Chapter 24
Chapter 24
Given all the maneuvering and planning that Nicholae had to have done in order to form a base so deep inside Gotham City, Faith had expected his Excellency would have chosen a particularly impressive building to serve as his lair-- a mansion of some sort, or a massive factory like the type that several villains in Sunnydale had used as their headquarters.
The building that she had been directed toward was nothing so ostentatious. In fact, compared to some of the more glamorous architecture of Gotham, this building was rather ordinary. It was fairly large, of course, but it was pretty bland and unassuming compared to, say, the corporate offices used by Maxie Zeus or the manors in the wealthier parts of the city. It wasn't even as tall as the offices of Wolfram & Hart. After all the hard work that she and Batman had put into locating where his Excellency lived, it really was an anti-climax to the effort.
But then, Faith thought, Nicholae has gone to an enormous amount of trouble not to draw attention to himself. Maybe this is just more of the same…
Of course there was another possibility-- that Oracle and Andrew had not properly used their technology and had gotten the wrong location… Or perhaps that the information that Nightwing and Robin had gotten out of Robson and the other lieutenants who were with him that they had located when they had tracked him to his lair was inaccurate and she was walking into a trap. There were all kinds things could have gone wrong…
And if my aunt had balls she'd be my uncle, Faith thought a bit more sternly to herself. I have been told that this building is where to find the man behind the curtain. I have to go in it. This is my job.
This was true, but Faith couldn't help but wish that she had somebody, anybody, covering her back, here. But she knew that wasn't possible. Batman was circling the city making sure every one of Nicholae's men got their daily supply of poison. Oracle and Andrew were monitoring Gotham for any further signs of trouble. Dick and Tim were all the way on the other side of town, cleaning up the mess that she had not yet worked on. And Spike--
Spike had her concerned. He had gone in with his cell phone and radio contacts, but he hadn't made contact yet. Faith knew there could be (and were) any number of reasons that he might not have checked in-- some good, some bad -- but she was worried regardless. She had no doubts that Spike would eventually reappear, but she didn't want to consider what kind of condition he might be in.
But all of this was just more screwing around, and Faith knew it. She had a job to do, and she had to do it now. There were vampires in that building-- the thermal vision binoculars she was using confirmed that belief. Nicholae might be there, he might not; in the broadest possible terms, though, that didn't matter. She had a job to do…
Faith took a deep breath, pulled out her knife, and headed for the entrance.
As Faith approached the building, she couldn't help but notice that if this really was where 'the master of the universe' was holding court, he was doing so with almost no protection. She had counted less than a half-dozen soldiers moving around or inside the structure. The lack of a sufficient security force was another reason for her to doubt what the building was.
This feeling of wrongness lasted until Faith had walked right up to the entrance of the complex, and prepared to knock on the door-- only to see it slowly swing open to reveal what seemed to be a small army standing inside it.
Well, so much for doing things the easy way, Faith thought to herself in the seconds before the soldiers attempted to jump her.
Of course, they didn't succeed. She was a Slayer, and one of the most vigorous and determined in the long history of the title. Whether she was facing five foes or five hundred, Faith wasn't going to let something overmatch her.
She picked a vampire at random and began her attack. Her first enemy didn't seem unusual to begin with—a bit broad about the shoulders but otherwise he was normal. He landed a couple of quick punches before Faith struck back and managed to knock him down. She plunged a stake into it-- and got her first unpleasant surprise of the night.
Her foe did not explode into a cloud of dust like the hundreds she had slain before. Rather, it popped like a soap bubble. One instant there, the next gone.
Faith had no time to dwell on the aberration, because three more enemies quickly fell on her. Two of attempted to grab her arms. Faith executed a move she had only seen done once before in a Van-Damme movie-- she leaped into the air, launched one foot in either direction and kicked both squarely in the jaw.
As they fell, the remaining enemy ran straight at her. She whirled around and hit him in the face. As he reeled backwards, she jumped forward and staked him. She didn't even wait for him to finish exploding before she whirled around at her two fallen foes, both of whom were struggling to find their footing. The one on her left dusted easily enough but when she tried to stake the one on her right, he disappeared with a similar pop-- and this time she could almost hear the popping sound.
Okay… this is new. Clearly this is some kind of magic. Nicholae's apparently got enough of an army fighting for him, and he's got the magic to create a faux army, too. And this is special magic-- those two fakes hit just as hard as the real thing. Got to figure out how to work this…
That was easier said than done. A half-dozen more enemies appeared, and she had no clear way of distinguishing the mirages from the real.
Then Faith got a look at the six foes that were attacking her and realized they looked exactly alike. Well, all vampires looked a little alike but two of this group looked like they were twins. And, come to think of it, they resembled the first one that had done its little vanishing act before.
