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Thank you to everyone who has favorited, followed or reviewed this fic so far.
And thanks a lot to Brainstorm Sorcerer for his help on this one.
Chapter 13- Alliance
At Hyperion, Faith stood before a chair silently, blood dripping off her and spattering on the floor, with Matt gently pressing ice wrapped in a towel to her split lip.
"Hold this."
Faith held the ice pack to her split lip while Matt checked her face for other wounds, then said. "I'll get bandages."
"No drama, I'm good."
"You were nearly killed."
"I could use a shower."
"So could I."
The two slowly stepped into the bathroom as Faith stared at her beaten and bloody reflection in the mirror, then Matt took off her jacket for her, as Faith undid her boots, and then Matt slowly pulled up her shirt, helping her take it off, while she undid her top, and her trousers and panties too.
Faith then slowly stepped into the shower as Matt undressed himself. Faith's body was one big bruise, with scrapes and cuts covering her from feet to head.
Matt turned the shower on, and Faith washed herself for a bit, the water sluicing down her body, washing away the blood, turning into a crimson swirl as it circled the drain.
She then grasped Matt by the hand and pulled him into the shower with her, as the two of them kissed, and then just held each other.
"I was so scared I'd lose you", Matt confessed to her finally.
"Five by five, babe, I'm not going anywhere", Faith assured him.
They connected their foreheads as the water sluiced down their bodies.
A while later, both exited the shower, now dressed again, and Matt heard Fred playing outside with baby Connor in the sun.
Wesley, Lorne, Lilah and Gunn stood together with the two of them as Gunn noted. "So the Beast is dead then."
"Yeah", Faith confirmed with a nod.
"So, what would the big bad Beastmaster do now?" Lorne wondered. "I mean, the big bad pawn is gone, ya know?"
"Not much it can do", Wesley noted. "Even if it does hatch another scheme, Matt and Adam can quickly dispatch whatever comes our way."
"I'm not so sure." Matt revealed. "When I heard Faith in pain, it stirred something in me, in us. It made me want to stop the Beast before..." Matt trailed off and looked away.
"Before I died, like Elektra." Faith finished for him.
Pain crossed Matt's face but he nodded. "I didn't want let someone else I love die because I wasn't strong enough."
Faith walked over to him and took his face in her hands. "You are the strongest man I know, and I'm okay, in more ways than one, thanks to you."
Lilah then ruined it. "Great, now if the romance portion of this show is over-"
"Another word and I will gladly rip out your spine." Faith snarled at her.
"You know, Lilah, I would listen to her." Wesley told Lilah as she simply rolled her eyes.
"Girl ain't one to bluff." Gunn added.
"So, anyways, I have some equipment back home, I believe you and I could get some here together", Wesley suggested to Faith.
"Sure, no worries", Faith agreed as she and Matt held hands, then she walked off with Wes.
"Bring some for me too", Lilah spoke up.
"Nope."
Lilah just chuckled at her own behavior.
Demons and vampires shared drinks and shot pool in the bar while Angelus regaled several lesser vampires with tales of his recent exploits. A vampire waitress walked over and set a glass of blood down in front of him. "Compliments of the lady."
He turned around to find a female vampire waving to him from the bar. He waved back, then turned back to his tablemates with a grimace. "Yeah. As if", he told the Vampires. "Anyway, I couldn't believe how easy it was luring Daredevil and the Slayer into my little "welcome home" party."
"Wish I could have been there when they saw the Beast", one Vampire said.
"The guy wasn't going to win any personality contests but he put on a good show. Slapped them around real nice."
"Like little bunnies?"
Angelus smiled. "Bloody, whimpering bunnies. Once she was tenderized, Devil boy got pissed off and turned Devil, and turned rocko into small stones."
One Demon spoke up. "Yeah, soul-boy, nice job pissing off the Devil enough to bring the sun back."
Angelus looked over to the bar where Francis, a horned demon with one horn sliced off, quickly turned back to his drink. Angelus smiled and stood up.
Francis pretended to be surprised to find Angelus standing behind him. "Oh, hey, Angelus! Buy you a warm one?"
"Maybe after."
"After what?"
"After I rip out your windpipe till it stops making that annoying talky sound."
