Wolves, Slayers and Cages by Frau Hunter Ash

Disclaimer: The characters and show all belong to Joss Whedon, Fox, Mutant Enemy, Kuzui, and God only knows who else. The X-files characters and show all belong to Chris Carter, Fox and possibly others. No copyright infringement was intended and suing me will not make you any money! The storyline, however, is the sole property of the author. This story cannot be sold or used for profit in any way. Copies of this story may be made for private use only and must include all disclaimers and copyright notices.

Summary: Everyone tries to deal with Willow’s lycanthropy and things go into crisis when Willow disappears and it looks like the Initiative is involved.

Willow moaned and absently scratched at her hand, as her mind tried to start working coherently again. Her body didn't want to cooperate and the witch wasn't sure she wanted to force it. She ached everywhere from being prodded, probed, stuck with needles and being held down for so long.

"Willow?" a familiar voice questioned and the witch realized someone was holding her uninjured hand. Extending her sense a little further, it felt like a bed of some kind and the scent of the person there was familiar.

Willow slowly opened her eyes and tried to yell in surprise but only a croak came out of her throat.

"Easy, please!" Oz urged. The young werewolf was sitting on the edge of her mattress on a metal cot. Willow immediately noticed the bandage wrapped around his eyes and head.

"I won't hurt you, I swear it!" he begged and she resisted whacking him alongside his head with the cast.

"They did something to temporarily paralyze your vocal cords," Oz explained. "They brought you in a bit ago and told me to have fun with you."

"Willow," he said softly. "I'm sorry. I know you can't ever forgive me for what happened but I'm sorry."

Willow sat up slowly, pulling her hand away from the musician. Oz now had a full red beard and his hair was scruffy. He also looked like he had been through hell.

She reached out and took his hand. Then she slowly wrapped his hand around hers and began twisting her fingers. After a moment, he grinned.

Willow found herself smiling in return and was amazed at her own reaction. Two days earlier and she would have gladly put a silver bullet through his chest, now she felt like she was talking to the old Oz.

"My pack tore my eyes out when I went blind and then left me for dead," Oz began explaining. "Someone threw a net over me and then I was unconscious. I was told later I was captured by the Initiative."

"They drugged me, gave me shock treatments and questioned me over and over again about what happened with you and Buffy," Oz continued, hanging his head. "I told them everything, I think. It's a little fuzzy. When I woke up three days ago my head was clear. I mean like before I left Sunnydale, before I left you. I've been throwing up ever since, remembering what I was like."

Willow reached out to gently touch his cheek as tears escaped from under the bandage.

"Willow, I'm so sorry!" he whispered. "I remember you finally got together with Buffy. I'm okay with that. I know you've been in love with her for years. I don't know what happened to me, Willow."

Oz nodded easily. "I know, I swear it's not a line. All I want is to get out of here, find my van and I'm gone."

"Oh yeah, well," Oz said softly. "Maybe a seeing eye dog instead of my van or maybe someone to drive me."

"It was a spell wasn't it?" he whispered. "I knew it was when it hit. I could hear your voice shouting at me."

"No, don't cry, Wills!" he protested. "It was all my fault! I forced you into that! I can't believe what I was like!"

Oz frowned. "When they brought you in they whacked me around a little. They said I lied to them and had bitten you not Buffy. They said she tested clean and you are infected. What happened?"

"You found a spell to cure Buffy and not me?" he whispered with a frown, his shoulders sinking lower.

**Just found the spell from a new internet friend. Took the curse myself** Willow answered.

"Damnit!" Oz shouted and jumped to his feet. Willow watched as he paced back and forth, smacking only once into the bars holding them in the small room. "I was hoping you both escaped that when they said Buffy wasn't infected."

Willow wanted to shout at him and cursed her silent throat. This was too much like the time when the Gentlemen stole everyone's voice. She rapped against the steel wall and Oz worked his way back to her cot and sat down, holding out his hand for her.

**Yes, and you'll have to live with that and so will I** Willow said bluntly. She was tired; talking with sign language with her fingers was long and exhausting. It was like an amateur translating Morse code or something. **The main thing is to first get through this**

"I don't know, they said something about changing you back to stick shift, whatever that means," Oz grumbled.

