Part 10: The next morning everyone was woken by the sound of yelling. After they had all reported back and Buffy had related her encounter with Adam and Riley, generously censored of course, they had started researching. They looked in books, Willow hacked into the databases and Graham told her what files to try. They had found many things, most very nasty, such as the fact that Adam had not been joking when he had remarked Riley might be suffering drug withdrawal, but nothing on Adam himself…itself.
Buffy had no idea when she herself had fallen asleep but she had seen Xander, Lance, Tara and even Athena, who had returned without Ares or Strife, slumped over in various positions.
Springing to her feet, and biting back a groan as her cramped muscles quickly protested her movement, Buffy took stock. Tara stood hovering in the corner she had claimed as her own, looking nervous. Willow stood by her. Xander, Lance and Spike were sitting on the stairs. Giles and Athena were nowhere to be seen and Graham stood in the corner opposite Tara and slightly behind the door looking a bit bemused.
In the middle of the room stood the cause of the disturbance and they were still screaming at each other.
Cupid was fighting with a mini-him complete with wings while Deimos and Phobos stood at the mini-Cupid's side, obviously ready to jump into the fray.
Buffy whistled, long and loud. "Hey! In the interests of my sleep never being interrupted by this again, what the hell is going on?"
Obviously decided to take advantage of the shocked silence, Tara stepped forward. "Buffy, may I present to you Bliss, God of Happiness. Bliss is Cupid's son."
"That explains the mini-ness," Buffy nodded and ignored the confused looks the gods gave each other. "So what's with the yelling?"
Cupid sighed and rolled his eyes. "It seems, like all teenagers, that my son has taken it upon himself to think that he knows best and has disregarded my request for him to not come to the Hellmouth where he could, oh, I don't know, DIE!"
Willow blinked. "You can do that? I thought…that is, Gods die?"
"He's exaggerating," Deimos spoke for the first time. Buffy was slightly amused to see him roll his eyes at Cupid though, from the vicious glare Cupid threw the blonde, Cupid was less than amused by the action.
"Exaggerating or not, Bliss is my son and I will thank you to keep away from him." There was no doubt Cupid was angry and Buffy, from the looks on all the gods' faces, got a terrible feeling in her stomach. Something told here there was about to be a god-smackdown happening soon.
She quickly intervened. "So Bliss, what brings you to SunnyD anyway?" she asked.
The god shrugged. "I was curious and I was bored and my best friends are here. Add that to the fact that they and my dad may have to fight and could get hurt….where else would I be?"
Everyone ignored Cupid's muttered 'Home. Where I told you to be.'
Everyone but Phobos that is. He whirled on Cupid. "You need to stop treating Bliss like a child. Cause he isn't. He's hundreds of years old and he is not a baby. Demi and I taught him how to fight and how to shield. He'll be fine here. We should be worrying about you! You haven't been in a fight in centuries."
Deimos winced. That whole speech had so many things wrong with it. Mostly that it was definitely going to piss Cupid off. First there was the fact that Phobos had just told him he was acting like a baby when it came to Bliss, which Deimos definitely agreed with but would never be so dumb as to say out loud within Cupid's hearing range, and then there was the insult to Cupid's own fighting prowess. Way to show the love, Pho, Deimos thought.
While Cupid stood gaping in stunned shock and Phobos frantically wondered why Hellmouths never swallowed you when you wanted them to, Xander stepped in and turned on the TV in a frantic bid to focus attention elsewhere.
"Hey, look, cartoons…"his voice trailed off as the camera showed not Scooby-Doo but a reporter standing outside a wooded area with a picture of a little boy in the upper right hand corner of the screen. The newscasters voice flooded the room as Xander turned the volume up. … "The body of nine year old Michael Witt was found in the park behind me early this morning by a man walking his dog. Michael had been missing since yesterday evening. When he failed to return from an evening playing with friends his parents contacted the police."
"This was a violent death and police are asking for anyone who has any information about anything that could help in their inquiries to step forward. They have set up a devoted line, the number is…" Xander turned the television off. They had no need to hear anymore, they all knew who had done it.
"I think," Lance spoke up for the first time that day, "that we have bigger things to worry about than the relationship between father and son; no offense my Lords Cupid and Bliss."
Looking distinctly unsettled by the newscast, Bliss nodded. Cupid sighed. "We'll discuss this later," he warned his disobedient child.
"So…Adam," Willow said.
"Adam," Buffy repeated in a hard voice. "Adam is going down."
No one disagreed.
