Carry the weight of the world
It was easier then I thought it'd be. Trackin' down the demon. Although once you got within a few city blocks it was easy to see why. C wasn't kiddin' when she said the thing reeked, cause seriously...it smelled like all the sewage in L.A. backed up and overflowed onto the streets. Man, I get that this guy's a demon who eats little kids, but c'mon now. Would it kill him to take a shower every once in awhile? Damn.
Thought I'd be spendin' most of my night hangin' out in one total pisshole after another, smashing in demon faces 'til someone started talkin' about the demon from Cordelia's vision. Turned out that demons are pretty eager to help a slayer when their demon pal smells as bad as this guy did. The heavy aroma of garbage still hung in the bar as they all started spillin' the 411 about this guy. Called himself Maerc, some demon who lived under the sewers and then every ten years he came up to snack on some kids at the local elementary school. Real cute. Just thought I'd have to put a little more work in to get the info. Kind've a bummer after spendin' the last few days watchin' a Cheers marathon as Cordy complained about the heat and started gettin' our new detective agency up and runnin'. Would it kill the girl to turn on the AC? It wasn't like David cared and he was footin' the bill. Anything for his favorite superchick lesbians. He was like a gazillionaire, I didn't think he'd care if we cranked up the central air every once in awhile, ya know?
Thought about headin' back home and givin' Cor the dirt on this Maerc dude, but she was the one who said she got it, right? Besides, just cause C and I were...whatever we were didn't mean that I was gonna start checkin' in every five minutes. I was the slayer and she said she got that, understood that I needed to take care of these things on my own sometimes without her taggin' along. So, I figured might as well just skip past the middle man and get down and dirty with the stinky demon. 'Sides, C really didn't wanna get near this guy the way he smelled.
Didn't take me long at all to find him, and I watched him curiously as he stalked through the alleyway right near where the school door was. I could hear the screeching of cleats against a gym floor and I knew exactly what this guy was waitin' for. Practice to get over so he could start snackin' on some kids.
"I was gonna say you might wanna go vegetarian, but there really ain't gonna be enough of you left to eat anything when I'm through with ya." I flashed him a giant cocky smirk as I stepped out of the shadows and he glared down at me. Eww. This guy was even more gross up close and personal- Cor wasn't even gonna let me in the house if I got any of that slime on me.
And just like that he opened up his slimy gross mouth and showed me a mouthfull of rotten sharp fangs as he roared at me. Should I be takin' notes for this? Not sure I speak icky slime demon. With a shrug I sent a fist into his face, slamming him against the wall. And who said that violence was no way to communicate? I was ready for him to come back at me when I heard the door open and kids started fillin' up the alleyway. Shit. I needed to get Maerc outta here and fast. Times like these I really wished I just brought a weapon with me everywhere. You know, besides my stake. Oh well, not like I wouldn't kick his ass anyway. I lunged myself at him, tryin' to repress the urge to yack as I felt slime startin' to coat my skin. I pushed him back, out of the alleyway and into a nearby park. Instantly I was off of him, sendin' a fury of well-timed kicks and punches his way.
Really thought I had this one in the bag until I aimed a high kick and felt his teeth sink down on my leg. Hard. Enough to go through to the bone. My mouth fell open as he held onto my leg with his jaws no matter how hard I tried to pull away from him. Swallowing hard I clocked him hard in the ribs before falling to the ground free. Looking down at my leg I could feel blood pouring from the wound and coating the grass slick. Sucking in a sharp breath there was suddenly a hand in my hair and I was being flung all the way to the other side of the park. I landed with a grunt, instantly rolling over to shield myself from anymore attacks. My leg hurt like it was on fire, and I couldn't remember the last time anything hurt like that. Maybe that one time Cordy got all glowy on my ass and saved me (saved me) from Angel's lackeys over at Wolfram and Hart. Looking down I could see just how much blood I was losing as I glanced back up and watched Maerc trot away happier then a pig in shit towards the kids still milling near the school door. What was wrong with these kids? Why weren't they running?
