If darkness was a tangible thing, we would be engulfed in it, wouldn't we? Hang on. Engulfed by darkness...that's an expression, right? I mean, an expression people, you know, use. So does that mean the fact that darkness can engulf mean that darkness is tangible. What is tangible anyway? How do you spell it? T-A-N-G....

 "Willow? Hey, wake up, you OK?"

 Willow stared back at the friendly face of their new friend, Wil. He looked a little concerned.

 "Yep, sure. Uh huh...why?"

 "You seemed out of it for a bit."

 "Oh that's the Willow way," answered Xander from behind her. "She thinks nonsense to calm her feelings of being terrified."

 "Oh."

 "Xander," replied Willow softly, "Do you want me to tell what you think of when you're terrified? And in front a new friend, and all?"

 Xander retreated slightly. "OK, OK, no need for specifics." He tried to attune his eyes in order to see better in the dark sewers they found themselves in. It didn't work. "Any idea how far we've come?"

 Wil stopped walking. "Only that we're about a minute away from where we started."

 Willow spoke up. "That's because we've been walking down here for..."

 Xander interrupted her. "Thanks Wil, I get it."

 They walked on some more in silence. After around 30 seconds of silence, Xander stopped abruptly. "This is stupid. We should wait for Buffy. We can't fight vampires. If they saw us, we'd be dead before we knew they saw us!"

 "Xander!" Wil hissed. "We'll be dead a lot sooner if you keep talking!"

 Willow prodded Xander in the back. "Come on."

 "Doctor," tried Buffy for the fourth time. "Where are we going?"

 "This way!" was the short reply. They turned another corner and the corridor seemed to blend into a gray, metallic color, with circular indentations adorning every wall.

 Buffy tried another tack. "So, you know the witch?"

 The Doctor stopped abruptly and gazed into her eyes. Buffy tried to resist the temptation to gulp, but failed. She gulped. "The witch?" asked the Doctor.

 "You know, the...." she paused. "I know I'm wanting to say...roti?"

 "The Rani," the Doctor corrected and continued walking. "Yes she and I were old friends once from our Academy days. She's not a witch. She's a scientist whose methods of experimentation would make Daleks blush."

 Buffy was about to comment further, when the Doctor stopped abruptly (again!) in front of a door. "Yes, this looks like it." He opened the door theatrically and darted in. A moment later an arm appeared beckoning her in.

 The room was dark, with what looked like a pedestal in the middle. The only light came from a soft orange light from above that only illuminated directly below it. At the moment, that was the Doctor. He looked weird under that light, she thought. Unearthly somehow. At that moment, Buffy fully believed he was from another planet, though she couldn't figure out exactly why. The Doctor reached the pedestal, worked at it for a moment, and then the light strengthened to illuminate the whole room.

 It looked very similar to the control room that they first entered, when they walked into this maze of corridors.

 "Secondary control room," announced the Doctor, and confirming Buffy's suspicions. "Can't have been used for centuries." He coughed from the dust on top of the console.

 "Hear what?" Xander asked, straining to listen.

 "I thought there was a scraping sound behind us."

 They waited a while in silence, but no sound could be heard. "I don't hear anything," ventured Willow.

 "Not behind you anyway," interrupted a voice in front of them. Willow suddenly felt a fist drive into her face. She cried out, and fell to the ground, while Xander and Wil tried to reach for their crosses. Xander fumbled and his bag of tools were kicked out of sight. They still could not see who or what was attacking them. Xander turned for a moment to check on Willow, but found she was being pulled up by a vampire wearing, of all things, a catholic girl's school uniform.

 "You know," she Darla. "I was hunting her, but turns out she was hunting me. Now we found each other, I feel like celebrating." She pulled the unconscious Willow closer, baring her neck.

 "No!" yelled Wil, uselessly.

 "Why not?" she asked listlessly.

 "Because the Master said alive!" said another voice. Xander and Wil backed off slowly as they saw three other vampires advancing on them. "The Master needs them alive."

 "Marcus, you always did spoil the party," Darla answered back. She suddenly looked bored, and tossed Willow over to the humans. They barely caught her before she slid to the floor again.

 "You should show more respect for the Master," Marcus observed threateningly.

 "Oh I adore the Master," Darla shot back, "Its that bitch human I don't trust. Something doesn't smell right about her."

 Each vampire grabbed a human and set off down the tunnel. "I know its a little obvious," said Darla into Wil's ear, "but the bit where I say you're going to wish I had killed you, would be a slight understatement at this point."

 Xander sighed as they were herded along. "Where is mystery-boy when you need him?"

 Ten seconds later approaching cautiously from behind the group, Angel whispered. "Where else?"

 "Well, we can't stay here." The Doctor stood looking at the controls for a moment. "The Rani knows we're in her TARDIS, and that's an advantage that makes me a little nervous."

 Buffy looked on as he worked. "We have to do something. Vampires that are invulnerable? What could do that?"

 "Well," answered the Doctor, "the Gem of Amara is rumored to have the right properties, but I'm pretty sure last thing I heard, that was a myth."

