Going Underground - Part Two
DISCLAIMER: Spike speaks one line from 'the Scottish play', in a little JM tribute.
He couldn't see the Shrod any more.
"Well, come on then!" Spike roared, several steps ahead of Giles. As he approached the last corner, Spike sped up rather than slowing down; he ran straight ahead into the far wall, then pushed off and back with such force that his raised elbow crushed the Shrod's nose when it stepped out of ambush-position. Giles arrived in time to kick the demon down the last steps onto the Bakerloo South platform.
They (the Sunnydale Two, the London Auxiliary of the Scoobies... Giles implored his mind to stop making these phrases) followed. He looked up at the electronic notice-board. '3 Minutes Elephant and Castle'. If the readout could be trusted, which was never certain, he and Spike could keep the creature moving until the next train--
"Now a train's a prison worth using, Rupes." Obviously Spike had the same thought.
"Stop talking, you little twerp, and start stalling."
"Talking IS stalling, tweed-for-brains," Spike retorted. "Whatever do they teach you in Watcher school?"
Giles actually found this a legitimate question. Where were Travers and Cumberbatch? Surely those two big girls' blouses could at least take care of the few terrified bystanders. But he didn't have time to ponder that. The Shrod had recovered and turned to face them.
"Y'know, I fancy a bit of chocolate right now," Spike said casually.
Giles had never thought he'd ever be glad for the Buffy-free summer of patrolling with Spike, but that experience had given him insight, oh God help him, into the way the vampire strategized. On this occasion he approved. "Milk chocolate is always good for a break."
"Specially with music." Spike caught the guitar case which Giles still carried and smacked the Shrod into the Cadbury's vending machine against the wall. The blow carried enough momentum that the machine cracked open, raining confectioneries on the demon.
At that moment the other Watchers cautiously advanced onto the platform, Cumberbatch in front. Travers said, "Giles. You have a plan?"
"Yes." You frightful cowardly git, he thought but did not say. "No time--"
Spike had ripped one of the few plastic seats off the platform wall and heaved it at the demon, which had lumbered to its feet near a cowering tourist. "No killing people!" Spike shouted in an alarmingly self-righteous tone.
The electronic board read, '1 minute Elephant and Castle'.
"Could you push the thing onto the tracks?" Cumberbatch asked.
"Not unless you want the Shrod's poison to hit the electrified rails and blow up all of W1," Giles snapped. "Now let me and Spike handle it."
"I'll report you for this unorthodoxy. And more property damage--" Then Travers choked. The Shrod had dodged the last missile, slashed near Spike's arm in passing, and started to move toward the group of Watchers. Panicking, Travers held Cumberbatch as a shield. "You-- go out there and fight. Protect me!"
"But I don't know how!" the assistant whimpered, just before Travers booted him straight at the demon.
Spike growled. With his enhanced speed, he managed to get to the lackey and drag him out of immediate death's way. Giles used the guitar case to smash at the demon's head, sending him staggering back once again. Taking only enough time to snarl "And I'll be reporting THAT, Quentin," he followed it up with another smash to the most sensitive area of the demon's anatomy. It crumpled to the ground.
"Beautiful spot of violence," Spike praised as he came up beside Giles. "Now, are we sure we can get an empty car?"
Cumberbatch from behind them said, "I'll help if necessary."
Perhaps the minion wasn't as stupid as he'd appeared. Giles used the guitar case one more time to push the demon a bit further down the platform, just as the light of the approaching train flashed.
Although the demon stirred, it didn't prevent Spike from dragging it into the first (mercifully empty) car when the doors opened. "Mind the gap," he said to Giles, who jumped in after him. "Also the acid. Dripped a little."
"That was a truly feeble attempt at humour," Giles remarked. The doors closed, locking the three of them in the car. Without any weapons other than the completely battered guitar case. All right, now what.
Spike stood and actually looked at the subway car for the first time. Giles saw his eyes widen, his hands start to tremble, his throat choke on a swallow. "You okay?" Giles asked. He'd never seen Spike so rattled, and he didn't like it at all.
"'M fine." His tone suggested the opposite. The car swayed, the lights blinked off then back on-- and when they did, Giles saw Spike back away, eyes gone grey and fixed on nothingness. "'I am cabin'd, cribbed, confined'...oh God no. Please, no."
And then Spike collapsed to his knees when the train reached Charing Cross.
***
Travers stood above Cumberbatch, thinking hard. Unfortunately both the assistant and Giles knew about his act of cowardice, and although he had enough credit with the Council to face down one accusation, two might do him in. It was a problem.
Cumberbatch struggled to his feet. "All right, sir. Better get you to the other platform."
Travers assessed the man. Cumberbatch looked back evenly, his face giving back nothing but his usual subservience. And Travers sighed a little breath of relief. His years training the creature had paid off. "That's right, then. Show me where to go."
As Travers turned to leave, Cumberbatch looked up at the security camera which had caught his superior's cravenness on tape. He mentally noted the number. "I certainly will, sir. I certainly will."
***
"It'll never be enough, I'm so sorry," Spike moaned. The train jolted, pulling out of the station; the lights dimmed, then flashed harsh white again.
Giles bent down by his hunched form and clasped his shoulders. The Shrod was slowly getting to his feet at the other end of the car. "Spike, come on now. Spike. It's all right, mate."
Giles paused to wonder what mental quirk had thrown him the term 'mate', but it seemed to have worked. The vampire shuddered convulsively, then focused on Giles. "Oh. Oh right. Giles." He stood rather unsteadily. "Sorry. Memory slices me up every now and again. Hell of a thing."
The train rocked as they went around a corner, and the Shrod took two steps toward them. Spike looked gut-sick for a second, then punched through one of the support poles, breaking it off to make a staff. Giles moved back out of his way.
The demon charged, but Spike twirled the pole twice then impaled the creature. The blow sent the demon rocketing back against the doors of the car. When the car swayed, Giles tripped, went down hard, smacked his head on a seat. Pain exploded behind his eyes, his consciousness wavered, and he spoke aloud the name always just under the surface of his mind. "Anya."
The Tube train ground to a stop, and the voice on the tannoy announced their arrival at Embankment station. Spike kicked the demon corpse onto the platform, then returned. As he lifted Giles to his feet, supporting him, he said, "Well, old man, is there something you want to tell me?"
"No." Giles had to breathe in, breathe out, to keep the nausea at bay and his head from exploding. Still there was something comforting in the eternal verities: the sun would rise, the tides would flow, and if a Scooby fight occurred Giles would get hit in the head. Now if he concentrated on something else, maybe his brain wouldn't leak out of his ears. Something along the lines of-- "Spike, what happened to you just now?"
Spike all but lifted Giles off the train, his other hand grasping his guitar case. "Long story, Rupes. I think first order of business is to get you a drink and let me make sure you're not concussed."
"You're really Spike, right?" Giles asked earnestly. One never knew in these shape-shifting times, and headache or not, he was slightly bewildered by his companion's changeability.
The sardonic laughter, however, reassured him. "Yes, you stupid git. All right now, got a room over at Jez's--"
"The demon pub? In Soho?"
"The very one. Let's get a drink and have a good chin-wag." Spike paused. "Or not. I could drop you somewhere else, call someone for you. A proper Watcher type."
"Not tonight. Remember, I'm going underground." When Spike laughed and started to hum the chorus of the song, Giles added with a pain- filled smile, "If you sing another note, tosser, I'll stake you where you stand."
And he kept smiling. At least he could feel again.