I was mostly avoiding my friends after they had found out about me and Spike and were acting exactly how I knew they were going to act, being judgmental and unintentionally pushing me away, so I was looking for the geek trio alone, kicking in their lair's door, walking in, calling out. "All right. Let's make this quick." I looked around the cheesy lovepad fashion decorations, seeing that it was empty other than me, displeased, walking down the stairs into the lair, looking around. "Fine. But I'm not leaving till we have a little chat." I wandered over to a desk, seeing an iMac and a bunch of papers on it, frowning, picking up some of the papers, looking around more, seeing a variety of geek-type knickknacks and such. "Very little, considering the pummeling that needs to occur." I looked at a shelf where a bunch of action figures were set up, mostly of women in extremely skimpy outfits, poking one of them, making a face, turning away. "I mean, guys, hello. Slayer here. Did you honestly think I wouldn't find you?" I got distracted by more piles of paper and stuff on a chair, sifting through them, picking some up, frowning, continuing to walk around. I saw a white board on which the nerd herd had been using, turning it on its squeak axle to reveal the surface, reading all it said: TOO LATE!. "Well, that can't be good."

A huge circular buzzsaw cut through the white board, coming slicing toward me, cutting through everything in its path, making sawdust and debris fly everywhere. I shielded my face with my hands, diving to the floor just in time to avoid being sliced in two. 

Several more saws appeared, at all angles, moving around the room, some horizontally, some vertically, some diagonally. I stood, doing a flip to duck under one and over another. I grabbed a pile of random papers and stuff, including a very large book, running for the door. One saw got caught in the stairwell just below my feet.

I ran out of the house, falling to the ground as I had to duck another saw that nearly took my arm off, papers flying everywhere. I groaned, sitting up. 

I looked down, seeing that my red leather jacket and shirt had a big gash over my stomach, just deep enough to cut the fabric, but not my flesh. I looked up in annoyance. "Okay. That's gonna cost ya."

  ••••••  

I eventually had to go to Buffy's house to show her what I found, and Dawn was here with us, after I had changed because of my mishap with the buzz saw.

Willow and Tara walked down the stairs toward us, having gotten back together, and were all loveydovey.

"Okay, we're here, ready for action," Willow told us. "Uh, bad guy fighting action."

Willow and Tara exchanged affectionate looks.

"Guys, you didn't have to..." Buffy trailed off. "You know, if you still wanna be alone..."

"No, no, we're good," Willow told us.

"We're better than good," Tara told us.

"Great," I told them.

"Super," Willow told us.

Willow and Tara kissed briefly, then began to kiss more passionately and intensely.

Buffy, Dawn and I couldn't even be mad because we were happy for them.

Dawn giggled. "Aw."

"Okay, all right, we'll stop," Willow told us.

"Oh, you better not," Dawn told them.

"So, um, nerds," Tara told us. "How are them--they?"

"Well, I found their lair, but they obviously knew we were tracing their signal," I told them. "They left in a hurry. Van was gone, but everything else was still there."

"We should go back," Willow told us. "Uh, Tara and I can Sherlock around--"

"There's nothing left there now," I told them. "Giant buzz saws. It was a thing." I gestured to the book and the papers. "This was all that I could save. I--I know it's not much, but we need to go through it and see if we can find anything that might tell us what--what they're doing, where they're going..." 

Willow and Tara knelt next to the table where all the stuff was.

Tara picked up the book, seeing that it was buzz saw cut right across the middle. As it fell in half, she picked it up. "Um, this might take a while."

"Anything we can do to fast forward?" Buffy asked. "We really need to find Warren and the others before anyone else gets hurt."

"Should we call Xander?" Willow asked.

"I don't think he's really in the Scooby place," I told them. "We need to give him some time."

"Maybe they've heard something in the demon bars about those guys," Dawn told us, looking at me. "Spike--"

"Spike--Spike's not part of the team," Buffy told us quickly, giving me a stern look.

I rolled my eyes, looking away.

