Buffy watched helplessly as her friends were led away. Blinking back tears she glared her hatred at Riley. Never had she felt so impotent. The remaining squad of soldiers motioned for Buffy and Spike to leave. Exchanging last looks, they were separated; Spike being led down one corridor and Buffy another.

She was placed in one of the cells that Spike had described. Three white walls and a large glass "door". As soon as it was lowered and the solders left she threw herself against it in the hopes of breaking out. But again, Spike's report had been accurate. Electrical current flowed through her body knocking her back. Buffy slid down the back wall, legs drawn up and head resting on knees. She had lost. She had faced how many apocalypses and won? But now, faced with the power of an insane scientist, she had failed.

She wasn't sure how long she was left in her cell, but at last she heard the glass being raised. Lifting her head she saw Riley Finn standing there, weapon pointed at her, cold look on his face.

"You're to come with me," he said without inflection.

Buffy raised herself to her feet and said, "What have you done with Willow and the others? Where are they? I swear Riley, if you've hurt them..."

Riley just stood stone-faced saying nothing.

"Riley," Buffy pleaded, "this is wrong. You know it is. You're a better man than this."

"I'm a soldier," he answered. "I obey orders. Now come on, there's no time to waste."

Motioning with his rifle, he stepped back to allow her to precede him. Buffy thought of rushing him until she stepped out and realized that there were several more soldiers there. Even if she overpowered Riley, they would shoot her with one of their taser rifles before she could reach them and she would then be defenseless. No, wiser to wait for a better opportunity.

Surrounded by the soldiers, Buffy was led down still another corridor. The lead soldier inserted a keycard in a door and then stood aside allowing Buffy and Riley to enter.

"Wait here," Riley told the soldiers.

"But sir," one of them began.

"Wait here, soldier," Riley barked.

Snapping a salute, the soldier backed up and out of the way. Buffy felt a slight push on her back and moved forward, only to come to a surprised halt. There were her friends, alive and well.

As the door whooshed closed behind them Buffy turned to Riley, a question on her lips. Before she could even voice it however he answered, "I'm a soldier, Buffy, not a murderer. I'll help all of you escape and then try and contact someone I know at The Pentagon about Professor Walsh."

Buffy looked around and saw that the other soldiers in Riley's squad were bound and gagged. Turning back to Riley, Buffy asked, "Where's Spike?"

Riley's face darkened briefly. "I'm not risking my life to rescue a vampire. You and your friends leave now. I'll do whatever I can to keep you safe, but the vampire's lost." Riley started to turn away, but Buffy placed a hand on his arm stopping him. "I'm not leaving without Spike. Just tell me where he is and I'll get him myself. You needn't put yourself at any more risk."

Riley looked her directly in the eyes and asked, "He means that much to you?" Buffy could only nod her head. How could she explain to this decent man what Spike meant to her? She had only just realized it herself that night, and there was no way she was leaving without him. She had to save him. She had no choice in the matter.

Looking at Xander, Riley said, "Take the others and get out. There's an exit you can use down the corridor outside this door. We'll join you as quickly as we can." Gazing down at Buffy, he asked, "Is what Prof. Walsh said true? Are you some kind of supergirl?"

"I'm The Slayer, Riley," Buffy answered. At his blank look she said, "Long story. Let's just say, yes what she said is true."

Nodding, Riley motioned towards the door. "We'll have to take those guys out before anyone can leave, but I don't want anyone killed, okay?"

"I don't kill humans, Riley," was Buffy's answer.

Going over to where the squad's weapons were stacked, Riley handed taser rifles to Xander and Giles. Willow refused one and so did Buffy. "Look, I wouldn't know the first thing about using that," Buffy told him. "I just need my hands and feet."

Riley didn't look convinced, but put the weapon back down and headed towards the door. "I'll fire my taser. That should knock most of them out. Whoever it misses, you take out. We gotta be quick before they sound an alarm, okay?"

Nodding her understanding, Riley pushed the button that opened the door, fired his weapon and rushed out. Buffy followed, and after a quick skirmish the men were lying unconscious on the floor. Xander, Giles and Willow helped drag the men into the room and bind and gag them.

Riley led them out into the hallway. "You said that there should still be about an hour left to the spell that cloaks you from the security system?" he asked Willow.

Willow quickly checked her watch and then nodded agreement. "Okay, then follow this corridor to where I showed you on your map. You'll find an air vent down a small dead-end hallway. You'll have to climb it, but you should be able to get out that way. We'll join you as quickly as we can." Turning he led Buffy down the corridor in the opposite direction to track down the missing vampire.

