Exodus Revoked

Chapter 8

Author's Note: As mentioned previously in the description. I have not abandoned this story. I just hadn't worked on it in a while but recently got back to it. I like to wait until I actually finish a story before posting it but I didn't do that for this one. So far I've written 20 chapters of the story. But I wanted to offer this chapter so people can know it's going to happen eventually, finish it I mean.

The only sound in the room is the beeping of the heart rate monitor attached to Giles as he lays asleep in the hospital bed. His chest rises and falls with the respirator's movement. Willow grips Faith by the hair even harder just to emphasize the point she's about to make.

"This is what you did."

Faith attempts to respond but doesn't get very far.

"I... I..."

After making sure she really does feel it, Willow lets go of Faith's hair with a bit of a shove at the end.

"If you hadn't left, he'd be okay."

Again there's nothing but silence all through the room except for the heart monitor. Faith watches Giles for a while before stiffening up her stance. She puts on a brave face before turning to face Willow and Xander.

"So you couldn't protect one of your own and somehow that's my fault? It's easy to have a scapegoat you can blame for everything isn't it?"

"He was looking for you at the time."

Faith doesn't respond to that. Xander picks up the story.

"He spent the first year convinced that Buffy was out there somewhere. That she was just trapped or lying low until she could find us. Then he spent the next year looking for you. He figured that if you were the last person to see her alive, that you were somewhere together. Or at least in contact somehow."

Willow jumps in at this point.

"Kakistos and his gang exploited that. They laid down bread crumbs for him to follow. By the time we realized it was a trap, he was being tortured to death. We just barely managed to get to him before he died."

"I get it. You've all got a sob story. Is this the strategy? Make me feel bad so you can recruit me into your suicide mission? Look, I already said I would help, although mostly because you kidnapped me into the village of the damned with no way out. But if this is you trying to get me all weepy and not look for the first way out, then it's not going to work."

Xander and Willow look at each other before he responds.

"This isn't about guilt. Although if you wanted to feel bad about it, we wouldn't object. It's about making sure that you know what you're getting into. We have a lot riding on this... and on you. We need you to take this seriously. What's happened to Giles? It could be you... or worse. We can't have that happen. If it does? We're all dead."

Faith takes a deep breath.

"Okay, I'm on board. Grim, grizzly death if I don't go along with the plan... which, by the way, what exactly is the plan? Cause you're all acting like there's this great strategy but so far I haven't heard it. If you really think I need to be here for all this, then you're probably gonna need to be up front about everything."

They look at each other again then Willow says something.

"Kakistos is basically a vampire king who has taken over some of the largest parts of Sunnydale. The other parts are run by vamps or demons who are basically his lieutenants. He's insulated himself from basically everything and everyone. There's no way to attack him directly."

Xander adds to the conversation.

"Not without being brutally murdered anyway. We all want to avoid that. So we need to go in covertly. Get in with one of the lowest lieutenants and take him out. Work our way up the food chain until Kakistos has to come out of hiding."

Faith rolls her eyes and sighs.

"So you're basically talking about me fighting a one woman war of attrition. Sounds nice and suicidal."

Xander pushes back.

"You're not going to be alone. We'll be with you."

Faith gives them both the once over as she speaks.

"Oh, good... the psychopath who kidnapped me into a literal hellscape and a cripple with no depth perception. Sounds like a crack team to me."

Willow scoffs at the suggestion.

"It wouldn't just be us. There's a reason we're working with Riley and the military. They'll be backing us up and ready to pull us out if things go wrong."

"Why not just use them? Why bring me in if they're so well trained like this? Just have them go in guns a blazing and take everyone out? That way you can just leave me alone."

Xander frowns back at Faith.

"You don't think we tried that? When the smash and grab strategy didn't work, they tried a more covert strategy. Probably should've started with that. I mean, they are supposed to be all about the covert demon ops. But that didn't work either. They don't understand the nuances of demon culture and were usually outed as humans pretty quickly."

Willow continues to add details.

"Even when we got them to team up with us and we've been working with them, they couldn't make it work. It took us a while but eventually the problem became obvious."

Faith can't help but ask.

"Which is?"

"What we need is power."

"Says the woman who kicked my ass."

Willow scoffs.

"What I had was temporary. Like with how I got to Miami to find you, there's only so long I can keep it going. The kind of operation we're doing requires someone with raw power. Who isn't going to lose it in the middle of the battle."

Xander jumps in.

"We need a slayer's power."

Faith takes a deep breath, letting it out with a sigh.

"And so I got shafted."

Xander makes a suggestion.

"I think you mean drafted."

Faith focuses on him with a defensive stance.

"I stand by what I said."

There's a long silence in the room. It's incredibly obvious to all of them just how tense this whole situation is.

"Well... it's not a terrible plan. If you're not completely incompetent and those military boys aren't as stupid and halfway decent, we might not die until the very end at least."

Xander and Willow look at each other, concerned.

"That's quite the endorsement."

"Yeah, it just fills me with confidence. I'm so glad we survived so long to implement this plan and now we're going to barely survive instead of getting tortured and die the second we walk through the door."

"I feel better already."

Faith looks around the room with a questioning look.

"So... where do we start?"

Again the two friends look at each other.

"Should we show her up top?"

The slayer gives them a curious look.

"Up top?"

Willow and Xander turn their heads up to the ceiling. Eventually Faith joins them.

End of Chapter 8