A/N: Warning: Dark chapter involving torture.  I promise things will begin to get better, even if slowly.
 
 
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Chapter 16
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"Look, I know this guy and he knows me.  Why don't you just ask him to drop by for a minute?  I don't see how that would ruin all your fun game plans," Buffy wheedled.
The farm fresh face of her current guard flushed, but he didn't bother to look at the rather frightening girl with the superpowers, much less answer her request.
 
Graham hadn't been back to let Buffy know if he had seen Spike again in this hell-hole. She sighed, "All right, you know what?  I'm pretty sick of...everything actually." In truth, Buffy was feeling a bit lucky, considering the condition of many of her fellow inmates.  Her strength was flagging a bit and she was more than a little sick of the smirking face of Quentin Travers, but, all in all, she was not too badly harmed.
 
It hadn't taken long to realize what she could do before someone in a white coat or fatigues activated the collar. After that, it was day after endless day facing off against every kind of demon in just about every combination imaginable.  'They set 'em up and I knock 'em down.'  Her body ached and she was more tired than she could ever remember feeling, but mostly they had simply tested her Slaying abilities and recuperative powers.
 
She had overheard plans recently that did make her nervous.  Travers had managed to convince the doctors that, in spite of the DNA tests, she wasn't fully human.  'So the First Slayer got her powers from a demon essence?  Huh!  Wish they would have told me that from the start.'  It was only a matter of time before she would be handed over to the slice-and-dice division of Hell Hospital. 'Need to find Spike so we can figure out a way to get out of here.'
 
 
***
 
"Ms. Summers is demanding to talk to one of our operatives, Graham Miller." The Lab Tech relayed the information shared with him by the young soldier assigned to the Slayer that afternoon. "Don't have a clue why.  She says she knows him.  Do you think we need to pass this up the chain?"
 
"She is likely seeking an ally or a favor of some sort.  It's not likely Miller is in any position to be someone to worry about."  The distracted Doctor barely looked at the Tech.  Still, no chances were to be taken with this special prisoner. The doctor decided to run the information by the unit commander; let him decide whether the Slayer's request was worthy of scrutiny by those higher on the food chain.
 
***
 
"So what about this Miller?  Is he loyal?"
 
The commander thought about the young man in question.  He had known him from the old Initiative days.  A good soldier, stalwart and true. Still, he had heard a rumor.  "Seems to be.  He's shown some squeamishness about some procedures recently.  Doesn't seem to approve of some of the boys letting off a bit of steam with the demons."  He frowned in thought, "Perhaps we should keep him away from the Slayer until we see about those little blips on his otherwise stellar record."
 
The Commander tapped on the stack of papers littering his desk.  "Have plenty of bigger fish to fry.  Seems a small thing that the girl wants a bit of conversation with someone she knows from before."
 
The doctor remembered something he had heard about the staff from the original Initiative, "What about that ex boyfriend of hers?  I understand he's on staff here too.  That'd be a familiar face. He loyal?"
 
The commander grinned widely. "Fine boy!  Very loyal. Devoted to the mission.  He's a real go-getter, even made a few highly creative suggestions for testing these things."
 
"Speaking for the medical staff, I'd prefer the Slayer to be kept as pacified as possible, at least regarding her interactions with my techs.  They are trained medically, not militarily, and even with that collar she can be rather a challenge."
 
"I'll arrange a visit from Finn.  It should placate Ms. Summers; let her think she has some resources beyond herself to depend upon.  No doubt the lad will know how to handle whatever scheme the girl might be hatching."
 
***
 
Graham really hated being reassigned to work with Riley's group.  If someone had told him that he would feel that way a few months earlier he would have laughed at them.  Ri was one of his best friends.  He hardly recognized him now.  The dedicated soldier up for fighting the good fight had turned into a hard, sadistic man with no sense of humor and none of the innocent farm-boy charm that had once made Graham wonder if his friend was cut out for their monster-hunting detail.
 
He knew that Finn had gone through a terrible time dealing with what he saw as a personal betrayal by Maggie Walsh. The drugs and implant had been a shock to them all when it was revealed what had been done to them.  The Frankenstein monster, Adam, had also been a blow to Riley's world-view.  God only knew what had gone down with Buffy, but Riley had started to harden fairly soon after they had seen the closing of the first Initiative.  It had only gotten worse, it seemed. 'Maybe I shouldn't have recommended him and brought him back into this.'
 
