DISCLAIMER: All BTVS characters belong to Joss, I'm just borrowing them. Couple of OC's in there that are mine.

I-E-H

It had been fifteen minutes.

Fifteen minutes of running, fighting, efficient kills and screaming for her mate.

Fifteen minutes of feeling him, feeling his pain, but not feeling him stood beside her, fighting beside her.

Fifteen minutes of dying every second she couldn't find him.

Damn that chip. Damn the Initiative for starting all this. Damn Riley. Damn Adam. DAMMIT WHY CAN'T I FIND SPIKE?

She was crying now, as she killed hybrids in her way. Blood and tears. Story of her life so far. She wouldn't lose him, couldn't lose him. Not now. Not after she'd lost so much in this stupid war. She wouldn't lose her future too.

Another minute gone. Another minute without him. She glanced behind her.

Another six cyborgs dead and partially dismembered on the floor.

The Slayer was angry now. The bond between her and Spike was fresh, and the part of her that made her the Slayer was raging that her other half had been taken, that he was hurting somewhere. And the Buffy part of her was never happen when anyone took someone she cared about. There was a world of hurt waiting for anything that stood between her and her vampire. She'd find him, kill everything and then they'd kill Adam. Job done.

She couldn't hear the gunfire from the outside of the complex anymore. She felt a bit like she was inside one of those Borg ships off of Star Trek. Xander probably would have thought it was really cool. Actually, Xander probably would have started looking for Seven of Nine. Buffy smiled at the thought of her goofy friend. She missed him. And Willow. So much.

The corridor ahead of her, if you could call it that, appeared clear of cyborgs for the time being. Panels and lights, threaded with wires and screens, surrounded her. She felt distinctly sci-fi as she held the machete in an attack position. She was deep in the heart of the complex now, having gone down several levels following her heart to her vampire. It was the only way she knew how to work; follow the heart and occasionally listen to someone else's brain. Instinct had kept her going this long. It would see her through to the end.

Something exploded behind her and she turned to see sparks hit the grating on the floor. Nothing emerged from the smoke and she shrugged, breaking into a run along the remainder of the corridor. She didn't worry about being quiet – Riley had seen her, so they knew she was coming. She no longer had the element of surprise. She'd just have to rely on the element of being able to rip them limb from limb. Especially Riley. She seriously wanted to massacre the thing that was wearing her ex-boyfriend's body….well, parts of it.

She thought Spike might like a piece of that action too.

I-E-H

The pain was excruciating. It felt like he was burning slowly from the inside out, but without any actual combustion occurring. Slow, unbearable death.

Physically there was nothing showing on him, aside from the blood slowly trickling from his nose and ears. The chip was certainly frying his brain. He kept trying to recount his memories, desperately clinging onto things he didn't want to lose. But the chip was killing him, slowly.

Unfortunately it looked like it would take a long time.

Something cut into him, and he arched against the new source of pain. The chip was dulling his senses but he could feel the cut. Something had been attached to him and he tried to see what it was. Whilst he was sure his eyes were open, he was blind.

God, he hoped that wasn't permanent.

A voice echoed in his ear, and he snarled.

"See if she wants you back when you look just like me."

I-E-H

She'd landed in what looked like a factory floor when it had been shut down for the night. Body parts were arranged in grotesque displays and some were obviously in a state of construction. Others were in the deconstruction phase.

It was fairly sickening.

Room checked, nothing to kill, move on.

The hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end. This place was creeping the bejesus out of her and she wanted to find Spike quickly and get the hell out of dodge. The pain she felt from him was nullifying slowly and it worried her. He couldn't be dying. He wasn't going to leave her.

She was starting to be more worried about what they would do with him if he did die. Although it would be hard to turn a pile of dust into one of these monsters. She kicked at a discarded leg as if it was its fault for the mess she had found herself in.

A decidedly male scream echoed around the chamber and she spun round, trying to determine what direction it came from. A second scream sounded but the acoustics of the room afforded her no hint of the route she should take. She stopped, concentrated on her link to Spike and focused hard.

All she got for her trouble was an influx of pain she couldn't handle. She bent over double, fresh tears coursing down her cheeks as she felt what he was feeling. Blood seeped through the leg of her khaki pants and she looked down, unaware she had cut herself. She rolled the trouser leg up and was surprised to see a deep gash, with what looked like staple marks around the wound. Nothing she ever recalled getting.

Spike is hurt. This is Spike's wound.

The realisation made her grit her teeth and she sprinted from the chamber, following corridors blindly, looking for him, screaming for him. She kicked open a large foreboding door and fell forward, landing on her hands and knees on the floor of a large square room. Computer screens lined the outside of the room, with huge server units humming away. Several cyborgs stood facing her and she pulled herself to her feet very quickly. She grabbed for the machete and stood in a fighting stance.

'Stop.' A commanding voice made the cyborgs stop in their tracks. Buffy looked beyond them and her eyes widened at what she saw.

The middle of the room was a dipped circle, surrounded by computer screens and wires, all connecting to a focal point in the middle of the room. Adam. He was the focal point. Has been all along. Buffy's mind reminded her. Her widened eyes narrowed as she remained in an offensive stance.

'She is mine. I've been waiting a long time.'

The cyborgs vacated the area, retaining enough of their demon senses to apparently realise this was a fight they wouldn't win. The Slayer was left facing down Frankenstein. Final showdown.

'You failed the last time you faced me. I killed your friends. I have destroyed the known world. Everything you knew has descended into chaos and still you come before me, with nothing but a sharp knife, and you believe you can defeat me.' The monster disconnected himself from the wires and computers and stepped out of his circle of tech. He looked down at her and for a moment, even from a few metres away, she thought that he'd gotten bigger. 'Even now, Hostile 17, your Spike is ours. Before long he'll be one of my constructs and you will have lost everything. Will you fight me then?'

