FIC: Tilting The Balance (1/?)
Title: Tilting The Balance
Rating: R (For Language later)
Relationships: X\F
Story: Action\Adventure
Feedback: In lieu of a Faithbot yeah.
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Disclaimer: If I own the characters, why have Faith and Cordelia escaped? Woe is me. Consider anything and everything up to Not Fade Away as canon. As for those contradictory, poorly-written, and ill-conceived comics. Forget it.
"Let's go to work."
Spike swallowed as he watched the army approach. Even with the rain shrouding their approach, the size of their enemy was undeniable. "I was hoping for a better plan than that, mate," he snarked even as he glanced towards Gunn. Even without his human frailties, he'd lay a good few quid on the African-American lasting the shortest. Even now he could sense the American's heartbeat growing weaker, and hear his breath growing shallower.
"Okay then," Spike was surprised at Angel's sudden cocksure smirk. "How about this?" Spike's eyes narrowed when Angel pulled out a pager and pressed down on it. "Send the troops in, Giles."
Kennedy looked over her shoulder to Vi and Rona, standing before their dozen fellow Slayers. "Just got the signal," she confirmed, hoping she managed to keep the distaste from her voice. It was great seeing other Sunnydale veterans again, but these were hardly ideal circumstances. "Remember, open fire the moment the signal's given." Her order was greeted with the sound of safeties clicking off.
"Signal's here." Xander fought back his own misgivings about the mission to glance at his second-in-command.
Faith hadn't stop moaning about the incessant downpour since they'd arrived, but now the feisty beauty's eyes gleamed with an infectious enthusiasm that had him grinning in return even though he didn't share her eagerness. "Wicked," the brunette flicked her full mane back before glancing over her shoulder to the nervously waiting fifteen Slayers stood behind her. "Remember the plan and most of all, what's Xander's golden rule."
"Don't get killed!" the girls chorused.
"Wicked," Faith winked at him. "Like your very own army of brainwashed jailbait."
"Perish the thought." Xander shuddered as he pulled out a detonator and flipped a switch.
"Giles? What the -." Spike's question was cut short when the ground shuddered underfoot, the sky briefly brightening as the alley's walls fell in on the advancing forces' vanguard, burying them beneath. And then the next few dozen demons were torn apart under gunfire, their body parts and blood soaking the alley.
Angel spoke the moment their benefactors' guns fell silent. "Time to go to work."
The moment their guns fell silent, Faith let out a whoop as she drew her axe. "Remember the golden rule!" she hollered before gliding forward, Mossberg 590 dropped back in its holster and battle-axe eagerly drawn.
A hulking troll, ichor already leaking from several wounds lunged out of the night's swirling gunsmoke. Faith glided under its gnarled, grasping hands then lunged up, axe swinging up and into the beast's prominent jaw. Bone shattered before steel, the monster letting out a strangled roar as its blood soaked the Slayer beneath it.
And then she was moving on, her own blood joyfully pounding. A hand grabbed at the shoulder of her leather jacket, she responded with a rib-cracking kick without missing a beat, the sword in her other hand slicing out to take a head.
Her full mane billowed as she leapt over a demonic corpse, axe cleaving down to imbed itself in the skull of another troll. Upon landing she was ducking under a four-armed demon's swinging claws, thrusting at the solitary eye in the centre of its belly.
"Owwww!" Faith grunted as a stone-plated fist crashed into her jaw.
Hitting the ground on her shoulder, she rolled away from a three-pronged foot attempting to stamp her pretty little ass into the concrete before thrusting her blade up and through the demon's foot. The demon let out a roar as it hopped backwards, Faith taking advantage of the distraction to kip up. Quelling her distaste, she launched a side-kick through the distracted monster's eye, what she hoped was blood erupting from the eye as it fell away.
"Oh shit!" Faith's eyes widened as a towering juggernaut of a demon raced towards her, smoking billowing from its flaring nostrils. A series of urgently executed back-flips took her back to the dead demon with her axe in its head. Her sweaty hand grabbed at the axe, eyes still fixed on the charging behemoth. Then she was yanking the axe out of the demon's head and flinging it through the dark, windswept sky, the axe imbedding itself between the demon's glowing red eyes.
And just like that, the battle was over.
"Bugger me!" Faith heard Spike's snigger. "Droopy's runnin' Slayers now! Just how far down does the barrel go anyway?"
Faith caught a glimpse of Xander's wince and then she was beside the still smirking vampire. "Spike?" she purred.
