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Chapter 4, Out of My Mind

“Colonel McNamara, I wasn’t expecting to hear from you,” Graham said when he heard the Colonel’s voice.

“We have a problem,” the Colonel said. “Finn has popped up on our radar. His implant is acting up.”

Graham grunted, “Fuck.”

Anya’s memory charm had played with the Initiative’s memories enough that they didn’t realize that the implants that Walsh had implanted in some of her soldiers were supposed to be a secret from the rest of the squads.

“I’ll have a surgeon there by this evening. Find him, and have him at Sunnydale Memorial.” McNamara hung up the phone without saying good bye.

Graham sighed. “Fuck,” he grunted again while he dropped the receiver back in its cradle. He gathered his thoughts for a few moments before he grabbed his car keys off the nearby table.

Graham had to admit that Riley had been acting a bit off ever since the attack in the city dump a few days before. The other ex-soldier was boning up on his recycling and weapons facts. Graham decided that his old friend was weird even by Sunnydale standards, and he hoped he wasn’t shot on sight for what he was going to suggest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Graham knocked on Riley’s door. “Hey, Ri, you in there? I have some news from the Colonel.”

“What kind of news?” The door opened about an inch, and Riley peered through the crack. He had no idea why the military would be contacting him after his discharge.

“Nothing that can be discussed out here in the hallway.”

“You alone?”

“Sure, man.” Graham mentally shook his head. He was pretty sure that Riley was even more paranoid than before. He heard the locks being undone on the other side of the door.

“Hurry up and get in here.” Riley stuck his head out the door, and he looked both ways. “You never know when the recycling police might show up or the demons.”

“Whatever, man,” Graham muttered. He slipped into the apartment past Riley. “Never heard of the recycling police personally.”

Riley slammed the door shut, and he did up all the locks. “They’re everywhere, buddy. I think Mr. Crawley down the hall is one of them. He might be a demon though. They’re out to get me too. Revenge, I tell you. That man is always checking out the trash cans.”

Graham groaned silently. Riley was really losing it. “Colonel McNamara called. He said your implant is acting up.”

“Implant? What implant?” Riley looked confused.

“The one that Adam used to control you,” Graham spoke slowly and clearly. There was something definitely wrong with Riley. “Remember?”

“Oh yeah, I remember that.” Riley got a wild look in his eye. “Do you think the recycling police will use it to control me?”

Graham realized that this might be the way to get Riley out of his apartment and to the hospital for the surgery. “They might. The Colonel is sending in a surgeon. If we go see him, the recycling police won’t have a chance to use it against you.”

Riley’s eyes opened wide, and the wild look settled down a bit. “Really? You’ll protect me on the way there?”

“Sure, Ri. You can hide in the back of my car under a blanket. They’ll never know you’re there.”

“You’re a lifesaver, Graham,” Riley sighed. “We have to be careful leaving the building though. Everyone is out to get me.”

“Rrrright.” Graham nodded. This is going to be a long ride. he thought to himself. Aloud he said, “Gotcha. Let me look outside first then.” He went to the door, unlocked it, and stuck his head out into the hallway.

“Anyone out there?” Riley hissed.

“Looks clear.” Graham stepped out into the hall. He turned around to find Riley holding an assault rifle. “You really think we need that kind of thing?”

Riley’s eyes narrowed. He stepped into the hallway himself, eyeing the corridor while he talked. “Have you been turned, Graham? Are you a demonic recycling policeman?”

“Uh, not the last time I checked, Ri.” Graham threw his hands up in surrender.

A look of relief crossed Riley’s face. “Of course you’re not. How silly of me.” He turned, and he locked the apartment door. “Let’s go.”

Graham and Riley made it out of the building and into Graham’s car without seeing anyone. Once Riley was settled under a blanket in the back seat, Graham drove to the hospital where the surgeon was supposed to be waiting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“We have a problem, Mr. Miller.” Peter Overheiser came out of the surgery room. “There is no chip in Mr. Finn.”

“He’s the only Mr. Finn there is,” Graham said.

“That might be true, but he’s still without the chip.”

“That’s really weird.” Graham scratched his head. “I better call the Colonel.”

Overheiser gestured towards the surgery room. “What should I do with Mr. Finn?”

Graham had no idea what to say. “Can you keep him sedated for a while?”

“I suppose,” Overheiser said with a shrug. “But not for too long, mind you.”

“Give me a few minutes.” Graham moved away from the surgeon to make his call to Colonel McNamara. Something just didn’t sound right to the young man. When the Colonel answered, he asked, “Are you sure about this, sir? The surgeon says that Finn doesn’t have a chip in him.”

“That can’t be,” McNamara barked. “I have the GPS right here in front of me.”

Graham heard a tapping noise from across the telephone line. “Sir?”

“You’re at Sunnydale Memorial, correct?” McNamara asked.

“Yes, sir.” Graham nodded. He had no idea where the colonel was going with his line of questioning.

“The chip is not at Sunnydale Memorial,” Colonel McNamara informed Graham.