Francis was nervous now, regretting his earlier jab. "Wait, I have a condition. Whoop! Goh-boy! Dirty bitch! Tourette's. You've heard of it, right?"
"Yeah, causes uncontrollable impulses. Like yanking out throats", Angelus seized the creature by the neck and started squeezing.
As the demon choked and gasped, a disembodied voice called out to Angelus, deep and resonant.
"Hello again, Angelus. It's time we had that talk."
Angelus looked around, confused, searching for the source of the voice that only he could hear. "Where are you?"
Francis choked. "Wherever you want me to be, buddy!"
"I'm where it's warm and soft…"
Angelus dropped Francis and walked out into the center of the room, talking to the ceiling. The other demons looked at him like he'd gone nuts.
"Hide-and-seek, huh? Okay. I'll play."
"Playtime's over. You've been a bad boy. My favorite pet is dead."
"Hey, it ain't my fault you decided to mess with Mephisto's own version of the Hulk!"
Angelus looked around and saw the stares of the other vampires and decided to take the conversation to a more private area.
So he went to a shadowy back room where vampires lounged in drug-induced stupor with their human prey draped across them.
"You don't need to worry. I've had my eyes on you for some time."
A junkie girl wrapped her arms around Angelus and smiled dreamily. "Hey, baby, how about a hit?"
Angelus tossed her aside with hardly a thought, concerned only with the voice in his head.
"You like to watch, huh?"
"One of the many things we have in common."
"Oh, I don't know about that. I'm more of a hands-on kind of guy." He walked over to a vampire who was feeding on a willing young girl and yanked him to his feet.
"Scram!"
The vampire ran off and his food followed him.
"Okay, come on. You got a pair or the wind you're blowing up my tailpipe's all you can muster? Hey, here's a kooky idea. Now that your little pet rock is dead, how about a little face-to-face, huh? Assuming that you've got one."
"Don't—"
Cordelia sat on her bed, her eyes a milky, cataract white, talking to Angelus through a glowing red charm in her hand. On this side of the conversation, her voice was normal, her own. "—worry. We'll meet. When you're—"
"—ready."
Angelus was annoyed. "Oh, come on. Why the stall, huh? You whipped up a rain of fire, blotted out the sun, earthquakes… all to maneuver the Brady Bunch into releasing Angel's inner me. Don't you want to kick the tires?"
"So beautifully—"
"—vain. But the Whirlwind doesn't always revolve around you. Destruction sometimes is its own—"
"—reward."
"Hey, you're preaching to the guy who ate the choir. But wait… it was you, wasn't it?" Angelus now had a realization. "You just pulled the wrong strings to make them think it was their idea. Got them to yank that white, fluffy soul and stuff it in a jar and then gone, baby, gone!"
"Couldn't risk them—"
"—putting it back in you. I have wonderful plans for you, my—"
"—sweet boy."
Angelus still wasn't going to be a whipping boy. "Oh, yeah. But the thing is, as far as plans go, I make my own so, you know… thanks for stopping by my head."
He turned to walk out.
"You would dare to defy me?"
"Defy who? A big, scary voice? Whoa! Hey, I've got one of those, too. You want to hear it?" Angelus put his hands over his mouth. "You can kiss my Vampire ass!" His voice turned normal. "That do anything for ya?"
A while later, Fred put baby Connor back in his crib and kissed his forehead. "Good night Connor."
She then walked to the office, setting down a trank gun, and searched the bookshelves for a reference guide.
"If I were a runic transcription guide, I would be…." She found the book. "…shelved wrong."
"Talking to yourself, Fred? A lot of that going around."
Fred spun around to find Angelus standing behind her smiling.
"You can't hurt me. We did a no-demon-violence thingy."
"Oh, the sanctuary spell. Shucks. Oh, wait a minute… I think I…" Angelus took a golden pendant out of his pocket and twirled it on his thumb. "Oh, yeah. Kinda thought you pesky PI's would be humming that old tune so I picked up a little somethin' somethin'. Lets me be as demony as I want to be."
Fred tried to be brave. "I don't believe you." Angelus took the book from her and slammed it into the wall inches from her head with enough force to shake the building. She gasped in terror.
"How about now?"
Fred was trembling. "What do you want?"
