What If?

"I want Riley." Buffy admits as she gets ready to leave, looking at Tara.

"He knows us, and if I know you, you aren't planning on playing nice with him." Tara looks inquisitively at Buffy. Seeing the guilty look on her lover's face, Tara shakes her head. "If you must, go for it. Do you think you'll have better luck shaking something loose from him?"

"Yeah." Buffy nods her head, relaxing slightly as Tara doesn't seem to be ready to get on her about this. "Being in his class, Walsh being the professor, him being a commando…I just think he might be our best chance."

"Get him, honey." Tara tilts her head as she thinks, wincing slightly at the thoughts going through her head. "Honey?"

"How come I don't like that tone?" Buffy grumbles looking at Tara.

"Sorry." Tara grins crookedly at her lover. "He was interested you…" Tara hints quietly.

"You want me to flirt with him?" Buffy blinks in surprise at her girlfriend.

"No. I don't want you to flirt with him, but that might be the easiest way to get him here. Do you think Faith would maybe hit on one of his friends?" Tara questions softly.

Buffy rolls her eyes, before slowly nodding her head. "Yeah, she would. She's done worse to take out vampires before." Buffy admits, shaking her head as she thinks back to the first meeting where she was dancing with the vampire, practically draping her whole body over and around the vamp. "Taking them to the Magic Box and put them either down in the basement or in my training room is the best idea that we have." Buffy thinks on the thought. "Basement would probably be better. The majority of the stuff down there is in boxes, Faith and I can shift stuff away from a corner and make a little closed in area for them to be in for us to talk with Riley then leave them there until we get to the Initiative and do what we need to do."

"How long are you planning on keeping them there?" Tara questions with a raised eyebrow.

"As long as we have to. But hopefully only a day. I'm hoping that we can get in and out of there, taking care of what we need to." Buffy looks intently at Tara. "We need to find out what's going on down there and take out the demons, do you think we're doing the right thing?"

Tara sighs heavily, looking at her lover. "Honey, we can't just let the demons go, they would hunt and kill people as soon as they are released. I don't like the thought of killing them as they're trapped, but I don't know what else we should do."

"So, you and Xander are going to the Shop?" Buffy questions softly as she tucks away a few weapons.

"Yes. Giles is coming with, he's going to clear out an area to keep whoever you capture in, so I'll let me know to clear out the basement, and I'll prepare something to keep them from being aware of where they are and who has them." Tara smiles softly at Buffy's nod of approval.

"Hopefully we'll get them tonight, and do some questioning so we can head down there tomorrow." Buffy sighs heavily, watching Tara for a few minutes. "You'll be careful, right?"

"Of course." Tara reaches up and runs a finger softly over Buffy's cheek. "We're all protected, and I'll make sure that we try to make sure everything's prepared for you, okay?"

Buffy nods quickly and hugs Tara tightly. "Faith and I are going out to see what we can reel in. Wish us luck."

"You don't need luck, love. You're good." Tara grins crookedly at her lover, as Buffy rolls her eyes before chuckling. "You are, honey. Don't have too much fun playing with the soldier boys." Tara murmurs before smacking Buffy on the butt, chuckling as Buffy growls playfully at her.

"Don't play with boys no more. Only plays with a wicked Wicca." Buffy nips playfully on Tara's neck before kissing her softly. "I'll meet up with you later, my love."

Tara smiles softly as she watches Buffy quickly head out of the room. "I love you." Tara grabs her small fanny pack with assorted items that may come in hand, before leaving the room so they can head out later to go to the Magic Box to get everything ready for her lover and Faith.

"We have the storage area in the basement cleared out, along with some blankets and pillows put down on the air mattress." Giles explains as he and Xander come up to the main shop, watching as Tara gathers a few items together.

"And a nice bucket for necessities." Xander grins as he looks at Tara.

"Good. Mr. Giles, if you sprinkle this around their corner while saying this incantation, it will keep them from seeing whoever is on the other side." Tara smiles softly as she hands the small bowl with the ingredients in it and the small slip of paper to the watcher.

Giles chuckles as he takes the items and heads back down to the basement.

"Need any help with anything?" Xander questions as he sits down at the table watching as Tara gathers other items together.

"Not really." Tara looks up, smiling softly at the young man. "I'm just gathering what I'll need to help out with Buffy and mines voices for when we impersonate the two men she kidnaps."

"I've got a really, really weird question to ask you…" Xander blushes lightly as he looks down at the table.

Tara raises an eyebrow at the blush. "I have to know the question to be able to answer it, Xander."

Xander runs a hand through his shaggy hair. "Ummm…It's just made me wonder, ever since Mrs. S wore her charm. But, uh, besides making you look different…are you actually different?" Xander finally questions, his eyes looking up real quick at Tara.

Tara blinks at Xander for a minute before it sinks in what he's asking. Laughing heartily, Tara sets down the ingredients she was mixing together and walks over to the table sitting down beside him. Hugging him tightly she giggles. "No, sweetie. No extra equipment is involved. Though I will take that under advisement for future reference."

"Tara!" Buffy opens the door, her eyes wide as she stares at her lover. "I can't believe you're thinking…" She stops and tilts her head as she continues into the shop. "Well…"

"Later, sweetie." Tara chuckles as her lover gets sidetracked.

"What'cha talkin' about?" Faith growls as she comes in and drops her commando on the chair, not having heard Tara's and Xander's conversation.

"My glamour charms giving us certain physical attributes." Tara grins at Faith.

Faith blinks and then smirks at the thought. "That's an idea. Can you make it different sizes? Make it curve and keep it up for hours on end?"

"Faith!" Buffy growls and smacks the slayer across the stomach, smirking as she grunts.

"Fuck, B!" Faith grunts and shifts away, rubbing her stomach.

"Okay, enough you two." Tara shakes her head. "Did you have any problems?" Tara questions as she checks out the blonde haired guy that looks familiar. Looking at Buffy questioningly, smiling as Buffy turns around, showing Riley over her shoulder. "Do we know this ones name?"

"Forrest." Faith answers as she sits down. "Like using candy to bait a kid. We caught these two out by themselves, Buffy sashayed right up to big, hunky dumbo over there and mojo'd his ass while acting like something was coming up behind him. Then she fixed this idiot up and here we are." Faith whacks Forrest on the back non to gently and grins.

Tara bites her lip to keep from laughing as she looks at Buffy who tries to look innocent. "Sashayed, huh?"

"I'll recreate it for you later." Buffy murmurs softly, placing a kiss on Tara's ear. "You know, can you do the whole extra equipment thing?" Buffy's eyes light up at the thought. "Always was curious what that would be like."

