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snogged*squee* I passed the 18,000 word mark! It still stuns and amazes me that I've been able to stick with a multi-chapter this long. And I have all my loyal readers to thank for that.
Title: Mission X (11/?)
Author: snogged
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and Co. own the characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I don’t.
Pairing: Willow/Riley
Word Count: 1719
Overall Rating/Warnings: FRT-13/PG-13 (will be FRAO/NC-17 in later chapters); language, angst, drama, violence, het sex, sexual innuendo.
Setting: AU! Season 6. Parts of this story come from the established canon plot lines and others are my own desire to twist things my way.
Summary: When Riley comes back to Sunnydale, he stays for a reason that’s not Buffy.
Beta: the amazing Gabrielle and the awesome![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
angelskuuipo.
Previous Chapters
Banners byrua1412: One / Two
Soldiers are not supposed to cry.
Their fingers are not supposed to tremble, their bodies are not supposed to register the aches. They are taught that tragedy in the field is inevitable and even when the pain of loss hurts like hell, they have to push forward. They have to keep fighting.
These were the lessons he learned in Basic training, the lessons he learned from Maggie Walsh. He was supposed to be trained for this. He was supposed to be level-headed enough to not let emotions cloud his judgment.
But this was Willow. She was the girl who could never be a mission, never be a number, never be a letter. She was the girl who had single-handedly stolen his heart these last few weeks. And that was enough to short-circuit everything he’d been taught.
Gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, Riley stared at the blackness lingering outside the front door. The helicopters and the army were long since gone, but the hurt arcing around his heart felt fresh and raw, damaging and awful.
He should have done something, anything, to keep them from abducting her. He should have flung himself into their path, begging them to take him instead. He should have discovered whatever device had sensed the crackle of magic in the air, the device that brought this bright hell down on top of them, and he should have ripped it clean out of the wall. It was his job to protect her and he failed.
“We’ll get her back. It’s what we do.”
Buffy’s promise, however kind and heartfelt, fell flat for Riley. It felt as if it was coming from the leader of the pack. It felt as if it was coming from a general instead of from Willow’s best friend.
Why the hell didn’t Buffy sound more pissed off? More angry? Why did she have to be the one to sound so rational and logical when a core member of their group had been so ruthlessly ripped from their protection?
“She’s right,” Xander said, cementing his position on this issue. “We’re the Scoobies. Masterminds of saving the world. As long as we put our heads together, I know we’ll get her back in our ranks in no time.”
Despite Xander’s best intentions, hearing that bit of army lingo wasn’t enough to placate Riley or increase his confidence that Willow would be back in his arms within twenty-four hours. They were wasting time talking about plans and strategies. For all they knew, Willow could be chained up in an interrogation room somewhere, each breath more staggered than the last, as former friends and soldiers did unspeakable things to her. They needed to act while the scent was still fresh.
“She needs to be back now.” Riley said, unchecked anger lacing his tone. While this might not be the right time to start revealing secrets, he was done hiding behind his defenses. A quick glance over at Spike’s smirk and amused eyes meant that chaos would erupt momentarily.
“While I appreciate your concern, Riley,” Buffy said matter-of-factly, placing her hands on her hips. “We are her best friends and we will be doing this our way. So if you have a problem…”
“She’s my girlfriend,” Riley countered.
The silence that followed was palpable, tension so thick it could be cut with a warm knife.
“She’s your what?” Xander asked.
“I knew it,” Anya said, a pleased smile curling the corners of her lips. “I knew Willow would go back to the boys. The penis is impossible to resist.”
“Anya--” Xander warned, narrowing his eyes. “Now is really not the right time to be bringing that up.”
Anya shrugged, clearly not bothered in the slightest by her own bluntness. “I’m just saying that I knew Willow had something really special with Oz and that included playing with his penis. I saw them on Graduation Day…in the back of Oz’s van.” She turned to Riley, her smile still lighting up her face even though he looked somewhat mortified. “Have you let Willow play with your…?”
Spike chuckled as Xander’s palm wrapped itself around Anya’s perfect pout, preventing her from saying anything more.
“So you and Willow are…” Buffy started, changing the tone of the conversation. “Together?”
“Yes,” Riley answered, feeling assured when an idea popped into his head about where they could go from here. “I’m also pretty sure I know where to find her. And how to stop the General.”