"On that note," Xander spoke up, "I suggest we all get comfortable and have Spike tell us how he was captured, how he escaped and what happened to him while he was in the Initiative. The information could be important and it will definitely be useful."
Buffy nodded. "Good point, Xander. I had actually forgotten about that."
Everyone quickly found seats in various places and settled in.
Spike himself wasn't sure how much of his tale would prove useful. There was only one item of importance in it really but it could prove to be key.
Sinking back into the chair he cast his gaze toward the ceiling as he tried to remember exactly what had taken place.
"Right then," he began. "It's not a long tale but it's not pretty either and I don't care how pissed you lot get, I don't want any interruptions. S'rude."
"Please, just tell the story, Spike," Giles was obviously not having a good day.
"Well I do believe I was watching the Slayer stake a vamp when it all started. Over at the campus, she was, and bitching about how, and I quote, "That's it. That's all I get? One measly vamp with no appreciation for my painstakingly thought-out puns. You know, I don't even think the Forces of Darkness are trying anymore. Could put some effort into it. Give me something to work with.'"
Spike was thrilled to note that Slayer flushed and the Watcher was sighing and had buried his head in the palm of one hand. "Way to tempt the forces, Buff," Xander sounded awed at the Slayer's daring, though personally Spike thought it was more like stupidity. A person, demon, whatever, had to be careful with their words on the Hellmouth. Never knew what was listening to you.
"So anyway, there I am minding my own business, maybe making a few idle threats when Bam! I get hit with this burst of electricity. S'so strong I can't even stay on my feet and I fall to the ground. I'm lying there, twitching and wondering what the fuck is going on and these masked guys appear over me. One of 'em raises this gun looking thing and hits me with the electric again and I'm out.
"Wake up, don't know how much time later and I'm pissed. Gotta know where I am though so I stay still and categorize what I can hear and feel. Suffice to say I woke up with a nasty headache, a stinging in my arm and in a cell of what looks like a demon holding pen. Figure, due to the lengths they went to in order to get me, my health is not an issue.
"Obviously I decided to get out of there. Had a plan and it worked. I could tell the place was underground, stale, recycled air and all. Not sure really how I found my way out but if I had the time I could find it again. Came out on the campus.
"Was real pissed at the Slayer so went looking for her. Figured the little demon holding pen was either her or Red here."
"Hey!" Willow was indignant. "I'm not evil!"
"Pet, I'm a vampire and you're a White Hat. To you, I'm evil. To me, you're the evil ones. It's all a matter of perspective. Besides, aren't you Little Miss Scientist out of the bunch? Labs seem right up your alley."
"It is a logical conclusion to make," Giles interjected then looked as if he regretted it when Willow's pout and Buffy's glare were redirected to him.
"You know, I've never heard the story from this perspective before," Graham spoke up. "It's rather terrifying."
"Ta very much," Spike said, taking Graham's comment as an accolade to his bravery.
"Moving on then," Spike picked up his narrative "I hacked into the computer system…"
"Hold it right there!" Willow yelped. "You know how to hack?"
"You know how to use a computer?" Giles sounded impressed.
Xander snickered. "Guess your excuse of not belonging to the computer age doesn't cut it any more, G-man."
"Hey, that's right," Buffy smirked. "Someone gets modern research duty now too."
Spike was getting frustrated. Everyone was interrupting and he hadn't even gotten to the part he knew was important. The chip. If these bloody White Hats didn't shut up soon and let him talk he was gonna…well, he didn't know what he was gonna do since he couldn't kill them but it wouldn't be pretty.
Once again, it was Tara to the rescue. She had been listening intently, knowing somewhere in this story was part of the answer to the problem of Adam. Her precognitive skills were decent though clouded still and she knew the solution to their current problem was in three parts and the first part was in Spike's experiences.
"Perhaps we should let Spike continue," she said softly. "I have a feeling something he is going to say is going to be very important to us."
Once again everyone settled down to listen to the rest of Spike's story and only Xander caught the grateful look the vampire threw Tara.
"Anyway, I get to the room the Slayer and Red are in. Red invites me in…"Spike paused for everyone to yell at Willow only no one did.
"Buffy and Xander already yelled at me," Willow said off Spike's expectant look at her.
Spike sighed. He always missed the good stuff. "So I go in there and I try and bite her only I can't. Every time I try I get this huge pain shooting through my head.
"I knew when I woke up in the cell that the science blokes had done something to me but since there was nothing out of the ordinary I could see or feel I figured I would worry about it later. So in the room I didn't know what the hell was going on and I didn't get a chance to find out as those Initiative guys had tracked me. They attacked and I ran.
