Part 25: Chapter 20.
"So, sounds like you need my help. Just say the magic words."
Buffy smiled. He was going to help them. "Help me, Obi-Jon Kenobi. You're our only hope."
-oOoOo-
Once Jonathan had led them in the assault on the nest and nearly single-handedly killed the vampires, the entire group left the mausoleum. Jono stopped for some photographers for a bit and the group mostly broke up with Faith trailing after Alexander and Audrey.
"I wanted to talk to you guys," she said after a few minutes.
"Oh yeah, I suppose we can give it to you tonight," Alex said as he pulled out his wallet and gave Faith her allowance. She ate breakfast and dinner with them, but lunch and snacks on her own so he gave her some money each week for that.
"That's not it," Faith said even as she pocketed the money. "I wanted to talk about- about Jonathan."
The other two looked at each other. Audrey spoke, "We need to pick up Jesse from Tara's then get our bikes. Meet us at our place?"
Faith was waiting outside their place when they got there as she didn't have a key. They might be paying for her living expenses but trust would come slowly and she'd have to work at it. They'd told her that up front and she completely understood. She was still astounded at the turn of events that led to them paying for her room and board.
Faith followed them on her own bicycle out Steward Avenue to the north-east and they were very quickly in Los Padres National Forest. Forest was a bit of a misnomer; there were a few trees, most not much taller than Faith, but mostly shrubs and rocks. Audrey slowed to a stop next to some rocks and everyone else parked as well. Alexander went downhill a little ways to relieve himself. Faith and Audrey looked at each other, thinking similar thoughts about men. Eventually, the man of their group zipped himself up and rejoined them.
"We talked a little as we picked Jesse up," Alex began as he sat down on rock. "I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you have some memories that don't match up."
Faith licked her lips, dry from the bike ride. "I remember him fighting the Mayor and blowing him up. But I know for a fact that I was in a coma at the time. That..." she paused as she noticed Jesse again, "...jerk."
Audrey nodded. "Same here. We all remember him doing things we weren't on earth for. Luckily, the spell is strong, but doesn't extend far. I stopped us a little after we reached the edge of the spell. You'll find you can think more clearly now that we've left Sunnydale. Otherwise, you probably couldn't have thought anything bad about this Jonathan."
"You know, Sunnydale isn't that big and Jono's mansion isn't that far. Give me three tries from a thousand feet and I could probably hit it from here. Speaking of, how did he get a mansion in the first place?" Alex pondered out loud.
"So what do we do?" Faith asked. "I mean you went to school with this guy, right? So he's human. I can't just roll in and kick his a- buttocks then. I mean, I can but-"
"Got it," Alex cut her off.
"And no, we don't want to go back in there," Audrey added as she pulled a map out of a backpack. "We'd probably just fall under the spell again. Oxnard is 35 miles away and LA is another 50 beyond that."
Faith held up a hand. "Wait, you're just going to leave the others in his- I don't want to call them clutches."
"As far as the spell goes, it's somewhat benign," Audrey said. "Though I am a little worried that you didn't think to just roast those vamps in their crypt, honey. But at least all the monsters are dead and no one got hurt."
"Aww, you're just saying that because you don't want me to transform and roast him like a marshmallow in his own house."
"More that I don't want the Initiative to label you a 'clear and present danger'."
Alex pointed to his wife and explained to Faith that, "She's been reading US Army manuals and the Uniform Code of Military Justice."
"Know thy enemy," Audrey stated firmly, still reading her map.
"What about this one?" Alex asked, pointing at the map.
Audrey shook her head. "Cuts back too close to Sunnydale. But back here there's a dirt trail that connects these two. Kinda winding, so probably switchbacks, we'll have to get off and walk the bikes."
"You guys are really going to bike to LA?" Faith asked.
"It's only 35 miles to Oxnard. Even with back trails we should be there by morning. We can eat, rest, and call our friends from there and decide if we need to go all the way to LA or not," Alex answered. "You don't have to come with us, but it might not be safe to go back under Jono's spell now that you know."
-oOoOo-
"How come Adam hasn't found us yet?" Faith wondered out loud as they biked.
