"Yeah," Pike said. "This should be about where it is."
"Didn't he say that the last three times?" Gunn asked.
"Hey, I'm doing this from memory here," Pike said. "Gimme a break, all these caves look alike."
"I smell blood," Angel said.
"That's a good thing, right?" Buffy asked. "Like, this could be the right way?"
"Yeah," Angel said. "Or, somebody's back here dying."
"Or maybe already dead," Spike said. "I think I can drink from them if they're dead."
The entire group stopped and looked at him.
"What!" he said. "It's not like it would hurt anybody! They're already dead."
"You're disgusting," said Buffy.
"Come," Giles said. "We have little time."
"Right," said Pike. He ducked his head under a low ceiling and led the group further into the caves, through a series of short turns and down a small decline. And right to a large steel door.
"Here we are," he said.
"Everybody ready?" Faith asked.
A round of nods, and Pike swung the door open. The door seemed to be set half-way up the wall of a room with two other exits. Inside the room were what looked like eight autopsy tables. None of them were filled.
"Thought you said Forrest was in here," Faith said as the large group dropped into the room.
"He was," Spike said.
"He's not, now," Faith said.
"Noticed that, did you?" Spike asked. "I couldn't tell by all these empty tables. Maybe they moved the chump."
"Maybe the chump moved himself."
Everybody turned to see Forrest – or what used to be Forrest – standing at the other entrance to the room. While still recognizable, the being that now used his body had demon parts grafted onto its arms, and replacing the top of its head. Giles, Wesley, Pike and Davis brought their guns to bear. Faith stepped in front of them.
"This fucker's mine," she growled.
"Bring it on, slut," Forrest growled. "I've wanted to beat you ever since you corrupted Riley."
Faith leapt at the monster and landed a quick series of powerful blows, staggering it, before being knocked back by a returned punch.
"Not as big or bad as your older brother, are you?" Faith asked. She held her hand out and was rewarded as Buffy placed a sword in it. "I'm not about to let you continue desecrating Forrest's body like that," she said.
"And I'm not about to let you past me," Forrest said.
"Take care of the sword," Buffy said. "That's the good one. We'll find a way around." Faith nodded shortly. Once the rest of the group had left, she looked back to Forrest.
"Let's go," she said.
The two leapt at each other.
* * * * *
"Here's the comm. room," Davis said. He tried the door and found it locked.
"Rodriguez, we're just outside," Davis said into his radio. "Open the door."
{One second} came the reply.
A moment later, something clanged behind the door, and it swung inwards to reveal a short young man wearing glasses, and holding his pistol up at the group.
"Put that away," Davis said as he strode into the room, the others following close behind. "Okay, everybody ready?"
Buffy passed weapons out to everybody, then grabbed one for herself.
"I think we're good to go," she said.
"What did you mean, 'take care of the sword?'" Angel asked.
"That was Lancelot's sword," Buffy said. "I want it back when she's done."
"No 'be careful?'" asked Gunn.
"She'll be fine," said Buffy. "Faith's tough."
"Rodriguez, I need you to stay here as rear guard," Davis said as Pike handed the man one of the spare assault rifles he had brought. "If Faith comes by here, point her in the direction of the action."
"You got more of these radios?" Pike asked.
Rodriguez pointed towards a shelf holding a half-dozen hand-held units. Pike moved over and started handing them out.
"Who's Faith?" Rodriguez asked. "How will I know her?"
"Well, there won't be a lot of girls coming this way," Davis said.
"Yeah, but if you get confused," Pike said as he handed Giles a radio unit and clipped one to his own belt, "think of the way you really want a girl to look, in your best dreams. That's Faith."
"You've certainly got a high opinion," Buffy said as they walked off towards the main Initiative compound.
"I know good work when I see it," said Pike.
The group walked down the hall, Buffy and Davis in front, Giles and Wesley bringing up the rear. They passed the holding cells – all empty. A few bodies were lying in the hall, some obviously dead, others not so obvious, but dead nonetheless. As they approached the central room of the compound, they could easily hear the distinctive report of gunfire.
