The Fever, Part Fourteen Author: Elsa Frohman Rating: PG-13 Spoilers: Post Chosen. This is my AU AtS S5. Summary: Spike is back, and he's human -- sort of. He's
working for Wolfram & Hart as an outside contractor.
"You could have a steam train
"If you'd just lay down your tracks
"You could have an aeroplane flying
"If you bring your blue sky back
"All you do is call me
"I'll be anything you need
"You could have a big dipper
"Going up and down, all around the bends
"You could have a bumper car, bumping
"This amusement never ends
"I want to be your sledgehammer
"Why don't you call my name
"Oh let me be your sledgehammer"
Wesley let the sledgehammer rest on the floor next to his foot
for a moment to glare at Lorne.
"You could offer to spell me, you know," he panted, putting a
hand up to wipe the sweat from his forehead. He had shed his
shirt early in the task. Beads of perspiration glittered on his
shoulders and back.
"I'm doing my part, my ever-so-muscular crumpet. I'm
providing the score. And I might add, I'm running out of
hammer songs. I think you should pick up the pace."
"I really liked what you did with 'If I Had A Hammer'," Fred
offered. "I've never heard it done as Reggae before."
Wes rolled his eyes. "On the other hand, 'Hammer Time' was a
bit off..."
Lorne sniffed. "Give me a break. Rap isn't my gig."
Wes picked up the hammer again. "I am going to be so sore
tomorrow," he said. He'd been hammering for nearly an hour,
and had broken out a depression roughly two thirds of the
necessary depth.
"Let me try, then," Fred offered with a smile.
Wes regarded her in disbelief. "That at least should shame
you," he said, looking at Lorne. "No, my dear. This is not..."
"If you're about to say 'woman's work', can it," Fred snapped. "I
work out. I'm not a china doll." He held out her hand for the
hammer.
"Very well," Wes replied haughtily. "But control is a matter of
strength with a hammer this heavy. So don't expect me to hold
the chisel."
Lorne knelt by the hole. "That's all right, cupcake, I trust you."
He took the chisel and held it in place, looking up at Wes with
a challenge in his eye.
Fred swung the hammer up with some difficulty, but brought it
down accurately on the head of the chisel. A chip of nearly the
size Wes had been producing broke away. Fred stuck out her
tongue at Wes.
"All right," Wes said with a frown. "But don't expect me to
sing."
Spike and Maria were handcuffed with their wrists behind
them and confined in the tool-bin area of the warehouse. It was
a corner of the larger container storage space divided from the
rest by wire screens and a locked door.
Several of the visored, Kevlar-vested agents went down into
the steam tunnel to deal with the pursuing vampires. The
muffled sound of automatic-weapons fire traveled up through
the floor.
Maria frowned. "They're fools," she said in a low voice.
"They're shooting at vampires. Bullets -- useless."
Spike shook his head. "These are professionals, love. They
know what they're doing. With the ammunition they're using, a
round above the neck is good as a beheading."
"Oh..." Maria said in a tiny voice.
"Wish I could get to my fags," Spike said irritably.
"You should quit those things."
Spike gave her an incredulous look. "Worried about my health,
love?"
Maria shrugged. "I don't like the smell. And have you ever
eaten a heavy smoker? Yuck! I hate the taste of nicotine."
Spike snorted.
"What are they going to do to us?" Maria asked softly.
"I haven't a clue, pet. But whatever it is, I doubt we're going to
like it," he replied with a sigh.
Two agents accompanying a white-coated technician came into
the tool bin. The technician had a basket of equipment for
drawing blood.
"We need a sample from the female," the technician said.
"And what if I don't want to give one?" Maria asked petulantly.
The technician cocked his head toward the agents, who came
forward and took Maria by her arms to hold her immobile.
"Let go of me!" Maria shouted, struggling the best she could.
Her efforts were to little effect. The handcuffs kept her from
getting any leverage with her arms, and the agents were as
strong as necessary to keep her pinned.
Spike had seen enough. He couldn't use his hands or arms, but
he barreled into the closer agent with his full weight. The man
was pushed away from Maria, and Spike jumped up to land a
kick in the center of his chest to knock him down.
The rebellion was short-lived. The second agent let go of
Maria, unslung his rifle and used it to knock Spike to the floor
with a heavy blow from the weapon's butt on the small of
Spike's back.
Spike rolled over and was about to kip back to his feet when he
found himself looking up the barrel of the agent's weapon -- a
very formidable barrel at that.
"My orders are to avoid killing you -- if possible," the agent
said flatly. Spike couldn't see the agent's face through the dark
visor of his helmet, but he could feel an unmistakable menace.
It occurred to him that Wolfram & Hart was employing agents
who weren't entirely human.
"More experiments in mind?" Spike asked, his lip curling as he
spoke.