"Wouldn't dare do that with you." Tara admits softly. Seeing the questioning look on Buffy's face, Tara grins crookedly at her lover. "Let's take these two downstairs, and I'll explain why." Tara levitates Forrest and heads towards the basement as Giles comes through the door.

"Oh, good. I see you're already back and with two commando's, I would assume." Giles looks at the two men.

"They are." Buffy pulls a couple items out of her back pocket and hands them to Giles, smirking.

"Government." Giles rolls his eyes as he looks at the two different ID's. "Well, that answers that."

"Keep the ID's up here for now. We'll be back up in a few." Buffy winks as she follows Tara downstairs.

Tara settles her commando on one side of the mattress and watches as Buffy practically drops Riley on the other side before turning towards her with a glint in her eyes. "What's going through your mind?"

"First, I would like an answer to why you wouldn't let me have an extra appendage." Buffy follow's Tara back behind the magical barrier, smirking at her lover.

"Because, my lovely slayer. You're a little too studly and even though it shouldn't be possible, I have a feeling we'd end up getting pregnant. I love you, and would love to have your child, but not at this moment in my life." Tara explains seriously as she wraps her arms around her lover's waist, pulling her gently into her.

"Do you…could we…" Buffy blinks at the thought, her brows furrowing. "Is it possible?" Buffy finally questions quietly.

"Oh, there are spells that would make it possible, sweetie. Especially for us. I have a feeling that even if we weren't trying, and we did something like that, I could very easily end up having a little one on the way." Tara places a loving kiss on Buffy's cheek.

"I am definitely keeping that idea, right here." Buffy taps her head, smiling at Tara as she presses her body more firmly against her lover. "I assume you haven't gotten a chance to go to Willy's yet, have you?"

"No." Tara inhales as Buffy slides a thigh between her legs, pressing gently against her apex. "Sweetie…"

"I know." Buffy growls before kissing Tara hungrily. "I got a chance to look at the gifts you bought me while you were helping out with cooking."

"That wasn't nice." Tara murmurs, smirking as she knows Buffy didn't find one of the containers of gifts, since she'd hid it up in the attic.

Buffy growls and nods her head as she nips her way down Tara's neck, her hands shifting to caress over Tara's breasts. "You bought body paints…"

"Uh, huh." Tara tilts her head, groaning softly as Buffy strokes strongly over her neck with her tongue.

"Can we play with them after we take care of this stuff at the Initiative?" Buffy questions hopefully.

"Oh, most definitely." Tara chuckles as Buffy growls loudly. "We'll have a rip roaring time after we take out the Initiative and kick their asses back to wherever they came from. We might have to rent somewhere to stay while we're doing it…" Tara smirks as Buffy laughs.

"I like that idea." Buffy chuckles and hugs Tara tightly. "Those two are going to be out for a little while yet. And, to tell you the truth, I don't feel any demons anywhere but at their hideout, so there's no sense in going to Willy's."

"Okay. We'll figure out something to do for a while." Tara agrees easily as Buffy releases her. Quickly smacking her lover hard on the ass, Tara giggles and takes off running up the stairs.

"Don't tease the slayer." Buffy growls chasing up the stairs after her lover, skidding to a halt as three sets of eyes look at them. "Fuck." Buffy grumbles and tucks her hands into her pockets. "Don't you three have something to do?"

"No." Faith and Xander both state at the same time, grinning at an embarrassed Buffy and Tara.

Giles sighs heavily and shakes his head. "What about those two?" Giles indicates the basement, where the two men are.

"We're going to wait around until they come to and interrogate them. Then Tara's going to fix us up for us to go have fun on their playground." Buffy shrugs and makes her way to the table, plopping down beside Tara, who sat down just before her.

"We'll probably head to the house to eat before going to the Initiatives place, though." Tara raises an eyebrow at Buffy.

"You have a point." Buffy nods her agreement, smirking at her. "Can't work on an empty stomach."

"Plus you're going to have to make sure you have every weapon that you think you might possibly need. Between stakes, knives, swords, and whatever else." Tara looks pointedly at her lover.

"Make sure you take a steel and an iron knife, also, Buffy." Giles suggests, his eyes serious. "There's no telling what you may come across down there."

Buffy nods her agreement. "I'll make sure to grab the combination knife, Giles. Xander and Faith'll be prepared and out on the campus while we're down below. So we'll have that part covered, also, just in case." Buffy smiles at her sister slayer, the two women having discussed the plan of attack, where Buffy would let some of the demons go, albeit with a little magical help to send them up to where her sister slayer would be waiting, without them being able to go after any of the humans down below.

Tara watches Buffy, feeling her heart expand at her beautiful, confident lover. "Xander, I placed a protective spell on you, also. So they won't be able to hurt you. But please, still be careful. There's no sense in taking chances, and after the majority of the mess is done, I'll have to release the spells." Tara admits softly, looking sadly at Buffy.

Buffy nods her head, realizing that keeping the spells up was draining to her lover. "Keeping everyone protected is draining her stores of energy." Buffy explains to Xander and Faith as they look at Tara questioningly. "I've been able to help feed her my own strength and energy to a degree as a crutch, but we won't be able to keep it up indefinitely."

"Damn good thing the Council saw the light." Xander comments, looking at the two women.

"We would have dropped the protection on everyone else, before we would have Faith, until we figured something out for her." Tara admits softly. "We wouldn't let them get a hold of her. Even if we would have had to sneak her out of the city or even the country, we would have done something."

Faith closes her eyes at the obvious care in Tara's voice, and the look on both Buffy and Tara's faces. "Thanks you two." Faith finally opens her eyes and smiles at the two women that have become her family. "Come on, Xan. Let's make tweed drive us back to B's house." Faith stands quickly, heading towards the door.

"We'll see you two later." Giles nods towards Buffy and Tara as he heads after Faith and Xander.

"Have fun you two!" Xander smirks as he heads out the door, Giles pushing him.

"Damn kids." Giles mutters as he locks the door behind them.

"Alone at last." Buffy smiles at Tara, her eyes starting to glow. "The two idiots are going to be out for roughly three more hours. What in the world are we going to do for the next three hours?"

"I'm sure you'll figure out something." Tara smirks at her lover.

"Already figured out." Buffy wiggles her eyebrows at her lover, her eyes calculating.

"Uh, oh." Tara tilts her head at the wicked look crossing Buffy's face. "How come I think I'm in serious trouble?"

Buffy shakes her head and grins hugely at Tara before picking her up in her arms and striding towards the training room with Tara laughing out her name.

