TITLE: Metropolis Interlude
AUTHOR: Gaeriel Mallory
RATING: K+
FANDOMS: Buffy/Angel/DC Comics
DISCLAIMER: Buffy, Angel, and related characters belong to Joss Whedon. All DC Comics characters belong to DC Comics and Warner Brothers.
SUMMARY: The Scoobies are in Metropolis on a mission.

Faith shifted from foot to foot, trying to get used to the fancy heels she was wearing. Willow frowned over at her. "Stop fidgeting," she hissed.

The Slayer resisted sticking out her tongue at her friend. "I can't help it," she whispered back. "I'm not used to these fancy schmancy things. I don't schmooze well."

Willow rolled her eyes and snagged two flutes of champagne from a passing waiter. She passed one to Faith. "Drink this. It might calm you down some."

The bubbles tickled her nose and she grimaced at the taste. After taking a few sips, she discretely dumped the remaining liquid into a potted plant next to the corner where she and Willow were standing. The witch, damn her, seemed to be enjoying the sissy drink. Where was the whiskey? Hell, what about a beer? Faith sighed. Why did Giles think this would be a good assignment for her? She tugged at her dress, some black flowy evening gown with wispy not-quite-sleeves covering her shoulders. It looked fabulous on her, and more than a few appreciative male glances had been thrown her way. She would have killed to be in jeans and a tee.

Xander strolled over towards them, Dawn on his arm. "And how are my two lovely wall flowers doing?" he asked with a grin. Even Mr. Hawaiian Shirt seemed comfortable in his tux. It wasn't fair!

Willow saluted him with her glass. "No sign."

Dawn shook her head in disgust. "Us too." She blew a strand of hair out of her face. "How much would it suck if we came this whole way and don't find a single trace of them?"

Faith felt a familiar presence and looked up across the room. "B just showed up with some major eye candy," she announced.

The group turned towards the entrance. Buffy walked down the ballroom steps, arm in arm with a dark-haired man whom the photographers seemed to recognize. She was certain B was completely blinded by the flashes by the time they reached the bottom of the staircase.

Dawn sucked in her breath. "Isn't that—?"

"Yup." Willow looked thoughtful. "I guess her meeting better than expected."

Faith and Xander exchanged slightly exasperated glances. "Someone care to let the rest of us in on the little secret?" he asked.

"That's Bruce Wayne," Dawn explained.

Faith's jaw dropped. "No shit! That's the guy who gave us all that money?"

"The one and the same." Dawn grinned and waved as her sister spotted them.

"Now why can't I snag myself a billionaire hottie?" Faith grumbled.

"You might," Xander said. "Luthor's going to be here, after all."

Faith made a rude noise as her answer.

Xander laughed. "Well, I'm going to see if I can steal Buffy away from the pretty rich boy." He waved as he walked away. "I'll be back in a few."

Dawn looked around. "Why aren't there any chairs? My feet are killing me."

Faith nodded in sympathy. Next time they needed to torture information out of a demon, she was going to recommend making it wear high heels. She discretely slipped one foot out of a shoe and flexed it, trying to get some feeling back into her toes. Big mistake. It just made it that much more painful once she put the heel back on. Heel – just one 'L' away from hell. She had no idea how Buffy and some of the mini-Slayers wore these things normally, let alone on patrol. Give her a good ol' pair of boots any day.

Xander and Buffy headed back towards their little corner, talking and laughing. Wayne trailed behind them, smiling bemusedly. "Aw shit," Faith muttered to Willow. "I thought Xan would have ditched the civilian."

Willow shrugged but didn't have time to respond before the trio joined them. "Hey, guys," Buffy greeted them. "This is Bruce."

The man smiled politely at them all, though Faith noticed that his eyes were a little too assessing as they passed over them. She wasn't by nature a trusting person and Brucie was setting off little warning bells in the pit of her stomach. This guy wasn't who he appeared to be and that could be very very dangerous.

Buffy's next words even made her more wary. "He knows."

Faith glared at Wayne. "You evil?" she demanded. She noted absently that everyone other than Buffy was also giving him the evil eye. The guy looked startled at the question, which might have been a good thing except that Buffy's last boytoy had been a really good actor and had them all fooled until it was almost too late. They ended up having to cut off his head. That had been one freaky-deaky light show.

It was kind of a running joke in the Council that all of Buffy's dates will turn evil and Xander's dates will try to eat him. After she and Robin were splitsville, Dawn had said to her, "We're Scoobies. We don't have normal relationships. We don't get the happily ever afters because either the other person is too normal to deal, or they're in the same line of work and end up dead." This had been after more than a few shots of tequila and the two of them had needed to call a cab at the end of the night to get back to Council HQ. It was one of their more maudlin moments; one that she had never told Buffy about because while the drinking age in the UK might have been eighteen, Dawn will be forever fourteen in big sis's eyes.

