summary:

TITLE: It's An Unlikely World Part 4 AUTHOR: halfofone
RATING: NC17 for language mainly CODE: F/W with some B/F and W/T
SUMMARY: This is a Buffy The Vampire Slayer fic. Faith is thrown together with an old enemy in prison.
WARNINGS: This jumps off from the end of BTVS season six and there are some spoilers. What happens next bears no relationship whatever to the events of season seven.
DISCLAIMER: BTVS is the property of Mutant Enemy and Twentieth Century Fox. I'm just playing with their toys.
CREDITS: Not beta'd so beware and this is my first BTVS story.
PUBLISHED: 6 November 2003

disclaimer:

TPTB are many. In a perfect world I would be one of them but it's not and I'm not. No infringement of copyright/trade marks or other intellectual property is intended. This story was written for fun and not profit.

warnings:

Warning: This story includes same sex relationships between women. If you are offended by this or it is illegal where you live or you are underage then please read no further.

Full warnings, credits and disclaimers can be found in the contents page and chapter 1.

text:

"On your feet, hands above your heads, against the wall. Spread 'em."

Both girls complied without fuss and impatient hands ran over their bodies. Faith took it in her stride but Willow still found the process degrading and it was hard not to react. She concentrated on Faith's voice. The slayer was needling the guards in the time-honoured manner, questioning their motives and sexual habits as they remorselessly poked and prodded the two women.

"All done," said the guard. "They're clean."

Senior Warden Wilson entered the cell slowly. It was another bad night and she was at the end of her rope plus there were too many damned odd things going on in the penitentiary these last few weeks. She frowned at the two prisoners. She prided herself on always detecting trouble before it happened but in the last two days trouble had found her first. Barry Manilow's runty little body had been discovered at the bottom of a laundry chute by a guy from the contract cleaners, so now the whole world would know about it. That meant there would have to be a full investigation; any investigation was also bound to bring up Alice Dimanski's death. Two deaths in two days did not look good and to crown it all, one of her night guards was missing. Harsh questions were bound to be asked about the way she was running this block. It was only two years to her retirement but suddenly that seemed a long way off.

"The chief wants to see you in her office. Get your uniforms on and get moving," she instructed the two prisoners.

"You took my statement Ma'am. I don't know anything," said Faith.

"What's to know Spencer?" asked the warder hoping that Spencer would make a mistake.

"Ma'am, Manny hasn't come back to the cell and that means either she's in trouble or she's escaped. Even I can work that out."

"Was she trying to escape?"

"Not as far as I know Ma'am but stranger things have happened."

Watching the senior warden closely, Willow could almost see the warden's mind turning over the options. An escape attempt gone wrong might be a good explanation. The woman's face hardened. "Spencer just save the speculation for the chief, I'm sure she'll be interested in whatever theory you can invent to save your sorry hide."

Faith curled her lip and Willow concurred inwardly. The easiest explanation was an attack by a fellow inmate: the prison needed a fall guy and Faith fitted the bill. The slayer was going to have to be careful.

The two prisoners dressed silently under the watchful eyes of the guards. When they had both finished putting on their prison issue sandals, the senior warden produced two sets of leg irons.

"Put 'em on."

Faith held the irons disdainfully. Willow thought the slayer was going to refuse, as did the gun-toting guards, levelling their shotguns menacingly. Willow placed her hand on the Faith's shoulder. The slayer's eyes met hers and the resentful tension faded from Faith's face. Slowly, she bent down and fitted the irons round her ankles. Taking her lead, Willow followed suit and one of the guards then locked the irons.

"Move it, both of you."

They shuffled out of the cell and onto the walkway. A large number of inmates had woken up because of the noise and were pressing their faces to the small barred windows on their cell doors. As the two women appeared a cacophony of shouts and questions and insults started up. The prisoners banged their doors with whatever they could find. The noise was deafening and it took Willow by surprise; she shrank back against Faith. The slayer took the opportunity to whisper in her ear.

"Don't react, I'm with you okay?"

Willow looked back and Faith half-smiled at her; the slayer's confident dark eyes admitting no fear. Willow stepped out with more assurance and they started the long march along the line of cells, moving with as much speed as could be managed in the clumsy irons. The walkway appeared endless and Willow was finding walking difficult. She stumbled more than once. Each time Faith steadied her and prevented her falling. The fourth time she felt the slayer stiffen and mutter quietly.

