Part Three

Three days later. . .

Faith was sitting in bed, watching a rerun. She looked at the wall clock and saw that it was 6:30. At 7, she would head out on patrol for a while, then swing over to the Bronze to see if the guys were there. Funny, she wouldn't have been so inclined to hang out rather than slay, but Buffy and her friends had seemed to be making an effort to be particularly nice to her the past few days. During their workouts, Buffy had opened up, talking more about her past with Angel than she had ever been willing to before, and she had tried to not make Buffy regret it by avoiding rude comments about screwing vampires. Xander had also shot the breeze with her a few times, and even challenged her to some one on one basketball (and didn't complain when she mopped up the floor with him). Oz, of all people, asked her some questions about what it was like to hunt vampires. . .she figured he was trying to get a handle on the whole werewolf thing. Giles had been very diligent in trying to teach her some new things that he thought would help her in combat, and she respected his ability to fight without Slayer abilities enough to listen and to consider what he said seriously. Even Willow. . .Faith had always felt that the redhead was uncomfortable around her. . .they were too different. But Willow had sat down with her while she was eating her lunch and they talked, with Willow trying to find out what kind of stuff she was interested in, and amazingly, it turned out that they liked some of the same stuff. . .go figure. She didn't know why she was getting all of the attention: maybe with all this crap coming down from the Watchers' Council, they just wanted to make sure that the group was more tightly knit than before. Anyway, she liked the attention. . .

The phone rang. Faith looked at it for a moment, as she didn't get many calls there. She picked up and spoke bluntly: "Yeah?"

The voice on the other end was unfamiliar, but somehow Faith thought she recognized it as he asked, "Faith?"

Faith was annoyed. Who was this? Bluntly she replied, "Yeah. Who's this?"

The voice answered with four words: "Up for some solitaire?" Faith stiffened, then picked up the deck of cards on the nightstand and began to lay out the cards, the phone still between her ear and shoulder. When the King of Hearts appeared, she stopped and waited silently. Hearing the silence, the voice on the other end continued by ordering, "Faith, if you can see the King of Hearts, tell me by saying Yes."

Still staring blankly, Faith replied flatly, "Yes." The voice continued, "Get ready and come to the Mayor's office right now. If you see any of your friends, avoid being seen. Goodbye, Faith." There was a click at the other end of the line. Faith got up and put on her jacket, then left the motel room. She didn't notice the brooding figure in the shadows, but he did see her, along with the blank look that Buffy had described to him. Angel watched her go and went to the pay phone, where he punched in a pager number, then a short message. He hung up the receiver and headed off into the night.

Buffy had just finished off a rather lackluster vampire when her pager went off on vibrate. She looked at the message: 911-2. She took a deep breath: this was it. She headed off in the direction of City Hall at a dead run.

Faith opened the door of the Mayor's office and slipped in, walking until she stood in front of Wilkins' desk. The Mayor looked at her appraisingly and commented, "I do so love it when youngsters are obedient. Faith, sit down." She did so, and the Mayor looked carefully at her. "Faith, you're here because I want to make sure you're up to killing people before I have you start finishing off your friends. Can't have some nasty Slayer ethics getting in the way of work now, can we? Now, I want you to find some person you've never met, wait until there are no potential witnesses, then kill them in the most violent manner you can manage without getting a lot of blood on yourself. Do you understand?"

Faith nodded and replied, "I understand." Wilkins smiled broadly, and ordered, "Then go." The Slayer stood up, and the four minion vampires in the room were transfixed with awe at the wonder of their worst enemy being at the mercy of their boss. Trick, less awed but still impressed, watched her with a smile on his face as she approached his position at the door. . .

Abruptly, he felt a pain in his chest. He looked down to see a stake protruding from his heart, which Faith had just drawn from her sleeve and planted there without changing her expression. Exasperated, he howled, "Motherfu-!" before bursting into dust. The Mayor leaped to his feet and exclaimed, "Well, this isn't good at all. . .I'm going to cancel that extra virgin order for Yen Lo. . .oh well." He gestured at the four vampires and ordered, "Kill her please, gentlemen." They were advancing on the blank faced girl, who had retrieved the stake and was facing them when the door to the office was kicked off of its hinges. Buffy advanced into the room, at which point Alan, who had really not wanted to be there to begin with, dove into a corner and cowered. Seeing that the odds were not favorable, the Mayor attempted to dart past the Slayers into the safety of the corridor, only to take a punch to the jaw that sent him stumbling back into the wall, dazed. He slumped to the ground and stared blearily as the fight continued. The two Slayers, one enraged, the other calmly working at her task, quickly finished off the four vampires. Buffy gave Alan a cold look, but she could see that he was no threat. She turned to the recovering Mayor and gave him a death stare as she spoke quietly: "It's all over, Faith."

Abruptly, the blank look left the younger Slayer's face, and Buffy watched her with utmost concern and sympathy as a look of genuine horror crossed her features. If they had done it right, Faith was now remembering everything that had happened to her since she was kidnapped.

