knightsoflegend | CHAPTER FOUR ♔ does it run in your blood to betray the ones you love

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CHAPTER FOUR ♔ does it run in your blood to betray the ones you love

WHO || Failboat, Rafael, Isabella, Nadia [Closed]
WHAT || After an exciting Grammy night, the Knights meet up with Nadia to hear what she has to say
WHERE || Staples Center, LA --> Warehouse
WHEN || Feb 8th, 2015 [back dated]
HOW || Actionspam

[ The Knights' mission to stop the signal and prevent Draken's cult from spreading whatever subliminal message was lurking beneath Keijen Blade's performance was a success. It didn't come without its bumps in the road, however: Alexander Anderson showed up, and the Knights ran afoul of the Mind Master. Buffy nearly died fighting Anderson, but in the end, he was defeated, beheaded, and hopefully put to death forever. Finnick, though, found himself thrust into a mental illusion that convinced him he might still be in the Hunger Games, and left him uncertain about whether any of his life here was real.

Another surprise came in the form of an announcement by Nadia Reichenov, an artist working with Crombe and company, that she was changing her band name and taking things in a 'new direction'. This direction was perhaps revealed when after her performance, she approached the Knights in Rafael's dressing room - and handed them the necklace that connects her to the Nightmare God Malaak'a, saying she was willing to tell them everything. ]

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Tried, perhaps. True? Not so much. [He pulls his blood out of the microwave and nods at her.] I'm just gonna be away for a bit. Thought you should know.

[ She falters, all humor gone. Breathy and disbelieving, she hurries to ask, ] Away? Where away?

Nadia. The higher ups thought she could use some back-up. Makes the most sense if it's me. I'll be going as her bodyguard. [Not that Spike was volunteering before anyone suggested it or anything.....]

[ The way that she blanches makes it easy to see how much Buffy hates this plan. No. Of all the places. Des leaving to spend time with Zarad, that she understands. Finnick's current state isn't his fault. Rafael has a tour to finish. But Spike, alone with Nadia? Her stomach turns, a visceral revulsion that threatens her gag reflex.

It's impossible to believe entirely in Nadia's flip-flop when she'd neglected to address what she'd done to manipulate and deceive them. ]

Spike, no. You can't. [ She draws in a worried breath, stepping forward, resolved to her opposition. ] Please. Just trust me on this, whatever your orders are, don't go with her.

What? [He takes a step back, brow creasing.] Why not? You saw how hard they came after her. She needs us.

Yeah.

[ Said in a slow voice, filled with heavy dread. ]

Funny, isn't it? How she told us where to meet her, and they showed up right there.

[ Not the best way to cast doubt, but the fact of the matter is that Rafael's pain isn't hers to share. Even now. She won't break his confidence like that, won't spread what she blames herself for to others when he's still trying to process, suffer, and deal with it. No, there are more reasons to doubt Nadia's intentions.

But honestly? That's chief among Buffy's. Knowing what she did to Rafael is bad enough, but fearing that every day until they reunited that she might do it to Spike? That's worse. Knowing that she will have to watch him walk right into it, wondering if anything she says can change his mind now, given his fixation. ]

I just ... [ She paces, turning away, raising one hand to her forehead. ] I have a bad feeling about this. About her. I don't trust her.

After Isabella said bloody Voldemort's name right when we least needed to get the attention of gods? Yeah, somehow not blaming that one on her.

[Spike puts his mug down and gives her a reassuring smile.]

I'm not a complete fool, love. I know that anything that seems to good to be true very well might be. But isn't that all the more reason for me to go with her? [He shrugs a shoulder.] I want to protect her, yeah. But I'll also be right there if it turns out she's not on the level.

[Spike wants to trust Nadia. He really does. And he really does think she wants to atone for past mistakes, to become a better person. He can sympathize. Just because he's fortunate enough not to remember his bad past doesn't mean it doesn't exist. If that's what she's here for, if that's what she's doing, he's here to support and protect her.

But he's also very glad he'll be able to keep a close eye on her. He's been betrayed enough that he's not ready to go through it again.]

I'm just saying. If it reads minds like a trap and shoots like a trap …

[ She won't back down off of it, not with what's on the line here. The shake of her head doesn't trust his wariness to be enough. Watching that woman destroy Rafael was hard enough; to see her do it to another one of her friends when she might be able to protect him from it? It might just break her. ]

If you think you can get the drop on a psion with powers from the king of "everything is spiders," then a fool is exactly what you are. What if having you close and alone is exactly what she's counting on? She can get close to you, use you, learn things about us and— [ She drops her gaze, stops pacing. Drawing in a breath, she steadies her gaze back on him, all imploring. ] Spike, please. I am asking you to just believe me; this is a bad idea. Don't go with her.

[He watches her, frowning. He expected her not to like the idea. Not least because whatever else might have happened between them, they are close, and he doubts she'll be any more fond of him being away from the group than he is. But he wasn't expecting this much protestation.

He could point out that she doesn't have the spider king's powers anymore, but he's pretty sure that won't change Buffy's mind about Nadia. He could tell her that he has these doubts too, that even though he likes Nadia he's wondered, worried that he can't or shouldn't trust her. Worried that he's taking a dumb risk.

The other side won't play fair, she'd said, and there'll be a cost. Spike doesn't want to be that cost just because he's following his gut and trusting her rather than doubting because of his past. But he also doesn't want anyone else to be that cost either. And he does believe her. He just hopes he's right too.