**Oz, calm down!** Willow held tightly to his hand, forcing him to 'listen' to her. **Buffy and the gang will find us. I mean me; the Initiative dumped a redheaded body on Buffy's doorstep. They had one of their werewolves rip him apart, including the eyes.**

"The world thinks I'm dead," he muttered. "I might as well be dead! I tried to kill Giles, I hurt your friend, I bit Buffy just to make her part of the pack and I tried to…I wanted to…hurt you!"

"That wasn't me!" he sobbed. "I hurt you, I bit Buffy. That couldn't be me! Please don't let it be me!"

Mulder turned to and met anxious faces watching him as he clicked off his cell phone. The FBI agent shook his head slightly and pulled the blanket back up over Scully as she lay on the sofa.

Giles glanced at the clock on the mantle and sighed. It was going to be a long three days, he knew. Both he and Joyce had been unable to get either Buffy or Tara to go to sleep, they were both still hovering over the computer print outs of the plans Langley had sent them of the Initiative Center.

"Langley can't get past their systems and override our clearances into the place," Mulder answered the question in Giles' eyes.

"I think our best bet is to wait until they transfer her," Mulder said softly, so as not to wake Scully on the sofa and Joyce in an easy chair. "They'll hand her and several others over to a team in Barstow before heading out across the desert."

"Area 51," Mulder answered slowly and wasn't surprised when Xander and Anya raised their heads up off the floor and Buffy and Tara stared at him. "They reopened it for testing on 'hostiles.'"

"Oh man!" Xander muttered. "That is like the Holy Grail of security! UFO nuts have been trying for years."

Mulder grinned a rueful smile. "I know, I tried once. Didn't get too far and whatever I saw they wiped out with some kind of drug."

"I heard that, Mulder!" Scully snapped from under the quilt. "I deny that every happened and so does the government."

"Yeah and that was before she really discovered how loveable I am," Mulder teased.

"That would leave Willow in their hands and in testing for another four days," Buffy complained. "They won't move her or the other werewolf until after the full moon, Sunday morning. It's only Wednesday."

Tara suddenly grabbed Buffy's arm tight enough to hurt and when the Slayer turned to protest she found Tara's eyes closed and her head slightly lifted back. Buffy removed Tara's hand and glanced at Giles.

The Watcher, seeing the interaction, quickly got to his feet and rushed over to the table.

"Close your eyes, Buffy, and imagine a door opening in your mind," he instructed in a soft voice.

"Just like they taught me," she mumbled and closed her eyes and pictured the steel door opening.

//Guys, I can't do this long// Willow's voice reached them. //They keep drugging me. Took my voice, can't do magick. It's Walsh. Help me! Help us!//

///Hang on, Wills! We've got help here/// Buffy urged, tears streaming down her face.

///Willow, calm, think calm/// Tara instructed. ///Let our love flow into you.///

//I can't get out of here!// Willow's mental voice began to panic. //Please help us!//

///Willow, we love you and we won't rest until we get you back// Tara assured her lover as she reached across the table to grab Buffy's hands, strengthening the connection.

//Thank the goddess// Willow's voice calmed slightly. //They think I'm asleep. I love you both so much. No, damnit! Not yet!//

"Willow!" Buffy snapped vocally and opened her eyes as she felt Willow yanked from them. Tara's head jerked and the witch opened her eyes as well, staring deep into Buffy's blue eyes while filling with tears.

The Slayer rushed around the table to kneel next to Tara's chair as they held each other and were crying once more.

"Did you make contact?" Giles asked softly, glancing around to see that everyone was awake and listening.

"It is the Initiative and they've done something to her voice so she can't do magick," Buffy added.

"I know we're not going to get much sleep but I think everyone should call in sick today and try to get some sleep. It's obvious that we're not going to get anything done this morning," Joyce suggested.

"Buffy, be reasonable," Giles said wearily. "First rule of a Slayer, stay alive. You can't do that going exhausted into a battle. You and Tara split one of Willow's pain pills and get some sleep. We'll all try and be back here at 3pm."

"Agent Mulder," Giles called to the agent. "Please help, Willow is very important to us."