***
This was Act III of her very own government spy tale. This was the part of the story where the spy’s girlfriend got kidnapped. This was the part of the story where she had to decide whether to keep her mouth shut about her boyfriend’s whereabouts or break under the pressure of unspeakable torture at the hands of her captors. This was the part right before her James Bond-esque boyfriend swooped in to save the day, kill the bad guy, and ravish her in the back seat of his sleek, black sports car.
But in lieu of living out that fantasy, she had her own training as a Scoobie to fall back on.
Willow glanced around the small, drab-looking room hoping to discover a bookshelf that contained a copy of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. She figured that of all the books in creation General Huth would be most likely to use that particular novel as the key which would unveil a secret, unguarded passageway that would lead to her freedom. Like Captain Ahab, Huth had made it part of his stupid life’s mission to track and take down the one whom he considered the most deadly witch in history.
Of course, he’d done so by dragging Riley into his madness and forcing Riley to do his bidding. And while the General may have used his authority to make Riley take this job, she knew that their relationship hadn’t been a ruse or a game. She’d spent enough time with Riley’s arms wrapped around her and his lips pressed against hers to know that with absolute certainty. She’d also spent enough time with Riley and her friends to know that a plan was being hatched for her successful release and the cavalry would be here any second now.
But despite her fruitless searches to find her own escape, she had to admit that on the continuum of kidnappers General Huth was an upstanding gentleman and caretaker when compared to Maggie Walsh with her sadistic demon torture dungeon. He’d given her a half-way decent bed to sit and wait on and he’d sent in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for her to munch on. The only time she had come to view General Huth as a major Big Bad was the moment he sent his Rack-wannabe in to visit her with no supervision.
From the short time she’d been there she had figured out that the guards called him Lazarus. Despite Ira and Sheila’s general lack of interest in the New Testament, she knew enough about the mythos to know that he was the man who was raised from the dead. And boy oh boy did he look it. His skin was dry and paper thin. His hair was wiry and gray. His nails were cracked and yellow. His robes barely clung to his spindly, skeevy body. Willow was sure that if Cordelia were here, she would have shrieked in pure terror because of his complete lack of familiarity with moisturizers.
“Pretty little witch so far from the wicked, wicked West,” Lazarus hissed, sending shivers up and down her spine. “Monkeys won’t bring you your spell books, poppet. They’ll leave you here to rot…to die.”
Oh, and did she mention that he was completely off his rocker?
“Pretty sure you’ll reach your end first,” Willow replied, her hands curling into fists. “There are a lot of people in this world who won’t take kindly to me getting kidnapped. Not only that, but if I’m a national threat, I can only imagine that you’re also listed on the no-fly list.”
Before Lazarus could react, General Huth stepped into the room, his hands folded across his chest. “I trust you two are playing nice? I don’t want to hear any squabbles now.”
“I have no current plans to play nice, General,” Willow replied. “Not when I have no clue what the heck I’m doing here.”
The general smirked, amusement dancing across his face. “I thought we’d made that quite clear. Surely, Riley told you all about it before we even arrived?”
This was the part where her captor would use emotional manipulation to convince her that her boyfriend betrayed her somehow by making it seem like there was some detail that had been left out or something. But Willow wasn’t going to fall for it. Riley had told her enough and she hadn’t been shaken.
“General, I’m pretty sure it’s not my mojo you have to worry about. I stop apocalypses. I don’t start them. This guy, on the other hand...”Gesturing to Lazarus, Willow made a facial expression that indicated that the obvious threat to humanity was standing right in the room with them.
General Huth’s eyes darkened. “He is here of his own accord. He is here to obey and serve his country. You’d be wise to follow his example.”
“I really don’t think that’s going to happen,” Willow replied, trying her best to remain calm. “I’m not really the type.”
“This is not a matter of choice,” Huth said sharply. “You will serve or you will perish.”
Several loud thumps indicative of bodies hitting the floor, followed by the crack of wood splintering, served as a needed interruption. For the second time in twenty-four hours, Willow found herself surrounded by her friends.
“We have got to stop running into each other like this, General,” Buffy quipped. “Imagine what the neighbors will think.”
With a cat-like grin, Buffy launched into a roundhouse kick, her foot landing squarely on the General’s shoulder and cracking the bone. As his cry of distracted pain echoed through the room, Willow felt the warmth of another human body against hers and before she could process everything that was going on, she found herself in the back of a vintage station wagon. It wasn’t sleek and black, but it would do.
