The purple demoness Sanze’ana huddled in a far corner as her wide eyes watched the humans on the other side of the glass barrier. They seemed to be discussing her cellmate, the tall lanky ghoul with the perpetual smile, which didn’t particularly frighten her but still…she kept her distance. She heard no sounds from the humans, finally figuring out that the sheets of paper being flung here and there were their means of communication. How primitive.
She’d been in this cell for what seemed like weeks now, watching the other chambers fill with a myriad of demons, vampires, and ghouls. Glancing at the hovering being several feet away from her, she realized that the humans capturing these assorted creatures were quickly running out of space in which to put them. It was rare to see two demons or what not to a cell, seeing as how most of them wouldn’t be alive the next time the people in the white coats came to do their ‘experiments’. She’d barely survived some of the tests herself, and judging from some of the screams she’d heard late at night, a lot more didn’t make it at all. There was one, however, that had escaped and it gave her hope that she would too, someday.
The blond vampire had been housed in the cage across from hers several weeks ago, never gaining consciousness until the ‘white coats’ had brought him back with a shaved area on the back of his head. It was three days after that before he fully awakened and by then he was livid. He’d thrown himself against the electrified barrier repeatedly, practically short-circuiting the entire compound in the process. She admired his ability to withstand the debilitating pain and wondered, not for the first time, if he would consider being her consort once she escaped and returned to her kingdom. But then she heard him repeating a name over and over and knew it would be futile to try and turn his attention to her and away from the object of his obsession.
Then, roughly two weeks ago, the platinum blond vampire seized the opportunity for his freedom and took it with both hands…literally. That’s when she noticed something had been done to him, something cruel. Even though she was from another dimension, Sanze’ana knew vampires depended on blood for their nourishment. His attempt to drain his captors was thwarted by a seizure in his brain, his screams echoing amongst the cells. Her admiration for the vampire grew when despite the pain he must have suffered, he battled his way through his enemies, never giving up and finally disappearing from her view. She knew he’d fled the compound because the men in the green uniforms hadn’t brought him back and they also complained, rather loudly, that Hostile Seventeen was in the area but had eluded their attempts at recapture.
Now tempers were flaring as the older female glared at her subordinates, issuing more commands with the aide of a computerized voice machine. Sanze’ana thought the idea of a harpy leading a group of heavily muscled males was quite laughable. The only thing she had to offer was intelligence and that only made things easier to a certain point. Past that, you needed brute strength. Why they followed her orders, she could not fathom. She tried to rationalize several scenarios where her most heroic warrior would follow an ancient crone, but failed to find anything plausible. It must have had to do with what was behind the door marked with a set of numbers as she witnessed the males entering it on a regular basis, especially the largest one named Finn. He was usually in there the longest.
Suddenly, the glass barrier of her cell slid to the side, allowing Finn to step inside the chamber. Sanze’ana backed into the furthest corner, hoping they would at least keep the tests to a minimum because she’d passed out after the second one last time. She became so overwrought that she began to panic and that always activated her internal harmonics. Her species communicated through sound and harmonies, the females attracting males through elaborate musical shows for mating. It was also a defense mechanism, and as princess of her kingdom, she often used it to dispatch would-be assassins with the massive sound waves it created. Unfortunately, in this dimension, the waves were considerably weakened and she had no defense against the humans who seemed impervious to them.
Riley approached the middle of the room, shifting his eyes between Sanze’ana and Zinken, the second ghoul they’d captured. He could feel the small vibrations bouncing off his skin from the female demon, but he wasn’t interested in her…this time. She was comely, her light purple skin fascinating him, and he was sure he would sample her flesh at some point. He grinned maliciously and feigned a lunge at her, making her shudder. It also set off a sound that became increasingly shrill with each passing moment and Riley had to cover his ears to keep his drums from bursting.
Zinken slowly turned his head in the direction of the female demon with fear in his eyes. He was no longer smiling, and as the penetrating shriek became louder, he was no longer in possession of his faculties either. The vibrato assaulted his body, making it thrum with energy and he placed his hands on the sides of his head to keep the sound from causing damage. But it was all to no avail, as the princess’ scream caused his head to explode…all over Riley.