***

After traveling a circuitous route turning right and left so many times that Buffy was completely lost, Riley stopped outside a laboratory door. Using his keycard and code, he opened the door and rushed in. Two soldiers stood guard inside, but he and Buffy quickly overpowered them. Spike was strapped down on an examining table, his head tightly clamped in place, a wire running from his head to a computer terminal. Dr. Morrison had been sitting at the computer but jumped up when Riley and Buffy burst in. Buffy quickly jumped over the desk blocking her way, grabbed Morrison by the throat, shoved him against the wall and growled, "Whatever it is you're doing to Spike, you're going to undo right now. Do you understand?" To emphasize her threat she gave him a little shake.

Morrison's eyes almost bugged out of his head and he gave a little nod to indicate that he would obey. Releasing her hand from his throat Buffy let him go. Slumping against the wall and rubbing his injured neck, Morrison croaked out, "I haven't hurt him, honestly. I've just downloaded the second layer of programming."

"And what does it do?" Buffy wanted to know. "Is this the programming that makes him an assassin?"

Morrison shook his head. "None of my programming makes him an assassin," he answered. "It only allows or denies him the ability to inflict harm. This second level of programming installs the overrides for inflicting pain on humans. The third level installs the overrides for lethal force. The forth level then ties the two together to work with the specific DNA sequencing for the target victim."

Buffy took this all in and then asked, "Are you saying that Spike can hurt humans right now, but he can't kill them?"

Morrison nodded. "Yes. Until we download the fourth protocol the overrides are universal. If you want me to reset his chip to the default setting it will take approximately 53 minutes to download."

Riley spoke up at that point, "Buffy, we don't have time for that." Buffy nodded her head and then told Morrison, "Get that wire out of his head, patch him up and release him. Do it in five minutes, or I swear I'll make you very, very sorry."

Morrison took one look at The Slayer's face and didn't doubt it. Moving with alacrity he quickly did as she requested. Buffy was at Spike's side the instant he was released, giving him support as he wobbled slightly. But he recovered quickly and simply said, "Let's go, Slayer."

After tying up and gagging Morrison and the two soldiers, they left the laboratory heading back down the way Buffy and Riley had just come. As Riley turned to lead them towards the direction he had pointed out to the others, Buffy stopped and looked in the direction of Room 314. Turning to Riley she said, "I have to destroy them."

"What?" Riley asked confused.

"Those things, the one she called Adam and those things in the cylinders. I have to destroy them. I can't let something like that continue to exist."

Riley looked at her as if she had lost her mind. "Are you crazy?" he asked incredulously. "We have to get out of here, Buffy. Every second we're here we're liable to get caught. Now come on."

Buffy only shook her head, a stubborn expression on her face. Spike had to smile; he knew that look quite well. "Just give it up, mate. We're going to have to destroy those things or the Slayer will never leave here."

A look of panic started to come over Riley's face. Jesus, all he had wanted to do was save this girl he had fallen in love with and her friends and now look where he was. A mutineer who had aided in the escape of prisoners and an HST and now she was expecting him to destroy the end product of years of research. Looking between Buffy's set face and Spike's amused one, he thought about sounding an alarm, falling on Maggie Walsh's mercy and forgetting he ever heard of Buffy Summers. But he was a good man, a decent man, who had been having qualms ever since he had heard Maggie Walsh plan murder and torture in Room 314. At last nodding his head in acquiescence, he started leading them in an entirely new direction.

"Where," Buffy began.

"We'll need explosives to destroy the lab. I'm taking you to one of the armories. We should be able to get what we need there."

Dodging personnel with the aid of Spike's vampire senses, they quickly made their way to the armory. Once again using his keycard and code, Riley opened the door. The room was filled with ordnance and weapons. Riley pointed out the things they would need. He was amazed at the weight both Buffy and Spike were able to carry. Silently moving back to Room 314, the three arrived in short order. Riley entered first and then motioned the others in. The room was empty of people; no one had remained behind. Maggie Walsh was in her office and what personnel remained on duty had other tasks to perform.

Entering the cylinder room, Riley showed Buffy and Spike where and how to set up the explosives and the triggering devices. Working as quickly as possible they at last made their way to the end of the room and the doorway that led to Adam. Here they were stalled.

"My keycard doesn't work here," Riley said. "We'll have to leave this one."

"No," Buffy insisted. "Walsh said this one was almost ready to be "born". I want it dead."

"Buffy, I can't get into that room," Riley insisted.

"Then we'll blow the door off."

Riley drew breath to continue arguing when a female voice snapped, "Get away from that door!"