Lou and Vic, all vamped out, walk south. The Harbor Freeway is on their left, and the harbor is on their right. Vic walks up to the door of an abandoned storage shed and loudly knocks three times. "Housewarming!," he yells out before stepping back. One-by-one six vampires emerge, hoping it's something to eat. They're disappointed to see it's only two of their own kind. Vic takes a quick peek inside before walking back to Lou and standing a few feet to his right. The six vampires stand in a line fifteen feet away. "Looks like you folks are thinking of nesting," Vic tells them.
"So what?," one of the vampires asks.
"I didn't see your name on this lair," another one adds. Vic and Lou laugh.
"Sorry," Lou responds. "We got real cribs. But that's not the point. We ain't mad because you're in this shack. Or because you're at the docks. We're upset because you're in this city."
Lou and Vic hold up their right fists so the vampires can see the branding mark on the backs of their hands. "Vampire wants to live in this city, he's gotta be wearing one of these," Vic explains.
"Very funny," a vampire responds. The six of them laugh.
"Are they refusing to take us seriously?," Vic asks Lou.
"I believe they are," Lou responds before looking back at the new arrivals. "I'm guessin' ya'al are from Sunnydale."
"Then you two should know better than to try to give the six of us the bum rush."
Another one jumps into the conversation. "We've had to deal with the Slayer. You two wannabe playas don't even begin to scare us."
"I'm thinking you haven't dealt with that Slayer," Vic responds. "I'm thinking you ran and hid. You know why?"
Lou answers his question. "Because every Sunnydale vamp who's gone at it with that Slayer ends up dead, or screwed. Either she sticks you, or you stick her. Now you boys ain't dust, and you too ugly to get screwed."
"Only the cowards made it out of that one Blood Bank town," Vic tells them. "That means you fellas are used to running. So do it again. Leave our town, or you'll never get the chance to bite again."
The half-dozen vamps decide to make quick work of these big city braggarts. Lou hits one vampire with a left hook, another with a right roundhouse kick, and a third with a straight left kick to the chin. Vic hits the vampire in front of him with a leaping left kick to the chest. Another vamp comes at him from the right and throws a right hook. Vic ducks, grabs the guy and flips him on his back. A third vampire lands a right cross to his face. Vic blocks a right hook and lands two right jabs and a left uppercut. The vampire staggers backwards but stays on his feet. Vic leaps at him and stakes him. Then he turns and knocks an opponent down with a left reverse kick. Meanwhile, Lou blocks a right hook, ducks a left cross and lands three quick left jabs and a right hook. A vampire comes at him from his left and tries a right hook kick. Lou ducks and sweeps out the vamp's left leg. When he falls on his back, Lou reaches down and stakes him. A third attacker pounds Lou in the back, putting him on his knees. Lou grabs the vampire's left ankle with his left hand and pulls it up in the air, causing the vampire to fall. His other attacker decides to join in the fight against Vic. He's now surrounded by three enemies. But before they can do any damage, Lou runs over and stakes the runaway vampire in the back. Vic smiles. "By now you boys must really be missing Sunnydale."
Lou's one remaining attacker grabs him from behind and tosses him to the ground. Vic carefully watches the vampire in front of him as well as the one behind him. He turns sideways so one is to his left and the other is to his right. The one to his left tries a straight right kick. Vic grabs his foot and spins him in the air. When he falls, his friend lands a left hook kick to the right side of Vic's face. He tries a right roundhouse kick. Vic ducks under it, slides behind the vampire and stakes him in the back before this unfortunate opponent could find him. Twenty feet to Victor's left, Louis rolls along the ground and gets up. His opponent lands a left jab to his nose. He responds with two quick right jabs to the face and a left uppercut to the stomach. Lou follows this up with a whirling right roundhouse kick, knocking the vampire on his back. Lou grabs the guy's shirt with his left hand and takes his stake in his right hand. "Let's get one thing straight," Lou says to his hapless opponent. "We bad. You dust." Lou stakes him. The last vampire runs at Vic, knocks him down with a left clothesline and keeps sprinting north. Vic gets up. He's got four inches on this fellow, and his legs are very long. The vampire doesn't get eighty feet before Vic's tackled and staked him. He walks back to Lou. They do high and low-fives, and are clearly proud of their impressive performance. Then the two of them see a tall, tanned man with a blonde ponytail walking towards them. He wears an expensive blue suit and a gray collarless shirt. The vampires smile and drop their stakes.
