Breaking Free (41/many?)
Mar. 17th, 2007 11:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stillroseTitle: Breaking Free (41/many?)
Fandom: BTVS; Spike/Xander
Warnings: Slash, AU, Sci-fi, kink
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Lt. “Xander” Harris and Captain William the Bloody have both suffered and lost in the on going war between the Biogens and Council. Now, Xander finds himself a prisoner of Captain William the Bloody (aka Spike). What will be Xander’s fate?
Been another long week of training and minor crisis. Blech. Much gratitude to my beta, ![[info]](https://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
slashpuppy
Previous parts here.
As always: Feedback makes my heart go pitter-patter.
“Biogens don’t feel love!” Buffy yelled.
“They don’t?” Xander said angrily then whipped off his eye patch.
Xander stared at his friends and for a moment let his eyes shift gold.
***
Buffy quickly recovered from her shock. She charged across the room, slammed Xander into the wall and pressed her right forearm painfully across his throat.
“Who are you?” Buffy snarled. “And what have you done with Xander?”
“Buff…” Xander wheezed. He could barely breathe but he didn’t fight the enraged Regent. “It’s me. It’s Xander.”
“LIAR!” Buffy yelled.
“T..
“Shut up!” Buffy ordered and pressed her arm more painfully into Xander’s throat cutting off his air supply.
“Buffy,”
“THIS is NOT Xander,” Buffy growled. “It can’t be! It’s impossible! People just…”
“What…what if it is?”
“Buffy,”
Buffy eased the pressure on Xander’s throat. Xander gulped a lungful of air.
“If
“I know. The Xander shaped Biogen is dead,” Xander forced past his sore throat.
“
“I..I should have the re..results shortly. I’ll compare the sample with w..wh..what I already have on file.”
“If there is some sort of cloning technology involved?” Giles asked.
“The cloning technology w…would be f..far beyond w..what we currently c..can do,”
Giles nodded.
***
Spike came back from the proverbial land of ‘Nod’ with the customary groan. He blinked his eyes open. He was in another cell against a steel wall. Spike’s hands were bound above his head, his feet were shackled to the floor and Gates was smiling at him.
“Did I miss anything important?” Spike asked in a bored tone.
“Just that I’ve been ordered to ‘soften you up.’” Gates replied and moved closer to Spike. “Seems the Regent wants to interrogate you herself.”
“Ah,” Spike said slyly as he suggestively thrust his hips forward. “So the blonde trollop wants her own ‘one-on-one’ with the big bad.”
Gates slammed a fist into Spike’s abdomen forcing all the air out of the Biogen. Spike coughed and gasped for air. Gates grabbed Spike’s head and forced him to look up at him.
“I’ve always wondered just how much pain and damage a Biogen could take,” Gates spat. “Guess I’m gonna find out.”
Spike laughed weakly. “All yer gonna find out is how much William the Bloody will take before he gets bored and breaks yer neck, mate.”
Gates slammed Spike’s head back into the wall.
“Think so, eh?” Gates asked.
“I know so,” Spike replied looking Gates directly in the eye. ”So will you, mate. So will you. That’s a promise.”
Gates shook his head, smiled and then rammed his knee into Spike’s groin.
“We’ll just see about that,” Gates whispered as Spike spat bile on to the floor. “I have time before Graham comes down to relieve me.”
***
“How did this happen?”
“It didn’t!” Buffy insisted.
Xander focused his gaze on the Cybermage.
“It was Caleb…” Xander began.
“Caleb! He killed Jesse! He ripped out your eye!” Buffy spat again. “And you want us to believe you really are Xander and are on board the love train with a Biogen?”
“Caleb wasn’t with Spike or Angel!” Xander focused on Buffy. “He was…he was…”
Xander fought the desire to slip into his alternate face. Rage, fear and hurt rushed through him and the memories of Caleb didn’t help.
“He was what?”
“He was rogue,” Xander answered maintaining his control.
“All Biogens are rogue,” Buffy hissed.
“NO!” Xander argued. “Angel is trying to change things. Caleb wasn’t a part of those changes. He wasn’t only our enemy but Angel’s too.”
“What makes you think that?” Buffy asked.
“Because when he wasn’t stripping the flesh from my back or cooking it with a blowtorch he was asking me questions about you and Spike!” Xander retorted.