The technician had been calmly preparing his syringe through
the scuffle.
"Possibly," the white coat said. "I understand you're a unique
organism. But that's not my concern. Right now, Knox wants a
blood sample from the female vampire -- and that's all I'm
after."
"And if we continue to resist?" Spike asked.
"I'm not supposed to kill you, but I have no orders that say I
can't disable you," the agent with the rifle said, lowering the
barrel to point at Spike's knee.
Spike glared up from the floor.
"This will be much easier with your cooperation," the
technician said, trying to sound reasonable.
Maria's game face emerged, but she didn't struggle when the
technician tied a tourniquet on her upper arm and plunged the
needle into the inside of her elbow.
Sonic pulled free as Ralph bore the vampire that had been
feeding on him to the ground. The boy put a hand to his throat,
and it came away smeared with blood. Fortunately, Ralph had
attacked the instant after the vampire bit down on Sonic, and
the boy wasn't seriously injured. He was slightly stunned, but
recovering quickly. He had two puncture wounds in his neck
and some scratches on his arms, but other than that, he was all
right.
Ralph and the other vampire rolled over several times. In years
of running away at any hint of trouble, Ralph hadn't developed
much in the way of fighting skills. But he was giving it
everything he had, and the other vampire hadn't expected the
attack. Ralph beat the creature's head against the floor and
choked it with all his strength.
The vampire brought its knee up and caught Ralph between the
legs, breaking his concentration. It rolled them over again,
pinning Ralph on the bottom. Ralph snarled up at his enemy,
squeezing its neck even more tightly. He wasn't thinking.
Instinct was all he had to go on. He felt the creature's neck give
way under his hands. The vertebrae of its neck separated, then
the muscles and tendons. The vampire exploded into dust --
which fell in Ralph's open mouth and eyes.
He sat up, wiping the vampire remains off his face, to see
Sonic and Matt staring at him with wide, frightened eyes.
Ralph scrambled to his feet. Gunn was just finishing off his
vampire.
"Get the kids and come on," Gunn shouted.
Ralph reached out to take Matt's arm, but the boy jumped back
out of his reach. It was then that Ralph realized he was in game
face.
Time was short; that much was clear. Chasing the boy around
the room was a bad idea.
Ralph reached out a hand toward Matt.
"Come with me, if you want to live," he said.
Fred didn't last long with the sledgehammer. Wes saw her
begin to tremble as she lifted it and took it out of her hands.
"It's all right. I've had a rest," he said. "And I'm duly
impressed."
Several blows later, a fifty-cent-piece-sized bit of concrete fell
through into the bathroom below, and they could see through.
Wes lay on his stomach to get his face near the hole.
"Are you down there, Angel?"
"Yeah."
"Good. We should be able to get you out in a few more
minutes."
"Is Lorne still up there?"
"At your service, Angel cakes," Lorne called down.
"Good," Angel shouted. " 'The Ballad of John Henry' was just
fine. And I'll forgive you for the weak rendition of 'Hammer
Time.' But if you start singing 'Big Spike Hammer,' you're
going to spend a week as a headless demon, understand?"
"Everybody's a critic," Lorne grumbled.
Sonic got the two girls moving, and Matt allowed Ralph to
push him toward the door. Sonic took point with Ralph and
Gunn bringing up the rear to cover their retreat.
"Glad to have you on the team, man," Gunn said as they
backed down the hall. They weren't out of trouble by any
means. A new wave of vampires was venturing into the hall
behind them.
Ralph didn't try to answer. He was terrified. His knees were
shaking. His mouth was dry. He didn't even want to think about
the knot in his stomach. But running away wasn't an option
now. What he was doing was the only thing he could do.
Gunn pressed his makeshift stake into Ralph's hand. "Easier
than tearing their heads off," he said.
The vampires approached cautiously, low growls rumbling
through the hall. One charged, and Ralph thrust the pole out
just in time to impale it. He missed the heart, and the still-
living creature snarled and clawed at him. But the shaft kept it
far enough away that it couldn't get at him right away. He
jerked the pole back to free it and drove it home again with
better aim.
One down, more than he wanted to count coming from behind.
He felt Gunn's hand on his shoulder. "Now!" Gunn barked.
They turned. Behind them, down the hall, Sonic and the other
children were through the door of the furnace room. Gunn and
Ralph sprinted to join them. They slammed the door and Gunn
leaned against it.
"Get the kids out," Gunn ordered. "I'll bring up the rear."
Ralph opened his mouth, but Gunn cut him off.
"I'll be OK. I've got a better chance than any of you. Get going,
dammit!"
Sonic had pulled up a square grating from the floor and jumped
down into the steam tunnel below. Ralph started handing the
other children down to him. The vampires had reached the door
outside and were pounding on it. Ralph could see Gunn's body
shake with each blow.