"Maybe I just miss you." A beat. "Well, since you brought it up… let's talk Beastmaster. What do you got?"
"Nothing."
Angelus wasn't so easily fooled. "Come on, Fred. All this raw material, brainiac like you… you must have a theory."
Fred retorted. "If I did, you're the last person I'd tell."
Angelus smiled. "Well, all right, then. I'll just have to figure it out myself, huh?" He started to gather up all of Fred's books, diagrams and research on the Beast.
"Let's see… these… this… thanks for nothing!"
Fred then decided to stand up to Angelus. "I do know one thing. You're out of your league. What you're up against? He'll make you his bitch, just like the Beast. And Matt will make both of you his bitches. So if you're going to kill me, just get it over with."
She glanced down at Angelus' little charm and saw an inscription on the back. ""Made in China"?"
Fred lifted a glass pitcher off the shelf and shattered it against Angelus' head, sending him reeling backward. He dropped the charm as she snatches her trank gun from the table and fired. Angelus ducked at the last moment and the dart thudded into the map of L.A. behind him as he dashed out into the lobby.
Lorne walked in as Angelus charged directly at him and Fred fired again. Her aim was off and the dart hit Lorne in the chest, dropping him like a sack of concrete.
"Lorne!"
Angelus leapt from the floor up to the balcony level and turned, using the book as a shield as Fred fired her last dart. The trank hit the book and Angelus grins down at her.
"Can't beat a good book."
Fred fired again but her gun clicked empty.
Angelus laughed. "Too bad. I was just starting to have fun."
"Why stop now?"
Angelus turned as Lilah fired a trank gun at him but Angelus used the book to deflect and was in front of her in a flash, slamming the gun with his book as she was disarmed.
"Let her go!"
Angelus turned and saw Matt now standing face to face with him, the two now facing off against each other.
Matt didn't make a move yet, waiting for Angelus to make a move first. And he did, with his mouth.
"Come on, what are you waiting for? Hit me! Command me, "thou shall not kill!" Thus sayeth the Lord!"
Hearing Angelus' words, Matt faltered as Angelus had touched a nerve.
In that moment, Groo arrived and charged Angelus but as he came close, the spell worked and all of them were blown away by a good bit, falling over the railing on the top of the stairs, with Matt falling on the ground and covering his ears as the feedback affected him, causing a massive migraine
Wesley and Faith entered the front courtyard, heading for the hotel.
"We track him, we find him, we—"
"Get your asses kicked? I don't know… wild guess!"
Faith looked up in shock as Angelus walked down the sidewalk toward them, having gotten what he wanted.
She dropped her gear bag, ready to fight as Wesley raised the trank rifle. Faith attacked but Angelus parried, then punched back, sending Faith into Wesley who dropped his rifle into the bushes.
Angelus rushed forward and yanked Wesley to his feet, then held him as a shield, his hand wrapped around Wesley's throat. "Sucky spell, huh? You think it'd at least go to the sidewalk."
Faith snarled. "Let him go. This is between you and me."
Angelus retorted. "It's never just between you and me, Faith. Wes will always be in the middle."
She hesitated, unsure.
"That's it. Do the math. Can you get to me before I snap his neck? You still that fast? Wes is just dyin' to find out, aren't ya, Wes?"
Wesley gasped to Faith. "Do it!"
"That's it! Come on, do it! Take your shot and save the world. Come on, what are you waiting for?"
Faith stood there, helpless, as Angelus tightened his grip.
"It's all about choices, Faith. The ones we make and the ones we don't… oh, and the consequences. Those are always fun, huh? Don't worry about good old Wes. What's one more dead body to us? Come on… where's my girl?"
"Faith!"
Faith spun and caught the rifle Gunn tossed to her as he ran out of the hotel, pistol raised. Angelus hurled Wesley across the courtyard directly into Gunn, sending them both to the ground.
Faith raised the rifle and fired but Angelus leapt up and over the outer wall of the hotel, disappearing into the night. Gunn got up and ran out to the street as Faith helped Wesley up.
He choked. "Go!"
She headed after Gunn but stopped when Gunn turned back inside. "He's gone."
Faith stared out into the darkness, troubled.
Lorne snored blissfully away on the sofa as Gunn came back in from outside. "All I'm saying is he tries dancing in here and pulling a Dark Shadows again, he's gonna get a dart up his evil ass."
