Chapter 4



“She’s where?”  The vampire’s response to being told of Buffy’s visit to the Initiative was somewhere between a shriek and a snarl.  “You let her go? Alone?”



The watcher looked at the irate vampire in surprise and with a glint of anger. “We need to know what’s going on and she is the only one who can get in.  And,” he added pointedly, “her boyfriend’s with her. So she’s not alone.”



He watched in interest as Spike struggled to keep his demon in check at the mention of Riley.  After a minute of watching Spike’s eyes go back and forth between blue and gold and his forehead go from smooth to wrinkled and back again, he reluctantly added, “ Well, perhaps he’s not exactly her boyfriend yet, but he’s our best shot at finding out what’s going on in there. And I don’t think he will allow Buffy to be hurt....”



“Have you completely forgotten my dream?” Spike asked in a quietier tone. “She was set up by someone in there.  Sent out with a bogus weapon....”



Giles sighed, “I haven’t forgotten. But we still don’t know if the dreams mean anything or if it’s just a coincidence that you had similar dreams about the same place.  After all, you had both just come back from there, and....”  He was interrupted by Spike’s “I’m going after her.” As he pulled on his duster.



“I really don’t think that’s necessary, Spike, You’ll just...” he was speaking to a closing door as the vampire shot out of the house, blanket over his head.



Muttering to himself about impulsive and stubborn people, he wasn’t sure if he was referring to Spike or Buffy.  He had, actually, tried to discourage his Slayer from going into the Initiative complex by herself.  He didn’t really trust Riley and his commando friends and he did suspect that the dreams Spike and Buffy had were prophetic in one way or another.  What he hadn’t figured out was why the two seemed to have a connection that would promote mutual dreaming. And, if truth were told, while he had his suspiciouns about what they weren’t telling him, he was secretly relieved not to have his suspicions confirmed. 



It was not lost on him that Willow’s spell had only required them to be married. It had not included anything about their being in love.  And yet, that was how it manifested itself.  Both Slayer and vampire had been happily and thoroughly in love.  The fought as publicly and loudly as they ever had, but while under the spell the fights were followed by just as public and loud making up – and making out.  He still shuddered to remember the loud kissing sounds from the big chair in which the two blonds spent most of their time together.



He groaned at the thought of his slayer becoming involved with another vampire. Even a neutered one.



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



Outside, Spike had dropped into the nearest manhole and was making his way through the sewers toward the campus and the Initiative’s underground complex. Growling under his breath, he ran as quickly as he could, remaining vamped out so as to be able to see well,  dodging the odd shaft of sunlight that shot down through sewer grates and holes in the covers.  He slowed down as he approached the part of the sewers that went under the campus.



(If my dream was at all accurate, she should be around here somewhere, fightin’ with those demons.) 



He used all his vampiric senses to try to find her.  He listened carefully, sniffed the air and tried to sense her as he often could if she was close enough.  Suddenly he picked up the sound of fighting and raced in that direction.  He arrived just in time to see Buffy kill the last of the two demons she had been fighting with.  He wasn’t terribly surprised to see that they looked just like the ones in his dream; nor that there was an unused weapon of some sort lying in the water. 



“You all right, luv?” he asked as he came into the small room where the fight had taken place.  Buffy glanced at him sharply, then put her finger to her lips and shook her head.  Motioning him to move into the corner, she picked up a headset with a small camera attached and turned it so that it was focused on her face.  She spoke directly into the camera and told Professor Walsh in no uncertain terms that she had made a big mistake thinking she could get rid of a Slayer that easily .  Spike had to grin as she growled out her determination to see that Maggie Walsh had the opportunity to find out exactly what a Slayer was.



When Buffy had crushed the camera under her foot and thrown the useless gun on top of it, he stepped out the the corner and approached her tentatively.  “You OK, Slayer?” he repeated his earlier question. 



“Yes, I’m fine.  No thanks to Professor Walsh.  I’m going to beat that bitch to a bloody pulp!  She set me up!”



“Just like in my dream?” he quirked an eyebrow at her.



“Pretty much,” she admitted.  “Sent me out to collect two ‘harmless’ demons, with a gun to use in case an emergency came up.  Turns out the emergency was the two demons sent to kill me.”  She was still angry and paced back and forth jumping over the water in the middle of the tunnel.  “What are they, Spike? Do you know?”



The vampire walked over to the dead demons and looked at them intently. “Can’t say I recognize them, Slayer.  They almost look like they are made up of parts from a couple different kinds of ........” His voice trailed off as the sight of dismembered demon bodies came back to him.  “Bloody Hell!”



Buffy gasped as she remembered at the same time.  “Oh my god!” she said softly.  “They ARE creating demons!”



They stared at each other in dismay.  Buffy shivered and said, “We need to go tell Giles about this.” 



Just then, Spike held up his hand to quiet her and listened intently.  “Soldiers coming, luv.  Let’s get out of here.”  He grabbed her hand and yanked her toward the tunnel he had come in through.  He expected her to pull away as soon as they were on their way, but she left her hand in his until they came to a narrow passage where there was no room for more than one person at a time.  “After you, Slayer,” he said, gesturing to her to preceed him.  “No, Spike, you go first. You can see better,” she replied.



“Bossy bitch,” he smiled at her.



“I heard that,” she smiled back.



Suddenly the pursuing soldiers were forgotten as they moved toward each other. 



“Spike, what are you doing here?” 



“Came looking for you, didn’t I?  Was afraid this was going to happen when the Watcher told me where you were. “   (Afraid?  Was I afraid for the Slayer? Argh!)



“How did you know where to find me?”  (And why did you want to?)



“Can feel you, luv.  Soon as I get close enough.  Then I heard you beating up on those demons and just followed my ears.”



“Oh” she said quietly.  Then, “I....I’m sorry about last night.  That I was so cranky. You didn’t deserve that.”



“I prob’ly did, you know.  You were right.  I had no business following you and Capt’n Cardboard like that.  Just lucky for me I didn’t see anything I really   (Really, really!)  didn’t want to.”  He smiled softly and tucked a piece of hair back off her face.



“Like what?” she asked, then mentally kicked herself.



He just looked at her for a minute then shrugged.  “I dunno, like him following you upstairs or something, I guess.  Watching him kissin’ on you was hard enough.”



“Says the man who spent half the night staring at a barmaid’s boobs” she growled at him.  (Do I sound jealous?  I am soooo not jealous!)



“Rather see yours,” he said softly, running his fingers lightly down the front of her shirt. 



Buffy felt her heart start beating faster and groaned as she remembered what he’d said about not being able to hide things like that from him.  She grabbed his hand and squeezed it softly.  “Some other time, maybe,” she said firmly,  (Did I just say that out loud?)   peering up at him through her lashes.  “Right now we need to get out of here.”



“Gonna hold you to that,luv.” he breathed in her ear, sending shivers down her spine and making her forget momentarily that they were standing in a sewer that was about to be full of commandos looking for her.  Shaking off her temporary inability to move, she pushed him into the narrow tunnel and followed him out of the complex.  As soon as they reached the municiple sewers, Spike grabbed her hand again and they raced toward Giles’ apartment complex as quickly as they could.



When they reached the manhole nearest the apartment, Spike stopped and said, “Hold on, pet.  I need to find my blanket.  It’s still daylight up there.”  he looked around until he located the ratty old blanket he had dropped on his way in and picked it up.  “OK, I’m good to go.” he said lifting it over his head.