"What the hell?"

"Sorry," she whispered. "I guess these things need a little co-ordination."

Then Willow realised that Faith wasn't talking about her. The slayer was peering into the cell next to them. Two faces stared back at them from the shadows. They smiled at the slayer knowingly.

"What's wrong?" Willow hissed.

"I'm guessing that our pointy-toothed friend was either very hungry last night or she was not alone. Exercise time in the yard is going to be interesting."

"Prisoners stop talking," shouted the guard behind and shoved Faith forward. They started walking again.

Long minutes later they emerged from the cell block into corridors connecting to the central administration area where the chief warden had her offices. It was also the location of the punishment cells and the interrogation rooms but apparently those were not their destination. They passed several glass walled offices and the prying eyes of inquisitive secretaries and administrators who paused momentarily in their daily round of gossip to watch the unusual sight of prisoners being escorted through their safe domain.

The escort party stopped outside a door marked 'Chief Warden' and waited while Wilson knocked on the door and disappeared inside. Through the open door they could see a room with oak panelled walls; a deep-blue carpet surged away from the door. They heard Wilson speaking to someone, her voice quiet and respectful.

"Rosenberg and Spencer to see you Ma'am."

"Show them in Wilson" said a deep musical voice.

Faith looked up quickly, utter incredulity etched on her face.

Wilson emerged and signalled to the two prisoners to come forward. They were pushed roughly through the door by the over-zealous guards and nearly tripped over the deep pile carpet. Struggling to keep her feet, Willow wondered briefly why the Chief Warden would want to see them in this plush office when an interrogation room was more appropriate for interviewing suspected killers. She straightened up to look her jailer in the face but the only illumination in the room was the sunlight filtering through a single half closed blind behind them; every other window was shuttered tightly against the harsh California sun and it took Willow a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the lack of light. When they did, she saw an elegant and obviously well-dressed woman gazing back at her from the cool shadows of the air conditioned office.

"You may leave now Wilson," said the Chief Warden. "And take your team with you."

"But Ma'am..."

"I rather think that Miss Rosenberg and Miss Spencer form only a very minimal threat. I will call if I require any assistance" She gestured at the leg irons. "You have done well Wilson."

"Thank you Ma'am." said the senior warden backing out of the office after her team. The door closed and Willow edged closer to the slayer.

A huge aerial photograph of the prison complex hung on the wall behind the warden's desk. Something about it seemed very familiar but Willow couldn't place it for the moment.

The tall woman eyed them with some amusement. She rounded her enormous, empty desk and walked towards them. Faith immediately dropped into a fighting stance even though hampered by the leg-irons.

"I don't think there will be any need for fighting Faith" said the elegant blonde.

Willow quickly withdrew her gaze from the photograph and glanced at Faith. She was struck by the girl's expression of disbelief but then the slayer was staring, at what Willow had to admit, was an extraordinarily attractive chief warden. "Do you know her?" the witch asked. The slayer didn't answer and Willow nudged her gently. "Faith, do you know her?"

"Yes...I do," replied the slayer tersely, keeping up her guard. The object of her attention smiled easily.

"Faith please relax. I have no intention of coming to blows with both a slayer and possibly the most powerful witch in the western hemisphere. I was slightly dishonest with poor Wilson. You both form a very considerable threat but not one that needs to be countered by force, not at the moment anyway."

Willow was still catching up.

"Is she a vampire?"

"I'd say so." answered Faith not taking her eyes from the woman.

"Quite correct Ms Rosenberg but I don't see that as an obstacle to our discussion" said the woman pleasantly.

"Then who are you? You sound British."

"Indeed I am. Again, very perceptive of you Willow, if I may call you that. My name is Jennifer Carlisle."

A sudden insight raced through the witch's mind. "Of course...she would be British...because she was your first watcher wasn't she?"

Faith nodded, her jaw clamped so hard that the muscles were jumping.

"But I thought she was dead," whispered Willow, "as in totally dead, not undead. And you never told us she was beautiful." she added irrelevantly.

"You never asked."

