Day 48

It's been fucking cold.

No. Colder than that. Fate really has it in for Gotham. The cold spell came and the snow started falling less than a week after the power and fuel ran out. Alanis Morrisette could get a whole new version of that stupid song of hers out of what's happened since I arrived here. But this really takes the cake. No! Poor choice of words. Cake is a luxury around here. What I wouldn't give for a chocolate dessert right now - but before you ask, no, I wouldn't blow that fucking wizard.

Past two mornings it'd been getting colder. We'd been doing our best to block out all the drafts in Babs' apartment, but even if we got all of them it'd only be delaying the inevitable. We found frost on one of the computer monitors this morning. That was enough to stir us into action. The weather didn't look like it was about to change in any hurry, which meant if we didn't do anything we'd be fucked, bigtime. Sooner or later, we'd end up as popsicles, even with the "shared bodily warmth" thing. Which reminds me, did I mention that Babs and I were sleeping together? Nothing sexual (and I still haven't decided if that's a good thing or not), we're just doing our best to stay unfrozen.

Babs came up with a plan. There's an emergency generator in the basement of the apartment building, and she knew where all the fallout shelters are in Gotham. Some would be inaccessible coz of the Quake, and some would already have been plundered by gangs. There were two Babs was pretty certain would be OK. Of those, the obvious choice was the one below the building we were in. She said that there should be around a month of diesel for the generator in there.

The only problem with the plan was that there was no access from the basement to the shelter. The main entrance was off a subway tunnel - Robin had apparently scouted it post-Quake, and confirmed that both subway tunnel and shelter entrance were intact. The nearest subway station on that line was only half a mile away, but in the Gotham of today half a mile was a long way, particularly when it meant crossing between gang territories. We were in LoBoyz territory, the station was on Demonz turf. The only way I was gonna get in and out of the station was by creating chaos on the border.

"Hit me," I said, handing Babs one of the solid metal bars from her weights. She looked at me, not liking the way my thoughts were heading. "I need a nasty bruise on my cheek," I explained. "A black eye would be good too."

She was still hesitating. Nice that we'd become friends enough that she couldn't bring herself to hurt me, but a bit fucking unhelpful under current circumstances.

"Babs, I'm a Slayer," I said harshly, getting impatient. "I don't hurt easy and I heal quickly, but right now I need visible bruises if I'm to get into that shelter."

She didn't hold back once she struck, I'll give her that. Her best swing put me straight on the floor, which was what I wanted. I got up, wiping the blood from my lips and clicking my lower jaw back into place.

"That's good," I said, grinning and wincing a little. "Now one of my legs, across the shin." When she raised an eyebrow, I smiled. "I can't fake a limp," I explained, "but I need one if I'm gonna look beat up."

"Just what are you planning, Faith?" Babs asked as she got ready to strike.

"I got a little party planned for the Demonz and the LoBoyz," I said grinning, "but they gotta think the invites are genuine."

With her eyebrow raised once more, she swung the bar into my ankle. And I thought the blow to my face was bad. This fucking hurt. And she hit lower than I wanted. I'd be limping longer now.

"Thanks," I said as I picked myself up. No worries about my limp not being believable then. "You said you'd be able to guide me when I'm outside," I commented. "How?"

She picked up a small bead-like object from next to one of her computer terminals. "Put this in your ear. You'll be able to hear me through it."

I smiled, unable to hide how impressed I was with the little gizmo. "How do I talk to you?"

She picked up a small choker. "This has a small mic woven into it that feeds to the earpiece." She looked particularly smug now. "It's undetectable if you get searched, but it's good enough for me to hear you." She looked around suddenly. "Oh, you'll need this too!" She laughed nervously, as if it would've been a disaster if she'd forgotten about it. "Just carry this on you somewhere," she said, handing me a small box. "It's a transceiver. The earpiece unit only has a broadcast range of about 100 feet, this will amp up the signal so I can hear you clearly. It'll also boost the signal from me, since I need to run it at as low a power as possible."

Well yeah, I could see why she was a bit nervous about forgetting it. I eyed a slightly larger box next to where she had taken the small on from. "What's that? Your end of the line?"

Babs turned to see what I was looking at then grinned, almost like a child. "No, that's the satellite version of your end."

My eyes widened and I grinned back in disbelief. Something about this whole transmitter thing didn't seem quite right, but I wasn't sure what, so I kept my mouth shut. "Guess I'm ready then," I said, putting on the choker and earpiece. I pulled on one of Babs' scruffier parkas and limped towards the door. "Wish me luck," I said, nervously.

