Hellmouth Heroes

FIC: Hellmouth Heroes (8/?)

“So you and Jonathan are dating?” Xander asked as they entered the library.

“Yeah, first date after the dance last night,” Faith grinned.

”Where did he take you, up a tree?” Xander asked. “Faith and Jon up a tree, kissing. K-I-S-S-I, ooof.”

Xander grunted when she punched him in the gut. “Stop takin’ the piss.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” her bud wheezed.

“Better fuckin’ not,” Faith warned before bumping her friend with her hip and grinning. “’Sides you’re just jealous.”

”I’ve got Alana,” Xander defended.

“Yeah, Alana’s cute, but she’s no sexual dynamo like me,” Faith boasted, “I am the goods, and Jonathan got me, not you.” She poked Xander in the chest as she opened the inner door to Giles’ office.

”Doesn’t anybody bloody knock?” her Watcher dived over his desk, covering something on his desk with papers.

“Not me, sir,” Faith leaned over the desk, tongue rolling slowly over her lips as she fluttered her eye-lashes at the Englishman. “I was born in a barn, sir. I need taking in hand, sir.” The moment the Brit was sufficiently distracted her hands dove under the papers and yanked out the mystery object.

Her eyes widened as she read the book’s title. “Un-fucking- believable!”

“What is it?” Xander demanded.

“Give it here.” Giles lunged at her.

Faith darted back and threw the book to Xander. Xander’s eyes widened when he caught it. “The Encyclopaedia of Marvel Comics?”

“My life is over,” Giles slumped in his seat, head in hands. “If you’d all gone as historical or mythological figures I’d have been fully conversant with your changes, but I have no idea about this Marvel universe, so I thought it was incumbent on me to do some research. Perhaps prepare myself should anyone else turn up with their powers intact.”

“Oh boy,” Xander glanced from the book to her. “We’ve broken him, turned him to the dark side.”

Faith sighed sadly before going into a highly skilled English impersonation. ”That Rupert was a jolly good bean, but I knew American culture would snare him in the end. Lose another one of the boys to those bloody colonials, oh bugger!”

Giles stared at her in horror. “That is the worse English impersonation I have ever heard.”

“Who can resist the lure of Marvel comics though?” Xander asked.

“You bloody Americans have no idea what real comics are!” the infuriated Watcher snapped. “Now Dan Dare, there’s a real comic!”

“Oooooh, pissy,” Faith commented.

“Comic book nerds get very defensive, I should know,” Xander agreed.

“As you are one?” Faith guessed.

“Exactly,” Xander nodded.

* * *

“The Hellmouth! The Hellmouth!”

Lyle Gorch glanced at his companion and leered. “Oh yeah baby,” he drove his muscle car with one hand while scooping his new wife in the other, pulling her towards him and into a passionate kiss, “did I tell you we’d go places or what?” He pulled his car up to the side of the road and leapt out. “I tell you,” he looked around, grinning as he saw a bunch of kids heading in their direction, “even the blood-bags taste better here!” His wife giggled inanely before following him towards the kids, her heels clicking on the pavement.

“I’m sorry,” one of the boys, a real runt of the litter sort, stepped out from the approaching group and smiled, the confident facial gesture at odds with his weedy physique. “But your kind aren’t welcome here.”

”My kind?” Lyle stuck his thumbs in his belt and smirked. “Folks ‘round here don’t like cowboys?”

The boy’s smile widened. “We’re fine with cowboys. Not too keen on vampires though.”

Lyle threw a right as the youth surged forward, moving with an inhuman speed. And yet, he smelt so human. He caught the boy’s stake about two inches from his heart. “What the-.”

A right from a beefy youth snapped his head to one side, his grip loosened on the stake and then it was crashing into his chest.

* * *

Lance shot Larry a furious look. “I could have managed that on my own.”

Larry shrugged. “We’re a team, I wasn’t taking the chance.” Larry looked around, grinning as he saw the others had dealt with the female vampire. “Let’s split before some of Faith’s gang turn up.”

* * *

“Is it done?”

“Yes sir,” Trick nodded respectfully. “Vampires have reported from Buffalo, Rochester, Trenton, Albany, Newark, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore.”

“Excellent,” Kakistos caressed the scar, the eye the pretty little Slayer had cost him. Soon he would cost her so much more. “And how many are there in our ungodly army?”

“One hundred and sixty four,” Trick replied.

“Good,” Kakistos smiled. “We leave tonight, we’ll pick up more as we cross the country. When we arrive in-.” He looked towards his second.

”Sunnydale,” his childe supplied.

Kakistos nodded. “It will be one night of violence, one night that will be remembered for the blood spilt and the pain caused. Only one person will live.”

”Sir?”

He smiled at his subordinate’s confusion. “Why the Slayer of course. That sweet child won’t die. Not for a while anyway.”

