Fic: The fugitives
Summary: Giles died, leaving someone else to take over the council Sadly, he was part of the old council, and he isn't playing fair to get respect..
Rating: M
Pairing: I really don't know, right now I'm not sure there will be any pairing at all. However if I change my mind I'll give all appropriate warnings.
Feedback: pretty please, also this is not beta'd so I apologize in advance for any mistakes
Xander Harris stood at the front of a mass of people. All there for one reason, the mourning of Rupert Giles, head of the Watchers Council.
And he was pissed. Through the searing pain he felt through this, he could feel anger. Anger that the closest thing he had to a father had been finished off by a stupid heart attack.
Demons, vampires, end of the world (whatever the plural was), he had survived all that. And something as mundane as this has finished him. His anger didn't make sense even in his own mind, Giles was only mortal after all, but it still seemed wrong.
Although Xander didn't admit it often, he always saw all of them going down in one final battle.
Next to him Buffy and Dawn held one another, still shedding their tears. Next to them Kennedy supported Willow as best he could. He didn't bother looking for anyone else, these people were the ones closest to Giles.
He didn't utter a word during the funeral, didn't much listen to Robin's speech, and didn't even want to hear Roger Wydam-Pryce's speech on how he was the new head.
As the funeral continued around him, Xander silently mourned while keeping a brave face and supporting the others.
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"Morning sir" the soldier commented as the barrier lifted.
Xander gave a brief nod in acknowledgment before driving forwards into the base. It was built very recently, especially for the training of slayers. Of course it wasn't so much a base, it was merely a building full of dorms, a large yard full of training equipment, an armory, and perimeter fence around it with a gate on the north side. It had been dubbed a base given what it was used for. Giles had given him command over it, and a small team of 6 to help him run it. Three of them were slayers, three of them were military.
Xander parked his car and got out, seeing Vi, one of the slayers on his team, in the main yard going through standard acrobatics with the 15 new slayers that had been sent here. Her hair was longer than it used to be, and her confidence had grown immensely since Sunnydale got buried 4 years ago. She saw him from the distance and gave him a look of sympathy and a slight nod, knowing full well were he had been, before returning to her job.
He saw Lankston going through the inventory of the armory. Lankston was one of the military of his team. He used to be SAS. Xander came across him in Africa, his team had been wiped out and he had been the only survivor. Xander talked to Giles and had him recruited. Lankston still wouldn't tell Xander what he was doing in Africa, but to show his gratitude for the job he pulled some strings and allowed Xander and the rest of his team to be put through SAS selection. It turned out that some parts of the SAS were in light contact with the council, apparently they sometimes came across things that were beyond their own profession. So Xander and his team went through the SAS selection process.
Now that was something Xander wanted to forget, physically it was among the hardest things he had ever had to do. The fact that they modified for the slayers among them made it all the harder, but he'd be lying if he said it didn't come in handy. There was also the pride he felt at being told he was good enough to enter the SAS for real, despite what the instructor's last words to him were.
"If you weren't a damn yank I'd force you into one of the teams" Xander almost laughed thinking on it.
Xander entered his office and sat heavily into the large chair behind his desk. He frowned as something caught a glint of light and shined in his eye. He looked at the object and smiled slightly for the first time today.
On his desk was a large bottle of Jack Daniel's, with a little ribbon around it. Stuck to the bottle was a card with "'cause you'll need it stud". He didn't even have to recognize the writing to know it was Faith. He nearly laughed thinking that a few years ago they walked on eggshells around each other, but 8 months of working together and suddenly they're drinking buddies who once got deported from Italy.
Seeing nothing wrong with it and no overly important tasks for him, he unscrewed the top of the bottle and poured himself an unhealthy helping of it. He than sat back in his chair, thinking about the man who was almost his father.
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"Andrew!" Roger Wyndam-Pryce barked form his office.
"Yes sir" Andrew answered almost running into the older mans office.
"What on earth is this?" the new council head demanded, handing a slip of paper to Andrew.
'Giles was never this bad' Andrew thought while taking the paper, feeling a quick tinge of sadness for his old boss.
"This is the location of the orb of Shak'Haria sir" Andrew said.
"And why the bloody hell is it in the hands of a vampire?" referring to Angel, sole survivor of the great battle in LA. Now living in Madrid, Spain.
"With respect sir Angel has proven he is good on many occasions, even after we turned down his request for help" Andrew couldn't help the admiration slipping into his voice.
"I couldn't care if the pope himself personally blessed Angelus he is still a vampire, I want that orb here, now" Roger barked.
"Yes sir" Andrew nodded dutifully before almost running out of the office to call Angel and bring the orb in.
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"Huh, so take it Faith was in contact then?" Sarah said, nodding to the bottle on Xander's desk.
She was one of the first slayers Xander and Faith had found while working together, so she knew all too well of their drinking habits.
"Yeah, it was nice of her" Xander commented with a short smile.
