"Two Solid Claws Made of Metal"
(BtVS/X-23/Metal Gear Universe/Possibly Marvel 616-universe)
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material contained herein. They are the rightful property of their respective creators and associated companies. I make no profit off of this whatsoever and I have no intention of changing this at any point in the future. I write because it's fun and because there are those who enjoy reading my work. Therefore it would be greatly appreciated if anyone considering taking legal action against me would not do so in the end. I can assure you that my total net worth doesn't come even close to what suing me will probably cost you.
Timeline: In the BtVS universe this will happen years after the end of Season Seven but will not have anything to do with the Season Eight comic books or the events therein. I'd originally considered using YAHF as a springboard for what I wanted but then decided not to since it's been done to death. I have another idea of how to get things moving in the direction I want but please forgive me if it feels a little…off. I'll try to have someone read it over first to see how good it all fits together but no promises. In the Metal Gear Universe this will start halfway through the second world war since I think that'll be the best insertion point for what I have in mind. As for X-23 it'll happen during her time as a member of Wolverine's X-Force.
Note: What brought all this about? Basically it was getting ahold of 'Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain and knowing that it's meant to close the gap between the prequel games (MGS3, MGS:Portable Ops, MGS: Peacewalker) and the more modern ones (Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2, Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots). It got me and my muse wondering what we could do, how we could insert Xander into the Metal Gear Universe, and how to make it all come together just right. Immediately I crossed off making Xan into some kind of Solid or Naked Snake clone and started considering soldiers from other games, movies, TV shows and comics that could work. I couldn't make Xan too overpowered because that'd just create too much friction and probably seem ridiculous to you the readers. So after some thought this is what I chose. Yeah I know I could've gone with Wolverine instead of X-23 but that seemed a little predictable plus having two guys with cigar smoker's voices meet up.
Just chalk it up to me reacting to the generally positive reviews I got for my gender-bender story where Xander gets turned into Raven.
Note 2 : I am open to suggestions on how I can change events in the Metal Gear universe, be it for the better or the worse, just make sure that at the time of your suggestion it meshes with what's already happened up to that point in the story. I am not rewriting previous chapters to make it mesh. Also not all suggestions will be utilized in future chapters. I will read each one, weigh it against what I already have in mind and then make my choice. So if you REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want your suggestion/idea to be used by me make sure your suggestion is well laid out.
Two Solid Claws Made of Metal
"Run that by me again?" he asked as he looked at the faces of the core members of the New Council.
"Amy's put out a contract on you." Buffy replied sounding completely serious and not at all joking.
"O-kay…you sure this is the same Amy Madison we saved from her psycho mother in high school, returned to human form in college and got a major revenge fixation during the mess with The First?" he asked not quite sure he'd heard right, "If she wanted me dead couldn't she've just cast a curse on me or something?"
"According to our sources she does not wish you dead." Giles said cleaning his glasses with concern, "The specifics are to capture their target and then bring you to her. Alive."
"That makes even less sense." He said as he tried to figure out what was going on, "Aside from using me as bait what else could she want with me? She couldn't use me as some kind of sleeper agent especially since we know about the contract and while I can kick ass pretty good for a one eyed thirty year old any one of you guys could kick my ass in a fight."
"Unfortunately Council sources weren't able to find any clues about her motivations." Robin Wood said putting in his two cents, "Only that with the payday of a quarter of a million dollars it's going to attract some pretty decent talent."
"A QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS!?" he exclaimed incredulously at the idea of someone putting such a price on his head.
What the hell had he done to Amy to earn this kind of attention?!
Thinking back to high school he did his best to recall every single interaction he'd had with her then moved on to college before ending with the mess with the First. By the time he was done he couldn't think of anything serious enough to warrant a pricy abduction contract so the only possibility that made sense was that he'd been targeted as the weak link of the group. He wasn't a Slayer, he wasn't a magic user and he was stationed at one of the less guarded Council facilities currently in existence. Of all the people Amy could hate and feasibly reach he was the only one.