~*~
Buffy ran to catch up with Angel and Cordy, who were several streets ahead of her, tracking the straightjacket lackey that lost its master. She prayed fervently that she had made the right choice in leaving Spike with Xander and the rest of the group as she finally caught up with the ex-cheerleader and her former lover. She fell into step on the other side of Cordy, staying far away from the vampire she so desperately wanted to stake.
Cordy looked between the two and groaned internally. “I should get paid to do this crap.”
“Keep your voice down, Cordy! It might hear you,” Angel groused quietly. “And you ARE getting paid. Didn’t Doyle promise you some kind of Coochy Handbag, or something?”
Even though she had no voice, Buffy bent over with laughter. Cordy gave her an evil glare before turning to Angel and grit her teeth. “It’s Coach! Not Coochy, you fashionably challenged imbecile!”
He lowered his eyes. “Fine, sorry.”
All other conversation was cut short as they watched the gruesome creature meander towards the clock tower in the middle of town and three Gentlemen floated into view. They all entered through what seemed to be a boarded up access door at the side of the building and disappeared.
“H-how close do I have to be to scream?” Cordy asked in a fearful whisper.
“Don’t worry, Buffy and I will get you in there and keep you safe…Damn it! Where is she going?” He watched Buffy take off after the motley crew.
Buffy wasn’t going to waste any more time than she already had listening to them bicker. She wanted to get back to Spike… NOW, and those two were delaying that goal. She stuck close to the shadows and quickly came to the same access door, not bothering to wait for Cordy or Angel, and slipped inside.
“If only I had the power to beat her,” Angel snarled as he and Cordy ran to catch up with Buffy.
“You’d end up next week’s dust bunnies,” she assured him, following behind him as they crept up the rickety old stairs. “You almost were, if it weren’t for Spike.”
He stopped so suddenly she plowed face first into his ass. He whirled to find her rubbing her nose with a frown. “You…you… you take that back!”
“What? That he let you live to save another day? Please. Buffy is so over you, but apparently you didn’t get that memo,” she snickered and stepped up on the landing, toe to toe with the vamp.
“She loves me! She’ll always love me!” he ground out, moving closer to the brunette. “And I’ll always love her!”
He was too close for her comfort, so Cordy backed up, only to be halted by his hands on her hips, holding her in place. “What are you doing?”
“Something I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” he groaned and sealed his lips with hers.
Cordy immediately wound her arms behind his neck and sighed, allowing Angel to plumb the depths of her mouth more thoroughly. “But you love Buffy,” she gasped in between kisses.
“I can’t be with her,” he rasped, grinding his erection into the V of her thighs.
This stopped Cordy cold. “So what? I’m second best? You think you’re safe with me because I won’t make you happy?”
“No! That’s not it…”
“Oh really? I’ll have you know… OW!” Cordy yelled as a piece of crumbling wall from above hit her on the side of the head.
She turned to see Buffy standing at the top of the stairs with her arms crossed and a very pissed off expression on her face. She pointed up to indicate that they were supposed to be concentrating on stopping the Gentlemen, not getting groiny on the stairs. Cordy then composed herself and flipped her hair over her shoulder, leaving a panting Angel on the landing.
“We’ll finish this,” Angel muttered under his breath as he watched Cordy walk further up the stairs.
“Like hell we will,” she countered and quickly followed Buffy up the remaining steps.
He moved to follow her but hesitated when he caught an unfamiliar scent floating through the air accompanied by a pattern of electronic beeps. Seeing that Cordy was safe with Buffy, he backed down the stairs until the scent became overwhelming.
He slid into the shadows of the broken down building and observed two humans with night vision goggles entering from the left. He allowed a slow, menacing smile to spread on his face as he watched them approach his hidden position, totally unaware of his presence. So much for scientific advancements.
