After the meeting had broken up, Wesley and Cordelia left, heading for the police station to gather the reports Angel had specified and start looking for Faith's hiding spot, leaving Tobias and the vampire alone in the small office.
"So…"
"So…" Tobias tried to find a subject that could push away the awkward atmosphere. "What's it like living in LA?"
He thought fit a second. "Honestly not that much different from Sunnydale. Just bigger, more crowded, and more strange things happening at once."
"I know what you mean. Before Faith woke up, we had to figure out what kind of demon had killed a young boy, which turned out to be the new Big Bad we're trying to deal with." He scowled, still upset that they couldn't find Adam to save their life. Or others.
"What is it?" Angel asked, breaking him out of his thoughts.
"Demonic cyborg if you can believe it, goes by the name Adam." He replied. Angel looked surprised. "Oh yeah, we were just as shocked as you when we found out, but the real slap to the face was the fact he was made by one of the big heads of a new group that came in some time ago, some government demonology unit called the Initiative-"
"The Initiative?" Angel said sharply.
He blinked. "Yeah. You've heard of them?"
He scowled. "I worked for them once, back during World War II in 1943, but they called themselves the Demon Research Initiative. They found and forced me to help recover a stranded submarine that had files on demons and demon physiology. It had to be a vampire since they couldn't open the hatch, and entering through the torpedo tubes meant no breathing equipment."
So the Initiative wasn't a recently developed branch of the military, but an old one. Not that it changed anything, but information was always useful, and he had to admire their ingenuity in using a being that didn't breath to get to a submerged sub. "Did you recover the files?"
The vampires scowled became slightly more pronounced. "Sadly, a vampire named Spike-"
"Dear god, that bastard again!?" He growled.
"I take it you know him."
"First time we meet he clotheslined and tried to eat me. Ironically he was apparently caught by the Initiative not long after that and escaped, but not before they made it so he can't bite or even harm humans. Haven't seen him for a while actually." He mused offhandedly, a little curious what the blonde undead was up to before banishing the thoughts. "Knowing the dead blond wanker as well as I do, I'm guessing he screwed something up?"
Angel nodded. "He destroyed the files below I could get them back and had to run once we got back to dry land. Laid low for a decade or so after that so the Initiative wouldn't kill me."
"Why did he even care about the files, or hell, there in the first place?"
"He had sided with the Nazis."
Tobias started at him. "Sadly, I can picture that very easily. If it wasn't for the fact that there's documented proof of him being in sunlight and a couple family members actually having met Hitler I'd swear he was a vampire."
Angel cocked an eyebrow. "Members of your family met Hitler?"
Tobias resisted the urge to smack himself in the head. Stupid filter not working properly. "By complete and total accident I assure you." He cleared his throat. "So, since we're expecting a mildly suicidal and very stab happy Slayer to come after us, maybe we should take stock of weapons?"
Angel nodded. "Follow me." He moved towards the other for in his office and, after grabbing his bag, Tobias went after him. When they got to his residence, the teen looked around and whistled.
"Nice place."
"Thank you." Angel said, moving towards a large cabinet and opening it. Inside was just about every medieval weapon Tobias could think of, plus a few things that looked like torture devices. The vampire grabbed a knife and looked at it before turning his eyes to him. "Do you know how to use any of this?" He asked, waving at the weapons.
"Most of it I'm proficient in." He replied, dropping his bag and moving over to get a closer look. "Swords are my preference, after that knives or daggers. Blunt force weapons are usable, but I prefer things that cut and slice." His eye was caught by what looked like two leather wrist guards with some kind of mechanism attached to the bottom. Curious, he picked it up and looked it over. "This looks interesting."
And oddly familiar. Struck by a thought, he wrapped the leather parts around his left wrist, tightened the straps, then flicked his wrist. A wooden stake shot out four inches from the mechanism, then retracted when he relaxed his wrist. He repeated the action, then looked at Angel. "Did you make this?"
He nodded, looking a little wary. "You figured out how to use that pretty quick."
"I've seen something similar to this before, it wasn't hard." He replied, but was still impressed by the vampire's technical ability. "It's nice though, has a very Assassin's Creed feel to it."
"Assassin's what?"
Tobias blinked before remembering they didn't have that yet. "Nothing, just a personal joke." He took off the Hidden Stake, as he named it in his head, and put it next to its right handed counterpart, making a mental note to look into making his own pair.
"Right." Angel didn't look convinced, but dropped it and closed his weapon cabinet. "Well, only thing left to do now is wait for-" He stopped talking when a creak came from above. Angel looked up while Tobias closed his eyes and sent an Air Pulse to look upstairs.
