Chapter Text
Tara ducked down and wrapped her shawl tighter over her head as she leaned against the brick wall of the roof's edge. The binoculars were the only thing that might be visible from the street below. She settled in for the first of many long and very dull minutes of surveillance.
When she first started going on these runs into the city, she would while away the time imagining the lives of the people that must have lived here once. She no longer wondered about the people that had destroyed the Earth. It only led to anger, and she had no energy left for anger.
Of the numerous hours she's spent in this position over countless trips into the city, she had never seen a single thing. There was no reason to suspect this time would be any different.
Though she had never run into trouble, she knew that others had. Their cautionary tales were enough for her to tolerate the boredom.
Just as she was ready to declare the area safe and move on, she thought she caught a flash of movement. When she tried to shift to get a better look, whatever it was had gone. Her heart began to race, and she stayed stock still. As much as she wanted to move to a better vantage point, she knew that was the absolute worst thing she could do right now.
A sound carried from the street below and then another. She thought she heard voices - human voices.
That was impossible.
Tara kept her position and held her breath. It could be humans, or it could be something else. Then she saw them. What looked like two women walking out in the open, pushing shopping carts. The sight was too mind-boggling to comprehend. Things became even more confusing when she recognized one of the figures.
"Buffy?" She whispered to herself with confusion. It was her turn to go out, which meant Buffy stayed home. They used to go out in pairs, but those days were long gone. She and Buffy were the only ones left who were capable of this trip.
Tara adjusted the focus on the binoculars and leaned forward as if that would do anything. She had been watching Buffy and another woman move recklessly through town. They weren't trying at all to conceal their activities, breaking into stores and taking valuable resources.
It made no sense - Buffy knew better.
She couldn't decide what to do. Going down to street level to confront Buffy, would just put them all in danger. The other option would be to go back home, but she couldn't do that - she hadn't retrieved any supplies. It wouldn't even be possible to complete her mission now. The sentries had surely been activated by now. And it wasn't like she'd be able to help when they arrived anyway. She had no real weapons and wouldn't know how to use them even if she did. Trying to help would only lead to all three of them being dead.
Her only viable option was to hold this position and wait. She wouldn't let herself think about what she was waiting for.
Tara was startled awake by the sound of whirring engines. Even though they weren't loud and were still quite a ways away - her mind was always on alert for the sound.
The previous night, she had seen the women take up residence in an apartment building, and she snuck to a rooftop with a better vantage point. She could not see where Buffy had gone, but the stranger was clearly visible, sleeping sprawled out in a bed.
Tara stared at the stranger for far too long. The woman was alluring in a way Tara didn't quite understand. Granted, she had not seen many people in her lifetime, but she felt very drawn to this stranger.
She almost didn't begrudge Buffy for running away with her.
The whirring was getting closer, and still, neither woman was waking up. This also made no sense. Buffy was even better at detecting the sentries than she was. There was no time to figure that out. If they didn't wake up soon - it would be too late.
Tara had limited options. She was too far away to try reaching them. There was really only one thing she could even attempt to do. Pulling out her slingshot and a small metal ball - she took aim at the window. This distance was at the limit of her accuracy, but she had to try.
The ball flew true and zipped through the window - striking the stranger on her shoulder. Tara almost gave a cheer when the stranger instantly jumped to her feet.
The woman moved to the window, and Tara quickly ducked down. When she was next brave enough to pop her head up, she saw the stranger waking Buffy and leading her to the window.
Tara breathed a sigh of relief when the two women moved quickly to climb the side of the building to reach the roof.
Just as she was about to signal to Buffy, she gasped in horror as she watched them formulate a very terrible plan. Buffy threw a brick off the side of the building in a vain attempt to distract the sentry bots below.
The stranger had been peering over the side of the building and saw that the bots were not fooled in the slightest. The two women miraculously made it onto the adjacent building. Tara started to relax until she realized they were not done running.
Tara was frozen in terror as she watched Buffy jump to the next rooftop just as a grenade was launched in her direction.
"Bu…" She clasped her hands over her mouth to prevent her from calling out. She hadn't seen all that had happened, but she was sure she just watched Buffy die. The other woman had done her best to shield Buffy from the explosive device, but the two women fell between the buildings. There is no way either of them could have survived that drop.
"No." She whispered to herself and silently let tears flow down her cheeks. Her eyes were unfocused as she sat back on her heels. She almost missed the movement further to her right several minutes later.
Buffy was running across the rooftop at an incredible speed, and she was carrying the other woman. This on its own was confusing - it was even more confusing when Buffy lept from the rooftop and landed on one across the street.
Tara's fear took on a whole new level. If they had figured out how to make robots look that lifelike - they were in serious danger.