Sarah was the second of three slayers assigned to help him run the base. She had requested numerous times to be one of them and Giles eventually yielded, never one to be able to resist a beautiful slayer. And with her fiery red hair and emerald green eyes she was indeed a beauty. She sometimes reminded him of Willow, except with all the magical abilities of…well himself.
Last time she tried it took 24 hours to put out the blaze.
"You do realize you once told me to hit you if you were ever caught brooding?" Sarah asked with a sad smile, knowing who he was thinking about.
"Hey, I am not brooding, I'm thinking" Xander protested.
"Nope, I've seen you think, you always complain about headaches after it. So you're brooding" she carried on, noting it got his mind of the old head watcher.
Xander merely glared at her, Sarah just laughed, drawing a small smile from Xander as well.
"I'm not brooding" Xander repeated, less convinced this time.
"Whatever you say boss. Anyway Lankston wants to talk to you, I think he's still pissed about you using too much ammo on the firing ranges"
Which was true, Xander still had remnants of the soldier from Halloween, and although the abilities and memories were gone it had still given him a very unhealthy liking for firearms.
"Tell him I'll be right out" Xander said with a sigh.
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"You wanted to see me Lankston?" Xander asked when he reached the well-built man going through the inventory.
Lankston, as did most in the SAS, practically screamed danger. Everything from his composure to the way he moved. He had short brown hair and icy blue eyes, the memory of his team ever present in them.
"Yes sir I did. Mostly because I want to request for god only knows how many times for you to stop using so much ammo. I know we've got a lot of money these days but we're still on a budget"
"Yeah, I know, but you know me, always like to play with guns" Xander commented.
"You know the saying, it's all fun and games…." Lankston trailed off, earning a sharp yet playful glare from Xander's single eye.
"Shut up Lanky" Xander joked.
"Whatever you say Yankee" Lankston shot back as Xander walked away.
Xander continued to walk through his base. Observing Johnson and Davies teaching some of the more experienced slayers how to aim properly with a crossbow.
Johnson was your stereotypical American drill sergeant. Short blond hair, blue eyes. You would never hear the word maggot more times out of any other man. Sometimes it pissed off both Xander and the other slayers, but he was a good man, lived by the words 'never leave a fallen man behind'. He was in the Navy SEALS. But dropped out because of a mission, of which he couldn't tell Xander, that led to his commanding officers abandoning him and his team. They made it out alive, barely, but Johnson wasn't happy about it and dropped out a few days later. Xander and Faith had found him in the ally of a bar in Italy, trying to fight off a vampire. They dusted the vampire and Johnson pretty much demanded to join. Next thing he knew the ex SEAL was on Xanders team. He had gotten Xander yet more special ops training, however this time there was no pulling of strings, simply Johnson demanding they go through some of the training before he and Xander embarked on a mission in the middle east, another thing Xander wanted to forget.
Davies was different from both of the other military in his team. He was a highly trained fighter, the likes of which he had never encountered in the military. He couldn't even tell Xander what unit he had been in never mind what he was doing in Cleveland were Robin Wood found him. He was apparently trying (and failing) to take down a rather large demon. Davies was one of the toughest men Xander had ever known so he assumed the demon to be pretty big. He was a hulking figure, tall, muscular, black and damn proud of it. He was the first of the military recruits and he had requested it. For a reason which Xander still didn't know. Robin said he just kept bugging him to join up, always showing up, sometimes even pissing off the slayers by dusting vamps before they got to them. So Robin had asked Xander, and Xander accepted.
"Hey Xander" a feminine voice commented from behind him.
He recognized it immediately as the third slayer helping him with the base.
"Hey Jodie" Xander replied turning to face her.
Jodie was rather special. Because of the brutal fight to get her. He had found her in Africa, a demon slave ring had kidnapped her from her parents in New York and brought her to Africa to be sold. He and Faith had been partners for 2 months, and that was the first time they ever cut the banter and the insults and just went straight to the mission. As a result their success was to the point of sheer brutality, out of the 35 demons that made up the ring, not a single one survived. Jodie had naturally been in a state of shock after that, being kidnapped for reasons she didn't even know. Xander had brought her out of it though. For the most part the reason she was transferred to his team was because she wouldn't stop bugging Giles about it after she was sent to the London HQ.
Another twinge of sadness at the loss of his near father.
"You alright in there?" Jodie asked.
"Yeah I'm good, or will be soon"
Jodie accepted the answer, but didn't like it much. She had looks to match Buffy and Faith in Xanders view. Her hair was jet-black, and her soft hazel eyes held a fire that Xander knew he helped light.
Xander carried on his walk of the base, leaving Jodie to her duties. He didn't really do anything other than survey how things were running. And of course, once again going into his memories of Giles.
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"Its about bloody time it got here" Roger sneered at Andrew as he handed the older man the orb of Shak'Haria.
"Sorry sir" Andrew apologized, not really feeling sorry "it came as fast as possible".
