Fallen Seraphim

Extraction

The elevator doors slid open revealing a darkened hallway. Faye glanced toward the glowing red numbers in the elevator: B3. She reached inside her coat and removed the Beretta from it's holster and stepped into the hallway.

Nothing.

Not taking anything for granted, she quickly made her way to the end of the hallway. Backing against the wall, she cautiously peered around the corner.

Another hallway, only this one contained a guard. She rapidly looked around for anything she could use for cover; there was none, that left only one option. She slowly raised the pistol and leveled the sights at the guard's head. Exhale slowly, pull the trigger evenly. The gun recoiled, jumping back in her hand. The guard's head snapped forward and he fell to the ground.

She jumped from her hiding spot and rushed towards the guard. When she reached him, she saw a puddle of blood and chunks of gore forming underneath him. She looked away slightly, then reached down to remove the guard's radio. She clipped the radio to the inside pocket of her coat and moved down the hallway…

…It felt like hours, moving slowly, peeking around corners, playing tag with the backs of various guard's heads and leaving a trail of unconscious or dead bodies throughout the basement. In actuality, it had only been a little less than fifteen minutes. This whole thing has been getting me nowhere. I swear it's like I've been running in circles.

I can't believe Seraph was wrong, he managed to get both of us in here unnoticed and then he gives me the wrong location, it just doesn't make any sense! Unless…

"Oh shit!"

- - - - -

The sound of gunfire pulled Spike from his shadow puppets. He couldn't see what was going on from his perspective, but he could tell from the sounds that whomever was in there was giving the guard's one hell of a headache.

He suddenly saw a white blur move around the corner; then he saw the purple hair. He'd recognize that hair color anywhere…'cause when it shows up it means nothing but trouble. But Spike's inner emotions pulled in multiple directions at the same time. He was glad to see her, she was the first familiar face he'd seen in days, but he was also royally pissed that she didn't listen to him and stay the hell away. Heh…I'm still happy she came.

"Faye, what the hell are you doing here?" Spike yelled through the steel bars. She glanced towards him, a bewildered look covering her face. She quickly recovered and her eyes moved back down the hall towards the guys with guns. The gun in her hand recoiled three times and he heard a muffled scream from down the hallway.

"I'm baking you a fucking 'Welcome Home' cake. What the hell does it look like I'm doing?"

"What kind of icing?"

"Oh you've gotta be shittin' me!" the sound of screams filled the hallway as Faye rapidly fired the remainder of her clip. "I risk my ass to come get yours and you're worried about the fucking icing on a cake!"

Spike leaned back against the wall, the grin that always managed to piss her off covering his face as chaos continued to ensue just outside his cell. I can't believe that I'm gonna owe her for saving my ass.

The shooting stopped and Spike glanced towards where he last saw Faye, suddenly concerned about her wellbeing. She sat there, leaning againstg the opposing wall, breathing heavily as sweat dripped down the side of her face. Her pistol hung from her right hand, her eyes unfocused, staring at the ground before her.

"Faye, you okay?"

Silence.

"…I'm fine."

She looked towards the cell and surveyed the situation. She rose to her feet and seemed to be deep in thought as to how to get the cell open.

"You need to use the panel over there," Spike said pointing to the wall near the guard's desk.

Faye walked to the panel and after a few second of staring at the buttons, she pressed the button corresponding to Spike's cell. The reinforced bars slid to the side and Spike stepped through the opening, tilted his head to each side and a few resounding cracks filled the air.

"You couldn't do that while you were in there?"

"I didn't have a reason to get up."

"Lunkhead."

- - - - -

"Do you have them yet?"

"There was a complication," Seraph responded to the ominous voice.

"How?"

"An outsider, I don't know who it was."

"Can you rectify the situation?"

"Yes."

"If you fail, I will hold you personally responsible."

The voice faded into static, the static in turn faded away into nothing. Seraph leaned back into his chair, the security monitors continued to show the yellow grinning face.