They made several hand gestures and cautiously started creeping up the stairs, right above Angel, who grabbed their ankles to pull them through the wood slats and down to face him. He dispatched them rather quickly, grabbing the taser off one as he flipped the man to be hit with the other Commando’s taser, taking out the remaining grunt by filling his body full of electrified current from the taser he’d grabbed. He then dropped their bodies to the dusty floor and picked up their walkie-talkies.
Short and long bursts of sound could be heard on all the channels as he struggled to remember his Morse Code. He’d learned it back in the forties during World War II, but he’d forgotten most of it since then. He didn’t recognize anything until… “Riley out.”
Riley. Angel furrowed his brow. Riley, as in THE Riley? The one Buffy had talked about when she came to see him in L.A.? Angel’s smile grew even wider. He packed the communicator in his coat pocket and started to head up the stairs when he heard several crashes and then an ear-piercing scream. Apparently, Cordy had done her job. He wasn’t really needed here then…was he? An evil glint took up permanent residence in his eyes as he moved out to track the Commandos.
~*~
Riley Finn was pissed.
Earlier in the evening, he had the dubious pleasure of being the victim of Dr. Walsh’s tongue lashing, wanting very much to deck the old hag so he could get on with his duties. She’d nagged him to have his black eye checked in science room three fourteen since it wasn’t healing as it should, growling as he followed her into the sterile room.
Walsh pointed to him and then the table, turning to the metal tray that held various instruments and vials of liquid, waiting for him to lie down. Had he a voice, Riley would have argued about a measly black eye, compared to everything else that had occurred…but she would have none of it. He didn’t remember much after the injection though, as the yellow liquid slipped silently through his veins, and rendered him useless for a few moments.
He’d woken up in his own barracks with one hell of a hang over and a highly metallic taste in his mouth. His vision was blurred in one eye and acutely clear in the other as he stood on wobbly feet and approached a small mirror above the sink to look at his reflection.
“Fuck,” he mouthed, forgetting he had no voice.
His eye was back to normal again, no hint of bruising or pain present. He touched the skin and moved it around, waiting for some twinge to indicate that he’d had any injury at all to his orbit, but again, nothing happened.
He didn’t dwell on it further because Walsh had paged him at that moment to come to the containment area. When he arrived, he noticed the examination area being set up again for the other Gentleman’s tests, and he wondered if he would finally be able to make the ghoul utter some kind of sound. He doubted it, but he’d have fun attempting to do so.
After about twenty minutes, Walsh indicated that she wanted the being brought out and strapped to the table. The containment cells had grown overcrowded, so they paired up the Gentleman with a lone female demon that spoke not a word as well. Both seemed docile and they kept to each other, eyeing one another occasionally and then hiding in their respective corners.
Riley really wanted a go at the luscious purple-skinned demon, but he never seemed to either have the time or lack of Walsh as an audience. The former ensured that he would never get to finish what he’d start and the latter wouldn’t allow him to perform at all. That didn’t prevent his eyes from roaming all over her shapely form. He didn’t account, however, for the small vibrations that had began and tingled through out his body as he approached the two creatures in the cell. The sound made the hairs on his arm stand straight up and his teeth rattle.
Eventually, it became such a strong force that the ghoul really looked panicked as Riley made a move to restrain her or do something to make the noise stop…which in turn, caused the sound the female produced to increase in pitch and decibel to a barely tolerable level. It caused him to cover his ears to save them from bursting, but nothing could help the other being, and Riley was soon covered in yellow goop from head to toe.
The vibrations quickly stopped as the Commando turned his highly agitated gaze to the quivering purple demon. The last sight she beheld was the male’s large Bowie knife, deeply embedded in her chest, drawing out her life’s essence. Riley’s chest heaved as he then pulled the blade from her flesh, the sucking noise like music to his ears, and wiped the fluid off on his pant leg. She collapsed to the floor dead as he spared a moment of regret that he didn’t get to fuck her as planned.
“That was unacceptable!” the loud Vocoder computer voice harangued Riley as he stepped out of the cell covered in ghoul entrails.