"Not fast enough for my liking. Three bloody days I've been waiting and I sent for it straight after Giles' death. It's only Spain" Roger ranted.
"With respect sir I can't control how the postal service works" Andrew shot back, unable to contain the anger from seeping into his voice.
"You bloody well watch you mouth child, council punishments are far worse than those in the normal world you know"
"Sir those punishments, along with test at the slayers 18th, were banned shortly after Mr Giles came into office" Andrew commented.
"We shall see boy, now get back to work" Roger barked.
Andrew turned his back, and didn't notice Roger placing the orb into his desk drawer rather than sending it to storage. Nor did he notice Roger's almost evil smile as Andrw closed the door behind himself.
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Xander sat alone in one of London's many pubs, nursing a pint. He had stayed on the base as long as he could, but the others had pretty much demanded him to go and relax, he was far too distracted to be of any real use on the base right now and he knew it.
'You know, sitting there like that, someone might think you're an alcoholic" a voice said behind him.
"Hey Dawn" Xander replied, not needing to think very hard to recognize her.
She merely smiled slightly, and took a seat at the bar next to him.
:"I'm disappointed, you never said a word to me at the funeral" Dawn said with mock hurt.
"Sorry" he apologized "I just thought you'd be busy trying to console Buffy"
"I was, but that doesn't mean I didn't want to talk to you"
Xander merely nodded. Dawn ordered a coke from the barman, and the two sat there in a comfortable silence.
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"Yes thank you Andrew" Vi said and hung up the phone.
After thinking for a brief second, she began walking in the direction of the dorm building, where most of the slayers were settling down for the evening.
As she opened the door, she was unsurpassed to see them all look at her. Vi, much like most of the team running the base, had rooms in the different building, and they only came in this one for something important.
"Okay girls listen up" he began "we're going to be having a visit from the council head soon"
No one said a word, as they all knew what this meant. This base wasn't the most formal of places. Xander liked to give his slayers at least some amount of freedom. If they wanted to go out they could, provided they informed the rest of where they were going. They had decided as soon as the base opened that the slayers were only under their command as long as they were training or patrolling, their life was theirs to live.
But everyone knew that the new council head thought differently. They also knew that this place would be shut down if they were doing something he didn't like. They didn't want that, they liked it here. At least better than what they've heard about the other places.
"I don't know how long he will be here for, but as long as he is here everything is by the book. No-one leaves the base, not even us, unless to patrol. Also, sadly, you'll have to be referring to us as sir and ma'am".
Vi hated visits from any of the old council for this exact reason. No one on the team thought that they should have to bother with such a formality, but the old council did. Last time they got a visit from the old council they had to wait 3 months for the visitor to stop trying to shut down the base because the slayers were calling Xander by his name instead of sir.
'Everyone know how to handle this?" she asked, and got a series of nods in return "good, he'll be here on Monday" she finished and walked out.
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"Here are the rest of the reports sir" Andrew said handing said documents to his boss.
"Thank you Andrew" Roger grumbled, as much as the boy annoyed him, he was good at the job. Too bad they weren't on the same train of thought.
Roger had demanded to be shown the reports on all the slayers that were trained on Harris' base. He had to admit he was impressed. The ones from his base showed a significantly more advanced level of training than the others. This was the reason he had decided to visit the base. He would like Harris and his team on his side, there was no-one better in the council. Except himself of course.
One thing that really stood out about Harris' slayers, they used guns. Nothing big, they just carried a handgun, shotgun, or sub machine gun for the more dangerous missions. Reports had shown them to be quite effective in the field, not necessarily killing demons, but slowing them down enough. This was one thing that set Roger aside from the rest of the old council, he thought this was a good idea, he would have to sway the rest of the old council if he wanted Harris on his side.
"Andrew" Roger called out to his employee.
"Yes sir?" Andrew said walking quickly into the older mans office.
"Can you get me the file on Alexander Harris?" Roger put it as a question, but both men new there was only one answer.
"Of course sir, I'll get right on it" he said dutifully before leaving as quickly as he had come in.
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Name: Harris, Alexander Lavelle
Age: 26
Occupation: Watcher, demon hunter
Background: One of the survivors from the collapse of Sunnydale. Fought along side the Senior Slayer Buffy Summers for over 7 years. Separated from his original group when partnered with Faith and sent to Africa. Unusually high success rate in finding and sending back slayers. Left Africa with Faith to travel many countries in Europe, with similar results in terms of slayers. Has had intensive military training from both the SAS and the Navy SEALS. Considered and extremely proficient fighter and can easily eliminate vampires and most demons.
Additional notes: although a reliable member of the council, it is unwise to get in his way in regards to those he cares about. He has shown an unusually high level of brutality when they are in danger. A reliable member of the council however considered extremely dangerous.
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Roger frowned at the unusually short report. It didn't take him long to figure out whoever had written this report (probably Giles) wasn't saying everything. He chose not to dwell on it, and hoped he would find out anything else he needed during his visit on Monday.
End of chapter 1.