"Lilith," the blonde scientist beamed warmly when the metal door of the secret lab hesitantly swung open. "Good. You're back. And I see you found that information for me."
The slayer-hybrid looked momentarily confused and looked down at the manila envelope in her hand. She quickly recovered, however, and stuck her hand out toward the military scientist who greedily snatched up the record.
"I was worried that those government idiots might have destroyed all of my findings from the other slayer," Walsh said in a tight voice. She lay the contents of the envelope down on her desk and spread the file out for investigation.
The blonde scientist looked over at the bound California slayer and smiled wickedly. "Because then, all of this," she motioned with her hands at the empty glass vials which had formerly contained the purple compound, "would have been for naught."
An amused smile crossed the small woman's face. "Although putting you through this torture would have been rewarding in and of itself. I do so enjoy seeing you suffer, Miss Summers. Such a stubborn thorn in my side you've been."
Buffy's body went rigid as she once again struggled to free herself. The leather bindings felt slightly looser from her constant wiggling, but she was still no closer to being able to escape than before. "You're gonna pay for this Walsh," she seethed with fire in her eyes.
Never had the Chosen One wanted to punish another human so much. Not since Principal Snyder, at least.
The former Initiative employee waved a dismissive hand at the Californian as her eyes continued to scour the loose pieces of paper. "Yes, yes, she muttered. "All the more reason to kill you soon."
The sound of shattering glass startled both of the blonde women. Lilith had inadvertently knocked over an empty mason jar and the glass shards lay on the worn linoleum floor. Walsh gave her creation a stern look. "Lilith." The machine-slayer's head jerked towards her maker. "Stop standing there, gawking," she curtly ordered. "Go sit down or something; you're distracting me."
The blonde slayer could have sworn she saw defiance flash through Lilith's eerily familiar eyes, but the creature obediently sat down in the corner chair without a word.
The room was filled with a relative silence. The only sounds were the fluttering of paper work and the annoying hum of the overhead fluorescent lights. Buffy couldn't handle the quiet any longer.
"Why don't you just get it over with?" the Chosen One stated through clenched teeth. She flexed her forearms and strained against the leather strips that bound her wrists to the uncomfortable cot. "The purple kool-aid is gone," she remarked sharply, "so what else do you have to wait for?" Maybe if she could goad the military scientist into action, she would have a better chance at escaping.
Maggie Walsh wiped her sweaty palms on the front of her white lab coat. "All in good time, Miss Summers. But for now, I have a class to teach," she mumbled almost bitterly. She flicked her eyes over to the seated Lilith.
"Lilith," she cooed. "Come here, darling."
The hybrid creature stood up stiffly and walked the few steps over to the smaller blonde woman.
"Mother has to leave for a little while," the scientist stated as if talking to a child. She took her creature's hand and looked momentarily concerned. Whatever was bothering her, however, quickly passed. "I want you to be a good girl and watch the blonde girl for Mother. You can do that for me, right?"
The hybrid's face showed no emotion, but she nodded once.
"That's my good girl," Walsh stood on her tiptoes to kiss Lilith's forehead maternally. "Now I won't be long," she stated as she gathered her papers and a leather messenger bag. She patted the hybrid slayer's hand and turned toward the exit.
"And I promise we'll start to make a new playmate for you when I get back."
With only one flashlight between the three of them, Giles, Willow, and Tara formed a small train and slowly made their way through the darkened halls of the former Initiative. The Englishman shone the flashlight ahead of the group and guided the two closely creeping Wiccas over piles of broken concrete.
"Careful," Giles whispered, as they maneuvered around a giant chasm in the earth.
"Looks a little different down here," Willow observed in a hushed tone. "More…uhm…broken."
"Sh-should we call out for Faith?" Tara suggested as she clung close to her girlfriend's back.
"We can't be sure we're the only ones down here," Giles reminded the two. "Some of the formerly captured demons may have decided to make this place their new home."
"Remind me again why we didn't bring any weapons?" the redhead squeaked.
"I did bring weapons," the former librarian chuckled as they continued to slowly shuffle along. "I've got you two."
Willow groaned quietly. That wasn't quite the kind of assurance she wanted to hear.
"Oh!" Tara called out as she awkwardly stumbled to the concrete floor. Giles and Willow immediately stopped and turned around.
"Baby," Willow cried, detaching herself from the former librarian. "Are you alright?" She bent down near her fallen girlfriend.
Tara rubbed at her sore knees. "Yeah…just me and my clumsy self again," she murmured lowly.
