Faith in Gotham, part eleven.
(Parts one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine and ten. I really need to just make an index page)
Part the eleventh, in which Miss Lehane meets Mr Pennyworth, though not for the first time, and there is coffee.
She woke up alone in a strange bed, and was naked. And in pain.
For a moment she just lay there, letting her self seep back. Remembered who she was and what she'd been, and the half-heroic mask she wore for the world to see. It almost fit.
After a minute she levered herself upright and looked around. Definitely not the apartment she was sharing with Giles - had been sharing with Giles. If she had to hazard a guess, this would be Bruce Wayne's guest bedroom.
Getting out of bed hurt, but not too much. Besides, staying in bed would be too much like giving in.
There was a wardrobe with mirrored doors. She stared at it for a moment before she realised what she was seeing.
Her left cheek and jaw were mostly purple bruise, with black and yellow highlights. That would be from when one of Tepes' goons broke a chair across her face, which had kind of put her off balance.
There was a weird splint-bridge thing on her nose, holding it straight. It felt weird, but she guessed it was better than the alternative. When Tepes had punched her in the face her vision had gone completely white for a moment or two. Which the bastard had used to go to work on her ribs.
Her left ear was wrapped in gauze. She seemed to recall somebody - one of the mooks - ripping out her earring, which had been messy. She also seemed to recall cutting off the bastard's fingers in response. Fair's fair.
She made the mistake of sitting down, and discovered what looked like a bullet-hole through her right buttock. She couldn't even remember that happening.
Somebody had put stitches in the long cut over her ribcage, which Tepes had given her with her own knife, and in the smaller gash in her forehead, from where she'd butted a vamp in the teeth. She'd have to get those taken out before her Slayer healing really set in.
There was a robe hanging on the door. She put it on, wincing slightly as the cloth rubbed against the abrasions that ran the length of her left forearm, and headed out to see what was what.
***
"Hey, Alfie."
"Good morning, Miss. And how are you feeling today?"
"Like I lost a fight with a whole bunch of bad guys and needed to have my butt rescued by a schizoid man-whore. Where is Brewster, by the way?"
"He had to go into the office. If I might take the liberty of preparing some breakfast?"
Faith frowned. "Not feeling hungry right now. You got any coffee?"
Alfred brought her a mug. She sipped, slumped in her chair, sipped again. Alfred hesitated, almost spoke, then changed his mind.
"Sometimes I wonder," she said quietly. "When did it stop being fun?"
"Fun, miss?"
"When I was younger I... well, let's just say I was a loser. Then I got into the game, and suddenly I had something I was good at. Screw that, I had something I was best at. And I knew it. Y'know, whatever I met, I knew I could take it. There was nothing in the world like killing vampires. Every fight, I knew I was going to win, they were going to lose, and nothing else mattered."
"And then it just... I screwed up. You'd think it wouldn't be a shock but, uh..."
She finished the coffee and stared into the mug.
"So, yeah. I used to think I could just deal and move on. Heh. I was pretty good at the moving on part, at least. So now I'm here, and I can't remember the last time things went the way they were meant to. Hell, I don't even know if Giles is really dead, or if I'm going to see him tomorrow packing fangs."
"Dead, miss?"
Faith looked up.
"Master Bruce was able to extricate him from the conflict at a fairly early stage. He had lost a certain amount of blood, but the doctors at the Sisters of Mercy hospital told me he should be quite all right."
"He's going to be okay?"
Under the circumstances, Alfred thought sarcasm would be inappropriate. "Quite, miss."
Faith found herself smiling, almost uncontrollably. "Alfie, that's awesome. You're awesome. I mean, damn. That makes it almost worth getting my ass kicked..."
"From Master Bruce's description the violence was very far from one-sided. He said that Mr Tepes appeared to be quite badly injured by the time he arrived."
"Yeah, too bad about the other six guys."
***
She took a shower. Alfred tried to prevent her, pointing out that this would interfere with her dressings, but Slayer healing meant the most important thing was keeping her wounds clean.
