Adventures of Faith the Slayer

XVI. Tommy's Newfound Faith

DISCLAIMER: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Arrow belong to their respective creators, I am merely borrowing some of the wonderful characters from each series and breathing life to this plot bunny idea of mine.

PhoenixRae’s NOTE: This will be a completely AU for both Arrow and BtVS. I’m still saddened by what happened at the end of S1 of Arrow, but that doesn’t stop me from writing about this character…

SUMMARY: Tommy was sent to Cleveland by Oliver to train with someone his best friend reassured him would be the best person to train him if he was really intent on learning to master hand-to-hand combat as well as weapons’ handling. Tommy thought Oliver was setting him up with a sexy, fit and feisty brunette with puffy kissable lips – until he found himself flat on his back, the breath knocked out of him and a booted foot pressing down hard on his voice box…

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TOMMY MERLYN WAS FLAILING LIKE A damn fish out of water on the smooth floor of the gym dojo he was told to go to by Oliver. He couldn’t remember how he ended up with his back flat on the floor and a foot pressed on his throat, but he definitely remembered the why of it: Oliver.

            “Faith!”

            Tommy managed to turn his head to the direction of the person who yelled. He assumed the woman whose booted foot was currently using his throat as a foot rest was named ‘Faith’ since that was where the petite blonde woman’s gaze was aimed at. From where she stood – arms crossed over her midriff, shoulders squared and eyes shooting daggers at the person standing over him – that she wasn’t impressed at what she was seeing.

            “Be right there, B!” Faith called back casually over her shoulder.

            Tommy heard a couple of pairs of footsteps walking up to them and stopped just above his head. He assumed one of them was the woman Faith called ‘B’.

            “Get your foot off his throat,” B demanded.

            “Aww, you’re no fun, B,” Faith whined and dug his foot deeper, causing Tommy to choke and flail some more.

            “Faith!”

            Did he just hear the other woman growl? Tommy couldn’t quite tell since he was busy trying to keep on breathing. For a woman who doesn’t look like she weighed over one-forty, Faith was very strong.

            “This is not how we treat guests,” B told the other woman sternly and was the one who pulled Faith’s foot off Tommy’s throat.

            “Thank you,” Tommy rasped and slowly pushed himself to a sitting position. He was surprised when he felt a pair of hands help him sit up from behind. He gave a quick look over his shoulder and found a smiling redhead kneeling behind him.

            “Hi, I’m Willow,” the redhead introduced herself. “I think Faith’s a bit rough on you,” she frowned when she noticed his throat. “Here, let me help you feel better,” she offered and didn’t wait for Tommy to accept or reject her. Willow reached out and touched her hand to his throat. She closed her eyes and chanted something low under her breath, but from what Tommy could catch he thought the woman was speaking in Latin.

            Tommy felt his throat began to feel better. He was certain his voice box was crushed, but whatever Willow did it doesn’t feel like someone’s boot had just been on it, crushing it slowly using a booted foot.

            “There, all better now,” Willow smiled then pushed herself upright, giving him her hand once she was standing.

            Tommy looked at the offered hand then back at the woman who offered it. She was smiling charmingly at him and he’d be damned if he acted like a complete ass and shove off her hand. Besides, he still hadn’t fully recovered from having his throat stepped on so he accepted her hand and pushed himself up to his feet as well.

            “We’re so sorry about that,” apologized the blonde woman Tommy remembered as being called ‘B’. “That’s not how we usually welcome guests,” she explained and sent a scathing glare at the brunette beside her.

            “It’s alright,” Tommy smiled and avoided looking at the brunette, but he could feel her gaze boring hotly on the side of his face. “I’m Tommy, by the way, Tommy Merlyn,” he introduced and thrust his hand out for a shake.

            “Nice to meet you, Tommy. I’m Buffy Summers,” the blonde introduced herself and shook his hand. “And I’m sure you already met Willow,” she referred to the redhead who helped him.

            “Nice to meet you,” Tommy smiled at the blonde and redhead respectively. He gave a tentative look at the unfriendly brunette. “So you’re Faith, huh?” he said and gave her a quick up and down survey. Oliver wasn’t lying when he said that she was a looker. And she was a badass too and his somewhat sore throat was his foot. She could’ve damaged his voice box with her foot on his throat if she wanted to; Tommy was thankful that she didn’t.

            “Yeah, so?” Faith snapped.

            “Oliver sent me,” he said cutting right through the chase and told her the purpose of his being here. “He said you could help whip me into shape or whatever,” he shrugged.

            Faith actually gave a pause at the mention of his best friend’s name.

            “You mean Oliver Queen?” She gave more emphasis on Oliver’s last name accompanied by a slight cocking of her eyebrow.

            “Yeah, the one and only,” Tommy nodded.

            “That son of a bitch,” Faith hissed and without giving anybody a reason, she turned her back on them and walked out of the dojo, leaving Tommy baffled by the brunette’s reaction when she found out who sent him here.

            Tommy looked at the other two women left in the room with him. Based on the looks on their faces they knew what set off the brunette. But neither one would be enlightening him about it.

            “What did I do?” he couldn’t help from asking the other two women left standing with him.

            Willow and Buffy exchanged looks then as one turned to look him square in the eyes and said, “Old history.”

            That was all Tommy needed to know. He let out a long sigh and gave his head a firm shake. Damn Oliver for sending him to be taught by one of his ex-lovers. “This should be fun,” he mumbled under his breath then followed the blonde and the redhead when they left the dojo gym to find where Faith took off to.