In a conference room in a swanky office in central London a routine conversation was about to take an interesting turn. Kallax was seated at the head of the table, far from where Scub was presenting despite them being the only two in the room; he liked to assert his dominance. Both were clad in black pinstriped suits, Kallax's perfectly pressed, a far cry from the sweaty shirt of Scub, his tie loosened and top button undone.
"Our ratings are way down, boss." Scub informed Kallax, gesturing to the decline in the line graph.
"Don't you think I know that?" Kallax yelled launching his knife through the air.
Scub ducked and the knife pierced the wall showering his head in dried plaster.
"Well sir, I do have a plan." Scub replied plucking the knife from the wall.
"Care to share?" Kallax began advancing on him.
"I can show you." Scub grinned and he clicked his fingers.
Six men in suits marched into the office, every one paired up holding an arm each of their three prisoners. 2 men and a woman and all three looking extremely angry and extremely powerful.
"What's this?" Kallax gestured and sniffed the air. "Aha, the slayer and her vampires. It stinks of souls in here."
"The perfect contestants to bring up our ratings. We'll run a commercial, get a huge live audience and let them fight it out. It's perfect." Scub excitedly told his boss.
"Remove the girl's gag." Kallax waved a hand over Buffy's face.
"What do you want with us?" Buffy spat at him.
"Now, now slayer play nice. We just want you to take part in a little game show. Not too hard right?" Kallax smiled.
"Take them away." Scub ordered the men.
Buffy, Angel and Spike fought fiercely. They kicked and yelled but their hands were shackled and their arms held in place, mouths gagged, smothering any noise and they didn't even remember how they ended up there. They seriously did not have the upper hand.
The trio were led down underneath the offices into a dungeon and carefully each guard re-shackled one arm of each of the prisoners. Surprisingly, none of them put up a fight, though Buffy shot some looks that could kill. Soon, the gags were removed and they were left alone. The cell was small, enough room for each of them to shuffle a little in either direction but more than that was hopeless. They were all shackled to the back wall which dripped with grime and goop, the stench of mould and stale urine hung in the air.
"Anybody know what the bloody hell is going on here?" Spike began, shaking at his tied wrist.
"No. Anyone remember how you got here?" Angel looked from Spike to Buffy.
"No." Buffy admitted and Spike echoed her sentiment.
"What tv show is this? I didn't even know demons have shows! What the hell is going on?" Buffy babbled.
"Choose Your Side." Spike said.
"What?" Angel barked.
"Choose. Your. Side. That's the name of the show." Spike repeated. "Heard of it?"
"Maybe...I don't know". Angel rubbed his head in concentration.
"Do you have any idea what we're in for?" Buffy turned to Spike.
"Kind of. I know the basic premise. They get demons, vamps or something like that and put them and their exes in a ring. Throw in a bunch of the most dangerous demons they can find and see if they can set aside their differences and fight it out." Spike revealed darkly. "Some kinda sick reality show. Love, lust and blood equals damn good demon entertainment."
Buffy ignored his last comment and silenced her gulp before confidently announcing. "Well that shouldn't be a problem. We can win."
"Wait." Angel held up a hand and turned his attention back to Spike. "What happens if we win?"
"Rumour has it, that the exes are chained up and the person whose exes they are, in this case, Buffy, she has to choose who the demons can have. The other she unchains and they watch the demons tear the other limb from limb."
Buffy's jaw dropped and her hand instinctively travelled to her mouth to bite her nails in worry. She resisted the urge after she remembered she had no idea what she'd touched in the last twenty four hours so instead said, "Why's it only a rumour?"
"No one's ever survived the fight."