Julian stared down at the blinking red light with wide, horror-stricken eyes. His breath hitched in his throat, and a shudder went through his body, as he pressed unconsciously back against the one person in all the world who had ever offered him any measure of protection.

But Giles could not protect him from this.

He shook his head slowly, his eyes focused on the tiny signal that declared his doom. “I can’t,” he whispered in an anguished voice. “I can’t call him back…I just *can’t*!…but…but if I don’t…”

“Julian,” Giles spoke in a voice of quiet urgency, firmly pushing the boy back away from him and taking him by the shoulders, turning him to face him, seeking his eyes. “Look at me. *Julian*!”

Desperately distracted, hardly able to focus on anything at the moment, his breath coming fast and shallow on the heels of his panic, Julian forced himself to obey, more out of habit than anything else, panicked dark eyes meeting those of the Watcher.

“He’s gonna kill me…oh, God…I’m gonna die…”

“Julian,” Giles said firmly, holding his gaze intently. “You need to call him. Tell him you did as he ordered. It will give us a bit more time to figure out how to stop him. It’ll take him at least a few hours to be able to verify that you haven’t…”

“No,” Julian shook his head, dropping his gaze, his voice trembling with terror. “No, you don’t understand. He already knows I didn’t do it. That’s why he’s calling now. He knows what happened. He knows I’m not *gonna* do it and he’s gonna…”

“How?” Giles interrupted, his tone stern and demanding, his fear for Julian overwhelming the gentleness he was trying to use with the young vampire. “Julian, how does he know already? He has no way of knowing…”

“It’s my fault,” Julian shook his head almost frantically, gasping for breath, on the edge of hysteria. “It’s all my fault…”

“Julian, *talk to me*!” Giles ordered, raising his voice and shaking the boy slightly. Julian’s panic was contagious, and it was all the older man could do to keep control of his own emotions. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re gonna hate me…” the young vampire sobbed. “…when you hear what I’ve done…oh, God…I’ve put you all in danger…I can’t…”

“Julian…you just attacked me and tried to kill me,” Giles reminded him, his tone gentler than his blunt words. “And still, I don’t hate you. I love you. Nothing you can tell me at this point is going to change that. Just tell me how Riley could possibly know what just happened in this room.”

Calmed slightly by the soothing manner of the Watcher, Julian tried to steady himself enough to respond, but could not bring himself to meet his eyes again. His expression was full of guilt and dread as he whispered, “There’s – there’s cameras…all through the house…all through *your* house, too…” He paused, turning his head slightly away in an instinctive reaction to the shame that overwhelmed him at the admission. He cringed, expecting Giles’ anger at the revelation of how thoroughly he had betrayed him and his friends.

Giles was too shocked at this point, his mind racing with the implications of Julian’s words, to register any anger just yet. “How is that possible?” he asked, his voice low and trembling. “How did he get cameras into my home? Into Willow and Tara’s home?”

Julian swallowed hard, seeming to draw even further into himself as he struggled to bring himself to answer the question. “I – I put them there,” he whispered finally. “When I first came to – to be with you. He – he told me to…so…so I planted the cameras where he told me to…I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please, I’m sorry…”

He broke down again, too distraught and terrified and overwhelmed with the tumult of emotions he was experiencing to maintain control for a moment longer. He was moments away from utter destruction, with no escape in sight, and had just revealed his own traitorous actions against his only ally in all this.

His last hope was fading away before the eyes of his guilt and insecurity.

Giles was not angry with the boy, not really, understanding the terrible threats that had been used to coerce his betrayal, but his expression was grim with the realization of how much power those cameras had given Riley over them all, how much he must have seen over the past few months, as he still tried to come up with a solution – and came up empty.

“It’s all right,” he said softly, distracted, as he tried to comfort his charge. “Julian, it’s all right. I understand. You had no choice. But I need you to try to keep control of yourself for a little while longer, all right? We need to try to figure out a way to stop Riley…”

“There is no way,” Julian protested in a trembling whisper, dutifully trying to stop the sobs that shook his body. “He knows. He knows and we can’t stop him before he sets off the chip. There’s no way to get to him in time. And once he starts it…there’s no way to stop it.”

“*What*?” Giles’ eyes widened, aghast and horrified at this new revelation.

“He told me. Once he starts the process it can’t be stopped. The chip will keep on firing and increasing in strength until – until I’m dead. There’s no chance, Giles.” The boy’s dark eyes suddenly rose to meet those of the Watcher, wide and full of a dreadful clarity as the truth hit him full force. “There’s no chance,” he whispered slowly. “I’m going to die.”

“Don’t say that!” Giles protested in a voice of alarm. “Don’t give up, Julian, we can still…”

His voice broke off as the young vampire’s body suddenly tensed under his hands, and he doubled over, gasping for breath and clutching at his head with a soft moan of pain.

“Julian!” Giles gasped, a sick sense of horror filling him as he realized that the chip had just fired. Surely Riley hadn’t started already…

“It’s…” Julian gasped for breath, struggling to straighten back up and to explain what had happened. “…because…because I haven’t – answered him…”

Giles picked up the communication device from the floor and held it out to the trembling, hurting vampire. “Here. Call him.”

Julian drew back in fear at the idea, shaking his head, as the shock passed and he tried to straighten up. “I can’t…I can’t, he’s gonna kill me anyway…”

“Do it!” Giles ordered, more sharply than he meant to, feeling a pang of guilt when the boy flinched. Softer, he explained, “I’m going to talk to Willow and Tara…see if we can figure out a way to stop it. Magic, perhaps. You have to call him back, buy us some time. All right?”

