Who: Buffy Summers, Various NPCs What: Tracking When: Extended periods of time, starting before sun set and ending at around 4am Where: Various locations around LA Rating: High, some violence Status: Complete
She'd spent time going over the file in Faith's office, memorizing as much as she could about the demons. She just noted the important things. She never could memorize things for long, not even when it counted. High school was witness of that. Thankfully she blew that up. Either way, she'd been at it for a few hours before she noted that the sun would be setting. Buffy had a room at AI now. It was even a shock to her. Beside Faith and across the hall from Spike. She didn't know how long she'd be there, but at least it had left her with a place to crash.
Shortly before sun set she left her room, decked out in the uniform she'd been wearing when she arrived, blond hair pulled back in a pony tail. The Scythe was her her waist, as was an extra stake, her grapple hook, a knife hidden in her boot, and various other objects attached to her utility belt. Buffy doubted she needed all of this, but she didn't feel like unloading her things.
It was ten minutes or so before sun set when she arrived at the building the spy had been found at. Or, on the roof of the building next to it, where she had a clear view of the window that the spy would have to look in. She'd have to wait.
She wait she did. How long, she wasn't sure. Her standing position eventually became a sitting one, head resting on her hands, which were flat against the ledge of the roof. Her expression was utterly bored as she sat there, chewing gum. It had been a while since she had ever patrolled on her own. Years even, because now she always had someone with her. Missions were never alone, but always with a partner.
Now she remembered, that while fighting vamps solo could be nice, sitting around and waiting for something to happen alone was boring as hell. She sighed softly, eyes still glued to the window. A glance at her watch. 11:30. Still nothing.
More time passed, and Buffy's eyes were about to roll back into her head from being bored. Why the hell had she agreed to this again?
Midnight, still nothing. And her gum had gone all hard and non-flavored hours ago. She'd left the pack at home. The used up piece she stuck to the wall not far from her.
One am.
She heard footsteps. Perking up, she shifted, ever so quietly, look down at the ally below. Her eyes adjusted, thank you Slayer vision, as a vampire crept forward, looking around carefully. He probably knew the last scout who was here had never showed up. She watched the little snitch creep up to the building, and peer in the window. She watched the smirk form on his lips. He saw the victims in there. They were alive again. Buffy could half see the thoughts forming in his head. He would tell the Scourge the demons were back, and he was so sure he'd be rewarded.
Really, killing him herself wasn't going to change his life much. He might get to live a few extra hours if she let him go, but nah.
And so he left, and Buffy followed behind him, above him. Ever so quietly, she never let him far from her sight. He made a few other stops on the way. By watching where he looked, she was able to work out the basic area under his 'watch.'
The one sided game of cat and mouse lasted for another few hours. He moved quietly, carefully. And then he stopped in at a bar for what looked like a Bloody Mary, extra blood. Finally, at around two am, he left again, and Buffy followed.
Finally she saw what looked like an abandoned factory. It was large, gated off. She had no idea what had been made there, but by the faded letters on the side, it might have been some sort of toy factory. Quietly, she raced ahead of the demon, staying low, and in the shadows to make sure none of the look outs for the Scourge would see her. When she had passed him, and was close enough to see in, she busted out her night vision goggles. Yes, it was good to the Slayer General. It meant you got toys.
She scanned the area, and sure enough, she was seeing uniforms and demons, lots of demons. This could be it.
Back tracking, she went after her lead. He was a block away when she dropped on him, Scythe out. It wasn't long before the bumpy face and fangs were out. "Oh please." she said softly. "You're like what...thirty years dead?" she asked, judging by his sense in fashion. "You don't stand a chance." she said, raising the Scythe.
"Slayer." he hissed.
"Not just a Slayer." she said, stepping forward, starting the fight. He really didn't stand a chance. A punch, and backhand, and a round hose to the stomach had him against the wall, and in pain. "The Slayer." she said with a smile as she slammed the stake end of the Scythe into the vampires chest.
Yeah, so she wasn't the only Slayer. But she'd spent years being 'the Slayer' and she wasn't about to drop that line now. It was classic, though slightly revamped due to the increase in female warriors.
Lead dead, and by the looks of, undetected, it was time to move in. Back up to the roof she went, her binoculars coming back out. She spent the next little while learning positions of demons, the number of guards they had outside, and where they were. She was sure she had them all before she was ready to go. According to her watch, she had their rotations down as well. This wasn't about breaking and entering, she just needed to get a look into the building, and see what she was dealing with.
After one of the guards passed, she made her move. Her grapple hook fired from the building she was in, landed on the roof the factory, and she jumped. This was all old to her now. Nothing big, not even exciting anymore. She landed almost silently on the ledge of the building that was on the third story, the whole thing was about five floors high. She only had four minutes. She moved to the edge of the window, and peered down.
The place had lights, it made her job easier. There were various rooms, she'd have to move around. But her eyes went wide when she saw what they were dealing with. Yeah, it was an army. And who was to say that this was the only place they were keeping members? But there was a lot of them there. Probably the majority. Her eyes scanned the crowed, counting numbers quickly, seeing each demon, each uniform, trying to pick out individuals. Her watched beeped quietly, giving her a forty-five second warning. Looking to either side of her, she raised her hands above her head, and jumped for the next ledge. There were no guards on this one, but no windows either.
She moved her way around silently, passing over one of the guards below her. She held her breath, keeping her heart rate low and as quiet as possible.
Buffy got past him. She did this three more times. Dropping to each side of the building, checking the windows, making sure she wasn't counting the same people twice. Finally, she had a number.
Waiting until the guard passed by again, she fired her grapple hook, and was gone. She landed on the roof of the building not far off in the shadows, and then she ran for it. She ran until she was good dozen blocks away. Only then did she slow down.
Buffy glanced at her watch. It was almost four AM.
How often did a Slayer sleep? Time to head back to the Hyperion.
Head back to the Hyperion. Hell, hadn't her life made a quick change.