"Faith?" He asked rhetorically. She had certainly found them faster than he expected, but if what Angel had said was true, Wolfram and Hart could easily find his place of residence and they REALLY wanted him dead. He and Angel locked eyes. "Well, let's not keep her waiting."
Without answering, Angel turned and walked to the stairs, Tobias finding close behind. As they ascended, he fired as many Pulses as he could in quick succession to scan the Slayer's body for weapons. He found two, what looked like a wooden stake in her back right pocket and a revolver in the jacket pocket on the same side. He paused for a split second when something about the gun seemed off and focused on it to find that the first chamber was loaded with a blank while the other five were live. He kept walking, but was curious what Faith was up to.
They entered Angel's office, heading for the door to the reception area when the sound of the blinds opening and sunlight streamed through the doorway. Angel slowed for a second and Tobias saw him tense, but still proceeded. They entered to find Faith standing by the windows, directly in a large patch of sunlight as she looked out the window. She turned towards them with a playful yet cold smile.
"Hey baby! Come give us a hug." She said cheerfully, but Angel didn't move from the door. She shrugged before looking at Tobias. "Hey T."
He pouted. "What, I don't get a hug F? I feel so hurt," He put a hand to his chest. "You look good by the way. Healthy." He added. Actually she looked a little pale and thin to him, but he decided to not say that to someone who was armed.
"Thanks."
"So, what brings you to this side of town? Just catching up, saying hi?"
"Fun as that sounds, I'm actually here for him." She looked at Angel, pulling out her pistol and cocked it.
"What's this? Wooden bullets?" The vampire asked.
"Ohhhhh, good idea. But no, this is for you. You know, I'm going to kill you slowly and inventively," she said slowly before tossing the gun Angel. "So I'm going to give you one chance to-"
Before she stopped taking, Angel pointed and fired at her right knee. The gun gave off a loud bang and puff of smoke, but nothing else. Faith looked shocked before it changed to amusement and she laughed. "Whoa!"
Angel frowned slightly. "Blanks. Nice." He tossed the gun back.
"You didn't shoot to kill." She tsked. "We're going to have to up the stakes, get you in the game! "
"And what's the game exactly Faith?" Tobias asked, trying to figure out her plan. She wasn't the same as she had been on campus, she was more reckless, arrogant, cocky. Suicidal people were hard to predict and he spoke from experience. "Revenge? No, boredom. Or… Oh, I know, you're getting paid."
Faith smiled. "Good guess. They hate him almost as I do." She nodded at Angel.
"Ever think this might be more fun for me?" He asked.
She adopted a thoughtful expression. "You think? Because what if you kill me, and you experience that one true moment of pleasure? Oops! I'd get off on that." She smiled excitedly before getting serious. "Go ahead. Do me. Let's take that hell ride together. Come on, Angel, I'm all yours! I'm giving you an open invitation." She spread her arms, but he didn't move. She scoffed. "Jeez, you're pathetic! You and your little tortured soul, got to think everything through." She glanced at Tobias. "What about you tall dark and silver? You going to take advantage?"
Tobias pretended to think for a moment. "Tempting, but as I told you back on campus, I'm afraid I'm already in a very happy relationship with Yahan. But if you mean attacking you, the answer is also no." He meet her eyes. "Faith, I told you back in Joyce's living room a week ago that anything I did was to get to know you and, if you'd let me, help you. That still stands." He says sincerely. The Dark Slayer was someone who had suffered horribly, but he wanted to help her heal. She might be horribly misunderstood and cynical, but at her core he didn't believe she was a bad person. Bad people didn't feel remorse and try to kill themselves.
She looked at him for a few seconds. "Let's see if you feel the same after this." She pointed and fired the gun.
Tobias had already been moving when she had finished talking, gathering and condensing air in front of him to an absurd degree. As the bullet left the gun, it suddenly stopped, flattening itself in midair a foot away from him. Looking at the path of it, he guessed she had meant to shoot him in his arm. Without missing a beat, he manipulated the air to make a whip and lashed out, wrapping around and yanking the gun from the Slayers hand. She was too shocked to stop it in time if the look on her face was anything to go by, but shook herself out of her daze as he grabbed the gun.
He opened the cylinder and emptied the shells from the gun, pocketed them, then reached out and plucked the bullet Faith had fired from the air, rolling it between his fingers while keeping both eyes on the now frightened looking Slayer. "You're treating this like a game Faith, so as a participant, let me give you some free advice. You, can't, beat me." He said slowly. "You can try, and I'll certainly respect you for it, but if you want to play for keeps…you've already lost."
Faith narrowed her eyes. He could see the competitive side of her rear its head as she growled, "We'll see about that." She glanced at Angel, then flicked a wave at them. "Let the games begin." She turned and walked out the front door, closing it behind her.
