Riley was looking at him but not offering any information. It was up to Angelus and his superior wiles to squeeze it out of him. As a test question, although he was already fairly certain of the answer, he asked, "What was that place?"
"The Initiative's complex," Riley answered readily enough. "Buffy said she mentioned it to you."
Angelus nodded. Finn was willing to share some details, which was good. "How long was I there?"
"A night and a day. I just found out a couple hours ago. Buffy was worried when you were nowhere to be found and I thought you might have gone out and been captured. Sure enough, I was right. I managed to convince the others to let you go. They only agreed because they trust my judgement, and because they know you can't hurt any humans."
Inwardly, Angelus sneered. Farm Boy thought he was talking to Angel. And it was true that Angel typically wouldn't harm humans. But Angelus was an entirely different animal. He was set to go on a killing spree that would make the infamous Bloodbath of Vienna look like a tea party. He was tempted to start with Riley. Most creatures weren't worth the blood they took up, and Finn was definitely one of them. Plus, aside from being a convenient target, he was just plain fucking annoying, with his smug smile and those beady eyes and that condescending attitude.
Riley scowled. "Look. We might as well get our feelings out in the open. You don't like me, I don't like you. I'm only helping out because I know Buffy would be upset if anything happened to you. I'm doing this for her sake, not yours."
He must have made his feelings just a little too obvious, Angelus decided. Well, he was willing to forget about waiting to kill the boy. He could just get the Initiative information through other means. He sprang at Finn, but fell to the street with a howl of pain as his head shot bursts of agony through him. Riley hadn't so much as touched him, nor had anyone else. Obviously, something malicious had been done to him during that mysterious operation back in the white room.
Riley smirked down at him. "You weren't trying to hurt me, were you, Angel? Oh, wait, did I forget to tell you? You *can't*." He chuckled loudly.
"What the fuck did they do to me in there? I was fine before I went in."
"Medical experiment. It's performed on all hostiles."
"What...the fuck...did they do to me?" Angelus repeated in a low growl from his ignominious position on the ground.
"I *told* you. It was a medical experiment. They implant the hostiles with a chip that prevents them from harming humans. Makes your kind a heck of a lot easier to handle, let me tell you."
"They can't do this to me. Take it out. Make them deactivate it," Angelus demanded.
"Why are you looking at me? I can't do anything. Wouldn't, even if I could, because I just plain don't want to."
Angelus longingly glanced back at the manhole cover.
Riley shook his head. "You go back in there, you're never getting out. They'll just experiment on you till they end up killing you and then they'll move on to the next vampire. They don't want to help demons. By the way, don't bother to go crying to Buffy. She might feel sorry for you, but in the end she'll pick me. Because who has never left her? Who can give her children? Who does her mother like? Who does she have a future with? I'll give you a hint: It's not you."
Angelus snarled futilely. The boy was taunting him, a master vampire, and getting away with it. Time was, Angelus would have had him for dessert and picked his teeth with the bones.
"Now come on," Riley urged. "I'm going to get you home like I promised Buffy."
Reluctantly, Angelus heaved himself to his feet. He didn't know what else he *could* do at the moment except go back to Buffy's place. He knew Finn was only helping him so as to score brownie points with the Slayer. The sad thing was, it would probably work. Farm Boy was a hell of a lot smarter than he had ever dreamed. He was going to play hero for Buffy and take the credit. It was a cunning maneuver, but since it came at Angelus' expense he couldn't bring himself to admire it too highly. It was the sort of thing he had routinely done to others, and it wasn't nearly as much fun when he was the victim rather than the perpetrator.
But he wouldn't give Finn the satisfaction of uttering a word of complaint. Anyway, his confidence was already trickling back. He was down, but not out. Didn't he always rebound, stronger than before? This time would be no different. He'd think up a way around this momentary setback soon enough.
***
The long walk back to Buffy's house passed in silence, though Riley was clearly gloating. He led Angelus on a shortcut across the yard to the kitchen door and called, "Buffy! We're back!"
Within seconds, the Slayer ran into the room. "Angel, are you all right? Where have you been? I've been so worried about you ever since this morning, when I figured out you were missing. I thought you were just sleeping until I knocked on your door and you didn't answer."
"I saved him, Buffy," Riley announced. "You were right--the Initiative had him, but I convinced them to let him go. He's fine, as you can see."
If Riley had patted himself on the back any harder, he'd have pulled some muscles, Angelus sourly mused. He simply couldn't allow the other man to continue to hog the sympathy and praise. Angelus groaned and swayed dramatically, clutching a hand to his head.
Buffy jumped to support him. "What's wrong, Angel?" She whirled on Riley. "I thought you said he was all right!"
"He is..." Riley stumbled. "I mean, he was. They didn't do too much to him, just put a chip in his brain, that's all. It only keeps him from hurting humans. Nothing else, I swear."
When Buffy spoke next, it was in a deceptively gentle tone. "Angel, let's get you upstairs so you can lie down, okay? Riley, wait here, please."
