Unity

Written: by Laura

* Takes places after the episode “Doomed”, now that Professor Walsh knows about the Slayer and after Spike has escaped from the initiative with the implant:

*Disclaimer: I don’t own Buffy the Vampire Slayer… but I wish I did so that I could live the high life in Hollywood with all the great big movie stars.

Darkness
Chapter 1
Black, It was black, that’s what she saw and that’s what she lived in. A morbid thought, yes, but granted she did have to spend more time in it then other people. Things were complicated now, as a vampire slayer, Buffy Summers had always thought she’d be fighting vampires… as the title implied. But when she had gotten to Sunnydale four year ago she had known intuitively, right from the start, that she wrong. Of course there were still vampires, but in the later parts of the years she’d been living on the Hellmouth, she had grown to know that vampires were only a type. Demons on the other hand were something entirely different. Demons, like vampires, were dangerous and needed a good ass kicking too every now and again, but not all demons were bad. Angel, Whistler…why even Oz had turned into a werewolf at one point, but he was good, so it was OK. But then it had come along, the Initiative, the government, and Riley- I’m so corn fed Iowa boy- Finn. Before long she had known everything about him… everything. Riley had spilled the beans, and big time. She knew he was a part of it and she knew of what they were capable of doing. But she also knew that they were messing with things they couldn’t possibly understand. They were getting way over there heads, but who was she to stop the U.S. Government? For that matter, now that she thought about it, why hadn’t she stopped that guy from hitting her over the head with the back of his gun an hour ago? Where had he come from and where was she now? These questions she wanted answered now.

Sounds could be heard, yells, growls of creatures on the other side of the wall. Now she knew were she was, she hadn’t been there yet but Riley had explained enough to let her know what to expect when she would see it.

And she thought the only thing that she had to worry about coming from the Initiative were the hard tests Professor Walsh gave.

Buffy stood up trying to make her eyes adjust to the lack of light with no luck. She reached behind her head and hissed as she felt the wound there. The room was completely dark, she gathered her bearings and moved to the side, slowly touching a wall. The surface was smooth like tile. Her head spun, dizzy, she leaned against the wall for support. Something wasn’t right with her… with her body.

********

Professor Walsh carried a clipboard and wore a white over coat as she leaned onto the electrical console to look at the monitor. The screen light up green as she watched Buffy wake up and scramble to a near by wall. Professor Walsh sighed and stood up, turning around to face her fellow colleges. About half a dozen other scientific members, all in white coats, stood there in a long row behind her.

“This, ladies and gentlemen, is a slayer. The slayer, as you have all read about in my report, is a being of immense power, skill, and strength.” One man in the front, looking to be the leader of the group, raised his hand. “Yes Mr. ...Umm... Jones.”

“I hardly see why capturing her is of any concern of ours, we are here to learn more about demons and other so called mythical creatures. Not the things that help to dispose of them.” The other scientist around him nodded in agreement.

“Well, the truth of the matter is we are here to help, and to help we must have control …control over the demons, they must be contained, surely you see the profit in that.”

“The slayer is an innocent, why capture her?”

Professor Walsh took a deep breath to calm her self and then continued. “ Because…you, in actuality, are here to approve a project.” She stood near the large metallic desk and held her clipboard tightly as she walked around the group in a circle. “A slayer, ever since I first heard that she was real I couldn’t stop having these ideas. A women, strong, talented, skilled…deadly…and then there are the demons she kills, vampires… strong, skilled, deadly…what I propose to you is that we create a balance of good and evil. And it will be to our advantage, for to study such a creation would be…

“I’m sorry Mrs. Walsh...” Mr. Jones spook up again, interrupting her. “…And I think I speak for all my colleges when I say these ‘projects’ of yours are very immoral. Now agreed that the slayers strengths are valuable assets to this complex, but rather she work for us then experimented on. Goodness, your work certainly has been taking a downward spiral as of late.” Mr. Jones turned to the other scientists around him, nodded, and turned back to Professor Walsh. “Let her go…and we will not be surprised if you decide to take a vacation as well… you need it.” The group of scientists turned and walked out of the monitoring lab to leave Walsh to her own thoughts.