"What did you trip over?" the redhead asked, kneeling near her girlfriend. "Giles, shine the light over here." Willow squinted her eyes when the former Watcher shone the beam of light in her direction.
"Is that a foot?" Tara called out. "A foot attached to a leg. Attached to a…oh my Goddess."
Willow snapped her fingers."Accendo!" she yelled. The room was immediately filled with a bright green light, revealing a naked woman sitting on the floor. Her back was propped against a wall, and her head was slumped forward as if she was unconscious.
Giles looked cross as he turned off his flashlight. "You could have done that from the start, you know," he mumbled, slipping the flashlight into his back pocket.
The redhead blushed. "Sorry, Giles. I didn't want to show off."
"Guys." Tara's voice was uncharacteristically impatient.
"Oh, right."
Willow reached tentatively toward the nude girl. The woman's skin felt unnaturally cool under the witch's fingers. There were no telling marks on her form beyond a blackish singe mark splayed across her breastplate. The young Wicca held her breath and moved her fingers under the unconscious woman's chin. She tilted the lolling head backward.
All three gasped when they recognized the woman's face. Faith. Her dark chocolate eyes stared blankly ahead.
"Oh my Goddess," Willow murmured. The redheaded witch touched two fingers to the Boston girl's neck, searching for a pulse.
Finally, the talented Wicca dropped her hand to her side and her shoulders slumped forward. "She's…she's dead."
Buffy watched the heavy metal door close as Maggie Walsh exited the room. The blonde flashed her eyes toward the still seated hybrid slayer. Lilith was watching the door close as well.
"Lilith," the blonde slayer hissed. "Lilith, come over here."
The creature stood up from her seat and obediently ambled toward the Californian slayer. Maybe Lilith wasn't discriminatory over whom she obeyed. Maybe Buffy could convince the bionic slayer to help her escape from this room.
Buffy looked into the dark chocolate eyes of the woman hovering above her. "You don't have to listen to her," the slayer said. "You don't have to be her slave, Lilith. I need you to help me get out of here," she implored, "and you could escape, too. We could help each other."
A small smirk came across the creature's pouting lips, but she remained silent. Her eyes languidly swept over the bound slayer's form. The look in the hybrid's eyes made the Chosen One involuntarily shudder. Lilith's likeness to Faith was uncanny, and the almost predatory way in which the brunette now looked at the vulnerable woman created an unexpected reaction within Buffy's body. "Lilith…" she murmured.
The dark-haired being laid her hands on Buffy's body. Her touch was warm and gentle, surprising the Californian. She hadn't expected this flesh and metal creation to feel so human. The warm hands traveled from Buffy's torso, to her wrists, her slightly calloused fingertips running hot trails down the blonde slayer's smooth forearms.
It was all too hard for Buffy. The likeness was uncanny and the combination of Lilith's probing eyes and hands, and the intensity of the slayer connection, made the blonde woman's head woozy.
The feather-light touch of Lilith's fingers rested when the droid reached Buffy's wrists. But instead of lingering there, those same fingers began to unfasten the tight leather straps that bound the golden-haired slayer's arms. "That's it, Lilith," the blonde gasped. The dark girl's help had been completely unexpected.
"Guess again, Princess."
Buffy's hazel-green eyes flipped open, wider than usual. "Faith?" she exclaimed.
The dark-haired girl snickered. "The one and only," she grinned a dimpled smile. "Or I suppose there's kinda two of us now, huh?"
"Oh my god, Faith!" As soon as the Boston girl had removed the bindings from her wrists and chest, Buffy sat up abruptly, and wrapped the formerly rogue woman in a tight embrace.
"Not a machine," the brunette gasped after a minute of the Californian's tight embrace. "Need. To. Breathe."
Buffy immediately released the younger woman. "Sorry!" she exclaimed, looking mildly flustered. "But how did you…I thought you were…"
The Boston girl gave the blonde a grim smile. Her hands busied themselves with freeing the blonde from the straps at her ankles. "I'll explain everything later, B," Faith promised. "But right now, I gotta get us outta here before the Wicked Witch comes back."
Buffy hopped down from the hospital table.
"Are you okay to walk?" the brunette woman asked with concern in her eyes.
The Californian bounced slightly on her legs, flexing her knees. "My legs feel a little tight, but I should be okay."
The dark-haired slayer smirked. "You're tight alright," she quipped with a twinkle in her eyes.
Buffy laughed, momentarily forgetting that they needed to escape this room. "Only you would say that at a time like this."
Faith pushed the heavy metal door open with a noisy shriek. "Let's go, B," the brunette urged again. "Your mom's worried about ya."