"Buffy, sweetie, what are you doing?" Tara questions softly as Buffy had slowly stripped her clothes off her, before stripping her own off in record time, the slayer now lying her down on the pile of mats covered with towels.

Buffy chuckles as she lets her fingers caress over Tara's feet, as she looks up the length of her lover.

"Don't you dare." Tara warns quietly, her eyes narrowed on her lover.

"I figure I have roughly three hours to play. I do dare." Buffy nods her head, chuckling wickedly as she starts to nibble, kiss and lick her way along one foot.

"Sweet, Goddess!" Tara whimpers loudly before collapsing back on the mats, knowing her lover is going to make her one big useless mass of Wicca before she lets gives her release. That being one of Sarim's favorite past times.

"Not Goddess, just me." Buffy murmurs before nibbling on a toe, smiling as Tara's toes curl and wiggle at the tickling sensation. "You have the cutest toes." Buffy comments before capturing Tara's big toe between her lips, sucking strongly.

"GODDESS!" Tara's body jerks as a jolt of desire shoots from her big toe straight up her leg to make her clit pound with a vengeance. Throwing an arm over her eyes, Tara reaches out with her other hand, clenching the towel tightly, knowing better than to touch herself.

Buffy grins at the response before finally releasing the toe to work her way over to the other foot, giving it the same loving treatment. "Would you mind rolling over?" Buffy questions hoarsely after kissing her way upwards to her lover's thigh, stopping shy of her lover's sex. Inhaling deeply of the highly erotic and strong smell of her lover's arousal.

Tara groans and pulls her arm down from her face, looking at Buffy with disbelief. "You…" Swallowing a couple times at her extremely hoarse voice before continuing. "You expect me to be able to move?"

Buffy chuckles softly before climbing further up to kiss Tara softly. "I'll help."

"You're going to have to." Tara moans quietly as Buffy gently rolls her over onto her stomach, before the slayer eases back down her legs, slowly kissing her way up one calf before switching to the other one.

"Your skin is so soft." Buffy murmurs, licking gently over the tender flesh behind her lover's knee.

Tara whimpers quietly, spreading her legs further apart as Buffy finally works her way up one thigh.

Buffy inhales deeply again, her eyes on her lover's body, seeing the glistening flesh wet with Tara's desire. Ignoring her own desire laden body, Buffy kisses and licks her way over each of Tara's butt cheeks, not delving between just yet, as she works up over her back, paying special attention to the spot just below her lover's left shoulder blade, knowing this is a very sensitive spot for her lover.

"Buffy!" Tara's whole body is shaking by this point, the desire practically flowing from her while her clit is so swollen that with each shift of her body, it rubs against the towel beneath her. Feeling the loud purrs vibrating through her body, not helping her desire at all.

Buffy smirks as she works her way slowly up Tara's back. Shifting Tara's hair out of the way, Buffy latches onto to the back of her neck, sucking hungrily.

Tara jerks, her body coming up off the mat, making Buffy groan as her butt cheeks come into contact with the slayer's swollen sex, her lover straddling her butt. Unable to stop herself, Tara pushes up harder, rotating her hips so her butt rubs and teases Buffy.

Buffy releases Tara's flesh, pressing down into her lover, arching her back as she moans loudly. Rubbing her sex over the firm flesh, Buffy grunts loudly in pleasure as she feels the climax exploding from her body, drenching her lover's ass with her orgasm.

"Buffy!" Tara whimpers loudly as she feels her lovers juices easing over her body and between her butt cheeks.

"Okay, my love." Buffy whispers, finally giving in after having unwittingly reached the first of what will probably be many climaxes she will have. Working her way quickly down Tara's back, Buffy licks her own juices off Tara's butt before gently spreading her lover's cheeks to delve between them to clean up what had trickled down. As she strokes firmly over Tara's rosebud, Buffy growls at the buck and press she gets in response.

Tara arches into the slayer's tongue, as Buffy continues to stroke over her rosebud. Digging her fingers into the matting under her, Tara whimpers low and deep in her throat.

"Coming back to this at a later date." Buffy laps once more over Tara before gently easing Tara over onto her back, sliding three fingers within her lover while capturing the distended muscle into her mouth, not even having to suck or stroke it with her tongue before her lover cries out loudly, exploding with her release. Purring strongly, Buffy captures all the liquid, before finally suckling gently on the rock hard muscle, surprised at the size of the spasming muscle.

Tara reaches down and grabs her lover's head as she feels another orgasm following closely behind the first one, bucking uncontrollably against her lover's mouth and fingers as it hits, flooding her lovers mouth and hand again. Crying out loudly, Tara rocks her body as Buffy releases her aching clit, but blows a cool breath of are over it while continuing to stroke within her clenching body, working her towards another climax.

"So sweet, so good." Buffy whimpers, eagerly lapping over her lover's body even as she curls her fingers within Tara, urging her onto another deeper, longer, more intense orgasm.

"BUFFYYYYYYYYYY!!" Tara screams, yanking on the slayer's hair as she bucks uncontrollably as sparks literally seem to fly around her, before she collapses from the pleasure shooting through her body.

Buffy's body jerks as she climaxes with Tara, unwittingly having been rubbing herself against Tara's shin. Lovingly kissing and licking over her lover's body, Buffy cleans her passed out lover softly as she gently eases her fingers from within Tara's depths. Lapping up the liquid from her lover's center before cleaning her own fingers and hand. Buffy eases up beside Tara to wrap her up in her arms, holding her tenderly against her while placing soothing kisses on Tara's cheek and lips as she waits for her lover to join her back from her visit with the Goddess. Buffy chuckles at the thought as she closes her eyes relaxing.

Tara smiles as she slowly wakes up, the rumbles coming from her lover making her feel content. Running her hand up and down Buffy's side, she snuggles in tighter against her lover, placing a soft kiss on the flesh of Buffy's breast.

"Welcome back to the land of the living. How was the visit with the Goddess, love?" Buffy jokes quietly, a smile on her face.

"She said to tell you if you keep sending me to her to visit when we don't need her help, she's going to come down here and kick your butt." Tara lifts her head, chuckling at the merriment in Buffy's eyes. "What time is it?" Tara questions as she lays her head back down on Buffy's chest.

"Time to go downstairs." Buffy sighs quietly. "They came to about fifteen minutes ago."

"I guess that means we need to get to work, and get everything situated. Are you ready for what this is going to entail?" Tara lifts back up, propping her head up with her hand as she stares down into her lovers eyes.

"Not really." Buffy shakes her head, brushing her thumb over Tara's cheek. "I don't mind killing the demons, it's the fact that I'm doing it without them even basically having a fighting chance. Like shooting fish in a barrel." Buffy frowns heavily at the thought.

