Mbwa Mwitu

Chapter Summary: Angel and Co. arrive in Sunnydale and Buffy surprises all. Spike awakens to the sound of crying.


Wesley shifted the bag on his shoulder, watching as Doyle rang Rupert Giles' doorbell. After a few seconds, the door opened to reveal Giles holding a book. The ex-librarian didn't even glance up. He simply turned around and walked back into his living room. Wesley raised an eyebrow out of amusement.

"Good evening, Rupert." Wesley greeted through the door. Giles looked up in shock.

"Oh, good heavens." Giles pulled off his glasses. "I thought you were Buffy."

"That's quite alright." Wesley and the others entered, closing the door behind them. "There is, well, something rather urgent we must tell you."

"Is something wrong?" Giles asked, setting aside he book.

"Yes." Wesley nodded. He opened his mouth to explain, but was cut off by Angel. Wesley adjusted the bag once more and tried to not feel put out.

"Have you seen Xander or Oz the last two days?" Angel asked, his voice sounding grave, as it usually did.

"I can't say that I have." Giles admitted.

"Well-" Wesley started.

"Giles!" Buffy exclaimed, storming into the apartment. She came to a halt when she spotted Angel. A strange look crossed her face, before she took a deep breath and brushed past him and over to her Watcher. "Giles, we have a problem."

"I'm starting to get that feeling." Giles commented, still eyeing Angel, Wesley, and Doyle.

"It's Xander." Buffy said. She paused and turned toward Angel. "Wait... Why are you here?"

"Spike stopped by for a visit." Wesley explained. "He wanted us to help him get Xander and Oz back... Angel refused, so Spike left. But not before Tara forged a small magical link with me, so I would know if something went wrong. We are here because something indeed went wrong."

"I know." Buffy said softly. She turned back to Giles, a worried expression evident on her face. "I can't find Riley. We were suppose to meet for patrol, but he never showed. I went into the Initiative to see if I could find out where he is. Things aren't going too well down there. Apparently a hostile and some unknown female destroyed Level C. They wouldn't tell me how, though. I didn't want to get in their way, so I turned down this one hall that Riley never let me down. Giles..."

"What did you see?" Giles asked.

"I'm not stupid." Buffy said, her voice hardening. "I know when something bad is going on. It may take me a moment to figure it out, but I do catch on sooner or later. They had demons locked up down there like animals in the circus. Giles... Not all of them were dangerous. Some of them I didn't even feel a drop of evil in. We've got to stop this. I... I was wrong. Spike came to me for help first and I turned him down."

A tear rolled down Buffy cheek as her eyes widened. "Oh God, Xander and Oz could be dead because of me."

"Hey, calm down." Doyle said, stepped forward to kneel in front of her. "There isn't no use in crying now. We've got to go save them, yeah?"

"We've got to do more than save them." Buffy insisted. "I want the Initiative brought down. This is my town and those are my demons. I get to choose who lives or dies and who stays or leaves. The Initiative is out of here."

"I'm glad you see it that way." Wesley said, smiling. "Now, you said that you are able to get inside? How?"

"Umm, I sort of have clearance." Buffy blushed slightly and pulled out a small I.D. card.

"That's good, we'll need it." Angel replied. "How many entrances are there?"

"There's at least two that I know of." Buffy informed them, standing. She walked over to the large chest in Giles' living room and began pulling out weapons. "There's the entrance through Riley's dormitory. I don't suggest using that one. There's a heavy amount of security on it. They'd be likely to know we are there the moment we step foot inside the elevator. The other is a back entrance. There's no security cameras. It's the entrance that they use when they need to transport an item that can't be around any electrical equipment."

"We'll take that one, then." Angel nodded.

"We need to stop by and grab Willow." Buffy informed them, handing a bag of weapons to Giles and strapping a knife onto her belt. "We'll need her to hack into the computers."

"Okay, then." Angel looked at everyone grimly. "Let's go."

*****

The first thing that he was aware of was the soft sound of crying, followed by the shuffling sound of someone dressing. Frowning, Spike forced himself to take stock of his surroundings. He was in a small white cell. Chains connected the manacles on his wrists and feet to a small hole in the floor.