"I just assumed that watcher equals tweedie person, not blonde faery-goddess. I mean how likely is that?"

"Why thank you Willow." said the vampire. "You're so sweet. It's hard to believe that you are also a cold-blooded killer. A rare combination in a human." She smiled approvingly at Willow who blushed and grinned awkwardly under the bewitching gaze of the cool blue eyes until her stammering brain actually processed the words. She tried to replace the grin with what she hoped was a stern and uncompromising glare but the vampire's smile simply broadened.

"It is you isn't it?" Faith directed her question at the slender blonde.

The vampire nodded and Faith dropped her fists.

"JC I'm so sorry," said the plainly anguished slayer. She looked devastated; that was the first word that came to Willow's mind as she anxiously searched Faith's face for explanation and devastated didn't seem to be an excessive description. "I couldn't stop him. I tried, I swear. They made me watch. I am so fucking sorry." Faith's voice was hoarse and Willow was horrified to see that her eyes were filling with tears.

"Water under the bridge Faith. I feel we are both past that now." The woman smiled again. "On balance I believe I am better off. After all my fate back then was to watch you die and even to train you to do so. From my point of view at that time there was no good option. And you have come a long way from the damaged child that I knew."

"I guess I made it all the way to damaged adult but I missed you." The dark slayer's voice was trembling. "It was too hard." Tears ran freely down Faith's face.

Willow didn't know which was less credible: a beautiful ex-watcher, the sight of Faith crying or discovering that Faith had obviously been in love with her watcher. The last revelation was the most improbable. Willow had always believed Faith was incapable of love.

"Now Faith," admonished the vampire. "Remember what I taught you: the Jennifer you knew is dead. I am a demon even if I do have her rather splendid cheekbones and her very fond memories of you." She winked flirtatiously at the slayer and Willow jumped to the logical conclusion.

"You were lovers?"

"No! Jesus Red! I was fifteen and she was my watcher. She wouldn't even let me say the word love let alone get down and dirty...though I wanted to badly."

Jennifer smiled angelically. "Of course you know that neither of those things are an issue now. You are twenty-one and I am not your watcher."

Willow experienced a strong desire to hit the slayer with a hammer spell. In less than two minutes Faith had reverted to being a love-sick teenager.

"Faith, she's a vampire. You can't trust her."

"I think I've covered that," said the vampire. "But although I am not human, I still care for you Faith and I would look after you. I certainly wouldn't allow some do-gooding little slayer to put a knife through you."

Faith sadly shook her head. "I've done the evil sidekick thing and it sucked. I won't join whatever end-of-the-world kick you're on here."

Jennifer stepped back, mild surprise on her face.

"End of the world? Why would you think that? It's not true of course but I am interested in why you think it might be."

"It's kind of obvious. Vampires don't take jobs as prison warders without a damn good reason and for the past couple of days you've been filling the place with your cronies haven't you? They're everywhere, warders, guards and inmates. On the walk down here I thought my slayer sense had flipped out."

Jennifer smiled again and both humans felt their knees go slightly weak. "It's an effective little setup here. The state provides the meals and we save the taxpayers money by reducing the prison population. The end of the world would actually be somewhat inconvenient and is not an event included in my business model."

"You're saying this is a business?" Willow questioned sceptically.

"Of course. I see no reason why a vampire should not contribute to the economy."

"But how did you get the job? You can't just breeze in and take over a state prison."

"My predecessor died in very unfortunate circumstances several weeks ago, which was convenient I suppose" she answered candidly. "So I applied for the position. Happily my references were thought to be very satisfactory and the governor seemed quite pleased to have obtained my services. I believe we have some mutual business acquaintances Faith."

"Shit! You're in with those lawyer guys that recruited me to kill Angel."

'At last a reality check,' thought Willow gratefully, hearing suspicion leaking through Faith's voice.

"Wolfram and Hart. Yes they were very helpful. Now sit down both of you. I want to discuss your options."

"Thanks but I think we'll stand, over here, in this nice warm sunshine." Faith took Willow's hand and they both shuffled back until the sunlight from the half open blinds played over their faces. "We don't see a lot of sun."

"If you prefer, I understand that the cells are rather poorly lit." Jennifer leaned against her desk and regarded them with friendly amusement. "You present me with a problem Faith. After last night it is quite apparent that you have lost none of your abilities and your companion was equally effective."

