Chapter 14 – Building Bridges and Blowing Houses

Faith's trail was an easy one to follow, but it went to one of the worst neighborhoods in Sunnydale. WarWolf stopped and sniffed the air once again. He was getting close.

"Stop, buddy. I know where she went," He-Man spoke, looking ahead of them. The damaged sign of a motel was blinking a couple of blocks away. "There, that roof over there." He pointed to a place almost in front of the motel.

The mystic wolf ran a couple of meters, jumped high in the air, landing smoothly on the rooftop. He-Man gave the motel a good look. Now, how to find her? He couldn't just appear at the front desk, looking like this. That's when he noticed a lighter flickering in the dark at one corner of the motel, briefly illuminating the face of the Slayer.

He-Man jumped to the ground, two floors down, landing as smoothly as if stepping down from a staircase. He calmly walked to where she stood smoking a cigarette.

"Those things will kill you," He-Man said, approaching.

"So will vamps, but these will be slower. What do you want?" she asked, but threw the cigarette away.

"Mostly to know where you were staying."

"What for? Trying to score one for the good times?" she said, with her typical attitude.

He-Man didn't take the bait, though. "No, to know where to find you if we needed your help. And to be sure you were all right."

"Oh, so you're Mister Big Boy Scout, now, huh? Do ya help old ladies to cross the street and shit like that? Guess what, I ain't no old, and sure ain't no lady. So, buzz off," she said, turning her back to him and walking in the direction of the rooms.

"Remember, I said mostly. I also want your help," He-Man said, in his most serious voice.

That stopped Faith immediately. "My help? For what? From what I've seen, I think you can deal with everything that comes to get ya."

"Not true," He-Man crossed his arms over his massive chest, "I may be strong and agile, but I'm not invulnerable or invincible. Think of me as another Slayer. Your package makes you stronger and faster than almost any vampire. But if these made you invincible, every Slayer would live to have grandchildren."

That shut Faith up. "What do you want from me?"

"Like I said, your help. You see, me and WarWolf, we have somewhat of a... personal score to settle, that involves vampires. I don't know how many and I don't know where, but I intend to find out tonight, and deal with it. So, I want someone to watch my back."

"And your sister?"

"She's...occupied elsewhere."

Faith stood thinking for a minute. "All right. But wait up, gotta pick up some stuff." Then she disappeared behind one of the doors.

While He-Man waited, he gave a good look around the place. Damn, the motel was the fleapit of the fleapits. No decent human being should stay in a place like this. Some vampires shouldn't stay in a place like this. Mental note; talk to Willow and Buffy later, and try to solve this problem.

"All right, we're five by five. Now what?" she asked, reappearing from her room, clad in a leather jacket, black jeans, tennis shoes and a tight dark blue top. Why do all Slayers have to be hotties? his Xander-mind asked. He could see two stakes hidden in the front pockets of her jeans.

He-Man looked at WarWolf, who was still waiting on the roof on the other side of the street. The animal jumped, landing in front of them.

"Hey, Furball!" Faith said, approaching the wolf. She fearlessly scratched the underside of his head, near the junction of the neck. The mystic wolf betrayed all his deadly appearance by shaking his tail happily as any domestic dog. He-Man grinned with his antics. "You still owe me, you bag of drool. Don't worry, I'm gonna collect sometime. So, who gets to drive ya?"

He-Man jumped in the saddle, pointing his front. "You go front. Back, the sword will poke you."

"Ha! I get to drive, and you get to cop a feel. So, you're not such a BS, BBS." Faith grinned, jumping in the saddle in front of him. He-Man blushed slightly, but didn't comment on the innuendo. However...

"BS? BBS?"

"Big Boy Scout. Don't worry, BBS, you'll grow to like it. Let's go, Furball!" Faith screamed happily, and kicked WarWolf's sides.

The wolf stopped the forward motion, twisting his head, trying to look at her. He-Man understood the action, and he spoke to her. "Don't do that. He's not a horse. He's almost as intelligent as a human. Ask him and he'll do it."

Faith's mood sobered a bit. "Sorry, Fur...WarWolf. Didn't know. We cool?" she asked, patting his sides lightly with her hand. The wolf stood still for a second and he snorted. He-Man sensed the mood of the animal lift a bit from their empathic connection. "He's cool. Ask him."

"Can we go, Furball?" she asked, impishly.

His answer was to jump forward almost a hundred feet. Faith kept screaming happily, as if on a roller coaster.

The other trail, from the bastard vampire that had killed Ares' family, continued from the cemetery to an abandoned warehouse. The trio stood watching the place from the roof of a neighboring building.

"Slayer senses are picking up a lot of them. 'Round thirty. That's odd." Faith spoke, looking at the rectangular building.

He-Man knew why, but time to put the Slayer's mind to the test. "Why?"

"Thirty vamps in one place? First, too many of the bastards together calls lotsa' attention. In a city with a Slayer, that's stupid. Second, at this time of the night, they should be hunting, not stuck in a building like that."

"Meaning?" He-Man was happy, so far.

"Meaning someone must be pulling the shots, and he or she wants all of them together for something."

"Very good," He-Man said, clapping his large hands lightly.

"You already knew that, you bastard! Why did you do that?" she asked, pissed.

