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 25

Xander descended the ladder passing a multitude of access tunnels and ventilation shafts. He thought he had climbed down in time to catch up with Buffy and Anya, but they had instantly disappeared almost as soon as he grabbed the ladder. Problem was that he didn't know which opening they had gone through. He stopped at a major intersection of access tunnels.

"Come on, Harris! Get off the pot!" Xander muttered to himself.

He immediately ducked into one of the shafts hoping that he made the right choice. He hoped he would be lucky enough to run into the girls.

…

Buffy and Anya were crawling along an aluminum air shaft. Buffy was making incredible time and Anya was hard pressed to keep up with her. Anya was beginning to regret not staying above ground. This shaft was insanely dusty and the aluminum hurt her knees. To Anya's relief, she saw that Buffy was beginning to slow as they approached a large vent. They were in an air duct that hung about seventy feet over the main surgical theatre area of the Initiative. There was an upper level that surrounded the theatre, where soldiers were milling about, and transferring bound demons from the holding areas to the theatre.

Buffy lay on her stomach to peer through the vent looking for her vampire. Anya slowly came along side her and lowered herself down with an 'Oomph!'. Breathlessly, Anya wriggled her way to place her head next to Buffy's.

"Are you sure the Initiative got Spike?" Anya whispered, taking a quick look at the intent Slayer.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Buffy said without looking up, her head turning every which way in order to look for Spike.

"Well, I don't see him. Let's go!" Anya said quickly after a cursory look. She began to get to her knees again.

"Just wait. They may have him stashed somewhere. This is the main area, they've gotta bring him through here." Buffy grumbled through gritted teeth and put a hand on Anya's back to keep her in place.

"I hope they do it soon. This is uncomfortable and my clothes are getting all dusty." Anya complained as she turned her head to look through the vent once again. "Hey, Doesn't he look interesting." She said pointing to a strikingly handsome demon with a forked tongue that slipped occasionally outside his lips. He was handcuffed and being escorted by two soldiers. "Maybe, we should rescue him too." Anya nodded enthusiastically at Buffy. Then she stopped as a memory hit her. "Wait a minute, I know him. He was a bit of dick the last time he spoke to me." Leaning forward, she snarled, curling her lip. "Sorry, Bucko! You're on your own!"

Buffy turned her head to regard the ex-demon beside her, as she gave a heavy sigh.

…

Dr. Kitts was very impressed by the fortitude of the blonde vampire on the gurney in front of him. Checking the dials again, he saw nothing on the monitor but snow. Hostile Seventeen had managed to resist the lower levels of the Mnemosyne aspect of the chip implant. However, the night was young and this was a strong vampire. He most certainly would have to be in order to survive the first phase of the chip implantation. Many of the previous subjects expired within forty-eight hours of chip implantation. They continued to attack regardless of the consequences of the chip until it finally killed them. This vampire was different. He seemed to be able to logically weigh the consequences of his actions and act outside of his instincts. This subject was extraordinary; he would have to be in order to survive the neurological ramifications of the chip.

Dr. Kitts was rather excited to move on to the psychonomic section of demon behavior control research. Once the specific areas of chip that dealt with memory were fully enabled, the creature's entire memories would be available to access. Not only would the Initiative benefit from the years of experience and wisdom that these creatures held, but the chipped demons could be sent out to record information like a recorder. Humans would no longer have to expose themselves to danger. Faulty information gathering would be a thing of the past. The creatures would be a more efficient and profitable agent at intelligence gathering than any so called human soldier. Dr. Kitts could just envision the praise and award being heaped upon him in the near future.

Turning back to the panel, Dr. Kitts made further adjustments, writing down the readings on his clipboard. He walked over to a barely conscious Spike on the gurney. The nurse who was busy retightening the straps that held Spike stopped her work and waited for the Doctors orders. Kitts patted the vampire on the shoulder, like a good dog. The patronizing gesture roused Spike enough to focus his bleary eyes on the doctor with a hate filled gaze.

"You're doing very well, Hostile Seventeen. You're doing so well, in fact, that we are going to jump ahead." Dr Kitts said with smarmy grin. "I am going to see how you react to a level five transmission."

"Doctor, anything past level three transmission can cause immediate dusting of vampires." The nurse spoke up, with shocked eyes. "I don't think ...

"Don't tell me what to think, Nurse." Kitts threatened. Then with a sickening sweet tone, he addressed Spike. "Hostile Seventeen and I are going to create history, aren't we?"

Spike bit against the rubber gag in his mouth and balled up his fists as he tried to pull them from the restraining straps. As exhausted as he was, all he could think about was tearing that Doctor's head away from his shoulders.

Doctor Kitts had the nurse check the leads attached to Spikes forehead. The nurse did not look down at the blue eyes peering up at her. It was better for her to consider these creatures as lab rats, never mind how much they resembled humans. The nurse nodded at the doctor and stepped away from the gurney.

Doctor Kitts was enjoying himself so much; he decided to have a little joke as he reached toward the panel.

"On your mark. Get set. GO!"

…..

Buffy was still peering through the vent looking for any sign of Spike, when a blazing pain went through her hand. She made a sharp cry before she managed to stifle the sound. She cradled her hand to her as she curled up into a fetal position. She looked down at the source of the intense pain. It was her left hand. It was the ring. The stone had gone from red to bright blue. It was tearing away at her strength, seeking to gain purchase. She could feel it clawing at her presence, like a hungry animal.

