[X] Buffy waits for the first decent opportunity, and makes her move to disarm the uniform with a gun on Jonathan. She's pretty sure she's fast enough, and things are just going to get more dangerous once they're totally surrounded back at the police station.
"So, tell me more about your cult." Buffy knew she could work their way out of this soon enough; it was just important to keep the dirty cops talking as much as she could. It'd distract them, and might even reveal more about whatever annoying weird thing was going on today. "Do you have to be an actual police officer, or can anyone just join? Are there sign-up sheets?"
"Only the chosen may serve Vendoat the Gold! Your flippancy is an insult." Stein's partner seemed a little less with it, but possibly more fanatical. Good and bad.
Stein pulled out a pair of cuffs left-handed while keeping his gun on her. "Let me put these on you and we can talk all you want." They looked like flimsy toys compared to the chains Angel had kept around for his various purposes.
Buffy obligingly put her hands forward as she continued, "How do people get chosen though? I've been chosen already, does that count?"
"Behind your back!" Stein demanded, waving them angrily.
This was a little riskier. Buffy slowly turned around, keeping her eyes locked on Oz. She was pretty sure he would give her a signal if Stein just decided to cap her in back, and hopefully she could react in time. She didn't think that was his play though; he seemed to be following his police reflexes despite the strange situation.
Turning around did let her get a better look at the officer holding Jonathan at gunpoint. "So what's your name anyway? I figure a mayor should try to get to know her constituents." She felt Stein fumbling around with her hands trying to cuff her as she talked.
He hesitated to answer, and Jonathan was still a bit too intimidated to participate, but Oz backed her up, "She's really a people person. She asks what she can do for you, and for Vendoat."
Weirdly enough, that did the trick. "I'm Derrick." He paused after that a little awkwardly. "There's this traffic sign on Maple Street where it goes by Restfield, something must have got it at some point and it really needs replacing. My niece lives by there."
"Oh, I know that one!" Buffy said. "You're totally right, I remember sticking a vampire on the little stump of it last month. It's been broken at least that long."
"Yeah, it's down to one of those cut off stump things," he agreed.
"It's criminal that nothing's been done already," she said. "I'll definitely-"
"You won't do anything, because you'll be in jail, where you belong!" Stein yelled. He'd finally finished with her handcuffs, and got out another pair, moving towards Oz. He seemed a little unsure where he should point his gun for a second, and finally settled on keeping it on her, moving in an arc to get to Oz and gesturing at him with the new handcuffs.
"So," Buffy continued on cheerily, "That's what you need from the city, what does Vendoat need? Maybe we can help her together."
"Well, Vendoat mainly needs wealth to grow larger, she's very hungry," Derrick replied. Then realizing something, he frowned, "She probably wouldn't want the city to spend anything on the sign repair actually, she would want the money for herself."
"Can you please stop spilling all our secrets?" Stein complained.
"Well, it's not like they're going anywhere anyway," Derrick said. "Maybe she really wants to help. Vendoat is pretty great."
Stein was looking pretty frustrated. "Obviously she doesn't want to help, you dolt. We were arguing-" He was interrupted though, by an unholy crash and clatter from the manhole, like a gigantic pile of legos falling over. He managed to keep his composure, but Derrick spun to look, and spun his gun around at the opening fearfully. Go time.
Buffy flashed into motion, snapping the chain on the cuffs like a twig and dashing for Derrick. Stein squeezed off a wild shot, but it missed her by feet and Oz was wrestling him for the gun before he could do anything else.
Derrick saw Buffy coming and didn't really manage to decide if he should aim for her or Jonathan before she got there, tearing the gun right out of his hands with a crack and elbowing him hard in the gut. He was knocked to the floor and stayed down as Buffy pivoted to get to Stein and Oz.
Oz wasn't a big guy, but he was pretty strong for his size. Stein hadn't made any progress by the time Buffy got there and separated them like children, grabbing Stein's gun away as she dropped the other and jamming him back against the wall one handed. She was careful not to use her full strength; she didn't want to break him (much.)
"Well, wasn't that a fun little activity," she said sarcastically. "Get to know your local corrupt cops as they cuff you at gunpoint. Maybe I should introduce it at the schools as a learning initiative."
Oz helpfully grabbed up the other gun, as well as the handcuffs Stein had fumbled in the struggle. He helpfully walked over and used them to secure Derrick, who still hadn't gotten up, but was already starting to make noises, so he was probably fine. Jonathan still seemed a little dazed. Buffy supposed looking down a gun barrel might've felt a little more real than fighting a horde of vampires.
Stein wasn't bothering to struggle much, but she had half an eye on his hands in case he tried to reach for anything cheeky on his belt. "The department will know I'm missing," Stein said, coughing a bit in her light choke-hold. "They'll come after me."
"Guess we'll have to come after them first," Buffy said flippantly.
"Hey guys." Andrew's voice sounded from the open manhole. "Can I come up now?"
"Sure," Buffy said. "You have an interesting definition of hiding."