As soon as the group had left she slammed her clip bored down to the ground. This wasn’t what she had expected to happen, how dare they, this was a great opportunity and they were rejecting it! Not only that but they had actually suggested that she needed a vacation!

After pacing a bit, she stopped and put her hand up to her forehead to calm herself. She bent down leaning on the monitoring desk to look at the screen with Buffy on it. The night vision camera did its job well by capturing everything that she did, even if she herself could not see it. Buffy was looking around like a little lost child; little did she know what was really going on here. Walsh smirked lifting her hand down to the keypad to zoom in on Buffy’s features. Buffy looked around surprised and frightened because of all the noises going on around her. Walsh sighed zooming in a little more and then putting her fingers up to touch the image of the slayers face. Lovingly, she ran her fingers down one side of Buffy’s cheek. “I’ll show them what I can do.” Walsh’s head then turned to look at another monitor on the console, the screen depicted a room similar to Buffy’s but with a man inside. He wore a black duster and had peroxide blond hair. His hair, above anything else, could be seen the easiest. He’s head darted around as he got up from the floor. Unlike Buffy it looked as though he could see in the dark and he instantly walked to the door. He grabbed the handle; sparks flew and his body shook a moment before he was fiercely pushed back, hitting the wall on the opposite side of the room. Walsh laughed as she watched this, looking back and forth between her two new special captives. She talked to herself, more interested in hearing her own voice then actually thinking anything out loud. “ Hostile seventeen…the only demon to have ever escaped from our facility, possibly the most dangerous vampire in the world. And the slayer…the girl, the only one within the entire world with that much power to do good…what a pair they make.”

********

Spike woke up quickly and looked around the room. *Great! * He thought. This had been the perfect day, now this just clinched it. It had been the second time he had been captured by those soldiers. Stupid vampire! Should have gotten out of town while he still could have, nothing was really keeping him there, in fact, he didn’t even know why he had stayed in Sunnydale for as long as he had. It was the chip; it had to be the chip doing this! Bloody Government!

He stood up looking around, his vision was pretty good in the dark and he could see almost everything in the room. Wasn’t much to the room, just tile white walls, accompanied by a floor, a camera hanging down from the ceiling in one corner, and a large door. *A door? *

Spike tilted his head and walked up to it, he placed his hand on the knob and gripped it hard to twist it open. The door shot out an electrical force that shocked the unsuspecting vampire. A painful moment passed before the force pushed him back against the opposite wall nearly twenty feet away. He flew back and hit the wall with a thud, his black duster flying up all around him. He slid to the ground and landed with a thud, limply. He sat there and shook his head, trying to push out any pain he was feeling and pounded the ground in frustration. “Fuck it!” He swore sitting there in a heap on the floor. This was turning out to be a very bad day.

********

Professor Walsh turned into the main hallway, her pace turning around a corner. As she did she passed a small man, also in a white overcoat. He stopped talking to the blond nurse, excusing himself, and followed Maggie Walsh and catching up to her quickly. “So?” He said.

Walsh didn’t waver; she kept walking as she talked. “They didn’t go for it … five months of research down the drain.” She stopped at a door and slid her card through the metal device, it lit up, unlocking for her. There was a beeping sound as both Doctors went into the small white hallway. The door closed behind them tightly, the number on it painted with a metallic font that said 314.

Doctor Anglemen followed augustly. “So what now? We can’t just keep them… Ms. Summers is a civilian, not to mention the hostile we barley managed to capture again. He’s a danger to this complex if we keep him. He. May. Try. Again. We should just forget it.” Doctor Angelmen really didn’t like the idea of this project any better then the other scientists, but the fact was this experiment could be just the thing to sky rocket his career to the top. And no matter how uncivilized it might be it still paid well enough for him to carry out the unconceivable things Walsh sought him to do.

