Simple Choices
by rebelrsr
Chapter 27
[reviews]
Disclaimer: All things Buffy belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and lots of people in expensive suits. I'm not making any money here, just trying to create a happier Buffyverse for my favorite characters.
Spoilers: General spoilers for S5, starting with "The I in Team." Eh, who am I kidding? This is really AU now.
A/N: Thanks to Ivy for pre-reading and Zigpal and Lilly for the beta. There would be no writing without you guys.
Dodging through the trees, Faith began a circuitous return trip to the safe house. Faintly, she could hear the Marines thrashing through the underbrush and cursing behind her. Faith grinned and slowed to a walk. Her run had left her near the campus. She'd lose herself among the throng of students just to be safe.
Faith straightened her clothes and ran a hand through her wind-tangled hair before stepping out of the trees. Pausing briefly, she looked around. A handful of students loitered in the small park-like clearing. Fighting to get her breathing under control, Faith shoved her hands in her pockets and strolled through the grass.
Her skin tingled before she got more than halfway across the clearing. Slayer hearing picked up the dull thud of heavy boots on the ground.
Listening to them approach, Faith realized her plan had holes. How many Marines had followed her here? What if they had her surrounded? The urge to turn and look, to run tightened her muscles. Ignoring those instincts, Faith kept her deliberate pace. Her eyes, however, darted around, scanning for an escape route.
Two battle-dressed Marines jogged by. They never looked in her direction.
Relaxing a little, Faith picked up her pace. Walking with more purpose, she started along a sidewalk and skirted several brick buildings. There were more students now, and Faith simply became one of them — until she spotted Buffy's ex-boyfriend and an older man having an intense conversation in front of a large house. Faith walked past them and ducked behind the hedges several feet away. Slayer hearing ruled. She easily picked up their conversation.
"Colonel, you can't just blow up the labs." Faith recognized Riley's voice from the Bronze. "There are civilians here. Lots of civilians."
"Agent Finn, my orders are clear. We are to leave no trace of our presence here." Faith carefully moved some of the greenery around her and saw the older man lean closer to Riley. "I am not leaving millions of dollars of equipment for some nosy college kid to find. The charges my men laid are designed to implode the tunnels and caverns. Not one single student at this campus will even notice the blast."
Faith tensed as Riley grabbed the other man by the collar. "Damn it, Colonel. Some of those tunnels aren't stable."
Before he could continue, his companion wrenched away, meticulously straightening his shirt. "I ought to have you up on charges, Agent Finn."
"You do that, and I'll make sure the brass in Washington know exactly what was going on here. There are things not even you know, Colonel." Riley's cell phone rang, shattering the tense scene. With a frown, he stepped away from the Colonel and flipped it open. "Finn," Riley said tersely into the phone.
Inching closer, Faith tried to hear the voice on the other end. As she pressed against the house and pushed her way through the bushes, Faith stepped on a discarded beer can. The loud crunch seemed to echo.
Riley and the Colonel spun. "I'll call you back," Riley said into the phone, closing it and reaching behind him.
Faith bit back a curse when his hand — and a big gun — reappeared. Not bothering with stealth, she exploded out of hiding, diving at Riley. They hit the ground hard, and Riley's gun clattered to the pavement. Rolling off Riley, Faith clambered to her feet, prepared for another long run.
She didn't count on Riley's near Slayer-like speed. A large hand shot out, grabbing her ankle, and Faith gasped as she slammed back to the ground. "What the fuck?" No way was Buffy's ex winning this fight. The Slayer roared in her head, ignoring Faith's frantic pleading. Riley was human. She couldn't...wouldn't kill him. Her internal struggle ended abruptly. Faith's head snapped to the side, pain exploding in her cheek and jaw.
"Who are you?" Riley demanded.
Ignoring the flaring pain and the Slayer's frenzy deep inside, Faith merely glared at her captor.
Another blow rocked her head in the opposite direction.
Faith and the Slayer had had enough. Human or not, Riley was the enemy. Faith allowed the Slayer limited freedom. A growl tore from her throat, and her hand slammed up into Riley's ribs. He jerked away, grunting in pain. Taking advantage of the injury, Faith surged to her feet, tossing the injured Marine several feet away.
"Freeze!" a new voice shouted.
