Running on Faith, Season Two: 2.13: The Founder of the Initiative
by filmtheory
The men in body armor ran up the stairs, chasing Dawn who, by now, was on the third floor. She cut across, hoping to make it to the opposite stairwell and down to the lobby before the vamps could catch her. Unfortunately, another three vamps had gone up that back stairwell, looking to trap Dawn.
Dawn made it down to the second floor when she saw the vamps in body armor coming up the stairs toward her. Their masks dulled their vampire senses, giving Dawn the extra split second to throw open the door to the second floor.
As Dawn ran down the hall, she heard two gunshots somewhere in front of her. Two gunmen came out of a room down the hall and turned toward her. She ran back for the stairwell hoping against hope, and reason for that matter, that the vamps in the stairwell were past the second floor and on to the third. But surely they’d hear her. Even if they didn’t, what good would it do? She was trapped between the vamps behind her and either the other team of gunmen in the stairwell or the main force in the lobby. None of that mattered anyway. The vamps behind her would gun her down before she reached the stairs anyway. This was it. Dawn drew in her breath, knowing it would be her last.
“Aghhh!” Dawn screamed loudly, not sure whether the sound of gunfire behind her or the sensation of hands gripping her upper arms caused the fright.
Dawn shriek was matched by a shout of anguish and Dawn felt the body behind her slam into her back. She glanced down to see green fingers release her arm just before she was shoved into the nearest room.
Lorne stumbled into the room behind her and slammed the door shut. “Out the window, princess,” he groaned as he limped toward her.
“I’m not leaving you!” Dawn shouted.
“Yes you are,” Lorne said, summoning what strength he had left and shoving her into the window. “I’ll hold them as long as I can.”
Lorne shoved Dawn one last time, then slammed the window closed and locked it. A vamp kicked in the door behind him. Lorne turned and with a primal yell as he charged the vamps. Dawn noticed his back, shredded by gunfire, as he ran away from her. It was the last thing she saw before she jumped to the street below.
The vamp in front of Lorne opened fire. Although the bullets couldn’t kill him, the force knocked him backward to the ground. Assuming him dead, the vampire ran to the window. Lorne reached up and threw his arms around the vamp’s legs dragging him to the ground.
Despite the immense pain, Lorne scrambled forward and ripped the vamp’s mask off. He threw it through the window, shattering the glass as the vamp flipped over and slammed Lorne in the face with the butt of his rifle.
“Now you die, green man,” the vamp said as he pulled out a long knife.
Lorne let out a loud, piercing screech. The vamp dropped the knife and covered his ears. Lorne reached for the knife, but was a second too late. Another vamp, still wearing his helmet, grabbed the knife and slammed it into Lorne’s throat, all in one fluid motion.
Lorne felt himself gargling blood as the vampire twisted the knife completely around his neck. He felt his body fall away as his head plummeted to the ground. “Ouch!” he shouted as his head struck ground.
The helmet-less vampire looked down at Lorne in shock. Lorne did his best to play dead, but the vampire who’d decapitated him threw a punch and pulled it at the last second, just in time to see Lorne blink.
The vamp in the helmet shrugged. “Take the head. We figure out how to kill it later.”
**
The gunmen stepped around the counter and aimed his rifle point blank at Xander’s head. At the sound of shattering glass, he looked up quickly to see Spike pulling two large axes from the weapons cabinet. Spike hurled one high above the vamp’s head.
“Junior! Axe” Spike shouted.
The vamp turned to see Connor, having leapt nearly ten feet in the air, grab the axe and fall down, smashing the axe into the vamp’s helmet. The axe spit the vamp’s helmet and skull. The vamp fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Connor hit the ground and turned quickly. The blade of the axe let out three screeching sounds as it deflected three gunshots.
Connor ducked behind the counter to avoid the gunfire now tearing up the wall behind the counter. He glared at Xander. “When this is over, I am so going to kick your ass.” Connor punctuated this by slamming the now misshapen axe onto the injured vamp’s neck, dusting him.
Spike had taken five slugs in the gut, but still got across the room to the gunmen. He swung a bloody arm hard and decapitated one of the gunmen before another fired three shots at the axe’s wooden handle. Spike immediately jumped high, clearing the balcony and landing on the second floor.
The two vamps with Lorne’s head ran out to the balcony area overlooking the lobby and slammed into Spike. The helmet-less vamp stumbled to the ground. Spike ripped open the vamp’s bulletproof vest and slammed the broken wooded axe handle into its heart. The other vamp scooped up Lorne’s head and jumped over the railing and down into the lobby.
A vamp crossed the lobby and jumped up on the counter. As soon as his feet touched down, they slid out form under him and he fell backward to the ground. He tried to stand again, but again slipped. Standing in the entrance from the garden, Dawn continued throwing the simple “Banana Peel” hex Willow had taught her. Another vamp finally noticed her and she dove from the doorway as he opened fire.
