A/N: If anyone thinks I’m bashing the show’s creators here, damn skippy. The only time I’ve seen anything as characterisation and plot illogical on TV as Angel and Wes hiring Harmony in Season 5 of Angel was the entire cast of Buffy joining the lead in going bimbo in Season 4 of Buffy by deciding that Spike’s safe to keep around because he’s got a chip in his head made by the ever so efficient military of the good old US of A. You shouldn’t force a plot to get one of your favourites on-screen, if it doesn’t make sense for them to be there, don’t use them!

FIC: Faith The Series Season 7 Episode 1

Montreal, Canada

The girl’s breath came in desperate pants, sweat pouring down her denim-clad body as she ran through Montreal’s mazy back-streets. She knew it was unwise, but couldn’t stop herself from shooting looks over her shoulder. Every time she looked there wasn’t any sign of her pursuers, but she somehow knew they were there.

She stumbled around a corner, clumsily bouncing off the rough-bricked wall in her haste, knocking over and almost falling over an over-flowing trash can. Her heart jumped as the trash can crashed to the ground, its clang echoing in her ears.

Her eyes widened when one of the mystery men stepped out of the darkness, sewn-shut eyes staring at her and glyphed blade gleaming in the darkness. Marie let out an inarticulate wail as she feinted left and then twisted right.

Her world tilted as her foot slipped on something underfoot, pitching her to the ground. Her head crashed off the concrete, pain exploding through it. The last thing she saw was a blade slashing down towards her.

* * *

”Shit!” Faith sat upright in bed, sheets falling off her as she awoke from her Slayer Dream, chest tight and throat dry. Dream? Faith laughed hoarsely. More like a fuckin’ nightmare. Her eyes narrowed as she recalled the very similar dream she’d had after Das Tier had beaten the snot outta her. Two dreams ‘bout the same knife-men, that was never gonna be a good -.

”Shit,” she repeated as she glanced at the clock by her bedside, all thoughts of knife-men fleeing when she realised she’d overslept and on her first day at W&H.

Faith shook her head as she leapt out of bed, grabbed her towel and headed towards the bathroom. She still hadn’t got her head around G’s plan, and the others who didn’t even know it were even more unhappy and just goin’ along with everything ‘cause of loyalty.

It was gonna be a hell of a day.

* * *

“Hey G, nice office. How come you didn’t wake me ‘fore goin’ out?”

Giles looked up and smiled as Faith dropped into the seat at the other side of his desk, uncomfortable yet professional in her black trouser suit. “The herd of elephants you were snoring suggested it was best to leave you to your own devices.”

”Funny guy,” Faith’s dimples briefly showed, then her eyes hardened. “I had that dream ‘gain, you know the one with those Bringer guys.”

“Oh,” Giles’ brow creased, his cheeks clenching as he grimaced. That was worrying. True they had the resources of Wolfram & Hart behind them now, but even so, against the First Evil….

Deciding a change of subject was their best option, he leaned over the desk. “Your fellow Slayer and her Watcher are scheduled to arrive today, together with a number of Potentials.”

”Right,” Faith affected unconcern, but Giles knew his charge better than that. After Tegan it was hardly surprising that Faith would be leery about having another Slayer around, he only hoped Faith’s wariness would not end up fuelling a self-fulfilling prophecy. “So you decided who’s doin’ what?”

Giles smiled, that had been a time-consuming task, employing logistics, strategy, and diplomacy in roughly equal measure. “You will of course be in charge of our Elocution department-.”

Faith’s dimples made a brief showing. “Good call.”

“I am of course going to be the Head of Operations-.”

“Yes sir!” Faith mockingly saluted.

“I’ve decided Cordelia will carry on her previous position as my PA,” Giles chuckled and shook his head, a reluctant smile tugging at his lips. “Unbelievable, personnel tried to send me down a vampire for the job!”

”Yeah,” Faith snorted, “’cause after six years fighting the bastards we don’t know how untrustworthy, ruthless and downright sneaky vampires are. See here,” Faith tapped at the side of her head, “lobotomy scar right there. What do they think we are ‘tards?”