"You sent that vampire into my cell?"

"Of course not. The fool disobeyed my explicit instructions but you know how some people are. You forbid them from the west wing and they feel obliged to find out why. However although she deserved to die, it will clearly be very inconvenient if my operatives keep vanishing. The security cameras fortunately developed a major malfunction last night but that cannot always be the case."

"You switched them off."

"I replaced the tapes with blanks." She crossed her long legs at the ankle and Faith drew a sharp breath. The vampire's lips twitched and she deliberately leaned back so her skirt rode another inch up her slim thighs. Faith's breathing hitched again. She came back to herself when Willow pinched her.

"Faith, she's using feminine wiles and you are falling for them, I mean look at her. Definitely wily."

"Wily?" said Faith incredulously and Willow tried not to blush but the spell was broken. Faith grinned more like her old self. "Red thinks you're wily. So what does your wiliness want with me or her?"

"Apart from what I hope will be the pleasure of at last meeting you on equal terms Faith..." The vampire licked her lips and Faith shivered. "...I want you to simply mind your own business. In return I will see that you have better accommodations, a number of other perks not usually available to guests of the State of California and ultimately your freedom, if you want it."

"You'd let us go?"

"Eventually. It would have to be done through the proper channels but yes."

"And we just have to keep our mouths shut. Seems like a bargain. Why not just kill us?" asked the slayer.

The vampire looked hurt and protested warmly "I don't want to hurt you Faith! As I said, I care about you, although termination is my fall-back position if you won't agree to my offer but first consider things from my point of view. I don't want any trouble or unfortunate publicity since this operation requires total discretion. I'll be honest with you Faith; if you had been alone, matters might have been resolved very differently but in conjunction with Willow...well I'm not sure I would want to explain to the stockholders why their investment was lying in ruins even if I eventually succeeded in killing you both. It would be self-defeating."

Faith slowly shook her head. "Manny was my friend and she's dead. I don't see why you should expect me to trust you not to kill us when our guard is down. From where I stand, you have already tried once."

"Your friend's death was unfortunate. And don't trust me, that's fine with me. Keep your guard up at all times just as I taught you Faith. There's no need to trust me, you will be no worse off than you are now. Neither of you has anything to lose by agreeing to this and maybe a lot to gain."

"Manny had three kids."

"I did not order her death."

"But you will order other deaths, other mothers, other children."

"Does it really matter to you Faith?" Jennifer inquired impatiently. "You have killed innocent people several times."

"That's something I'm trying to put behind me." Faith took a step towards the vampire. "JC, I could kill you now and put an end to this right here."

"Maybe not," interrupted Willow grabbing Faith's arm. "Ms Carlisle, umm do you mind if we talk this over for a short while. I think your idea is really great but Faith is finding it a little hard. She kinda wanted to get away from the whole wicked and sinful deal. Let me talk to her. And then we'll get back to you." Willow smiled and Faith was disturbed to see the same creepy insane countenance from the night before, cold calculation disturbing the glassy surface of dead green eyes. Even the vampire seemed unnerved by the wicca's expression, she hesitated for an instant before she slowly inclined her head in acceptance, perhaps convinced by the aura of chilly darkness that clung about Willow's shoulders like a malevolent outer skin.

"I suppose that is not entirely unreasonable. I'll give you one hour to consider my offer but I won't wait any longer." Jennifer pressed the intercom button on her desk. "Officer Wilson. Take Rosenberg and Spencer back to the cells."

Faith angrily shook the witch's hand off her arm. Willow did not seem troubled. They waited in silence for the escort, and while they waited the vampire ex-watcher allowed her eyes to travel slowly over Faith's body. Faith kept her face impassive but her nipples visibly hardened under her prison issue t-shirt. Willow scowled and shook the slayer's arm and the embarrassed slayer withdrew her eyes from the tall blonde vampire.

Jennifer Carlisle smiled slowly, enjoying the discomfort she was causing and noting with interest the possessive behaviour of the young witch. Perhaps the well-documented dislike between these two young women was changing into something else and as her employer was fond of saying, 'knowledge of people gave power over them and to have power was to have everything worth having'. Their relationship would bear watching.

