R, contains language, death, and angst
Note: Story written BEFORE that little 'Some Assembly Required' take-off. Actually, it was written last week... I don't own Buffy, Angel (No matter how much I wish I did), Riley (Thank God!), or anybody from the Buffyverse. They belong to everyone's favorite acid-tripping, non-B/A supporting, and, might I add, balding Mutant Enemy, Joss. I hate the whole Riley/Buffy thing Joss is doing. Witness me deal. I support B/A to the very end. Buffy and Angel have stayed in touch. Although she's just told him about a new boyfriend. No names were mentioned, so the name RILEY won't clue him off. Before Heroes, I liked Doyle, yet after Buffy found out about the Initiative. It's MY universe and I'll screw it up as I please! The Initiative has the misfortune of capturing Angel. Uh-oh. An otherwise serious story with some I-Hate-Rileyisms mixed in. Be warned, not for the ones who are looking for an all-fluff piece. Deals with death.

The Initiative had moved to LA. Or, at least, Forrest and Riley were selected to go there and collect 'specimens' for further study.

So far, they had gotten a vampire, two Secra demons, and a young Brakan demon. The Brakan had put up quite a fight. Riley earned himself a large cut in his arm due to the demons' spikes. The night was still young, though, and they had a good hunt ahead of them.

************

Angel felt pleased with himself, he had killed an exceptionally aggressive vampire that had tried to make a snack out of Cordelia. Sure to say that Cordy was none too happy with the evil vamps' intentions.

The walk back to his office seemed even longer than normal thanks to the May-queens' constant yakking. "I mean, could that guys' breath have been any worse? Yuck. He probably never heard of a tic-tac. And his clothes, we're in the 90's, not 70's...."

Angel sighed. How long could the night possibly be?

************

Riley donned his heat-signature goggles. They could detect a vampire for a good mile by body temperature alone. He scanned the area. There! A man, tall, walking with a girl. He came up as cool as the night air around him. Vampire.

Riley motioned for Forrest to follow. The quietly made their way in front of the pair. Waiting for the girl to turn her head, Riley jumped out and shot his electric gun. The vampire fell, unconscious.

The girl screamed, then ran off down the street. Unknown to the two commandos, an investigator service was open just a block down.

************

"Doyle!" Cordelia ran in, screaming.

A short man appeared from another part of the building, "Cordelia, what happened? Where's Angel?"

"He, they, the army guys, they, Angel..." Cordy couldn't even form a sentence. Doyle hugged her close.

"Hey, calm down." When she did, he continued, "Now, what happened to Angel?"

She sniffled, then tried to make sense of what she'd just seen, "Angel had just rescued me from this ugly vamp, we were walking back here. Then these guys in ski-masks jumped out. They shot him, Doyle! They shot Angel!"

The half-demon looked taken aback, whoever the army guys were, they had power behind them. "Don't worry, princess, we'll find him. Angel'll be okay, you'll see," Doyle said as he stoked Cordy's hair gently.

************

Angel awoke with a start. He knew something was wrong almost immediately. He couldn't move his arms or legs, and his head hurt like heck. The room was way too bright. Like a hospital. Only he knew better. This wasn't a hospital.

He tried turning his head to get a better view of the room. It hurt, but he managed to turn to the right ever so slightly. He was on a table, steel clamps held his wrists and ankles to it. Across from him, on another table, lay a young Brakan demon. Angel felt pity rise in his heart. Who would do this to one so young?

That's when someone walked in a door somewhere in the room. Angel heard footsteps, but nothing came into his line of view.

"Hmm, this one looks like he's ready to die, take him away," a voice, female. Middle-aged, but with a tone of authority.

The vampire turned his head away from the Brakan and to the direction of the voice. To his left, he saw another vampire being wheeled away. Obviously they hadn't wanted him. Then he located the owner of the voice.

"What about this one?" She wore a white lab coat. On it there was a name tag, Maggie Walsh. And she was pointing at Angel.

A man came up next to her holding a clipboard. He was tall, not as tall as Angel, but still. Shaggy hair fell in front of his face, accenting his square head. He pulled a sheet up on the clipboard, "Uh, tracked this one with some girl. Probably tried to lure her away for a quick snack. Looks well-fed, unsure of how many it's killed."

