"What!" Predictably Xander was first of the still sat Scoobies to reach his feet, the others a scant half-second behind him. "What do you mean!"

"Xander," Giles didn’t pull his gaze away from his daughter. "Please, Faith can hardly explain if you’re shouting. Well unless you wish to find her a foghorn to compete with your bellow."

"You’ve obviously never heard her shou-," a still battered-looking Wesley raised his hands, "wait, what am I saying, you’ve had the doubtless joyful experience of her living with you for the last five years, of course you have. How is your hearing by the way?" Wesley turned towards him. "Do you suffer from any ringing in your ears?"

"Fuck," Faith shook her head. "I come here for help, what do I get, comedy fuckin’ central!"

"Of course, Faith," shooting Wesley a warning look, he turned back to his Slayer. "What happened, Faith?"

"Walsh called me in to say she wanted a low-risk recon of the tunnels under the base, that I was the only person who could do it because of the tightness of the caves that sort of the thing. So you know me, I’m always willing to help." Wesley cut off a choked laugh. Faith shot Giles’ countryman a glare. "’Cept it wasn’t a low-risk recon at all. I’m like five minutes into the tunnel when these two demons-," Faith’s eyes widened, "oh shit! They were from the base, those fuckers we saw secured to the table when we did the tour. So I’m backing off and then this grille falls into place, and I have to fight these two axe-wielding demons."

By now a cold rage had built up in Giles. Walsh was going to pay for trying to hurt his child. He turned at the sound of the weapons cabinet being opened and Xander pulling out a double-bladed axe. "Xander, what are you doing?" Wesley exclaimed.

"I’m thinking about shortening Professor Walsh," the boy explained. After a beat he continued. "By maybe a head."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Gunn started over to the cabinet, closely followed by Cordelia.

"Um, what will the government say?" Kate put in.

"If the buggers don’t want a diplomatic incident with their closest allies that’ll make The Boston Tea Party seem like a rough night on the Gorbals, they’ll do nothing," seeing the others bar Wesley staring at him in confusion, he shook his head, "British cultural reference, never mind. My guess is that Walsh has exceeded her authority by some considerable margin. The US. government will doubtless be angry with our interference, but they will be relieved that the embarrassment has been dealt with. However," he paused, "anyone who feels they wouldn’t be comfortable can stay here."

"I should say not," Wesley huffed and rose. "They attacked one of us, we can’t allow that to go unanswered."

"Thank you Wesley," Giles smiled at his fellow countryman, pleased by his loyalty, "however I don’t think you’re quite in the condition for this." He stilled Wesley’s protest with a raised hand. "Please, you wouldn’t wish to put us in danger with your injuries now would you?"

The younger Watcher glared at him for a second before gruffly nodding and slumping back into his seat. "Thanks Wes," he was mildly surprised when Faith reached across and ruffled the other Englishman’s hair, "’ppreciate the gesture but G’s right. Ya need to sit this one out."

Giles looked around, pleased to see that the others, minus Tara and Willow who seemed joined at the hip these days, were all stood and armed, wearing a selection of concerned but resolute expressions. Walking over to the cabinet, he pulled out a sword. "Let’s go."

"These soldiers are human," Kate pointed out, "we can’t kill them, no matter what they’ve done."

"Speak for yourself," Faith muttered.

Giles chose to ignore Faith’s comment. "I have no intention of killing them," he soothed. "Merely beating them up, and more importantly destroying the facility and its research notes so its impossible for them to operate. Then, they’ll be forced to call in outside help, an investigation will ensue and they’ll realise just what Walsh was doing and shut her down."

"Neat plan, what do you think will really happen?" scoffed Cordelia.

"You realise they have guns and stuff?" Xander commented.

"There’s one thing they don’t realise," he replied as he made for the doors.

"What’s that?" Kate asked.

"Yeah, ‘cause if we’ve got Goldberg turning up I’d sorta like to know," Gunn put in.

"Why," Cordelia could be heard rolling her eyes, "would you ask for his autograph?"

Giles shook his head as the teens continued bickering. He was supposed to fight the US. government with this? "God help us all," he muttered.

* * *

"Whoa," Xander stopped as he looked at the torn apart elevator door that led into the Initiative’s base. "I guess we don’t have to worry about getting out." Xander looked at the bent door and then his girl-friend. "Wow, you were really pissed weren’t you?"

"Yeah, I was," Faith nodded, Xander noted how troubled his girl-friend looked, "but I told you, I escaped underneath." Xander stared blankly at his girl-friend. Faith sighed. "This wasn’t me dumbass."