Getting up with a wince I clenched down on my teeth and ignored the pain, driving me forward as fast as I could move across the dewy grass. Drove myself harder and harder until I was on top of him again, smashing his snarling disgusting head into the pavement as I heard the kids scream and scatter. Finally! I looked up for one second and it was enough for one meaty fist to crash into my jaw and send me back down to the pavement. It wasn't long until I had a really angry snarling slimy demon pounding his fist into my face over and over again. Raising up a knee I smashed it into his crotch hard before shoving him off of me. I guess they got really pissed off when you scared all their snacks away. His eyes were flashing red at me as his hand locked around my throat and pulled me off of my feet. The blood loss was startin' to make me see stars already and lack of oxygen wasn't helping. I flailed my arms and my fingers latched onto something. One brick, sticking out of the wall and loose. Yanking it from the wall I smashed it into his face until he loosened his hold on my throat. Turning around I kicked him to the ground with my good leg before bending down and smashing the brick into his face. Over and over and over again until he stopped screaming. Until he lay still. Throwin' the brick on the ground I lazily dropped the brick to the ground. Then everything just sorta fell away.
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When I woke up, I was staring at bright fluorescent lights. So bright and glaring I raised an arm to my eyes, shielding them from the glare. That was when I felt it, like every single nerve in my body was on fire. The fight. What happened? Sitting up I glanced around and realized I was in some sorta...medical place. Not sure exactly what it was, but it didn't look like no hospital to me. Alarmed now, I swung my legs over the side of the table and almost screamed as another bolt of pain stung it's way up my leg. Oh yeah, nasty little bite marks. I could see that someone had already stitched me back in one piece. Pretty bad when a slayer needed stitches. Just another scar to match the one on my abdomen. Least Buffy still smelled good when she stabbed me.
Suddenly the door swung open and a familiar figure walked in. Now I knew exactly where I was. Wolfram and Hart.
"Hello, Faith. I was starting to think you would never wake up." Wesley said dryly, giving me a concerned look that he tried desperately to mask behind a hard gaze.
"Right now I'm kinda wishin' I hadn't." I admitted, matching his dry tone and hard gaze. "Why am I here?" Straight and to the point, but hey is there any other way to be?
"Some of our special ops found you unconscious on the sidewalk, you'd lost alot of blood. Once they assessed that you were the slayer they brought you back here." He informed me. Same tone. Business like. Guess things were just like that now that Angel bit the big one.
"Your little secret agent guys rescued me?" I snorted, a slight chuckle escaping my throat as I shook my head back and forth. "I mean sure, last time they saw me they tried to kill me- but I always knew they were all soft and cuddly on the inside." Sarcasm rolled off of my tongue as I wondered if I was gonna have to bust another leg fightin' my way outta this place.
"I had nothing to do with that." He reminded me.
"Yeah, but you still work here."
A slight pause. Almost like what I said actually mattered or something.
"I'm worried about you and Cordelia." He finally said, ignoring the part about how he still worked for the most evil law firm ever and let the bitch from hell tell him what to do. "How is she?"
"She's just fine. Better off if you ask me." Not that anyone was, but I didn't have to answer Wesley's twenty questions just cause his posse happened to pick my ass up off the sidewalk. Clenching my teeth I forced myself off of the bed. There. Not so bad when you finally just embraced the pain and put all your weight on it. Kinda like dragging razor blades across your leg for fun.
"Faith, it might not be wise to put too much pressure on your leg just yet." Same concerned tone, less veiled this time. He really was worried about Queen C. Well, he shouldn't be. I could take care of her, nothin' bad would happen. Probably.
"Look. I ain't stayin' in the same building that killed Soul Boy and made him crazy before that. Sorry." I said in a way that really didn't sound very sorry at all as I headed for the door, him following me out into the hallway.
"At least allow me to drive you home."
"Why?" I demanded, spinnin' around to get a good look at him. "So you can find out where me and C are crashin' these days? Don't think so." With that I was walking again. How the fuck did I get outta here? Like one big maze.
"Faith, listen to reason..." He said as he climbed into the elevator beside me and I pushed the button that would take me to the lobby. Now the leg was throbbing something wicked, makin' me kinda wanna cold cock Wes right in the teeth just for...well, breathing.
"You listen up, Wes. This place isn't good, in fact I'd say it's pretty damn bad considering what it did to Angel. I don't want nothin' to do with it, or anyone involved and neither does Cordelia. So we're fine- just back the fuck off." My hand reached out and shoved him in the chest, not that hard but enough to drive the point home as his back hit the wall. "Next time? Don't do me any favors."
And then I was out of the elevator and through the lobby, all of my slay senses goin' off like mad surrounded by demons and lawyers. Same thing if you asked me.
As soon as I got through the doors and out on the sidewalk I grimaced as I glanced down and realized I was wearin' medical scrubs and I was pretty sure I'd popped one of the stitches because a small spot of blood was staining the green pants a dark red. Fuck.