***********

"Since you managed to con your way out of this somehow you might as well go for breakfast" said Officer Wilson irritably.

"Thank you Ma'am" Willow replied.

"There won't be nothing left so don't bother thanking me."

Willow bobbed her head understandingly. She grabbed Faith's hand and tugged her along in the direction of the canteen but the slayer still seemed dazed.

"Hello. Anyone in there?"

"I'm not going agree to what she wants so don't try to persuade me." Faith growled.

"The offer of freedom or the offer of her bed?" queried Willow. "You didn't act as though you were about to turn down the latter."

"No need to get jealous Red. Dammit I'm not the one who was getting a dark hard-on just cos some wicked blonde shares a diabolical plan with me."

Willow sighed resignedly. "We have to get a message out of here now and get help."

"What the fuck are you talking about? I thought you wanted to fall in with her little prison blood-bank scheme. Just talking about it certainly seemed to get you excited..."

"Okay I let a little of my witchy essence rise up," Willow exclaimed impatiently. "I was trying to make it look convincing. Faith, I may have done evil but I don't intend taking it up as a profession. Aside from that, the whole idea was just really creepy and not even convincing. Surely you didn't really buy any of that 'I'm just a business-woman-trying-to-make-a-buck-lets-do-a-deal' crap?"

"No...course I didn't." said the slayer defensively with just a touch of embarassment. "I just thought she was...Oh fuck! Why do I have to do all the work? You're the brainy one, so what do you think is going down college girl?"

"I don't know exactly but the woman is in cahoots with Wolfram and Hart and those guys are into Apocalypse now, preferably in the plural. They don't want to run a prison. They want to destroy all life as we know it. And did you see the photograph on her wall?"

"Not really interested at the time. I was looking at my long-lost watcher."

"I noticed what you were looking at," said Willow pointedly. "Anyway there was an aerial photograph of the prison. I couldn't remember what it reminded me of and then I did. The prison is laid out on an inverted pentangle." She looked at Faith significantly but the slayer's expression said an emphatic 'so what?'.

"It's the sign of the demon Baphomet, used by satan-worshippers everywhere. The administration block is right in the mystical centre."

"So the architect's a Black Sabbath groupie. Who cares about the building design?"

"Faith we are sitting on a giant symbol of evil which is being overrun by the undead and managed by a proxy of Wolfram and Hart, Evil Incs' attorneys-at-law."

"Probably not good then?"

"Probably not. Your watcher is playing for time, that's why she wants us to keep quiet. We have to warn Buffy before whatever is going to happen, happens."

"Buffy! Why the fuck do we have to warn Buffy?"

"Fighting evil is sort of her gig."

"It's mine too. I know I'm a little rusty but I can still kill demons."

Willow tried to be reassuring. "I didn't mean that you couldn't kick demon ass just as well as Buffy but we are going to need more than that. We'll need weapons, backup and research. I can do a waking dream spell..."

"No magic Red."

"Er the situation is different now Faith. I may have to use magic to save our asses when the beautiful Ms Carlisle finds out we're not going to fall in with her plans?"

Faith folded her arms determinedly. "You promised me no magic and on my understanding that means no spells, chants, charms or curses unless they are of the strictly non-magic variety."

"You are not being reasonable."

"No, I'm trying to survive. If you're right then anytime soon this place will be stewing in bad vibes. I don't want a wicked unstable witch adding to the frickin' mess and I don't want to have to fight off you and JC."

Willow's eyebrows shot up suggestively.

"Don't say it Red. You know what I mean."

Their conversation was cut short by the increasing numbers of prisoners as they approached the head of the canteen. Faith seemed to be moving very cautiously, looking over her shoulder every couple of steps.

"Fuck! They are everywhere!" she exclaimed quietly. "Stick to the sunlight Red."

As she spoke, someone cannoned into Willow almost knocking her off her feet.

"You should watch where you're going!" the inmate growled. "Or you might get into a lot of trouble carrot-head."

Faith sighed. It was the big bruiser who had molested Willow the first day.

"That is no way to treat a lady."

"What are you gonna do about it Spencer?"

