- by Owen Morton
Spike stepped back, rather surprised that one of his plans seemed to have succeeded for once. He regarded the figure standing before him, his eyes finally settling on He-Man's outfit.
"You can't go round here dressed like that," he decreed. "People will start to stare. And the Slayer would find out soon enough. We don't want the Slayer to know what we're up to. Just yet. We'll wait until tomorrow night. Come with me."
Spike led He-Man out of the factory, and they headed into the centre of town. Within half an hour, they were back, He-Man now clad stylishly in somewhat more ordinary attire. Drusilla regarded him appraisingly.
"The time of darkness quivers," she said.
Spike didn't pay any more attention to this particular piece of her lunatic ravings than he usually did. He looked at He-Man once again, and grinned a grin of pure malevolence.
"Just wait, Slayer," he breathed. "This time, you cannot hope to win …"
The following morning, Buffy ploughed into Sunnydale High School Library. The librarian, Rupert Giles, who also doubled as Buffy's Watcher, looked up with mild interest, and pushed his glasses up the ridge of his nose.
"Anything wrong?" he queried in his mild British accent.
"Giles, I went patrolling last night and ran into Spike," Buffy informed him. "But you know how normally he's so keen to fight me? Last night he was in a desperate hurry to get away. I think he's up to something."
"The master vampire of this town, your arch-nemesis, up to something?" said Xander, one of Buffy's best friends, as he emerged from among the bookshelves. "Something doesn't seem quite right there."
"Xander, I'm serious," Buffy said. "Spike's got something up his sleeve, and I'm keen to find out what it is before he tries it."
"Did he, ah, give any indication of what it was he might be planning?" Giles inquired.
"Nothing," Buffy said. "He was heading somewhere slightly out of town when I attacked him, but he ran away too fast for me before I could find out what he was playing at."
"Then, much as it pains me to admit it, there's not a lot we can do until his plan becomes evident," Giles told her, gently.
"We've just got to wait and see what happens?" Buffy said, distaste evident in her voice.
"Best plan," Xander chimed in. "Hey, Buffy, you up for coming to the Bronze tonight? Dingoes Ate My Baby are playing, and Willow really seems to like them."
Buffy looked over at Giles, who silently shook his head. She grimaced. "Looks like I've got Slayer-skills training tonight," she told Xander. "Maybe after that's done."
"Cool," Xander said. "We'll see you there whenever."
"If Angel comes by, say hi to him for me," Buffy said.
Xander didn't exactly scowl, but his face showed his lack of pleasure at the mention of Angel. "I doubt there's any other reason he'd go to the Bronze if not to see you," he pointed out.
The Bronze was packed. The band Dingoes Ate My Baby were playing to their best, and Willow's eyes were fixed on the lead guitarist, Daniel Osbourne, otherwise known as Oz. He and Willow had been eyeing one another up for the last few weeks, but as yet, neither had made any move.
Xander and Willow were dancing, when Cordelia brushed past them, pushing a little harder than necessary. Xander glowered at her departing person, which had made no effort to apologise, but Willow caught him.
"Don't spoil the evening by causing a scene, Xander," she said.
Xander allowed himself to be drawn back into the dance, which was a slow number. It felt odd to be dancing this closely with Willow, who'd been his best friend ever since - well, since he and she could remember. As their time in high school had gone by, their relationship had developed, but they were still purely friends.
Still, Xander found himself wondering what it would be like to date Willow. His efforts in Buffy's direction certainly weren't getting anywhere, and he liked Willow - more than that, he loved her, but … perhaps not in that way.
And besides, he mused, Willow wouldn't want it anyway.
To everyone who wasn't Xander, of course, it was perfectly obvious that this was completely inaccurate.
Another person pushed past him, hard, and stopped at Willow's side. Xander began to get annoyed again, but Willow's calming hand on his arm soothed him. Then he noticed who it was that was visiting them.
"Willow," said Angel. "Where's Buffy?"
