See first chapter for disclaimers.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks to Storyseeker for beta-reading this. Here is the next stop on Xander and Faith's tour. As usual, if you have any comments or preferences, please don't be shy. RandR.

PREVIOUSLY: Date-A-Live

The Lunatics DO Run the Asylum

"I told you this place would be great!" one of the vampires laughed, looking around at his buddies. "The people here are sheep. There's no hunters here, no Slayer. We're free to do what we want!" He proved it by grabbing one of the cowering humans the group had dragged into the basement of the old building and preparing to bite him. This country, he reflected, really was amazing. The people were so compliant, barely put up any struggle at all. There were eight hostages left as two had already been eaten by the group. The vampire leaned in for the bite, baring his fangs and thoroughly enjoying the horrified expression in the old man's eyes. His own eyes and mouth opened wide in surprise a second before he fell to dust. The remaining four turned in surprise to find a young woman standing beside the intended victim.

"I suggest you run," she told him before attacking the nearest monster. Another vampire, a woman who might have been pretty without the twisted features, lunged at the intruder, only to lose her head to sword held by a one-eyed man.

"This takes me back," Xander commented. "How long has it been since we ran into actual vamps to kill?"

"Too long for me," Faith answered, ducking under a haymaker and delivering a right cross to a snarling vamp. "I've missed this." She blocked the backhand the vamp retaliated with and used his momentum to send him staggering toward Xander, who neatly beheaded him. The last vamp was down but not out with a deep wound Xander had given him a few seconds before. Faith staked him before he could rise. They looked up at the sound of running feet. The vampires' intended victims were fleeing the building.

"That's familiar, too," Xander remarked. "Not even a 'thank you.'" Faith shrugged, too used to that behavior to be offended by it. People she saved often ran off. She wasn't in it for praise or glory. Before she could say anything, though, there was a commotion from outside. It sounded like someone using a bullhorn. Neither could make out what was being said. "Sounds like the local cops are here."

"Good. We should probably go, then. I doubt the statements those people give will make any sense to the local fuzz." They turned to look for a back way out of the building but stopped when the screaming started. "What the hell?" Faith asked, already dashing for the door.

They emerged into the light to find four people pointing strange weapons at the fleeing group. There were seven people and a large bloody stain on the ground. Before they could make sense of this, the woman in the armed group shouted. "They're all targets! Open fire!" Two of the fleeing civilians were struck by the energy pulses the weapons produced. They started to swell up, and then bust like balloons, splattering all in range with blood and bits of flesh. Both demon hunters had seen too many horrible things to be stunned by this. They set aside their reaction for later and attacked the armed party. Xander's sword knocked the gun from the hand of the nearest, and he followed up with a left cross to the chin. By the time he had finished with his opponent, Faith had already neutralized the other three. They turned to check on the five survivors and were in time to see them vanish from sight into the city streets, still at a dead run. Xander couldn't blame them one bit.

They collected the strange weapons the killers had been using and turned their attention to the woman, the only one still conscious. "What do we do with them?" Xander asked.

"Truss 'em up for the local cops?" Faith shrugged, having rarely encountered a situation where she couldn't simply kill an enemy before. It rarely came up when she was fighting demons or monsters. The woman stared at them in disbelief.

"We are the police," she told them. "I am inspector Mika Shimotsuki and you've just committed a very serious crime."

The two demon hunters stared at each other. "Cops kill people in this country?" Xander asked, dubiously. "Who investigates crimes? The local mob boss?"

"Doesn't matter," Faith gritted, growing angrier as she stared at the woman. "What matters is that they won't be punished for killing three innocent people."

"Their hues were clouded beyond redemption," the inspector insisted. "I don't know what happened to do that, but they were all legitimate targets for enforcement."

"I don't know what that means, but you can't shoot people just for being frightened," Faith insisted. "You sure we can't make an exception to the no killing rule for this bunch?"

Xander frowned thoughtfully. "Tempting." Shimotsuki looked alarmed at the notion, but didn't try to get up when she saw the way the two were glaring at her.

"Inspector Shimotsuki," a female voice spoke from a device on the woman's wrist. "Scans indicate that the stress level has dropped back into the normal range in your area. Good work. Head on back when you're done there. I look forward to your report."

"Who is that?" Xander asked. "And what 'good work' is she talking about?"

"Inspector Shimotsuki?"

Faith grabbed the woman's wrist. "Am I talkin' to the head psycho?" she demanded.

"What?" the voice demanded. "Who is this?"

"Are you the one who ordered this bunch to murder terrified, unarmed civilians?" Faith demanded.

"Murder?" the woman on the other end of the link seemed taken aback by the accusation. Then she rallied. "Who is this? I am inspector Tsunemori of-"

"I think I'll just call you head psycho," Faith interrupted.

"What are you going to do to my people?" the woman asked quietly.

"As we're not murderers, unlike your people," Xander offered, "we can't really do anything to them."

"Well," Faith disagreed, "we can break their toys." She picked up one of the strange guns, grasped it by the butt and barrel and twisted. The sound of tearing metal could probably be heard over the link. Inspector Shimotsuki quailed at the sight and shrunk back.

"H-how did you do that?" Faith ignored her and started destroying the others, making sure the inspector had a good view.

"Careful, Faith," Xander cautioned, his tone light. "If you scare her, someone might kill her."

Inspector Shimotsuki blanched at the idea and turned away, but she didn't try to run. "Are you kidding me?" Faith demanded as she watched the woman on the ground.

"Inspector Shimotsuki, report," the voice came over the link. "What's happening?"

"I don't think she'll be answering for a while," Xander offered. "Your inspector is curled in a foetal position and…is she sucking her thumb?"

"Yeesh," Faith dropped the last of the destroyed weapons. "Where's the friggin' door already? This place is too weird for me."