SUNNYDALE POLICE DEPARTMENT
QUADRANT FOUR; 12:19 AM
The police cruiser moved down the almost empty roads. Its occupants kept a close eye on the sidewalks and empty businesses, watching for any movement in the shadows where the tall street lights did not illuminate. Surprising for a Saturday night, most of the roads were deserted. Even a pass by the Bronze earlier had not shown a great deal of activity. For Robert Bloodworth, the quiet was a good sign of a potentially quiet evening. For Faith, it was far from a good sign. When thing Buffy had managed to instill in her was that thing usually got quiet right before they got bad.
"I've known for a good part of my life I wanted to be a police officer. Growing up in Los Angeles, I was around cops all the time. My dad always tried to teach me to have a sense of justice, gave me real clearly defined ideals of right and wrong and taught me how good it feels to help other people and your community. Probably not a big surprise to most people that the son of the LA chief of police would go on to become a police officer himself. I love it though, it's the only thing I've ever thought about doing with my life," in the middle of his speech, Robert and Faith shared a quick but knowing glance. "And it's what I want to keep doing, as long as they'll let me. It's a special calling you know, just being able to help people and do some good and go home each day knowing that you've made a difference." Faith could relate in some ways to the last part of his statement.
Trying to keep his eyes on the road, Robert didn't look at the cameraman in the back seat, although he could tell he was still recording by the powerful light on top of the camera that illuminated his entire front seat. As the light went off, the cameraman obviously saving his tape and battery for something more eventful, Robert let his eyes relax, adjusting again to the darkness before glancing at Faith who was noticeably silent in the passenger seat. "That sounded lame didn't it?"
"Lame wasn't quite the word I was looking for," Faith broke out of the reserved shell she had settled into for the first hour of Robert's shift which began at eleven o'clock in the evening, her normal upbeat and wry self returning. "I was thinking something more along the lines of total loser or drama queen but if lame works for you we'll go with that." She grinned wryly at him, Robert smiling softly in response before he replied.
"I thought it was great Officer Bloodworth," from the backseat of the car, the cameraman chimed in with his opinion before Robert could say anything in response to Faith. "Just the kind of thing people like to here at the start of the segment on our television show."
Faith couldn't believe what she had gotten herself into. She had tried to back out of riding with Robert once she found at that the 'Cops' cameraman would also be along for the entire eight hours but he had convinced her to stay. Now, barely an hour into the shift, this man, who had spent far too much time in Hollywood as far as she could tell, was already starting to get on her nerves. "You going to listen to spike back there?" Faith referred to the cameraman by his too long, spiked brown hair with the tips so blonde they could be called golden.
"You know Faith he has been doing this for a while," one of the first things the cameraman told Robert was that he had been filming police officers on duty for the past four years. "He knows what it takes to keep the viewers at home happy."
"You're really getting off on this aren't you?" Faith hadn't thought Robert would be the type to go nut when someone put a camera in front of him. Then again, he had always managed to surprise her. "Gotta admit Robbie, never pictured you as the autograph signing type."
"I don't know," Robert was beginning to feel more relaxed despite the presence of the cameraman watching their every movement from his backseat. "I've got a pretty good face, maybe I could still make a name for myself in some of those sappy, far from reality teen movies."
"I'd stick with your day job," Faith quipped.
"Night job," Robert issued a hasty correction.
The powerful light from the camera switched back on as the cameraman decided to, in lack of any action or events, film some more space filler, growing increasingly interested in this Faith woman who was riding in the vehicle. "So, Officer Bloodworth, Ms. Faith, how do the two of you know each other? Old friends?" He assumed based on how comfortable they seemed with each other.
Faith and Robert shared an awkward glance. That wasn't really a story to be shared with him or with the millions of people who could potentially hear it if it ever made it to the air. "Faith, why don't you field that one?" Robert beat her to the opportunity to pass the question off.
She considered for a moment, the best response she could give. Her past was a little too colorful to start giving detailed accounts of their first meeting and the events that caused that meeting to transpire. "He helped me out once," she decided the explanation she devised would suitably enough answer the question without giving too much away. "A while ago, when I was in a lot of trouble and having a hard time pulling myself through some things, he helped me out, when I really needed it. And it's just Faith, not Ms." Something about being addressed as a Ms. Just didn't seem right to her.
