Author: Lucinda
similar to the series, with chances of violence and moderate sexuality
main characters: Riley, Faith, Graham
Faith and Second Chances 18: Shooting in the Darkness
disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
distribution: Wic, Paula, Cat - anyone else ask first.
Notes: set in season 4, just after the body-switching has been reversed. :words in colons: are over a telephone or radio and come from the person who is not present at the scene.
Riley tucked the blanket around the boxes, hoping that nobody looked in the back of his jeep. Even in Sunnydale, it wasn't normal to carry a pair of rocket launchers and a box of ammunition for them around in your car. But Faith's plan had made a lot of sense. Adam was designed to be tough, and rocket launchers were designed to be able to take out tanks, it just might work.
Faith. He didn't know quite what to think about her anymore. She was beautiful, that was obvious. Sometimes she just seemed so distant, and at other times it was nice to have someone who understood what it took to fight against monsters. But... She'd gone tot he Dark Side. She'd tried to make a joke out of it, but it wasn't funny. She'd killed people, human people. He wasn't certain if it helped that she'd been led astray by an amazingly successful evil politician who had used textbook perfect psychological manipulation or not. It made it easier to understood how everything could have happened. Understanding how it could have happened didn't make it better. She'd killed people, hurt people, and worked for a villain.
She was trying to do better now. In a way, she hadn't denied that she'd made mistakes, that she'd gotten lost and confused and needed to straighten her life out. Her mistakes were just so much bigger than most people's though. He honestly believed that she wanted to do better with her life now than she had before. She wanted a second chance. Part of him wanted to give it to her, especially since when she wasn't trying to look like a tough, knowledgeable Slayer, Faith looked so young. Too young to be fighting demons and vampires.
Closing his eyes, Riley admitted to himself that he wanted Faith to do better this time; he wanted her to get that second chance. At the same time, the more he learned about her past, the less he liked it. Every scrap of knowledge about just how bad she'd been as a bad girl was hard to stomach, and it made it hard to look at her and see someone trying to do better. That difficulty meant that despite the fact that she was hot and knew exactly how to use that, the simmering attraction wouldn't work. How could he have a relationship like that with someone whose past kept making him cringe?
Maybe he was getting ahead of himself. Before there could be any question of relationships or a future at all, they had to get rid of Adam. They would have to survive getting rid of Adam. Hopefully the rocket launchers would work.
He picked Graham up from the college campus, driving towards Steve's house. For a few moments, there was only awkward silence.
"I got a pair of rocket launchers. Faith thought maybe if bullets and tazers wouldn't work, something bigger might." Riley mumbled, and shot the other soldier a glance, not quite wiling to ponder the depths of grief and pain he could see. "I figured that if I got one for each of us, we could catch him in a crossfire."
"Makes sense," Graham agreed. "Do you think that Forrest... that Adam has him?"
"I don't know." Riley considered the question, considered what he'd seen on the disks and what Adam had said the other night. "Maybe."
"We'll need more than just the two of us, even with rocket launchers. I don't mean just inviting Faith along either, he had quite a few subordinates with him." Graham's voice was firm. "If we can figure out where he is, we should take a couple squads in after him, so that we can get all the followers too."
"Yeah. I've got a few ideas about where he might be hiding." Riley agreed, and then considered. "I think if we have several squads check out the possible places and then radio for backup if they find him, things should be workable."
Riley took the cowardly path, and decided to ask Faith to patrol with Graham's group. She was just so confusing at times, and if he was trying to figure her out, he wouldn't be paying as much attention to patrolling as he should. Inattention led to carelessness, which led to injury and death.
He wasn't surprised to see her waiting at Steve's. "Did you manage to get the launchers? Cause if you didn't, we need to come up with plan B."
Graham went over to talk with Steve, and Riley caught something about 'weak points' and 'aim.' It sounded like more discussion about where the shots might have the biggest effect. Maybe he should see if there were any easy targets, after he talked to Faith.
"I got two, so we should be able to try for plan A." Riley offered a small smile, and then decided to just go for it. "Faith, about tonight..."
"You're not going to convince me not to go out looking for Adam." Faith's voice was firm, and she leaned against the house. "So, unless it was 'Faith, stay home', what did you have in mind?"
"No, I didn't think you'd stay out of this. I want you to patrol with Graham's squad tonight." Riley didn't even try to talk her out of going.
"Why his group?" Faith sounded puzzled, and glanced over at Graham.
"Forrest was my friend, and I'm still upset that he's gone, but Graham's taking it really hard. A lot harder than I am, and..." Riley paused, again deciding not to ask too many questions. "I'm worried that it'll keep him from noticing everything that he should. I'd like you to watch out for him. I've already lost one friend, I don't want to loose another."
