Part Twelve Buffy sat at the table, absently flicking through a new book when her mother walked in. "Buffy? When were you going to tell me?" "Alright, busted. I didn't think you'd miss them." Buffy took off the earring she was wearing. Jeez, can't I borrow anything around here? "You were accepted to Northwestern University. Honey, I'm so proud of you! That's wonderful!" her mother enthused. "Right! It's wonderful," the Slayer grimaced. Mmm...as if I'd leave Angelus! Hah! "I mean, it's not cheap, but, uh, I know we can make it work if your father pitches in. Not that Northwestern is your only option. It's a great school, though. I am so proud of you." "You said that before." I bet you thought that I wouldn't make it, huh? Admit it, Mom! "And will again soon." "Mom, you know that I can't...I-I just can't decide on a school right now. I mean I want to sleep on it, you know, mull it over. Raise them up my inner flagpole, see which one I salute," she tried to get her mother to tone it down. "I know, sweetheart. I'm just so pleased that you have so many choices. Ooh, you know what? Your aunt Arleen and her family are in Illinois. I've got to call and tell them. Oh, Buffy?" her mother called as she went to pick up the phone. "I know, you're proud of me," Buffy sighed. "Ah, don't forget to put my earrings back in my dresser before you go out. Arleen? Hi! It's Joyce. How you doing? Listen, you are never going to believe where Buffy got accepted to school!" *~*~* Later that day, Buffy sat at a picnic table at school opposite Willow and Oz. "Sounds like your mom's in a state of denial," Willow told her best friend. "More like a continent. She just has to realize that I can't go away," Buffy sighed. Not that I really want to...unless Angelus came with me... "Well, maybe not now, but soon, maybe. Or maybe I too hail from Denial Land," Willow also sighed. "The corruption of a Slayer and the Mayor's ascension are just another chapter in the Slayer's life on the Hellmouth...UC Sunnydale - at least I got in. You! I mean I can't believe you got into Oxford!" Buffy was so happy that Willow could go so far. She hadn't forgotten the way she had defended Angelus...well, okay, Angel...to Xander. "It's pretty exciting," the Wiccan-in-training grinned shyly. "That's some deep academia there," Oz responded. "That's where they make Gileses!" Buffy sat up and grinned at her own joke. Willow gasped. "I know! I could learn and, and have scones. Although I-I don't know how I feel about going to school in a foreign country." The shyness had returned. Xander's voice drifted over to them from beneath a tree, where he was sitting. "Everything in life is foreign territory. Kerouac. He's my teacher. The open road is my school." "Making the open dumpster your cafeteria?" Buffy held back a grin. "Go ahead, mock me." "I think she just did," Oz replied in his amusement. "We Bohemian anti-establishment types have always been persecuted. Oz nodded. "Well, sure. You're all so weird." Willow encouraged her other best friend. "I think it's neat, you doing the backpack, trail mix, happy wanderer thing. "I'm aware it scores kinda high on the hokey-meter, but I think it will be good for me. You know, help me to find myself." Cordelia stepped in between the table and Xander's tree. "And help us to lose you. Everyone's a winner," she grinned. The future wandered stood up. "Well, look who just popped open a fresh can of venom. Hey, did you hear about Willow getting into Oxnard?" "Oxford," the redhead corrected. "Oxford. And M.I.T. and Yale and every other college on the face of the planet. As in your face I rub it," he bragged. Cordelia was less than impressed, or happy. "Oxford? Whoopee! Four years in tea-bag central. Sounds thrilling. And M.I.T. is a Clearasil ad with housing. And Yale is a dumping ground for those who didn't get into Harvard." Willow frowned. "I got into Harvard." "Any clue on what college you might be attending so we can start calculating minimum safe distance?" Xander bated. "None of your business. Certainly nowhere near you losers!" she sneered. "Okay, you guys, don't forget to breathe between insults," Buffy attempted to diffuse the situation between the ex-couple. Cordelia turned her venom on the Slayer. "I'm sorry Buffy. This conversation is reserved for people who actually have a future." Then she left. "An angry young woman," Oz observed. Willow turned to her best friend. "Oh Buffy, she was just being Cordelia, only more so. Don't pay any attention to her." "She's definitely got a chip going," Xander agreed. "Maybe if you didn't goad her so much?" Willow suggested. Xander shrugged. "I can't help it. It's my nature." "Maybe you need a better nature..." Willow murmured helpfully. *~*~* Buffy followed Wesley into the library. "I don't understand," he told his Slayer. "Well, I don't think I can talk any slower, Wes. I want to leave." "What? Now?" He was aghast. "No, not now. After I