"Yeah so you get your butt down to the teleportation circle in the basement Mister because I'm beaming you back to the castle pronto." Willow said in her resolve tone making it clear she would not be denied, "Once you're here we can lock down the entire HQ and then NO ONE will be able to get to you."
"No." he said after only a moment's thought.
"WHAT?!" Willow exclaimed in disbelief at the quick dismissal.
"Why not?" Buffy asked sounding like she wasn't willing to accept his decision.
"Simple: If I go back to the castle that just means that whoever comes after me is going to have to bring some pretty big guns to get in and get by the Slayer security." He replied as though he'd considered this scenario before when in fact he hadn't, "That kinda ordinance, magical or mundane, isn't going to be pinpoint accurate and that means a lot of collateral damage and unnecessary deaths. I'm not going to let that happen. In fact I'm going to have every Slayer here except the pros beam out ASAP. Minimum body count and maximum skill."
"NO. You get down to the circle right now or I'm teleporting there and dragging you back to the castle myself!" Willow said not willing to listen to his rational train of thought.
"Not going to happen." He said shaking his head in the negative.
"You know how powerful I am Xander." She said narrowing her eyes and letting a little mojo glow seep out of her eyes, "I can do it."
"No you can't and you've only got yourself to blame." He said before he put on his best lopsided grin, "Remember the wards and restrictions you put into the magical defenses of every major Council branch HQ? As long as they're up it means no one can 'port in without the approval of the branch's top three command personnel. Seeing as how I'm not going to okay it you're only option'll be to 'port to the next nearest Council building and get here the old fashioned way."
He couldn't help but chuckle at the expressions rolling across his best bud's face as the wicca tried to find some way to circumvent her own work. However as frustration built up on her face he could only conclude that all her ideas were going down in flames one after another before with a growl of frustration mixed with running a hand through her hair she gave up.
"While I am proud that you are thinking of the welfare of others before yourself Xander are you sure it is wise to take such a risk?" Giles asked sounding more reasonable and rational, "As Robin has already stated we do not know what Amy plans to do once you are delivered into her custody. She could intend to simply kill you on the spot."
"No. If she wanted me dead she'd be with the contract soldiers when they came after me and just cross me off here." He replied shaking his head in the negative, "If she wants to relocate me by force then whatever she's got planned can't be done here. That means you'll have time to track her down to wherever she's got me and come riding in like the cavalry. So instead of trying to 'persuade' me to come to the castle focus on tracking down her base of operations so you'll know where to go after I'm nabbed."
"You're talking like you and the Slayers who stay behind won't be able to fight off whoever comes after you." Dawn said breaking her silence since the electronic meeting began.
"Oh we'll give as good as we get but Amy wouldn't be coming after me unless she was confident the person or people she hired could do what she told them to do." He said as he began to consider defensive strategies for the property, "We'll do our best to buy you time to find out where she plans on taking me but when the last line of defense looks like it's going to fall I'll get as many of my people out as I can before surrendering."
"Fine. I can't stop you." Buffy said sounding like she didn't like it one bit but accepted it as a reality she couldn't change at the moment, "Just TRY not to buy time like you usually do."
"But it's been so effective in the past!" he said defensively with a bit of humor mixed in.
"Running your mouth and pushing psychological buttons is risky enough when your captor wants you alive." Giles reprimanded putting his glasses back on his nose, "Doing either when they eventually plan on killing you will only make your demise occur that much sooner. If your plan is to stay alive until help arrives perhaps it would be best if you remained silent while in Amy's custody."
"I'll do my best but you know how things go whenever I'm around." He said recalling past adventures and misadventures.
"Quite." Giles said with exasperated resignation.
"Let's get to work people." He said reaching over to terminate his side of the conference call, "Africa branch signing off. Over and out."