Faith glanced over at Graham, and there was a subtle shift in her expression, nothing that Riley could explain. "He does seem a bit lost by that. Yeah, I can go with him tonight."
End part 1.
Faith followed Graham, adjusting the pair of knives and the bundle of stakes. She'd felt petty loaded, until she saw Graham tucking a revolver under his jacket and lifting a bulky looking gun. "So, what does that do? Scare them into submission?"
"It's a stun gun," he chuckled. "It does look pretty big. Kind of like it should be on one of Steve's sci-fi shows. It shoots a little dart and then sends a few hundred volts of electricity right into the target. We're supposed to bring them back alive."
"So, the other one's for the cases where that doesn't work?" Faith grinned, patting the bundle of stakes. "It's really not worth trying to catch the vamps. Just stake 'em and be done with it."
"What if we run into something else?" He pulled his keys out of a jacket pocket, and settled into the driver's seat.
"That's why I've got a couple knives, crackers." Faith pulled out her flirting smile, just for the practice.
He gave a sad little smile. "Bet the crackers from a box taste better. It's good to know that you're prepared."
"Speaking of preparations, what happens when we find Adam?" Faith settled into the seat, the knife at her back pressing against her spine.
"Mine's in the trunk, it would be a bad idea to leave it in the seat where anyone might notice. Against university policy, you know." The car headed away from the house, and he gave a half grin. "We're picking up a couple guys in town for a sweep."
"A couple guys, huh? Is that one for me and one for you, or do I get them both?" Faith teased, hoping to make him blush and stammer the way she could Steve or Riley.
"Get the hostiles first, then you can try to ask them out." Graham smirked at her, and then added, "But some of them might not take you very seriously later. Giving up too much too fast... It kind of makes a guy think less of you."
For a few moments, Faith just blinked, astonished that he'd actually said that. Now all she had to do was figure out if he just going along with the joke or if he was taking her party girl image seriously. "uhh, right. Slay the baddies first, party later."
Chuckling, Graham pulled up to a sporting goods shop, waving at a pair of guys. "Ready to go?"
The guys jogged over to the car, both having the same remarkable fitness that Riley and Graham showed. The first one glanced inside, his eyes twinkling as he spotted Faith. "I thought this was official?"
"It's time to slay the baddies, soldier boys," Faith purred. "Think you can keep up?"
"Are you sure about this?" The second guy asked, a tilt of his head indicating Faith.
"She can pull her weight on this." Graham shook his head, and started towards the warehouses in the old industrial section. "There's a lot of abandoned factories, there's a chance that Adam and his subordinate HST's might be using one of those as a base."
Graham pulled the car into a parking place in front of an old fish cannery. "Ready to check for HST's?"
Everybody slid out of the car, the guys grabbing their stun guns as Faith rolled her shoulders. Faith tried to get a feel for anything off, so that she could be prepared. She was pretty sure she was picking up some evil vibes, but not strong enough for it to be Adam. She pulled a knife in her right hand and held a stake in her left, just in case there were vamps. "I'm ready."
"These guys aren't your basic muggers, they won't be afraid of a knife." One of Graham's guys muttered.
The other soldier pushed open the door, raising an eyebrow at the smooth ease of it. "Someone's definitely been using this one. No rust."
Inside, they saw that some of the machines had been pushed aside, while others remained, with a series of gleaming blades and several dark stains on the floor. A group of man sized figures in hooded robes started moving towards them, one of them gesturing and snarling a few words in Spanish. Faith wasn't sure of the finer details, but she'd lay money that it could be translated as 'get them,' after all, the bad guys always said things like that.
The soldiers shot their stun guns at the first two charging robed figures, dropping them in twitching heaps. Faith moved, slashing at the next one, sending it to the ground clutching at its stomach as she kicked the feet out of another one. "Stop the leader, he's charging for one of the old semi doors."
Graham pulled his other gun and shot twice, causing the fleeing demon to fall to the ground. "He's been stopped."
"Umm, Miller? What happened to get them alive?" The first guy asked.
"There's a hand sticking out of the trash can." Graham explained.
The second soldier nodded, and then fired into the head of one of the stunned demons before giving a shrug and the unconvincing, "thought I saw him move, sir."
Graham's radio crackled, and Riley's voice came through. "Requesting backup at the burned out high school. Preliminary reports of at least twelve hostiles."
Clicking a button, Graham relied, "On our way. Mulberry out."
"Mulberry?" Faith asked. "Riley's lilac and you're mulberry, what's up with that?"