"Who was it then?" Xander asked.

"Who am I Einstein?" Faith snapped.

"I doubt that case of mistaken identity has happened," Giles paused. "For a multitude of differing reasons."

"You’re saying I’m dumb?" Faith glared at Giles.

"No, not of all, dear," Giles quickly replied. "Merely not a dead European scientist."

"Good save," Gunn muttered.

"I’d guess there’s only one way to find out what happened here," commented Kate.

"What’s your nickname down at the station?" Xander muttered. "Detective Obvious?"

Giles shot him a look that Xander ignored as he clambered past the door and into the tunnel beyond. His skin crawled at the flashing emergency lights dotted along the corridor bathing the tunnel in a gloomy red and the screaming, unanswered klaxon in the distance. "Oh god."

Xander heard Faith’s gasped comment a second before he saw the carnage inside the base itself. "I very much doubt that any god had very much to do with this," Giles muttered, the Englishman’s face a pasty grey.

"Yeah," Xander agreed as he looked around the base. Blood was splattered on the walls, guns had obviously been fired because the walls and various furnishings were covered in bullet-holes, and the stench of cordite was thick in the air. However the offered defence had been in vain. Tables lay everywhere, the various pieces of equipment stacked on them smashed to pieces, and the corpses of the Initiative’s soldiers, scientists, and technicians strewn amongst the wreckage, eyes lifeless and bodies torn apart.

Xander kicked something and instinctively looked down. "Ugh." He grimaced. It looked like he’d found Riley. Well his head anyway. God only knew where the rest of him was.

"Wow," Xander almost jumped at his girl-friend’s whisper in the battle-scarred base, "this reminds me of this one time these two biker gangs tore a place up back in Boston."

"I somehow doubt that Hell’s Angels are to blame for this carnage," commented Giles.

"Unless it was actual Hell’s Angels." Everyone turned towards Gunn, the African-American shrugged. "Sorry, forget I spoke."

"There’s one way to find out what did this," Faith said, eyes fixed on the far entrance.

"Um, hate to be a worry wart, but do we really want to tangle with something that did this?" Xander asked, shooting a glance around the miniature-Armageddon that had once been a military base.

"I’m the Slayer."

"Yeah," Xander muttered. "That’s your answer for everything."

* * *

Adam smiled as he found himself in an area he recognised from his host’s data files as a forest. He noticed a small being knelt in the area just ahead of him playing with a silver toy, a bike beside him. Stepping forward, he spoke. "What am I?"

The creature looked up, gasped, and stood. "You're a monster."

"I am?" Adam sighed. "I thought so. What are you?"

"Me? I'm a boy."

"A boy. How do you work?" Adam asked.

The boy shrugged. "I don't know. I just do."

Adam smiled. "Let’s find out."

* * *

Faith heard but ignored Xander’s retort as she glided through the wrecked base, eyes flitting left and right, skin prickling with every step. She halted as she reached a green door with a fist sized hole punched through its grilled window and a blood splattered handprint on it. Taking a breath she took hold of the colder than usual steel door handle and opened the door, wincing at its seemingly deafening creak. Entering the corridor beyond, she took comfort from a quick glance behind to see her buds had her back.

Stopping at the door leading to ‘Room 314’, she crept inside, heart pounding fit to burst. She stopped as she noted a disembowelled corpse on the blood-covered ground. "Guess you don’t have to worry about Walsh anymore," Cordelia commented.

"That’s what I love about you," Faith winked at her best bud. "You find the silver lining in everything." Turning serious, she looked around. "Whatever happened here, started here."

"What makes you say that?" Gunn demanded.

"Well the blood splatters only lead out of this room, not in," Kate spoke up.

"Yeah, that," Faith conceded with a nod. "But also this room was the no 1. top secret place on the base. This had Walsh’s pet project in here, and whatever was in here went nuts."

"A basically sound assumption but a little light on detail," Giles commented. "What do you think 314 was?"

"You know what top-secret means don’t ya?" Faith rhetorically asked. "How the hell am I supposed to-."

"I know how we can find out." Everyone turned to Xander standing beside a collapsed desk, a pack of around a dozen CDs in his hand. "All marked ‘314’ and numbered one to ten," Xander smiled. "Anyone want to bet what’s on them?"

"Anyone want to bet they’re encrypted?" countered Kate.

"Oh bloody hell," Giles groaned. "We need a slasher."

"You mean a hacker," Faith corrected. "We need Red."

