Author: Lucinda
similar to the series, with chances of violence and moderate sexuality
main characters: Riley, Faith, also appearances of Spike, Graham and Steve.
Faith and Second Chances 17: Rockets, Plans and Spikes
disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Steve is mine.
distribution: Wic, Paula, Cat - anyone else ask first.
notes: set in season 4, AU after the body-switching has been reversed. Contains the death of a BtVS recurring character.
After that encounter with the patchwork that Walsh's notes referred to as 'Adam,' nobody had wanted to go out alone in the darkness. Graham had crashed on the couch, and they'd all spent a restless night trying to sleep. Morning had brought no peace, and over coffee, they'd started trying to make a plan.
Faith, Riley and Graham had tried to toss out ideas about how to get rid of a patchwork monster like that. Steve had found the blueprints for him, and was searching for any weakness that they could exploit.
"It's as if he was designed to eliminate the weaknesses of the component parts." Steve's voice had taken on a distant quality, a sure sign that he wasn't letting himself think about the fact that this wasn't some theoretical problem but a monster right here.
Riley had looked over, his expression bleak. "He probably was. Anything useful in there?"
"He's not powered by biochemical activity, but by a small reactor in his chest." Steve replied, and then frowned. "That's pretty risky, studies on long term exposure to even low levels of radiation... It's not good. Causes sterility in men."
"At least we know he can't breed more, only build them." Faith grumbled, shaking her head at the unwelcome images Steve's comment had spawned.
"That's... ick." Graham shook his head, before adding, "Vampires. His minions were partly vampires, which don't really reproduce, but they don't just die either. How likely is he to try to give them a few upgrades?"
"I'd think he wouldn't be able to do too much, considering. They're probably the expendable front line." Faith offered, hoping that she was right.
"Damn, there's those psych classes." Riley exclaimed, sitting up. "I'm going to have to go over to the college for a while."
"It's okay guys. I'm not going to fall apart." Faith tried to smile, certain that she'd failed. "You and Graham crackers have to go do your college things so that the whole world doesn't find out that you're soldier boys. Go, Steve and I will be fine."
Reluctantly, the soldiers left. Despite their concerns over Adam, they did have other responsibilities.
Looking at the pair of them, Faith called, "Hey Riley? You and me, tonight. Wide patrol, we'll kick some demons and vamps around a little, try to figure out where Adam's holed up."
Riley nodded, turning a little pink. "It's a date. I mean... yeah, patrol tonight. Good idea."
Faith watched them drive away, and turned back towards the garage. There was a punching bag, which might help a little, if she didn't forget her strength and break it. This whole mess, right on top of waking up to a world that had moved on without her was worse than a nightmare. They had to find a solution. Something, anything...
She tried to empty her mind, to push away everything. Bits kept floating in, random song lyrics, the punch-line to an old joke, an old hamburger commercial. As she kept hitting the bag, the fragments changed, becoming bits of advice on demons that penny had given her, fragments of fights, bits of stories that B had told her when she'd first gotten to Sunnydale, before everything fell apart.
Wait... Hadn't there been some giant smurf-thing that was supposedly indestructible? Right, something called the Judge, from when Angel was all sexy and evil. How had they stopped it? Maybe that would be good against Adam.
Xander had come up with the solution. They'd destroyed an ancient demon that was... how did that go? Right, could not be harmed by any weapon forged by man. They'd shot him with a rocket launcher and blown him to bits. If it had worked against something almost invincible, it should work against Adam, if they could get a rocket launcher. Maybe Riley would have an idea or two. She'd have to bring it up later.
"Steve?" Faith called, stepping back inside the house.
"There is no magic self destruct button." His voice was slightly muffled. "And no, we can't use a radio transmitter to over-ride his brain and control him by remote."
"Both of those are good to know." Faith smirked, walking into the computer room. "But you've been watching too many scifi movies. I wanted to know if it would work to just blast him with a rocket launcher."
"Assuming that we could get one, you mean." Steve made a 'hmmm' noise, and looked back at the computer for a few moments. "I think it should work."
"I'm hoping that Riley can get one, either from the Initiative supplies or some other way. If we can blast that Adam to bits, I don't care where the rocket launcher comes from."
Feeling slightly better now that there was a sketchy plan, Faith tried to keep from worrying too much. She tossed some things into a crock-pot so there would be dinner, and practiced some of her sword work, which she'd been neglecting. She cleaned out the garage, and had to take a shower. The garage didn't really make her feel better about Adam, or about her own failings in the past, her own sins. But it did take a lot of time.
