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

What Makes a Monster?

"Oh God…" Riley Fin muttered to himself as he blinked his eyes open. "What happened to me…?"

Then his eyes widened in horror as he remembered.

"Angelus!" he yelled, sitting up sharply and looking around in confusion, his eyes blinking rapidly as he tried to focus on his surroundings. "Where is he? What happened to him!"

"Agent Finn, please calm down," Professor Walsh's cool, commanding voice said to him from his left. "You and your fellows have only recently recovered from a near-fatal close-range attack with one of our own stun guns. Angelus, Belthazor, and the Brachen have somehow managed to escape the base whilst avoiding all detection, but we are devoting all resources to locating and recapturing or destroying them, I assure you."

His eyes finally clear, Riley glanced down at himself and saw that he was still wearing his combat trousers and shoes, but his jumper had been removed and there were several bandages around his chest; evidently the stun weapon had left him with some injuries due to the sheer power of the blast. Fit though Riley was, even with all his enhancements he still couldn't take something that would put down a century-old vampire without it having a significant effect.

Still, as he remembered Angelus's last words to him, he couldn't help but be grateful that he was up again. If that… thing had so much as touched Buffy in the past- sweet, innocent Buffy- he knew that were was only one logical explanation for it.

Rape.

Buffy Summers, that sweet, innocent girl who he had feelings for, had been raped.

No wonder she was so uncomfortable around men, especially after Parker's rejection…

He had to prevent it from happening again; who was to say Angelus wouldn't be even worse this time round?

"I have to go," he said, looking over at Walsh. "I have an idea about where Angelus might have gone, but I'd prefer to make sure myself before we commit anyone else to it."

Noting Walsh's harsh glare, he raised his hands in a defensive manner. "I'm not going to try and tackle him alone, I promise you; I just want to make sure that this situation's under control, and I'll come back as soon as I can if there's any sign of trouble."

After a moment's pause, Walsh reluctantly nodded.

"Very well," she said, nodding briefly at Riley. "Professor Delgado and Doctor Spiner recently gave me an update on your physical situation; so long as you avoid strenuous activity for a prolonged period of time, you will be fine."

She glared harshly at her young protégé. "Just remember; come back if you so much as think you see a hostile anywhere."

As Paige walked down the path towards Giles' apartment, followed by her brother-in-law and two of their new friends, she couldn't help but sigh slightly. The trip to the Magic Box hadn't gone as well as it could have as far as gathering potion ingredients went. True, the ingredients available there were good if you wanted to perform basic spells when you had little actual magic powers yourself, but if you already had magic powers, and were just looking for something to use in a potion, it was far more difficult.

Glancing over at her companions, though, she acknowledged that, for Giles and Cordelia's line of work, this line of magic would make more sense. From what Leo had told her and the others on the way down, they had rarely ever encountered a demon who couldn't be easily beaten in a purely physical confrontation; they practically never encountered an adversary who could only be defeated by a potion or spell of some kind, so why would particularly elaborate potions be needed?

How come we never have it that easy? she asked herself, as she opened the door, stepped into the apartment…

And nearly dropped her shopping in surprise as she saw Buffy, Willow, Piper and Phoebe sitting at the sofa casually talking with Doyle, Belthazor, and a pale-skinned man who could only be Angel. Paige briefly found herself thinking that the guy was actually pretty hot, but stopped herself in time; the look he was 'secretly' giving Buffy was more evidence than any that he was as good as taken right now.

"What the- DOYLE!" Cordelia squealed- practically into Paige's ear- as she saw her friend in the apartment. Dumping her shopping bags in Paige's outstretched arms, the ex-cheerleader ran towards the surprised-but-pleased looking Irish demon, grabbed him by the ears, hauled him up onto his feet, and planted a firm kiss onto his lips.

If Doyle had been standing up, Paige wouldn't have been surprised if Cordelia had jumped onto him and wrapped her legs around him before proceeding to snog him stupid; she was just grateful that they wouldn't have to help anyone up after collapsing to the ground in a fit of passion.

Looking over at the door as Leo and Giles came in, staring at the suddenly-kissing pair in surprise, Buffy just shrugged helplessly, as though to say Don't blame me; they started it.

Of course, it couldn't last; as soon as Cordelia and Doyle parted for breath, she drew back a hand and slapped him in the face before grabbing his chin and turning his head to look her in the eyes.

"If you ever do something like this again I'll cut your leg off!" she yelled at him angrily. "Do you have any idea who worried I was when we lost touch after you were hit with a staser? I didn't know if you were alive or dead! You hear me!"

"Uh… yeah," Doyle said, nodding briefly at his new 'girlfriend' (For lack of a better term) in a slight daze, before glancing over at the others. "Ah, ye're back!"

"Yeah, at last we can get something done; having this guy sitting around looking like this is starting to get really uncomfortable…" Buffy said, indicating Belthazor before looking over at him apologetically. "No offence."