“Precisely,” Giles nodded.

”So the geniuses who tried to send this vamp to spy on or kill us, are they human?” Faith queried.

“Not quite,” Giles shook his head. “A Joss Whedon and Marti Noxon signed off on the assignment. I checked our records, they look human, but they’re actually Necrofans, demons with a slavish desire to serve vampires. As they can go out in the day without any problem, some vampires use them to run errands etc.”

“’Kay, in that case, don’t just fire them, set them on actual-.” Faith raised an eyebrow at his grin.

”Already done,” he chuckled before continuing. “Wesley is of course the head of the Linguistics & Demonology department. Lorne gets the Entertainment department. I’m going to put Rona and her Watcher in charge of training the Potentials, while I’m going to appoint Willow and Tara to the R&D department.”

Faith’s forehead creased and her eyes narrowed. “Not the Occult Research department?”

Giles shook his head. “No, given Willow’s foolishness at times with magic, I thought it unwise to expose her to yet more temptation.”

”Yeah,” Faith nodded, “I can see your point. What ‘bout me?”

“We’re of course going to continue patrolling, however given our expanded responsibilities, I thought you, Xander, and Gunn would simply continue doing that.”

“Ooooh,” Faith cooed breathlessly, her long eyelashes fluttered playfully, “two strong men of my own, you do know me Daddy!”

“Ha, ha.” Giles returned Faith’s play-acting with a wry smile. “In addition, they will make sure our own security within W&H is secure. Including of course being circumspect about just what we say and do where ears could well be listening in.” Giles’ smile disappeared. “I’ve been examining our client files.”

”Yeah?”

”Yes.” To any other eye than his or perhaps Xander’s, Faith would seem disinterested, casual even. But he saw the slight narrowing of her eyes and the tensing in her shoulders, and felt the air around her vibrate with the danger of a predator readying themselves to strike. “They can be split into a number of categories. Legitimate businessmen who probably have no idea just who they’re dealing with. Crooked politicians and businessmen who at the least know how unethical W&H are, if not their origins. Crime bosses who likewise are fully aware of W&H’s methods if not their genesis, and humans involved with the supernatural, mages, necromancers, and the like. In addition, there’s demons, not all of whom are evil, some simply have no choice but deal with W&H as the pre-eminent law firm aware of and dealing with supernatural.”

Faith’s mouth opened to comment, but before she could speak, his office’s glass doors swung open and a tall, broad-shouldered man with a square jaw and expressionless eyes strode in. Giles rose from his seat, eyes narrowing as he glowered at the interloper. “I’m reasonably sure this is my office. Only members of my team can enter without knocking.”

“Of course,” the man’s brief flash of teeth was in Giles’ estimation, utterly insincere
”Never happen again. Just wanted to, you know, see put your faces to your names.” The man glanced to Faith. “And what a face yours is. Thought you’d be bigger though given your reputation.”

Faith raised an eyebrow. “Heard the sayin’ ‘the bigger they are, the harder they fall’?” Faith queried, a shark-like grin tugging at her full lips. “Skyscraper?”

The big man chuckled, but Giles noted the coldness didn’t shift from his eyes. “I’m Marcus Hamilton your liaison to the firm. I'll help you find your way through the messy labyrinth that is corporate politics and our operating practices.”

Giles exchanged a perplexed look with Faith. “Who do you answer to?”

“The senior partners, and if you're thinking that you can use me to get to them, let go of the dream. I answer to them. I don't lunch with them.” Hamilton replied. “Let me tell you how this works.”

“I thought I-,” Giles amended what he’d been about to say when Faith coughed meaningfully, “we were in charge.”

”Of the Sunnydale office of a multi-dimensional corporation. Now, I'm stressing that last word because that's what we are.” Marcus commented. “We're a business, and we have a bottom line. Now, you could take your new client list and start hacking away from the top down. A lot of our clients are demons, and... almost all of them are evil.”

“So I’ve noticed,” Giles steepled his fingers as he glared at the seemingly impervious bureaucrat.