 "Most scary things are," noted Buffy.

 "Ah ha!" cried the Doctor triumphantly. He operated the scanner, and the wall in front of them lit up to show an exterior view outside the ship. They saw the laboratory they left and the Rani talking heatedly to a vampire. "No," she said. "You listen to me. Your "Master" has given me the run of this place and that means you and your friends. You want more power, you want to kill the Slayer? Fine, but you're going to have to work with me. Now I have the Doctor and the girl contained for now. I need you to round up the people on my list. I need material to experiment on!"

 "Lunch," cried Darla as she and her minions strode in. "has arrived."

 Buffy swore as she saw Wil, Xander and a groggy (but alive) Willow being shepherded into the laboratory.

 The Rani grunted. "Chain her over there with the other one."

 It was only then Buffy noticed Fiona Abellard from her history class, chained to a wall on the other side of the room to the TARDIS.

 "Doctor," she said impatiently, "Let me out of here, now!"

 "In a minute," tutted the Doctor. He plucked from underneath the console a small circuit panel that looked, to Buffy, like it belonged to an amateur radio set.

 "I know you're going to want me to ask "What's that?". Well I won't..." Buffy grumbled.

 The Doctor beamed, and Buffy found she liked his beam. "It's the main junction to the Primary Power Relay." he answered.

 "Is it supposed to sound like that had capital letters?" she shot back.

 "It will ground her TARDIS here. It's a bargaining chip I intend to use if we are left with it."

 "Doctor, my friends are in danger."

 The Doctor nodded. "Its OK. We're going, we just have to wait for the right time. Watch the Rani, watch..."

 Buffy watched as the Rani checked the chains on her friends. "Well?" he asked.

 "Alright," she said. "She's constantly watching to see when we leave."

 "Exactly. Now we have to time it. Once she comes in to the TARDIS, bearing in mind the door faces the wall, we'll leave. She'll enter her control room as we leave ours. She'll see its empty and assume we're hiding in the ship. We make our surprise attack then."

 "And we're both using the same door?" asked Buffy warily. "Yes...er, well, no..." the Doctor paused for a second. "...yes, sort of." Buffy looked dubious. "Trust me!" he exclaimed. "Look, here she comes."

 They could see on the scanner Darla leaving the laboratory, the three other vampires standing guard and the Rani approaching. "Ready?" asked the Doctor. Buffy nodded. The Doctor operated a control and the double doors swung open. He waited until the Rani disappeared off screen before he announced: "Now!" and they both darted out.

 "Hey, Dracula?" shouted out Xander from behind. Greg looked behind him and growled. "Hey," continued Xander fearlessly. "That chump's only got one pair!" Greg roared and leapt over to where Xander was chained up.

 "If you want to die," he yelled. "Just give the word, human!"

 "Xander," said Willow disapprovingly.

 "Greg, sit down," seethed Marcus.

 "But he..."

 Suddenly Marcus was grabbing Greg by the throat and threw him across the room. The humans are for the Master. ONLY for the Master! Right?"

 "Wrong," answered Buffy and smashed his face in.

 Frampton stood and dove towards the slayer. Buffy twirled a roundhouse, effortlessly kicking him to the ground. Marcus grabbed her and threw her into the table. Buffy groaned for a second, but only a second, as she dodged his punch, and lay one on him, sending Marcus sprawling into Greg. Buffy broke off a leg from the table and side stepped as Frampton dove again towards her. She gave him a stake in the back for his trouble. Greg exploded into ash.

 The Doctor meanwhile had reached the others chained up on the wall. He tried breaking the chains off, but found them too strong. He started searching his pockets for his sonic screwdriver, or a hammer, whichever came first.

 "Hurry Doctor," warned Wil. "Hurry..."

 Marcus punched Buffy in the face, and she punched back. He caught her fist, and kicked her in the gut. Buffy slammed in to the wall, getting the wind knocked out of her.

 "Master!" cried Frampton loudly, as he sought to escape the room.

 Winded though she was, Buffy threw her stake his direction with deadly accuracy. The wood sliced through the air and thudded into Frampton's back. As Frampton fell to the floor, a terrifying figure entered the room.

 "What is going on?!" it thundered. Frampton looked at him pleadingly.

 "Master?" he whimpered, and then he exploded into ash.

 Everyone froze at the sight of this new creature. The Master looked round at the group. His eyes lit up at the sight of Buffy. "The Slayer..." he purred.

 Buffy stood up and took on her fighting stance.

 "No Buffy," cried the Doctor, "Wait..."

 "Stupid child," murmured the Master as he raised his hand. Buffy felt herself being lifted in the air by a force she could not see. It seemed to be dragging her by the neck. She drifted over to the Master, helpless to his spell, as his hand clawed around her neck. "And it isn't even my birthday," he purred. "You shall join your friends for the experiment."

 Willow looked at Xander, terrified. "Tangible...T-A-N-G-I-B-L-E"

 Xander nodded. "Naked Buffy, Jello, Peanut Butter..." Willow gave him a look. "Oh, and a really big spoon."

 To be continued...