Gods And Monsters

Chapter Eighty-nine:

A song or two later, Faith spun back around. She eyed Hel seductively. "Can I buy you another drink?"

Hel smirked. "I wouldn't say no."

"Another drink it is, then." With that, Faith turned and wound her way through the sea of bodies. On her way to the bar, she paused when she came across Amanda.

"Hey! This is so cool." Amanda gushed, her eyes shining and an exuberant grin plastered across her face. She had a red-coloured drink in one hand. "Buffy would never let us do this. You are so cool." She placed a hand on Faith's arm and glanced over her shoulder at the grouping of Potentials seated behind her. "This women is so cool!"

Faith scrutinised her. "Hey, hey— how old are you?"

"Seventeen."

Stealthily, Faith relieved her of her alcoholic beverage and downed the whole thing. "Yeah, we're gonna get you a real nice Seven-Up, okay?"

Leaving Amanda, Faith resumed her trek to the bar, but was interrupted again, this time by three police officers.

She smiled, unfazed by their presence. "Hey, I was wondering what was taking you boys so long. Where you been?"

"We're gonna have to ask you to come with us, miss. Outstanding warrants." The one officer declared.

"Yeah, or we could try this one on instead. How 'bout you guys buy me another drink," Playing it cool, Faith handed the officer her empty glass. "And we see where the evening takes us."

One of the other officers stepped forward and grabbed her hands roughly, pinning them behind her back as he began escorting her across the Bronze.

Witnessing their unfair treatment of Faith, Dawn stopped dancing. "Hey!" She started towards them,

Hel followed Dawn off the dance floor. "What's going on?"

"It's cool. I got it. It's nothin'." Faith replied hastily, watching the one officer remove his gun from its holster in corner of her eye. "Get— get off me!"

"Shut up." The officer barked.

The number of police men has increased to five now, most of which have drawn their firearms, and Faith has no other choice but to allow herself to be escorted through the crowd. Dawn, Hel, and the Potentials all follow close behind, but stay just inside the building as Faith is taken out into the back alley.

"I tell you right now, I'm not going back to jail." Faith asserted, wrestling herself free of the officer's clammy grip. She started towards the open door, but the cop that remained inside shut it in her face.

"Who said anything about jail?" Replied an officer from somewhere behind her.

Faith whirled back around, her eyes growing wide at the sight before her. Three officers had the barrels of their handguns aimed right at her. With no other options available to her, she attacked them in self-defence. She knocked one down, before delivering a few punches to the other two.

Meanwhile, inside the Bronze, Hel took a confident step towards the police officer guarding the back door. "Step aside."

"Stay back. This doesn't concern you." He commanded.

"You're hardly in any position to be giving orders." She countered smoothly. "One of you, versus all of us? Do you really want to test those odds?"

"It'll be over before you know it." He replied sternly.

Outside, the tables had turned. Faith was laying on the ground, as several officers beat her with billy clubs. Lashing out with one foot, she managed to knock one man down. Seizing her opportunity, she scrambled to her feet and delivered a kick to one of the men still standing. He returned it with a hard kick of his own, pushing her backwards. She landed a strong right hook, her knuckles slamming across his cheek.

Inside, Hel refused to back down. "This is your last chance. Get out of my way."

"Trust me— the best thing you can do is wait here."

Hel took another step closer, glaring up at him menacingly. "Step. Aside. Now."

Without warning, the officer cocked his gun, and a loud BANG! rang out as he fired it at the ceiling above. His bullet hit a spotlight, causing a shower of sparks to rain down from the rafters. The frightened girls behind Hel jumped, yelping in terror.

"Best thing you can do is wait... Here." The officer repeated, breathing heavily. 

In the alleyway behind the back door, Faith overpowered one of the officers. He laid face-down while she straddled his back, repeatedly punching him. The two other officers tore her off of him.

In the Bronze, Hel invaded the officer's personal space and deliberately got in his face. "What are you going to do to stop us? Shoot us all?"

"That really doesn't bother me." The officer sneered.

"These cops are really gettin' Hell Mouth." Rona observed in a whisper.

"Back up!" The cop shouted.

Amanda stepped up. "No!"

He frowned, taken aback by her surge of courage. "What?"

Taking advantage of his distraction, Hel snatched the gun from his hand and smacked him across the temple with the butt. Then, she aimed the barrel at the centre of his forehead.

Enraged, he drew back his hand, about to knock the gun from her grasp, before Amanda whacked him over the head with a broom handle. Knocked to the floor, the officer tried to crawl away, but Chao-Ahn and Rona each kicked him in the ribs. Dawn leapt onto his back, kicking and screaming at him.

Chuckling at the sight of a full grown man whimpering for mercy, Hel sidestepped the pile-up and flung open the back door. She stepped outside to find Faith with her back against the asphalt, shielding her face with her arms as the police officers abused her repeatedly and without mercy.

Rushing over, she swung a swift kick to one man's groin and he fell to his knees. She then tackled another, putting him in a headlock and squeezing her forearm against his windpipe until he passed out. He crumpled. While Faith kicked the third officer against the hood of a car and used his own billy club against him, Hel finished off the first buy knocking him unconscious with a single punch to his temple.

Hel turned her head to watch Faith throw the last officer into the opposing brick wall. He sank to the ground like a stone, out cold.

Faith met her eyes, and they both nodded in acknowledgment.

Behind them, an audience of the Potentials and Dawn were gathered by the door.

"Faith!"

At the sound of Buffy's sharp, disapproving tone, Faith and Hel spun around to face her.

"What are you doing?" Buffy demanded.

"Just blowing off steam. Well, it started that way. Turned when the cops went evil on us." Faith explained.

"Girls, go home." Buffy ordered, addressing the Potentials and Dawn. Then, she glared at Faith. "I need to talk to Faith for a minute."

"Buffy, we weren't—" Dawn began, but was cut off by her older sister.

"Dawn— you, too. Go." Buffy commanded. "Hel, accompany them home." She added, without so much as a glance in Hel's general direction. 

Rolling her eyes, Hel strode past Buffy. Obediently, but with reluctance, Dawn and the Potentials followed her. They began the short journey home in grave silence, leaving Faith and Buffy behind. So much for their evening of relaxation and fun.