Riley came back from college, and they started out on a patrol. The quiet between them felt awkward, and Faith found herself wondering what was bothering Riley, and if she'd rather he talk about it or let it bubble uncomfortably between them. Was it Adam? Her own ugly past? Forrest?
"How much of what she said is true?" The words finally came out as they were walking through a cemetery. "Buffy said… she said a lot of things. What was real?"
"I don't know what all she said. For me, things were never really what you'd call good. I had Penny, and she was trying her best to prepare me for a destiny that promised pain, suffering, and an early grave. She got… Penny died, and I ran away from the guy who did it before I could be next. I'd failed her, she'd died because I wasn't fast enough, wasn't strong enough... I came here, hoping… I don't know, I guess I didn't really think I'd make it. But I did, and there were Watchers, and another Slayer, and I thought… Maybe this time it would be better. But it wasn't. B had her mom who's a great lady, and she had friends, and Giles really did his best for her, and there… There was nothing for me except the bruises and pain, again. Then B and I were on a patrol together…" Faith's words faltered as she felt the vampires. "Lots of vamps, Riley. They're trying to surround us.
The fight took a while, but the great thing about being surrounded by idiotic vampire minions, if there could be said to be any advantage to that situation at all, was that most of them were too stupid to really work together. They kept getting in each others way, and had no practice at teamwork. It was a long fight, and left her with a number of bruises and some minor scrapes, with Riley only a little worse off, but they managed to kill them all.
"Was that a warning, or part of the story?" Riley gasped, still trying to catch his breath after the chaotic attack.
"Both, but set it in an alley and substitute B in for you. Then end it with this guy in the wrong place at the worst time…" Faith looked away, making certain that her stake was still pointy as she tucked it back out of sight. "B grabbed him, and she must have thought he was a vamp or something, because she tossed him my way, and I staked him."
"He wasn't a vampire." Riley's tone made it clear that he wasn't making a guess. "Wait, Buffy was with you?"
"He wasn't a vamp, and she was right there. Things… Hell, things fell apart, and I freaked. Everybody was freaking out, and I still don't know what he was doing in a dark alley in Sunnydale at a quarter past eleven." Faith paused, trying to figure out how to explain what had happened, what she'd been thinking or not-thinking. "My whole life, I'd been told that I'd have to go out and kill the monsters, and Penny promised that she'd always be there to make sure everything else was taken care of. Penny was gone, the only people who might have a clue why I'd be running around with a sharp piece of wood were talking about sending me to the Council to be taken care of, and I panicked. One dies and another is Chosen, you know, what if these Council people just decided that it would be easier to start over with someone else? No more Faith, no more mess, and they still get two Slayers."
"Damn…" Riley looked like he had no idea what to say. "Faith, I…"
"I'm not saying that it was all good. And I certainly didn't exactly handle things very well. I was scared, and I didn't think, but that guy… he was an accident." Faith looked away, unsure what she'd see in Riley's face.
"She said you worked for the evil mayor Snake-guy." Riley's voice was soft, as if he wasn't sure he wanted to know.
"He was there, and he seemed so nice, so… helpful. Like one of those nice dad on the really old television shows, you know?" Faith tried to explain Dick, knowing that words would fall short. "He said I was just a girl who'd lost her way, that I needed someone to take care of me and help me figure out what to do. He said that if I'd let him, he'd take good care of me."
"Did he take care of you?" Riley asked.
"Yeah, he got me out of the dive where I was staying and set me up in this great apartment. Clean clothing to wear, nice toys, a doctor if I got hurt out there… Of course, he wanted something for it all." Faith could feel a tear prickling at her eye. "It stared out simple, just getting rid of some demons and vamps that were causing him some problems. Pretty much the same thing that I'd already been doing as a Slayer, you know? And he got rid of the Council swat-squad, the ones that were going to drag me away and take care of me."
"Then he started to ask for a little more, things that were a bit different than Slayer stuff?" Riley sounded like he was starting to at least follow the events, even if he didn't like them. Even if he'd probably end up hating her almost as bad as B did by the time she was done.
"Yeah. By the time he was asking me to kill humans for him, I couldn't see any other choice. He was there for me, taking care of me when nobody else would. Not the Council, not the guy they finally sent to be my Watcher, not B, not my relatives, just him. And it's not that much of a jump from killing demons and vamps to killing humans… Except that it makes a lot more of a difference with the way people look at you."
"It makes a lot of sense." Riley sounded like he was trying to think of it like a problem in a book. "He found you when you were vulnerable, and took advantage of it. He did something to benefit you, and started asking for a little, gradually asking for more until… there you were. No way out and nobody left to turn to for help."
"Yeah." Faith frowned as she realized they were walking down a street, unsure when they'd left the cemetery. "On a completely different note, can you get a rocket launcher?"