"Probably- the Initiative," Audrey panted. As the only normal person pedaling, she was setting their speed, though Alexander was in front of her, cutting the wind.
Alex spoke up, not at all out of breath. "We think Adam found us when you and I, uh- met out here last time because he's tapping the Initiative's coms and they gave me the ride I needed to catch up to you. Once we're ready, we'll try to use that fact to set a trap."
-oOoOo-
"Riley?" Buffy asked, surprised as she opened Giles' door that morning.
"Miss Summers," he acknowledged formally. "Actually, I'm looking for- ah, Jonathan."
"Agent Finn, I was just showing Buffy and Mister Giles the schematics of Adam," Jonathan said. "They need to know that he's powered by a nuclear reactor and that beheading isn't going to work on him as that's one of their go-to moves. Also I found out these are already out of date. Alexander and Faith reported that he's self upgraded and now sports at least a machine gun and a grenade launcher on his right arm."
Riley and Buffy both glared daggers at each other.
Jono stepped between them. "Look, I know you two don't like each other, maybe can barely stand each other. But this is actionable intelligence that both sides of the good guys need to know if we're going to defeat this thing. We all need to work together on this."
"Sorry Jonathan," they both said a second apart.
The superstar nodded, mostly satisfied. "Now, where are Alexander and Faith? They were supposed to be here by now..."
-oOoOo-
Said heroes were sound asleep, having gotten into Oxnard very early in the morning. They found a hotel room with double beds and crashed for most of the day; until around about noon when they were wakened by a piercing shriek.
"Wake up, Dad!"
"Ah! Oh no! It's the tickle monster!"
Once everyone had calmed down from their morning tickle fight, Faith asked, "So, what's the plan?"
Audrey answered by saying to her husband, "I'm still a little bit concerned that you didn't just roast those vampires."
"Roasted vampires!" Jesse interrupted.
"And I remember Willow being your key computer-girl and yet it took Jonathan to get the plans to the mausoleum. I was hoping it was some sort of augmentation spell, making him that good. Instead, it seems more like an illusion; making you give him credit for things you could have done yourselves."
Alexander snapped his fingers. "Darn. And here I was hoping we could use his new powers to defeat Adam."
"It would have been nice," Audrey agreed.
"There's gotta be a way to break the spell, though, right?" Faith said.
"Of course," Audrey said. "Except we'd need to know how and your friend is unlikely to be forthcoming with that knowledge."
"Magic books might have the spell," Faith pointed out.
"Ah, research party," Alex said as he waved around the hotel room. "Feel free to pick your favorite book from our wide selection and start reading." He paused and looked at his wife. "Though, maybe we could call Giles? Set him to researching. As long as we don't tell him why, it should be safe."
-oOoOo-
"So now what?" Faith asked as Alex hung up the phone. She was a woman of action and she didn't like sitting still when there was work to be done and she didn't like relying on the watcher, who was still under the spell, to research his own cure.
"Breakfast?" Alex asked lamely.
Faith shot him a look.
"What? Who else can we call? Everyone I know who's in the know is in Sunnydale."
"Not... everyone," Audrey said.
Alex furrowed his brow in thought until the realization hit. He'd completely forgotten that he'd even told his wife about... "No. Oh no. Please, no."
-oOoOo-
One bus ride and a perusal through the phone book later and they were standing in front of... "I still say it looks like a moth."
"That's because you have no artistic vision, husband," Audrey claimed as they looked at the sign for Angel Investigations.
"I see Elton John. Well, look at it. That's his nose and his funky glasses. Then a big, gaudy jewel right in the middle."
"Oh yeah," Alex nodded in agreement.
Audrey shrugged, not knowing who Elton John was.
"I'm sorry, but we're closed. Family emergen- Faith? Oh shi-"
"Cordy?" Alex cut her off.
"Xander?" Cordelia recognized him more by his voice than by his face, as that was covered by a beard she'd never seen before.
"It's Alex now and- Wesley? Ooh! Research guy. Just what we need!"
"Mister Harris and..." he stopped talking when he realized who it was. He left Sunnydale so he wouldn't be reminded of his utter failure with this particular Slayer. Also, the last he'd heard, she was trying to kill them all... or maybe just Buffy.