“Xander!”
“Caleb tortured you?” Giles asked.
“Leave it to the Watcher to get right to the point,” Xander said and looked at Giles. “Torture I think is a bit mild of a description but yeah, Caleb and I had a ‘talk.’”
“And that’s when…?”
“That’s when Spike fought to save my life,” Xander interrupted
“Fr?”
“I meant ‘Fr,’” Xander insisted. Not going to give them any more of the DeSoto crew, Xander thought. If I can’t get Spike and I out of this not going to drag…
“So, withholding information now?” Buffy asked interrupting Xander’s thoughts.
“Buffy,” Xander said. “Don’t ask me to betray one set of friends to keep another.”
“We’re not asking you to betray anyone,”
“What happened is Caleb hurt me, hurt me bad,” Xander said. “Spike, Angel and Faith came to the rescue. Spike made a Caleb corpse. Then Spike convinced Angel to let them try and help me. Spike gave some of his nanites and from those…”
“They made FrankenXander,” Buffy said.
“Buffy!”
“Until I know this is Xander,” Buffy said and then stepped forward to Xander and painfully poked a finger into his chest, “he’s just another Biogen!”
“And when
“She won’t!” Buffy insisted.
“Buffy,” Xander said softly. “It’s me. It’s Xander. I know you still sleep with Mr. Gordo when you’ve had a bad day. I know
“XANDER!”
Xander smiled at his best bud and said, “Hey, who hasn’t tried a net romance?”
“Xander!”
“None of that proves anything!” Buffy insisted. “You could have gotten that information from the real Xander.”
“I am the ‘real Xander’ Buffy,” Xander said and then focused his gaze on the Watcher. “What do you think, Giles?”
“I think this is all going to end very badly,” Giles said quietly.
“Why is that?” Xander asked. “You know you can help me. You can back me up.”
“Back you up?” Buffy asked. “What, now are you going to tell me Giles is a Biogen?”
“No, but I will tell you Giles knows the truth.”
“The truth?”
“The truth, Wills,” Xander answered. “All of it. The truth about the Biogens, the Council and…”
“What happened on
“I don’t know what Giles knows or doesn’t know about
Buffy laughed bitterly and then said, “You really are a Biogen. You’re a liar and a killer.”
“I found a button with a silver wolf’s head on it in the hands of one of the victims,” Xander said while trying not to flinch from Buffy’s words. “Raiders slaughtered the
“Raiders?’ whispered
“And why would ‘Raiders’ slaughter a colony?” Buffy asked.
“I don’t know,” Xander said.
“Where’s the button?” Buffy asked.
“I gave it to G…one of the DeSoto’s crew to take back to Angel.”
“Convenient,” Buffy said.
“Angel believed the Council did it,” Xander said. “When I told them the Council wouldn’t slaughter colonists he asked me how I knew and I told him it was because I knew my friends. I told him the Council couldn’t do something like that without you and that you couldn’t be a part of something like that. He took me on my word.”
“Biogens stick together,” Buffy said scrambling for something to say.
“Buffy!”
“Wills!” Buffy turned to look at the redheaded woman. “You can’t believe this!”
“He knows about Mr. Gordo…he knows about Mal…me.”
“That doesn’t prove anything! What about all the potshots at Giles?”
“I don’t know!”
“You can’t expect him to,
“
“What does that mean, Giles?”
“It means were all in danger now,” Xander said.
“Giles would never hurt us!” Buffy yelled. “Would you?”
Buffy looked to Giles. Giles took off his glasses and began to clean them.
“Buffy,” Giles began, “I…Well it’s not…”
A soft knock on the door interrupted the Watcher. Everyone’s focus shifted to the door as
“
“It…It’s a match. He’s Xander,”
Buffy paled and backed away from Xander. “No!” she said. “It can’t be.”
“Buff,” Xander said reaching for his friend. Buffy stepped further away from his reach.
“It’s a hu..hundred percent match,”
Buffy turned to her Watcher.
“Giles?”
Giles sighed and put on his glasses.
“Xander,” Giles said softly as he looked at the young man still keeping himself against the wall where Buffy had shoved him. “The last thing in this world I would ever want is for any of you to be hurt.”
“Then tell us the truth,” Xander urged.
