CHAPTER TWELVE:
We're going to need a bigger boat…
Everyone in the library seemed to go through the same range of emotions—shock, sadness, bitterness, betrayal and anger—as Faith sat there and confessed to them. She went over in every detail—not leaving out anything—of how she had been working for the Mayor for these past weeks and the work she had done for him.
Wesley finally recovered enough from his shock and outrage to speak, "How could you do this? Why did you do this?"
The question rung in her ears, looking back now she couldn't specifically say what, why and when she had made the choice to go over to the Mayor. It had just happened. She knew that it wasn't as easy as that. She knew she hadn't been tricked. She had made the conscious decision to do what she had done.
Faith looked at Wesley blankly. She thought she'd been drained from Michael dying, but she now felt completely drained and exhausted of all emotions from spilling her guts and confessing to how she'd betrayed everyone. Even though she felt low and didn't think she could take anymore, a part of her mind was telling her that she had made the right decision.
The words, "It's not too late to change…" echoed through her thoughts.
She didn't know how to put what she'd done into words, but she knew she had to answer the question—not only for Wesley and the others, but for herself as well.
"I did it because I wanted to belong somewhere…" Faith said in a small voice.
This drew an array of looks from the group.
"That's not much of a reason…" muttered Xander.
Faith heard his comment and turned and faced him, "You never accepted me as one of your group… I was the mistake… I was the Slayer that was never supposed to be… You never accepted me for who I was…"
"That's not an excuse for what you have done…" Giles said using his disapproving tone.
Faith sighed sadly as she turned to face Giles, "I know that now… I'm ready to accept whatever consequences there are for my actions."
Giles was surprised by her response. He'd had his suspicions about Faith's allegiances for some time. He was still shocked by her betrayal, but he had expected more of a confrontation or at least excuses from her. Instead here she was confessing and admitting her guilt and ready to face the consequences—with no excuses nor pleas for mercy. For a moment he thought that this was some sort of ploy, but he saw her eyes and could see that she was serious about accepting responsibility for her actions.
Buffy hadn't said anything yet, she was watching Faith. She was shocked, but a part of her had also been suspicious of Faith. She was at a loss to understand what could cause her to come out like this. Something dramatic would have had to happen to bring on this change of heart.
She looked harder and she saw the deep sad look in Faith's face and eyes and she realized she had seen that look before. She had seen that exact same sadness once before—on herself. That was the look she saw in the mirror after she'd had been forced to stab Angel during the ritual to awaken Acathla when he had been Angelus. The look was one of utter loss and heart break—an almost complete giving up on life.
This had Buffy wondering what or who could have caused this much pain to Faith. If this was genuine and not a ploy by the Mayor, with Faith back on their side and with what she knew they actually might have a chance now.
Buffy finally spoke, "Why?"
Faith turned and looked at Buffy, but not making eye contact with her, "I already said why I helped the Mayor…"
"Not that… Why are you coming back to us now?" Buffy asked making eye contact with Faith.
Faith hesitated at first. Buffy could see that she was trying hard to control her emotions and not lose control, "I… I met someone…" she started to say.
Almost simultaneously Xander, Oz, Willow and Cordelia rolled their eyes.
"I wonder what rock she found that guy under." Cordelia muttered to herself.
Faith heard Cordelia's comment and turned angrily to face her. Cordelia recoiled as she saw Faith's anger.
"It's not like that! He's not like anyone I've ever met or known before!" Faith said.
Faith turned and looked at Buffy again, their eyes meeting this time, "I… I met my Angel… Someone I had a real connection with…for once in my life!"
The room was quiet for a moment and then Oz spoke up, "So did this guy get you to reform? Come back to the good side?"
Faith was still looking at Buffy when Oz asked his question. Buffy saw the pain flash in Faith's eyes. In that moment she knew what had happened. Faith lowered her eyes.
"The Mayor had him killed… He was considered a threat and distraction." Faith said quietly with a catch in her voice as she tried to keep herself from crying.
The room went quiet again as everybody looked at her as what she said sank in.
Wesley finally broke the silence, "Uh… yes… So from what you have been able to tell us is that the Mayor is planning his ascension ceremony to occur next week during the graduation ceremonies?"
"Yeah… The ceremony will be right on the Hellmouth… Everybody gathered there will be slaughtered as the required sacrifice… He's made an arrangement with a large number of vampires to assist…" Faith said with her eyes still lowered to the ground trying to fight back the tears.
"How can the vampires come out in the afternoon?" Xander asked puzzled.