The elder slayer hesitated in the threshold of the makeshift laboratory. "But what about Walsh?" she asked. "We can't just let her get away with these tests. Faith, she's only going to come after us again," the blonde pointed out emphatically. "We need to stop her. I need to stop her."
Faith shook her head violently. "B, there's no way I'm gonna let you kill someone," she insisted, her lips forming a tight, resolved line. "I've got enough blood on my hands for the both of us."
Buffy stuck out her bottom lip. "Well, I'm not going to let you kill her, either," she stated stubbornly.
"Wasn't gonna kill her, Sunshine. I meant turning her in to the Police," the dark slayer chuckled. "We've got her at least on a charge of Kidnapping. Let's motorvate, okay?" the brunette pressed. She looked anxiously at the open door. "Who knows when that crazy woman is gonna show up again."
Buffy's face looked lost in thought as stared at her sister-Slayer for a moment. "I was so worried Walsh had hurt you," she whispered in a suddenly raspy voice. She swallowed hard. "And it was all my fault, too. When I saw that Lilith thing I thought –," The blonde woman's voice broke off with emotion and she cast her eyes away from the younger slayer.
"I know, baby," Faith murmured. She quickly narrowed the distance between herself and the smaller woman and gathered the svelte slayer in her arms. Faith kissed the top of the blonde's head and inhaled deeply. "But everything's okay now," she whispered into the elder slayer's hair. "Walsh ain't gonna hurt anyone anymore."
The California slayer looked up at the brunette woman under heavily lidded eyes. Her arms slipped up the sides of the Boston woman's sides and she tangled her fingers in the taller slayer's loose curls. Faith's eyes looked instantly darker and she slowly wet her full, bottom lip with the tip of her pink tongue.
Buffy stood slightly on her tiptoes to reach the taller woman's full lips. She brushed her wet lips against the Boston slayer's slightly parted mouth. The brunette sighed quietly and her arms wrapped tight around her smaller counterpart's lithe waist.
Kissing had never felt like this before. Although the blonde woman was a novice when it came to more lusty rituals, she was sure she had kissed enough to be considered educated and well-informed in that department. The way that Faith's mouth expertly moved over her own panting mouth, however, made her forget about any previous partners. There was only this. There was only Faith.
"I'd never let anything bad happen to ya, B," the Boston girl murmured as she moved her mouth down the blonde's neck.
The California slayer sighed quietly. Her small hands traveled to the dark woman's slender waist and her fingers slipped under the cotton material of the taller slayer's dark tank top. Faith's flesh felt taunt, yet soft beneath her fingertips.
The brunette moved her mouth back to the smaller slayer's lips. "I want you so badly," she mumbled against the shorter woman's warm mouth.
"And I want you to have me," Buffy responded breathlessly.
The Boston girl crushed her mouth harder against the svelte blonde's pouting lips, her body suddenly hungry to be pressed tight against her sister-Slayer's naked skin. Both slayers knew that Maggie Walsh could return at any moment, but escaping was no longer a priority.
But their moment could only last for so long, however. Timing had never been on their side.
"Buffy?"
The blonde slayer groaned into her savior's mouth. "Not this again," she silently complained.
The Chosen One reluctantly pulled away from the brunette woman's addictive lips and turned toward the sound of the familiar, feminine voice. Willow, Tara, and Giles all stood just within the ajar door. All three had a similar look of surprise and shock on their faces.
"Oh, uh. Hey guys," Buffy blushed.
She looked over at Faith. The Boston girl's form looked suddenly tired and dejected, rather than pleased to see Buffy's friends. Her broad, yet feminine shoulders were slightly slumped forward in defeat as if she immediately expected Buffy would come up with yet another excuse why they had been caught in such a compromising position.
"We-we did a locator spell and tracked you here," Tara explained, her eyes slightly bulging as she looked back and forth between the two slayers. "We thought you were in trouble and that Faith was, erm, dead."
Buffy raised an eyebrow at her slayer lover. "They thought you were dead?" she said in a stern tone.
The dark girl ducked her head and kicked idly. "I said I'd tell you about it later," she mumbled.
The Californian reached over and grasped the younger slayer's hand in her own. Faith stood stunned, staring down at their enjoyed hands and then flicked her eyes back up at the smaller slayer. Buffy rewarded her with a warm, beaming smile.
"No more secrets," the Chosen One whispered.
The elder slayer gave her partner's hand a tight squeeze of reassurance. The golden-haired slayer cleared her throat and looked back toward her confused and puzzled friends.
"Well, I'm glad you guys are here," Buffy began. "Because there's something I've been meaning to tell you all…"
TBC