* * *

“See you’re doing it wrong,” Faith put a finger to Jonathan’s lips, “hey don’t be po’d, you ain’t an expert like me. ‘Sides,” Faith winked at her conquest, “teaching ya’s real fun.”

”Oh good lord,” Wesley chirped in, “I’m standing right here!”

Faith shot her Watcher an irritated glance. “I was tryin’ to forget that!” Faith turned back to Jonathan. “Honey, don’t leave your hands just by your sides, a girl likes to be touched when she’s makin’ out-.”

”Oh good lord- owww!” Wesley winced as the stake she’d flung at the Watcher bounced off his head. “Faith! Look at that!”

“Oh shit,” Faith breathed as she glanced in the direction Wesley was pointing, twenty, no make that thirty cars pulling up in a convoy in the middle of downtown Sunnydale, in the middle of the night. They had to be-.

”Vampires,” growled Jonathan, nostrils flaring.

“We have to get out of here,” Wesley hissed.

Faith shook her head. ”No way, I don’t run-.”

”Listen to me girl,” she gasped as Wesley grabbed her elbow and spun her to face him, a rare steel in his eyes. “You’re my responsibility and I won’t have you needlessly committing suicide.”

“Wanna get your hand off me ‘fore I snap it?” Faith replied.

“You can snap it after we get back to the library,” her Watcher insisted.

”He’s right,” Faith glared at her treacherous boy-friend. Jonathan gulped but continued. “Take a look Faith, there must a hundred and fifty vampires there.”

”Forty-three cars,” Wesley pointed out. “There must be a minimum of one hundred and sixty vampires here. I’ve already sent a message to Giles and he’s responded in kind.”

”But the people-.”

“Anyone out in Sunnydale at night really hasn’t been paying attention,” Wesley replied. “Let’s move it.”

“One hundred and eighty-three,” Faith and her Watcher broke off from arguing to look towards Jonathan. “Even with the dark I can count them. One hundred and eighty-three.”

Faith’s shoulders slumped. “Let’s move it.”

* * *

“Almost two hundred vampires?” Giles found himself looking towards Xander for guidance. “Any ideas?”

“A few,” Xander scowled.

“My first would be we’re screwed,” Oz voiced his thoughts.

“No,” Xander shook his head. “We have some advantages. They don’t know about our powers and they can only do their stuff during night-time.”

“We can’t just hide-.”

Xander raised a hand to cut off Faith’s protest. “I wasn’t going to suggest that. Only that we split up-.”

”Jeez, are you failing maths too Harris?” Cordy snorted. “The last thing we do is split up.”

Xander ignored his arch-rival’s jibe. “We have three decent mages, so we build our teams around them. I take command of one, Wes takes another, and given his tactical know-how, Jonathan takes the third. We’ve got three heavy hitters – Cordy, Faith, and Gunn.”

”Was that comment about my weight?”

Again he ignored Cordelia. “The rest of us should be spread out throughout the teams. Each team is given a specific area to operate in, and we utilise hit and run tactics.” Xander grimaced. “If only we had guns or some more modern weaponry.”

“Quite,” Giles looked around. “Xander, your team is Faith, Wood, and Willow Jonathan, take Charles, Alana, and Tara. Wesley, you have Cordelia-.”

”Why me?” protested the younger Englishman.

”Hey!”

“Myself, Jenny, Oz, and Amy.” Giles looked around. “Let’s move people.”

* * *

“Get her! Get her!” Buzz laughed as his gang chased down a shrieking teen. A whole city to destroy in one night of violence. Best of all, a Slayer was to be had at the evening’s conclusion.

His eyes narrowed. The girl thought she was out-stripping his boys. In reality two more were just ahead of her, hiding in the shadows. He couldn’t see them, but he knew they were there, he’d ordered them-.

“What the hell?” he gasped as the girl ran past where his men were supposed to be. “What the hell is going on?”

His confusion increased when two men leapt out of the shadows to attack his two childes. “Hey asshole,” he turned to find himself being watched by a coal-eyed temptress, a smirk twisting her full lips, “heard you were lookin’ for me?”

“Slayer?” he snarled as he lunged at the beauty. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be, there were meant to be dozens of them, and just one girl.

Suddenly the Slayer was above him, somehow flying over his head before bending at the waist and crashing a stake into his back.

* * *

Faith landed in a crouch, glancing towards Xander and Wood. “One down, there’s a gang throwing stones through people’s houses, hoping to provoke them out.”

Xander nodded. “Willow, do the decoy thing again.”

The out-of-breath red-head glared at Xander. “You,” she gasped, “suck.”

”Yeah,” the youth nodded. “I get that a lot.”

* * *

“Now!” Jonathan yelled.

Gunn responded by throwing two stakes the length of the street, dusting the first two demons before the vampires were even aware he’d flung them. The other demons charged him only for Alana to step out from behind her brother and use her powers to fling a steel dumpster across the alley, crushing three demons against the wall. The remaining two demons faltered, golden eyes filling with shock.