They just stayed there. The hacker had long been gone but those stupid smiley faces just stayed there, grinning at him. A smiley face, the reason the whole plan went to hell was because of a stupid, friggin' smiley face.

Was this someone's sick idea of a joke?

It couldn't be. Nobody knew about the plan aside from me and Archangel so how did that hacker know?

There were no answers, at least none as of yet. All that was left was that smiley face…that stupid, yellow smiley face…

Bang.

The screen before him shattered.

- - - - -

"Do you actually know where you're going?"

"Yes, I always know where I'm going."

"How?"

"Female intuition."

"Bullshit, how?"

"Ed."

"She came back?"

"No, she, uh…long story."

"Seraph double-crossed you didn't he?"

Faye couldn't say anything to the contrary, that same thought had been swimming through her head ever since she had that conversation with Ed. "How did you…"

"Men's intuition," Spike lied, Faye looked at him questioningly, it was obvious she could tell he was lying, he just didn't care.

"How did you know he-"

Chunks of plaster pelted them, the walls exploding as a hail of bullets filled the air.

Spike pushed Faye against the wall and stumbled to the ground beside her. He reached into his jacket to pull out his pistol, but found nothing. In the meantime, Faye had already drawn hers and was blind firing around the corner.

"Do you have a gun?"

"What?"

"Do you have an extra gun?"

She stopped firing…I hadn't thought about that… "No."

"You broke in here to get me out and you didn't bring me a gun? What the hell were you thinking?" Spike's astonishment knew no bounds.

She fired a few more rounds, a yelp of pain came from down the hallway and brought a small bit of satisfaction…I got one of them and they haven't hit us, that has to count for something.

"Faye…"

"No you can't have my gun."

"Faye!"

"What?" she turned to see Spike's hands grab her arms and yank her from the wall as it became riddled with holes. Spike shoved he through a doorway as the guard that appeared down the hall opened fire again. Spike dove through the door and landed on top of her. "Get off of me!

"Sorry your worshipfulness," Spike pushed himself off her and jumped to his feet and slamming the door shut.

"Where did that guard come from?"

"Around the corner." He locked the door.

A few scattered shots came through the doorway but were quickly stopped. Spike and Faye stared at the door, when a guard's static filled voice filled the room.

"This is BG5, targets are corned in R&D Lab 2. Repeat, targets have entered R&D 2."

Spike looked at Faye, then the radio, then back at her, "Where did that come from?"

"Took it off a guard."

Spike was impressed, didn't think she would think ahead like that… "Wait a minute, where'd he say we are?"

Spike took a quick survey of the room, that is until his eyes spotted a row of large bore rifles on a rack at the opposite side of the room. "Come on, I got an idea."

Faye gave him a curious look as he took off across the room, then she remembered the large group of guards on the other side of the door and decided that she wanted to place as much distance between them and herself as possible. She was a few feet away from Spike when she saw him pick up the rifle, "Odd looking gun."

"Yeah," Spike commented while inspecting the scope. "Why does a scope have an 'On' button? Night vision?" Spike flipped the switch to 'ON' and looked through the scope. The row of desks appeared leading up to the wall and the closed door all appeared on the miniature screen; the only difference was that he could see through them. "What the hell?" He reached up to adjust the scope, but as he turned the dial the image zoomed in, revealing the ten or so guards that stood behind the wall. "This can't be real…"

"What is it?"

"Hang on," Spike lined the sights up on the head of, what he assumed to be, the closest guard. He squeezed the trigger. The rifle didn't recoil, but a brilliant blue flash appeared at the end of the barrel and two of the guards fell to the ground. A third grabbed his now severed arm and dropped to the floor, a muffled scream seeped through the doorway and walls. Spike quickly took aim at the others and fired more shots, stopping only when nothing on the other side of the wall was standing.

Faye looked to Spike nervously, "What the hell is that?"

"I dunno, but I like it."

