Fic : Untitled Faith thing (4/?) (FR13)
Sorry for the delay. Being sick is no fun. Here's the next bit.
All parts are found here.
The previous part is here.
***
For what was supposed to be a simple trial run, things sure have gone to hell in a handcart fast.
"Ohmigod! Ohmigod! Did you see those things? Did you see? Are they still out there? Are they still hunting us? What are we going to do? What are we going to do!?"
Stephen Frenchley, everybody. Watcher extraordinaire.
"Ah," Faith brightens and raises a finger. "Well, first-"
"Yes, yes?"
She bitch slaps him halfway across the room, with only a couple of token frowns from the other slayers.
"You done yet, princess?"
Part of her might feel guilty. Later. Then again, given the amazingly impressive résumé he turned in at the interview, listing treks across the Gobi desert, unarmed combat against an injured but still dangerous Polgara demon, too many solo vampire killings to count and degrees from various top-ranking universities, she expected better.
On paper this guy was enough for even old Roger develop quite a man-crush. In the flesh he even looks the part. Tall, blonde, perfect skin and teeth. A chiseled jaw and strong shoulders. Half the girls were smitten before Faith even agreed to give him a shot. Less so now, of course. Probably should have taken the fact he turned up for a demon hunting gig with an actual honest-to-god frikking résumé as some kind of hint, looking back.
In the two short hours since they had been dispatched to this godforsaken pile of rubble somewhere in the middle of the South American rain forest, he's succeeded in misidentifying the demons they were up against, accidentally triggering whatever process they had been sent out here to prevent in the first place, used Evelyn as a human shield and nearly got her killed and, to put the cherry on top of an already awful cake, he's lost their only remaining radio, their one means of contact with the guys back at HQ who might actually have a clue as to how to get them out of this nightmare.
So, no, on reflection, Faith probably won't feel guilty about slapping the moron. By activating the altar in the temple, he's effectively accomplished what the demon priest they were sent to stop was trying to do before Faith shoved a sword through him. So now the clock is ticking. Less than ten minutes before world go bye bye.
At least their current location seems reasonably safe - for an increasingly short period of time, anyways. It's basically a stone hut, two hundred yards away from the pyramid and to one side of the main concourse where a river of raw Earth magic is currently pouring out of the temple doors and down towards a portal at the other end. Somewhere halfway around the world, an identical portal should have opened up at the same time and that Earth magic is now slowly powering up the esoteric doomsday device constructed by some evil nutbar and his many, many followers up in the Austrian mountains.
They've got to turn off the power before it's too effing late and Blondie McWhinesalot over there is NOT helping.
The other slayers don't seem too put out. Jacinta is too busy rummaging through her backpack to have noticed Faith's reaction anyway. Maybe she'll find a magic satphone or something. Ophelia ("Don't call me O!") has ripped off the right leg of her cargo pants to bandage a horrible looking wound in her upper thigh. Margo, Fi, Ev and Henry are all taking turns at the door, keeping an eye on the veritable cloud of demon spawn heaving and surging around the pyramid.
Needless to say, those hadn't been there before the chinless wonder Urkeled the world down the toilet.
They're small. Ish. They're fast. Very. They're hungry and mean and giggle childishly as they hunt. Always together, though. They move together like a pack, or a hive. Or, no, a swarm. Like fugly bees with claws and teeth that shine in the darkness, dripping some kind of corrosive substance. They appeared out of nowhere and surrounded the team when they were still in the temple. It's a miracle they got out. Knives cut the little bastards, but they don't bleed. Crossbow bolts pierce them but they don't notice. Holy water sizzles but they seem to enjoy it. These things, whatever they are, seem invulnerable.
Against the darkness of a moonless night, their oil-slick hides would make them almost invisible too, were it not for all that magical energy making like a night light that can probably be seen all the way to Rio. Still it's not constant, so the shadows flicker and dance across the ruins, casting dangerous shadows.
"We need a plan, boss," says Ev, without looking away from the opening. "Those things aren't going away any time soon."
"I'm thinking!"
"What are they, anyway?" Margo wondered. "I mean, the priest guy and his zombies, those I understand. But no one said anything about feral demon chipmunks."