Riley closed his eyes and counted to ten, not that it did any good. He wiped his hair and face off, flinging the sticky yellow substance at several techs, including Walsh. She spluttered in outrage at his behavior, nodding slightly to two MP’s to restrain him, which was easier said than done. He fought them as much as he could, but one of them finally laid a taser at the back of his neck. He really didn’t want a jolt to arc into his body, so he ceased his struggles and waited for Walsh to approach him.
“Run diagnostic scan one one three eight,” she typed into the Vocoder as she watched her unstable Commando.
Riley stiffened between the two MP’s as if he’d been stabbed. What the hell is she doing? he wanted to write, scream, even use sign language. But he couldn’t move as darkness crept up his spine and his eyes closed.
~*~
“Patrol until you secure Hostile Seventeen. Contain the girl if possible. If not, elimination is acceptable. Use Morse Code to communicate until vocal confirmation is restored. You have your orders, move out,” the Vocoder droned as Walsh typed her instructions to the group of twelve men, including a very dazed Riley Finn.
Graham nudged Riley and he snapped to attention, gathering supplies and weapons for his patrol as he cast a worried glance to Forrest. “Watch him,” Graham mouthed and Forrest nodded.
They broke off into four groups of three soldiers, each taking a different section of the city, Forrest and Graham in Riley’s group. They headed towards the east side of town and patrolled for about two hours before they started receiving code transmitted through their communicators.
“Found one Sub T and two female humans.”
“Target?” Riley pressed out the short question.
“One female is target,” the other team responded.
“Hostile Seventeen?”
“Negative. But following other Hostiles.”
Damn. “Follow at distance and report.”
It was some minutes before Riley heard a response from the first team. “Entering tower on east side of cinema.”
“Use extra precaution, Sub T is extremely dangerous.”
“We have situation.” This came from team two, who had decided to rendezvous with the first one.
“Stay in position. We’ll be at coordinates in two minutes, Riley out.”
Riley and his group started trotting up the deserted street to the clock tower when he felt his chest expand, causing him to cough…out loud. Then he heard something more than just Morse beeping. In fact, it sounded an awful lot like human speech, screaming over the walkie-talkie.
“Requesting immediate back-up! We're in the alley behind the tower! Where the hell is-- Fall back! Fall back! It's coming-” and the voice was suddenly cut off.
Seething rage filled Riley as he ran to the street adjoining the run-down building, only to see a commando go flying across the alley and hit the wall, falling to the pavement unconscious. Hearing fighting further down the alley, he raised his flashlight, shining it on the back of a figure in a long black coat. As soon as the light hit the massive form, the man whirled around and glared at Riley.
“Well, well, well…Riley Finn,” Angel drawled as he slowly advanced towards the lone grunt. “Where’s your buddies?”
Riley frowned in confusion. How the hell did this-this thing know him? “They’ll be along shortly. Do I know you?”
Angel smirked. “We have a friend in common.”
“I don’t socialize with Hostiles, so I wouldn’t know which ‘friend’ you’re referring to,” the Commando ground out as he kept his distance from the Sub T.
The two hulking figures circled each other warily in the darkened alley as Buffy and Cordelia emerged from the clock tower, Cordy whimpering with barely repressed fear, covered in yellow goo. The girls had found the remaining Gentlemen looking over their prizes, unaware of their presence until Cordy screamed like a banshee as a lackey lumbered over towards them. The ghouls never knew what hit them as yellow goop exploded everywhere, especially on Cordy.
The lackeys, seeing their masters exterminated, fled the scene before Buffy could stop them as she was trying to find whatever contained their voices. Searching through the mess, she accidentally knocked over a wooden box and it dropped on the floor, releasing all of Sunnydale’s voices. She took a deep breath and smiled, testing her restored speech.
“Let’s get those bastards!”
Now, she watched as Angel and…oh my god…was that Riley? circle around the alley looking like they were going to do permanent damage to one another. Once again, she was torn between needing to intervene and returning to her heart’s desire. But the choice was taken from her when she heard a muffled yelp behind her…from Cordy.
