-Max kept her eyes closed. Surely it should hurt more? She thought, or maybe hurt at all? Maybe it's just cos I'm already dead… She opened her eyes tentatively to see a very shocked soldier looking at the bullet suspended in mid air an inch from Max's face. Max grinned at the expression on Lydecker's face, and then the grin widened as two more people she knew were Buffy and Angel leapt into the fight from the low roof opposite. A third person, who stayed on the roof, gave a thumbs up to Max as the bullet dropped to the ground. With the extra help, it was only minutes before the six were standing around a lone Lydecker. He swallowed nervously, knowing that if they were to follow his training, he was dead now. Max's companion raised his gun, and more than one person raised their eyebrows, thinking, are we really gonna do this? To everyone's surprise, it was Fay that spoke.
"Stop." She said. Lydecker breathed a sigh of relief. Sure it didn't mean he was safe, but at least there was a chance.
"Why!?" Exclaimed the guy with the gun.
"Cos if we just kill him, then we're no better than him. In a fight is one thing, but this is murder."
"Execution." He argued.
"Same thing." Max replied. "He can't fight back. She's right, we can't do this."
"Not to mention it's what he trained us to do." Ben's clone put in.
"An' we are not heartless weapons." Fay said sternly.
"What the hell do we do with him then?" The guy sighed, seeing their point.
"We could beat the crap outta him." Fay said hopefully. Buffy couldn't tell if she was joking or not.
"One last thing first." Max said, stepping towards the man who filled her nightmares. "You are a sick bastard." She told him. "You were prepared to facilitate the deaths of all those kids just to get at one of us- worse, for the possibility that a scumbag like Kafelnikov was right in thinking it was one of us. You are the lowest of the low, and you are soo lucky that we never paid attention in class." Then she punched him, hard. They all heard the crack as his nose broke, and he collapsed, his face in a bloody mess.
"We have to get out of here, quick." Ben's twin said, "He has plenty more standing by, and if they don't hear from him for a while, they'll come running."
"We've cleared a way out." Buffy told Fay.
"Great- everyone ok?" Fay looked around while they all nodded.
"Who the hell are all you people?" Max's companion asked as the witch climbed down from the roof.
"Later." Fay snapped, "I could ask the same of you. But we don't have time now. Let's go!" They set of as a group down the way the Chinese clan had fled, Buffy and Angel leading the way. The newly turned manticore soldier agreed to help if they came across any others- they wouldn't know he was turned. But they got to the clan without mishap.
"Moody!" Max cried, hugging her mentor.
"Maxine!?" He stood back as she pulled off her face-covering scarf. She turned quickly as a cry rang out from the back of the clan group.
"Max!" a boy called excitedly. Max grinned widely,
"Fresca." She replied as he pushed to the front and hugged her,
"I knew you'd come back." He seemed to realise that this was very unmanly, and stood back, red faced. Max grinned,
"Hey, you should be thanking my sis, not me."
Fresca looked over the group, who still had their faces covered. Fay realised that this was a cue for her to reveal herself, so she did, and the others followed suite. Fay shook out her hair, happy to breath easily again. "Fres, meet Fay. Fay, this is Fresca." Fay nodded to him, but saw Max hesitate instead introducing the others. It was then that she realised that she didn't know which of her brothers had accompanied Max, and she wheeled to see his face, curiosity overwhelming her. She gasped, a grin filling her features- she recognised him immediately.
"F*ck me! Seth!?" She cried.
"No thanks, Fay, I still think of you as a sister." He grinned back.
"Wow." Fay said glancing at Max with a raised eyebrow, "He's still a dick."
"What!?" He shrugged, "Ten years is meant to change a guy?"
"I missed you." Fay laughed.
"Me too, little sister." He agreed, bundling her into a hug.
"I'm not your little sister." She argued, though her voice was muffled against his chest.
"Always will be to me." He replied. Buffy smiled at the affection Fay clearly showed for her brother. Buffy suddenly realised how differently Fay acted when she was around them- as if she felt totally safe, totally secure; she felt that she belonged. Buffy had rarely seen that in Fay, and it was almost always when the two of them were alone, not in the large Scooby group. Speaking of scoobies, four more masked people appeared now.
