The group stood in stunned silence for a moment before Xander voiced the gut reaction of each eyewitness. “Hey!”
“What the hell was that?” Gunn asked, and Giles, taking a stunned step toward the spot in which Regina had been standing, turned to him, face ashen.
“They’ve taken her.”
Gunn and Spike exchanged a glance. “Uh…yes. Thank you Captain Obvious,” the vampire said calmly. “I think the big question is ‘why?’”
“Probably to torture her,” Connor put in helpfully, eliciting a jab to the ribs from a stunned Dawn.
Spike rolled his eyes. “Why her?”
Fred nodded. “They don’t even know her. Why didn’t they take Spike…or Faith?”
“Regina works for the Council,” Wesley said with confusion in his tone. “Other than the missing Slayers she’s had very little to do with this. Perhaps they needed a bargaining chip and grabbed the first one of us within reach.”
“Bargaining chip for what?” Anya asked. “What do we have to bargain with? We’re trapped in this room, Buffy and Angel are God knows where, probably being tortured, Willow’s in that same camp…”
“Don’t say that,” Xander told her tersely.
Anya glared at him sharply. “I’m just pointing out the obvious. They’ve got us in a corner. We don’t have anything else to give them.”
“You guys weren’t paying attention,” Faith told them. “It took her on purpose. Didn’t you notice that it, whatever that was, went right for her? He barely spared the rest of us a once-over.”
“You’re saying he wanted Regina specifically?” Giles asked her shakily. “But why? What can she tell them?”
Fred stepped forward. “She’s important to you…maybe they’re trying to get to Buffy by hurting the people she cares about.”
“I don’t buy that,” Cordelia said, shaking her head. “If they wanted to get to Buffy, they could easily just torture Angel. And they’ve got Willow. Out of all of us here, they picked the person the least close with Buffy. I mean…they’ve got Dawn, or Giles, or Xander if Angel and Willow weren’t doing the trick.”
“Cordelia’s right,” Wesley agreed with a nod. “No offense, but there are better ways to get to Buffy, or Angel for that matter, than to deliberately choose to kidnap the person they’ve had the least amount of contact with.”
“Which still leaves the big fat question mark behind ‘Why her?’” Gunn murmured.
“Maybe…” Dawn began, biting her lip. “Maybe they’re coming back to get all of us.”
Connor looked at her quizzically. “What do you mean?”
She shrugged, slightly unsure of herself. “Maybe they thought we’d be in here preparing for them to come back to get us…you know, to jump them or something, so now they’re going to send a team to just nab one of us at a time. Whichever one of us happens to be standing next to the where the portal opens.”
“Meaning that the next time the air starts to buzz and crackle…” Fred nodded, warming to the idea.
Spike cocked his head. “Grab hands and hold on.”
“That’s not entirely a bad line of thinking,” Wesley agreed. “Keep us off guard…take us one at a time and separate us. If we don’t know where anyone is, even should one of us manage to escape it would take forever to find everyone else…”
“Or if Buffy and Angel do manage to get away,” Faith nodded. “They’ll have no idea where we are.”
“Good distraction,” Spike said reluctantly. “I’m impressed.”
“It’s not impressive,” Cordelia spat.
He sighed and gave her a look. “’Course it is. The lawyer’s good with an evil plan. Got to give her her due. This thing’s long, complicated, fairly drawn out…and we’re still hopping, trying to figure out what’s going to happen next.”
“’We?’” she bit out, arching one of her perfect eyebrows. “Since when are you on our side here? I’m standing here waiting for you to try to kill us all if the wind changes and blows that thought through your mind.”
“Stay off our side,” Xander put in, glaring at Spike. “I think we’re all done trusting you in this lifetime.”
Spike snorted. “I’m hurt.”
“Not as hurt as you’re going to be when Buffy kicks you out of her life,” Dawn told him.
“Niblet, your big sis isn’t--”
“Just don’t talk to her,” Connor ordered him, putting an arm around Dawn.