"There's going to be an eclipse during the ceremony… It will be dark enough for the vamps to come out and they will swoop in to keep everyone from fleeing as he becomes a demon. He will then kill and feed on the students… parents… teachers… everyone." Faith replied in an almost zombie-like state and a tone of self-disgust as it sank in and she comprehended the scale of the crime that she had almost been an accessory to.
"Do you know what kind of demon the Mayor is ascending to?" Giles asked.
"I'm not sure, but I heard a name said once or twice… Olvikan…was the name used." Faith replied tiredly.
"Are you sure of that?" Giles asked trying to make sure that Faith was correct, considering the state of mind she was in.
"Yeah… I'm sure."
Giles looked up at Xander, Willow, Oz and Cordelia, "We need to check into this and quickly?"
Faith interrupted, "Whatever you plan to do… You'll have to wait until the ascension… Right now he's invulnerable… You can't kill him."
Giles looked at Faith again, "Is that everything… You haven't held anything back?" he asked.
Faith stared blankly at Giles and nodded slowly, "Yeah… That's everything."
Giles and Wesley turned and looked at each other and then Wesley turned back and faced Faith, "Faith… You have committed some serious crimes… I have no choice but to notify the Watchers Council…"
Wesley hesitated for a moment. "They will decide what punishment you should be given for these acts… I cannot say that they will look kindly at what you have done and the repercussions may be severe for you."
Faith looked up and everyone could see the pain in her eyes, but then there was something else there—something much darker and deadlier, "I don't care what happens to me anymore… I just want to be around to watch the Mayor burn…"
oOoOo
Mayor Wilkins had gone from a troubled state to now being agitated. There had been no word from Faith and no word or sighting from the vampires he had sent out. What had caused his agitation was the call he had received from his assistant that was watching Faith—informing him that she was at this moment at the high school meeting with Buffy and her group. To pile on to his worries was the threat of the mystery robot looking for the "Staff of Uman". This was more than enough to test the patience of any man—even one close to ascending to a demon.
What was causing him more worries was what Faith could be or was probably doing right at this moment with Buffy and her group. The assistant he had watching Faith reported that she had gone to the same coffee shop and had sat there as if she was waiting for someone—for over an hour. She then left the coffee shop and had gone directly to the high school.
Wilkins had a bad feeling about this. He knew from his years of experience that situations that were very emotional tended to get very messy and ugly. It was evident that Faith's infatuation was deeper than he first suspected. He still found it hard to reconcile that the Faith he knew could fall in love with a man in one afternoon—especially an older man. But he realized that love was a funny thing and had its own agenda and pace.
If what he thought was true and Faith had fallen in love and he had killed her love—well he knew Faith good enough to realize that she would seek revenge. He knew that she wouldn't just let this go, she would do something to hurt him back. He wasn't worried about Faith hurting him directly, he was invulnerable and couldn't be killed.
No… she can't kill me… She could do a lot worse!
She had been involved with a lot of his plans and knew quite a number of the details of those plans and more importantly she knew a lot about his ascension. Those details she knew could come back to haunt him. He had the thought of tasking some vampires to remove her and any potential problems she could cause him.
Wilkins was surprised when he suddenly felt sad and disappointed that he was thinking of having her killed. He had hoped to have her by his side when he ascended. He knew he would miss having Faith feeding him information about his competition, but the thought of her turning against him caused a pain inside him.
He pushed the thought of having Faith killed to the side—for the moment. He wouldn't be hasty in his actions. He would watch and wait—for now—to see what would happen. Even if by chance Faith did show up on his doorstep again to work for him, he would have to take precautions against her especially at this critical time.
Always the politician, he looked at all the angles trying to find the one that would give him the maximum advantage.
If she comes back… Maybe I can play her while she is trying to play me… That might work or maybe it would be better to just get rid of her…
Either way, he would have to keep a close eye on the situation—at least until his day of ascension.
oOoOo
Buffy, Giles and Wesley were huddled together off to one side in the library. Faith was still sitting at the table staring off into space lost in her thoughts. Giles had Xander, Willow, Oz and Cordelia scouring through all the books trying to find any information on this demon called "Olvikan". This meeting was to figure out what to do next and more importantly what to do with Faith.
Wesley started off, "I should notify the Council immediately… They can have a team here tonight to pick her up."
"Hold on Wes…" Buffy said, "We're going to be in for the fight of our lives… We could still use Faith… She's still a Slayer…good or bad."
Wesley looked at her skeptically, "How do we know that she is telling the truth? How can we trust her after what she has admitted to doing?"