“But sir, this is Finn. Sure, he’s a bit paranoid about the demons and recycling police, but other than that he seems like the same old Riley.”

“My intel tells me that the chip is in the south section of town on the 1500 block of Sheridan Street,” the colonel said in an informative voice.

“I’ll check it out and get back to you, Colonel McNamara.” Graham hung up without saying a farewell. He returned to Overheiser’s side. “Keep Finn under sedation until I call or return.”

Overheiser nodded his head in acceptance of Graham’s order. “Yes, sir.”

Graham turned on his heel, and he had his phone to his ear while he marched out of the hospital. When Spike answered the phone, he explained Colonel McNamara’s initial phone call, Riley’s odd behavior, the surgeon’s discovery, and his return call to the Colonel. Within a few minutes, Graham had plans to meet up with Spike and Reginald Bey on the south side of town.

Graham parked a couple of blocks down from the 1500 block of Sheridan. When he slipped out of his car, Spike and Reggie appeared out of the shadows. Reggie carried a loaded crossbow in his hands. Seeing the weapon in the man’s hands, Graham went to the trunk of his car where his own weapon was stored.

“Reg and I scoped it out while we were waiting for you, Miller,” Spike said in lieu of a greeting. “Finn is down the street in that abandoned house.”

“Are you sure it’s him?” Graham looked down the street. “Because I’m pretty sure that I have Riley at the hospital.”

Reggie spoke up for the first time, “Didn’t you and Buffy report that Riley was hit by Toth’s weapon, Spike?”

Graham and Spike stared at Reggie in speculation. They had both forgotten about the Toth incident at the city dump.

“The dump is just a block or two over.” Spike peered in the direction of the garbage heap. He was glad the wind was blowing in the opposite direction. Did you hear that, pet? he asked his mate.

Yeah, I did. I’ll check in with Giles while you find Riley. I sure wish he’d stay out of trouble, Buffy grumbled. She was glad she was done with her classes for the day, because she hated to skip.

“Let’s get the show on the road,” Spike announced to his companions. He swaggered off down the street. The Master of Sunnydale was out in full force.

Graham shook his head. “I never thought I’d be in league with the hostiles,” he muttered.

Reggie let out a laugh, and he patted the ex-soldier on the back. “Neither did I, mate. Neither did I.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Hey Giles,” Buffy called out as she burst into the Magic Box. “Something weird is going on with Riley.”

“Yes, I heard.” Giles looked up from his book. “I’ve finally found some information on Toth. Mr. Finn was hit by a ferula-gemina. It splits one person in half, distilling personality traits into two separate bodies. Since Toth was aiming at you, it would be fair to say he was trying to split the Slayer in two.”

Buffy shook her head. “Two of me? Why?”

Giles took off his glasses to polish them with his handkerchief. “Yes. He probably wanted one being with all the qualities inherent in Buffy Summers, and the other would hold everything that belongs to the Slayer alone. Therefore when it hit Mr. Finn it separated him into his strongest and weakest parts.”

“So is paranoid Riley or vamp whorehouse Riley his strongest part?”

Giles had no answer for the young Slayer, because he didn’t have a clue. To himself, he speculated that paranoid Riley was the stronger of the two because a little bit of paranoia tended to keep you alive around demons.

Buffy raised a hand. “Okay, better question, how do we find Toth?”

“We let him find you,” Giles replied.

“It’s been a couple of days since we ran into him at the dump. I haven’t seen neither hide nor hair of him,” Buffy commented. She thought about the last encounter with the demon, and she wrinkled her nose. “Guess it’s back to the dump for me.”

“You should take someone with you, Buffy,” Giles replied.

“Yeah, but everyone’s busy or can’t right now.” Buffy shrugged. She walked towards the back room where the weapons were now stored in the workout room. “I’ll be okay.”

What the fuck! Cordelia’s voice came through loud and clear to the Clan members. All of them but Spike who was approaching the vamp whorehouse stopped what they were doing.

Cordelia? Buffy said in a tentative voice.

Angel just told us he saw Darla last night. Cordelia said. The stupid vamp is losing it or something.

Thought you all staked the old whore years ago, Spike commented.

Angel did. Buffy replied. Angel must be having delusions or something.

Doyle gave a mental shake of his head. No, Angel is quite adamant that it’s her.
Do you need help? Buffy asked. I could see if Lawson and Brian would be willing.

Doyle thought about the Slayer’s offer for a bit before he replied, No, but if we do, I’ll get back to you.

Spike pulled away from the mental conversation, but he intended to discuss the implications of Darla’s return with Buffy later. Graham, Reggie and he had stepped up onto the porch of the abandoned house at that point, and Spike needed all his attention on the vamps inside.

“How are we going to do this?” Reggie asked.

“In and out, grabbing Finn when we find him,” Spike replied. He kicked the door in, and he sauntered inside. “All right, listen up, where’s the soldier boy?”

Graham followed behind Spike, and he could hear bodies scrambling out of their way.

“Who the hell are you to break in here?” one brave vamp asked.