"To see if you had anything else beyond the attitude and the Slayer abilities. I'm really impressed, Faith."

The dark Slayer did something He-Man wasn't expecting. She blushed under the comment. "Thanks," she murmured.

"Let's see if you can think strategically. What's the plan?" He-Man asked.

"I'm a boot-in-the-front-door kind of girl. But that's stupid with so many vampires." She looked at the building, gears working. "Let's see... Furball, can you jump trough that window over there?" She pointed to a small window almost in front of them, but a few feet lower. The wolf nodded his head, confirming it. "Good. BBS, I think you can find an entrance on the other side of the warehouse, right?"

"Or I can produce one, easily. Good plan. And you?" the hero asked.

"What did I tell you? I'm a boot-in..."

"...the-front-door kind of girl. Yes, I got you. So, we go in when WarWolf jumps over the window. I'll send the signal, ok, buddy?" He-Man said to his partner.

Faith looked at the ground, a couple floors down, and looked to the mystic warrior.

"Want a ride?" He-Man asked, approaching the ledge.

"Who, me? Nah, I'm five by five." She took a deep breath and jumped down, landing smoothly in the pavement below. "Just don't like heights much," she murmured to herself, and walked to the front door.

He-Man didn't simply jumped down, he jumped forward also, landing easily on the other side of the warehouse. No door, just a solid wall, but that wouldn't be a problem. Hmm... where to produce an entrance? There was a pillar in the middle of the wall, so that would be a good idea. He prepped his arm and he signaled the wolf over their connection. The moment he sensed the wolf jumping, he punched the pillar with more than enough strength.

The pillar exploded inward, flying more than twenty feet inside the large room, taking a large part of the wall with it and shaking the entire warehouse. It seemed as if a bomb had exploded. Two vampires were crushed by the pillar, dusting instantly.

Confusion was already set, with the giant wolf entering from the top window. Then, the last player joined the game, door blowing inward. Faith entered the room, staking the closest vampire without even stopping.

"Hello, ladies and gents. We are from Slayers Bug Removal. You called, we came." She said with a snicker.

He-Man cut two of them down, while looking at WarWolf. The beast was eyeing one male vampire that was standing in the middle of the group, and with his large body and mystical strength, he was opening a straight line to him. So, that was the one.

Faith bodily threw a vampire into three others, unbalancing them. She jumped forward, a stake in each hand, landing right in the middle of the fallen undead. She staked two at the same time, and when she tried to do the same to the remaining two, she was pulled back by another one, hitting a pillar hard. The vampire tried to attack her, throwing a punch at her face. She ducked, and the hand hit the solid surface. The vamp, while strong, was not He-Man, so he broke every single bone in his hand. Before his mind registered the pain, his eyes registered a stake flying to his chest. He dusted a moment later.

WarWolf finally met his desired target. He wanted to enjoy it, but he had to help his friends first. The vampire, a tall brunette with a t-shirt that fittingly said, "Eat Me" tried to attack the wolf, jumping at his head. A more perfect position was impossible. WarWolf opened his mouth, and with a single bite, tore the vamp's right leg off at the thigh. The vampire screamed like a girl, and the wolf shook his head, throwing him several feet away. He hit a wall and blacked out.

This done, he started to attack the rest of the waning group.

He-Man wasn't like the cartoons. He was using his sword in killing strokes, every cut dusting two, sometimes three vampires. His free hand grabbed bodies left and right, and with his unsurpassed strength, he shoved them into walls, or in the ground, whichever was closer at the moment. There were several dust prints in the walls around him.

Faith climbed a group of large wooden boxes that were left behind, and some vamps followed her, thinking she was the easiest of the trio. Their last mistake. The first one who attempted to climb the box she was standing on, received the sole of a boot right in his mouth. He flew backwards, landing in the warehouse's ground below. A woman tried to attack her from behind, in an attempted grab. Before she could close her arms in the deadly lock, a stake was shoved in her chest.

A large black vampire, probably a football player when alive, tackled the Slayer. Instead of offering resistance, she let her body go, rolling with the impact. She grabbed the vamp's shirt while rolling, and they both landed on the ground, Faith on the upside, straddling him.

"Maybe on the first date. Never with an undead," she said, dusting him. Then she noticed movement with the corner of her eyes, and she dove to the ground. A flying vampire exploded against the boxes behind her. "Hey! Look where you throw the garbage!" she screamed to He-Man.

"Sorry!" he shouted, already killing another one. Faith looked around. There were around seven vampires still standing. Oops, six now, thanks to the wolf. She picked another one. Five. Three.

Then, only one remained. The legless one.

He-Man looked around, trying to find any hidden ones. "Anyone left?", he asked Faith.

"All clear, except for that one. What you gonna do to him?"

"Remember personal? That's him."

WarWolf approached the waking vampire. The moment consciousness returned to the embodied demon, he screamed anew. "Damn fucking wolf, that..." and he saw the wolf standing a foot from him.

"Hi," He-Man said, approaching. "We are the good guys. But, as a reminder to you, we are not always the nice guys. Wolf, feel free."

The screams pierced the night for a few minutes before silence reigned again.

- To be continued -

Author's notes: I'd like to thank Joshua, the Evil Guy, for the feedback and the beta-reading. As I said before, you da beta, man.