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Everything Is Different Now	By : Declan Category: -Buffy the Vampire Slayer > FemmeSlash - Female/Female > Buffy/Faith Views: 7516 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy The Vampire Slayer Television Series. Joss Whedon does. This is done for simple fun, I'm not making any money from this.

Chapter List
- 8
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The I In Psychopath: Part 3 (Rules Of Engagement)

As Buffy nimbly hurdled a park bench, she found her mind considering the unique sort of questions that tended to crop up in her life. Like, ‘What was Spike going to do when he caught up with the grim Reaper wannabe… scold it?’
Or, ‘How come this thing can move so fast when it’s wearing a really long robe, which is pretty much like running in a dress?’ Buffy knew from experience how hard that was.
And even how about; ‘Why am I even bothering with any of this?’
Well, Buffy could answer that last one; this creature had an interest in Faith, had even warned Buffy away from the other girl, and had hinted at other, darker things during their brief conversation.
Bottom line; cryptic guy sounded like he had answers and Buffy felt like she had to pursue him. She probably couldn’t hurt him, but he did seem to fall into the ‘loves the sound of his own voice’ category of villain, so maybe he’d let something slip when he got to wherever he was leading them both. Because that was exactly what he was doing, baiting them so they would chase him somewhere.
Buffy hoped that it wasn’t into another deathtrap. That would be such a cliché.
Racing after Spike, Buffy’s feet pounded the soft earth as she struggled to keep pace with the enraged vampire and the fleeing cloaked figure. She’d persistently pursued both of them through playground, woods and Dog Park already and now the cemetery was flashing by in a blur of motion.
Surely one of them must be getting bored of this by now? Yet Spike showed no signs of flagging. The figure had, deliberately, hit some deeply buried nerve from Spike’s past all so that the former Big Bad would be compelled to follow.
Then, up ahead, the figure suddenly came to a dead stop between two headstones, where the cemetery thinned out into a line of trees. An old, rusted and twisted wrought iron fence marked the shadowy copse that was the edge of Breaker’s Woods.
The robed figure turned to face the oncoming form of Spike, raising its hands as if in defence as Spike launched himself forward, snarling, only to sail directly through and slam head first into a mouldering oak tree behind, crumpling to the ground. Buffy would’ve laughed if she hadn’t felt slightly winded. Instead she stopped a few metres away from the looming form, readying her axe. At least she could look threatening.
Still, Buffy always had insults ready. “What’s the matter? You getting a little pooped there? Need a time-out? A break while you readjust your ridiculous costume?”
The figure seemed to drift a little closer to Buffy, its cold voice taunting. “Do you yearn for more answers, Slayer? Is that why you followed me to the dark of the woods?”
Buffy readied her weapon against her shoulder and decided that it couldn’t hurt to try and bluff a little. “Nice, with the Red Riding Hood analogy, since I’m the one with the magical axe here, and you’re stepping up to be the next Big, Bad–“
The laugh that drifted from the form was more melodious that Buffy expected, almost like somebody had taken a voice distorter thing away from their mouth. The sound seemed...almost feminine.
“Oh, you are a spirited one aren’t you? I can understand why a misogynistic beast like William would so badly want you dead.”
Buffy raised her eyebrows and decided to bite. “So, you know him then? Or knew him before?”
The figure tilted its head, as if considering how much to say. “Not personally, but professionally, yes. He made quite a name for himself back in the day, and I made it my business to know much about his name.”
Behind the figure, Spike seemed to recover and slowly rolled to his knees and then his haunches. Buffy tried to keep the figure’s attention focused on her. “So, ‘back in the day’? I’m guessing you’ve been around for a while, huh? To be fair your outfit’s a little dated y’know? Plus, wicked conspicuous.”
The figure chuckled dryly. “Not at all. As I am seen only when I wish it. In turn I am rarely taken unaware.” With a spin and a simple gesture the figure picked Spike up off the ground and flung backwards with invisible force. There was an angry, choked groan and a dull clang as Spike was slammed down on a broken section of iron fencing that pinned him, dangling helplessly in place.
At the same moment, while the figure attention was diverted, Buffy took a quick step forward, readied her axe, and swung it overhead, hoping that it would find its mark.
The figure barely caught the weapon before it struck home, deftly catching the haft in one hand as it turned back to regard the Slayer.
Buffy was so close to the form that she could smell it, or rather its lack of smell. Demons were usually all kinds of stinky. Plus she could hear it breathing, raggedly. So not only was it not dead, it also got tired. And it was one of those bath-taking demons. Curiouser and curiouser.
Buffy also sensed that the cloak that surrounded the form, the way the cloth shifted and swayed in as if in a breeze, was an affectation, an illusion or disguise no more real than the low, scary voice. Another conjuring trick.
The figure tut-tutted. “Now that wasn’t nice, girl.”
“So, you’re not a spook. I’m guessing this is a ‘one spell at a time’ kinda deal, right?” Buffy adjusted her grip on the axe, preparing to yank it free and kick out at the now solid form at the same time, “So, what are you anyway? Or should that be who?”
The figure leaned closer to Buffy, so the edge of its hood was inches from her face. Buffy squinted to make out any features in the gloom, but saw nothing. It spoke, softly and mockingly. “I have a better question for you, Miss Summers. Don’t you ever get tired of stabbing those that you profess to love? Firstly it was Angel, not Angelus, that suffered in hell for your poor decisions. Then Faith suffered for your inattention.”
With a surge of strength, the figure pushed the axe and Buffy inexorably backwards. Unnerved by the figure’s words, Buffy stumbled as she lost her footing and was thrown to the ground. The mocking voice that had been directed at Spike was now directed at Buffy herself. “And now, because of your tawdry sentiment, Faith will continue to suffer at your hands. But not as your nemesis, not now, but as your ‘lost love’. As the lost, sick little girl that, instead of putting her out of her misery, you now try to help – if only you could reach her ‘true self’.” The figure tittered darkly and shook its head slowly, “Be careful what you wish for, Slayer.”
Buffy managed to scramble backwards and then shakily to her feet. “Who are you?”
“The reckoning of your order, as promised. But if you wish for a name... ‘Marley’ will suffice for now”, it said coldly, drawing itself up to its full height before pausing and turning towards the tree line, as if sensing something. “And what is that?” It cocked its head expectantly, “If I’m not mistaken I think that is the herald of darker things to come. Perhaps by the night’s end you’ll be killing another loved one. Your pet soldier perhaps?”
For a moment Buffy wondered what the hell the figure was talking about, but then, from behind them both, somewhere in the depths of the forest, she heard somebody cry out in pain or terror. The voice, a male, was answered almost once by a low, growling roar that seemed to reverberate through the night air and set Buffy’s teeth on edge. It was followed by creaking, snapping sound of distant tree branches breaking.
“Ah, it seems that your attentions are needed elsewhere, Slayer. Kurenos will feed well tonight otherwise, perhaps if you hadn’t been so–” Suddenly the figure was swiftly tackled from the side by Spike, both of them tumbling to the ground in front of Buffy.
She saw the blonde vampire’s triumphant grin as he righted himself before the figure could and slammed a fist into its hooded face, following up with a fierce left cross that connected soundly with the now-solid form.
Spike let out a sneering laugh as shouted. “Leave this burke to me.”
But Buffy ignored him, already running flat out for the woods. Twisting aside to avoid railing and broken branch, flashlight and axe clasped in hand, Buffy’s ears already picked up the distant sounds of combat, the cries of panicking soldiers, the sizzle-snap of their weapons and the answering bellows of the demon.
Buffy sprinted through the dark, her keen eyes managing to avoid any low hanging branch or creeping tree root. She vaulted over bristling bushes, bashed aside springy ferns and veered off when the noises of conflict seemed to move to her right.
Clearing a fallen and decaying tree, Buffy almost tripped over the downed soldier who lay sprawling against a rocky outcrop. His face was turned away and his neck hung at a sickeningly unnatural angle.
A fierce blast of light and noise pierced the forest gloom half a dozen yards away and to her left, Buffy saw four more scattered soldiers retreating as orderly as they could, taser rifles pointed at a large, looming shape that strode after them, something gangly, skeletal and misshapen that loped between the trees.
Buffy hardened herself and, readying her axe, she cleared the last of the bushes and putting her in the centre of a clearing, between the scrambling soldiers and stalking demon. By the half-light of the moon, Buffy saw Kurenos for the first time.
“Oh crap”, she whined.