"None taken, I assure you," Belthazor smiled back, nodding in understanding before he glanced over at Paige. "We need your help here; turns out those Initiative guys gave the three of us those chips that they stuck in Spike's head- my one's somehow stopping me from changing back into Cole- and we need your help to get them out."

"We don't want to just orb them out- no way of knowing how they're connected up to the rest of the brain- so we were thinking that you and Leo could get us into the hospital and I could check their heads with a CAT scanner," Willow explained, taking up the story. "Then you can orb them out, the guys can get back to normal, and we can get on with taking this place out; sound good?"

Paige nodded. "Seems OK; let's go," she said, glancing over at Leo. "Guessing we'll need to divide up to orb, huh?"

Leo nodded. "Yeah, four people for one Whitelighter might be a bit too difficult," he said, shrugging casually as he turned to look at Willow, Doyle, Belthazor and Angel, who were already standing up and looking at him inquiringly. "Doyle, Willow, you two go on ahead with Paige. Cole, Angel and I will join you; just call me when you've found somewhere safe for us to orb in." Paige nodded in understanding; Belthazor's appearance might attract a bit too much attention if they weren't careful.

"We'll fill Giles in on the latest events while you're gone," Buffy said, as she, Piper and Phoebe stood up and glanced over at the Watcher. "Trust me, Giles; the situation is getting more complicated all the time."

"Oh dear…" Giles sighed, as he sat down and looked over at his Slayer and the two witches. "Well, we'd better get started."

Taking that as a cue to exit, Paige grabbed Doyle and Willow's arms, closed her eyes, and focused her mind on the hospital she and her sisters had seen as they drove into this town…

And then the three of them were standing outside Sunnydale hospital, in the shade of some bushes off to one side, looking nervously at each other in the rising sun.

Willow, by dint of being the only one with experience of this place, took charge and led the way into the hospital, glancing around briefly to make sure that the coast was clear before she turned around and waved the others over to an empty room near the entrance.

"Now?" Paige asked Willow, the witch closing the room's curtains as Doyle glanced around the corridor nervously before closing the door.

Willow nodded. "Now's as good as any," she said, indicating a few doctor's gowns that were tossed over the beds. "Cole can wear those until we can get the chip out of his head; it should conceal enough of his appearance to avoid attracting unwanted attention."

Paige shrugged. "Works, I suppose," she said, as she stood back and raised her head. "Leo, we're ready!"

Then, before any of the three people in the room could even blink, Leo, Angel and Belthazor were standing in the middle of the room, Angel already glancing around the room to make sure that they were safe.

"Well… that was quick," Leo said, looking over at Willow.

The young witch just shrugged dismissively. "After all the time we've had to come here following a battle, I'd have to be an idiot not to know my way around this place," she said casually, before grabbing the hospital gowns and passing them over to Belthazor. "You'd better get into this until we can get to the X-ray machine; it should at least keep the more… distinctive parts of you concealed until we can sort this out."

Nodding, Belthazor shrugged the green gown on over his traditional black outfit, placing the surgical mask and hat on as soon as he was done. Giving him a quick once-over, the rest of the group were satisfied; his skin behind the mask was still a rather vibrant shade of red, of course, but so long as he kept his hands in his pockets and avoiding looking directly at anyone they passed, they should manage to avoid attracting any attention.

"OK," Willow said, as she shrugged on a gown of her own. "If anyone asks, Cole and I are taking Angel and Doyle to get their heads X-rayed after a nasty concussion, and Leo and Paige are friends who want to make sure they get there in good shape; got that?"

The others nodded.

"Good," Willow said, as she indicated the door. "Angel, Doyle, just let Paige and Leo support you, and try and look disoriented; we'll take it from there."

As they left the room, Angel slumped slightly over Leo's shoulders while Paige supported Doyle, Willow glanced briefly at a nearby floor plan and was relieved to see that the X-ray machine wasn't that far away; hopefully they'd manage to get there soon.

Walking down the corridors as casually as they could, Willow was relieved when nobody stopped to challenge their presence in the hospital; this was working out far better than she'd hoped. Eventually they reached the room in question, Willow sighing in relief after she'd confirmed that it was unoccupied at the present, and then they'd slipped inside it, glancing around in relief as Willow spotted the CAT scanner in the centre of the room.

"Perfect," she said, smiling over at the machine before looking back at Angel, Belthazor and Doyle. "You'd better go first, Cole; if you can turn back into your human form as soon as possible, it'll make things easier for us if we're interrupted."

"Agreed," Belthazor said, shrugging the gown off and removing his mask, before lying on the indicated bed and sliding his head into the slot where the scanner would examine his brain. As Leo took up a position at the door, to make sure that nobody could disturb them, Willow dashed over to the control panel of the CAT scanner and began tapping a few buttons as she studied the readout in front of her.