Babs said nothing, but the warm look she gave me was all I needed.

+ - + - +

"Where do you think you're going, bitch?" The voice came from behind me, shortly after I hobbled out of the old apartment building.

I spun around, slowly and painfully. "You LoBoyz or Demonz?" I asked bitterly. Luckily the cold wind was already making my eyes stream, all I had to fake was a sob here and there.

"Why do you want to know?" the man asked. No, not a man. A boy, a kid. Couldn't have been much older than sixteen. The rough attempt at a beard fooled me for a second, but all it took was another glance to see past that. He had a knife in his hand. I remember kids like that on the streets of Boston. Put a knife in their hand and they thought they ruled the world.

"Coz I wanted to know if you're one of the fuckers who raped me, or one of the bastards who said they'd protect us all after the bridges went down, and then let the other fuckers rape me." I limped towards him, pointedly.

The kid looked defiant, but his resolve was beginning to falter. "I'm one of the LoBoyz," he said, hesitantly.

I slapped him. Not too hard. I could've knocked him out with my Slayer strength but it was important to play this right. "Bastard! You're all bastards! Swore to protect us all like family if we gave you tribute. I gave my fucking tribute! Now where's my fucking protection!" I was shouting. People were starting to watch, and more importantly, listen, from their windows. I would've felt sorry for him if not for the fact that he looked far better fed than anyone looking on.

"Laying it on a bit thick, aren't you?" Babs' voice said in my ear. I couldn't answer her, of course. I just gritted my teeth and hoped the low growl in my throat would be picked up by the mike, and that she'd get the message. I'd do whatever I had to do to make sure there was a better chance of us making it through this winter. What really surprised me was that by 'us' I didn't just mean me and Babs, but as many of the locals as we could fit in our block.

He looked me up and down. His face took on a look of anger. "Don't you worry, Ma'am." I didn't know whether to be complimented or just amused at being addressed as a proper adult. "We'll get payback from the Demonz, I swear." Poor kid. I'd figured on them needing more convincing, but he was a pushover.

"Don't slip up now, Faith," the earpiece said with Babs' voice. "You've got him. Don't let pity get the better of you." Shoulda figured she'd be watching. Musta been using binoculars or something, and been able to see my face soften as I started to feel sorry for him.

I rescued the situation by letting my face soften even more and then sobbing. "Just get them," I said, channelling my determination into faking the anger, "make them pay, I don't care how you do it."

He nodded, a grim look on his face, and headed off through the ruins, in the direction of the LoBoyz den, I guessed. I waited until he was out of a view, then started moving towards Demonz territory.

"What was it you said to me about starting a war, Barbara?" I said as I hurried through the shadows.

"It's a prestigious line of work, with a long and glorious tradition," a voice giggled into my ear. God she sounded so cute sometimes.

"Then why have I got such a bad taste in my mouth right now?"

"I didn't mean it when I said it - it's a quote from 'The Princess Bride', which you and I must watch at some point - I think preservation of sanity justifies the use of a TV and VCR for a bit once we get the generator working."

"It's a date," I said as I took off the Parka. It may have been warm, but it was also noisy and bulky, and the next part of my plan would call for stealth.

+ - + - +

Well, so much for planning ahead. Once I was inside Demonz territory a big problem became apparent. Fuck! On the one hand, it saved me the bother of hunting out Demonz HQ. But on the other... why the hell did their HQ have to be the fucking subway station I was needing to get into.

Oh well, I'd just have to make sure I did my job a little more thoroughly.

The subway station. Interesting place to try and sneak up on. Two Demonz guys on each entrance - but each entrance was below ground level. Each post probably had a good view down the street it was facing, but a poor view if any to the sides. With snow on the ground to soften my footprints, this promised to be a piece of cake if I didn't fuck it up.

In my back pocket was my main weapon. A small spray can. Marking territory in Gotham was done by 'tagging' buildings - spraying your gang's logo on it. This just happened to be a can of yellow spray paint, the same colour as used by the LoBoyz. I'd figured out on knocking out a couple of the Demonz guards and spraying them with the LB logo. But then I saw a glint of light - sunlight catching something inside one of the ruined buildings across the street. It was a tower block, torn at its base by the Quake, now leaning right across the street above the subway station, against the obviously sturdier building opposite.