Now I've seen it all... The most powerful black magic in the world and it still looks crappier than CGI.
But now was not the time to meditate on classic cinema. She had to figure out a way to put this particular mob out of business. And, a moment later, she knew how.
Batman had been willing to share some of his technology but hadn't given her any of the weapons that he kept on that cheesy looking belt wore. Nightwing had been far more generous, and had given her a couple of the weapons that he carried. One was a lightweight, miniature boomerang that was used for disarming foes. Now Faith decided to see if she could find another, more fatal use for that same weapon.
She took the boomerang out and started running to her left. As she ran, she threw it to the right at shoulder level.
The boomerang went right through two of the doppelgangers, causing them to burst. The third one was the genuine article, and he seemed really pissed as he fell to the ground incapacitated.
"Not bad for a gal who never took a lesson in her life," Faith said as the boomerang returned to her hand. Noticing another handful of adversaries coming at her, she threw it again and pulled out her stake for some low level fighting.
The toss and stake method worked quite well for the next three waves of opponents. Faith thought that she might be able to handle the rest after them without too much trouble.
Then a particularly hardy looking foe grabbed the 'rang right out of the air. He tried to break it with his bare hands for a few seconds, but it appeared that whatever it was made of was resistant to that sort of force. A moment later, he slammed it into the side of the building and left it hanging there.
Dick's gonna be pissed that I lost one of his toys, Faith thought. More importantly, that guy looks like he's going to be more of a bitch to kill than the others were.
Then the formidable foe charged at her.
Ain't we got fun, she thought as she prepared to rumble.
The guy was built like a professional wrestler, and he hit a lot harder than most of his friends had. Even with her powers Faith was having a hard time countering his punches. "Where the hell did Nicholae pull you out of?" she said as she countered his blows.
"I come from Jersey. You wanna talk, bitch, or you wanna fight?"
Great. Another Harvard graduate. Time to get this over with.
What Faith was about to do didn't fall under the rules of fair play-- Buffy probably wouldn't have done it. But, over Faith's time as a Slayer, she had come to believe that when the odds against you were a million to one, you deserved every edge that you could get in your fights.
With that in mind, she pulled out a small squirt gun. It looked so ridiculous in her hand that her buff adversary stopped swinging his fists to start laughing.
"You've got to be kidding!" he chortled. He screamed with laughter until Faith pulled the trigger. Then he began screaming in pain as the solution of holy water mixed with some of the toxin hit him right in the face.
"You goddamn bit--" He was cut off a moment later, turning to dust as Faith staked him.
The second after she did, she heard someone clapping. "Well done," She heard a cultured voice say. "I find it rare these days that someone lives up to their billing, but it seems you are the genuine article."
Despite everything that she had faced and fought over the past year, Faith couldn't help but feel a small sense of dread rush through her. After all the weeks of build-up she was about to face the ultimate foe.
The sense of dread abated immensely when she got a good look at what she assumed was Nicholae. He looked no different then a lot of the other enemies that she had fought-- moderately sized, average face, simple personality. He was wearing a blue suit that could be best characterized as bland. Hardly the level of the Beast or Sahjhan, or even some of the lesser nasties she'd battled in her five-plus years as a Slayer.
The Mayor looked harmless at first glance too, flicked through Faith's mind as she readied herself. Looks aren't everything.
"Well, here you are," Faith said levelly. "And you're not half the Boogeyman we thought you were."
Nicholae laughed at that remark. It was not a pleasant sound, but it was hardly the sound of a diabolical villain. "I would think that you, of all people, would know better than to judge a book by its cover."
Nicholae spoke in a genial tone; Faith decided to do likewise. "I suppose," she said, "…but then I never was much of a reader."
"Witty to the end. Something of a trademark with you Slayers."
For a brief instant Faith considered everything that the statement implied. Then she decided to move past it. "One could say the same for you, your Excellency."
For a moment the bland expression on the Prince's face wavered for a second. "I believe you overestimate your importance, young lady," he said cheerfully enough, maintaining a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"And I believe you've gotten so high up you're deluded," Faith said slowly. "Me and my friends have poisoned and demolished more than half of your men. Half of your lieutenants have been dusted and what minions you've got left are in disarray. The ballgame's all but over, Mr. Prince."
The jovial expression on Nicholae's face completely disappeared. In its place came a scowl that would have scared away all but the bravest of men. "I will admit you have done some damage to my army. It will be awhile before we recover from the night. But our roots are deep, Faith. And it will take a lot of weeding to rid this garden of all its crabgrass."