With that he shut down the program Willow had written herself to allow them to communicate without curious people in both high and low places eavesdropping. According to his best bud there'd been a few close calls where some people had come close to breaking into the system but she'd closed off those avenues of infiltration and tightened communication security even further. Since then no serious threats on that front had popped up but nevertheless the Council's I.T department continued to monitor the system for possible intruders.
Now he was going to find out if the security she designed for the building he was in was just as good at keeping people out.
Reaching up to the microphone clipped to his right chest pocket he pressed and held the transmit button before saying "This is Xander. All personnel we will now be going to DEFCON three. I repeat: all personnel to DEFCON three positions. This is not a drill! MOVE IT!"
Getting up out of his chair he winced a bit as the aches from injuries both old as well as the more recent ones he'd picked up in the field made themselves known. He might only be thirty years old but his body had been put through almost a decade and a half of strenuous activity on almost a nightly basis. Like most professional athletes early to mid-thirties was about the time when they had to consider bowing out gracefully or letting the world see old age erode away their physical prowess. Some couldn't let go of the spotlight and held on for as long as they could until something happened that made it clear they weren't who they used to be. Others, more wise, chose to go out on a high note and use their fame to work their way into a job they could both do and would enjoy doing. For him the question was would he be able to remove himself from field duty when the time came or would he be so opposed to being turned into a paper pusher that he'd ignore the warning signs until it was too late.
In the end he concluded that he'd be whatever the Council needed him to be and if he could no longer serve on the frontlines he'd do what he could behind the scenes to support those who still did.
He might not be able to walk away from the good fight but he wouldn't let foolish pride hurt it either.
He'd kill himself before he gave the enemy ANY help.
Central Operations Room, African Branch, Later
"Are you sure they're coming tonight?" Kimberly asked from her seat behind one of the computers in the operations room of the building.
"Not really but it'd be in keeping with the kind of luck I have." He replied as popped the magazine out of his SIG-Sauer P229R, checked the bullets inside and then slid it back in, "Besides Amy had to know we'd find out about her contract sooner or later. Once we went to DEFCON three anyone looking to cash in on it is going to have to move fast."
"Couldn't they just wait until we let down our guard and then strike?" she asked turning away from her monitor to look at him.
"If Amy had the patience for it sure but she can't afford to wait that long." He replied with a shake of his head, "I don't know where she got the money for the contract but I doubt she has a lot of resources to call on. She has to know that Buffy and the others will be looking for her now and without support from organizations like Wolfram and Hart she won't be able to win in a straight up fight. In order for her plan to work she has to get me and do whatever she plans on doing before they get to her."
"So she's on the clock and it's counting down." She said realizing what the situation truly was, "She'll be pushing for results even if it'd be better to wait."
"Yes and that's gonna be our best advantage." He said with a nod as he let his eyes pass over the monitors for signs of trouble, "Impatience breeds defeat."
He just hoped that whoever was coming for him wasn't so good at what they did that even when forced to hurry they were still head and shoulders above the target.
It'd been four hours since his conference call with the other Scoobies and everyone in the branch HQ had been following the DEFCON three procedures he'd drawn up. With wireless controllers a series of explosives that'd been buried under the dirt, both inside the wall and outside of it, were brought online. They could be detonated both by the people holding the controllers and via pressure sensors in between every three explosives. The pattern that'd been designed was an even match between being far enough apart so the entire field of bombs wouldn't go off all at once but not so distant that it'd be easy for an enemy to get past them unscathed. He'd also put the four Slayers most adept at sniping on the roof covering all four corners with spotters assigned to each of them with one time protective magical barriers to keep them from being taken out without warning. At every method of entry into the main building he had two Slayers posted armed with firearms suitable for indoor fighting along with their preferred melee weapon. Everyone was wearing tactical vests like the ones that SWAT teams wore along with modular integrated communications helmets favored by the American military.