"I dunno Faith," Babs said to me after I'd explained my new plan. "That building could be hanging by a thread. By running about inside it, you could upset its equilibrium and cause a collapse. If that happens there's no getting into the subway."

I shrugged, even though I knew Babs couldn't see me at the moment. "There's a saying I've always liked. My watcher said it was bullshit and I'm sure you'll say the same. Fortune favours the bold." I cut across the street, being careful to stay out of view, and entered the building.

"Dammit! You know it's bullshit Faith!" Babs hissed angrily in my ear. "What good is being brave if it kills you?" Fuck, but she sounded so much like my Watcher. I was sure she'd used the same words after she found out about my naked slaying... and the alligator wrestling.

The elevator shaft was easy to get to, and given the hefty tilt the building had, it was easy to climb the shaft with the help of the cables. Thankfully my limp was now easing. It was then that I realised I lacked a vital bit of information. Time to eat a little humble pie. "Erm, Babs," I said, sheepishly. "You can see the building I'm in, right? What floor should I be heading for?"

"Eighteenth," she replied, just as I walked over the bold white six painted on the inside of the shaft. Easy going it may have been, but it was slow. And spooky. Fighting vampires kind of removes a lot of potential in life for getting freaked out, once you get used to it, but there were some things that still got to me. The noise the wind was making right now, howling around and through the building, was one of them. I gritted my teeth and kept on climbing.

The lift doors were in the same side of the shaft that I was climbing. The downside of this was that it meant that as soon as I got the doors open on the eighteenth I was faced with a once in a lifetime chance to slide down a very polished sloping floor to a gaping hole in the wall and oblivion. Emphasis on the once in a lifetime bit. Mind you, the gaping hole was part of my plan, so I couldn't complain too much.

"Shit," I muttered. "Completely lost my bearings, O. Give me a moment."

"Allow me," Babs replied. "Just don't call me O. I'm not some sordid S&M addict." I chuckled and tried to keep the image of her all done up in tight leathers out of my head. It was quite a disturbing image and I wished she'd not brought it up. "You're in the Wolfram and Hart building, right?"

"You tell me, you're the one with computerised maps of Gotham at your fingertips." Then I saw a plaque on a pillar a few metres away. "Yeah, Wolfram and Hart."

"Just give me a moment to pull up the building plans," Babs said to me. "Oh, that's strange." The sound of furious typing was picked up by the microphone. "Not many Law firms classify building blueprints. Still, I've got them now." She started muttering, half to me, half to herself. "You climbed the central elevator shafts. Which would have you facing West, which makes sense. So you want to go... You want to follow the pillars in front of you. Get to the one on your right, then have a look round the far side of it."

"Here goes." I started sliding along the floor, trying to forget that there was a major drop waiting for me if I fucked this up. Things had been a little too easy up to this point though, something which fate chose this moment to remind me of. I missed grabbing the pillar properly - managed to catch hold of a wire pinned to the side of it. The thing about wires is, they're quite light. So when fixing them to walls, they tend only to be fixed with shitty little bits of plastic and the crappiest tacks on earth. Not the best things to support 140 pounds of seventeen year old.

Don't look down, I kept telling myself. The wire had definitely started to stretch a little. "Babs," I said through gritted teeth, "when you were Batgirl you must've found yourself dangling over certain death by an electric cable that was stretching under your weight at some point. What do I do?"

I swear I heard her gasp before she replied. "Find something else to hang on to," she said quickly. "Failing that, try and swing to safety before the wire snaps." Oh great. Although now I was dangling I could see where I was trying to get to. It wasn't too inconceivable that I could swing across there. My desperate wobble thankfully didn't take long to develop into a decent swing. Just had to hope I could swing far enough well before there was nothing but air to swing across to.

"Geronimo!" I shouted as I swung across the hole in the side of the building and let go of the wire. Bit of a stupid thing to shout, but when death is staring you in the face you don't get much time to come up with good one-liners.

"Faith!" the voice yelled in my ear. "Are you alright?"

"Well," I said slowly. "I'm fifteen or so storeys directly above the Gotham Streets, clinging to the side of a huge stainless steel safe which must weigh around 5 tons that itself is only here coz it's wedged between two concrete pillars. And before you ask, yes, it is the same safe that I climbed up here to drop on the Demonz. Apart from that, Oracle, yes, I'm wonderful."