Angel made a move towards the door, but Tobias raised an arm and stopped him. "Let her go. You can't follow her outside anyways." He walked to Cordelia's desk and sat in her chair again, closing the blinds with a flick of a thought.
"And you're letting her go because…" Angel said, frowning across the desk.
Tobias sighed and tossed the bullet Faith had shot at him onto the desk. "What would you have us do with her? Tie her up, lock her in the basement and force her to accept our help? She's too proud and stubborn to accept our help right now Angel. We need to let things build to a head until her emotional barriers crumble under the weight. That's going to be the only time she'll let us help her." He ran a hand through his hair. This was going to be a careful balancing act of pushing her to break the barriers around her, but not too far that she'd really try to kill herself.
His train of thought was broken as Angel asked, "How did you do this?" Looking at him, the vampire had picked up and was turning over the flattened bullet, looking between Tobias and it.
"Super compressed air approximately three inches thick. For larger calibers I make the walls thicker, but not often." He lifted his hand and the bullet zipped to land on his palm. "There's a reason Faith won't and can't beat me, or Buffy for that matter. Though," He added. "That's because I can kick their asses ten ways to Sunday and back again without any abilities."
Angel narrowed his eyes. "How exactly did you get enough strength and experience to do that, and your powers?"
"Powers I was born with, strength and experience came between life and death fights, plus some very sadistic training from my step brother." He sighed again and leaned back, looking at the ceiling. "Sometimes I almost wish for a normal life."
"Sometimes?"
"Yeah, until I remember that it would probably be unbearably boring. Could you imagine giving up everything that made you a vampire in exchange for just being one of the average people on the street?"
Angel was quiet for longer than Tobias expected. Looking at him, he saw that he had a look so full of melancholy Tobias felt bad for him. Thinking about it, Angel would have a tough time deciding. On one hand, without being a vampire and Angelus, he could've been with the one he loved without fear of turning evil. On the other, Angel had a tortured conscience that he tried to settle by helping people, and he couldn't do that without the strength being a vampire gave him. He had to pick between the greater good and his own happiness.
And if he was in Angel's place, he wasn't sure which he would pick. Kazehana and Yahan or the power to protect them.
'Dear God, just kill me now.' Black Wolf said. 'Literally an infinite number of universes and you manage to find the only one with a guy who's just as pathetic and tormented as you are.'
'And I'm sure he doesn't have half as many problems with his evil half as I do with you.' Cutting the link, Tobias decided to change the subject. "So, what can you tell me about Wolfram and Hart?"
XXXXXXXXXX
They passed the time talking, moving to Angel's place in the basement with Tobias mostly learning about Wolfram and Hart, the known players employed by them, and their methods. Angel went into particular detail about two of their lawyers, Lindsey McDonald (who Tobias had to laugh at. What kind of guy had the name of a girl and a fast food chain?) and Lilah Morgan. A quick search of Wolfram and Hart's legal website had helpfully provided pictures to go with the names. According to Angel, Lindsey had been the first person he'd met in LA employed by the legal corporation, and in fact his first "case" in LA dealt with one of their vampire clients. Since then they had brushed a few times and from those encounters, Angel had gotten a feel for him. He was a very smart, clever man with a talent for double talk and exploiting loopholes, not one to be taken lightly. Lilah, on the other hand, he had first seen when he'd been kidnapped and forced to fight in an underground demon ring. He'd only met her a handful of times, but she was also talented in twisting the law to suit her purposes, on top of having a sarcastic and sadistic street, being ruthless in how she attained her goals.
Taken together, Tobias could see why they and Angel had a mutual dislike. They were polar opposites, with Angel being a constant thorn in their sides. In fact, he was a little surprised they hadn't hired someone to kill him sooner.
The talk ended up taking long enough for the sun to set, meaning Angel was free to roam. He stood up from his spot at the kitchen table. "We're going to need to find out where Faith is hiding."
"And how do you plan to do that?" Tobias asked, sitting across from him.
The vampire had apparently been thinking about this during the time they had been talking. "Knowing Lindsey, I'm betting he's the one who hired her to kill me. He might have files on where she is on his office." He said over his shoulder, walking away towards his bedroom.
"And you're just going to walk in and take a look around?" Tobias called.
"It's the best I can think of, unless you have a better idea."
Unfortunately, he didn't. While he could've tried astral projection, he had a feeling Faith was going to be on the lookout for that. Not to mention using it like that made him feel like he was turning into stalker, and the power was getting addictive. The knowledge that he could be anywhere and find anyone in an instant was so seductive it was getting hard to resist the pull. He didn't use his powers to do everything for two reasons. Dangerously over reliance on them could very well kill him someday, and it reminded him he was still human, not some kind of demigod. He needed to draw the line on his astral projection for the same reasons. So, despite the pull, he resisted the desire to sink into his spiritual form. He got up and walked across the basement, stopping outside Angel's bedroom door.