Dawn gave Buffy an annoyed look. "So he's not... going to be around anymore?"

Willow and Tara looked concerned, looking between Buffy and me.

"Uh, I don't know, Dawn," I told her.

Dawn looked at me sympathetically.

Tara changed the subject. "What about Anya? She might be able to help with some of the demon texts."

"I'm guessing she's not feeling real researchy right now," Buffy told us.

I nodded in agreement, turning away.

  ••••••  

The next day, I was getting worried about Xander, and wanting to talk to him again, going to his apartment.

Xander opened the door, surprised to see me. 

"Hey," I told him nervously.

Xander turned away, leaving the door open. "Hey." I walked in, closing the door behind me, seeing that he had a beer in his hand. "I think there's still a cold one in the fridge."

"Thanks, but, uh, I think it's still a little early for me," I told him. Xander shrugged, sitting on the couch. I sat on the chair opposite. "I didn't like the way we left things that night."

"I didn't either," Xander told me. "I didn't mean to hurt you like that. And I understand why you didn't tell. I do. I just don't understand why you would..." I looked down. Xander shook his head. "All those times I told Spike to get lost... that he didn't have a chance with a girl like you."

Xander laughed bitterly.

"You don't how hard it's been," I told him.

"What, lying to me?" Xander asked.

"Being here," I answered. "After I was brought back." Xander looked chastised. I sighed, shaking my head. "You have no idea how hard it is just being here."

"You could have told me," Xander told me.

"You didn't want to know," I told him.

"So you went to him instead?" Xander asked.

"Xander, what I do with my personal life is none of your business," I told him.

Xander looked down sadly. "It used to be." I fidgeted, not knowing how to answer that. "Are you gonna say that it just happened? Oh, like, uh, 'Say, you're evil. Get on me'?"

"You fought side by side with him when I was gone," I told him. "You let him take care of Dawn and my mom."

"But I never forgot what he really is," Xander told me. "God, what were you thinking?"

I scoffed. "You're asking me that? Oh, 'cause your decision making skills have really sparkled lately."

"I'm not saying I didn't make any mistakes," Xander told me. "But last time I checked, slaughtering half of Europe wasn't one of them. He doesn't have a soul, Zoey. Just some leash they jammed in his head. You think he'd still be all snuggles if that chip ever stopped working? Would you still trust him with Dawn or your mom then?"

Xander crumpled up the beer can in his hand, tossing it aside, getting up, walking toward the door, opening the door, walking out, slamming the door behind him, leaving me upset.

  ••••••  

I was patrolling that night to blow off some steam, fighting a vampire, punching him in the face, making him grunt in pain. The vampire punched me in the face, trying to punch me again.

I raised an arm to block the hit, spinning around to backhand punch him in the face, kicking him in the chest, doing another spin kick that sent him spinning to the ground. "Not bad. How hard you gonna hit when you're blowing in the wind?" I took out my stake. The vampire stood, leaping into the air for a kick. I staked him in the heart, dusting him, but as he was turning into dust, the kick landed on my chest, making me fall into a headstone, shattering it and land on the ground behind it. "That was rhetorical." I stood, groaning. "Ow."

I sighed, looking around the cemetery, seeing Spike's crypt across the way, walking toward it hesitantly because I knew that we had to talk about everything that was going on, about to go inside when I heard Dawn talking to Spike inside, stopping in confusion, staying outside to listen to them without them knowing.

"Does it help?" Dawn asked.

"Doesn't hurt," Spike answered. "Not planning a camp-out, are we?"

"No," Dawn answered. "Zoey's patrolling, and my mom's at work, so I'm going to sleep over at Janice's. I wanted to stop by on my way, and, you know... everybody's being pretty hard on Zoey, and they're mad at you."

Spike. "Yeah. Kinda picked up on that."

"You're not going to be coming around anymore, are you?" Dawn asked.

"It's complicated, nibblet," Spike told her.

Dawn chuckled bitterly. "Everybody's been saying that."