"Well?" Doyle said, glancing over at Willow inquiringly, as Paige joined the other witch to study the resulting image. "What's the verdict?"

Paige nodded thoughtfully as she studied the image, before looking back at the others in the room.

"It'll be tricky, but I could orb that out easily enough," she said, as she studied the small black rectangle on the brain that represented the chip. "Just… probably best you have this thing giving me a picture so I can see what I'm doing."

Holding out her hand, Paige said "Chip!", and smiled in relief when the objects in question appeared in her hand, even if it was covered in blood and other things.

"Is that it?" Belthazor said, glancing at the object in Paige's hand in surprise. "I didn't even feel anything."

"Well, you wouldn't; the brain has no feeling," Willow explained, as she waved Doyle over as Belthazor sat up and got off the bed. "Anyway, enough about that; care to make sure you're back to normal?"

"Sure thing," Belthazor replied, closing his eyes as he shimmered slightly and then reappeared as a tall, handsome man with brown hair and a high forehead, wearing a dark blue shirt and black trousers.

Looking over himself, he smiled in approval as he looked back up at the others.

"Well, it worked," he said casually, as he turned to look at Angel and held out a hand. "Hi; Cole Turner. Good to meet you properly at last."

Angel smiled back at his new friend as he took the offered hand. "Same here, Cole," he said, as Doyle stepped away from the CAT scanner, another chip in Paige's hand. Stepping over to the scanner, Angel lay down on the table, waited for a few moments, and then smiled over at Paige and Willow as a third chip joined the two already in Paige's possession.

"Right then," Paige said, as she dropped the three chips onto the ground and glanced over at Leo. "Shall we get back to the others?"

"Just one thing, please," Cole said, as he walked over to where the chips lay on the ground and drove his foot down hard, smiling as he heard the crunch of silicon under his heel. "OK then, we can go."

As he stood outside the apartment belonging to Rupert Giles, Riley briefly wondered if this had really been the right person to ask about Buffy's whereabouts. He'd gathered from a few half-overheard conversations that Buffy and her small group of friends regarded their former librarian as an old friend, but was he really likely to know where Buffy was?

But he didn't have any other option if he was going to find Buffy before Angelus did.

And with Belthazor and that Brachen demon on his side…

Riley shuddered at the obscene image that couldn't stop itself from appearing in his head. One demon doing… that to Buffy was bad enough; he didn't need to think of any more attempting to have their way with her.

He had to save her from that.

He was the only person alive who could.

Raising his right hand, Riley knocked on the door, and a moment later Mr Giles was standing at the door, adjusting his glasses as he looked at Riley in confusion.

"Uh… you are?" he asked, trying to look more professional as he looked at Riley with a more critical expression.

"Mr Giles?" Riley said, trying to remain calm as he addressed the man who may be his only hope at saving Buffy. "My name is Riley Finn; I'm a psychology teaching assistant in Buffy Summers' class. I understand that you know her from your time as the librarian of Sunnydale High School?"

"Well, um, a little, I suppose," Giles said, as he looked at Riley in confusion once again. "I'm sorry, I fail to understand what this has to do with anything-"

"Mr Giles, I have reason to believe that Buffy is in danger," Riley said, trying to avoid just punching this man in frustration at his apparent ineptitude at providing any useful information and wishing he could show the man his military pass to make him understand how serious this whole affair was. "Can you please tell me where she-"

His mouth slammed shut as, glancing into the apartment, he noticed an arm clad in a dirty brown leather coat slung over a sofa, just visible in the gap between Mr Giles' shoulder and the door frame.

He recognised that coat.

It was the coat that the Brachen demon had been wearing when he'd been taken into the Initiative.

Reaching into his coat, Riley pulled out a gun and, before Giles could stop him, had shoved past the ex-librarian and into the apartment…

Where he found himself facing a surprisingly large amount of people for such a small space.

He instantly recognised Buffy and Willow, of course- he saw them on campus every day, after all-, and their friends (Alex Harras and Tanya Jenkins, he thought their names were), but there were four women and two men he didn't recognise. One of the men was dressed in a casual plaid shirt and jeans, while the other was wearing a more professional-looking costume of dark trousers and shirt. Three of the women looked like they were sisters, as well as apparently being in their mid-twenties, and the fourth woman was around Buffy's age, sitting next to…

Riley's eyes once again widened in horror.

The Brachen demon, sitting there as though he had every right to sit here with decent, normal human beings…

And sitting near to him, between Buffy and the Brachen…

Angelus!

Riley knew what he should do at this point; despite all the questions that would arise, he should taser both demons instantly before any civilians could be hurt, take them to a secure location, and then worry about explanations.

But another part of him- the larger part- just couldn't believe this was happening. How could Buffy be so casual, sitting there beside the… the thing that had raped her…

Then Angelus broke the silence that had descended over the room with Riley's entrance.

"Oh look; it's the walking fish."