"Guns up front," Davis said when they reached the final door between them and the main room.
Pike, Giles and Wesley moved to join Davis at the front of the group. Davis steeled himself, then flung the door open. He was met with a scene of chaos.
Soldiers were scattered about the huge room, apparently having fortified a few small places. As they watched, demons and men were cut down left and right. An explosion rocked the compound, causing demon parts to fly skyward as a grenade went off in their midst.
Standing in the middle of the room, bullets ricocheting off his torso at random intervals, was Adam, orchestrating concentrated demon attacks at the soldiers' positions.
Graham seemed to have taken Riley's advice to heart, and he was commanding a group of his men who defended a large supply of ammunition. The soldiers were holding out better than they had any right to. They were ready, with guns, ammo, grenades, almost everything in their arsenal that could be used for close combat was in use.
Despite that, it was easy to see that the soldiers were losing.
The four gunmen quickly cleared out an area in front of the door, and the melee group went to work. Angel and Spike worked in tandem, falling easily – too easily, to Angel's mind – into old patterns. Gunn moved around the front of the four-man rifle arc, beheading some demons, hamstringing others, but sticking close and picking off any demons that got too close.
Buffy threw one punch, then had to back away. She felt the process begin. She felt the power begin to leak into her. Stepping back behind Giles and Pike, Buffy fell to the floor breathing hard. Her eyes began to glow white and the air around her crackled with power.
"Rupert," Wesley said after sparing a glance behind him. "Is that what is supposed to happen?"
Giles looked back for a moment and saw white-eyed, air-crackling Buffy rose up on her knees. Her arms flung down to her sides and behind her, her chest surged forward as she gasped for air. She fell to the ground once more, an energy shield clearly visible around her body.
"Yes," Giles said as he shot a demon through the head. "I do believe the spell has worked."
Buffy picked up her sword in her off hand and stood. She walked between Giles and Pike and punched the first demon she saw right in the head. It flew backwards across the room, bounced off a stair railing and rolled to a stop next to a startled soldier.
The rest of the body fell to the ground.
Like a shadow, Buffy moved through the horde of demons, cutting down some, avoiding others completely, but always moving towards Adam. Adam turned to watch her approach, gauging her speed and strength the entire time.
"You have improved," he said when she was finally in front of him. "Almost exponentially, it would seem."
"What can I say?" Buffy asked with a smile. "My boyfriend loves me."
Adam smiled and waved her forward. Buffy set her feet, then leapt.
* * * * *
Riley sighed and looked at his watch. Then he looked at his hand and shook his head.
"Go fish," he said.
Cordelia grunted and drew a card from the pile.
"Have any nines?" Riley asked of Willow. The redheaded wicca shook her head.
"Go fish," she said.
"Your turn," Cordelia said.
Willow smiled and looked at Amy as though she were prey.
"Do you have any sixes?" Willow asked.
Amy sighed and handed over the card.
Riley sighed again.
Then Cordelia screamed.
* * * * *
Kick. Slash. Parry. Thrust. Parry. Kick.
These words flew through Faith's mind, and her body reacted almost as quickly. She noted the tables, the walls, the hanging lights, and the medical equipment. She noted the distance between the tables, and which tables' wheels were locked. She knew where the doors were, and how far she was from each of them. She knew how fast her opponent was, how strong he was, and had by now figured out how he liked to fight.
Despite all that, she was losing. Slowly, but surely, the thing that had taken Forrest's body had gained the upper hand.
Parry. Thrust. Kick. Faith sliced open Forrest's arm causing a viscous fluid to leak out.
"What the hell are you?" she asked. Her clothes were bloody from the beating she had been taking. Her shirt was ripped across her upper torso, her left eye black. Her leg was hobbled where Forrest hand landed a solid kick.