He exhales--letting his shoulders slump a little. Arguing reason won't help, here. Buffy clearly feels as strongly as Spike does that he shouldn't go, so all he can do is try and make her see why he feels the way he does. Why he has to do it, even if it is a bad idea.]

Did I ever tell you about the first time I met Nadia?

That wasn't really an opening for gooey-eyed reminiscing, Spike.

[ Said sharply, like she's digging her heels in. ]

You're telling me why I can't.... sort of, mind you, since it hasn't really gone past you having a bad feeling about her. I'm going to tell you why I have to. And considering it starts with her brain-washing me, gooey-eyed isn't really the word I'd use.

[He may be a bit of a masochist, but that's still... not really his kink. At all.]

And yet you're about to walk into a chance for her to do it again. Why?

[Spike gives her an impatient look because that's what he's trying to tell her.]

We were at her concert, right? Well, hers and Blade's. Her set came on and I... sort of lost it, I guess. Brainwashing, you know. But my eyes still worked as well as ever, and I could see she wasn't... happy, you know? Not in the intense rockstar way, just in general. Keijen's music didn't really affect me in the same way so once her set was done I did what any obsessed fan would do and beat up the bouncers so I could get to her dressing room.

[ Her eyebrows steadily raise on her forehead as he goes like wow yeah this makes it better please continue making your bad life choice. They widen at the end and it's a combination of genuine horror and disgust as well as do I really want to hear this ??? ]

Now, if I were an evil mastermind and some hero walked straight into my hands eager to do anything I asked, this'd probably be the part where I, oh, I don't know, took advantage and got him to spill all his secrets. At the very least. But she didn't. She lifted the compulsion. Gave me back my free will.

Gee. Kinda like how the Mind Master let us walk out of the bayou?

[ Buffy shakes her head. #NotBuyingIt. ]

You weren't the mission in New York, Spike. The Hudson River was. But you probably looked like a swell opportunity to plant a seed, gain some trust. Just like she's been doing with Myri all along. Stirring up sympathy while she — [ Buffy's teeth grind. She shakes her head. ] All this time, she's been working for them. Against us.

Maybe. But you weren't there. She wasn't--she was crying when I showed up. And I told her we could get her out of there but she wouldn't go. Said she didn't want to while staring me in the face... and using her lipstick to write on the mirror about how the nightmare god was spying on us through her eyes and ears.

[She could be playing them. Spike knows it. It could all be part of an elaborate ploy. But she could have gained his trust without giving away that they were being spied on. She could have given that information to the Nightmare God or gone with them right then and gotten all the information her spying little eyes wanted. Might not have lasted long. Vi knew about the necklace, even if Spike didn't really. But it would have still given her a lot. Instead she'd taken it off before going with them. She'd stood up to her label and switched sides. She changed her band name.

He shakes his head, shoving his hands into his coat pockets.]

First time I saw hope in her eyes was when I smashed that mirror to hide the message. And spouted off some threatening nonsense to wrap around a promise that we would get her out. And she gave up her necklace. [He looks up to meet Buffy's eyes.] I can't know for sure what's going on in her head, but if she is truly trying to make amends, she needs help. And isn't that why we signed up for this? To help people stand up to evil?

Spike, that's exactly what I'm telling you. Stand up to Evil.

[ Wow it's almost like she just won't budge on this. It's surprising, actually, to find herself responding so viscerally. When Rafael was explaining, when she was thinking about it in the abstract, helping Nadia seemed fairly innocuous. As long as they kept her apart from Rafael, why not pursue it?

But now she's separating them, luring another person she cares about off to take advantage of alone. To manipulate. To hurt. And now she's a lot less sympathetic to the plight of what before really might have been a frightened woman ready to get out of a situation she'd found she was over her head in. ]

Except she is the evil!

She's not evil. She's helping us! [Spike crosses his arms, leaning his head forward to look at Buffy. He knows Buffy can be stubborn, but this seems ridiculous. Nadia was one of the bad guys, sure, but people change. And she'd always shown some reluctance to be thrown into the roll she's got now. It is a risk, of course, but Spike's confident it's not as stupid a one as Buffy seems to think.]

What's gotten in to you?

What's gotten into me? The same thing that's apparently gotten out of you! Our job! [ She shuts down, raising her voice rather than give him any wiggle room to pull at that thread more. ] We're supposed to watch for evil, to stop it, and you're in a big rush to share a hotel room with it!

[Spike squints at her, crossing his arms.]

This is bloody unbelievable. Are you jealous?

[Because he honestly can't see any other reason why she'd be acting like this. Nadia isn't their enemy right now. Having doubts about her loyalty makes sense, but this outright refusal to even court the possibility that she's good? That's something else entirely. And since Buffy isn't giving any good reasons, he can only assume she doesn't have them.]

What?

[ She bristles. Once upon a time, she honestly would have just rolled with it. Let it happen, worry about dealing with Spike's feelings after the fact. Maybe he'd have responded to that. Not anymore; it's not fair for either of them to go down that road, particularly disingenuously. ]

No. No. God, no. Look, I can't explain it, okay? But I can feel it in my gut. She's bad news.

Well, your gut thought I was bad news for a while too, and my gut is screaming that we should give her a chance. You're going to have to give me more than a feeling, love. Have you ever even talked to her?

I don't think it's your gut telling you anything.

[ It's your dick, Spike. And Buffy has no problem snapping that judgment. ]

[He rolls his eyes.] Glad to see you have so much faith in me. You know this isn't me going on some extended booty call, right?

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