“You don’t know what you’re asking,” Giles said.
“I’m asking for you to help me, Giles,” Xander said. “Please.”
“Giles?” Buffy asked again.
Giles moved toward his Regent and placed his hands on her shoulders. He gazed at her troubled face and smiled softly.
“You so remind me of your mother,” Giles said quietly.
“My mother?” Buffy asked.
“She was such a beautiful young woman,” Giles said. “I think I was in love with Joyce the moment I saw her. She was smart, strong and completely independent. It was an honour to be in her inner circle.”
“I don’t understand,” Buffy said.
“I think we were a bad influence on each other,” Giles continued. “I was a bit of a ‘rebel’ in my day and I think that encouraged her. We were both headstrong and we pushed for answers when we both should have just gone along. One day she not only made the mistake of questioning her Watcher out right, she disobeyed her.”
“Giles?” Buffy said with a growing sense of dread and fear. Xander unconsciously moved away from the wall and toward his friend. Giles reached out a hand and brushed a lock of Buffy’s hair back.
“It was many years later before I saw your mother again,” Giles said. “The last time I saw her was just before she died.”
“She died giving birth to me,” Buffy said.
“The Council learned from its mistakes, Buffy,” Giles said. “It lost control of the Biogens. It isn’t going to lose control of its Regents.”
“Giles?” It was
“Instead of treating Regents like slaves, they treat them like one of their own; like they are on the inside. Instead of trying to suppress or deny Regents’ emotions, they try and manipulate them. The Council pairs Watchers with Regents at an early age so they will bond. Regents trust their Watchers.”
Buffy withdrew from Giles and he let her go.
“But sometimes Regents can’t be controlled and then…” Giles paused and stared at some far point behind Buffy.
“Then what, Giles?” Buffy asked.
“Regents aren’t just born at random. They aren’t all just ‘selected’ at a young age to attend the academy. There’s a reason why Regents never seem to have close ‘families.’ The Council has a lot invested in the genetic manipulation of the Regent lines.”
Giles refocused his gaze on Buffy.
“After you mother was reass…disappeared,“ Giles said, “I worked hard to regain the Council’s trust. I knew it was the only way to find out where Joyce was. I focused everything so I could be a Watcher. I knew that if I could be a Watcher I could find her again.”
“And you did,” Buffy said.
“I did,” Giles replied. “I saw Joyce again when they took you from her and gave you to me. You were to be my Regent. Only when I first held you, Buffy, did I realize the emotional manipulation went both ways.”
“What does that mean?” Xander asked.
“It means I would do anything to protect Buffy,” Giles said with a razor edge to his voice.
“Does that include betraying her?” Xander asked.
“You think you know everything the Council is capable of?” Giles asked.
“I know that when Wesley knew the truth he left. So did Faith,” Xander answered.
“You think it’s that easy? Just pack up Buffy and leave?”
“Hey!” Buffy said weakly. “Still here.”
“I think you could have tried,” Xander said.
“Do you know what would have happened if I’d failed?”
“What would have happened?” Buffy asked. “What happened to my mother?”
Giles looked at Buffy. “When Wes left, I thought about leaving too. I wanted to Buffy, but I couldn’t.”
“Giles, what aren’t you telling me?”
“You are the best Regent the Council has seen,” Giles said. “You are strong, capable, stable and have reigned longer than any other Regent before dying or needing to be ‘retired.’”
“It’s about the gen..genetic lines?”
Giles nodded without looking away from Buffy.
“What does that mean?” Buffy asked, almost dreading the answer.
“Retired or ‘problem’ Regents are moved into the breeding program,” Giles answered softly. “There they are kept for the sole purpose of breeding the next generation of Regents.”
“That can’t be true!” Buffy cried. “You can’t be a part of something like that!”
“If I failed you,” Giles said, “if I didn’t help you be what the Council wanted they would have re…”
“That’s what they did to my mother?!” Buffy cried.
Giles closed his eyes and nodded.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Buffy asked as she grabbed Giles. “I TRUSTED YOU!”
“I wanted to, Buffy,” Giles said. “But I couldn’t risk it.”
“So Xander’s right? This war…why didn’t you tell me when Faith left? Why didn’t…”
“Buffy,” Giles said softly. “Even when you were young you were the best the Council had seen. They wanted to try again. They wanted a backup in case something happened to you.”