"Better than you," it said. Forrest lashed out and smacked Faith hard across the face, opening her lip. She back-flipped to gain some distance, at the same time landing a powerful kick to Forrest's chin. Forrest backed up a couple of steps, reached down and picked up a few tools from the medical tray.
Forrest turned to face Faith, a snarling grin on his face. Faith held the sword in front of her defensively, breathing heavily. Forrest flung the first instrument at her. Too late, Faith dodged out of the way as best she could, but the small, two-pronged fork imbedded itself in her wrist.
She ripped the fork from her arm and flung it ineffectively back at Forrest, who swatted it away. Next came the scalpel, thrown with pinpoint accuracy into her thigh.
Faith screamed in pain as she felt the knife slice into her muscle. Forrest picked up one more instrument: a bone saw.
Faith limped away from him as best she could, pulling the scalpel from her leg as she moved. Forrest reached back to hurl the bone saw towards her, when his attention shifted for a second. Forrest grinned and shifted his aim as well. Without thinking, Faith hurled her sword at Forrest with all the strength she could muster, knowing this might be her last chance to take him down. As she watched, Forrest released the bone saw, then turned his eyes back to Faith. His surprise barely had time to register before the sword flew into his throat severing his head and spewing blood over the room.
Faith looked up to see what had distracted Forrest and saw Riley standing there, a bone saw protruding from his stomach, a shocked Willow standing over him. Her pain forgotten, Faith jumped up to the ledge and leaned over Riley.
"Oh my God, Riley? Riley, can you hear me?" she asked, tears coming to her eyes.
Riley looked at his stomach, then up at Faith. "I l... love..." he croaked before slumping to the floor, still.
"Riley!" Faith yelled. "RILEY!" Faith looked up at Willow.
"Xander," Faith said, through her tears. "We have to get him to Xander."
"He... he's unconscious. Buffy has all his power," Willow said, her voice tender and face concerned.
Faith looked up at Willow, ferocity in her eyes and across her face. Her eyes glinted with rage and a single word left her lips as she sprinted off into the depths of the Initiative: "Walsh."
----------
End Chapter 32
"Didn't he say that the last three times?" Gunn asked.
"Hey, I'm doing this from memory here," Pike said. "Gimme a break, all these caves look alike."
"I smell blood," Angel said.
"That's a good thing, right?" Buffy asked. "Like, this could be the right way?"
"Yeah," Angel said. "Or, somebody's back here dying."
"Or maybe already dead," Spike said. "I think I can drink from them if they're dead."
The entire group stopped and looked at him.
"What!" he said. "It's not like it would hurt anybody! They're already dead."
"You're disgusting," said Buffy.
"Come," Giles said. "We have little time."
"Right," said Pike. He ducked his head under a low ceiling and led the group further into the caves, through a series of short turns and down a small decline. And right to a large steel door.
"Here we are," he said.
"Everybody ready?" Faith asked.
A round of nods, and Pike swung the door open. The door seemed to be set half-way up the wall of a room with two other exits. Inside the room were what looked like eight autopsy tables. None of them were filled.
"Thought you said Forrest was in here," Faith said as the large group dropped into the room.
"He was," Spike said.
"He's not, now," Faith said.
"Noticed that, did you?" Spike asked. "I couldn't tell by all these empty tables. Maybe they moved the chump."
"Maybe the chump moved himself."
Everybody turned to see Forrest – or what used to be Forrest – standing at the other entrance to the room. While still recognizable, the being that now used his body had demon parts grafted onto its arms, and replacing the top of its head. Giles, Wesley, Pike and Davis brought their guns to bear. Faith stepped in front of them.
"This fucker's mine," she growled.
"Bring it on, slut," Forrest growled. "I've wanted to beat you ever since you corrupted Riley."
Faith leapt at the monster and landed a quick series of powerful blows, staggering it, before being knocked back by a returned punch.
"Not as big or bad as your older brother, are you?" Faith asked. She held her hand out and was rewarded as Buffy placed a sword in it. "I'm not about to let you continue desecrating Forrest's body like that," she said.