Anton ran out of the stairway from the kitchen and into the lobby. “It’s set! It’s set! Two minutes!”
The vamps quickly fell back, retreating from the building. Connor immediately grabbed Xander. “Where’s Faith!”
“The cell in the basement.”
Spike jumped into the lobby and stumbled for the lobby. “I got her.”
Xander grabbed Connor’s shoulder. “The bomb! Can you sniff out the bomb?”
Thinking quickly, Connor nodded. “I’ll follow the vamp’s scent. Can you disarm it?”
“Maybe,” Xander said, grabbing a cell phone with head set and running with Connor to the basement.
Spike stumbled down the other stairwell to the makeshift prison. He slammed the key in the lock. “Bomb. Gotta go.”
Faith quickly picked Spike up. “Alright then,” she said as she ran up the stairs.
Dawn ran to Gretchen, but it was clear she was gone. A small bit of brain matter was still stuck to the wall behind where she was killed. Dawn ran, slipping on the large puddle of Gretchen’s blood as she tried to get to Graham.
“Graham! Graham, I’m going to fix you. First, I have to get the bullets out.”
Graham replied with a series of inaudible gasps. His mouth was putting out more blood than breath.
Dawn put her hands over him and concentrated hard. Willow had done this so easily for Buffy. Dawn was a big ball of mystic energy. This should be easy.
“Come on!” Dawn took a moment, caught her breath, and remembered to relax. “Come on out,” she coaxed calmly as she raised her hands. Sure enough, the bullets came up with her hands. She waved her hands quickly, flinging the bullets away. Then, she laid her hands on Graham‘s chest and concentrated on healing him.
Downstairs, Connor walked quickly through the kitchen, following the scent of the vampire Anton. He wanted to get to the bomb quickly, but not so quickly that Xander couldn’t follow. Connor pulled open a large metal door and entered a large boiler room.
Xander came in behind him and immediately saw the small charge attached to the large oil container for the furnace. He threw off the headset attached to the cell phone. “No one’s answering at central.” Xander looked at the timer. The timer showed only 50 seconds left. “The charge is small. They’re counting on the heating oil doing most of the damage.”
35 seconds left.
“Then we just remove it!” Connor said reaching for the bomb.
28 seconds.
“It’s probably tamperproof,” Xander said grabbing Connor’s arm. “It’ll blow less than a second after we detach it. We have to run for it.” 20 seconds.
“You’ll never make it,” Connor said quickly. 16 seconds.
“But you might,” Xander answered.
Xander turned to run. Connor pushed Xander to the ground. In one fluid move, he ripped the bomb from the furnace and threw it out of the room with all his might. By the time the charge reached the doorframe a split second later, Connor’s foot had already connected with the door, kicking it closed. The instant the door slammed shut, the charge exploded, blowing the door off its hinges and into Connor. The metal door hit him with tremendous force, knocking him down.
Xander wanted to help Connor, but he knew he first needed to tend to the small fire the bomb caused in the hallway. He grabbed the fire extinguisher from the wall. As he did, the fire alarm sounded and the sprinkler system shot to life, hosing down the flames.
Connor shoved the door off of him and staggered to his feet.
Xander dropped the extinguisher and turned to face Connor. “You okay?”
Connor threw a hard punch, hammering Xander in the jaw, knocking him to the ground. “That was for tazering me,” he said offhandedly as he stepped over Xander. “Tell Spike when your jaw feels better so he can hit you, too.”
***
“Come on Dawn, we have to get out of here!” Faith shouted as she ran into the lobby carrying Spike.
“I almost have it!” Dawn shouted frantically. “I almost have it!”
“We have to go, Bit!” Spike yelled.
The lobby shook slightly as the bomb exploded downstairs. Faith glanced back at the stairs to the kitchen. The fire alarm rung up from below.
“Was that it?” Spike asked.
“That was it,” Connor said as he stumbled out of the stairwell, his forehead bleeding from the impact of the door. “Me and Xander handled the bomb.”
Faith unceremoniously dumped Spike on a couch.
“Hear that, Graham?” Dawn said in her most soothing voice. “You’re going to be fine.”
Graham could only respond with a series of gurgling noises. Through the entire ordeal, Dawn had not taken her attention off of Graham for an instant. Dawn concentrated as hard as she could. She breathed a sigh of relief and joy as the wounds closed before her. She already noticed the sweet silence. She could no longer hear the sound of Graham struggling to breathe through the blood in his throat.
A split second later, Dawn realized that she didn’t hear Graham breathing through blood because he wasn’t breathing at all. While the soldiers chest, now absent of bullet holes, told Dawn that the spell had worked, the blank look in Graham Miller’s eyes told her it had worked just a moment too late.
****
Connor had taken Dawn to her room where she now sobbed uncontrollably. Spike knew that, tough as she was, the Little Bit wouldn’t be able to bear checking through the hotel to see the extent of the damage. So far, they knew that Richard and Billy had survived. They’d since woken. Xander and Billy stood guard over Richard.