"I was looking for something I could help you guys with. I didn't mean to knock over the crate," Andrew said. "Bones are really loud."
"Yes they are, Andrew." Buffy rolled her eyes. Well, it could've gone worse.
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When they got back to City Hall, Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum were summarily divested of their gear, handcuffed to a desk, and locked in an office. They stopped talking after the tables turned, and nobody was sure what else they could do with them. Buffy was despairing a bit that even though she'd inherited this place from Wilkins, she was probably the one who was going to need to put in a dungeon.
"So they've been inducted into some kind of cult?" Giles asked. People had congregated in the conference room to debate what to do. There were less books than the library had had, but the skylight at least let in some dusky illumination.
"Following a 'Vendoat the Gold'," Jonathan said. "Detective Stein was being pretty cagey about it, but his partner couldn't seem to say enough about her."
"A most unusual name," Giles said. He got up as if to check his references, then looked around and sat back down disappointedly.
"Hey! Maybe Vendoat is a common name in her family. People's names should be verboten of mockery," Buffy said.
Giles just shook his head. "In any case, it seems some form of mind control is a strong possibility. I would expect corruption from the organization, but this level of blatant disregard for the law combined with the veneration of a mysterious figure is very suggestive."
"The name wasn't the weirdest part," Oz said. "Apparently she needed to grow. The kind of growth that comes from being hungry for wealth."
"Well, at least she isn't hungry for people," Xander said. He'd scrambled back from Crawford Street for the meeting. "I see it as a welcome change."
"Still haven't eaten anyone," Harmony said in an annoyed tone. She'd come in Xander's car, riding unglamourously in the trunk. "A couple of those guys from training today sort of deserved it though. So handsy!"
Giles ignored the byplay, "Wealth, you say? For growth? It could be a Rusting Demon or one of several types of dangerous ooze, however," He paused, dramatically. "I believe the most likely common denominator between that and mind control is a dragon."
"A dragon!" Xander asked. "Like, giant flying fire breathing lizard of doom?"
"It may not yet be very large, especially given we haven't noticed it yet, though in optimal conditions some varieties can grow very quickly," Giles said. "From the osseomancy supplies you located, much of Wilkins' wealth is in the sort of valuable and esoteric items that allow for that kind of speed. If the police have already recovered other stashes, we may have little time to waste."
"So, dragonslaying. I guess I haven't gotten to do that one yet," Buffy said dryly. "And speed dragonslaying too. I always wanted to speed skate, this could be the next best thing."
"Getting at it could be kind of tricky," Xander said. "It's easy enough for a slayer like Buffy to dodge one or two shooters, but if the police are guarding their station at all competently they're watching all the entrances and could even have kill zones set up. It'll be a nightmare to attack."
Vanessa coughed from her seat by Ian, injecting herself into the conversation, "Well, I definitely can't help you slay a dragon, but we do have a solution to your police problem." She unfolded some old yellowed plans onto the table.
"Richard may have had the police bought and paid for, but he didn't trust them either," she said, as Ian indicated a specific place. "He apparently had a secret sewer entrance built into the station when it was constructed in the fifties; Ian found it when investigating possible boltholes. We hadn't been sure if the police had discovered it, but we can't find any mention of it in the files we were given, and the room it accesses seems to just be used for long-term storage now, from the mentions we could find."
Buffy walked over and gave the plans a close look. "OK, seems like a plan. I trespass, I sneak, I slay. Good work you two."
"Do you really think you should go in alone, Buff?" Xander asked. He looked at his sling and grimaced. "I mean, I probably shouldn't be going to help you, but-"
"I'm afraid anyone else would just get in her way." Jonathan said. "She was so fast in the warehouse it was almost like she could dodge bullets. If she had to worry about other people it might just get her hurt. The cops are smart enough to use us against her." Everyone paused at that, clearly unhappy.
"I could go." Harmony said.
"You're volunteering?" Buffy asked.
Harmony shrugged. "Bullets aren't exactly going to do much to me. I can be useful as more than a training dummy."
Giles started to speak, stopped, and then decided to say something after all, "That isn't entirely true. You could find yourself severely disabled by a shot to the head or a joint, and even barring that, the pain of a gunshot wound could be incapacitating. Guns aren't reliable or optimal weapons against vampires, but they aren't useless either."
Harmony hesitated, but said, "Well, at least they won't kill me, and I'm faster now. They won't be able to use me as a hostage or anything."
Buffy looked her up and down. "Are you sure you can control yourself? These cops are humans, and might even just be mind controlled into all this. We don't want any of them hurt. Too badly."
"I'll be gentle," Harmony said. "Uncross my heart." She started making a weird sign over her chest with her hand, but got confused and gave up midway through.
Vote:
[] Harmony can hopefully be trusted not to kill anyone, and Buffy shouldn't go to fight a probable dragon in hostile territory without support. Buffy and Harmony infiltrate the police station together.
[] If Harmony loses control it could be a disaster, and she's still pretty inexperienced. Buffy will be more stealthy without her tagging along, and less will be able to go wrong. Buffy goes in alone.