Chapter 12
Title: Mission X (11/?)
Author: snogged
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and Co. own the characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I don’t.
Pairing: Willow/Riley
Word Count: 1719
Overall Rating/Warnings: FRT-13/PG-13 (will be FRAO/NC-17 in later chapters); language, angst, drama, violence, het sex, sexual innuendo.
Setting: AU! Season 6. Parts of this story come from the established canon plot lines and others are my own desire to twist things my way.
Summary: When Riley comes back to Sunnydale, he stays for a reason that’s not Buffy.
Beta: the amazing Gabrielle and the awesome
angelskuuipo.Previous Chapters
Banners by
rua1412: One / Two Soldiers are not supposed to cry.
Their fingers are not supposed to tremble, their bodies are not supposed to register the aches. They are taught that tragedy in the field is inevitable and even when the pain of loss hurts like hell, they have to push forward. They have to keep fighting.
These were the lessons he learned in Basic training, the lessons he learned from Maggie Walsh. He was supposed to be trained for this. He was supposed to be level-headed enough to not let emotions cloud his judgment.
But this was Willow. She was the girl who could never be a mission, never be a number, never be a letter. She was the girl who had single-handedly stolen his heart these last few weeks. And that was enough to short-circuit everything he’d been taught.
Gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, Riley stared at the blackness lingering outside the front door. The helicopters and the army were long since gone, but the hurt arcing around his heart felt fresh and raw, damaging and awful.
He should have done something, anything, to keep them from abducting her. He should have flung himself into their path, begging them to take him instead. He should have discovered whatever device had sensed the crackle of magic in the air, the device that brought this bright hell down on top of them, and he should have ripped it clean out of the wall. It was his job to protect her and he failed.
“We’ll get her back. It’s what we do.”
Buffy’s promise, however kind and heartfelt, fell flat for Riley. It felt as if it was coming from the leader of the pack. It felt as if it was coming from a general instead of from Willow’s best friend.
Why the hell didn’t Buffy sound more pissed off? More angry? Why did she have to be the one to sound so rational and logical when a core member of their group had been so ruthlessly ripped from their protection?
“She’s right,” Xander said, cementing his position on this issue. “We’re the Scoobies. Masterminds of saving the world. As long as we put our heads together, I know we’ll get her back in our ranks in no time.”
Despite Xander’s best intentions, hearing that bit of army lingo wasn’t enough to placate Riley or increase his confidence that Willow would be back in his arms within twenty-four hours. They were wasting time talking about plans and strategies. For all they knew, Willow could be chained up in an interrogation room somewhere, each breath more staggered than the last, as former friends and soldiers did unspeakable things to her. They needed to act while the scent was still fresh.
“She needs to be back now.” Riley said, unchecked anger lacing his tone. While this might not be the right time to start revealing secrets, he was done hiding behind his defenses. A quick glance over at Spike’s smirk and amused eyes meant that chaos would erupt momentarily.
“While I appreciate your concern, Riley,” Buffy said matter-of-factly, placing her hands on her hips. “We are her best friends and we will be doing this our way. So if you have a problem…”
“She’s my girlfriend,” Riley countered.
The silence that followed was palpable, tension so thick it could be cut with a warm knife.
“She’s your what?” Xander asked.
“I knew it,” Anya said, a pleased smile curling the corners of her lips. “I knew Willow would go back to the boys. The penis is impossible to resist.”
“Anya--” Xander warned, narrowing his eyes. “Now is really not the right time to be bringing that up.”
Anya shrugged, clearly not bothered in the slightest by her own bluntness. “I’m just saying that I knew Willow had something really special with Oz and that included playing with his penis. I saw them on Graduation Day…in the back of Oz’s van.” She turned to Riley, her smile still lighting up her face even though he looked somewhat mortified. “Have you let Willow play with your…?”
Spike chuckled as Xander’s palm wrapped itself around Anya’s perfect pout, preventing her from saying anything more.
“So you and Willow are…” Buffy started, changing the tone of the conversation. “Together?”
“Yes,” Riley answered, feeling assured when an idea popped into his head about where they could go from here. “I’m also pretty sure I know where to find her. And how to stop the General.”
***
This was Act III of her very own government spy tale. This was the part of the story where the spy’s girlfriend got kidnapped. This was the part of the story where she had to decide whether to keep her mouth shut about her boyfriend’s whereabouts or break under the pressure of unspeakable torture at the hands of her captors. This was the part right before her James Bond-esque boyfriend swooped in to save the day, kill the bad guy, and ravish her in the back seat of his sleek, black sports car.