"Hurry," he said urgently, as he braced himself to keep the
door closed.
Matt was last; Ralph took him by the arms and lowered him
into the hole. He looked up at Gunn once more.
"You did good," Gunn said. "You never know what people got
until the crunch. You got what it takes. Now, get going. I'll
catch up."
Ralph put his feet through the hole and jumped down. He
glanced back up. He could hear the door giving away above.
He hustled Matt ahead of himself. They were the last of the
group.
"Keep moving, whatever happens," he told the boy. "Even if
something happens to me. You keep moving!"
The technician and his bodyguards left Spike and Maria alone
in the tool bin once they had the blood sample. There was a
bench along one wall where the two prisoners sat down silently
for a while.
Maria sighed. "So I guess we're back to being lab rats," she
said with resignation.
"Guess so," Spike said quietly. "Sorry, love. I thought I could
do you some good."
"Not your fault," Maria said. She laid her head on his shoulder.
"It was a good effort."
Spike chuckled. "Maybe I've done you some good, after all,"
he said. "Since when do vampires give points for effort?"
Ralph urged on the children ahead of him. He could hear
someone coming from behind, but didn't dare look over his
shoulder. He had to keep going. His worst fear was that his
nerve would fail. He couldn't believe he had done what he had
done so far. To lose it now would be unbearable.
The pursuers were coming closer. Ralph's senses were
extended to the limits. He could smell the vampires. He could
hear them. He could feel the way they disturbed the air in the
tunnel as they approached.
A dim shaft of light ahead marked a way up to the surface. But
the mob was nearly to them. He needed to buy some time if the
children were going to have a chance. Ralph reached out and
gave Matt a rough push.
"Keep moving," he hissed. "Get up there and help Sonic get the
little ones up to the surface."
Ralph stopped and took up a defensive position. He held the
broken broom handle like a javlin, ready to meet the oncoming
vampires. They were coming fast, growling and snarling, and
jostling each other for position. Ralph took a deep and
unnecessary breath. An unexpected calm came over him. For
the first time in thirty years, he wasn't afraid. Whatever
happened to him now would be all right -- as long as he could
delay the mob a minute or two for the others' escape.
The tumbling, scrambling mob was almost on him. Ralph
cocked back the broom handle and got ready to plunge it into
anyone who came near. A vampire hurtled forward and met its
end on his stake. Ralph jerked it back and howled as he chose
his next target.
The first was the easiest. There were two on him now. Ralph
elbowed one as he tried to stake the other. His jab missed its
mark, and the enraged vampire lunged at him. He dodged, but
the second creature grabbed the broom handle and tried to
wrench it out of his hands. He collided with the wall as he
grappled with the vampire. But luck was with him, and the
creature's foot slipped as another vampire jostled it from
behind. It went down, and Ralph twisted the broom handle out
of its grip and plunged the weapon into its heart.
There was no time to exult in his victory. Two more were on
him, pushing him back. Ralph turned the broom handle
crosswise and used it to block their way. He was losing ground,
his feet sliding on the concrete as they pressed him.
Ralph looked up to see a disturbance in the middle of the mob.
Someone or something big was pressing through, pushing
vampires out of the way and making them scream as it passed.
Things weren't as bad as they could get, Ralph thought, his
heart sinking. Something worse than what he already faced was
about to reach him. He braced himself.
And Gunn burst through the front of the mob and ducked under
Ralph's broom handle. The black man had an axe -- probably
the fire axe from the furnace room -- and he swung it at the
vampires at the front of the mob, forcing them back.
Ralph chanced a glance over his shoulder and tried to make
sense of what he saw. The children were gone. In their place
were a group of men in Kevlar vests and visored helmets.
Ralph turned his attention back to the fight, but was certain he
heard another, then another man drop down into the tunnel
behind him.
Then he heard the command, spoken through a bullhorn.
"GET DOWN."
Ralph and Gunn dropped on their stomachs, and a stream of
burning gasoline roared over their heads.
The hole was wide enough to fit Angel's shoulders through,
Wesley decided. He set aside the sledgehammer.
"Now we need to find a ladder," he said with satisfaction.
"Forget that," Angel said from below. He crouched down and
sprang up toward the opening, achieving enough height to grab
onto the edges of the hole. He hauled himself up, and Wes and
Fred helped him the rest of the way.
"Now, I want to know everything that's been going on," Angel
said, standing up and brushing himself off.
"First things first, Angel cakes," Lorne said with a big smile.
The green demon stepped up to the CEO of the Los Angeles
branch of Wolfram & Hart and planted a kiss directly on the
vampire's lips that would have put Rhett Butler and Scarlet
O'Hara to shame.
When Angel reacted, his jaw dropping in surprise, Lorne went
a step further.