"Well #52, you're in much better shape than we thought," Professor Walsh said, wiping away the tears from Willow's eyes as the young witch lay on the gurney from the day before. "I'm considering not sedating you for the change tomorrow night."

"Your heart rate is still a little too rapid but Atenol should slow that down without drugging you," Walsh commented.

Willow wanted to plead, to reason, to rant, to scream, to swear but knew it was useless, especially when they had taken her vocal cords out of commission.

"I am disappointed in Hostile 49 though," Walsh said thoughtfully, more to herself than to Willow. "The reports were that he wanted you as a mate, I was hoping you two could make up and play nice."

Willow resisted the urge to shout or spit on the doctor. She had seen one demon beaten to death when he dared to fight back and clawed one of the commandos handling him.

"Well, we'll see what happens when both of you are wolves and in the same cage tomorrow night," Walsh grinned sadistically.

Willow screamed inside herself. Locking Oz in a cage with a female werewolf on the full moon had led to him breaking up with Willow in the first place, when she had found them both naked together the next morning.

"For today and tonight, we're going to test some of your limits, pain, heat, cold, things like that," Walsh informed the test subject and Willow shivered. "We don't get too many female werewolves. Now that we don't have to sedate you to keep that heart rate down and your mind fuzzy, we can get some clean and accurate readings."

The orderlies, technicians or whatever they were, appeared on either end of the gurney.

"She's behaving, mostly but don't under-estimate her," Walsh warned them. "Testing of limits today."

"Start with electric shocks and see what point she either passes out or changes: involuntarily or voluntarily," Walsh ordered.

"You want us to wait here for the next three nights?" Buffy demanded when they all returned to the Summers' dining table.

"Okay, say we grab Willow and whoever else they've got in chains, what do we do with them?" Xander asked.

"We need someone to take the place of the transfer team in Barstow," Scully pointed out on the map. "The transport team is two commandos and one medical technician. Mulder, Buffy and myself are all on their 'Red' list."

"Shoot on sight if interfering with Initiative business and dump the bodies," Mulder informed the group.

"So am I," Xander countered and everyone looked confused. "A few Halloween nights years ago some of us got caught up in some cursed costumes. We became whatever we dressed as. I was a military type."

"I remember everything," Xander nodded. "Just like I went through the training. I didn't go through it physically but I remember mentally. I know ranks, saluting, everything."

Mulder looked thoughtful and Scully shrugged that it might actually be a good idea.

"Okay, the second commando?" she asked. "I don't think Mr. Giles could pull that off."

"No, they only take males, Buffy was an exception because she's the Slayer," Giles responded.

"Is Detective Santiago on their 'red' list?" Joyce asked with a beginning smile.

"What about Joyce Mom?" Anya suggested. "She's an authority type and older, wouldn't male military types respond well to such parameters?"

"Weren't my words correct? I didn't mention anything about sex and that we haven't done it in three days," Anya protested.

"I can do it," Joyce said firmly, bringing the conversation back to Anya's suggestion.

"Well, living with you, I've already had a fair share of dangerous things," Joyce pointed out. "From being bitten by vampires, choked by zombies, dating an android, and having someone else in your body, I think I can handle a little make believe to get Willow back."

"Actually, I thought you and the others might attack the Initiative Center that morning after they've transported Willow and we have her," Mulder said slowly.

"He's right, Buff," Xander nodded. "Even if we get Willow, what do we do with her? They have Initiative teams all over the States and units that go all over the world. If Willow stays on their list, they'll never stop hunting her."

"Exactly, we need to take out their computers and maybe the Center itself," Mulder agreed. "I have a disk here that will connect with some friends of mine, they'll download a virus that will wipe out everything and cause the computers to feedback on themselves and destruct."

"Exactly like that. It may not explode the Center, but it'll take out their computers all over the world within ten minutes and Willow's records will be erased," Mulder explained.

"But Riley and Walsh know about Willow, they'll just report her again," Tara complained.

"We'll see if we can find something to blackmail them with to keep them quiet," Mulder said.

"Mulder, you're advocating, encouraging and planning on the mass destruction of government property, breaking and entering, possibly injuring someone during the commission of a felony, sabotage, possible violations of National Security and now blackmail," Scully pointed out.

