Here is the second chapter of the other story that I wanted to share with you…
Title: In It Together
Author: mabel_marsters
Rating: NC17
Warnings: Foul language, some torture, sexual situations. AU but not AH.
Pairing: Spike/Buffy
Betas: seapealsh and dawnofme
Banner: dawnofme
Summary: Cash strapped twins, William and Spike, reply to an advertisement to take part in a clinical trial. They soon realise that it’s not like anything they’ve participated in before, but it’s already too late to escape the clutches of Maggie Walsh.
Buffy is suspicious of exactly what the Initiative is really up to, so she reluctantly agrees to join their ranks to learn more. What she discovers turns her world upside down.
Disclaimer: I own no part of BtVS. I write for pleasure and not financial gain. No infringement of copyright is intended.
Chapter Two
Thirsty, hungry and terrified, the twins were left in the chairs for hours before anyone returned. William suffered the indignity of having to urinate before they came. That fact alone caused their terror to increase. If people were willing to let that happen, just what else might they do?
Spike and William soon found out.
Four white-coated men walked into the room. As soon as the twins saw them they began to shout and plead to be released. All they got for their troubles was another blast from the Tazer. When they recovered their senses, their mouths were stretched wide by gags and something uncomfortably tight was around their throats.
The man they recognised from the night before stepped forward.
“I know you’re both confused, so let me clarify the situation. You’re here to help the professor’s research. There will be procedures that will be painful.” He grinned evilly. “But it’s a small price to pay to help your fellow man.”
Spike began thrashing with fury when he saw William’s eyes widen in fear. It was then that they found out what the collar around their necks did. Still smiling, the man held out a small grey box and then pressed a button.
The twins screamed, their backs arching away from the chairs as the electric shock tore through them. After about thirty seconds, the man took his finger off the button. He waited until their eyes regained focus and they looked warily at him.
“Misbehave and you will get more of that. Oh, and Spike, if you cause trouble and need to be subdued, just remember that the collars are linked. It is impossible to shock only one of you. Any misdemeanour one does, then the other will also be punished.”
Spike rolled his head so he could see his brother. I’m sorry, Will.
Trying not to show the surprise he was feeling, William turned so he could meet his twin’s eyes. He’d heard his brother’s voice loud and clear in his mind. A talent he’d thought they had lost at puberty. It’s okay.
He knew by Spike’s expression that he’d heard him, but then their attention snapped back to the technicians as hands touched their groins. It took a couple of shocks before they stilled their struggles; by the end of it their body hair had been removed. The waxing had caused tears to form in their eyes, but it was the next part that had them screaming around their gags. All the areas that had been waxed, but especially their groin area, heated up in response to a chant one of the technicians recited.
“Thank you, David,” the first man said, when the enchantment was complete.
David nodded. “We’d better go and write up the notes, Michael.”
“You go. I’ll wait here a while until the porters come to take them to their quarters.”
“Okay.” David exited the room with the other two following him.
“Sorry about that. We thought it might be a little painful.” Michael’s eyes gleamed. “But it will save so much work.” Seeing Spike and William’s puzzled expressions, he continued. “It means, your body hair will never grow back.” His eye went to Spike’s bleach blond hair. “It does also mean that your radioactive hair colour is now natural for you.” With a chuckle, he stepped close enough to ruffle it, laughing louder as Spike tried to shake him off.
The door slammed close behind him as he left, and the brothers stared at each other.
H…how can they do that? William asked.
I dunno, Will. But fight them, okay? Don’t worry about me getting hurt.
William couldn’t immediately answer because the collars fired for what felt like eternity and when he recovered he was in a small bare room with glass walls on four sides. Struggling to his feet, he saw Spike lying on the floor at the other side of one of the walls.
Spike!
To his relief his brother rolled onto his back.
Yeah, I can hear you. He glanced at Will. Don’t look at me when you speak. Don’t let them know we can do it. I’m too tired…
It wasn’t until Spike shifted onto his side and curled into a ball that William could see the contusions on his twin’s body. It looked like he’d been used as a football.
“Oh, shit.” He sat down, knees bent to his chest, arms wrapped tightly around them, and waited.
*~*~*~*
The end of the next day saw them strapped into hospital beds in their tiny rooms, their naked, uncovered bodies revealing identical wounds. The surgeon had cheerfully informed them that they had transplanted a kidney from one to the other to see whether rejection would be a problem. They had also been circumcised—much more hygienic, you know—had catheters and IV lines inserted into more places than they cared to think about, but their mouths were free from the gags.
