A/N.- Chapter Four of the ENOUGH series. I'm writing this without any feedback, so feel free to criticize.

Disclaimer.- You all should know this belongs to Joss Whedon and the parties involved in getting this show   on the air.

Feedback.- As you wish.

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The Chip.

Two days had gone by after Buffy, no, the slayer had turned him down. He had spent most of his time reclused in a public library, researching all he could about brain surgery. He accesed the internet and he learnt how to use it in ten minutes. It was all a matter of reading and he loved to read. His mind was still operating on basic impulses. He focused on the task at hand and forgot about everything else. The proof to it was that he hadn't eaten anything in the past 50 hours. He only had drank about three bottles of tequila and had been chain smoking until the library staff threatened to kick him out. Only because that interferred with his purpose had he stopped smoking. There had been no information which could be useful in the removal of his problem. He learnt the basics of the brain. The names of everything up there. What the neurons were for. Electrical messages and electrical impulses were what interested him. The train of thought is nothing but electric impulses chasing one after the other, through the link that the neurons make. The idea and intent of hurting humans was an electrical impulse, which was detected and classified by the chip, which in turn zapped amounts of electricity at the region of the brain which managed the pain impulses. He also found out that the pain of hurting physically was nothing but a reflex, and since the reflexes are impulses sent and stored in the spinal chord and then bounced back, he thought that maybe severing his spine could help him but then again it was a stupid idea because he'd be crippled again. A lousy idea. He needed to research more. What concerned him the most was that even if he managed to remove the chip, maybe the thing would take off with it a piece of his brain, and he'd end up crippled again, or he'd forget how to read or he'd drool for the rest of eternity. He also read about the fact that his personality might change after being essentially lobotomized. And then he came upon something very interesting. The way to map the brain. CAT scans, PET scans, and something called MRI. Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Those things applied to study the brain and were essential to mapping the brain and pinpointing damage to it or illness. But there was a slight thing within MRI that appealed to him. A lot. He read about it and became even more fascinated with it. There was a way out of this nightmare. He'd be free of the damn chip!

He smiled, he truly smiled for the first time in a lot of time. He knew that God didn't listen to him, but now there was hope.

The hope to be what he was before. To be free again. Of being able of making his own choices without being imparied by a piece of metal and silicone. There were risks as well. The danger of being a vegetable for eternity or losing his memory or being a cripple again.

And yet, he didn't care. Not anymore. He had no soul so he had no regrets. He had no one to answer to, and certainly no one would care if something happened to him.

He took off the library and headed toward's Wily's bar. He stole what he needed. He was in no mood to pay and Wily seemed to notice the dark cloud which hovered above the vampire. Spike ate two bags of blood and drank some whiskey. Courage in a bottle, because he was in for a world of pain and an uncertain future. He only hoped that after his adventure, he'd be able to remember his car.

In fact, there was only two things he wanted to remember for the rest of his eternity. He ran back to his crypt and headed downstairs. He found his metal box and opened it again. The content of it made him smile, and he thought about something else apart from his chip. Inside the box there was a paper. His greatest and most priced possesion. A single photograph. He placed it in the pocket of his duster which was nearest to his heart.

He took a long, last glance at his home, and took off.

Some time later, he arrived at the hospital. It was late and it was a very quiet night. He easily dodged security and headed to the part where neurosurgery took place. He looked aroud but nothing seemed similar to the photo he had printed. He was looking for a MRI chamber.

After some minutes of searching, he found what he was looking for. He took a moment to admire the equipment which would free him of his curse. He had hoped for a doctor to remove the chip. He had expected some magic to fry it. But it never had occurred to him that to fight technology you needed technology. He approached the machine and read the instructions. He smiled when he read the warning sign. "YOU MUST REMOVE ANY METALLIC OBJECT FROM YOUR BODY. RISK OF BODY HARM." He took off his chain and his rings. He placed them in his duster and hid the thing in a ventilation shaft. If he didn't wake up he wished for it to remain hidden. He sighed and proceded to enter the instructions in the computer. He knew he only had a few minutes from when he turned on the machine to when hospital security would find him. He made the arrangements and entered the chamber. A soft hum filled the air and a red light shone above his head. He smiled again. He was a few moments short of getting rid of the chip. The hum grew louder and he felt as if something heavy was set upon his body. All of a sudden, the chip began working, being fried by the magnetic resonance. The pain shot through Spike's body and he lost himself in it. The pain reached it's peak and Spike spasmed up and lost consciousness as a small object flew outside the back of his head. The humming stopped and he fell as the corpse he was. His face was distorted into a grimace of pain. There was blood in the back of his head, and it was pooling slowly next to his ear.

And a few centimeters apart from his right hand, there was a small blood covered, smoking metal piece, zapping small amounts of electricity.

The chip had been removed.

End of Chapter.