”You can shut this place down, but then you wouldn't have it anymore, its resources disappear. If the place closes down, the connections dry up. Evil goes next door, to another city or another state. This is the catch, in order to keep this business running, you have to keep this business running. And that means keeping your clients—most of them, anyway happy.“

“Means letting them get away with stuff,” Faith commented.

“Honey,” Hamilton took a step closer to death by smirking condescendingly at Faith, “they were getting away with it while you were all sitting around your detective agency waiting for the phone to jangle. Well, you're on the ins now, and you can stop the worst of it. Maybe find some new solutions to some old problems.“ Marcus’ grin widened. “Isn’t this exciting? The most powerful evil around has given a pivotal position over to its sworn enemies. You're not scared, are you?”

Faith snorted derisively as the man strode out. “Oh he’s gonna a whole barrel of laughs.”

* * *

Xander rose as a dreadlocked teen black girl strode into W&H’s well-lit lobby, a powerfully built black man by her side, and a gaggle of teen girls behind her. Guessing this girl had to be the other Slayer, he rose and walked over to her, a welcoming grin on her face. “Hey,” he greeted, “you must be Rona. Pleased to meet you. I’m Faith’s boy-friend-.”

The girl didn’t take her hand, instead sniffing. “Yes, I’d heard she had friends. People weigh you down.”

Xander’s smile became rather more forced. “You can’t argue with results.”

“She died twice,” Rona stonily replied. “That suggests a couple of pretty big screw-ups to me..”

”Come Rona,” the black man placed his hand in the small of the dark-skinned Slayer’s back. “If we must be here, we should at least check out the resources.”

“Oh that was warm and friendly,” he muttered. “Makes me pine for the days of Tegan Austin-Meadows.”

* * *

Even if he hadn’t read Corbin Fries’ case file detailing his prostitution of under-age illegal immigrants, he wouldn’t like the man on sight with his sleazily handsome features and way of looking at Faith like he was deciding how much she’d cost. “What’s the problem?” Wesley queried.

“Here's the skinny: Tomorrow the D.A. puts my tit in a wringer for good and all, and that... does not stand with me.” Fries pulled on his doubtless very expensive but staggeringly tasteless snake-skin jacket.

“Because you're guilty.” Giles said, his tone expressionless.

“Of course I'm guilty,” the pimp scowled. “What the hell are you changin' the subject for? The point is, when Holland Manners was running things, this would've never got to trial. Now, I bring a lot of money into this firm, more than most, and I don't do that so I can be handed over to the frickin' law.” Fries pointed at Faith. “You, no you,” his finger turned to him, “get me off.”

“You can’t imagine my lack of incentive,” Giles replied.

Fries sniffed. “You think I give a crap about your new regime here? Yeah, I know who you are, and I care to the sum of zero. You're my lawyers. And if you don't do every last thing to keep me out of jail, you will regret it.”

“Let me explain something,” Giles felt ice form as he smiled at the gangster. “We don’t kill witnesses not anyone else. We don’t enchant or tamper with juries.”

”So this one has to be won on the merits of the case,” Wesley finished for him.

“You are doing jack!” Fries snarled. ”I am not gonna be made an example of. Either you get me off tomorrow—.”

“I think you should calm down,” Faith said in that all-too calm voice of hers.

“Babe,” Fries leered at Faith, “you can get me off right now.” Fries turned back to him. “To hell with calm down. Either you get me off, or I drop the bomb.”

Wesley and Giles exchanged looks. “Bomb?”

Fries’ smirk widened. ”Let me put it this way: If they bring in a conviction, bye-bye, California. I say the magic word, the only people left standing are gonna be the ones that are already dead.”

* * *

“Blow everybody up?” Willow gasped.

Faith shrugged. “Well, he said "drop the bomb." We don't know what that means.”

”We might, if you hadn’t knocked him out!” Giles reprimanded.

“He’s precisely the sort we should knock out,” Faith defended.