"We have the artillery and the patience, Mr. Prince. " Faith spoke with a confidence that wasn't quite genuine. "Besides, how long do you think this empire you've built will last once you're gone?"
A cruel smile appeared on Nicholae's face. "You think that you can beat me, little girl?" he said smugly. "You're not the first Slayer that I've tussled with."
"Maybe, but I'm going to be the last."
"For a woman, you have some cojones," His smile disappeared entirely. "You really think you can beat me, but do you think you beat me and him?"
Faith was never sure what exactly happened next-- some kind of magic or a nosferatu trick. All she knew for sure was that suddenly Spike was standing beside Nicholae.
For the briefest of instants she was surprised. But by now she had been through enough villainy and back fighting that she knew what had happened before Spike opened his mouth. "Let me guess. You've done that voodoo that you do so well and you've managed to turn Spike back into the cold, vicious monster that he was before he got his soul."
Now Nicholae seemed disappointed. "You know, Faith, you take a lot of fun out of being a villain."
"I've been a villain, your Excellency,' she took a bow. "Trust me, it's not a lot of fun." She would have added more to her remark but Spike chose that moment to attack her.
Faith had never gone face to face with Spike in all their years together, not even in sparring matches. But she had more than enough experience fighting Angelus, both with and without soul, that she thought that she could manage to hold off Spike without killing him. So it was that she decided to try and take Spike out so she could deal with Nicholae.
In a handful of blows, she managed to knock Spike to the ground without even breaking a sweat. In fact, he put up so little resistance that Faith wondered whether he was actually under Nicholae's spell or just playing possum.
"If that's all you've got, you're really something of a disappointment, Mr. Prince." Faith said as she turned to face Nicholae. "I mean, the trailer was fine but the movie--"
She never finished the sentence because when she had turned to face the Prince something very unexpected happened.
Faith had seen a great many vampires in her short life—from the very old to the very young-- and she thought that she had seen every kind of vampire stunt imaginable.
None of it prepared for what happened next.
Nicholae was growing taller. Every part of him-- his arms, his head, his hands-- began to expand. In a matter of seconds he went from being five and a half feet tall to tower well over eight feet. Furthermore, his face began to contort, and not in the same way that the demon face appeared on most vampires. It expanded from circular to ovular, and his mouth became a solid row of fangs. His arms grew until they were as big as salamis, and his hands became the claws of a vulture.
The entire process lasted less than a minute, and when it was finished, Nicholae had become the monster that had terrorized Europe for more than half a millennium, the creature that had won the friendship of Kotaski, the one that had killed eight Slayers. It was a beast so terrible that even an Ubervamp might think twice before fighting it.
Yipe, Faith thought.
"You dare to challenge me?!" the thing that had been Nicholae shouted. "Impudent whelp!!" And with that Nicholae grabbed one of the garbage cans that were nearby. He didn't throw at Faith, though. He reached his arm backwards and rolled it like it was a bowling ball. Faith jumped, but it hit her like she was a 7-10 split.
She landed mere inches away from hitting the wall. Had Nicholae thrown the can a little harder, her brains would have been splattered. As it was, she wasn't sure she could stand up.
"Harridan!!" Nicholae shouted as he looked around for something else to hit Faith with. Unfortunately, he found something. Even more unfortunately, it was a dumpster.
What the hell is a dumpster doing this close to a trashcan? was all that Faith could think. She realized the inanity of this but was having trouble making either her mind or body work.
Miraculously, Faith found the energy to stand up. This did not please Nicholae, who reacted by lifting the dumpster over his head. Using energy she didn't think she had left, Faith managed to leap to her left seconds before the dumpster smashed into the wall.
How the fuck am I going to fight this thing? she thought frantically. This guy makes King Kong look like Curious George.
Faith was encouraged by her last analogy, ridiculous as it was. The fact that her mind was functioning enough to produce it convinced her that her brain was still working.
Nicholae was understandably perturbed that Faith had not had the decency to die from his hulk-like throws. His face seemed to decide he was going to have to move in closer in order to beat her. Faith tried to look at that as a good-- normally, in her experience, the bigger the foe, the tougher it was for him to fight in close quarters.
Unfortunately, no one had told this fact to Nicholae. He proceeded to throw a punch so close to Faith the breeze from the motion mussed her hair. Fortunately, Faith had managed to find enough energy to tuck and roll in the other direction
Faith decided that she had been on defense far too long. Time to take the fight to him, she thought. I just need a weapon. A moment later, she remembered the garbage can that had been tossed at her. "Well, what's good for the goose…" she said to herself as she picked it up. Deciding that calling this behemoth names wasn't going to help her out, she simply tossed the can with as much force as she could muster at Nicholae.