Fred sighed. "Well, his ass moves pretty quick. He got the book and the Wolfram & Hart papers.
"Not your fault", Gunn assured.
"If I don't get that book back, you'll have to pay for it", Lilah told Fred with a smirk. "In blood."
"How about yours?" Gunn shrugged.
"I wouldn't have fallen for the trinket", Lilah spoke up.
Wesley racked a shotgun and brought his 12-gauge into batter as Faith asked. "What are you doing with that?"
"Changing the game."
"I thought we weren't going for the kill?" Faith asked.
Wesley assured her. "We're not. But if we get another chance, I want to slow him down long enough to trank him."
Matt started. "You have me for th-"
"We do not want to rely on you all the time", Wesley pointed out.
Gunn asked Wesley. "You need someone to help with that?"
Wesley handed Faith a trank pistol then turned to Gunn and Groo. "No, I need someone I trust to watch the hotel. Someone who can actually hurt Angelus."
Gunn assured. "Oh, I'm all over that."
"I cannot hurt him but I shall protect the rest from him", Groo added.
Wesley told Fred regarding the trinket. "Be careful. Next time he shows up, he might be packing the real thing."
He turned to Lilah and said. "You be careful too."
"Yeah, you too Wes, given who you're after", Lilah told him.
Wesley smiled tentatively at Lilah, then at Fred, then headed for the door with Faith as Matt ran upstairs, putting his suit on.
Outside, Daredevil joined Wesley and Faith as he asked them. "So, where are you two headed?"
"Well, I have a lead", Wesley shrugged.
"I shall accompany him there", Faith added.
"I'll sweep the city and try to find him, if you get anything tell me, and if I get anything, I'll tell you", Matt made the plan for them all.
"Sounds good", Faith agreed as she and Wesley walked off and Matt leapt away.
Angelus sat in a wide leather wing-back chair before a warm hearth reading through the material he stole from Angel, Inc. and wearing a set of half-lens reading glasses. He took off the glasses, frustrated, and threw them at Reg, the shop's proprietor and owner of the glasses. Reg cowered on the floor, terrified.
"These aren't helping! Half of this crap is written in some archaic proto-demon cuneiform and I don't want to be rude but I think the other half— they just doodled."
He kneeled in front of Reg and jammed his finger through the man's testicle. Reg cried out in agony.
"Now don't make me puncture the other one, Reg. I just want to get some intel on this Beastmaster fella. I mean, this is an occult shop, right? Like your job is to help me."
Reg gasped. "I… I don't know…"
"Sure you do. Has a penchant for rains of fire, blotting out the sun, hmm?" He punctuated his words with blows to the man's head. "For… getting… inside… your… head!"
"Angelus!"
Angelus turned around to see Ikari and Maki and quipped. "Ah, the ninjas who work for the Beastmaster!"
He turned to Ikari. "It burns, doesn't it? Working for the very thing you swore to destroy?"
"I work for no one!" Ikari snapped.
"Ah, really? What do you call coming to me like a lapdog?" Angelus quipped.
"You seek out our master again and your insolence will punished, ten-fold", Maki snarled at him.
"Yeah? What's she gonna do? Give me a migraine?" Angelus laughed. "These ethereal types with their big swinging omniscience… when push comes to shove, though, they gotta send some overgrown slag heap or ninjas from the shadows to do their dirty work. Oh, that's real spooky."
He turned back to Reg only to find him gone.
"Oh, that's great! You two made me lose my shopkeeper."
"In spite of being a Vampire, you lost him, I would make sure he doesn't get away", Ikari said in a taunting manner.
"Yeah I get it! You big Hand ninja types just don't let anything get past ya! Other than your hypocrisy!" Angelus taunted Ikari over working with and for Demons again.
"We should be friends", Maki suggested.
"No. And I'll tell you why. One, because, you know, I'm evil so the friends thing, that's out. And two, if I did have any friends, they sure as hell wouldn't be living inside my head! And definitely won't be human ninjas!"
"Living inside heads, like you live inside Angel's?" Maki inquired to him. "Because you're the voice in there, aren't you? Just beneath the surface. Buried under all that goodness. Fully conscious, fully aware… but trapped. Unable to move or speak. Powerless to act on your desires. So thirsty, so helpless. It must be agony."
