The trip to Sunnydale didn't really take all that long, but for Xander it felt like a lifetime. He kept imagining everything that could, and probably would, go wrong. Nexus could fail, Spike and Rom could already be dust by the time they got to them...Xander just hoped for the Scoobies sake that the vampires were be all right. Because if they weren't...

***

Buffy dropped Spike's limp body on the floor and kicked him, hard. Spike moved with the blow, but didn't react. "Huh, guess the chip has finally fried his brain. What little brain he had."

Riley dropped the strange vampire on the ground next to Spike and jumped when it screamed in pain. The entire front of its body was covered in bandages and Riley wasn't sure he wanted to see what was under the blood stained cloth.

Buffy dropped to a crouch next to the vampire and ripped the bandages off. "Wow, something really took a bite out of you, didn't they?"

The vampire snarled and lunged at Buffy, but she just laughed and punched it in the open wound. The vamp hissed and then collapsed. Buffy grabbed it by the hair and pulled its face up so she could look in its eyes. "I've got some questions, you're going to answer them. Or you really won't like what I'm going to do to you."

The vampire settled into its human face and said quietly, "Sargent Romulus Montoya, United States Army, serial number AG6-4279."

Riley grabbed Buffy's arm before she could hit the vampire again. "Buffy, don't."

She shook off his hold and pushed him towards the door, "I don't care who he was, he's a vamp now. He must know something about what's going on in that place and we need answers. If you don't have the stomach for this, wait for me in the other room, I'll handle it."

"Buffy..."

"No, Riley. I mean it. Why don't you go keep Giles busy for a while. He gets a little squeamish about some things."

***

Xander supervised the unloading of the crates containing the components that made up the Nexus module. He'd spent four years designing and perfecting the system, if all went well, the Hellmouth would be off limits, to everyone and everything. Xander checked out the room that had once been the library, the Army had taken over the site and sent in their engineers to build a platform to hold Nexus. After taking measurements and checking angles, he decided they were ready to begin. "Okay, people, we have a go. Check your blueprints and make sure the pylons are mounted in their designated positions."

The team had trained for this moment for over a year in a mock-up back on base. Even though they could do this blindfolded, every step was checked and double checked. There was no margin for error.

***

Jamison positioned his people around the building where they'd traced their missing personnel to. Once he was sure everyone was in place, he started the sweeps. Infrared to locate any humans and a parabolic antenna to listen in to what was going on inside the building. He started to shake when he heard what was happening to Rom.

'Come on, be a good vampire and tell me what I want to know. I have a whole bunch of Holy Water, and that big hole in your belly is an awfully convenient place to pour it.'

Jamison heard a pain-filled shriek and then a weak version of Rom's voice. 'Sargent Romulus Montoya, United States Army, serial number...' The rest of the sentence was cut off by another scream. Turning to Coffey he said, "Get your kits ready, you're going to need them."

She didn't ask any questions, "Ready."

He flipped the switch on his throat mike and gave the order, "This in team leader, we have five, I repeat, five humans on station. One is located in the back eastern quadrant, the other four are in the northern quadrant. I want a clean take down, no mistakes. All five have to be covered at the same time."

After receiving final confirmations from the two teams surrounding the building, he gave the order. "Go. Go. Go."

Willow screamed when five people dressed in black, wearing weird helmets and carrying really big guns came flying through the windows and the door. They started yelling orders before they even got all the way in. "On the floor, face down, now!"

Riley tried to jump one of them, but they knocked him down and aimed their rifle at his head. Another one came over and cuffed Riley's hands behind his back and connected a chain from the cuffs to a choke collar they put around his throat.

Willow and Tara started chanting under their breath, but never got the chance to finish the incantation. They were pushed to the floor, cuffed, gagged and had black hoods pulled over their heads. Willow whimpered in fear, but she didn't think anyone could hear her.

Giles didn't even try to put up a fight, he knew professionals when he saw them. He'd told Buffy to leave it alone, but she hadn't listened. Now they would all pay for her ignorance. He had a momentary hope that she might escape, but from the sounds coming from the back room, she hadn't done any better than they had.

***

Buffy scrambled to her feet when she heard Willow scream, but before she had taken a single step, three men had her surrounded. They didn't try to fight her, and made sure they stayed far enough away that she couldn't kick one their guns out of their hands.

"Get on your knees."

Buffy snarled, "Why don't you make me?"

The man didn't even shrug, he just shot her in the leg. "The Major would prefer you alive, but if necessary, we have orders to kill. Get on your knees. Now."

Buffy decided to bide her time and wait for them to make a mistake. She was sure it would happen sooner or later.

"We are secure. Send in the medics."

Jamison got the all-clear and led Coffey to the door. Nodding when he saw the prisoners he said, "Good. Get them ready for transport. Where's the other one?"

"Here, Sgt. It's the Slayer." Came from the back room.

Turning to Coffey he said, "Have you got it ready?"

The diminutive woman held up a tranq gun, "Ready and waiting."

"Good. Proceed."

Coffey stood in the doorway to the back room and took her shot. In less than ten seconds the infamous Slayer was out cold. Coffey checked her wound and slapped a quick pressure bandage on it. "Okay, you can secure her now. Try not to move the leg to much. It's a through and through, nice and clean, but I don't want her losing any more blood."

The Slayer was quickly secured and moved out of the way so Coffey would have room to work on Rom.

***

Coffey snapped open her kit, the special one put together with vampires in mind. She grabbed a large bottle of distilled water and dumped a pre-measured container of topical analgesic into it. Replacing the lid, she shook it briskly until the water had turned a dark blue.

Moving slowly, so as not to startle her wounded friend, she carefully started flushing out the gaping wound in his belly. From the medical reports she'd read on the way here, these assholes had done considerable damage. Rom was losing too much blood. He was a vampire and she knew he could take a lot of damage, but she wasn't willing to take any chances.

