Disclaimer: I own none of the characters, only ideas.

Whispers in the Dark - Chapter 12

The scoobies and rangers spent two days planning, researching, and waiting. Though they were able to come up with some other ideas, they still were very much in the dark. They still knew very little about the Trickster, other than what Angel and Kim could describe. Tommy, Jason, and Rocky spent time training with Buffy, getting a real live test of their strength against hers. She was impressed, although she knew if she was going at full strength, she could have subdued the three of them. However, as she watched them, she knew they'd have a distinct advantage in the way they fight. They were incredibly disciplined, and were all very good at using her mistakes against her, which could swing the advantage in their favor against Faith... if it would turn out that way.

Willow spent time working on the tracing spell, with limited success. The trace on Tommy worked, indicating on a map of Sunnydale where he was. However, it would disappear from time to time, which concerned them. She also researched with Oz, Cordy, and Xander any spells or items that could restrict Lucius' magic or keep the Mayor from ascending. Though they had some ideas, none of them were definitive ways to end their respective threats.

Giles spent time with Kim and Kat, trying to understand if there were any other reasons why Lucius would want Kim other than revenge. He deduced that if it were just for revenge, then any of the four rangers that fought against Lucius would be fair game. Still, Kat warned that there might be a reason Lucius would want Kimberly and not the others.

Finally, that night, they chose to start putting their plan into action. Tommy went to the Old Motel, while Jason and Rocky were about a quarter mile away with the map, in the old abandoned warehouse where Buffy and the others had fought Kakistos. When Tommy arrived to the door, he knocked, but heard no answer. He knocked a few more times, and then yelled her name, but no response. It was then he chose to try opening the door, and it was surprisingly unlocked. He walked in to see Mr. Trick, who he had seen once before.

"Well, well, well," Mr. Trick said, smiling devilishly at Tommy. "If it isn't the greatest ranger of all time." Tommy noticed that the room was bare, no bed or other furniture anywhere to be found.

"Where's Faith? What did you do with her?"

"I did nothing," Trick replied. "But with you... I plan of having a nice snack." He lunged at him, but Tommy side-stepped him. Tommy was thankful that there was enough space in the room, because he felt he would need his full range of motion to survive the fight.

In the warehouse, Jason and Rocky stood watching the map to see if anything changed.

"If he's not out of there in 10 minutes, we're going after him," Jason said. Suddenly, doors swung open, and they turned to see a half-dozen vampires walking in.

"That's if we CAN walk out in 10 minutes," Rocky chimed in. They looked at each other, and then down in their belts where they each pulled a wooden stake from.

"Let's take them," Jason said. The vampires charged at Jason and Rocky, engaging them in combat.

Mr. Trick and Tommy continued to battle, seemingly to a stalemate. Finally, it was Tommy who landed a series of kicks to Trick's chest. He then kicked off the wall and spun into a heel kick, catching Trick on the chin. He pulled his stake, and as Trick went to get up, Tommy pierced through Trick's chest with it.

"Oh... that's rather unfortunat..." Trick muttered before he turned to ash. Tommy picked up his stake, but as he turned around the last thing he saw was the handle of a knife. Faith had been there, watching, waiting to make her move. And she thrust the blunt handle into Tommy's temple, knocking him out cold.

In the warehouse, Jason finally got the upper hand on the last vampire, plunging the stake into his heart. However, he looked over to Rocky, who was bleeding. "Rocky! You all right!" He said, running over to his friend.

"I'm ok, I didn't get bitten, but I think they broke my arm," he said. "You saved my carcass by taking that last vampire, thanks."

"Don't mention it... if you splint your arm, can you keep moving?"

"I think so... check the map," Rocky replied. Jason went and checked it, and to his horror, saw that Tommy was moving both away from the Motel and further from them. Then, the signal disappeared.

"Rocky, we've gotta move. Tommy's in trouble." Rocky abandoned the splint, and figured he'd just have to deal with the pain until he got back to the high school. They ran as fast as they could, getting to the motel room. They found nothing but a wooden stake, which laid on the empty floor.

*Angel's Mansion*

"Buffy, I feel uncomfortable leading the response team to the ascension," Angel said. "Giles and Xander don't trust me, let alone the rest of the gang."

"But you're the only one who has ever seen anything quite like an ascension, with all your history of being a vampire and all."

"Did you hear that?" Angel asked.

"Are you trying to change the topic?" Buffy responded, getting frustrated.

"No... I mean it. I thought I heard something."

"Maybe it was a squirrel," Buffy said sarcastically.

"I'm going to go check it out," Angel said, and turned and walked out of the mansion, Buffy not far behind him.

"Angel, don't walk away as I'm talking with you!" However, the next thing she saw was an arrow plunge through his back. It wasn't through the heart, but Angel's knees buckled and he crumpled to the ground. Buffy ran to him to check on him, and then looked up to see if she could spot who shot it. She saw a figure drop from the trees and land, and then ran the opposite direction. There was no doubt that it was Faith. She looked back to Angel, and pulled the arrow out. Though Angel should have been fine from a simple arrow, she noticed that his pain wasn't going away, and his strength was continuing to fade. She picked him up and brought him back into the mansion, and laid him down on the floor. "Stay with me, Angel." She picked up the arrow, looked at the head of it, and realized it was covered in something other than blood.

Suddenly, another thought came to her mind. 'If Faith shot Angel with the arrow... what does that mean about Tommy? He was supposed to be with her an hour ago.' "Angel," she said to him. He looked up, barely, as he writhed in pain. "I need to go back to Giles, I'm going to find out what Faith did to you, and how we can cure it. In the mean time..." She stopped for a moment, looking at her former lover with seriousness and determination. "Stay alive."

To be continued...

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- Googz333