“Backup?” Buffy said.
“The Council tried again,” Giles said.
“But that’s impossible,” Buffy said. “My mother is dead.”
“Your mother died after she gave birth,” Giles said, “but not after your birth.”
Buffy paled.
Giles continued, “You have a sister and if I took you away she would be left…”
“A sister?”
“Buffy,”
“Who?” Buffy snarled.
“Dawn,” Giles said softly.
“Dawn!” Buffy said. “She’s barely able to hold Potential status. She’s more suited to being a Watcher…”
“If she doesn’t make Regent,” Giles said, “she’ll be ‘retired.’”
Buffy paled once again.
“That’s not going to happen,”
“You’ve been protecting Buffy all this time,” Xander said.
Giles nodded.
“And I’ve…”
“Created quite a problem,” Giles said.
“I have a sister,” Buffy said. “Dawn is my sister.”
“Wh..what are we going to do?”
Giles shook his head.
“Help me rescue Spike,” Xander said. “Leave with us.”
“No,” Buffy said.
“Buffy!”
“I’m not leaving,” Buffy said.
“But the Cou…”
“I’m not letting them hurt Dawn,” Buffy said.
“We..we’ll take her with us,”
Buffy looked at Giles and said, “That won’t stop them or this war.”
“We can’t eit…”
“I’m the Regent Prime,
“Then what are we going to do?”
“I don’t know yet, but somehow we’re going to turn this around. We’re going to work from within. We’re going to find and exploit all the Council weaknesses from the inside,” Buffy said. “And we’re going to protect our own.”
“That will take time,” Xander said.
Buffy turned to look at Xander. Buffy gently untangled herself from
“I know,” Buffy said.
“I don’t have that time,” Xander said quietly. “I can’t hide what I’ve become much longer and Spike definitely doesn't have the time.”
Buffy moved forward and hugged Xander fiercely. Xander froze for a moment then returned the hug.
“I’m sorry, Xander,” Buffy said.
“No problem,” Xander said fighting back a tear. “Wouldn’t be your inner circle without all the drama.”
Buffy laughed and looked up into Xander’s face.
“I did miss you,” she said.
Xander smiled. “I missed you too.”
“I can’t run away from this,” Buffy said.
“I know,” Xander said, “but I can’t either. I also can’t leave Spike.”
“Xander, we might be able to cover for you but…”
“No,
“But Xander…”
“Wills, listen to me,” Xander said. “If you keep Spike locked up, then you lock me up with him. You execute him, you execute me. You vivisect him, you vivis…”
“Xander!’ Buffy and
Xander looked at his girls and said quietly, “Help me.”
TBC in part 42
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-03-17 03:48 pm (UTC)I love how you are able to twist canon to make it fit this AU fic in this case the mention of Malcolm and more importantly Dawn.
Shakatany
thank you
Date: 2007-03-19 08:49 pm (UTC):)
sr
no subject
Date: 2007-03-17 04:01 pm (UTC)thank you
Date: 2007-03-19 08:49 pm (UTC):)
sr
no subject
Date: 2007-03-17 04:07 pm (UTC)Oh that was a bundle of stuff and no mistake. I just hope the girls decide to help Xander before Gates has too much fun with Spike. Although I think he really will regret his actions when Spike gets free - that's one Biogen who doesn't break his promises.
Great stand off with Buffy and Xander, and the twist with the breeding programme was excellent.
Well done, love. This just gets better with every chapter.
s x
LOL - thank you
Date: 2007-03-19 08:51 pm (UTC):)
sr
no subject
Date: 2007-03-17 04:42 pm (UTC)LOL
Date: 2007-03-19 08:53 pm (UTC)Oh no..no problem poofage here (which kind of makes this uni hard to write...but worth it).
Glad yer still lovin' it.
sr
no subject
Date: 2007-03-17 04:53 pm (UTC)Still is one of my favorite stories. had my attention from chapter one and it has me still in it's thrall.
Can't wait for more.
Hugs,
~Alterian
thank you
Date: 2007-03-20 01:30 am (UTC)Started work on chap 43.
sr
no subject
Date: 2007-03-17 05:25 pm (UTC)I love how this is moving along. And, I've gotten over my "the boys aren't together, I can't read this anymore" problem.