"Yeah love, uggggh." The demon's smirk turned to a grimace as her foot caught him between his legs, lifting him off his feet even as he doubled up, the demon crashing to the ground in a foetal ball.
As Faith dropped into a crouch beside the doubled-up vampire, Faith saw Illyira moving forward out of the corner of her eye. "Girls, interference," she snapped, she was gratified that in a nano-second, almost thirty Slayers were between her and the resurrected Old One.
"You bloody bint," groaned Spike.
"Language." Turning her attention back to Spike, she grabbed his bleached hair and drove his head into the road. "Just between you and me, Xander ain't droopy, although you might have problems in that area for a couple of days," she sniggered before turning serious. "Only one soulled vampire gets a pass from me, and it ain't you. You disrespect my man again and I'll turn you into dust."
"Jesus," the vampire rasped, "can't take a joke?"
"From a friend sure," Faith replied. "But I don't get wet at the sight of abs, I hear you disrespecting the man I love again, I'll stake your miserable ass just for the practice. We on the same page?" The vampire glared up at her then nodded.
"Faith," Angel called, his voice thinly amused. "You've made your point."
"Not quite finished, Broody," Faith replied before looking down at the vampire. "I heard about the shit you pulled in Sunnydale. You ever try anything with me, my girls, or hurt a single person I care about, and I'll have a hundred Slayers who've never screwed you hunting you down. B, the smurf, not even Angel will stop us. Got it?"
When the vampire nodded, Faith rose, the demon already forgotten. "Hey, Fang, glad we could get here."
Angel smirked at her. "Making friends as usual I see-," the vampire broke off, face paling, "oh hell. "Gunn!" In a second the vampire was past her, crouching by the black's corpse, cradling the dead demon hunter in his arms.
"Shit," Faith's stomach hollowed. She'd only met the African-American once, but he'd seen like a stand-up guy. "Sorry we didn't -."
"Half-Breed!" Faith's hackles rose at Illyria's snooty tones. Yeah, she'd liked Fred too, girl wasn't like some bitches she could mention and didn't judge someone off the bat. "You had these forces available to you, and yet you didn't call upon them before. Wesley could have been saved!"
All at once, the Old One had Angel by the throat and in the air, smashing into a wall. "Girls!" Faith growled as she jumped forward. All told it took five of them to drag Illyria off the ensoulled vampire, girl packed a whole lot of power into that skinny body.
Angel grunted as he hit the ground in a crouch, the Old One staring balefully at him, struggling in the Slayers' grasps. "It didn't go down like that," the vampire explained. "I couldn't risk sending for the Slayers until just before the attack, if the Black Thorns had known that a couple of dozen Slayers were in their city, they'd have pulled back and we'd have lost our shot."
"Just how long have you and Rupert," Spike shot her a wary glance before looking back at his grand-sire, "been planning this? It is Rupert, isn't it?"
Angel grimaced. "We met a week after we took control of W&H. In the Hyperion's basement as it happened."
"No-one knew at our end until today," Faith put in. "Xan got the phone call, what fourteen hours ago. We used the teleportation tunnels Red's set up to transfer to Cleveland, got our orders and high-tailed it on a flight to 'Frisco, then motored down here."
"But Dana-," Spike began.
Angel shot his grand-childe a scornful look. "Did you seriously think I was going to give a vulnerable girl like that over to W&H's tender charms?" Faith's mentor shook his head. "Giles and I had organised where she was going long before Andrew turned up." Angel snorted. "Did you really think Giles would send Andrew to do anything but get a bottle of milk unless he wanted someone gullible?"
"What about?" Spike looked towards Illyria and then back at the Irish vampire. "Her?"
Angel's eyes narrowed. "I rang Giles before I gave that public performance in front of you all. What he said to me was true, Willow was on an astral plane, and as she was the only one amongst us actually physical capable of travelling there, there was no way of getting a message to Willow to help in time, if she even could." Angel shrugged. "Giles suggested we use the opportunity to publicly display the supposed gulf between us."
"Damn," Faith whistled, "G can be cold."
"We need to get you to Giles," Xander suddenly commented.
Angel looked towards Gunn's corpse. "I need to bu-."
"We've got body-bags, we'll bring him with us," Faith interrupted. Angel looked at her, eyes widening with surprise. "Hey," she half-smiled, "this is a fuckin' war, we better be organised if we don't wanna be owned."
"Okay," Angel nodded, his eyes suddenly flooding with alarm. "My son-."
"I've got three of my girls watching him," Kennedy interrupted. "They've been on him since he left the Wolfram & Hart building."
"Okay," Angel's shoulders slumped, poor guy looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. "Let's get on with it-."