"Must be true, then," Spike told her.

"I hope you got rid of the camera that was in here," Dawn told him. "The ones that Warren and Jonathan and the other guy used to watch you and Zoey."

"Zoey told you about that?" Spike asked in surprise.

"Kinda caught the show," Dawn answered. "Zoey's been looking for the dweebs ever since, and found a house with giant buzz saws that nearly killed her."

Spike sighed, sounding angry. "Wankers."

Dawn hesitated. "Do you love her? Do you really love Zoey?"

Spike sighed. "People keep asking me that like they don't already know the answer."

"Okay," Dawn told him. "So you really love her. But my sister's gone through a lot since being brought back, and I know that she needed someone to help her get back to being her. And thank you for being there for her. But you're still a vampire without a soul, and I know that without the chip in your head, you never would have fallen for her, but you would have at least tried to kill her.  She deserves someone that will always love her and never hurt her. And I don't want to watch her get hurt again like she's been in the past. So, if you hurt her... ever... you're gonna wake up on fire." 

I was stunned from hearing that, a little touched and proud of Dawn. Instead of talking to Spike now after what Dawn had just said, I walked away to go home because of being in pain from the fight, going home.

  ••••••  

I got home to see Buffy waiting there with glasses of water. "Did Willow and Tara find out anything?"

"They're close to figuring it out," Buffy answered. "Well, at least that's what they said, but they're researching in Willow's room, so they might get a little distracted from time to time."

I chuckled without humor, taking off my jacket, wincing slightly in pain. "Yeah."

"Rough night?" Buffy asked. 

"Yeah," I answered. "Vamp started to turn to dust and still managed to give me a good kick that shattered a tomb stone behind me."

Buffy winced. "Ouch."

"Yeah," I agreed, tossing my jacket down. "Surprised that you're actually having a conversation with me that's not judgy and self-righteous at the moment." Buffy took a deep breath, with a look as if she was feeling a little guilty because of what she was about to say. I sighed, rolling my eyes. "And of course you are."

"I'm just saying that we need to talk about this," Buffy told me.

"Buffy, I really don't wanna have another fight today," I told her. "I went to Xander's trying to patch things up and he blew up at me and took off. So please forgive me if I need a night without the judging."

"You knew this was gonna happen like this," Buffy told me. "That's why you didn't tell anyone." 

I nodded in agreement. "There. You spoke. I listened. Now leave."

Buffy sighed, standing, walking toward me. "I'm sorry. I don't want to hurt you or make you feel badly, but--"

I finished with her. "It's not right." Buffy gave me a look, no longer talking. "I heard you the first thousand times."

"And yet you still go back to him, even knowing this," Buffy told me. I didn't answer, sighing, walking away toward the kitchen. Buffy followed me. "Do you love him?" I turned to face her, giving her a look, sighing. "Don't lie to me."

"How many times do we have to have this conversation?" I asked. "Until you somehow convince me to end things?"

"Well, I had to have this talk a lot when I was with Angel," Buffy told me. "Except it's worse for you because--"

"Because of the no-soul thing," I finished. "What do you want to hear, Buffy? I have feelings for Spike. I do. We all know that. We've known that for a while. But what would your reaction be if I told you that I loved him? Would you turn your back on me and walk away from me like everyone else would be doing?" Buffy didn't know how to respond to that, looking taken off guard. I sighed, nodding. "That's what I thought."

"I know that what you have with Spike is wild and dangerous, and it could be passionate," Buffy told me. "It burns and consumes until there's nothing left. Love like that doesn't last, and someone could end up getting hurt. It could be you, or it could be someone else that you love."

"Are you done?" I asked. "Buffy, please, just stop. Just walk away. I've heard enough."

"I'm just trying to help you," Buffy told me.

"Yeah, well, you're not helping," I told her. "You're just pushing me further away. So please, leave."

Buffy looked guilty for hurting me and making me mad, knowing that we weren't going to work it out tonight without one of us getting angrier, so she decided to listen and turned to leave.