Tara was standing now. She didn't remember doing that. Luckily, the sentries were still focused on the wrong side of the street. Now though, she wasn't sure if she was more afraid of being spotted by the sentries or by a possibly robot-Buffy.
She stood frozen, in complete view of the sentries as she watched robot-Buffy place the stranger down and then kneel to examine something on the roof. They were too far away, and her view was partially obstructed, so Tara couldn't quite tell what robot-Buffy might be doing.
Things made even less sense when robot-Buffy picked the stranger up and knelt down again. Both women disappeared from view, and when they didn't reappear, Tara started to think she was losing her mind. She had been on that rooftop before. There is no where they could have gone that Tara wouldn't be able to see. The only possibility was that they were lying down, but why would they do that?
Tara finally gained enough sense to remember she was out in the open, and she dropped back down to her belly and replaced her cover. She'd have to stay in this position for several hours and hope that the sentries would give up their search efforts and return to base.
Night had started to fall when she finally felt like it was safe to move. It had been four hours since she had last heard any activity.
Taking all precautions, she moved closer to the rooftop where she had last seen Buffy.
It took fifteen minutes until she was standing in the spot where the two women had vanished. There was no evidence of where they had gone. The blood trail from the stranger led obviously from the rooftop door to the middle of the roof. There was an outline of a circle, but Tara couldn't imagine where it came from or what could have caused it.
There was nothing left to do now but attempt to complete her mission and return home.
Tara slowly moved through the camp, nodding to the few heads that poked out of their tents. Fewer faces appeared each time she returned. Tara did her best not to think too much about why. She and Buffy brought supplies for the rest of the camp, but they never spoke to them. The mutant's ability to communicate was lost many years ago.
Her supplies were collected, and she moved towards Buffy's tent without thinking.
She stood there for several moments before deciding to return to her own tent. Buffy couldn't be in there, and even if she was - Tara wasn't sure she wanted to talk to her.
"Tara?" Buffy's head suddenly appeared in the opening, and Tara jumped back. "Hey, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a long mission." Tara replied automatically.
"Do you want to come in?" Buffy held the flap open and motioned for Tara to come inside.
"Did you leave camp?" Tara asks at the same time, and Buffy looks offended by the question.
"Of course not. Why would you think I did?"
Tara rubs at her temples, "sorry. I just… I thought I saw..." Tara was starting to really wonder if she was losing her mind. There is no way that was a robot-buffy she saw, but there was also no way it was a human Buffy. What other explanation was there?
"Please, come in." Buffy ushers Tara into her tent and leads her to a chair.
Tara sits automatically and accepts the offered tea.
"What happened on your mission?" Buffy sits across from Tara and tries to look relaxed. "Were you not able to find any supplies?"
Tara was just staring at Buffy, and it was starting to make Buffy squirm in her seat.
"Did I do something wrong?" Buffy asks in a small voice, which snaps Tara out of her stupor.
If only Tara knew the answer to that question. All she could do was hope that things would make sense once she started talking. "I saw something strange when I went into the city."
"Okay?" Buffy asks, not liking that Tara won't answer her questions.
"There were two women on the street." Tara's voice was devoid of emotion.
"Two women? Who? How can that even be? Did you bring them back with you?" Buffy starts to get excited at the prospect of new people.
"They're gone," Tara says and watches Buffy carefully for her reaction.
"Oh, the sentries got them?" Buffy frowns and leans back in her seat.
"No, they just…. Vanished." Tara stared into her teacup as if it might help explain what she saw.
"Vanished?"
"One of them was injured. There was a blood trail, then it just… stopped." Tara took a sip of tea and furrowed her brow. She was starting to believe she had imagined the whole thing.
"Stopped?" Tara was getting slightly annoyed that Buffy was just repeating her own words back.
"One of them… was you," Tara brushed past Buffy's question while keeping eye contact with Buffy. "She looked exactly like you."
Buffy sat back in her chair, more than a little shocked at Tara's accusatory tone.
"Who was she?" Tara's tone did not lessen in intensity.
"Who was who?" Buffy did not know how to handle the confrontation. She knew she hadn't done anything wrong, but it was starting to feel like she did.
"The brunette you were with. Is she your girlfriend?" Tara's eyes widened at the obvious jealousy in her voice. She had no reason to be this upset - even if Buffy had been running across rooftops with her girlfriend, it was not Tara's business.
Buffy didn't at all understand Tara's demeanor. It almost seemed like Tara was more jealous than angry. She assumed she was reading the other woman wrong. Tara had never indicated she thought about Buffy in that way, or any way really. Pushing out a breath, she crossed the room to kneel in front of Tara. "I don't know who you saw - but it wasn't me."