Spike glanced at him with amused surprise, a half-smile playing on his pale lips. “Junior, when I want your opinion or input--”
He cut off his retort quickly with widening eyes and lunged at Dawn and Connor. Connor immediately pushed Dawn out of the way and shifted his weight, preparing for battle. Spike dove at him and Connor easily handled the vampire, manhandling him backward and delivering a punch to Spike’s jaw that took the demon down.
“Connor! Stop!” Cordelia cried, grabbing onto Wesley’s hand, who in turned took that of Anya.
The air near where Dawn and Connor had been standing began to fizzle and spark. Something was about to appear.
“It’s almost through…” Wesley stiffened, prepared.
“Stay behind me!” Gunn ordered to Fred. He nodded at Wesley and Xander. “We hit whatever comes through that portal fast and hard. Don’t give it a chance.” They nodded in response, at the ready.
“Go!” Xander cried, bolting toward the portal and taking down the person who stepped through with strength he hadn’t known he possessed.
“Xander!” Dawn screamed as Connor moved in to help Wesley, Gunn, Xander, and Anya, who was slapping at the man in black as he fell to the ground.
“Ow!” Angel shouted, throwing back the arms of his assailants as best as possible. “What the hell are you doing?!”
“Don’t let him up!” Anya shouted. “Keep him down!” She continued to beat him about the head and Angel was forced to duck for cover again.
“It’s…Angel?” Gunn stopped mid-punch.
“Angel…wait, what?” Anya paused, ready to deliver another blow.
“It’s Angelus,” Xander cried with certainty, pinning the vampire to the ground with his body. Anya responded with another smack to Angel’s head.
“HEY!” the vampire roared. “It’s me…” He groaned from his spot on the floor. “Get the hell off of me, Harris.”
Xander made no move, his heart racing. “You think I don’t know who you are, you murdering psycho?”
“Oh God help me,” Spike groaned and yanked Xander to his feet. “It’s the poofter, you twit. I can tell.”
Angel stood and brushed himself off before taking a look around. “What the hell was that?”
“We thought you were coming to take us out of here,” Dawn offered.
“I am coming to take you out of here,” he told her reproachfully.
Her face fell. “Oh…well…yeah. I mean… We thought you were the bad guys coming to take us out of here in the…you know…uh…bad way.”
“But hey! You’re alive!” Anya announced gleefully, patting Angel on the shoulder. “We thought you might be dead, or, you know, at least being tortured beyond the comprehension of pain.”
Angel stared at her for a beat, bewildered, before glancing around at the others. “Everyone okay?”
They nodded. “Bored to tears. Where’s B?” Faith asked, stepping forward.
Xander joined her. “And Willow.”
“They’re safe,” Angel assured them. “Oz has some of his friends with them.”
Xander relaxed slightly. “Oh, good.” A second later what Angel said hit him. “Wait…what?”
“Oz,” Angel repeated. “It’s a long story.”
“Who’s Oz?” Gunn asked.
“He’s going to make everyone uncomfortable again, isn’t he?” Anya asked. “Especially with Tara being dead and all, and Willow still a lesbian.”
“Willow’s a lesbian?” Fred asked, surprised.
Giles ignored them. “Angel, how do you plan to get us out of here?”
“Same way I came in. Buffy and Oz are waiting to reopen the portal.” He paused a mere moment, then rubbed the back of his head, wincing. “Why, exactly, did you guys jump me again?”
Dawn looked sheepish. “A minute ago the portal got opened again. This guy stepped in, grabbed Regina, and took her.”
Angel glanced worriedly at Giles. “The Watcher? They took her?”
Giles nodded. “There was no time to react.”
The vampire’s brown furrowed. “Why her?”
“We don’t know why he took her…perhaps because she was closest in range,” Wesley offered.
Angel didn’t look convinced. “What took her?”
“A large man, dressed all in black,” Dawn volunteered.
“So you can see why,” Xander said lightly, eyeing Angel’s large frame and entirely black ensemble, “we didn’t pause to make introductions when you came bursting in here.”
“That’s really all we know, Angel,” Wesley told him, stepping forward. “It happened in the blink of an eye, too soon to even tell if what took her was human or demon.”