With a sigh I finally found my cellphone in one of the pockets. They remembered to give the slayer her phone but not her stake? Wasn't that just like an evil law firm. Punching in the number for home I put the phone to my ear waitin' for Cordy to pick up.
She was gonna kill me.
Thought I'd be spendin' most of my night hangin' out in one total pisshole after another, smashing in demon faces 'til someone started talkin' about the demon from Cordelia's vision. Turned out that demons are pretty eager to help a slayer when their demon pal smells as bad as this guy did. The heavy aroma of garbage still hung in the bar as they all started spillin' the 411 about this guy. Called himself Maerc, some demon who lived under the sewers and then every ten years he came up to snack on some kids at the local elementary school. Real cute. Just thought I'd have to put a little more work in to get the info. Kind've a bummer after spendin' the last few days watchin' a Cheers marathon as Cordy complained about the heat and started gettin' our new detective agency up and runnin'. Would it kill the girl to turn on the AC? It wasn't like David cared and he was footin' the bill. Anything for his favorite superchick lesbians. He was like a gazillionaire, I didn't think he'd care if we cranked up the central air every once in awhile, ya know?
Thought about headin' back home and givin' Cor the dirt on this Maerc dude, but she was the one who said she got it, right? Besides, just cause C and I were...whatever we were didn't mean that I was gonna start checkin' in every five minutes. I was the slayer and she said she got that, understood that I needed to take care of these things on my own sometimes without her taggin' along. So, I figured might as well just skip past the middle man and get down and dirty with the stinky demon. 'Sides, C really didn't wanna get near this guy the way he smelled.
Didn't take me long at all to find him, and I watched him curiously as he stalked through the alleyway right near where the school door was. I could hear the screeching of cleats against a gym floor and I knew exactly what this guy was waitin' for. Practice to get over so he could start snackin' on some kids.
"I was gonna say you might wanna go vegetarian, but there really ain't gonna be enough of you left to eat anything when I'm through with ya." I flashed him a giant cocky smirk as I stepped out of the shadows and he glared down at me. Eww. This guy was even more gross up close and personal- Cor wasn't even gonna let me in the house if I got any of that slime on me.
And just like that he opened up his slimy gross mouth and showed me a mouthfull of rotten sharp fangs as he roared at me. Should I be takin' notes for this? Not sure I speak icky slime demon. With a shrug I sent a fist into his face, slamming him against the wall. And who said that violence was no way to communicate? I was ready for him to come back at me when I heard the door open and kids started fillin' up the alleyway. Shit. I needed to get Maerc outta here and fast. Times like these I really wished I just brought a weapon with me everywhere. You know, besides my stake. Oh well, not like I wouldn't kick his ass anyway. I lunged myself at him, tryin' to repress the urge to yack as I felt slime startin' to coat my skin. I pushed him back, out of the alleyway and into a nearby park. Instantly I was off of him, sendin' a fury of well-timed kicks and punches his way.
Really thought I had this one in the bag until I aimed a high kick and felt his teeth sink down on my leg. Hard. Enough to go through to the bone. My mouth fell open as he held onto my leg with his jaws no matter how hard I tried to pull away from him. Swallowing hard I clocked him hard in the ribs before falling to the ground free. Looking down at my leg I could feel blood pouring from the wound and coating the grass slick. Sucking in a sharp breath there was suddenly a hand in my hair and I was being flung all the way to the other side of the park. I landed with a grunt, instantly rolling over to shield myself from anymore attacks. My leg hurt like it was on fire, and I couldn't remember the last time anything hurt like that. Maybe that one time Cordy got all glowy on my ass and saved me (saved me) from Angel's lackeys over at Wolfram and Hart. Looking down I could see just how much blood I was losing as I glanced back up and watched Maerc trot away happier then a pig in shit towards the kids still milling near the school door. What was wrong with these kids? Why weren't they running?
Getting up with a wince I clenched down on my teeth and ignored the pain, driving me forward as fast as I could move across the dewy grass. Drove myself harder and harder until I was on top of him again, smashing his snarling disgusting head into the pavement as I heard the kids scream and scatter. Finally! I looked up for one second and it was enough for one meaty fist to crash into my jaw and send me back down to the pavement. It wasn't long until I had a really angry snarling slimy demon pounding his fist into my face over and over again. Raising up a knee I smashed it into his crotch hard before shoving him off of me. I guess they got really pissed off when you scared all their snacks away. His eyes were flashing red at me as his hand locked around my throat and pulled me off of my feet. The blood loss was startin' to make me see stars already and lack of oxygen wasn't helping. I flailed my arms and my fingers latched onto something. One brick, sticking out of the wall and loose. Yanking it from the wall I smashed it into his face until he loosened his hold on my throat. Turning around I kicked him to the ground with my good leg before bending down and smashing the brick into his face. Over and over and over again until he stopped screaming. Until he lay still. Throwin' the brick on the ground I lazily dropped the brick to the ground. Then everything just sorta fell away.
- - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
When I woke up, I was staring at bright fluorescent lights. So bright and glaring I raised an arm to my eyes, shielding them from the glare. That was when I felt it, like every single nerve in my body was on fire. The fight. What happened? Sitting up I glanced around and realized I was in some sorta...medical place. Not sure exactly what it was, but it didn't look like no hospital to me. Alarmed now, I swung my legs over the side of the table and almost screamed as another bolt of pain stung it's way up my leg. Oh yeah, nasty little bite marks. I could see that someone had already stitched me back in one piece. Pretty bad when a slayer needed stitches. Just another scar to match the one on my abdomen. Least Buffy still smelled good when she stabbed me.
Suddenly the door swung open and a familiar figure walked in. Now I knew exactly where I was. Wolfram and Hart.
"Hello, Faith. I was starting to think you would never wake up." Wesley said dryly, giving me a concerned look that he tried desperately to mask behind a hard gaze.
"Right now I'm kinda wishin' I hadn't." I admitted, matching his dry tone and hard gaze. "Why am I here?" Straight and to the point, but hey is there any other way to be?
"Some of our special ops found you unconscious on the sidewalk, you'd lost alot of blood. Once they assessed that you were the slayer they brought you back here." He informed me. Same tone. Business like. Guess things were just like that now that Angel bit the big one.
"Your little secret agent guys rescued me?" I snorted, a slight chuckle escaping my throat as I shook my head back and forth. "I mean sure, last time they saw me they tried to kill me- but I always knew they were all soft and cuddly on the inside." Sarcasm rolled off of my tongue as I wondered if I was gonna have to bust another leg fightin' my way outta this place.
"I had nothing to do with that." He reminded me.
"Yeah, but you still work here."
A slight pause. Almost like what I said actually mattered or something.
"I'm worried about you and Cordelia." He finally said, ignoring the part about how he still worked for the most evil law firm ever and let the bitch from hell tell him what to do. "How is she?"
"She's just fine. Better off if you ask me." Not that anyone was, but I didn't have to answer Wesley's twenty questions just cause his posse happened to pick my ass up off the sidewalk. Clenching my teeth I forced myself off of the bed. There. Not so bad when you finally just embraced the pain and put all your weight on it. Kinda like dragging razor blades across your leg for fun.
"Faith, it might not be wise to put too much pressure on your leg just yet." Same concerned tone, less veiled this time. He really was worried about Queen C. Well, he shouldn't be. I could take care of her, nothin' bad would happen. Probably.
"Look. I ain't stayin' in the same building that killed Soul Boy and made him crazy before that. Sorry." I said in a way that really didn't sound very sorry at all as I headed for the door, him following me out into the hallway.
"At least allow me to drive you home."
"Why?" I demanded, spinnin' around to get a good look at him. "So you can find out where me and C are crashin' these days? Don't think so." With that I was walking again. How the fuck did I get outta here? Like one big maze.
"Faith, listen to reason..." He said as he climbed into the elevator beside me and I pushed the button that would take me to the lobby. Now the leg was throbbing something wicked, makin' me kinda wanna cold cock Wes right in the teeth just for...well, breathing.
"You listen up, Wes. This place isn't good, in fact I'd say it's pretty damn bad considering what it did to Angel. I don't want nothin' to do with it, or anyone involved and neither does Cordelia. So we're fine- just back the fuck off." My hand reached out and shoved him in the chest, not that hard but enough to drive the point home as his back hit the wall. "Next time? Don't do me any favors."
And then I was out of the elevator and through the lobby, all of my slay senses goin' off like mad surrounded by demons and lawyers. Same thing if you asked me.
As soon as I got through the doors and out on the sidewalk I grimaced as I glanced down and realized I was wearin' medical scrubs and I was pretty sure I'd popped one of the stitches because a small spot of blood was staining the green pants a dark red. Fuck.
With a sigh I finally found my cellphone in one of the pockets. They remembered to give the slayer her phone but not her stake? Wasn't that just like an evil law firm. Punching in the number for home I put the phone to my ear waitin' for Cordy to pick up.
She was gonna kill me.