~*~

Among the papers Buffy had taken from the abandoned Nerd Central were notes on a planned robbery. The trio of tricksters had carelessly left all the necessary information for someone to find and figure out the planned time and place.

Their intended target was an armored car that would be carrying the profits from an amusement park. The trio of criminals had not expected Buffy to survive the lame yet effective buzz saw that had booby-trapped their lair but only done minor damage to Buffy’s coat.

The Scoobies made plans to stop the robbery and arrange for the police to come at the proper time. This would allow Buffy to handle any supernatural elements of the plan without having to make up some unbelievable story for the authorities. Of course, the Sunnydale police seemed to have a limitless capacity when belief needed to be suspended and wild excuses accepted.

The police were the only choice left to the band of heroes since the trio were all human. Giles had stressed that they had to rely on human justice provisions for dealing with human malefactors.

The Scoobies’ plan was simple. Buffy would take them on physically, as usual. Willow planned to ward off any magic spells Jonathan might try to cast by using a talisman made and blessed by Tara. Xander and Giles would play backup, helping if needed and making the phone call to the police at the right time. Tara would stay at the Summers house chanting protection spells for the Scoobies against any demons the trio might try to summon.

Actually, Willow was only going along because she had begged to be allowed to be there to finally put an end to the irritating group of geeks. It was obvious from the way she had said their names that she felt the same disappointment in Jonathan as Xander and Buffy did. They had gone to school with the boy and would never have expected him to choose the dark side.

Willow had been in a magic group with him in High School. Now, she was planning to be there to see him jailed for the rest of his youth. They had much in common, two "geeks" playing with magic to puff themselves up.

Buffy remembered her treasured parasol award that Jonathan had presented to her at the prom for being the "Class Protector". She recalled the scared, hurt boy she had talked out of suicide once upon a time. She wondered when he had gone so far off course. They had much in common, young people overwhelmed with feelings and self destructive behavior, drifting off course.

Had Jonathan turned to them for help he would have found eager assistance. Instead, tonight would be his last night of freedom in the foreseeable future. Sad really, but necessary. Their crimes were getting more and more bold and people were getting hurt; a girl had been killed.

The Gang arrived at just the right time. The robbery was already in progress.

Buffy attempted to stop the tallest of the trio, but to no avail. Warren, clearly the leader of the trio, was mysteriously showing signs of superhuman strength! What was happening here?

The other two boys held themselves back from the fight. They looked nervously at one another. While Andrew called words of encouragement to Warren, Jonathan kept calling out something about "the orbs" and pointing at Warren.

Buffy finally understood that Jonathan was trying to help. She saw a bulge in the pocket of her opponent and broke what proved to be mystically powered orbs. The fight was soon over as Warren returned to normal human strength.

Willow saw Warren strip off his jacket and expose a weird sci fi style rocket strapped to his back. She lunged at him just as he pulled the cord and they both shot skyward.

Andrew was attempting the same getaway only to knock himself unconscious as his head hit the roof he had been standing under while the fight had been going on.

Warren and Willow were barely visible as the wannabe bandit struggled to shake off the unwelcome passenger on his odd mode of escape. Finally, he kicked Willow forcefully in the face, knocking her loose and sending her plummeting. She landed in a broken heap on the ground.

Giles had already telephoned the police to pick up the other two misfit miscreants. Buffy had even tied them together so they would be a nicely wrapped package for the usually inept keepers of the law on the hellmouth. Christmas was coming early this year for Sunnydale’s "finest".

Both Giles and Buffy ran to the spot where Willow’s unconscious body now lay, but Xander beat both of them to his fallen friend. "Oh, God, Will, NO! No, you can’t leave me. Willow, don’t leave me. I can’t bury another friend". He kept murmuring softly, words that begged his oldest friend to fight, to stay in the world with him.

He reminded her of Tara and how they were so close to getting back together and that Willow couldn’t do to Tara what he had done to Anya, leaving her alone and grieving. Xander rocked back and forth in his misery, tears streaming down his face, splashing on the battered friend he cradled gently in his arms.

Giles felt himself sicken as he saw Willow’s broken body looking so much like Buffy’s had after her leap from the tower. He quickly checked her vital signs and issued a sigh of relief that Willow was alive--badly hurt, broken and unconscious, but still alive.

Buffy had already pulled out her cell phone and called for an ambulance. As soon as she finished that call, she made another call to Tara to let her know that Willow needed her and that she should get to the hospital as quickly as possible.

"Yeah, Tara, the keys to mom’s Jeep are on the front table. We’ll meet you there", Buffy promised "Um, I don’t know, she’s kind of unconscious and the paramedics aren’t here yet. Yes, Giles checked. Tara, I don’t know, just get there, okay?" That done, she pocketed the cell phone and headed over to Xander.

He appeared as broken in spirit as their friend was in body.
"Xan, she’ll be okay, she’ll be fine. The doctors are great and she’s so strong. Tara’s going to meet us there and you know how strong they are together. Please don’t fall apart on me, Xander. I need you to be 'Strong XanMan' now and so does Willow. You and Giles need to stay here and handle the cops and the ambulance. I’ll meet you at the hospital as soon as I finish this", Buffy pledged. "I’m not good with words, you know that. Give me something pointy and I’m your girl"..

Buffy looked over where she had left the other two criminals and threw her shoulders back, putting a look of determination on her face. She marched over to Andrew and Jonathan and the look she gave them chilled their blood. "Okay, which one of you is going to be smart and tell me where your buddy is, cause I promise you I AM going to get one of you to tell me", she said in a steely voice.

Jonathan had already given up all hope of any happy ending for himself or his two former friends and was more than happy to sic Buffy on Warren.

"You shouldn’t have told her, you butt wipe", whined Andrew.

"Warren would have gotten us out of this. We would all be in ‘Meh-he-co’ by tomorrow. We still had some money from the bank robbery. We could have gone to Brazil like Butch and Sundance and lived like kings".

"Sure, nimrod, and THEY had a real happy ending too, didn’t they? Gunned down in some little Brazilian town by federales. I’d rather live, thank you. The Slayer would have taken us apart if we hadn’t talked. At least we have a chance to get out of prison in a few years with all of our parts intact", Jonathan replied.

"Besides, I like Willow". Jonathan sounded strangely like a lost little boy. I don’t want Warren to get away with killing another woman. That’s not what I signed on for. And, weenie, if you think Warren is going to even THINK about you, you’re deluded. He’s not picturing himself giving you rides on bicycles singing ‘Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head’ someplace south of the border".

Buffy had taken off at a run in the direction Jonathan had given her. She had a purpose now and it was one she was good at. Warren was toast. Buffy only hoped he’d try to fight a bit. She might not be able to kill a human, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t play a short game of ‘whack the mole’ if he started it. And oh, how she hoped he would start it!