"Killing the competition," Clayton says to them as he approaches. "You two have the makings of good monopolists."
"And you have the makings of a good snack," Vic responds. Clayton steps to within six feet of them.
"Two fierce vampires like yourselves. All alone with me on a dark, deserted street. I should be shaking in my Guccis. Do I look like I'm shaking?" Lou and Vic look around, trying to spot an ambush. "I said I was alone. And I am. So you can try to kill me. But that might upset my employer. A little outfit you may have heard of called Wolfram & Hart."
"You want us to work for you?," Vic asks.
"I'd like you to let me work for you."
"And we'd do this why?," Lou wonders. "So your winning ways can rub off on us?" Lou and Vic laugh. Wolfram & Hart's image has taken a serious beating since Angel came to town.
"Like a ballplayer leaving the Yankees and joining the Red Sox so he can win a World Series," Vic adds.
"You think we're stupid?," Lou asks Clayton.
"No. I think you're alone. With Mal gone, the two of you are technically in charge. But the captains have all the vampires. They rebel, and you have no forces of your own for putting them down. Where's your power base?"
"We have all the money," Lou tells him.
"The gangs, the clubs, they pay you – for now, at least. But what if the capos try to take over the rackets in their territory? Who are the humans going to be afraid of - the two of you halfway across town, or fifty vampires right in their neighborhood? Right now, you're just figureheads surviving on reputation. Pretty soon, someone is going to challenge that reputation. Then someone else. It can crumble very fast. Unless you have leverage. And that, gentlemen, is what I am offering."
"Doesn't make sense," Vic responds. "They want a bigger take, why don't they just move to another city?"
"Colonization will delay a civil war, but it won't prevent it. Say half your men leave for greener pastures. That still leaves two hundred and fifty vampires, with five captains, each one trying to grab a little bit more to make his men happy. And God forbid they unite behind a single leader. Then the two of your are obsolete."
"A captain's just popular with his own vampires," Lou explains. "We got fans in all the crews. No way one of them can blow up bigger than either of us."
"Unless he had help."
"Is that a threat?," Vic queries. Both of them growl at Clayton.
"More like a warning. Wolfram & Hart has enough resources to put any one of your underlings over the top. We came to you first. We will go to them next. And if one, if just one out of ten says yes, the two of you will be seriously compromised. Let me help you. I like to work for the best. You say no, I won't have that chance. And then we all lose." Clayton flicks a business card at Vic, then one at Lou. They snatch them out of the air. He turns around and calmly walks away. The two vampire watch Clay head south. Then they inspect the cards.
"Looks legit to me," Vic tells Lou.
"Then I guess it wouldn't do us any good to kill him. I thought that Devil Demon killed everyone over there."
"No. Just turned them into zombies. And he undid it when he left the building. Most of them survived. As long as they kept their heads."
"How do you know so much?," Lou asks suspiciously.
"Got a friend who works in accounting."
"A vampire friend?"
"Yeah. He was a C.P.A. before he got sired. Started working for them afterwards. They're quite understanding of his particular disability."
"A vampire with a day job. That's lame."
"He likes the good life. Big apartment. Nice clothes. Lakers tickets. And he's not very tough. Without his job, he'd be a mid-level minion squatting in an abandoned building."
"Did he turn into a zombie? I don't see how that's possible."
"It's not. But he hid in an air shaft, just in case super-demon wanted to crush his neck and turn him into dust."