When added to his insistence that concealed blast doors be installed in the building at ten foot intervals capable of withstanding a full grown man's weight of C4 going off next to it and they were as ready as they were ever going to be. Even if those doors couldn't handle TWO blasts of that magnitude by containing the blast between two doors and reinforced concrete walls anything caught inside would be killed preventing that second explosion from happening. The only way past it would be for two man sized C4 blasts to go off at once but considering the fact that there were twenty such chambers that could be created at a moment's notice it'd take a truck filled with the stuff to neutralize them. He and his Slayers would see it coming and with a little luck be able to turn it to their advantage somehow.
Personally he'd like it if they set it all off while it was surrounded by enemy troops but he didn't think they'd have that much good luck.
Better to plan for the worst than get careless and wind up staring down the barrel of a proverbial gun.
It was on his second pass of the monitors that he spotted movement that hadn't been there before and definitely wasn't animal in nature.
"Heads up people!" he said into is comm-microphone, "We got our first visitor of the night and I doubt he's the mail man. Sniper's one and two? Get him in your crosshairs. Three and four? Keep an extra sharp look out in case this one's a diversion. Acknowledge?"
"Sniper one acknowledges."
"Sniper two acknowledges."
"Sniper three acknowledges."
"Sniper four acknowledges."
"Confirm that all four of those transmissions came from their designated communications devices." He ordered considering a possible means of deception.
Kimberly looked at him a bit weird but did as asked and called up the records of the most recent transmissions. It was information he'd asked Willow to make his system record ALL the details of any communications sent or received to his people. He'd told her that he wanted to make sure that any faked calls could be spotted, examined and hopefully traced back to their point of origin. It was easy to do so with phone calls but for radio transmissions it was a little more tricky since they were airborne but necessary hardware as well as software was installed just the same.
"All four transmissions confirmed as coming from our snipers on the roof and voice analysis says its them." Kimberly said after five minutes of work.
"Is it one hundred percent?" he asked wanting to make sure the real deals were up on the roof.
"There was some slight deviation on three and four's voiceprint analysis but it could just be the stress or some slight distortion from the communications equipment." Kimberly replied with some slight pondering, "It's nothing to worry about."
He wanted to believe her, knew that there was always a small discrepancy in such things, but he couldn't help but worry about shape shifters or some demon that could mimic someone's voice almost perfectly. If three and four really hadn't been the ones to call in but intruders who'd faked their voices to maintain the illusion of everything being normal then they could be on their way inside at any moment.
"Security team's eight and nine? Move to the two roof access points." He said into his microphone, "Assume Darkholme defense protocols. Lethal force as a last resort ONLY."
"Aren't you overthinking things a bit?" Kimberly asked sounding a bit surprised by his order, "No analysis is one hundred percent. There's always some deviation."
"Maybe I am but I'd rather find that out after when this is all over then let a potential threat slither past our defenses." He replied conceding that paranoia might've played a role in his decision.
Turning back to the view screens he scrutinized the contact to determine if it was friend or foe.
It looked to be a little taller than Buffy but it was hunched over in a way that implied that it couldn't stand up straight due to anatomical or medical reasons. It didn't discount the possibility of it being human but it also still left the possibility of the potential intruder being a demon of some kind. Pretending to be some sort of sickly human was a decent way of getting close to a target location without appearing to be a threat. Some careless security people could very well discount such a contact as a threat and not realize their stupidity until it was too late.
Still with the buried explosives between the contact and the main building there was no way that it could get any closer without taking some damage. He'd seen quite a few demons in his life but none had natural armor tough enough to take being blown up. Mojo users might be able to put up some kind of barrier to keep from being killed by the explosives but enough close quarters blasts would shake them up big time. At the very least the mage would have their hearing temporarily impaired by the loudness of the blasts making it that much easier for the internal security forces to get the drop on them.
However then something happened that he hadn't seen coming AT ALL.
