Challenge: Cave Slayers
Title: Welcome To The Jungle (2/5)
Author: Shamrock
Rating: A healthy European 15 for now
5 Thing Minimum: Ask me at part 5
Disclaimer: Joss owns all (and some studios, but mostly Joss)
Thanks: To the ever-awesome Eden and her virtual red pen.
CHAPTER TWO:
Faith stole a sidelong glance at Giles as they followed Willow up what must have been the seventh staircase they had ascended. The Watcher was trying, inefficiently, to hide his nervousness - if it weren't for the fact that he would have been left blind as a bat, those glasses would have been thoroughly polished by now. Instead he was fidgeting restlessly as they trudged up the steep set of steps. Faith caught his eye and tried her best at a reassuring smile. It came out sickly and wan, but he appreciated the effort.
They had been met just outside the castle with a curt "thanks for coming" from the redheaded witch, and now she was leading them to the boardroom where Xander waited with the senior Slayers. No one had said a word since they got inside and the silence was starting to make Faith itch. What felt like hours later, they came to a halt outside a door that looked just like all the others in the impossibly long corridor. Willow placed her hand on the doorknob and paused, turning to face them.
"I'm sorry things aren't more welcomey." She spoke to Giles but flicked a look at Faith. "Things are kind of crazy right now and everyone's worried about Buffy, but we really are glad you guys came. I wouldn't have asked but..." she trailed off and shrugged.
"Got no choice but to call in the second string, huh? 'S cool, what we're here for, right?" Faith aimed for nonchalant but it came out bitter.
"We're-" Giles interjected before the atmosphere became any more unbearable, "we're happy to help Willow, in any way we can."
"Thanks," she said quietly, and opened the door.
Xander was standing on the far side of the table, arms crossed, leaning against the wall. Kennedy and Satsu sat at the table, watching intently as the other three made their way into the room.
"Guys," Willow greeted them and moved to stand at the top of the table. Giles and Faith took the two seats furthest from the others, and Xander took his place just to Willow's left. After a few seconds of weighted silence Faith cleared her throat.
"Alright, 'fore we get down to it let's just get this out of the way." She had everyone's attention, but still no-one spoke. "I got a couple dozen places I'd rather be right now, and I'm bettin' you wish I was, but the sitch calls for it so here we are. You don't gotta like it, I sure as fuck don't, so whatever we gotta do, let's just get it done and I'll get gone. I know last time me and Buffy ran into each other-"
"You mean when you tried to kill her?" Satsu cut in, eyes flashing. "Again?"
Faith took notice of the Asian girl for the first time. Arm in a cast or not, she looked like she'd happily leap across the table and strangle her if the opportunity arose. Faith returned her glare unflinching. "Funny that, don't seem to recall you being there. Matter of fact, I'm pretty sure I don't know you at all, and I'm damn sure you don't know me so how 'bout you shut the fuck up and we keep it that way, yeah?"
"Faith," Kennedy turned to her with a warning. Satsu was halfway out of her chair when Xander's hand on her shoulder stopped her. "We don't have time for this." His voice was gruff as he pinned Faith down with his good eye. "Faith, try to lay off the pissing contests til you've been here more than five minutes, alright? And Satsu, could you please not alienate the only person we know who has a shot at getting Buffy back?"
Satsu said nothing, but sat back into her chair and settled for glowering at the older Slayer. Faith, however, wasn't done.
"Nah see, this is what I'm talking about. Some of you," she narrowed her eyes in Satsu's direction, clearly indicating the girl was not one of that 'some', "got a right to throw whatever shit you want my way. I know what I've done and I've earned that from you. All's I'm saying is you asked me to help, and I'll do whatever I can to get your girl back, but it's gonna be a lot easier to do that if we can put the rest of this shit aside."
"Agreed," Willow asserted. "We need to stay focused here. We need to find out exactly what caused this, and then we need to find Buffy. Everything else can wait."
"What exactly do we know so far?" Giles asked, as much to change the subject as to gain an understanding of the situation.
