Faith Lehane is crude but effective (faithinthedark) wrote in parabolical, @ 2009-08-23 16:36:00 |
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Entry tags: | faith lehane |
Who: Faith Lehane and various NPCS
What: Making the hard choice
When: 23rd August- the very very early hours
Where: Various locations
Rating: High for violence
Status: Narrative- COMPLETE
In the end they could judge, but the final responsibility was hers and hers alone. Faith didn't have to like it, in fact she pretty much loathed it. But ultimately she believed in what she was doing.
It was gone 2am when she slipped out of the Hyperion. Her first destination, the bar that the older Claire had mentioned, would just be closing up. It wasn't Faith's first visit there, not by a long shot. Over and over again she'd gone there, looking for the answers that were never going to come. She beat and she threatened the card carrying members of Team Bad Guy. A few of them she even killed and tonight she'd no doubt do it again. But this was the last time. Because now she had to make the hard choice, the choice that no one else could make. She'd been putting it off for a long time, but ultimately it was Buffy who motivated her into action. She'd been right, she was the leader and none of them could understand the decision she was facing. Because they weren't leaders, because they weren't Slayers. Hated by all groups and fitting into none, saving a world that wanted all Slayers dead.
They liked to talk big, these demons. Liked to think that they were important, but the truth of it was that they were also terrified of the Scourge. Scared that they too wouldn't be considered pure enough for the fanatical group. So they pushed the attention else where, as much as possible, all to live a little longer themselves. Faith locked the door behind her as she entered the bar, letting no one out.
"It's time we had another chat."
It was quick and it was old, as it always was. She beat many of them unconscious and even pulled out some of her old torture tricks on the really obnoxious ones. Hurt them until they begged her to stop, pleading that they truly did not know anything. The Scourge was in town. Bets were being placed on which half breed community would be next, gambling in the dark away from the danger themselves. They had no way of telling which order the Scourge would kill the groups or how the bastards chose their targets.
A couple of them were even dead by the time Faith was finished, unlocking the door again and walking out, the blood still covering her hands. The hard choices. Which included every psychological trick she knew of, like walking in to a room with another's blood already on her hands.
Crunch time.
People would judge her, probably hate her, but if they were alive, Faith could live with that. Right now it was down to survival and nothing more, anything else could just be dealt with later, when the dust was settled.
She didn't knock, she just walked in, looking at the small community of half breeds that she'd last seen dead on the floor. She was silent, waiting for them to acknowledge her, which came in the form of the oldest male staring at her for the longest time.
"What do you want?"
"You know what," she leaned against the door frame, her arms folded as she watched him.
"No," the man shook his head. "No, they see us talking to you, we're dead. Again."
"They see you at all, you're dead again," Faith pointed out. "You think they're going to let you go because you managed to get one up on them? Bad guys don't work like that."
"And you would know that?" His voice shook slightly. "I suppose you would know how the bad guys work wouldn't you, Rogue Slayer. They talk of you, you know. In the dark places. You, and your lover, the monster."
Faith tried not to flinch at the mention of Sam. Keeping professional, keeping detached. It was the only option. "You and I both know that you are going to tell me everything I want to know," she stated, not raising her voice, but still shifting her arms as she straightened up, bringing more attention to her blood stained hands. "So let's just cut the crap shall we?"
"And if I don't talk?"
"Neither of us wants to see that."
There was a silence that stretched out for several seconds, broken only by the soft sounds of the half breeds breathing, some crying in that way that said they hadn't stopped for days, as Faith and their leader stared each other down. Finally, he was the one who blinked.
"They send out spies. That's how they know where to hit, spies canvas the areas and report back to their commanders about potential targets. The spies are the ones they consider too weak to be soldiers. One of them, he followed my son home the night of the attack. He saw all of us. Some say that it is the sound of marching boots that signs your death warrant, but it is the eyes peering in at the window that is the true end."
So they did have a weak link. And a way of operating that wasn't just random. This, this had been what she needed to hear, what no one else had managed to tell her. Faith nodded slightly, slowly letting out a long breath.
"Thank you."
He shook his head, angrily, defiantly. "You have condemned us. The spies see everything, they'll know that I talked. When the sun sets again, they'll come for us."
Faith arched her eyebrow with equal defiance. "If the spies see everything then they'll know you're alive when you were dead. And they'll come for you anyway. You want my advice, you'll leave town, now."
"Who are you to decide that?"
Faith turned to leave, glancing over her shoulder. "I'm the one trying to salvage something in this city."
As she stepped outside the door, some movement in the dark caught her eye, just below the window of the building. Moving faster than any human could, Faith grabbed hold of the shape, pulling a vampire into the low light of the streetlamp, as she ignored the low screams from the half breeds.
"Scavenging?"
The answer was a vaguely hysterical laugh from the vampire. "You gave me my ticket, I tell the Scourge this, they'll let me live, they'll let me go, they'll have to see that I'm worth keeping around, they will."
Faith's lip curled in disgust as she backhanded the vampire hard, sending him sprawling to the ground just in front of the male half breed. "Don't kid yourself," she pulled out her stake, slamming it into his heart and turning him to dust in front of them. "The Scourge won't 'let' anyone live. The only chance any of us have is to kill them before they kill us." She straightened her leather trench coat, slipping the stake back onto her belt as she looked at the male. "And I will."
There was no reply as she headed into the night, back to the Hyperion. She wondered if the spies would know that they'd talked. Not that it made much difference now anyway. They were all equally dead if nothing was done.