Buffy hadn't meant to listen in to Queen's private confab with his bestie, but her curiosity had gotten the better of her in that moment and what she'd learned had given her pause.
Apparently, Oliver Queen had been engaged and had cheated on his fiancée Laurel with her sister, Sarah; and then taken this Sarah on the Queen's Gambit—where she'd been killed in the sabotage caused by Malcolm Merlyn.
And she thought her life was fucked up most days.
Buffy knew a thing or three about guilt. Some days it threatened to eat her alive. Guilt over Tara's death, Xander losing his eye, Riley and how their relationship ended, sleeping with Angel and him losing his soul which inadvertently caused Jenny Calendar's death and broke Giles heart. The loss of so many of the potentials because she hadn't been strong enough, smart enough to save them their fate. Spike, and her inability to give him what he wanted from her...
Losing her mom.
Dawn...on any given day, and then there was Faith.
She held a lot of guilt over Faith.
Thankfully, Faith was happy with Bruce. Dawn had grown up into a strong young woman, and Willow had moved on with Kennedy. Xander, bless his soul—had never blamed her for his handicap and Angel was somewhat happy with Cordelia; strange as that was to admit.
Apparently Oliver Queen, during his disappearance, had faced some truly horrific things that were keeping him isolated from those he loved. Perhaps he felt he was protecting them, but Buffy knew enough from experience, that kind of mindset rarely yielded positive results.
But it was apparent Oliver Queen didn't want to hear it from her.
So for the next couple of days, she avoided the green archer and spent most of her time alone—working out in Wolfram and Hart's basement in a private magical customized dojo of sorts.
On her third day in forced solitude, it was oddly Tommy who decided to seek her out.
But Oliver wasn't far behind as he followed his best friend down to the bowels of Wolfram and Hart.
Tommy found Buffy blindfolded, in the middle of a very large room with a two katanas at the ready.
Then there was a click and suddenly, several circular sand bags (filled to the brim) came out of nowhere, swinging at the Slayer's body in rapid succession.
And then the floor dropped away, leaving only small one foot wooden pylon planks that were approximately three feet from each other in a semi-circular pattern.
Tommy just stood there, mouth agape as Buffy Summers vaulted, twisted and cut down everything that came her way. Seamlessly, moving from plank to plank while she slashed and dodged—all the while her eyesight was covered.
Unbeknownst to Tommy, who had stepped further into the room; Oliver watched from the open glass doorway, an amazed expression on his face.
When Buffy got to the other end of the room after about ten minutes, she sensed she was being watched but decided to ignore it for the moment. She threw the swords across the room and they simultaneously stuck themselves right next to the open doorway where she sensed Queen was standing.
Her slight smirk fell as she called out, Level Two; and the room shifted again. The floor was now back to its original state. Tommy, who had sharply turned his head at the slight gasp behind him, locked eyes with his best friend momentarily and then looked down, as a layer of thin ice started to form on the floor underneath his feet and he stepped back immediately to the wall near the open doorway.
This time there was another click, and then several holes opened up in the walls, and Tommy felt Oliver pull him back out of the room completely and onto the other side of the sliding door frame just in time as the glass closed, and both men were now outside the room—but could still see what was happening inside.
And then knife-like projectiles started shooting out of the wall, and both men watched in horror as the Slayer slid, dodged, vaulted and evaded...and in two instances, caught the knives within her palms right in front of her face as she moved from one end of the room to the other. When she got back to the same side the glass door was on, the apertures on the walls closed and both men heard her call out, Level Three...
A large door at the far end opened and Oliver hissed at the creatures that appeared.
There were six in all and they were literally on fire.
"What the fuck?" Tommy yelped out in terror. "What are those things?"
Unfortunately, no answer was forthcoming as Buffy grabbed a battle axe from the wall and without any hesitation, took on all six demons at once.
At several points during the fighting, Buffy hadn't been entirely successful in keeping the demons from landing blows on her body, and Oliver cringed as each time both he and Tommy could hear the hiss of fire and smell the stench of burnt flesh as Buffy took blow after blow.
Once the last of the fire demons was vanquished, Tommy started banging on the door and yelling, "Buffy! That's enough!"
The blonde Slayer lifted her blindfold from her eyes and stared at the two of them standing there, her eyes emotionless before she sighed and said succinctly, "end simulation."
When the doors slid open, Tommy rushed through first and said, "What the hell?"
