Ring on her Finger

By Nickeltaffy

Disclaimer: I would like to thank Joss for the use of his characters. They are still his and will never be mine. (heavy sigh).

…

Chapter 24

Spinning around, Buffy wrenched open the front door of Giles' apartment and flew out into the early evening. It was that time of early evening when the sun had set and darkness seemed the most pervasive, creating gray shadows on top of one another, disfiguring the landscape until old familiar objects took on an ominous air. The stars were just beginning to wink in the night sky and the moon had not deigned to make an appearance, so the duplicity of the night was at its' height. It did nothing to quell the fear that continued to build inside Buffy as she made it out to the street, her hair flying around as she looked wildly for Spike. She looked up and down the street frantically, hoping to see a glint of platinum hair peak out of the darkness. She let a small moan escape from her lips as she did not see any sign of Spike in the gloomy surroundings. Then to her horror, she heard the sounds of a struggle, automobile doors opening and hushed urgent voices.

Running heedlessly toward the sound, she came upon two military garbed men who had just handing up a weak and barely conscious Spike up to two other similarly clad men in the back of the van that was concealed by some bushes. Seeing a helpless Spike being roughly handled by the men, Buffy impulsively ran up to the van. She grabbed hold of one of the men standing on the ground, pulled him around and punched him solidly on the chin. The soldier staggered back a step and collapsed at her feet. Wheeling about, she turned to face the other man standing at the van doors; she hit him with a wild uppercut, so that he flew twenty feet away and landed in some nearby bushes.

Inside the van, one soldier was pinning the incapacitated vampire to the floor with his knee as he was binding the Spike's arms to his body with canvas wrapped chains. He worked effortlessly and with machine like precision, so soon Spike was completely immobilized and was only able to move his head. Lying on his stomach, Spike felt the coldness of the shaped metal of the van's floor seep through his T-shirt, as he battled back the fog caused by the chip's shocks in his brain. Gathering his strength, Spike shakily lifted his head so that he could see the commotion occurring at the van doors. He saw Buffy easily dispose of the commandos that had just thrown him into the van. She still had her back to the van, as she watched the one man land in the bushes. Rapidly blinking to focus his eyes, Spike noticed that the other soldier in the van was moving toward the doors as he was reaching behind him. Sensing danger, Spike's eyes went to Buffy.

"Buffy…behind you." With an immense effort, he breathlessly called a warning to the Slayer. It was so weak, that the Slayer did not hear it.

Buffy felt a huge jolt of electricity surge through her body. She suddenly felt the eerily cool leaves of grass tickling the side of her face after being hit by a stun gun. As she lay there in a crumpled mass, she heard the men quickly gather their fallen and load them in the side of the van. She lay prone on the chilly dew covered ground, hearing the roar of the engine as it started up, taking Spike away from her. The doors of the van closed with a finality that cut deep into her heart. She felt the gritty dust cloud swirl around her as the sound of the tires screeching filled her ears as the van pulled away.

"Oh, Spike, I failed you. I am so sorry." She desolately whispered as she wished she could be lucky enough to pass out to escape this moment.

...

A minute after Buffy had charged out of Giles apartment, Willow and Xander looked at each other with a weary expression. Without speaking, the pair filed out the door to follow Buffy with a resigned air that indicated that it was another chore that had to be completed. They were in no rush, especially Xander who was drifting several feet behind Willow as they walked out of the apartment's courtyard. As they progressed, Willow kept turning her head to check on Xander behind her. Finally deciding to deal with the situation, she stopped and turned with her hands open at her side, her body language asking what was the difficulty.

"Okay, I'm coming. I don't see what all the fuss is. If the Initiative manages to grab Spike..Good for them." Xander muttered as he dragged his feet slightly quicker at Willow's pointed gaze and then muttered under his breath. "About time too."

Willow dragged an unenthusiastic Xander out to the street where they heard the sounds of fighting going on a little ways off in the bushes. By the time, they reached the area; they discovered Buffy lying motionless on the ground and the rumble of an engine fading off into the distance. Willow made a small sound as she knelt beside her friend, shaking her gently. Xander motioned Willow to stand up as he looked round the area. He knew that with the Slayer being unconscious, they were vulnerable. Together, they picked up Buffy, who hung limply between them and rushed her back to Giles' place.

...

Opening his eyes, Spike found himself once again strapped down against a gurney as he fuzzily watched a dotted line of florescent light fixtures stream overhead. Moving a rapid pace down the hall, he concentrated on the pattern of the lights, trying to keep the panic that was bubbling up inside him to a manageable level. "Okay, ducks" Spike told himself. "You really landed in it this time. You got yourself out of here before; you just have to do it again."