In unison, the soldiers spoke, "Never let a botany major pick the codenames."
Faith just started laughing. "Alright, I guess it's back to school. It's probably Adam; the big evil always heads for that place. Besides that, there's not going to be too many bad guys with that many minions in town at once, and if it was just vamps, he would have said so, right?"
"You've done things like this before, haven't you?" The first soldier asked. Remembering himself, he blushed a little as he added, "I'm Brian, and that's Murphy."
"Yeah, I've been slaying for a while." Faith decided not to mention her medical vacation to coma-land. "A couple years. And I'm Faith. If the guy we think is running what's up at the high school, think of a demonic updated Frankenstein monster looking to upgrade his flunkies with a few spare parts."
"What if it's not the same guy?" Murphy asked.
"Decapitation works almost every time." Faith grinned, and left the seat belt off. "I have some really ugly memories of that school..."
"Almost? What do you mean, almost?" Brian gulped. "Is this anything like ants crawling around headless for a while?"
"Yeah, except the demons generally still have the nasty claws. It's just pretty hard for them to aim without their heads, so they're fighting blind. Generally they're pretty mad if you get their heads off, so it makes 'em meaner." Faith grinned, and reached back to pad his shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll watch out for you guys."
"We're here." Graham commented, turning into a parking lot. "Be ready."
Faith swallowed as she looked at the building. Parts of it were gone, more of it was charred. The big tree that she'd planned patrols with Buffy under was gone, leaving only a charred stump. This was where Dick had died.
"Guys, just remember, bullets may not kill all of them, but taking out the knees sure slows them down." Faith tried to offer a little reassurance of her own.
Another jeep full of guys in camouflage pulled up, their direction suggesting that they'd been out in the cemeteries where they didn't need to be able to blend with regular people.
"We're going in. Elm out." The driver of the jeep spoke into his radio. Releasing the button of his radio, he growled, "stupid botany codenames."
End part 2.
The group moved towards the school. Faith suddenly shook her head, and tapped Graham's elbow. "Where are the demons? This was a school, depending on their location, we might be able to approach from multiple directions."
"Good idea." Pulling out the radio, he clicked the button before saying, "This is mulberry, can we get a location for the hostiles?"
: Lilac here, they appear to be gathered in the auditorium. This is definitely Adam's group, and he appears to be making a speech. I repeat, this IS Adam's group.:
Graham looked up, eyes troubled. "Faith, you explain to these guys what approaches to take, you have some familiarity with the building. I'm need something from the car."
One of the camouflaged men muttered something about not the time for dating.
Faith pointed towards the broken portion of roof. "That's the auditorium. There's the main doors from the back of the seats, those are two sets of double doors connecting to a hallway. There's a single door on the side from another hall, and a door that gives stage access. That one will probably bring you in real close to Adam and any personal bodyguards that he has. Expect a lot of demons in the auditorium; there was seating for five hundred students. If there were only a few, he could have found a smaller place to go on about his master plan for world domination."
"How do you know that's his plan?" The jeep's driver asked.
"These bad guys have a few things in common. They either want to end the world, or rule it." Faith shrugged, pushing down the pang of guilt at the memory of Dick. This was where he'd planned to make things start. "Either way, they generally need a lot of flunkies to try and make things happen."
"Agent Lilac and his team are in the rear of the auditorium, we'll need to move from the sides." The jeep driver glanced up, his jaw dropping as he stared towards the parking lot. "Damn, Miller, what in the hell do you think you'll need a rocket launcher for? A dragon?"
"No, Adam. He shrugged off both the tazer and the pistol fire like you would a mosquito. That tells me that I need a bigger weapon." Graham's expression was uncompromising. "I'd rather blast him to bits than not take him down at all."
"Fair enough." The man swallowed, and then looked at the rest of the soldiers. "Don't block his line of fire, okay?"
With that, they moved inside, taking out some vampire sentries at the school doors. Faith tossed the jeep driver a stake before stabbing the first stunned vamp. "Just dust them, it's safer than leaving them at our backs."
A second dust pile later and they were inside, moving towards the auditorium. Graham made a few hand motions, indicating that the group from the jeep should take the second door, and waved Faith, Brian and Murphy to follow him to the first set. Faith could feel the evil, like a wave of hot, humid air itching over her skin.
They moved into the backstage, hearing a voice as soon as the door was edged open. "... once the weaknesses have been removed, we shall seize control. Those who oppose us will only strengthen our numbers, and we shall be unstoppable!"
Faith had a bad feeling about the covered mass beside him. There was something on a table, all covered by a sheet, with several cables running up and underneath.