“I’d stay back if I were you, bitch,” Forrest warned as he pointed the muzzle of a gun against Cordy’s temple.
“Shoot her, I don’t really like her anyway,” Buffy said with a flippancy she didn’t really feel.
“I hate you,” Cordy seethed.
“Put a plug in it, princess,” he advised as he cocked the hammer and twisted his meaty fist in her brown locks. “Finn! We’ve got leverage!”
Riley glanced out of the corner of his eyes to Forrest. At first he was surprised to see Buffy there, but then he remembered that she tended to like the ‘undead’, so he now considered her an advantage as he smirked at Angel. “Looks like we got your fuck buddy.”
Angel backhanded the overbearing soldier, doing little damage as he stumbled backwards touching his cheek, rising back up to his full height to glare at the vamp. “You really want her to die, huh?”
“Don’t push me, boy!” Angel said dangerously as he sized up the situation, realizing he’d have to sacrifice something to keep everyone safe.
“Oh, I’ll push…won’t I, Forrest?” He grinned maliciously as he watched Graham aim a crossbow on the vamp in front of him from deep within the shadows. “So Buffy…care to tell me where Hostile Seventeen is? And no lies,” he cautioned pointing to Graham. “Or else your other pet vamp will find out what it’s like to be roasted on a spit.”
“Who’s Hostile Seventeen?” Angel ground between his teeth.
“Spike,” Buffy whispered.
“Spike?” Just the sacrificial black sheep he needed. “He’s at Giles apartment,” Angel volunteered quickly.
“NO!” she screamed, turning to a confused Angel. “They’ll kill him!”
“And the problem with that would be?”
“You know what Riley? Kill him, kill him a lot!” Buffy’s eyes filled with tears as she pointed to Angel.
“The address would be useful,” Riley added as he pushed a dart into his tranquilizer gun, locking it into place and aiming it at Angel.
“Twelve forty Vista Hermosa Road, apartment one B,” Cordy offered readily.
“No…please, no!” Buffy whimpered and pleaded with Riley. “If you ever cared for me, you won’t do this! It’s wrong!”
“Sleep now,” Riley said and swung his gun arm to aim at Buffy and pulled the trigger, the dart embedding itself in her left shoulder.
“NO!” Angel roared and rushed the Commando, plowing him into the alley wall, knocking a few bricks loose.
Riley brought his balled fists down on the middle of the vampire’s back, causing him to collapse to the ground. “Fucking shoot next time, Graham!”
“It jammed!”
“Get rid of her,” Riley threw over his shoulder to Forrest as he bent down to look at an unconscious Buffy.
“Wait! No!” But Cordy was out for the count as the Commando cold cocked her in the back of the head.
“Bring the van around, we need to go pick up our missing ‘friend’,” Riley instructed Graham as he hefted a limp Slayer over his shoulder.
Forrest and Graham left together and headed down the empty street to the black Initiative vehicle they had stowed away from public view. That left an unconscious Slayer, Cordy and a moaning Angel with Riley.
“You can’t take her,” Angel rasped. “You don’t know what you’ll unleash if you do.”
“I’ll take my chances,” Riley snickered.
“Yeah, well I won’t!” Angel shoved a booted foot straight into the grunt’s family jewels.
Searing pain crippled the solider and he dropped his burden to cup his privates. It gave Angel the needed to time to scoop Buffy up over one shoulder and Cordy over the other as he headed out of the alley, leaving the Commando rolling and moaning in the middle of the street.
When Forrest and Graham returned, they found much the same thing, only Riley had made it to a semi-standing position. “I want that Hostile’s head on a platter!” he roared as he fell into the back seat of the van. Wasting no time, they sped out of the alley and headed towards the address that was seared in Riley’s brain.
By the time they arrived, Riley was able to stand without help, but still in pain. “Scope out how many tasers we’ll need to incapacitate the humans.”