He could feel bits of metal in his back, where the twelve bullets had penetrated. His skin had already started to heal and Spike knew he didn't have much time before the wounds closed completely, leaving the bullets stuck in his back until he was able to cut them out.

Wincing, Spike turned onto his side and looked out into the hall. He watched with narrowed eyes as a group of men exited the cell across from his. He barely recognized one, but wasn't able to come up with a name to fit the face. He listened to their footsteps as they echoed down the hallway, before turning back to the cell.

"Pet?" Spike called softly, when he saw who it was.

His heart twisted at the sight of Tara. She was curled up, arms wrapped around her knees, with her face buried in her arms. Her skirt looked like it had been ripped up one leg and she was missing her shirt. Her feet were bare and a dark bruise was forming on one ankle.

"Tara?" Spike called again. Tara's head lifted slightly, causing her chocking sobs to no longer be muffled. Spike managed to get onto his hands and knees, crawling as close to the glass wall as possible, without touching it. "Are you okay?"

Tara shook her head, then slowly scooted closer. As she straightened up, Spike was able to see more of her body. Without her shirt, she was clad in just a white bra. Her skirt was about to fall apart, held together only by the belt around her waist. Another bruise was forming at her waist, disappearing into the skirt's coverage. Her lip was bleeding and chin slowly swelling.

"Pet?" Spike asked.

"I'm..." Her voice was slightly muffled by the separation, but still they managed to hear one another. Tara fought down her tears and nodded. "I'll be fine."

He watched as Tara reached forward and lightly touched the glass. He opened his mouth to order her to stop, so she wouldn't get shocked, but found the thought was fruitless. Her hand touched the glass and nothing was set off. Spike suspected it was becuase of the damage Tara had caused the security system. If they were still on Level C, then they problably hadn't been able to start some of the safety devices up yet.

"Can you get us out of here?" Spike asked. "Cast a little mojo?"

Tara closed her eyes a moment, before shaking her head. "I'm drained. It'll take me a few hours to regenerate. It would be easier if we were near the ground or some plants... But the walls are too thick. I can't feel the Earth's energy very well."

"I suppose that means we wait." Spike sighed and rested his hand on the glass.

Silence descended. The two captives sat as close to the glass as possible, the sight of one another being their only comfort. Now, they could only wait and pray help would come.

*****

The main security room and control panel was much smaller than the security on each level. Buffy entered the room silently and calmly shot each soldier inside with an strong tranquilizer dart. They would be out for at least a day, plenty of time for the group to save their friends and set the Initiative on it's path to self destruction.

"Willow?" Buffy nodded to the young witch. Willow took a deep breath and sat down at the main computer and began typing. The others spanned out around the room. Wesley peered at a large wall of security cameras. His attention was drawn to a particular camera.

"Isn't that-?" Wesley started.

"Oh, God." Buffy whispered. "It's Oz."

The image showed Oz, strapped to a metal table and completely nude. He looked unconscious, which Wesley suspected was a good thing. There was a large number was gashes along his body and the blood that was pooled on the table underneath him indicated there were more.

"Willow, where is this?" Buffy asked, pointing at the screen.

Willow glanced over and then began typing in earnest. "It's in the labs. Level F... Looks like Lab 132."

"Can you disable all the security cameras on that level?" Buffy questioned.

"No, but I can put them on a loop. They'll replay the current image over and over again." Willow replied.

"Good, do it." Buffy turned to the others. "Angel, Doyle? Stay here with Willow and make sure no one interferes with her work. Keep an eye on the security cameras and see if you can spot Xander or the others. Wesley? You're coming with me."

Buffy's tone left no room for argument, so Wesley grabbed his crossbow and a sword. They were silent on the way down to Level F. Every time they crossed a soldier or scientist, Buffy shot them with a tranquilizer dart. Wesley took a brief moment to wonder how she had such a plentiful supply of them, but pushed the silly question out of his mind.

Unlike most of the floors in the Initiative, Level F appeared to be rather straight forward. They quickly made their way down the hallway, passing each lab without glancing inside. Once they reached Lab 132, Buffy opened it with her I.D. card and stepped inside.

"God, it's worse than I thought." Buffy gasped, hand covering her mouth.