*~~*

From her position at the top of the stairs, Faith casually scanned the Initiative quad, taking in the bustle of activity, the comings and goings of scientists, techs and soldiers with an appraising eye.
When the Doc had taken off to analyse reams of paper full of important squiggly lines, she’s given Faith the run of the place, or at least the run of the places she’d been shown on the tour, and been told to get some rest.
But Faith had gotten plenty of rest already. She’d also been fed, poked, prodded, tested, exercised and now was at a loose end. There was just one more thing a growing slayer like her needed to take the edge off. And Faith was thinking that a secret facility filled with clean-cut military dudes was an easy place to pick up some nice, cute, well-muscled way to kill time. All she needed was a half-decent prospect...
And then she spotted one, a guy she’d seen hanging around before who’d given her a couple of side-on, curious glances when he thought that she wasn’t looking. Now he was busily taking to some other hunk of marine, but his eyes strayed her way once and saw her watching, then he pretended to scan right past her and went back to talking with the guy. But he’d noticed her; Faith was pretty good at gauging that sort of reaction from guys.
Faith stepped away from the railing. Time to make new friends.
Faith smiled to herself as she walked casually down the steps and made her way to intercept the guy as he now moved towards one of the exits. She got there with time to spare and leant back against the wall next to the door, one foot braced, arms crossed. Playing it oh so cool.
He was cute in a fairly obvious kind of way, square jaw, dimpled chin, nice smile, hair that sort of reminded her of Buffy’s mopey ex-meat. And he obviously took care of himself; he saw her and gave a small self-conscious smile as he approached. Faith gave him an obvious once-over and smiled widely. “Where you headed?”
He slowed, rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Uh, containment cells. Just doing some last minute checking with the feeding schedule. It’s not on my duty roster but, uh…” He gave another uneasy smile, “Forrest is still recovering from the beating you gave him, so...”
Faith nodded. “Right. Mr. Pouty. I remember now. He shoulda learned his lesson and stayed down when I dropped his ass the first time.”
The guy gave a half-shrug. “Probably. I did try and warn him, from the last time. But the guy is stubborn.”
Faith pushed off from the wall and approached. She saw his eyes flicked downwards; linger for a beat before flicking back up to her face and staying there. “So, you aren’t sore about some chick honing in and beating on your pal…?”
“Graham...” He blinked and hesitated, “I mean uh, Miller, Agent Miller. And no, Forrest always needs to turn it down a notch or two, y’know. Wound kind of tight.”
Faith stepped closer. “I know the type. So, since we’re on the same team an’ all, how ‘bout you show me where I bunk around here.” Her smile became more suggestive.
He swallowed and hesitated. “Uh, well, I’d like to but...the duty roster...”
“Can wait awhile, right?” Faith reasoned with an easy smile, “I promise what I have in mind will be a lot more fun.”
Graham gave a small laugh. “That wouldn’t be hard. But, uh, I guess I could quickly show you a place to crash.” He hesitated as Faith caught his eye.
“Bunk.” Faith corrected as she put on her best ‘alluring tone’. “And I got all sorts of questions about stuff I saw on the tour. Could take a while for you to...satisfy me, y’know?” She licked her lips invitingly.
“Right.” He smiled like he was slightly dazed. Maybe the guy couldn’t believe his luck, “Well...I, the thing is...”
“Miss Lehane?” A voice spoke up from behind her.
Faith turned to see a lab coat and specs type clearing his throat. “Professor Walsh would like to see you. It’s urgent.”
Faith grouched. “You’re fuckin’ kidding me right?”
“Not at all.” He replied straight-faced, “Right away, Ma’am.”
Damn, nobody ever called her Ma’am before. Nobody ever called her Mom that either. She kinda liked the sound of it. All respectful like.
Faith gave a shrug and turned back to Miller Agent Miller and tapped a single finger against his chest. “We’ll pick this up later, ‘kay?”
He just nodded shakily. Satisfied that she’d made the right first impression Faith turned and followed the lab geek.
Maybe the Doc had another way for Faith to take the edge off. Killing something tonight would be nice, make her feel like a slayer again.