"Oh yeah. Introductions. Faith, this is Cordelia and Wesley." At their looks, he explained, "Faith has amnesia," and watched as both of them relaxed.
"I do?" Faith asked.
Alex shook his head in frustration and face-palmed. "Fine, no amnesia. She just chose our side again now that she's awake. And it's great that you're here too. We need research. You remember Jonathan?"
"Short guy with the ambition of someday becoming a loser?" Cordy filled in.
"Yeah, well, thanks to a mind-whammy, he's suddenly the king of Sunnydale."
"Is he sacrificing anyone?" Wesley asked.
"No. Well, not that we know of."
"Then that's quite intriguing but we have more pressing business."
"Why you guys all dressed up?" Faith asked. "Party's more important than Sunny D?"
"For your information, we believe Angel's been kidnapped and we're going to rescue him," Wesley said, a bit pompously. Which was an improvement considering the last time they met, he was saying everything incredibly pompously.
"You two?" Faith asked incredulously. A coma sure could change things. A year ago neither of these two would or even could rescue a kitten from a tree.
"Alex, if they're busy, we can come back. It's past Jesse's bedtime." Audrey held up their drowsing child.
"Sorry, Honey. Guys, this is my wife, Audrey, and our son, Jesse," he introduced.
"That's your son? Did you have him before you even met Buffy?" Cordy asked.
"Shh," Audrey shushed the girl who was becoming too loud. "We'll explain tomorrow. Right now, we need to find a hotel room."
Wesley spun around and unlocked the door.
"You can stay here instead," Cordelia was quick to offer Angel's home/office for others to stay in.
Wesley agreed. "Yes, there's two couches upstairs and another two downstairs, plus Angel's bed which he didn't sleep in today."
"So, where are you guys headed?" Alexander asked. "Some type of rescue party?" Inwardly, he snickered at his own pun but kept a straight face.
"Any threat of violence? Need some backup?" Faith offered.
"Thank you, Faith, but this outing is purely reconnaissance. Besides, we haven't got the outfits to make any of you fit in," Wesley explained.
"You got an address?" Alex asked. The address was pointed out to him on Cordy's desk. "I'll sleep up here by the phone tonight. If you need the place firebombed in a hurry, give a call."
Once Wesley and Cordy had left, the Harris party scouted the new digs.
"Sewer access. I guess it makes sense to have that in case Angel wants to travel by day. Too bad we can't block that. Faith, I guess the couch nearest that is yours. Audrey, you can have the other one down here and Jesse can have Angel's bed. If we're lucky, he might have an accident." Everyone awake chuckled at that. "You know where I'll be." On the way up, he whispered in Faith's ear, "Protect my family." It wasn't much—he was still in the same building—but it was him showing her just a little trust and it meant the world to her right then.
-oOoOo-
"I say we cut off his hand. Both of them, just to be sure," Alex said, only half joking.
Cordy and Wesley had just gotten in and explained Angel's situation to them. Angel was a prisoner in a demon gladiatorial ring. All the prisoners wore magical bracelets which would only come off after they won 21 matches. Until then, they would kill anyone who crossed a red line. Alex's suggestion to cut off Angel's hand to gain him his freedom wasn't well received.
"What's the line made of?" Audrey asked. She had to repeat her question before anyone understood it. "It has to be more than just red paint. What happens if you remove a section of the paint? Does the spell remain?"
"An interesting point," Wesley allowed. "However, I doubt the contest organizers would allow us to go in and use whatever power tools we wanted on their magic line. Also, such an action would leave a hole that all the demons could use to escape. Our key that I'm trying to make-"
"Actually, I like that idea," Cordy interrupted.
"The key, yes-"
Cordy shook her head, "No. The line thing. Letting all the demons munch on those..." she paused, remembering there was a child in their midst, "...jerks. That would gain us the time we needed to free Angel."
"Well, here's the book," Wesley offered them the tome he'd been using for research. "I'll work on my key and anyone who wants can try to undo the red line."
-oOoOo-
"Do you believe Xander has a kid? A kid! And what's going on with Psycho-Slayer?"
"Cordelia, do you mind? - I'm trying to concentrate." Wesley and Cordelia—well, mostly Wesley—were trying to make a key to unlock the magical slave cuffs all the slaves were wearing. He was pretty sure she was only near him so she didn't have to be near Faith.