"Could you elaborate a little bit?" The cameraman asked, nodding, impressed with the material he was getting from these two so far.
"No," was the resounding answer from both of the people in the front seat. "Real long story," Robert jumped in to salvage the situation. "Real long and too boring of a story to start laying it all out right now."
"Uh-huh," the cameraman conceded, certainly having no place on his limited number of precious video tapes for long and boring stories. "So Ms … " he instantly correct himself. "So Faith, what do you do for a living? Are you pursuing a career in law enforcement?"
"Yeah, that would happen," Faith scoffed. "Just kidding," she recovered. "I'm a counselor at the high school. Law enforcement wouldn't really be my thing though, just out here to spend some quality time with my good old friend." She gave Robert a squeeze on the arm as he turned back onto one of the main roads in town from a side street they had been patrolling.
"And because the two high school girls she lives with are having an all night popcorn, nail painting and teen movie festival," Robert noted the real reason, or at least what he thought was the real reason Faith had taken him up on his offer to ride with him tonight.
"Didn't think I could deal," Faith added.
"PD – 1144," the voice of a female communications officer came loudly through the speaker mounted in the middle of the partition that separated the front and back seats of the patrol unit. The cameraman focused his attention on Robert as he retrieved the black and silver radio microphone from his dash and verified his car radio was set to transmit on the correct channel.
"1144 – PD, go ahead ma'am." He pulled his vehicle off the road and into the slightly lit parking lot of a fast food restaurant before hastily retrieving a pen and notepad to write down whatever information they were preparing to give him.
"1144, need you en-route to 1630 Revello Drive, repeating 1630 Revello Drive," recognizing the address, Robert had dropped his pen back in its place, activated his red and blue emergency lighting and was speeding down the road, his foot firmly seated on the accelerator as the police department dispatch continued to give information. As he neared an intersection with a red light, he activated his siren as well, the noise from it penetrating the car.
"Have a possible break-in at the residence," the more information that came in, the harder his foot pressed the gas pedal. "Received a 911 call one or two minutes ago. Heard a young woman screaming for help and a lot of noise in the background, possible physical disturbance. No answer on callback."
Robert was only minutes away even before dispatch finished giving him the assignment. Carefully negotiating a corner at a speed it wasn't meant to be taken, Robert keyed his microphone to reply. "1144 – PD, clear on your traffic, show us responding code three, estimate about a three to five minute E.T.A., go ahead and have another unit respond as well if you would."
"1129 – 1144," before dispatch could respond and send another officer to backup Robert and Faith, Officer Sloan was contacting him on the radio. In the background, the siren on his vehicle could also be heard. "I'll be en-route to back you up."
"10 – 4 sir, appreciate it," thanking his fellow officer for the assistance, Robert replaced the microphone on its dashboard holder.
"PD – 1129, clear on your traffic, show you en-route to backup 1144 at 1630 Revello Drive," as dispatch finished talking on the radio, Robert glanced at Faith who had retrieved her cellular phone from her back pocket and was hastily dialing a number.
"No answer at the house," she pressed the end button, barely waiting anytime for her first call to disconnect before punching in another number. "Come on Dawn," she muttered, waiting for an answer on Dawn's cellular phone. "Damn," she all but punched the end key on the phone, sliding it back into her pocket.
"Don't worry," Robert's vehicle slid around another corner into the familiar residential area Faith had come to call home over the past few months. "We're almost there," he reassured her. From the look on her face and her overall demeanor, it was no secret she was anxious to arrive. Seeing the concerned expression on her face, he cautiously took one hand off the wheel and squeezed hers with it, a slight smile appearing on her face.
"Officer Bloodworth," with the brief excitement, Robert had forgotten about the cameraman in his backseat, despite the presence of the light from the camera illuminating the front seat of his vehicle. "Could you give us a quick rundown of what's going on before we arrive on scene?"
Now he was beginning to see where the annoying part of having him along came in. "All right," he didn't exactly know what to say. The fact that it was Faith's house not withstanding, this all seemed fairly routine to him. "Right now, we've been dispatched with another officer to a possible disturbance at a residence. Don't have a lot of information at this point," making another sliding turn onto Revello Drive, Robert began to apply the brake, knowing Faith's house was close. "Dispatch advised that there was some screaming and a lot of noise in the background and no answer on call back so we're pretty unclear as to what the situation is at this point." He rolled into the driveway pulling in behind Faith's gray SUV and took his radio microphone off the dashboard. "1144, we'll be 23 on scene." He let the microphone fall to the floor of his car.