*~~*

Buffy had guessed that there was something misshapen about the creature but seeing it clearly now she knew that that had been an understatement. The demon was over seven feet tall, even though it was hunched over. Tottering on two twisted cloven legs, its torso was emaciated, showing jutting ribs and odd knobs and spikes of bone. Its pelvis somehow half-twisted, bones protruded where they shouldn’t exist, and wiry muscles were visible through stretched skin.
The demon’s flesh was partially covered in short, bristly grey fur, like animal fuzz that lengthened into long tufts along its flanks, shoulders and emaciated arms. Where the fur didn’t reach, the skin seemed translucent; patches of rotted, pus-filled and scarred tissue covered its belly and groin. Un-guessable liquefied substances seemed to bubble and pulse just under patches of taut hide.
But the true horror was the thing’s face, which was a deformed hybrid of dead human skull and fetid animal characteristics. An elongated, lantern-like jaw supported a lamprey mouth bristling with wetly glinting, blackened teeth. The head itself was warped and narrowed into a vaguely goat-like muzzle, sunken pools of putrid blue filled its eye sockets and two malformed horns sprang from its forehead, added an additional foot to its already immense frame.
Buffy wrinkled her nose as the light night breeze blew her way, bringing with it unsavoury tang of putrefaction, as if the thing was decaying before her very eyes.
‘‘Reaper of Death’, huh? Personally I would’ve gone with ‘Goat-Boy with the heady scent of frat-house’ but there we go, what do I know about naming stuff?’
The demon seemed to pause as it noticed Buffy, coming up short in its stride as its eyes narrowed and snout twitched. Buffy tossed her flashlight to one side and got into combat stance with her axe. She realised that the Initiative soldiers had paused in their retreat when she had appeared, and while she was grateful for the gesture, she didn’t really want to worry about any of them when the fighting started. She briefly wondered if the robed being had been correct, if Riley was nearby?
No time for that. Buffy snapped a quick look over her shoulder and shouted, “All of you go! Get gone now! I’ll stall this thing.”
Her eyes snapped forward as she addressed the demon to get its attention. “Y’know, I’m kind of insulted. I actually jumped in the shower for this and you couldn’t even throw on a little aftershave?” She made a show of looking him over, “Or maybe some flea repellent would’ve been more effective.”
Kurenos didn’t immediately reply, simply shifting in its stance, slowly bringing one taloned arm around from behind it, and moving it up to its mouth. In the creature’s grip were the bloody remains of another limp soldier. The demon’s mouth opened, but instead of latching onto the remains of the man, a whitish blue light emanated from somewhere deep inside its throat. The air around the two of them shimmered and vibrated and the corpse’s remains seemed to blacken and shrivel. With a casual gesture, the demon tossed the decayed remains to one side, its other arm already flexing thin, distended fingers tipped with talons.
“I’m going to share with you how much I hated seeing that. And I choose to do so through the medium of kicking your ass!” With that Buffy skipped forward, even as the demon shot out its razored reach at where she had been, and carved the axe into the demon, blade slicing it high up on the thigh. Buffy felt sinewy muscle part against the blade and the creature roar in surprised pain and reared its arm back, but she was already moving.
Buffy’s leg shot out against a nearby tree trunk, she braced, twisted and then jumped up, lashing out with a backswing so the axe caught the demon just under its raised arm, carving through rib bones. Buffy saw blackish blood and semi-luminous blue goo spill from the wound. Gross.
Already Buffy was thinking that she’d have to feign right when she landed, move in to the left and then chop this thing off at the knees. If this thing had hamstrings it was time to cut them. But the demon pivoted with far more speed that its size indicated, so even as Buffy landed on the dry earth behind her the demon caught her shoulder with a flicking backhand.
She managed to spin with the blow and rolled across the ground, coming up readily onto her knees only to throw herself back down as a clawed forehand the size of a tennis racket tried to tear into her. Buffy dived forward, using her small size and nimbleness as she rolled between Kurenos’s legs and came up, hacking the axe upwards into the back of the demon’s knee. Another bellow and the demon half-twisted, half-fell and Buffy was already moving again, even as she felt a six-inch-long claw stitch a line of hot fire across her lower back.
She lashed out blindly with her axe, feeling the blade slice through flesh and the sound of something wet falling to the ground followed by an ear-piercing howl of pain.
Buffy spun and dropped into a crouch, seeing Kurenos rearing in agony gave her some satisfaction. The demon clutched at its injured hand, its body already bleeding from the few wounds that she’d inflicted.
Then something happened.
The demon’s throat pulsed with whitish blue light again, but instead of the glow radiating out of its mouth, it spread downwards, just about visible under its papery skin, spreading along its side and down to its legs, to where the injuries Buffy had inflicted were located.
With a soft pulse the wounds closed up, trickles of bluish pus coming to a stop.
Buffy opened her mouth to say something. The words ‘totally unfair’ didn’t seem to do the situation justice. The thing could regenerate? How come nobody had written that down? Or maybe it was in the cliff notes that Giles hadn’t gotten to yet.
Buffy sighed. “Fine. You wanna go slowly, we can go slowly.”
With that Buffy started forward again, bringing her axe back in an obvious swing with her right, before ducking left and kicking out with her leg.
She hit the thing twice in its side and saw it stumble back under the impact. She ducked a clumsy sweep of a talon, spun and slammed a powerful roundhouse directly into its rotting underbelly.
Her foot struck hard but the demon didn’t even flinch. It had seen her feign with the axe and had responded in kind, faking its stumble to draw her in close.
Lightning quick, its claw shot out, easily encircling her waist and picking Buffy up off the ground. Buffy gasped at the things dank, chilling touch. Its fingers were like bands of ice, spreading a numbing sensation through her body. She writhed and turned as best she could, but the deadening feeling quickly spread up her spine, seizing her chest and within moments her arms twitched from lack of sensation.
Kurenos squeezed its talons hard and Buffy cried out as biting pain cut through the numbness, she lost the grip on her axe so it fell from nerveless fingers to the earth. As the beast brought Buffy towards its mouth Buffy summoned what feeling she could and lashed out, smashing a quick fist into the twisted knot that was its snout. Kurenos snarled in pain even as it opened its decaying maw and brought Buffy closer, so she did it again, a fierce cross, followed by an elbow directly to its front teeth. Lastly Buffy cried out in effort and brought both her knees up to smash the thing under its chin.
Kurenos shook its head in pain, but its grip on Buffy didn’t weaken. Instead its mouth seemed to grow; there was an unsavoury crack of tendons as its lower jaw unhinged and its mouth enlarged. The whitish-blue glow that Buffy had witnessed before now bathed her in a cold light. Buffy shivered as the powerful numbing feeling swept over her face and shoulders, she felt her eyes dim and vision become black-rimmed.
Grimacing, her hands grabbed at the demon’s iron claw encircling her waist, scrambling to gain leverage and use the last of her strength to get free; snap the thing’s finger, grab the axe; then retreat – possibly skedaddle. Hiding was also an option, at least until she could regroup, in front of a roaring fire, with soup.
Then a loud noise cut through the void of noiselessness that had engulfed her. A thundering clattering that filled the air around. Buffy saw the flesh of the demon churn up and explode, its throat, chest and far shoulder were chewed as something invisible cut into it.
Gunfire.
Another roar, this one from Kurenos himself, and Buffy was dropped, falling to the ground. Hard soil pounded soft legs and she folded, rolled away from the demon on instinct. Staying low as a volley cut through the air above her head Buffy slid across the earth and reached out, grabbing the handle of the axe.
Gratefully, the numbness was dissipating quickly from Buffy, pins and needles shot across skin and muscle, making Buffy hot and itchy. Buffy almost revelled in the feeling as she felt her muscles flex in response.
The gunfire stopped after a moment and a figure stepped forward out of the tree line, shouldering the gun. “Buffy?” The voice was soft, uncomprehending, and instantly recognisable.
Buffy raised her head. “Riley?”