graduate, you know, college?" "But, you're a Slayer," he argued, as if it all made sense. "Yeah, I'm also a person. You can't just define me by my Slayer-ness. That's...something-ism," she attempted to explain. Giles listened from the door of his office. "Buffy, I know we've talked about you going away..." "I got into Northwestern," she broke in happily. All I need to do now is get there, then I can finally get on with my life with Angelus without you all breathing down my neck... He smiled proudly at her. "That's wonderful news. Good for you." Wesley felt the need to remind them. "Alright, everyone. Monsters, demons, world in peril?" "I bet you they have all that stuff in Illinois," Buffy said reasonably. "You cannot leave Sunnydale. By the power invested in me by the Council, I forbid it." He crossed his fingers over his heart while he said it. Jeez, Wes, pathetic much??? Buffy rolled her eyes and turned her back on Wesley. "Ah yes, that should settle it," Giles could barely contain his amusement. "Faith gone bad, and the Mayor's Ascension coming up..." Wesley ticked off the finer points of the Hellmouth... Uh...Faith is probably already dead and most likely has been ever since we found out about her...and as for the ascension, well, Angelus says that we have it covered...Buffy mentally ticked off her own, more accurate, list. "I know it's complicated. I'm aware that my graduation may be, among other things, posthumous, but... What if I stop the Ascension? What if I capture Faith?" Is dead an option? Coz I'm pretty sure she ain't alive... "I very much hope you will," Giles told her confidently. "If I do that, then all you guys have to do is keep the run of the mill unholy forces at bay through mid- terms and I'll be back in time for Homecoming, and every school break after that. Can we at least think about it?" she begged. "Perhaps if circumstances were different..." Wesley started. "I'll make them different!" She was wearing through their arguments nicely. "What?" Wesley wondered absently. "I'm tired of waiting for Mayor McSleaze to make his move while we sit on our hands counting down to Ascension Day. I mean, let's take the fight to him." "No. No!" the young Watcher argued. "Much too reckless. We're at a distinct disadvantage. We don't know anything about the Mayor's Ascension..." Giles agreed with his former change. "She's right. Time's running out. We need to take the offensive. What's your plan?" he asked Buffy. She looked at him blankly. "I gotta have a plan? Really? I can't just be proactive with pep?" Giles smiled. "No. You want to take the fight to them? I suggest the first step would be to find out exactly what they're up to." "Oh. I actually knew that. I thought you meant a more specific plan, you know, like with maps and stuff. Great. We'll find out what they're up to," she grinned. This was a job for the dynamic slaying duo of the Slayer and her Angelus... Part Thirteen Buffy and Angelus watched as a vampire carried a large box from a limo, into City Hall. The limo pulls to a halt in the parking lot. Buffy crept up to the vehicle. The vampire, apparently hearing a noise, stuck his head out of the window. Angelus reached his arm in and dragged the vampire half out of the window. "So, what's in the box?" Buffy asked, full of mischievous curiosity. *~*~* "The Box of Gavrock," Buffy announces to the group hanging out at the Sunnydale High Library. "It houses some great demonic energy or something which His Honor needs to chow down on come A-Day." Giles was carried in some drawings as he and Willow entered the room. "What's that?" Wesley asked. "Maps...And stuff," Giles commented, referring to Buffy's earlier description of a plan. "Plans for City Hall," Willow answered. "They were in the Water and Power mainframe." "The box is being kept under guard in a conference room on the top floor," Buffy announced, then pointed out an area on the laid out maps on the table. "There. Unfortunately, that's all I could get out of my informant before his aggressive tendencies forced me to introduce him to Mr. Pointy." "Well, now, here's what I think we should do..." "I figure we can enter through the skylight. I'll take Angel with me," Buffy said, rather than suggested. Giles nodded. "Agreed." "And there's a fire ladder on the east side of the building, here." He pointed out another area on the map. Wesley was getting rattled. "Yes, yes, fine, but we still need to consider whether the Mayor..." "It won't be enough to simply have possession of the box," Giles continued, freezing Wesley out. "Right, we have to destroy it. Not just physically - ritually, with some down and dirty black magic," Willow told them. "Hang on. We don't know what such a ritual would require," Wes finally got a full sentence in. Giles flicked through a book. "I think the Breath of the Atropyx is standard for this sort of thing. Fairly simple recipe. Xander?" he turned to the boy in question. Giles