And then he’d dropped off the roof and was between them. The first threw a right that he caught on his shoulder, the pain discarded as transitory, unimportant, the second tried a boot to the face that he grabbed around the ankle and twisted.

“Jesus!” the demon’s curse was lost in the crack of his ankle. Even as the demon fell, his companion charged Jonathan. He ducked under its rush and then straightened, back-dropping the demon to the concrete. Spinning around, he saw the injured demon being staked by a pale-faced Tara.

The still healthy one leapt up and charged him, Jonathan sidestepped the demon’s attack, ramming his elbow up and into the creature’s throat. The demon stumbled backwards, and was ill-prepared to block a thrust kick to the chest. The moment the monster hit concrete, it was already rolling up, only to catch a sweep-kick that knocked it back down. Before it had chance to try again, Jonathan’s stake was thrusting through its heart.

* * *

Amy’s heart pounded as she raced through Sunnydale’s darkened streets, screaming, crashing, and laughing all around. She leapt over a hedge, wanting to but not daring to look back.

Then she heard Giles’ voice in her head. “Now!”

Spinning around, she saw Jenny appear in the middle of the chasing pack, staking two before they even knew she was there. Then Cordy hit them, her fists and feet everywhere, one unfortunate vampire grabbed around the throat and flung onto a out-jutting tree branch.

Next came Wes and Oz, hitting from the other side, not giving the demons a chance to re-group. The duo worked in tandem, fighting back to back as they sliced a swathe through the demons.

Amy rushed up into the confused mob, slamming a stake into a demon’s back. After all, only fools cared about fair play in a war. A second spun to face her, Amy ducked under a wild right kick and kicked her opponent in his weight-bearing knee. The demon buckled forward, falling onto Amy’s stake.

Amy beamed as she looked around. They’d won, nine vampires down for their group.
Then she heard Giles’ voice in her head. “They’ve attacked the bowling alley on Summerise Avenue, let’s go.”

* * *

Kakistos strode the darkened cinema, the screams of the dying not comforting him a bit. With every moment more reports came through of his minions being attacked. From what he could understand there were at least five groups throughout the city doing the attacking, and his people were being massacred. “What is this madness?”

His head snapped towards the entrance when the doors crashed open and a lithe figure ran in only to come to a halt when he stepped out of the shadows. “Hello, Faith.”

“No, no, no.” The Slayer shook her head, legs buckling as she slumped against the wall, eyes wide as saucers. “Y…you can’t be.”

“Oh but I am,” Kakistos smiled at the curvy brunette’s terror, savouring it like the finest wine. “I’m here to take you back home, you naughty child.”

”No, no, no,” the dark-haired beauty shook her head, full lips opened in a moan.

His hand reached for the wildly trembling girl. “Don’t think so.” A strong hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him around to face him.

A black fist smashed into his face. Stunned by his opponent’s power, Kakistos barely managed to duck under his opponent’s follow-up left hook before crashing a foot into his assailant’s chest.

The blow flung the black into the wall a dozen feet behind him. The wall cracked on impact but the man leapt up. “That all ya got, dawg?”

Suddenly he grabbed from behind and swung to face a tall brunette. “I don’t think,” his head was snapped by an astonishingly hard right, “you’re going to,” a clothesline knocked him back a step, “hurt any-.”

“What is going on here!” His patience snapped, he grabbed the beauty around the throat, he flung her into the stalls. The black attempted to slam a stake in him from behind, but the stake splintered on his skin, and his elbow snapped into the young man’s face, knocking him back.

Head aching, he raced for the fire entrance. He had to get away from this madness. “I’ll see you again, Slayer!” he promised.

* * *

“Xander, might I have a minute, in my office.”

The young man stared at him for a second before nodding. “Sure, Giles.”

Once he’d closed the door behind the youth, he spoke. “Your plan did very well today, as did yours dealing with the Judge. You’re to be commended.”

“It didn’t work though, Kakistos is still alive though.”

“That was hardly your fault,” Giles replied.

“Don’t blame Faith!” Xander snapped. “She didn’t tell us because she was scared what we’d think!”

Such loyalty, how could his parents treat such a remarkable boy with such neglect? After Xander’s almost revelation as regards how he’d discovered his empowerment, he’d done a little research, and what he’d found out had both shocked and disturbed him. “Yes I can understand why Faith was reluctant to admit to a failure, seeing as she has certain unjustified feelings about herself.” Hiding a sigh at the world’s injustices, he opened his desk drawer. “However this meeting isn’t about Faith’s mistakes, this is about you,” he dropped a key in Xander’s hand. “I’ve got our gym set up; it comes with a loft that is perfectly adequate. I feel the place should have a caretaker; the job and the loft are yours if you want to use them. Only I don’t want you bringing any girls back there, not until they’re old-.” Giles coughed. “Of course you’re under no obligation to use the place. It’s entirely up to you.”