"I know love. But the Initiative did this, not you. It's because of them that we'll have to go in and clean up their mess." Tara runs her free hand through Buffy's hair, soothing her lover. "You can't allow them to run free to hurt, maim and kill humans. I could magic them to some other place, but…"

"We'd still have the problem of them going after humans." Buffy finishes quietly. "I know this is what we have to do, I just don't like the unfairness of it. Yes, they are demons. Yes, they hurt and kill humankind, but not giving them a chance to fight is just so unfair."

"I don't know what else to say, sweetie." Tara looks at her lover, her eyes sad.

"I know." Buffy smiles and tries to shake off the clouds that had gathered. "I love you." Buffy leans up and kisses Tara softly. "Let's get dressed and deal with the two idiots."

"I love you, too, sweetie." Tara smiles gently as she eases from her lover to dress.

"I can't fucking believe it!" Buffy growls angrily after she and Tara had interrogated the two commandos. "There's over 200 demons down there, and they were experimenting with them and created another hybrid demon? JESUS!" Buffy snarls, slamming her fist into the weight bag, frowning as the bag splits and the sand pours out.

Tara winces at her lover's actions. Watching as Buffy starts to pace back and forth in the training room.

"It'll probably be a mercy killing these demons. But I don't like the fact that we don't know where that hybrid is…Unless he's still down below and that's why I can't feel him elsewhere." Buffy frowns as she stops to think.

"Would you be able to 'feel' him?" Tara questions, hating to bring it up. Seeing Buffy frown as she looks at her, Tara continues. "He's a hybrid. A bunch of different demons and human mixed together. Would he set off your senses?"

"I don't know." Buffy admits after a few minutes, sighing heavily. "At least with a little helpful nudge they were able to tell us how to take it out." Buffy smirks as Tara shrugs her shoulders.

"I figured they weren't telling us everything, and a little truth spell was called for." Tara admits as she runs a hand through her hair. "Let's go to the house, sweetie. We'll eat and prepare there, then let Joyce and Mr. Giles bring some food for those two back here while the rest of us had to the campus."

Buffy rubs a hand roughly over her eyes, nodding her head in silent agreement, still wary of what they might come across, but knowing they're going into this with a better idea of what they're coming up against. "At least from the sounds of it, it's mostly common variety demons. I'll probably let a good portion of the vampires up through the tunnel system to be met by Xander and Faith so they'll have something to do."

"And of course that has nothing to do with the conversation you and Faith had about her wanting some action." Tara smirks as she helps Buffy gather all the weapons they might need, along with a lot of additional stakes.

"Bitch told on me, didn't she?" Buffy pouts, glancing at her lover.

"Yep." Tara agrees, trying not to laugh. "Kind of obvious, anyway, sweetie. If you didn't promise to do something like that, she would end up down below with us."

"Yeah, she would have. I figured this was the lesser of two evils, that way she wouldn't feel uncomfortable with having to take out pretty much defenseless demons." Buffy explains her thought process as she finishes loading up the last gym bag.

Tara zips the bag she filled closed, watching as Buffy closes hers before grabbing them and tossing them over her shoulder.

"Come on, let's head home." Buffy urges quietly, her hand at Tara's lower back as the two women head out of the Magic Box. Buffy stopping to lock it behind them before threading their hands together as they head towards home.

Faith opens the door, sighing quietly at the sight of Tara and Buffy. "How did things go?"

Buffy rolls her eyes. "Let's get everybody together so we can discuss what the idiots said. Is it dinner time?" Buffy questions, her stomach rumbling.

"Yeah. We just helped Mrs. S load up the table. I think she was pullin' the bread outta the oven." Faith explains as they head towards the dining room.

As everyone settled in Tara looked at her lover, waiting for her to start the conversation.

"They have over two hundred demons down in their operation. It seems Walsh was a part of the Initiative, she was experimenting with making a hybrid human/demon cyborg type thing. Her creation, Adam, turned on her and killed her." Buffy sighs heavily as she pokes at the meat on her plate.

Tara gently squeezes her lover's thigh. "Adam has disappeared from the Initiative, but from the sounds of things he's around somewhere. He has a plutonium power source that's at the center of his body. It has to be disabled to kill him. From what Riley and Forrest said, most of the demons down below are vampires and lesser demons, in as much as they know. Adam also has computer chips for learning capabilities, with differing abilities as to how to download information."

Buffy nibbles on her bottom lip as she thinks. "He's either down somewhere hiding within the Initiative, or I can't feel him. I haven't been able to locate him anywhere, and from what the two idiots said, he is practically indestructible. He has titanium coating his whole body, so if any of you come across him, don't do anything."

"Except run." Tara whispers, her eyes looking up at the rest of the group, seeing they have their complete and utter attention. "I have a feeling the only thing that will work is Buffy with her super powers, so we have to find him and let her take him out."

"Can we do a locator spell on him?" Giles questions, leaning forward to look at the two women.

"With a little…persuasion, we found out where they made Adam. When we get down in the depths of the Initiative, Tara's going to go there and get some items, transferring them out to somewhere close to Faith and Xander to keep until we finish what we need to do, then we'll go after Adam." Buffy explains quietly, threading her fingers through Tara's. "We have to take out the biggest threat, which is all the demons they have locked up down there. If this Adam character has all the information on the schematics of the Initiative, he can literally knock them to their knees and release all the prisoners. We can't let that happen, we need to go down there and take them out."

"So this is gonna definitely happen tonight." Faith stabs a piece of chicken as she thinks. "We gotta load up with everything possible weapon-wise, to be on the safe side. Xan-man would be best to be loaded with crossbows and bolts, since he's got a pretty good aim with the things. What about Red?" Faith looks at Willow before her gaze goes from one to the other of the group.

"Tara and I were actually discussing that. Willow, your hacking abilities might best be put to use here. Do you think you can get in and maybe keep track if someone's shutting stuff off? Give us forewarning if things look like they're heading south and we need to step up the pace?" Buffy questions as she looks at Willow.

"I'm already linked in, so it won't take much for me to be able to do what you want." Willow looks back at Buffy for a few minutes. "I was playing around in there a bit earlier while you guys were at the Magic Box." Willow shrugs with a quirk of her lip as Buffy looked at her.

"Should have figured you couldn't resist." Buffy shakes her head, laughing quietly. "Everyone make sure you have your cell phones with you and on vibrate so that way the ring won't give anyone away." Buffy sighs quietly, thankful that her mom had insisted that everyone get the phones with the money given to them from the Council.