This got Angels' attention. Killed? He hadn't killed anyone. He was walking Cordelia back to the office. Then, the pain. He began to remember. Things weren't as fuzzy as they were before. He shook his head to clear it. What the heck was going on?

Walsh spoke up, "Put it in with the Hostiles when you're done checking it out. It'll make a good test subject."

They didn't take him away like they had the other vampire. He was still there, watching. The two moved on to the Brakan.

Riley took out the clipboard again, "We found this one stealing bread near the main city. Dangerous little thing. I say exterminate it as soon as possible." Walsh nodded, then turned to leave. The Brakan just looked even more terrified.

Exterminate? They were going to kill him? Angels' mind reeled. They were demons, but Brakans never hurt anyone, they were peaceful. Doyle was part Brakan. "Wait."

Walsh turned on one heel, obviously she was unused to anything but taunting and death threats from her prisoners. She cocked one eyebrow at Angel.

"Why kill him?"

This time, Riley turned around and stared.

"Because it will kill when it grows older. Even this is dangerous. Why does it matter to you, vampire?"

Angel felt anger rise within him, "You would kill a child?"

Walsh sighed, then motioned Riley out of the room, "It isn't a child. It's a demon, just as you are. Why do you even care?"

"Because what you're doing is wrong. He's a Brakan, they're peaceful. Even so, he's too young to hurt anyone."

Crocodiles are killers right from birth. As I've heard, so are vampires."

Angel growled, but kept quiet.

Walsh smiled, "Don't worry, you'll meet your fate soon enough." With that, she left.

Angel let his head fall back, defeated. Then he noticed the boy was staring at him. He glanced over.

"Why did you want to help me? Vampires care for their own, but you... Why?"

"Because, you don't deserve death," Angel turned away.

"Thank you for... for trying, at least," the Brakan offered a small smile. Angel looked back and returned the smile. At least the boy understood caring.

************

Doyle paced the office. There had to be something they could do besides wait. He, along with Cordelia, had gotten ahold of Giles an hour ago. After explaining the situation, the two had been told to wait for another call in about an hour. It had been two.

************

Angel hadn't been taken out of the room yet. His only company was the Brakan and an extremely annoying Secra demon. The boy, who Angel had learned was named Set, was very intelligent. He had a lot to say and was impressed to hear Angels' story. Well, part of it, anyway.

"Wow, two-hundred years. Long time."

"Yeah, lot of pain, lot of heartbreak. Not a nice word out there," Angel agreed. "So, what about you, Kid? Where're you from?"

"LA, downtown. We live in a loft. Right above the freeway. You can see all the cars at night. They always make the prettiest patterns on the wall, the lights. People in those cars have lives, though. They can go where ever they want to without others staring. Us, we have to steal, hide from them, never go out in the open. You're lucky, at least you can blend."

"I used to hide," Angel admitted, "I used to stay in an alley, only went in when the sun came up. Not an easy life, not an easy existence. Then I learned there are people who will accept you for who you are, I went with them. They helped me. Taught me. Not all humans hate us. Just because some fear us, it doesn't mean there aren't those who care."

A mocking single-clap echoed throughout the room, "Bravo, vampire, very nice speech... if it were true. You're all freaks, abominations of nature. No one wants you, no one ever will." Walsh. Angel let out a low growl and struggled to get free. His captor just laughed. Walsh motioned for some people to take Set away. "Say goodbye to your friend, the next time you'll see it, it'll be dead."

With this, Angel lost it. He vamped-out and growled loud enough that the people above-ground probably heard. Walsh seemed unfazed, but the men who took Set away looked scared. They didn't want to be around if he ever got loose.

************

The phone rang. Cordelia was the first over, followed by Doyle.

"Hello? Giles?"

"Um, Cordelia? Yes, I found what you're looking for. You DID say men dressed like commandos, correct?"

"Yes..." Cordy trailed off, annoyed.

"Well, Buffy has had some, er, run-ins with this group. They're called The Initiative and-" "And what?"

Giles sighed, then continued, "AND they're demon hunters. Although I don't understand why they would be in LA. They collect demons, then experiment on them. I suggest you get Angel out of there as soon as possible."

"Hold up, demon hunters? Experiment? Oh boy..." Cordy put her hand over the receiver. "Doyle, we have two lines here, call Buffy."