hands the book for Xander to study just as Wesley tries to read it over Giles' shoulder. Xander nodded. "I know. I'm ingredient getting guy." Wesley had had enough. "Alright, stop! I demand everyone STOP this instant! I'm in charge here and I say this is all moving much too fast. We need time to fully analyze the situation and devise a proper and strategic stratagem. "Wes, hop on the train or get off the tracks," Buffy instructed sternly. "The Mayor will most assuredly have supernatural safeguards protecting the box. Oh, we all forgot about that, did we?" Wesley stated sarcastically. Buffy turned to her best friend. "Looks like a job for Wiccan girl. What do you say, Will? Big time danger." Willow scoffed. "Hey, I eat danger for breakfast." "But oddly enough, she panics in the face of breakfast foods," Xander interjected. "Let's get to work." The group made their way past Wesley, single file. Giles thrust the maps into the Watcher's hands. After a minute of pouting, he followed. *~*~* The group arrived at City Hall an hour later. Giles and Wesley kept a look out as Angelus, Buffy and Willow swiftly exited the van. "Now remember, if anything should go awry, Wesley and I will create a diversion," Giles reminded them. "Let's synchronize our watches. I have twenty-one four..." Wesley suggested in excitement. Buffy and Willow held up their bare wrists, looking at him stupidly. "Yes, typical..." he stated, not realizing that he was being made fun of. "Maybe we could just count. One one thousand, two one thousand..." the redhead suggested. "Be careful, all of you," Giles warned. As the three headed off into City Hall, Giles turned to Wesley and inquired, "Tea?" *~*~* They stood on the roof of City Hall, looking down through the skylight, revealing the box. Buffy handed Willow a book and a bottle containing some organic substance. Angelus carefully opened up the skylight. Willow began reading a passage from the book in Latin, sprinkling the grainy substance from the bottle over the box. Revealed to them was a bluish force field that dropped as Willow finished the simple spell. "Oh yeah, I'm bad," Willow grinned. "Four stars, Will. Now get going." "I'm gone." Willow left via the ladder behind them. Angelus attached a harness around Buffy, setting up with a pulley. He lowered Buffy down into the room. "Got it!" Buffy began to lift the box off the table. Alarms began to ring. She signaled for Angelus to get her the Hell out of there. He pulled on the rope, but Buffy doesn't move. "Angel!" she called. He tried pulling on it again. "It's jammed!" "I'd like very much to come up now, please...Angel!" Her voice was wavering. "I know!" Two vampires rushed into the room. "Don't suppose you want to help me get down?" Buffy asked, only to have a growl as her response. "Didn't think so." Angelus leapt down onto the table. There was no way that he was going to let them have his Buffy! The three vampires and the Slayer fought until Buffy and Angelus saw an escape. They took it, darting out of the room and into the main hall, the other two vampires hot in pursuit. The couple ran out of the building and veer right. As the vampires left the building, the van sped off down the driveway. The vampires followed, leaving Buffy and Angelus in their hiding place around the corner of the building. "You know, while we're here..." Angelus wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Buffy grinned and patted his hard chest. "Not now honey, I've got a headache..." The Slayer took off running, with her vampire lover chasing after her. *~*~* The Mayor wondered around the virtually destroyed conference room. "Well, this is very unfortunate. I just had this conference room redecorated, for Pete's sake. At taxpayers' expense. And, oh yeah... They've got my box!" Most of his speech had been friendly, but the last comment was made with a snarl and the breaking of a chair. "Uh, sir?" One of the vampires spoke up. The Mayor turned to him with an enraged expression on his face. "We have something that might interest you..." he signaled for another vampire. The undead demon came in, carting a struggling Willow. The Mayor just grinned. Part Fourteen "How did you guys let...How did this happen?" Buffy begged her friends. "We thought she stayed with you," Giles told her, his tone full of sorrow. "They must have grabbed her when she hit the ground. Buffy, I'm sorry," Angelus sincerely apologized. He'd honestly liked the redhead. "Look, it's nobody's fault, okay. We just need to focus and deal. Oz, I swear I won't let them hurt her," the Slayer vowed. "We go back. Full-on assault," Xander agreed. "They'll kill her," Giles murmured. "We're assuming they haven't already," Wesley stated. "No. No, they know what she means to us. She's too valuable as long as we still have the box. We trade," Buffy told them. "We can't," Wesley said to her. "No, it's the safest plan." She turned to Giles. "It's the