"Can your friend tell us anything about this guy?"
"Probably not. Each department is like a separate fiefdom. I doubt he knows any lawyers." The two of them walk north.
"I can't believe this," Louis declares. "Either you're with us, or we'll be against you. And it's probably not just a bluff."
"It's a Prisoner's Dilemma," Victor concludes.
"Say what? We ain't nobody's prisoners."
"It's a term from Game Theory."
"That one of those fancy things you learned in college?"
"Yes. But it's not fancy. Just common sense, really. Imagine two guys get arrested. The police put them in separate rooms. Now the cops got no evidence on either of them. But they think they're both guilty. Only way they can get a conviction is to make one of them talk. Neither guy confesses, they both walk. One guy confesses, he gets five years and the other guy gets twenty. They both confess, and they both get ten. What happens?"
"Depends how much they trust each other."
"Exactly. If you know your partner's not talking, then you don't talk. But if you have doubts, you squeal. Because if he squeals, and you don't, you're going away for a long time."
"That's how this lawyer thinks he'll work us."
"Looks that way. If everyone turns him down, we're all better off. But if someone says yes, that guy ultimately suffers, but we get hurt a lot more."
"So we say yes to make sure no one else can say yes. Even though we know it's gonna cut into our business."
"Think of it as insurance."
"Everyone's ripping off someone," Lou laments. He receives protection money from people to keep them safe from the lower-level vampires, and now this lawyer wants the equivalent of protection money – to keep Lou and Vic safe from those very same vampires.
"I don't see what's wrong with giving a little money away," Vic responds. "It's not as if we really earned it." The two of them laugh. Obviously, Wolfram & Hart have no need for their petty cash. But the firm will extract some sort of price.
Graham's talking with Faith. Sam's chatting with Xander, Anya and Dawn. Kelly talks with Giles and Spike. And Buffy's in her room with Riley.
"You seem better," he tells her. "I know how stupid that sounds, on account of everything falling apart around you. But you do."
"Circle of life. Something's always falling to pieces. RIght now, it's the town. Lucky me," she adds with a tinge of dark sarcasm.
"I can tell things have been tough for you and your friends."
"Things are always tough."
"I know. But you always have a way of coming out of top, no matter what they throw at you."
"Obviously you haven't met Nina."
"I remember Glory."
"This time, the big bad girl doesn't want to do any fancy rituals. Or feed off people's sanity. She just wants to kill all of us."
"A hired assassin."
"One who really loves to get her hands dirty."
"So she has no personal stake in this? No burning motivation?"
"No. She lived through an apocalypse. She saw her family die. Now, she just goes from world to world, making everyone suffer like she did. Making us feel her pain. Empathy in the name of evil."
"I meant, she has no one to fight for. Not even herself. I know how important it is to have someone to fight for."
"What she lacks in motivation she more than makes up for in indestructibility."
"Adam was indestructible once."
"He wouldn't have been if he met Nina."
"So what? It's not about power."
"You really have been gone a long time," Buffy responds to this ridiculous-sounding statement.
"Some things never change. Like your greatness. You don't win because of how hard you hit. You win because of your heart. Slayers all get the same strength. There's a reason you're special. Why you're better than the rest of them. And it's got nothing to do with brute force."
Buffy pauses for a few seconds, the looks stunned. "That's just what Angel said."
"Ouch. That cuts deep."
"I didn't mean it as an insult."
"Oh. Then it cuts even deeper."
"Course, if two people who are that different both come to the same conclusion, I suppose it has to be some truth to it."
"How are you and Faith getting along?"
"So that's how it works. I make you wig out, you return the favor?"
"I'm serious. Last time you two got together, she tried to steal your life. Wouldn't blame you if you didn't exactly welcome her back with open arms."
"Time, and the fact that right now I need all the help I can get, went a long way to healing those old wounds. Plus, we have a lot in common. Like a whole bunch of really scary mortal enemies."