Faith dragged her attention back to the present. "No… I'm not evil," Wayne answered slowly. He glanced over at Buffy, who rolled her eyes.

"Seriously guys," she said, "tone it down a notch or twelve."

Xander looked at Willow, who looked at Buffy, and then finally nodded slowly back at Xander. Faith was amused at the wordless exchange but felt a bit left out as well. While she was one of the "inner circle," she was not and never will be one of the original Scoobies.

The one-eyed man gazed for a long time at Wayne before extending his hand. When the billionaire clasped it, Xander pulled him forward and growled in his ear, "I don't know what your game is, but I'm sure you have one. Hurt her and I'll rip off your arms and use them to break your legs." He released the other man's hand and stepped back with a grin that was more goofy than menacing.

Willow pouted. "Aw, I wanted to give the shovel speech."

Xander slung an arm around her shoulder. "Don't worry, Will. When Dawnie goes on her next date, you can make the threats and I'll just stand there and glare."

Dawn squealed and jabbed Xander in stomach. "No threatening my boyfriends!"

Buffy was laughing. "Ignore them," she told her date.

Wayne had the dazed look on his face that an outsider always got after being in the same room with the group for a while. "The fate of the world," he murmured to Buffy. "I think we're doomed."

Faith snorted with amusement. "Well, we ain't no Justice League but we get the job done." She nudged Buffy. "At least this one has a sense of humor."

For some reason, the two of them seemed to find that extremely funny. Their eyes danced with silent laughter. Suddenly, Wayne straightened and he looked off to his right. "Excuse me," he told them. "There's someone I need to talk to." He walked away and greeted a dark-haired couple, he wearing glasses and she in a purple dress.

When he was reasonably out of earshot, Dawn poked Buffy in the arm. "So, are you guys dating? What's up?"

Buffy shook her head. "No, though we did have dinner. We mainly talked about Council stuff. It turned out he was also coming to this thing so we just came together, considering it was just silly to travel separately from Gotham to Metropolis."

Willow asked, "So he's on the up and up?"

Buffy nodded. "Yup. One hundred percent not evil, though I wouldn't certify him as one hundred percent sane. Oh!" She dug into her purse and handed Willow a business card. "Here's that computer specialist's contact info. She said she'd take the job but wanted to talk to you first about your specifications, level of security you wanted, and a bunch of other techno-geek stuff I didn't quite get."

Willow took the card and nodded. "Great! That will be a huge relief, to know we have the best protection we can get on our files."

"And Xander, I have a new potential Watcher for you and Dawn to vet next week. I've already sent Giles all the info. He's actually Barbara's – um, that's Will's computer gal – he's her dad and used to be Gotham's Police Commissioner. He sounds like he'd be perfect to teach the newbies detective skills, how to work within the system if necessary, and even basic criminology. He'll be arriving in London next Thursday and staying for three days. No pressure on him; we want to stay on Barbara's good side, but definitely sign him up if we can."

Dawn nodded, jotting information down in a little notebook she pulled from her purse. "Good guy?"

"Oh, yeah. He has experience in unorthodox methods to get things done and with the things that he had to deal with in Gotham City, I think he should be able to acclimate to the Council's brand of special more or less fine."

"Isn't he the one who partnered with Batman?" Xander asked.

"Yeah. That's why I don't think he'll have too much of a problem letting others do the front line stuff. Bruce vouches for him."

Faith noticed that Wayne's friend, Glasses, was staring at them and didn't seem to be paying attention to the conversation going on between his date and Wayne. She frowned and was about to say something when her Slayer sense kicked in. Buffy stiffened as well. "I think our guys just showed up," she said to the group.

Buffy nodded. "Let's try and do this as quietly as possible."

The group walked swiftly towards the staircase, Buffy and Faith in the lead. They ignored the indignant gasps and mutters as they pushed their way through the crowd. Walking down the steps where three figures, one female and two male. The two men's eyes widened when they noticed the Scoobies making their way towards them. The female just looked at them curiously. All three were dressed in formal evening wear.

Buffy and Faith each grasped one of the men by the arm and Willow more gently manhandled the woman back up the stairs and outside and into an empty side street. "Buffy! What do you think you're—" the darker-haired man burst out and the Slayer silenced him by tightening her grasp on his arm.