Walsh stood in the small-lit hallway, two doors on either side of her and one at the end of the hall. They were all numbered from right to left: Three fifteen, three sixteen, and three seventeen, all with the same metallic font as the door the two doctors had come from. She shook her head quickly and laid her back up against the white wall. “ No, we’re not scrubbing the project… It’s a great concept and still is…look, they can’t watch us all the time in Washington… and this is my operation. What goes on in here is up to me, not them, and I say yes.”

Doctor Angelmen nodded and then looked down the hall at the room labeled three sixteen, and then back and forth between the other two doors that held its important prisoners. “So what do we do with them?”

Walsh picked up her head and stood up straight. “We continue as planned, we’ll need full test and experiments to make sure each is in its best physical condition. After that, if they pass, we’ll start the procedure.”

Angelmen nodded. “When do we start…and what about Finn and your other projects?”

“One project at a time Scott… we’ll get around to Adam… and as for Finn…his loyalties are uncertain, I think he might have been involved with the Summers girl before we started this. It’ll complicate things, I’ll make certain he doesn’t find out and I’ll keep him out of the way. Who knows…maybe he can go back home on leave. As for this project… keep it on a need to know basis and make some preparations…got it?”

Angelmen nodded and walked to the main door, opened it, and walked back into the main hallway he had come from leaving Walsh behind. She stood in the middle of the hallway and looked between the two doors across from one another that held the captives. They would start tomorrow, let them get some rest first, and then it would all begin. Finn wouldn’t know, he was still just a collage boy...and in love. Walshe looked down to the third door at the end of the hallway. She smirked looking at the door labeled three sixteen. Yes…tomorrow it would all begin.

Morning….
Chapter 2

It was early in the morning when Professor Walsh, accompanied by three large soldiers that were all armed with electrical tazzer blast guns, walked into the three fourteen hallway. Once reaching the door three fifteen the professor slid her card key into the slot and it opened smoothly. She walked in seeing Buffy couching down in a corner, her arms folded across her knees. Buffy lifted her head from beneath her arms; seeing professor Walsh she immediately stood up. The three men with tazzers followed to the side closely. Buffy spook first. “Professor Walsh! I’m so glad you’re here…there’s been a big mistake and boy I bet your face is going to be red but all is forgiven as far as I’m concerned…really…I’d just like to go now.”

Walsh smirked. “No mistake…you’ll be staying here for quite some time I’m afraid.”

Buffy was confused. “ What? No I’m sorry…can’t, I have things to do…like collage, friends, family…”

“All taken care of. Your school work wont suffer and as a matter of fact…it might interest you to know that you’ll be getting very good grades in all your classes as well as mine.”

“Cool!” Buffy looked down in disgust over her inappropriate actions. “ Wait, wait, wait, I can’t…we can’t do that…” Suddenly the three men holding the guns caught her eye. “Why am I here?” he tone now serious and determined.

“Well, in light of Riley’s arguments, I was prepared to let you join the initiative to help in our work… but… also in light of the considerable files that our branch has uncovered on you… we have decided to let you be apart of another secret program... so we wont be letting you out of here now I am afraid.”

“People will wonder where I am…my mom, Giles, Willow…”

“Well…” Mrs. Walsh moved forward, giving her clipboard to one of the men beside her. “As I understand from reading your records… you have a tendency to…run away?”

Buffy stood firm watching Professor walks with all her hatred. She scowled at her sternly, now hating her with ever being of her body. “ If I don’t come back from patrol, they’ll know something is up.”

Walsh shrugged turning her back and walking to the guards again grabbing back her clipboard as she turned back around to face Buffy again. “Buffy. We’re not here to hurt you, now...we’d like to do some experiments and some skill tests…that’s all…your not a demon… but you don’t have a choice either…I’m under a lot of pressure from my superiors and…we’ll let you go as soon as we’re done… no questions asked.I leave it up to you to make the first move.”

