She's Gone 11 – Old Friends
Faith glanced up at the sound of The Magic Box door opening, a practiced smile on her face. "Hello. Welcome to The -," her smile faded as she belatedly recognised the man stood in the doorway. "Oh shit!"
"You!"
Seeing Riley's hand dip inside his jacket, Faith leapt over the shop counter and ran towards the soldier. Realising she couldn't reach the man before he shot off the huge cannon he was now waving in her direction she dived behind a near-by shelf. "Chill Cornfed!"
"Where's Buffy?" the soldier demanded, his voice strident.
"She's dead." Faith winced, oh real subtle.
"You killed her!"
Realising that words were not her ally, like they'd ever been, Faith decided on action. Leaping up, she landed cat-like on the top of the shelves and laid down. Seconds later the Special Ops officer entered the aisle. Faith dropped off the shelf and onto the Iowan, her right fist snapping into his jaw, her left snatching and twisting his gun wrist, forcing him to drop his weapon. As soon as the soldier hit the floor, Faith straddled his chest and glared down at him, her hands pinning his arms to the floor. "Now chill out-."
"Making friends again?"
Faith looked up to see a red-eyed Xander, the poor guy alternated between drinking and crying since Anya had left two weeks ago, and a tall brunette woman. "He tried to shoot me!"
Xander half-grinned. "You say that like it's a bad thing."
"Bit me Harris." Faith flipped her friend the bird although she was secretly pleased he was attempting jokes. Even if they were at her expense. "You wanna tell him I'm a white hat now?"
"Riley she's a white hat now."
"Such sincerity," she commented with a grin. "Who's the babe?"
"Sam Finn, Riley's wife. Do you want to get off my husband?"
Faith arched an eyebrow, her husband? There was an expression of bad taste if she'd ever heard one. "Five by five." Rising silkily she offered to help Riley up but he ignored her proffered hand to rise on his own. "What brings you to town Cor-," seeing Xander's warning glare she changed what she was about to say. "Riley?"
* * *
Her life officially sucked, Faith mused as she rappelled down the side of Sunnydale dam. It turned out the Finns were in town to hunt down a Suvolte demon and its eggs. So while Xander and Sam tried to hunt down leads on where the eggs might be. she and Cornfed where following the mother demon's trail. "Sunnydale, the town where the fun never ends." Faith muttered before glancing towards the square-jawed jackass beside her. She'd been considering apologising to him but couldn't be bothered, it wasn't like she gave a shit about him – hell, she'd probably given him the best time of his life.
Small-talk that was definitely the way to go. "You and Sam uh?" she tried for a casual tone. "How did you end up with such a babe?"
"Charm and personality," the soldier grunted.
Faith raised an eyebrow. She'd noticed the soldier had a kick-ass body, but charm and personality. Damn, that Sam was perceptive, she hadn't realised that Cornfed had a personality much less a decent one. "How long ya been hitched?"
"Why?" the look the farm-boy shot her was malicious to say the least. "You figuring to ruin this relationship too?"
Faith's eyes narrowed. "Who the hell -."
Her angry retort was interrupted by a shape slamming into her companion, knocking him into the wall. Faith toyed briefly with the idea of letting the demon rip the ass into pieces. Then sighing, being a good girl was a pain sometimes, she reached over, hooked an arm around the monster's neck and threw it off the struggling man. As the monster struggled to its feet, she grinned at a dazed-looking Riley. "I just saved your life. Man, it must suck to be you."
Without waiting for a reply she unsheathed her axe and turned her attention back to the demon charging her. At the last instant she slashed sideways at the beast's throat but it ducked beneath her attack, its claw knocking her weapon from her hand. "Oh fucking great!"
She reached up to catch the descending claw only to only to be thumped in the jaw. Dazed, she scrambled backwards, just out of range of the monster's slashing talons.
Grabbing hold of the monster's wrist she pulled it towards her, shooting up a knee but the monster deflected her attack with a thigh-block before grabbing hold of her by the jaw and throwing her to the hard ground. At the last second she managed to tuck her head into her chest, cushioning her head, but the shuddering impact of her collision jarred the air from her body.