He had seen a lot of things, but he was not adding a naked undead body to that list if he could help it.
"I'll go with."
"Bad idea." Angel said from inside the room. "If they could see you when you were trying to get in last night, they'll likely be on the lookout for you."
"And they won't be on the lookout for a vampire they're trying to kill?" He shot back.
Apparently vampires changed fast, because Angel came out of his bedroom dressed in a black suit and tie, buttoning up the coat, a suitcase under his arm. He looked very handsome and very lawyer like. "Lindsey is the one who seems fixated on me, I doubt that everyone else knows who I am. Either way, I look old enough to blend in."
Tobias decided to take offense to that. "I'm in my earlier twenties thank you." he said irritably.
Angel blinked. "You don't look it."
"Graceful aging." He shrugged, then sighed. "Fine, I'll wait while you go infiltrate Evil Incorporated. Do you at least anything to eat? We skipped lunch and I'm starving."
"I think there might be something in the mini fridge upstairs."
Tobias very much doubted that there was anything he'd be interested in up there since it was shared between two people, and he'd seen Angel's fridge was full of nothing but blood packages. "Ok, I'm apparently going shopping than."
"Might not be the-"
"If you're about to say it's not safe because it's night, let me remind you I've been in Sunnydale for a while now. I can handle a vampire or demon easily, so I'm not staying locked up in the basement, however nicely it may be furnished." He said firmly. "So, with that in mind, do you know where the nearest grocery store is?"
XXXXXXXXXXX
Three blocks, sixteen minutes, and sixty dollars and seventy four cents later, Tobias was walking out of the small supermarket with enough food to feed four people, or one of him for a few days. The amount he had bought might have been a bit overboard, but worst case scenario was he had bring it back to Sunnydale with him and use the faster way attached to his right wrist.
He was halfway back to the apartments, walking down a fairly abandoned street when a limousine pulled up to the curb ahead of him. Tobias slowed down, looking around. His senses were starting to tingle, and this wasn't the kind of neighborhood you'd see limos stop in. The only people he saw on the street were the kind who would pretend not to see anything so long as it didn't involve them. He turned back, eyes shifting to silver as the door on the limo opened.
The occupant was an attractive woman with shoulder length brown hair, light brown eyes, and a subtle amount of makeup, dressed in a white blouse, black jacket, skirt, and heels stepped out. She projected an aura of confidence and experience that most would've found slightly intimidating when combined with her good looks, but Tobias was more concerned with her being here at all. He stopped and let her approach, a smile on her face.
"Tobias?"
'Well shit.' He hadn't expected them to already know his name unless he was losing his touch and been followed, or used it somewhere. It hadn't been the supermarket since he'd paid in cash. "Yes."
Smile widening, she held out her hand. "I'm-"
"Lilah Morgan." He interrupted, making a flicker of surprise cross her face. "Lawyer at Wolfram and Hart. Can I ask how you found out my name?"
Composing herself, Lilah said, "We were aware when you entered the city. A few of our mystics familiarized themselves with your energy when you were trying to break into our offices yesterday and sensed you when you arrived here."
"I wasn't trying to break into your offices. Well, I guess I was actually, but I'm not interested in whatever you have in there. Just trying to check up on someone."
"That someone wouldn't happen to be Faith Lehane would it?"
Tobias was suddenly very thankful for the numerous life and death situations he'd had to endure in his life, because it perfected his poker face. "Can I ask, at the risk of being a cliché, what someone like you is doing in a place like this? I doubt it was simply to play twenty questions."
He saw Lilah's eyes sharpen. Before she'd been socializing, trying to build a connection, now she was going for the pitch. Now, like a predator, she was hunting.
"After you arrived in the city, we had one of our more…illusive PI's follow you. He happened to see the little tricks you pulled out of your sleeves when Ms. Lehane was there. It caught our interest and we we're wondering if you'd be interested in a partnership of sorts."
He wasn't in the slightest, but didn't say that. "That would depend on the partnership. Because according to Angel and what I learned about your little company, I'm betting it has something to do with killing people."
She shrugged. "It might. Our clients have diverse needs and we do the best we can to provide them with what they need."
Well, she was honest, he'd give her that much. Though he suspected that was only because he already knew what kind of people they were, otherwise he'd be getting a cleaned up sales pitch. "Thank you, but I only kill people, or demons, for reasons other than getting paid for it." He sidestepped and walked past her.