"You took care of the glamour spell?" Giles look at the two women, who grin and nod. "Good. You also grabbed all the weapons you will need, I would assume."

"Of course. Your weapons are severely depleted at the shop right now." Buffy smirks at the watcher, before gently squeezing Tara's fingers before releasing them so they can continue eating. "I guess we just need to finish eating, gear up and head out." Buffy looks from one person to the other in question.

"Yeah, unless we wanna talk it to death some more." Faith growls as she grabs another chicken breast along with some more green beans. "Xan and I are playing back up to the demons that might come outta the Initiative, Red's doing computer watch, G-man and Mrs. S are playing babysitter. You two get to go down and play with the soldier boys and the other demons." Faith shrugs and smirks. "I think that about covers it."

"I dare say." Giles sighs heavily at Faith's simplistic break down, before chuckling at the rightness of it. "Eat up ladies and gentlemen, I have a feeling it's going to be an extremely busy night."

Amongst groans and laughter the group joke, to try and enjoy the evening together before they split up to hopefully deal with the demons and whatever problems might arise from the Initiative.

Chapter 45

Faith glances at the two 'commando's' once more as they get closer to the college. "This is just fuckin' freaky."

Tara chuckles, it coming out deeper like a man's chuckle. "Yeah it is. I had to make a little bit of a change to the spell to make us 'seem' solid. Between that and the protection spell, nothing should be able to dispel it." Tara takes a deep breath, looking at her lover. "Time to look for some other commando's and follow them in?"

"Lowell House, here we come." Buffy nods, turning to look at Faith and Xander. "You two know where to go?"

"Yeah. Head over to the little escape hatch we found the other night and wait for you to send some fun our way." Faith grins evilly and cracks her knuckles.

"Tara's already tagged it so that the demons that we let loose will head straight to it." Buffy explains quietly as they come to a stop.

"With an uncontrollable urge to get the hell out of the Initiative without causing any other problems." Tara shrugs, and smirks. "Let's get going, the sooner we get in there, the sooner we get home."

"Be careful." Xander starts to hug the two women…but looking at them as men, he just shakes his head. "I'd give you two a hug, but that's just a little too weird for my taste."

Faith snorts and smacks him gently on the back. "What? You ain't wantin' to try the home team, Xan?"

"NO!" Xander's eyes widen and he looks at Faith in disbelief. "That is a ONE WAY STREET!! Nothing's heading in there, nope…not gonna happen." Xander shakes his head vehemently.

"Don't know what you're missing." Buffy murmurs a little louder than she meant to, looking wide-eyed at Tara as the Wicca blushes darkly. "Ummm. We're going, have a good time and be careful." Buffy tugs on Tara's jacket as they take off jogging towards the Initiative's 'house'.

Xander stares after the two women, his mouth hanging open in shock. Slowly turning his gaze to Faith after Buffy and Tara are out of sight, he whimpers. "Did she just…?"

"Yep. I'd say they've experimented and enjoyed the hell outta it!" Faith smirks at the young man. "Don't knock it 'til ya' try it Xan." Faith chuckles wickedly as she makes her way towards the entrance to the Initiative she and Buffy had found.

"Oh, my God!" Xander moans and rubs a hand over his suddenly sweaty forehead. "Not a good thing, these thoughts that are running through my head. Not good at all." Xander whimpers and follows after the dark-haired slayer.

Buffy looks at Tara, taking a deep breath before they walk into the Initiatives house.

Graham looks up at Riley and Forrest. "Talk about making it here just in time. We're getting ready to have a meeting. Where have you two been?"

"Had problems and had to kill the demon." Buffy growls angrily, working her way towards the entrance to the Initiatives underground lair, making sure Graham was in front of her to activate it.

Graham nods in understanding as he presses the button, saying his name for voice recognition.

Tara exhales softly in relief at the biggest problem they faced, knowing she could have magicked their way in, but not wanting to possibly tip their hand too soon in case it set of some kind of sensors.

Tara and Buffy follow behind Graham, allowing him to lead, the two women surreptitiously taking mental notes of the military installation. Buffy sharpens her gaze as she sees the banks of small monitors, showing small cells with demons in them. Listening intently as she continues to follow Graham, Buffy hears the different personnel talking, two men arguing back and forth about Adam having access to everything in the Initiative and that they had to do something and quick.

"Is that everyone?" Major Jefferson looks up as they come in to lean against the back wall of the meeting room, looking at the group of military personnel. "I'm Major Jefferson. I just arrived here, after we were made aware of the situation. This installation is going to be shut down, no more experimentation is going to happen, and we need to release the hostiles that have the modifications chips in them and take out the other hostiles."

Buffy and Tara glance quickly at each other in surprise, before they look back at the commotion the Majors words were causing.

"But, sir! We have spent the last six months capturing these HST. You can't mean for us to just release them or kill them?" One of the soldiers questions, the surprise obvious in his voice.

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean. These experiments were done without the knowledge and approval of the US Government! Now, I want you to start at Level three with the more powerful demons and work your way up to the vampires. Any of you that have any information on Adam, I want you to see me. Now get whatever weapons you may need and go!" Major Jefferson growls, dismissing them with a wave of his hand. Angry at the major fuck-up this installation had done and how far off they had gotten from the watch and learn that they were supposed to do.

Buffy turns and looks at Tara. "See if you can get to where Adam was built. I'm going to head downstairs with this group and start helping them take the demons out, this will work out better than I thought it would, with them deciding to shut this place down." Buffy whispers softly, gently squeezing her lover's arm.

"Be careful." Tara grins at her lover as she heads towards the door.

"You, too." Buffy winks and smirks before sliding out to follow the other personnel out of the room.

Tara takes a deep breath and works her way out of the room, orienting herself to what they were told by Riley, heading towards the area Adam had been created.

Adam rubs his chin as he punches up the computer, frowning heavily as he sees the military personnel heading down to the cells loaded with weapons. "Oh, no. That won't do at all." Adam starts punching keys on the keyboard.

"Shit!" Willow dials Buffy's number as soon as she sees the activity. "He's going into the section that keeps the cells locked! I can't stop him!"

"Call Tara." Buffy growls into the phone as she slips into an empty room to talk to Willow. "Then call Faith next, then Mom and Giles." Buffy disconnects the phone and runs out of the room. "FUCK! Everyone watch out! Be prepared, the cells are being unlocked all at once!" Buffy screams as she runs through, seeing an emergency lever on the wall, yanking it down even as she's running by to head to the lower level. Whispering the spell that Tara had taught her, hoping that it isn't too late.