She went back to her conversation with Giles, "Where is this 'Initiative' place?"

************

With some great difficulty, they had finally gotten Angel into a cell. He'd bitten one of the men who had been ordered to transfer him. That just seemed to get Walsh aggravated but not mad, per say. She was annoyed with Angel. He was a vampire that could think for himself, that cared about other beings. In her mind, that was trouble. If a few of these creatures were like Angel, there would be lots of debate on whether it was right to experiment on them. Walsh didn't want that. So she tried to give her staff the impression that Angel was very dangerous and should be avoided at all costs.

They tried drugging him, but he was smarter than that. He'd thrown the blood packet against the wall after smelling it. He knew the difference between real blood and the drugs they gave the dumber vamps.

Riley came to stand in front of his cell. He was still holding that clipboard. Angel wanted to beat the man to death with it. Very slowly. And painfully. He growled, but Riley didn't move.

"You're the one in there, you can't hurt me," Riley grinned, "Besides, sooner or later you WILL drink the blood we put out for you. Sooner or later..." He walked away, chuckling to himself.

************

The minute Buffy got the news she was freaked out of her mind. Then the anger set in. Riley had to die.

"I'll kill 'em! I'll rip him into iddy biddy pieces and feed him to Spike!"

Spike grinned, "Thanks, Love. Least you think of me."

The Slayer glared at the vampire currently sitting on her bed. She looked to Willow, "Why did he have to come?"

Willow shrugged, "He knows where the opening to the place is, we don't. It's easier this way. The quicker we find Angel, the better chance he's unhurt."

"Well then, let's take all bloody week! The wanker'll stand for at least that long in there before he gives in."

Buffy grabbed him by the collar, "Gives into what, Spike?"

"Uh, they try to poison you down there. He'll give in, he'll get hungry. The blood is poisoned.

Urk!" The Slayer dropped Spike on the floor with a *Thud!*

"Go and show us where that entrance is, or you get to meet Mr. Pointy, got it?" Spike nodded.

************

Riley came again, still carrying that clipboard. Why couldn't he just get two seconds reprieve from that moron?

"Hello, again. You hungry yet?" Angel growled loudly, but refused to talk. "Guess not. Oh well, you're only hurting yourself."

No, when I get out of here, I'll be hurting you.

Forrest ran up, he looked quite excited about something, "Hey, Riley, guess who wants to talk to you?"

Riley drew a blank, "Who?"

"Buffy!" Forrest blurted.

That got Angel mad. THIS was the guy Buffy was seeing? This- He discontinued the thought. Instead, he let out an almost unhearable, "Buffy..."

Forrest laughed, "Ooo, look, it can talk."

But Riley was more interested in what Angel had just said than just simple joking. "What do you know about Buffy?" He asked.

Angel had a thought, now HE was pulling the strings. He grinned slightly, although his mind was filled horrid thoughts, Riley and Buffy kissing, worse... HIS Buffy.

"Only that she's the Slayer... and that she's a real good kisser," Angel had control now. He could pull Riley any way he wanted. And he liked that.

"What?!" Both Riley and Forrest asked in unison.

"I said she's the Slayer, you idiot. I knew you were stupid, didn't think you were deaf, too." There was silence. "Oh, the OTHER thing. Yeah, good kisser, great in bed."

Riley looked like he was going to faint. "Buffy would NEVER do that with you," he said flatly.

Angel grinned evilly, "Wanna bet?"

That's when Riley made a fatal mistake, he opened Angel's cell.

************

"You're sure it was here, Spike?"

"Yes, Slayer, I'm sure. Right here," Spike kicked a bit of earth into the air with his boot.

Buffy glared at him, "Then where is it?"

They had been searching for the door to the Initiatives' base for a good hour. The grassy area looked perfectly normal, maybe Spike was loosing it.

"I'm sure it's here!"

"And I'm sure there's a quicker way in. Come on," the Slayer grabbed her vampire companion and dragged him off to find a manhole.

************

Forrest tried to restrain Riley, but to no avail. The force field dropped, and so did any protection they had against the angry vampire.

Riley walked up, sure he could beat Angel in one-on-one combat. Angel watched with dull interest. Maybe he could make an ashtray out of Riley's skull... Forrest panicked, what would happen if Riley couldn't hold back the vamp? What if it killed him? What if-?