Faith already had the passenger door open, her feet hanging out of the vehicle but waited to follow Robert's lead, this was his turf after all. All the lights of the house, both inside and out were turned off, leaving the moon and nearby street lights as their only source of light. Robert rotated the spotlight in front of his door, turned it on and illuminated the front door of the residence. The door was hanging by one hinge with obvious splinters on it and the frame, apparently having been kicked or busted in. Now they were both worried.
"1144," he hastily grabbed the microphone to call dispatch with the new information before he proceeded any further. "Front door of the residence looks as though it's been broken into. Don't see any activity here at the moment, go ahead and show us out of the car here." He reached below the dashboard, near the controls for his overhead lights and retrieved a large black flashlight from its circular charging station, handing it to Faith. "Let's check it out."
They stepped out of the car, slamming their doors. The cameraman was quick behind them, keeping his view focused on Robert and Faith as they cautiously approached the front door of the house. Shining his own smaller flashlight he had taken from the back of his duty belt inside, Robert slowly removed his sidearm from the holster as he tentatively approached the damaged door, peaking his head inside to make sure the immediate entrance way was clear of any potential danger. "1144 – 1129," he keyed the lapel microphone of his handheld radio and contacted his backup unit.
"1129 – 1144, go ahead."
"1129, I've got the front door busted in here. Two story house, I'd like to wait until you arrive to clear it, can you give me an E.T.A.?" Robert knew he had more than suitable backup with Faith present but didn't think it would look good for him to be going into a potentially dangerous situation with only a civilian to back him up.
"Less than a minute," from up the street, coming the opposite direction from the one Robert and Faith arrived by, they could already see the swirling red and blue emergency lighting from Sloan's patrol vehicle. The cameraman panned his heavy, shoulder held camera up the road, getting a picture of the overhead and grill mounted red and blue lights of the approaching vehicle.
"10 – 4 sir, I see you coming, I'll go ahead and wait for you."
"10 – 4," Sloan answered as he parked his vehicle on the sidewalk to avoid blocking in Robert's car incase they needed to quickly get back on the road. "1129 – PD, show me 10-23 with 1144 at 1630 Revello Drive." Officer Sloan, a tall muscular man in his mid-forties with short brown hair exited his vehicle, activating his handheld radio unit and drawing his sidearm from his black leather duty belt. "Break in?" He approached the area near the front door where Robert, Faith and the cameraman had gathered.
"Front door's been busted in," he repeated his summary as the cameraman backed away slightly from the group so as to get a better picture of the two officers as they where meeting. "This is one of the people who lives here," he pointed out Faith. "Good friend of mine, just happened to be riding with me tonight."
"I'm Faith," she decided to be cordial despite feeling that now was not the best time to be doing introductions. She wanted to figure out what was going on.
"Jim Sloan," he walked closer to Robert and gestured towards the front door, readying his own flashlight in his left hand opposite his weapon. "Let's get this done Robert." Robert took point, bringing his weapon into a ready position as he guardedly stepped through the entranceway and into the dwelling. Sloan followed behind him, both officers sweeping their weapons and lights around the first room they stepped into, Faith and the cameraman following them in as well.
Once the entryway was clear, Robert used hand signals to direct Officer Sloan to check upstairs while he and Faith secured the bottom story of the house. As Sloan moved up the stairs, his flashlight and pistol in hand, Robert, Faith and the cameraman moved into the room on the left side of the entryway. As they meticulously swept through the rooms on the bottom story, they saw nothing. Both Robert and Faith became tempted to yell out for Dawn or Kennedy but resisted the urge, knowing it could alert any potential dangers that could be lying in wait.
"Found something!" Sloan's voice carried well enough from the second story of the house for Robert and Faith to here the urgency in it. They broke into a sprint with the cameraman struggling to keep up as they flew up the stairs. When they reached the top of the stairs, they could see the light from Sloan's flashlight emanating from Dawn's bedroom.
When they entered, Officer Sloan was standing over a body laying facedown on the floor, his pistol aimed at the intruder's head. The body was dressed in black robes with a hood covering his head and a curved blade dagger in his left hand. Quickly surveying the rest of the room, Faith took note of damage to the door frame and also observed the window to be shattered. Robert trained his pistol on the figure as Faith reached to the dagger she had concealed underneath her shirt on the small of her back.