"And I'm not about to let you past me," Forrest said.
"Take care of the sword," Buffy said. "That's the good one. We'll find a way around." Faith nodded shortly. Once the rest of the group had left, she looked back to Forrest.
"Let's go," she said.
The two leapt at each other.
* * * * *
"Here's the comm. room," Davis said. He tried the door and found it locked.
"Rodriguez, we're just outside," Davis said into his radio. "Open the door."
{One second} came the reply.
A moment later, something clanged behind the door, and it swung inwards to reveal a short young man wearing glasses, and holding his pistol up at the group.
"Put that away," Davis said as he strode into the room, the others following close behind. "Okay, everybody ready?"
Buffy passed weapons out to everybody, then grabbed one for herself.
"I think we're good to go," she said.
"What did you mean, 'take care of the sword?'" Angel asked.
"That was Lancelot's sword," Buffy said. "I want it back when she's done."
"No 'be careful?'" asked Gunn.
"She'll be fine," said Buffy. "Faith's tough."
"Rodriguez, I need you to stay here as rear guard," Davis said as Pike handed the man one of the spare assault rifles he had brought. "If Faith comes by here, point her in the direction of the action."
"You got more of these radios?" Pike asked.
Rodriguez pointed towards a shelf holding a half-dozen hand-held units. Pike moved over and started handing them out.
"Who's Faith?" Rodriguez asked. "How will I know her?"
"Well, there won't be a lot of girls coming this way," Davis said.
"Yeah, but if you get confused," Pike said as he handed Giles a radio unit and clipped one to his own belt, "think of the way you really want a girl to look, in your best dreams. That's Faith."
"You've certainly got a high opinion," Buffy said as they walked off towards the main Initiative compound.
"I know good work when I see it," said Pike.
The group walked down the hall, Buffy and Davis in front, Giles and Wesley bringing up the rear. They passed the holding cells – all empty. A few bodies were lying in the hall, some obviously dead, others not so obvious, but dead nonetheless. As they approached the central room of the compound, they could easily hear the distinctive report of gunfire.
"Guns up front," Davis said when they reached the final door between them and the main room.
Pike, Giles and Wesley moved to join Davis at the front of the group. Davis steeled himself, then flung the door open. He was met with a scene of chaos.
Soldiers were scattered about the huge room, apparently having fortified a few small places. As they watched, demons and men were cut down left and right. An explosion rocked the compound, causing demon parts to fly skyward as a grenade went off in their midst.
Standing in the middle of the room, bullets ricocheting off his torso at random intervals, was Adam, orchestrating concentrated demon attacks at the soldiers' positions.
Graham seemed to have taken Riley's advice to heart, and he was commanding a group of his men who defended a large supply of ammunition. The soldiers were holding out better than they had any right to. They were ready, with guns, ammo, grenades, almost everything in their arsenal that could be used for close combat was in use.
Despite that, it was easy to see that the soldiers were losing.
The four gunmen quickly cleared out an area in front of the door, and the melee group went to work. Angel and Spike worked in tandem, falling easily – too easily, to Angel's mind – into old patterns. Gunn moved around the front of the four-man rifle arc, beheading some demons, hamstringing others, but sticking close and picking off any demons that got too close.
Buffy threw one punch, then had to back away. She felt the process begin. She felt the power begin to leak into her. Stepping back behind Giles and Pike, Buffy fell to the floor breathing hard. Her eyes began to glow white and the air around her crackled with power.
"Rupert," Wesley said after sparing a glance behind him. "Is that what is supposed to happen?"
Giles looked back for a moment and saw white-eyed, air-crackling Buffy rose up on her knees. Her arms flung down to her sides and behind her, her chest surged forward as she gasped for air. She fell to the ground once more, an energy shield clearly visible around her body.
"Yes," Giles said as he shot a demon through the head. "I do believe the spell has worked."
Buffy picked up her sword in her off hand and stood. She walked between Giles and Pike and punched the first demon she saw right in the head. It flew backwards across the room, bounced off a stair railing and rolled to a stop next to a startled soldier.