Riley leapt at the demon but it back-handed the young man to the ground, the force of the blow sending blood spraying onto the dam wall. Finn's intervention gave her the chance she needed to leap to her feet and surge back into action, her blistering flurry of kicks and punches knocking the demon on its ass.
Taking advantage of the monster's distress, Faith smoothly scooped up the axe and drove it through the monster's neck, tearing its head from its shoulders. "Thanks for the save G.I. Joe," she pulled the battered-looking soldier to his feet. "That," she nodded towards the decapitated corpse. "Momma bear?"
Riley nodded. "All we need now is the eggs." Suddenly his cell-phone rang.
"Ask and you will receive." Faith grinned.
* * *
"CLEM!"
Clem winced both at the Slayer's bellow and her enraged face as she stormed into his apartment. "Um, hello Faith," he tried for a sunny tone.
"Don't you hello me Clem!" the repulsively tight-skinned girl waggled a finger in his face. Oh boy, she was really angry. "What were you thinking of?"
"He promised me kittens," Clem replied weakly.
"Pussy?" the tall stranger who'd followed his friend into his home snorted. "No wonder you're friends."
"Kittens not pussy," Faith glared at the sandy-haired man before sighing and turning back to him. "Who's your supplier?"
"There must be some mistake, my friend said they were bird's eggs."
"That's it," the tall man started forward, a pair of handcuffs dangling from his left hand and a huge gun in his right. "I'm taking you into custody for questioning."
"Back off farm-boy," Faith stepped in front of the man, blocking his path to him. "Clem's made a mistake that's all." Her warning delivered, the brunette turned back to him. "Clem," he was relieved to see that the anger had left the young woman's eyes, leaving the softness he saw there on the two times a week she dropped in after patrol to watch a couple of videos with him. "Listen bud," the Slayer put her hands on his shoulder. "Whoever asked you for help sold you a line. You're in big trouble so talk."
After a second Clem nodded. "His name is Doc-." "What!" this time the shout came from his other friend. Xander's eyes had chilled to brown ice chips. Suddenly Clem wasn't sure if he should be more scared of Xander than Faith. "I'm gonna kill that bastard!"
* * *
"Xman this is loco!" Faith glared at her friend. After destroying the eggs the Finns had left with a promise that they'd deal with Doc. But this was definitely not what she had in mind. "I should be going in, he knows you!"
"He won't once I've used this." Xander indicated the things he'd brought with him and thrown down onto the table.
Faith hated to admit it but Xander had a point. The black turtleneck and jeans, and sunglasses certainly weren't usual Xander wear. And put them together with the 24 hour blond dye he was busy applying to his hair and he's soon be pretty much a new person. "Damn it Xander, I'm the fated demon hunter."
Xander ignored her to turn to her Watcher. "You've got the ring?" Giles wordlessly passed the younger man a brass ring.
"What's that?" she demanded, her brow furrowed in puzzlement.
"A Terakan ring," the Englishman replied. "Xander intends to go in under the identity of an Order assassin."
Faith's eyes widened in horror. "G, this is fucking crazy -," her voice trailed off as Xander strode out of the shop. Faith glared at the magic shop owner. "Oh that's just great G, thanks for the help, no really."
"Faith," her Watcher's face was drawn with weariness. "Xander has always felt responsible for not saving Buffy. Completely unjustified of course. But if dealing with Doc can help ease it," the Englishman smiled grimly. "However that doesn't mean," Giles threw her his car keys. "You shouldn't follow him."
* * *
Doc looked warily at the young man stood in his front room. There was something familiar about him but he'd never met any Order assassins before so the young man must just remind him of somebody he'd met. Still, it didn't hurt to be sure. "You're awfully young to be a member of the Order."
His visitor laughed bitterly. "You've no idea. I was born in 1949, want to Nam in '68 to save my great country and earned the name 'Shadow-Killer'. But in '72 I was paralysed in a fall from a 'copter. The government I'd served so loyally weren't interested in helping, but the Order made an offer. They'd heal me and give me an anti-aging drug in exchange for my service. I agreed," the contractor shrugged. "And here I am."
Embittered war hero turns against an uncaring government. Doc nodded, the man's tale had a familiar sound. "And what brings you to my humble abode?"
