his aim knocked aside by his companion. "Don't shoot Smith, you son of a bitch!" the other man exclaimed.

With a curse, Collins swung the rifle back towards Buffy, but it was too late. Throwing Smith aside, she sped forward swinging the chains in an arc. The links wrapped around the rifle jerking it out of Collins' hands and she spun around using the chains on her legs to knock the two men down. Leaping forward she quickly knocked both men out in a flurry of rapid-fire punches.

Sitting back on her heels, she again caught her breath and then searched Collins for the keys to the chains. Finding them, she unlocked the manacles. Heaving a sigh of relief, she dragged the two unconscious men over to where Smith lay. One by one she loaded them into the van and chained them together in the back. Jumping down from the back of the van, she shut the door and locked it. They'd be okay for the time being. Once she was back home, she'd have Giles call the Council to let them know where their bullyboys were. Right now though, she needed to find out where she was exactly. She looked over at the phone that sat on the table, but decided against calling Giles. There was no way he would believe her. She had to get home and hopefully find someway to convince him that she wasn't really Faith.
 
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