Miller watched as Riley issued orders for another 'test' on the seemingly harmless and friendly demon with all that extra skin--well, what skin folds were left, that is.  The floppy eared demon already looked pathetic and Graham had no idea just what important scientific information could come from the test Riley had just ordered. 
 
"Have you seen those things that pop out of its eyes?" Riley said defensively when Graham had asked.  "Only way to know just what they do is pull them out. Getting soft on me Miller?"
 
"I just don't see inflicting damage when it isn't necessary, that's all.  Haven't they already tested others of its kind?"
 
"Yeah, but that was a female and a juvenile at that.  You know what the docs say: the more you test, the more you know."  Riley and Graham were walking as they debated the issue and now Graham realized they were about to enter the one cell that really bothered him the most.  The one demon that seemed to bring out the worst in his old friend.
 
17 was curled into a fetal position on the cold cell floor and, while writhing in obvious pain, was not making any sound.  Graham steeled himself and looked over the paperwork, fighting off nausea.  "Man,  what is anyone going to learn from this?!"
 
"It's part of the psychological.. well, obviously physical too," Riley snorted.
 
"Yeah, but..."
 
Riley delivered a kick to Spike's head. "As for what this thing will learn?  He'll learn his place."
 
Graham couldn't take his eyes off the vampire. "And what's that?"
 
"Hell," Riley smirked.
 
Graham stayed silent as he watched Finn manhandling 17, making checks and notes on his clipboard as he checked over the distressed vampire. 
 
The doctor in charge of the wing entered and asked for a report, breaking the long, deep silence.  "So how's the subject dealing with the deprivation?"
 
"He hasn't said," Riley darkly quipped, then he and the Doctor guffawed nastily.
 
"I daresay," the doctor continued to laugh.  "Let's see," he looked over the paperwork and Finn’s notations.  "Sight, smell, speech and taste all inhibited"   He looked up at Riley, brows raised.  "Just a few drops of holy water managed it?"
 
"Yes, sir.  Works like acid on this kind.  Didn't take much on the eyes, vocal chords and in the ears to do the job.  Last one we used in this trial took a couple of weeks to heal up and get back to normal, but that was one of the subjects we were still feeding."
 
"How long since this one fed?"
 
"Close to a couple of weeks this time; he's pretty starved."
 
"We need to think of how to inhibit the sense of touch for full sensory deprivation.  I'll get my team on it.  Brainstorm a method.  Once this one's been left this way for a bit, give him a few feedings so we can implement whatever we come up with.  Give him a few days this way first and take good notes."  The doctor wrote his orders on the form as he spoke. 
 
"The sense of touch seems heightened.  Probably because it's trying to compensate for the loss of the other senses,” Riley offered.  "Maybe we can try a few things to up the ante with pain tolerance this go-round, make the test a little different from the other subjects? Take advantage of this thing still having one sense to test," Riley looked far too happy with the idea.  Graham had to suppress a slight shiver.
 
The doctor looked thoughtful.  "Yes, might as well make full use of his condition." He smiled at Riley.  "I'm sure you can come up with something...new."  He handed the clipboard back to Finn and headed to the next cell.
 
Riley followed the doctor out and spoke to another member of his team, sending the soldier scurrying.
 
In short order, the soldier, one Graham vaguely remembered as being one of Barnes rapist buddies, returned with a vice-like device.  Before Graham could even ask what Finn had in mind, his old friend was rolling 17 over on his back and he and two other team members were holding him down.
 
As Finn applied the vice on the vampire's exposed penis and testes and began to crush them in the device, Graham finally lost his battle with nausea and emptied his stomach all over the floor.
 
***
 
"Hey, Jonathan!"  The young man nervously glanced over his shoulder and was relieved to see that Andrew seemed to be alone. 
 
"What's up, Andy?"
 
"What's up with you?  Haven't seen you at any of the meetings in ages.  Warren asked about you and I didn't know what to tell him."
 
"I've been kind of busy. My classes are kicking my butt this semester and I've been doing some work at my Synagogue too," Jonathan lied.  He quickly tried to steer Andrew in the opposite direction.  If the Rabbi and Lorne came out now, there was no telling what Andrew would do or say!
 
"Hey, did you see the latest stuff on the net about the X-Men movie that'll be out soon?"  Jonathan hadn't noticed the irony of the film’s subject matter given the current events of the world until he'd read the article. "Seems some group wants to make the studio pull it because they say it has a hidden message that's pro-demon.  Man, that would suck!"
 
Andrew looked ready to cry. "I know!  I mean, there's nothing the same about a completely cool story about mutants and getting rid of demons and monsters, right?"
 