Buffy sighed and looked towards Faith, "I believe her Wes… I see the look in her eyes… I've been there…"
Buffy turned back to face Wesley and Giles, "…I'm not saying that we completely trust her… She's going to have to earn our trust back… But we need her now."
Giles finally spoke, "Buffy's right… We need to have Faith here… Even though her loyalty is questionable right now… She is motivated and we can use her to help us."
Buffy got a bad feeling as she heard Giles and she gave him a hard stare, "What do you mean use her?"
"She can be our eyes and ears in the Mayor's office… She can keep tabs on anything going on and let us know…" Giles replied.
"That is an excellent idea…" Wesley replied with some excitement.
Buffy's bad feeling grew at seeing the two Watchers' eagerness in putting Faith into harm's way, "Uh… I don't know about this… She's pretty fragile right now… I don't know if she could do it emotionally."
"We can ask her?" Giles responded.
Buffy was still skeptically about the whole idea, "I'm still not sure about this… Sending her back right now could be risky for her… We need to put her up somewhere safe. It may give her time to compose herself before we throw her back into the shark tank."
"What do you have in mind?" Wesley asked showing some doubt.
"We put her up at Angel's place… at least for tonight." Buffy replied.
Giles and Wesley looked at each other doubtfully.
Buffy pleaded to the two Watchers, "You know I'm right… Look at her... She needs to be on her game if we are going to let her try to redeem herself or don't you care if she survives or not…"
Buffy's implication that they would throw Faith's life away on a whim struck Giles and Wesley hard, but for different reasons to each man. Giles didn't want to be the one to cause Faith's death and Wesley was still trying to figure out how he was going to explain to the Council that a Slayer went rogue under his watch. Both men looked at each other and after a moment Wesley spoke, "Okay… We'll go with your plan and she can stay with Angel for tonight, but we need her back with the Mayor… You are aware of the stakes involved if we fail to stop him."
Buffy let out a sigh of relief and smiled at Wesley's response, "Thank you Wesley… I'll take Faith over to Angel's. I'll then do my patrol."
oOoOo
Faith was staring off into space, in a zombie-like trance, as she sat at the library table. She felt drained and exhausted. She tried to stop from thinking—especially about him. She could feel everyone glance at her occasionally.
They probably think I'm going to freak out and try and kill them all… There's only one person that I want to kill…
She was imagining of all the ways that she could kill the Mayor and her mood got darker. She wanted him dead with every fiber of her being—she didn't care if she died while doing it.
It took a moment and she was shaken out of her thoughts as she became aware that Buffy was standing by her. She turned and looked at Buffy. Buffy didn't say anything, but Faith knew that she understood what she was going through and what she felt.
Buffy saw the look in Faith's eyes and she worried for her. She could see the loss and pain in Faith's eyes, but she could also see the anger and rage in there too. She knew that Faith wanted her revenge even if it cost her own life.
"Faith… I'm going to take you to Angel's. I don't want you by yourself right now."
Faith tried to smirk, but failed, "Huh… So you're going to get Angel to babysit me… I could do worse."
Both Slayers left the library and school to walk to Angel's place. As they walked there was an uncomfortable silence between them. After some time, Faith finally broke the silence.
"Buffy… I… I just want to say I'm sorry for everything I've done to you and everyone else."
Buffy was surprised by the attempted apology as it sounded so out of character from the Faith she was used to, "Faith what you did was wrong and you crossed the line… It will take time and you'll have to earn our trust back… You'll pay a price for what you did."
Faith sighed as she knew the cost she had paid and would continue to pay for her actions. She had resigned herself to her fate, "I know B… Like I said… I'll accept whatever happens to me."
After a few more minutes of awkward silence, Buffy spoke again. She'd been reluctant to ask the question, but her curiosity won out, "Who was he? What was he like?"
A sad smile came to Faith's face, "His name was Michael… He was an older guy, but he had that look…you know dangerous and experienced. He was big and strong…there was something about him. He had these deep dark eyes that seemed to have seen everything…"
Buffy arched her eyebrow at hearing about Faith's guy being an older man.
Faith continued, "…We made a connection at a level I never even knew was possible… We talked for hours and he looked at me… When he looked at me it was like…like I was the most important person in the universe to him."
Buffy couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy as she understood what Faith was talking about, "Did you guys… you know?" she asked with some hesitation.
"No… We didn't go that far… Not that I didn't think about it and I actually gave him an invitation… He was a class act the whole time… We talked...had dinner and walked. We did kiss though…" Faith said with a sad sigh.
"How was it?" Buffy asked curiously.
