Sorry about the delay in updates. Life got in the way of writing. Anyway, here it is now.

When I wrote the parts with Gunn and / or Rondell, I found the only way I could get it to work for me was to write phonetically. I try to imagine the characters saying the stuff I write, and if I spelt it all correctly, they were all speaking with northern English accents in my head. It was very bad.

As always, please R & R. I love feedback.

Special thanks to Kitty and Aredhel for mailing me directly.

See parts 1 and 2 for dsclaimer

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Faith paused at the entrance to the Hyperion, trying to get a handle on her nerves which had suddenly started flying around her stomach like a swarm of crazed bees. Deep breath. You can handle this. Angel's gonna welcome you, and Wes isn't here, so you don't have to deal with what happened with him.yet. Squaring her shoulders, she pushed open the left hand swing door, and marched in.

Fred and Gunn stood in the office, arguing. They had just listened to the message Rondell had left on the machine for the third time, and still couldn't reach an agreement on what to do. They had been unable to raise Angel or Cordy on their cell phones. Even Lorne was incommunicado. Fred wanted to wait until Angel got back, whilst Gunn was ready to charge into action. 'We can't leave them hangin' Fred. They were my boys, my crew. After what happened with Gio and Angel at Karitos.' he scrubbed his hand over his eyes, and then up over his gleaming scalp 'well, things ain't exactly been good between us. For Ronnie to call, this thing must be really bad.' He hit the play button on the machine again 'Gunn, Rondell. Look man, I know we ain't talked for a while, but things are bad down here. Paulo, Luis and Mickey are in the hospital man. We need help. This thing's killin' us. Bring your crew and get down here fast. if you're still interested in what's goin' on in the 'hood.' Gunn eyed Fred, almost pleadingly. 'We left Angel a message on his voicemail. He'll hook up with us as soon as he gets it, but the boys need us now!'

'I understand that you're worried Charles,' Fred placed a gentle hand on Gunn's arm, and smiled up at him through the curtain of her long, dark hair, 'but rushing down there to fight something all your old friends can't beat is only going to make things worse. You know as well as I do that Angel can't work his voicemail. We need him to come with us. It's the only way any of us stand a chance of getting out of this alive.'

Gunn pulled away from her, and started pacing the office again. 'I hear you girl, I really do, and I don't want to get hurt anymore than you do, but these are MY BOYS. I can't leave them hangin'. Look, I'll go. You wait here for Angel, and as soon as he gets here, you guys ride in like the cavalry, okay? But I gotta go now.'

'Excuse me?'

The voice coming from the entrance hall made them both jump. They both looked at the owner of the voice. Fred saw a young woman, about her own age with dark hair and brown eyes, looking cautiously amused at the argument she had overheard. Something inside Gunn screamed a warning at him at the sight of the seemingly helpless you woman. A warrior recognising another warrior.

'This is Angel Investigations, right?' They both nodded 'So you must be Gunn and Fred?' Again, they both nodded. 'I couldn't help overhearing your discussion, maybe I can help.'

'How can you help?' Gunn asked, disbelievingly. 'And how do you know who we are? Never mind.' He cut Faith off before she could answer 'I'm sorry, I know we help the hopeless and all, but tonight we're closed. Come back tomorrow and we'll be all the help you need.' He turned back to Fred, cupping the back of her head, he kissed her forehead. 'I gotta go. I know it's a risk, but I gotta help them.'

As he walked towards the door, the mystery woman was suddenly in front of him. 'Slow down cowboy. Like I said, I can help you. No point in getting your girl more upset than she already is, right?'

Gunn moved to walk round her, but she side stepped to be in front of him again, still smiling slightly, so he put a hand on her shoulder to move her out of his way. 'Look lady, I don't know what kind of kicks you're getting from this, but my friends are in danger. This isn't some game. The monsters are out there, and they're real. My friends need help, maybe more help than I can give them, but I'm all there is right now, so I'll have to do! Now will you PLEASE get out of my way?'

'Not gonna happen big boy. Not unless you take me with you. I'm not letting you walk in there all by yourself.'

'Take you with me? Not letting me! Lady, you are nuts. I'd love to spend some time listening to you explain why I should take you with me, but I'm on the clock.'