"Something you should know," She said, making him stop and glance over his shoulder. She suddenly had another emotion in her confidence, and he recognized it. Smugness. "Our mystics didn't just get familiar with your energy when you were at our offices. They happened to sense two others entangled with yours. If, say, something was to happen to those people-"
Tobias had been annoyed when Lilah had shown up, but she was a mild irritation he was willing to brush off and forget about. Now, however, she had crossed the one line that anybody who knew him well enough knew better than to cross. He let go of the bags he was holding, Air Hands taking their place so they didn't fall to the pavement, while he instantly got in close, grabbed Lilah's throat, and slammed her against the wall next to them with her feet half a foot of the ground.
He felt calm, focused as he stared into her shocked face, her hands around his wrist and mouth opened silently as she choked under his hand. He could feel her pulse speed up underneath his grip. "Let me offer a bit of free knowledge." He said mildly, like they were talking about the weather. "As you're apparently aware, I'm very powerful, and I'm very smart. I like to consider myself a nice guy, but I do have…limits, when it comes to my loved ones. So," he tightened his grip to drive the point home. "Let me warn you. If you try to harm a hair on anyone, and I mean ANYONE I love, or even like, I will get very annoyed. And the last time I got annoyed, a city block was nearly leveled. So, stay away from me, stay away from my loved ones, my friends, family, everyone. Or I will send back whatever sorry idiot you sent after them back in a box." He paused, turning his eyes white, noting in an off handed manner her face was starting to turn red and her pulse was starting to get weaker. "Understand?" He growled.
Lilah nodded her head as best she could. He opened his hand and let her fall to the ground, gasping for air and rubbing her throat. He looked down without feeling the tiniest bit of shame or guilt for what he'd done.
"If you think I'm like Angel, you're only partially right. Because unlike him, I have no problem with killing people who cross the line. Keep that in mind the next time you think about threatening me or people I care about." He turned and walked up the street, grabbing the plastic handles of his grocery bags as he walked between them.
He doubted that would stop Wolfram and Hart, but now the warning had been issued. The next time they tried, he was playing for keeps.
XXXXXXXXXXX
Thankfully, cooking was good for taking his mind off things. The two herb baked chicken breasts he was making demanded most of his attention for a half hour, since he wasn't familiar with how Angel's oven cooked and had to keep an eye on them to make sure they didn't over or undercook. While those were cooking, he also got out a coffee mug and blood pack, heating the blood in the microwave until it was body temperature.
Angel returned from his own trip just as Tobias was just starting to eat.
"So, how'd it go?" He asked after swallowing his mouthful of chicken.
"Not well." He said, throwing his briefcase into the futon and loosening his tie. "I got into Lindsey's office, but he didn't have anything on where Faith might be hiding out, and he didn't seem to know or care when I asked him. "
"Did you really expect to find anything? Because this plan seemed like it was of the 'break glass in case of emergency' variety." Tobias floated the cup of still warm blood to the vampire, who grabbed and looked at it before looking at him. "I figured after dealing with evil lawyers, you needed a pick me up. Plus it seemed rude to make myself dinner and leave you to fend for yourself." He shrugged.
"Thanks." He said, taking a cautious sip. Apparently finding nothing wrong with it, he took a deeper drink, leaving his upper lip red.
"Well, you're not the only one that had to deal with evil lawyers. Lilah Morgan ambushed me on the way back here."
Angel's head whipped up. "What did she want?"
Tobias shrugged again. "She wanted me to work for Wolfram and Hart as a contract assassin. I told her no."
Angel cocked an eyebrow. "I doubt she just let you walk away, so what happened?"
Tobias sighed and set down his utensils. "Well, according to Lilah, their mystics managed to familiarize themselves with my energy when I stupidly wasted a half hour trying to get into their offices. Unfortunately, they managed to sense the two I'm connected with and she made the insinuation that if I didn't agree to work for them, they'd hurt them."
"Two you're connected with?" Angel asked, eyebrows drawn together in confusion.
He suddenly remembered that Angel hadn't met Kazehana and Yahan. In fact, they hadn't even arrived in town until long after the vampire had gone back home.
"It's…complicated. Let's just say I have two girlfriend's that I share a bond with and move on." He said firmly when Angel opened his mouth. "Anyways, threatened them, and I warned her that I'd send back whatever poor idiot they sent after the people I love or like back in a box."
"And she just let that slide?"
"Well, she didn't have a chance to respond since I was holding her half a foot off the ground by her throat while giving her this warning." He said casually, finishing one of the chicken breasts and moving on to the next one. "I think that got my point across."
Angel narrowed his eyes. "You should be careful. Wolfram and Hart, and Lilah in particular, don't like being told no."