"Umm let me see," mused Faith. "Pull your eyes out, tear your arms off and then beat you to death because you won't play catch with your eyeballs? Or maybe gut you from the inside out, using just my bare hands, an ordinary chair and this little plastic spoon. Gee there are such a lot of choices for a girl to make."

"Things change Spencer," the woman snarled and her face instantly transformed, becoming all teeth and yellow eyes. "Your girl is such a pretty little thing, I am going to enjoy eating her."

Several prisoners screamed at the hulk's deformed face but Faith laughed and the bruiser drew back, startled by Faith's indifference to her transformation.

"Not changed as much as you think loser but hell I think you look better" the slayer sneered. "What moron thought you were worth sucking on?"

The hulk charged and Faith sidestepped letting her crash into a stack of chairs. The space around them suddenly cleared of prisoners and guards. Hearing the ruckus Wilson came out of her office, peered over the balcony at the canteen below and swore soundly.

"Okay you two break it up now." she yelled. "You are both up to your armpits in shit. Give it up."

"It's alright Wilson," said a cool voice at her shoulder. "Let them fight."

"M..Ma'am?" stuttered Wilson. "We can't allow the inmates to fight. It would be murder in here."

"I know but just this once. Let's call it...an experiment in inmate self-management, then we can lock them both up in the cooler for a long time."

"If you're sure ...."

"I'm sure." The chief warden leaned on the balcony rail to watch and to the flabbergasted Wilson who was still trying to make sense of this madness she looked like one of those blood-lusting Roman emperor types you saw on the History channel, watching the gladiators fight to the death.

Faith glanced up, wondering why Wilson had stopped yelling, and encountered the sapphire-blue gaze of her former mentor. For a moment she forgot where she was; failing to notice that her opponent had picked herself up from the floor. Faith was rudely recalled by 200lb of angry vampire ploughing into her. She went down on the floor, trapped under her triumphant enemy.

Jennifer Carlisle shook her head disapprovingly. Her protege had picked up some careless habits.

With the wind knocked out of her by the impact, Faith was having some difficulty holding the huge vampire off.

"Not laughing now are you bitch?" snarled the vampire.

"No I just want to be sick." gasped Faith. "Do you floss? Cos your breath is pretty heady stuff. That's what an all meat diet does for you..."

The vampire snarled again and strained with all her strength, trying to close the last few inches to the tantalising throbbing veins in her victim's neck.

Off to the side Faith could hear a voice, Willow's voice but deeper.

"I call on you Hecate, confuse my enemies and bring forth your powers of transformation ...."

Fuck! She was chanting. With a heave of desperation, Faith rolled out from under and broke free. She threw herself at Willow and grasped the witch's wrists.

"Red, you promised me. Don't let me down."

A pair of meaty arms grasped her from behind and pulled her away. She gave one last glance of appeal to Willow and mouthed "Don't." before turning her full attention back to the fight. The vampire was again trying to bite her neck and the brute had a good hold. Faith stretched backwards to grasp the vampire's head in both hands and then leaned forward lifting the monster fractionally off the ground. she charged backwards, putting all her strength into slamming the suspended vampire back against the wall. The vamp lost her grip and Faith span around to deliver a series of heavy kicks and punches, neatly finished by smashing a plastic chair on the vampire's head. The dazed blood-sucker sank to her knees.

Faith smiled with satisfaction. She grasped her opponent's collar and dragged her a few feet to the left. A single shaft of sunlight fell on the vampire's forehead. To the shock and horror of the human onlookers the hulk's head suddenly burst into flame quickly followed by the rest of her huge body.

"Jesus H. Christ," said Officer Wilson gripping the rail with white knuckles. "What the fuck did she do?"

"She proved a theory for me," said the ex-watcher. "So I suppose you could say the experiment worked. I want you to take Spencer to the punishment block. If she resists shoot her. She's clearly very dangerous and I don't want any of my officers hurt."

"But how did she do it?" Wilson didn't want to take on something she couldn't understand. "Must be some kind of flame-thrower but I ain't ever seen nothing like it before."

Down on the floor of the canteen Faith was aware that every single person in the room, human or vampire, was watching her with a mixture of fear and disbelief. Their beliefs about the world may have differed but the fear was the same. Faith Spencer was a fucking scary woman.