only way, right?" "It might well be," the former Watcher agreed. "Look, we call the Mayor and arrange a meeting." "This box must be destroyed!" Wesley argued. "I need a volunteer to hit Wesley," Xander offered. "Giles, you know I'm right about this..." Wesley turned to his former colleague. Buffy glared at Wesley. "Wes, you want to duck and cover at this point?" The Watcher felt his temper rise. "Damn it, you listen to me! This box is the key to the Mayor's Ascension. Thousands of lives depend on our getting rid of it. Now I want to help Willow as much as the rest of you, but we will find another way!" "There is no other way." Buffy wasn't giving an inch. "You're the one who said take the fight to the Mayor. You were right. This is the town's best hope of survival. It's your chance to get out," he reasoned. "You think I care about that? Are you made of human parts?" the Slayer glared at him. "Alright! Let's deal with this rationally," Giles intervened. Buffy turned her scorn on Giles. "Why are you taking his side?" Buffy, Giles and Wesley all began a screaming match, until Wesley's voice broke through. "You'd sacrifice thousands of lives? Your families, your friends?" Oz, who had been sitting quietly throughout the argument, got up and stepped behind Wesley. "It can all end right here. We have the means to destroy this box," Wes continued. Oz picked up the pot that was to be used to destroy the box and threw it into a nearby display case. Buffy watched the event with a grin face. "Giles, make the phone call." *~*~* "I just received a heck of an interesting phone call...get the girl," the Mayor instructed the vampire across the desk. *~*~* Willow paced around the storeroom where she was being held in City Hall. She heard the door open to her right. She looked up at the tall vampire, who indicated for her to follow him. She looked nervously from the vampire and around the room, desperately trying to find something to injure him with so that she could escape. Willow spotted a pencil in an open drawer out of the corner of her eye. The redhead concentrated hard, trying to levitate the pencil to stake the vampire with it, but all she was able to achieve was to get it to rise from the draw, then falling back in. Willow would have sighed had the situation not been so dire. She followed the vampire out of the storeroom... *~*~* Giles held a baseball bat as the group waited for the Mayor and his troop to appear with Willow. Oz tested the locks on the doors of the high school cafeteria. "The whole place is locked down, except for the front," Oz told them. "Yeah, it gives me that comforting trapped feeling..." came Xander's comical sarcasm. "One way out means one way in. I want to see them coming," Buffy reasoned. The lights went out in an instant. The group looked around in the dark. "Guess they're shy," Xander chided. "I can see alright," Angelus stated matter-of-factly. A couple of vampires appeared through the swinging doors of the cafeteria, followed by the Mayor and yet another vampire that held Willow in his grasp. Buffy stepped forward, barely three feet from the wannabe demon. "Well, this is exciting, isn't it?" Wilkins chuckled. "Clandestine meetings by dark of night. Exchange of prisoners. I just...I...I feel like we should all be wearing trench coats." "Let her go," Buffy instructed. "No. Not until the box is in my hands. So you're the little girl that's been causing me all this trouble. She's pretty, Angel. A little skinny. Still don't understand why it couldn't work out with you and my Faith. Guess you kind of just have strange taste in women..." He briefly glanced over to the vampire he hated the most. This is the demon that killed my Faith and whether Buffy knows it or not, they'll all pay for it. "Well, what can I say? I like them sane," the vampire smirked. "Well, I wish you kids the best, I really do. But if you don't mind a bit of fatherly advice, I, uh, I...I just don't see much of a future for you two. I don't sense a lasting relationship. And not just because I plan to kill you. You two have a bumpy road ahead..." Especially with Angelus back in the game, little girl...he chuckled silently. "I don't think we need to talk about this," Buffy threatened. "God, you kids, you know. You don't like to think about the future. You don't like to make plans. Unless you want Vercus to gut your friend like a sea bass, show a little respect for your elders." The Mayor gestured to the vampire who held a knife at Willow's throat. "You're not my elder. I've got a lotta years on you..." Angelus sneered. And those years are just gonna keep on coming after I grind your dead body into the ground...NOBODY gets away with threatening my Buffy... "Yeah, and that's just one of the things you're going to have to deal with. You're immortal, she's not. It's not. I married my Edna May in naught-three and I was with her right until the end. Not a pretty picture. Wrinkled and