"I don't care." Tobias growled, his temper and protective instinct flaring. "I refuse to work for a company like them, and if they try to force me into it, they're going to regret it very much." Reigning in his anger, the teen decided the subject needed changing. "So, if the people who hired Faith don't know where she is, how are we going to find her?"
Apparently realizing that the matter was closed, Angel sighed. "We'll just have to hope that Wesley and Cordelia have had better luck than us. But knowing Faith, it's likely they've at least found a lead to chase down." Taking off his tie and walking away, he called over his shoulder. "Let me change and then we can go see what they've found. "
"Sounds like a plan." Tobias muttered to himself, taking a bit and sending out an Air Pulse to check the building. He didn't see anything, but he noticed the clouds overhead seemed to be getting thicker and heavier, filling with moisture as they creeped over the city. A storm was coming and he had a feeling that the situation, like it, was going to unleash it's fury soon.
XXXXXXXXXXX
After Angel had gotten dressed in his normal clothing and trench coat, they got into his car and he drove them to Cordelia's place. Tobias whistled as he got out and saw the property.
(A/N: because this place is never or very rarely going to show up in my story, I'm not going to bother describing it. Sorry.)
"Nice place. How much does she make again?"
"Normally not enough to afford this place, but the property was haunted by a poltergeist, so nobody wanted it. We performed an exorcism spell and got rid of it, but it's rent controlled so that prevented the price from going up."
"Great deal. Any other supernatural stuff I should worry about? " He asked as they walked to her door.
Angel shrugged. "She still has a ghost for a roommate, but he's mostly harmless. His name's Dennis."
"And I thought I had strange friends." But he'd heard and seen stranger, so he just took it in stride.
They got to the doorway and Angel was about to knock before he stopped. Tobias didn't ask why he'd stopped because he saw, like the vampire, that the door was cracked open. Sharing a glance, Angel pushed open the door while Tobias made some invisible air daggers, holding them in reverse grip. They stepped through, looking around.
The front living room looked fine, orderly, but in the next room over, which looked like a dining area, they heard a moan. They hurried over and spotted Cordelia on the ground, just starting to sit and get left eye swelling from where she'd been hit.
"Cordelia." Angel vent down to help her up while Tobias pulled out a chair for her to sit on, looking in all directions and firing several Pulses. He didn't see anybody else in the apartment, but he did get some kind of weird distortion or shimmer behind Cordelia. He guessed that was her resident first Dennis.
"She was already here." Cordy said, sounding afraid and stuttering slightly. Clearly whatever had happened here has scared her badly. "I didn't know. I made - Wesley come with me, - just to get a couple of things. She was like an animal. - She said that you weren't in the game. There was nothing - we could do." She whimpered, sounding like she was about to cry. Tobias hurried into the kitchen and found one of her glasses, filling it with water.
"Take it easy." Angel was saying to her as he came back in.
"I'm sorry." She said, taking a deep shuddering breath.
"Here." Tobias handed her the glass.
"Thank you." After a few sips, she seemed to feel better. "What about Wesley, is he okay?"
"He's not here." Angel said.
"We need to find him, fast." Tobias noticed a folder on the table and picked it up. Inside were a bunch of police reports and witness statements. "Is this everything you guys got from the police?"
"Yeah." Cordelia nodded.
Tobias nodded, skimming them before looking at Angel. "Do you have a map in your car?"
XXXXXXXXXXX
They set up in the living room, Tobias looking through the reports and circling spots on the map with a red pen, talking as he did on the opposite side of Angel and Cordelia who had claimed the couch.
"Ok, according to this report, a guy was beaten up on Monday, his car keys and wallet stolen near one of the bus stations in the middle of town, here. " He tapped a circle. "On Tuesday, four blocks over, a restaurant had a fight break out here." He circled another spot.
Cordelia, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, was looking through another report. "On Wednesday, a guy said he ran into, and I quote, 'the bitch from hell', and was sent home with paramedics."
"Where was that?" Angel asked.
Cordy tapped a spot and Tobias circled the area. Than he connected them to make one big circle. "So Faith is hiding somewhere in our around this area." He said, but it didn't help much. The space was still huge, impossible to search in a timely manner. He checked the first report again. "According to this, the guy whose keys were stolen is still in the hospital."
Cordy nodded. "We were going to go talk to him once we were done here."
"Where does he live?" Angel asked, studying the map.
"Here." Tobias put a X over the address. If he was a Slayer looking for a place to hide, this was as good a spot as any. "Let's get going before Faith does something permanent to Wesley."
He might not like Wesley, but Tobias didn't want him maimed, or worse, dead.
