Author's Note: So, I couldn't decide which song works best for this chapter, so I added them both. Which works best for you?
Faith's POV
I kick the door to 314 down with very little effort. Buffy goes in first, axe raised, and I follow moments later pulling my knife out of my belt, ready to attack. The room's empty. We look at each other.
"I guess he's not here."
We both let our guards down.
"I guess not. Well, there goes my plan."
Maybe he's somewhere else, like command central, wherever that is.
"Any idea where we should look now?"
"I was kinda hoping that this would be the last place we look but..."
The door behind us slams shut and locks automatically.
"Well this can't be good."
"I'm gonna have to agree with you there B."
"Locked in a room, with no way out... this almost looks like a trap."
All of the sudden, a secret door opens out of the wall at the other end of the room.
Obvious much?
"Okay this is officially a trap."
Yeah I'd say so.
"You ready to take the bait?"
"It's not like we have a choice."
"True."
We head toward the secret door but just before going through B stops me.
"Faith?"
Aw geez.
"Yeah?"
"Look I know that we're, you know, not on the best of terms right now but... well one of us might not come back from this and... just in case it's me I... I want you to know that I, I love you."
Oh she just HAD to say that, didn't she?
"Can we go yet?"
She gets a little teary eyed.
"Sure..."
We start walking through the door and down the mysterious hallway.
"Okay, Graham told me the only way to stop Adam is to remove the power source in his chest."
"So what do we do? Ask him to lie down while I cut into him with my big knife?"
"Do you think that it would work?"
I laugh at her.
"Probably not."
She smiles at me sheepishly. It makes me smile back for a second.
What am I doing? Focus on the end of the world.
"We should probably have a plan B just in case."
"Well I was thinking about that and I figured... Adam is probably expecting me but, he's not expecting you. He may not even know about you, and if he does know about you he's never fought you. He doesn't know your fighting style. I figure if you attack him head on he'll be caught off guard and I'll use the distraction to bury my axe in his chest or something. Once we open him up it's only a matter of time before we take him apart."
"Or he kills us."
"Either way."
We see the end of the hall 10 feet away.
"You ready for this B?"
She takes a deep breath.
"As ready as I'll ever be."
"Okay."
We walk into the secret room at the end of the secret hallway behind the secret 314 room in the secret government base.
There sure are a lot of secrets in this place. That could be why no one who works here has a clue about anything.
Anyway, we walk in and there's a huge guy who looks like a bad 3-D jigsaw puzzle standing over a monitor.
"You must be Adam."
He turns around, making big thumping noises with his feet as he does.
Boy I bet this guy has a hard time sneaking up on people, then again why would he?
B starts moving around the room, trying to surround him. Adam looks at me with a lack of emotion.
"And you must be the infamous Faith."
Infamous? I'm infamous? Cool.
"Infamous? B did you hear that? I'm infamous."
"Yeah I heard."
She's a little nervous. Who wouldn't be? Well, me, actually.
"I suppose it's better than being a botched science experiment like you."
"What happened to you Faith?"
Happened?
"Uh, not to point out the obvious but, we haven't known each other long enough to talk about my past."
"I was told you were once a pretty evil killer. What happened?"
Happened?
I look over at B, who's almost behind Adam.
She happened.
I look back at Adam.
"Stuff."
"Come over to my side, you can do all the killing you want."
Ooh what an offer.
"Well gee, let me think about that."
I put my index finger to my cheek as if I'm thinking about the offer.
"Um okay."
Buffy almost panics.
"How about I start with you?"
I rush at him at full speed and B joins me. Buffy was closer so she strikes first, swinging her axe. He blocks it with the metal on his left arm. He uses the same arm to knock her across the room.
Bastard!
I hit him in the metal side of his face, denting it slightly.
Well that was hard.
"Wow, I thought you were tough."
He backhands me in the face, sending me crashing into the wall.
Ow! Damn it that hurts.
"Tougher than you."
I shake off the pain and stand up.
"Wanna bet?"
I smile at B's words as she comes at him from behind and buries her axe into the demon half of his back. He stumbles a bit at the force of the blow, leaning forward slightly but staying on his feet.
"Ow!"
Ow?
"That's it? You've got an axe in your back dude. What the hell is this thing made of B?"
"Why don't we ask him?"
Adam turns around pulling the axe out of his back as he faces Buffy and throws it aside. He punches her in the face, knocking her down.
"Better things than you two apparently..."
He hurt her, I'm gonna kill him for that.
I run at him, hitting him with a drop kick but it doesn't faze him. He spins around, knocking me back a few feet. I'm about to strike back when I notice B, sporting what looks like it might become one hell of a shiner, getting to her knees and hits him with an uppercut to his nether regions. Again he's not fazed.
"Damn, I guess he's got no stones."
She backs up out of reach of Adam. I try and come at him but the pain is too much. I can only watch as Buffy tries to take him on herself. She punches him in the face and he barely feels it.
"Faith, are you okay?"
I manage to get to my feet.
"Peachy."
While she's worrying about me, Adam punches her in the face again. She kicks him in the side and again he stumbles but doesn't seem to feel any real pain.
We need a new plan.
He hits her in the stomach, making her double over.