The throw sent the giant beast down on one knee, but he followed up by batting the can away as if it were no more than a very large insect.
This is just ridiculous. What the hell is it going to take to kill this guy-- a goddamn laser beam? For the first time, Faith wished that she had a weird belt like the one the Batman wore. Maybe one of its compartments would have had something that could hurt Nicholae...
Wait a second, Faith thought to herself. I have something that can fight this beast. Unless the bastard smashed it during the fall.
Faith fumbled around in her jacket. Unfortunately, before she could find what she was looking for, Nicholae took another swing. This time he made contact, and Faith fell back.
Great thing about being the bad guy! Nicholae's laughter boomed around her. You're free from those rules of decency heroes have to use!
Faith didn't know how she was going to fight back-- until she heard a familiar voice say "Tell me about it, pal," and a moment later a human bolt of lightning struck Nicholae from the side.
Faith wasn't the only one stunned that Spike had come off the bench. Nicholae seemed astonished-- at least Faith thought that was what it was. With his eyes and mouth locked into the same position, it was hard to tell.
How-- how did you break my spell? Nicholae sputtered.
"Don't you remember? Your little Jekyll-to-Hyde bit? You lost your concentration, old man!" Spike said as he rained blows on Nicholae. "That-- and maybe my mind wasn't as weak as you thought!"
With that he delivered another blow to Nicholae's jaw. The hit was hard enough to cause something to break, and the cracking of bone was loud.
Faith in the meanwhile had found what she was looking for. The holy water squirt gun was still in one piece. The problem was Faith didn't think a squirt in the face would to a great deal of damage to this huge, elder being. The older they were, the harder it was to get them to fall-- Faith had known this even before she had become a Slayer. She had to find a way to sink this tanker.
And suddenly it came to her. It wouldn't be particularly artistic-- but why the hell was that a problem? A creature this big and bad deserved a nasty death.
She moved forward just in time to see Nicholae come back to his feet and deliver a tremendous punch to Spike's stomach. Spike doubled over as he flew backward away from Nicholae, and Faith could see that he was trying to straighten up even as he fell away.
I will tear you both into shreds!! Nicholae bellowed as he turned to face Faith.
And as he did so, Faith delivered a roundhouse kick to the area that approximated Nicholae's groin. She knew instantly she'd struck gold. Nicholae screamed in agony. The instant his mouth opened, Faith began shooting water from the squirt gun down the great beast's throat. After three full squirts, she shoved the gun down his throat and crushed it with her fist.
The results, even by the standards of defeat, were impressive. The area around Nicholae's chest began to dissolve. A moment later, the flesh around his stomach began to melt away. The dispersal began spreading both above and below the stomach less than a moment later.
In the split second before his head began to dissolve, Faith looked him in the face and said: "Bullseye."
Then Nicholae exploded-- but not into dust, as was the case with most of his kind. Chunks of flesh flew threw the air and splattered against Faith and Spike both.
As Faith brushed them off her coat, they dissolved away in to ash. By the time she looked up, Nicholae was gone.
For a long time there was quiet. Then Spike spoke up, his tone sarcastic. "Bullseye? That's the best you could do?"
"Hey, I'm not Buffy... That whole pun-while-you-slay bit, never my thing."
Spike shrugged. "What really concerns me is how you get Nicholae out of leather," He kept brushing at his duster. "I mean this coat--"
"--has had blood on it before."
"That a dig, Faith?"
The Slayer rubbed her eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm tired. I want to crawl into bed and sleep until, I don't know, half-past February."
"Know what you mean, luv. Could use a bit of shut-eye myself."
There was another comfortable silence. "Is it always this anticlimactic after you kill the big nasty?" Faith finally asked.
Spike shrugged again. "Sometimes, yeah. But I'm betting tonight there'll be a lot of happy people around," His lips curled. "Might even get a smile out of Tall, Dark and Broody."
"Maybe," Faith shrugged, the gesture saying the rest.
Back on the roof Batman thought that he heard something from downstairs. Had something happened?
As he walked to the elevator, the door opened. Harvey Bullock and a bunch of uniforms came out. The detective looked around. "What in the name of Saint Christopher happened up here?"
Batman, for the first time in a while, was speechless. "You're back."
Bullock looked him exasperatedly. "Where'd we go?"
And for the first time in a long time, Batman cracked a smile. He was discreet, though, and so the darkness hid the gesture. He didn't usually allow himself that luxury, but he had sudden strong intuition that whomever it was he had just prayed to had granted his wish.
Bullock looked at Batman again, then at the general mess that was on the roof of the police station. "What happened, Batman? Is it over?"
"It's never over, Detective," said Batman "…but things are going to get better."