XXXXXXXXXXX
They broke several speed limits on the way, but Tobias and Angel managed to get to the apartment complex at the address they'd found. Tobias stepped out and looked at the building, scanning with Pulses. According to the reports, the man Faith had mugged lived on the third floor. After a few seconds, he found what he was looking for.
"Far right, apartment three C. Wesley's tied to a chair, looks battered but otherwise find." Tobias said as they headed into the lobby.
Angel nodded. "Once we get up, take Wesley and get out of there. I'll handle Faith."
Tobias snorted. "Ha ha, no chance dead boy. I didn't track her down just to run away once I found her."
Angel grabbed his shoulder and spun him around, scowling. "Tobias, this is no time to let personal feelings get in the way! I know you don't like Wesley, but-"
"This has nothing to do with Wesley!" He growled. "I might not like him, but think about it! Faith is contracted to kill you, and she'll do it or hope you'll kill her. Me, however, she might be more hesitant to kill since she already has blood on her hands and everything I've done is to try and help her! Taken together, I'm the more logical choice to fight her!"
The vampire still didn't look convinced, but let the hand drop. They headed into the lobby and ignored the elevators, hearing straight for the stairs. Tobias looked up, the dizzying spiral not affecting him as he tried to figure out if he had enough room.
Angel stopped on the first step. "What's wrong?"
Deciding it was enough for what he intended, Tobias waved Angel over. "Come on, we're taking the express route." The vampire looked confused, but walked over. Concentrating, Tobias had a length of air wrap around Angel's waist tightly. "Right, don't lean too far back, I don't want to accidentally break your neck in the climb." Without waiting for a response, Tobias flew upwards, feeling the air rope yank when the vampire's full weight was put on it. In three seconds, the two were level with the fourth story landing and pulling their feet over the hand railing.
Angel looked down at the ground floor and then at Tobias. "That's a nice trick."
"Saves travel time." He agreed before leading the way to the apartment. With another Pulse, Tobias saw that Faith was standing in front of Wesley, holding an aerosol can and what he assumed what a lighter, since he could hear the flames through the door and small patches of air was going blank as the oxygen was consumed, leaving behind carbon dioxide and nitrogen. With a shared look and nod, he and Angel kicked the door in, the jamb splintering under the pressure. He let Angel go first before following.
The apartment was nice, fairly large. The farthest wall had big windows making it up. The space they were in functioned as both a living room and kitchen, with the supplies and counter to the far right. To the left was a tiny loft accessible by a small wooden ladder. Tasteful art was in cabinets or on tables. Overall, the place Faith had crashed in was comfortable enough.
The girl in question was standing behind Wesley, a pocket knife in her hand and pressed to his throat. Tobias didn't think it was possible, but she looked even more sickly now than she had earlier in the day. Paler and a light sheen of sweat covered her, a twisted kind of confidence in her eyes completing the haunting picture of the Slayer. Wesley looked just as bad, his shirt ripped in places with blood spots staining the fabric. Underneath the skin was cut as if with a knife and heavily bruised. His face was as bad with one eye swollen shut. His arms were tied behind him and his legs kept in place on the chair he was sitting on with thick rope.
Faith smirked at them. "About time boy scouts. Ready to play now?"
Angel stood beside Tobias, face completely blank. "We're ready."
She hummed thoughtfully. "Okay, you showed. But how do I know you are really in this? I mean if I kill him, would that help," She pressed her blade a little harder into Wesley's throat. "Or just be really funny?"
"You think we don't know what you're after Faith? We do." Tobias said, moving towards the middle of the room. The Slayer moved to stay facing them, going from behind Wesley to his right side.
She shrugged. "Angel I have to kill. Wesley's just for the hell of it." She studied him closely. "And don't even think about using that little trick you pulled at the offices, or I slit his throat."
"Didn't plan to. Besides, my eyes turn silver when I'm about to or in the middle of using them." Tobias told her casually. "But still, I promise no powers."
She studied him, but didn't say anything.
"This isn't about Wesley." Angel said calmly, drawing her attention. "This is about you and us."
"No baby, he's payback."
"For what? I thought you were happy with the way you are. By the way, you never told me how much I'm worth dusted, just out of curiosity."
As Faith shifted uneasily, Tobias meet Wesley's unswollen eye. Hoping he understood, the teen rocked back slightly on his feet, going back and forth like he was about to fall over. Wesley looked confused, than blinked and nodded slightly. Tobias smirked slightly, winking. Maybe he wasn't as slow as he thought.
"Fifteen thousand plus expenses." Faith said.
Tobias whistled lowly while Angel looked disappointed. "You're kidding." the vampire said.
"Hey, I'm young. Willing to work my way up."