Adam's eyes twitch as he watches the soldiers running down towards the cells. "Little too late. They're already unlocking and escaping." Adam allows a small smile to cross his face, frowning as he watches one soldier push his way to the front of the group heading down to the lower levels. "Eager to die?" Adam shrugs before tapping away at the computer, switching all the cells completely open. "Now, to see what happens." Adam tips back in his chair, his eyes on the multitude of monitors in front of him, smiling as he hears the cries starting through the doorway even as he watches it on the screen.

Tara narrows her eyes as she hangs up the phone, feeling her lover hurriedly try to place the spell, already knowing that she was going to be too late, some of the demons already having escaped. Adding her strength to the spell, she concentrates to send the demons back on the right path, praying that none of the soldiers or personnel gets between them, knowing she can't send a powerful enough spell out to them from where she is to keep them from attacking the humans. "Good luck, love." Tara whispers softly before heading into the room that had birthed the hybrid Adam.

"Shit! Xan be prepared. Seems like this shit is gonna go down now." Faith growls as she pulls out a short sword and a stake, looking intently at Xander as he double-checks his crossbows and the stack of bolts he has within easy re-load distance. "Don't know what we're gonna get. B was planning on just sending us up vamps as she went cell to cell, but Red called and said that Adam dude is making it a free for all." Faith warns, her eyes serious.

"Gotcha." Xander takes a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart as he aims the crossbow towards the opening Faith had previously flipped open. "You still want me to try and take them out first?"

"Yeah, and I'll go after the ones that get by ya', and while you reload." Faith nods her head at the young man, grinning hugely. "Time to party!" Faith jumps uncontrollably as she hears the pounding of feet coming down the exit from the Initiative.

"You need help." Xander groans before lifting the crossbow to his shoulder, aiming as he watches the first demon pop up out of the opening, letting him make it two steps away before firing.

"SWEET SHOT!" Faith yells, spinning her sword around as she watches Xander nail the first vampire right in the heart, dusting him instantly.

Xander grunts and quickly reloads before letting go another bolt, praying that most of his shots hit home.

"GET BACK!" Buffy screams to the soldiers that were practically being trampled by the demons escaping, thanking God that the demons weren't attacking the soldiers anymore, but knowing that just being trampled by some of them would kill them. Quickly unleashing a deadly swing, Buffy starts taking off the demons head's indiscriminately, knowing that most demons won't live through being beheaded.

"Jesus!" Graham stares in surprise, watching as the person he thinks is Riley wades into the midst of the demons without fear and starts killing them in a blur. Taking a deep breath, he starts shooting the other demons even as the other personnel either run away or fight back.

"Riley, it seems your military's monstrous creation, Adam, has let loose the demons. Hopefully the two people we sent down there made it in time to keep the slaughter to a minimum. As it is, we're going to help be back up." Giles explains hurriedly as he reverses the spell keeping the two men prisoner in the basement of the Magic Box. "Don't make me regret this!" Giles growls angrily.

"Who the fuck are you?" Riley strides out from the corner, Forrest following closely behind.

"I'll be your worst fucking nightmare if you don't help." Giles hands stakes and swords to the two men.

"Come on, Rupert!" Joyce calls down from the top of the stairs. "Willow just called back, all of the cells are open and she was able to tap into some of the monitors, it seems that Buffy and Tara weren't able to get the spell completely in place before some of the demons escaped."

"Shit! Come on you two wankers. Do right for a change and bloody well help out." Giles orders as he runs up the stairs, following after Joyce, the two commando's looking at each other before following after the older couple.

"Should we?" Forrest questions quietly as they jog through the shop.

"They know what's going on, all I can say is we'll follow them and if we need to split off afterwards we will." Riley frowns heavily as he jumps in the back of the Jeep, Forrest following quickly as the woman doesn't even wait for them to shut the doors before she peels out away from the curb heading towards the campus.

Faith grins madly as she swings at the demons charging out of the hole as Xander reloads both crossbows. "YIPPEEEE!!" Faith cries out as she jumps over the head of one of the horned demons coming at her, spinning in the middle of the air to land behind him, swinging with all her power.

"God help us! She's fucking lost her mind." Xander growls as he finishes loading the crossbow, pulling it up quickly as a vampire heads towards him, having escaped Faith's wild fight. "No you don't!" Xander pulls the trigger, dusting the vampire, before swinging around and taking aim at other demons.

"Want a couple extra hands?" Giles pants as he runs up, watching as the two commandos wade in and start helping Faith fight the demons.

"We'll take everything you got." Xander nods as he nails another vampire, watching as Giles pulls his own crossbow from his back and starting to aim. "Where's Joyce?"

"She's right behind me." Giles looks over his shoulder watching as Joyce strides towards them, grinning. "I should of thought to teach her how to use a crossbow. I'll be damn sure of doing it here in the future."

"Always helpful." Xander drops the empty crossbow, grabbing the other one up.

"I think I can load the crossbows." Joyce offers, grabbing the empty crossbow and the bag of bolts, having watched Buffy do it enough times that she figures she has the mechanics down.

"Thanks." Giles and Xander both call out as they start picking off the demons, trying to keep from aiming anywhere near the two commandos and Faith.

"Fuck me!" Buffy growls, wiping the sweat, blood and slime from her face as she looks around at the decimated demons, turning to look at the wounded soldiers and personnel of the Initiative. Yanking off the charm, she grinds it under foot as she stares at Graham, the shock obvious on his face. "Yeah, you know me. Get the wounded out of here and to somewhere safe. Treat 'em while I try to round up any other demons still running loose and finding that fucking idiotic creation."

Graham stares stunned after the petite blonde, knowing that she looks familiar, but not knowing why. Finally looking at the other tired and wore out commando's he orders them loudly. "Pick up the wounded! Get them out by the elevator to the house, then clean their wounds." Graham reaches down helping one of the unconscious personnel, gently easing him over his shoulder while wrapping his arm around another wounded one that can still walk as the group starts heading towards the elevator.

Tara frowns as she watches the personnel of the Initiative scatter and run as the demons are freed. "You'd think they'd be better trained." Tara shakes her head as she gathers the items and slides into a small room, quickly setting it up to do the locator spell, silently praying to the Goddess that they can find Adam and finish this now.

Taking a deep breath, Tara slowly immerses herself into a meditative state as she works on the locator spell, unaware of the time passing as the fight wages on outside the room, around and above.

Buffy calls Willow on the cell phone. "What's going on?"

"Giles and your mom released the two commandos and took them to help out Xander and Faith above ground. What's going on down there? It looks like a massacre, thankfully from the couple sections I've been able to tape into, it looks like a massacre on the demon side." Willow switches between cameras, looking at the four different cameras she was able to get access to.