Buffy nodded in agreement, this didn’t settle good with her nor did she like the idea of being used as a lab rat. But the only things in this room where humans, and she’d hate to hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it. Plus, the fact that this place looked like it was built like a fortress didn’t help. No chances of escape so, better to make things easy before making a move to escape. And she would get out of here, if not fairly, then by force one way or another. For now…she’d do it Walsh’s way. Buffy stood and moved directly in front of Professor Walsh, she sighed and put her hands on her hips. “Well, what do you want me to do?”

“Follow me.” The guards circled Buffy as she came out of the door. They walked with her until they reached the room at the end of the hallway. Buffy looked at the number. *Three sixteen* she thought as the door clicked open and professor Walsh proceeded to go inside. Buffy followed and looked around. The room was brightly lit and very, very big. It had punching bags hanging from the ceilings that were connected to the wall and other measuring equipment. The room wasn’t cluttered, but there was so much to the room, and the things in it, Buffy didn’t even notice the other people in it until she sensed a vampire near by. She walked further in the room after Walsh, her wits now about her.

At the far end of the room Doctor Anglemen stood holding a clipboard, he watched the machines as the person in front of him punched the bag connected to them. The machines lit up every so often. Buffy walked closer to watch, who ever it was was bearfoot, shirtless, and had on tight black. His pale muscles gave off a slight shine as he punched. Left. Right. Left. Right. The muscles on his back stood out each defined, the slayer noted, very well. Buffy’s eye traveled up the unknown mans body again as she stood a couple of feet away. The suddenly she noticed his hair and yelled out in surprise. “ Spike?”

He turned around to see her walking up, the guards having stopped at the door leading out. “Slayer! What in bleed’in hell are yew do’in here?”

Professor Walsh’s head turned back and forth between the slayer and the vampire. “You two know each other?”

Buffy nodded. “Regrettably…”

Walsh turned to Buffy. “We’ve giving Number seventeen here…

“Spike!” he interrupted.

“Spike…”Walsh continued. “ The same ultimatum were giving you, give us a week to test your skills and powers and we let you go.”

Buffy looked to Spike then back to Walsh. “But why him?” She pointed.

Spike spook up. “Look slayer, they caught me…then gave me a deal this morning…. I work and do what they want me to do and they let me go and remove my chipper… they said I’d be fighting someone…fancy your it, luv.

Professor Walsh continued. “This is your decision Buffy, if you don’t like him we can get another vampire and get rid of him. If these tests don’t go as planed, we’ll cut the project and destroy everything that was involved in it, including ‘Spike’ here. So its up to you, a vampire is a vampire if you ask me.”

Buffy thought to herself Spike had the chip, he had been helping the gang for the past few weeks and he wasn’t dangerous, and well… it didn’t seem right Walsh killing him with no way to defend himself. “Fine…keep him around if you want, although I don’t know why you picked him, he can’t even hurt anyone.”

The professor smiled lightly. “Let me worry about the implant, and we picked him because he’s the best.”

“The best!” Buffy said, almost bursting out into laughter, it was hard to keep back, but she did it.

“Yes, he’s the only one to ever get out of this complex alive, vampire or no…so were matching him against you…best to the best Buffy. Now, the tests will began…they’ve already started for seventeen here and will now start for you.” Walsh turned to walk past Spike; she nodded to Angelmen as she moved past him.

Buffy nodded, looking at the vampires perfectly shaped chest once again before following Walsh. “Fine…ill fight him…enjoy hurting him… and then we both get out of here.”

Another Innocent
Chapter 3

Innocence, who was she to decide weather someone would die or not. Evil vampires, no problem, but not all demons were evil. Spike was in that really dark gray area right now. If he could have he would have killed her, but with the chip in his head, he was harmless. And even more so, he was in need of help, help that only Buffy could give. And above anything else, she had promised to protect the innocent. Even if the innocent consisted of evil-blood-sucking-English-pricks.

