TITLE: Very Bad Girls 1/? AUTHOR: Cherry RATING: R PAIRING: Buffy/Faith SUMMARY: Mr. Trick takes the initiative (No, not the military one) to deal with a serious problem in Sunnydale. However, things do not quite go as planned. ARCHIVE: http://www.thekeep.org/~cherry/ SPOILERS: S3 BtVS: Bad Girls, including far more stolen dialogue than I wanted. FEEDBACK: Yes, please. Peering into the warehouse, Buffy counted quickly, not liking the odds. "Ok, we've got ten, maybe twelve bad guys and one big demon in desperate need of a Stairmaster." "I say we take 'em all, hard and fast and now." "We need a little more firepower than none. We should head back to the library." "Well, I guess Jacuzzi Boy isn't going anywhere." Faith trailed off with a soft sound, follow by the thump of a body falling down. Buffy pulled her head, looked around in confusion for a second before noticing Faith slumped on the ground. "Faith?" Before she could find out what was wrong with her though, there was a pinprick in her back, and the world went dark. ***** Joyce came into the kitchen, occupied by thoughts of waffles. Waffles and talking her daughter into sharing them so she wouldn't have to feel guilty about eating them herself. Strangely, the kitchen was empty, which was rather unexpected. Not that Buffy was always awake early on a Saturday, but Joyce had been sure she would down here this morning. She started the coffee brewing, and headed back upstairs to see if the sleeping slayer could be talked into the waffles that were still in the back of her mind. Buffy's room did not contain the pretty blonde girl either, and the bed looked unused. "That's strange. Buffy didn't come home last night?" ***** Deputy Mayor Allan Finch closed the door to the Mayor's office as the Boy Scouts left. Chuckling to himself, the Mayor closed the blinds, cutting off the bright sunlight. "Here we go. Alright, you can come out now." The door to his private bathroom opened, and a very weary looking Mr. Trick entered the office. "Backbone of America, those little guys. Seeing the hope and courage on their bright little faces, I swear I could just, I... I could just eat 'em up." He started to head towards the liquor cabinet, then paused. "You're not looking so well, Mr. Trick. I hope you didn't have a unpleasant encounter with the Eliminati." As if summoned by the mention of the cult, a vampire holding a sword leaped out of the cabinet, headed right for the mayor. Grabbing him by the neck, the cultist shoved the Mayor back onto the desk, and raised his sword up to cut him down. "In the name of Lord Balthazar, DIE!" Before he could do anything else, Mr. Trick reached into his jacket and pulled out a pistol, firing a traquilizer dart into the other vampire. The toxin took effect quickly, leaving the vampire slumped on the floor. "Thank you, Mr. Trick. That was very thoughtful of you." Mr. Trick tucked the pistol away into his jacket again, muttering to himself about swords as he went to pick it up. His every movement, especially when crouching down to pick up the weapon, appeared visibly stiff and awkward to the two human occupants of the room. "I don't mean to pry, but you haven't been injured, have you?" Mr. Trick grinned slightly. "In a way. Well worth it, though. I have a little surprise for you tonight. Something to celebrate the start of the final stretch of days." The Mayor smiled back, and sat down in his chair. "A present? And here I didn't get you anything at all. Oh, lock him up would you? He'll be useful later." ***** Standing at the door to Buffy's house, a confused Willow holding a pair of fragant felt pouches spoke to her best friend's mother. "She's not here? But that doesn't make any sense." Joyce looked disturbed as well. "Willow, if she wasn't with you... then where did she spend the night?" ***** "The fact is, you're no longer qualified to act as Watcher. It's not your fault. You've done well. It's simply time for somebody else to take the field." Giles looked at his arrogant young replacement, then behind him. "Now's a good time to start." Turning to look, Wesley saw four Eliminati standing in the library. ***** Walking quickly, Willow and Xander hurried down an allyway, both carrying crossbows and stakes. "She's been missing since yesterday? So no one's seen her since she skipped out of the test