But in lieu of living out that fantasy, she had her own training as a Scoobie to fall back on.
Willow glanced around the small, drab-looking room hoping to discover a bookshelf that contained a copy of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. She figured that of all the books in creation General Huth would be most likely to use that particular novel as the key which would unveil a secret, unguarded passageway that would lead to her freedom. Like Captain Ahab, Huth had made it part of his stupid life’s mission to track and take down the one whom he considered the most deadly witch in history.
Of course, he’d done so by dragging Riley into his madness and forcing Riley to do his bidding. And while the General may have used his authority to make Riley take this job, she knew that their relationship hadn’t been a ruse or a game. She’d spent enough time with Riley’s arms wrapped around her and his lips pressed against hers to know that with absolute certainty. She’d also spent enough time with Riley and her friends to know that a plan was being hatched for her successful release and the cavalry would be here any second now.
But despite her fruitless searches to find her own escape, she had to admit that on the continuum of kidnappers General Huth was an upstanding gentleman and caretaker when compared to Maggie Walsh with her sadistic demon torture dungeon. He’d given her a half-way decent bed to sit and wait on and he’d sent in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for her to munch on. The only time she had come to view General Huth as a major Big Bad was the moment he sent his Rack-wannabe in to visit her with no supervision.
From the short time she’d been there she had figured out that the guards called him Lazarus. Despite Ira and Sheila’s general lack of interest in the New Testament, she knew enough about the mythos to know that he was the man who was raised from the dead. And boy oh boy did he look it. His skin was dry and paper thin. His hair was wiry and gray. His nails were cracked and yellow. His robes barely clung to his spindly, skeevy body. Willow was sure that if Cordelia were here, she would have shrieked in pure terror because of his complete lack of familiarity with moisturizers.
“Pretty little witch so far from the wicked, wicked West,” Lazarus hissed, sending shivers up and down her spine. “Monkeys won’t bring you your spell books, poppet. They’ll leave you here to rot…to die.”
Oh, and did she mention that he was completely off his rocker?
“Pretty sure you’ll reach your end first,” Willow replied, her hands curling into fists. “There are a lot of people in this world who won’t take kindly to me getting kidnapped. Not only that, but if I’m a national threat, I can only imagine that you’re also listed on the no-fly list.”
Before Lazarus could react, General Huth stepped into the room, his hands folded across his chest. “I trust you two are playing nice? I don’t want to hear any squabbles now.”
“I have no current plans to play nice, General,” Willow replied. “Not when I have no clue what the heck I’m doing here.”
The general smirked, amusement dancing across his face. “I thought we’d made that quite clear. Surely, Riley told you all about it before we even arrived?”
This was the part where her captor would use emotional manipulation to convince her that her boyfriend betrayed her somehow by making it seem like there was some detail that had been left out or something. But Willow wasn’t going to fall for it. Riley had told her enough and she hadn’t been shaken.
“General, I’m pretty sure it’s not my mojo you have to worry about. I stop apocalypses. I don’t start them. This guy, on the other hand...”Gesturing to Lazarus, Willow made a facial expression that indicated that the obvious threat to humanity was standing right in the room with them.
General Huth’s eyes darkened. “He is here of his own accord. He is here to obey and serve his country. You’d be wise to follow his example.”
“I really don’t think that’s going to happen,” Willow replied, trying her best to remain calm. “I’m not really the type.”
“This is not a matter of choice,” Huth said sharply. “You will serve or you will perish.”
Several loud thumps indicative of bodies hitting the floor, followed by the crack of wood splintering, served as a needed interruption. For the second time in twenty-four hours, Willow found herself surrounded by her friends.
“We have got to stop running into each other like this, General,” Buffy quipped. “Imagine what the neighbors will think.”
With a cat-like grin, Buffy launched into a roundhouse kick, her foot landing squarely on the General’s shoulder and cracking the bone. As his cry of distracted pain echoed through the room, Willow felt the warmth of another human body against hers and before she could process everything that was going on, she found herself in the back of a vintage station wagon. It wasn’t sleek and black, but it would do.
Chapter 12
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no subject
on 2010-05-20 09:18 pm (UTC)I'm glad that you liked my Buffy quip and that you agree that Willow's smart enough to figure things out.