Chapter Eleven – I Hope You Dance
Robin Wood turned to look at the slayer. He was dressed to the nines, suit, tie and all the trimmings. Not at all like she had seen him in Sunnydale. Buffy had told her that he was the principal of the high school, but by the time she had arrived, school was closed and the town was almost deserted.
"Didn't you get my message?"
"Loud and clear. I just wanted to see how you were doing."
Robin walked closer. She could smell his expensive aftershave, see his watch that must have cost a fortune, and noticed that the suit must have cost a pretty penny also. She never knew he was such a clotheshorse.
"Fine. Now what the fuck do you want?"
"New look for you." He pointed to her outfit. Gone were the tight, cleavage seeing tops. The shirt she had on made her feel a little more in control of herself and emotions, made her feel closer to peace than she had been in years.
"Yeah, different."
Robin looked around the lobby, like he didn't like what he saw. "Why are you here? You didn't come back. Giles told me . . . ."
"I really don't care what Giles told you. I quit. It's as simple as that."
"I see. But it's really not that simple, Faith. You know that. You are the slayer."
Faith snorted, knowing that Robin was looking to start a fight with her. And she knew the status of all the other slayers. That guy doesn't know jackshit. Never did, she thought.
"Nah. Not THE slayer. But a slayer. Someone knock you upside the head too hard one night?"
Faith kept her eyes on Robin, but felt around with her senses, trying to establish whether he had brought friends, or any of the other Hyperion residents were home. None were on the first floor as far as she could tell, which made her feel a little better. But still the attitude of Robin just didn't sit right. Something was definitely not right with the former slayer's son.
"Remember, Faith. I'm your watcher. Now, why don't we get your things and talk on the way back to Cleveland."
Oh, that dirty son of a bitch. He wanted her to go back to Cleveland. Must be something going on that he needed her expertise to fight. He'd just have to find someone else to crack skulls for a while, a long while. The watcher bit was just too much for her to handle. Should she ignore it, she wondered? Or should she bait him so she could take him down hard?
"Watcher, my ass. Give me a fucking break here. This is Faith you're talking to. Not some wide-eyed potential you want to get into their pants."
"The council assigned . . . ."
"I really don't give a flying fig what the council decided. I already told Giles my decision."
Robin moved closer to her, trying to use his size to his advantage. She wondered how fast he would go down if she swung her leg just so.
"You really need to reconsider that decision."
What she wasn't expecting was for Robin to take his fist and punch her in the gut. Now that was playing dirty. The problem was Faith didn't punch him back. The punch hurt like hell. Usually she just shrugged them off and hit back. Collapsing to the ground, Faith wanted to get up and beat the hell out of him. She just didn't have the strength.
"Think about it," Robin told her as he passed by her on the way out. "And one other thing. I need Pryce's diaries. They belong to the council."
"Fuck you," Faith mumbled under her breath.
Robin quickly hurried out of the building. Faith sat on the bottom stair for what seemed like hours, but was only minutes. Something was definitely wrong with her. She didn't have the strength to fight back.
"The smell of evil permeates that human," Illyria said from the shadows.
"You heard?" Faith couldn't believe it. The blue thing heard it all.
"He is not like the ones who watch. He is not like my guide."
"Your guide? Listen, whatever you are, I don't need your help."
"I did not offer my assistance, human." Illyria looked down at Faith, sneering with disgust.
Faith wanted to get up and wipe that sneer off of Illyria's face. But in light of the fact that she couldn't even do that to Robin, who was just a human, then taking on the demon wasn't that smart on her part. She needed to find out what in hell was wrong with her.
"Wouldn't take it if it was offered, demon."
Mexican stand off in progress, thought Faith. If Illyria knew though that she was weak as a kitten, she just might drop kick Faith across the room. Slowly, Faith rose to her feet, not giving away any of her problems to the demon. But she could match her sneer pretty well. Since that was all Faith had at the moment, it would have to do.
"Not the sight I was expecting," a familiar voice said from the top of the stairs.
Finally, Faith thought. That dumbass was out of his brooding and back in the fight. He was her best shot at helping.
"Me neither. What made you come join the party?"