Buffy started to climb up the ladder to the manhole cover when she felt his touch on her arm.   She turned around to find herself only inches away from his face.  They  looked into each other’s eyes for a full minute without either one having any idea what he or she was looking for there.  Then with a groan, Spike surrendered to his body’s demands, pulling her toward him and capturing her mouth with his as he did so. 



(OK, this is bad. Very bad.  I’m kissing Spike again and we know where that went last time.  Time to stop, Buffy.  Stop ....stop.....kissing......Spike..)



“Spike”, she murmured out loud as she completely lost her train of thought.  The kisses were as deep and exciting as before, but with an element of tenderness that both astonished and moved her. 



(Damn, what’s wrong with me?  I should have my hand up her shirt by now, and instead here I am just playing kissy-face like a teenager).



The vampire was lost in the sensations she was creating in his undead body.  Her scent, the silky feel of her skin, the softness of her lips.   He loved the way her body could feel so feminine and soft and yet so strong at the same time. 



Buffy finally broke the kiss and just stood with her forehead resting against his chin.  She knew that what they were doing was wrong, but somehow it felt more right than anything else she’d ever done.



Spike held her lightly in his arms, inhaling  her herbal-scented hair and resting his lips on the silky crown of her head.  “Ah, Slayer,” he breathed out, “What have you done to me?”



Buffy just shook her head gently and moaned.  “This is sooo wrong.  You’re an evil, soulless vampire and I’m the Slayer.  I can’t do this.   I WON’T do this!” she said more firmly as she straightened up and pulled back from him slightly.  Which turned out not to be a good idea, as it meant she was looking into a pair of incredibly blue and desperate eyes.



“Don’t say that, love.  You think I don’t know this is wrong?  I’ve gone from wanting to kill you to wanting........just wanting.”  He ran his knuckles softly down her cheek.  “Don’t push me away, Buffy.  Please.”



She started at the sound of her name on his lips.  She couldn’t remember when, if ever, he had called her anything but Slayer  (or pet, or love, or...not going to go there).   Hearing her name in his deep voice sent a shiver through her and she clutched her arms across her chest and struggled to ignore the way it made her feel. 



“We, we can’t do this right now, Spike.” she said, dropping her gaze.  “We have to get to Giles and tell him what happened.  And figure out how we’re going to get back in there and stop this.  Whatever ‘this’ is,” she finished. 



“All right, love.  You’re right.  We need to find out what else those wankers are doing.  But this isn’t over.  Not by a long shot.” he growled at her and tipped her chin up to meet his eyes, forcing her to acknowledge what she was seeing there.



“It IS over, Spike.  It has to be.” she whispered as she turned away from his hurt look.  Even as her words were spoken and she turned away from him, she was unconsciously leaning back into him.  His arms were on either side of her, holding onto the ladder, but he didn’t touch her – just allowed her to lean into his chest for a second.  He planted a soft kiss on the top of her head, then tapped her lightly on her butt and said, “You keep telling yourself that, pet.” as he urged her up the ladder.

 

Chapter 5



The thunderous look on Giles’ face as Buffy told him about being sent out into the tunnels by Dr. Walsh was exceeded only by the long string of curses – many of them British expressions that she was completely at a loss to interpret – that he uttered as he paced the floor.



While Buffy stared at him in bemusement, Spike grinned appreciatively at the colorful language and applauded briefly when the Watcher stopped for air.



“I knew there was something wrong with that over-educated bitch!”  Giles finished. 



“Wow,” Buffy said softly.  “I guess it doesn’t always take band candy to bring out the Ripper, does it?”



Giles looked embarrassed and cleared his throat while he polished his glasses.  “Yes, Well then.  Back to making our plans....” he tried to ignore the grinning vampire and the giggles coming from his Slayer.



“Spike,” she said between giggles.  “Can you translate all that and tell me what it means?”



“Why sure, pet.  He was-“  the vampire’s intended explanation of the terms Buffy was unfamilar with was interrupted by a glare from the Watcher and a warning, “Spike.....”



“Uh, um, why no, Slayer.  I haven’t a clue.  Must have been Latin or somethin’” he said as he moved away from her and back to the chair.





Soon a still angry Slayer was pacing around Giles’ apartment ranting about Maggie Walsh and what she was going to do to her.  Spike sat quietly in the corner, watching her rant with admiration.  Everytime the door opened to let another Scoobie in, the vampire straightened and tensed until he recognized the new arrival.  His behavior was not lost on Giles, who thought he was behaving like a two legged guard dog.



(I guess there are worse things for her to have than a vampire bodyguard, he thought wearily, Although how Spike is going to protect her from humans, I can’t imagine).



After all the Scoobies had gathered to hear what had happened, there was much arguing about what they could or should do about the Initiative.   All agreed that even though the complex was being run by humans and apparently the government, the fact that they were using demons and vampires for something – and the fact that they had tried to kill Buffy – made it Scoobie business for sure.



Xander was very disappointed in Riley and kept insisting that he wouldn’t have had anything to do with trying to hurt Buffy.  Spike just kept calling him a soddin’ poofter and insisting he should be killed immediately.  Willow and Tara tried to be the voices of reason and come up with suggestions for safer ways to learn more about the secret organization.



Eventually it was agreed that the immediate need was for pizza, and the call was made to the nearest place that was still willing to deliver pizzas after dark in Sunnydale.



While the Scoobies were listening to Buffy’s story of how Professor Walsh had appeared to welcome her to the Initiative, but then sent her out to be killed, there was a knock on the door.  A glance around room indicated that anyone who was likely to be at a Scoobie strategy session was already there.  As Giles went to answer the door, he realized that Spike was right behind him. 



“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked him coldly.



The vampire looked startled, then glanced down at the floor.  “I’m just..... uh.....Bloody hell, Watcher – we don’t know what’s out there!” he finished, glaring at Giles defiantly.



“Well, we know it’s probably human, don’t we?” the Watcher said mildly and held the vampire’s eyes.



“And carrying pizza!” Xander chimed in happily.



With a snarl and a curse, Spike turned away and stalked back to his place in the corner. 



Giles answered the door and asked the delivery person to step in while he went to get his wallet.  The tall, skinny man’s eyes lit up when he spotted the blond vampire and he called out, “Hey, Spike!  Long time no see. What’s up man?”



While everyone else stared from Spike to the delivery boy in surprise, Buffy realized that her Slayer senses were itching and she walked up to the nervous-looking man looking at him intently.



“You – you’re a demon!” she exclaimed.  The man retreated to the doorway and cowered away from her. 



“Uh, no, no I’m not, Slayer.  I’m, I’m uh, just a pizza delivery guy.”  He looked around frantically and started edging toward the outside.



“Oh?  A pizza delivery guy who just happens to know I’m the Slayer?” she inquired with a glare as she stalked toward him.



Spike walked up and held Buffy’s arm gently.  “Easy, Slayer.  This is Jake.  He is perfectly harmless and he is a genuine pizza delivery man.  Who else do you think would be safe delivering pizzas in this town but a demon?”



Buffy blinked for a minute, then said, somewhat shamefacedly, “I never thought about it.  I guess I just........” she looked at Jake and mumbled, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”



“Oh, no problem, Slayer.” he said eagerly.  “I’m just really – pleased – to meet you.”



“Likewise, I’m sure,” she said wryly.  “So, Jake, aren’t you worried about those guys going around snatching up demons?”