Her mind flitted to Spike and she felt despair. She had to get to him and stop them changing him into a cyborg. He definitely wouldn't be happy about that.

Adam sensed her internal turmoil and he laughed at her, a horrible grating noise that made her insides twist. He took a step forward and she began to retreat, then stood her ground, raising her chin defiantly against him. He smiled. 'Even now you stand your ground, even though it is hopeless. You could not defeat me. All you can do is die. Half of the forces you brought against me are destroyed. More parts for my constructs.'

'Your constructs? They're just Frankensteins. What are you going to do when there's nothing left to destroy?'

'Humans are like cockroaches. There will always be more to kill.'

Buffy rolled her eyes. The bad guys still didn't have any follow through. 'I'm going to fight you.'

'You will fail.'

'Pride comes before a fall, so they say.' Buffy shrugged. Adam smiled, and then his arm changed into a gun and began firing rapidly at her. She rolled to the side and slid behind one of the server columns, hoping to whoever would listen that the casing would afford her enough protection. One of the bullets ricocheted off of the floor and scraped her arm, and she hissed as blood splattered over her arm. She did not like guns, never had. Kinda like Batman, huh Buff?

The gunfire stopped as she felt her friends beside her. An eerie wave of calming influence washed over her and she stood, pushing the cabinet away from her with ease as she faced Adam. Her eyes were bathed in a brilliant light as she smiled at him. He paused, showing the first signs of hesitation as she approached him.

She kicked him and he stumbled backwards, before throwing his fist towards her face. It connected and she flew back into another tower, crunching it beneath the impact of the connection. He snarled and charged forward, trying to punch her against the tower but she moved, ducking between his legs and coming up behind him, pushing him into the tower and planting a solid kick to the midsection of his back. Something crunched underneath her foot and she laughed. He span round and grabbed her arm, throwing her up and then down into the floor, painfully. He followed it up with a punch to the back of her head, but she rolled away, spinning through the air to her feet.

The monster glared at her, stomping towards her. His temper was fraying and the edges thinned even more as she smiled at him, her eyes still glowing in an ethereal manner. He snarled, grabbed her by the throat and holding her up.

'You will not win. I will destroy you.'

I-E-H

He snarled, feeling something akin to acid burning through his insides, corroborating with the pain in his skull. The only thought other than 'ow, this bloody hurts' that was going through his brain was the need to know that Buffy was okay.

Then suddenly, the acid feeling numbed and he somehow knew that Buffy was alive and coming for him. The shocks lessened and he struggled against his bonds. A leg snapped free and his eyesight returned to him as the deformed face of Riley Finn swam into his vision, and he felt himself being pinned down by numerous hands.

His thoughts became tumultuous as he fought against them and fought to return to the side of his mate.

I-E-H

'You think that, but I'm feeling pretty good.' Buffy quipped, twisting her body and escaping Adam's grip. She landed on the floor and hit her opponent with a series of punches to the face. He threw a punch and she bent backwards to avoid it. before aiming a solid kick to his midsection.

Buffy laughed as she ducked another punch from and span out of his reach. Adam roared and stomped towards her, intent on serious harm. Within the blink of an eye, Buffy sent him careening into the centre structure. He threw a computer at her and it hit her on the side but did not keep her down for long as she jumped straight back up and laughed again.

'You cannot continue this fight. You will tire. You will die.'

'Sure about that?' She replied, retrieving her discarded machete and slicing a chunk out of his abdomen.

'You do not have the power to defeat me.' He sounded worried.

Good.

He grabbed her by the hair, intent on ramming her head into the wall, but she kicked her legs up and flipped over his head, ignoring the pain of his hand pulling at her hair. With a deft swipe, he'd lost the hand and she had landed gracefully behind him. He snarled and his arm was replaced with another gun. He fired at her and she panicked for a brief second before time seemed to slow down.

She saw the bullets coming towards her, and then felt something on either side of her take her hands. She looked over, and saw Willow on one side and Xander on the other. They weren't quite solid, but they were there. Willow raised a hand and the bullets turned into flower petals and time sped up again. Buffy suddenly felt infused with an awesome power and rushed forward, ripped the previously damaged arm from the socket of Adam's shoulder. He yelled, a rather human noise for the supposed "demon king" and she looked up at him, tilting her head to the side.

'You don't have…the power.'

Buffy grinned, 'You could not hope to grasp the source of my power.' She punched into his chest, ripped through metal and flesh and pulled out the uranium core that powered him. 'But yours is right here.' The wide eyed look Adam gave her before crumpling to the floor, was extremely satisfactory.

The power she'd had left her and she slipped to her knees, looking up as the spectres of Willow and Xander appeared before her once more. She smiled at them, tears pricking her eyes, knowing this wouldn't be the last time she ever saw them. Xander grinned and Willow waved at her, before they disappeared back into the ether from whence they came.

The Slayer sagged a little, then jumped to her feet.

She still had to find her vampire.

I-E-H

'Adam is dead. The hybrids are connected to me now. You'll soon be my little slave, Hostile 17. She won't get here in time.'

The acid burning had returned with a vengeance. He couldn't feel his legs. Reminded him of that time he was in the wheelchair. When….how he ended up in that thing? He remembered fire.

He remembered Buffy.

Buffy.

Keep thinking about Buffy.

'She won't get here in time.'

I-E-H

A/N: I have my laptop back! Yay! Hopefully I can now find the time to finish this story for my wonderful followers and reviewers :)