"I dunno, Xander. I mean, the Hellmouth, this isn't a good place."
"I know, but Buffy seems to think he doesn't belong here, and she can't get him to come out. You're his friend, Clem; I thought you might talk some sense into him. He's nuttier than a Mr. Goodbar."
The dank basement seemed to absorb the light from his high-powered flashlight, leaving Xander able to see only a few feet into the gloom. He hadn't liked it when the company had taken over the High School rebuilding project, and had liked it even less when he found out that the original contractors had simply begun to build the new school on top of the old foundations. When the boss had said that the problem was too far gone to fix, that they were simply going to cover it up and hope for the best, he had known that the Hellmouth was going to bite them in the ass sooner or later. If he had known it would become infested with bottle-blond, crazy vampires, he'd have taken a torch to the whole thing then.
"But, I mean, what happened? What's wrong with Spike?" the loose skinned demon asked.
"I don't know. You were there when he took off last summer, what did he say to you?"
"He was upset, really wigged. Slayer problems, you know. Said he had to change."
"Well, he's done that, though I can't say it's for the better." Xander groused.
"Maybe he's happier this way, you know? I mean, everybody's got their own thing. Infinite diversity in infinite combinations, that's what makes the world interesting. Least, that's what Dax would say." Clem said.
As they rounded another corner, Xander replied, "No, that wasn't Dax. I think it was Data, kind of sounds like him. And anyway, …"
Spike was sitting in front of them on an old teacher's desk. He looked up and said, "Not Data. Spock. The IDIC - Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations." He drew a circle in the dust, then a triangle within it. "Vulcan credo."
Xander stopped dead, dumbfounded. "You know, I think he's right."
"Yeah," Clem chipped in, "that's it!"
"'course I'm right. Bleeding stupid, thinking Data said that. Ought to cost you points." He finally made eye contact with a still-staring Xander. "Wot? There was telly before there was Passions!"
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