He looked at her with surprise, than said, “Well, yeah.  But I don’t really look like a demon, you know, so I don’t think......”



He was interrupted by another knock on the door.  Giles rolled his eyes and went to open it again, handing Jake his money as he did.



To everyone’s amazement, Riley was standing on the other side of the door, dressed in his commando uniform.  Jake’s eyes got big and he looked at Spike in terror.  “Spike!  We need to ....”



“It’s OK, Jake,” Buffy told him quietly.  “You can just take your money and go.  And thanks for the delivery.”  She sureptitiously pushed Spike away from the door and he took the hint, heading in the direction of the couch and Willow andTara.



Jake edged his way past Riley and took off for his car as soon as he was around the large soldier.  Riley ignored him completely, looking at Buffy with open-mouthed surprise.  Suddenly he swooped her up, hugging her tightly and muttering over and over, “You’re alive, you’re alive! “



He continued to hug her, holding her to him so that her feet were completely off the ground.  “I was so worried”  His brows knit for a minute as he tried to reconcile Buffy’s obvious good health with his mentor’s assurances that she had been killed by a demon attack.  Meanwhile, Xander and Giles were staring coldly at Riley who had finally noticed Buffy’s lack of enthusiasm for his embrace and put her back down. 



“And why would you be surprised to find her alive, Riley?” Giles asked in a deceptively mild tone of voice.  “Is there a reason why she wouldn’t be?”



The soldier looked back and forth between Buffy and her Watcher, then said, “Well, Maggie – Professor Walsh – said that Buffy insisted on going into the tunnels alone to capture some escaped demons and that she saw them kill her.  I was coming over here to find out if you knew about it yet and .....”  He stopped as he saw the way they were looking at him.  “What?” he asked.  “Why are you all looking at me like that?  And why does Professor Walsh think you’re dead, Buffy?”



“Because she tried to kill me today,” Buffy said dryly as she turned away from him.



“Oh no, that’s not possible.” he insisted. “You’ve misunderstood somehow.  She was thrilled to meet you – she was excited at the thought of having a Slayer to study and –“  his speech was interrupted by a commotion on the couch where Willow and Tara had thrown themselves on a vamped out Spike and were trying to hold him down as he tried to get to Riley, snarling about “lab rats” and “ a girl, not a bloody science experiment.” Meanwhile, Giles having anticipated Spike’s reaction, had put himself between the vampire and the human couple and shoved Spike back onto the couch. There was nothing he could do to mask the growl coming from the vampire’s throat, though and Riley’s gaze went to the blond in the corner.  Although Spike was not wearing his duster, he was back in his customary black jeans, tight T shirt and red silk shirt.  Riley’s eyes grew big as he recognized the vampire for what he was.



Buffy walked over to him quickly and touched the ridges on his face.  “Spike, please?” she said quietly. “I don’t want him to take you back.” At the touch of her hand, his face relaxed back into its human form and he sank back onto the couch, still growling.  She smiled at him and had to resist the urge to pat him on the head like an obedient dog.



She dropped her hand quickly as she heard footsteps and turned to see Riley striding toward the couch. . “That’s Hostile 17!” he shouted, shoving Buffy behind him. “I knew he looked familiar!” He looked from Spike to Buffy and the rest of the Scoobies.  “What is he doing here?” he asked angrily.  “We’ve been searching for him since he escaped.  Why have you been hiding a hostile from us?” Buffy snorted and pushed Riley out of her way.



“You’ve met him twice,” she said with an eye roll.  “How you guys catch any vampires is beyond me.  You don’t even recognize one when you shake hands with it – him!” she amended quickly.



“Well, I hardly expect to find my girlfriend “– wince from Buffy, snarl from Spike – “hanging out with them at night clubs.” he mumbled.   “And why ARE you hanging out with it?” he asked in a more belligerant tone.  “Why is the Slayer protecting a vampire? What is Hostile 17 doing here?”



That was the end of Buffy’s attempt at patience.  She whirled on the big man and began yelling at him, punctuating each complaint with a poke at his chest – each one of which knocked him back further and further toward the door.



“In the first place – he isn’t a ‘hostile’, he’s a vampire.  MY job, remember? I decide what happens to him – not some obscure government agency.  In the second place, you’ve crippled him (Giles and Xander exchanged surprised looks at her choice of words, while Spike flinched as though he’d been struck) , so he may be ‘hostile’ but he sure isn’t dangerous anymore. And lastly, your boss just tried to kill me – and then obviously lied to you about it –so where do you get off complaining about anything I’ve done?”



Riley gawked at her.  He’d never seen Buffy in Slayer mode and he found that he was shrinking away from the tiny blond as she advanced on him, pushing him toward the door.



“But, but, Buffy.....”he began.  “You can’t......you don’t mean......Buffy, please. Can we talk about this?”  His eyes were pleading and as Buffy got control of her temper and the girl replaced the Slayer.  She stopped her relentless pushing and took a deep breath.



“What can we possibly have to talk about, Riley?” she said tonelessly.  “You took me in there, and they tried to kill me.  What else is there to say?”



“It’s got to be a misunderstanding, Buffy.  I’m sure Professor Walsh wasn’t trying to kill you.  Maybe she was testing your slayer powers or something.  I know she is eager to know more about you.”



“Oh, she’s going to know more about me.  You can count on that,” Buffy said grimly.”



“Buffy, I don’t understand.  Can you tell me what it’s doing here?  I really don’t get why that creature is here.”



“His name,” Buffy said firmly, “is Spike.  And he’s here because your chip left him unable to feed or defend himself.”



“But....but, why haven’t you staked him?” Riley asked with a bewildered look on his face.  “He’s a vampire!”



“He’s also not dangerous right now, “ Buffy replied, ignoring Spike’s indignant  “Hey!”



“I don’t kill harmless things” (I hope, she though guiltily, remembering the butchered demons she had seen in the tunnels and Spike’s insistance that they were all as harmless and peaceloving as Jake and Clem.)  ”And, he’s.....helping us, right now.” she added, hoping that sounded more positive than it came out .



“He doesn’t look harmless to me,” Riley said, meeting Spike’s icy glare with one of his own.  “He looks like he wants to kill somebody.”



“Got that right, pillock,” Spike muttered, but with Buffy’s anxious eyes on him he kept his voice low enough that only Giles and Willow heard him.  Giles gave him a hard look and Willow put her hand gently on his arm, then quickly moved it when the blond looked at her with astonishment.  “Isn’t anyone afraid of me anymore?” he groaned under his breath and growled when Willow giggled at him.



Reluctantly turning his face away from the vampire, Riley looked at Buffy and pleaded, “I don’t know what went on this afternoon, but I’m sure it was all a misunderstanding of some sort.  Can we...”



“Your boss tried to have me killed,” Buffy said coldly.  “I understand that pretty well!”



“That – that can’t be right, Buffy!  She was thrilled to meet you.  She can’t wait to learn more about you....”  he stopped talking as he took in the look on Buffy’s face.  He had never seen her actually BE the Slayer before tonight, and he felt a chill go down his spine at the change in his girl friend.  Fortunately, the look didn’t last long, and his Buffy was once again looking at him.



“Riley, I know what happened to me.  The only question I have right now is –did you know it was going to happen?”



He gaped at her.  “Oh my god, Buffy!  You can’t think.....I would never.....You have to believe me!”