"We know that Buffy has devolved to a primal state. From what I've been able to tell there's been, to quote Xander, a 'disturbance in the force'. The energy that governs all the Slayers has been disrupted somehow, still a little fuzzy on the details of that somehow, but we're hoping that's the first part of where Faith can help us."
"Got a whole castle full of Slayers here, Red - why me?"
"We've tried with the others, their connection to Buffy is too weak. They're one step further removed from the source of her power than you are, we hope by using your energy in the spell I'll be able to get a better idea of what exactly caused this."
"It's not perhaps an unfortunate recurrence of that incident with the beer?" Giles queried. "If someone got a hold of the formula from the Sunnydale campus bar..."
"Nah, that CaveBuffy was all 'tiny people live in my tv and I'm amusingly confused by the modern world'," Xander spoke up. "This CaveBuffy's more like... well, remember the freaky dreams with the First Slayer?" Giles nodded. "Buffy's like her, only a bazillion times scarier."
"Me and Satsu's arm attesting to that," Kennedy agreed.
Giles frowned as he turned to Willow. "Then perhaps... well, you say that it somehow involves the power of the Slayer essence. It wouldn't by any chance be some sort of unforeseen reaction to calling the potentials into full slayerhood? A side-effect we hadn't considered, or-?"
"Why does everyone assume that as soon as the wacky starts happening it's one of my spells gone wrong?" Willow demanded. "I've done hundreds of spells that have totally helped everyone out, but what do you guys remember? 'Oh, that time she made me blind' or, or 'she set a troll loose in the Magic Box' or-"
"Willow!" Giles hurried to interrupt her righteous flow. "I do apologise, I meant no offense." She humphed, but calmed down a little. "So how is it that Faith can help?"
"We'll do the same spell I tried with the other Slayers, hopefully with Faith's energy in the mix I can get to the source of Buffy's transformation. Once we know the exact cause I can find a way to counter it."
"Alright then," Faith stood and clapped her hands together. "Let's go make some magic happen."
--
"Here boy!" a thick Scottish accent rang out across the field. "Pilot! C'mon boy I don't have time for this."
The man blew onto his hands in an attempt to ward off the worst of the October chill. A full moon shone overhead as he walked along beside the thicket that, minutes ago, his dog had charged into. He let out a sharp whistle and heard an answering bark from deeper inside the trees.
"Come on you mangy bastard, let's be getting home."
From twenty feet away he heard a rustling of leaves and snapping of branches and he sighed in relief. "About time you little bollocks, you'd have me running after you all night - let's go home fella." He started to walk towards the noise when suddenly it stopped, and he heard his dog growling deep and low. "Pilot?" he slowed, feeling a chill creep up the back of his neck.
"Pi-" he froze completely when he heard an answering growl emanating from the darkness. It was the ugliest sound he'd ever heard - hate-filled and menacing. It was quickly followed by a furious spate of barking, and then Pilot emerged up ahead.
The dog had barely cleared the thicket when a bulky form sprang from the cover of the trees and, swinging one clawed hand ahead of it, caught the dog easily in its grasp. Hideous orange eyes turned in the man's direction as he stood, unable to move for the fear that paralyzed him. It took the sickening sound of his beloved animal being impaled on an impossibly long, impossibly sharp claw, to move him to action. He screamed and ran as the demon began to feast.
The forest echoed with louder growls as the rest of the pack came to join him.
--
"Well?" Xander asked hopefully as Willow and Faith emerged from the empty training room they had used for the spell.
"It worked, uh, really well actually. Totally have all the info I need now to start working on a cure," Willow said, a little too brightly, and a little too falsely. Faith just looked vaguely amused.
"So?" the young man asked. "Don't keep us in suspense here, Will?"
"It, uh... it... itmighthavebeenbecauseofthespellthatidid," she confessed in a rush. "But there was no way I could have known - no way any of us could have known really. I mean, it wasn't in any of the books... not that a whole lot of books have a chapter on activating a whole bevy load of Slayers anyway and hey - when was the last time any of you saved the world with magic?"