"Stand aside everyone," Officer Wilson ordered. Two guards both armed and in riot gear were pushing through the the mass of onlookers. "Spencer get your hands up. You're coming with us. If you resist we'll shoot." Faith was aware of other armed guards approaching from the sides and there was one guard up on the balcony next to Wilson and her ex-watcher, with a rifle trained on the slayer's head.

"She's playing us," Willow said quietly but just loud enough for Faith. "They're human and she knows you can't kill them. Do I save us now?"

Faith glared at the witch and shook her head. As she slowly raised her hands above her head, a movement out of her right eye caught her attention. One of the guards circling her was much closer than the others. It was all Faith needed, she threw herself sideways and took the guard down. In less than fraction of a second Faith had recovered and was shielding herself from the sniper with the hapless guard's body, holding her hostage's gun to her head, .

"No-one move" Faith shouted urgently but everybody had stopped moving before Faith could get out the words. Aware that Jennifer's next objective would be Willow, the slayer yelled "Red get over here behind me." Willow obeyed immediately.

Jennifer Carlisle ground her perfect teeth in annoyance.

"Shoot them," she ordered the guard.

Wilson placed her hand on the guard's shoulder, restraining him from lifting the rifle. "Ma'am we can't, it's too dangerous, too big a chance of killing Torrance.

"It is a risky profession Wilson, now shoot them. That's an order. I will take full responsibility."

Faith could see JC and Wilson arguing. She jerked the guard to her feet and backed towards the service counter. Willow kept pace, keeping just behind the slayer. The service counter ran along one side of the canteen. On a normal day, several inmates with special privileges who worked in the canteen would have been serving food but as soon as the guns appeared, pointing in their direction they had all disappeared to hide in the kitchens and the serving area was clear.

"We have to make a run for it Willow." Faith whispered.

Up on the balcony, Officer Wilson was standing firm. "Ma'am, you caused this by allowing Spencer to fight. I won't lose one of my team because of your dumb experiment."

"You'll lose more than that if you don't obey my instructions. Give me the gun you fool, I'll do it myself." When the marksman hesitated, Jennifer Carlisle effortlessly twisted the weapon from his hands, shoving him aside and raised it to her shoulder. Wilson looked on aghast but then recovered to throw herself forward, pushing the muzzle of the gun down as it fired.

Hearing the gunshot and knowing this was their last chance, Faith pushed Willow back to counter.

"Now" she cried. Willow hauled herself over the counter as quickly as she could and Faith followed, vaulting the low barrier, still keeping a grip on the struggling guard, pulling her over the counter.

"Come on. Run." Faith urged and they sprinted through the exit to the kitchens. Several kitchen staff and inmates were hiding behind various objects. Faith pointed her gun at one. "Way out. Now!" A cowering figure pointed at a door.

"Where are we going?" asked Willow as they ran for the exit.

"How the fuck should I know? Out. You wanted a plan. This is the plan."

Willow pushed the door and it sprang open, sunlight pouring into the room. Across the open yard, half a dozen guards could be seen running towards them. They were trapped. "This is a plan?" she muttered sounding disgruntled.

Faith looked around desperately and then observed a closed door with a notice affixed stating: 'fire-escape keep clear.'

"In there." she snapped pushing the captive guard towards it. "Open it."

"I can't. It's one way only," mumbled the terrified warder. Faith shoved her to her knees

"For you maybe" said the slayer and delivered a violently well-timed kick to the lock. The door half-disintegrated in a shower of splinters. "On your feet." She hauled the guard back to her feet and started to drag her inside the fire escape.

"Do we have to take her?" asked Willow. "She's petrified."

" 'fraid so. We need some kind of insurance not to mention protection against marksmen."

"Where are we going?" said Willow without much hope as they headed up the stairs. The answer was about as bad as she had feared.

"The roof I guess."

"And then where?"

Faith didn't answer and Willow stopped climbing, watching the slayer heading up the stairs, pulling the guard along with her. After a few steps Faith realised the witch wasn't following.

"Anything wrong?" she called down.

Despite her fear and her doubts, Willow's lips twitched at the total inanity of asking such a question in the circumstances. "Nothing," she replied, starting to laugh. She ran after the slayer, taking the stairs two at a time.

Faith grinned and began climbing again.

TBC