It took the boy a moment to process his words, his mind too consumed with panic to make much sense of anything at first. Finally, he nodded slowly, realizing that what Giles was saying was really best, really their only course of action – but he just stared at the device with dread, not moving as Giles held it out to him.

Gently, the Watcher took Julian’s hands and placed the device in it, before deliberately closing his hand around it. “Call him,” he repeated firmly. “He knows you backed down, but that’s all he knows. Promise him you’ll try again…attempt to get him to give you another chance to do it…anything to buy us just a little time. Okay?”

“O-okay,” the young vampire whispered with a shaky nod, staring at the device in his hand.

“Come in the living room once you’ve placed the call, Julian,” Giles instructed quietly. “If he’s watching by video right now, it’s probably best if I’m not right here with you anyway. Keep him on the phone – distracted – as long as possible. Willow and Tara and I will try to come up with something. Okay?”

Julian just nodded, swallowing hard as his finger played over the call button on the device, dread threatening to consume him as he thought of the conversation he was about to have – the terrible threats and vicious words that Riley would surely speak. But if the Watcher with an extensive knowledge and history of magic, and the two proficient young witches, could possibly find a solution…

“Okay,” he repeated, his voice still trembling, but a little stronger. Very deliberately, looking into Giles’ eyes for a last bit of support before he did, Julian pressed the call button and waited for Riley Finn to respond.


Buffy looked around the large room she had just entered with interest, taking in the quite impressive sight of the various computers and electronic equipment that filled it. One entire wall was lined with television monitors, displaying different areas in the complex. Most of them were filled or quickly filling with hurried soldiers, apparently searching for her and Spike.

*Well, that could be useful,* she thought as she glanced over the various screens.

Aloud, she said, “We need to barricade the door.”

Spike immediately moved to a large filing cabinet conveniently placed near the door, and easily pushed it in front of the door. Buffy began to help him move a few other pieces of furniture that did not seem too important to the actual functioning of the equipment in the room, in an effort to keep out anyone who might come in here after them.

The doctor watched as the two super-human beings went about their work, apparently too distracted to notice what he was doing. He turned to one of the many computers in the room and began to type in a code that would set off an alarm to alert the soldiers to a problem in this particular area.

He had barely begun when a frighteningly strong hand closed around his wrist, jerking it behind his back and twisting his arm up hard behind his back, eliciting a moan of pain from the unfortunate man.

“That looks pretty cool,” the Slayer commented innocently. “Care to tell me what exactly you were doing?”

Spike could not suppress an admiring smile at the sheer ruthlessness and power that his amazing, incredible Slayer was displaying. She was so far now from the depressed, submissive girl she had been a few weeks earlier – and so much more like the infuriating girl of years past who had always taken such pleasure in making his life miserable.

It was bloody wonderful.

Having successfully stopped their prisoner from drawing the unwelcome attention of his comrades, Buffy once again glanced around the room appraisingly. “So,” she asked conversationally, “what does all this stuff do?”

“E-everything,” the nervous man admitted, shaken by her casual manhandling, painfully aware that this seemingly normal girl could break him like a twig with disturbingly little effort. “All the controls for Mr. Finn’s training centers are located in this room.”

“Centers?” Buffy repeated, eyebrows raised speculatively. “As in more than this one?”

The man nodded with a little grimace, aware that he was giving up information that would be far too useful to the Slayer and her vampire. Of course, Riley Finn was not exactly a man who inspired the greatest loyalty, except through fear – and at the moment, he was nowhere around – while his pretty, deadly little wife, on the other hand, was making her presence very much known.

“So -- *all* of Finn’s operation – it’s all run from *here*?” Spike asked for clarification, his eyes widening as he took in the concept – and the potentially wonderful implications of it.

The doctor nodded slowly, reluctantly.

A slow smile spread across the Slayer’s face. She had thought that the control room might hold the key to their escape, if it truly did control this whole complex. The idea that it might also control all of Riley’s other facilities had not crossed her mind – but it was a very intriguing idea.

“Nifty,” she commented in a light tone that belied the smoldering light of anger and determination in her eyes. A plan was beginning to take shape in her mind – a very simple plan, but one that would not only get them out of here safely, but also have a few other positive effects as well.

“We could cut the power,” Spike suggested, thinking along the lines of her original idea. “Buy us a bit of time to get out of here, love. They’d have a bloody hard time finding us in the dark, with all their electricity and such down…”

Buffy was thinking much bigger than Spike was at the moment. “So,” she speculated, her words directed at the doctor. “Everything. The power. The electronic locks…” She paused, before adding pointedly, “…the chips…are controlled from this room?”

The man looked up at her sharply, alarm in his eyes. “Yes,” he answered slowly, guardedly.

Buffy looked back at Spike, her eyes sparkling with hopeful anticipation. “If Riley can turn the chips on and off, like those papers said,” she pointed out. “and all the controls are right here in front of us…”

Spike stared at her, wide-eyed as he began to realize where she was going with this – but still disbelieving. Was she really talking about – about turning the bloody thing off? He hardly dared to hope that it was possible, after so long a slave to the cruel chip that had kept him defenseless.

“Could we really…I mean…do you know…do you know how, love?” he asked, frowning thoughtfully, his mind racing with the possibilities.

*Bloody hell.* If they could actually get his chip turned *off*…

A slow smile began to spread over his face at the thought, until his expression stunned Buffy with its similarity to a look she had not seen on his face in years. A sly, predatory smirk that reminded her of the dangerous, powerful nature that had been so brutally suppressed by the chip that hampered him.

But not for long.

“No,” Buffy shook her head with an odd little smile as she turned to look the doctor in the eyes. “But I bet *you* do – don’t you?”