The anguish and horror on his face was so real, Buffy relaxed her stance and sighed.  “I believe you, Riley.  But you have to believe ME.  She did try to have me killed.  I barely got out of there.  If it hadn’t been for Spike’s –“ she stopped as Riley shot a suspicious look at the smirking vampire.  Giving Spike a glare which made him look down at his boots intently, she said, “Well, nevermind.  The point is, I don’t think she wants me around.”



“Buffy, please.  What can  I do to make this right between us?  I don’t know what Maggie’s thinking was, but I knew nothing about it.  I thought she was just taking you on a tour of the facility.”  Riley looked at her contritely.



Buffy met his eyes steadily for a minute, then looked at Giles and the other Scoobies.  They exchanged looks, then Xander shrugged and said,  “We might as well hear what he has to say, Buff.  Maybe he can fill in some of the blanks.”



Buffy carefully avoided looking at Spike as she grudgingly said, “OK, Riley. Come in and sit down.  We have some questions for you.”



He hesitantly approached the middle of the room and looked for a place to sit.  Giles pulled a chair out from the table and pointedly deposited it in front of Riley.  The rest of the gang seated themselves around the room, leaving Spike alone on the couch.  Buffy hesitated a second, then walked over and seated herself primly  beside the vampire.  She took care to be far enough way that she wasn’t touching him, although she could feel his presence near her without even glancing over her shoulder at him.



“What do you want to know?” Riley asked tiredly.  “Bear in mind that this is supposed to be a secret operation – no civilians involved.”



“We don’t exactly consider ourselves ‘civilians’ when it comes to fighting vampires and demons,” Giles said with just a trace of Ripper in his voice.  “The Council of Watchers and their Chosen Ones have been fighting the forces of evil for thousands of years.  I’m guessing we know more about it than you do.”



“Well, that may be true.  But with our weapons and technology, we think we’ve taken it to a new level.   For instance, Hostile 17, there,” he gestured toward Spike. “That electronic chip in his brain  prevents him from attacking humans; thereby rendering him harmless, but still potentially useful.”



“Harmless? Useful?  You can bloody well take that back, you wanker!,”



Spike lunged toward Riley, then recoiled and threw himself on the couch holding his head and moaning.  Riley looked quite pleased with himself and said, “There, you see? He can’t hurt me – no matter how much he wants to.  We’ve effectively neutered him.  He can no longer feed on humans.”



(Spike can’t kill. That’s a good thing, right?  But he can’t defend himselve either. How can that be good?  But if he could, he might kill us.  Well, maybe not me. But Xander, Giles, .........this is making my head hurt.)



To avoid thinking any more about Spike, Buffy asked, “What about the other demons?  The ones you’re torturing and maiming....and killing?”



Riley gave a start of surprise.  “How did you know about.....?” He looked suspiciously at Spike, then back at Buffy. 



To everyone’s surprise, Tara, who was normally very quiet, spoke up and said, “We’ve seen the results of your work.  How are you any better than they are?”



Spike gave the witch a small smile as she blushed and ducked her head.  It was totally out of character for her to speak out like that in a Scoobie meeting and was an indication of how bothered she was by what they had seen in the caves.  Everyone stared at her in amazement for a second, then looked back at Riley and waited for his answer. 



“Well,” he fumbled, “I mean, they’re just sub-terrestrials, aren’t they?  No better than animals.  And if we can find uses for them.......”  He stopped when he saw the horrified/hostile expressions on everyone’s face.  “What is wrong with you people? If I’m to believe what you say, you kill them all the time.”



Buffy winced slightly, then said, “I kill them.  When I catch them and they are clearly dangerous.  I don’t cut off body parts for my amusement.  Nor do I try to construct new demons from the parts!”  She paused and tried to push down the nagging question of whether or not she had ever killed a harmless demon like the pizza delivery guy.  “Why would you want to construct more demons anyway?”



Riley looked uncomfortable for a minute, then grudgingly replied, “I’m not really in on the whole experimental thing, but I know the plan is to make .....creatures....that can be used in combat situations.”



“Demons as weapons!  Oh my god!” Willow burst out.



“Where do Spike and his chip fit in?” Buffy inquired quietly.



Riley took a quick glance at the vampire who was giving him his iciest stare. His blue eyes were flecked with yellow, but he remained in human face and just looked at the commando flatly.  “Yeah, Capt’m America, where do I fit in?”



“The chip is an experiment to see if we can render vampires harmless to humans.  If we can, then we can work on controling them and they could be very useful.  They can go where we can’t; they’re capable of passing for human; there could be lots of advantages to having a squad of tamed vampires.”  He finished quickly, edging away from the steady snarls coming from the end of the couch.



Buffy stretched out her hand and touched Spike’s leg in warning as he looked as though he was going to leap up and try to tear Riley apart.  “Don’t,” she said softly.  “Let it go”.



“Let it go?” he sputtered.  “Bloody hell Slayer, did you hear what he said?  I’m nobody’s lab rat!  And I’m not all that tame, either!” he blustered, but he didn’t move off the couch or make any attempt to touch Riley. He had, however, moved much closer to Buffy and was glaring over her shoulder at the larger man who glared back and leaned forward.



Using one hand to keep Spike behind her, and the other to keep Riley at a distance, Buffy looked to Giles for help.  Coming up behind Riley, he touched the other man on the shoulder and suggested he might want to leave and allow them to digest what he’s had to say.



When Riley stood up, so did Spike and Buffy; the vampire still behind her glaring at the commando. 



“Buffy,” Riley began, “I need to take him back with me.  That’s an expensive piece of government equipment in his head.  We need to either have him, or to have our chip back to use on some other vampire.  One that doesn’t have the Slayer’s protection,” he added angrily.



“You can’t have Spike,” Buffy said flatly, ignoring the vampire’s “Yes! Let  them take it out and put it in someone else!”



“Shut up, Spike,” she threw over her shoulder as she glared at Riley.  “And what would you do with Spike, if you took it out?”



Riley looked at her in astonishment,  “Well, we’d terminate him, of course!  We couldn’t turn a killer loose again! Surely you agree with that, Buffy?”



Buffy’s blood ran suddenly cold as she realized that that was exactly what she would be expected to do.  Suddenly the idea of staking Spike was not as appealing as it had been a few months ago.



“Well you can’t have him,” she muttered.  When she saw her friends and Watcher staring at her with curiousity she added,  “Not until I know more about what’s going on in there and why that bitch wants me dead!  I – I might need his help,” she finished lamely.



Riley was looking at Buffy anxiously.  “I know this whole misunderstanding has to be a mistake.  Please, Buffy, can we just talk somewhere..... else,” he concluded looking around at the hostile faces in the room. He decided to leave the subject of the chipped vampire to another time.  At least now they knew where he was.



Buffy held up her hand to forstall the objections she could tell Spike and Giles were going to raise.  Giles swallowed the rest of his, “Buffy, I don’t know that it’s wise to.....”, but Spike continued to growl softly.



“All right, Riley.” she agreed.  “But someplace public and well lit – and away from your buddies.  Maybe Willie’s,” she teased.  Everyone laughed except Riley who asked, “Willies?  The demon bar?” in a tone that suggested she’d lost her mind.  Rolling her eyes at his lack of humor, she added more seriously, “Or, we could go to the coffee shop – I promise no arm wrestling this time.”  Riley glared at Xander’s snicker and the young man smiled at him apologetically and shrugged.



