The problems that faced them were simple:

1) Buffy had been kidnapped.

2) Cassandra had sought sanctuary within the halls of Memnos and couldn’t be gotten out.

3) Alger had been oh-so-not-obliging as to cover up Thanos’ direct involvement before he dusted.

As it was, Thanos was doing quite an excellent job of looking as innocent and distressed as the rest of them. Spike was going to rip him limb from limb soon if he didn’t spill about Buffy’s location. He could still hear the distant song of her demon, so she hadn’t been killed yet. But it was a threat Thanos could dangle over their heads until the end of the world if they didn’t do something.

“Thanos can’t keep sheltering Cassandra,” Xander finally spoke out. “He’s about to have a riot on his hands.”

“He can’t sacrifice her,” Drusilla commented slowly. “Or she’ll tattle on him.”

“Doesn’t need to keep this up indefinitely,” Spike pointed out, finally coming to collapse on the bed beside Dru, his head in his hands. “After tomorrow, he’ll be the High’n’Mighty Lord of Everythin’, and he can toss dear old Gertrude to the wolves. No matter how loudly she screams, no one’ll touch him.”

“I’ll defeat him,” Dru hissed angrily. “Bathe in his blood.”

“You do, and it’s bye-bye Buffy,” Xander pointed out. “You have to give him credit: No one’s ever taken hostages during a succession ceremony…”

Dru frowned at that. The pretty boy was right, of course. She’d be given her choice: Her childe or the throne. “Wretched thief…” she growled at the very thought.

“The big question is,” Xander began again uncertainly, “if you step aside and let him win, will he actually give Buffy back?”

Spike and Drusilla snorted in surround-sound.

“Yeah, I gotta agree,” Xander frowned.

Harmony’s eyes drifted shut as she began to grow bored of the proceedings. I mean, hello? Talking in circles much? She was half asleep when a knock on the door jolted her back into consciousness with a little squeak. Everyone turned to look at her.

“I’ll get it!” she squeaked in a similar manner, covering up her little doze. Some talents from high school proved invaluable throughout eternity.

Walking primly from the room as if nothing were amiss, she cracked open the door and frowned. “Is Dalton one of the people we want dead?” she called back over her shoulder.

Several curious glances at this newcomer.

“No,” Spike agreed reluctantly. “He can come in.”

“So kind of you.” Dalton entered nervously, shoulders hunched, looking as unassuming as possible.

“Haven’t seen you about much,” Spike commented casually, somewhat suspicious. He rose to his feet again and circled the Council member slowly, savoring the scent of fear.

“Yes, well, it’s not the Council’s business to interfere in Order decisions,” Dalton agreed, his voice a bit high like he was trying to strangle back a scream of fright.

“Your colleague didn’t feel so,” Drusilla countered, patting the spot of the bed beside her that Spike had just vacated. 

It really was an invitation he couldn’t risk refusing. He sat nervously beside her. “Alger acted horribly, and the Council deems his punishment just,” he agreed. “For a mere Council member to side with one of the challengers… Well, it’s just unheard of!”

“Yeah. Right.” Xander rolled his eyes. Everyone knew that Council members always picked sides, sometimes more virulently than the competitors’ own childer. But everyone also did their best to preserve the illusion that the Council was neutral.

“It seems you’ve got a new leader to pick yourselves.” Spike cocked his head to one side and studied the bookish vampire. He couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something here he was missing.

“Oh, the Council is much quicker at deciding these matters,” Dalton agreed smoothly. “In fact, I come to you as…well, the Council Leader.”

Spike snorted, as if this fact didn’t surprise him. There had to be a reason Dalton was sucking up to them after all, given how he was obviously scared shitless.

“And what do you come to tell us?” Drusilla asked curiously.

He looked up then, for the first time, meeting her eyes directly. She saw some intention there, puzzled over it as he gave her a little nod. Some message he was trying to pass on without speech. Playing at being neutral just like all the others…

It was a simple matter for her to enter the mind that had been intentionally opened for her, and see the intricate threads of the plan that had been woven within.

Acting as though nothing unusual was occurring, Dalton continued to talk. “It’s absurd,” he insisted, “to sacrifice the highest position in the Order for the sake of a Master born to the Order only days ago.”