*Crack!* Angels' fist hit hard with Rileys' jaw. Well, that answered Forrests' first question... The commando hit hard on the white tile floor, his lip bleeding. Bright red stained the spot where Riley lay. The blood only served to get Angel angrier, and give him a good reason to vamp-out.

The vampire pulled his fist up, readying to bring it down on Rileys' face, crushing his skull. But Riley pulled away at the last minute, and Angels' fist shattered the floor. Growling in frustration, Angel kicked Riley with such force that he went flying out of the cell and into the hallway. That broke a few ribs, and rendered Riley unconscious. Forrest met Angels' gaze, saw the hatred there, and started to back off. The vampire had no quarrel with him, and so walked right by as the commando ducked down in fear.

************

Walsh stood at the head of a long table. Seated along it, a wide variety of people. All commandos. All ready to capture or kill any demon that came into their path. Walsh produced a map of Sunnydale from beneath the table, then held it up for everyone to see.

"Here," she pointed to a residential area, "is where a group of demons has been spotted. You are to go out and exterminate them. Try to capture a few. We need better specimens."

"So, this is what you're doing. You're pest control. Killing off the demons and brutally torturing the ones you let live," Angel emerged from the dark corner of the room. "Just like you did Set." Walsh scowled at the vampire, "What did you do with Mr. Finn?" She motioned to an empty chair.

Angel grinned, savoring the sound of Rileys' head hitting plaster, "We had some fun. But he's not a good sport. We had a bit of a fight, Riley broke his head. Whoops." This time, Walsh looked angry. She turned to the table full of commandos, "What are you waiting for? Restrain him!"

The group descended on Angel, some pulling out pocket knives, while others just tried to hit with their fists. He didn't want to hurt them, they were following orders. It was the one GIVING the orders he wanted to hurt. Very badly.

A knife cut his chest open, Angel yelled out in pain. He was mad now, there was no denying it. Now he wanted to hurt these people, following orders or not. But he couldn't. Although, technically knocking them out ISN'T hurting them... A swift kick between a commandos' legs rendered him out cold. These were the big-bad commandos? They were sissies.

************

Buffy and Spike hurried down the corridor. They had to find Angel. The assorted demons growled and hissed as they passed, but Buffy paid them no mind. Her only concern was a certain vampires' safety.

That's when Spike spotted a body laying up against an empty cell. It was Riley, his jaw was bleeding and his nose looked broken. Buffy shook him. He drifted near consciousness. "B-buffy?" He asked, still quite unsure if it was a dream or not. Then the pain registered and he decided it wasn't a dream.

The Slayer acted concerned. She helped Riley up and checked his jaw. "Does this hurt?" She asked, touching his face.

"No," Riley replied.

"Well... let me make it!" *Whack!*

"That was low, Slayer. Even for you."

Buffy straightened, "Yeah, well you'd do the same if someone touched Dru."

"Yup."

************

Unconscious army-guys lay scattered about the room. Walsh had fled when she sensed her little group wasn't going to hold back Angel.

The vampire looked around the room, there had to be a map of the compound, anything that would give him some clue as to where Walsh had gone. He sensed movement to his right, one of the commandos was waking up. Angel bent down and grabbed the man by the hair. "Wakey, wakey," the man looked up to meet orange eyes. That got him scared. "I put it to you this way, you tell me where Maggie Walsh is, I don't have you for lunch. Got it?"

The commando nodded furiously.

"Good. So start talking, buddy."

************

"Angel!"

The vampire whipped his head around to meet Buffy's gaze. He'd been walking down the hallway, but he didn't even hear her come up behind him.

"Buffy..." She ran to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him deeply. Both hadn't seen each other in more than a month, but it felt even longer than forever.

"Ahem, do I really have to do something drastic?"

Angel looked up, "Spike."

The Slayers' head jerked up, "Oh, Spike helped me find you."

"Totally against my will, I assure you."

"So," Buffy began, "I saw Riley. How'd he...?"

"That moron that I knocked out?" The Slayer nodded. "You try listening to him for two minutes, you'd do the same."

Buffy laughed, "I have, and I wanted to, but if I did I might get in trouble. Trouble bad." She pouted. "So, what happened?"

"They kill demons here. A friend died."