The large soldier and the small slayer left the apartment, assuring Giles that they would continue their talk in a public place and that Buffy would be back within an hour.


 

Chapter 6



(earlier that day)



Maggie Walsh was angry.  First, that the stupid little blond had gotten away from the assassins she sent after her – she refused to believe that the demons were dead -  and second, that the little hussy had the nerve to threaten her.   To soothe her mind, she let herself into the secret part of the lab and stood admiring her soon-to-be awakened “son”.



“Adam,” she said with pride.  “The ultimate soldier.  My finest achievement.”



Lying on a table was a large creature that looked like a combination between a very muscular man and a robot.   Not immediately visible were the many enhancements concealed in and around his body – both mechanical and those things “borrowed” from the demons that had been collected.  Maggie looked at him lovingly again and whispered, “Soon, my son.  Soon.”



She headed back to the floor in time to see one of the squads sent out after the Slayer come in carrying the very dead bodies of her assassin demons.  They set the bodies down on the floor and put the gun and smashed camera right next to them.  Maggie glared at the bodies and ruined equipment in surprise.  “She did this?  That skinny little girl?”  She waved them away, telling them to dispose of the bodies.



  (I need to rethink my strategy toward that girl.  I need to know more about her – and there’s only one way to do that.....)



Mind made up, she strode to her office and called for  her elite squad. 



When Special Agent Finn and his men arrived in her office, she studied them carefully before speaking.  “Riley,” she said quietly, “I have a special assignment for you.  Please go back to your quarters and wait for me there.”  He looked at her in surpise, but saluted and with a “Yes, Ma’am,” left the room and went where he was instructed.



When he was gone, she turned to the others and said, “Special Agent Forrest, you are in charge now.  I want you to bring in that Slayer person.  We need to know more about her.”



Forrest stared at her.  “But.....but, Professor Walsh!  She’s the Slayer! She’s on our side.  And besides, she’s Riley’s.......” his voice trailed off as he realized why he had been promoted.



“She has destroyed two of our prototypes.  For no reason.  Obviously she is not on our side!  We need to study her – find out what her capabilities are and if we can put them to use.”



“How, “  Forrest cleared his throat.  “How do you want us to do this?” he asked carefully.



“By whatever means necessary,” she stated flatly.  “I want her alive – anything else is up to you.”



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











Buffy’s Watcher and her friends, including the vampire, settled down to watch TV and argue over the wisdom of letting Buffy go off with the man who led her into the Initiative in the first place.  Xander was sure Riley would never hurt Buffy – Spike was equally sure his entrails should be dangling from the shower rod.  When Giles got tired of the arguing, he snapped out, “If either one of your thinks she would have not gone just because we didn’t think she should, speak now!”  The dark-haired man exchanged a look with the blond vampire and they both shrugged and turned toward the TV to the great relief of everyone else in the room.



Spike tried to maintain his interest in the program, but after several minutes he got up and put on his duster.



“Where are going?” Xander demanded.



“I’m gonna watch her back,” he growled.  “I don’t trust that wanker any further than I could throw his overstuffed body!”



“Uh, Spike, you’re a vampire.  Couldn’t you throw him pretty far?”  Anya asked curiously.



“Not the point, demon-girl.” he rolled his eyes.  “It’s just an expression.  And anyway, I probably couldn’t. Not with this soddin’ chip in my head.”



Giles followed Spike to the door.  “Spike,” he warned.  “You know she’s not going to be happy about being followed......”Spike winced as he remembered how angry she had been at his watching her with Riley before.



(It’s not the same thing  he assured himself,  she could be in danger this time. I’m just watchin’ her back).



“They won’t know I’m there, Watcher.  Trust me.”



“You’re not exactly inconspicuous, you know,” Giles pointed out, gesturing to the long black coat, red shirt and blinding platinumhair.  “You tend to stand out in a crowd.”



The vampire just looked at his fellow Englishman, then shook his head.  “Watcher, I’ve spent over 125 years as a vampire.  Do you really think I can’t be invisible if I want to be?” As he spoke, he became preternaturally still and almost seemed to blend into the woodwork around the door.  Giles gave a start of surprise, then studied the vampire hard.



“Maybe we’ve underestimated you,” he allowed.



“Maybe you have,” Spike agreed as he slipped out the door.  “Think about it Watcher,” he tossed backover his shoulder as he literally disappeared into the night.



Giles closed the door and shook his head as he turned back to the rest of the Scoobies. “I’m not sure whether I find that reassuring or terrible frightening,” he muttered to himself.



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



True to his word, Spike remained hidden in the shadows, completely unnoticed by the people around him as he stood and watched Buffy and Riley having an ocassionally very animated conversation across the street.



“Riley,” she sighed finally, “we’re just never going to agree on this.  I don’t trust your boss, I don’t think you actually know everything that’s going on in there, and I am not going back in with you.”



“I’m not supposed to know everything, Buffy.  I’m a soldier.  I just do what I’m told.  But it doesn’t mean you wouldn’t be safe with me.”



“I wasn’t last time,” she reminded him.



He looked down at the table and nodded his head.  “All right,” he agreed reluctantly.  “I’ll try to get an explanation for what happened to you.  I’m sure there is one.  I just need to find out what it is.  Come on, I’ll walk you home,” he offered.



“No, that’s OK.  I’m going back to Giles’ – and I’m going to be in a hurry.  You go back to – wherever.  I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”



He leaned down and gave her a tentative kiss, frowning at her lack of enthusiasm and participation.  “Buffy, you know how I feel about you.  Don’t let this come between us.  Please.”



“Sorry, Riley,” she smiled at him ruefully.   “Fighting for my life when I think I’m among friends makes me cranky.”





“Only when you’re among friends?” he smiled back.



“Well, yeah.  The rest of the time it’s either boring or fun – depending on who I’m fighting and why.  But it doesn’t make me mad.  Unless I get demon goo on my good clothes, of course,  Then.....”



He shook his head at her and said ruefully,  “I’ve got a lot to learn about you, don’t I?”



“That you do, mate.” Spike said under his breath as he saw them part after another quick kiss.  “That you do.”
 

Chapter 7





As Buffy moved off toward Gile’s apartment, she felt the familiar tingle that told her there was a vampire around.  She turned around and scanned the area, but didn’t see anything unusual.  “Almost feels like Spike,” she mused, “but he wouldn’t have.....”



Her thought was interrupted by the abrupt arrival of Forrest and several other commandos.  Before she could ask what they wanted, the commando looked at her sadly and said,  “Sorry Buffy”.  As he did, she was hit from behind with a tazer and went down in a twitching heap.   The soldiers reached for her to take her away, but they were bowled over by a snarling, snapping vampire who was roaring with anger and screaming in pain at the same time as his chip fired repeatedly.  



Buffy struggled to sit up, but she was quickly hit with a second taser shot which left her unconscious.  Leaving his men to deal with the vampire, Forrest and Graham picked up the Slayer’s inert body and sprinted away with it toward the fraternity house.  The remaining men, seeing that the vampire was not moving and had blood streaming from his nose, ran after them, leaving Spike on the ground.



As Spike gradually regained consciousness and remembered what had happened, he groaned and ran toward the Watcher’s apartment, holding his head with both hands. 



Giles leaped up at the sound of frantic pounding on his door and opened it to find a semi-erect Spike, bleeding from this nose and ears. He caught the vampire as he fell in the door and supported his weight until he got him to the couch.  Willow and Tara came over and began fussing over him, trying to clean up the blood and offering aspirin and healing spells. 