"Hmmm," he shrugged and turned back to his phone. Scully picked up a pen to throw at him but changed her mind with a scowl. After a moment he clicked off. "Detective Santiago isn't on any of their lists," he smiled at Giles.

"Xander, can you put together uniforms like the Initiative's at the local surplus stores?" Mulder asked.

"Easy, if I had money," Xander shrugged and Mulder pulled out his wallet and handed the young man a credit card. "Done!" Xander grinned and grabbed Anya's hand. "Brad's just a little shorter and thinner than I am, no problem. Shoe size might be a problem though."

Xander leaned down and kissed Buffy and Tara on their cheeks and grabbed Anya's hand as they headed for the door.

"Scully, you've got to trust me. I know you haven't seen any evidence of anything we've said, including that the Initiative needs to be destroyed, but I need you to trust me," Mulder urged.

"Mulder!" Scully protested with a smile. "I wouldn't dissect him! I'd autopsy him."

"How about she goes out slaying with Buffy tonight?" Mulder suggested. "Scully can handle herself."

"These aren't people anymore and I do the slaying, you just watch," Buffy smirked.

"Willow?" both of them whispered, closing their eyes. Buffy grabbed the edge of the table and everyone fell silent.

Joyce screamed and Giles jumped up so quickly that he knocked his chair over as he attempted to grab Buffy before the Slayer hit the floor. Joyce tried to grab Tara as well, as both girls stiffened and then began to spasm in their chairs.

Joyce and Giles lowered the couple to the floor and the Englishman moved aside as Scully moved around the table and began examining them.

"This connection thing is beginning to be a pain in the ass," Buffy complained as she rubbed her back where she fell out of the chair.

"Willow, they're doing something to her," Tara mumbled, grabbing onto Joyce and the table, trying to get back into her chair.

"Shocks, electric shocks," Buffy muttered, using the wall and Giles' arm to stand up. "Do people still do that?"

"I don't know," Buffy complained, holding onto his arms. "They had already done it quite a few times before she reached out to us."

"That last one was out of instinct, I think," Tara nodded. "She's trying to keep her shields up and not let us see. The pain snapped her shields open."

"I can't take much more of this, Giles," Buffy whispered and let the Watcher wrap his arms around her.

"Let me see if I can move things up a bit," Mulder commented and pulled out his cell phone.

Willow felt someone wrapping a blanket around her and holding her tightly and whimpered, snuggling closer to whoever it was. After hours of electric shocks, intense heat in a steam room, another IV bag connected to her veins to prevent dehydration, now she was suffering from nearly being frozen to death.

The redhead clenched her teeth to try and stop them from chattering as someone ran their hands over her arms.

"Damn you all to hell!" Oz shouted as he stumbled over to his own cot and pulled his blankets off and added them to Willow's.

"I may not be able to see them but I sure as hell can smell them," he growled. "I'm ripping out the throat of the next person that steps through that cage for you."

It was early evening when Mulder finally got a return to his earlier telephone call. Buffy and Scully were out patrolling a graveyard, hoping to find at least one vampire and maybe a demon to demonstrate some of what the gang was talking about.

Mulder knew that Scully was having a hard time with this case, especially since it wasn't an official case. Mulder was about to commit outright sabotage. Scully had learned to ignore his illegal entry into a lot of places, his trespassing habits, Mulder's computer hacking, and his unorthodox methods, but sabotage was stepping beyond her limits. Mulder knew he needed to convince his partner that they were doing the right thing and quick.

"You looked pleased," Joyce commented as she set the table for a late dinner as Xander showed Giles and Brad Santiago the uniforms he had picked up. Fortunately, Brad was a National Guardsman and knew the uniform and equipment even better than Xander.

The Sunnydale Detective hadn't been surprised to be called in by the Scooby Gang, just highly upset that it was Willow who had been taken. During her time in the hospital after Oz' attack; Brad had come to like the young woman. He actually liked all of the Gang and was accepted as a member when he wouldn't go away and kept insisting on answers.