Using his leg, Robert pushed the body over, revealing a sight that shocked both Sloan and the cameraman but that Faith barely reacted to. Where the individual's eyes should have been were archaic symbols that seemed as though they were carved into his eye sockets. It also became obvious that whoever this was, he was dead, a small dagger protruding from his neck.
"Crap," Faith muttered, loud enough for the others to hear, as she remembered the events of last year where she had seen enough of these henchmen to last more than a couple life times.
Robert immediately recognized that Faith knew something about this and that it probably wasn't something everyone else needed to be hearing. "Jim, the first floor is clear, you got the rest of the rooms up here?"
"Gotta check one more," he hadn't yet recovered from the shock of seeing the mutilations on the body lying in the floor.
"Why don't you take camera boy with you?" Robert suggested, looking for an easy way to allow him and Faith a moment to talk in private. Not saying anything else, Sloan again readied his weapon as the cameraman followed him out of the bedroom and down the hall. Holstering his sidearm but leaving the thumb break unsecured to allow him quick and easy access if necessary. "You know these guys?" His eyes shot to the dead body on the floor.
"Yeah, too well." Before Robert could ask for one, Faith decided to give a better explanation. "You remember when I told you about the First?"
"Why do I not like where this is going?" Starting to explain how she recognized someone by asking if he remembered a story about the ultimate evil force in the world could not mean good things.
"These guys are some of his, well, some of its goons; called harbingers or bringers as we dislike calling them. Not much in the eyes department but pretty damn good in a fight. I thought they all disappeared when we took the first out a few months ago but looks like I was wrong," of all the things she could be wrong about, Faith had hoped it wouldn't be that. The bringers wouldn't be around if the First wasn't somehow guiding their will.
"You think the First is back somehow?" Robert began to make assumptions.
"Don't see how," Faith shrugged. "But looks like that's the case, I don't think these guys have much of a will of their own. If they're back in town, worse things aren't going to be far behind them." The last battle against the First had nearly killed everyone she cared about, Faith wasn't anxious for another anytime soon.
"Robert!" Officer Sloan's called out to them again from Kennedy's room down the hall from Dawn's. They rushed down the hall where Sloan's gun and the cameraman's camera were both pointed towards another body laying face down on the ground. This body however was not clad in the recognizable uniform of the bringers but in another recognizable choice of clothing, a pair of black jeans and an Obi-Wan Kenobi t-shirt.
"Andrew," not waiting for Robert or Sloan to lower their weapons, Faith dropped to her knees and rolled the young, blonde-haired man over to face her. As he holstered his weapon, Robert gave a silent motion to Officer Sloan to do the same. The Slayer shook the nerd gently until his eyes popped open. He had a bruise on his eye and blood running down the side of his face from a cut on his head.
"Don't it's a trap!" Was the first thing Andrew shouted when he came to and quickly sat up, apparently being awakened from some unrelated dream.
"Andrew!" Faith shook him again to gain his full attention. "Andrew, look at me," his heavy breathing finally ceased as Faith gained his attention and he met eyes with the Slayer. "Andrew what the hell happened here?" Faith thought about the question for a moment. "And what the hell are you doing in my house?"
He hesitated briefly. "Well, I think, if you want to be technical about it, then it's Buffy's house," Faith raised her eyebrows, signaling her dissatisfaction with what he had said so far. "Umm … Dawn and Kennedy, mostly Dawn, asked me if I'd like to come over and have a chick flick night with them," Robert and Sloan could not help but chuckle as Andrew continued with his story. "So, we were sitting around, watching a movie, trading stories about lost loves and memories and," Faith cleared her throat, signaling him to get to the point. "We heard some cars pull up, two beaten up red pickups and an old black van. When the girls saw the bringers getting out of them and comings towards the house, they did everything they could. It was like Xena, Warrior Princess but there were just too many of them. We ran upstairs, tried to hold the bringers off but more came through the windows. The last thing I saw was them taking Dawn and Kennedy, right before they hit me on the head."
"1144," Robert keyed his lapel microphone to contact dispatch with the limited information they now had. The vehicles with the bringers and hopefully Dawn and Kennedy couldn't have gotten far in the small amount of time they had.