Anya nodded. “Or something else.”
“Faith thinks it took her on purpose,” Dawn announced, sheltered in Connor’s arms.
Angel turned toward her, noted his son with his arms around Buffy’s sister, then glanced at Faith. “Why?”
“The thing didn’t hesitate, didn’t go for any of the super-hero types here. Didn’t go for anyone particularly close to you or Buffy or Willow,” she told him.
“No one close to us, to use to get us to talk,” he nodded, catching on.
“Exactly,” the Slayer nodded. “Grabbed the Watcher and *pop* …no more Watcher.”
His gaze turned quizzical. “Why her, then?”
“Don’t know,” Cordelia told him.
There was silence for a moment as Angel mulled over the latest development. Faith broke it by asking “What’s the plan on your end, big guy?”
Before he could answer the air near Fred sizzled and cracked causing the slight Texan to jump out of the way.
“I really hope that’s Buffy,” Cordelia muttered.
“Plan is to either jump the thing that walks through there,” Angel called loudly over the sound of the portal opening and the sudden rush of wind that had picked up, “or to go through it ourselves. Get to Willow, find Regina, end this thing tonight.”
Spike snorted. “So same basic plan, you’ve just changed around who needs rescuing.”
“Can we leave him here?” Gunn asked before the portal opened with a whoosh. They waited a beat, then another before Angel nodded to Wesley and the ex-Watcher stepped through. One by one the group reentered their own plane.
When Angel himself stepped through, the last of the group to return, his eyes fell to Buffy and Dawn, hugging madly.
“Oz…dude,” Xander drawled, slapping the wolf on the back. “I’d say I’m surprised to see you but…”
Oz nodded, understanding. “Our world is a small one.”
“That and Angel told us you were here,” Xander grinned.
Buffy and Dawn released each other with grins and turned to the group. “We don’t have time for small talk, unfortunately,” Buffy told them grimly. “We have to get Willow.”
“And…Regina,” Giles told her soberly.
Buffy glanced around. “What?”
“They got her,” Dawn said simply.
They Slayer was dumbfounded. “How? When?”
“In the White Room,” Cordelia told her. “It’s a thing.”
“Explain it on the way,” Oz ordered gruffly. “I want to get back to Willow.”
“Only a few of us should go,” Gunn put in. “We’re not quite stealthy with a dozen people clomping around.”
Buffy took charge. “Angel, Connor, Oz, with me. The rest go with Faith. You too, Dawn.”
Faith’s nose wrinkled with distaste. “And do what? Wait?”
“Find the security room, locate Regina while we’re getting Willow.”
“Then what?” Gunn asked. “Still got a big evil running around out here, killing Slayers and trying to start the End of Days.”
Angel’s eyes hardened. “One thing at a time.”
“Well find you,” Buffy told Faith, and she nodded before sprinting off with the others.
“I’m coming with you,” Dawn informed her sister.
The Slayer’s gaze didn’t waver. “Like hell.”
She moved to Connor’s side. “I’m going with you.”
“Dawn, no…it’s not safe.”
“She’ll be fine,” Connor told the Slayer, and put a hand on Dawn’s shoulder.
Buffy exchanged a glance with Angel, who shrugged unhelpfully. With a shake of her head she gave in. “Whatever.”
They headed out, parting at a hallway, Buffy and Angel’s group heading to the stairwell to return to where they’d left Toby, Willow, and the female werewolves, Diana and Kira. It was a moment later Buffy noticed Spike had joined them.
“What are you doing here?” she asked him bitterly.
He shrugged. “Picked a group.”
Buffy’s jaw stiffened. “You suck at picking a side, Spike, and this group isn’t for you.”
“What’s that mean?”
She stopped, pushing him backward with a thrust to his chest. “What, are you here to help now? To play hero because your little frolic back to Evil Land didn’t work out for you? We don’t need your help. And obviously Wolfram and Hart don’t need or want you. Just…go home.”
Spike’s mouth dropped open, then clamped shut again and Angel couldn’t help but smirk.
