Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Since I have already stolen Drogyn and hopefully given him a better death than Joss did; you won’t be all that surprised that I am playing with the Angel timeline. I’m just borrowing one more character. But I promise to give him back in the same condition I got him in.

Many thanks to my beta No_Promises. The wonderful banner is by 3hours.

Dialog taken from “No Place Like Home” by Doug Petrie. Dialog taken from Triangle, written by Jane Espenson

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The next night Buffy told Riley she wanted some time with her mom and Dawn. At 8:30 Buffy grabbed her jacket that was hanging on the hook by the front door. “Mom I’ve got to go out for a few minutes. I’ll be back soon okay?”

“Buffy could you just help me for a minute. I wanted to bring a few of the boxes up from the basement. There is a clothing drive in town and I wanted to donate some of Dawn and your old clothes.”

“Sure mom.” By the time Buffy got done helping her mother it was 8:45 when she left for the church.

The gang met at the church where the Spike had performed the ritual to heal Dru. Everyone was waiting for Buffy to arrive. Xander and Anya joined Giles just outside the burned out building. “So why are we having a meeting here?”

“Let’s wait until everyone has arrived Xander.” The three pick their way through the debris to the center of the church where Spike was waiting.

“What’s dead boy doing here?” Xander snarled. He really wanted to hit the bleached vampire for making that wish but after trying it once he wasn’t ready for a repeat performance of the blinding pain.

“Xander do control your self. As soon as the others arrive all will be revealed.”

Tara and Willow were the next to show up.      
                 
By the time Buffy made it to the church it was a little after 9. “Sorry mom needed some help moving a few boxes. So what’s the what?”

A quick look at Spike and Giles realized that he would have to start the meeting. “A few days ago Spike came to my apartment. He followed Riley the night his wish was granted.”

Buffy’s “You followed Riley?” interrupted the watcher.

“Quiet! This is serious! Yes Spike followed Riley. He saw Riley meet up with a superior officer. They were discussing the existence of vengeance demons. It seems the military is interested in acquiring one for there own purposes.” It was Anya’s turn to interrupt Giles. Her shocked gasp had Xander putting an arm over her shoulder.

“You don’t think they want former vengeance demons do you?” Anya turned pleading eyes towards her boyfriend. “I don’t want a chip in my head!”

“Why are we even listening to Spike? How can you trust him Giles? He’s lied to us before.” Xander said as he tried to calm Anya down.

“Spike also overheard the two of them talking about placing cameras. Riley mentioned placing one that day in the Magic Shop. Indicating it was the last camera that needed to be placed.”

“You’re lying. You hate Riley. You would do anything to hurt him.” Buffy marched over to Spike and punched him square in the face. Her anger at the accusations against her boyfriend making her forget about the wish. Buffy grabbed her head in pain.

“You vicious bint.” Spike wiped the blood off his face. He suddenly stopped moving, cocking his head he seemed to be listening intently to something the rest couldn’t hear. “Did you tell soldier boy about the meeting?” Spike’s voice was barely a whisper. Buffy shook her head in more of a response to the pain then to answer Spike’s question as did the rest. “Well then here’s your proof.” Moving fast he ran to the back of the church. A few seconds later he came back into the chapel pushing Riley in front of him, twinging in pain with the small shocks the chip was sending out.

“Riley? What are you doing here?” Buffy was stunned to see her boyfriend doing what looked like spying on her and her friends.

When Riley didn’t answer right away Giles picked up the conversation. “After Spike told me what he had heard I checked not only the shop but my home as well. There are indeed cameras planted at both my home and the store. I can only assume that since you did not tell Riley of this meeting your home is also bugged Buffy. I would also assume that Willow yours and Xander’s places have cameras too.”

The glares of the group finally moved Riley to speak. “I was under orders!” Turning his pleading gaze to Buffy, “You understand don’t you?”

“No I don’t. You spied on me and my family and friends. I’m sorry I can’t understand this.” Pacing furiously Buffy exploded, “How many cameras? Where are they? How long…. I can’t… I don’t know you… I thought you loved me. How could you do this to me?”

Riley ignored the angry betrayed stares of the group and defended his actions to his girlfriend. “Buffy I was under orders.”
A snorted “Wanker!” from Spike made Riley turn to face the vampire.

“Shut up Hostile 17. Oh yeah my bosses know all about you. You’re coming back to the labs. Not only are you an escaped hostile but you just destroyed an undercover military operation.”

“Get out.” Buffy’s voice was scarier then anyone had ever heard from her before. “Get out of my town. Tell your bosses to get out of my town. I never want to see you again. We’re done.”

“Buffy, I’m… that’s not how it works. They aren’t going to go anywhere just because you say so.”

“While that may be true Agent Finn, I can assure you that the military will indeed be leaving Sunnydale.” Giles informed the soldier.

“Giles they are the US Military. They don’t take orders from a girl and a shop keeper.” The condescending tone had everyone looking at the soldier in a new light.

“Oh I don’t doubt that. But I think the phone call from the Council to the higher ups in the Pentagon made them rethink their position of staying in town. Also Spike will not be going anywhere with you or your bosses.”

“I didn’t know you cared Rupert.”

“I don’t. The council wanted to investigate your wish Spike. So to that end they will be speaking to you when they arrive tomorrow.”

“The council is coming here?” Buffy rounded on her watcher an indignant tone in her voice.

“Yes they will be arriving tomorrow. I called them after I found the cameras. They were not pleased to see the military spying on the slayer, especially since their lead scientist Maggie Walsh tried to kill you once before. I thought it prudent to inform them of the situations we were encountering.”