Spike’s vamp face slid forward with a flash of brilliant blue before his eyes yellowed. “The Master of Sunnydale, you wanker, that’s who. Now answer the question!”

The now frightened vampire pointed a shaky finger towards the stairs. “He’s up there.”

Spike didn’t acknowledge the vamp’s at all while he mounted the stairs. Behind him, he heard the thump of a crossbow arrow hitting flesh and the telltale sound of dust falling to the floor. He knew one of his companions had dusted the other vampire. He climbed the stairs, moved down the hallway, and sniffed the air as he went.

“Any ideas which room he’s in?” Graham said softly.

Spike pointed to the room at the end of the hall with a pale forefinger. “That one.”

The three men moved as quietly as they could towards the room. Spike pushed against door, and it silently swung open to reveal a half-naked Riley being feasted on by two skanky looking female vampires.

Riley sneered at the intruders. “Get lost. I’m busy.”

“Not anymore, you’re not.” Graham stepped up beside Spike. He pointed his weapon at one of the vampires, and he pulled the trigger. She let out a small screech before she turned into dust.

Reggie followed Graham’s example, shooting the other female vampire. Then, he quickly reloaded the crossbow with an arrow from his supply.

“Let’s go, Ri.” Graham went to Finn’s side. “The colonel called. Your chip is acting up.”

“What’s he doing here?” Riley glared at Spike.

“If you think I’m walking into one of these places without back up you’re an idiot,” Graham said. He grabbed Riley’s arm, and he dragged the other man to his feet.


“I can walk on my own.” However, Riley hadn’t realized how weak he was until his knees refused to hold him and buckled as soon as he got to his feet. He fell forward, but Reggie pushed his crossbow into Spike’s hands.

Reggie grabbed Riley’s other arm to drag the man to his feet. “We should get out of here,” he muttered.

Spike nodded while he led the way back down stairs.

A cowering vamp fell at Spike’s felt. “Master, we didn’t know he was a friend of yours. Please forgive us.”

Riley’s sarcastic sounding snort echoed through the quiet room. “Idiot hostile.”

“What’s your name?” Spike ignored Finn while he looked down his nose at the simpering minion. Finn was the idiot in Spike’s opinion. Coming to vamp whorehouses where bites were a bigger draw than the sex was monumentally stupid.

“C-Chad, Master.”

“The Slayer and I don’t tolerate turnings, Chad. I expect you to spread the word.” Spike’s voice was fierce and cold.

“Yes, Master,” Chad sniveled.

Once outside Reggie pinned Spike with a pointed glance. “I thought Buffy and you made a practice of torching vamp whorehouses.”

Spike returned Reggie’s glance with an evil smirk. “You know that and I know that, but those morons don’t have a clue.” He paused to tilt his head for a moment. “Can you guys get Finn here to the hospital on your own? I’m off to meet up with the Slayer. It seems we have a demon to capture.”

Graham and Reggie looked at each other. “No problem,” they said as one.

“If Riley gives us any problems, we’ll just knock him out.” Graham hefted Riley a little higher.

“You will not,” Riley protested. He turned his head back to look at the abandoned house. He hoped that the time at the hospital wouldn’t take too long. He already wanted to get back to the bites.

Spike rolled his eyes before he led Graham and Reggie to Graham’s car. He threw Reggie’s crossbow into the trunk, and he set off towards the city dump and Buffy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Buffy called out. Then, she made a kissy noise with her mouth like she was calling a puppy. She kept her hand inside her long jacket where she had a sword hidden.

“Fe, fi, fo, fum,” a mocking voice called out. “I smell the blood of a nice ripe girl.”

Buffy burst out laughing. Through her giggles she managed to say, “Do we really need weapons for this? Are we doing that scenario again? We’re in the wrong place for it.”

“I’d be happy to, luv, but I think we should beat up the demon and steal his stick.” Spike pointed behind Buffy.

Buffy whirled around. “He’d be the one.”

“I will not miss again, Slayer,” Toth announced. He pointed his rod towards Buffy.

The Slayer’s eyes glowed green for a moment. “That’s exactly the wrong thing to say, buster.” She pulled out her sword, and she started to slowly circle Toth to put Spike behind him.

Toth raised his arm, rod in hand. He was about to release the power of his weapon when Spike jumped on him from behind. Toth’s knees buckled beneath him. A powerful grip on his arm made him drop the rod. Toth threw off the offending weight, but before he could regain his balance the Slayer surged forward to sever his head from his body.

“Well, that’s interesting.” Spike kicked Toth’s head to the side while Buffy and he watched the body dissolve into the ground. “Not something you see every day, even in Sunnyhell.”

Buffy picked up the rod, and she tossed it to Spike. “Here, round up Willow and Serina. Get Riley back to normal.”

“That git isn’t anywhere near normal,” Spike replied. He swaggered over to Buffy, and he caught her around the waist. “Have I mentioned lately how hot you make me when you’re fightin’, pet?”

Buffy looked up into Spike’s face. “Yeah, but tell me again.”

Spike chuckled before he pulled Buffy in for a knee-buckling, panty-wetting snog.





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