Disclaimer: Don't own Smallville, Supernatural, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The first time Chloe nearly came out of consciousness people were talking around her while a bright light shone right in her eyes – which she was unable to open due to how heavy they felt. But even through her eyelids she could feel the burn of that light. The peoples' voices were distorted, and sounded demonic until she realized that the voices weren't the only ones that distorted. There were other noises as well, and they all held the same unearthly drag, which meant there was something wrong with her hearing.

"Why is the chip reacting this way?" A voice wanted to know.

"We're not sure," another responded. "Until we do though, and can fix whatever is causing it to short circuit, we need to keep her sedated."

"Tell me these charts are wrong," a British accented voice announced. "This amount of sedative is lethal!"

"Normally, yes, but her resistance to them is growing." That was yet another voice. "We're constantly having to up the dosage to make sure that she remains under sedation."

"Figure out the issue with the chip soon." That was the first voice, and it sounded dangerous. "I will not have you killing her because you're incompetent! That girl could be the answer to everything. Already the others are reacting to her presence, and she hasn't even been taken to the normal holding chambers. She's too invaluable to lose." Something thudded loudly. "Figure it out."

There was more said, but Chloe lost herself to the silent darkness.

The Watchers Council were being dicks. It'd been three days since Chloe had gone to stay with them and so far they weren't allowing Giles and Buffy to get in contact. In fact, they weren't even answering their phone right now. Giles assured Buffy that this was their version of a power play, letting the ex Watcher and ex Slayer see that they had all the cards. It was annoying as hell but Buffy could see those stuffy asses doing this, so she didn't let her annoyance with the situation bother her as much as it normally would. There was no way she'd let those assholes get the better of her!

That was probably why she didn't tell Sam, Dean and Angel whenever they'd call to check in. They thought Chloe was busy doing things, and considering their phone calls were all very brief as well there wasn't enough time to really question. Buffy hoped that by the time they found John and Cordelia, Chloe would've gotten in contact so Buffy could convince her to come back home.

Until then, the Slayer was stuck in Sunnydale with her successor. A part of her liked Faith, while another part of her somewhat resented the brunette for taking over her job so spectacularly. At least Buffy knew without a doubt that she'd lucked out in the Watcher department, because Wesley Wyndam-Pryce was a freaking idiot. She was surprised Faith and Wesley were both still alive after all this time on the Hellmouth. She was also surprised the Hellmouth was still there, for that matter.

Giles clearly shared her sentiments about their replacements, and that made her feel less bitchy about the whole thing, especially since he was being much more vocal about his feelings.

"How could a demon like Azazel come to Sunnydale, specifically tell you something was about to happen – and you have so little information on anything?" Giles snapped.

Sighing, Buffy leaned against the door and watched the Watchers buck heads once more.

The second time Chloe nearly came out of consciousness people were once more speaking, but while their voices were still distorted, now they seemed to be coming from a fishbowl. The bed under her felt different as well, and the room was much colder than it'd been before. She vaguely registered a pain in the back of her head, and wondered if it was because she'd been lying down for a very long time. And if so – how long had she been lying done in this same position?

"Shouldn't she be waking up by now?" A voice asked.

"We can't predict exactly when the anesthesia will wear off. Remember, we gave her an insane amount of it to keep her under while we updated the chip so it would work on her," another responded.

"Walsh's going to put us in one of these cells if she doesn't wake up soon, or at all." The first voice was clearly nervous.

"Don't get your panties in a twist, she'll wake up."

"You better be right. Our lives depend on it."

"Don't be so dramatic."

"I'm not! We've had more violence and aggression since she came here than we have in a very long time! Even the broken ones are acting up! There's something seriously wrong with that girl! I don't care if our tests say she's a hundred per cent human – there's something very wrong with her!"

Tests? What tests?

She tried to move her lips and form the words, but the darkness returned and she slipped into it willingly.