After working with them for a month on various cases, Brad had no regrets about keeping the existence of werewolves, vampires, demons and other things quiet in Sunnydale. He quickly realized his superiors didn't want to hear it and didn't seem to see it, either. Working with the Gang helped the detective feel like he was doing something to counter the heavy influence of darkness over Sunnydale.

"I am," Mulder said, attracting the attention of everyone else in the room, including Tara who was researching Giles' books for any spell that might be of use.

"I got my friends to hack into the Initiative's computer and warn them that we planned on intercepting the transport Sunday in Barstow," Mulder grinned.

"They're moving up the transport date to Friday morning and the transfer site to Las Vegas," Mulder responded.

"They won't know we're coming, they'll think they're ahead of us," Giles answered.

"I suggest Scully and I go with Xander, Brad and Joyce to Las Vegas," Mulder said. "The rest of you hit the Center after you get a call from me or Scully and find a way to get a disk into one of their computers."

"It'll be okay, honey," Xander reassured her. "I'll be okay and I'll bring Willow home," he said as he held her.

"Okay, we'll need for the cell to be ready for Willow and whoever else we bring back," Mulder suggested.

Willow had no idea how much time passed. It seemed like an eternity to the frazzled young woman. Endless 'testing' meant endless pain. First some sort of testing of her pain threshold, then some rest and then more testing. Endless breaks with more blood being drawn for testing, EKG monitoring, EEG monitoring or some sort of machine tracking something.

Whenever they gave her a moment to recover, they threw her in the cell with Oz. Willow was slightly amused with herself as she clung to him for comfort in-between the rounds of testing and pain. She knew he was the cause of the mess in the first place but she also welcomed the human warmth and believed he was sincere in his regret over what had happened.

The witch whimpered as she shifted her body on the cot. Instantly, Oz was by her side and attentive, despite his blindness.

He managed a small smile. "I understand. They 'tested' me for two weeks. I'm a perfect werewolf, they say."

Willow could hear and see the bitterness of that statement on his face and in his voice.

"Don't be," he shrugged. "I don't know what they have planned for me after these full moon nights."

**Oz, no talk about that.** Willow hesitated. Not having her voice sucked, she thought once again. **Does the change hurt?**

Oz' frown deepened. "Yes, every time," he admitted. "It gets easier over time and the body gets used to changing back and forth. Fortunately, you won't remember the change and what you do as a wolf the first few months. Never, if you're lucky."

"I don't know," he shrugged. "I was traveling, heading to Alaska. I was hoping to find some shamans up there that might be able to help me. I hit a small northern Oregon town and felt the connection when I entered a small coffee shop. I knew immediately that a small group of kids were like me and they knew me."

The young musician hesitated. "We met and I agreed to stay for a couple of days; who wouldn't? I found an entire group like me and they welcomed me. They told me they lived together, kinda like hippies. They had a cabin up in the woods and let the wolf loose. They swore they didn't hurt humans and had learned control on their own."

"I hung out with them, a couple of them were musicians too and we jammed," he said wistfully. "I was accepted into the pack and ran in the woods with them. The leader taught me how to focus so intensely that nothing else got through and I could control the change, eventually. I focused on you."

The redhead male's head dropped. "I don't know how things got twisted but they did. Drugs, sex, power plays in the group and blood. At first it was from deer and raccoons, things like that. Then they took down a hitchhiker near the highway and bullied me into drinking some of the blood. The next night they attacked me."

"It was either submit to all of them and be low man in the pack or resist," he continued. "I fought back and fought my way up the hierarchy in minutes. The leader wouldn't let up though and wouldn't let me stop at submitting to him. Something snapped, I tried to submit and I saw in his eyes he wanted to kill me. I fought back for my life and I lost my soul somewhere when I won and became Alpha wolf of the pack."

"I know, but it's still my fault. All I could think of was you and came back. You know the rest," he finished.

"I don't know. I'm going to try and stay human when we change tomorrow night and protect you. I owe you that much," he said firmly. "I know you're a werewolf now, I can tell by your scent. I also remember Buffy mating with you. Are you happy with this or was it to protect her and you from me?"

Oz nodded, as if expecting the answer. "You both were too blind all that time and she was so blinded by Angel. I remember someone else with you, who is she and how does she fit into this?"