*~~*

“Sit down, Faith.” The Professor said, sounding like her usual sore self. She was half-turned away and talking with a couple of other guys when Faith entered. A clipboard and briefcase sat on a nearby table.
Faith shrugged and did as instructed, slouching in her chair as she watched Walsh, Angleman and some other guy (with a busted nose) talk amongst themselves. After a moment or so, just as Faith was starting to get antsy, Walsh turned to her and, after giving a slight nod of dismissal to the guy who’d lost a fight, she finally spoke up. “We have a situation.”
Faith sighed and laced her fingers behind her head. “Figured you didn’t drag me in here t’ask after my health”, Faith drawled, “Whassup? Some demon happenings?”
“Buffy Summers.” Walsh stated simply. Faith straightened at the mention of the other woman’s name. “She assaulted one of my squads without provocation, and allowed a HST to escape.”
Faith frowned before nodding after the guy who had just left. “No wonder your man looked pissed. Throwing down with B ain’t a picnic. What’s her deal?”
Walsh nodded absently but her eyes never left Faith’s. Cold, grey orbs. “That’s what we need you to find out. We need you to bring her in, Faith. This is a capture, not a kill. You’ll be given special equipment to assist you.” Walsh grabbed the clipboard from off the desk, “How you go about your assignment is up to you, but it must be done swiftly, within the day, and you must be discreet about it. No public brawls, is that understood?”
Faith smiled eagerly. Another chance to throw down with B, but on her own terms, felt like a sweet deal. Already she could feel her blood rushing in anticipation. The look on Blondie’s face was gonna be priceless. “Got it. I’ll be stealthy. No worries.”
Walsh pushed the large briefcase towards Faith. “For the sake of appearances its best if you left our facility through one of the maintenance tunnels that feed up to the surface. No one will see you leave. And you’ll bring Buffy in the same way. Discreetly. Now open the case, its contents are yours.”
Still frowning at the implications of Walsh’s last statement, Faith stood up and grabbed hold of the case. Flipping the catches she opened it and her face lit up. The bottom was filled with some of that military foam stuff, which held a whole bunch of gear; a large survival knife, a handgun, flashlight, compass and map, one of the tasers from the armoury, plus a few plastic packages. Faith couldn’t make out what was inside them.
On the inside of the lid were rows and rows of cash, more money than Faith had even seen in her life. Crisp packets of plastic wrapped hundred dollar bills strapped in place.
Faith took it all in with a wide grin. “Wicked.”
Walsh’s dry voice continued, “Your signing bonus, as requested. Two hundred thousand dollars. And it will double the moment you bring Miss Summers into custody. Also there’s a tranquilizer gun plus darts, plus a few extras to aid you in you getting reoriented.” Walsh gently closed the case and caught Faith’s gaze, “Remember, discretion, Faith.”
Faith blinked and then smiled. She felt like she was in a daze. “When do I–”
“Now”, Walsh replied briskly, “Angleman will show you an access hatch that will get you into the tunnel system. Use the map from there. Good luck, Faith.”
Walsh turned away and busied herself with something else. Faith blinked at the abrupt dismissal, but stood up as Angleman made his way over to the door and gestured for her to leave. Faith paused a moment, thought that maybe she should say something to Walsh. Maybe a ‘thanks’ or a ‘roger that, boss,’ or whatever.
Instead, after a moment of unease that Faith couldn’t quite put a reason to, she grabbed her case and left.
Angleman led her out of the room and down a deserted corridor. Faith didn’t see any passing tech-heads or soldiers anywhere about. Real discreet.
Despite her lingering disquiet Faith felt her head spinning a little. She was rich. The poor kid from Southie, the bad part of Southie at that. Miss ‘loser who will never amount to anything’ was working for some government monster squad and making fat stacks of cash into the bargain.
Buffy wasn’t gonna know what hit her.