Jonathan wondered how hard it might be to get his friend to see the light.  Andrew had good in him.  He was from a troubled home and far too easy for someone like Warren Mears to dominate. Andrew was easily seduced by power, or what he saw as power.
 
"Yeah, it makes you think a little though," Jonathan dared.  "Just remember Dwayne from our Star Trek club.  He was a really nice guy.  We had a great time at Comic Con last year, remember."
 
Andrew smiled, "Yeah, it was great!  I totally kicked ass in my Flash costume.  No one else wore one.  Dwayne helped me put it together," his voice trailed off at the memory.
 
"It doesn't seem right that we all liked the guy one day and then were supposed to hate him the next just because it turned out he was part demon.  I mean he was the same guy. It just didn't seem fair."  Jonathan watched Andrew's face to see if he was getting through at all.
 
Andrew squirmed as if he'd been suddenly attacked by a colony of ants.  "Yeah, but Warren says the demons were just pretending to be nice.  They were really wanting to get rid of us humans."
 
"Warren doesn't know everything," Jonathan said impatiently.  "He was always jealous of Dwayne  because he got better grades, even in the science classes."
 
Andrew stopped walking and looked closely at Jonathan. "Is that why you stopped coming to the meetings?  Because of what happened to Dwayne?  And what DID happen to Dwayne, do you know?"
 
"They arrested his family. I tried to find out what happened to them, but no one seems to know.  His dad's car parts store was given to some guy who's been his competitor for years.  They didn't even pay him for it, just took it."
 
Andrew looked upset.  "Do you think they killed them?"
 
"Probably."
 
***
 
 "Lawmakers are assuring the population that the concentration of demons in certain areas of selected cities is a temporary solution to the problem. A spokesman for Senator Billings’ office stated that it was merely a way to keep better census records by relocating demons from smaller towns and the countryside into the selected cities.  No human need worry about having to interact with these demons as the sections designated for their temporary housing will be behind walls.  No demon will be permitted to leave the area until their final destination is determined.  All small towns and rural areas are being scoured and demons rounded up for this purpose." 
 
Chaim's lips were set in a scowl. "It's the Heydrich plan all over again.  Ghettos first, then the camps."
 
Rabbi Goldstein put a comforting hand on his old friend's shoulder, "That's why we are taking action.  We won't stand silent."
 
"Ira is furious," Chaim confided.  "Seems my Willow has lost her scholarship because of magic use."
 
"How is your granddaughter?"
 
"So far, so good.  Her sweetheart is out of the hospital and Willow is devoting herself to making sure Tara recovers fully.  That nice Mr. Giles is watching over them in one of the safe houses, or cave, I suppose I should say."
 
“That's good news at least," the Rabbi sighed wearily.  "So little of that of late."
 
***
 
"Hey, Buffy," Riley put on his most charming grin.  "I hope they are treating you well."
 
"Do I look like I'm a happy customer?" Buffy fingered the collar that kept her behavior in check.
 
"As long as you cooperate, I'm sure they will treat you just fine."  Riley looked at her slyly.  "I suppose we could have just asked you to come in for testing.  You're pretty special, you know!  Most powerful girl in the world.  Maggie never did much testing of your powers and I doubt Giles did either."
 
"I'm CHOSEN, you lunk.  Of course Giles never put me through anything like this!  The Council knows what a Slayer is and what we can do."  She was livid.  Did Riley think she was stupid?  She'd seen Travers, for God's sake.  This wasn't even a bit about scientific curiosity.  The Council could have told them everything they needed to know about a Slayer, more even then they had ever told her.
 
Riley looked slightly abashed.  "Look, Buffy, we broke up, but that doesn't mean I don't still care about you.  Do you need anything?  I hear you were asking about Graham."
 
"Yeah, I ran into him a while ago.  I had a favor to ask him."  She looked at Riley as if she just realized something, "I thought you were leaving town?"
 
"I decided I could do more good here. They needed people experienced with demons.  Could use you on the team again," he hinted.
 
"This isn't my game.  It never was.  I was called to take out evil demons and keep the balance between good and evil.  I wasn't called to bring in a bunch of other beings for torture just because they are different."
 
"You're calling them beings now, not demons?  What's happened to you, Buffy?  You used to be pretty clear about what's good and what's evil."
 
"I grew up," Buffy stated.  "Learned to see that it's not that simple."
 
"Maybe you had some bad influences too," Riley suggested angrily.
 
