BTVS Oneshot: It is a Goodly Thing
Jun. 4th, 2011 10:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Title: It is a Goodly Thing
by Jesterlady
Rating: PG
Prompts: solidarity, Oz and Spike discuss their Initiative experiences
Summary: Oz and Spike go on a little mission, get captured and do some reminiscing.
A/N: Written for the Full Moon Ficathon on
trdmarkstoicism. Set in my Numb and Number universe but this stands alone.
Disclaimer: I don't own BTVS. The title is by John Bunyan
It is a Goodly Thing
It had been quiet a bit too long for Spike’s liking. While he wouldn’t say he always went looking for trouble, okay, he did, but he didn’t do so when more important things were on the table. That didn’t keep him from being incredibly bored. Violence really ought to be more considerate.
Wesley was in one of his research funks and had descended into his books with a depth that wouldn’t soon be got through. Spike knew it would be useless to try to use the Watcher to rustle up some entertainment. Oz, on the other hand, was almost as restless as Spike himself. He supposed they both had reason to be, but he didn’t want to think about it. Instead, he wanted to court the thrill.
“Dog boy,” he said, picking up an axe and slinging it over his shoulder, “you wanna patrol?”
Oz looked up from his book and Spike could almost see a feral glint in his eye.
“Sure,” was all the answer he received though.
They left Wesley, who acknowledged their absence with a mere wave of the hand, and set out to find some fun. After
hitting a couple of bars and talking to the demons they found there, they decided to head toward the other side of town
where a Kijick demon had mentioned he’d heard rumors of some people disappearing. They spoke to a few people
who lived on the street, investigated the alley where most had vanished, felt familiar, hated electrical surges to their
backs and woke up to find themselves in a cage, weaponless.
“This is bloody embarrassing,” Spike said.
“Yup,” Oz agreed.
“I’m gonna rip the throats out of anybody I ever see with a taser,” Spike decided. “They’re evil.”
“They hurt too,” Oz pointed out.
“When do you think Wes will realize we’re not back?”
“At his concentration level? Two or three days.”
“Perfect,” Spike growled. His grabbed at chance for violence and do-good-ing had been completely railroaded by his
unknown captors.
He took note of their surroundings. They were in a warehouse. It was dark, due to the fact that there were no
windows, but he could still see by bringing his demon to the forefront. There were other cages in the dark with them.
Maybe ten altogether. They all held an assortment of people, of all ages, genders and ethnicities. Spike estimated
about thirty people had been imprisoned. There was one door, on the other side of the room, a great sliding one with
deadbolts. Bowls of water were in all the cages, with some straw on the bottom of them, presumably for comfort. It
was not an altogether cheery place. If not for the gloom and capture bit, Spike might have liked it. He described the
layout to his companion.
“There aren’t any guards,” he said, cocking his head to listen to the outside. “Someone doesn’t know who we are.”
“Just likes fear,” Oz remarked, sniffing the air.
Spike grasped the cage bars and sought to break them with his strength. They didn’t budge.
“I’ve decided I don’t like it here,” he announced.
Oz shrugged.
“It’s better than the Initiative.”
“Right there,” Spike agreed. “I hated that institutionalized, sterile, awful place with its wanker soldiers and chip crazy
old biddies.”
“Tell me how you really feel,” Oz said, deadpan.
Spike barked a laugh.
“Come on, I know you hated it too.”
“It was the second worse experience of my life,” he said. “Naked, tortured, no Willow, nothing.”
“But I saved you,” Spike said, trying to keep his tone light. They’d never really talked about the Initiative before. It
was a part of his nightmares and he knew Oz probably had the same ones. They’d even talked about nightmares
before but he’d never really been able to dig into the other man’s thoughts and past, not having the time or not
wanting to break the tenuous friendship they had forged. Spike was rather short on comrades at the moment and he
wanted to keep the ones he had. Perish the thought that they were an ex-Watcher and a laconic werewolf.
Oz rolled his eyes.
“You helped. Not for good reasons either.”