"You've been concentrating all night," Cordy whined.
"Yes! It's taken this long to translate the text. I need something that conducts electricity, but not too much of it. This cuff is half magic, half – medieval technology. If I read the alchemist correctly – all I need is-" he was cut off as he touched a wire to the cuff and a small explosion literally knocked him out of his chair.
"Are you okay?" Cordy asked as the rest of the crew ran towards the sound from the other room.
Wesley sat back up. "Perhaps... something that conducts a little less electricity?"
"I'll be right back. You guys keep working on the thin red line," Alex said to his wife as he left.
He returned to find Wesley hiding under the table with only his hand exposed as he tried a new conductor. Nothing happened.
"Too thick," Wesley said as Cordelia came out from her hiding spot behind a concrete pillar.
"Got it!" Audrey shouted in triumph. She saw her husband, ran up to him, and hugged him. "I would have been done sooner but they kept blowing things up, interrupting my concentration."
Alexander threw his purchase on the table.
"Resistors?" Wesley said, reading the package.
"Start from the highest resistance and-"
"Work my way down. Yes, yes. I'm only wondering why I didn't think of this."
"We stopped asking ourselves that a long time ago," Alex snarked.
One process of elimination later and they had their key.
"Now, our deal?" he asked.
"We'll start researching Jonathan's new prowess while you two break Angel out. Are you sure you don't need back up?"
"Already got it," Alex said, reaching for Faith's hand. "Honey, if anything happens, throw Wesley to the wolves and run. 'Kay?"
Wesley scowled at Alexander's retreating back and rubbed his chin. Maybe it was time he grew a beard? The young man certainly looked at least five years older and wiser with the beard.
-oOoOo-
"Jesus. Never seen so many different demons. You know there were this many kinds?" Faith asked in a whisper. Next to her, Alex just shook his head. "So, how you wanna play this?"
"How many guards did Wes say there were?" He wasn't asking, just testing to see if Faith was paying attention.
She was. "Twelve or so?"
"Are you asking me or telling me?"
"Twelve- uh, sir." She tacked that last bit on the end on instinct.
"And how many gladiator demons do you think we need to deal with those twelve guards?"
"Uh, six?" Faith guessed.
"I'd actually bump that up a bit. The guards are weaker but fighting from a position of advantage. Usually an attacking force would need to be very numerically superior to win in this scenario but I think just a dozen demons could take the guards," the former Lord Protector of Rivellon explained. He stepped out of the shadows and into the slaves' domain. "Hello there. I'm looking for Angel," he told the demons watching the fight.
"See for yourself," one of the demons in front of the high windows said.
"Look quick, cause he'll be dead soon," a mottled green demon said, stepping away from the windows. "He's fighting Trepkos. And who the hell are you?"
Alex pulled out the key Wesley had made. "Your fairy godmother. This key can unlock your cuffs if you-" His request for help was cut off when the frog-demon's tongue shot out and wrapped itself around the key. Alexander, however, wasn't about to lose his prize and gripped tighter while reflexively sending out a fireball with his other hand. The fireball impacted the demon's chest, throwing his body backward.
"Damn it! He broke it!" Alex yelled. The demon's tongue had been wrapped around the key he was holding tightly and their tug-of-war had broken the key.
"Way to go, Cribb," one of the demons kicked the body of the frog-demon.
"Lemme see," Faith ran to his side to see the damage to their only key. "Plan B?"
Alex nodded. "Don't tell Audrey her plan was plan B."
Faith chuckled and set to work over the red line on the floor. Alex, meanwhile, picked up the demon named Cribb and chucked him over Faith's head, disintegrating him. That's what he got for being grabby.
"What's she doing?" one of the demons asked, ignoring the fact that one of their own had just been summarily executed.
"Freeing you," Alex said offhandedly. He heard chanting coming from the fighting pit.
As he got closer he could hear, "Killing blow! Killing blow!" and saw Angel standing over another demon with a small spear at his throat. He watched as Angel threw the spear away rather than use it win the bout then stood up and walked a short distance away – there wasn't far to go in the small fighting pit. The other demon also got up and started attacking Angel again. It was clear pretty quick that how ever Angel won the first time around, it took a lot out of him: he was barely fighting back any more.