"Got outside and I realized what this pain meant. If it wasn't a fluke I was in serious trouble. How would I eat if I couldn't bite? I would die. It was while I was standing there that I heard my lords call and answered."
Buffy twisted on the couch to see Graham. "So what is this thing in Spike's head?"
"It's a behavior modification chip. It stops the hostile from causing any pain to humans. It's an electronic chip embedded deep in the brain. It's a highly complex surgical procedure. It takes several hours to get the chip in place."
"And how many hours does it take to get it out?" Buffy asked.
"You want it out?" Strife was obviously surprised and he wasn't the only one who was looking at Buffy in shock.
Buffy appeared embarrassed for a few seconds. "Well, anything the Initiative is for, I'm not. Besides we already know they were capturing innocent demons as well. We have to get the chip out of them and well, Spike's kind of our ally. I'd feel better knowing he could protect you guys if I wasn't there and the commandos are human."
"Then it's a good thing I already removed it," Strife smirked. "Took it out as soon as he became my Warrior. I don't care how long it took to get in it only took me a second to get it out."
Willow hmmed. "May I see it?" she asked. "I might be able to do something with it."
With a shrug, Strife materialized the chip in Willow's palm and she was immediately lost in her study of it.
"I'm not seeing the master plan here," Buffy muttered. "They put the chips in the heads then what? Release the demons out into society? What do they expect them to do; become baggers at the local grocery store?"
"They expected us to die," Spike stated. "They wanted to study the reactions of us and follow us around until we died to see what would happen. Either that or they were planning on using the demons as some sort of fighting force."
"Wow, man, that's just nasty," Phobos muttered. Deimos and Bliss agreed with quick nods; all three of them looking vaguely disturbed. "Talk about going to far in the name of scientific knowledge. I bet this Walsh chick had a theory on what would happen but that's going way too far to prove a hypotheses."
Cupid snorted in laughter. "I can't believe you know what a hypotheses is."
Deimos growled and glared at Cupid. "I'm not stupid," Phobos said evenly. He left unspoken the 'but you are if you think I am.'
Cupid blinked before averting his eyes. They met Bliss's and Cupid was even more disturbed at the disappointment in them.
"That's it though," Tara's voice captured everyone's attention; even Willow's.
"The first part of the plan," she said in answer to everyone's questioning looks. "The chip. Something to do with the chip is what we need. Did Adam know about this chip?" she asked Graham.
"I would assume so. I don't think he had one himself but since he seemed to know everything else I'm sure he knew about it."
"I don't know how," Tara said, "but we can use this. We just have to figure out how. And I think the first step in doing that is to figure out what Adam wants. He has to have a purpose. We need to know what it is."
"Well, Graham, guess its back to the hacking. Spike, come help us and see if you can see anything we're missing," Willow said. She carefully placed the chip on the table and warned everyone away from it before leading the way back to the computer; Graham and Spike following behind her.
Several hours later Spike and Strife were whispering in a corner together. They looked to be having some sort of argument. It also looked like Spike won as Strife heaved a sigh and then turned around.
"Hey!" he called out. "Spike's got a really stupid idea for us."
The Warrior glared. "S'not stupid. Look, Adam knows about this chip. He also wants to destroy the Slayer cause, well, what demon doesn't? All I gotta do is find Adam, tell him I'll bring him the Slayer in exchange for getting this chip out of my head and there we go. I know where Adam is, Red and Glinda can do a locator spell on me…," Spike was interrupted by Tara's shout.
"That's it!" Tara cried happily. "That's the last two parts of the solution."
"And for everyone here who doesn't have huge jumps in logic?" Deimos asked. "What's the solution?"
"The magic and the Slayer. Adam is a computer. Computers don't understand magic. They can't. The Slayer is also a creature of magic. But she can be defeated. Buffy, I know about you. Hecate showed me everything before sending me here. What's the number one reason you haven't been defeated yet."
"Easy," Buffy said. "My friends. I wouldn't be here without them; literally and figuratively."
"Exactly," Tara smiled. "Computers don't understand friends either. Spike uses his chip idea, which is part 1, to find out where Adam is. Somehow we use magic and the Slayer to destroy him."
"Adam might not understand magic. But Dahak does," Ares voice broke in and everyone whirled around to see the God of War had appeared.
"So it's true then? Athena asked.
"Unfortunately," Ares agreed. "After you and Strife found the information for me I went to the Fates and managed to get a straight answer out of them for once. It's Dahak.
"He's back."