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

[coldheritage]

♬ The Truth - Nonpoint

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.  ]

Comments

[bigbad]

[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?

[slay]

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

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

[bigbad]

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.]

[slay]

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

[bigbad]

[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.

[slay]

[ 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 ??? ]

[bigbad]

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.

[slay]

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.

[bigbad]

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?

[slay]

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!

[bigbad]

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?

[slay]

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!

[bigbad]

[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.]

[slay]

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.

[bigbad]

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?

[slay]

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

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

[bigbad]

[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?

[slay]

I know that. [ She tips her head in acknowledgment. ] Not convinced you do.

[bigbad]

[Yep, no faith at all. Which is extremely frustrating, since for the most part, Spike trusts Buffy's judgment. If she thinks Nadia's bad news, there's probably a good reason. But since she's not sharing that good reason, Spike has nothing to go on besides vagueness. It leaves him twitchy and restless, and there's not much he can do about it.

He rolls his eyes.]

I'm going, Buffy. If there's something specific you're worried about you can let me know, and I mean besides my sex life cause that really isn't your business, but the fact is, it doesn't bloody matter if I'm making a mistake. She wants a chance to be a better person. How can you ask me to deny her that?

[slay]

She wants to be a better person? Great. She wants to help us? Great. She doesn't need you in her dressing room to do that.

[bigbad]

Maybe not, but it won't hurt. Having someone around who believes in her, who expects her to be better than she was... it could make a difference. And then there's surviving long enough to do anything when she's got bloody helicopters with rockets coming after her.

[slay]

Yes! It could hurt! It could hurt you! [ Anger shifts to a very genuine, hapless plea. ] Which is exactly what I'm trying to prevent.

[bigbad]

Buffy! [He sounds frustrated. He rubs his head, mussing his slicked back hair a little. He knows he can get hurt. Knowing he can get hurt has never stopped him from anything. If getting hurt was a problem, he wouldn't ever go outside in the day. As nice as it is that Buffy's fretting over him, she should know that about him. He steps forward, putting a hand on her shoulder.]

Please tell me what's going on. You wouldn't be acting like this if there wasn't something. Come on, love. I need to know. [Diplomacy 16 WHICH IS PRETTY GOOD FOR SPIKE he's better at scaring people into talking to him, but that's not an approach he wants to use on Buffy.]

[slay]

[ In the most tragic of close calls, Buffy looks for a moment like she's ready to spill everything, come apart, but she doesn't. Tension ripples through her jaw and she shakes her head, pacing away and throwing up exasperated hands (will 19). ]

I am telling you what's going on. She's mind controlled you before. She's one of the bad guys. She gives me the heebie jeebies. [ She looks back to him, voice lilting up with a slight whine as she asks, ] Can't you just trust me?

[bigbad]

I do trust you. But right now it looks like you don't trust me. [He drops his hand, scowling a little.]

You know, there're people from my world at the castle now?