It'd been a week and a day, and Buffy was starting to get worried. Not only wasn't Chloe getting into contact with them – which wasn't like her – but Giles still couldn't get in contact with the Watchers Council. And it wasn't just Giles. Wesley had phoned the Council to prove to Giles that he was just being blocked by the elders…. Only to have his own call go straight to voicemail as well. Not only that, but every consequent call had gone straight to voicemail. Wesley was having a minor nervous breakdown, calling over and over again, worrying that he'd done something to be "put in the same boat" with "a rogue like Rupert Giles".

If it wasn't for the fact that they were going over so many books – as per Giles' orders – Buffy would've probably gotten on a plane and gone to jolly old England herself to see just what in the world was going on, but she was needed here, and the best thing she could do with her time right now was figure out what Azazel had planned. There had to be some prophecy they'd overlooked, some little information or warning which could hint as to what in the world was going on.

A knock sounded on the window, and when Buffy glanced out she froze in shock to see Clark Kent - aka Kal El - outside. While she'd never actually met him before, she'd seen tons of pictures of him, and Chloe spoke about him all the time so the Slayer felt like she knew him. It was why she opened the window and stuck her upper body out without a second's thought.

"You're Cl-Kal," she amended quickly given the fact that Chloe had shared he didn't like his birth name or to be called by it anymore.

"And you're the Slayer." He raised an eyebrow. "I have news on the Animus demon known as Azazel."

Her eyes widened. "Hold on a second." She leaned back in, yelled "GILES!" and then leaned back out. "So did Chloe ask you to keep an eye out for him?"

He nodded. "She told me where you would be and that I should get in contact with you should my informants come up with anything." The guy made a face. "I don't know how helpful this will be, but Azazel's been spotted in Cleveland. They don't know how long he was there or what he was doing, but he is confirmed to have done some sort of ritual while there. He also hinted that something was soon going to happen."

"Cleveland." Buffy made a face. Sure, the whole thing was important, but what the hell would a demon like Azazel go to Cleveland for? "What the hell's so special about there? I mean, here I get, there's a hellmouth. But what's in Cleveland?"

"Another hellmouth," Giles responded softly behind her in horror.

"Shut up!" Buffy turned to look at him in shock.

Giles ignored her and turned to look at Clark, whom he would've also known from the pictures on Chloe's computer as well as the pictures in Johnathan and Martha's homes. "Do your contacts have any clue what kind of ritual Azazel performed in Cleveland?" When Clark shook his head, Giles frowned darker. "What if we are wrong? What if Azazel didn't come here because there's a prophecy that has to do with this hellmouth?" He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Has he been seen anywhere else? Like maybe Easter Island, Chile?"

"Yes… How did you know?" Clark asked in visible surprise. "He's also been seen in Providence, Rhode Island."

"He's going to everywhere where there's a hellmouth," Giles whispered, eyes absolutely owl-wide behind his glasses. "No wonder the hellhounds are acting up!"

"What could he be doing at every hellmouth?" Buffy wanted to know as that feeling of dread that'd taken up residence in the pit of her stomach expanded.

Clark ran his fingers through his hair. "Nothing good."

The next time Chloe came out of consciousness she was actually able to move her body. It started small at first: her fingers twitched once, twice, and then she was able to move her hand - only a little, but that was enough. The sounds were still distorted but were slowly fine-tuning. The lights on her were bright, even behind closed, heavy eyelids.

Slowly, very slowly, Chloe moved her hand to cover her eyes and block the bright light from burning her. She licked her lips and coughed, her mouth felt like she'd been swallowing sand, and her eyes were so heavy. Everything in her body begged for her to go back to sleep, but she pushed passed it. She needed to wake up, it wasn't normal to feel this sleepy.

Forcing her eyes open was a chore, an excruciating one, and when Chloe finally managed to open them the light burned, even through her hand. It was everywhere and it was infernally bright. Her body moved on its own and she found herself sitting up, her hands covering her eyes, helping them slowly adjust to the change of light. What was going on? Where was she? And what was that light? What was happening?

Her memories were blurry, horribly so, making her unable to remember exactly what had happened. There was also a pounding in her head that sounded like someone was playing drums inside of her skull. She touched her head reflexively and froze. Her head… her head!

Her hair was gone. She now had a buzzcut, and there was a large gauze taped to the back of her head, and the seconds her trembling fingers trailed over it a jolt of horrible pain raced throughout her body.