*~~*

Buffy risked a quick glance at the tree line but could see no sign of Kurenos, but the stink of him was still here, as well as a couple of splattered pools of blue ooze. It wouldn’t be a hard trail to follow once Buffy got her strength back.
There was movement to the other side and Buffy saw Riley race over to her before dropping to a squat half a foot away from her, wide-eyed, like he couldn’t believe that she was real. “Buffy...You’re okay? You’re not... hurt?” He seemed puzzled.
Buffy shook her head, allowed a tentative smile as she took him in. “A little tingly, and a couple of scratches, but other than that I’m fine. No trauma.” Then she remembered where she was and straightened up, “Although your artillery – which was very timely by the way – isn’t gonna keep this thing on the ropes for long.”
Riley, with visible effort, managed to snap himself out of his revere enough to gesture to the assault rifle he was holding. He scanned the surrounding forest. “Pattinson said that the taser blasts were having zero effect against the HST. But, since I picked this up on my travels, thought I’d give it a whirl.”
Buffy gave an appreciative nod. “Yeah, the whirl worked well.”
But any further conversation had to wait as was the bushes exploded with motion. With a keening howl, Kurenos burst into the clearing, far faster than before. Its body, already emaciated in the extreme before it was chewed up by gunfire, was even more distorted now. Gaunt and withered, bones were now breaking through its cracked hide in places, tendons and muscles fusing with fur and hair, as if it was rapidly consuming itself even as it attempted to heal its own wounds.
Buffy was reacting before Riley could even turn his head; she pushed him back and to one side so he dropped out of sight behind some bushes. Then, in an instant she was spinning and readying her axe.
‘Stick with what worked, stick with hacking at this thing.’
Kurenos’ voice became an eerie high-pitched wail as it lashed out at Buffy with bony fingers, attempting to grab and drain the life from her like it had done before. Buffy batted one claw away before bringing her axe up and then down in a chopping motion, cleanly separating the other arm at the wrist joint before it could grab her.
When Kurenos reeled back in agony Buffy pressed forward, slicing the demon at the knee, then spinning into an elegant cartwheel right that left the demon lurching at the wrong target. Buffy stomped on the back of its leg and then hacked at the creature’s spine and lower back as it stumbled backwards.
Buffy kept moving and spinning, chopping at the beast even as it attempted to heal itself after each wound.
Then it hit her hard across the face, a tremendous blow that sent her flying hard back up against a ragged tree stump; cracking her back against knotted deadwood. Buffy scrambled to right herself as Kurenos bore down upon her, spindly limbs outstretched and grasping.
Buffy flipped to her feet and jumped an extra foot up onto the stump itself just as Kurenos reached her. Buffy spun into a kick that had little effect against its tough, sinewy frame, dodged a raking talon before stomping on its overextended arm, and leaping forward. Buffy agilely kicked off the demons forearm as she surged through the air. Even as Kurenos arced away from her airborne attack her axe found its mark, slicing clean through the lower part of its throat, where the bluish white light seemed to originate from.
Metal cleaved flesh as the light dissipated in an instant and Kurenos’ head rolled to the ground, bouncing across the ground until one of its horns speared into the soil and stopped it dead.
Buffy hacked away at the demon a few more times, its spindly form writhing for several moments before dropping. Its arm separated from its shoulder, its torso cut in two, one leg hacked at the hip – but with a thankful lack of dripping pus, blood, or liquid. In the end the copse shed nothing but dust.
Buffy took a couple of shaky steps backwards and leaned on her axe, before grimacing and looking down at her outfit.
‘Huh, relatively clean actually, tear marks notwithstanding. Still, enough with the demon slice and dice already. It’s hell on my wardrobe.’
“Buffy!” She turned to see Riley striding over to her, “Are you alright? You seemed...well, with the hacking, you looked like you were handling things.” He stopped and cupped her face, smiling gently.
Buffy brightened with relief. Riley had found her, or she’d found Riley. Whichever it was she was just glad he was okay. “Uh-huh. No problem really. I think this demon was actually sixty percent jerky anyway, so no big.”
Riley stared into her eyes intently. “I thought... I mean, I was told that you were dead. Buffy, what happened?”
Buffy stepped away, her smile fading slightly. She stared at Riley for a moment, hesitating to disrupt his relief and happiness with her own troubling thoughts. But she had to tell him the truth now, she needed his help. Buffy glanced at the ground and then looked up into his eyes again, and found the resolve her voice needed. “It was Maggie Walsh. She tried to have me killed.”