Thanks for sharing!
thank you
Date: 2007-03-20 01:31 am (UTC)Don't worry...the boys will be together soon. Glad you kept reading. :)
sr
no subject
Date: 2007-03-17 08:48 pm (UTC)Now go save Spike!
Aye aye!
Date: 2007-03-20 01:31 am (UTC)sr
no subject
Date: 2007-03-17 10:06 pm (UTC)thank you
Date: 2007-03-20 01:32 am (UTC)sr
no subject
Date: 2007-03-17 10:22 pm (UTC)thank you
Date: 2007-03-20 01:33 am (UTC)And yeah...Xander made it very clear...he's with Spike. :)
sr
no subject
Date: 2007-03-17 11:21 pm (UTC)thank you
Date: 2007-03-20 01:33 am (UTC)sr
no subject
Date: 2007-03-17 11:56 pm (UTC)Aye aye!
Date: 2007-03-20 01:34 am (UTC)sr
no subject
Date: 2007-03-17 11:59 pm (UTC)thank you!
Date: 2007-03-20 01:35 am (UTC)Anyway..chap 42 is up and I've started chap 43.
sr
no subject
Date: 2007-03-18 12:09 am (UTC)Oh, can Buffy beat up Reilly soon? And, and can B and Angel meet, too?
Now that the secret is out in the open, I expet some serious Scooby plotting and fighting.
LOL
Date: 2007-03-20 01:35 am (UTC)sr
no subject
Date: 2007-03-18 01:01 am (UTC)Thanks, Stillrose! A masterfully adroit twist, and I'm glad that the gang rallied 'round... Now, as someone else has already said, "Go rescue Spike!"
... And I'll continue to put major wear-and-tear on my F5 button ;-)
Oops!
Date: 2007-03-20 01:36 am (UTC)Already started work on chap 43.
sr
Breaking Free
Date: 2007-03-18 01:28 am (UTC)*sad face* for Spike. I hope they can figure out a way to get him free.
More Soon
Shay
Re: Breaking Free
Date: 2007-03-20 01:36 am (UTC)Check out chap 42. It's up! Already started work on chap 43.
sr
no subject
Date: 2007-03-18 01:48 am (UTC)Ayup!
Date: 2007-03-20 01:37 am (UTC)sr
no subject
Date: 2007-03-18 04:18 am (UTC)eek!
Date: 2007-03-20 01:38 am (UTC)Chap 42...much more action. :)
sr
no subject
Date: 2007-03-18 04:20 am (UTC)Amazing story! I can't wait for the next update ^_^
*blush* Thank you
Date: 2007-03-20 01:39 am (UTC)sr
no subject
Date: 2007-03-18 07:36 am (UTC)That was exciting in a different way. The tense stand-off between Buffy and Xander was great and the revelation of the true awfulness of the Council.... Poor Joyce, poor Giles.
I am a bit worried by Buffy's determination to change the Council from the inside, remembering the outcome when Angel tried that on Wolfram & Hart.
Wonderful chapter. And thankfully not such a cliffhanger.
Thank you
Date: 2007-03-20 01:40 am (UTC)Yeah..the drama with this bunch never ends...and yes..poor Joyce and poor Giles.
Chap 42 is up. :)
sr
no subject
Date: 2007-03-18 08:44 pm (UTC)The revelations of Giles wasn't what I expected. I thought it would be things Xander already knew about the Biogens. Nothing has ever even been hinted about the secrets of Regents. Now I want to know it all!
Fantastic chapter! I have a feeling you have more in stock for us :)
LOL - thank you
Date: 2007-03-20 01:43 am (UTC)Ok..so it's a wee hint...but I did try and plant it. :)
I'm glad you loved the twists I do on canon. I do try and think what works...and yes the breeding farms was a great way to blend in the "betrayal" of Giles and work in the sudden appearance of Dawn at the same time. :)
Don't worry...Dawn doesn't have a big part in Breaking Free. :)
sr
no subject
Date: 2007-03-18 10:21 pm (UTC)LOL - thank you
Date: 2007-03-20 01:44 am (UTC)sr
no subject
Date: 2007-03-19 01:40 am (UTC)Great update!
*smile*
Date: 2007-03-20 01:45 am (UTC):)
sr