Opening her eyes once more in utter shock, Chloe finally glanced around her and went still. She was in a box, a glass box. There were breathing holes, as well as a cot (which she was sleeping on) and a small porta potti. A glance down at her body proved that she wore a hospital gown.

What happened? Was I in an accident?

And yet that wouldn't explain the glass box.

Stumbling to her feet, Chloe's legs nearly gave up on her. She stumbled back down on the bed and took in a deep breath before trying to stand once more. She managed to stand and move, one foot at a time, towards the closest glass wall. Her palms pressed against the cool material as she stared at her own reflection in horror.

Pale skin, dark bags under her eyes, buzzed head, hospital gown, and gauze patches all over her. What had happened? Had she been in an accident?

A roar echoed throughout the room.

Only then did Chloe gaze passed her reflection into the room her glass cage was in, and when she did her eyes widened and her lips parted. There were countless similar glass boxes taking up every inch of wall space, stacked side by side and one on top of the other, and in each and every one of them was a monster or demon of some kind. Some of the species Chloe had fought during her time with the Scoobies or met during her travels with Angelus, some she'd only seen in Giles books - some she'd never even seen or heard of before. "What is this place?"

"Hell," a voice croaked to her right.

Jarred by that sound, Chloe turned to find that there was a glass cage next to hers on the right, and in it there was a girl. Similarly to her, the girl was bare foot, wore a hospital gown, was covered in bandages, and had had her hair cut short. The curls were growing back though, all wild and uneven, only proving just how long she'd been there. "Bette?"

"How do you know my name?" Bette San Souci sat with her body leaning against the glass wall that divided their glass cages.

"Are we dead?" Chloe asked as she turned to look at the millions of similar glass cages all throughout the endless room. If hell was a place, this could very well be it.

"We're not that lucky." Bette let out a sigh. "So you're a telepath, huh?"

"What?" Chloe tore her gaze from the others and returned her green gaze on Bette.

"They wouldn't collect you unless you had an ability, the only humans here are those they feel are worth 'studying'. Everyone else are those monsters." Bette made a face. "You knew my name so you have to be a telepath."

"No." Chloe shook her head and then winced when it hurt. "This is going to sound weird, but I've met you in an alternate reality." At Bette's unimpressed, disbelieving look, Chloe turned to fully face her. "You can create fire, but you don't do it intentionally. This ability wasn't something that you grew up knowing you had, and it only manifested a couple of years ago. It started off small at first - you've always had higher than average temperature, were hardly affected by the cold, but it gradually grew to you not feeling cold at all - and giving off heat. The first time you realized something might be off was when a friend placed his hand on her arm and got burnt."

Bette's face closed off immediately as she narrowed her hazel eyes.

Chloe wracked her brain for everything the alternate Bette had told her. "The first time you caught on fire you burnt your whole neighborhood to the ground. You were sleeping at the time, dreaming you were trapped under a thick sheet of ice and drowning. Your whole family were also in the house that night. They died in that fire and you've never been able to forgive yourself for surviving it - for causing it." She stared into those haunted hazel eyes. "You can't control it and because of that you've hurt a lot of people. So you lived on the run, on the streets, keeping to yourself because if you don't let people in then you can't hurt them when your power flares up uncontrollably."

"I never told anyone what I was dreaming that night," Bette finally spoke, her voice a low whisper, her expression shaken.

Chloe caught and held her gaze. "You told me."

Bette leaned harder against the wall. Conflict was visible on her face. She wanted to believe, but was scared to as well.

A noise to her left distracted her, and Chloe turned to realize that there was another cage there. This one contained a wraith. It was surprising Chloe hadn't noticed her until now, to be honest. The creature was plastered against the wall that divided their cages, her open mouth pressed against the glass, as if trying to suction something from Chloe's cell.

"An alternate reality, huh?"

Chloe's attention returned to Bette to find that the younger girl was now on her feet, palms against the walls separating their cages. "Where are we?"