Every self preservation instinct told her to remove the ring. Somehow, her heart knew that if she did that she would lose Spike. She knew that she had not stood by him earlier that evening; she was not going to abandon him now. With intense resolve, she closed her eyes; she gritted her teeth and held nothing back from the ring. If Spike needed her, she would offer herself wholly for him.

…

Spike could feel the blinding intense pain radiate throughout his head. It was burning vortex within him. He could tell this was it. There was no way that he could survive this. No way he WANTED to survive it. He was going to dust. One part of him buried so far within him called out. There was an answering call. It was…It was Buffy. She was giving him strength. She was keeping hold of him, as if he was suspended over the edge of the cliff. There was something pulling him down, but she was equally determined not to let him go. The two forces were at a standstill. He knew that he had to do something to change the outcome or both he and Buffy were lost.

Spike's mind was reeling, searching for anything. Instantly, he thought of Avestan. "What was it Avestan said? The blood would know. The blood… The Blood." In that instant, his mind brought up the image of his grandfather, then going backwards the images of all the bearers of the ring before him, back to the original paladin riding beside the black sea. Then, there was the face of Avestan with his eyes glowing blue. "Don't think. Just Do!"

In that moment, Spike's eyes snapped open. His entire eyes were filled with a vivid blue light. Spike raised his head slightly and then flung it back. A wave of blue energy burst forth from him, incinerating the leads on his forehead, knocking Doctor Kitts and the nurse back against the wall. The machines all sputtered, smoked and burned out. The lights went off in the room and the room was silent except for the occasional crackling of a machine still sizzling. Spike lay unmoving on the gurney.

…

Xander had gotten himself completely lost in the maze of shafts. One wrong turn upon another and he now found himself on the outer edges of the Initiative. He had begun talking to himself as he trudged along the shafts. He was berating himself for following the girls down into this Gordian knot of shafts. He swore if he ever got out of here, he would never again accompany the girls on anything that meant crawling through small openings. He had had enough.

Xander had been crawling through the darkened passages since there was no or little activity in this area of the Initiative. He was about to turn around when he saw the glow of some light up ahead. Maybe, if he could see where he was, he could get his bearings and get out of here. He moved forward and was just about to look through the vent, when a bright light flared up through the vent. Xander reared back and covered his face with his arm. When he lowered it, he saw that very little light was coming through the vent. He made his way over to vent and saw that he was looking down into a lab. There were two researchers in white lab coats lying on the floor. There was a body tied down to a gurney. There was something familiar about that body on the gurney. It was then that he recognized the black T-shirt and Doc's on the feet. Looking a little harder, he could swear he saw a glint of platinum hair peaking out under that contraption on the subject's head. It was Spike.

"Decisions, decisions. 1. I could just pretend I never found Spike. Buffy would never forgive me if she found out. 2. I rescue Bleach Boy. Ew! I guess that make me a hero- that's not too shabby. 3. It looks pretty nasty down there; even Spike doesn't deserve that treatment. Oh, and I'm still a hero! - Again, big plus! Hmmm." Xander muttered as he looked and drummed his fingers against his mouth, deep in thought. "Okay. Let's do it…." Xander added the last line in a deep baritone hero like voice as he pulled up a bent arm even with his chest and wrinkling his brow. "BECAUSE IT'S THE RIGHT THING. DAT DAT DAA!"

With that, Xander kicked out the screen and dropped into the lab. Avoiding the sparking machinery, he made his way over to Spike. He found the vampire in a dreadful state. Spike seemed to only be slightly conscious and he wasn't responding to Xander's voice. Xander undid the leather hood covering Spike's head and pulled out the blood caked gag. He bent down and released the straps that held the vampire to the gurney. Turning around, Xander went to check on the humans in the room. Neither of them was conscious, but they both had good strong pulses. Stripping them both of their lab coats, Xander returned to Spike, who hadn't moved and laid the coats on the tray beside him.

Just then, he heard footsteps come running down the hallway outside the lab doors. Grabbing the keyboard, Xander went to stand just to the side of the doors. The young corpsman came in the doors, looking for the doctor. Xander snuck up behind him and bashed him in the head with the keyboard. The corpsman collapsed unconscious. Seeing the key card hanging from the corpsman's belt, Xander grabbed it. He returned to Spike and pulled him up to a sitting position.

"Spike! Spike! You gotta wake up! I'm going to get you out of here. Can you walk?" Xander asked as he braced the vampire shoulders, snapping his fingers in front of Spike's face.

Spike nodded, but his head was bouncing around like a bobble head. Rolling his eyes, Xander didn't really believe Spike's response. Quickly wrestling Spike into one of the lab coats and himself into the other, Xander pulled Spike into a standing position from the gurney. Spike began to sink down almost immediately. Xander wrapped Spike's arm around his neck as he supported the dazed vampire's weight

"Man, you're so going to owe me!" Xander muttered with a disgruntled sigh.

"My hero." Spike muttered, looking at the floor with a low, pained chuckle. Spike did not even have the strength to look up to see Xander's pained expression.

Xander pulled Spike out into the hallway as the two of them staggered ungainly together. Spike was nearly passing out with pain and exhaustion, but did his best to keep his feet moving, relying on Xander to locate the nearest exit.