with... Faith! This is all her fault!" Willow shrugged at her oldest friend, too worried to even respond yet. A second later, she yelped with fright as a dark figure stepped out of the shadows. Her finger convulsed on the trigger, firing at it. They were both stunned when the shadow twisted out of the way of the bolt. "No need to shoot me, Willow. Have you seen Buffy? I've just been to the warehouse, they've got Giles." "Oh great, deadboy." Willow's expression firmed into iron resolve face. "Buffy's missing. First we rescue Giles, then we find Buffy." She barely even registered the two males following after her as she hurried off. ***** "There is one deal! You will die quickly, or you will die slowly! The man who has my amulet! What is his NAME?!" "His name is Angel." A chaotic melee followed as the angel-faced vampire strode in and began bashing heads together. Flanked by the crossbow wielding pair, it was a matter of minutes before Balthazar's cult was wiped out, leaving nothing but piles of dust and ashes behind. "Unacceptable!" The immobile demon waved his arms ineffectually as Angel stepped forward to finish him off. He looked up at the vampire and stilled for a moment. "You may think you've won. But when he rises... you'll wish I'd killed you all." Cutting his head off, Angel ignored his last words, and turned back to the others. "So where the hell is Buffy?" ***** He circled the pentagram on the floor, lighting each of the candles, checking to make sure no line was broken as well. Looking up when finished, his eyes flickered over the other occupants of the room. "I must admit, Mr. Trick, you do know how to surprise someone." Mayor Wilkins smiled at the two slayers lounging on the couch, one looking rather bored, while the other, whose location would be of great interest to her friends, looked hungrily at Allan, licking her teeth when she finally caught his eye. Buffy smirked and nudged Faith when Allan nearly collapsed from fright. The dark slayer rolled her eyes, getting up to walk over to the pentagram. She casually looked around the room, checking that no one was looking at her. The Mayor seemed to be studying a book of some sort, her sister slayer was terrifying the wimp, and Mr. Trick had his eyes closed, leaning against a wall. Even the vampire in the cage was looking another way. She rubbed the toe of her shoe against an outer line, then went to peer over the Mayor's shoulder. "Ah, it's time." Closing the book before Faith could get a glimpse, he walked directly to the pentagram, and kneeled in the center of it, drawing the attention of all those in the room. Holding his hands to the sides, he recited what sounded like a spell. "Potestatem matris nostrae in tenebris invoco. Maledictum filium tuum abomni periculo custodias nunc et in saecula!" [Our mother of darkness, I summon thee. Curse now your dangerous accursed son and protect him into the new age!] After waiting a moment with his eyes closed while nothing appeared to happen, he opened them again and stepped out of the circle, looking vaguely dissappointed. "For a black magic ritual, that seemed rather tame." Mr. Trick stepped closer. "Did it work?" "Let's find out. Open the gate." "You sure?" "Oh! Hold on." Taking the sword, he let it fall through the bars of the cage, right into the Eliminati's hands. Taking a few steps back, he nodded at Mr. Trick. "Okay. Now we're ready." Stepping to the front of the cage, Mr. Trick unlocked the chains, pulling the door open. All present watched impassively at the vampire ran out, headed right for the mayor. Swinging the sword from above, he swung at the Mayor's head, splitting it half in an explosion of blood and gray matter, some of it splattering onto the vampire. The mayor's dead body fell to the ground, blood pooling around it. A moment later, the cultist vampire jerked in pain as a wooden stake was shoved into his back. As the dust fell, Faith brushed herself off and turned to the stunned Mr. Trick. "Not exactly according to plan, was it?" Mr. Trick swore softly, then looked for the choking sounds, sounds that were coming from the Deputy Mayor. Holding him up against the wall was a Buffy who had shed her human mask. She gave Mr. Trick a fangy smile as she asked, "Can I eat him now? Please?" -- End Part One $Revision: 1.3 $ $Date: 2002/12/24 06:33:57 $