The gurney soon stopped at a pair of shiny aluminum doors. The gurney was turned and pushed through the doors with a sizeable crashing noise. With dread so thick that it clung to the back of his throat, Spike saw that he was being wheeled into a lab with multiple machines which hummed and glowed ominously. He had never been in this section of the Initiative before. It was located at the far reaches of the installation, where there were few beings, living or dead in the vicinity. For a brief moment, he wondered what he was in for and then quickly dismissed it as he really did not dwell on that train of thought. He heard voices coming from behind him. He heard the corpsman that had been pushing the gurney address a person who was just entering the lab.

"Hostile Seventeen, as you requested Sir." Spike heard a young man's earnest voice over the drumming sound of the machines.

"Thank you corporal. You're dismissed." An older, tinny sounding voice replied.

Spike tried to lift his chin to see if his suspicions were correct about the owner of that voice, but the straps held him down so tight, that he was only able to tilt his head back a little ways. He could not get the correct angle to see who exactly he had been left with. He began to struggle against his bonds as he heard footsteps approach the gurney.

"Well, it is good to have you back, Hostile Seventeen. You were one that I was keeping my eye on, I'll tell you that. You survived the first phase of behavior modification on subclass demons. None of the other demons in this study passed that phase. You're to be the first subject to enter the second phase." The soft yet sinister looking doctor said as he came up on the side of Spike.

The scientist was busy reviewing the papers on his clipboard, and looking over at Spike dismissively from time to time. It was Dr. Kitts, the bristling number two researcher who worked under Dr Walsh. Dr. Kitts was the most dangerous type of doctor; he had something to prove which definitely increased the hazard level if you were just a test subject. Dropping his hand that was holding the clipboard, Dr. Kitts smiled a small self satisfied smile at Spike and stated.

"Well, let's get started, shall we? Nurse."

The Doctor snapped his fingers and pointed at Spike before going back over to the machines. On the other side of Spike, a military nurse in scrubs appeared.

"You Wanker!" was all that Spike got out of his mouth before a rubber gag was jammed into his mouth and secured around his head. The nurse flipped a large box like leather harness around Spikes head that did not allow him any movement. It covered most of his face except for small cutouts for eyes, nose and mouth but the largest opening was over his forehead. Spike's blue eyes dashed around the room from the narrow openings in the harness for his eyes. A small metal tray with half a dozen electrical leads was pulled up and hung suspended over Spike's chest. The nurse began to carefully pick up a color coded lead and attach them to Spike's forehead.

...

When Buffy began to shake off the effects of the taser, she found herself lying on Giles' couch. She sat up so suddenly that she startled Anya who had been sitting on the floor staring at her.

"She's awake!" Anya announced to the apartment.

"Spike!" Buffy gasped her heart in her throat. "The Initiative got Spike!"

"Couldn't happen to a nicer vampire!" Xander answered back with a smirk. Willow muttered an admonishment under her breath about being cruel that wiped the smile off Xander's face. With concern on his face, Giles came forward and gently but firmly placed his hand on Buffy's shoulder.

"You should rest. You're still recovering." Giles said, using his best soothing voice.

"There's no time. We don't know what they could be doing to Spike." Buffy pleaded as she grasped Giles' hand on her shoulder "We have got to get him out of there!"

"Buffy. Listen to Giles. You do not need to concern yourself with Spike. He is a vampire, so he is dead already." Anya said matter of factly as she stood up. "Really, what can they do?…Make him a little more dead-er? "

"I think you made it pretty clear about how you feel about Spike, but I love him. I need your help. If you're my friends, you'll help me rescue him." Buffy appealed to the Scoobies. Seeing that none of them was jumping up to respond, she added. "Wow! Disloyal much? I really thought you guys were a lot different. Okaaaaay…I guess I was wrong."

Standing up, Buffy put her hands on her hips as she coldly looked at her supposed so called friends. Narrowing her eyes, she was determined to get their help, voluntary or not.

"Let me put it to you this way. Spike is the only one who knows how to defeat that guy…Diye Corregidor or whatever. So, if you don't help me, we're all going to be served up as tasty morsels for that creature." Buffy fumed at the group, with thunder in her eyes. "I don't see where you have any choice. We either rescue Spike or start figuring out what wine should be served with us."

"All right, Buffy. You made your point." Giles said, looking at the others over his shoulder. He turned back to Buffy with resolve. "What do you want us to do?"