By turning his head to the left, William could see Spike. His brother didn’t look so good, but he wasn’t to know that Spike was receiving no pain medication, nor antibiotics. He tried with no avail to reach Spike with his mind. Exhausted from the surgery, William closed his eyes and as sleep claimed him, he dreamed of a blonde angel taking them out of that place.
*~*~*~*
Buffy whirled round to face Giles. “I can’t believe you just said that!”
To his credit, Giles couldn’t meet her stare and wiped his glasses. “It was just a suggestion. You seemed quite taken by Riley…”
“So I prostitute myself out, just so that you find out more about what Maggie is up to.”
“I didn’t mean it like that. I just thought you could take advantage of the boy’s obvious affection for you, to gain more knowledge than you otherwise would.”
She glared at him for a moment more, before crossing the room and flopping down into an armchair. “I’m not going to kiss him. Not after the way he looked at her.” She shuddered. “Eew!”
“So, what is bothering you so much about the place? Is it more than the fact they are experimenting on harmless demons?”
“Yes. The whole place creeps me out, but when Professor Walsh first saw me, she was coming out of a room and she didn’t seem happy that I’d seen her there.”
Giles leaned forward in his seat. “What do you think could be behind it? What did it look like?”
“What did it look like? It was a door.” Buffy scowled. “Okay, it looked like it was made of steel. There were five of them on that corridor. I passed them on my way out. The numbers were, 311, 312, 313, 314, and 315. She came out of three-twelve.”
“Hmm…it could be nothing.”
She shook her head adamantly. “No…whatever real secrets are going on in the Initiative, they are behind those doors.
*~*~*~*
Time had no meaning to the twins. Both recovered from the initial surgical procedures, though the pain had left Spike gaunt and grey. Both were subjected to more. The little fingers of their left hands were amputated and then reattached, but to the opposite twin. Then, when there was no internal organ left to biopsy, or switch from one to the other—only the heart and lungs were untouched—Spike disappeared.
For the first time since their abduction into the program, William woke with limbs un-tethered. Too weak to stand, head throbbing with pain, he crawled to the adjoining wall. He put his hands on the cool glass and peered into the cell beyond.
“Spike!” His voice, loud in his mind, came out only as a weak rasping croak. Closing his eyes, he rocked to and fro as he desperately tried to link minds, but whether his weakness prevented it, or the distance too far, or…he couldn’t allow himself to believe it…or Spike was dead, he couldn’t make contact. “Don’t leave me here.” Tears coursed down his cheeks. “Please don’t leave me alone.”
*~*~*~*
Expecting more pain, Spike was surprised to find there was none. He couldn’t remember when they’d last allowed him to completely heal between procedures. The familiar feel of the operating table beneath his naked body didn’t prepare Spike for what he saw when he finally cracked open his eyes. He wasn’t in the operating room. Nor was he in the glass cube adjoining his brother. Raising his head, he could see the criss-cross of scars on his torso and cringed. His once hard, lean body now looked shrivelled and shrunken. He wondered if he’d actually be able to stand if given the opportunity.
A door behind him opened. He tipped his head back to try to see who it was. Walsh and Finn strode inside with a pale thin woman between them. The professor stepped close to him and checked the straps for the dental gag that held his mouth agape were secure, the act of which caused Spike to tremble uncontrollably. Whatever was coming, it was going to hurt.
Finn pushed the woman’s back, sending her staggering a couple of strides. She turned, fists clenched, but before she could move further, she screamed and clutched at the strap around her throat. Writhing on the floor until the pain eased, the woman’s eyes glittered amber, and she bared her now sharply pointed teeth.
“You know what to do, Drusilla,” Finn said, for once using the woman’s name and not her lab number.
She turned to Spike, giving him his first clear view of her since she’d been shocked.
The sharp intake of breath was to be the last Spike ever needed to take. Drusilla’s fangs bit deep into his neck and before his scream used up all the breath, his heart stuttered almost to a stop. He could barely acknowledge the fact that Drusilla held her bleeding wrist to his mouth. By the time a few drops had slithered down his throat, he was dead.
She gazed on the ravaged features of her latest childe and whispered, “I’m sorry.” She would never be allowed to see him, to teach him how to be a vampire. And like the others he would no doubt be tortured and finally dusted. Drusilla never felt the stake that pierced her heart through her back.
“Sweep this dust up, and get Seventeen to the operating room. I want that chip in his skull before he rises.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Riley nodded.