Graham snuck down the stairway and peeked through a slit in the curtained window. He then returned to the van where the other two were prepping for the retrieval. “Five tasers for the humans, plus one for the Hostile.”
“No, I want him lucid. He’s gonna know the hell he’s put us through trying to get him back.” Riley loaded another dart in his gun filled with a drug that would keep the menace awake, but immobile. “Let’s move out.”
Each man carried two sets of tasers except for Riley, who carried one taser and the dart gun. They crept quietly down the stairs and listened at the door for any signs of movement or hint of voices. They heard nothing for a few moments but then someone that sounded like Willow started talking. Perfect.
At Riley’s nod, Graham knocked on the door, standing back and ready to incapacitate the person answering the door. Once the door opened, everything happened very quickly, as Graham tasered Willow and Giles who happened to be close. Forrest tasered Anya and Xander who were near the couch. That left some unknown girl and Hostile Seventeen, who was trying to make his way over the couch to prevent what happened. Riley quickly tasered the girl and aimed his dart gun at the blond vamp.
“Hello…Hostile Seventeen.”
Spike looked down to the dart stuck squarely in his chest. “Oh, fuck me!” he spat. He started to fall to his knees as he watched the Commandos enter the flat. He knew this was it, that he wouldn’t be coming back once he left. So he did something that he never would have believed of himself two weeks prior. Before he lost total consciousness, he slipped the Gem of Amara off his finger and dropped it near Willow, hoping she’d find it and give it to Buffy. If the Initiative got a hold of that little bauble, there was no telling what they would do.
His limbs became heavy and refused to move as he finally fell face first to the floor. Yet his eyes never closed and he had a sinking feeling that torture was on the menu if they wanted him awake. His thoughts were confirmed when he was hefted up by a grunt to face Riley, an evil smirk plastered on his face.
“Time to play.”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
MANY thanks to Dusty273 and Im_Bloody_English for making this ship shape (good lord - I've moved from Butchers to Sailors...god, I've got issues)
This chapter would not have been possible without Sotia (sub plot), Blackoberst (the cool demon name), Dusty274 (the street where Giles lives - honestly, I have NO clue, I tired to look it up to no avail - so she gave me one! :D, and of course IBE, cause even though she's going through a rough time, she fixed it up for me and "EEEPed!" at the end! tee hee - You guys are awesome!
And I'm sure I haven't said it enough, but thank you everyone who reviews - it makes my day brighter and I get ideas for future chapters with your comments. And I'm sorry I haven't updated this one in a while, but this 'hump' chapter was really stuck in my brain until Sotia took a shovel and rapped me up side the head. Thanks hun! *squished her wittle Spuffy cheek*
Just so you know, Adam and Faith are NOT a part of this story. I would say this chapter is where it officially veres off canon. *Quotes from the epi "The Yoko Factor."*
This chapter would not have been possible without Sotia (sub plot), Blackoberst (the cool demon name), Dusty274 (the street where Giles lives - honestly, I have NO clue, I tired to look it up to no avail - so she gave me one! :D, and of course IBE, cause even though she's going through a rough time, she fixed it up for me and "EEEPed!" at the end! tee hee - You guys are awesome!
And I'm sure I haven't said it enough, but thank you everyone who reviews - it makes my day brighter and I get ideas for future chapters with your comments. And I'm sorry I haven't updated this one in a while, but this 'hump' chapter was really stuck in my brain until Sotia took a shovel and rapped me up side the head. Thanks hun! *squished her wittle Spuffy cheek*
Just so you know, Adam and Faith are NOT a part of this story. I would say this chapter is where it officially veres off canon. *Quotes from the epi "The Yoko Factor."*
Chapter End Notes:
In a style similar to Dampers: OMG! What will happen next? Will Spike live? Will Riley retrieve his gonads from his throat? Will Angel have a threesome with an unconscious Cordy and Buffy? Will he finally get new hairgel? Have you imagined what a "Coochy" bag looks like? Tune in next time, when you'll hear Spike utter... "Woof."