'Five by five. I can explain on the way.'

'There's nothing to explain. You ain't coming. That's it. '

'Really?' Her face broke into a wide grin at that statement. Holding out her right hand, she said 'I'm Faith, the Vampire Slayer. Angel told me when I got out of prison he'd give me a job,' well, he said he'd help me anyway he could, and I figure giving me a job qualifies, 'so here I am, ready to go to work. Saddle up Charlie boy, like you said. We're on the clock. Let's move.'

'Are you serious?' Gunn asked, staring at her. He'd heard plenty about Faith from Angel, Cordy and Wes. Somehow he'd expected the rogue Slayer to be taller. 'Why should we trust you? We heard all about what you did to Wes and Cordy back in the day, as well as all that other stuff back in Sunnyville or whatever it's called. Thanks, but we'll manage.'

Faith walked over to the weapons cabinet and picked up Angel's biggest axe.

Damn thought Gunn that things so heavy, I can hardly lift it to swing it, and she's carrying it like it doesn't weigh more than a baseball bat. Guess they weren't kidding about the whole Slayer strength thing. 'What are you gonna do with that?' Gunn casually stepped between Fred and the Slayer.

If she noticed his move, she showed no sign of it. 'Weapons help for killing monsters.' She paused, hunting for an argument that would convince him to take her with him 'Look Gunn. I know you don't have any reason to trust me. I know what I've done. But your friends are getting stomped on right now and we all know you by yourself isn't going to be enough to get this thing gone. I'm a Slayer. Whatever else I've done, killing demons is what I'm best at.' Staring into his impassive face, she felt a tinge of desperation I can't fail at the first real test! He's gotta take me along!! 'Your friends are dieing. How can I make that worse? Take me with you, please. Worst case scenario, things turn out the same way they would have anyway. Best case, I can stop this thing and save a lot of people. You gave Angel a chance to prove himself, and look how that turned out.can't you give me that chance too? The look in her eyes, a sort of last, desperate hope, was genuine, Gunn realised. Looking down at Fred, he asked 'what do you think?'

'I think your friends need help Charles' Fred stated resolutely, gripping and regripping a steak in both hands 'and we need to get going.' Seeing the argument forming in his eyes, she forestalled him 'if she goes, I go. Let's move!'

Smiling at the tiny, delicate girls' show of concern for her man, Faith swept her left hand in front of her, her right hand still holding the axe. 'Lead the way cowboy.'

Gunn glared at her as he walked past 'It's Gunn. Let's go.'

As the truck drew up beside an old, abandoned warehouse in an east L.A neighbourhood even the zombie cops would have avoided, Faith felt an old, half remembered feeling stirring inside her. It was excitement, fear, adrenalin. This is what it used to feel like, before it all began, before I killed him, when B and I were living it large, having a blast, untouchable. I'm finally doing it right again. She turned to Gunn, grinning, 'let's get it going on!' Grabbing Fred by the hand, she leapt out of the truck, axe in front of her to defend them both. 'You guys stay together okay? You know each others moves, and I don't. We don't know what's in there, so I'm just gonna aim for the biggest, ugliest thing I - '

'Hey Gunn!' An angry voice interrupted her. 'We call you for help and you turn up with a couple of white bread chicks?' looking towards the warehouse, Gunn saw a bloodied, angry Rondell coming towards him. 'What they gonna do? Scream him to death? Man, I never should of called you. Gio was right. You lost the mission a long time ago.'

Gunn's face tightened as he tried to hold on to his temper. 'It ain't like that Rondell, and you know it. There's more to the mission than just the 'hood. I gotta be where I'm most needed bro.'

'Bro? I ain't your bro. Not anymore, not since you abandoned us for that blood sucker.'

Faith stepped between the two men and placed a gentle (for her) hand on each of their chests. 'As much fun as watching the male bonding is, there's a Big Bad in there that needs killing.' She gave Rondell an evil glare when he went to interrupt her. 'Just keep your boys out of my way, and take out as many of the vamps as you can handle. Leave the rest to me.' Swinging her axe onto her shoulder, she strode towards the building. As she got closer, she could hear the growls and yells and thuds of flesh against wall emanating from the building. Also, her spider sense was beyond tingling, it was screaming. 'What are you waiting for, and invitation? Let's party!'

