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| Title: Stake-Out Author: Amanda Email: [email protected] Chapter One Faith watched silently from the roof of Angel Investigations Office as Angel, Cordelia, and Wesley went about their working day. She had been watching them for days now. Faith smiled. As far as they knew, she is still in prison serving a 20 year sentence. All it would take would be one phone call from the prison once they discovered she was missing. That phone call was due to arrive any day now. Faith didn't care, she was enjoying the silent act, and she could come and go as she pleased, and not even Angel knew about it. She would watch them all day,watch them investigate the demon antics of LA. It took seven days before the police rang Angel Investigations. Faith's skin began to crawl when it became obvious that she was the subject of discussion. It was going to happen soon. After a brief interlude with Kate, Angel's face was grim as he hung up the phone and turned to Cordelia. "Call Giles now." "What's going on?" inquired Cordelia. "Just do it. Faith broke out of prison. She could be anywhere, and my first guess would be either here or on her way to Sunnydale." Angel responded. Cordelia immediately reached for the phone, understanding the urgency of the situation. The memories of her broken face forged an urgent tone into her voice as she informed Giles of the situation. "What do you mean? Did the police let her go?" Giles asked, not realizing the full impact of the situation. "Well, no, she broke out, she's doing the whole 'bad girl' thing, which, if you ask me, is totally..." Angel then snatched the phone out of Cordelia's hand before she could finish. "Giles, get Buffy up here now." Angel hung up the phone and turned to his two employees. "What's going on, Boss?" said Cordelia. "Why the biggie over Faith? I mean, you broke her down the first time, just wait till she shows up and do it again." "It's not that simple, the guards found her stash of weapons. They described it as master craftsmanship, capable of some very ugly tortures. Faith had been gone for four days before anybody noticed," Angel explained. "So it was a whole Shawshank escape type of deal," Cordy replied. "Who would have thought Faith was that smart to make people believe she was a model prisoner, only to escape unnoticed from one of the most secure prisons in the country." "I had every confidence that she would break out," Wesley interrupted, surprising everybody, including himself, with his tone of voice. "She is evil, a murderer, in my point of view, there is no room for redemption--let me finish," Wesley continued as Angel tried to interrupt. "She was given a gift, the gift of the calling. The calling of a Slayer only goes to one in a generation , so this girl must be physically fit, but, more importantly, must have a cunning and manipulative mind for battle. Any sort of battle, whether it be a battle against a demon or a battle of the minds against humans. She is as dangerous now as she has ever been, but now she has been in prison for a year, building up a passion for the fight and not being able to expel it anywhere." Cordy sat back, an expression of worry on her face. "What are we going to do? I used up all of my holidays the last time she came to town," she practically whispered. Then Cordelia's face lit up. "Willow, get Willow up here, with Buffy, she is like a powerful witch or something. She could find Faith and Buffy can kill her, and then we can go back to being Faithless and happy." Faith had heard enough, as she slid out of her hiding spot and left the building. She walked quickly back to her dingy hotel room as the sky grew dark. She didn't want any unnecessary encounters with demons, which would lead Angel right to her. She wanted to see him sweat a bit. Smiling at that thought, she showered and hit the streets of LA to find something fresh to eat. The crew at Angel Investigations worked all night to try and secure inforamation on the whereabouts of Faith. Angel discovered, after a rather embarrassing rendition of "I Will Survive", that even the demon community at the karaoke bar didn't know anything about the rogue Slayer. Cordelia spent the night surfing the internet for related crime press releases, while Wesley drove to Sunnydale to pick up the two latest recruits, Buffy and Willow. Chapter Two As the sun rose the next morning, Faith assumed her usual hiding position on the roof of Angel Investigations. A prime bird's eye view of the main office where Angel and Cordelia worked. They worked well together, complimenting each other's personatilites, ultimately getting the job done. This morning, there were five people crowded into the office. Faith saw the two familiar faces and smiled. Oh, how she was going to love this. Buffy and Willow stood in the middle of the room discussing plans of action. "Well, first thing's first, we have to find her. Will, can you do a locating spell for a human with powers and ignore the fact that the spell will point to me first?" Buffy was saying. "That should be doable. I just have to make a slight alteration to the