*~~*

When Angleman returned to room 314, Walsh was waiting there for him. She was half bent over a microscope, re-examining the new evidence for the third or fourth time. Without looking up she asked, “Did our girl get away okay?”
Angleman nodded. “Unseen. As instructed.”
Walsh straightened up and nodded. “Excellent. That way, if she succeeds in her mission then Miss Summers vanishes without a trace, unconnected to us. And if she fails then Faith simply escaped our facility to continue her twisted vendetta with the Slayer.”
Hesitantly, Angleman disagreed: “It may be hard to argue that, when it’s discovered that Miss Lehane is in possession of our equipment and our money.”
But Walsh was dismissive; he had rarely seen her in such a good mood. “Oh doctor, the equipment could’ve easily been stolen before or during her escape from here. And the money, well, a girl like Faith, suddenly confronted with that much wealth, I guarantee that she’ll hide it away somewhere, at least until she’s secured her target.”
Angleman pressed. “But why even give her the money in the first place? She could run now. She has money, by tomorrow morning she’ll have no serious criminal record to speak of. It’s a risk. You can’t just expect to buy her loyalty.”
Walsh turned to the doctor. “I Agree. But the money does serve a subtler purpose, doctor. It will, for the time being, allay any suspicions that Faith may harbour about our true motivations. It will blind her doubts and any cynicism for a short while. And it’s critical that, for the moment, she does exactly what we say, at least until she and Miss Summers are back in our custody.” Walsh walked over to the far surgical table, where the huge form of Adam lay. “And to think I thought that I wouldn’t be able to improve upon you, Adam.” She looked up at Angleman, “I want you to select the very best surgical team available Doctor. They’re going to have to work on two subjects simultaneously.”
Angleman nodded nervously. “Of course.”
“And have preparations made to store the harnessed tissue and nerve samples, plus the blood and bone marrow.” Walsh walked past Adam to Dr. Angleman, “It’s important we harvest as much from the two subjects while they’re still alive doctor, precision is the key.”
Angleman nodded again. He didn’t trust himself to speak. When he’d made the discovery, he had only been thinking in terms of more tests on the Lehane girl, perhaps even the other slayer as well. The properties of their blood and tissue samples, the genetic markers indicating human/demon hybridisation in their bloodline, were incredibly relevant to the work being done here.
But Professor Walsh saw it only as a chance to improve further upon her creation, to make it – him – truly perfect.
Angleman comforted himself with the fact that the two girls would be unconscious for most of the procedures that were to follow. It would be a small mercy.
Deep in thought, Walsh dismissed Angleman as she returned to her equipment. “That will be all Doctor. Remember my instructions and I’ll see you in the morning.”
Angleman didn’t say another word; he knew it would be best to just do as she asked, return in the morning when he’d found professionals talented enough to perform what she required of them.

The figure watched unnoticed, as Angleman left the room.
‘Alone with mother and child’, the figure mused. Watching Walsh busily dream as she worked the figure drifted over to the massive, prone form on the slab. ‘A veritable marvel of science.’
The figure still ached slightly from its dalliance with William’s tender mercies, but had nevertheless managed to fend him off and lead the vampire into the woods. To the path that would eventually lead him to the lover’s reunion. Their touching reconciliation would have to wait, at least until secrets on all sides were uncovered.
The figure had heard enough of the scientist’s cold, clinical discussions. Slayers used for nothing more than spare parts, donations of life and essence that would help to complete a mad woman’s dream.
Well, time for the dream to become a reality. And, incidentally, a nightmare.
Now that Faith was settled on the next stage of her path it seemed prudent to disrupt the Initiative’s efforts once more.
The figure placed a phantom hand on Adam’s chest and sent invisible tendrils of power down into the creature’s mind, pulling him to awareness. To awakening.
The figure stepped back and waited a moment.
Nothing, not a stirring. The figure almost considered trying again, then, suddenly the creature sat bolt upright. Silently it looked down at itself before pulling out the few cables and wires attached to its limbs. Then, it rose off the slab without making a sound, fluid and elegant even for all its bulk.
The figure watched impassively as the looming creature made its way with deceptive stealth over to where Walsh busied herself. It saw the creature regard Walsh somewhat curiously but dispassionately for a moment.
Although nothing in the room had changed, no new sound had been heard, Walsh froze where she sat. She stiffly pulled back from her workbench and stool and turned around slowly, inching, her eyes widening as she saw her creation standing before her.
“Adam”, she whispered, almost reverently, seemingly too shocked to react any other way.
In one fluid motion, Adam impaled Walsh through the chest with the bone skewer in his arm.
Walsh gasped in surprise, frailly trembling where she stood, choking as blood filled her mouth. Slumping forward, she collapsed to the ground in front of Adam, whose expression remained fixed as he watched. “Mommy.”
The figure began to turn away, satisfied with what had happened. Now to deal with the Council’s simpering lackeys and Rayne...
And then it stopped.
“You”, Adam stated simply, looking straight at the figure. Somehow it had sensed the presence and had addressed it, which had never happened before. It was impossible.
Adam tilted his head slightly, seemingly for the first time to be taking in his surroundings. Breathing in the freedom. “Thank you”, he stated flatly and then left.
The figure watched him go.