Buffy smiled wanly at the younger man. "I'm fine, Tommy."
"No you're not!" He demanded as he pointed at her arms and torso that was red and burnt.
Buffy walked over and ignored the pointed look from Queen as she put the axe back where it belonged. As she walked by the billionaire, she heard his breath catch at the large burn mark on her back.
"Do you make it a habit of getting yourself injured?" Oliver asked in a low voice.
Buffy's hazel didn't make contact with his and she replied evenly, "These are nothing. I will be as good as new tomorrow."
"Seriously?" Tommy asked, eyes wide.
"Slayers have advanced regenerative properties. I've been stabbed through so many times it's hard to keep track but it takes more than a bit of fire or steel to take me out." She then walked over and placed a reassuring hand on Tommy's arm and Oliver felt his insides clench with some unknown feeling as he watched the Slayer smile genuinely at his best friend. "Trust me, Tommy. I'm fine."
Tommy just nodded dumbly, as he watched Buffy move out of the room and head to only heaven knows where.
When he was alone with Oliver, Tommy just shook his head.
"Are you having as much difficulty as I am processing all this?"
"Some." Oliver admitted, because even with all he'd seen on Lian Yu, and elsewhere—he was fairly certain he'd never seen anything like what he'd just witnessed.
"Does she have a death wish?" Tommy wondered aloud, and Oliver frowned—thinking back on what Buffy had shared with him on the ride back to Wayne Manor the night Malcolm was captured.
Did she have a death wish?
Shaking his head, he scoffed at that thought. Buffy Summers didn't seem like the type of person to willy-nilly die for the fun of it. If anything, Oliver was fairly certain there was more to her back story of how she had come back from death.
But based on how she'd dismissed him just now, as she wouldn't even look his way properly—told Oliver that she didn't trust him.
And she barely tolerated him.
And that thought made him...
Unsettled...
Following Tommy out of the basement, they headed back to the Penthouse, and found Merlyn sitting there with Faith and Bruce Wayne.
Bruce stood up and shook Tommy's hand in greeting, and then offered the same to Queen who nodded and returned the gesture. Oliver then tilted his head in greeting to Faith, who smiled at him warmly.
Angel at that moment walked into the room from Buffy's room and Faith sighed.
"Is she okay?"
"She'll live. I think she just got a bit carried away in the new training room."
"Oh?" Faith's dark eyes lit up with excitement. "What kind of stuff we talking about?"
Angel glanced over at Oliver who grimaced, while Tommy blurted out, "There were knife projectiles, flying sandbags and then the floor disappeared. And there were fire demons!?"
Malcolm's eyes widened slightly as Oliver clarified in a hardened tone. "Six of them. She was blindfolded. Killed them all."
The look on Malcolm's face was fairly easy to read, and Oliver smirked at the older man while Faith huffed in irritation, standing up and storming into the room where Angel had just come from.
"That's not going to end well." Angel groused and Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose as voices elevated from the other part of the Penthouse.
"What were you thinking!" Faith's voice roared.
"Let it go, Faith."
"I don't think so, B!"
"It's called training, Faith."
"Yeah, I get that but you look like a fucking mess."
"And unlike certain things, it will be all better tomorrow."
There was a brief pause and then they all heard Faith demand sharply, "When?"
"After your dinner party."
Another moment of silence, and Oliver noticed Angel and Bruce giving each other a knowing look.
"Were you going to tell me?"
"I just did!"
"Only cause I forced you to!"
"Oh get off it, Faith! Besides, you know what today is..."
The silence was deafening and Bruce lifted a questioning eyebrow when Angel's body sagged in realization.
"Buffy's mom died eleven years ago today."
"Shit." Tommy glanced over towards the place where Faith had disappeared to, and he felt his heart go out to the blonde Slayer. "How did she die?"
"Brain aneurism. She had been sick for a while, and had a brain tumor removed some months before but Buffy came home and found her already dead. She died painlessly according to the doctors. Dawn tried to bring Joyce back with a resurrection spell, but what came back wasn't..."
"What happened?" Oliver interrupted, his voice cracked slightly, as he wasn't sure it was any of their place to be asking the question, but Angel just looked defeated.
"That's really not my story to tell." He said at last, but based on his expression, Oliver had to wonder just how bad it must've gotten and his heart went out to the Slayer.
Faith stormed back into the room and her eyes were wet, and Bruce stood up immediately and gripped his wife, who's own body was shaking with repressed sobs.