- - - - -

Hallways blurred into one single gray mass as Faye and Spike ran through the endless maze of corridors. Spike had taken it upon himself to liberate two of the rifles and had both slung over his back. He had also recently liberated a sub-machine gun from one of the dead guards. There had been less resistance than he had expected, the only real incidents occurred in the detention area and outside the R&D lab. The only others involved about three now unconscious guards whose weapons had quickly been rescued from their unconscious bodies. Aside from those few instances, they found their way relatively unhindered, and this caused Spike mind consider many unpleasant possibilities.

"Why is this so easy?" Spike wondered aloud.

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth," Faye responded slightly out of breath.

"Do you remember what happened when the Greeks did that?"

"That's just a myth, you worry to-" Faye's train of thought just ran head long into another, about fifteen or so very heavily armed ones. Faye jumped backwards, nearly tripping over Spike in the process. Spike regained his composure and fired a few shots around the corner.

"How much farther do we need to go?" Spike asked firing blindly once again as a wall of lead tore into the wall opposite them.

"Did you see the door behind them?"

"Yeah."

"That's where we need to be."

"'Nother way around?"

"Just that door."

"Great," Spike groaned and sent a few more bullets headed towards the guards. "Any ideas?"

"Shoot them and walk through? Sounds like a plan to me."

"Thanks you Miss Brilliant Tactician, how do we do it?" Gunfire erupted again, chunks of plaster broke away from the wall and lay scattered across the ground. "Inventory?"

"What?"

"Inventory! What are you carrying?" Faye pulled out a small pack from well…I don't think I wanna know where…and pulled off the Velcro tab. Spike's eyes widened, "Why didn't you say we had grenades earlier?"

"It slipped my mind," Faye sputtered.

"Oi vei," Spike reached into the pack, grabbed a grenade, pulled the pin, and tossed it around the corner and down the hallway.

The explosion shook the building and the gunfire ceased. Spike jumped from his crouched position and ran down the hallway, his gun still trained on the group of dead or injured guards. Faye followed, watching their rear.

Spike made his way to the access panel for the door. "Oh shit," he turned back to Faye, "Tell me you know the access code."

"I didn't even know there was an access code!"

"You didn't think there would be?"

"It's the emergency exit!"

"It's a building owned by something that doesn't exist!"

"How the hell was I supposed to know they'd be this anal!"

"They don't exist!"

"Well, why don't you do something."

"Like what? Wish it open?"

A soft click came from the door and it began to rise.

"What did you do?" Faye looked at Spike in astonishment.

"I didn't do anything…but I guess you can't look a gif horse in the mouth." Spike grabbed a grenade from her pouch and pulled the pin. "You, run." Spike dropped the grenade by the doorway without bothering to see if she had even started to move. Spike turned to run and noticed that Faye was at least a good fifteen feet away and took off after her.

Two seconds later the grenade exploded, dislodging the doorway and causing a significant amount of debris to block the emergency exit. Not that it mattered, as neither of them bothered to look back.

- - - - -

The parking structure itself looked exactly like every other parking structure ever created by man. It was big, gray, made of concrete, and a complete eyesore; but that was the above ground floors. The two levels that extended down were still a complete eyesore, but they were full of vehicles at three o'clock in the morning. That in itself was odd, but the fact that every car in both floors is painted black would kinda make one wonder. But for a couple of fugitives trying to make a getaway, it makes for a perfect location.

Faye stumbled out of the darkened passageway and into the dim glow of fluorescent lights. She bent slightly, breathing heavy after sprinting the distance from the Brotherhood building. She glanced around quickly to get her bearings and made her way to the nearest sedan she deemed worthy. Please be unlocked. Please let it be unlocked. She pulled the handle on the driver's side door and a small grin appeared when the door swung open.

She looked back to the passage to see Spike come running out. "How far back are they?"

"I don't know." Spike responded, then he cocked his head to the side in his standard 'there's something wrong with this picture' pose. "Aren't you on the wrong side?"

"American made."