"War does make strange bedfellows."
"Let's not go completely over the edge."
"I meant it as a metaphor."
"I-I know. But you could have picked one with a little less in the way of scary imagery." Both of them really want to switch gears. "So," Buffy says before talking a deep breath. "How are you and Sam doing?"
"We're doing good. Constant traveling and frequent near-death situations help keep the spark in our romance. I guess I shouldn't tout our marital bliss too much."
"No, no. I don't mind. I'm glad you're happy. Right now, I really don't feel the need for a relationship. I have too much else to worry about."
"I noticed. So you and Spike aren't -? . . . Not that it's any of my business to ask. Forget about it. I should probably be going back out there to see how Sam's doing. It was great talking to you, Buffy. It always is. Remember what a said. About your heart. Something tells me that's how you'll win this one."
"As long as she doesn't rip it out first." That causes Riley to stop and shudder before leaving the room. Buffy emerges a few seconds later. Spike's chatting up Kelly about her fights with Angelus and his crew.
"You put it in his mouth? Bloody brilliant! Pity I couldn't be there to see that."
"Think of it this way, Spike. If you had tried to bite me, maybe you could have lived it." This brings a smile to Giles's face. And a grin to Spike's. To him, this sort of banter qualifies as flirting.
"An Oscan Bulla," Giles says, referring to what Angelus was wearing to prevent ensoulment. "Is that what you took away from him?"
"That's what Wesley called it. Have you talked to him, lately?" Naturally, Kelly wanted to focus on her boyfriend, someone neither Spike nor Giles wanted to chat about.
"A few times. He keeps me abreast of developments in Los Angeles that could have ramifications in Sunnydale. But we really aren't close. Never were, in fact." This was his way of steering her away from quizzing him about Wesley. "Now an Oscan Bulla was considered to be an exceptionally rare item even in Roman Imperial times. I can't even begin to imagine how difficult it must be to find one in this day and age. Did Angel mention how he procured the item?"
"I don't know. Guess you'd have to ask Wesley." With everything else that was going on, Wesley forgot to ask. So no one else knows that it came from Wolfram & Hart. Clearly, Rupert is right to wonder about its provenance. Riley comes up to Kelly. She looks at her watch. "Hey, it's been great, but we gotta go."
Graham had been talking to Faith about Angel's friends, since they'd both worked with the three of them.
"I had no idea Wesley was such a loser," Graham tells her. "Hard to imagine him as the type who'd scream and cower in the face of danger."
"My take is, once he stopped being a Watcher, he had to learn how to stick up for himself. Couldn't hide behind chicks anymore."
"He could always hide behind Fred," Graham jokes.
"Not if he wants to impress her."
"You mean he likes her?"
"He did. I got the idea Gunn and the two of them had something of love triangle goin' on."
"They dated her?"
"Just Gunn. She never went for Wes."
"Are they still going out? Because they didn't seem very together when I was with them."
"They were history before I got there. Why do you care?" Faith grins. "You got the hots for her!"
Graham looks around nervously. "Faith, keep it down. I just think, you know, she's an amazing woman. Fights demons. But without your strength. Or my weapons."
"Graham's got a crush."
"It's not like that. I was only curious because, well, Fred's a beautiful woman, and all the beautiful women I know are with someone. Like how you're with Lindsey."
"That's sweet," Faith replies with a smile. He knew he could charm her into switching the subject. "From the looks of it, I would never have guessed that you're such a sensitive guy."
This makes Graham embarrassed. "Oh. You meant that as a good thing. Just don't go spreading the word."
"You know Buffy, don't know?,"
"Yeah. Why?"
"She doesn't have a boyfriend."
"So?"
"So, you said that none of the hot chicks you know are single and -," Faith stops talking and laughs. "I swear, if it wasn't for Lindsey, I'd just throw you onto my bed right now." She pats him on the shoulder. "It's been great talking to you, Graham."