Spike growled, but Dru held up one hand halting him. Silence. There’s more. Her telepathic words more than her gesture reined in his fury, if only for the moment.

“And Thanos wouldn’t dare harm your childe. He’s far too much of a coward for that,” Dalton went on. “No, this kidnapping was a simple trick to lure you away from what’s important. You must simply challenge him tomorrow as if nothing has occurred. Silly, really, trying to pull these juvenile tricks…”

Dalton finished his speech just as Dru pulled back out of his mind, filled with new knowledge. He let out a little gasp, but she held him in place with her arm, disguising the momentary lapse that always followed telepathic invasions. Although she was fairly certain that her Spike saw what was truly happening.

“He’s right,” Dru agreed, nodding with false earnestness. “Thanos will not harm our girl. If he would dare, he would have come to us by now with his ransom.” She gave Spike a pointed look.

“Er…right…” he agreed reluctantly, horribly confused.

“Are you crazy?” Xander asked in disbelief. “The vamp’s a psychopath!”

Harmony nodded in nervous agreement.

“No no, children.” Drusilla rose and patted Xander’s cheek affectionately. “You’ll learn over time. Thanos is nothing, his threat merely smoke and mirrors.”

Xander opened his mouth again.

“And nothing will dissuade me from my choice,” she added sternly.

Xander had enough sense to keep his mouth shut.

“So, like, I guess you don’t need us then. Right?” Harmony spoke up, her brows furrowed into a frown.

“Not at all,” Drusilla agreed, politely gesturing that she could go whenever she pleased.

“Okay, cool. So, bye! Good luck with that whole grandchilde-not-getting-killed thing!” With a final wave, Harmony left.

Xander got up to go as well, but Drusilla latched onto his arm, holding him fast. “What’s going on here?” he asked, convinced now that there was more here than met the eye.

“She’ll go to Thanos and relay our message?” Drusilla spoke aloud of the visions Dalton had shown her for the first time.

“It should be enough to draw him out of hiding before the final challenge tomorrow,” Dalton agreed, rising to his feet. “He’ll have to make sure you take the threat to Buffy’s life seriously.”

Drusilla nodded slowly. “We’ll stick to the plan,” she agreed.

“Good.” He gave her a little bow, darted a suspicious look over at Spike, and left as well.

Spike and Xander turned their eyes back to Dru. “Care to tell us what this plan of yours is?”

She smiled and gestured for them to gather in closer…

Buffy awoke with a painful groan. Her head felt heavy, leaden, and her vision swam. Dizzily, she tried to remember how she’d ended up this way. 

Vague images came to her slowly, as if they were very far away and she had difficulty focusing on them. Xander. I was talking to Xander… And then… There was something… Hit me and then… She shut her eyes again against the pain and stopped that train of thought. She was pretty sure she’d gotten everything out of it that she could, anyway.

Thanos. She remembered the last image before this very dark gap she’d fallen into. It was that bastard Thanos. He knocked me out…

With a hiss of pain and another spell of dizziness, she managed to sit up. She realized quickly that a simple blow wouldn’t have disoriented her this much no matter how powerful Thanos was. No, she was probably drugged. Great. Just great.

Slowly, she tested her limbs one by one. The feeling returned, although it shot up and down her nerves like needles. Apparently her entire body had been numb from the drug. This just kept getting better and better…

Her demon began to rise again in the back of her mind, and she could feel it like a blessed coolness over her body’s aches. A healing flood ran through her veins, restoring her to her usual strength. Of course, her healing powers were limited without fresh blood, but she’d taken enough that her body no longer ached.

Her head, on the other hand, was a different matter entirely. Her eyes still burned when she opened them, and it felt as though her temples were being pounded like drums. It was making her mind slow, making it difficult to focus.

At first, she thought the drugs were still working on her, but then she came to realize that the source of her pain was much simpler than that. Squinting against the pain, she saw a painfully bright square of sunlight only feet from where she now rested. In the harsh desert environment, the shaft of light was so intense that it refracted off the stone walls, echoing back its heat and light in all directions, bombarding her with its deadly force.