"Can I get a… why?" Riley blinked, clearly unsure how a rocket launcher connected with anything.
"To get rid of Adam. If we can't fight him hand to hand and bullets and tazers don't work, maybe a rocket launcher will." Faith explained, hoping that he'd see and understand.
"That's a good idea." Riley looked thoughtful, "I think so. It might not be easy, but I think I can manage it. Maybe two, then Graham and I can get him in crossfire or at least have a second shot."
Faith nodded, and then frowned as she felt the presence of a vampire. They weren't too close and there was only one, but it was an older vamp. She started to look around.
"Hey, isn't that one of Xander's friends?" Riley asked, his tone sounding convinced that something wasn't right, even if he wasn't sure what was wrong.
Frowning at Riley's words, Faith moved closer. Just the one guy, and he was definitely a vamp. Come to think of it, that looked like the place where Giles lived. This didn't seem to be adding up right to her, so instead of staking him, she tackled the vampire.
Odd how he didn't put up a very effective fight. He almost got away by squirming out of the leather coat, but Riley punched him, the blow causing the fangs to show as the vampire staggered a little.
They dragged the vampire and his coat back into the cemetery. Faith slammed him up against a mausoleum, still not grabbing the stake. "So, Riley, how do you recognize this guy?"
"I saw him when I met up with Buffy for a problem, he… he said he was a friend of Xander's." Riley started searching though the pockets, occasionally grimacing at what he found. "Somehow, I don't believe him anymore. He still looks sort of familiar."
"I thought I wouldn't have to deal with any of you bloody soldiers again." The vampire's words held a definite British feel, though nothing like the way Giles talked.
"Hostile seventeen!" Riley hit the vampire, scowling at him.
"Bloody Hell1" the vampire clutched at his nose, yellow eyes glaring at them.
"Why don't you tell us what you were doing over there." Faith suggested, one thumb indicating the houses. "Tell us why you tried to claim that you're a pal of Xander's."
"Why should I tell you anything?" The vampire growled.
Faith slowly made a fist, but Riley hit the vampire first. Shrugging, she looked him in the eyes and said, "You can tell us now, or we can hit you a bit first, maybe hang around till about six, six thirty in the morning. It's up to you."
"I'm part of the gang now." The vampire smirked at them. "Part of their group, and the Slayer is depending on me to learn more about their problems. Seems there's this big nasty out there, calls himself Adam."
Faith hit him this time, her fist slamming into his guts with enough force that things would have ruptured in a human. "How do you know about Adam?"
"You're going to break someone doing things like that." He tried to look reproachful, only achieving a look of pain.
"Adam did have vampire minions." Riley commented, looking at the vampire. "Or maybe… What were you doing at Giles' house?"
"I gave them some information. Useful information, if they can find someone capable of cracking that code." He smirked again, and tried to pull away. "If you'll just let go, the Slayer's expecting me back."
Faith narrowed her eyes, wondering how the vampire would have gotten encoded disks. The disks that Riley had found weren't encoded, so where would he have found them? "You got them from that patchwork bastard."
The look of panic in the vampires eyes could only mean that her guess was right.
"Maybe Adam offered to do something about the inhibitor chip," Riley mused, glaring at the vampire. "You sold them out to someone who probably can't be trusted. They were protecting you and you sold them out."
Faith pulled her stake, not taking her eyes off the vampire. "I know how to keep him from telling the bad guys anything else."
"I can be quiet!" The vampire tried to squirm out of her grasp.
Faith plunged the stake into his chest, watching as he slowly crumbled, the bones about three fast heartbeats slower than the rest of him. "I believe you can, fang-boy."
"Do you think that will help?" Riley asked, looking at the stake that was still embedded in the tree.
"Maybe not against Adam, but I feel better." Faith shrugged, and turned to look at Riley. "So, you'll try to get a rocket launcher, and we hope that we can get rid of Adam before he expands his family?"
"And we know he can't make anything worse now." Riley nodded, starting to walk back towards the jeep. "I still don't like what you did."
"I take it you mean last year, with the Mayor, not staking blondie back there?" Faith commented, wiping the traces of dust from her hands.
"Right. He was just another demon, and a traitor. Sunnydale's probably safer without him." Riley's words were calm. "I understand how the mess with the Mayor could have happened, but I still don't like it."
"Riley, I don't like what happened, and it was my life." Faith stuffed her hands into her pockets and sighed. "It happened, I can't change it, all I can do is move on."
"It won't be easy." Riley cautioned.
"Since when is anything easy? I can work through this… I hope." Faith retorted.
End Rockets, Plans and Spikes.