Indeed, Oz looked no more than a corpse. It was evident that he was still breathing, though Wesley was certain that the only reason he had survived this torment was due to being a werewolf. Carefully, Wesley fought down the nausea the sight of Oz's torn flesh caused and set to work removing the straps that bound him to the table.

"He needs medical attention, immediately." Wesley informed Buffy, wincing as one strapped fell away to reveal that a few layers of skin had been ripped off Oz's chest.

Buffy nodded weakly and ran over to the cabinets lining the lab's wall. She quickly shuffled through them, pulling out gauze, a set of needles, what looked to be morphine, and sutures.

"I don't want to move him without cleaning the wounds first." Wesley said. He paused, frowning as the sound of footsteps echoed from the hallway.

"Too late for cleaning. We've got to grab him and go." Buffy said, snatching up a large white sheet. There was no doubt in Wesley's mind, as he helped Buffy cover Oz, that the sheet was meant to cover Oz up once he was dead. For some reason, this angered Wesley to the point of boiling.

Buffy had just picked Oz up and thrown him over her shoulder, causing a soft moan to emit from the unconscious werewolf's throat, when the door opened to reveal a male scientist and what appeared to be his assistant. Wesley, seeing nothing but red due to his anger, pulled out his crossbow and shot the scientist. The man dropped to the floor dead, with a bolt protruding from his forehead. Just as his assistance opened her mouth to scream, Wesley shot her.

"Wesley!" Buffy exclaimed in shock as the assistant dropped dead as well.

"Now is no time to be picky, Buffy." Wesley calmly told her. "These men are no longer human. The darkness in their hearts has seen to that."

"Oh, I'm not picky." Buffy replied, stepping over the bodies to get into the hallway. "I'm amazed. You're different. I noticed it earlier, but now I can really see it."

"Umm, err, thank you." Wesley stammered.

"You're welcome." Buffy smiled. Wesley found himself smiling back, his anger from seeing Oz in that condition ebbing slightly.

"Halt!" A voice bellowed from down the hall. Buffy and Wesley turned to watch four soldiers running toward them.

"Well, crap." Buffy said. She adjusted Oz on her shoulder, then reached out and tugged on Wesley's sleeve. "Come on, time to go."

They immediately set off in the other direction, turning down one hall and then another. The soldiers fell back a ways, but still remained close enough to be a threat. Glancing over her shoulder, Buffy quickly made a choice. She yanked her I.D. card out of her pocket and swiped it through the lock on one of the doors. Grabbing Wesley's arm once more, she slammed her shoulder into the lab's door.

They both ducked inside, panting. The sound of footsteps ran past the door, without pausing. Satisfied that they were safe for the time being, Buffy set Oz down on an empty steel table. Wesley had walked across the room, carefully lifting the white sheet that covered what appeared to be a body.

"Bloody hell." Wesley gasped.

"What is it?" She walked over and took the medical supplies out of Wesley's hand. Setting them aside, she peered under the sheet. "Okay, what in the hell is that?"

Wesley yanked the sheet all the way off, revealing the body of some sort of creature. Parts of it were made of a machine, some human, and quite a bit of demon. "I believe this would be why the Initiative takes their demons in alive, instead of dead. They're experimenting on them, in order to create this. ...The perfect soldier."

"Okay, now I'm really mad." Buffy announced, grabbing the medical supplies and walking over to Oz. She uncovered him and began inspecting the wounds. As she worked on Oz, Wesley began to inspect the room farther. Along one wall was a long steel table with a sink, in which a tall, cylinder stood. It glowed a bright green.

"I'll be..." Wesley glanced back at the creature and then at the cylinder. "It's a battery of some kind. That's why he's not moving."

"You mean that green thing is what's going to make bad boy over there wake up?" Buffy asked, walking over with a piece of the white sheet. She turned on the sink and wet the sheet. She eyed the cylinder for a moment, before snatching it up and hurling it at the cement wall. The cylinder broke in half, the green liquid oozing out.

"That may be radioactive." Wesley pointed out.

"Possibly." Buffy agreed, before returning her task. Wesley sighed dramatically, suddenly realizing why Giles always had the pinched look to his face when dealing with The Slayer. With that thought in his head, Wesley walked over and began bandaging Oz's wounds.