'Your girl's gonna get herself killed Gunn. How we gonna explain that to the police, huh? Some white bitch gets her ass ripped apart down here, they not gonna ignore it like they do a brother.'

Gunn sighed. He was sorry for the anger Rondell and the rest of the boys felt towards him, but he wouldn't change what he was doing, even for them. The mission was too important. 'Wait and see Rondell, she might surprise you.' Lacing his fingers with Fred's, who had stayed silent since they'd arrived, he strode into the warehouse.

Once through the door, Faith scanned the battle field. The conscious part of her brain receded, leaving the Slayer to the fore. To her right and in front of her, various members of Rondell's gang were involved in hand to hand with vamps. They mostly carried crosses and steaks, and worked in pairs. They were obviously used to fighting as units, and covered for each other well, but their techniques were simple, brut force over finesse. Faced with a trained warrior, they'd be in deep trouble she mused. To her left, on a raised dais, she spotted her target. A Gorfalk demon.

Once she had realised she was likely to win her appeal, and would be Slaying again, Faith had started reading up on demons. She didn't know what kind of Watcher the Council might send her, so she had decided she better have some of the knowledge herself. She knew that the only way to kill a gorfalk was to take its head off. She also knew that gorfalks didn't like losing their heads, and at some point in their evolution had developed thick, scaly plates that covered their necks, making it impossible for even the strongest human to cut through it. Fortunately for Faith, unfortunately for the gorfalk, Faith was a lot stronger than the strongest human. She was a Slayer, and she was going to start living up to the responsibilities that title gave her, and start right now. Hefting the axe in her right hand, she charged the closest vampire. Seeing the on rushing woman, the vampire stepped to his right, to avoid the axe and give himself a shot at Faiths unprotected left side. Having dazzled her victim with the massive blade, she casually swung up with her left hand and staked him. He was dust before he even knew what hit him.

Looking back over her shoulder, Faith saw Gunn, Fred and Rondell come through the door. Rondell still looked pissed off, Faith could see his attitude even though she couldn't here his words. 'Gunn, you know the best parties!! Now are you gonna join in, or do I get to have all the fun?!' With that she whirled away. Keeping the axe blade horizontal at head height, she span through the crowd. She was running purely on instinct now, relying on Slayer sense to avoid humans and decapitate vamps. It was risky. After what had happened with the deputy mayor, she really didn't want to hurt anyone here, but the odds against them were too great. If she stopped and thought about her every move, she'd be over run before she could get to the demon. Whilst the humans in the room didn't know what she was, the vamps and the gorfalk had made a pretty good guess.

'Leave those mortals. Bring me the head of the Slayer.' The gorfalk rumbled. Faith remembered reading somewhere that because losing their heads was the only way to die, in gorfalkion society, collecting the heads of powerful enemies was a way of showing power and prestige. So not liking the sound of that.

Thankfully, Gunn had understood the gorfalk too. 'Ronnie, have your people concentrate on the vamps. Leave the big ugly dude to Faith.'

'What, you think you can still give me orders? That your girl there can take out that thing when we been tryin' for days? Man - '

'Rondell. We haven't got time to do this right now. Look.' Vampires were leaving their fights with Rondells crew and converging on Faith. 'She's the one they want. She's the only one that can kill that thing. This is what she's born to do. Now let's do what we do, and help her.' Looking him straight in the eye, Gunn feared that Rondell would refuse, that he would call the boys off and leave Faith to die. But he didn't.

'Get the vamps! Let's go! You gonna let some skinny white chick have all the fun? Let's go!' With that, the boys piled into the crowd of vampires around Faith.

Throughout the whole confrontation, Faith had been oblivious. Some part of her knew that if she didn't get out of this soon, she was going to be in trouble. She had stopped moving towards the dais, where the gorfalk waited, and she was surrounded by vamps, but she was free. She was fighting for the right side again. She couldn't die now, because she hadn't got rid of the threat, but if she did die, at least she was on the right side again. At last.