"They call this place The Initiative," Bette answered with a sigh as she pressed her forehead against the glass. "They say they're scientists but this is clearly a military operation. They collect people with abilities, as well as those monsters. They study them - us, pit us against each other. That pain you're feeling in your head right now? It's because they've implanted a chip in your brain like they have all of us. That chip keeps us from using our abilities without their permission. If we try it hurts like hell, and if we still persist it fries us, it's their fail safe, not only does it control and track us, but it kills us - or leaves us brain dead. I've seen it happen too many times… I can picture each and every one who fought." She went pale. "The lucky ones died."

Chloe eased her hand back over the gauze behind her head and flinched at the spike of pain.

"These cages also have some sort of nullifying agent to them. As long as we're inside them our abilities aren't active. Or, at least it shouldn't. Sometimes they get rid of the nullifying agent just to fuck with me." She slammed her palms against the walls. "All in all we're basically fucked. I mean, there's nothing we can do. They have guns and needles and numbers."

"How fascinating," a new voice declared, the sound of which made Bette recoil away immediately. "I do not believe Miss Sans Souci has spoken this much since her arrival." A woman Chloe did not recognize appeared, arms clasped behind her back, stance military yet her white robe denoted her status as a scientist. "How are you feeling, Miss Sullivan? We were beginning to worry that you would not wake up."

"Who are you?" Chloe wanted to know as she turned her attention on the blonde with a pixie cut. Who was this woman and how much of their conversation had she overheard? "What do you want with us?"

"You're a natural conduit of the hellmouth energies, when we found that that was a thing we knew we had to get our hands on you." The woman declared. "You can call me Professor Walsh, I'll be the person who you'll interact with mostly during your stay here."

"How do you know what I am?" Chloe fought to keep the relief off of her face. They didn't know what she really was. That could be a good thing.

"She had a little help," an unexpected voice announced as a familiar figure stepped out of the shadows.

"Gwendolyn Post?" Chloe whispered as suddenly the events of her kidnapping returned to her in a flash. She staggered back a couple of seconds and just stared at the Watcher. "You killed your own people."

"They were dinosaurs still lost in the jurassic age," Gwendolyn replied acidly as she crossed her hands over her chest. "When Maggie came to me with this proposition I knew that I couldn't say no."

"Women need to help each other in our world," 'Maggie' agreed with a little smirk. "And I know you don't see it now, neither of you do, but we're here to help you. Once Miss Sans Souci can learn to master her abilities she will be an incredible asset to our government. And you, Miss Sullivan. A conduit for the hellmouth, able to strengthen a witch's power by tapping into an energy that would kill others. You could do so much for your country."

"KAL!" Chloe screamed as she slammed her hands into the walls loudly. "KAL! KAL! KAL! KAL! KAL! KAL! KAL!" And yet Kal didn't come.

"Interesting, who is this Kal and why does she think he or she can hear her?" Maggie Walsh asked Gwendolyn Post.

"Not sure," Gwendolyn admitted before she turned her attention to Chloe. "Your friend can't hear you, darling. This whole place is fully soundproof and enhanced with magic."

Chloe's eyes widened in horror. Could Kal really not hear her? "KAL!" Suddenly pain unlike anything she'd ever felt seared through her brain. She couldn't stop the scream even if she'd wanted to as she grabbed her head and collapsed to her knees. It lasted forever and a day, but in reality must've only been a couple of minutes, before it finally stopped.

"That was just a warning," Maggie informed her blandly. "We can't have you riling up the other guests."

The chip—this must be what Bette was talking about.

"At least we know it works," Gwendolyn muttered as she eyed Chloe up and down.

"Be a good girl and get some rest," Maggie ordered as she walked over to the cage, and bent at her knees so that they were face to face, her one one side with all the power, and Chloe on the other. "You're going to need it."

John was using something that seriously screwed with location magic, which was why they were still following them in the Impala instead of Sam just teleporting them to wherever John and Cordelia were. As it was, Sam's magic was able to pinpoint where those two had been, and so they were always two steps behind. Their only hope was to figure out exactly how to end the curse, that way they'd be able to anticipate where John would be and get there before him to stop whatever happened that ended in his and Cordelia's deaths.