"Really? Wow! You drop guys and get two girls? I'm jealous," he said, trying to tease and Willow lightly whacked his hand in response. "As long as you're happy, Willow. I can never make up for what I did but I'll die trying."

"So, you go out nightly and hope you run into vampires and kill them?" Dana Scully asked the small blonde as they opened the gate to one of the local graveyards.

"That's usually the game plan for a typical evening," Buffy said easily. "Sometimes I can get some quality dance time in at the Bronze or some study time with Wills and Tara."

"And you go to college?" Scully continued questioning the girl and unbuttoned her jacket for easier access to her gun. The FBI agent might not believe everything Buffy, the Scooby Gang or her own partner had told her, but Scully wasn't a fool. If something was going to jump out at her in a spooky graveyard then she was going to test the theory whether vampires could be killed with a Glock automatic pistol or not.

"Yeah, take classes during the day, slay by night, that's me!" Buffy said cheerfully but Dana Scully detected a note of bitterness.

"Fortunately, Slayers don't need a lot of sleep," Buffy shrugged. "It's one of the side effects of being The Chosen One."

"No, I didn't choose this, I didn't ask for it and I didn't ask to put my friends in danger all the time," Buffy growled. "I was 'chosen' when I was fifteen and told my destiny was to fight the forces of evil until I died, then someone else would be chosen after me."

"It's not and now I've cost Willow part of her soul," Buffy fought to keep back the tears.

"It's not your fault. From what Mulder tells me, her ex brought all this on," Scully said softly.

"Maybe if I wasn't the Slayer, Willow could have had a normal life," Buffy whined. "Hell, I know she'd be with Oz and running around howling at the moon and probably killing people. I'm just worried what those bastards will do to her."

Scully fell back and stumbled onto the grass as Buffy spun around, whipping a stake out of her inner jacket pocket and lashing out with it. Scully blinked as she watched a figure move out of the shadows at a dash and be impaled on the stakes.

Buffy acted like the incident was a common as swatting a fly. She smirked as Scully got back to her feet.

"Nope, self defense on the Evil side," Buffy answered. "Hard to prove the existence of vampires when they go 'poof'."

"About my girlfriend," Buffy took up the previous conversation. "We have a cell in one of the crypts where we can lock her away on nights of the full moon."

"You really believe she's going to change into a wolf?" Scully asked with a frown.

"More like a werewolf, upright, furry, long teeth, bad temper," Buffy snapped. "I remember what it felt like to feel my blood on fire, to hear the bones in my legs and arms breaking and reforming. I saw the hair on my arms turning into fur and felt my jaw dislocate and my teeth growing. I've seen Oz change and I saved Willow one night when Oz was loose. To save her again, I took his bite. Then she went and reversed it on me! She finds this damned spell and takes it away from me to herself."

"Sounds like she truly loves you," Scully said softly as Buffy sat down on a tombstone and wiped angry tears away.

"Yeah, I got lucky," Buffy smiled a small smile. "Better than most Slayers, I've outlived most of them and I found love with two fantastic people."

"Did you know that someone is sneaking up on us on the left?" Scully asked with a smile.

"Yup, and one is stalking you from behind," Buffy shrugged. "When I say 'duck,' do so."

"Alright, this is your turf," Scully grinned ruefully. The FBI agent knew that she should be trying to capture one of the 'vampires' but wasn't sure how to do it if her gun was actually useless. Then there was the question of what to do with one if they were going to explode in the morning sun like Buffy claimed they would.

Buffy grinned and jumped up onto the tombstone she had been sitting on and somersaulted off it, right over Scully's head. Dana turned in time to see Buffy land in a shoulder roll and come up with a stake in her hand, thrusting it upward into the chest of a male figure.

Before Scully could really take in his tattered zombie-like appearance, he exploded into dust.

The FBI agent began shooting as a female reached for her with a growl. Scully emptied her gun into the chest of the…cheerleader?...and the girl was barely knocked back a few feet.

Scully's eyes widened at the sight of what was once a teenage girl who now had a ridged forehead, yellow eyes, and long fangs.

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Wolves, Slayers and Cages

By Frau Hunter Ash

Carrkjar@yahoo.com