"I’ll ring Tara," everyone stared at Cordelia. "What? She’ll be less likely to refuse us if her new best buddy is there."

"Strategic thinking from Miss Chase," Faith’s lips quirked up at Giles’ mutter. "Good lord, it’s worse than I thought."

* * *

Willow sighed as she heard a thumping on her door. Looking at the clock she realised it was almost six in the evening. "Go away!"

"Willow this is an emergency!" she heard Giles’ shout through the door. "Please, we need your help!"

"Haven’t I helped you enough this year!" she snapped, tears welling in her eyes. She’d helped them and Amy had died, wasn’t that enough for them?

"Please, Will," Xander added his voice to the pleading. "This is apocalypse serious."

"Fine!" she snapped again, rising on slightly wobbly legs she stumbled over to the door and pulled it open. Before she could say another word, the others poured into her room.

"Thanks Red," Faith shoved a box of discs into her hand. "We need you to hack into them."

She cast a cursory glance towards the discs. "314, what’s that?"

"We don’t know," Willow listened with mounting horror as Faith explained what had happened with the Initiative. "So what we need is you to crack these discs and tell us what we’re doing with."

"Okay but I work best on my own," she shooed them to the door just as Tara arrived, obviously phoned there by one of the others. "You can stay," she forced a smile at her friend.

* * *

Wesley looked up from his seat as the lobby doors crashed open and his team members strode in, a look of barely-contained horror on each and every one of their faces. He glanced around, brow furrowing in confusion. None of them appeared injured to account for their upset. "I say, what happened?"

"You can safely say the Initiative is no more," Giles threw his sabre onto the couch.

"That’s splendid news!" he exulted.

"Not really," Kate shook her head. "Not when we had nothing to do it." He stared askance at the police officer. "The place was a complete mess, bodies everywhere. Some experiment they’d been working on had gone amok."

"What?" he asked.

"That’s the problem," Faith put in. "We haven’t a fucking cl-."

"Guys," everyone turned towards Xander, "you might want to watch this."

Everybody turned towards the television. "Sunnydale is still reeling from news of the crime. A source in the coroner's office tells us that the eight year old boy was torn apart, his organs removed as if for experimentation. Police have not named a suspect and the killer is still at large."

"Shit," the moment the report ended, Faith was striding towards the door.

"Where are you going, young lady!" Giles demanded.

"It’s still daylight out there," Faith peered out of the glass door, "will be for another hour. It has to be our guy."

"And that is precisely why you shouldn’t go out," Giles pointed out. "We have no idea what sort of demon they had in there, what experiments they’ve done on it, and how the experiments have effected or changed it."

The always stubborn Slayer shook her head. "I ain’t sitting around twiddling my thumbs while this thing rips through Sunnydale’s under tens!"

"Very well," Giles strode over to his sabre. "If you insist-."

"No way, Jose," Faith shook her head, raven tresses bouncing, "if this mother’s a real bad ass, I can run. I can’t run if you guys are in tow. See ya."

"But-," Xander’s voice trailed off as the Slayer raced out of the door at an awesome speed.

"Oh dear," Wesley murmured under his breath, "I feel she’s just proved her point."

* * *

"It seems as if they were planning to create a human\machine\demon hybrid. It’s fascinating really, in a horrible way." Tara smiled as she watched her friend peer at the computer screen, seeing an all too rare animation in her bloodshot eyes. Suddenly the mouse fell from Willow’s limp hand, her face paling. "The phone," her friend croaked. "I need to ring Giles now!"

* * *

Faith strode through the still partially-lit forest, heart located very securely in her throat as she looked left and right. It jumped right out of her mouth when a long shadow was cast over her and a humanoid thing stepped out of the bushes. The thing was made up of a patchwork of seemingly disparate parts, but although half its face was covered by a steel plate, she still recognised the human he had once been. "O….Owen," she croaked. "Owen Thurman."

"My name is ADAM," the thing corrected. "A cybernetic demon human hybrid made by Professor Margaret Walsh, the first of a line of super-soldiers."

"You ain’t no Captain America," Faith mumbled through shocked lips.

"But the memories of the human I once was remembers the name, Owen Thurman," ADAM admitted. "My visual records also recognise you. Faith Lehane now Faith Giles, born 7/7/81, a graduate of Sunnydale High ’99, and her generation’s Slayer." The cyborg smiled. "I have standing orders if you were hostile to capture and bring back to the Initiative. With the Initiative gone, I think killing you will suffice."