Ready for another fight, Faith turned. The Colonel held Riley's weapon, the barrel trained directly at her. Dropping and rolling, the Slayer reached the older man before he even had time to blink. The gun flattened in her hand, the metal groaning in protest. Faith felt the Slayer attempting to slip the leash. She clamped down on the primal voice urging her to end this threat once and for all. She met the Colonel's frightened eyes. "Run," Faith ordered him. She was in control right now, but Faith had no illusions her dominance would last indefinitely. Following her own advice, Faith spun on her heel and took off.
***
"OK then. One problem solved." Buffy pushed her plate away and stood. "Tara keeps Faith from going all Evil Slayer again. Willow makes friends with my Slayer. We'll be one big happy family of butt-kicking superheroes." She smiled grimly. "Now we just need a butt-kicking plan." Buffy waited for Willow's giggle or Giles' pained sigh at her levity.
However, everyone simply looked at her, waiting for her to unveil the plan.
Buffy frowned. "No. No way," she said firmly. "I'm not Xander. There are no soldiers fighting wars in my head."
As if Buffy's words conjured him, Xander burst through the door with Graham right behind him. "We've got it," he announced excitedly.
"Got what?" Giles queried, looking confused and a little impatient at the lack of real information.
"The goods on Adam." Xander took Buffy's abandoned chair and started eating her leftover breakfast. "Graham got this file from Riley with diagrams and stuff," he mumbled through the food.
Buffy felt Willow tense against her. "Where are they?" Willow wanted to know.
"I've got them right here." Graham pulled a rolled file folder from a leg pocket on his pants. He handed them to Willow, and she immediately spread them out on the table.
Buffy could see the outline of a human shape, but the notes surrounding the drawing didn't make sense. Willow, though, seemed to immediately understand. Her slim finger tracked the tiny script before going to various marked spots on the figure. Growing restless, Buffy scanned the room. Maybe Faith wouldn't mind a little sparring in the yard.
Faith wasn't in the room. Buffy searched for her through their Slayer connection. Faith wasn't in the house.
"Xan, what happened to Faith?" Even Willow looked up at the almost accusatory note in Buffy's voice. "Where is she?"
"Whoa, Buff. Calm down. She's fine." Xander swallowed the bite he'd just taken. "I mean, she was when we left her." He squirmed at her glare. "We ran into some of Graham's buddies. Faith told us to come here, give you the file, and she'd lead the platoon away from us."
The plate jumped when Buffy slammed a fist into the table. "Damn it, Xan." Needing to move, burn off her sudden nervous energy, Buffy stalked back and forth across the room. "Where was she headed? I'll go after her." Then she remembered. She couldn't go after Faith. Her pacing got faster. The safe house suddenly felt like a cage.
"Buffy-" Willow grabbed her arm, spinning Buffy in her direction. "This isn't helping."
Buffy knew that. However, she couldn't seem to stem the energy flooding through her. "Sorry," she muttered in Xander's direction. Faith would be fine. She was a Slayer. Not even Marines were that good. After all, Buffy had taken on a dozen of them for the Professor's tests. Throwing her shoulders back, Buffy stopped pacing. "Anything useful in that file, Will?"
She got a suspicious look for her sudden amiability. "Maybe. There are some notations about a power source. It's some kind of uranium core." Willow held up the diagram, tapping her finger over the heart area. "If we could get to it, we could basically turn Adam off."
"I'm sensing a but in there, Wills." Xander put down his fork, watching her closely.
Buffy agreed with him. Willow hadn't sounded happy about what should have been good news.
"We could turn him off...if we could get close enough." Willow shrugged. "Right now, that might be a problem."
Tara moved closer, reaching for the file. "Is there anything else, Willow? If destroying the power source isn't an option, is there an alternative?"
Reluctantly surrendering the slim folder, Willow answered, "I don't know. The notes are hard to read and I only got a chance to scan the first couple of pages. Why? What are you thinking?"
"A list of all the demons they used to make Adam?" Tara asked with a self-mocking smile.
Snorting, Buffy put a commiserating hand on Tara's shoulder. "Lesson one in the Scooby Handbook: If you need information, you can't find it without musty old books." She took the file from Tara, peering at Riley's notes. "Will?" Buffy pointed a finger at one of the diagrams, confused. "Is this the same drawing?"
"What do you mean?" Willow asked, snatching the file back.
"Look." Buffy pointed again. "The first one doesn't have this...thing." Buffy didn't know how to describe the weird vein-like overlay.
Humming slightly, Willow studied the diagrams. "I...I don't know. I thought it was just part of Adam's exoskeleton, but you're right. The two are different." She raised shadowed green eyes. "Goddess, Buffy, what if Adam isn't the only thing Professor Walsh created?"