"A little bird in my ear." Angel slowly came down the stairs, wincing at bending his right knee.
Faith couldn't help but smile. The fog that had descended on her seemed to lift just a little. Sure, all hell was probably going to break loose, since slayer powers were not around at the moment. That would just be her luck. But she had Angel now to fix it.
"Trouble," Faith started to tell the vampire.
"Always," he said with a sigh.
"Big trouble, as in lost slayer powers, the council is around to bug us trouble."
"What?" Angel asked, obviously expecting something much bigger and world ending by the look on his face.
"Asshole Robin Wood came by to take me back. Left me with a gift in the form of a gut punch. I couldn't hit back."
Illyria just stared at the two conversing. Faith didn't know if it was wise telling the demon about her powers disappearing. But Angel trusted the demon to be in the room, so at that point, Faith would trust Angel.
"Did he inject you with something, like they did to Buffy?"
"Nope, unless he did something with that punch."
"Damn. I'm glad I woke up when I did."
"I have some good news," Faith told him, rubbing her sore stomach.
"There hasn't been enough of that around here."
"Gunn's awake. Out of the coma."
Angel breathed a sigh of relief, even though technically he didn't breathe.
"It's gonna be hard to protect him if Wolfram and Hart go after him." Angel was right. Now that Gunn was awake, the bad guys might find him and take him out. And she was in no shape to protect him.
"So what do we do? Sit here while all of our enemies take us out one by one?"
"Not in the plan, Faith. We hit the books. Figure out how to get your power back."
"And figure out what in blazes is going on with Illyria," Spike said from the hallway near the tunnels.
"OK, can it get worse?" Angel inquired.
"I took Illyria's blood to this guy I know."
"Why would you do that, Spike?"
"Long story," he said as he strode into the room fully.
The four of them stood around the circular couch, none wanting to sit because of the nervous energy that flew through the room.
"Tell me the short version then."
"Illyria cut herself. When I smelled it, it smelled familiar."
"Such as?" Angel asked.
"Human familiar. You're losing your demon side, Blue."
"You do not know that," Illyria added.
"Just a guess is all. Guy wasn't sure, but it sure did look human."
Faith sighed in defeat. Someone was taking all of their powers away from them. Illyria must be strong for it to happen to her too.
"Great. So we've been turned into girls. This just sucks," Faith said out loud to no one in particular.
"Two less fighters. Makes the odds even worse."
"Like they weren't before, Angel." Faith had a point. With just the four of them to fight, how could they defeat another enemy right then?
"When have the odds ever been in our favor, Peaches?"
"We all hit the books. See if there's some spell or something that is causing this."
The rest of the gang shook their heads in agreement. "You have any idea where to start, big guy?" Spike asked Angel.
"No idea whatsoever. God, I really miss him," Angel threw in.
Faith winced, knowing exactly to whom Angel was referring. She missed him too. Because he would find a way to fix this mess with the books.
"Bloody dammit all to hell," Wesley yelled, but not having anyone to vent to.
He stood not twenty feet from the gang in the hotel. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Someone had taken away Faith's ability to protect herself. And Illyria was changing into something, no one knew. Having human blood in her system could not be good. Would that mean that her powers would ebb just like Faith's?
He wished he could pick up a book, any book and start looking. Some outside force was at work to bring the survivors down. His charge looked dejected as she walked with the others to the office. If she couldn't protect herself, how on earth could he protect her? Being non-corporeal really didn't give him many options.
He followed them, going right through the wall to keep up. That skill had not been fun at first, but Doyle had told him that it was possible. Being a ghost did have its advantages. As he watched them start to research, he noticed the look in Faith's eyes, like she was giving up on herself all over again. She had lived too long with a slayer's power. He didn't see how she would change her ways any time soon.
Angel sifted through several good selections, but Wesley knew of several more that might help. He couldn't touch anything, move anything. Looking at the book Spike chose, he froze. Then it clicked. Spike was the answer. Spike had managed to move things in his non-corporeal state. What did he do? Wesley racked his brain, until he thought about Spike's comment of concentrating really hard. Would that work?