"We need a plan. We need to get in and rescue Spike fast." Buffy said as she began to march back and forth. She suddenly stopped. "We also don't know when this Diye Camembert is going to appear, so we need to be prepared for that too."

"Buffy, just a correction. Camembert is a cheese." Giles said slowly to correct the Slayer's malaprop on the creature's name.

"Listen, anyone who gets in between me and my vampire is fondue!" Buffy loudly proclaimed

"Is anyone else getting hungry?" Anya asked as she perked up at the mention of food. Seeing no one else respond, she became quiet and looked around with guilty eyes.

"Alright, Buffy. Xander and Anya will help you break in to the initiative to rescue Spike." Giles said calmly as he walked toward Willow. "There was something that Spike said that got me thinking. Willow and I will work on constructing a weapon to use against the creature as a back-up, just in case."

"Buffy, do you even know where this Initiative is?" Xander said, tilting his head at Buffy.

"When I caught Spike when he ran away from Giles, he started tearing at the grass at a spot on campus. He said it was where he came out of when he first escaped. It is over by the trees in front of the campus power plant." Buffy looked around at the group. "I think that is our way in."

...

Dr Kitts turned away from observing Spike's reactions on the gurney and walked away to record the readings on some dials on one of the machines.

"Interesting…You really surprise me, Hostile Seventeen. I thought you would have dusted like many of your compatriots by now. Yet you still manage to hold on. "Dr Kitts uttered dismissively without turning around. His tone gave the impression that he was speaking to a lab rat that had finished a maze in record time. The scientist came back toward the gurney. "Your chip seems to be doing an excellent job."

Spike's bloodshot and pain filled eyes shifted over to look at the doctor who perched himself on a rolling stool beside the gurney. The gag moved in Spike's mouth as he desperately wanted to voice an insult at the smug scientist sitting there. Making a notation on his clipboard, Dr Kitts pushed his stool over to the panel where he rolled his stool around without getting up.

"Now that the preliminary tests are done, we can move on. You're about to make history, Hostile Seventeen." Dr. Kitts said smiling. He turned to the panel flipped a few switches. He turned to watch the vampire while he had his hand resting on the panel. Watching the vampire intently, he turned a dial with a vicious turn of the wrist.

Spike's world went white.

...

After Buffy, Xander and Anya left to go rescue Spike, Giles turned back to the room and headed over to his bookcase. He turned his head over his shoulder to speak to Willow as he walked.

"Willow, look up whatever you can on mystical purposes of plants. We're looking for something that has to do with truth." Giles said as he pointed a finger at the computer that the young woman was sitting at.

"Why are we looking that up for?" Willow looked up perplexed from her computer.

"It is what Spike said about the creature. He said he was a deceiver." Giles said as he began to pull large impressive looking books off the bookshelves.

...

Buffy led Xander and Anya to the spot by the campus power plant where Spike said he escaped from the Initiative. She could still see the spots where he had torn up the grass. She got down and ran her hand over the grass trying to see if there was something odd about the spot that would indicate a door. Xander and Anya stood there, not knowing what the Slayer was doing. Xander looked around to see if anyone was there to witness what he considered their foolish antics. Anya was getting cold and wanted to go back to the apartment, so she soon lost her patience with the situation.

"It looks like it isn't here. Let's go back!" Anya firmly declared.

"SHHH!" Buffy sniped at the ex-demon. In the next second, Buffy located a handle hidden amongst the grass. Wrapping her hand around it, she pulled up with a grunt coming out of her teeth. A large metal panel came up in her hand. It was the access panel to the ventilation system of an underground installation. Below ground there appeared to be a myriad collection of ventilation ducts and ladders.

"Believe Spike now?" Buffy said with a sense of accomplishment, easily tossing the heavy panel to the side. "Come on, let's go!"

"So, you found an access panel, Buffster. It doesn't mean anything. I mean we're right next to the power plant." Xander said, looking nervously down the opening. "I mean we could get electrocuted going down there."

"You're not going to go, are you? Fine. If you're not going, stay here and be a look out." Buffy commanded as she began to lower herself down the opening. "Coming, Anya?" Buffy asked as she turned her head toward the girl, who was bouncing on her feet trying to keep warm.

Looking over at Xander, Anya shrugged her shoulders.

"It's gotta be better than freezing out here." Anya qualified as she moved toward the opening, cutting in front of Xander, whose expression betrayed his shock.

Watching his girlfriend begin to go below ground, Xander looked around, realizing he was alone. Rationalizing that he knew he would never hear the end of it, if he let the girls go on alone. Letting out a disgruntled sound, he lurched toward the ladder in the opening, calling out:

"Hey, wait for me! Girls? Girls?"