The assassin smiled thinly. "You had a run-in with the Slayer and her group last year?" Doc grimaced before nodding. Hardly his finest moment. "Excellent. I've been contracted by the Watcher's Council to rub out Mr. Rupert Giles, apparently he's an embarrassment. Now I've got a full file on him but what about his associates?"
"Ah yes," Doc smiled. He was more than pleased with this turn of events. Since Glory's demise he'd been hiding out, scurrying from hiding place to hiding place. But once the Watcher was dealt with, the so-called Scooby Gang would be directionless, and a power vacuum created. His smile widening, he sprang to his feet, and turned his back on his guest as he reached onto his book shelves. "I have a file -, argh!"
He screamed as his back exploded in pain and his legs crumpled, sending him plummeting sideways to the floor. His mouth dropped open when the assassin took off his glasses. "Recognise me you bastard?" the man chuckled. "Oh yeah, you do. Remember cutting Dawn so Buff had to do a swan-dive? Well, it's time to pay the pipe." The man reached down, grabbed hold of him by the scruff of his neck and the seat of his pants, and, ignoring, his anguished screams, threw him into his open fire. His flesh burning he immediately attempted to roll out of the fireplace but was driven back in by the bullets slamming into his body. "Naughty, naughty demon. Stay where you're put. I know how tough you are to kill."
* * *
"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." Xander let out a rattling sigh before heading out of the door.
Once outside he took a few short breaths, cleansing himself of the foul deed he'd just done. He'd killed demons before, but this... He started as a figure stepped out of the shadows. "Feel good Xan?"
"Faith," he let out a relieved gasp that turned to a croak when he registered the rage burning in the beautiful brunette's eyes.
"That feel good Xman?" the Slayer demanded. "That get you going, feeding on your anger like that? 'Cause I gotta tell ya the first few times it's a wicked buzz, higher than the most wicked coke, but in the end it consumes you becomes you. Take it from me. If you let it it'll become ya. And if that happens," he took a step back at the coldness in the raven-haired beauty's eyes. "I'll take ya down. I won't like it, but I'll do it to protect Pip and the others."
Faith glanced up at the sound of The Magic Box door opening, a practiced smile on her face. "Hello. Welcome to The -," her smile faded as she belatedly recognised the man stood in the doorway. "Oh shit!"
"You!"
Seeing Riley's hand dip inside his jacket, Faith leapt over the shop counter and ran towards the soldier. Realising she couldn't reach the man before he shot off the huge cannon he was now waving in her direction she dived behind a near-by shelf. "Chill Cornfed!"
"Where's Buffy?" the soldier demanded, his voice strident.
"She's dead." Faith winced, oh real subtle.
"You killed her!"
Realising that words were not her ally, like they'd ever been, Faith decided on action. Leaping up, she landed cat-like on the top of the shelves and laid down. Seconds later the Special Ops officer entered the aisle. Faith dropped off the shelf and onto the Iowan, her right fist snapping into his jaw, her left snatching and twisting his gun wrist, forcing him to drop his weapon. As soon as the soldier hit the floor, Faith straddled his chest and glared down at him, her hands pinning his arms to the floor. "Now chill out-."
"Making friends again?"
Faith looked up to see a red-eyed Xander, the poor guy alternated between drinking and crying since Anya had left two weeks ago, and a tall brunette woman. "He tried to shoot me!"
Xander half-grinned. "You say that like it's a bad thing."
"Bit me Harris." Faith flipped her friend the bird although she was secretly pleased he was attempting jokes. Even if they were at her expense. "You wanna tell him I'm a white hat now?"
"Riley she's a white hat now."
"Such sincerity," she commented with a grin. "Who's the babe?"
"Sam Finn, Riley's wife. Do you want to get off my husband?"
Faith arched an eyebrow, her husband? There was an expression of bad taste if she'd ever heard one. "Five by five." Rising silkily she offered to help Riley up but he ignored her proffered hand to rise on his own. "What brings you to town Cor-," seeing Xander's warning glare she changed what she was about to say. "Riley?"