"Easier said than done!" Faith lunged forward, smashing a heel into the creature’s gut even as she swung her blade at its head. ADAM took the kick with a grunt, before punching her in the wrist causing her hand to open and the sword to fall to the ground. Next the demon grabbed her by the throat and flung her away. Faith writhed in pain as she crashed into the tree behind. Ignoring her aching back, she bent her knees and bounded up to grab an overhanging branch and kick out at her opponent. The demon took a back step, Faith looped over the branch and released her hold.

Her momentum carried through the air to land behind the creation. Shooting a foot out at its back, she gasped as the demon grabbed her foot in an agonisingly tight grip. "You are fast." The demon lifted her off her feet and flung her into a bush. "I’m faster."

Rolling up, she leapt into a spinning backfist. The creation ducked under her attack while driving an elbow into her side. "Ahhhhhh!" Faith screamed as pain erupted in her kidneys. Landing in a crouch, she back-pedalled away from the demon’s blurred attack of kicks and punches, parrying what she couldn’t twist or side-step out of the way of with her arms and legs, every blow sending concussive shockwaves through her limbs. Finally her left arm was just a weary inch slow to a block and she caught a thudding left to the chin. Dropping to her knees, she had to fling herself down onto her back and roll away to avoid first a knee to the face and then a stomp to the throat.

As she reached a crouch she was rocked by a powerful punch to the left temple, her forehead bursting open like a faucet, pumping blood into her eye. Dazed, she fell onto her back, instinctively kicking out at her advancing opponent as she did so.

Her instincts gave her time to roll up onto her feet. Once there, she managed to block a left to her face while delivering a kick to the monster’s inner knee. ADAM stumbled backwards, dropping to one knee. A grin on her face she lunged forward, foot swinging up into a head kick. "Ahhh!" she screamed when the demon karate chopped her on the inside of her knee, the blow’s force causing the leg’s nerves to deaden and her to collapse to the ground on her hands and knees.

"Unsound tactical thinking," the demon scolded as he rose. "You allowed impatience to blind you to my trap." Faith grunted as the demon backhanded her across the mouth, drawing blood. The demon grabbed her by her hair and yanked her head up. Faith twisted at the waist, putting the last of her ebbing strength behind a desperate right cross to the crotch. Her heart dropped when the demon blocked her attack on a meaty thigh, grunted and punched her in the throat.

Breath coming in wheezing, strangled gasps, and eyes tearing, Faith was helpless to prevent another two blows to the face and a kick to her mid-section before being released to slump onto the ground, body shuddering in pain. ADAM stood over her, dispassionately studying her discomfort before compounding her agony with a stomp to the small of her back and stepping back. "Mother loaded me with files of over a dozen different fighting styles, but practice is different from theory. You are an interesting training instrument. I wish to learn more from you before your death. My records say your personality will compel to seek me out again. At that meeting I will kill you." The creation strode off.

"Oh shit," Faith began to crawl away, pain juddering through her with every movement. Reaching a near-by tree, she dragged herself to her feet and then leant against it, regaining her breath.

* * *

Giles joined the others in jumping as the phone rang, breaking the tense silence that had reigned since Faith’s rage fuelled departure. Grabbing the phone in a suddenly sweaty hand, he raised it to his ear. "Hello?"

"Giles, it’s me," Willow blurted. "Project 314-."

"Good lord," he dropped the phone as the lobby door crashed open and a barely recognisable Faith stumbled in, using the wall to drag herself in, her normally beautiful features bludgeoned in a bloody, swollen mess. Even as he and the others rose to assist the battered Slayer, her legs buckled under her, sending her crashing to the floor, eyes unfocussed and blood leaking from a multitude of wounds.

* * *

ADAM strode his new base, the former Initiative headquarters, diligently cleaning it and flinging the corpses into the underground tunnels to make it more liveable. He stopped as something occurred. Now he had a stronghold, but every general, every conqueror needed an army. But where was this army to come from?

He smiled as his extensive demonology files supplied him with an answer. "The Scourge."

"How is she?"

Giles didn’t open his eyes at Kate’s voice beside him. "The doctors say that she’s got three cracked ribs, a perforated eardrum, extensive bruising to her back, arms and legs, a severe concussion, broken nose-," he broke off, the litany of injuries too much to bear. Opening his eyes he turned to the pensive faced cop to his right. "Thank you for helping with the admission, your badge certainly speeded up things and lessened the questions."

"Glad I could help," Kate smiled briefly before passing him a plastic cup. Giles took the cup and stared at it doubtfully, grim experience teaching him just how foul hospital coffee could be. Witches’ brew tasted better. "Where are the others?"