"Yeah. Same here," a breathless Graham responds before joining the others – once his knees stop buckling. A complete lack of interest in Buffy is definitely one of Faith's bigger turn-ons. As the four of them say goodbye, and Spike asks Kelly to check into the blood situation for him, Andrew picks up the phone. For the first time, there is a dial tone.
"It's working!," he announces. Dawn runs over and yanks it out of his hand. "Hey!!"
"Come on, Andrew. Who were you going to call?"
"And who would you be calling?," Anya asks rhetorical. "Let me take one guess."
"I'm going to try to call Kit. And Carlos. They just got kicked out of their homes. I'm sure they're pretty freaked. And in need of explanation."
"Nice try," Faith says before walking up and grabbing the receiver. Dawn refuses to let go.
"Buffy!," Dawn whines.
"You're a big girl now. Use the taser," she casually replies without turning around. Faith's not quite sure if Buffy's joking. Giles comes over to settle the dispute.
"The two of you are acting like small children." They both put the phone down. "Besides, I need to call Europe to explain today's events to the rest of the Council."
"You're not just making that up so you can call your girlfriend?," Dawns asks him.
"Some of us have business to attend to."
Riley shakes Xander's hand and hugs Willow. "I'm sure you'll find how to beat that spell in no time," he assures her.
"Like the decryption I did back in my hacking days. Give me enough time, I'll figure it out."
"What's going on with them?," Riley asks regarding Dawn and Faith.
"Nothing serious. Sounds to me like they're fighting over who gets to call their boyfriend first." The allusion to Dawn's boyfriend was more-than-enough to send Riley on his way.
"Here's my number. I'll be around for a couple days. If there's anything you need me to requisition, just ask.
"How bout blood?," Spike asks. Riley frowns. "I don't mean the human kind."
"Jeeps, radios, photon guns, mobile field artillery."
"I think a few howitzers might come in handy," Xander half-jokes. The visitors leave.
"There they go," Spike announces. "The four soldiers of the apocalypse."
"Isn't it already tomorrow morning in Europe?," Faith asks Giles.
"Yes. It's four a.m. in London. Five o'clock in Paris."
"Wait until they're awake. I don't think they'd mind. But Lindsey – when this town got flattened, Lindsey was in the air, flying here. So I think he needs answers first."
"Lindsey was planning on visiting you this weekend? You didn't tell me that."
"I was going to say something this morning, but we were kinda busy.
"I know how you feel about Lindsey, but right now we're rather busy."
"Me seeing him won't get in the way of that. He's just here for tonight."
"Talk about bad timing," Dawn comments, with some empathy.
With the Sunnydale airport completely destroyed, and the military controlling all airspace within a fifteen mile radius, Lindsey lands at the nearest working airport, which is in Tangair, twenty five miles up the coast from Sunnydale. Still unable to reach Faith, he drives inland to Lompoc, fifteen miles due north from Sunnydale. It's the closest large town, and, along with Solvang twenty miles down 246-east, the main destination for fleeing Sunnydale residents. It's between these two towns that the military has established its main cordon, cutting off access from highways 1 and 101. The state police man the front lines and deal directly with the people while the soldiers remain a discrete distance behind. Now that the phone works, Faith is able to get through to him.
"Lindsey. Damn, it's good to hear your voice."
"Faith, where are you?"
"In town. Underground. We're the only ones who got to stay."
"Doesn't look like it will be easy for me to come to you."
"I can get someone to drive me out. Where are you?"
"I'm not sure." Lindsey asks around. "Lompoc. It's a little ways north from you. I'm guessing there are a few hundred cops and I don't know how many soldiers keeping us apart."
"Sounds like the doorman won't let you through the velvet rope. Good thing you got connections."
"Doubtful. Most of my guys are ex-military. But to get to them, I'd have to get by the police, and my connections are no good with them."
"Maybe mine are. This bunker we're in – it's the Mayor's. She brought us here. And we both know at least a couple of the soldiers. Graham and Kel are here."