* * *
Her life officially sucked, Faith mused as she rappelled down the side of Sunnydale dam. It turned out the Finns were in town to hunt down a Suvolte demon and its eggs. So while Xander and Sam tried to hunt down leads on where the eggs might be. she and Cornfed where following the mother demon's trail. "Sunnydale, the town where the fun never ends." Faith muttered before glancing towards the square-jawed jackass beside her. She'd been considering apologising to him but couldn't be bothered, it wasn't like she gave a shit about him – hell, she'd probably given him the best time of his life.
Small-talk that was definitely the way to go. "You and Sam uh?" she tried for a casual tone. "How did you end up with such a babe?"
"Charm and personality," the soldier grunted.
Faith raised an eyebrow. She'd noticed the soldier had a kick-ass body, but charm and personality. Damn, that Sam was perceptive, she hadn't realised that Cornfed had a personality much less a decent one. "How long ya been hitched?"
"Why?" the look the farm-boy shot her was malicious to say the least. "You figuring to ruin this relationship too?"
Faith's eyes narrowed. "Who the hell -."
Her angry retort was interrupted by a shape slamming into her companion, knocking him into the wall. Faith toyed briefly with the idea of letting the demon rip the ass into pieces. Then sighing, being a good girl was a pain sometimes, she reached over, hooked an arm around the monster's neck and threw it off the struggling man. As the monster struggled to its feet, she grinned at a dazed-looking Riley. "I just saved your life. Man, it must suck to be you."
Without waiting for a reply she unsheathed her axe and turned her attention back to the demon charging her. At the last instant she slashed sideways at the beast's throat but it ducked beneath her attack, its claw knocking her weapon from her hand. "Oh fucking great!"
She reached up to catch the descending claw only to only to be thumped in the jaw. Dazed, she scrambled backwards, just out of range of the monster's slashing talons.
Grabbing hold of the monster's wrist she pulled it towards her, shooting up a knee but the monster deflected her attack with a thigh-block before grabbing hold of her by the jaw and throwing her to the hard ground. At the last second she managed to tuck her head into her chest, cushioning her head, but the shuddering impact of her collision jarred the air from her body.
Riley leapt at the demon but it back-handed the young man to the ground, the force of the blow sending blood spraying onto the dam wall. Finn's intervention gave her the chance she needed to leap to her feet and surge back into action, her blistering flurry of kicks and punches knocking the demon on its ass.
Taking advantage of the monster's distress, Faith smoothly scooped up the axe and drove it through the monster's neck, tearing its head from its shoulders. "Thanks for the save G.I. Joe," she pulled the battered-looking soldier to his feet. "That," she nodded towards the decapitated corpse. "Momma bear?"
Riley nodded. "All we need now is the eggs." Suddenly his cell-phone rang.
"Ask and you will receive." Faith grinned.
* * *
"CLEM!"
Clem winced both at the Slayer's bellow and her enraged face as she stormed into his apartment. "Um, hello Faith," he tried for a sunny tone.
"Don't you hello me Clem!" the repulsively tight-skinned girl waggled a finger in his face. Oh boy, she was really angry. "What were you thinking of?"
"He promised me kittens," Clem replied weakly.
"Pussy?" the tall stranger who'd followed his friend into his home snorted. "No wonder you're friends."
"Kittens not pussy," Faith glared at the sandy-haired man before sighing and turning back to him. "Who's your supplier?"
"There must be some mistake, my friend said they were bird's eggs."
"That's it," the tall man started forward, a pair of handcuffs dangling from his left hand and a huge gun in his right. "I'm taking you into custody for questioning."
"Back off farm-boy," Faith stepped in front of the man, blocking his path to him. "Clem's made a mistake that's all." Her warning delivered, the brunette turned back to him. "Clem," he was relieved to see that the anger had left the young woman's eyes, leaving the softness he saw there on the two times a week she dropped in after patrol to watch a couple of videos with him. "Listen bud," the Slayer put her hands on his shoulder. "Whoever asked you for help sold you a line. You're in big trouble so talk."
After a second Clem nodded. "His name is Doc-." "What!" this time the shout came from his other friend. Xander's eyes had chilled to brown ice chips. Suddenly Clem wasn't sure if he should be more scared of Xander than Faith. "I'm gonna kill that bastard!"