It wasn't as bad as I made out. Apart from the fact that the safe - well, more of a vault - was probably in danger of slipping at any moment after my heavy landing on the side of it, I had a fairly secure hold on it. As long as it didn't fall until I wanted it to, things would be OK. Although I had to admit that perishing dramatically in some kind of failed heroics did appeal much more than freezing to death tonight or the night after.

Two minutes later every accessible surface on the safe had 'LB' sprayed on it in big yellow letters. Now I just had to work out how to make the fucker fall without killing myself in the process. Something was creaking as I moved around, but I was damned if I could work out what. "OK," I said to Babs. "I can't work out how to shift it. I'm pretty sure I know where the weakest points are but I'm fucked if I know what to do about it."

"Find something to use as a lever," came the reply. "Failing that, give it a damn good kick."

I laughed as I clambered about, hunting for more ideas. "The brightest chick in Gotham and that's the best you can come up with. No, there must be something better than that. Ah, of course!"

Two pillars 'up' I saw something which had potential. Only one way I could climb across that polished floor though. Barely above zero during the day, and here I was, in a ruined building messing about barefoot. And there it was. Before the Quake there must have been a nice row of filing cabinets further along the office. Now they were neatly stacked against the pillar. All I had to do was shift them so they'd slide along the floor and hit the safe. One at a time would probably do it.

The first one was empty, typical. Hit the safe with a pathetic clang. The second was one heavy mother, and when I finally shoved it into gravity's grasp it flung itself into the safe with an almighty crash. There were several loud creaks and a number of cracks. "I'd give it a damn good kick, Babs," I said with a grin, "But throwing office fixtures at it is much more fun." I shoved the third filing cabinet sidewards and waited to see if the fourth or fifth would be needed.

A split second after the third cabinet hit there was a huge snapping noise. Several cracks appeared in one of the pillars that had been supporting the safe and then the monstrous metal box finally started to move. A final few metallic twangs sounded as gravity dragged it free, then there was a few brief seconds of silence, before the biggest fucking crash I've ever heard as it embedded itself in the street below.

I couldn't see the result from where I was, and I was eager to get to somewhere I could. Then I noticed the wonderful obstacle that was between me and the elevator shaft. Ice. Water had been leaking out of pipes in one of the walls next to the shaft, and flowing down across the already slippery floor. Nice wide spread of it too. The jump to the next pillar along, the one I had previously failed to grab hold of, was a little too far, even with my Slayer abilities.

I scanned the ceiling for something to swing on, something to use to hurl myself that little bit further across the gap. All I could see was a sprinkler rose - a little small to try and grab onto and on top of that there was no guarantee it wouldn't wrench away from the ceiling under my weight. Still, it was the only chance I had.

As I threw myself upwards and over Babs spoke. "Faith, are you OK?"

"Not now Babs honey," I replied, grating my teeth as I gripped the rose and it started to cut into my hand. Still, apart from the cuts on my fingers it was perfect, I even landed steady on the other pillar. Barefoot it was easy to walk on the sloping polished floor, so it was quite simple to run back up to the shaft opening.

+ - + - +

Two minutes later I was three floors down, below the gaping hole I'd pushed the safe out of. I pressed my face up against the intact window and surveyed the fruits of my labours. The dust was still settling, but it was apparent that I'd done a little more than I'd bargained for.

The safe had hit the street above the subway station, and plunged through the road surface into the upper levels of the station. Demonz were swarming around it, angry - shouting war-cries and waving their various weapons in the direction of LoBoyz territory.

"Faith," Babs said suddenly, "how many Demonz are there around their HQ right now?" There was a hint of concern in her voice.

I looked down again and made a rough count. It looked like the safe had cracked open on impact and some of the Demonz were hunting for valuable contents. Most of what was in it seemed to be papers though. Not particularly satisfying for the little fuckers. "About 20, maybe 30," I replied.

"Oh shit," Babs muttered quietly. "6 LoBoyz are heading your way. The guy you spoke to earlier is with them, so I guess they're after revenge for your supposed rape. They'll get massacred."

My conscience was torn for a moment. Then I realised I could possibly get more out of this if I played it right. I ran for the lift shaft and hurried to the lower floors.

+ - + - +

"Hey boys," I called out of a broken window on the third floor. The battle was just starting but already it was clear the LoBoyz didn't stand a chance. But a massacre of LoBoyz now would just lead to all out war between the two gangs.

There were various insults and threats hurled in my direction, and not all of the fighting stopped. But I was starting to get their attention. One guy who was looking up at me was the LoBoyz guy I'd duped earlier.