“What situations? If something is going on you need to tell me. I’m under orders to report any suspicious activity to my superior officer.” Riley stated whipping a communicator off his belt.

A snort from Spike has the soldier turning to face the vampire. “You are thick. I wonder if you were just born that way or if those steroids fried your brain. The Slayer said get out of town. You honestly think she’s gonna tell you anything? Don’t get me wrong sometimes I wonder how this lot managed to stay alive as long as they have.” A startled hey from the group didn’t stop Spike from speaking his mind. “But they have handled every big nasty they’ve come across without any help from yours truly. An’ I doubt they want any from you now.”

“Oh and like you’re such a big help. You’re a vampire Spike. If it wasn’t for that chip in your head you’d probably be helping to end the world.” Riley replied sarcastically.

“That’s where you’re wrong you pillock. I happen to like this world just like it is.”

“If you start on that ‘Walking Happy Meals’ speech again Spike I’m going to punch you in the nose.” “Spike helped stop the world from being sucked into hell once already Riley. And that was years before he had the chip.” Buffy informed her now ex-boyfriend. 

“Agent Finn I do believe it’s time you left.” Giles walked over to the solider and took the communicator out of his hand. Dropping it to the ground he crushed it under his foot.

With one last pleading look at Buffy Riley left. The gang started talking to each other about what Riley had done. Spike moved away from the group and walked the perimeter of the church. When he was sure that the soldier had left and wasn’t hiding outside he walked back over to the teenagers.

“Big git’s gone. So what’s this about the Council of Wanker's coming to talk to me?”

“Yes well. I was planning on calling them after we learned of Spike’s wish. But when Spike informed me of Riley’s actions I called them immediately. They were intrigued. But that isn’t the only reason they are coming. Apparently there is a large force at work in Sunnydale. There have been portents that the council has become aware of. A monastery in Prague was attacked a few weeks ago. It appears that all the monks were killed. The bodies were too burned to make identification. The seers at the coven informed the council that the monks protected something and a powerful enemy was rising. Also there appears to be a problem in England. There’s a place where the Old One’s resided after their demise. The guardian of the tomb has disappeared from his post.”

“I ran across that guardian four nights ago. Someone killed him. They ran him over with a car.  He called her Kallie, Kadie something like that. He said the monks had been a protector of a key. Something that would send this Kallie back to her jail. They sent the key to me to protect.”

 “Hey, Buff should we really be talking about this in front of the bleached wonder here?”
“That’s exactly why I made that wish Harris. I’ve been helpin’ you lot for a while now. Do I get any thanks? Any respect? I’ll tell you. No, I don’t. I got half the demons in town gunning for me because I kill my own kind. You white hats couldn’t find a kind word for me if the world was endin’.” “I’ve helped you stop the end of the world twice now. Once when your honey pie tried to suck us all into hell and then those Vahrall demons tried to open the Hellmouth. I patrol on my own, keep my cemetery clean.” Spike is pacing back and forth as he talks. “You know what. Don’t tell me, but don’t come to me for help later on.” With that Spike spun around his duster billowing out behind him and quickly left the group by themselves in the burned out remains of the church.

“What crawled up his butt?”

Ignoring Xander’s comment Buffy finished her story. “Anyway this guardian guy said he told the monks to send me the key. He said that I was supposed to protect the key and that Spike was immune to this Kallie woman.”

 “Well then it appears we shall need Spike’s help after all. Next to you Buffy, he is the strongest fighter we have and if he is somehow immune to her we will need his help all the more.”

“Does that mean I have to apologize to the bleached pain in my butt?” Buffy pouted at the thought of apologizing to Spike.
“Yes it does. Without him we never would have known about Riley’s continued involvement with the military. We all need to reconvene at the Magic Box tomorrow at 9am for the arrival of the Council. Hopefully they will be able to shed some light on what is happening.” “Do you know the location of the key?”

Buffy looked down at her feet. She wasn’t sure how she was going to tell the gang that her little sister wasn’t actually her sister. That some monks created her and sent Dawn to her for protection.

“Buffy, do you know where the key is?” Giles asked again.

With a sigh Buffy looked up at the group. “Yeah, I know where she is.”

The babble of voices grew loud. Finally Giles raised his voice over the rest and brought the conversation under control. “She? The key is human?”

“The guardian guy told me the monks sent the key to me to protect. That they made her and made her innocent, they made her out of me.” The slayer watched as everyone tried to figure out what she meant. “Dawn. Dawn is the key.”

                                                                                                                    §

Spike stormed through the streets of Sunnydale muttering under his breath the whole time. “Soddin’ Scoobies. What does it take with them? Let ‘em know about Captain Cardboard and does it earn me any good will? Not an ounce.” The vampire barged his way into the liquor store on Main Street grabbing two bottles of Jack Daniels he pushed his way out of the shop ignoring the twinges of pain from the chip as he knocked into a few customers.

By the time the crypt door slammed open Spike was well on his way to being drunk. He was surprised to see the soldier boy instead of the slayer standing in the doorway. “Oh that’s just bloody great. Could this day get any worse?”

“I should have done this a long time ago Hostile 17. You are a menace to society.” “I know what you’re trying to do. You keep sniffing around Buffy but she would never lower herself to be with you. You ruined my relationship with her, derailed my mission and blew my cover too.” Riley quickly jammed a stake into Spike’s heart. Both fell to the floor screaming in pain.