Lindsey smiles. "That's great. I'll see if I can contact them."
"Instead of you breaking in, I could always bust out."
"The roads are probably blocked with downed trees. I'm sure a bridge or two buckled under. You won't make it without a truck."
"Okay, so you call Kel, and I'll see what I can do about getting the Mayor. Shouldn't be too hard. She's dating my Watcher."
"I thought he was with Kelly."
"I mean the other Watcher." Wes and Stella – now there was a scary thought. Lindsey knows several of Kelly's and Graham's semi-classified phone numbers, and hopefully one of them would be active. He knew from experience that Kelly was the more casual of the two, and thus more likely to be reached by civilians while on duty. Her phone rings a couple minutes after they left the bunker. Graham's driving, Kelly rides shotgun, and Sam and Riley sit in back. At first she thinks it's Wesley. Then she sees the number on her screen.
"Lindsey? Is that you?"
"Guess where I am, Kelly?"
"Same state as me, I'm guessing. Probably the same area code. Which means you came here to see Faith. And that you're on the other side of the lines."
"You're good."
"Isn't that why you hire me?"
"I'm hoping you can do this one pro bono."
"No sweat. I'm third in the chain of command. Consider it done."
"This is why I love the Law," Lindsey jokes about the extensive and unusual web of influence he's spun over the years. "Tell Graham hi."
"Will do. First, where are you?"
"Lompoc."
"That's on the west flank. Get to the gate at Santa Rosa road." They both hang up.
"What was that about?," Graham asks Kelly.
"Turn around. Lindsey needs a favor." Giles is talking with Claude. A beep signals that he has another call. He takes it.
"You're coming back? For Faith. Excuse me. Claude? Claude, I'll call you back."
"Something about me?," Faith asks.
"That was Kelly. She proposes taking you to Lindsey. I'm not sure if that's a wise course of action."
"Got nothing else to do."
"It exposes you to Nina."
"We were exposed to her this afternoon. Hell, we're exposed to her right now. Face it – the lady's clearly taking the day off."
"We both know I can't stop you."
"What about a Buffy reinforcement? Right. She wouldn't bother. Cause she's not worried. That settles it. Be back by nine."
"Wait. It's 8:30. Oh."
"You catch on fast. Is that not early enough? Nina doesn't seem like much of an early bird."
Giles doesn't like the idea of one of his Slayers being separated from the group for an entire night. "He's welcome to stay here."
Faith laughs. "Are you serious? Hold on. You are. Because you're all the way on the other side. But something tells me Buffy would mind. These walls aren't exactly that thick."
"I see your point. I allow him in, I'm being slightly cruel to Buffy. I refuse to let you out, I'm being even more cruel to you."
"Sounds like we're five by five. Night." Faith walks out the door and up to the surface, where she meets the soldiers and looks at their Humvee. "This is so cool. I got the army pimping for me."
"There's room in back," Graham tells her. Riley sits on the left side, and Sam on the right. Faith climbs over Sam and sits in the middle. Riley looks a little nervous, sitting thigh-to-thigh with Faith. She notices.
"Sorry. Wouldn't want to get between you and your girl." Faith and Sam switch places.
When Lindsey arrives at the roadblock across Santa Rosa Road, he looks down at the floor and shakes his head. The officer in charge of the gate is none other than Kate Lockley. Everyone else has accepted that they're not getting through, so Lindsey's alone at the gate. Kate's facing the other way, talking to some other officers. They tell her she has a gentleman caller. Kate turns around and sees Lindsey twenty feet in front of her. She shakes her head in disbelief.
"You've got to be kidding me."
"Long time, no see."
"And I liked it that way. Can't imagine why you'd want to get closer to what's left of Sunnydale. Looking for one of those Beyond the Law' creatures? I hear that town had a lot of those. Not many lawyers, though."
"I'm meeting someone."
"From the inside? Sorry. None of your kind left."