Giles sighed. “We need to find out about this bomb and somehow disable it in case that jury comes in with a conviction.“

”We think it may have some mystical element,” Wesley commented. “Just before Faith knocked him out Fries said, "I say the magic word." He could mean exactly that.
Which is my department. We also think it probably isn't an explosive. This isn't the sort of man to risk his own life. So that could mean more magic—.”

”Or it could be a virus, Ebola kind of thing,” Tara said. “This place holds the patent on several nasty biological weapons.”

“Right.” Giles nodded. “The main thing is, any of this stuff could've come from right here. The lawyer working on Fries’ case says he doesn't know anything, and I believe him.”

“Why?” asked Tara.

”He's terrified.” Wesley supplied.

Lorne nodded. “This place seems to breed fear. If it came in neat little packages, this place could sell more units than the Beatles sold records!”

Giles turned to the demon. “Lorne, you're in the courtroom. Monitor the case. Let us know how it's going.”

Lorne’s eyes widened. ”But lunch with Mary-Kate... She was gonna tell me about Ashley's new piercing.”

“Be flexible,” Giles ordered.

“Oh, I got Spanky's address,” Cordy passed Faith a note.

”Spanky?” Xander raised an eyebrow. “A new fetish you’ve been holding out on me?”

“You wish.” Faith laughed. “Freelance mystic. He's showed up in Fries' files a few times. I'm gonna do some legwork.”

“Darn,” Xander half-smiled. “Need a lift?”

“Not this time,” Faith smirked.

* * *

The elevator bell pinged as its doors opened, Faith rushing out into the dark basement garage. Her eyes widened as she saw the row of classic sports cars from every decade.

“Givin’ all this speed to a girl my age, just ain’t responsible, I tell ya.” Faith squealed in delight and rushed to a midnight-black Trans-Am.

* * *

The door opened to reveal a greying guy with a decent build wearing a sweaty tank top and grey cotton bottoms. “Hey baby,” the man leered at her, “you just about made my day.”

”Yeah, great,” Faith flipped him a business card. “I'm here from Wolfram & Hart. Here about a job.”

Spanky beamed. “Well, then get your butt in here. Pardon the sweaty. I was working out. Uh, you want a drink? I got a pitcher of daiquiris.”

“I'm good, thanks.”

Spanky nodded. “Looking at your ass, I'm about to be better.”

Faith raised an eyebrow as she walked in. This guy was even more obsessed with her butt than usual-, Faith came to a halt, the penny dropping together with her jaw as she stared at the wall filled with paddles, canes, crops, and whips. “Hmm. So tell me...
why do they call you "Spanky"?”

“I think we both know the answer to that, honey.”

Faith sighed. “That's what I figured.” Why oh why couldn’t she have sent Harris and Gunn instead.

Spanky sipped at his daiquiri. “So how about you pick out what you wanna be spanked with, then go into the lounge, drop your pants, and bend over the couch?” Spanky smiled. “I’ll even charge you half-price.”

Faith snorted. Yeah, like that was gonna happen. “Strictly business I’m afraid,” she affected a disappointed note. “But I’m here about a job. The one you did for Corbin Fries.”

Spanky’s eyes darkened. Yeah? I don't discuss my old jobs. Mystic-client privilege.”

Faith shook her head. “You're gonna tell me what you did for Mr. Fries. Now or very soon from now.”

“Babe, I ain’t telling you shit,” Spanky glared at her. “Now get outta here ‘fore you get a spanking whether you want it or not.”

“Yeah?” Faith lunged forward, grabbed the man by his throat and flung him into the wall opposite the S&M toys. Spanky hit the wall with a thud and slid down it, a dazed expression on his face. Faith grabbed a paddle off the wall. “You know, you gotta a whole lotta of bones in your body, I’ve got no problem breaking each and every one of them to get some answer.” Faith smirked as Spanky began to talk. And Giles said she hadn’t the delicate touch needed to handle workplace negotiations.