Buffy groaned and began inching away from the sun patch. She could see where she was now. It was some deep fissure in the rocks, a cave well over one-hundred feet deep. Several shafts of sunlight streamed in from the entrance far overhead. Not enough to kill her, but more than enough to leave her weak and nauseous.

She looked down at her hands to find them glowing a pinkish-red with sunburn. No doubt all her skin had turned that color by now. It itched, burning like a rash. But, as unpleasant as that was, Buffy favored it to her skin actually being on fire.

Quickly, she found a dark little niche in the rocks, one where she calculated the sun would never reach. It allowed her some limited shelter, and while the blaring light continued to set every nerve ending tingling with distress, her skin cooled down a bit. It was the most relief she’d get until nightfall.

Nightfall.

With sudden alarm, Buffy realized that tonight was Dru’s big battle with Thanos. The pieces of the puzzle fell slowly into place for her. Your childe for the throne. Ugh. She was hating Thanos more and more by the minute. She had to get out of here and get to Dru.

Except, of course, that was impossible. They hadn’t left any guard on her; they hadn’t had to. The entrance to the cave was so brightly illuminated that even looking at it made Buffy all too aware of the fragile demonic force that held the dust particles of her being together. Never before had she been made this conscious of her mortality. It was terrifying in a way she’d never imagined.

No escape until dusk then. Probably after, given how the sun’s relentless persistence would heat up the desert for hours afterwards. And, by then, it would be too late. Thanos the high power over them all, Drusilla defeated and Spike… Oh god, please don’t let Spike be part of the trade for my life, too. She shivered at the recollection of Cassandra’s not-so-subtle interest in her sire. She was starting to feel nauseous again. And hot. Unbearably hot.

With a final groan, her eyelids fluttered shut once more. The refracted sun was taking its toll on her, and oblivion rushed over her once more. And, in that one horrifying moment before unconsciousness, one hopeless thought came to her: There’s no way they can beat him now. Not unless they leave me to die. So, either way, I’m screwed…

“Like clockwork.” Drusilla smiled like a very satisfied feline when the knock sounded on the door.

Spike’s attention perked up, and he nodded for Xander to open it.

“Yeah?” Xander raised one curious eyebrow at the Master outside. One of Thanos’ childer, of course. If Xander recalled correctly, his name was Cyril.

“I request a brief audience with Drusilla,” Cyril said formally and quite politely.

“I dunno,” Xander pretended to consider this. “I’ll hafta go ask her. Wait here.” He shut the door again and leaned back against it, humming softly to himself and counting to a hundred in his head.

Back in the main audience room of their chambers, Drusilla giggled in anticipation.

Finally convinced that he’d left the other vamp waiting long enough that he’d started squirming, Xander opened the door once more. “She wants to know what this is about,” he insisted.

“I bear a message,” Cyril insisted.

“Yeah, see, Drusilla doesn’t see how any message from you should matter to her,” Xander countered with a snide curl of his lip.

“It’s from Thanos!”

“Yeah…” Xander trailed off slowly. “Then why isn’t Thanos here to deliver it?” he pressed.

“It’s just a message.”

“And Dru doesn’t negotiate through messengers. That’s always risky, y’know? Things tend to get…misheard…”

Cyril frowned. “I see.” He hesitated another moment. “I’ll be right back,” and he darted off.

Xander closed the door again and gave Dru and Spike the thumb’s up sign. “He’s getting Thanos.”

“Climb into our web, little fly…” Drusilla sighed dreamily.

Spike snorted. There were large sections of this little ‘plan’ of hers and Dalton’s that he didn’t like. But this part of it was satisfying enough that didn’t care about the rest for now. Oh yes, this would be fun, indeed. He only hoped the sacrifices they were making would be worth it in the long run.

Another knock. Thanos this time. Spike paced restlessly as Xander made some preliminary negotiations with the other vamp. Arguments about the sizes of allowed entourages always bored Spike silly, and right now it was practically insufferable. Finally Thanos agreed to just bring in one of his childer, so long as Dru was only allowed one of her own as well. Good thing, too. Spike wouldn’t have missed this for the world.

“Are we letting them in?” Xander asked curiously, stepping out into the hallway. His own presence hadn’t been part of the negotiations.

Spike and Dru shared a look.

“Thanos and Cyril may enter,” Drusilla agreed.