"PD – 1144, go ahead sir."
Faith and Andrew continued talking about what happened while Robert spoke on his radio. "Ma'am, dispatch EMS to this location, I have one victim with a possible injury. Also advise all units to be on the lookout for three suspect vehicles. No plates available at this time, vehicles will be two beaten up red trucks and an old black van. Possibility of multiple suspects in each vehicle, should be considered armed and extremely dangerous. Also possibility of two hostages, nothing further at this time."
"There was something else," as he finished his transmission, Robert was again able to listen to Andrew talking to Faith. "I thought it was kind of weird you know. Granted, I haven't spent a whole lot of time around bringers, especially in any sort of a social setting but these bringers, they were talking. Like I said, thought it was kind of weird."
"And they were saying?" Faith continued pressing for information.
"Blood," he answered plainly. "They needed blood."
"Of course," Faith stood up. "It's always blood."
As they stood around silently with no direction for where to go next, a male voice came through the lapel microphones of Robert's and Officer Sloan's handheld radios. "1122 – PD," they recognized the voice as Officer Frank Koch. In the background of his radio transmission, the siren on his vehicle could clearly be heard.
"1122," dispatch answered.
"1122 – PD, I'm in pursuit of three vehicles matching 1144's suspect vehicle description. Traveling northbound on 15th street, approximately seventy-five miles per hour. Attempted a traffic stop and they're running from me. All the vehicles are together right now, unknown number of occupants."
"Go Robert," Sloan jumped in, seeing the expressions on Faith's and Robert's faces, knowing they needed to get out there. "I'll wait here until EMS shows up."
"Thanks Jim," Robert gave his fellow officer a squeeze on the arm before he and Faith bolted down the stairs. Struggling to keep up, the cameraman was following them as quickly as he could.
"Must get footage, must get footage, going to get Emmy," the cameraman continuously repeated to himself as he struggled to catch his breath when he reached the patrol car only a few seconds behind Faith and Robert.
The tires on his car squealed as Robert threw the vehicle into reverse, pulling out of the driveway and activated his siren in addition to emergency lighting as he sped down the road. "1144 – PD, we'll be en-route to backup 1122 on the pursuit."
"1020 en-route as well," Sergeant Myers was next over the radio.
"1122 to 1020 and 1144, we're still north on 15th."
"1020 to all available units, start moving to backup 1122 and deploy barricades to block the pursuit once we have a more clear direction of where they may be headed. 1020 – PD, close the radio channel for emergency traffic only."
"10 – 4," dispatch acknowledged.
As Robert acknowledged over the radio, Faith had pulled her cellular phone out of her back pocket and was quickly dialing another number. Robert didn't bother to ask, too focused on his driving. The cameraman however, aside from filming, didn't have anything quite so important as to divert his attention. "Who are you calling?"
"Some backup of my own."
***
Spike struck the face of the Cult of the Everlasting vampire with a clenched fist. Instead of falling backwards after the beating, he stood still, Spike grasping the vampire's arm and wrenching his sword away from him. With the weapon in his hand, Spike released his hold on the enemy and kicked him in the chest, sending him crashing into a tree.
Instead of advancing on the first cultist, Spike spun around, swinging the sword and severing the head of another one that was coming up behind him. A cloud of dust appeared and fell to the ground as Spike closed on the first attacker, who had recovered from his impact against the try and was charging the blonde vampire. He ducked under two high punches thrown by the enemy, smashing his own fist into the cultists' stomach.
"Don't tell me Barris hasn't put out the memo yet," as the cultists charged him again, Spike swung the sword, severing his head. "But I'm back," Spike let the sword fall, impaling itself in the ground on top of the pile of dust that was once its owner. "Meaning all of you cultist types had better pack up and find some better place for your evil plans. Because the Slayer and I," reaching into his coat, he pulled out a stake and jammed it behind him, into the heart of another cultist that was trying to surprise him. "Are going to make you sorry for ever stepping foot in his town."
Spike heard a strange ringing noise coming from his coat pocket. It took him a moment to remember about the new cellular phone Faith had asked him to carry. Something about a vampire being equipped with some of the latest communications technology just seemed strange to him. He pulled the small, silver phone from the inner pocket of his trench coat. The blue backlight display with black letters only had two words, one above the other. "Ringing" and "Faith".
GO TO ACT TWO