The crowd around her finally started to thin. Swinging the axe again, she sliced a vamps' arm off at the shoulder. As he opened his mouth to scream, but before he could make a sound, she reversed the direction of the blade, sheering his head from his neck. Two stakes and a rabbit punch later, she had a clear track to the gorfalk. She took three run up steps, and somersaulted onto the dais in front of him. 'Slayer.'

'Ugly'

'You think you can challenge me! I am Frayon, of the gorfalk. I will take your head and mount it on my wall. I will prove to my enemies that I am the most powerful of all the gorfalk!' He drooled as he spoke, slime glistening from the corner of his snake like mouth. 'The head of The Slayer will make a wonderful centre piece for my throne room!'

'Getting a bit ahead of yourself, aren't ya' pal? Let's throw down and see what you really got.' With that, Faith and the gorfalk started circling. She didn't want her back to the room if she could help it, all it would take would be one over enthusiastic vamp, and this fight would be over. Once she had moved three quarters of the way around the circle, she stopped, and then dived at the demon, somersaulting so she came up just passed where he had stood, giving her a clean swing with her axe. The gorfalk had seen her move though, and managed to twist away, at the same time landing a side kick to her stomach that sent her careening into the wall.

'Make it easy on yourself Slayer. Just give me the axe. I promise I'll make it quick.'

'I've never made anything easy on myself my whole life' Faith held her stomach, bent over in pain. The she straightened, and gave the gorfalk a wink. 'Not gonna start now.' They flew at each other, fists and feet flying, the axe blade occasionally glinting through the smoke.

Gunn, Fred, Rondell and his crew were finally winning the fight with the vampires. Having just staked his forth vamp of the night, Gunn stepped back, checking to make sure Fred was alright. He spotted her by the wall, and then followed her gaze to the dais at the end of the room. 'Man, I'm not sure if Angel could do that' he murmured, after Faith back flipped off the wall, over the demon's head and swung the axe at its neck. The demon managed to move sideways enough so that the blade took a slice out of his shoulder, instead of his neck. Before Gunn could watch any more, he heard Fred shriek, and ran to her rescue.

After ten minutes of ducking and weaving and hefting the axe, Faith was getting tired. The time in prison had made her soft she realised. She wasn't slaying fit at the moment. Gotta end this now. If it takes much longer, I'm history. With that cheerful thought, she doubled the speed and intensity of her blows. She dropped the axe a couple of minutes ago, but it wasn't far away. Spying it on the floor, just off the dais, she gave the gorfalk two short jabs to the face, followed by a spin kick to the chest and then, continuing her turn, swept his legs. He land flat on his back with an almighty crash. Leaping over him to the floor, she grabbed the axe, and before he could regain his feet, the blade swung down. All her Slayer strength, aided by gravity, helped the blade cut through the armour plates, the muscle, the sinew, the bone. Faith kept pushing the axe down until she felt it bite into the floor of the dais under the gorfalk's neck.

'What the HELL is she?!' Gunn span round at Rondell's angry shout. 'You found another tame blood sucker Gunn? Cos that sure ain't human! We let your boy Angel live, but we don't want these things runnin' around everywhere, thinkin' they're like us!'

Faith finally straightened, and turned back to face the body of the room. She left the axe where it was, embedded in the dais between the gorfalk's head and neck. She saw Rondell and the boys start towards her, and looked questioningly at Gunn. 'What're you talkin' about Rondell? She just saved all your necks, and now you wanna kill her because she can do things you can't!'

'I wanna kill her cos she's a blood sucker. No human could do what she just did. It's humans against vamps and that's the way it should be. You start getting lost in the grey at the edges, thinking some vamps aren't that bad. Gio was right man. You lost the mission a long time ago. Now I'm gonna show you what you should do with the monsters!'

'You're wrong Ronnie.' Gunn made one last attempt at getting through to Rondell. He could feel his temper starting to fray, but held onto it. Rondell had been a brother to him growing up, had stopped him from losing it completely when Alonna got bit. He didn't want to lose his brother, even though, in his heart, he knew he was already lost. 'You're wrong about Faith and you're wrong about the mission -'

'Yeah?' Rondell made a circling motion with his hand, telling the boys to surround Faith. 'I'm wrong? So what you gonna do about it? Cos the way I see it, we just gonna kill us another blood sucker here, and if you and your little girl there try and stop us, then you're protecting the demon, and that puts you on the wrong side!'