The rest of the body fell to the ground.
Like a shadow, Buffy moved through the horde of demons, cutting down some, avoiding others completely, but always moving towards Adam. Adam turned to watch her approach, gauging her speed and strength the entire time.
"You have improved," he said when she was finally in front of him. "Almost exponentially, it would seem."
"What can I say?" Buffy asked with a smile. "My boyfriend loves me."
Adam smiled and waved her forward. Buffy set her feet, then leapt.
* * * * *
Riley sighed and looked at his watch. Then he looked at his hand and shook his head.
"Go fish," he said.
Cordelia grunted and drew a card from the pile.
"Have any nines?" Riley asked of Willow. The redheaded wicca shook her head.
"Go fish," she said.
"Your turn," Cordelia said.
Willow smiled and looked at Amy as though she were prey.
"Do you have any sixes?" Willow asked.
Amy sighed and handed over the card.
Riley sighed again.
Then Cordelia screamed.
* * * * *
Kick. Slash. Parry. Thrust. Parry. Kick.
These words flew through Faith's mind, and her body reacted almost as quickly. She noted the tables, the walls, the hanging lights, and the medical equipment. She noted the distance between the tables, and which tables' wheels were locked. She knew where the doors were, and how far she was from each of them. She knew how fast her opponent was, how strong he was, and had by now figured out how he liked to fight.
Despite all that, she was losing. Slowly, but surely, the thing that had taken Forrest's body had gained the upper hand.
Parry. Thrust. Kick. Faith sliced open Forrest's arm causing a viscous fluid to leak out.
"What the hell are you?" she asked. Her clothes were bloody from the beating she had been taking. Her shirt was ripped across her upper torso, her left eye black. Her leg was hobbled where Forrest hand landed a solid kick.
"Better than you," it said. Forrest lashed out and smacked Faith hard across the face, opening her lip. She back-flipped to gain some distance, at the same time landing a powerful kick to Forrest's chin. Forrest backed up a couple of steps, reached down and picked up a few tools from the medical tray.
Forrest turned to face Faith, a snarling grin on his face. Faith held the sword in front of her defensively, breathing heavily. Forrest flung the first instrument at her. Too late, Faith dodged out of the way as best she could, but the small, two-pronged fork imbedded itself in her wrist.
She ripped the fork from her arm and flung it ineffectively back at Forrest, who swatted it away. Next came the scalpel, thrown with pinpoint accuracy into her thigh.
Faith screamed in pain as she felt the knife slice into her muscle. Forrest picked up one more instrument: a bone saw.
Faith limped away from him as best she could, pulling the scalpel from her leg as she moved. Forrest reached back to hurl the bone saw towards her, when his attention shifted for a second. Forrest grinned and shifted his aim as well. Without thinking, Faith hurled her sword at Forrest with all the strength she could muster, knowing this might be her last chance to take him down. As she watched, Forrest released the bone saw, then turned his eyes back to Faith. His surprise barely had time to register before the sword flew into his throat severing his head and spewing blood over the room.
Faith looked up to see what had distracted Forrest and saw Riley standing there, a bone saw protruding from his stomach, a shocked Willow standing over him. Her pain forgotten, Faith jumped up to the ledge and leaned over Riley.
"Oh my God, Riley? Riley, can you hear me?" she asked, tears coming to her eyes.
Riley looked at his stomach, then up at Faith. "I l... love..." he croaked before slumping to the floor, still.
"Riley!" Faith yelled. "RILEY!" Faith looked up at Willow.
"Xander," Faith said, through her tears. "We have to get him to Xander."
"He... he's unconscious. Buffy has all his power," Willow said, her voice tender and face concerned.
Faith looked up at Willow, ferocity in her eyes and across her face. Her eyes glinted with rage and a single word left her lips as she sprinted off into the depths of the Initiative: "Walsh."
----------
End Chapter 32