*~~*

Riley’s smile faltered. He took a small step backwards and frowned in disbelief. “What?” He shook his head, “What are you... Listen Buffy, I... We need to go over everything, step by step, okay? Because there’s just no way that Professor Walsh–”
Buffy interrupted, but kept her voice level: “She lied to you, didn’t she? She told you that I was dead, right?”
Riley struggled to make sense of it. “I was guarding the Slayer... Faith and I came out and...There must’ve been some mistake.”
Buffy shook her head and emphasised her next words. “Riley, she sent me there to die, with a malfunctioning weapon a-and the com-cam thingy so she could see it all happen, live. It was her.”
Riley touched his hand to his forehead, squeezing it. “T-then there must be something happening to her, something that’s making her act this way. Maybe controlling her.”
Buffy pressed him. “No, I don’t think so. She was acting the same. But I think she was hiding something maybe, not just from you, from everyone. And then I was asking too many questions. Like 314? Remember?”
Riley thought of something, he looked at her, appealing. “Maybe it was just a test. A drill?”
Buffy shook her head sadly. “Then why didn’t she say that? Why did she hide the truth from you? Tell you I was dead and that you should stand down? There was no drill, Riley, I’m sorry.”
Suddenly there was movement to the north of the trees and Spike appeared, brushing some bushes aside. “Bloody bint escaped again. Puff of bleedin’ smoke, more or less.” He noticed the mess at his feet and looked down, nodding at the ground with approval. “I guess that will do, Slayer. Nice to see that we bagged at least one bugger before the nights over, eh?”
Buffy felt the familiar growing aggravation at Spike’s interruption. “Spike, what are you doing here? Wait a sec; did you say ‘bint’, as in female?”
“Right you are. A girly evil somethin’ or other. With a mouth on ‘er an’ all. I see her again it won’t be pretty.”
“How do you even know – actually, I don’t want to know.” Spike just smirked in reply.
Riley looked slightly stunned by the surprise exchange, before his face hardened into a frown. “That’s hostile 17.”
He turned to Buffy in confusion, “What’s going on? You’re working with HSTs now, Buffy?”
Buffy winced at his accusatory tone; their reunion wasn’t going so well. She put a placating arm on his. “Riley, it’s complicated. It’s... That’s Spike. Look, it’s a really long story b-but he’s not bad anymore.”
“Oi, what am I a bleedin’ broken record. I’m bad” Spike sulked. “Just can’t bite anymore, thanks to you wankers.”
Riley clenched his jaw. “We’ve been looking for this thing for months and, what; you’ve been working with it the whole time?”Riley shook off her arm, his body visibly tense with growing anger.
Buffy tried to reason with him. “Riley, it’s not like that. It’s...He helped me here tonight because this thing was really dangerous, that’s all.”
Riley gave a slight shake of his head. “Working with dangerous killers? Seems there might be a pattern emerging here”, Riley stated flatly, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.
Buffy shook her head. “Don’t put this on me, Riley. Your boss has my friend and... And I need your help to get her out.”
Riley frowned angrily. “How am I supposed to help you, Buffy, when you won’t even trust me? When you’re working with vampires and killers? How long has all this been going on?”
Buffy sighed. “Riley I didn’t lie to you...I just didn’t tell you everything.” Buffy winced at the sound of her own words. “And I know sounds really lame, but I promise I will explain everything, eventually. But Faith is in real danger, now, so it’ll have to wait. We have to get her away from Walsh; she doesn’t belong in the Initiative.”
Riley disagreed. “From what I’ve seen, that’s exactly where she belongs. The Initiative locks up monsters Buffy, it doesn’t work with them like you do.”
“Riley, think!” Buffy snapped at him, “You’ve seen what I do, you know me. We’re on the same side. But Walsh has been lying to you, she’s up to something, she is the one who set those demons on me, controlling them, experimenting on them and who knows what else. Faith-”.
Riley’s interrupted, his voice gaining an aggrieved tone to it. “What is it with you and her anyway? Why do you care so much about Faith? I mean, didn’t she try and kill you a couple of times, or is that just what you like about her? The danger?”
“Okay, that’s just about enough.” Buffy spat coldly, “I am doing my job here, Riley. And I know exactly the difference between a monster and a person I might actually have a chance at helping. She is a slayer, just like me, only she made some mistakes and I-I wasn’t...willing to help her last time. But I can now, and I will now.”
Riley looked somewhat chastened by Buffy’s outburst. And now he sounded confused, uncertain. “Buffy...I’m sorry, but I-I just can’t help you bust her out of prison on your say so? What do you take me for?”
Spike chipped in. “Idiots, the pair of yer. Well, I think I’ll leave you to your dramatic, Shakespeare-in-the-woods bollocks. Good luck with that.” He turned to go, before turning back to Riley, “Oh, and if you are trying to kill her –” He gave an exaggerated two thumbs up before turning again and disappearing off into the trees.
Buffy rolled her eyes before turning her attention back to Riley. “Listen, Riley. I do need your help here. Faith is in real danger if she’s left at the Initiative. And you can’t trust Professor Walsh either. I need you to –”
Riley shook his head firmly. “Actually the only thing I need to do is...get away from here.” His face was downcast. His expression pained.
Buffy reached out a hand. “Riley please, we don’t have much time.”
Riley backed away from her. “No. I-I can’t be here. I need to think this over.”
Buffy started after him. “Riley–“
“I mean it Buffy”, he said forcefully, “Alone.” And with that Riley turned and hurriedly left.
Buffy watched him leave. ‘Well, I handled that badly.’
She sighed and rubbed her temples. She was starting to feel the first soft ache of weariness in her back and arms.
She needed to rest and recuperate, think about talking to Riley again tomorrow, when she had put her persuasion cap on. Still, a nice lazy lie-in in her dorm room might brighten... Crap, she was gonna have to sleep in Xander’s basement tonight.
‘Whose stupid idea was that?’