"You bought the whole crew!?" Max commented to Fay. Her sister shrugged,
"These guys are good in a jam."
"So who are these guys?" Seth asked. "You two were so strong, but you're not transgenic, I can tell." He motioned to Buffy and Angel. Buffy glanced at Fay, who nodded, a wry smile on her face. So Buffy began.
"I'm Buffy. This is Angel and Willow." Then she moved on to the others, who were uncovering their faces. "That's Xander, Giles, Oz and Cordy." Max snorted a laugh, and they all turned to see what she thought was so funny, though Fay was sure she already knew. "What?" Buffy asked.
"Erm, nothing." Max replied, regaining her composure, but unable to hide the smile. Buffy just shook her head, while Cordy gave Max a look that the scoobies had come to know as the death glare.
"So what are you then?" Seth asked.
"There's no time now." Max cut in. "We have to get out of town. All of us." She turned to Moody, Fresca, and the rest of her family of the past six years. "All of you must leave. I'm sorry Moody, I really screwed things up, but you guys have to go. Split up, spread out, leave. Now."
"But if they were after you…" Someone said,
"Then they could use you against me. Hurt you to get at me. No, you have to leave. Kafelnikov is gonna be pissed that we flattened his siege… please… you have to." A murmur ran through the small crowd, but they all knew she was right. They immediately began forming into groups, but Fresca approached Max. "You gotta be strong, Fres." Max said, "Stronger than ever before. Look after Niner, right?"
Fresca nodded, not about to turn down a request from Max, but his face was pale, and his eyes wide with sorrow,
"I'm never gonna see you again, am I?" he said quietly. Max felt her breath catch in her throat.
"You never know." She managed, "We might bump into each other some time."
"Yeah." He laughed sarcastically, "An' I might become president."
"You do, you give me a call, ai-aight?" Max told him with a grin.
"Definitely." He replied. The young boy smiled, and Max drew him into a hug. "I'll miss you Max." He whispered.
"You too, Fres." She answered. "You too."
Max finished saying her goodbyes, refusing more money from Moody with the truthful excuse that he'd need it more than her. Then the transgenics sent the Chinese clan off in various directions, each of them with orders never to mention their involvement- it was the only way to keep them safe. Once they were the only ones left, the manticore gang and the scoobies set off for Oz's van, which was hidden nearby, except Max and Seth, who went to retrieve their bikes.
A few hours later, the group was assembled in the library: Buffy figured her Mum would not be best pleased to find out what they'd been doing. The scoobies had explained their deal to Seth and the new guy, who Max had quickly dubbed Alec once he'd begun to loosen up a bit and make 'smart-aleck' comments about just about everything.
"Vampires." Seth said disbelievingly for the fifteenth time.
"Yup." Faith replied grinning, "Vampires, demons, hell mouths, alternate dimensions…"
"We went through this already." Alec said rolling his eyes. Seth ignored him.
"So that's why bullets don't hurt him?" He pointed to Angel, who was having his wound dressed by Buffy.
"Ah…" He said wincing, "actually they hurt like he…" He seemed to consider something, and altered his reply, "They hurt a lot. They just wouldn't kill me."
"Huh." Seth the sceptical said. "And…" He looked to Angel again, who sighed, vamped out, and turned back again. "Huh… and Fay, you and Buffy are slayers. With super strength."
"Yup."
"But you already had super strength, so you're like, mega strong?"
"'Cept I can still whoop her ass." Max grinned. Faith frowned in mock hurt.
"She's way stronger than me." Buffy concluded, to the shock of her watcher, (or the man she thought of as her watcher) who'd been listening in silent amazement, wondering why he'd never been told about Faith's, or rather Fay's, past. He'd accompanied them to LA on the principal of helping, but hadn't really understood a word of the explanation, other than Faith's sister's friends were in mortal danger of bad guys with guns, until they'd elaborated on the way back.
"So… you've all known about …this… for, what, sixth months?" he said motioning to Fay, Max, Seth and Alec as explanation for the 'this'.
"Yep." Buffy said with a cringe.