"That would be unfortunate. I figure a town like Sunnydale could use a few good guys."
"You really are a piece of work."
"Won't deny that. But you should know that I left Wolfram & Hart more than two years ago."
"And now you're atoning for your sins? Gosh, where have I heard that one before?"
Lindsey laughs, trying to make light of Kate's hostility, as well as her insinuation that he's an Angel wannabe. "I'm just not gonna win with you, am I?"
"You want my trust? Earn it." Kate walks away. Her phone rings. It's Stella. She explains about Faith.
"Who paroles a murderer after three years?"
"I know," Stella agrees. "I was as shocked as you when I found out. Probably more shocked, since I found out by seeing her in my town. I can't say I know this Lindsey fellow, though."
"Evil scum pretty boy lawyer. Claims to have turned over a new leaf."
"Doesn't everybody?," Stella asks, matching Kate's skepticism.
"New leaf or not, he's obviously still working the system."
"It may be my town, but it's the military's call. Nothing I can do about it. Just pretend it doesn't bother you. Better not to give them the satisfaction. Turnabout isn't always fair play."
Kate hangs up and walks back over to Lindsey. She's decided to highlight an irony that Lindsey might not want to remember. "Tell me Lindsey, does she know that you tried to sell her out?"
"She always knew I was against Angel."
"That wasn't what I asked, counselor."
"No, I think it was. Faith understood that when she joined Angel, she became Wolfram & Hart's enemy."
"Which, considering how your law firm operated, meant that she would assume you'd be trying to kill her. I doubt she suspected that you would come to me."
"And neither of us suspected that she would come to you as well."
"I guess there are some things a murderer can fear more than prison."
"Like the corroding of their soul."
Kate laughs. "I meant someone, or many someones, trying to kill them. Were you the one who sprung her loose?"
"I'm afraid I can't claim credit for that."
"So that's not how you got her."
"Why are you so interested?," Lindsey asks with a sly smile.
"Trust. That thing you have yet to earn from me."
"In fairness, I've only had ten minutes."
"How long did it take you to earn her trust? Or, was she just lonely after a couple years in the clink?"
"No. It took some time. More than we'll ever have."
"One can hope." Having answered Lindsey's snide remark with one of her own, Kate was done having her fun. She turns and sees the humvee drive up. The four soldiers get out with Faith. Kelly begins the formalities.
"We have authorization to – "
"Save your breath. The Mayor already filled me in."
"A lady who cuts to the chase. I like that," Kelly tells Kate with a smile.
Faith sees Kate, and immediately she gets nervous. And confused. This was a long way from Los Angeles. "What are you doing here?," Faith asks.
"My job," Kate replies. "What are you doing here?"
"My job."
"Good luck with that."
"You too." Faith walks through the roadblock and meets Lindsey. The soldiers head back to their base, and Kate returns to dealing with the locals.
She isn't the only woman at work on this night. Nina walks in her black boots over the flooded ground around the wreckage of the high school. She's inspecting her latest allies. And these are the strangest-looking ones yet. There are seventy two men, lined up in twelve neat files of six men. Each of them is four feet, nine inches tall. They wear hoodless black robes with a rope belt, and go barefoot in the swamp-like conditions. Their faces are distinctive because they are feature-less. No mouth, nose, eyes or ears. Just pale skin over a skull with the jaw bone fused shut. Their large brains fill the entirety of their tiny heads. As she looks them over, Nina whistles the tune to "Heigh ho, heigh ho."
"They've sent me some weird helpers over the eons, but this time they've really outdone themselves. Why am I talking to you? You can't hear me. No, don't tell me. Let me guess this one," she kids. "When I talk, you can hear my mind thinking what I'm saying. Or something to that effect. You know your jobs. Now do them. I can't start until you're finished." The faceless men immediately spread out and begin scavenging building supplies. Nina walks away, looking disappointed. "Why do I always end up hanging out with freaks?"