This got to Angelus, hitting home. He turned to leave.
Maki told Ikari. "See? A little psychology helps."
"I am not interested in that", Ikari simply snarled.
Angelus told them. "I'm getting real bored with this game."
"This will interest you", Maki said, and Angelus turned around to find that a glass container containing a swirling mist had appeared on the reading table next to the hearth.
"Our master has your soul", Maki smirked.
Angelus reached out to snatch the jar but his hand passes right through it. It was just an illusion. "More smoke and mirrors."
"This was a glamour, but our master has the real thing, and if you don't listen to us, Angel will be back and you will be buried inside him so deep you won't be able to claw your way out", Maki taunted Angelus.
"So, now you work for Demons too", Ikari taunted as Angelus realized he was trapped.
"All right. So what should we do?"
"We have to end Daredevil and the Slayer", Ikari spoke to him.
"Well then, here's the plan, Daredevil, even if he doesn't transform, he can use his power on me to make me stop, so best bet, split them up, you two draw Daredevil and beat him, I'll take care of the Slayer", Angelus gave the plan and smirked. "Sound good?"
Faith slammed Francis' head down on the bar.
"Come on! I bruise easy."
"Gee, I wonder what color you'll be when I'm done?" Another head slam onto the bar.
A Vampire stood up and moves threateningly toward Faith. Wesley instantly had the shotgun up and pointed point-blank at the creature's head.
"Let's not, shall we?"
The Vampire instantly backed off.
"It's cool, dude. No worries."
Francis spoke up. "I don't remember anything. I was drunk. I thought she was 18."
Faith sighed. "I'm gonna work real hard on the not understanding that, lumpy."
"Francis!"
She slammed his head again.
A Vampire laughed. "Break his head open! See if there's any candy."
Francis was offended. "Hey, what do I look like? A piñata?"
Faith wasn't averse to the suggestion. "Oh, let's find out."
"Whoa, whoa! Ease off the contusion. What do you want to know?"
Wesley asked. "Where's Angelus?"
"Who?"
Slam!
Faith said. "We've been breathing stale beer and blood half the night in piss-holes like this."
Wesley added. "Guess where it led us."
"Look, I'm telling you, I don't know nothing. On my mother's tumor." Out of the corner of his eye, Francis saw a demon creeping up behind Wesley with a raised pool cue.
"And even if I did, I'd never yak to a couple of flesh bags that are about to get their internal organs sucked out of their—"
Wesley flipped the shotgun around and fires into the head of the demon without even looking, nearly decapitating the Demon.
"Strom demon. Face should grow back. Eventually." Wesley racked the gun and levelled it at Francis.
"Think yours will?" Faith asked.
Francis was quick now. "Oh, that Angelus! Yeah, in here all the time. Running his mouth. "Look at me. I'm so evil." Real jackass. Never liked him. I'm on your side."
Slam!
Wesley asked. "Where is he?"
Francis rambled. "I don't know! I swear. He was in here earlier, giving us the blah blah blah and then he started mumbling to himself like a big, pretty freak and then he slipped into the back."
"Back where?"
Faith made her way slowly through the back rooms, pistol at the ready, with Wesley following. Humans and Vampires lay around, limbs entwined, in catatonic drug-induced stupors. Used syringes and other drug paraphernalia littered the tables and floors.
Faith couldn't believe her eyes: humans allowing themselves to be used as food like this. She remembered Riley had gone to Vamp whores too and wondered if he hadn't been caught, would he have ended up like this too just because he didn't feel needed enough by Buffy?
"What the fuck—"
They were both suddenly tackled from behind by a large hulking Vampire. Wesley tumbled to the floor and it grabbed Faith's throat but she sent it down next to Wesley with some punches.
Wesley quickly rammed a stake through his chest before he could recover and the creature disappeared in a cloud of dust.
"You okay?"
"Dandy."
Matt was crouched on the rooftop, having interrogated a few Demons himself about Angelus, when he suddenly sniffed a lot of blood from one area.
What was going on?
Realizing it could be something, Matt made his way there.
Faith shook a delirious young blonde girl, trying to rouse her to consciousness. "Hey, we're gonna get you out of here."
