Well, she was here, right in front of the apartment door having the same address as the receipt of the eBay buyer. This sheet of paper magically transported to her by Willow also had on it a picture of the item of magical junk Faith was supposed to collect. It seemed to be a really crappy-looking knife of some sort, but one made by a half-blind, drunken smith who'd never made or even seen one before, merely hearing a description of it. The Slayer rolled her eyes at the prospect of meeting the sucker who'd been conned into paying real cash money for this hunk of garbage. Fortunately, the red-haired Scooby had included in her witchy delivery a small ring. According to Willow's instructions, this would allow Faith to unerringly find the knife whenever she came nearer than fifty feet to it.
Suspiciously eyeing the little piece of jewelry on her finger (which bore such a striking resemblance to a 1970's mood ring it made Faith firmly believe Red had been incessantly giggling throughout whipping this up), the brunette woman also made one last check of her clothes. Since she had no idea at all who'd bought that lousy knife, save for his name - Leonard somebody - Faith decided to dress up as best as she could for the occasion. Her normal attire of biker slut and far more recently of surf bitch probably wouldn't have been appropriate, so the East Coast native had put on her best apparel from her luggage, a decent enough feminine outfit of a black shoulder purse, dark blue woman's jacket, white blouse, lighter blue modest skirt, tights, and flats. This should be enough to get her inside, and then she'd see how things went in deciding what to use next: bribery, violence, or seduction.
Sending another dubious look at the ring, even though it was displaying on the curved glass face of this a yellow arrowhead pointing precisely at the door, Faith raised her right hand to press the doorbell. Only to instantly freeze in this position, when her superhuman hearing sent the Slayer a warning that someone on the other side of the door was-
Leaving his buddies behind him busy at their computers in today's World of Warcraft marathon, Leonard Hofstadter pulled open his front door, on his way to get the mail. He stopped dead in his tracks at seeing the startled visitor out there about to announce her presence, mainly because this Caltech experimental physicist had encountered this beautiful woman before recently. Still, Leonard hadn't expected to ever see her again, which was a good thing, considering how much humiliation her various meetings with him and the other guys had caused.
"Agent Page!" choked Leonard. He shot a panicky look over his shoulder at Sheldon, Howard, and Raj too occupied with their battle against a horde of orcs to pay attention to him at the door. This also meant Leonard didn't see the bewildered expression suddenly appear upon the attractive features of his caller outside in the apartment hallway.
*What the fuck?!* frantically thought Faith. Still, her Slayer speed meant when the short guy who'd just greeted her by a name completely different from her own now glanced at her again, this woman stared back at him in a perfect deadpan.
This seemed to unnerve the apartment resident even more, with him babbling, "Uh, you're here about Howard, right? Just- just a moment, okay? I'll be right back!" At that, he closed the door in Faith's face almost entirely shut, leaving a narrow gap along the edge. Though, given her heightened senses, the Slayer could've heard well enough through a completely closed door a rapid scuttle by the flustered guy inside the room over to where three other persons were, to then hiss at them, "What the hell did you do now, Howard? The FBI lady who checked your security clearance is back here, right outside!"
"Oh, my God!" came in a horrified voice from another man sounding the same age as the first guy Faith had just met. This second man went on to fervently declare, "Look, I haven't screwed up anything lately that'd get the government's attention! The only issue which might land me in that much trouble happened too long ago, and besides, nobody knows how I ruined the space station toilet except for-" That voice abruptly stopped, only to soon begin again in utter loathing: "All right, which of you bastards squealed on me?"
A loud cacophony immediately broke out in the apartment living room, with three other argumentative male voices indignantly protesting at their accuser. Faith didn't bother trying to make this out, merely squeezing her eyes shut in disgust while slowly shaking her head at yet another total bizarre experience in her weird life. Finally glowering at the door, Faith decided enough was fuckin' enough.
Even over their loud yelling at each other, the four men in the room couldn't help but notice the apartment door swing open and a very beautiful government employee stalk into their sanctuary. Nervously falling silent when this female stopped short and coldly eyed them all, these scientists felt even more worried when their unexpected guest glanced at the empty couch and crisply inquired, "Can I sit down?"
"Oh, sure!" chorused Howard and Leonard, while Raj just remained his usual tongue-tied self in the presence of any woman. Sheldon, on the other hand, tilted his head in mild confusion over what was taking place and decided to wait and see what'd happen next. A few seconds later, all there were seated in their various chairs around the living room.
What then ensued was probably the most stilted conversation ever held throughout mankind's history. In a desperate attempt to start things off, Leonard introduced everybody, regardless of the fact Agent Page had already met all of them. She didn't seem too disconcerted by this, simply nodding at her named company.
Inwardly, Faith was thinking hard. From the sound of things, they knew whoever she was supposed to be and sorry to say, this not-her lady was definitely a cop. Well, hell, she'd been interrogated plenty often by the fuzz to know the basics, even if it was her first time on the other side. So, start with a few easy questions. *Just make damn sure you sound white-bread enough to come from anywhere; ain't probably a good idea to show off your Southie accent.*
Nonchalantly clearing her throat, with this still-sexy growl causing Raj to abruptly develop large beads of sweat on his dark forehead, Agent Page announced, "I'm here to check on a few minor details. Is that all right with you, gentlemen?"
From the eager bobbing of their heads done by three of the guys here, they were perfectly fine with it. However, the last of the four, in his position at the far end of the couch, he was intently staring at Faith as if she was some kind of rare bug trapped under his microscope. Giving this bozo a cool look, Faith went over the most innocuous things she could invent on the spot, getting quick and thankful answers from those dudes named Leonard and Howard.
Except, the only time she tried out a question on the Raj guy, this didn't work too well. It was damned creepy what he did, leaning over to whisper into Howard's ear, and that other man matter-of-factly delivering the answer. Since nobody else in the room but her seemed to think this was in any way strange, Faith restrained her reaction to a mere blink. Still, it made her quickly decide to finish up and get the hell out.
Glancing at her watch (and also at the ring she was wearing) just before getting onto her feet from the couch, the others also scrambled up from their own positions encircling the Slayer. Faith sternly nodded at the Leonard geek and she told him in her most officious tone, "Thank you for your cooperation, sir. That'll be all, but before I leave, may I use the bathroom?"
Opening his mouth to her for the first during their entire little chat, what's his name- Yeah, right, Sheldon now looked thoughtful, until he briskly informed Faith, "Certainly. Go down to the front entrance, turn left, and there's a gas station three blocks ahead-"
Groaning to the other man in a voice of resigned exasperation, Leonard wearily told him, "Sheldon, she means here!"
A supremely outraged expression flashed into existence upon the tall drink of water's pasty face. This shortly shifted into a full-fledged pout, while Sheldon then grumbled, "Oh, very well. I suppose our cleaning service can sterilize the place a day early. Please make it as quick as possible, Agent Page. We must prepare for our affray with the forces of evil, and this can't be delayed by your overactive bladder."
Too stunned to do anything but gape at Sheldon, Faith shook her head several times in a daze, before taking a deep breath and edging past a man who'd never know how close he'd just come to having numerous bones broken.