“Still,” Spike said, “I’ve got to take my good deeds where I can find them. Besides, I’m glad now I could help. It wasn’t
a good place.”
“Yeah,” Oz said. “I guess I had it easy though. I wasn’t there for long.”
“It wasn’t good being there long,” Spike said. “In retrospect, it might have saved my life - I never would’ve gone to her
otherwise - but it was hell.”
“It was humiliating.”
“It smelled.”
“Too bright.”
“Bloody glass doors.”
“Too clean.”
“The pit.”
They looked at each other and for one moment, Spike felt just a little bit better about their situation. He supposed they
should be looking for a way out of their current predicament, but he couldn’t help but be glad Oz was here with him. It
was funny to think about how they had had so much in common back at a point where they would not have deigned to
talk to the other if they didn’t have to. They’d come from opposite sides of the world and really, they couldn’t be more
opposite still, but they could understand each other and fight together.
“What should we do?” Oz asked after a moment. “Wait until someone comes?”
“I think we should dig,” Spike said.
The cages didn’t have a bottom. Spike guessed the corners were longer bars implanted within the floor to prevent
escape by simply knocking the cage over. But since the floor was made of dirt, between the two of them and their
supernatural talents, they should be able to get through before long.
Oz smiled a little bit and went to work, lengthening and changing his hands into claws. Spike put his own
considerable strength into the game and before long they had a nice little tunnel going.
“If only this could have worked back then,” Spike said.
“Too easy,” Oz grunted, shoring dirt up behind them.
After a little argument about how deep they ought to make it and whether or not they should reinforce the walls they
made it fast and dirty, Spike pointing out that time was of great value and they weren’t going that far.
When they made it out, they threaded their way over to the door as quietly as they could, ignoring calls from the other
prisoners. No sense in that until they knew what they were up against. Spike was able to rip these doors open and
then sprang back quickly as the sun started to smolder his clothes.
“Bloody sun,” he grumbled. “I’m all mixed up. I should go back to the tunnel.”
“Quiet,” Oz hissed. He went outside to see what he could find. He reappeared about five minutes later with a knife
he’d gotten from somebody’s open garage. They picked all the locks and set everybody free. The people all rushed
out, willy-nilly, with various promises about going straight home. It was most likely one or all of them would call the
cops and set them on this place. It meant Oz and Spike shouldn’t be there if they could help it. Unfortunately, Spike
wasn’t going anyplace for at least another hour.
So he waited while Oz went scavenging and came back with an axe which was their only weapon still lying in the alley
and they sat down to wait for their captors. It seemed to take forever before sundown and Spike was getting awfully
bored again when two big men with blackjacks hanging from their belts and scars on their arms and stubble on their
chins appeared in the distance, walking toward them. They were counting money, one slugging back from a dingy
bottle. They clearly weren’t concerned. They did, however, stop in their tracks when they saw the open door and two
armed silhouettes waiting for them.
“Hey! What are you doing?”
“How’d you get out? We magicked them bars.”
“Did you magic the dirt too?” Spike asked, showing them his dirt stained hands.
Oz raised his own as evidence.
“We oughtta kill you,” the drunk man replied, weaving as he started forward.
“What were you trying to do?” Oz asked quietly.
The man blinked at him.
“Goods,” he finally mumbled. “You got power.”
“Their victims weren’t random then,” Oz stated.
“Nope,” Spike replied. “Got us some slavers here. Good for nothing, just like the Initiative.”
Oz nodded, just once.
“You working for someone?”
The man without the bottle drew himself up proudly.
“I don’t work for no one. I’m my own man.”
“That makes everything simple,” Oz commented. Spike started to smile, showing all his teeth.
“Bloody right.”
It was late when they got back to the apartment. Wesley hadn’t moved.
“Wes, you’re on fire,” Spike said, on his way to a nice, hot shower.
“Fine, wonderful,” Wesley murmured, without looking up. Spike and Oz shared a look and sighed, solidarity in their
glance.