Faith closed her eyes as she replayed the kiss in her mind and recalled the force and passion, "On a scale of 1 to 10… It was like a 100! I've never been kissed like that before… It was like feeling a force of nature… Full of passion… He lifted me up like I was a feather and he wrapped his arms around me and it was…it was like being where you were supposed to be… I guess I'm not making any sense…" she said with sadness and some embarrassment mixed in.
"No… I understand exactly what you're saying…" Buffy sighed.
The two Slayers continued their walk, Buffy broke the silence again.
"Giles and Wesley… They want you to go back to the Mayor… They want you to spy on him for us."
"I kinda figured as much… I would probably do the same thing if I was in their shoes." Faith sighed as she nodded in understanding.
"I said you weren't ready…you need some time first." Buffy hastily added.
Faith let out another deep sigh. She considered what she would do if she was in their shoes. She knew what was at stake, "No B… The longer I'm away the more suspicious the Mayor will get…"
Faith hesitated for a moment and then spoke, "Buffy… If something goes wrong and I don't make it… I need to ask you something…"
Buffy felt a sense of dread, "Don't talk like that. You—"
Faith interrupted Buffy's pleading, "I need you to promise me that you'll personally stake that bastard! I've never asked for anything and I know I don't deserve the consideration, but I'm asking you in case I don't make it!"
Buffy took a moment to consider the request. She heard the tone in Faith's voice. She knew that Faith wasn't planning on surviving this battle, "I promise… But we'll take down the Mayor together."
Both Slayers continued walking in silence not noticing the man that was following them at a discreet distance.
oOoOo
It wasn't long before both Slayers arrived at Angel's place. They made their way in and Buffy went to find Angel. Faith stood around looking at the house—it was big, empty and had a cold feeling. The house seemed to mirror her mood and feelings.
Buffy stumbled across Angel as he came out of one of the rooms. It looked like he had just woken up as he was putting on a shirt. She paused for a moment to enjoy the view and then she had to remind herself why she was here.
"Buffy… What's up? Anything wrong?" he asked with some concern as he hadn't been expecting her this early, she usually stopped by later after her patrol.
Buffy grimaced, "We have a 'situation' and it concerns Faith…"
She saw the look of concern cross his face.
"Something happen to Faith?" he asked.
Buffy told Angel everything about what had happened with Faith and her work for the Mayor. He didn't show any emotion like the others had at the school when they heard of Faith's betrayal. All he asked was, "Do you think she is being genuine about wanting to help?"
Buffy said, "Yes… I have no doubts about her story. If she is lying then she's the greatest actress I've ever seen, but we still have to be careful just in case."
"Agreed…"
Angel continued, "…So you just want me to keep an eye on her tonight?"
"Yeah… She's in a bad place right now… Talk to her… That might help her or if she's lying then she might slip up and give something away."
Angel nodded his understanding.
Buffy stood on her toes and kissed him on the cheek, "I've got to go… I'll be back later to check on her."
Buffy and Angel walked down to the huge living room area. Faith was sitting on the sofa just staring off into space.
"Faith… I'm heading off… I'll see you later tonight… Try and get some rest." Buffy said.
Faith looked at Buffy, "Thanks B… I'll be fine… I have a babysitter to make sure I stay out of trouble…" she said with a slight smirk.
Buffy smiled slightly as the response sounded more like the old Faith. She looked at Angel again and nodded.
"Later Buffy…" he said.
After Buffy left, Angel stood in the living room looking at Faith and she looked at him and then around the house. There were some awkward moments and then Angel finally said something to try and break the silence, "Can I get you anything? I don't have much… I do have some bottled water."
Faith tried to smile and he could see the sorrow and pain in her eyes, "Thanks but I'm okay… Maybe later."
Angel nodded and looked around the room uncomfortably again. Faith watched him and after a moment a small smile came to her face, "Go ahead and ask… You wanna know what happened with little old me..." she said.
Angel sat down beside her on the sofa, "Buffy gave me the broad outline and I can see the pain you're holding in. What I want to know is why you want to help Buffy and possibly face the Watchers Council. You know they will be rough on you. I would have figured you would be at city hall right now with your hands wrapped around the Mayor's throat."
Faith actually laughed. It felt strange but it reminded her what it was like to feel alive. It felt like it had been forever since she'd laughed last, but it had been just over a day. "I had considered a kamikaze run against the Mayor, but with him being invulnerable right now, I figured this would actually hurt him more and…" she paused as she wasn't sure she wanted to say more.
"And what?" Angel asked.