Ophelia looks up from her attempt at first aid and sneers. "Chipmunks?"
"That high pitched chittery thing they do. Reminds me of Alvin."
A couple of the others paused to assess this. One nodded pensively.
"Hey!" Henry poked Stephen. "Stop panicking and start helping. What are those things?"
"I don't know! How am I supposed to know?!"
"Because, A) You're a watcher and B) I will drop kick you back to Paraguay if you don't!"
"Leave it, Hen," Jacinta hisses from the other side of the shelter.
"It's about time he starts pulling his weight!"
"Or we do," says Margo. "Out the door'd be favorite. He could be bait."
There's a pause as seven different slayers weigh the potential tactical advantage gained by such a distraction against the guilt of sacrificing another human being.
Stephen sniffles.
"Leave him alone," Jacinta repeats finally.
"Just because the two of you have been knocking boots since-"
"SAY THAT AGAIN, I DARE YOU!"
Catfight in T minus six seconds. Faith suddenly wants to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Can we focus on the problem here, please?" she snaps. "Us here, altar there, swarm of demon, uh, chipmunks in between. Ideas, now!"
"Ooh! We could set fire to them!" says Margo, with rather disturbing enthusiasm. "That's how you deal with normal household pests, right?"
The others pause.
Ev clears her throat. "Um. No it isn't."
"Works with wasps."
"... Aren't you living at the slayer doss house at the moment?"
"Yeah, why?"
"What happened to your old place, exactly?"
"It blew up. But not because of wasps."
"Right."
While they natter on, Faith is actually trying to see if the kill-it-with-fire approach holds any kind of interest. "Do we have any kind of fuel?" she asks. "Gas? Booze? Anything?"
"I have some Chanel number 5 in my pack," Ophelia says.
"Which is...?"
"Probably still at the base of the temple, yeah."
"And probably not enough to spray that lot, anyway," Margo interjects cheerfully.
Right. Right. Stupid idea. Think, dammit! Think!
Six minutes left. Barely enough even without the demons. It's not like she knows how to stop the river of magic pouring out of the temple anyhow.
"I'll be the distraction," she hears herself say.
"What?!"
"No!"
"You won't make it five feet, boss!"
"If you die, can I have your stuff?"
"Shut up, Margo!"
"I'll get them to follow me. Ophelia, you stay here and, I don't know, guard Stephen, I guess."
"Yuck."
"The others, fan out behind me and look for an opening. First one to make it inside, go for the altar. All I can think to stop this is break that damn thing."
"And if that doesn't work?"
"Then it really won't matter anyway."
"I hate this plan!" Fi protests.
So does Faith. She really, really hates this plan. But those demons out there do seem to operate like like a swarm of wasps. If she can get them to notice her, most of them should follow her. That has to be enough, right? One of the others is bound to make it inside the pyramid. And destroying the altar in the old temple must put a stop to this, right?
Steeling herself for the run of her life, Faith moves over to the door. "Wait 'till they're on my tail before you make your move."
"Boss-"
"Bye."
She takes advantage of a sudden dip in the light of the magic to make a dash to the cover of some eroded masonry a few dozen feet away. It's off to one side of the shelter, enough so that the others should be out of the demons' line of sight.
Okay. Five minutes before the fat lady sings. On three. Get up, yell something, make sure they're chasing and then, what? Over to the tree line? No. No, they're guarding the pyramid and they know the others are still around. Jink left, over by that huge statue. Use the terrain to hold them off for however long you can, give the others time to sneak around back. They can do it. They can. Stop shaking and move.
Faith stands up. "Hey Alvin!" she yells, and hates herself. "Over here!"
Thousands of little red eyes swivel amidst the roiling mass, all in her direction. Take the bait. Take the bait. Come on, come on!
The swarm rears back a little, demons rearranging themselves to give chase and-
And then some lunatic in a pick-up appears from NOWHERE, skids to a halt right in front of her and the passenger door pops open.
"Get in!"
"Harris?!"
***
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Note: Sorry if the tone is off. I'm still kind of high on meds at the moment :)
TTFN!