Spike shut the bathroom door, generally satisfied with the events of the last twenty four hours.
by Jesterlady
Rating: PG
Prompts: solidarity, Oz and Spike discuss their Initiative experiences
Summary: Oz and Spike go on a little mission, get captured and do some reminiscing.
A/N: Written for the Full Moon Ficathon on
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
Disclaimer: I don't own BTVS. The title is by John Bunyan
It is a Goodly Thing
It had been quiet a bit too long for Spike’s liking. While he wouldn’t say he always went looking for trouble, okay, he did, but he didn’t do so when more important things were on the table. That didn’t keep him from being incredibly bored. Violence really ought to be more considerate.
Wesley was in one of his research funks and had descended into his books with a depth that wouldn’t soon be got through. Spike knew it would be useless to try to use the Watcher to rustle up some entertainment. Oz, on the other hand, was almost as restless as Spike himself. He supposed they both had reason to be, but he didn’t want to think about it. Instead, he wanted to court the thrill.
“Dog boy,” he said, picking up an axe and slinging it over his shoulder, “you wanna patrol?”
Oz looked up from his book and Spike could almost see a feral glint in his eye.
“Sure,” was all the answer he received though.
They left Wesley, who acknowledged their absence with a mere wave of the hand, and set out to find some fun. After
hitting a couple of bars and talking to the demons they found there, they decided to head toward the other side of town
where a Kijick demon had mentioned he’d heard rumors of some people disappearing. They spoke to a few people
who lived on the street, investigated the alley where most had vanished, felt familiar, hated electrical surges to their
backs and woke up to find themselves in a cage, weaponless.
“This is bloody embarrassing,” Spike said.
“Yup,” Oz agreed.
“I’m gonna rip the throats out of anybody I ever see with a taser,” Spike decided. “They’re evil.”
“They hurt too,” Oz pointed out.
“When do you think Wes will realize we’re not back?”
“At his concentration level? Two or three days.”
“Perfect,” Spike growled. His grabbed at chance for violence and do-good-ing had been completely railroaded by his
unknown captors.
He took note of their surroundings. They were in a warehouse. It was dark, due to the fact that there were no
windows, but he could still see by bringing his demon to the forefront. There were other cages in the dark with them.
Maybe ten altogether. They all held an assortment of people, of all ages, genders and ethnicities. Spike estimated
about thirty people had been imprisoned. There was one door, on the other side of the room, a great sliding one with
deadbolts. Bowls of water were in all the cages, with some straw on the bottom of them, presumably for comfort. It
was not an altogether cheery place. If not for the gloom and capture bit, Spike might have liked it. He described the
layout to his companion.
“There aren’t any guards,” he said, cocking his head to listen to the outside. “Someone doesn’t know who we are.”
“Just likes fear,” Oz remarked, sniffing the air.
Spike grasped the cage bars and sought to break them with his strength. They didn’t budge.
“I’ve decided I don’t like it here,” he announced.
Oz shrugged.
“It’s better than the Initiative.”
“Right there,” Spike agreed. “I hated that institutionalized, sterile, awful place with its wanker soldiers and chip crazy
old biddies.”
“Tell me how you really feel,” Oz said, deadpan.
Spike barked a laugh.
“Come on, I know you hated it too.”
“It was the second worse experience of my life,” he said. “Naked, tortured, no Willow, nothing.”
“But I saved you,” Spike said, trying to keep his tone light. They’d never really talked about the Initiative before. It
was a part of his nightmares and he knew Oz probably had the same ones. They’d even talked about nightmares
before but he’d never really been able to dig into the other man’s thoughts and past, not having the time or not
wanting to break the tenuous friendship they had forged. Spike was rather short on comrades at the moment and he
wanted to keep the ones he had. Perish the thought that they were an ex-Watcher and a laconic werewolf.
Oz rolled his eyes.
“You helped. Not for good reasons either.”
“Still,” Spike said, “I’ve got to take my good deeds where I can find them. Besides, I’m glad now I could help. It wasn’t
a good place.”
“Yeah,” Oz said. “I guess I had it easy though. I wasn’t there for long.”