"They still have those?"

"I guess," Faye shrugged and sat in the driver's seat.

"Uh uh, no way in hell am I lettin' you drive," Spike remarked as he made his way around the car.

"What the hell, is this some macho-guy bullshit or something?" Faye yelled as searched through the car for the keys.

"I've seen what you do with your ship, I'm amazed that thing still flies."

"Hey, three-dimensions, two-dimensions, there's a difference."

"I'm telling you that there is no way I'm letting you drive!"

"I'm driving, deal with it." She started the engine.

"Over my dead body."

Gunfire erupted from the hallway, ricocheting off the rear window and the rest of the car.

"Drive damn it!"

Spike grabbed the edge of the roof as Faye threw the car into reverse and peeled out of the parking space with Spike still hanging on to the side of the car. He managed to get a foothold on the bottom edge of the car before Faye took the first corner.

"Will you try not to kill me!"

"Geez, men are such babies," Faye groaned as she slid around another corner and drove up a ramp to the next level up.

"You're not hanging off the side of a car!" Spike yelled back but then his eyes caught something behind them. "Uhh…Faye."

"What now?"

"Must go faster."

"What?" Faye looked in her rear view mirror and managed to see a black SUV speeding up behind her as she turned onto the ramp up to the ground floor. "Ahh shit."

"Faye, right, now!" Faye pulled the wheel hard to the right and the sedan swerved, breaking through a wooden arm and swerving once again to end up on a city street. The moon shown down from above to illuminate the SUV following them as it swerved out of the structure to follow them.

Spike reached inside the car and grabbed the handle just above the door with his left hand and pulled out one of the pistols that he and Faye had liberated from the guards with his other hand.

"I don't mean to alarm you, but I think we're being followed," Spike muttered through clenched teeth as he squeezed off his first shot. The bullet impacted just over the driver's side window and shattered that section of the window but didn't penetrate. It was accompanied by a slight swerve, at least I got his attention…Spike took aim at the front tire instead. He fired twice, the second puncturing the front left tire causing the vehicle to lose control and veer to the left. The driver over-compensated and the vehicle came back to the right, the top-heavy SUV rolled onto it's side before the force of the impact caused it to spin into the air.

This is the kinda stuff that I like.

Two more SUVs swerved to miss the toppling vehicle.

"Ahh crap, we've got two more!" Spike took aim at the second but had barely fired a single shot when the passenger climbed through the sunroof holding a G4A3. "Oh shit." Spike shifted his aim to the passenger and fired four shots, the rifleman took refuge within the car and Spike's mind shifted into overdrive….need a plan…must do something…

"Faye, lean back!"

"What?"

"Just do it!" Faye yanked upward on the lever at the bottom of her seat and the back of the seat fell backwards and so did she. She could see Spike swing upwards on the side of the car, his hands acting like hinges as he pushed himself upward and slid through the car. His legs slammed into the passenger's door and the impact forced the door open, swinging out into oncoming traffic and the lower half of Spike's body fell through the doorway, his feet dragging and skipping across the speeding pavement. He reached out, grabbing onto back of the passenger seat to keep his body from being pulled through the doorway. The rifleman in the nearest SUV took advantage of the sudden target and took aim at Spike's legs dangling from the side of the car. Spike realized his sudden portrayal of a target, and quickly pulled his lower half back into the car as bullet holes riddled the door.

Faye reached down to the lever on the seat and quickly jumped into an upright position, her hands coming to the wheel with enough time to swerve around the oncoming corner. Spike skidded across the seat, his back sliding into the gearshift, his gun wrenched itself from his hand and fell into the back seat. Spike pulled himself into the backseat, pushing the experimental rifles to the side and grabbed his pistol as bullets impacted the rear windshield, breaking the bullet-proof glass but the window remained intact. Sensing an opportunity, Spike shoved the barrel of his pistol through one of the bullet impacts and rapid-fired the remainder of his clip towards the speeding SUV. He flicked the clip released and the empty magazine fell to the floor, reaching for another he came to a startling realization…he didn't have another one.