"You don't talk. You listen," she said fiercely. "First, I'm sorry about L.A. You don't know just how sorry we are, but we didn't know. Second, you can't go in there and ally yourself with the devil again. We won't let you."

"You think we don't know what Lex Luthor is? He was one of Wolfram & Hart's biggest human clients." Angel pulled his arm out of Buffy's hold and smoothed his tuxedo jacket, his movements jerky.

Spike spoke up. "We're not here to make a deal with him, though we led him to believe that. You don't leave jobs half-done. We cleaned up some and now we're finishing."

Dawn's eyes widened in surprise. "You're going to kill him?" she asked in shock.

"Oh, don't look at me like that, niblet. The man's evil, through and through. It don't matter that he ain't a demon."

Xander was shaking his head. "No, you don't understand, Spike. We don't kill humans."

The woman spoke up, her voice oddly flat. "The man is scum. You would have him live so that he will kill others himself? Your ethics are a fallacy."

"I'll grant you that, Blue," Faith spoke harshly. "But it's more than ethics or morals or what have you. Lorne sent us here." She nodded at the two vampires, acknowledging their reaction. "Yeah, he found us and told us what happened. He lost track of you after L.A. but one of our seers had a vision of tonight of you meeting up with Luthor. Lorne asked us to come because of what would happen."

"You die," Buffy stated flatly. "Luthor wasn't going to make a deal with you. He knew what you guys are and he had his guards ready. Illyria would get him and she'd survive, but you two would be dust."

The two vampires looked at each other. "We've come so far," Angel said. "We can't just stop now. Luthor has to go down."

"And he will," a voice said. Wayne stepped out of the shadows. "Trust me on this."

Faith was taken aback at the pure coldness in his eyes.

"Just who the hell are you?" Spike demanded.

"I'm one of the people who has been working on Luthor, along with some others." He nodded and his two friends appeared next to him.

Glasses and the woman studied the group of them and Faith wondered what they saw. Finally, the woman spoke. "I'm Lois Lane. This is my husband, Clark Kent. We're reporters for the Daily Planet and we've been trying to expose Luthor for years."

Angel scoffed. "Reporters," he spat out. "Like you can do anything."

"We also have the backing of the Justice League," Kent said in a firm voice.

"Bunch of pansies in tights," Spike sneered. "Sometimes, if you want to get things done, you have to do it the hard way and get your hands dirty."

Faith almost didn't notice Angel nodding at Illyria. Before she could react, the woman's appearance changed. Her hair and skin tinged with blue and red armor took the place of her dress. Before they could react, she took off back towards the entrance, faster even than a Slayer could run. Before she made it more than a few meters, a wind whipped past them. Kent appeared in front of the god-king and grabbed her by the wrist. "I don't think so," he ground out between clenched teeth.

Illyria stared coldly into the man's face before leveling a punch that knocked Kent into the side of the building. The wall shattered slightly and dust rained down. Before it had settled, she and the two vampires were gone.

Lex Luthor was getting into his limo. "Well, they didn't kill him," Lane observed. Her husband leaned wearily against her, rubbing his neck with a grimace.

"Let's hope that something we said made it into their heads," Buffy said wearily.

Faith remained silent as the rest of the group talked. She had been working so hard on redemption and Angel had been the one who had started her down that path. What had happened during his time in charge of Wolfram & Hart to change him? And Spike? She sighed and kicked off her heels. The party was over and she didn't need to look pretty any more. She dumped the shoes into a trash can happily.

"So, Superman, huh?"

Xander's question caught her attention. She smirked when she saw Kent blush slightly.

"Well, you know," the reporter shrugged lamely while Lane smacked him lightly on the shoulder.

Faith laughed and flung her arms around Dawn and Xander, pulling them down the street. "Come on," she said. "I'm beat and my feet hurt. Let's get outta here."

Willow grinned. "I couldn't agree more. We can exchange stories at the hotel and check in with Giles."

Before they could even think of hailing a cab, Wayne raised his arm and gestured. A limousine rolled down the street towards them. Buffy said, "I guess it's good to know a billionaire."

The driver got out, a thin reedy looking guy in the stereotypical chauffeur uniform, and opened the door. "Master Bruce, Miss Summers," he said in a British accent. "Mister Kent, Ms. Lane." His eyes roved over the rest of the group and Faith got the impression he already knew who they were.

Wayne gestured everyone in. It was a tight fit, but they managed after Wayne elected to sit up front with Alfred, the chauffeur.

Faith nearly groaned with relief when she sat down, glad to get off her feet. Her toes dug luxuriously into the lush carpet of the vehicle. It had been one hell of a night, and it wasn't over by a long shot.

--fin--