Dean had been running himself ragged, surviving off of coffee and adrenalin. It was no wonder he'd finally crashed. He lay in the backseat, snoring loudly while curled up around the huge box of books they'd brought with them.

Sam had taken over driving duties, and Angel sat in the passenger's seat, using a flashlight to keep reading. Having used his magic to sun-proof the windows had probably been the most useful thing Sam had been able to do since this had all started, and he honestly felt useless. At least, though, he could be here for his brother and drive while the sandy-blonde snored in the backseat, no doubt dreaming of the girlfriend he was rushing to save.

He glanced over at the phone only to find that Chloe had yet to answer the many texts he'd sent her. When she'd failed to answer his first couple of phone calls he'd realized she needed time to herself to go over what she'd learnt in the alternate universe - as well as the fact that he'd wished for it - and so he'd limited his attempts at communication to texts. He'd promised himself he wouldn't push for information about her during his calls with Buffy, but he was sorely tempted to the longer Chloe didn't answer him. Had he gone a screwed everything up? Was there honestly no chance for them now?

The silence on her part was making him grow increasingly uncomfortable. Not just emotionally. There was something going on in their connection. If it wasn't for the fact that he knew Buffy would let him know if Chloe was in danger, Sam would've worried it was exactly that. But since Buffy hadn't gotten into contact with him he knew this had to be something it. It could be the fact that she was pulling away from him. And that hurt. But it was a possibility he had to accept if it did happen.

And yet even as he thought that his chest felt like it was slowly being constricted. Painfully. And he was fighting a migraine. He'd had a really bad one a couple of hours ago, it'd nearly blinded him and it was a good thing he hadn't been driving at that time. The pain had lessened was a very dull ache, he could easily handle it.

"You're worried about her." It wasn't a question, just a statement from the vampire who had yet to look up from the book he was reading.

"Yeah." Sam fixed his gaze on the road. If there was anyone he did not want to talk to about Chloe, it was with Angel.

"I know it doesn't mean anything, especially not now, but I need to apologize for what Angelus did to you." Angel still wasn't looking up from the book. "I like to tell everyone that he and I are separate beings, but we're not, not really. He's the version of me who isn't inhibited by a conscience or guilt, he's the darkest parts of my soul who I try to hide and chain and keep under control every single day." He let out a deep, unnecessary breath as he finally snapped the book closed. "The thing is, Sam, is that I love her, and in his own very twisted way, so does Angelus."

He didn't want to do this. Not now. Not here. Not with this guy. And yet… "So do I."

"We know that, we always have," Angel replied with a heavy sigh. "And you have a bond with her that we never will, it's one of the reasons why Angelus took you as well. There was no one else he could've threatened that would've been half as successful as you."

"I'm sure her father would've made an excellent bait." Sam's eyes widened. Oh for crying out loud! Now if Angelus came back - if he kidnapped Gabe - it would be Sam's fault!

"No, that wouldn't have worked." Angel shook his head with a dark laugh. The vampire had never made it secret that he didn't believe Gabe did a good job being a father and protecting his daughter. "Angelus needed someone that could not only survive the demons world, but thrive in it. That wasn't Gabe. That was you."

Intrigued, Sam turned a quick glance in the vampire's direction. "Anyone could be a pet, Angel. They just need to be broken enough."

"How exactly were you broken?" Angel asked with a smile that almost reminded him of Angelus for a second. "You were treated decently, especially for a pet. You weren't tortured, were actually quite pampered, even when we went out. Drusilla doted on you. And you even had a comfortable bed in your master's room." He shook his head as his smile turned more wry and less pointed. "Angelus liked knowing you were watching him take her."

"Of course he did." Sam shook his head in disgust. "He kept sneering at me, as if saying - this is what you want and can't have, Pup."

"If you hadn't left, he would've let you join in."

Sam nearly stepped on the brakes in his utter shock. "What?"

"Angelus was tempting you with what you wanted, he knew you were at the breaking point, and once he felt you close to tipping over that edge he would've offered you a part in the family, not as a pet, but as actual family." Angel leaned his head back against the seat. "If I'm being completely honest, you weren't only taken as leverage to Chloe. The two of you were taken as a reason for the other to stay."