'Ronnie listen to me! Since when did you care more about killing monsters than you did about saving people? She's not a vamp, she's a Slayer. She kills vamps. It's what she was born to do.'

'Yeah right' cruel laughter rang through the warehouse 'Are you trying to tell me that some white bread chick was born to hunt vampires? That she's stronger and faster and all that?' As Gunn nodded, Rondell snorted derisively 'then how come we ain't never seen her before?'

'Because she was protecting the hellmouth.' A new voice joined the argument.

'Anne, What you doin' here girl? It's not safe.'

'You're right Ronnie, it's not, but people like the Slayer help to make it safer. I knew a Slayer once. I was young and stupid, and thought vampires were the coolest thing. She saved me, and a year or so later, she saved me again. She was in L.A, running from something. When I lost Ricky,' she absently rubbed at her arm, 'she helped me, even when I blamed her for things that weren't her fault, she helped me. She saved me from Hell, and she showed me how to help myself. how to be Anne.' The girl looked up at Faith 'I guess she's dead now, if you're here.'

Faith looked unsure, 'about this big, blond, goes by the name of Buffy?' She grinned as she saw Gunn's startled reaction to the name. Anne nodded warily. 'Oh, she's still around. CPR.' She added at Anne's look of confusion.

Anne walked towards Faith, and hugged her. 'If you see her, tell her Lily says thanks.' Then she turned to Rondell. 'The Slayer's are some of the most powerful weapons our side has Ronnie. And even if you did attack her, she'd just kick your arse. She came here, not knowing any of you, and she saved you.' She laughed at the mutinous look on Rondell's face 'I know you guys want to believe you can handle anything, and mostly you can, but its okay to ask a Slayer for help every once in a while. It's what they do. You asked Gunn for help, and he came through. Don't you think you could try to be friends again?'

'He came this time, but how many times has he not been there? How many times have we come up against God knows what, and he's not been there, cause he was too busy with his blood sucker friend?' Rondell turned to face Gunn 'you was our leader man. We've been together since we was kids, but you don't wanna be around us no more. You got more important things to do. Well that's fine man. That's your choice. But choices have consequences, and here's yours. You wanna run around with your new crew, that's fine, cause we don't want you down here no more. You ain't welcome in the 'hood anymore. So enjoy your knew friends. Maybe white bread over there can help you forget what you did, who you left behind.'

Gunn glared at Rondell silently, and then around at the rest of the boys. Finally, his gaze came back to Ronnie. 'You know what Rondell. I'm sick of apologising for the things I've done. The work we do is important, but you can't see outside of what's going on in the 'hood. I never abandoned you, I just saw the bigger picture man. I did what had to be done. You called me remember? You asked me for help, and when I bring it, when we save your ass, all you can do is threaten my friend, just like you threatened Angel. You don't want me coming down here? Well that's good, because I don't think I could take the sight of you, and what you've all become!' He took a deep breath. 'Good luck, to all of you. If this is what you've become, you're gonna need it!' he glanced around. 'Fred, Faith, let's get outta here.' With that, they headed out. One of the boys didn't get out of Gunn's way in time, and found himself shouldered aside by Gunn's great strength.

They climbed into the truck silently, Fred again protected between Faith and Gunn. As they pulled away from the warehouse, the muscles in Gunn's jaw quilted as he fought to keep his temper. Faith and Fred shared a worried look before Fred gently placed a hand on Gunn's arm. 'Charles.'

'Not now Fred. I can't talk about this now, okay.' They drove in silence for half an hour, before they ground to a halt in some of L.A's mystery traffic. No matter what time of day or night, you could hit it without warning. There was no knowing what had caused it or how long you would be stuck in it. It was just one of the added benefits of living in L.A. Gunn finally broke he heavy silence by hitting the steering wheel and swearing. Then he went back to glowering at the traffic ahead of them.

