Disclaimer: The title came from Disney's 'The Hunchback of Notre-Dame', so I don't own it, 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and 'Angel' came from Joss Whedon, so I don't own them, and 'Charmed' came from Constance M. Burge, so that's not mine either.

Anyway, enjoy.

Feedback: It's here to be read; let me know that it has been

onlimain: Don't worry, you don't need to know TOO much about Cole's role in 'Charmed'; just that he's a demon with a soul and he's dating Phoebe

sired-by-spike: Trust me, Cole does have a soul; the show said so quite a few times. In fact, it's the main reason he came back for Season Five; when he was 'killed' the first time, his human soul gave him the strength to hang on and escape the Hell he'd been sent to.

Girl version of Chandler: Sorry about the delay

pinkyblue-ice: I try; glad to here it's appreciated.

Guardian452X: Thanks for saying that; here you are. Sorry it took so long

What Makes a Monster?

"Uuh…" Belthazor groaned, as he blinked his eyes open. He didn't remember when he'd last taken a blow like that one; what the hell had the Source sent after him this time…

Then he remembered.

It hadn't been a demon.

Instantly, Belthazor was wide awake, leaping to his feet as fast as he could, despite the pain in his side from where the weapon had hit him.

He glanced around at his surroundings; he was in a small white cell, maybe about four square metres wide and two or so metres high, with almost dazzlingly white walls, ceiling and floor, although one wall didn't seem to actually have anything on it.

Belthazor smiled. He couldn't detect any magic around the door; maybe they just hadn't gotten around to casting that spell yet or something. In any case, this should be simple enough; just walk ou-

"AARRGGHH!" he yelled, as he put his hand towards the opening and a massive electrical shock surged through him; evidently, this place didn't need magical protection to hold him down.

Yanking his hand back, he stared at the apparently blank opening in front of him in confusion.

What was this place? Electric walls? Stun guns? Who were these guys; science fiction geeks who thought he was an alien, or just weird?

He shrugged. Either way, it didn't matter. He'd just shimmer out, get back to Phoebe, and worry about what to do about this place then.

He closed his eyes, focused…

And suddenly, blinding pain tore through his head, breaking off his concentration and leaving him clutching his forehead in agony.

"GAGH!" he screamed, for the few seconds before the pain subsided.

He blinked in confusion at that. He couldn't shimmer? What was that about…?

He shook his head and tried a different tactic. That wall had kept him in as Belthazor; maybe he'd have better luck as Cole…

He briefly focused, smiled as he felt the familiar tingle of his molecules beginning to reshape themselves into the handsome human form of Cole Turner…

And then he once again found himself consumed with the agony and pain that had characterised his earlier attempts to shimmer.

"ARGH!" he roared briefly, before the pain faded. Blinking rapidly for a few seconds, he raised his hands and stared at them- still the traditional red; not even the hint of normal human skin.

"What the hell is happening to me…?" he muttered to himself.

"Trying to escape already, Belthazor?" a female voice asked from somewhere above him. "You can forget it; that chip we put in your head prevents you doing anything that involves even the slightest displacement of your molecules unless we turn it off."

"And believe me, we have absolutely no intention of doing that any time soon," a second, male, voice put in suddenly.

Belthazor growled in his throat, and then looked up at where the voice seemed to be coming from.

"Who are you and what do you want with me?" he asked, trying to sound as though he wasn't all that impressed with their trickery.

"Our actual names are irrelevant, Belthazor; you can simply call us 'the Initiative," the female voice said. "As to why we want you, well…"

She chuckled slightly. "You'd be surprised what humans can discover if we try."

Belthazor thought for a moment or two, and then looked back at the source of the voice in horror.

"You're going to experiment on me?" he asked, trying to conceal his horror at that. "But… but what about my basic rights? I may be your prisoner, but surely that doesn't let you just test me like some…. lab rat!"

"Spare us the chatter, Belthazor; it won't get you anywhere with us," the male voice said dismissively. "Besides, I think you'll find that only covers humans; you're a demon. We can do what we like with you."

Then the male voice chuckled. "Anyway, it's a bit late to claim we can't experiment on you due to any 'rights' you may have; we've already taken a blood sample. Good day."

There was a slight clicking noise, and then nobody else spoke.

Belthazor swore.

They had a blood sample of his?

He wasn't sure if demon blood was the same as witches' blood, but if it was, he had to get out of here fast.

If a doctor could turn homicidally insane with the blood of the Charmed Ones in his veins, what would happen if it was a demon's blood…?

"Oh crap…" Angel commented, as he blinked his eyes open and stared around the blank white room he now found himself in. He didn't know what it was, what he was doing in it, or who was behind having him imprisoned here in the first place, but he could be sure of one thing.

They definitely didn't have his best interests at heart.

"Ah, Angelus," a voice said from somewhere above Angel. "You're awake."

Staggering to his feet, Angel glanced around the room for the source of the voice. Eventually, his eyes fell upon a small microphone-like device in one corner of the room, and he walked towards it.