“This is going to get very interesting indeed.” Maggie stroked Spike’s cheek, smiling as the warmth of his skin was already leeching away. “Very interesting indeed.”
*~*~*~*
After Buffy had been visiting the Initiative for several months, Maggie Walsh summoned her to her office.
“Ah, Buffy,” Maggie said, stretching her pinched features into what passed as a smile. “I have a proposition for you.”
“What is it?” She stood with arms folded across her chest.
“We have just created a vampire under laboratory conditions—”
“A test-tube vamp? Is that even possible?”
“Please take a seat. No…it was created the usual way—”
Buffy slapped her hands on the desk, gaining some satisfaction as the woman flinched. “You’re telling me that you let a vampire sire someone?”
“That is the only way to create a vampire. But the person was riddled with cancer and had only moments to live, so it’s not like we really killed him, is it? He’d signed the paperwork months ago.”
“You’re telling me that he volunteered?” Buffy sat in the chair opposite Maggie with a thump.
“He left his body for medical research…so yes he did.”
“I don’t think this is what he had in mind.”
Maggie waved a hand dismissively. “That is not your concern. It is all legal. What I would like you to assist me with is watching the vampire’s development. We aren’t allowing it any contact or sight of other vampires.” She got to her feet. “We want to know what is inherited through the act of vampirism that sired them, and what is learned from watching others. Perhaps, then we can work out a method of how to control the vampires’ urge to kill. We know they can survive on the blood from animals other than human though they never choose to do so.”
Buffy was still trying to get her head around the fact that some poor man had been turned rather than allowed to die in peace.
“So…will you assist me in this?”
“Uh…I will have to talk with my Watcher. I’ll let you know tomorrow, is that okay?”
They had led Maggie to believe that the Watcher/Slayer relationship was much more involved than it really was. This gave Buffy time to think things through without suspicion.
“That would be perfect. He’s scheduled to rise tomorrow evening. I would very much like you to witness that.”
Buffy hated to admit it, but her curiosity was piqued. She’d seen fledges climb out of graves, but had never seen the transformation that went before.
“I’m sure it’ll be okay. What time should I be here?”
“Six-thirty. Just in case we have the timing wrong.”
“Six-thirty. Got it.” Feeling both sickened and a little excited at what she would see later that day, Buffy made her excuses and left.
Maggie strolled down the corridor. She opened the door to room 313. In the centre of the large space, a glass sided cube stood. It had no apparent entrance and had walls six inches think. Lying on the white tiled floor was the body of Spike. The numerous scars on his body stood out in stark relief against the extreme pallor of his skin.
“Soon, Seventeen, soon.”
She would finally find out if the chip she’d developed would work as she intended. Before she left, she strolled through 312. She frowned when she saw William huddled in the corner. Pressing a button, she spoke into the intercom.
“How are you feeling today?”
William started at the sound of her voice. His cell was totally soundproofed and he wasn’t sure when he’d last heard a voice that wasn’t his own.
“Where’s Spike?”
“Stand up.”
He shook his head. “Where’s Spike. What have you done with him?”
“Stand up.”
“Not until I know where Spike is.”
Taking out a small grey box, she said, “Do you recognise this?”
Will’s hands went to his bare neck, and he frowned. “Was for the collar.”
“I’ll tell you one more time. Get to your feet.”
Remembering Spike’s words about fighting, Will again shook his head. “Piss off.”
She pressed the button and his head exploded with pain. He screamed and clawed desperately at his temples. He lost control of his bodily functions and Maggie watched dispassionately as he writhed in the mess. By the time she’d taken her finger of the button, a thin trickle of blood leaked from his nose. His thin body heaved as he fought to regain control.
“Hmm…may have to turn it down a little. Don’t want you suffering a stroke before we’re through with the research. Now stand up.”
This time William struggled to his feet, his first attempt saw him fall back to his knees, but finally he stood, swaying violently with one hand on the wall.
“Please tell me.” He wiped the blood from his nose with the back of his hand. “Where’s Spike?”
Maggie chuckled. “Can you not feel it? Sense it? He’s dead.”
“No!”
William sank to his knees, sobbing. He had been able to sense it – he just didn’t want to believe it.
“Oh, Spike… at least you’re free from all this now.”
He crawled out of the worst of the urine and faeces, curled up in a ball and prayed for death to also take him. They’d manage to speak in their minds several times, and William knew that Spike had suffered worst treatment than he had, which added to the guilt he felt at bringing them here.
“Rest in peace, big brother.”
To be continued on my lj…
Originally posted at http://seasonal-spuffy.livejournal.com/399912.html
