~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
~Part: 16~
Willow and Giles sat there in stony silence. Scarlet looked to Xander for help but the brunette merely turned the other way. She glanced at Ethan who had a bored expression on his face, as if he had expecting this all along. Finally, she turned to Buffy. The Slayer stared back, shook her head and broke the silence.
“You ok, Will?”
Willow nodded, stood up, and walked up to Scarlet until she was face to face with the brunette. Scarlet trembled slightly, not knowing what to expect when all of a sudden, the redhead flung her arms around her. The brunette, after recovering from shock, returned the hug, savoring the physical contact and comfort.
“Will, what are you doing?” Buffy asked incredulously.
“I’m giving Scarlet a hug.”
“Why exactly?”
Willow turned around and said softly, “Everyone makes mistakes, Buffy. It’s obvious that she’s sorry about it. There’s no point in holding grudges.” The redhead sighed, “She’s willing to help us find William and that’s what’s most important right now.”
“Thank you,” Scarlet whispered back. She wiped the tears from her eyes. Willow had just forgiven her so easily, she owed it to her to jump right on it and help out as much as she could, “Why don’t we start off with the basics, does Spike have any enemies?”
“Ha, obviously you’ve never met the bleached wonder,” Xander quipped.
“I’m going to take that as a yes.” Scarlet paused, “Any in particular?”
Buffy shook her head, “If he did, he wouldn’t have told us.”
Scarlet sighed, “So, I guess we’re kinda back at square one.”
“Why don’t you contact your superiors for help?” Giles asked, finally speaking after she announced her news.
“I-I don’t know.”
The Slayer nodded, “Yeah, if they’re this big secret organization thingy then they must have contacts and all sorts of info.”
Willow smiled, they were finally getting somewhere.
“I can’t,” Scarlet began, trying to find a reason why.
“Why the hell not?” Buffy demanded, “You said you wanted to help. This would be helping.”
“I just,” She sighed, “can’t.”
The Slayer looked at her angrily. She turned to Giles, “Are you sure I can’t hurt her?”
“Buffy,” Willow said, “Don’t. I’m sure she has her reasons.”
“Yeah, and I want to know why.”
“So would I, actually,” Xander joined in, “I may not be the biggest fan of the Evil Dead but I actually like William.”
“I-“ Scarlet paused, “I’ll call them tomorrow.”
Buffy grabbed the phone off the counter, “No,” She handed it to her, “You’ll call them now.”
Scarlet shook her head nervously, “You have no idea how much trouble I’m already in. Telling Ethan, that I had to do. Telling the rest of you, I shouldn’t have.” She sighed, “I mean, I should but I shouldn’t have. Please tell me you know what I’m talking about.” She said desperately.
“It’s okay, Scarlet. It’s not like we’ll tell them anything,” Willow said in a soothing tone.
“It’s not that. It’s the fact that I want information all of a sudden. And besides, my superiors already told me they don’t know anything.”
“They’re lying to you,” Buffy stated. “Think about it, big organization, lots of contacts. They have to know something. They’re just not telling you.”
“Well, if they haven’t told me already then they won’t tell me anything now.”
Ethan sighed out of boredom, “Why don’t you just take the information from them then?”
All the heads in the room turned towards him. He rolled his eyes, “You’ve got a hacker. You’ve got someone who knows the information. Use it.”
Giles smiled for the first time that night, “Bloody brilliant.”
~Part: 17~
Willow tapped the computer keys one last time before a huge smile broke out on her face, “God, I love the internet!”
Scarlet rushed to her side, “What’d you find?”
“Experiment #108A, Transition from Vampire to Human. Experiment #108B, Transition from Human to Vampire. Subject, William the Bloody AKA Spike,” Willow read off the screen, “Complete with details.”
“This is good,” Buffy smiled and then turned to Giles, “This *is* good, right.”
“Yes,” The Watcher sighed, “I believe it is. Though I do fear for what we’ll discover. These types of experiments, I don’t believe they’re ever moral.”
Buffy shot a glare at Scarlet though the brunette never saw it, “Yeah, never.”
“Guys, I think I found something,” Willow said quietly. “Oh, God,” She breathed, “This isn’t good, this isn’t good at all.”
The Slayer walked up behind Willow, “What is it?”
Willow turned to Scarlet, “Looks like there are some things your superiors didn’t exactly tell you.”
“What?”
“You’re a part of the experiment.” Willow gulped, “We all are.”
~^~**~^~
William reached for his bottle of water, feeling for it but never finding it. The temperature of the room had seemed to drop greatly over the past few hours. He shivered and said hoarsely, “Hello? Can I get some more water or maybe a blanket?”
He had found out that what ever he requested, he usually got. Which only added to the mystery of it all. If someone had captured him to kill him or torture him, why weren’t they making any move to actually do it? Whatever these people or demons wanted, they needed him alive. And, that thought scared him more then anything. It wouldn’t be a quick and easy death for him, no, it was going to be slow.
He needed to get out of here.
~^~**~^~
“Did they find it?”
The man nodded furiously, “It took them awhile, but they did.”
“Perfect, that means they’ll be here within the next 2 hours.”
“Everything is prepared as you wanted.”
“Good, very good. You will be rewarded.”
The man backed away slowly, tempted to break out into a fast paced run but he calmed himself. She was pleased. That was good, that meant that he wouldn’t die. Suddenly, he felt the air disappear from his lungs. He stumbled to the ground, clawing at his chest. Distantly, he heard her chuckle.
“Hmm, perhaps in your next life.”
~^~**~^~
William heard the sound of keys jingling and then a rush of cool air blew into the already freezing room. “Who’s there?”