"Faye, gimme your gun."

"Why?" she replied defiantly, Spike could have sworn he saw her knuckles turn a few shades whiter on the steering wheel.

"I'm out alright, gimme you gun!"

"What if I need it?"

"I need it now, this isn't an if"

"Well tough, make due."

Of all the times for that woman to be a stubborn bi- the car suddenly skidded around a corner, Spike slid across the rear seat but something odd happened; the seat moved with him. Spike looked down at the seat and noticed that there was a gap between the bottom of the seat and the seat back, Spike shoved the cushion aside and found a cache of weapons that could arm a small army. Spike rapidly surveyed the find and selected a G3A3, grabbed a clip and pushed the barrel through the hole created by the pistol and pulled the trigger. The rifle recoiled and bullets flew from the barrel towards the SUV impacting the engine compartment, wisps of smoke began to pour from the vehicle's hood and the driver began to slow down.

The gun clicked empty and Spike grabbed another clip, reloaded and resumed firing. One of the bullets punched through the radiator causing black smoke to pour out around the engine, the next few bullets finished it off. The engine exploded blowing out the forward axle and lifting the SUV from the ground and causing it to slam to the ground, sparks flying from the metal frame as pieces broke away. The third SUV managed to narrowly avoid the smoldering wreckage and continued in pursuit.

"Faye, there's still one left!" Spike looked back into the compartment for something he could use against the final SUV when he found exactly what he needed; in the form of an M203 grenade launcher with three rounds. He quickly loaded one and used the butt of the assault rifle to clear a hole in the rear windshield big enough to aim through. He took aim at the front of the vehicle and squeezed the trigger.

The shot went wide as Faye took a corner sending Spike careening across the backseat.

"Faye, I thought I told you to warn me!"

"Corner."

"A little late," Spike tried to aim again but skidded across the seat once more as the car slid around another corner. "Damn it Faye!"

"I warned you."

Mumbling under his breath Spike took aim at the last SUV and pulled the trigger. The grenade launcher recoiled and made that immensely gratifying sound that only a grenade launcher can make. The front end of the SUV exploded into flames, the heat powerful enough for Spike to feel as the sedan sped away. As the car skidded around yet another corner, both Spike and Faye could feel the rumble of the gas tank explosion.

Spike crawled forward into the passenger's seat, leaving the cache of weapons scattered across the backseat. He looked through the windshield at the endless row of buildings flanking the deserted street as the two of them continued down the road in silence. Thoughts wandered in and out of his consciousness, how to deal with the Brotherhood, what there next move would be, where they would go, where the hell are some cigarettes.

"Got any smokes?"

Faye glanced at him, as if looking for a deeper meaning in the benign question. Finding none, she produced a pack and tossed them towards him. Spike grabbed one and offered her, which she declined, and lit up. Smoke began to fill the car and Spike rolled down the window.

"What do you think is going to happen?"

Spike looked at her…something's different, I know it… "I'm not sure."

"Oh, okay."

This caused Spike to look at her closer…something's really wrong… "Faye, what is-"

"I killed someone."

This took a second to click, so she killed someone, she's done it before…come to think of it, I've never seen her shoot someone. It was always tires, warning shots, the sort that weren't lethal…now she killed someone, because of me…you can't take that back… "Faye, I'm sorry."

"I don't want your pity!"

"I'm not patronizing you; I know what it's like!"

"Bull shit."

"I was twenty-one, I messed up and got a gun pulled on me. I got shot in the shoulder, he got one in the chest. Took out his lung and he spent about a minute before he drowned in his own blood. It was me or him, and I 'won' if that word even applies."

Silence.

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"I don't know."

A/N I just wanted to add this in. This car chase was the whole reason I wrote this story. I came up with the concept before I came up with the idea of Seraph, so that's saying something. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writting it. Thanks for all the reviews.