"You feel young Faith?" Tobias asked, while tapping out a pattern on his right leg. One tap. "Because you look a little worn out to me." Two taps. He saw Wesley tensing his muscles. "Maybe you should get out, get some sun." Three taps and he clenched his fist.
Wesley acted in an instant, throwing his upper body backwards. The chair went onto its back legs and fell over. Tobias acted in the same moment, rushing Faith just as she turned her head to look at what happened and body slamming her. The Slayer went flying and hit the ground, her knife dropping to the ground. Tobias kicked it and Wesley behind him towards Angel. Without looking away as Faith got up, he said "Get him out of here now!"
Looking around, Faith grabbed a wooden table and ripped off one of its legs, giving her a makeshift stake. With a growl, sir charged him, arm coming down in an arc towards his head. He grabbed her arm, than the other as she tried to punch him. The two super humans pushed each other back and forth, muscles straining, before she stepped back and drove her knee into his gut. He grunted, bending down slightly and loosening his grip. She pulled her arm free and punched him in the face, then spun and kicked him across the room into the wall.
Landing on his feet, Tobias glared at Faith as he felt the familiar rush of adrenaline fill his veins and the taste of blood in his mouth. He forced himself to swallow it instead of spit, not wanting to leave any more DNA that he had to when the police inevitably found this place. With a growl, he charged her again.
Faith swung her stake at him again from the side, but he caught it and used her momentum to spin get to the side, kicking her into the couch and pulling the wooden weapon from her grasp as she flipped it back, breaking the stake over his knee.
Faith got up. "Is that all you got Tobias? Get in the game!" She kicked a glass vase on the table nearby, sending glass shards flying at him and forcing him to cover his eyes. She jumped over the couch and tried to jump at him to grapple, only for him to drop back and cause her to go right over him. Jumping back up, Tobias spun around and got into his water bending stance. Faith recovered quickly, getting her footing back, unleashing a barrage of punches and kicks. Tobias deflected them all, then bent around a punch, putting him squarely on her left side. He braced his feet, clenched both fists, and drove them into her side, sending her flying into a cabinet that shattered, sending wood chips, clay fragments, and glass shards flying.
"I told you Faith, you can't beat me." He said as she scrambled to her feet. He threw a glance towards the door. Angel and Wesley were in it, the latter's feet untied while the former was working on the knots holding his wrists with the knife.
"You can't take me! Nobody can take me!"
The lapse in concentration cost him as Faith ran at him, hitting him low and lifting him up as they went for the windows. He felt them break under the pressure and the sudden weightless feeling as they started falling, Faith slightly away and below him. Without hesitation, he grabbed and hugged her close, putting himself first.
The impact was sudden and hard, driving bolts of pain up and down his spine, but it felt like piles of garbage on top of wooden pallets saved him from more serious damage. He and Faith rolled off and onto the pavement, stumbling a bit as they got their bearings back.
Faith apparently got them back faster as a fist collided with his chest, sending him back. Looking at her, he could see Faith had gotten off easier than he had. Aside from a few bruises and a small cut on her face, she looked fine. She started yelling as she punched and kicked him. "You hear me!? You don't know what evil is!" He blocked a punch and kick, but didn't retaliate. "I'm bad! Fight back!"
The storm that he had sensed earlier opened, first raining then pouring as the water fell from the heavens. And like the weather, Tobias felt something change as, little by little, Faith's attacks lost their force. He blocked a punch. "Nice try Faith." He threw her ten feet back and she landed in a forming puddle, clothes and hair soaked as he walked towards the Slayer. "I know what you want."
She was panting and on all fours before she pushed and swung upwards. He leaned back from her uppercut and backhanded her into the puddle again.
"I'm not going to make it easy for you."
She staggered to her feet again and threw herself at him, punching at his chest as she screamed. "I'm evil! I'm bad! I'm evil! Do you hear me? I'm bad!" Her hits were reduced to feeble beatings at his chest as she started to sob. "Tobias, I'm bad! I'm ba-ad. Do you hear me? I'm bad!" She grabbed and started to shake him by his shirt, looking at him with horrible eyes. Eyes full of pain, anger, self-loathing and regret. "I'm bad! I'm bad. Please. Tobias, please, just do it." She started to lose the energy to shout and just kept begging. "Tobias please, just do it. Just do it. Just kill me. Just kill me."
He pulled her close and hugged her, falling to their knees as her own gave out. Rubbing her back, his chin resting on top of her head, he whispered, "Sshh. It's OK, it's OK. I'm right here. Just let it out, let it all out."
He heard footsteps and splashing behind him. He assumed it was Wesley and Angel, but he ignored them, just whispering soft reassurances to Faith as she sobbed her heart out, the rain pouring down as hard as her tears.