All of a sudden, Riley didn't look so confident. Angelus swallowed a grin. He might not be able to tear Finn's head off and stuff it up his ass, but it sounded like Buffy might be willing to do it for him. Maybe he'd underestimated her, too, just a bit.
As Buffy steered him toward Joyce's room, he deliberately leaned on her for support. She murmured soothingly as she guided him inside and propped him against the wall. While Buffy pulled back the covers and rearranged his pillow, Angelus removed his shoes and tossed his jacket over the back of a chair. "Lie down, Angel," Buffy ordered. He obeyed, and she continued, "You take a nap and you'll be feeling better in no time, all right?"
Angelus nodded and dutifully closed his eyes. Buffy wouldn't have a clue whether he was really asleep, and he had no intention of actually drifting off. He wanted to hear what she had to say to Farm Boy. He listened as Buffy hovered in the hall for a few minutes before she quietly shut the door and tiptoed away to the kitchen.
Once there, she didn't waste any time in confronting Finn in a low but firm voice. "Riley, you'd better explain things to me, and they'd better make more sense than they have so far. Now, you said the Initiative put something in Angel's brain."
"Yeah, but it's hardly like he was singled out. It's routine procedure to implant all hostiles with a device that will prevent them from harming humans. Do you know how many lives we're saving?"
"Riley, we're talking about *Angel*. It's ridiculous to even think about treating him like any other vampire. What you're describing is like using a choke collar on a Chihuahua."
Angelus grinned to himself. Not that he appreciated being compared to a microscopic lapdog, but if it got Riley out of Buffy's life he'd somehow manage to survive the indignity.
Finn protested, "Well, what difference will it make in his life if he's telling the truth and he really doesn't use people as his own personal blood banks?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe if he found himself unable to intervene if he ran into a human committing a murder, or a robbery, or a rape? Those possibilities do kind of leap into one's mind."
"Hey, don't blame me," Riley snapped. "I had nothing to do with it. In fact, you're lucky I was around to bail old Angel out. And I didn't want to tell you this, but since you're being so stubborn, I will. At the time he was captured, your oh-so-wonderful Angel was about to attack a human decoy we set out to trap vampires."
After a brief pause, Buffy said staunchly, "I don't believe it. I'm sure Angel was only going to warn him that it was dangerous to be alone outside at night."
Riley uttered a bark of laughter. "Oh, come on. Once a vampire, always a vampire. I have proof. I have witnesses. Why won't you believe me? You're in danger from this creep. Or you were before the chip, anyway."
"They'll just have to remove it, won't they?" Buffy countered.
"That's impossible. There's no way to remove or disable the chip without causing severe brain damage or possibly even death. The Initiative doctors planned it out very carefully for just such a possibility."
After several seconds of silence, during which Angelus' imagination provided several vivid images of Riley in various states of disarray, Buffy spoke again. "You know, I never really liked the idea of the Initiative before, and you're making me like it even less now by the second. I want you to leave, and this time don't bother coming back with candy and flowers."
There followed the sounds of Riley huffing out an exasperated breath and retreating, then of footsteps moving along the hallway and the bedroom door opening.
Buffy stepped inside the room and sat on the bed beside Angelus. He stirred and pretended to awaken, curious to hear what she would say about her conversation with Riley. "Buffy?"
"Oh, Angel, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up," Buffy apologized as she shifted away.
Angelus grabbed her hand. "No, stay. I'm not really tired anyway." He softly rubbed her fingers in an effort to get her to relax and open up to him. "So, you seem a little upset. Anything wrong?"
Buffy sighed. "Yeah, there is. I just broke up with Riley. We had what I guess you'd call irreconcilable differences."
"Oh, really?" It took an effort, but Angelus carefully modulated his voice to false-sympathetic mode.
"Yeah. I thought he'd be a 'regular' boyfriend, the kind everyone was always telling me I should have. And then he turned out to be this super-soldier commando guy who runs around making decisions that can ruin other people's lives. And he didn't even act sorry about it. I think I was in love with the idea of having a normal life, or at least a normal boyfriend. Guess I should have expected something like this to happen. We're talking about *me*, after all."
"You'll get through it. You always do, right?"
"I knew I could count on you to make me feel better."
Buffy absently stroked his hair as she spoke, and Angelus had to admit to himself that it felt kind of good. Was it possible he was softening toward the Slayer, even a little? Nah, he scoffed. It wasn't true. He was just playing up to her to keep her firmly in his camp. He had a feeling her help would come in handy when he sought his revenge against Riley and the Initiative.
END
***
Now, I'm sure some of you are protesting that what happened to Angelus in this story is the same as what happened to Spike on the show. True, but I do plan a sequel, and in it Angelus will react in a very different way than Spike did. He's going to get revenge. And the chip will not stay in his head forever. Also, some chapters of the sequel will be from Buffy's point of view as well as Angelus', so you can get some insight into what she's thinking. It will be a form of B/Aus, but Angelus will NOT sappily fall in love with Buffy and change his evil ways.
I've begun to post the sequel here. It starts in the next chapter.