Buffy sighed again as she followed professor Walsh past Spike to a machine similar to what he was beating on. A large body sack hung from the ceiling and she noticed a long wire came from atop it and then straight into a large box type machine in the near corner. Professor Walsh turned the machine on and gestured for Buffy to hit it. Buffy turned to the sack and hit it lazily. The machine beeped loudly and Walsh jolted down the measurements on her clipboard. “You know…Mrs. Summers…the sooner you give all you can the sooner you’ll be done.”

Buffy scowled. “You want all I can give?” She turned to the bag and with one swift kick. Kicked the sack making it fly off the chain and hit the wall a couple of feet away. Once the bag had reached the floor, she turned, placing her hands on her hips to look at professor Walsh.

“Impressive.” She then proceeded to write down the last measurements taken from the machine.

********

Doctor Anglemen and Spike both stood dumbfounded looking at the tiny girl. She had done that in one kick.

******** Walsh nodded rising an eyebrow. “Very well Mrs. Summers…we’ll go on to another…follow me.” And she continued to another side of the room. Both Buffy and Walsh walked across the tile white floor and approached another machine, this one looked like a pulley of some kind. Only with large iron and steel brick weights at the end of it.

********

“That’s enough.” Doctor Anglemen told Spike as he put down the results on his clipboard.

“So. We done doc?”

“Hardly.” He said. Not even looking up from his paper he pointed to another area of the room for Spike to walk to. The area looked like two large walls next to each other creating a tall hallway. There were holes on either side facing each other. “You’ll need to get at the end, and stand near the far wall.”

“Mind giving me a bead on what we’re do’in?”

“I’d rather not…all part of the test…just get to the dead end and get back here as fast as you can.”

Spike looked oddly at the doctor then walked to the end of the tall hallway, feeling very intimidated by being so enclosed. He stood there a moment looking at the holes in the wall. Spike shrugged, taking a step forward. Then, as if he had stepped on a trigger, a small pin shot out of one of the holes and hit him in the arm. Spike growled fiercely and stepped back against the wall again. He leaned on it, painfully taking the ridged pin out of his arm; he looked up at the Doctor only twenty feet away. Spikes demonic features pressed out onto his face as the Doctor silently chuckled at him from afar. Spike could feel hatred…pure and evil hate flowing through his veins. He didn’t care about the pins now…all he cared about was getting to the other end of the track so he could rip that nancy’s head right off. All at once Spike took off down the way, the pins shot out, heading right for the object stepping on the sensors. He dodged each pin easily, and in a matter of a few seconds he was back where he had started, only this time his hands were gripping the doctor’s neck tightly. The moment Spike clinched down on Angelmens’s neck Spikes head exploded into a blaze of electrical signals. He yelled out in pain loudly and dropped to his knees, letting the doctor go.

“Very good…Spike was it?” Spike looked up, his vampire features still evident. The three guards took notice of the potential ruckus and began to walk over. Anglemen put his hand up, ignaling for them to stop. “Well, I see you very strong. Not as strong as Mrs. Summers, but abnormally quick and quite agile. It’s a wonder that we were able to catch you again.”

“Maybe if you took this bloody piece of technology out of me head, you’d like to find out the wonder that is my killing you.”

“Oh, no thank you Spike…well, I think we have enough information for today. Agents, you can take him back to his room now.” The agents nodded and moved swiftly to pick up Spike by the arms. He struggled out of their grasp as soon as they had laid a hand on him. But one agent was ready and quickly shot him with an electrical tazzer making his body fall limply to the ground. This enabled the humans to carry him off into the three fourteen-hall way without further delay. Doctor Anglemen watched as the vampire disappeared in through the door and out of sight. He looked over to the area Professor Walsh was within and walked over, getting beside her to snoop at her data she had on the slayer on her clipboard. He raised an eyebrow, amazed at some of the data Walsh had compared with his own. Walsh noticed his presence and turned around to look at him. “I have a theory...” He said to Walsh as he turned his attention to Buffy as she continued to try and lift as much weight as her slayer strength would allow.

“And what would that be?” She said turning back to watch her subject.