The bodies of Graham and Gretchen had been left where they were. There would be time later to honor the dead. Right now, they needed to find Lorne.
“Better get Eve downstairs with the other prisoner,” Spike said.
“It’s as bit late for that,” Faith said, closing the door to the room where Lorne had stood guard over Eve.
“She escaped?” Spike said, resigned to having let the slick lawyer slip through their fingers once again.
“No,” Faith shook her head. “Her brains are lying in a puddle of blood about two feet behind her chair. Bullet through each eye.”
“Yummy,” Spike said. Faith gave him a sickened look. “Or yucky, depending on your perspective.”
“Shit,” Faith said as she looked into another room. Her eyes welled up with tears, but she quickly choked them back. She pointed to the headless green body lying in the room. “They got Lorne.”
“It’s okay,” a morose voice behind them said. Spike and Faith turned to see Dawn. “As long as the body’s intact, he’s alive.”
*****
“I don’t understand,” Anton said as he continued to beat on Lorne’s disembodied head. “I hit him, shoot him, stab him. Still, he does not die.”
The van pulled into the warehouse. As the back door flew open, Vladimir sat smoking a cigarette and watching the television. “You have to go back,” he said angrily, without looking up.
“What?” Anton said. “Why?”
“The building didn’t go down,” Vladimir answered. “What’s more, you didn’t stick around to see that it didn’t go down. So Andre knows before you and I must hear from him.” Vladimir flicked the ash off his cigarette. “Not good.”
“I had a monitor on the charge,” Anton said defensively. “The charge went. If the building didn’t go down, it is because your brother’s intel about the building’s structure was incorrect.”
Vladimir looked at the van. “Speaking of my brother’s source, where is he? And what about Volsky and-”
“We encountered losses,” Boris, the team leader, answered. “We had to leave quickly and were unable extract our contact.”
Vladimir nodded. “This is good news. He’s still in place. I’ll contact him tonight. In the meantime, it’s close to sunrise. We should rest.”
Boris was less nonchalant. “Andre, is he . . . angry?”
“He’s not happy,” Vladimir said. “But Chicago went so badly, we’re spared the notoriety of being the least favorite brother.”
“One more thing,” Anton said, tossing Lorne’s head to Vladimir. “We chop this one’s head off. Still, he does not die.”
Vladimir set the head on his desk. “Is preferable. Perhaps he will be of use. Still, the client knows this one. We’ll have Andre ask what we shall do.”
******
Richard’s cell phone rang. Dawn handed it to him and watched him intently.
“Kevin,” Richard said. “Thank you for calling back.” He nodded. “Yes, I know you’re in psychiatry now, but you’re the best option I have.” Dawn noticed a flicker of rage in Richard’s eyes. Then, even more frighteningly, his lips curved into a folksy smile.
“I know this seems difficult, Kevin,” Richard said. “But that’s why I’m counting on you. After all, it wasn’t that long ago that your life was quite difficult indeed. And just look how well you’ve done for yourself since then.” Richard looked at his watch. “Fifteen minutes should be fine.”
“So help is on the way,” Dawn said, taking the phone back and aiming a piston at Richard. “I just hope it’s help for us, not you. Let’s go join the others.”
“They’re going to have to come back and finish the job,” Spike was saying as Dawn and Richard entered the lounge.
“I know a hideaway type place we could go,” Billy interjected. “I used it a few times when I was trying to ditch Jeff.”
“We can’t leave without getting Lorne back,” Faith snapped.
“So we put together a plan ASAP,” Xander said.
“In the meantime, we’re going to need protection,” Spike said. “I still know a few people who worked for Wolfram & Hart’s security detail.”
“So we’ll have evil guards,” Xander said sarcastically. “That sounds brilliant.”
Despite the pain, Spike grabbed Xander and pulled him up. “You’re part of the reason we’re in this mess!”
“So am I,” Faith said loudly. “So let’s stop with the blaming and start with the planning.”
“If you’re in need of protection, I might be of assistance,” Richard interjected.
“Ah,” Xander said. “I see we have another entry in the Evil Guards category.”
“I’ve already found a doctor to help with your injuries,” Richard protested.
“Doesn’t mean we want a bunch of demons standing guard while we sleep,” Spike said.
“The guards I have in mind are human and have quite a bit of experience dealing with demons.”
Xander wasn’t convinced. “Other than slayers, what humans have fought demons?” Xander’s jaw began to drop as he figured out where the Mayor was going.
“I’m referring to former Initiative personnel,” Richard said.
Dawn looked at Richard, clearly shocked. “You know about the Initiative?” Dawn asked, now remembering Richard had taken credit for delivering the crate of Initiative equipment.
“Of course I know about the Initiative,” Richard said with a warm smile. “I created it.”
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