Disclaimers: Mutant Enemy and Joss Whedon own it all. I'm just doing this for fun, and hopefully entertainment
Reviews: Welcomed and appreciated
What if the Initiative came to Sunnydale a few years earlier than we thought? And what if Angel got chipped instead of Spike? Just an idea…
Buffy was placed in a holding cell while Professor Walsh looked on. Forrest was uncomfortable with this turn of events. "Ma'am, she's human and there are several doctors' rooms empty. I could place her in one of those…"
"Lieutenant, are you questioning me? Are you forgetting just who your superior is when you are at the Initiative?"
"Never ma'am." He replied tightly.
"Alright then. As long as we are on the same page. Place her in the holding cell and bring her mother here." She gave Buffy an insincere smile as she left.
Buffy turned to the young soldier. "Is my mother alright?" There was a tinge of panic in her voice.
"She's fine. You'll see in just a minute. Please ma'am, get into the cell." His voice was strained. He hated this and Buffy could see that. Maybe she could use this.
"Why is she doing this? I mean, does the whole government condone this? I know I'm the slayer and all, but I'm only 17. You know?" She put a small voice on and looked up at him with large, tear filled eyes.
Forrest shook his head. "Look, I'm sorry about this. But I have to follow orders."
"Yeah, okay. I get it. Thanks anyway." She looked away.
Taking a deep breath, Forrest locked her in. "I'll get your mom."
"Thanks." She sank down on the floor. Okay, so she made a bad decision coming on her own. An even bigger one believing Spike, that bastard, would be of some use to her. Her only consolation was that Drucilla was far away having a baby and obviously falling love with that Riley guy. How trippy was that?
"Buffy?" Buffy jumped up when she heard her mother's voice.
"Mom? Mom? Are you okay? I've been so worried. Did they hurt you?" She was looking closely at her mother for any sign of injury.
"Young lady, I am so upset with you. Slayer? What in god's name did you think you were doing? And then to keep it all from me? And then letting me think you ran away with your older, very much older it would seem, boyfriend? Once we are out of here you are so grounded young lady."
"Oh mom, you don't know the half of it." She had to smile at her mother being such a mom.
"Okay." Willow adjusted the light over the map Oz was holding for her. "I'm pretty sure we are right over the control room." The group had found a way in, avoided several surveillance cameras and had repelled down a very long elevator shaft. Both Cordelia and Willow thought they had come down miles.
"About a quarter of a mile girls." Xander rolled his eyes.
"Oh yeah? Well with your eyes closed it seems a hell of a lot longer." Cordelia looked to Willow for support.
"Yeah, at least five miles." Willow agreed.
Giles took a deep breath, "Well, thank the gods some of us kept our eyes open. So Willow. You believe we are over the control room?"
"Pretty sure." She whined.
Angel had lost the little patience he had. "I'm getting out of this shaft and finding out just where we are. You wait here." He pulled the grate out and looked about the room. A hallway, not a control room. No matter, he had to start looking for Buffy and this was as good a place as any to start. He turned back to the group. "Keep looking, this isn't it."
"Hey. Where do you think your going? We said we'd stick together and I think we should." Xander confronted the vampire.
"I have to find her Xander. I can't just search these shafts waiting. I have to find her." He was frantic.
"Okay, fine. But I'm going with you. You can't do a thing against soldiers and that's all we have here."
Cordelia poked him in the ribs. "And you think you can do what? Humans, demons, all the same. Come on Harris. Be real."
"I have to try too. Buffy would never forgive us if we let him just walk into this alone. She loves him. And I know how I would feel." He looked deeply into her eyes.
"So not a good time for you to become heroic and romantic. You just take care of yourself. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT, play hero. Got me?" She turned to Angel. "Don't let him do anything stupid."
Angel looked between the two of them and shook his head. Teenagers. "Yeah, right. Now let's go." They jumped down into the hall and replace the grate.
"Where to dead boy?"
Angel stilled for a moment, lifting his nose to the air. So many scents. But there she was, he could find her anywhere. "This way."
Spike saw the ponce and the boy leave the air vent system. He could follow them but he wanted to see what the others had in mind. He waited a few minutes until he heard the group move on. Stupid gits, he thought, make enough noise to wake the dead. Luckily there were just a bunch of stupid humans in charge. He opened the grate, after looking back and forth, he jumped up and closed it behind him. Following the tambourine shakers, he thought with a snicker.
"It's here, I know it's here." Willow was adamant.
Oz shrugged. "Only one way to find out." He removed the grate and jumped down. The one tech that was at a monitor looked up in surprise. Oz quickly punched him and called for the others. "Hurry, I need help."
Once the tech was tied up, Willow sat down and started punching keys. "Okay, this is simple. This opens the doors and elevators to the outside." She smiled up at Oz. "This is so gonna work. We just need to find Buffy and her mother. I'm thinking if they put Buffy in a cage we can tell by her heat signature. Vamps and demons are different, see the colors?" She pointed to the various boxes on the screen and the different hues in each.
"So, what does that button do?" No one had heard Spike enter the room behind them and they all jumped.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Giles reached for a stake.
"Hey now pops. Peace. I came in with the slayer. Unfortunately about a dozen of those soldier boys showed up and took her." He sat in an empty chair near Willow.
"And how is it you didn't get captured as well." Giles asked suspiciously.
"Now, I wouldn't do her any good if I got caught as well, now would I?" He turned back to Willow. "So, what does this one do?" He pointed to the big red button on the panel.
"I think that opens all the cages. See, it says release right under it." She smiled at her logical deduction.
The tech began to squirm. "She's right. Don't hit that button or all the demons'll be released."
Spike smiled. "Sounds like a plan to me." He went to hit the button but Willow pushed him away.
"No Spike! It would be chaos. A bloodbath. And we still have Buffy and her mom out there. Angel and Xander too." She looked over at Giles for help.
"Spike, just get away from the control panel."
"You are all such pathetic gits. You need a diversion if you are going to get out of here alive. Once the demons are release, we get our people and run for it. It's not like we don't have demons running on the streets of Sunnydale. This is where we live. They'll just want to get out and get on with their little lives. Really." He smirked. "Okay, so maybe they'll extract a little payback, but you'll get your slayer and I'll get Dru."
Willow looked at him. "Drucilla isn't here."
"Of course she is. I feel her."
Willow frowned, "She was supposed to be far from here." She turned to Giles. "Do you think she came back?"
While Willow had her head turned, Spike hit the red button. "So sick of all your pansy ass indecision. Let's get what we came for and get the hell out of here."
Willow watched in horror as all the doors in the underground bunker opened up. She turned to the tech. "How do you close them?"
"You don't want to close them now. That'll just trap all the demons in with the staff. At least with all the doors open they might have a chance to escape." He struggled with his bindings. "Please, untie me. Let me go."
Oz looked over at Giles, who nodded.
"Oh god, where is Xander? He won't be able to handle this. We have to get to Xander." Cordelia was fighting tears.
"Let's find our people and get out of here." Giles handed weapons all around and opened the door.