By the time she had got herself cleaned up, Bruce was back. He'd brought her grapes. And Twinkies.
Part the eleventh, in which Miss Lehane meets Mr Pennyworth, though not for the first time, and there is coffee.
She woke up alone in a strange bed, and was naked. And in pain.
For a moment she just lay there, letting her self seep back. Remembered who she was and what she'd been, and the half-heroic mask she wore for the world to see. It almost fit.
After a minute she levered herself upright and looked around. Definitely not the apartment she was sharing with Giles - had been sharing with Giles. If she had to hazard a guess, this would be Bruce Wayne's guest bedroom.
Getting out of bed hurt, but not too much. Besides, staying in bed would be too much like giving in.
There was a wardrobe with mirrored doors. She stared at it for a moment before she realised what she was seeing.
Her left cheek and jaw were mostly purple bruise, with black and yellow highlights. That would be from when one of Tepes' goons broke a chair across her face, which had kind of put her off balance.
There was a weird splint-bridge thing on her nose, holding it straight. It felt weird, but she guessed it was better than the alternative. When Tepes had punched her in the face her vision had gone completely white for a moment or two. Which the bastard had used to go to work on her ribs.
Her left ear was wrapped in gauze. She seemed to recall somebody - one of the mooks - ripping out her earring, which had been messy. She also seemed to recall cutting off the bastard's fingers in response. Fair's fair.
She made the mistake of sitting down, and discovered what looked like a bullet-hole through her right buttock. She couldn't even remember that happening.
Somebody had put stitches in the long cut over her ribcage, which Tepes had given her with her own knife, and in the smaller gash in her forehead, from where she'd butted a vamp in the teeth. She'd have to get those taken out before her Slayer healing really set in.
There was a robe hanging on the door. She put it on, wincing slightly as the cloth rubbed against the abrasions that ran the length of her left forearm, and headed out to see what was what.
***
"Hey, Alfie."
"Good morning, Miss. And how are you feeling today?"
"Like I lost a fight with a whole bunch of bad guys and needed to have my butt rescued by a schizoid man-whore. Where is Brewster, by the way?"
"He had to go into the office. If I might take the liberty of preparing some breakfast?"
Faith frowned. "Not feeling hungry right now. You got any coffee?"
Alfred brought her a mug. She sipped, slumped in her chair, sipped again. Alfred hesitated, almost spoke, then changed his mind.
"Sometimes I wonder," she said quietly. "When did it stop being fun?"
"Fun, miss?"
"When I was younger I... well, let's just say I was a loser. Then I got into the game, and suddenly I had something I was good at. Screw that, I had something I was best at. And I knew it. Y'know, whatever I met, I knew I could take it. There was nothing in the world like killing vampires. Every fight, I knew I was going to win, they were going to lose, and nothing else mattered."
"And then it just... I screwed up. You'd think it wouldn't be a shock but, uh..."
She finished the coffee and stared into the mug.
"So, yeah. I used to think I could just deal and move on. Heh. I was pretty good at the moving on part, at least. So now I'm here, and I can't remember the last time things went the way they were meant to. Hell, I don't even know if Giles is really dead, or if I'm going to see him tomorrow packing fangs."
"Dead, miss?"
Faith looked up.
"Master Bruce was able to extricate him from the conflict at a fairly early stage. He had lost a certain amount of blood, but the doctors at the Sisters of Mercy hospital told me he should be quite all right."
"He's going to be okay?"
Under the circumstances, Alfred thought sarcasm would be inappropriate. "Quite, miss."
Faith found herself smiling, almost uncontrollably. "Alfie, that's awesome. You're awesome. I mean, damn. That makes it almost worth getting my ass kicked..."
"From Master Bruce's description the violence was very far from one-sided. He said that Mr Tepes appeared to be quite badly injured by the time he arrived."
"Yeah, too bad about the other six guys."
***
She took a shower. Alfred tried to prevent her, pointing out that this would interfere with her dressings, but Slayer healing meant the most important thing was keeping her wounds clean.
By the time she had got herself cleaned up, Bruce was back. He'd brought her grapes. And Twinkies.