At Graham's signal, they struck at the demons standing with Adam. Faith was distantly aware of the sound of doors opening as she ducked a punch from something large, covered with red scales and only having one eye. As she stabbed a stake at that eye, she could hear gunfire. Hopefully that was from the soldiers and not the demons. There were demon roaring, and the sounds of chairs being ripped from the floor, crashing into the floor again.
Brian was tackled by something that looked halfway between a basketball player and one of those plate-backed dinosaurs, and the fall managed to drag the sheet away from the table. Looking rather like a display, there was a second patchwork man. She could see a spot that looked like green scales, and the gleam of metal.
There was anguished shout from Graham, "Forrest!"
There was a dull whine and a cloud of smoke as Graham fired the rocket launcher. Almost like an echo, she could hear Riley fire the second one.
End part 3.
One explosion later, the world was silent. Faith and the others continued to fight, dropping demons that opened their mouths in silent screams. Guns jerked, releasing bullets with only tiny flashes of light, and vampire ashes drifted to the ground like sand.
There wasn't much left of Adam. Faith limped to the stage, almost certain that her footsteps should have echoed slightly on the stage. Brian was wrapping his shirt around his arm, blood changing it from gray to crimson. Something that looked like a wide-bladed throwing knife made from green leather had been dropped to the stage beside him, and the table had been knocked over. Graham knelt beside the altered body of Forrest Gates, looking horrified.
By this point, Faith was starting to hear a pulsing roar in her ears, accompanied by the odd buzzing ringing that meant her hearing was trying to come back. Kneeling beside Brian, she gave him a quick grin before grabbing his cell phone out of his pants pocket.
She dialed the hospital, still unsure how well she would hear anyone who picked up. "I need some ambulances at the Sunnydale High School."
:... nature of... how many...: She could only catch a few words between the roaring and buzzing in her ears.
"I got about six guys here who need a doctor real soon or they're dead. Something blew up, I can't hear right, but there's a lot of blood. At the old Sunnydale High School, we're in the auditorium." Faith hoped that the person would take her seriously. "Please hurry."
:... dispatched, but if this... be there in ten minutes.:
Faith tried to smile, not quite managing as she looked at the carnage in the auditorium. "I hope the EMT's have strong stomachs."
Hanging up the phone, she tucked it back into Brian's pocket. "Thanks."
"Moving a bit fast for a first date, aren't you?" She could tell that he was teasing, trying to keep himself from panicking. "We've barely met and you're already getting into my pants."
Reaching out, she squeezed his shoulder. "Hey, I know what I want. There's supposed to be people on their way."
Faith looked at the stage, seeing Brian with his arm wrapped. Graham was still kneeling by Forrest's body. Murphy was... Faith swallowed, seeing that Murphy was already beyond help. She started walking, wanting to make sure that all the downed demons were dead and not just waiting for a chance to slip away or attack someone else. Murphy wasn't the only soldier killed, though she didn't know the names of any of the others. Riley was leaning against a chair, one hand on his ribs and his arm dangling at an angle that could only mean a dislocated shoulder.
"Hey soldier," Faith offered, not quite certain what to say.
"How bad is it?" Riley's voice sounded a bit funny, louder and flatter than normal.
"Murphy's dead. Forrest was on stage, and it seems Adam was making a few modifications." Faith took a deep breath, her head spinning at all the mingled smells. "There are some others who didn't make it, but I don't know their names. I called the hospital."
Sirens could now be heard in the distance.
"I guess they did send some people over." The auditorium seemed to shrug, and Faith reached out, clutching at the nearest chair for balance. Glancing down, she realized that what she'd assumed were a few little bumps and scrapes were bruises spreading over her shoulder, a slash revealing bone at her elbow, blood soaking the leg of her pants, and the pain of bruises covering most of her back and stomach. "ow."
"Faith?" Riley reached out for her as the floor shifted. For a moment, he looked confused, and then he looked at the bodies, human and demon, on the auditorium floor. "After everyone's patched up, we need to talk."
She nodded, closing her eyes as the simple motion seemed to make the world spin. "Right, later we talk."
The room echoed as more people entered the auditorium. "We got a call about some injured people... Mother of God, what happened here?"
"This happens in this town, Leo. It either gets reported as 'gang violence' or 'wild animal attacks' depending on the type of injury." The second voice sounded older. "Start checking for pulses on the human ones, if you get one, we take them in."
Dimly, Faith realized that this mean she'd wake up in the hospital again. It had taken quite a while to get out the last time she'd gone into one of those... The floor rushed up at her, and Faith sank into familiar unconsciousness.
End part 4.
End Faith & Second Chances 18: Shooting in the Darkness.