incantation and it should work. I need ingredients. Is there a magick show nearby?" Willow asked. "I can take you to one." Cordelia jumped in. "Well, let's get going then. I'll feel a lot better when I know where Faith is." Cordelia and Willow gathered their bags and left without a further word. "Agreed." Buffy continued. "Angel, lets talk weapons.What do you have? When we find Faith, we need to jump her right away." "Weapons I got, but are we just going to jump her and kill her? We don't even know why she broke out of prison. We don't know that she is evil again, maybe we can just talk to her..." Angel was going to continue, but Buffy cut him off. "Are you crazy? Let's not go through this again. She broke out of prison, to me, that constitutes 'Purposely not doing the right thing and being aware of the consequences', which to a normal human being, means 'Evil'. But sorry, I forgot somebody can never be evil to someone who has the attitude 'Been there, done that, moved on.' This time, there is no moving on. She dies. Why else would you call me up here, to have lunch and a teen vid fest with her?" "I agree with Buffy," Wesley stated. "We find her , we kill her, no pleasantries." Buffy looked at Wesley, not able to read his look. She then looked back at Angel, whose eyes had never left her. Angel stood there, watching Buffy become more determined by the minute. He looked from Wesley back to Buffy and knew he had no case with them. He knew that if Buffy found Faith first, then she would kill her. Faith watched this as well. She wasn't worried about Buffy. She could take Buffy and had done so many times before. They were equally skilled warriors. It would indeed be a fight to the death. Faith continued to gaze at Angel and felt a slight twinge of guilt. After everything she had done to him, he was still willing to stick up for her. That would all change soon enough. Buffy stormed out of the building, followed closely by Wesley. Angel was going to follow but was stopped by the sight of sunlight. He would have to go the underground way. He turned back into the building and came face to face with Faith. Faith and Angel stood there, practically nose to nose. "Hey, handsome, miss me?" Faith stated slyly. "Faith," Angel growled, "Why did you come back?" "How could I stay away? I hate to miss all the action," she said, running her hand up and down his arm gently. Angel pushed her hand away and grabbed her by the shoulders. "What is going on with you?" he asked, almost pleadingly. "I changed, situations changed, jail just didn't seem to be suiting me anymore," Faith said nonchalantly. Angel increased his grip on her arms and felt her muscles tense under his hands. "Faith, you did the wrong thing. Buffy and Wesley want to kill you. Willow is working on a spell to find you and then they are going to kill you. No second chances once they find you. But I am giving you a second chance, I will take you back to prison now and you may have a chance at survival. "No!" Faith ripped herself out of his grip. "You don't understand, I have no chance of survival in there, none at all. This is my chance at survival, on the outside." "I don't understand," Angel said. "I didn't expect you to. Anyway, that's not why I am here," Faith retorted. "Why are you here then, Faith?" "Just popped by to say hi and thanks, and to give you this." Faith said, before quickly leaning in to kiss Angel passionetly on the lips. But before he had a chance to respond. Faith broke off the kiss and threw a punch at Angel's jaw, knocking him out cold. "Sorry lover, gotta run," Faith said as she climbed back onto the roof. Chapter Three Angel opened his eyes and saw Buffy, Willow, Wesley, and Cordelia all looking down at him. "Angel, your awake," Cordelia said, patting his forehead with a wet towel. "What happened?" Buffy inquired. "She found you, didn't she?" "Uh, yeah, but she's gone, I don't know where she went," Angel replied, sitting up. "Yeah, she wants to be redeemed all right," Buffy said. "Is this not enough to convince you?" Angel said nothing, but still felt the slight tingle on his lips from Faith's kiss. Something was different. He had kissed Faith before, while he pretended to have no soul, but it wasn't the same. He put the thought in the back of his mind as Willow started to talk, looking disheartened. "The location spell didn't work. I mean, it worked as in, it located Buffy, but then, nothing. According to my spell, there is no human with powers within a square two-mile radius of this office. I-I'm sorry Angel. I mean, maybe I did it wrong, maybe I am not the oh-so-powerful wicca I thought I was." "That's fine, Willow, we just need to try something else," Angel said. "I am going to go on the hunt tonight, ask around, the usual," Buffy interrupted. She was obviously not interested in what Angel had to say. "Tonight is the night. I am going to find her even if it kills me..." Chapter Four Buffy wasn't used to hunting in such a big city as LA. Everywhere she turned, there were people. She couldn't stalk or lunge as easily here as she could in Sunnydale. She was also getting frustrated with her hunting partner. She