“I think that I know what well find, number seventeen there seems to be very quick, I mean, the shooters didn’t even hit him when he was really trying. He’s strong…” He looked at Walsh’s clipboard then back to his own. “ But not as strong as her by far… I think we’ll see they are both different in ability’s.”

“Well…” Walsh said looking to Buffy lifting the last weight on the machine, the highest amount. “…We’ll see about that…what did he get on the weight lifting?”

“Um…” Anglemen quickly flipped through his papers. “350 lbs.”

“And speed?”

“Like I said, he’s quick...he finished the program in a little less then three seconds… a human takes at least…at best, half a minute, he’s… he’s amazing…there’s definitely something supernatural at work here. I guess all those myths about vampires having abnormally high capabilities of speed are right. I doubt that I would even see him run past me if he had…”

“ I think your right.” Walsh interrupted before he could finish. She tired of hearing Angelmen all the time with his theories, mostly because they were usually right, and she hated to be proven wrong or even out guessed when it came to this kind of work. The weights dropped down loudly as Buffy let go of the handlebars. “Very good Buffy.” She said jolting down the results of the test then back up at her. “Your work is exceptional…but your only half done for today…we are going to do two more exercises, then you can go back to your room, that sound alright to you?”

Buffy’s breath was heavy as she stood up to meet Professor Walsh’s gaze. “No, its not! I don’t want to be here and I don’t like doing all these things for you when I barley even know why I’m doing them. I’m confused and lost and worried about my mother and Giles ...but since I have no choice, let’s just get done with this…so I can GO HOME.”

Walsh looked down to her clipboard, away from Buffy’s hard gaze, sighed and began to walk over to the shooters. She expected Buffy to follow her, and she did.

Buffy looked around as she walked behind Professor Walsh, she didn’t see Spike, she didn’t know why…but it worried her. That blond vampire was sort of her responsibility now. “Where’s Spike?” She said to the professor’s back.

Walsh stopped and turned around to looks at Buffy. “Aren’t slayers supposed to hate vampires?”

“Who said I didn’t?” Buffy snapped back quickly.

“But you like this one?”

“No, I didn’t say that.”

“Then what do you care what happened to him?” Walsh turned but was then stopped but Buffy’s continuing arguments.

“Because...” she began, watching Walsh stop. “There are more then just evil demons out there, not all demons are dedicated to doing evil.” She said trying to convince Professor Walsh to change her mind, let alone defend Spike…what was she doing?

“And,” Professor Walsh argued. “ This Spike of yours isn’t?”

“Well, not exactly…but he can’t hurt anyone anymore…if he died…it would be my fault…even if he is evil…its not fair what your doing to him... he should receive a fair chance to fight for his life like any other criminal” *and when did Spike ever consider anything fair game? *

Walsh shook her head in disapproval. “All demons are evil…you as a slayer should know...”

“I do!” She interrupter as he head shot up in defense. “I think it is you who needs the lessons… now what next? I want this finished.”

This was getting out of hand, Buffy was now getting very mad, and Professor Walsh noticed. If this kept up like this, sooner or later things would turn around and shed try and escape. Maybe less talking and more working would solve this. Walsh sighed turning around and continuing to where she had started to walk before. She approached the shooters, the ones Spike had used just moments ago. She stopped near the machine by the wall and pressed a button making the walls click and reload in response. She turned looking at Buffy, who looked as though she was going to have to break something soon. She continued. “Number seventeen didn’t get a warning, but I’ll warn you, be fast, this is an agility assessment…get to that wall…and come back…that’s all.”

Buffy nodded and walked to the dead end. She stood there a second before taking a step forward.

********

Spike hit the tile floor with a smack. The agents snickered lightly and left the room, closing the door as they walked away. As his head lay still on the smooth surface of the floor, his eyes shot open.