Buffy glared at him and saw a clear look of jealousy pass over his face.  "Where's Spike?  I know I saw him here."
 
"Why do you care, Buffy?  I thought you weren't interested in him," Riley sneered.
 
"I care because he's been doing good for quite a while now.  He's a friend.  He was a good friend to my mom and my sister too.  He doesn't deserve to be in here; lots of demons don't deserve to be in here."  Buffy crossed her arms in a determined fashion. "Where is he?"
 
Riley was really done with this girl.  Clearly she didn't have any decency in her any longer.  Maybe it started with that first vampire she shacked up with.  Maybe it was whatever caused her to be more than human herself.  Maybe it was always being attracted to demons when perfectly decent guys were right there willing to give her the world. Whatever it was, he was tired of longing for someone like her.  He deserved better, he deserved a real girl.  It was time she saw just how badly things could go in this place for anyone not on the right side of history.  "I'll take you to see him."
 
*** 
 
"Welcome to The Party Box, how can I help you?"  Anya chirped.
 
"You're the girlfriend of Xander Harris, aren't you?" The young man asked in a voice so quiet it was nearly a whisper as he looked nervously over his shoulder.
 
Anya craned her neck to look behind him to see what he was looking for.  "Yes, he's my fiancé actually.  Are you a work friend?"  She took in his fine build and concluded he must be in construction.
 
"We have a mutual friend:  Riley Finn," he raised a brow in question.
 
"Oh, yes, we know Riley, but he left town quite a while ago.  I don't think Xander has his current address, so I'm afraid I can't help you locate him."  Anya didn't show how the mention of Riley unnerved her.  "We don't have any dealings with demons or demon hunters any longer.  Just two regular people doing normal jobs and trying to live the American dream."
 
Graham had to grin.  Really!  The girl tried far too hard.  If she weren't careful, she'd be attracting all sorts of unwanted attention to herself.  "I'd really like to speak to Harris.  Could you point me to his job location?"
 
"Well," Anya offered, "He should be here in a few minutes actually.  He's picking me up at closing time.  We're going to have a nice normal evening of eating dinner, watching a little TV and maybe playing a game of Canasta with our equally normal neighbors."
 
"Look, I'm not your enemy.  I don't know what your story is, miss, but you are putting up all kinds of red flags with this talk about being normal." 

Anya paled at his words. 

"You might want to try and relax a bit and tone it down.  I'm not here to check on you, I promise."
 
The girl was pretty and she seemed human.  Then again, there were cells filled with human looking demons.  If that's what the girl was hiding, or trying to hide, it would be a shame to have her act this jumpy in front of the wrong person.
 
Graham looked around the store and fiddled with some of the merchandise while waiting for Harris to arrive. He gave a start as the bell over the door jangled.
 
"And how is my little capitalist today?" Xander exclaimed as he entered.  He didn't see Graham, who had moved out of his line of sight. 
 
"Happily counting my profits," Anya smiled at Xander, then motioned towards the young man who had so rattled her.
 
"Do I know you?  I feel like I should know you," Xander furrowed his brow as he tried to place the young man.
 
Graham extended his hand, "Graham Miller, friend of Riley Finn.  I think we met a couple of times during the whole Adam fiasco."
 
Xander blinked then quickly took his hand in a firm shake.  No point looking guilty.  "So how's Ri doing?"
 
Graham looked around as if to be certain there were no other customers in the shop.  "Not so great.  I think he's lost it actually.  I hope I'm not making a big mistake here, but I tried to find that guy Buffy used to spend a lot of time with--older man, British."
 
"Mr. Giles.  He's out of town on a buying trip,” Anya lied.  “He is my partner with the store."
 
"Yeah, him.  I could be in a LOT of trouble if anyone finds out I was here or what I said."  He gulped but then with a look of determination plunged ahead. "There's this hostile--we call him 17, but I think you know him as Spike.  I just think someone should know that he's in the labs.  I don't know how much longer he's going to make it; they've…done things to him."  From the look on Graham's face, Xander wasn't sure he wanted to know any details. 
 
"And you are telling us why?" Xander didn't sense a trap but wasn't about to take any chances.  If this guy knew where Spike was, it might be the same place where Buffy was too.
 
"Because I didn't sign up for the kinds of things I'm seeing every day.  It's one thing to hunt down and kill monsters that are clear threats.  I even get why the doctors had to check a lot of them out, find their weaknesses and how to kill them.  What's happening now is a lot more than that."  Graham sat on the stairs, shoulders sagging.  "It's not right.  It's not just tests; it’s torture.  It's not only the dangerous ones, but even some that you can tell are harmless."
 