* * *

Willow and Tara sat on their office floor, working through the papers strewn over the floor. “This is going to be bad,” Tara shook her head. “They’ve done work on half of the biological weapons out there. What sort of people are we working for?“

Willow’s mouth opened, but before she could speak, their assistant, a short, self-effacing man with floppy black hair by the name of Knox burst through the office door. “Found it!” he proclaimed. “We did do some work with Fries on illegal pesticides, rodent killers, but the guy who did the work was fired for working under the table, doing jobs on the side for an apocalypse cult, The Black Tomorrow, who specialise in viruses and plagues.”

Willow snatched at the suddenly ringing phone.

* * *

“Department of—.”

“Hey Red,” Faith interrupted.

“Faith, yeah. It looks like our client might be playing with a virus. Spread by touch or maybe even airborne.”

“I’ve found out where he’s put the bomb,” Faith replied. “Tell Gunn and Xan to meet me at Spanky’s. It’s road trip time.” Faith paused. “Oh and tell them to bring everything we’ve got on a demon called Deevak.”

* * *

“Okay,” Tara watched as Willow hung up the phone. “I’ve gotta go see Giles, you’ll be alright here.”

“I’ll be fine,” Tara lied as her girl-friend rushed out. The floor was full of 8"x10" glossy photos of victims of deadly Ebola-like germs and diseases, pictures that were terrible to look at, but impossible to tear your gaze from.

“Yeah, I'd say we're looking at a retrovirus. Spread by touch. Some derivation of the phonaya strain,” Knox continued.

Tara stared at the slimly little geek. “Are you sure?”

“Couple more tests.”

“Well are you running them?” Tara demanded.

“I'll get someone on it.” Knox replied.

Tara’s temper did something incredibly rare, it snapped. “Don't get someone on it, have someone on it. Did we build this thing? Do we have an antidote? Do we have an Antidote Department? Or do you only build these nightmares?” Tara jabbed a finger into the scientist’s chest. “If this thing goes off, I’ll at least die with the comfort of knowing that I'm dying with the only people in the world that actually deserve it! Now get your ass out of here and get your evil minions working!”

* * *

“Hey,” Faith greeted as Xander and Gunn pulled up outside Spanky’s apartment in a blood-red Mustang, “nice wheels.”

“Right back at you,” Xander grinned.

“Yeah,” Gunn agreed, “black looks good on you.” The African-American winked. “But I’ve tried to tell you that ‘fore.”

”Damn Chuck, you sound almost as sleazy as Spanky,” Faith’s grin disappeared. “How about Deevak, what ya got on him?”

“He’s a demon who runs a car ring and extortion racket on the south side of LA,” Xander replied. “But here’s the interesting thing, Fries’ accounts show that he’s made payments of twenty thousand a month for two years to Deevak’s shell company for no apparent reason.”

“We’ve got the reason now,” Faith commented. “Asshole’s Fries’ insurance policy.”

”What’s the plan?” Gunn queried. “Chop the demon into lil pieces and bomb goes poof.”

”Pretty much,” Faith replied.

”And you’re sure he wasn’t lying?” Xander queried. “That killing him will destroy the containment?”

”Babe,” Faith purred, “the moves I was puttin’ on that asshole, he didn’t have the nerve to lie.”

* * *

Courtroom

Lorne shook his head as he watched Fries’ trial, starting slightly as Wes dropped into the seat beside him. “Giles sent me to check how things are going?”

“Let’s just put it this way,” Lorne talked out of the side of his mouth, “our guy’s no Perry Mason.”

Wesley winced. ”How long do we have?”

“The defence is trying to draw proceedings out, but the judge is knocking back every motion,” Lorne replied. “We haven’t got long, maybe even before the verdict, Fries might be a lot of things, but he ain’t dumb. He's dead meat, and he knows it.”

* * *

“This is the place?” Faith peered out of the car window at the dirty looking garage\car lot.

“Yeah,” Xander confirmed through his cell.

”’Kay,” Faith nodded. “I’m gonna do the babe in distress thing, I want you two to sneak ‘round the back while they’re distracted by my sleek lines.”

”Don’t you mean the car’s?” Gunn’s voice crackled through the line.