Pushing himself off the ground he sat in the middle of the white room with a huff. He had done four tests, each determining his physical attributes. But the biggest test of them all was going to be how to get out of the initiative again. The first time he had escaped it was through an air vent. But they would probably consider that as an easy target for escape again. The initiative would have most likely corrected that after the first escape assuring that it would never happen again. Spike took an unneeded breath of air to give his body something to do. This wasn’t going to be easy, once more he had the slayer to contend with. He knew now that she had nothing to do with the government, but that didn’t make him hate her any less. This had to be her fault some way or another…he just had to think how.

********

Oooook….
Chapter 4

Buffy’s feet smacked to the floor with a pound. Having just landed from a high jump, she stood up straight next to Professor Walsh looking ahead of herself. After a moment, the blond slayer collapsed to the ground, six pins stuck in various places about her back, arms, and one in her neck.

Walsh looked down at the girl at her feet, shock her head, and wrote down the results on her charts.

Buffy remained on the ground face first, tired, and in pain. Very slowly she sat up and crossed her legs in front of her. “Well…that, ouch! Was fun.”

Walsh kneeled down beside Buffy as the slayer pulled the metal pins out. “It was necessary…”

Buffy grunted angrily.“I. Ow. Should’ve. Ow. Done. Ow…. better.” She sighed finally getting the last pin out. She laid her hands on the ground beside her and leaned back, looking up at Walsh. “I don’t know what went wrong.”

Walsh stood up turning, she talked as she started to walk over to the next area, again expecting Buffy to get up and follow. “ I don’t takes excuses Buffy, we both know that…. it was probably wasn’t your best activity. These tests are scientifically calibrated to increase or decrease their difficulty level on a, strictly, person-to-person basis. If you did badly you have only yourself to blame. Granted…you did do better then some gold metal gymnasts could have. But still…we don’t expect you to be able to dodge every one of them. But you did get hit by six, but its ok, that’s what we’re here to…” Walsh turned to look to Buffy, expecting the slayer to e next to her, but the blond was still sitting on the floor by the last exercise area. Walsh stood a second. “Buffy!”

Buffy looked up from her seat on the ground, being popped out of her own little world. “Hum?”

“Coming?”

“Oh, yeah.” Buffy stood up and walked over to the next area following Professor Walsh’s path. She had been thinking of reason for why had she done so badly on that test. I am, after all, a slayer and ex-cheerleader. Agility should have be what I’m best at… but no. Then again, when in cheerleading practices when were you asked to jump across a small hallway to dodge super speed darts ‘o’ steel? Buffy looked at the next machine. It looked like a conventional treadmill. “What’s this?” Buffy asked.

“This will measure speed… all you have to do is run at your top speed and the track will automatically go with your feet. Normal time is two and a half minutes (2 1/2 min.) I trust you’ll do better then that. When the green light goes off, run as fast as you can…stop when it hits red…are we clear?”

Buffy nodded to the professor. “Crystal.”

********

“Hey!” Spike put his hand up upon the top of his head where something soft and squishy had just hit it. He looked down to the tile white floor to see a bag of blood. He picked it up, remembering about last time. The first time he had been captured by the Initiative the other vampire, in the next cell over, had said the doctors drugged the food, but what about this time? Well, lets take a gander. He thought as he stood up to pace with the bag between his fingers. I’m there little pet project…little genie pig...won’t dust me until there done dissecting me. Going through a hell of a lot of trouble to keep me locked up, and… Oh sod it! Usually things like this, he’d think them through a little carefully, over and over again just to make sure. But, fact was, he was hungry. When the agents had found him, he had been walking to his crypt. They found his home and had staked it out and then, they had come out of nowhere. The solider boys where getting better at there job, no arguing that, but then again it’s not like he could’ve put up much a fight anyways. They had blind sighted him and shocked him with one of those electrical gun thing-y’s like last time. Who ever the little rat bastard is who ratted me out will pay dearly for this. After all, it made sense that someone had to have told the Initiative where he lived, Spike wasn’t so dumb that he couldn’t see that.

He threw the empty blood bag in to the corner. He hadn’t been fed for a while now, not until two days ago, and all that exercise this morning had done a number on his energy count.