I sighed heavily, looking down, angry and sad because of the way everyone was reacting, because I knew this was how they were going to react. And I was scared that I was going to lose them because of this. I didn't want to.

Before Buffy could leave, Xander, Tara and Willow walked in to talk to us. Tara and Willow both had bags over their shoulders, and Willow had her computer.

"Hey, guys, I found Warren," Xander told us. "Actually, my face kinda found him."

"And I think we finally have something," Willow told us. They noticed that Buffy and I were both upset from the argument, looking at us in concern. "What happened?"

"Nothing," Buffy told them. "What'd you find out?"

  ••••••  

We were sitting in the dining room with Willow and Tara. Xander was standing nearby, holding an ice pack against his face. The table was covered with the papers and books from the geek lair, plus Willow's computer. Xander had told us that Warren and the others had attacked the Bronze, and that Warren somehow had super strength now.

"We were able to decipher pretty much everything except these," Willow told us, holding a set of papers with weird symbols on them.

"It isn't written in any ancient language we could identify," Tara told us.

Xander chuckled. "It's Klingon. They're love poems." He caught himself, embarrassed. "Which has nothing to do with the insidious scheme you're about to describe."

"What do you got that doesn't rhyme?" I asked.

"Um, this," Tara answered, holding up a CD-ROM.

"It was filled with encoded blueprints and schematics," Willow explained, handing Buffy a pile of papers.

"To what?" Buffy asked.

"Um, banks, armored car routes, corporate vaults," Tara answered. "This is big."

"They're looking to score some serious dinero," Willow told us. "We don't think they're planning just one job."

"Spree, anyone?" I asked.

"We--we can't cover all of these at once," Buffy told us.

"You don't have to," Willow told us. "We think there's two they may hit tonight, so you two might have to split up to see which one they hit."

"Doesn't sound like a problem to me, the splitting up part, I mean," I told them.

Buffy gave me a look. "Zoey... I'm sorry."

I sighed. "Yeah."

"Be careful," Xander told us. "Warren's gone all Mighty Mouse. Emphasis on the might."

"Good," I told them. "Then I won't have to hold back."

  ••••••  

I got to take the amusement park point where the heist could have happened, seeing that the trio were there trying to steal money from an armored car, standing on top of the overturned truck. "Hey. Is this your back?" Warren glared up at me. "'Cause if not, there's gonna be a fee for that."

I started to leap down at Warren. Warren put up his arms to catch me as I fell toward him, throwing me over his head, making me fall to the ground several yards away. I stood.

Warren walked toward me. "I was wondering when one of  the Super Bitches would show up."

"You really got a problem with strong women, don't you?" I asked.

"Nothing I can't handle," Warren told me, trying to punch me. I ducked. Warren punched me in the face. I punched him in the chest. Warren grabbed my arm, hitting me with his other hand. We exchanged a few blows with super strength, but my mind was elsewhere thinking about the fights and everything else, so Warren was able to hit me hard and make me fall. "You seem a little off. This a bad day?"

I stood, tilting my head. "It's getting better."

I kicked Warren in the stomach, then the chest, spinning around to kick him in the face, following through the spin with another kick from the other leg, making him fall, turning to face him. Warren stood. I punched him in the chest, jumping over him to flip over his head, landing on the ground behind him, grabbing him by the back of his jacket, throwing him to the ground, kicking him in the face. Warren stood, walking closer angrily. I picked up the torn off door from the armored truck, using it to hit Warren in the face, making him fall in the rock sign of the amusement park.

Warren turned to face me. "That all you got?"

I threw the armor car door at the weak rocks that held the sign up, making all of the rocks tumble down around Warren and pin him to the ground, obscuring him from view.

Jonathan and Andrew were watching in shock.

"No!" Andrew yelled.

I turned to Jonathan and Andrew. "There's two ways this can end. And right now, I'm thinking they're both gonna hurt."