Confusion filled Sam in such a disorienting way he found himself pulling over off of the road and parking the car. He turned to face the shame-faced vampire who had yet to meet his eyes. "What are you talking about? Why would Angelus want me as a part of his family?"

"Were you ever told the story of Angelus and Drusilla?" Angel asked softly, shame all over his face.

Sam wracked his brain. "She was pure and he wanted to destroy that."

"She also had an incredible prophetic ability, and Angelus wanted that." Angel finally turned his gaze on Sam. "He could see the same potential in you, Sam. You took to magic rapidly, too much so, and being with Chloe made you even stronger. With the right incentive, the right manipulating, the right motives - he could see you as his greatest creation. He could mold you, like he molded Chloe, and make you into something fearsome and great - into someone people would whisper about in fear. He wanted to do that."

Sam just stared at Angel in utter shock. "How could he possibly know I'd be powerful?"

"Drusilla confirmed it, kept calling you a Hellhound, which only proved your future worth to someone like Angelus." Angel let out another deep, unnecessary sigh. "You could think of Angelus like a collector. There were other people he sired but the ones he kept by his side were Drusilla - the psychic, and Spike, annoying, sure, but he was a bloodthirsty monster, a warrior of darkness. He killed 2 slayers on his own - a feat in itself for one vampire. You and Chloe would fit in perfectly… with some modifications." He ran his hand over his face. "He never got to finish his work on you, but he had three years to mold Chloe… and I will never forgive myself for that… because if he did that to her, it means that a very deep, dark place of me wanted to all along."

There was a moments silence as the witch stared at the vampire. "Why are you telling me this?"

The vampire gave a little shrug. "I don't really know."

The Watcher's Council headquarters had been attacked and razed to the ground by forces unknown.

The only reason that Buffy, Giles, Wesley and Faith even found out is because a Watcher who'd been out on assignment, had returned only to see passed the glamour wards all over the building. This watcher, interestingly enough, was Sam Zabuto, the late Slayer Kendra's Watcher. The man hadn't called them, had instead made his way to Sunnydale, and here he was, standing in front of them, carrying the luggage he'd had when he'd returned to the Watcher's Council, as well as bearing the horrendous news.

Buffy collapsed on her seat, eyes wide in horror, heart racing. "Everyone was dead?" When he nodded, she clutched at her heart. "Chloe—?"

"Everyone is dead," Sam interrupted, accent heavier with his grief. "They were torn to pieces."

"So a demon did this," Giles whispered as he leaned hard against the wall next to Buffy.

"Azazel?" Wesley asked, voice breaking.

"It was not just demonic," Sam replied with a shake of his head. "There were shell casings. I only discovered one or two, but I am sure that they are the ones that were overlooked."

"Humans fired guns at the Watchers?" Faith made a face. "And then hid the evidence? They let demons feast on the bodies to, what, hide the bullet wounds?"

"I am not sure." Sam took in a deep breath. "All I know is that the Watchers and those under their care were all massacred. I saw their bodies. I do know, though, that your friend was not one of the bodies I saw."

Buffy and Giles turned to each other in utter relief.

"She was of much interest to the Council, we all knew what she looked like," Sam continued. "She either was taken from the Council, or she never arrived there. One of our private jets didn't return. She could've been in one of them."

Faith stood and rubbed her knuckles. "But if she never made it to the Watcher Council's headquarters, where the hell is she?"

No one had an answer.

Apparently they'd taken blood, tissue, hair, fecal, spinal fluid, basically any kind of samples they needed, they'd taken while she'd been unconscious. They'd scanned her whole body, performed Cat-Scans, Pet-Scans, Ultrasounds, X-rays, spinal taps… the list went on. Chloe figured that it was better that this had happened while she'd been unconscious, and it explained why she'd been so weak and sore when she'd awoken. It probably explained why it'd taken her so long to wake up, too. Her body had needed the rest to try and heal itself.