Faith decided it didn't matter anymore, "It's the funniest thing… When I ran into that robot and he had me pinned… He didn't hurt me when he could of… He spoke to me." she said shaking her head as she didn't think it mattered anymore what she said to anyone. She knew that if the Mayor didn't kill her, then the Watchers would do it—it's not good for business to let evil Slayers run around—with her dead, the next chosen one would appear and carry on the mission.
"The robot spoke to you?" Angel said with some surprise and disbelief.
"Yeah… He knew that I was working for the Mayor, but he told me that I still had a choice and it wasn't too late for me." Faith said staring off as she remembered the encounter and how she'd felt.
"Pretty insightful for a robot…" Angel said.
"Yeah… Who would have thought a machine could be like that?" she replied shaking her head.
oOoOo
Buffy had a couple of hours before she would start her patrol and she decided to check back in at the library to see how everyone was doing on the research. When she walked in she could see everyone busy going through books. She made her way quietly and sat in a chair beside Willow.
"Hey Will… How's it going?" Buffy said quietly.
She couldn't help but notice that Willow looked tired and there were a pile of books surrounding her laptop.
"So far I haven't found anything… I can't speak for the others." Willow replied tiredly.
Buffy suddenly saw her eyes light up, "Oh… I almost forgot… I've been working on that science problem you gave me the other day…" Willow said with some excitement.
That immediately grabbed Buffy's attention, "What's up?" she asked.
"I was doing some snooping and checking some of the computer systems around town… You know like city hall… banks…stores." Willow said excitedly.
"And?" Buffy added.
"Well at first glance everything looked okay, but the problem was that everything looked too okay… None of the computer systems had reported any problems or down time in the last week even for maintenance." Willow said warming to her subject matter.
Buffy just stared blankly at her as this was all going over her head. "What does that mean?" Buffy asked starting to get a little impatient.
"I don't know how much you know about computer networks, but for no systems to report any problems for a whole week is… well the odds are pretty stacked against it happening. So I dug a little deeper and I found a program running. It was accessing systems to gather and monitor information." Willow said.
"Again… What does that mean?" Buffy said trying to be calm with Willow but finding it hard to remain patient.
"Buffy… This program was unlike anything I have ever seen before… The code wasn't anything I was familiar with… It went through computer systems like it was alive! I could see it accessing data and systems that I couldn't hack into if you gave me a hundred years to try!"
"Were you able to track…trace this program?" Buffy asked.
"It was difficult, but I did trace a common access point… The program was accessing the town's telephone and cell phone network from the northeast end of town." Willow said.
"That's great work!" Buffy said to her friend.
Willow smiled proudly at her accomplishment.
"Hmmm… The northeast side… That's the industrial part of town… Lots of warehouses… Lots of places to hide." Buffy said thinking to herself.
"…Maybe I'll patrol in that area tonight and see if I find anything." she continued.
Buffy turned again to Willow, "Any luck on that electro magnet whatzit?" she asked.
Willow sighed, "That's going to be harder… I was thinking about using microwaves to generate the EMP, but it's making something small and portable that is the major problem…plus also trying to avoid cooking ourselves when we try to use it is another 'slight' drawback."
Buffy shuddered at the thought of being a microwave dinner, "Ugh… Well keep working on it. Again great job Will… Thanks."
"No problem… It's what I do." Willow said smiling.
oOoOo
Xander had lost count on how many shelves and books he had gone through—and still going through—looking to find any reference to the demon "Olvikan" that Faith had mentioned. So far he hadn't found any reference or any hint of this demon and he was starting to have second thoughts and doubts about how truthful and accurate Faith was being with them.
Xander found himself going through another book, his eyes were tired and the words were starting to blur. He blinked his eyes to focus and suddenly there it was—a chapter providing a description of a demon called "Olvikan". He smiled tiredly as he raised his head.
"Hey Giles… Guys… I found something!" he said excitedly.
This caught everyone's attention in the library and they looked towards Xander as he came rushing down to the main reading table carrying the book. Everyone gathered around to see his discovery.
"Excellent work Xander! Let's see what you found." Giles said as Xander passed him the book.
Giles started to read the description of this "Olvikan" demon. It was sparse on details, but when he flipped the page, there was an illustration of the demon.
"Well that doesn't look too bad." Giles started to say.
"Uhhh Giles…" Xander said with some concern as he reached in and pulled out the page of the illustration. The pages unfolded to show a representation of the demon's size relative to a human's size. The illustration of the demon stretched four pages long. Everyone stood there looking in shock of what they were going to be up against.
"We're going to need a bigger boat…" Xander said.