"Baby, it's okay," Kennedy wrapped an arm around the older woman. "You didn't do the spell, we'd all be mushy Turok'Han fodder by now anyway. It's not your fault. Right guys?" She glared at the others who hurried to agree.
"Absolutely. As you say Willow, we couldn't have known what would happen. The spell was unprecedented and, well, quite brilliant really. As long as we can indeed find a way to restore Buffy to her usual self, I'd say you could still call it an unmitigated success."
"Thanks Giles," Willow squeezed Kennedy's hand. "Sorry guys."
"We're good here, buddy," Xander reassured her. "One question though: why now? I mean, we did that spell a year ago - that's one hell of a knock-on effect."
"The answers I got were more Wikipedia than Websters, you know what it's like trying to talk to energy spirits on the astral plane." Giles smiled understandingly while everyone else looked blankly at them. "It's uh... kinda gooey," she explained. "Anyway, what I got was that in doing the spell we essentially overloaded the circuits."
"There are circuits? The Slayers are run by computer?"
"It's an analogy, Xander."
"I knew that. Continue oh analogous one."
"When we activated the Slayers the energy didn't just surge into them, it also surged back to the source, making the original force that imbued the Slayers more powerful."
"Fascinating," Giles said eagerly, "that would appear to completely contravene the Law of Conservation. One would assume that the energy created would have been-"
"Whoa, whoa," Faith stepped forward, "hate to derail the fun philosophy train but Buffy's still running around all Wilma out there. You wanna give us the Cliff Notes version, Red?"
"Right, of course," Willow looked abashed, but for a minute there it had been nice to have Giles taking part again. Just like old times. "Basically, the source of the Slayer's power became stronger after the spell, and now it's taken Buffy over - she's working off of the very essence of what it is to be the Slayer, completely primal."
"Again, why now?" Xander said. "I mean if this source got all mega-powerful a year ago why not jump Buffy's psyche-bones before now?"
Willow frowned. "They weren't clear on that point, so I'm not exactly sure. Although, it would make sense that if Buffy experienced a moment of psychological weakness or somehow let her spiritual guard down, this force would have had an easier time gaining control of her."
"Okay," Xander mused, "so what's happened to Buffy recently that hasn't happened in a ye..." His eye landed on Satsu. "Oh."
"What do you mean?" Willow followed his gaze and blushed deeply when she saw Satsu shift uncomfortably. "Oh."
"Somebody wanna clue me in here?" Faith looked between the two highly embarrassed Scoobys who made no move to answer her.
Kennedy sighed. "Buffy and Satsu banged each other."
Giles let out a strangled cough as Faith's eyes widened, then narrowed in on the Asian Slayer. "You?" she pointed to Satsu. "And Buffy?" her tone was incredulous.
"What of it?" Satsu growled out. She was already uncomfortable enough with the whole situation, not to mention the fact that sleeping with her had now apparently caused Buffy to devolve into some sort of subhuman superhuman. Last thing she needed was this dark, leather-clad woman with whom Buffy had way more history than Satsu was comfortable with, calling her out on the fact.
There was silence for a few deathly moments, then Faith snorted. Try as she might she couldn't stop herself and within seconds was laughing uncontrollably. Satsu bristled, but Faith held up a hand to ward her off. "Hey, don't mean no offense. This is priceless though. Man," she wiped away a stray tear, "this day just keeps getting better and better."
"And what exactly," Satsu asked in a dangerous tone, "is so damn funny?"
"Oh..." Faith eventually got herself under control, but she couldn't keep the smile off her face. "Sorry kid, don't get me wrong on this, I gotta lot of respect for anyone who could manage to pull the stick outta that girl's ass. But christ, B just can't catch a break with any of her first times, huh? Her boy goes all soulless and evil, she turns into a cavewoman. Huh, maybe I'm starting to get why she was always so damn uptight."