********

The light turned from green to red and Buffy came, to as much as an immediate halt as one could, on the machine. The machine slowed down with her and finally stopped spinning its tracks. The counter lit up a number, which Buffy didn’t understand, and Professor Walsh quickly put down on her clipboard chart. “So, wha’d I get?” The slayer said uneasily, catching her breath between words.

Walsh put the last of the numbers on her board and looked up at the slayer. “You did good, better then any… well… you did good.”

“What does that mean?”

“I have seen better, but only since today in-”

“What? Are you saying that Spike… a vampire… can run faster then me?” Ignoring the question, Walsh turned to leave. Buffy jumped off the machine and followed her, pulling the professor back around by the shoulder. “Is that what your saying?”

Walsh took a deep sigh looking at her. “I don’t think it will hurt the project to let you know that, yes, he can.”

Buffy furrowed her brows. “But that doesn’t make any sense! I’ve always been the best. I’ve had these powers since I was fiffteen; I have to be faster then vampires…. I win don’t I?”

Walsh sighed. “We are all done for today. There should be a meal and a bed for you to sleep in when you get back to your room. Tomorrow you’ll do hand to hand combate with number seve-”

“Spike!” Buffy interrupted, she didn’t know why thought, but Walsh calling him a number didn’t sound right. Spike was …well, Spike, he had a personality, and wasn’t some machine like the ones she had been tested on.

Walsh continued hesitantly. “Spike, you’ll be fighting him tomorrow.” Walsh opened the door to go into the three fourteen hallway. Two guards lined either door on either side, making four guards in total. Each carried a gun of some sort as they headed to room three fifteen.

Buffy was confused. “But he can’t hurt me, it’s not a fair fight.” Not that she really cared.

Walsh slid her card into Buffy’s room and the door opened. “ This test won’t matter much anyway…we just want to see how you two handle …now, there should be food. If you need anything it’ll have to wait until later in the morning.” Walsh turned letting the door quickly slid shut leaving Buffy inside the walls.

“But what about…?” The door slammed. Buffy stomped the ground in frustration. She turned around seeing a tray of food, a pull out bed that came out of the wall, and a pile of clothes just next to it on the ground. She sighed, walking over and sitting on the bed. Once seated, she lifted the tray up to her lap and began to eat, hoping the answer would come to her on a full stomach. But something was bothering her more then just the fact that she had been locked up in the Initiative to be taken for studies by a woman who, by all rights, should have been locked up herself. Actually this didn’t bother her as much as the fact that someone had beaten her. All her life she’d been the best, well, after she had known she was the slayer. She had never lost a fight and had always come out on top in the end. Nothing like this had ever happened to her before. At gym in highschool she could beat all the boys in track… even the teachers if she had wanted to. I mean, aren’t I suppose to be the best, the most powerful of all humans, the one chosen one to have the strength and skill to hunt the vampires? And yet, Physically, they’re beating me! It was only speed, but still. She sighed and continued to eat her food hurriedly. Her powers had never been put to the test. The whole thing was very intrusive. After all, the prophecy isn’t really that clear on what powers I would get. Damn British prick! She thought as she bit down into a piece of bread. Its that vampires fault, him and that nice body of his…wow wait, I didn’t just say that, well no, I thought it…even worse. I have got to get over this bad boy thing. This is Spike! He’s tried to kill me more times then I’ve watched ‘Dirty Dancing’, and anyways, just because he’s got great arms don’t mean anything. Vampire! I just have to keep saying that. A vampire, been there, done that… a vampire… with blue eyes. AHHHH. Stop that right now girl! His eyes aren’t blue, they’re yellow… vampire! Bleach haired, limey, ex doormat of Drusilla’s. Heh, it’s so obvious that he bleaches it. His eyebrows are so dark it’s the only thing you notiec. That, and, Ill admit, those high cheekbones…AHHHH…OK, I’m going to stop this… vampire… right…with a great pair eyes but still a vampire!