Andrew suddenly started to smile. "I think you're right."

I heard the stone and rocks from the sign start to move, turning around.

Warren was emerging from the rubble, completely unharmed, smirking in amusement at the shocked face I was wearing. "What's the matter, baby? You never fight a real man before?"

  ••••••  

Warren ran closer to try to punch me twice. I blocked both moves, punching him in the face. Warren punched me in the face, trying to punch me again. I ducked, kicking him in the stomach. Warren tried to punch me twice. I caught both of his arms. Warren punched me in the face twice, trying to punch me again. I caught his arm, spinning around to flip him to the ground, kicking him in the chest. Warren stood, trying to punch me. I ducked, spinning around him to stand behind him, kicking him in the back, sending him flying into the armored truck, making him fall. 

Warren stood, bleeding slightly from the head, but not badly hurt, fixing his jacket, walking toward me. "Wow. That almost hurt, kitten."

I jumped up to kick Warren in the face, punching him in the nose, punching him in the face again. Warren caught my arm when I tried to punch him again, slamming his other arm down onto my elbow to hurt me, kicking me backward, grabbing me again.

"Kill her!" Andrew told him. "Kill her!" 

Jonathan stared from the fight to Andrew and back, looking alarmed, because he didn't want to kill anyone.

Warren continued to punch me and kick me. I blocked another hit, punching him, kicking him. Warren grabbed my leg before I could take it away, using it to push me to the ground. "You know who I am? Huh, Slayer?"

"You're a murderer," I answered, standing up.

"Well, that, too," Warren told me. "But more to the point..." I punched him twice. Warren backhand punched me in the face. "I'm the guy that beat you." I punched him hard twice, though I was getting hurt too, badly. Warren grabbed my arm to twist it down, almost to the point of breaking it, but I broke free before he could, kicking him in the chest. Warren backhand punched me in the face. "And it's not the muscles, baby." He kicked me in the face. "It's the brains."

Warren tried to punch me again.

Buffy appeared next to Warren, catching his arm, punching him in the face. 

I looked at her in relief. "Buffy..."

Buffy looked at Jonathan. "I'll remember that when I knock your brains clean out of your--" Jonathan suddenly jumped onto Buffy's back, surprising both of us. "Whoa!"

"Whoa, Sparky, I didn't  think you had it in you," Warren told him.

Jonathan had jumped onto Buffy's back so he could whisper what Andrew and Warren couldn't hear, to me and Buffy. "Orbs. Smash his orbs."

Buffy flung Jonathan off of her to the ground, spinning to kick Warren in the face, punching him twice. Warren caught her arm the next time she tried to, punching her hard in the stomach, kicking her onto the bench behind her, making the wooden bench shatter underneath her.

Warren walked toward Buffy, rearing his arm back to punch her, revealing a pouch on his side that contained the orbs that Jonathan had mentioned. "Say goodnight, bitch."

Warren punched Buffy extra hard.

I kicked Warren back before he could punch her again, grabbing the pouch with the orbs, taking them off of him, tossing the pouch to Buffy.

Buffy caught the pouch, smashing it against the ground to destroy the orbs, making blue magical light leave Warren's body, taking away his extra strength.

I looked at Warren smugly. "Goodnight, bitch."

Buffy and I both spun around to kick and punch Warren from either side, making him fall to the ground in front of Andrew and Jonathan.

"You're nothing but a sad little boy, Warren," Buffy told him. "But it's time you grow up, and pay for what you've done."

Buffy and I walked toward the trio.

Warren stood in fear, backing away toward Andrew and Jonathan. "Get away from me. I swear to God, I'm gonna take you both down, bitches."

Warren took off his jacket, revealing a an apparatus strapped to his body, including a pair of silvery tanks on his back, that he used to fly away.

Buffy and I were both annoyed and pouty. "Oh, come on."

We watched as the jet pack flew Warren away.

Jonathan was watching Warren go in shock.

Andrew looked at Buffy and me nervously, but pretended to be calm. "Well played, Slayers."