"In Faith’s room," he replied, voice stiffening.

"Why aren’t you in there-," Kate’s voice trailed off. "Oh, Rupert, you didn’t fail her."

His answering glare was enough to make the policewoman take an instinctive step back. "I know I didn’t fail her," he replied through gritted teeth. "She didn’t give me that bloody chance!" he snapped. "She didn’t trust me enough to help her!"

"Rupert, she was trying to protect you."

"I’m her father," he wiped at his stinging eyes, determined not to cry. "I should protect her, not the other way."

"You know that’s not how things are, Rupert," his girl-friend said in an infuriatingly reasonable voice, "she’s the Slayer-."

"Yes," he snarled, "first she doesn’t even get a childhood! Then the blasted Powers That Be decide they need her for their bloody games -." Suddenly he was grabbing a chair and flinging down the corridor, bouncing it off the vending machine some ten paces down the passageway.

"Rupert!" Kate was before him, pushing him back. "Calm down!"

"What’s happening?" two meat-faced orderlies appeared in the far end of the corridor.

"Police business!" Kate flashed them her badge. "Leave this to me!" The moment the two portly orderlies had gone, his girl-friend pushed him against the wall. "Do you really think this temper is helping Faith? Do you really think you losing your reason," Kate poked his forehead, "is going to help her?"

Giles shook his head as he slid down the wall. "I can’t face her. I’m just so bloody angry."

* * *

Faith forced her good eye to open as a figure entered her room, the others having just trooped out at a curt shout from Giles. "G?"

"I’m afraid not, Faith," light fell on the interloper, revealing the battered face of her other Watcher, "it’s me." The Watcher groaned as he lowered into the seat by her bed. "Willow just called, she’s cracked those discs we gave her. Giles and the others have gone over to get a full report. I on the other hand took full advantage of my infirm condition to cry off in favour of spending time with my Slayer and my friend."

Faith managed a quavering half-smile. "Right." She laid there for an uncomfortable second before speaking, her voice trembling. "Why didn’t G come in to see me?"

"Ah," the younger Englishman’s face tightened. "It hurts him a lot to see you injured like this, Faith. And you hurt him a lot by running off without him. He feels you don’t trust him. He’s very angry and doesn’t want to see you until he’s calmed down a little."

She hadn’t cried from the pain, but tears burnt her eyes now. "D…does he hate me?"

"Oh, Faith," the younger Watcher laughed then grimaced, "my bloody ribs. It isn’t possible for Giles to hate you, you silly girl. He just wants to regain his composure."

"I just did it to protect him," Faith would have scowled except it hurt to, "to protect you all."

"You don’t get it at all," Wesley chuckled before taking her good hand and gently squeezing, "we don’t want protecting my dear. We’re your friends, we want to help."

"I’ve lost so many."

She only whispered her words, but Wesley heard them nonetheless and nodded his head. "I know, dear, I know. But you can’t stop your friends from helping you, you’ll only push them away."

* * *

"ADAM is an amazing creation," Willow paused. "Well in a horrible way anyway, he’s made from the genetics of a number of demons, taking the best attributes from each – speed, strength, endurance, and so on. In addition, he appears to be loaded up with files of fourteen martial arts, the memoirs and military manuals of history’s most renowned soldiers, and an extensive demonology library."

"Do you know what caused him to go rogue?" Kate asked.

"I think so." Willow looked towards the cop. "They gave him an A.I, an artificial intelligence so he could learn from his experiences, become a more efficient killer. But the AI was too good, it enabled ADAM to think beyond his mission parameters, to think for himself."

"Like Cybernet?"

Willow nodded at Xander’s doubtless cultural reference. "Exactly."

"How do we kill it?" Everyone started at his cold, emotionless voice.

"Um," Willow glanced at her notes. "It has one weakness. Its power-source, a sort of energy cell, very cutting edge, has a life-span of ninety-nine years."

"Our great-grandchildren kill it?" Gunn snorted. "That’s thinking long term."

Willow shot the African-American an annoyed look before continuing. "The cell is located behind its chest steel plate. If it’s removed, ADAM will immediately shut down, effectively dying."

"Oh," Xander sighed. "Another easy one then."

"Isn’t there a sort of shutdown code in there or something?" Everyone stared at Cordelia. "Hey, my last boyfriend was a geek remember, I double-dated enough with him and King Nerd," Cordelia sniffed as she glanced at Xander, "to see enough sci-fi films to pick up a little."

"There is," Willow nodded, "and I’ve already tried that, but when ADAM moved beyond the expected limits of his AI, he was able to tell himself to reject the shutdown instructions."