"Spike's not harmless, but he does have that chip you guys put in his noggin," Xander reminded him.
 
"Yeah, I didn't have a problem with the chips either, but that's the least of his problems now, believe me."  He looked at Xander with eyes that had clearly seen too much.  "I know he's a friend of Buffy's.  She asked me to pass word onto him, but I wasn't able to get him alone.  I figure if he's her friend, he can't be all evil, and maybe he's your friend too."
 
"Not exactly," Xander began, but finally had to let go of his last bits of resentment and dislike.  "We're not buddies, but he's been helpful ever since you guys chipped him.  Maybe even a few times before."  He looked at Graham hopefully, "You said Buffy asked you to say something to Spike.  Does that mean you know where she is too?"
 
Graham licked his lip and decided it was time to jump full in.  He couldn't go on like he had been; it was time to follow his conscience.  He’d figure out what to do to protect himself later.  "They're both in the labs just east of the old Initiative caves.  They're not being kept together.  I don't think Spike even knows Buffy's there."
 
"He guessed that a long time ago," Anya suggested.  "He just didn't want to scare us, so he said he thought Riley had her."
 
"Riley isn't assigned to Buffy.  He's working Spike's unit.  He's got a real hurt on for that vampire too."
 
"And Buffy?" Xander prompted, his heart sinking.
 
"She's not in too bad a shape so far.  They've been testing her powers pretty hard and she's pissed off and tired, but they haven't done any surgeries or anything yet."
 
"Yet!" Xander was horrified.  "She's a human!  What are you people doing down there?"
 
"Bad things."
 
***
 
"I remember when you told me that if you wanted someone with superpowers you'd date Spike," Riley checked his finger on the control to Buffy's collar.  He hoped he wouldn't need to press it, but he would if necessary.
 
"Spike and I aren't dating.  He's a friend."  Buffy replied.
 
"Well, he's not so much with the superpowers anymore.  Not much power at all, in fact," Riley gave a grin that could only be called evil as he pushed open the door to Spike's cell.
 
Buffy saw the broken vampire unconscious on the floor and very clearly in desperate condition.  "Oh, my GOD!  What have you done to him?"
 
"Lots of things.  Currently he's in sensory deprivation, so he won't even know you're here."  He chuckled, "Oh, don't look so down, Buffy, your vampire whore will heal up.  He always does, at least until we're done with him."
 
Buffy started to move to Spike's side, but Riley grabbed her arm to turn her back towards him.  He indicated the control box for her collar, "Don't make me use this on you, Buff.  I truly don't want to cause you pain, even if it's in your own best interest.  I said you could see him; I didn't say you could touch him."
 
"Why?  Why have you done this?  Are you that jealous?"
 
"Jealousy has nothing to do with this.  He's government property, Buffy.  He has been since we first collected him.  We're just making him useful for once.  Lots to learn about his kind.  How to hurt them, how they heal, how much of damage they can take and still function.  He's contributing to science."
 
"He's helped save the world, you bastard!  He's done a lot of good.  He doesn't deserve this," Buffy felt the tears run down her cheek and was angrier that her distress was now obvious to the man she once thought she knew pretty well.  "My God, Riley, what happened to you?"
 
"Nothing happened to me, Buffy.  I just moved back to the side I should have been on all along, the side of human beings.  You're the one playing both sides."
 
She wanted nothing more than to rush to Spike's side and help him--well, perhaps killing Riley and getting them both out of there was something she wanted more.
 
"Please, Riley, let me go to him!"  She hoped there was still some shred of the old Riley left to hear her appeal.
 
He glared at her, then, with a huff of laughter, shrugged, "What the hell?  He can't hear you or see you.  Go ahead, but only for a second.  I need to get you back to your cell."
 
Buffy wasted no time as she knelt next to the totally thrashed vampire she had come to care for.  She reached a trembling hand and touched his pale back.  He was so starved that every ribs and vertebrae was clearly visible.  He looked fragile and she was nearly afraid to touch him with more than the slightest of touches...still, he flinched at the contact.  "I promise you, Spike, we'll get out of here.  I won't leave you behind.  I won't let this continue."
 
Her whispered promise, while unheard by the vampire, was heard by Finn, who stiffened and began to question the wisdom of his letting Buffy see Spike in this condition.  It looked like he might have just given her a reason to make a whole lot of trouble!