"Faith…" Wesley held up a hypodermic syringe full of drugs.
Faith asked the girl. "Can you walk?"
"No, but I can fly!"
Faith asked Wesley. "What'd they do to her?"
Wesley explained. "She did it to herself. They shoot up, the Vampires feed, use them like a filter. I've read the effects can be quite intoxicating… for both of them."
The girl said to Faith drowsily. "Hey, you're pretty. You wanna make out?"
Faith shook her head in disgust and hauled the girl to her feet, slamming her up against the wall. "There was a Vampire in here earlier. Tall, dark hair— listen!"
She slammed the girl harder when her eyelids started to close.
"Okay! God, what's your issue?"
"Tall, dark hair, talking to himself."
"Let go."
Faith decked her. "Did you see him?"
"No, I didn't! Stop it, you're hurting me."
Faith stared at her a moment, then let her go and headed for the door. "I think this is more your territory."
Wesley nodded and walked over to the girl. He took out his knife and rammed it through the girl's shoulder. She shrieked in agony as he inquired. "Tracks on your arms, you've been here, what, two or three days straight? Answer me!"
He twisted the knife and the girl melted under the pain. "Yes… oh, stop!… yes… four… four days."
"Then you must have seen the Vampire we're looking for."
The girl nodded. "Angelus. I saw him. He's…"
"Where is he?"
"I don't know."
Wesley slammed her hard against the wall, using the knife as leverage. "I don't know! Please, stop!"
"They said he was talking to himself. What was he saying?"
"I don't know… it was like he was talking to someone else. It was all a rain of fire and pulling strings and a soul. That's all I heard. Please, stop. It hurts!"
Wesley yanked the knife out and the girl dropped to the floor, sobbing. Faith ran over to her and started bandaging the wound while Wesley cleaned the blood off his knife.
While Faith was uncomfortable at having witnessed the torture, months of crime fighting alongside Matt had taught her sometimes hard choices needed to be made, including torture, as Matt had done some of it himself.
So she knew what Wesley had done was a necessary evil.
Matt made his way to a torture chamber of bodies, which is where the blood had come from, but he did not here any uneven breath patterns that he'd get from Vampires, uneven because Vampires didn't need to breathe, they just did so out of habit.
But he did find a familiar person there, make it two!
Ikari and Maki were there, waiting for him.
"Why did you lead me here?" Matt asked.
"To end you, Akuma-san!" Ikari sneered. "This shall be your burial ground."
"And what about you?" Matt asked Maki.
"You are a threat to the Master, you must be taken out", Maki simply shrugged. "Then the master will come and make this world better."
"Who is this master?" Matt asked.
"I'd tell you, but wouldn't matter, you'd be dead", Maki shrugged.
Ikari then struck with a sword as Matt avoided and then Maki tried to strike too as Matt avoided, then ducked and spun away.
He then kicked Maki's face, sending her off and dodged 2 strikes from Ikari before grabbing his hands and flipping him to the ground.
Maki got back up and charged with her sword as Matt dodged 2 strikes and grabbing her hand, spun around but she managed to free herself as Matt backed to avoid both his opponents.
Wesley and Faith entered a vast vaulted building. Multiple levels surrounded a central atrium with balconies looking out across the marbled floors. The place was under construction with scaffolding rising up from the floor to the upper levels.
Faith followed Wesley up a wide staircase to an open area with office equipment arranged haphazardly around the room. "Even if he got the fake hoodoo from this Maury guy, why would Angelus hang around?"
Wesley said. "He wouldn't. But this Maury that Lorne knows may be able to help us find where Angelus is hiding."
They approached a desk scattered with occult trinkets only to find Maury lying on the floor on the other side, his throat ripped out.
"No… but I can."
They turned to find Angelus smiling wickedly at them from the shadows.
Angelus smiled at Faith. "A little birdie in my head told me you'd be here." He shivered. "Exciting!"
Faith strode forward and shot at him with the trank gun. He ducked aside and the shot missed, then kicked Faith backward into a stack of boxes as she reloaded.
Wesley chambered a round in his shotgun and opened fire. Again, Angelus' demonic reflexes allowed him to evade the gunfire. "You gotta do better than that, Wes!"