*~~*

Pushing the metal grating to one side, Faith stepped out of the tunnel and into the night. She was in a forest somewhere; the air was heavy with the scent of pine, thin mist covered the ground and waning shaft of moonlight cast the surrounding trees into stark relief.
Faith slung her case to the ground and busily peered at the map with her flashlight. Noting the tunnel she came out of in relation to SunnyD, she searched the surrounding area for a landmark, something distinctive.
She found a nearby rocky outcrop surrounded by bushes and searched around it, eventually finding what she needed. There was a hollow in the earth beneath one of the stones, like something that had been made by an animal, or a demon knowing this town. Faith emptied her case of everything except the money. She took out one brick of cash, split the plastic and took out about two or three hundred bucks worth, just in case, and stuffed the rest down the hole, before moving a boulder the size of beach ball in front of the hollow, placing it over like a lid.
It was sensible not to carry around that much cash on your person, especially when Faith was guaranteed to be getting into a scrap or two. And this way her money was safe for the time being. Secreted away. It wouldn’t have to be there for long.
Sometime tomorrow she was gonna be out of here anyway.
Faith had been thinking as she made her way through the tunnels about how Walsh had stressed the secrecy in what she was doing; about how Walsh had just, bam, given her all this money right up front; about how she was being all shifty, hiding things, coming on too strong and then not strong enough. She thought about how, suddenly, Walsh wanted Buffy brought in real bad, bad enough to start flashing cash around and stressing how to do it quietly, like Faith was somehow gonna make a parade out of it.
Secrecy plus cash plus the way Walsh had been trying to get on Faith’s good side for a while now, being nice to her, not rising to her bait, all meant one thing.
From long experience Faith knew when she was being played and when people weren’t telling her everything. If somebody’s mouth’s open, then they’re lying. A good rule to live by.
‘Buffy, Post, Angel, Wesley. All a bunch of lying sacks. Gotta add Walsh to the list now.’
Still, cash to live on, a possible clean slate if Walsh was telling the truth about that guy taking the wrap for her. Even if she wasn’t, the money gave Faith some options. That amount would take her across the border for sure, and then some.
Lots of possibilities.
But, hey, Faith was nostalgic; she kinda wanted to see Buffy one last time. Give B something to remember her by after Faith had long gone. And Faith knew where to go to make the biggest impression.

*~~*

Morning came upon the woods slowly. Dappled sunlight caressed everything, bringing to life a hundred shades of vibrant green, the breeze gently swaying the treetops to a relaxed, sedentary rhythm as birds happily chirped in greeting of the new day and animals busily scurried around on the ground.
Except for one patch of the forest, where all was silent.
There, nothing stirred. Trees were brown stalks, small animals lay dead, and their cracked, brittle and dry corpses littered the floor. Birds were silent in their absence, and the ground was nothing but brown dust where there should’ve been lush green grass and fertile plants.
The remains of Kurenos, bloody and dismembered, should have rotted where they lay, dissolving and dissipating from the earthly plane into nothingness.
Yet they remained, unmoving, in the morning sunlight, hidden in the shadows cast by the nearby vestiges of life. Sunlight did not touch them and colour did not bloom there, except for a whitish blue emanation that occasionally flickered from the centre to shine upon the ground.
And something in the remains slowly began to stir.

*~~~*

Joyce Summers yawned as she sleepily made her way into the kitchen. She used to love the mornings, the quiet before the start of the day, before the house was filled with Buffy’s frenetic noise and energy.
Now the house was like that all the time; quiet, lonely, far too big for a single Mom really.
‘Let’s try and get through the first cup of coffee before starting with the self-pity.’
Joyce smiled to herself at that thought as she switched the percolator on and filled the pot with water from the sink. Having Buffy popping by yesterday had been unexpected and very welcome, if all too brief.
Even bringing by that strange vampire that she’d apparently befriended –or worked with, Joyce wasn’t quite sure bout all her daughters ‘work’ associates – had put Joyce’s mind back to the years before, when Buffy was just a high school girl. A somewhat unknowable teenage daughter with a strange life.
Joyce wished that Buffy confided in her more about her life now; all those exciting new experiences and freedoms that a young woman goes through in college. She worried of course, but ultimately she knew how capable Buffy was, and how tough she had to be to do her...job.
Again, Joyce found herself lamenting uselessly at the unfairness of it all, not just for her sake but for her daughter’s.
How was anybody supposed to cope with all of that?
Joyce left the coffee (and her thoughts) brewing and went out onto the porch to pick up the paper. She gave a cursory glance at the front page: some new developments in regards to road works outside of town, continued excavation of the old Sunnydale Mission. Not much else, Joyce was glad to see.
More and more since realising the truth of Buffy’s secret other life, Joyce found herself lingering over the papers. All the disappearances and accidents and unexplained ‘muggings’ now took on new meanings. Pretty depressing for a small town paper.
She walked back inside and idly closed the door behind her.
A foot stopped it.
Joyce turned as the front door bounced back a little bit and a dark-haired young woman casually stepped inside. It was Faith.
Faith, who had been comatose the last time Joyce had seen her. But the girl was very much awake now, and smiling, and pointing a gun at her…
Faith quickly closed the door with her left hand, the right hand, the one with the gun, still pointed unwaveringly in her direction.
Faith smiled warmly. “Hi Joyce. Mind if I come in?”
Joyce was trying to think of something to say when Faith shot her point blank in the stomach.
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