"I forgot." She whispered pained. "How could've I forgotten?"
"I'm sorry, Beautiful. I take it you knew Buffy's mom well?"
"Yeah."
Faith gazed up at Angel and Oliver could see the regret and remorse there and he and to wonder once again, just how complicated things had gotten between Buffy and Faith.
"Maybe we should table this until tomorrow?" Bruce asked his wife in concern, and then glanced up when Buffy walked into the room and they could all see the burn marks on her arms and neck...
Which were already starting to heal...
"Wow!" Tommy blurted out, a bit rudely...and then grimaced in apology, but Buffy just smirked.
"I know, I look horrible."
"No, that's not it," Tommy said in a conciliatory tone, "they look tons better."
"Yeah, they'll be mostly gone by tomorrow." She nudged the younger Merlyn. "So no worries, okay?"
Tommy nodded, but Buffy could see he looked rather relieved and she felt her heart soften at how kind and sweet the younger Merlyn was.
Definitely nothing like his dear old dad.
"How did you manage to raise such a wonderful son?" Buffy turned to the older man with a malevolent sneer. "He's nothing like you."
Tommy chuckled and even Faith quirked a smile while Bruce just rolled his eyes and Oliver folded his arms over his chest as he stared Merlyn down.
"Tommy takes after his Mother." Malcolm drawled, the tone of his voice was part disappointment and part boredom.
"Thank God for that!" Tommy retorted back. "Actually, I have Moira to thank for raising me." He turned to Buffy with his signature wink. "She is a wonderful Mother."
"Well, it seems that you benefited from her excellent parenting skills."
The inflection of the word you...wasn't missed by Oliver...nor anyone else in the room as the man in question narrowed his eyes, while Tommy smirked proudly at his best friend.
"Just ignore Oliver's moods," He bantered back, "we all do."
"Nice."
"Just keeping it real, man."
Oliver shook his head at his friend, but his blue eyes fixated on hazel one's that were openly glaring at him with something akin to dislike.
And it took him aback.
Did she really not like him?
"Perhaps we've gotten off on the wrong foot, Miss Summer's?"
"Apparently, all you have are two wrong feet." Buffy growled as she glared at Faith, who was eyeing her curiously.
"You like him, don't you?" Faith's voice suddenly piped up into her mind, and Buffy scoffed.
"He's got a thing for you, and frankly I don't feel like playing second fiddle." Buffy replied silently and she heard Faith sighing in response.
"He doesn't know me, B. He's attracted to the idea of me, but not the real me. I'm fairly certain if Oliver Queen knew my background...all of it...he'd never look at me twice."
"What does that say for me, Faith? I'm just as fucked up as you."
"You never killed someone."
"Semantics."
Faith sighed again, as she shook her head at her Sister Slayer.
"You deserve to be happy too, B."
Buffy though, didn't reply as she severed the link and the two of them stared at each other, before Buffy turned and left the room...taking the elevator to parts unknown while Faith just side-eyed her husband.
"Do I want to know?" He asked and Faith shrugged.
"Later."
Bruce nodded, and Oliver suddenly realized the truth.
"Are Slayers telepathic?"
Faith quirked an eyebrow and nodded once and Oliver whistled in appreciation, while both Merlyn men were stunned speechless.
"What other powers do Slayers have?" Tommy asked quietly.
"Buffy and I have different, but complementary powers which continue to evolve over time. There hasn't been Slayers alive and active for as long as we both have been. Usually once called, the life expectancy of a Slayer is only a few years. Buffy and I have been both Slaying for almost fifteen years each. But Buffy has been more active than me, and has faced more than her fair share of baddies."
"She mentioned Hell Gods." Merlyn piped in and Faith nodded.
"Glory, or Glorificus. A Hell God from a Demon Dimension. Slayers remember every kill, every slay. Before we faced the First, Buffy and I discussed this when we decided to share our power with the potentials. Buffy at that time had slayed 133 Vamps, 60 Demons, 6 monsters."
"I thought she killed Glory?" Oliver asked and Faith sighed.
"Glory, shared a body with a mortal. When she defeated the Hell God, the mortal re-appeared and she couldn't kill him. Giles, her watcher, finished Glory off."
"And now?" Tommy asked and Faith's gaze hardened.
"Buffy to my knowledge, has killed 408 vampires, 223 demons and 23 monsters."
"And you?"