turned to Willow and asked in her most polite slayer voice, "Um, Will, I don't mean to sound rude, but it is kinda hard to be in stealth mode when everybody can hear you coming from a mile away." "Oh yeah, stealthy, I am stealth girl," Willow reduced her voice to a whisper and followed Buffy closely. Meanwhile, Angel had decided to let Faith find him. He remained in the office, giving his two employees orders to go to the karaoke bar to wait for news. He knew something wasn't right with Faith, something had caused her to break out of prison. There was only one way to find out and that was to ask her. When he heard somebody behind him, he knew she had arrived. "Waiting long, honey?" He heard the sultry slayer ask. "Not long enough," he replied, turning around to face her slowly. " How did you elude the spell?" They walked carefully around each other, both waiting for the other to attack. "What spell?" Faith asked innocently. "I wasn't aware of any spell." "Cut the crap, Faith. What do you want? Did you come back to kill me? Why so evil these days?" Angel mocked. Faith didn't respond right away. "I didn't come back to kill you. I couldn't kill you." Faith eventually whispered. She stepped closer to Angel. "You are a fool. You should have stayed in prison where there weren't four people trying to find you and kill you, not counting the entire LAPD," Angel said as he stepped away. Faith observed the backward step and smiled. "You still won't let yourself have a bit of fun with me, will you? Don't tell me it is still the whole B thing?" As she moved closer to him, Angel stopped backing away. "Is this what this is about? You and me?" he asked. She moved closer and put a hand on his shoulder. "Always," she whispered and nuzzled his neck with her lips. "And forever." Angel put his hand on her wrist, almost accepting her embrace before pushing her away, realizing what Faith's return was all about. "Faith, who did this to you?" Before Faith could respond, she felt a hand wrap around her neck. She freed herself and twisted around and found herself face to face with Buffy. "Hey B, girlfriend, what's diggin' you?" Faith asked casually. "Oh my god, Faith," Buffy stared at her, shocked. "What happened?" Buffy stared at Faith in horror, now understanding why she had escaped from prison. Buffy reached up to touch Faith's face, causing Faith to growl and swing at the other slayer. Angel then grabbed Faith and held her back. "So that's why we couldn't find you using the spell," Buffy said, raising a wooden stake to Faith's chest. Faith struggled, but Angel had a good grip on her arms. "Angel, don't let her do this," Faith pleaded, losing her game face. Angel loosened his grip slightly and turned her around to face him. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked her. "Why? Would it have made you like me anymore, if at all?" she asked him, looking into his eyes. The two vampires stared at each other before Faith suddenly pulled a knife from her sleeve and turned to face Buffy. Buffy stood there with the knife at her throat, having not responded to Faith's actions quickly enough. "Is this the big fight scene, B, 'cause I got some kick ass weapons. Made them myself, not a lot else to do in prison. Or are we going to 'talk' instead?" Faith asked. "Oh no, I always look cute in those fight scenes," Buffy said. "Especially when it gets to the part where I kick your ass over and over again." "You see, now this is why I always liked you, B, you're so full of spunk," Faith responded as she swung out of Angel's grip and kicked him in the stomach, knocking him to the ground. Buffy's arms flew up in a defense stance as Faith threw a punch from the side, causing Buffy to cringe. Buffy swung her leg around in a roundhouse kick and connected with Faith's head, sending her sprawling to the ground. Faith jumped up and returned Buffy's kick with a punching combination that sent Buffy to the ground. Faith then stood over her in full game face, growling. "You see, Buff, prison taught me a few things. Like how important family is. When it was visiting day, all of the other murderers had family, but, well, since you killed my family, you are pretty much it. You and Angel. And now look at us all. Who would've guessed, B, us together again, one big happy--ugh," Faith stumbled forward and turned to look at Angel. Angel took his hands away from the stake he had lodged through Faith's back. She stumbled again and landed in Buffy's arms. "Oh, Faith," Buffy started to say. "Hey, B, we're five by five, aren't we?" Faith spat out before she exploded into dust. "Always and forever," Buffy whispered. Buffy stood there, staring at Angel. Angel stepped forward and embraced Buffy, she leaned into him, not wanting to accept what had just happened. She looked up at Angel, who was staring at the stake lying on the ground. "I am going to find whatever did this to her and there will not be words to describe how much I am going to kill them," Buffy whispered. Angel released his grip on Buffy and walked away, leaving her standing there alone in the room. |
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