Wesley fired and missed again. "Come on! I'll give you one more."
Wesley racked the shotgun but before he could fire, Angelus grabbed the barrel, knocking it upward and the shot went into the ceiling.
"Strike three!"
He wrenched the shotgun from Wesley's grasp and hurled him over the balcony and into the scaffolding. Wesley crashed down through the scaffolding to the level below where he landed unconscious among the debris.
Faith bolted for the stairs at a dead run but skidded to a halt when Angelus racked the shotgun and levelled it at her. "Uh-oh! Vampire with a gun."
He opened fire repeatedly and Faith dove down the stairs, the buckshot barely missing her. "I see why he likes this thing!"
Faith tumbled to a stop at the bottom of the grand staircase and looked up to find Angelus standing right over her, the shotgun's barrel inches from her face. "Wow… you really have gone soft, now haven't you? Hey, you remember that time you tried to get Angel to kill you because you felt all weepy over being such a bad little girl? Do you still feel that way? Do you still want to die?"
Faith whispered. "No…"
"What's that?"
"No."
"I can't hear you!"
Faith screamed. "NO!"
Angelus racked the gun and Faith winced, anticipating the killing blow. "Too bad… 'cause you're gonna." He racked the gun again and again, ejecting all the shells. "But not like this."
Faith seized the opportunity and kicked her legs up, knocking the shotgun from his hands, then tried to sweep his feet from under him as he leapt and she was up, trying to kick as he grabbed her foot but she decked his face, sending him back, before punching him again. "Whoa! Looks like we got a live one…"
He blocked her kick, then dodged some punches before wrenching her arm backwards, and punched her face, stunning her ".…for now."
Angelus punched her back, then spun around, throwing a roundhouse kick to Faith's head and she collapsed to the floor. "Little tired, sweetie? Want to take a break?"
He yanked Faith to her feet and punched her in the gut, then pounded her to floor again, kicking her hard enough to send her skidding across the floor to the other side of the room.
She lay on her back, gasping in pain. She rolled over and blood dripped from her mouth onto the floor.
"Now this is disappointing. You never used to bleed so easy."
Faith snarled. "Screw you."
Angelus quipped. "Hmm… maybe after. I like my girls to lie still."
Ikari and Maki struck together at Matt's foot but he lifted it to avoid and kicked Ikari back before kicking Maki down.
Ikari struck again as Matt backed to avoid and spin kicked his face hard, then spin kicked him again, sending him down to the ground.
Maki charged next as Matt dodged and ducked, then dodged a kick before kicking her back. She tried to strike again but he grabbed her arm in a hold and twisted before striking her throat and then kicking her foot, sending her down and before she could get up, he spin kicked her out.
As Faith held her broken ribs and struggled to her feet, Angelus looked up at the scaffolding where Wesley fell. Inside, lying among the shattered boards and paint cans, Wesley started to come around.
"Hey, buddy! How's it going in there?" He turned to Wesley. "Good old Wes… you can always count on him to tackle a bad situation and make it worse. I mean, hey, look how you'd turned out. But then again, I guess he didn't really have much to work with, now."
Faith laughed through the blood and the pain. "Save the head-trip, GQ. Wes told me you'd try to get under my skin, give me just what I need to scratch you out."
"Oh, don't tell me!" Angelus mocked. "The rousing stiff upper lip speech. Rah rah! Good over evil! Do what must be done! Hang in there, kitten, it's almost Friday! Is that what the scraggly little ponce armed you with to fight the big bad bogeyman?"
"Yeah. And this." Faith slipped a dagger out from inside her jacket and whipped it at Angelus, impaling him through the chest.
In an instant, she was on her feet, punching him many times, then blocking his punch and hitting him again. She ripped the knife out of him and send him back with a roundhouse, then slashed at him but he dodged and weaved, grabbing her hand, only to get decked, before dodging another swing as he grabbed her hand, then kicked the knife from her hand.
The knife flew up through the air as Faith beat Angelus back, then snatched the knife out of the air as it came back down and raked the blade across Angelus' chest before hitting him.
He hissed in pain as she tried to do a roundhouse but he kicked her backwards, then leapt straight up into the scaffolding 30 feet overhead. "That hurt, baby. Kinda liked it." He laughed. "How about you? There's my girl. I knew she was in there somewhere, dying to come out and play again."