Bugger. Giles scowled as he rose. "Well thank you for this information, Willow. I feel we should return and see how Faith’s feeling."

"Oh," he heard but ignored Xander’s mutter, "are you actually going to speak to her this time?"

"Uh," Willow shot Xander a confused look as she rose. "Can I come?"

"My dear," he smiled fondly at the red-head, "you hardly need to ask permission, you’d be more than welcome."

* * *

"Everyone," Faith looked up as the doors opened, the others having come in just five minutes ago, to see Giles’ familiar figure silhouetted in the entrance, "could Faith and I have a moment alone, please?"

After a few moments of muttered goodbyes, the others trooped to the door, Xander shooting Giles a warning glare before closing the door behind. There was a long pause before Faith started speaking, words coming in a Willow-like babble. "I’m sorry I ran off, but I didn’t want anyone to get hurt. Well ‘cept me, but that’s kinda a given. Please don’t be mad, I know I shouldn’t have done that, but I was trying to do the right-."

"And I’m sorry I didn’t come in before, but you made me so angry. Faith," Giles shook his head before striding across the room, and perching on the edge of her bed, "I appreciate you wanting to protect me, but you’re my responsibility, and a girl who’s enlightened my life in a thousand ways since she entered it. I couldn’t look myself in the mirror if I didn’t do all I can to help you, and all your friends feel the same. Do you understand me?" After a second, Faith nodded. "Good girl," Giles kissed her on the forehead. "Now how are you feeling?"

"Better already," she forced a smile. "We’re five by five?"

Giles smiled back at her. "Maybe even seven by seven."

* * *

ADAM strode into his lair, smiling at his recently arrived guests. "So glad you could make it," he greeted.

"We’re only here because," the leader of the uniformed demons rose and stepped towards him, a sneer on his face, "the message you sent indicated you are an abomination, a freak. And seeing you only confirms your -."

The demon slumped to the floor, a gaping hole in his chest, and his dripping heart in ADAM’s hand. "Now, that was disappointing," ADAM shook his head, "I ask you here to discuss a partnership, and how do you respond? With insults." He looked towards the other demons staring at him. "I hope this little incident won’t damage our working relationship?" He smiled as the demons shook their heads as one. "Excellent."

* * *

"Good day, Rupert."

Giles looked up from his desk at Wesley’s entrance. "Hello, Wesley."

"Is there any tea in the pot?" his partner asked as he walked around the reception desk.

"Help yourself."

"Thank you," Wesley turned to him. "Is Miss Chase late again?"

"Faith!" Cordelia’s shriek was audible even from the underground gym. "That one will leave a bruise! And I have a hot date tonight!"

"Does that answer your question?" Giles drolly asked.

"Quite," his partner chuckled as he poured a cup of steaming tea, and then proceeded to spoil it by adding milk and sugar. Wesley’s face sobered. "And how is Faith’s recovery coming?"

Giles sighed. "She’s healing as well as a Slayer can, but…."

"But ADAM defeated her once, what’s to stop him from doing it again?" Wesley finished for him.

He nodded, hating himself for the treacherous yet realistic thought. "I just wish I could fight for her-."

"Of course!" Wesley punched the air, an exultant look on his younger counterpart’s face. "You’re a bloody genius, Rupert!" His companion quickly sobered. "Don’t let Faith go to fight ADAM, I might have a solution."

"Wha-."

"No," Wesley shook his head. "I need to do some research. Toodle-pip!"

Giles stared as he watched his fellow Watcher charge out of the boarding house. "I’m running a bloody madhouse," he murmured.

* * *

"So, I was saying to Tito-, watch it!" Gunn had to jump back when Xander suddenly halted and back-pedalled round the corner his friend had just turned around.

"Hush!" Xander hissed, tone strained. "There’s six uniformed demons coming around at a march."

"Right," Gunn paused. "I guess we’re taking the afternoon off work, then?"

"You guess right." Xander whispered. "Let’s go."

* * *

"Yeah, that’s them," Xander looked up from his inspection of the book, its centuries-old mustiness filling his nostrils, "the Scourge. Except they had lapel badges with ADAM’s face on them."

"Who are they, G?" Faith asked.

The lobby door crashed open before the Englishman could reply. Wesley rushed in, an excited look on his face. "I’ve got it!" The younger Watcher looked around their downcast faces, his own expression becoming disconcerted. "What’s happened now?"

"It appears ADAM has brought in some allies, the Scourge," Giles replied.