The vampire brushed them aside with a grateful look and struggled to sit up.  “Buffy,” he gasped.  “They took Buffy.”



“Who? Who took Buffy?  Riley?”  Giles was in full Ripper mode as he grabbed Spike by the collar and shook him.



“No, not the wanker.  His buddies.  They hit her with a tazer, carried her off somewhere.”



“Where were you big guy?” Xander demanded.  “Thought you were watching her back?”



“I tried,” he snarled,  “There were too many of the bloody wankers for me to take out before the chip took me out.”  For a minute it looked like the vampire was going to cry and Xander felt mildly ashamed for baiting him.  Especially when he saw the looks Anya, Willow and Tara were giving him.



“You’re sure they were commandos?” Giles asked.



“I’m sure. They were even wearin’ their soldier stuff.”



“Well,” the Watcher said tiredly,  “I guess we’re making another trip into the caves tonight.  After I make a phone call,” he added.  He went into his bedroom and placed a long distance call to England.  “I don’t care what time it is! “ they heard him yelling into the phone.  “Get him to the phone, now!”



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



When Giles had come out of the bedroom, looking somewhat mollified, they gathered up the equipment they thought they might need and headed for the car.  In spite of the obvious pain he was in, the vampire preceeded them out the door saying, “I’ll meet you there,” as he disappeared into the night.



“Anybody else thinking I wouldn’t want to be one of those guys if Spike gets his chip out?” Xander asked conversationally.



“I wouldn’t want to be anybody, if Spike got his chip out,” said Anya.  “He seems to be very dangerous.”



“He certainly is, or at least he used to be,” said Willow slowly.  “but I’m not sure I think he would hurt any of us anymore.  Do you think so, Giles?”



“I don’t know, Willow.  I don’t think it would be safe to assume he wouldn’t.  He is still a vampire, you know. There’s no reason to think he wouldn’t start feeding again as soon as he could.



(At least, I don’t THINK there’s a reason.  Is there?  He wondered to himself.)



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



When they reached the path leading into the caves, Spike was already waiting  for them, looking somewhat recovered from his headache.  They marched grimly into the caves, not sure what they would find and remembering the dismembered bodies they found the first time.



The closer they got to the Initiative tunnels, the closer together they stayed and the quieter they were.    When they came to a large opening that seemed to go into the ventilation system, they decided to try that means of looking around. Ten minutes of prowling along the large vents and dodging the ocassional fan, led them into the labratory section of the complex and they found themselves looking down from various grilled openings into the different rooms.  They decided to split up, with the girls going in one direction and Spike, Giles and Xander each taking a different vantage point into the lab area.



As they approached the area overlooking the cages, Spike went into game face and began growling under his breath.  From their lofty viewpoints in the vents, they were able to see down into the lab. At the sight of Buffy’s unconscious body on a slab, it took both Giles and Xander to prevent Spike from leaping through the grill and giving them all away. Although both her Watcher and her friend were fighting the same urge to leap into the room and rescue her, they were able to control their urges better than the impulsive vampire. 



Finally, Giles wrestled him back against the wall and looked him straight in the eye as he said in a low whisper,  “I want them just as much as you do – and I don’t want them touching her either.  But we can’t help her if we get caught.  You’ve got to stay in control.  Can you do that?”  He forced the vampire to meet his eyes and after a few seconds Spike’s face relaxed into his human visage and he slumped loosely against the wall.



Remembering what he’d told Giles about underestimating him, he forced his demon down and nodded his head.  “Sorry, Watcher,” he said, half-smiling at Giles’ surprised expression, “You’re right.  I need to use my brain, not my demon right now.”



“Brain? Spike?  Should those words be used in the same sentence?” Xander snarked.  Matching glares from the watcher and the vampire, caused him to stop before he said anything else. 



“Well,” Xander started the discussion, “how do we go about getting her out?”



Giles cleared his throat and said, “The phone call I made was to the council.  Through their contacts they should be getting someone in the US government working on this and sending someone here to find out what’s going on down there.  In the meantime, I guess she’s safe enough.......”  A hiss from Xander interupted him and they all peered down into the lab in time to see a technician slice Buffy’s arm with a scalple.



“Professor Walsh wants us to time how long it takes for this cut to close,” one of them spoke to the other as he jotted the time down onto a clipboard.  “I guess that’s the last test for now.  Let’s put her away before she wakes up.”  They lifted Buffy’s unconscious body up and carried her out to one of the plastic fronted cages.  The cage they put her in was different from the ones containing the demons only in that it had an actual metal cot bolted to the floor and toilet facilities.



“Do you think we should give her some privacy?” the first technician asked, gesturing at the toilet and at Buffy who was clad only in a paper hospital gown that had ridden up her thighs.   “Nah”, replied the other one.  “Good-looking as she is, according to Maggie she’s just as much a demon as they are.  She probably doesn’t have any shame either.”  With that, they slid the transparent panel closed and went back to the lab.



Xander was so angry he was shaking and swearing he would tear them apart.  To his surprise, neither Giles nor Spike were ranting like he was and he was about to whisper harshly at them for not caring about Buffy when he saw their faces. 



Spike was still wearing his human face, but there was nothing human-looking about it.  It was as cold and still as any corpse, and his normally blue eyes were pure gray ice.  The only sign that he was even aware of what was going on was the way his eyes would ocassionally flash gold.   For the first time since Spike was chipped Xander found himself afraid of the vampire and he instinctively moved further away from him.  A slight movement caught his eye and he saw that Spike had squeezed the handle of the axe he was holding so hard he had crushed the wood to sawdust.  The vampire caught the axe head in his hand as it started to fall to the floor of the vent and slowly bent to lay it down gently by the wall.   Xander decided that exhibition of quiet strength, speed, and will, coupled with controlled rage, was the most frightening thing he had seen from the vampire in the two years since he had come in to their lives to try to kill them.



Giles was not as capable of perfect stillness as Spike was, but his face had the same cold, focused expression.   His breathing was deep and regular and Xander realized he was seeing some sort of transformation taking place.  The mild mannered, scholarly man he was used to was nowhere visible.  In his place was a cold, angry sorcerer whose eyes had darkened with magic.  Suddenly the man they thought of as a fusty old librarian looked more than capable of being a match for Spike or anyone else. 



While Xander was digesting what he was seeing and trying to decide if he should move away from both men, the girls came back whispering that they had found both Riley’s room and Maggie Walsh’s private office.  They shrank back in fear at the sight of Spike and Giles, although after a moment, Willow couldn’t resist getting closer to Giles and reveling in the feeling of power coming off his body.  When the girls saw Buffy’s semi-nude and bleeding body below them, they understood immediately what was going on.



“Guys?” Willow suggested.  “Shouldn’t we decide how we’re going to get her out of there?  You can work on looking scary later.”



“Although, you’re doing a wonderful job of it......” the former vengance demon began, than stopped at a look from Xander.  “Well, I’m just saying – they look really scary, but there’s nobody here to see them but us.”



Giles looked at Spike and said, “What can you tell me about the cages? How do they work? Can we open them?”



“The witches – or you –“ he added, looking at the Watcher’s eyes, “might be able to mojo them open, but I’m guessing they’re warded against that pretty well.  Our best bet is to get somebody to open them. “ he turned to the girls and asked, “Can you take the Whelp to Finn’s room?” 