Those tests had apparently merely pointed to her being a hundred per cent human, which both relieved and amused her given what she knew about herself. But what wasn't amusing were the other tests. They wired her up to machines so her body was monitored every second of the day as they subjected her to one situation after the other and saw how her body reacted to them. Even while she slept her brain was being monitored.

Still, she couldn't complain, not when Bette had it worse. The first time Chloe had seen Bette spontaneously burst out into flames had been like watching a horror movie. The girl had been terrified, screaming and flailing around, asking for help, for them to turn back on the neutralizing agent, but they didn't. And then she seemed to disappear in an explosion of flame, only becoming a raging fire which raged within her cage until all the oxygen was burnt out. Only then did she collapse, unconscious and naked, on the floor, and only then did they allow oxygen back into her cage. It had to be torture.

But that hadn't been the worse of it.

During 'meal time' - which consisted of goopy food in a plastic container (with plastic knives and forks) which had been slid into the cage threw a small opening - Chloe had witnessed her first pit fight. The glass walls of their cages had turned into screens, and provided them the view of two being trapped in a larger cage. One was clearly a Kaliff demon, which were easily identified by a row of spikes lined along each side of their head. The other was a thin blonde girl, her hair shaved yet the bits visible were blonde, her eyes hazel. She reminded Chloe a bit of Buffy.

"HEY!" Bette slammed her hand against the wall. "HER LIGHT'S STILL RED! SHE'S NEUTRALIZED!"

Chloe didn't understand what Bette was saying, until she realized that the back of the girl's head was glowing a faint red. It had to be the chip. It must be still be neutralizing whatever power the girl possessed. A quick look to the back of the Kaliff's head proved that it was glowing a faint green.

"HEYYYYY!" Bette continued to slam her hands repeatedly into the glass. "TURN HER SWITCH ON!" She raced to another wall, banging against it. "SHE'LL DIE IF YOU DON'T!"

The light stayed red as a deafening siren blared above them.

In seconds the Kaliff demon charged and the fight begun. It wasn't a fair fight. In fact, it wasn't a fight at all. The demon charged and the girl dodged as best as she could. There was electricity in the walls though, and she got shocked more than once.

"TURN ON THE LIGHT!" Bette screamed as she collapsed to her knees. "WHY WON'T YOU TURN IT ON?!"

Heart in her throat, Chloe's eyes were wide as she stared at what promised to be a massacre. The screens protected high definition quality so they could all see the terror in the girl's eyes as she jumped and dodged and cried as she tried to activate her powers yet the red in her skull shone brighter, proving the chip was keeping her from doing whatever the hell she was trying to do.

The Kaliff demon wasn't showing any amount of sportsmanship and was chasing after her hungrily, viciously, eager for the hunt, for the kill. Chloe could feel it's need, it's desire to tear the girl apart and feast upon her flesh and blood. It knew that without her chip activated she'd be an easy meal.

Likewise, Chloe could feel the terror in the girl. She was in pain, she was scared, and she knew she would die. Her body trembled, her head stung, and it was all she could do to keep on her feet, to keep one swipe of claws away from the demon after her.

"PLEASE!" Bette sobbed before beginning to scream and grab at her head, which was shinning a bright red. They'd activated the torture setting on the chip, no doubt to punish her.

Chloe stared at Bette as she writhed in agony on the ground. "STOP IT!" She screamed as she started slamming her fists against the cage like Bette had, trying to draw their attention away from her. "STOP DOING THIS!" Immediately she felt the heat in her chip seconds before it activated and pain assaulted her. Its was blinding, as well as deafening, like a mini siren going off insanely loud in her ears. Her brain throbbed and her whole body gave out on her, falling to her knees before collapsing on her side and curling up in a ball.

The pain eased up and she used the little strength she had to kick the glass wall, igniting the pain once more. This time she was prepared for it, and maybe it was the fact that she was already featuring the pain of the previous that she was able to handle it better. She wasn't sure why, but she slammed her foot against the glass again, and again, and again.

With each kick she realized something that surprised her, as the pain augmented she could feel the chip better. Almost like with Ted she was beginning to actually see the chip, and that meant that even though the pain was getting worse, hurting her somehow made the chip weaker. The only time she'd ever tried to summon the hellmouth had been with Ted, but now she had a different sort of urgency. With her hands pressed against her head as she screamed, Chloe did something which could be monumentally stupid. She called upon the hellmouth energies inside of her, and she focused them inside of her head.