Instinctively, Willow glanced around, then turned back to Angel. "She's not here. I think she's doing Slayer stuff with Giles."
"She said to say hi," Xander chimed in, smirking slightly, though he couldn't honestly have given any reason why he thought it was funny.
Angel barely afforded him a glance. "Something bad's happening," he informed them. "I can feel it. If you see her before I do, tell her I'm looking for her." With no more than that, and a swish of his black coat, he was gone again.
"Something bad's happening," Xander mimicked. "That guy just -"
Once again, someone shoved into him. This time, not even Willow's grasp on his arm could stop him from whirling round and snapping, "Hey! Watch what you're doing, will you? Some of us -"
He stopped as he saw whom it was he was addressing.
The immensely muscular He-Man glowered down at him.
"Actually, you know what?" Xander said, giggling nervously and backing away. "You do what you like. I'll just go and get Buffy, you know?"
"Buffy?" repeated He-Man. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer?"
"Yeah, that'd be her," Xander said. "I mean, sure, you're not a vampire, but I'm sure she could find it in her job description to finish you off."
"You will take me to Buffy the Vampire Slayer?" He-Man said.
"What do you want with Buffy?" Xander asked, hoping to delay this muscular nutcase while Willow looked for Buffy or even Angel to help them. He was perfectly sure that Willow was spending the time doing just that.
"My master tells me that Buffy the Vampire Slayer can usually be found here," He-Man said. Xander reflected that, for what was almost certainly a baddy, the large man was being unusually chatty. "I must find her and bring her to him."
"Oh, yeah?" Xander said. "And who, precisely, is your master?"
"My master is William the Bloody," He-Man informed him.
"I don't know why I bothered asking," Xander muttered.
The phone in the library rang. Giles signalled to Buffy to stop her mock attack on him, and picked it up.
"Willow?" he said. "Is there anything the matter?"
There was a short pause, then Giles said, "Fine. I'll get down there right away. With Buffy." He put the phone down and headed swiftly out of the library, Buffy following close behind.
"What's the matter?" Buffy asked, as they strode through the corridors of Sunnydale High School.
"Willow and Xander are at the Bronze," Giles told her. "And apparently, so is an extremely well muscled man who is - to their trained eyes - not human."
"You will stop delaying and bring Buffy the Vampire Slayer to me," He-Man told Xander. Xander felt, rather than saw, Willow's presence return to his side, and could only hope that help was on its way, before things turned nasty.
"My friend here -" he gestured at Willow, "- has sent for her. She'll be here soon." Willow nodded in confirmation.
The statement was confirmed again mere seconds later, when the door slammed open, and Buffy stood in the doorway. She instantly located the anomalous presence in the Bronze, and headed directly over.
"You are Buffy the Vampire Slayer?" He-Man said.
Buffy stared long and hard at Xander, intending to remind him later about the fact that secret identities were meant to stay, well, secret. Then she said, "Yep, that's me. And you are …?"
"I am He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe," He-Man said. "Defender of Eternia and bane of Skeletor."
"Uh huh," said Buffy, unimpressed. "And what do you want here?"
"I am ordered to bring you to my master," He-Man said. "Whether you are willing or not."
"His master is Spike," Xander mouthed.
Buffy rolled her eyes. So Spike's big plan was to get some huge hit man in to get rid of her. Even by the standards of Spike's usually lame schemes, this one was really scraping the barrel.
She thought that until He-Man casually scooped her up and carried her out of the Bronze, resisting all her efforts to get free. Xander, Willow and Giles started to follow, though they didn't know exactly what they could do, but He-Man simply swept them aside, sending them flying onto the stage. Disentangling themselves from the debris of the musical instruments, they hurriedly apologised to the players, and scrambled off.
Oz watched Willow go. "Who is that girl?" he breathed.
Exiting the Bronze, Willow, Xander and Giles looked up and down the street. But He-Man and Buffy were nowhere to be seen …