"As much as I would love to continue this appallingly uncomfortable conversation," Giles was in serious danger of cracking a lens, "I believe we can agree that we have established what caused Buffy's moment of, erm, distraction, so to speak. Can we please now forget we ever heard this and move along to finding a way to rectify the situation."
"I'm with the repressed British guy." Xander nodded.
"Alright," Faith regained her calm and turned to Willow, "okay, I'm good. So what's next? You said you figured a way for me to track her, right?"
"Em, yeah." The witch shook her head, trying to clear the sudden mental fuzzies. "We do, now you're probably not going to like it, so bear with me..."
--
An hour later everything was prepared and Willow joined the others on the front lawn of the castle. Faith stood, arms crossed, watching her apprehensively.
"Red you sure about this?"
"Sure as I can be. I'm sorry I can't give you more than that but we're working with the bare minimum here. Given more time I could maybe perfect it..."
"But we don't have time with Buffy running around alone out there." Xander finished.
"That part I get, it's just," Faith blew out a breath. "Well... fuck it: Me and Buffy in the same room on a good day ain't exactly a barrel o' fun. You sure you'll be able to step in when we start going all prehistoric cave-rage on each other?"
"We've got it covered," Kennedy gestured to the tranquiliser guns that she and the team of ten Slayers were carrying. "You can totally trust me to shoot your ass down."
"Not the ass," Faith quirked an eyebrow Kennedy's way, "I'm rockin' my good pants here."
"Okay," Willow held up the bracelet tracking device and Faith extended her hand for her to clip it on to the Slayer's wrist. She turned to the team of Slayers standing by. "One last time: I inject Faith, we do the spell, she follows Buffy and we follow her. As soon as you have a shot at Buffy, take it. Time is of the essence here people." Everyone nodded their understanding.
"On that note," Giles glanced worriedly at Faith, "what exactly is this 'relaxant' that you'll be injecting her with, Willow?"
"Nothing to worry about Giles, it's a pretty simple compound to lower her mental barriers enough for the spell and the source to take hold. Just a mild mixture of lysergic acid, diethylamine, phosphoryl chloride-"
"Good god, woman."
"Yeah Will, not phosphoryl chloride!" Xander mocked. "Why the wiggins, Giles?"
"You're injecting her with LSD?"
"Mild LSD." Willow said soothingly.
"Getting a little nostalgic there, Ripper?" Faith grinned at him. "Relax, man. I got a habit of getting high to save the world, just ask Angel."
"Yes, well," Giles huffed. "Just please be careful, won't you?"
"As always," Faith assured him. "Now let's get this bitch rollin'.'"
Willow stepped forward and inserted the needle into Faith's neck as gently as possible. She depressed the plunger and watched as the Slayer's jaw tightened. Stepping back, she began to chant the spell, calling on the power that charged all the Slayers to focus on the one. Tendrils of pure light swirled in the air in front of the witch as she tied Faith's essence to the one controlling Buffy. The light shifted colour as Faith's eyes darkened, her fists clenching. With a final intonation Willow stood back and clapped her hands sharply. The light dispersed leaving Faith standing and the others holding their breath in a terse group as they waited for her to make a move.
--
Clean. Everything was too clean. The grass underfoot was shorn and tamed, where she longed for it to be wild. To her left, a monstrosity stood, reeking to her of stone and humanity, sparked with magic which curled her lip in fear and distrust. The woman in front of her stank of magic, of otherness. Behind the woman were others like her, she felt their connection, but stronger than that she felt a pull to the west. From the direction of the trees, she felt the call of battle, she felt the pull of violence . She sensed her tribe.
The grass, the castle, the people - all meant nothing to her now. Turning on her heel, Faith leapt forward and sprinted for the trees. The cadre of Slayers took off behind her, trying desperately to keep pace, while Willow, Xander and Giles followed up the rear.
"Well I guess that worked?" Xander panted as they covered the rapidly increasing ground between them and the Slayer.
"I guess we're going to find out," Willow forced out before all three fell silent and tried to conserve their breath.
In the distance, Faith plunged into the forest, a feral snarl escaping from her lips as she raced towards Buffy.