"Jamison!" she yelled. "I need another pair of hands in here!"

Jamison appeared by her side as if by magic. "What can I do? Do you want me to check Spike?"

Coffey shook her head, "He's still out, but right now, if we don't move fast, we could lose Rom. Grab some blood and get me an IV rig ready."

Jamison did what he was told as quickly as possible. He had been trained as a field medic, but Coffey was the expert here. "Here you go, Coffey."

"Thanks. Here, take this and keep irrigating the wound."

Jamison took the bottle and kept pouring, trying to flush the debris out of the wound. Only experience kept Jamison from getting sick to his stomach. He hated having to work on one of his friends, but at least Rom was still around to be worked on.

Coffey knew she wouldn't be able to locate a suitable vein in Rom's arm, and a feeding tube was out of the question, so she went for the jugular. She inserted the catheter and began pushing blood into Rom's system. After the second unit, Rom showed signs of regaining consciousness so she removed the IV. "Jamison, back off. He's waking up and we don't know how he's going to react."

They both moved to the doorway and watched. Rom twitched a few times and then moaned. Coffey called out to him, "Rom? Can you hear me? It's Coffey. Come on, open your eyes."

Rom opened his eyes and they flashed yellow. Growling, he tried to stand, but landed back on the floor. "Rom. It's Coffey. You're going to be okay. Here, catch." Coffey threw another unit of whole blood towards Rom and he snagged it out of the air. Fangs flashing, he drained it in a matter of seconds.

Tossing the empty bag onto the floor, he looked up at his friends. "Nice to see you guys."

Jamison sighed in relief, "Yeah, you too."

Coffey started packing the wound in Rom's belly, "Rom, I need to ask you some questions, I read in the file that vampires are connected to their Sires. Spike is still non-responsive, are you getting anything from him?"

Rom reached out and growled. Coffey didn't stop what she was doing, "I'm guessing that means no. Can you tell us what happened to him? It might help."

Rom shook his head, trying hard to remember. "Bunch of people, don't know who, came into the room and grabbed us. Spike tried to fight them off then he went in convulsions."

Rom started growling again, he could smell their captors close by. Coffey patted his face, "Stay with me, Rom. Spike had a seizure?"

"Yeah. He seized, that's the last thing I remember."

"Okay, that means it's probably his chip." Coffey said. "Jamison? Can you do anything for him?"

"I brought the link, let me get set up and I'll see what I can find out."

Jamison hurried back out to the truck and made a quick call to base camp. "Major, we have secured the hostages."

"How are they?" The Major asked.

"Rom's pretty messed up, but Coffey is taking care of him. The problem is Spike."

"What about Spike?" The Major snapped.

"From what Rom was able to remember, Spike went into a seizure when he tried to fight off their attackers. He's still out and Rom says he can't feel him anymore. I'm getting ready to hook Spike up to the link and see what I can find out about the chip, but Sir, it doesn't look good."

"Very well, Jamison. Find out what you can, I'm on my way."

"Affirmative, Sir." Jamison closed down the link and hurried back inside. "The Major is heading this way now. Be ready, he's pissed." The guards nodded casually. They were ready for anything, even the Major.

***

Jamison set up the terminal and attached the electrodes to the base of Spike's skull. The second the data stream started, he knew they had a problem. "Shit, this is fubar." He muttered under his breath.

Rom, of course, heard him. "What's wrong? Is Spike going to be okay?"

Jamison looked at his long time friend and wished for a second that he could lie to him. "I don't know, Rom. The data stream from the chip is completely scrambled. This is more intense than I can handle we need a programming expert to look at this. But the base line is still active, so there is brain activity, Spike just doesn't have any control over his body right now."

Rom hissed and got to his feet, as he staggered to the door, Coffey tried to stop him. "Rom, lay down. You're going to cause more damage."

"I don't care. They hurt my Sire, I'm going to kill them." Rom said through gritted teeth.

Jamison scrambled to his feet, "Rom, I've contacted the Major, he's on the way here now." Taking Rom by the arm, he led him to Spike's side. "Here, sit by him, talk to him, let him know that you're okay."

Rom nodded and lay next to Spike on the floor, he began purring quietly while rubbing his hand up and down Spike's arm.

Jamison pulled Coffey into the main room. "Have you got any more tranqs ready? If this goes bad with Spike, you're going to need them."

Coffey nodded, "Yeah, I'm ready. I just hope I don't have to use them."

Buffy had regained consciousness quickly and laughed when she heard them. "Aaahhh, is your poor little vampire broken? That'll teach people to stay out of things they have no business messing with."

Giles frowned at his Slayer. "Buffy, now is not the time, nor the place. Please don't antagonize them any further."

Buffy shook her head, "No way, Giles. These people need to learn to mind their own business and stay out of my way."

Jamison raised one brow in inquiry. "And what do you think you know that we don't, Slayer?"

"I know that you're a bunch of..."

"Buffy, please be silent." Giles hissed under his breath.

"Oh no, G-Man, please let her keep talking. I really want to hear what she has to say."

Jamison popped to attention and saluted, "Major."

The salute was returned, "Okay, Sgt. fill me in."

Giles opened and closed his mouth several times, unable to reconcile this strong, confident man, who was so clearly in charge, with the clumsy boy he'd known so long ago. "Xander?"

Xander held up his hand, "In a minute, G-Man."

Buffy started laughing again, "I was actually worried for a minute there."

Xander glared down at the Slayer, "If Spike doesn't wake up, you'd better be worried."

"Martinez!"

"Yes, Sir!"

"If she opens her mouth again, gag her."

"Sir! Yes, Sir!"

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