"Who are you and what am I doing here?" he asked them; rather stereotypical questions, he knew, but he was more interested in obtaining facts that worrying about little details like originality right now.

"Oh please, Angelus; we'd heard you were intelligent," a second voice- male, Angel noted; the previous one had been a woman- said, in a tone of exaggerated disappointment. "Surely even your twisted demon conscience is still human enough to realise that the world at large considers you best kept away from humanity. After all, you yourself were human once."

Angel sighed. Great, he thought to himself, a bunch of wannabe vampire-hunters who don't keep up with the times. Just what I needed…

Then he looked around again at the room he was in, and amended his earlier thought.

Probably not just wannabes, with a set-up like this…

Before he could say something else, he heard the vague sounds of chatter from the microphone, as though the person speaking was trying not to attract Angel's attention.

He wondered if they even knew how sharp his hearing was…

Then the link terminated.

Angel groaned. So much for possibly getting a bit more about this place out of those guys…

He idly scratched at an itch on his upper left arm.

And why did he feel as though something was missing…?

"What is this 'situation' you mentioned, Spiner?" Walsh asked, looking in a slightly annoyed manner at the young woman in front of them. Doctor Jennifer Spiner was the Initiative's chief biochemist, responsible for analysing any demonic DNA samples that came into their possession and examining them, the end objective being to find some common genetic weakness shared by all demons that the Initiative could exploit. So far, they had failed to track down anything, but Spiner was constantly insisting they were getting there.

Straightening her glasses, Spiner looked nervously at her boss.

"Once again, s-sorry to interrupt you, Professors," she said, nodding briefly at Delgado before turning back to Walsh. "However, I b-believe I have discovered something that you may find interesting about our latest acquisitions."

"In what way, 'interesting'?" Walsh asked, cocking her head inquiringly to one side.

"Their DNA is d-different, Walsh," Spiner said, as she reached over to a nearby computer and tapped a few keys. Instantly, two windows appeared on the screen, several strings of code in each one.

"This represents the DNA of a human when compared to a vampire," Spiner explained, as she ran her mouse over a certain sample of code in the right box- which, Walsh noted, was marked with 'Human' as a header; the left was, naturally, marked 'Vampire'.

"As you may notice," Spiner continued, indicating the highlighted area, "traditionally, vampires only have the basics in common with human DNA- the body is essentially the same, but there are always certain differences, particularly around the junk DNA."

"Junk DNA?" Walsh asked, looking over curiously at Spiner. "What does that refer to?"

"DNA that isn't necessary for the human body to function," Spiner explained. "Curiously enough, only three per cent of all human DNA contains the proteins we need to make us work; the other ninety-seven per cent doesn't actually appear to do anything." She turned back to the computer, continuing to speak as she did so. "There has been some speculation among our scientists that maybe junk DNA contains certain aspects that give us the strengths that vampires and demons lack, given that we have never been able to find them in any non-human DNA-"

"The point to this being?" Delgado asked, tapping his fingers impatiently on the desk.

"W-well, look at this example of the human DNA code," Spiner said, indicating the highlighted text. The two scientists examined it, but could make no sense out of it.

Walsh looked up curiously at Spiner. "This means?" she asked.

"Well, it's unknown at the moment; what's important is that, in all our specimens, we've never seen this strand in a hostile," Spiner explained. Then she stepped aside from the screen, and indicated the two windows now up on the screen. "These show the DNA test results of Angelus and Belthazor," she explained, as she reached down and highlighted a specific area of the two codes. "Now, look at this."

The two scientists looked down at the highlighted code…

And stared.

It was an exact match for the junk DNA code that Spiner had just shown them.

"What?" Walsh asked, looking over at Spiner. "But you said…"

"I-I know," Spiner said, sounding slightly flustered. "I c-can only think that, somehow, these two have been… augmented, for lack of a better term. Somehow, they must have been g-given some innate human quality in that DNA sample that other demons don't have; I felt it m-might be worth closer examination."

Walsh stared at the sample in front of her…

And smiled.

"No," she said, looking back at the other two. "I have a better idea; stick them in the training room for half an hour, and see what happens."

"What?" Delgado asked, looking inquiringly at Walsh. "What will that achieve?"

"Well, for one thing, we should be able to find out whether or not they actually know each other," Walsh said, smiling at the prospect. "We will monitor the confrontation in the main control room, and, if things look like getting out of control, we simply trigger the chips to ensure neither of them can hurt the other. Otherwise, we ask them both at the end of the half-hour if they are aware of the additional abilities of the other, and what the actual difference between them and other hostiles."

Delgado clapped slightly. "An excellent idea, Maggie," he said, smiling at her. "If nothing else, the battle should be very educational for us; we shall wish to be prepared for future confrontations with Belthazor's 'magical' associates."

Walsh smiled. "Indeed," she said. She turned back to Spiner. "Fetch some of the soldiers and tell them to transfer Angelus and Belthazor to the training room; we've got some work to do."

She grinned again, a grin that any non-Initiative observers would have called an evil grin, and couldn't suppress a slight chuckle at the thought of the upcoming battle.

This should be most enlightening…