~*~

Spike awoke in total darkness. For a moment, his memory flashed back to when he’d first risen in his coffin as a vampire. The memory caused panic to flood his mind and he struggled to move his hands to claw his way out. His limbs wouldn’t cooperate, however, and the panic began to increase with each struggling movement. The last memory he had was of that wanker, Finn, and a taser. What did the bastard do, break his bones and bury him?

Collecting himself, Spike stopped breathing and listened to try to discover as much as he could about his circumstances. He could hear voices talking all at once. "Well, then, seems I’m above ground at least", he thought to himself.

"……told you it wouldn’t be a problem. I knew he’d be drunk. Predictable Spike, gets his toys taken away and crawls into a bottle". Definitely the wanker speaking there..

"Still, Ri, you should have had backup. He may be chipped, but he’s still strong enough to cause trouble. I would have been more than happy to come along. Could have gotten a few licks in myself in mother’s honor, too". The second voice was feminine and completely unfamiliar.

"If you two will just stop with the water under the bridge, we can load this thing up for transport. The docs will be waiting to get busy on him and we are wasting time here rehashing the decisions of the past", added another, also unknown, male voice.

"THIS Doc would like to know why there does not seem to be any place for me in this helicopter. You promised that I would be there to see him get what’s coming to him", said yet a third male. This voice sounded vaguely familiar to Spike, although he couldn’t place it. The sound of it managed to ring warning bells in his mind, however, and he was sure that the memory tickling his consciousness was not going to be a good one where this blighter was concerned.

"Yes, well, you’ve been of great help. But you see, you are a demon and we kill demons", Finn said matter of factly.

Spike heard much shouting and scuffling. Then whatever he was encased in was knocked about and finally toppled over, setting Spike ass over teakettle in a headstand.

Outside, Spike could still hear the sounds of a struggle.

"Watch his tongue, Ri", warned the female.

"Get the taser, damn it. Hit him!", yelled Finn.

The struggle continued for some time until suddenly everything grew quiet. Spike felt quite forgotten and was beginning to get a headache from the blood rushing to his brain.

"You okay?" The female’s voice sounded concerned.

"Yeah, bastard was hard to kill. Wonder what kind of demon he was anyway?. Maybe we should take the body with us so the docs can check it out", speculated Finn.

"He had some fancy moves for a little old guy though."

Spike suddenly had a vision of a tower, his Bit bleeding and a demon wizard that seemed impossible to kill. "That was the face that went with the voice", Spike realized with a shudder. He’d just bet the old sod wasn’t really dead either. And no way did Spike want to stick around for the encore.

"Hey, you bloody wankers, let me out of this box before I rip my way out and disembowel all of you", Spike yelled from his position upside down in the box.

"Not likely, Bleach Boy. You’re going on a little trip and need to be safely strapped in. We’ll let you out in good time. Welcome back, Hostile 17".

Being called by that name caused chills to run down Spike’s spine. He had the feeling things were rapidly going from bad to worse and he’d better get his mind working in top order as fast as possible.

The trip was uncomfortable and noisy. It had not been possible to tell anything about the direction they were going or make out any of the conversations.

Spike used the time to try to break the bonds that held his arms and legs tightly. If he could just break through, he’d give them a surprise greeting when they opened the box and make his move to freedom while he had half a chance.

Judging by Soldier Boy calling him Hostile 17 and the talk of docs wanting a looky-see at ol’ Spike, it didn’t seem like any party he was wanting to attend any time soon.

Spike was going to have to act quickly if he was going to break away. Where there was one wanker in camo, there was likely to be plenty more. Best be long gone before the reinforcements had any chance of stopping him.

He wondered briefly if Buffy had even noticed he was gone and if she’d even cared enough to find that the crypt was empty.

His silent questions were answered when Finn leaned close to the seam in the box to tell Spike that everything had been given Buffy’s seal of approval.

Spike refused to believe the Slayer would be party to his kidnapping, but Finn kept on with the story he was spinning to his captive audience.

"Yup, she didn’t want to help out. Said it wouldn’t feel right after sleeping with you and all, but Buffy knew. I told her that you had to be taken down after the whole demon egg gig. She believed, of course, that you were selling them as weapons. It was great, Spike, she never once questioned me or any of the facts I gave her! See the advantages of being a human being, of having a soul. Gives that edge of credibility. Now you…well, vampires are notorious liars, Spike. If it makes you feel any better, she wasn’t happy about it, but knew you had to be dusted.

I think she was just glad that she didn’t have to be the one to do it. Awkward end to an affair that way, you know. Buffy just seemed more embarrassed than anything else, I guess".

"So, how did it feel to be Angel’s substitute, Spike?" Riley continued his taunting, savoring every harsh word. "Did it drive you crazy to watch her close her eyes and turn her head? Did she tell you to ‘shut up’ so she could live a fantasy, dream of being held in HIS cold arms? Or, did she try to warm your skin up a bit to pretend you were a real boy? How was it, Spike? Was it worth it….being convenient? What was it you said to me? Something about 'having her, yet not having her' I think it was". Finn’s guesses were far too close to reality for Spike to totally dismiss.

"I’m going to enjoy our time together, Spike. I’ve got lots of plans for your entertainment. I can promise that I plan to leave you screaming. Of course the doctors have to do their bit first….a bit of vivisection and poke ‘n’prod I’m guessing. Still, there’ll be plenty of you left for me to play with for a while, ‘til I get bored and send what’s left of you to hell", he threatened.

Spike believed the part about Finn’s plans for him, but he could only hope the part about Buffy knowing had been a lie.

All the years they had danced their dance, she had never truly, wholeheartedly attempted to dust him. If that was what she wanted now, he’d rather be dust anyway.

Still, being dusted and being a toy for a sadist wasn’t the same thing. Spike wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Thanks to his early days with Angelus he had plenty of experience to fall back on. There wasn’t much they could do to him that he hadn’t already survived. Okay, the threat of vivisection was new, but Spike felt he’d be up to the challenge when he had to be. He might be down, but he was far from dust.