* * *
"Xman this is loco!" Faith glared at her friend. After destroying the eggs the Finns had left with a promise that they'd deal with Doc. But this was definitely not what she had in mind. "I should be going in, he knows you!"
"He won't once I've used this." Xander indicated the things he'd brought with him and thrown down onto the table.
Faith hated to admit it but Xander had a point. The black turtleneck and jeans, and sunglasses certainly weren't usual Xander wear. And put them together with the 24 hour blond dye he was busy applying to his hair and he's soon be pretty much a new person. "Damn it Xander, I'm the fated demon hunter."
Xander ignored her to turn to her Watcher. "You've got the ring?" Giles wordlessly passed the younger man a brass ring.
"What's that?" she demanded, her brow furrowed in puzzlement.
"A Terakan ring," the Englishman replied. "Xander intends to go in under the identity of an Order assassin."
Faith's eyes widened in horror. "G, this is fucking crazy -," her voice trailed off as Xander strode out of the shop. Faith glared at the magic shop owner. "Oh that's just great G, thanks for the help, no really."
"Faith," her Watcher's face was drawn with weariness. "Xander has always felt responsible for not saving Buffy. Completely unjustified of course. But if dealing with Doc can help ease it," the Englishman smiled grimly. "However that doesn't mean," Giles threw her his car keys. "You shouldn't follow him."
* * *
Doc looked warily at the young man stood in his front room. There was something familiar about him but he'd never met any Order assassins before so the young man must just remind him of somebody he'd met. Still, it didn't hurt to be sure. "You're awfully young to be a member of the Order."
His visitor laughed bitterly. "You've no idea. I was born in 1949, want to Nam in '68 to save my great country and earned the name 'Shadow-Killer'. But in '72 I was paralysed in a fall from a 'copter. The government I'd served so loyally weren't interested in helping, but the Order made an offer. They'd heal me and give me an anti-aging drug in exchange for my service. I agreed," the contractor shrugged. "And here I am."
Embittered war hero turns against an uncaring government. Doc nodded, the man's tale had a familiar sound. "And what brings you to my humble abode?"
The assassin smiled thinly. "You had a run-in with the Slayer and her group last year?" Doc grimaced before nodding. Hardly his finest moment. "Excellent. I've been contracted by the Watcher's Council to rub out Mr. Rupert Giles, apparently he's an embarrassment. Now I've got a full file on him but what about his associates?"
"Ah yes," Doc smiled. He was more than pleased with this turn of events. Since Glory's demise he'd been hiding out, scurrying from hiding place to hiding place. But once the Watcher was dealt with, the so-called Scooby Gang would be directionless, and a power vacuum created. His smile widening, he sprang to his feet, and turned his back on his guest as he reached onto his book shelves. "I have a file -, argh!"
He screamed as his back exploded in pain and his legs crumpled, sending him plummeting sideways to the floor. His mouth dropped open when the assassin took off his glasses. "Recognise me you bastard?" the man chuckled. "Oh yeah, you do. Remember cutting Dawn so Buff had to do a swan-dive? Well, it's time to pay the pipe." The man reached down, grabbed hold of him by the scruff of his neck and the seat of his pants, and, ignoring, his anguished screams, threw him into his open fire. His flesh burning he immediately attempted to roll out of the fireplace but was driven back in by the bullets slamming into his body. "Naughty, naughty demon. Stay where you're put. I know how tough you are to kill."
* * *
"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." Xander let out a rattling sigh before heading out of the door.
Once outside he took a few short breaths, cleansing himself of the foul deed he'd just done. He'd killed demons before, but this... He started as a figure stepped out of the shadows. "Feel good Xan?"
"Faith," he let out a relieved gasp that turned to a croak when he registered the rage burning in the beautiful brunette's eyes.
"That feel good Xman?" the Slayer demanded. "That get you going, feeding on your anger like that? 'Cause I gotta tell ya the first few times it's a wicked buzz, higher than the most wicked coke, but in the end it consumes you becomes you. Take it from me. If you let it it'll become ya. And if that happens," he took a step back at the coldness in the raven-haired beauty's eyes. "I'll take ya down. I won't like it, but I'll do it to protect Pip and the others."
