Breaking Free (41/many?)

[stillrose]

Title:  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, slashpuppy

.

 

 
Previous parts here.

As always: Feedback makes my heart go pitter-patter.

“But how can you think Spi..Seventeen loves you?” Willow asked.

“Biogens don’t feel love!” Buffy yelled.

“They don’t?” Xander said angrily then whipped off his eye patch.

Tara and Willow gasped. Buffy froze. Giles released Xander and stepped away from him.

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..Tara,” Xander gasped and cast his eyes toward the wide-eyed blonde, “bl..blood sample. Take a blood sample…”

“Shut up!” Buffy ordered and pressed her arm more painfully into Xander’s throat cutting off his air supply.

“Buffy,” Tara said quickly as she stepped over to the pair. “I…I can take a b..blood sample. We..can run D..DNA…”

“THIS is NOT Xander,” Buffy growled. “It can’t be! It’s impossible! People just…”

“What…what if it is?” Tara asked quietly.

“Buffy,” Willow’s voice shook as she spoke, “we don’t know that it’s not possible…maybe...”

Buffy eased the pressure on Xander’s throat. Xander gulped a lungful of air.

“If Tara’s results aren’t one hundred percent…”

“I know. The Xander shaped Biogen is dead,” Xander forced past his sore throat.

Tara grabbed a hypodermic and a swab. She quickly, but cautiously, approached Xander. Tara gave Xander a small smile before gently and efficiently taking the blood sample.

“Tara,” Xander said with a small smile of his own, “you’ll understand if I ask you to do this personally?”

Tara nodded and then moved toward the door. She turned and looked at the group.

“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,” Tara interrupted. “Th..they would have had to h..have planned this y..years ago. Plus there would be some deviation. Cl..clones have genomic flaws. If th…if he is a clone, I’ll kn..know.”

Giles nodded. Tara cast a last supportive look at Willow and then left the room with a small vial of Xander’s blood.

***

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?” Willow asked quietly.

“It didn’t!” Buffy insisted.

Xander focused his gaze on the Cybermage.

“It was Caleb…” Xander began.

Willow and Buffy hissed. Giles closed his eyes.

“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?” Willow asked.

“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!” Willow gasped and put her hand to her mouth. Buffy stepped back from Xander in shock.

“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…?” Willow started to ask.

“That’s when Spike fought to save my life,” Xander interrupted Willow. “Fr…one of Angel’s people had figured out an experimental procedure to make brand new Biogens out of donated nanites.”

“Fr?” Willow asked as her brow furrowed. “You mean Winifred Burkle? She worked in the science division. She…”

“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,” Willow said. “We just want to know what happened.”

“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!” Willow exclaimed.

“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 Tara tells you it’s me?” Xander asked. “What then, Buff?

“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 Willow still blushes at the name of Malcolm Black…”

“XANDER!” Willow cried as she blushed. “We promised to never talk about that again!”

Xander smiled at his best bud and said, “Hey, who hasn’t tried a net romance?”

“Xander!” Willow warned. Xander couldn’t help but laugh a little.

“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?” Willow asked. “What truth do you think Giles knows?”

“The truth, Wills,” Xander answered. “All of it. The truth about the Biogens, the Council and…”

“What happened on Wash?” Buffy snapped. “Are you going to try and convince me that the Biogens didn’t slaughter that colony and Giles can prove it?”

“I don’t know what Giles knows or doesn’t know about Wash, Buff,” Xander said, “but I do know the Biogens didn’t do it.”

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 Wash colonists.”

“Raiders?’ whispered Willow.

“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!” Willow yelled. “Stop it!”

“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!” Willow cried. “But I do know that Giles hasn’t really answered any of Xander’s questions either.”

“You can’t expect him to, Willow! Look at what Xa…he’s accusing Giles of!”

Willow looked at Giles. “Why won’t you answer any of Xander’s questions?”

“Willow,” Giles sighed. “This has already gone too far.”

“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 Tara entered and walked over to Willow.

“Tara?” Willow asked as she took her wife’s hand. Tara looked at Willow.

“It…It’s a match. He’s Xander,” Tara said softly. Willow squeezed Tara’s hand tightly.

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,” Tara said as she turned to face everyone. “I checked twice. There are no genomic flaws either.”

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 Willow’s turn to call Giles’ name in confusion.

“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?” Tara asked. “Isn’t it?”

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.”

Willow gasped. Buffy hissed and Xander’s eyes turned solid gold.

“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,” Willow said and moved forward to wrap her arms around her friend.

“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,” Willow vowed.

“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?” Tara asked.

Giles shook his head. Willow continued holding Buffy.

“Help me rescue Spike,” Xander said. “Leave with us.”

“No,” Buffy said.

“Buffy!” Willow cried.

“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,” Tara said.

Buffy looked at Giles and said, “That won’t stop them or this war.”

“We can’t eit…”

“I’m the Regent Prime, Willow,” Buffy said looking at her friend. My job is to protect people and to stop the war. That hasn’t changed.”

“Then what are we going to do?” Willow said.

“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 Willow and moved to her friend.

“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, Willow!” Xander said, turning to look at his friend. “Whatever happens, I’m not leaving Spike.”

“But Xander…” Willow tried again.

“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 Willow yelled in shock and protest at the same time.

Xander looked at his girls and said quietly, “Help me.”

TBC in part 42

Comments

Thank you

[stillrose.livejournal.com]

...yeah..not the big cliff hanger this time..thought we could all use a breather.

Yeah..the drama with this bunch never ends...and yes..poor Joyce and poor Giles.

Chap 42 is up. :)

sr