They nodded their heads and the vampire looked at Xander.  “Well, Whelp, do you think you can stop admiring the soldier boy long enough to get him here?  He should know how to open the cage.”



Xander nodded his head quickly, “Yeah, not feeling all that patriotic at the moment.  I’ll get him here,” he said grimly.  He left, following Anya through the ventilation pipe.



Giles looked at Willow and Tara, “Take me to Maggie Walsh,” he said coldly and turned to go.  He stopped to look at Spike. “You won’t do anything stupid while I’m gone, will you?” he asked sternly.  The vampire met his gaze and said flatly, “Nothin’ stupider than what you’re gonna do, Ripper.”



“Right then, I’m off.”  He slipped off through the ventilation system leaving the vampire staring down into the cage where Buffy was beginning to moan and wake up.

 

Chapter 8



Spike wanted nothing more than to leap down through the ceiling and hold her as she woke up, but he knew that even if he could get in, he would just be trapped like she was and no help to her.  The frustration of knowing he couldn’t fight back against the humans holding her captive was making him physically sick and he struggled to hold his demon in check. 



(Got to stay strong for her and not go off half-cocked and bollix this up. Plenty of time later to find a way to make them pay.)



As the Slayer woke up, she clutched the paper robe around her body and stared at her bleeding arm.  The wound was beginning to close, but it was still oozing and she frowned at the precise cut, wondering how and where she got it.  As her memory came back of what happened to her and she realized where she was, her confusion was replaced by fury.  She flew at the plastic front of the cage, pounding on it with her fists and kicking it, although she knew from Spike’s recounting of his time in there that she wasn’t likely to have an affect on it. 



The sound of her cursing and banging brought the techinicians back in and they looked at the tiny blond woman in wonder.  “Uh, I guess we’re ready for the next test?” the quieter one said. 



“Looks like,” said the other with a speculative grin.  “Let’s see if she can keep that robe around her while she fights another demon.” he said as he quickly punched in a code and took the demon from the cage across from her at tazer point.



Holding tazers out in front of them to keep her at bay, they quickly keyed her door open just far enough to shove the demon in with her, then stood back to watch what happened.



To their disappointment,  the demon cowered in the corner begging the Slayer not to kill him, while she ignored him completely and continued her assault on the door.  Eventually the two technicians got bored and went back into the lab, snickering at the look of fury on Buffy’s face.  “Not so all-powerful now, is she?” one snarked as he waved at her on his way out.



(Oh, I’m am so going to feed them their testicles!  Right after I get through breaking every bone in Riley’s body)



Buffy stoped her futile beating on the door and began to take stock of her surroundings.  When she noticed the demon cowering in the corner, she growled at him to stop whining and get out of her way.  He scurried obediently to a different corner and Buffy proceeded to examine every inch of the room looking for a weak spot or an exit.  She didn’t really expect to find one, based on both Spike’s story and her dreams, but she made the effort anyway.



Suddenly she felt the familiar tingle that told her there was a vampire near.  A particular vampire,  she realized, only mildly surprised that she could tell Spike apart from the rest of Sunnydale’s vampire population.  Frantically she scanned the other cages to see if he had been re-captured, but didn’t see him. 



She stopped, trying to relax and just feel him.  As she did, her eyes were drawn to the small air vent in the ceiling.  “Spike?” she barely breathed.  “Are you there?”



“Yes, love. I’m here. We’re working on gettin’ you out.”  He tried to keep the frustration and anger out of his voice and project confidence for her.



Buffy grabbed the bed and ripped it out of the floor so that she could put it under the vent.  She stood on it and reached up toward the grill.  She could just barely touch the slots, just enough for her fingertips to meet his cool ones.  In the process, her robe gaped open showing her wearing nothing but her lacy underpants.  His breath caught in his throat at the sight of her and he was sure his heart had started beating for a second.



They remained still for several seconds, just touching their fingertips and looking into each other’s eyes.  Buffy couldn’t believe how much calmer she felt just knowing he was nearby.  He explained that Xander had gone to get Riley and couldn’t help grinning as she gave a growl that would have done credit to a vampire.  Suddenly he cocked his head to listen and  said quickly, “Uh, Slayer?  Buffy?  As much as I’m enjoying the view – I’m not really interested in sharing it.  You need to get down, love.”



Buffy glanced at her open robe and the two men coming out of the lab and blushed all over.  With a last look up at Spike, she grabbed the robe and pulled it around herself as she jumped off the bed.  The two technicians looked at the cowering demon in disappointment, then did a double take as they saw where the bed was.  “Uh, wasn’t that bolted to the floor?”  one of them began just as Buffy picked the bed up and threw it at them.  It bounced harmlessly off the plexiglass, but caused both men to leap back in fear.  Enjoying their sudden lack of confidence, Buffy proceeded to take the bed apart and fling pieces of metal at the door, cursing colorfully the whole time.  When she ran out of pieces of bed and American swear words she started on the toilet and sink and British vulgarities that she hadn’t even known she knew until they started coming out of her mouth.



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



Meanwhile, Giles had found Maggie Walsh’s private lab and office and was peering down at her as she stroked the arm of the monstrous creature on the table.  “Oh, Adam,” she whispered.  “If you were only ready to go – we’d take that Slayer and put her away forever.”  As she turned her back, the Frankenstein looking monster on the table lifted his head and called, “Mother?”



Maggie whirled around in astonishment.  “Adam?  You...you’re.....” the rest of her thought was abruptly cut off as the creature extended a bayonet like device from his arm and stabbed her through the heart.   Her eyes filled with tears even as they glazed over and she fell to the floor.  



Giles recoiled from the vent as though they could be seen – which they quickly realized they could be, as Adam lifted his other arm and fired an energy weapon of some sort at them.  He quickly scrambled back , pushing the two witches behind him.  Muttering something in Latin, he threw up a shield that deflected the next bolt of energy and told them to run.  All three took off back the way they had come wondering what new evil had just been released on the world.



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



Xander, meanwhile, was going “psst” as loudly as he could at Riley who was lying on his bed looking very unhappy.  As the noise penetrated his self-imposed funk, he looked around to find the source of the noise.  “Riley,” Xander exclaimed, “Up here!”  He pushed on the vent opening and dropped down into the room.  Looking up, he told Anya to go back to the others and meet him there.



Riley stared at him in bewilderment.  “How did you get in here?  This place is impenetrable!”



“Uh, yeah, right.  Whatever.  Listen, you need to help us get Buffy out.”



“What? Buffy’s not here.  She-“



“She is here.  She’s here; she’s caged up like one of the demons and your boss is running tests on her.  They’ve already sliced open her arm to see how long she’ll bleed.”  Xander stopped and looked at the other man.  Riley looked like he was going to be sick.



“Oh my god.  I didn’t want to believe it.”   He shook himself and asked urgently, “Where is she?”



“I told you. She’s in a cage.  Probably royally pissed off by now if she’s awake.  We need to get there and open those cages so she can get out.  And, I need to borrow some soldier clothers,” he added. “I don’t exactly blend.”



As Xander pulled on some of Riley’s military clothing he explained what had happened after Riley left Buffy.  At the mention of Spikes’ name, the other man’s head snapped up and he stared at Xander.  “You came in here on his say-so?  He’s a vampire. He’s probably lying about everything.”