"Who do you think dropped the safe on you, Demonz?" I waved the spray can around teasingly. LoBoyz guy was pointing at me and shouting to his fellows. "Oh yeah, and LoBoyz, I suckered you as well. Quite easy it was too."

"Careful, Faith," Babs said quietly. "You sound like you're enjoying that a little too much. Right now I'd guess they're only seconds away from rushing in there and making short work of you."

"I know what I'm doing," I muttered in reply. "So," I shouted down to the two gangs, now I had their full attention, "you seem to have two choices. You can all rush in here, and rip me to shreds for duping you both into fighting each other, and then wait for the next person with an ounce of strategic thinking to come along and do it to you again."

"Nicely put," Babs commented.

"The alternative is that you realise that you lack the necessary leadership to survive this hell-hole, and start putting a little more effort into staying alive and a little less effort into strutting your dicks about." More angry snarls floated up from below. Perhaps I should've left out the dicks bit. "This place is gonna kill us if we give it half the chance, and we ain't gonna stop it by fighting. I know someone who could run this turf a lot better than any of you, and who stands a better chance of getting us all through it alive. So it's up to you. Carry on fighting if you want. Come up here and butcher me if you have to. But you could join together and work for the greater good, rather than spending all your time pissing out your territory markers."

They all paused, looking at each other. Some of them were taken in, I could tell. Others... well. Perhaps I should push it a little more. I vaulted through the window and landed heavily in a snowdrift to the side of the crowd. "If nothing else will work I'll fight each gang leader hand to hand for control of their gangs. But I shouldn't have to."

If nothing else I think seeing a young woman in freezing weather walking around in tight jeans and a tight sweater was doing a lot towards swaying the thugs. God knows my nipples were so cold they were sticking out enough to be seen from Metropolis. And I didn't see any of them standing barefoot in the snow.

"Cocky bitch!" one of the LoBoyz shouted suddenly, charging at me with a broken bottle in his hand. Poor guy couldn't have timed it better if I'd paid him. I cartwheeled at him and kicked the bottle out of his hand at the same time as punching his legs out from under him. As he grunted and fell to the floor the others stared at me with a mixture of fear and awe.

"Now come on," I said. "Who's first to join me?" I have to admit that I found it hard not to cry with relief and joy as I watched them slowly come around. It was the LoBoyz guy I'd duped earlier who was first to stand down and move behind me.

+ - + - +

And that was mostly it. I got inside the subway easy, with help from Whyte - the LoBoyz guy who started this whole thing off. There was the small problem of not being able to talk to Babs whilst underground, but I still found the damn shelter. It was on the way out of the subway again that the last bombshell hit. And it was a fucking big bombshell.

It was those papers. The ones that had spilled over the street and in the ruins of the subway station from the safe. I'd ignored them on the way down - I was way too elated at the victory I'd just scored to give a shit about insignificant litter, but on the way out it was like someone had got a fucking neon sign and pointed it at one piece of paper sticking out of a plain brown file. Once I saw that I had to start rifling through all of the papers. I persuaded Whyte to start boxing them up while I took the three that stood out most with me.

When I walked back into Babs' apartment I was angry, and I was scared. "This is a different world, right?" I said, almost in hysterics. "Then explain this." I threw the file onto the table in front of Babs and the contents slid out. Her eyes widened as she absorbed the fact that the papers clipped to the photograph had my name on them and not Eliza Suchandsuch.

"It's me!" I yelled. "Not some prissy actress, but ME! And this file!" I threw the next one I was holding down on the table too. "Kakistos! That name sound familiar to you? He's the motherfucker who killed my watcher! The guy who was chasing me when I ended up here!"

Babs wheeled herself out from behind the table and rolled over to me. She took hold of one of my arms and squeezed it comfortingly. "I'm sure there's some explanation," she said quietly, "but it'll take time to find it, even for me. Who's in the third file?"

"Buffy Summers," I replied, opening the file and showing her the picture. "The other Slayer. The girl my Watcher told me I should find."

Babs nodded and smiled. It was clear she recognised Buffy, from the same TV show she'd seen me in, I guess. There was still a hint of seriousness in her eyes, and I knew that I'd stumbled onto something here. All of a sudden there was more to this than trying to save my soul by fighting for Gotham. There was more to saving my soul because now someone else wanted it. One question kept spinning through my mind. Who the fuck were Wolfram and Hart, and what did they want with me?