"Oh goodness gracious me," Wesley’s face joined theirs in dropping.

"Who are?" Faith snapped impatiently.

"A group of demonic supremacists who believe that only those of pure demon blood should be allowed to live. They’re strong, durable, and remorseless," Wesley explained as he sank into a seat. "Gosh, this is bad news."

"Well ADAM isn’t exactly pure-blood," Cordelia’s nose wrinkled. "If anyone’s a mongrel, he is. Why are they working with him?"

"A good point, Miss. Chase," Giles grimaced. "I would suspect their co-operation with ADAM is built on fear. After all, the Scourge are merely a gang of bullies, and most bullies are at their core cowards." The older Watcher turned to Wesley. "You said you had an idea that would give us a chance against ADAM?"

"What?" the younger Englishman looked distracted for a second before focusing. "Oh yes, of course. An Unification Spell." Everyone stared at Wesley. "A spell where Faith is temporarily given the magical expertise of Willow, the knowledge of Giles, and the military skills and memories of Xander."

"Has this been tried before?" Willow asked.

"Oh yes," Wesley nodded. "That’s why I thought of it. In what is now the Basque region of Spain, in the 1230s, the Slayer of the time was facing a formidable demon and so her Watcher, a mage of some experience, devised a spell combing his experience and magical expertise with the Slayer’s powers."

"And they defeated the demon?"

"Well no," Wesley admitted. "The Slayer was still defeated, and with her death the Watcher also passed, their life-forces being intrinsically linked."

"Well that’s comforting," Xander muttered. "And we’re like unconscious while Faith’s carrying our powers around?"

"Just so," Wesley looked around. "It will be down to the rest of us to protect your bodies while you battle ADAM. I had hoped to do the spell here, but given at least part of the Scourge will be with ADAM, I imagine it’ll be wiser to fight our way through to him before doing the spell."

"Listen guys," Faith started. "You don’t have to-."

"I’m in," Giles interrupted. "Xander? Willow?" Both nodded. "Splendid. Now there only remains the question of where ADAM is?"

"I’ve been working on an answer for that," everyone turned to Willow. "The energy generator ADAM has inside him gives out a very specific energy signature, one that the government always intended to use to track him in the battle-field. I’ve used their plans to build a tracker, it’s not as powerful as theirs, but we should be able to find ADAM as long as he’s in city limits."

"Way to go!" Faith winked at Xander’s childhood bud. "Red is back in da game!"

"Yes," G-Man rose, the older Watcher’s face severe, "well done, Willow. I suppose the only thing to do now is find ADAM. Oh," the Watcher smiled coldly, "and kick his bloody arse."

* * *

"So he’s taken over the Initiative base," Kate nodded. "Figures." Everyone looked towards the blonde cop. "Perps often return to where they feel most comfortable. But how do we get into him?"

"Well the front door would be inadvisable," Giles looked from his girl-friend and to his daughter. "You mentioned tunnels?"

"Yeah, this way."

* * *

"Is this storeroom close enough?" Xander whispered after what seemed a lifetime crawling through the base’s underground catacombs.

"The vent system starts here," Gunn put in. "Unless Faith’s been eating as many Twinkies as you-."

"You sayin’ I’m putting on weight, Chuck?" Faith queried, a dangerous gleam in her eyes.

"She can crawl through them to get to ADAM undetected," Gunn finished.

"I had hoped to get closer," Giles sighed. "But that seems impossible without being spotted. "Let’s get to it."

* * *

Wesley started when the quartet slumped to the ground, eyes disturbingly lifeless. Reminding himself that at the moment it was just an illusion, he waited with bated breath, the second taking an eternity to pass.

And then Faith sat up. After a nervous lick of the lips, he stepped towards the Slayer. "Faith?"

The Slayer stood. "I am Hybrid." Suddenly the Slayer was jumping into the air, climbing into the vent with an unearthly suppleness.

"No one says thank you anymore," he muttered as he moved to join Tara and Kate on the secondary door, Gunn and Cordelia holding the main entrance.

* * *

ADAM rose as his office door flew open, a decapitated Scourge demon flying through it to crash against the far wall. "Slayer," he greeted the diminutive figure striding through the devastated doorway.

The woman smiled. "Not quite. And I brought surprises."

* * *

"Shit," Gunn ducked inside. "You hear those klaxons?"

"No, Charles," Wesley scoffed. "I’ve been struck temporarily deaf."

"I’ll be permanently striking you, English."