”You’re gettin’ way too cocky, Chuck,” Faith warned as she continued to look through the shadowy entrance.

* * *

Giles shook his head as he rifled the notes on his desk, unable to concentrate on anything but the thought of the city and maybe the entire state being destroyed. He looked up at a knock on his door. “Hello?”

“It’s Willow and Tara,” the red witch called.

”Oh ladies, please come in.” He rose as the two witches entered then sat back down.

”We’ve got the lab techs on track for an antidote, but it could be days,” Tara reported.
”Same with removing the mystical container, I'm afraid. If we could get them to suspend the trial—.”

“No,” Giles interrupted with a sigh, “according to my last report, the trial is winding up, Rumpole of the Bailey couldn’t work his magic on that.”

Willow nodded. ”Then maybe a spell-.”

”NO!” Giles let out a panicked roar, then shook his head and lowered his tone. “The magics involved in such a spell would be incredibly difficult to create, and would need a considerable amount of time to set up, not to mention would be seriously draining.” Giles shook his head. “Faith or the law’s vagaries are our best bet now.”

* * *

“Whoo! Hooo! Look at that fine fox!”

Faith hid a grin as a quintet of what looked to African-Americans but her senses told her were in fact demons spilled out of the grey-walled portakabin at her arrival. In seconds the five were surrounding her, oblivious to anything other than her and the car. “Nice car honey,” the shortest of the five strutted up to her. “What’s a cutie like you doin’ in an area like this?”

Faith smiled as she saw Xander and Gunn climbing over the wire-mesh fence behind the oblivious quintet. “Kicking your ass,” she replied with an uppercut to the jaw that sent the small black sprawling in the dust. Faith stamped down at the black’s chest only for her rival to roll away and up to his feet.

”Shit,” Faith’s eyes widened as the rising demon morphed into its true self, a hulking seven foot blue skinned monster in a red robe. Faith leapt up into the air, catching the demon with a single-footed heel kick to its thick chest.

Faith landed in a feet-apart crouch, knees slightly bent to lessen the impact. The demon staggered but didn’t fall, instead responding with a clumsy back-hand that might have taken her head off if she hadn’t ducked under it and charged in close. The muscles in her biceps writhed as she swung the tyre-iron she’d hidden under her leather jacket under-arm up and into the demon’s groin.

The demon’s alien face seemed to blanch as it doubled up and staggered back, Faith bringing the tyre-iron down hard on the back of the creature’s skull, her tyre-iron smashing through its head, and dropping the demon dead.

* * *

Courtroom

Wesley strode back into the courtroom and sunk back into his seat besides Lorne. “Any word?”

Lorne leaned into him and muttered. “Does Fries look like a happy camper?”

Wesley grimaced as he took in the gangster’s glowering face. “Guess not.”

The district attorney was giving his summing up. “Calling witness after witness, each less credible than the one before...”

“This is endgame, baby,” Lorne muttered. “You’ve got a plan, right?” Wesley opened his coat to give Lorne a glimpse of the automatic in his holster “Oh, and here I thought we were desperate.” Lorne’s red eyes narrowed at his sudden smile. “What is it, Wild Bill?”

“Fries can go to hell for all we care,” Wesley tapped his earpiece. “Giles just sent me a message, Faith took care of the vessel.”

* * *

“Hey Giles, burnin’ the midnight oil?”

Giles smiled as his adoptive daughter sauntered into his desk-lit office. “Someone has to,” he retorted. “You never studied at school, so one has to pick up the slack here.”

”Hey when you’re as smokin’ as I am, there’s always a guy who’ll do my homework for me,” Faith arched an eyebrow as she dropped into the seat opposite him, “bit disturbing when it’s you though, Pops.”

“Well done with Deevak,” Giles replied.

“Hey, smash and slice,” Faith winked. “Should have been my college majors.” Faith’s eyes narrowed. “One thing though.”

”Oh yes?” he prompted when Faith fell silent.

”That Hamilton guy worries me,” Faith replied. “I wanna know exactly what a Liaison is.”