senile and cursing me for my youth. Wasn't our happiest time. And let's not forget the fact that any moment of true happiness will turn you evil..." Buffy didn't even blink at that, clueing the Mayor in that she didn't know... Buffy was inwardly grinning like a Cheshire cat. She knew what the Mayor was trying to find out, but she wasn't about to let him know that she knew about Angelus. You're going down, asshole... "I mean, come on. What kind of a life can you offer her? I don't see a lot of Sunday picnics in the offing. I see skulking in the shadows, hiding from the sun. She's a blossoming young girl and you want to keep her from the life she should have until it has passed her by." A sudden thought hit Angelus. There was something he could do about the sunlight thing, so long as he could find a certain jewel before Graduation...I wouldn't be worrying about us, mate. I'd worry for yourself, because come Graduation Day, there's going to be nothing you can do to stop you're own downfall... "My God! I think that's a little selfish. Is that what you came back from Hell for? Is that your greater purpose?" he shook his head in disgust. "Make the trade." Angelus carelessly tossed the box to the vampire as he thrust Willow in Angelus' direction. "Well, that went smooth..." the Mayor began. Snyder interrupted as he entered to cafeteria, two policemen hot on his heels. "Nobody moves!" Wilkins retreated into the shadows as one of the cops looked the door behind him. "I knew you kids were up to something," the Principal smirked. "Snyder, get out of here!" Buffy shouted the warning. "You're not giving orders, young lady. I suppose you're going to tell me I won't find drugs in this box?" Snyder sneered. He grabbed the box away from the stunned vampire, who pulled out his knife and went after Snyder. "Wait!" Buffy called to the vampire. "Principal Snyder..." Wilkins stepped out of the shadows and addressed the little troll. Snyder alternated his gaze between the knife and the Mayor. "I think we have a problem." "Mr. Mayor, I had no idea you...I'm terribly sorry," Snyder stammered. "No, it's I who should apologize. Coming down here at night. What must you be thinking? But you see, I just needed to..." The Mayor almost panicked when he spotted one of the police officers opening the box over Snyder's shoulder. "No! Don't do that!" A large spider exited the box and clasped itself to the face of the curious officer... The policeman attempted to pull the spider off his face, but couldn't. He collapsed to the floor and was still. The spider released him and skittered away into the shadows. In seconds, the gang began to look around the darkened room for the loose spider creature. "Oh god..." Wesley groaned. "Where did it go?" Xander spun around. "Get that door open!" Snyder ordered the remaining cop. "No! You can't let that thing out of here!" Giles reasoned vocally. The officer fumbled with the keys in his state of panic and dropped them. "I still want to know where it went," Xander stated. "Listen," Buffy murmured. Everyone looked to the ceiling as they heard tapping of the creatures legs on the ceiling material. The creature landed on the Mayor's face. He managed to thrust it from him and across the room. It just got up and rushed off. Snyder looks to the Mayor in horror as the small wounds on the councilman's face healed almost instantly. Another spider crept out of the box... "Wouldn't leave that open..." the mayor nodded to the box, where yet another creature was attempting to escape. Buffy rushed to the large box and slammed the lid closed onto the legs of the third spider. The appendages fell to the floor with a clatter. One of the other spiders landed on Buffy's back. Angelus went to his lover's aid and disposed of the creature. Another revealed itself behind Wesley. Giles snapped into action and grabbed the knife that the vampire was holding loosely and hurled it at the wall where the last spider was nearing the other Watcher, killing it instantly. The Mayor strode over the box and picked it up. "Is that all of them?" Oz questioned. "Ah, not really. You see, there's about fifty...billion of these happy little critters in here. Would you like to see?" The remaining cop and the Mayor's vampires quickly escape the room as the cop gets the lock undone. "Raise your hand if you're invulnerable," Wilkins grinned, then also left, while still seething inside. Snyder looked around at the remaining group, while holding a chair, chest height in an attempt to ward off the now-dead creatures. "Snyder, you alive in there?" Buffy nearly chuckled. "You," he accused. "All of you. Why couldn't you be dealing drugs like normal people?" The principal exited cautiously, still gripping the chair in case more evil lurked behind the doors. "Well, that went swimmingly..." Wesley observed dryly. "We did alright..." Buffy remarked as she looked first at Willow, then to Angelus, who nodded. Continue 