“It wasn’t good being there long,” Spike said. “In retrospect, it might have saved my life - I never would’ve gone to her
otherwise - but it was hell.”
“It was humiliating.”
“It smelled.”
“Too bright.”
“Bloody glass doors.”
“Too clean.”
“The pit.”
They looked at each other and for one moment, Spike felt just a little bit better about their situation. He supposed they
should be looking for a way out of their current predicament, but he couldn’t help but be glad Oz was here with him. It
was funny to think about how they had had so much in common back at a point where they would not have deigned to
talk to the other if they didn’t have to. They’d come from opposite sides of the world and really, they couldn’t be more
opposite still, but they could understand each other and fight together.
“What should we do?” Oz asked after a moment. “Wait until someone comes?”
“I think we should dig,” Spike said.
The cages didn’t have a bottom. Spike guessed the corners were longer bars implanted within the floor to prevent
escape by simply knocking the cage over. But since the floor was made of dirt, between the two of them and their
supernatural talents, they should be able to get through before long.
Oz smiled a little bit and went to work, lengthening and changing his hands into claws. Spike put his own
considerable strength into the game and before long they had a nice little tunnel going.
“If only this could have worked back then,” Spike said.
“Too easy,” Oz grunted, shoring dirt up behind them.
After a little argument about how deep they ought to make it and whether or not they should reinforce the walls they
made it fast and dirty, Spike pointing out that time was of great value and they weren’t going that far.
When they made it out, they threaded their way over to the door as quietly as they could, ignoring calls from the other
prisoners. No sense in that until they knew what they were up against. Spike was able to rip these doors open and
then sprang back quickly as the sun started to smolder his clothes.
“Bloody sun,” he grumbled. “I’m all mixed up. I should go back to the tunnel.”
“Quiet,” Oz hissed. He went outside to see what he could find. He reappeared about five minutes later with a knife
he’d gotten from somebody’s open garage. They picked all the locks and set everybody free. The people all rushed
out, willy-nilly, with various promises about going straight home. It was most likely one or all of them would call the
cops and set them on this place. It meant Oz and Spike shouldn’t be there if they could help it. Unfortunately, Spike
wasn’t going anyplace for at least another hour.
So he waited while Oz went scavenging and came back with an axe which was their only weapon still lying in the alley
and they sat down to wait for their captors. It seemed to take forever before sundown and Spike was getting awfully
bored again when two big men with blackjacks hanging from their belts and scars on their arms and stubble on their
chins appeared in the distance, walking toward them. They were counting money, one slugging back from a dingy
bottle. They clearly weren’t concerned. They did, however, stop in their tracks when they saw the open door and two
armed silhouettes waiting for them.
“Hey! What are you doing?”
“How’d you get out? We magicked them bars.”
“Did you magic the dirt too?” Spike asked, showing them his dirt stained hands.
Oz raised his own as evidence.
“We oughtta kill you,” the drunk man replied, weaving as he started forward.
“What were you trying to do?” Oz asked quietly.
The man blinked at him.
“Goods,” he finally mumbled. “You got power.”
“Their victims weren’t random then,” Oz stated.
“Nope,” Spike replied. “Got us some slavers here. Good for nothing, just like the Initiative.”
Oz nodded, just once.
“You working for someone?”
The man without the bottle drew himself up proudly.
“I don’t work for no one. I’m my own man.”
“That makes everything simple,” Oz commented. Spike started to smile, showing all his teeth.
“Bloody right.”
It was late when they got back to the apartment. Wesley hadn’t moved.
“Wes, you’re on fire,” Spike said, on his way to a nice, hot shower.
“Fine, wonderful,” Wesley murmured, without looking up. Spike and Oz shared a look and sighed, solidarity in their
glance.
Spike shut the bathroom door, generally satisfied with the events of the last twenty four hours.
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Date: 2011-06-05 03:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-05 10:08 pm (UTC)Thanks so much for commenting.
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Date: 2011-07-11 12:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-11 05:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-17 03:28 am (UTC)*hugs and love*
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Date: 2011-07-17 07:06 pm (UTC)