Fred and Faith exchanged looks, then Fred timidly tried talking to her man again. 'Charles.? Do you wanna.maybe , talk about it?' Gunn stayed silent, and Fred's speech speeded up to babble speed. 'Cause, y'know, if you don't want to, that's okay. I just thought maybe you'd want to because of the way they were your friends and they were so horrible to you -'

Gunn held up a hand to stop the flow of words, and managed a tired smile for Fred. He could never stay miserable with her around. 'It's okay baby, really. It makes me mad, ya'know? They were my crew, but they can't see past what's right in front of them. I don't want to lose them, they were my life when I was a kid, but I know that what we did is right. I couldn't go back to that now. Not ever. After the way they were with Faith, and with Angel before. I don't even know if I'd want to be friends with those people anymore. But it still.They were my link with my past, with Alonna. Part of me feels like I'm losing her again.' He leant over and wrapped his arms around Fred, drawing comfort from her slender form as Faith tried to disappear into the wall of the truck. They're tender moment was interrupted by a blast on the horn of the car behind them as the traffic started to move again.

As they pulled up by the Hyperion, Gunn turned to Faith 'so what now? That was some pretty impressive fighting back there, and we could always use another warrior for the cause, but some how I don't see Cordy or Wes welcoming you back with open arms.'

Faith glanced between the two of them, and then stared fixedly at a spot just over Gunn's shoulder as she answered. 'I don't know. I'm hoping I can come and work with you guys. If not.well, I got other places I can go. Right now I know I'm fighting for the right side again. I need to keep doing that.' She finally met Gunn's eyes and flashed him one of her devil may care grins. Gunn wasn't fooled though. He could see the apprehension in her eyes.

'You made a good start. Let's go see if we can find the others.' Opening is door, he jumped down from the truck, and then turned back to offer Fred a hand. Faith came round from the other side of the truck, and together the three of them walked through the main doors of the Hyperion.

Angel stood where Cordelia had left him, his mind whirling. He couldn't hang on to any of his thoughts for long, because every time he tried, the insistent thudding of his heart would distract him again. His heart beat. It's real this time. I won't give it back this time. My heart beat. my soul. my freedom. Where do I begin? Hearing the door open, he turned, ready to help his first helpless as a human being. Instead he saw Faith.

Coming through the door, Faith felt her adrenalin begin to pump. In most people this is known as the fight or flight reaction. In a Slayer, there is only ever going to be one outcome. Faith felt that hyper alertness wash over her, that usually signalled imminent battle. Even as she calmed herself though, she knew something was missing, although she had no clue what. Figure it out later, right now stay calm and maybe Angel won't throw you out. She hadn't realised until that moment just how worried she was about Angel's reaction. Suddenly, she realised what it was that was missing, what she wasn't feeling. She wasn't feeling any vampires. Her spider sense had been working fine back at the warehouse, so how come she couldn't sense Angel? Staring at him she realised she could see his chest moving up and down.what the hell is going on here?

'Faith? What are you doing here?' She just stared at Angel, dazed. 'Faith?' he took a step towards her, and in doing so his left hand was splashed with sunlight. Instead of leaping back as he normally would, he didn't even seem to notice. 'Are you okay? Gunn, Fred.What's wrong with her?' Fred and Gunn shrugged at him, unsure of what had happened to Faith.

Finally, Faith found her voice enough to mutter 'appeal'. Then she leapt down the two steps and across the gap between them, throwing herself at Angel and nearly bowling him over in the process. Wrapping her arms around him, she burrowed her head into his chest, and then listened for the sound she didn't dare believe she would hear. There it was though thumpthump thumpthump.

Gunn and Fred simply stared in astonishment until Faith finally tipped her head back so she could look up into Angel's face without letting go of him. 'You're alive.' She stepped back, still holding onto his hands. 'You're alive!' Incapable of thought, unnoticing of Fred and Gunn's baffled stares, Faith threw herself at Angel again, this time hard enough to knock him to the floor. A bright flash of light brought her back to herself, made Faith realise the position she was in, straddling Angel, and she began to get off him. Before she could though, she felt a body crash into her side, moving her off Angel and slamming her into the weapons cabinet. Before she could recover from the shock of the tackle, a fist hit the side of her head, spinning her sideways and away from her unknown opponent. Rolling to her feet, Faith came up ready to fight.

'Both of you STOP' a familiar female voice commanded, and Faith risked a glance away from her attacker towards the voice, and the source of the light. What she saw caused her jaw to drop.

TBC.