Chapter Text
The Chip:
“Have you gone insane?” Xander bellowed.
“I don’t like it anymore than you do, Xander,” Buffy replied firmly, tiredly, “but if those Knights of Whatever kidnap Dawn, I need him to be able to fight them.”
“What ‘Knights’?” Danny, having been watching the conversation devolve into an argument, spoke up mildly.
“Buncha Medieval Times rejects,” Spike snorted, “comin’ ‘round ta make sure Her Bitchiness don’t get the Key…by destroyin’ said Key. Humans, as ya might’ve gathered,” he knocked his knuckles against his own skull, “with this blasted chip in me—”
“Wait, what ‘chip’?”
“Was captured by a buncha government patsies, thought they could do a better job than the Slayer an’ her merry band of misfits when it came ta the bumps in the night. They implanted a chip in my brain, makes it ta where I can’t say boo ta a human or else I’ll get a nasty headache. Had ta throw myself on the Slayer’s mercy ta survive, ‘cause I can’t feed like this.”
“They were trying to build a demon army,” Willow added somewhat angrily, “real Nazi types when it came to nonhumans. Even you, Your Majesty, would’ve been declared ‘hostile’ and they would’ve tried to slay you if they couldn’t capture you for Goddess knows what experiments.”
“Oh, those types. Yeah, we had a group like that in my world,” Danny nodded, “except with ghosts. Even passed an Anti-Ecto Act declaring all ghosts non-sentient and malicious. I don’t think I need to point out the flaw there.”
“How did you handle—”
“First real act as King,” Danny looked distinctly uncomfortable, “went straight to the President himself and proved I was sentient and then threatened to bar any new ghost from the Realms and, if that didn’t work, Total War. He struck down the laws and disbanded the GIW—the Ghost Investigation Ward—claimed he had no clue as to how they got started. The GIW was working off a lot of my parents’ old research, back when everyone thought all the ghosts in our town were causing problems just because.”
He paused, “But back to Spike; Buffy wants this chip removed?”
“We can’t trust him!” Xander declared, “That chip is—”
“A liability,” Buffy cut him off.
“A monstrosity!” Willow said at the same time, “If he’s that dangerous, they should’ve just staked him, Xander! He can’t even defend himself right now! What if the Initiative comes back for him? Other demons like Clem or even someone like Anya and Buffy? Witches? Dawn? Where will they draw the line on what’s human and what’s not?”
“Willow is correct,” Giles agreed, though he looked sour about doing so, “about the Initiative hunting other supernaturals—”
“Buffy, Anya, and Dawn are human,” Xander argued, “so are—”
“Am I really?” Buffy snorted, “Spike’s chip doesn’t work on me, Xander; am I human? Dawn’s human now but she was originally mystical goop! Who’s to say Spike couldn’t hurt her without the chip firing—”
“I’d never, not the Nibblet,” Spike assured.
“We know, Spike,” Dawn spoke up, “but Buffy and Willow are right; if the Initiative learns about me…the Knights already want me dead…”
The teen shivered.
“I used to be a demon, Xander,” Anya reminded him sharply, “I’m human now, but I wasn’t. What if they come and take me for experiments? Because I wasn’t always human. Besides, a vampire of Spike’s rank should never be leashed. Willow’s right. You either kill them or not; it’s cruel to do anything else.”
“Enough!” Danny called them to order, before saying softly, “Dawn, do you trust Spike not go on a spree if he gets—de-chipped?”
“Yeah. He’s in love with Buffy,” Dawn said knowingly, “he’s not gonna make her hate him! And…he’s always been good to me.”
“I trust him,” Tara spoke up, blushing at the attention of everyone, “he’s always been nice to me…and Buffy’s right, with the Knights and the Initiative—”
“I trust him not to mess with the good thing he has going here,” Anya said firmly, nodding.
“Okay, that’s three for,” Danny nodded, “Giles?”
The Watcher mulled it over before sighing, “I agree we need him against the Knights and with that chip—I defer to my Slayer.”
“Three for, one neutral.”
“I’m for,” Willow said, “if only so Buffy can stake him with a clear conscience if he does mess up.”
“I’m against—he’ll kill us all,” Xander grumped.
Buffy was thoughtful before turning to the vampire in question, “If I say yes, there’ll be rules, got it? Only animal blood unless you’re injured and if you leave Sunnydale without my permission—”
“Got it, Slayer. On parole, me.”
“Exactly,” Buffy nodded, “we’ll write out a proper list of rules later—we can even haggle some—but as long as you behave…we’ll get the chip out and not stake you where you stand.”
Danny clapped, “There you have it, folks; the vampire gets de-chipped! I’ll talk to Frostbite—I think he has a brain surgeon on call—if not then we’ll find someone.”