The more energy crowded in her mind, the better she could see the chip. It was incredibly intricate, its insides features many different wires as well as actively transmitting and receiving wireless signals. It was attached to her cerebral cortex, sending some sort of signal into it which was responsible for her pain.

Like with Ted she enveloped the chip with hellmouth energy, but unlike with Ted, it didn't absorb the power, the power, the energy, engulfed the chip so thickly it began to block the signals to and from her chip. Little by little, Chloe found the pain diminishing until it was a faint ache, a memory in her bones. She laid on the cold floor and stared at her reflection in the tiles. Her head was glowing a murky red, but the pain was gone.

Bette was still on the ground, writhing in agony.

"You can stop it, you know," a voice spoke from behind her.

Chloe twirled on her heel, eyes wide as she stared at none other than Azazel lounging on her bed, hands clasped behind his head to act as a pillow. "How—?"

"Finding out where you were was tricky, the wards on this place are nothing to scoff at," Azazel admitted as he pushed up to his feet and stretched. "But this is not my first time hearing about the Initiative, and when I realized the Watcher's Council - my first bet as to where you'd disappeared to - was offline I realized this was the only other place you could be." He grinned. "Thank you for showing me its whereabouts."

"I didn't show you anything," Chloe denied as she turned as he circled her, making sure not to give him her back ever.

"Not intentionally, no, but let's say that I have gotten… in tune… with you lately on as intimate a level as one can get without actually being in your physical presence." He moved closer. "We have to get you out of here."

"I'm not going anywhere with you." Chloe shook her head. "I'm not letting you use me to end the world."

"End the world?" The demon asked curiously before his eyes widened. "You know what you are."

"And I won't be a puppet who you use to end this world," she whispered angrily.

"My dear, you've got it all wrong." Azazel shook his head. "I like this world. I do not want it to end. That is why I am doing what I am doing. I am protecting this world."

Her eyes widened in shock. "What?"

"To protect this world from what's coming, I have to do something, and I'll need you out of here to complete it." He took a step towards her and held his hand out to her. "Help me save this world."

"Why do you think I would believe you?" Chloe wanted to know. "You're a demon, demon's lie. I'm not stupid enough to believe you want to save the world just because you tell me you do. I've seen what's going to happen. You use me to make all hell break loose."

"I don't have time for this." Azazel let out an annoyed growl. "I am protecting this world. I am protecting you. Even if from yourself."

"What?" Chloe asked in confusion before suddenly he placed his hand on her forehead and somehow she knew she had only seconds before she was taken out of there against her will.

The sound of gurgling distracted her for a second, and she glanced sideways to the screens to watch the Kaliff demon eating the dying blonde whose blood now covered the bottom of the cage. The last thing she saw, before everything went back, were those lifeless eyes staring right back at her.

"Okay, no more driving for Sammy." Dean finally looked up from where he'd been going over the damage the Impala had sustained.

Sam sat on the ground outside, his hand on his head. That migraine he'd felt before had returned with a ferocity that'd left him blind and deaf, and the next thing he'd known once it'd finally stopped, his brother was dragging him out of the car, which had apparently crashed into a tree on the side of the road. A part of him felt bad for having caused the accident, but he couldn't have expected this sort of migraine. He'd never had something that horrible before.

Do I have a brain tumor or something?

"Oh my…" Angel looked up from the book he'd still been reading from inside the car since there was still some sunlight left in the sky. He threw the book down into the car and pulled out his phone, entering something into it. "Come on… come on you stupid thing!"

"What's wrong?" Dean asked as he walked around the car towards the vampire.

Sam frowned and pushed up to his unsteady feet.

Angel froze, eyes wide on something on his screen, and then he pulled out the book again as if for reference. "I know where your father and Cordelia are going."

"That's a good thing though, right?" Sam asked as he joined Dean at Angel's window.

"No." The vampire shook his head as his brown eyes met theirs. "It really isn't."

TBC