One final wink, and Xander was gone. And Thanos and his childe entered, shut the door, and found themselves immediately set upon…

“Nothing to see here,” Xander used every bit of authority he had as a messenger for the Order – which wasn’t much – to clear the hallway.

Amazingly, most of the vampires agreed. The only exceptions were two of Thanos’ childer who insisted on waiting by the door – for all the good it would do them – and Harmony.

“Hey,” Xander slipped an arm around her waist and led her down the hall with him.

“We don’t get to watch?” Harmony sounded terribly disappointed.

He shrugged. “It’s all just negotiations anyway,” he assured her before his expression hardened. “Besides,” he added, “given the way you’ve been running back and forth to Thanos as a double agent, I really doubt you want to run into Spike or Dru again.” He said this last bit casually, factually, as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world.

Harmony let out a little squeak of surprise. “H-How did you…?”

“Know?” Xander retorted. “Dru is psychic, you know.” The actual truth was far more mundane, of course. Dalton’s spies had kept close watch on Thanos and spotted Harmony’s frequent visits. And since Harmony was the one who had lured Spike from the crowd and she’d run off just after Dru’s decoy to trick Thanos into paying a live visit, any doubts Xander had had were settled. He was beginning to think more and more that nabbing Buffy had been a last minute gasp of desperation when the move against Spike had failed.

Harmony gulped. “You know why I did it, right?” she pleaded with him, catching his hand. “I mean, it’s like political and stuff! You have to help both sides and be all sneaky. It’s the only way to move up in this hellhole.”

Xander sighed. The thing was that, once he’d heard it, he realized it didn’t surprise him at all. Harmony always had had illusions, convictions that she was better than all this. “I get it,” he shrugged. “That doesn’t mean Dru and Spike aren’t pissed.”

“Th-Then Thanos has to win,” Harmony concluded. “Because, when he does, he’ll totally stop making me do all the grunt work and—”

“Is that what he offered you?” Xander asked curiously.

“Well, that and the money,” she conceded. “Do you have any idea how expensive it is to have the latest South American fashions shipped all the way out into the desert?”

He just shook his head. “I hope you got paid in advance…”

“Huh?” She didn’t get it, didn’t know she’d been a patsy in all this to set Thanos up. It was just as well.

“Never mind.” He walked off with her. Typically, inevitably Harmony to the end. This wasn’t the first time he’d seen her pull something like this, and he was pretty sure it wouldn’t be the last. “Never mind.”

“How dare you?” Thanos hissed, struggling at the chains that bound him.

Across from him, Spike sat smugly, watching the older vampire writhe like a worm on a hook. “Those are unbreakable, y’know,” he commented casually. “No use struggling. So nice of the Order to see to all our bondage needs, innit?”

Thanos stilled at that, eyes still flashing daggers in Spike and Dru’s directions. “This is in strict violation of every law the Order has ever made.”

“Yup,” Spike agreed proudly, turning back to where Dru had chained Cyril up the far wall. “How about that?”

“Shall I bleed him now?” Drusilla was practically clapping her hands with delight.

“You have no right to touch him!” Thanos insisted angrily. “When the Council hears about this, you’ll be drummed from the Order. They’ll hunt you down no matter where you try to run.”

Spike chuckled. “Been there, done that, killed enough little minions that the Council just gave up.” He leaned in close so that he and Thanos were nose-to-nose. “The thing is, mate, the Order’s just fine and dandy out here in the desert. But out in the real world? We’re the real power…”

Thanos’ eyes narrowed. “You do this, and I’ve won,” he retorted smugly. “Your ditsy little sire will have forfeited her challenge, and I’ll rule it all.”

“You do that, then,” Spike shrugged. “Have fun. Although you’ll have to manage a few limbs short.” He pulled a long, serrated knife from its sheath, grinning as it glinted in the candlelight. “Unless you’re plannin’ on being obliging and tellin’ us where you’ve taken our third?”

Real fear entered Thanos’ eyes for the first time. “Y-You wouldn’t!” he insisted.

And Spike scoffed. “You think me and Dru aren’t up to a bitta old-fashioned torture?” His reply was a scream as his blade suddenly pierced his enemy’s flesh. “What did you expect? We are vampires, after all.”