Giles had remembered that the military intelligence guys who had broken the brainwashed soldier's programming had done so by using a force pack, one with 52 of the same card, in order to install imperatives that would survive future tampering. Willow had acquired one from a local magic shop with all Kings of Hearts, then they had ordered Faith to play until there were seven Kings staring at her with their command to obey. Their instructions were simple: if the Mayor gives you orders to kill someone or do anything else terribly wrong, you will kill Trick, along with any other vampires there, then wait for Buffy to say "It's all over, Faith," at which time you will fully remember everything that happened to you and never be subject to any commands again. Then they had her sit there while they all, one by one, sat down and talked to her with affection, telling her that what happened to her wasn't her fault and that they would help her get through it. Buffy and Willow had punctuated their talks with hugs, and Buffy had been surprised by the genuine tenderness that Willow put into it, since she knew they had never been close. They had also made a point of spending time with her for the next few days. Then it was just a matter of keeping her under surveillance until the call came, and making sure that Faith had backup at the Mayor's office. That had been relatively easy, since the Mayor had relied on the security actually in his office: she had only had to dust one vamp to gain entrance.

Now, as Faith struggled to deal with the flood of memories that were rushing through her brain, Buffy spoke coldly to the Mayor: "Your little plan failed, you bastard. You tried to use our friend to kill us, and you didn't even come close. And you're going to need a new assistant." She walked next to him, and the air of menace filled the room. "If I wasn't a Slayer, you'd be dead right now. You'd better be glad I'm one of the good guys."

With complete composure, Wilkins met her gaze and smiled icily and replied, "That's why I'll win, Miss Summers. Ethics do tend to get in the way, don't they?"

Buffy barely controlled the impulse to snap his skinny neck, then turned away contemptuously and walked to the door, calling out, "Let's get the hell out of here, Faith." She waited for the sound of footsteps approaching her, heard them, then realized that they were actually going away from her. She whirled just in time to see Faith gliding towards the still smug-looking Mayor with the stake in her hand. Horrified, Buffy shouted, "No, Faith, no!" as she ran to try to stop the younger Slayer. . .

But she was too late. The stake was driven home with deadly efficiency, and the Mayor gasped. He slumped to the ground as Faith stepped back, her expression cold and merciless. Buffy paused just behind Faith, knowing that the wound was mortal and that she could do nothing. Wilkins looked up as his eyes clouded over, a look that vaguely resembled. . .respect?. . .on his face. His lips moved, and he managed to whisper what sounded vaguely like, "Well, gosh," before slumping dead to the carpet.

Buffy was horrified beyond all belief, though part of her was saying that the bastard had it coming. All of this effort to save Faith, only to have this happen. . .She turned to Faith, trying to figure out something to say, only to be completely surprised when Faith lashed out, throwing a punch at a vulnerable nerve cluster. As Buffy fell to the carpet, she couldn't help but be annoyed that Giles had chosen now of all times to teach her that trick. It was useless against a prepared Slayer, but she had been caught utterly flatfooted, and she would be helpless for several minutes. She waited for Faith to deliver a deathblow, but all she saw was Faith looking down at her with an infinitely sad expression on her face.

"I'm sorry, B," she started, looking apologetic, "but I'm taking off, and I can't let you stop me. . .and there are some things I want to tell you before I leave." She took a deep and shaky breath, then continued, "You asked me a lot of stuff, but you didn't know about some things to ask that I heard. The Mayor. . .he's been working up some major mojo for a long time. . .it was supposed to come to a conclusion on Graduation Day for you guys. I didn't hear many details, but it would have killed a lot of people, including you if you were still alive. . .if I hadn't killed you yet." She turned away and whispered, "You guys saved me from becoming a monster. . .the least I could do is to return the favor and get rid of that scumbag." She looked contemptuously at the still body of the Mayor, then turned back to Buffy. "But I've killed someone, and I know that I've crossed a line that I can't get back over. Better for me to go." She walked to the doorway, and turned back to her fellow Slayer one last time. "Tell the guys thanks, okay. And B, don't follow me." She walked out, and Buffy spent long, frustrated seconds while she waited for her muscles to start working again.

At last, she could move again, and she whirled to see that Alan was still cowering in a corner. Well, he didn't kill me when he had the chance, thought Buffy, maybe the little wimp can help here. He glared at Alan and whispered menacingly, "I'm having a really bad day, buddy, and unless you're really helpful, I'm going to take it out on you. Got me?" Alan managed a weak nod, and Buffy continued, "I need all of the Mayor's confidential files, including the ones on the computer. Can you do that?" Alan nodded and practically dashed to the computer while Buffy walked to the phone and punched in a number. She waited, then started immediately when the other end picked up: "Giles. . .it's done. Get over here now, all of you. Faith's taken off, and she's in big trouble." She looked over at the corpse of the Mayor and noticed something odd. . .it was changing, somehow. She barked into the phone, "Hurry! I think we can still save her, if you hurry."

Go on to Part 4

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