"Pretty much. There were some casualties on the Initiatives side, but I don't know if anyone was killed, or if it was more them being hurt. Have you heard from Tara?" Buffy questions as she dodges a vampire that had escaped, growling angrily as she stabs it quickly before continuing on.

"I saw her on one of the monitors head into a room a couple doors down from 317, but I couldn't make out the room number." Willow admits as she switches to that camera like she'd been doing every thirty seconds give or take.

"Thanks. I'm going to hunt her out now." Buffy snaps the phone shut as she heads towards her lover, starting to send out a mental query, knowing that it only works short distance, but praying that Tara hears her as she runs through the hallways of the underground installation.

Adam snarls as he watches the carnage…in the humans favor, his plans going down the drain. "I don't know who you think you are, but you just bit off more than you can chew." Adam stands and heads towards the door, stepping over the body of one of the doctors that had helped build him as he opens the door to take care of this himself.

Buffy sighs in relief as she gets closer to her lover, hearing her mental call finally answered. Waiting in the hallway, Buffy looks up and down the hallway, keeping her eyes open. Smiling as Tara steps out of the room.

"Not worried about the disguise anymore?" Tara questions softly, pulling her own charm off and tucking it away in a pocket.

"No. People got hurt, I don't know how badly, but it can definitely be considered a victory for us, even with not being able to get everything set-up before all hell broke loose." Buffy reaches to stroke her finger over Tara's cheek, frowning at the crust covered hand. "I know you made it so that anything that could hurt us couldn't get through, but couldn't you have made it so that nothing could?" Buffy grumbles, pulling her hand back away.

Tara chuckles at her lover, eyeing her up and down, actually paying attention to how she looks. "You are a little…disgusting." Tara shrugs, smirking at Buffy.

"Thanks. I love you, too." Buffy grumbles her lips quirked before her spidey senses start tingling strongly, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. "Uh, oh. Something wicked this way comes." Buffy growls, hearing the stopping step of something huge heading towards them.

Tara sends out the locator, it hesitating before heading down to the end of the hallway to where Buffy's staring. "Guess that answers that."

"Yes, it does." Buffy looks around at the narrow hallway. "Start to head up top. I'm playing bait to bring him out to somewhere I can fight him with some room to maneuver." Buffy allow a small smile to cross her face as Tara strokes a finger over her dirty face.

"Be careful love. And if you aren't out of that hole within a couple minutes, I'm coming back down here to kick your ass." Tara warns, dropping her hand and smacking her lover firmly on the ass before she takes off running down the hallway to head out the same exit they had been funneling the demons to.

Buffy watches her lover for a moment, smiling as she sees Tara grab the phone out of her pocket as she runs towards the exit. Taking a deep breath, Buffy turns back and waits for Adam to make his appearance.

At the first sight of the behemoth patchwork demon, Buffy blinks in surprise, swallowing hard.

"You are more trouble that you are worth. What are you?" Adam's deep voice resonates down the hallway as he stomps towards the small woman that had pretty much single-handedly destroyed his plans for slowly taking over the world.

"I'm just a little thing called a Slayer." Buffy answers, backing up slowly, trying not to smirk as she watches the behemoth grin as he realizes she's backing away from him.

"You should be afraid, little girl. I plan on breaking you into pieces, then grinding you into the ground." Adam growls as he slowly strides after the woman, watching as she dodges and steps over the demons that had fallen. "You helped take out my army. I had big plans for them." Adam waves a hand towards the floor and the littered remains. "I will have to start over again."

"Sorry for screwing up your plans." Buffy bites the inside of her cheek to keep the smirk from showing as she picks up her speed slightly, making sure that Adam keeps following her. Though she has a feeling that he'll follow her no matter what she does now. "Umm…could we talk about this?"

"I'm finished talking." Adam follows after the slayer, picking up his speed to lumber after the woman as she turns and starts to jog towards one of the exits.

'Here we go.' Buffy comments to herself as she picks up speed running down the same exit she and Faith had come across, smiling as she hears the lumbering footfalls behind her. "It's me." Buffy calls out softly, hoping Faith is close by to hear her.

"Gotcha." Faith answers, turning to look at the rest of the crew, grinning at the motley crew. "She's bringing him out."

Tara stops striding back and forth before she turns to watch the exit.

Xander finishes gathering up the bolts off the ground, loading up the two crossbows even as Giles loads his crossbow again, just in case. "What are we going to do with all the demons that didn't explode, evaporate, disintegrate or liquefy?" Xander questions to the pile of demons Faith had moved off into a pile.

"A nice little bonfire would probably work well." Giles admits looking at the pile.

"I'll take care of it afterwards." Tara comments as she watches Buffy jump up out of the hole, relaxing slightly at the sight of her lover, knowing she should be okay, but still worried.

Riley and Forrest look at each other, both men wiping at a couple wounds, trying to figure out how the rest of the group kept from getting hurt, even though the majority of them did look tired.

Riley turns his gaze on Buffy. "Exactly who the hell are you?"

Buffy smirks at the TA even as Tara growls at him. "She's my lover, and the slayer, what is it to you?" Tara nails the commando with ice blue eyes. "You guys really should check into the areas you infiltrate a little better. You could have caused the Hellmouth to open with all the demons here together. Idiots." Tara looks back at the exit, hearing the pounding feet.

Faith tilts her head as she hears the growl and the feet pounding from down below. "Sounds like a big fucker."

"You have no idea." Buffy grins at her as she comes to stand beside her sister slayer, waiting for Adam to come out of the escape exit, winking at Tara before turning her gaze back to the exit.

"Where did you go, little girl? I'm getting hungry." Adam growls as he pulls himself out of the hole, staring in surprise at the group of people. "Do you honestly think you puny humans have a chance against me?"

"Yeah, I'd say she does." Faith jerks her thumb towards Buffy. "She's a tough little bitch, and we're the cheering section."

"One puny little girl doesn't stand a chance against me." Adam growls as he strides towards the small blonde.

"I'd argue the point, but I'd rather watch her kick your ass." Faith smirks as she shifts back, allowing Buffy all the room she needs. "Kick his ass, B."

"She doesn't have a chance against him." Riley frowns as he watches Buffy meet Adam, jumping up and nailing the behemoth in the chest, surprised when Adam shoots back a good ten feet, landing on his back.

"You really should find out what a slayer is." Tara comments as she watches her lover fight Adam. "You should also learn when someone's interested before you flirt with them, or ask them out." Tara smirks at the tall commando. "My love was a bit peeved with you when you hit on her."

Riley's mouth drops open as he stares at the blonde beside him, his eyes trailing back to Buffy. "You two?"