Alex turned around to yell, "Hurry up. Angel's not going to last much longer!"
"One more minute!" was the reply.
"He doesn't have a minute," Alex mumbled to himself, turning back around, but maybe he could give him that minute? He reached out his hand towards the pit and performed the healing spell. The entire building went quiet. Alex opened his eyes to see that... oops. Angel had grown an extra hand and arm out of his back. The spectators watched as the hand felt around Angel's head. First his chin, then his mouth, his nose, and finally his hair. Then the hair again and then it poked him in the eyes.
"Ow!" Angel yelled, breaking the spell over the crowd who laughed.
"Keep fighting!" someone in the gallery yelled. They sounded like they were in charge and the sounds of the fans cheering resumed. Angel and Trepkos started circling each other again.
"Faith?"
"Done!" she yelled back.
"What's that?" one of the demons asked.
"Just step over the sand. Try not to step on it," Faith explained.
"How do we know it'll work?" the same demon asked.
"Oh for..." Alex grabbed that demon and threw him over the sand. The demon didn't disintegrate, proving that their way worked. "See? You're welcome."
"And if it hadn't worked?" the demon asked picking himself up as the other demons carefully crossed.
"Oh well?" Alex chuckled, already turning for the fighting pit.
A dozen demons followed, killing the guards in the pit and a few others who reached into the pit to try to hit them with their cattle prods.
"What the?" Angel said as the rescue crew arrived. Unfortunately, the rescue crew weren't all that bright and didn't realize that there was only the one route over the red line and paid by disintegrating as they crossed the red line in a place that wasn't safe.
"Come on, we've got a path out of here," Alex said even as he fist-bumped Angel's new arm.
"Xander?"
Alexander just sighed as he led the way.
-oOoOo-
"Well, the ringleaders and most of the demons escaped but you did bring Angel back in one piece," Wesley said.
"And then some," Cordelia laughed. The new arm had been removed when they got back but she still found it hilarious and frequently broke out laughing whenever Angel walked into a room she was in.
"I doubt you could've done better, Wes," Faith pointed out.
"Stupid key-stealing frog-demon," Alex muttered.
It was very late by then but Alexander decided to walk Trepkos home to... protect him from muggers. Wesley walked Cordelia home and Angel went down to his own bed to drink some blood and rest. Faith joined Audrey at the back table.
"How does he do it?" Faith asked.
"Do what?"
"I mean, you know they're going to... track down and basically murder that ringleader guy, right?"
Audrey nodded. "He was never lenient with slavers."
"How does he-? I mean-" Faith almost wanted the other woman to interrupt her but she was patiently silent. "Has he... gotten a taste for it?"
"Like does he eat people?" Audrey asked in shock.
"No! No, does he enjoy it? Someone told me once-"
Audrey waved away whatever she was going to say. "No. Definitely not. Faith, I was around soldiers a lot and almost none of them enjoyed killing. Those that did, didn't last long. We also had some bandits near my town that Alex took care of. Even they didn't kill unless they had to. Whoever told you that killing one person would make you into some psychopathic monster should be shot."
Faith looked down and tried not to make it obvious she was looking towards where Angel lay. His words from years ago, "you've got a taste for it now," still echoed in her mind.
"You've been given the power of life and death over just about everyone. That's a great responsibility," Audrey said.
"Over vampires, technically."
Audrey shook her head. "If you wanted to, do you think we could stop you from killing us? And yet you don't. You're not a monster, Faith."
"But killing vamps-"
"My husband tells me that's called adrenaline. We just called it the fighting-high. A lot of soldiers get that too. It just means you're human."
Faith sniffed and ducked her head, letting her hair obscure her face, but didn't let any tears fall. "Do you think Xan- Alex will ever trust me again?"
Audrey laughed – quietly, Jesse was sleeping after all. "Alex trusts you a good deal more than he's shown. He's mostly waiting for you to be ready to trust yourself."
They were both silent for a long moment.
"Thanks."
-oOoOo-
A/N: I've mentioned before that I don't think much of Angel's "counseling."