"Sorry we didn't tell, G. Just, well, I was tryin' to keep low pro' on this whole deal, but when Max turned up in SunnyD' nearly half a year ago, B realised something wiggy was goin' on, so we told her, an' then that lot kinda saw us do a load of pretty awesome fightin'… but there was no reason to tell you… an' I can't just go telling every person I like or have connections to… cept now I kinda have…" Faith finished thoughtfully. Now that he'd finally accepted the story, Seth was not looking happy. He looked around, counting up… seven people Fay had told. Plus Moody thanks to Max. That was way too many. Buffy had been watching him, and noted the disapproving resolve on his face.
"We are trustworthy, y'know." Buffy told him, confusing everyone else. "We all have our own secrets to deal with, and Faith is like a sister to me. We wont tell anyone."
"That's not the point." Seth said. "You don't even know Fay, not really. You know the civilian face she puts on for you. You don't understand how major Manticore is. What if Lydecker found you? How in hell do you think you would stand up to his torture? You can't just forget like we can, and you're not as strong as we are. You risk Fay's life every day."
"Hey!" Faith exclaimed, hating how he was talking about her as if she weren't even there.
"It's true, Fay." He said.
"Screw that!" Buffy cried, earning herself a huge grin from Fay. "Don't you try to tell me I don't know Fay! I've known the truth for half a friggin years an' I've stood by her! She's like a sister to me! An' don't you forget you'd be dead or in Manticore right now if it weren't for us!"
"Still not the point!" Seth yelled back. "If Lydecker got to you, you would crack! Slayer or not, you wouldn't withstand that kind of pain! And none of them would!"
"Seth…" Max began, but was cut off by the mot affective tone of all. It was quiet, desolate…
"You don't have a clue what you're talking about, little boy." Angel said from the back of the group. "You think that just cos you grew up in Manticore, just cos you've got revved up DNA, you're stronger than us inside? You ever been to hell, Seth?"
"Yeah." He replied defiantly, "Grew up there actually."
Angel laughed shortly- the most creepy sound Max ad heard in a long while.
"No, boy. I mean Hell. Un-ending torture in a place where time is distorted so much that one day here is years there. When you've been gone a few hours, you're friends might feel sorry for you… dread the hours of torture you'd be enduring. But in truth, as far as you know, you've been there months. You do not know what pain is. Every person in this room has suffered, boy. Maybe not to that level, but they've felt pain- just as much as you. They've seen friends die before their eyes. They've lost loved ones, in more ways than one. They've been tortured by creatures who don't give the slightest whether they live or die- they just hurt people for fun.Those guys are just normal people, and yet they spend their nights researching and fighting to save people who don't even know they're in danger. Don't you try to suggest that these people can't keep a secret, kid. Cos you really have no idea."
"Stop calling me kid." Seth said in a dangerous voice. "You're not so much older than me."
"I'm over 200." Angel said simply, seriously pissing Seth off. Then he cocked his head to one side, "Well… that's if you don't include the time in hell…"
"You're the one who doesn't have a clue!" Seth told him, but more than one person had had enough.
"Seth!" Two voices yelled. Both Max and Fay were on their feet.
"You're wrong." Fay said. "I know they're strong. I know that my secret is safe with them. You think I'd just tell anyone? Damn it Seth, you just met these guys! Do you realise they've saved the world? For gods sake, Buffy died and she still kept fighting. She saw the love of her life being sucked into hell due to her own actions, Seth! You're out of line yellin' at them." She sighed deeply, and her voice became quieter, and sadder, "Dammit, Seth. You're my brother." She stepped towards him, looking up into his eyes. "I've dreamt about finding you half the nights since I was nine! You gotta believe me, dude. They're on the level. I swear." She choked a laugh, "I'd even trust Cordy with my life."
Seth's eyebrows flew up, and he looked Cordy over.
"I just wanna keep you safe." He told Fay, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"I know." She replied, "But you don't gotta be an ass about it." She grinned. He cracked a smile, and nudged her.
"We cool?" Buffy asked.
"We cool." Fay confirmed, elbowing Seth playfully.
Aw, fluff. Lol. Please review, Cos I don't know whether there's more to come or not. Its kinda up to you. Seriously- this is all I have written, so if you want more, you gotta tell me, or this is it.