“Now wait a bloody minute!”
“For what? For you to change your mind again about what side you’re on?!” the Slayer cried. “I’ve spent the last few years with you, fighting side by side.”
“You were doing more than that, luv,” he began, and nostrils flaring she reared back and clocked him across the face, snapping his head back.
Buffy’s eyes burned with rage. “Believe that I’m paying for my mistakes.”
She turned and with Angel and Connor smirking, and Dawn staring wide-eyed at them, proceeded down the stairs. Spike’s glance ticked to Oz, who raised an eyebrow but said nothing before he returned to leading the group.
With no where else to go, Spike followed them.
*~*~*
Willow was still unconscious when they arrived and it was quickly decided that Angel would be the runner to meet up with Faith and the others.
“I think the best plan is to get the hell out of here,” Oz murmured, his gaze never leaving the frail witches’ face.
“Agreed,” Angel nodded. “But we have so much left to do.”
“It may have to wait,” Buffy said quietly, touching a hand to Willow’s forehead. “There are so many things at risk if we stay.”
“End of the world’s a pretty big risk,” Kira put in.
“They need me or Spike to perform this ritual,” Angel told her gruffly. “And that’s not happening.” He glared at Spike who rolled his eyes and lit a cigarette, blowing the smoke in Angel’s direction.
“What about the potential Slayers and the First Evil?” Connor asked.
Angel sighed. “We’ll deal with it.”
Diana snorted. “I’m glad you can be so casual about the end of the world. Apocalypses are so bothersome.”
Buffy’s eyes grew hard. “We’ve faced it more than once. Enough to know that sometimes other things take priority.” She kissed Willow’s forehead before looking up at Angel. “We should go.”
He nodded. “We’ll get the others, hopefully they’ve located Regina. No one leaves this room. We’ll be in contact,” he told them, holding up his cell phone. Buffy tossed hers to Dawn and with a final glance back they exited.
“This was easier when we could use Willow’s fun magic mind-speak,” Dawn grumbled as she sat down on the floor.
“At least Angel finally got a cell phone,” Connor grumbled. “I’ve only been in this dimension a year and I’ve got one.”
Kira and Diana shifted their attention to Oz, who had pulled up a chair next to Willow, where he now sat, stroking her hand with his.
“The big love, huh?” Kira asked.
He nodded. “This is Willow…”
“What happened to her?”
“They set a warlock on her of some kind…drained her powers. She couldn’t fight back.”
“I thought she was some all-powerful Wicca or something,” Diana interjected bluntly.
“She is,” Dawn told her from her spot on the floor. “Willow can do anything.”
Diana looked doubtful. “Then I hope she can get us out of this.”
Dawn’s eyes narrowed. “I’d love to see you perform when you’re knocked unconscious.”
“Which can be arranged if you don’t lighten that tone,” Spike put in.
Dawn sighed. “Spike, don’t help me.”
Toby sat to the side, nervously glancing from one to the other. It was he who first noticed the door to their room open, but before he could get out the words of warning zooming through his mind, it was too late.
*~*~*
“She’s no where to be found,” Faith complained as the entire crew headed out to rejoin Oz, Dawn and the others.
“We broke into security, Fred checked the computer files, we scanned the cameras. Nothing,” Gunn told her.
Giles looked heartbroken. “She’s just gone.”
“She’s not gone,” Buffy assured him as they rounded a corner. “They’re just holding her somewhere.” She slowed as she approached the room where Willow lay unconscious. “But Willow needs medical care. She’s…I’m just warning you,” she told them, eyes on Xander, “she doesn’t look very good.”
“I’m going to kill them all,” he replied, deadly serious.
“We have to get out of here, we have to get her to somewhere safe. That’s our main priority at the moment.” She opened the door slowly. “Once Willow’s safe and on her feet again we can deal with--”
She stopped short upon entering the room, Angel, Faith and the others bumping into her from behind.
“Me,” Regina smirked at her, cocking the revolver she held in her right hand, its barrel held to Dawn’s temple.