"Yep. Those two get all hot and sweaty all over the damn place. You gotta be careful where you go around the house, no telling what ya' might see." Faith smirks as she watches Buffy duck a swing by the Frankenstein monster. "Shit, if he actually made contact with something, he'd probably fuckin' crush it with one hit."

"I do believe so." Giles agrees, frowning heavily as he watches Buffy.

Buffy snarls as she slams her fist into Adam's jaw, making him stumble back away from her. "I'm not in the mood to play. You ruined my plans to take out the demons down below to keep the damn idiots from being hurt, and that does not make me happy!"

Adam shakes his head, feeling something he never felt before. Taking a moment to assimilate his feelings, he realizes its fear. Eyes opening wide as the small blonde stalks towards him, her eyes glowing orange.

"We have had enough! It is time you die!" Buffy growls, her voice sounding eerie in the night as she takes a running jump, slamming both feet into Adam's chest, knocking him into the ground as she jumps up in the air a good twenty feet, slamming back down into his chest, the sound of metal screeching loud in the quiet night.

"Damn, that has to hurt." Xander mutters, watching as the demon's chest caves in.

"And he's still alive." Giles points out, whipping his glasses off as he watches Buffy kneel down beside the floundering demon.

Joyce stares as her daughter grasps his chest, separating the metal before her hands dig within the monstrous creation. "My, God!" Joyce shivers uncontrollably, though there's no blood or guts, it just looks like clear fluid and electronics coming out. Unconsciously leaning into Giles as the watcher wraps his arm around her.

Tara watches intently as her lover searches within the demon as he tries to dislodge her, seeing her lover start to smile, Tara releases the breath she'd unconsciously been holding.

"Found it." Buffy growls as she feels the cylinder shaped item, wrapping her fingers around it as she stares into the eyes of Adam. "No more of you."

"NOOOOO!!!" Adam growls, feeling his power source being pulled from his body, swinging again at the small blonde, not being able to understand why it stops dead short of making contact, like all his previous hits, his eyes opening wide as he jerks as the powers finished being ripped from his body, his eyes slowly losing the spark of life.

"No more Adam." Buffy growls, holding the glowing power source in her hands. "Love?" Buffy looks at Tara before tossing the plutonium source high up into the air, watching as her lover makes it disperse into millions of pieces. Turning her gaze on the two pale commando's, she points towards their college dorm house. "Go home, help the wounded. We'll visit tomorrow to make sure your little group is going to leave like Major Jackson said."

"Jefferson, sweetie." Tara corrects softly.

"Whatever." Buffy waves her hand around, before taking a menacing step towards the two men, chuckling as they take off running. Starting to reach for Tara and hug her, Buffy stops, looking down at her disgustingly filthy hands and arms, knowing the rest of her is coated probably worse.

"Come here, love." Tara whispers, ignoring her lovers state and hugging her tightly.

"Now, that's true love if I ever did see it!" Xander smirks at the sight of Tara hugging the slayer.

"Come 'ere, Xan!" Faith smirks and starts to stride towards the young man with her arms wide open, laughing and chasing after him as he squeals like a little girl and takes off running.

Joyce looks at Giles and laughs softly. "I guess this means we've won and time to go home?"

"FOOOOODDDD!" Faith cries as she jogs after Xander as the young man runs down the street.

"Meet you at home!" Buffy calls after the slayer, laughing as Xander and Faith zig-zag down the street, Xander whining the whole time.

"We can clean up in the dorm, love, before heading home." Tara offers quietly, smiling as Buffy growls and picks her up.

"We'll be at the house later. You two be careful." Buffy calls over her shoulder towards her mom and watcher. "Call Willow and let her know we kicked ass."

"As if there was ever any doubt." Giles shakes his head, pulling out the phone to make the phone call as he and Joyce walk hand in hand towards the Jeep.

"And another apocalypse avoided." Joyce sighs in relief, squealing out Giles' name after he gets off the phone with Willow and picks her up to kiss her deeply. "What has gotten into you?" Joyce pants heavily after the watcher finally releases her a few long minutes later.

"Haven't you heard Faith's comments about slaying and being hungry?" Giles smirks at his lover as Joyce's eyes open wide in surprise. "Doesn't just happen to slayers, my dear!"

"Dear, Lord!" Joyce mutters, inflecting the words just like Giles, before laughing as they climb in the vehicle to head towards home, Giles laughing with her.

Buffy stands and looks at the motley crew of personnel left over from the collapse of the Initiative two days before. "Major?"

"Ma'am, we owe you a debt of gratitude. If it wasn't for you and the rest of your group, it would have been a massacre." Major Jefferson stands at attention in front of Buffy and the rest of the Scoobies. "We appreciate everything you have done, and if you need anything…" He pulls an envelope from inside his jacket pocket, handing it to Buffy. "There is a number you can contact, just leave your name and someone will get in contact with you. There's also an official thank you in there from the government."

"I would just prefer the government to not come here again. We'll take care of the Hellmouth. With what happened, your governments creation was planning on opening it and taking over the world. Which I don't need to remind you that it would never have happened if your doctor's hadn't decided to get all experimental on this shit." Buffy growls as she takes the envelope, handing back to Giles.

"No, you don't need to remind us." Major Jefferson shakes his head, slightly embarrassed at the thought of this small slip of a girl having saved almost all of them. "We've already shipped out the rest of the group, we're leaving now. Thank you again." He nods towards the group before the rest of the commandos climb into the Hummer and drive away.

"Do you think he meant it?" Joyce questions quietly.

"What? That they won't be back, or that if we need help to call?" Buffy questions, watching the tail lights of the vehicle as it turns to head out of town.

"Either, both." Joyce shrugs as they walk back up the steps to head into the house.

"I don't think they'll be back without a very good reason." Tara offers up her thoughts on the matter. "They're scared shitless of us."

"With good reason, I dare say." Giles murmurs softly as he glances at Buffy. "You pretty much tore through over two hundred demons in roughly two hours and took out their crowning achievement, barely breaking a sweat."

Buffy shrugs and looks at the rest of the group. "I didn't do it on my own. How many of the demons and vampires would have escaped if you guys hadn't been at the exit to take them out? How many innocent lives would have been taken because of this?"

"More than I'd care to count." Willow admits as the group collapses around the living room, smiling at the still tired group of people. "Guys, I love coming here to see you and visit with you…but can we not do this when I come home for Summer break? I can only handle so much fun. By the way, Bronze tonight?" Willow questions hopefully.

Everyone groans and a couple pillows go flying towards the redhead as she laughs at the group.

The End