He felt arms tugging at him and he kicked out, not wanting to be taken to wherever he was going. Suddenly, he felt electricity shoot through him and his whole body went limp. Slowly, he faded into unconsciousness.
The men dragged William’s unmoving body out and onto the stretcher. They placed him on it carefully, not wanting to hurt him. After all, he had to be in tip top shape for what was to come.
They stopped moving him when they saw her suddenly appear before them.
“Is he ready?”
“Yes, ma’m,” One worker said nervously. They had all heard about the wrath of the woman currently standing before them. It wasn’t something that he wanted to experience.
She smiled wickedly, “Perfect.” She walked up to William’s body, the only sound was her heels clicking against the cement floor. She traced her fingernails along his cheek and then moving down to the tip of his chin, “Just perfect.”
~Part: 18~
“What?” Buffy demanded, she looked at Willow, “What?”
“We’re a part of it. It has all our actions listed here. I’m guessing based on what Scarlet reported.”
The blonde Slayer glared at the brunette, “You mean, we’re all dragged into this. This twisted little experiment of theirs? What, are we ‘subjects’ too now?!”
Willow let out a nervous laugh, “Basically.”
Buffy shook her head, “I cannot believe this. *You*.” She pointed at Scarlet, “All of this is because of *you*.”
“Buffy,” Giles silenced her with one word. “Now is not the time to point the blame. I’m sure Ms. Elson had no idea this type of thing was going on.”
Scarlet sighed, “Not entirely true.”
“What?” Buffy growled, “You *knew* about this?”
The brunette ran her hand through her hair, “God, I’m sorry. I’m really,” she looked up around her, “sorry.” She whispered quietly.
“Explain, *now*.”
“They’ve done this type of thing before. This shouldn’t even come as a surprise.”
“Then *why* is it?”
“I should’ve been informed. Or something like that. I don’t understand how the information was brought up to me.”
“Well, now you know anyway,” Xander said, his voice calm. He nodded at Willow, “Thanks to the Willster.”
“No,” Scarlet whispered. “There’s no way you could’ve hacked in to *that* kind of information. Not even with my help. They wouldn’t keep a secret that big on some files on a computer. It just,” She dug the heel of her hand into her forehead, “doesn’t make any sense.”
Buffy rolled her eyes, “Whatever. Right now, we know the info. We know where they’re keeping William. I say we go and get him back. We can deal with you later.”
“Perhaps it’s best not to be rash,” Giles suggested. “She may have a point.”
“Well, I’m not going to sit here while she drowns in self pity trying to figure things out.”
“How do you plan to attack them, Slayer?” Ethan asked, slightly amused.
Buffy stared at him, “With weapons.”
Ethan rolled his eyes, “Thank you, Ms. State the Obvious. If they’re really as powerful as Scarlet says, don’t you think they’d be a little bit harder to take on?”
The Slayer sighed, “I can handle it.”
“Really?”
Buffy walked up to him, “Well, any other suggestions, then?”
A wicked grin crept onto his face, “Actually, yes.”
~^~**~^~
“Where are they?” She whipped around, her eyes glowing red, “They should be here by now.” She growled and turned to two of her followers, “You two, what are your names?”
“J-J-John,” He stuttered and elbowed his partner when she didn’t say anything.
“Sherry,” She replied nervously.
“Find out what’s going on.”
Sherry gulped and looked at her with wide eyes, “We can’t. Scarlet knows us. She’ll tell them.”
She rolled her eyes, “Did I *ask* for an excuse?” At the quick nod of their heads she continued on, “Yeah, I didn’t think so. Get your asses over there *now* before I kill you.”
~^~**~^~
“Knock!” John demanded, pointing at the door.
“Why me? You knock!”
He sighed and brought his fist up, knocking on the door a few times. He really didn’t want to be there. But, it was a lose-lose situation. If he wasn’t going to get killed by *her* then he was going to get killed by the Slayer and her band of do-gooders. Hopefully, the wouldn’t hurt him.. too much.
~^~**~^~
Scarlet couldn’t help but smile after hearing Ethan’s idea. Maybe, he wasn’t all bad. She had a feeling he was only doing it so he could get his spell back but as long as he was helping, everything was good. Hearing the knock at the door, her brow furrowed in confusion. She got up and opened the door, her jaw dropping in shock when she saw who it was.
“Why are you here?”
“We- ummm,” John began, not knowing how to continue.
“We were sent,” Sherry cut in.
Scarlet gripped the door harder, trying to control her anger. “You two are the reason why I’m even in this mess. Why all of us are even in this mess. Is William hurt?”
“No,” Sherry continued smoothly, “And he won’t be.”
“Actually, he will if you don’t get over to the warehouse. Tick tock, time’s ticking away,” John said with a smirk. They were the villains in the situation, they didn’t have to worry. Besides, it’s not like Scarlet would do anything.
He was wrong.
Scarlet punched him hard in the nose. The impact making a sickening crack. Sherry quickly backed away from him and stared at her in horror.
“Oh, God, please don’t hurt me.”
She glared at her, “Oh, so now you’re scared?”
Buffy put her hand on Scarlet’s shoulder, “Wait, we need somebody to explain everything to us. Give us some more info. After that you can punch her.”
Scarlet sighed and grabbed Sherry by her collar. The brunette threw the flimsy woman into the house. She stepped outside and kicked John in the abdomen. “Get up, you idiot.”
He groaned in pain, “I think you broke my nose.”
“Yeah, that was my intention. Get up.”
He crawled to his feet and stumbled into the house.
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