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Jillian K
Disclaimer: BTVS is property of Joss Whedon and Mutant enemy. This fic is intended for entertainment purposes only so no money is being made of it. As if anybody would pay.
Summary: In a different Sunnydale in where the demon threat has been neutralized the slayer protects a vampire from the Initiative labs.
I made my decision. I was willing to confront what went on at the core of Sunnydale with the vampire before me as my guide.
“At first it wasn’t so bad…” he began “I was strapped to a bed and fed intravenously. Aside from the loss of freedom what got to me was the not knowing where Dru was”
I cringed inwardly. Sooner or later I was going to have to deal with how much it bothered me every time he spoke of Drusilla.
“I had left her behind in an abandoned factory when I went to meet Angelus. I hoped that she had gotten wind of what had gone down and gotten to safety. But I was in the dark…”
I interrupted him in an attempt to finally get him off the topic of Dru.
“What I don’t get is why didn’t Helen just stake you? I mean you offed her daughter even if it was unintentionally” I was bitchy but with reason.
He smirked. “I’m sure that was what she wanted to do but by that time Walsh had gotten influential and convinced her that making me into a test subject would be a lot more productive than destroying me. The Council gave the go ahead and I became property of the Initiative Subspecies Research Facility”
His words were laced with loathing but he went on.
“Initially, the tests were strictly physiological. Blood, reflexes, vision and what not. I was pocked and prodded constantly by silent lab techs. This went on for weeks. I had no concept of time so I could not be sure. When they were done they moved me to a cell”
He paused and his eyes took on a haunted look. In my few times in the underground lab I had once gotten a glimpse of the specimen cells. I remembered seeing frail-looking vamps crouched in tiny, white chambers. Their eyes were bruised and unfocused. I could not help but wonder what could bring formidable creatures to this state.
“Then the heavy stuff started. They injected me with drugs that would make me twitch and tremble so much that I couldn’t get my legs under me or even drink the packet of blood without spilling over myself. A couple of times it was electrodes to the sides of my head that ran electricity through my brain. Hundreds of bolts, enough to make my ears and nose bleed for days…” he ran a hand lightly through his face as if remembering the sticky red substance that once covered it. “The air vent of my cell would periodically give out toxic fumes that would burn my skin and hurt my eyes. And all the while they were recording my every reaction, making notes on my pain. They were testing vampire endurance and I endured”
He ran a crimson tongue through bloodless lips and continued.
“After a few months I was transferred to the Behavioral Science Department. I saw this as a reprieve. The psychoanalytic poofs had to be less vicious than the hard scientists. Once again I miscalculated”
“Let me guess. Maggie Welsh” I said
He nodded. “The bitch couldn’t wait to get me in her section of the Initiative complex. I have no idea what had made her wait”
“Maybe she wasn’t that powerful yet” I volunteered.
He shook his head no. “Walsh had established herself in the Initiative. She wasn’t running it just yet but she had the power just the same”
“What did she do?” I asked.
“Nothing at first. I was left alone in my cozy cell and fed regularly. I began to feel that my situation had improved until one day I was roughly awakened by six Initiative blokes and taken to Walsh’s office. When we got there they strapped to this chair and left me in the room with her. For a long time she just studied me and wrote things in the chart she carried. I gather she was making observations. Then all of sudden she starts firing questions about my life before being turned”
“Did you answer them?” I had my suspicions but I asked all the same.
“No. And she made me regret it” he said glumly. “Maggie Welsh would not let a mere specimen get away with ignoring her commands. This was something that took me a while to learn.”
“She tortured you?”
“Periodically. Sometimes it was part of her ‘research’ other times it was as punishment. It was painful just the same”
“What did she do?” I wanted everything.
“The first time she had a cattle prod with her and she used it until I was babbling answers. Other times it was simple starvation. Once she had my clothes taken away and I had to withstand the sneers and jokes at my expense. Sometimes they played with fire. Humiliation and pain were her tools but there were also rewards. Whenever I cooperated there would be a bit extra blood or maybe the lights of my cell would be dimmed so that I could sleep. Things that made my captivity easier to bear. Little by little I became the creature she had intended for me to be. One that does not even think of opposing her”
“She conditioned you” even as I said it I could not believe what that implied. The Initiative used operant conditioning to control demons and make them do as she wished. I understood the methods but I could not grasp the reasons. Why would the Initiative want demons that they could be in command of?
He read my mind. “I also wonder about that now but back then I could not see beyond pain and the lack thereof”
I had a sinking feeling in my gut but I had to know more. “But if the conditioning was successful, then why would she order your extermination” I remembered that the notes in his file indicated that.
His eyes bore into mine as he delivered his next words carefully.
“She didn’t order it. Riley Finn did”
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