* * *

The moment she dropped the two smoke grenades she’d purloined from general stores, Faith whipped on her also stolen goggles and moved into action. Leaping forward, she slid into a baseball slide that her opponent leapt over. "I come with inbuilt sensors," ADAM said. "An interesting but ineffectual tactic."

"I got others," Faith said, swallowing her disappointment with an effort.

"I look forward to seeing them." ADAM rushed her. Faith flung herself aside, rolling under the office desk. A second later, and it was flipped off her. Faith rose fast, jamming a foot at her rival’s inner left knee, instinctively knowing its legs belonged to a Squer, a demon with exceptional leg power, but whose reproductive muscles were located on its inner left knee. "Waaaaaaah!"

The demon’s retaliatory backhand caught her across the face, lifting her off her feet, and sending her sailing into the filing cabinets with enough force to dent them. Despite that and the pain blazing through her back, Faith smirked. "Hey," she rolled up to her feet. "I thought a little girl like me couldn’t hurt you."

"Pain is temporary, victory permanent," ADAM philosophised before charging her.

"That’s profound," Faith darted to the side then leapt into the air, bringing her foot up to side thrust kick ADAM into the wall. Landing in a crouch, she spun to face the cyborg. "You read that in a fortune coo-."

A thrust-kick caught her in the chest, the force of the blow lifting her from her feet, and flinging her out of the window behind. Hitting the ground in a heap, she struggled to her feet. Looking around through slightly glazed eyes, she realised she was in one of the base’s many labs.

She dropped to the ground again when the door crashed open with enough force to rip it from its hinges and send it flying across the room, just over her. Rolling to her feet, she grabbed a can of disinfectant and a lighter from the table and pressed the nozzle, lighting the lighter just before it. Fire flew out from the nozzle, the flames hitting ADAM on the human side of his face, knocking the bellowing cyborg back a step.

Faith shuddered inwardly at the damage she’d caused, the left side of ADAM’s face crumpling inwards and the stench of burnt flesh heavy in the air. The cyborg fell into the wall behind him, cracking it under his weight, before shoving himself back upright and swinging a left that Faith nimbly sidestepped. He tried a right haymaker that she glided under before stepping in and slapping the demon across the face. "Hey, ADAM," she smirked. "Every second I’ve managed to grab since we started fighting, I’ve been casting an immobilisation spell on your sad ass. Guess it worked." she pulled out a screwdriver and began unscrewing his steel plate over his chest. The moment the plate clanged to the ground, she reached into her rival’s chest cavity and pulled out his generator. "What?" Faith scoffed as the demon crashed to the ground, disbelieving eyes staring up at her before blanking. "Haven’t you got a heart for a fight anymore?"

* * *

Three Days Later

"Yes," their guest nodded his head as he peered up at the shimmering, sixteen-storey edifice before them, "it is most satisfactory."

"Right," Xander exchanged a glance with Gunn. "It’s a pleasure to show you round, sir, but it’s usually front office staff that do these tours."

"Front office?" the businessman shook his head. "What do they really know about the building? If I want a publicity brochure, I’ll go to them. But if I want to know the building, you boys, you who actually sweated over this building are the men to go to."

Xander nodded as he led the man to the glass doors. "Yes, sir."

The man shook his head as he stepped over the threshold and into the spotlessly-new lobby. "And please, Xander, Charles, don’t call me sir. It’s so formal."

"We don’t actually know your name, we were just told you were a representative of the company who’d contracted for this building," Gunn commented.

"Ah," the saggy-faced suit broke out into a genial smile, "of course. I didn’t say, how remiss of me. I’m Holland Manners. Now, tell me about you boys."

* * *

Georgia, The Same Day.

"Holy father," he knelt by the altar. For once his current surroundings of a local church offered him little comfort. Tears poured down his face, knife resting on his lap, dripping viscera onto his procured outfit of a priest. "Guide me in my hour of greatest need." All the harlots he’d cleansed, the whores that had been just like the worthless slut who’d mothered him, but did he get thanks? No, just hatred and the officers of man’s law chasing him. "Master," he half-whined as he peered up at the cross, "as you were persecuted so am I."

"I can give you someone to serve, protect you so you can continue your mission."

His eyes hardened as he heard a strumpet’s voice behind him, intruding on his prayer, daring to mention his work. His knife clattered to the ground, forgotten at the bewitching sight of Nubian beauty before him. "Your merciful servant, mistress." Dropping to his knees, he pressed his forehead to the hardwood floor. "I will serve you well."

"Ah, Caleb," he shivered with delight at the coffee-skinned woman’s voice, "I’ve seen your work. I know you will."

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