Maybe one involving a little less pain.
He hits her again in the face and she drops to her knees.
He's hurting her, I have to help her. I have to stop him.
She gets up and kicks him in the stomach. He barely flinches.
Why aren't I helping her?
I feel my blood start to boil, a feeling I haven't felt since...
No I, I can't do this. Not now. I have to help her, I can't hurt her.
He grabs her by the throat and lifts her off her feet. She starts to choke.
"Faith, help..."
I have to...
Something snaps inside me and I charge at him, faster than I ever have. My forearm comes down, hitting him on the underside of his elbow and I swear I hear something snap as he lets go of B and she falls to the floor.
Is she?
I hear her cough, getting her breath back.
She's still alive, thank god. I must've broken his arm, I can use that.
I grab him by the wrist and twist it and he grimaces in pain.
He tried to hurt her.
"You tried to..."
He tries to back up but I twist his arm and he stops.
He tried to hurt her.
I catch his fist in mine as he tries to punch me, crushing it. I hear the bones in his hand crack and it brings him to his knees. He looks up at me.
"H-How?"
"YOU TRIED TO HURT HER!"
I let go of Adam's wrist and I use my free hand to punch him in the chest and it goes right through him. I grab his power core and rip it out of him. His broken hand loosens in my grip and he collapses, dead, on the floor. I look down at the glowing power core in my hand.
I, I did it. I stopped him I... How did I do it? I thought the spell was supposed to make me hurt Buffy but... I don't understand, I...
"Faith... how did you...?"
I look down at Buffy, holding herself up by her arms weakly.
"I don't know, I..."
She coughs and collapses on the floor, unconscious. I throw the power core aside and kneel down next to B.
"Buffy?"
I roll her over on her back and she has her eyes closed.
She's not moving.
"BUFFY?"
I gently tap her on the cheek, trying to wake her up.
"Buffy speak to me."
I check her neck.
It's not broken, she's all right.
I press two fingers against her pulse point.
She's still got a pulse, but it's weak... and getting weaker. She must be hurt somewhere else.
I check her breathing.
She's still breathing but if her pulse gets any weaker she might not be for long.
I start checking her ribs for broken bones. I count two maybe three broken ribs and possibly internal bleeding.
"God Buffy, what did he do to you?"
I run my hand over her face. The bruises on it are starting to turn purple.
"Buffy please speak to me."
I check her arms and legs.
They aren't broken but her right leg feels like it might be fractured. I have to get her to a hospital.
I hear noises coming from down the secret hallway, probably demonic.
The Initiative is probably swarming with demons by now and those soldiers are probably fighting for their lives with no way out. And I don't care.
I pick her up. My left arm under her neck, my right arm under her knees. I hold her close to me as I stand up.
I have to get her to a hospital and I don't care what it takes.
A demon comes barrelling down the secret hallway at us. I shield B from the oncoming evil and use a high kick to kick it in the head, kicking it clear off. I look down at Buffy in my arms.
I don't have time to kill every demon in this place. I have to get her out of here.
I hold her tight and take off at half speed down the hall.
I can't go at full speed or I might hurt her.
I reach the end of the hall and the door to 314 is wide open from when the demon broke in.
I have to get her out.
I run through the door to 314 and look around.
I was right, the place is swarming with demons and the soldier boys are trying to stop them. They can do whatever they want, all I care about is getting her out so she can be safe.
I look toward the elevator we came down.
We can't go back the way we came. I'd never be able to climb all the way up and carry her with me. And I am NOT leaving her here. If she stays I'm staying. I'll die with her if I have to.
One of the soldiers runs by us and I bring him to his knees with my feet.
"YOU! Tell me how to get out of here."
"What?"
I kick him in the head, knocking him on his back. I put my foot against his throat and press down, enough to hurt but not enough to keep him from talking.
"I need a way out."
I readjust B in my arms.
"WE need a way out, and we need one that doesn't go straight up."
A demon comes at me and I step off the soldier's neck long enough to kick the demon in the stomach, sending it 20 feet across the room and stepping on his neck again.
"A way out... NOW!"
He points to the elevator.
"There."
I step on his neck a little harder.
"That's the elevator. I said I wanted one that doesn't go straight up."
"N-Next to it... there's a... a stairwell but the door's locked and it's solid. We can't get through it."
I take my foot off his throat and shift Buffy in my arms before heading towards the door.
"Not a problem for me."
I'll break it down if I have to use all my strength to do it.
A few demons come at me as I head to the door and I kick them away, never letting them get too close to Buffy.
I can't let them hurt her, she's too important to me.
I reach the door, surrounded by bodies, some demon, some human. I kick the door and it barely vibrates.
I have to get out.
I kick the door again and I hear it crack.
I have to save her... I'll never forgive myself if something happens to her.
I kick it again near the doorknob and it comes open. I burst through the door and fly up the stairs as fast as I can without hurting her.
I have to get her to a hospital before...
I make it to the top of the 3 flights of stairs and burst through the door and I'm back upstairs in the frat house.
"Buffy?"
She hasn't moved, voluntarily or otherwise.
So I check her breathing and her pulse.
It's weaker but she's still alive.
I run out the door, Buffy in my arms, looking for a hospital.