Faith glanced at her husband and he nodded.
"I have killed 376 vampires, 189 demons, 14 monsters and 1 Old One."
"Who?" Malcolm asked and Faith turned to the man and said succinctly, "Danthalzar."
"I'm sorry?" Malcolm paled heavily, his pulse fluttering in stunned shock. "You killed Danthalzar? The Bringer of the First? The horned Beast of the Abyss?"
"Yes."
"That's not possible." Merlyn growled out. "They can't be killed."
"They can, and I did."
"I don't believe you!"
"Dad!"
Merlyn turned to his son and said in a hardened voice, "you don't understand, Tommy."
Faith turned to Bruce and he sighed, but nodded again in defeat, knowing his wife needed to do this.
Faith then stood and extended her hand and the Slayer Scythe appeared. She glared at Malcolm Merlyn as she activated the Scythe and suddenly, an essence poured from the weapon, much like a mist and then Faith closed her eyes and willed the memory of her last moments before she killed the beast to come forth.
And they all watched completely stunned, as they witnessed the power of the Slayer as she fell into the bowels of hell, and her battle with the Turok-han. Then her name reverberated within the mist, as the beast called to her. Oliver watched Wayne, as he stared at the visage—but Oliver knew that somehow—Bruce Wayne had been privy to this scene before.
And then Danthalzar appeared and everyone gasped...
The evil from the beast that radiated even from Faith's memory, was palpable.
Watching the scene unfold, was truly horrific. Oliver couldn't believe his own eyes and he flinched as Faith Wayne was run through by the beast's weapon. Then he saw another form emerge and that beast was snapped in two.
And as the smaller beast fell, they all saw Faith Wayne rush Danthalzar, as she called forth another weapon—one that they'd never seen before and as she plunged it into the heart of Danthalzar—Bruce's name fell broken from her mouth as both she and the beast were slain simultaneously.
A flash of bright light was seen...and then nothing.
As the image faded, Faith opened her eyes and locked them onto her husband and everyone in the room understood fully, just how Faith had been able to emerge victorious.
It had been her love for Bruce Wayne that had allowed her to slay the Old One.
When angry dark eyes finally settled on Merlyn, the older man bowed his head humbly and both Tommy and Oliver were stunned that Malcolm was capable of such contrition.
"I apologize, Mrs. Wayne."
"If you ever question me again, Mr. Merlyn? I will call D'Hoffryn to me and have you removed. You have used up your last chance with me."
"I understand."
Faith then cocked her head, and her gaze narrowed before she called out the demon in question and then the portal opened and D'Hoffryn was standing there, looking bored and exasperated—causing Faith to huff.
"Again Slayer?"
"It seems Mr. Merlyn cannot be trusted to do the right thing without some form of motivation to keep him honest."
"And what would you have me do?"
"Bind him. If he fucks up, he's yours."
Merlyn paled, swallowed and then went to speak but Faith lifted an angry finger at him, which shut him up.
The Lord of Vengeance took out the same necklace he'd used on Talia and repeated the binding. Merlyn hissed and felt his skin burn with the marking as his eyes narrowed angrily.
But both Tommy and Oliver were grinning from ear to ear.
"This is unacceptable!" Malcolm hissed once the marking was done.
"Too bad." Faith growled, before her face morphed into a wicked grin when she saw the final product of D'Hoffryn's handy work.
"As usual, you don't disappoint."
"I aim to please. Remember our deal Slayer, and I will see you when it is done."
"Of course."
The portal flashed and the demon disappeared, leaving everyone grinning at a very pissed off Malcolm Merlyn.
"I told you I would help you!" He belted out and Bruce growled at the man, causing him to flinch back slightly.
"And I don't trust you." Faith said plainly. "I have shared something quite personal so excuse me if I would rather not have you run to your former Master and spill my secrets. With the binding there, you can't. And if you try, D'Hoffryn will take you for his own. Any questions?"
"No."
"Good."
Bruce stood up and pulled his wife into his embrace, before they nodded to Angel and left the Penthouse together. Once they were gone, Tommy turned to his dad and sighed in disappointment.
"You just couldn't leave it alone? Could you, old man?"
Malcolm just glared up at his son, but inside his mind was reeling with how quickly everything had gotten so out of hand.
This was not what he had planned for at all and somehow, he was now forced to do the bidding of Faith Wayne. By the smug look on Queen's face, the younger man knew exactly what he was thinking.