"I would have Wesley entombed in the traditions befitting a warrior of his stature," interrupted Illyria.
"I'll take you to him," Xander volunteered.
Faith rolled her eyes. That was her man, always leaping in to help a woman in need, no matter the danger or wisdom of the situation. "Ken, you take Ron and Vi, and go with them, just in case there's stragglers." And to protect Xander from the Old One, she didn't trust that bitch as far as she could throw her. "I'll take Angel and," a smirk stretched her full lips, "Droopy to the plane, meet ya there."
Cleveland, Watcher Headquarters
Giles looked up as Angel entered his office. The Watcher was sat behind a long desk in a wide office, the desk well-organised in typically Gilesesque manner. "Please," the Englishman covered the phone he was talking into, "take a seat." Once Angel had sat, the Council head continued his discussion before hanging up. "That was Willow, she said hi. Those backdoor codes you gave us came in handy," Giles continued. "The moment you signalled your attack had begun, Willow hacked their bank accounts and stole every cent. It was a very successful bank job."
The Watcher's smile disappeared. "I understand you lost Wesley and Charles Gunn?" Giles sighed at his tight nod. He sighed. "A real shame." The Englishman's expression turned professional again. "This last year has been a veritable whirlwind. Once we secured the Council's bank accounts, I've, we've, hardly stopped. Our first priority has been recruiting as many of the new Slayers as are interested as possible and training new Watchers. We've considerably changed the standards, less worrying about education and family lines, and more about skills and experience. In addition to that we've been making alliances, finding regional offices, and recruiting Special Operations agents. As a result, we haven't actually done much demon hunting as of yet. However, now we're something approaching ready, and I think a priority has to be the other Black Thorns."
"Other Black Thorns?" Angel queried.
Giles raised an eyebrow. "You didn't think that The Circle Of Black Thorn was a purely Los Angeles phenomenon? Not with the Wolfram & Hart offices spread across the world. It's simply colonial arrogance to think the world revolves around them, but the world is far older and historically long pre-dates their ascension as primary power in the world. We're in a war now Angel, one that's perhaps akin to the Cold War rather than World War II, but I don't doubt it'll be a bloody one nevertheless. Before W&H were unquestionably the solitary super-power, now there are two. I'm sure they'll react badly to that fact, and I had hoped to get the drop on them."
"Um, you have a point," Angel grimaced. "Sorry, I was too busy trying to stay alive to concentrate any effort on intelligence gathering."
"Very well," Giles looked less than impressed with his answer. "When you informed me of Drogyn's demise, I took the liberty of securing the Deeper Well. From now on, I'll have four Slayers on permanent patrol there."
Angel took a breath. "You realise that place has a way of picking its champion for itself?"
"The Deeper Well is a sentient power beyond our understanding," Giles admitted. "It might pick a defender tomorrow, or it might be a decade or a century from now. We can't leave it undefended until then." Giles paused, eyes narrowing. "Need I remind you who killed its last paladin?"
Angel hid a wince. As far as his crimes went it probably didn't rate in the top fifty. "Okay, you said I could have an unit?"
"Yes," Giles returned to business. "I'm sorry, I won't allow you any Slayers, especially with your and Spike's track record."
Angel's eyes hardened. "I don't like what you're implying!"
"I'm not implying anything." Giles met his gaze unflinchingly. "In fact I thought I was rather clear. You may have forgotten Jenny but I -."
"I've never forgotten anyone I killed."
"I'm not having another Slayer put the lives of vampires above those of humans. Now," the Englishman smirked, "you can take it or leave it, but you'll find the Slayers who don't trust you vastly out-number those who do-."
"Buffy won't-."
"Buffy and Faith are just two voices amongst hundreds, frankly I'm a moderate as regards the majority of the Council." Giles folded his arms. "I tracked down those names you asked me to. Do you want to know what I found out?" Finding himself too angry to speak, Angel contented himself with a nod. "The Groosaluug was honoured by the offer and he'll join you as soon as possible. Detective Lockley is apparently working as a detective for the San Francisco Police Department and would be interested. Ms. Raiden turned you down flat," Giles chuckled. "Apparently we couldn't afford her. As for Ms. Cooper," Giles paused, "she had no interest in working for you, but has accepted our job offer."
Angel grimaced, he had hoped to come to an understanding with Justine, show her that there was no need to blindly hate, but it appeared it was yet another one in the loss column. "If you wish, you can have California to patrol. We'll resource and finance you of course." Giles paused. "I'd advise staying out of L.A., but that's entirely your choice."