Whipping around, they saw Maggie Walsh, Morrison and another squad of soldiers bearing down on them. "Get away from that door I told you!"

Stepping back slowly, Buffy kept an eye on the approaching group. Good, only eight soldiers. Easy pickings. Catching Spike's eye she flicked her eyes towards the soldiers. He answered her with a barely perceptible nod and they readied their attack.

The soldiers had faced vampires before, they had faced demons before, but they had never faced a Vampire Slayer/Vampire tag team. Buffy and Spike leapt into the squad disarming two soldiers before they were even aware they were under attack. Using the soldiers as shields, they blocked the taser shots and then threw the now unconscious men into their comrades. Spike grabbed the weapon from the soldier nearest him, twisted the butt of the rifle up to catch the solder in the head and then swung around to jab it into the stomach of another solder. Swinging it up again he clipped the soldier in the jaw and then turned to sweep his leg out to knock a fourth soldier to the ground. Falling on him, he punched him in the face knocking him out.

Meanwhile Buffy had sent a flying kick into the body of a soldier near her sending him flying into one of his comrades. Swinging around she backhanded the fourth soldier and then threw him into his two companions. Grabbing two of them by the head, she slammed their heads together knocking them out, and then lashed out with another kick to the side of the head and her fourth soldier went down.

In just under thirty seconds, Buffy and Spike had rendered the eight men hors de combat.

Maggie Walsh was almost hysterical in her rage. Grabbing one of the soldier's sidearms, she attempted to shoot Buffy in the back only to find herself being held up in the air by the throat by one very brassed-off vampire causing her to drop her weapon. "I wouldn't do that if I were you bitch," came the ice-cold comment.

Riley looked around at the carnage with wild eyes and then seeing Professor Walsh being manhandled by the vampire held up his own weapon and pointed it at Spike. "Let her go!" he ordered.

Spike just looked coldly at the young soldier and said, "Shoot me with that thing mate and I just might accidentally twist her head off."

"Let her down, Spike," Buffy said, "but keep hold of her. Riley, lower your weapon."

Both men obeyed her orders. Buffy searched for and found Morrison. He had ducked out of harm's way as soon as the fighting had started. Pulling him to her she asked, "You have access to that room?"

Morrison nodded weakly and when Walsh started to protest, Spike tightened his grip on her throat until only a gurgle was heard. Pushing Morrison towards the door Buffy ordered, "Open it."

Spike tightened his grip once more when Walsh began another protest, and again she had no choice but to shut up. Morrison immediately opened the door and the five people entered.

Buffy had been sickened and disgusted by what was in the outer room, but this sent a shockwave through her. "It's human," she whispered. "It's part human."

The creature had a man's body and legs; one arm and half its face was also human. But it also had demon and what looked liked mechanical parts too. Buffy looked at Maggie Walsh in astonishment. "My God, you used a man for this thing?"

"Of course, you stupid girl," Maggie snapped. "Those creatures out there are the foot soldiers. This is my general." The pride in her voice sent a shudder through Buffy.

Backing away, Buffy told Riley, "Place the explosives. Lots of explosives. I don't want an inch of this thing to survive."

"No!" Maggie screeched, but a gagging noise proved that Spike was still on the job.

When everything was set, Riley and Buffy with Morrison's reluctant assistance dragged the still unconscious soldiers from the room. Once the door to the laboratory was shut, Buffy punched out the locking panel permanently sealing the room. Making sure that everyone was a safe enough distance away, Buffy nodded to Riley.

The explosion was horrific. The door to the laboratory flew off and flame burst out into the hallway. Sirens and alarms sounded and water sprinklers went off. Personnel began running wildly about as equipment began to short from the water damage.

Walsh was screaming in anger and frustration, yelling threats to Buffy, Riley, Spike and even poor timid Morrison. The water started to revive some of the soldiers and Riley tugged at Buffy's arm insisting that they really needed to leave now. Before turning to leave, Buffy took the time to punch Walsh in the face, silencing her. It was surprisingly satisfying.

They finally reached the corridor that led to the airshaft. Buffy tried to get Riley and Spike to go first, but neither man would. Finally muttering about male egos, she scurried up the shaft to the outside where a very relieved trio greeted her. Riley soon appeared and then Buffy heard what could only have been a shot followed by a cry of pain.

"Spike!" Buffy ran back to the opening and was just about to dive back in when she knocked heads with a violently cursing vampire.

"Ouch, watch it, Slayer. You trying to get me killed? Willow! Get the fuck over here and seal this damned thing up." Willow hurried over to perform the same spell that had sealed the door to the tunnels.

"Spike, what happened? I heard a shot," Buffy exclaimed. Pulling Spike the rest of the way out of the shaft, she smelled the scent of blood.

"Soddin' bastards shot me," Spike groused.

"Where?" Buffy cried attempting to pull his duster off him. Spike jerked away from her saying, "Leave off, Slayer; I'll be alright. Just need someone to dig the bullet out is all."

"Giles!" Buffy called. Giles came over just in time to hear Spike say, "No! You can do it, Slayer, or I can go to a demon doctor." Buffy looked at him in amazement and said, "Spike, Giles knows how to do this kind of stuff. Just tell him where the bullet is and he'll dig it out."

"And I said I'll get a demon doctor to do it," Spike insisted.

All this time, Buffy had been trying to see where he had been shot but Spike kept backing away from her. Finally in frustration she shouted, "Damn it, Spike, where did you get shot?!"

"In the ass, okay? I got shot in the ass! Now are you happy that everybody knows?"

Buffy looked at him in surprise and then collapsed in laughter, releasing some of the tension she had been under for the last few hours. Spike just gave her an offended look and limped away. Giles sighed and told Buffy, "I'll dig it out at my house, which I suggest we go to right away. The sooner we're away from here the better, Buffy."

Buffy finally composed herself and nodded agreement and then turned to Riley. "Riley, thank you. I owe you our lives; I won't forget it."

"It's like I said, Buffy, I'm a soldier not a murderer." Taking a deep breath he continued, "I don't know what's going to happen now Buffy. I'm going to call the person at The Pentagon who recruited me for this duty. I don't think it was ever his intention that civilians be put in jeopardy. I'm sure he didn't know about that Adam thing."

Looking intently at Buffy he added, "We need to have a pretty serious talk later, Buffy. About everything." With that he looked over to where Spike was standing.

"Yeah," Buffy agreed. "I owe you an explanation. About everything." Buffy walked away from him to join her friends. "Everyone okay here? Xander, how's your eye?"

"Feels like I've gone a couple rounds with Iron Mike, but I'll live. See you managed to save Fang Boy. He all assassiny now?"

"No, we got to him before they could finish," Buffy hedged. She wasn't in the mood for the discussion she knew would come once they found out about the chip's reprogramming. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready to go."

Nodding in agreement the four humans and one limping vampire wearily wended their way home.