"Shut up." Faith walked among the metal gridwork in the atrium, scanning the upper levels for Angelus.
His voice echoed throughout the marble building making it hard to pinpoint him.
"I know how it feels. Forced to be someone you're not. Hurts to the bone. You try to bury the pain but you can't get the hole deep enough, can you? No matter how much you dig, it's still there. Broken shards stabbing every time you breathe, cutting you up inside. You know, there's only one way to make the pain stop… hurt someone else."
Faith spun, dagger raised to strike but Angelus seized her arm, stopping the blow. He brought her arm down on his leg, then kicked her violently and she flew up and onto one of the scaffolding grids, her dagger skittering away across the room.
A moment later, Angelus leapt up next to her and attacked. She dodged him, using the metal latticework to avoid his blows while trying to land some of her own. They danced across the scaffolding, dodging and weaving, their movements a kind of obscene ballet.
He kicked her off. Angelus jumped down and landed next to her as she kicked him down, then punched him down, and then used his back to leap up top.
Faith then tried to go up but Angelus followed and hurled her down, leaping next to her. "Come on, Faith, you're not even trying."
Angelus kicked Faith in the head, then blocked her punch and beat her down to the floor again. "Or is that why you really came back? Not enough to punish yourself in prison. Is that it? Still looking for someone to help beat the bad out of you? The Devil didn't do it? Too disappointing. Thought he'd have done it over a 1000 times by now."
He double punched her to the head. She staggered, stunned.
Ikari got back up and struck Matt as he dodged a few times. Then Ikari tried to strike again as Matt spun and grabbed his arms, slamming his head into a pillar and twisting his arms, disarming him of the sword.
He then pushed Ikari back and kicked his chest before decking his face hard, sending him back, and with a leap, kicked him down.
Ikari and Maki both groaned before Ikari sneered. "While you are busy fighting us, Angelus is taking on the Slayer."
Now Matt looked shocked as Ikari staggered up and shrugged. "Maybe they will kill each other, it will save me the trouble."
He then backed off as Matt growled, slowly transforming while Maki struck him from behind but her sword shattered on his skin, horrifying her.
Ikari backed off and fled as Adam appeared on the spot, and turned to the horrified Maki. She ran off but next moment, he was in front of her and punched his fist through her chest and out back. He then pulled his fist out as Maki's corpse fell down.
Adam then fluttered his wings and flew upwards, shattering the roof, and flew off towards the museum.
"You know what the funny part is, darlin'? I could beat you to death and it wouldn't make a difference. Nothing will ever change who you are, Faith." Angelus kicked Faith down. "You're a murderer…" Another vicious blow to the head. "…an animal…" He seized her by the hair and wrenched her head backward. "…and you enjoy it. Just like me!"
With a strangled cry of rage, Faith leapt to her feet and delivered a stunning uppercut to Angelus' jaw, rocking him backward. He punched back but she followed with a roundhouse kick to his chest, before leaping and kneeing his chest, then pounded him, and roundhouse kicked him to the floor.
Her fury was like a living thing now and she leapt on Angelus, rolled him over and pounded him, one devastating blow after another.
His head snapped back, then forth, his eyes losing more focus with each shattering punch.
But Faith suddenly caught herself, stopped, and backed away. "No!" She looked down at him, bleeding and panting with adrenaline. "You're wrong. I'm different now. I'm not like you."
Angelus' feet shot out, sweeping her legs out from under her. He yanked her up by the hair and wrenched her head backward, exposing her neck.
"You will be." His face shifted and the Vampire within rose to the surface. A strangled cry escaped Faith's lips as Angelus sank his fangs into her neck and began to drink.
And we're done, thanks a lot to Brainstorm Sorcerer for his help again.
This Faith has been out of prison for a long while and redeemed herself, plus works alongside Matt as a vigilante so she has understand that sometimes, torturing people is a necessary evil to get out the info, which is why while Wesley torturing the girl made her uncomfortable, she didn't protest like in canon.
Next chapter is gonna be something as Willow and Tara both arrive, HELL YEAH!
I'm gonna have a lot of fun with that one.
Hope all enjoyed and see you all next time with another chapter.