Tara reached out and caressed Buffy's cheek before realizing that she should not be doing that and tried to quickly pull her hand back. Buffy stopped her, holding Tara's hand to her cheek.
"There is something else." Tara slipped her hand out of Buffy's and sat back. "You - she jumped from one rooftop to another - carrying the injured stranger."
Buffy frowned and looked away. Tara saw the guilty look on Buffy's face and was even more confused.
"Buffy?" Tara had expected Buffy to laugh her off. Or maybe suggest Tara had been hallucinating. But Buffy didn't do either of those things, and Tara's panic was flaring.
Buffy stood and crossed the room, opening a small chest that served as storage for her meager belongings. "There's something I need to tell you."
Tara suddenly realized she definitely didn't want to know what Buffy was about to tell her. "You don't have to tell me anything."
Tara stood to leave, but Buffy moved quickly to block the exit.
"Please, Tara. Let me explain."
Tara had spent all of her life being afraid, but she had never before been afraid of Buffy.
"I promise you that I will not hurt you. I would never hurt you." Buffy says, and Tara wants to believe her, but she's too petrified to even process what Buffy is saying. "Please, Tara. Give me a chance to explain."
Tara is obviously terrified, and Buffy hates that she's causing this. There's nothing she can do now but push forward. Buffy did believe that if anyone could handle knowing the truth about her - it would be Tara. She's starting to think she was very wrong about this assumption.
"Get out of my way. If you would never hurt me, why are you holding me here against my will?"
Buffy's self-preservation is the only thing that keeps her from moving. "If you leave without letting me explain - someone will get hurt. I don't want to die, and I don't want to hurt anyone. If you won't let me explain, at least let me leave first."
When Tara doesn't respond after a minute of them staring at each other, Buffy sighs sadly and tosses the item she was going to show Tara onto her bed. She thinks about taking her storage chest but doesn't see the point. It's not like she actually needs any of it.
"What is that thing?" Tara's voice is very shaky, and Buffy winces.
"You can use it to disable me." Buffy considers trying to explain further but opts not to. She hoped Tara would be reasonable with a little time to think things through.
"So you were in town today?" Tara sounds angry now, thinking that Buffy lied to her. Which is what Buffy was hoping to avoid.
"I was not in town. But maybe there is another copy of me. I didn't think that was possible. I don't know what else might have happened, though."
"Sit down," Tara says with authority, and Buffy chuckles but does as ordered. Tara gives the seated Buffy a wide berth and retrieves the device Buffy had left behind. "You had this the whole time? Why didn't you tell anyone?"
Buffy doesn't like how the conversation has shifted. It's better that Tara isn't afraid anymore, but she doesn't feel she deserves this anger. "I didn't see the point. I would never hurt you or anyone else here. I just thought it would make you more comfortable right now."
"Didn't see the point?" Tara takes an aggressive step towards Buffy. "How about using it against all those mechs out there trying to kill us!?"
Buffy understands the confusion now and tries to stay relaxed. "It only works on me and others like me, and I thought I was the only one."
"Why would you be the only one? Why haven't they made more if they could make robots like you?" Tara is still beyond furious, and she isn't sure why she hasn't left the tent yet. There is nothing the monster before her can say that Tara will believe.
Buffy frowns and looks away. "I am not part of this current generation of robots. I was created before the world ended - before the pulse." Buffy considers pointing out to Tara that the sentries were attacking this other version of her. That should prove that Buffy is not on their side. She doesn't know enough about who those other women were, though. They could very well be part of some kind of ruse.
"Before the pulse? What pulse?" Tara is starting to relax, but she still holds the item that can disable Buffy dangerously close.
"I am happy to give you a history lesson. Just… please be careful with that thing. I do not know if it has enough charge to turn me back on… assuming you'd want to do that." Buffy tries to smile disarmingly, but it does not seem to work.
Tara is struggling with her emotions. She is furious with Buffy, but at the same time - Buffy is all she has. If Buffy dies or leaves, Tara will be left essentially alone. Left to care for the few remaining mutants at the camp by herself.
Tara does her best to remember that she's known Buffy for five years, and in that time, Buffy has been nothing but kind to her. She always does her share of the work and never complains. Tara needs Buffy to be who she's claiming to be. The alternative is too terrifying.
"Why did you join our camp?" Tara finally asks the most important question. "Why join us and lie about who you are?"
Buffy hopes these questions mean Tara will give her a chance to explain. "I didn't tell you who I was because I wanted to stay with you."
"Why?" Tara narrows her eyes, feeling that Buffy is being evasive.
"Because - I was searching for you."