Xander shook his head,  “Not exactly a card-carrying member of the Spike fan club here, Riley, but I know what I saw.  He didn’t make any of it up.  For whatever reason  (and please, God, let the reason not be what I’m afraid it is, he thought to himself),  he’s on our side in this little adventure and I’m guessing we’re lucky to have him.  I suspect if it weren’t for that chip, this place would be floating in commando and lab tech blood right about now.”



Riley shuddered at the thought of an angry master vampire loose in the facility, but took comfort in the knowledge that Spike couldn’t kill without frying his brain.  (At least we did one thing right,  he consoled himself).



Grabbing weapons for himself and Xander, he rushed out the door and led the way toward the lab area.



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





Buffy had run out of things to dismantle and throw at the cage door and had taken to banging on it with a large piece of the bed.  She was delighted to see that it was actually beginning to bend under the steady rain of blows and she could tell from the expressions on the faces of the techs that they had never seen that before.



Riley and Xander slid to a stop when they got to the lab area and saw the terrified techs edging toward the alarm button.  Riley gawked at the cage in which a half-naked Buffy was whacking on a supposedly impregnable door with a large piece of steel.  The interior of the cell was a mass of twisted metal and torn up bedding and porcelin.  “Oh yeah, she’s pissed,” Xander whistled as he watched her steady assault on the plexiglass.



Coming out of the daze produced by  seeing his little Buffy in the process of breaking down a door that had defeated demons twice her size, Riley ran to the techs and knocked their hands away from the alarm button.  While he turned to the control panel and started pushing buttons, Xander walked up to the tech that had sliced Buffy’s arm with the scalple and buried his fist in the man’s face.  Then he turned to the other one and punched him in the stomach.  He would have continued taking out his anger on them, but he was distracted by the sounds behind him.  He turned around to see that Riley had opened all the cages and the hall was rapidly filing with irate and/or panicky demons. 



Many of the demons just began running blindly, looking for an exit, but most of them focused on the five humans and headed for them with obvious revenge on their minds.   Buffy leaped in front of Xander and Riley, trying v ainly to maintain modesty and still keep the angry demons from tearing the humans apart.   Even using one hand to hold her gown closed, she was tearing a path through the demons as she worked out her own fury.



With a “Bloody hell, that looks like too much fun,” Spike dropped his duster on the floor,pushed open a vent ,and dropped down with a swoosh.  He was pulling his shirt off as he dropped through the ceiling and he tossed it to Buffy who quickly pulled it on leaving the paper hospital gown on the floor.  While she was putting on his shirt, he turned to face the advancing demons with an expression of glee on his face. 



The demons that had been advancing on Xander and the technicians were suddenly facing a Slayer with a lot of built up anger and a master vampire who had been prevented from taking his fury out on the beings that caused it.  Many of them were angry enough themselves to charge the two blonds, but once the others saw what happened to those foolish creatures, they all started looking for exits and ran in the other direction.



Riley and Xander ran up to Buffy and the larger man tried to hug her.  She easily side-stepped his attempted embrace and glared at him.  “Don’t even think about touching me!” she snarled as she moved back toward Spike.



“Buffy, please!  I’m sorry.  I had no idea.  I can’t believe they did this.  At least let me take you to my room and get you some clothes.....” his voice trailed off as he watched the vampire put a proprietary arm around her and heard him say, “My shirt’ll do her just fine till we get out of here.  You keep your distance or I’ll tear your heart out – even if it does make my head explode.”



They were prevented from taking the potential confrontation any further by the simultaneous arrival of the rest of the scoobies at the opening in the ceiling and by the arrival of Adam at the far end of the hall. 



“Quickly! Up here!” Giles shouted as he joined hands with Willow and Tara to throw up a barrier between Adam and the spot where Buffy, and the three men were standing.



Xander and Riley whirled around and gawked at the frankenstein monster facing them.  As Adam raised his arms and sent projectiles toward them, they both fired the guns they had brought with them.  Everyone shuddered when Adam laughed at the bullets bouncing off  his chest.  He narrowed his eyes and turned his gaze toward the ceiling.  “That pitiful curtain of magic won’t stop me,” he snarled at them as he sent an energy bolt in the direction of the opening.  He grimaced as it bounced off and turned his attention back to the small group facing him.



“Time to go,” Spike commented as, without thinking, he grabbed Xander’s legs and threw him toward the hole where the grill had been.  As soon as he saw the boy’s kicking legs disappear into the ventilation system, he turned to Buffy and said, “Now you, Slayer.”



“No, Spike,” she said stubbornly, “I am tired of running from this place.  We can take him together-“



“No, you can’t!” her Watcher roared with a trace of real fear in his voice.  “We need to get out of here.  And we need to do it now.  I don’t know how long we can keep this barrier up.”



“Your turn, pet,” the vampire said as he ignored her protests and picked her up to toss to the ceiling.  Giles and Xander grabbed her wrists and pulled her up into the vent.  Instead of leaving, she peered down and asked, “Are you coming?”



Spike and Riley were facing each other.  They both turned to look at the monster at the other end of the hall.



“What is that thing?” Spike demanded.



“I don’t know.  I’ve never seen it before.”  At  Spike’s skeptical look and raised eyebrown, he insisted.  “I swear!  I don’t know what it is.”



“Spike! Riley!” Buffy ordered them.  “Come on!”



“You go, Slayer.  Maybe we can slow this thing down.”  He nodded to Riley and they started toward the hulking creature at the end of the hall.



“No!” she screamed and started trying to drop back into the room.  Spike could see Giles and Xander hanging on to her arms, but he knew they couldn’t hold her for long.



“Bloody Hell!” he growled.  “Let’s go soldier boy.”  He held out his cupped hands for Riley to place a foot in.



The other man stared at him, thunderstruck.  “What are you doing?” he managed to get out.



“Not doing it for you, asshole.  Doing it for her.  Now get your overgrown arse up there!” 



Shaking his head in disbelief, Riley stepped onto the proffered hands and was tossed toward the ceiling where Buffy grabbed one arm and Xander the other.  As they pulled him through the hole, Buffy was already leaning back down and calling to Spike.   “Come on!  Now, you idiot!”



The vampire bent his knees and easily sprang up to the hole.  Just as he got there, the magical barrier that had been holding Adam at bay began to break down and a bolt of energy shot from the monster’s arm and hit Spike.  His body spasmed and he fell face forward on the floor of the vent.  When he didn’t move immediately, Buffy turned him over and gasped as she saw blood pouring out of his eyes, ears and nose. 



“Come on, Buffy,  we have to get out of here,”  Riley tried to pull her away. 



“I’m not leaving without Spike!” she said firmly as she lifted his dead weight onto her shoulder like a sack of flour. 



“Buffy.....” Giles started as he shooed the scoobies toward the tunnels,  “I’m not sure there’s anything there to ......”



He stopped when he saw the look on his Slayer’s face.  “Right, then.  We take Spike with us.”  He turned and pushed them ahead of him.  “Keep going, I’m going to try to leave some surprises to slow down pursuit.”



They ran as hard as they could.  Giles and the two young witches kept throwing up magical barricades that didn’t actually stop Adam, but slowed him down enough that they outdistanced him.   Gradually the bolts of energy fell further and further behind.  When they reached the tunnels and jumped down out of the ventilation system, they paused for breath and Xander offered to help carry Spike, but Buffy refused, just shouldering his body again and trudging toward the cave entrance.



continued
 

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