Andrew pulled off his jacket, revealing an identical jet pack.

Buffy and I looked at him in disbelief.

Jonathan was in shock, hurt and whining. "Why didn't I get one of those?"

Andrew didn't answer, looking at Buffy and me. "This round to you. But the game is far from over."

Andrew activated his jet pack and lifted off as Buffy, Jonathan and I stared. But, Andrew was standing underneath a roof overhand, hitting it with his head hard, falling to the ground, unconscious.

Jonathan looked at Buffy and me apprehensively.

We heard the sound of police sirens getting closer.

  ••••••  

Buffy and I had taken Jonathan and Andrew to jail.

The next day, I went to Buffy's house, seeing that Buffy and Xander were standing outside in the daytime, talking. Buffy had a stick and was using it to poke at the bushes and weeds.

I looked at them awkwardly. "Time for the spring poking already?"

"Just making sure there are no more evil trio cameras," Buffy answered. "Or evil uno."

"The sinister yet additive card game?" Xander asked teasingly.

"Warren," Buffy answered. "Jonathan and Andrew got clinked, but... Warren pulled a rocket man."

"You'll find him," Xander told us. "He won't be much good without his friends."

I sighed sadly. "No, he won't." I looked at Buffy. "I know that I was mad yesterday. I was, and I was a bitch to you."

"Yeah, well, I deserved it for putting you down like that, ever since finding out about you and Spike," Buffy told me.

"But when Warren had me last night with the super strength and the super healing..." I trailed off. "You showed up, and you saved me. And we took him down together."

Buffy smiled sadly. "Yeah. It reminded me of the old times."

"Me too," I told her. "And I just wanted to say thank you. And I'm sorry."

"Me, too," Buffy told me. "You saved me last night, too, so I am sorry, and thank you."

Xander smiled at us, sighing, shaking his head, letting the smile fade. "How did we get here?"

"Scenic route," I answered. "Long drive."

"The past few weeks..." Xander trailed off.

"I know," I told them.

Xander looked at me sadly. "I thought I hit bottom, but... it hurt. That you didn't trust me enough to tell me about Spike. It hurt."

"It's not that I didn't trust you, or anyone, Xander," I told him. "I was just... scared of how you'd react. And you reacted just like I thought you would. And it hurt because of everything that's been said, and everyone's looks that they give..."

"I'm sorry," Xander told me. "Maybe you would have told us sooner, if we hadn't given you so many reasons to think we'd be asses about it."

"Guess we've all done a lot of things lately we're not proud of," Buffy told us.

Xander smiled a small smile. "I think I've got you beat."

"Wanna compare?" Buffy asked.

"Not so much," Xander answered. We smiled tentatively at each other. "I don't know what I'd do... without you guys and Will."

"Let's not find out," I told them. Xander nodded in agreement, giving me a hug. I was surprised but happy, returning the embrace. "I love you. You know that right?" We pulled away. Buffy and Xander nodded. "I love both of you."

"We all love you, too," Buffy told me.

Buffy and I both hugged, smiling slightly.

Xander looked behind us in alarm. "Buffy, Zoey."

We pulled away, turning to see a very angry Warren walking toward us fast, still wearing the all black outfit from last night.

"You think you can just do that to me?" Warren asked furiously. "You think I'd let you get away with that?" He laughed crazily. "Think again."

Warren suddenly raised a gun, firing wildly at us, all over the yard and all over at the house, while running away so he didn't see where he was firing as he ran off, but still fired wildly at all of us. Buffy and I managed to get Xander down to safety, but were shot in the process.

Xander stood, brushing himself off. "Sweet fancy Moses. Where the hell did he--" He saw that both me and Buffy were shot, running closer. "Oh, God." Buffy and I were very badly hurt from getting shot, barely conscious. "Oh, God. Zoey? Buffy? Zoey!"

Xander was trying to help us so we didn't bleed out, not knowing what to do, terrified that we were dying.