This time it was Spike who spoke, "They what? And did I just hear you say you had a friend? Ha! Your luck, it was a roach that wanker stepped on." Angel growled warningly, Spike kept quiet.

"Oh, Angel, I'm so sorry," Buffy stroked his face.

"We've got to find Walsh, she's the one responsible."

"Walsh? My teacher, Mrs. Walsh? Maggie Walsh?" Angel nodded. "Ooo, they were right about the Evil-Bitca-Monster-Of-Death."

Both vampires looked confused, but shook it off. They'd never understand how 20th century minds worked.

************

Walsh picked up a high-power shock gun, she wasn't taking any chances. A very dangerous vampire was loose in the complex, even with all her troops after it, she didn't feel safe. Two of the five commandos in the room walked up. One was preocupied with a clipboard (two guesses who that is) while the other addressed Walsh. "Sir, the hostile will be found, you shouldn't worry."

Walsh nodded, "Yes, yes. Agent Finn, be ready to use the 'Ascafeil Device' if need be. This is a very hostile creature. It obviously won't stop until it's gotten what it wants, which means we have to kill it first."

Riley, having been found and bandaged up by some other commandos, was out for revenge. He also regretted ever letting his secret slip to Buffy. She was now the enemy. Fighting on the other side. With the demons. With that thing.

He was ready.

The door crashed in and there stood Angel and Buffy, both looked extremely angry.

************

Riley stayed to the back of the fight. He didn't want to get hurt again if the tide turned the wrong way. He and Walsh tried, unsuccessfully, to shoot Angel. That just got the vampire even more ticked off.

In two seconds the leader of the Initiative was lying on the floor, immobilized. Angel had pinned Walsh to the floor. She struggled, he just grinned, being sure to show fangs. "Well now, how does it feel to be on the other side? To be the one who can't move, to not be the one calling the shots? Not so confident now, are you?"

Walsh looked around, all of her commandos, save Riley, were lying on the floor, hurt and worse. All hope of winning seemed lost, except...

Sudden movement to Angels' left. Riley ran to a table. He grabbed a syringe filled with a serpentine colored liquid. Buffy ran at him, but Riley had already injected himself with the fluid by the time she got there.

Walsh started laughing, "Now you die, vampire." Angel looked confused. "Oh, don't you get it? Why do you think we capture the demons and vampires? We need their blood. We experimented on them to see if their blood is compatible with ours, to see if we could create a new race. Demons are freaks, but what we've created is better than Human and demon put together. We've only had one success, but another test killed him. Now, Agent Finn has been so kind as to volunteer."

All the while Walsh was talking, Riley was changing, his features becoming demonic. Sharp teeth filled his mouth, bright blue scales spread over his skin, his eyes turning a glowing red. His shirt stretched as his arms became more muscular. Angel and Buffy looked on, wide eyed. The creature that was once Riley Finn moved towards them, letting out a high pitched whine. Angel stood and got between it and Buffy. Surprisingly, it didn't go after them. It reached down towards Walsh. The Riley-demon grabbed her forcibly by the neck, then... *Snap!* She fell limply to the floor. It fixed its gaze on the two.

Angel tried to look as intimidating as possible, but that was rather impossible when Riley was now over seven feet tall. The Riley-demon hissed, then lunged at Angel. The vampire was far too quick, however, and had gotten both himself and Buffy out of the way. Buffy rolled and came up with a shock gun that one of the commandos had dropped. She fired. *Zzzzaaacck!* "Screeee!!" The Riley-demon yelled at the intense pain. She fired again, hitting it in the upper back. "Screeee!!" It stumbled, falling to its knees. Angel stood above it, holding a knife threateningly, just in case it got any dumb ideas.

************

"So, Riley's not coming back?"

"Nope. And Spike here even made sure that the rest of the Initiative just thought he was an escaped demon that killed Riley and Walsh," the Slayer explained, pointing to the vampire that was once again sitting on her head.

"So, what about Angel?" Willow asked.

Buffy shrugged, "He's back in LA. He was taking back the body of a demon to its family. So, he's doing some good, I guess. We're still hesitant about the relationship thing, though. It might work out. I hope it does."

Spike sneered, "Just hope the wanker doesn't visit much, all you two do is kiss and screw. Kiss and screw, screw and kiss. Yuck! I may vomit right here just thinking about it."

"I ask again, why is he here?"

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