Wesley put his ghostly hand up to the book that he would choose, and concentrated like his life depended on it. Nothing happened. Then he concentrated on it like Faith's life depended on it. The book moved slightly, wobbling in place until it sprang out, flying across the room to smash on the floor, barely missing Spike's head in the process.
"It worked, sort of," he cheered to himself.
The others in the room were not so positive though.
"OK, what just happened?" Angel asked the others.
"Place is haunted. Figures," Spike answered.
Angel slowly walked over to pick up the book that Wesley had flung across the room. As he turned it over, his eyes widened in surprise.
"Think someone is trying to tell us something, Angel?" Faith inquired of him.
"Yeah, I think so," Angel said, smiling like he knew exactly what or who had managed to give him the book he needed. "Let's start here."
"Uh oh. He was so not supposed to do that," Cordelia told Doyle as they sat watching Wesley and the others.
"Hey, give the man a break. He's new. He'll get it."
"Yeah, this is Wes we're talking about here. He'll push the boundaries until we all get in trouble."
"What happens if we all get in trouble?"
"You don't wanna know. Let's just say, no helping anyone then. As if you don't remember what happened to me."
"Oh, well maybe you should tell the guy what's the what."
"Easier said then done."
The two sat in front of a big screen television, watching the scene unfold before them. Cordelia knew that Doyle always wanted one of these contraptions, but never could afford it. Now he could use it with abandon. They could see lots of interesting things, including their friends' lives.
Cordelia came closer to the television, like she could see better if she put her nose to the screen. "That shirt Faith has on looks familiar."
"Yeah, used to seeing her dressed for success."
"Faith? Success at what? Stripping?"
"Well, there's perspective, and there's perspective. Isn't there, sweetheart?" Doyle took a bite of popcorn as they watched the gang research. "OK, this is officially boring. Why do we need to see this?"
"See what they've come up with, stupidhead. Man, you are dense sometimes. Oh, no, she didn't." Cordelia's face lit up in recognition.
"Didn't what?" Sometimes Cordelia could be very cryptic.
"That's not her shirt. That belongs to Wes. I gave that to him for Christmas two years ago. I cannot believe that she took that."
"Doesn't belong to him anymore. Remember, dead?"
"Oh, yeah. Right. So what do we do now? Who's pulling all the shenanigans now?"
"Hey, you're the expert, Ms. Let's-watch-the-researchers. We could just record it."
Cordelia smiled at the thought. "Yeah, hit the record button. This is boring."
"Attention span of a flea."
Cordelia smacked the Irishman on the arm hard, eliciting a groan for her effort. So Wes could get himself into some trouble? What else was new in her dead life? He was always getting into trouble when they were alive. Knives, gunshots, getting bit, he just didn't know when to be subtle, when to stop. He'd go non-stop until he dropped instead of taking a break. It was like the dog her uncle had when she was growing up. No matter what, that dog would chase that squirrel, thinking he'd get it on the next try. The dog tried every angle, every trick in the book that he knew. The squirrel was just smarter. Until the day the dog decided that the best way to catch it was to lay in wait. The dog had learned from its mistakes. And the squirrel was well, squirrel food until she had screamed at the dog to let it go. So Wes would watch and wait, trying different things until something worked to help his friends. But he was going to get a slap down from the Powers if he stepped across the line.
TBC
Next: I cannot believe that I took Faith's abilities away from her. I was just typing, and it just happened. I had no control over it. I'm serious here. Should I take away Illyria's too? Not ready to have Spike and Angel go through that though. Gunn gets visitors and a revisit by Wood. Can you say confrontation? (thanks to shahid for that idea!!) And I did miss Wes in Chapter Nine. He's going to be in this for the long haul, helping and sometimes not helping the new gang in their fights.
Author notes: I think I'm going to name all my chapters after the song I'm listening to the moment I finish them. Makes it easier. I cannot believe the response to this fic. And all the great ideas. I really don't hate Robin, I just can't help myself. I need someone to be the fall guy.
Thanks to Wav, Danielle (yeah, new reviewer, please stay!), Imzadi, qkith (love the line, may steal it for another time), Dduck, Tariq, pari106, shahid (a little Robin/Angel time is in order, intimidation indeed!). Have a good time reviewing. I always do!! Thanks a bunch.