The unknown contact knelt down, placed both hands on the ground and then let loose a torrent of electricity that rolled over the ground in front of them like water towards the mines outside the wall. Judging from the way the hostile was arching their back and raising their head the act either caused them great pain or great pleasure but he didn't care about that. What he cared about was the fact that somehow the electricity was setting off the buried explosives one after another effectively removing the first line of defense from the hostile's path. Everything he knew about explosives said that that shouldn't have happened but since he had a feeling that they were dealing with magic things like 'impossible' were a little harder to come by. Assuming that the intruder could do a repeat then the concealed explosives were pretty much useless.
"Snipers! Take out the target!" he ordered through the microphone, "Lethal force authorized!"
Waiting for the first kill to be made he was disappointed when random manifestations of electricity appeared looking like some sort of barrier that he'd bet good money was deflecting the sniper rounds somehow. Considering they were using Cheytac four hundred and eight caliber sniper rifles that was pretty impressive and very worrying because given the speed the bullet would be moving it'd be impossible for the target to perceive it. If it couldn't be perceived then the only way this could be happening was either the target wasn't human or they were a magic user with a spell set to trigger when certain criteria was met. Did that criteria include melee or hand-to-hand attacks? Probably. That meant that they had to take it down before they could eliminate the hostile. Some might think that it couldn't be done but they forgot one cardinal rule: energy is energy whether generated by science or sorcery. Whether the intruder was a mage or a demon there had to be limits to the energy powering their spells so all they needed to do was force their foe to use it all up. Once that was done the barrier and the electrical attacks would come down allowing for the elimination of the target.
"Snipers! Keep firing! Use all your ammunition!" he ordered before turning around and walking towards the door, "Start chipping away!"
Leaving the room he began to make his way towards the armory where he could pick up a few party favors that he hoped would prove to be enough to tear down the electric barrier and make quick work of the intruder.
"This is Harris to all internal security." He said through his microphone as he walked, "Intruder has electricity based attacks and defenses. We're going to employ the 'patience of a mountain' tactic. Arm up for it but keep something in reserve for the final round. Converge on the front entrance and all windows on that side of the building. I'll be there in a minute."
A series of 'rogers' and 'understood' replies filled his earpiece but he was only partially listening as he considered the situation as a whole and pondered it. Was this indeed the main attack force or merely a flashy diversion? Given how attention grabbing the electricity attack was it'd almost certainly caught the attention of anyone who saw it. Once the last of the internal security made it to the front he'd drop the blast doors on the opposite side of the building to keep any force coming from the rear occupied. Hopefully the unseen foe would be delayed long enough by the metal walls that he and the others could deal with the enemy in front of them before turning to take down the one behind them. If not that then at least force hostile number two to come around to the fight where they could lay down some lead for them too.
Reaching the armory he went in and strode towards one of the large boxes at the rear half smiling that the chance to use its contents for the first time since acquiring it. Using a key on his keychain he removed the lock he opened the box to reveal a GE M134 Minigun modified so that it'd work just like it had for Blain and Mac in the first Predator movie. Technology had advanced quite a bit since the movie had been shot so all of the problems that'd have made a man wielding it in battle impossible had been more or less resolved. Sure he'd had to ask Willow to put a few spells on it to deal with the issues that cutting edge weapons tech couldn't handle but even though he hadn't used it before he was confident in the work of the Council and its members. Putting the weapon and its accessories onto the appropriate places in his body was a little difficult but he managed it just the same. It was heavy so he'd have to count on the Slayers to keep the enemy from getting a bead on him but with a little luck the volume of bullets he'd be sending down range would make counterattack impossible.
Before he left though he decided to grab one more thing, one more weapon, just in case he was forced to abandon the minigun entirely for some reason.
An AA-12 automatic shotgun should have quite the impact. He thought as he picked up the weapon, slapping one already filled drum into it before putting two more into web pouch at his waist.
Central Operations Room, Kimberly's POV
"When did my life suddenly become an eighties action movie?" she asked herself as she watched the battle unfold through the various security monitors.
Not that she personally had anything against such movies but she was still getting used to her life suddenly becoming one of those paranormal themed TV shows. It had only been a few months ago that she'd been hired on and it'd taken her weeks to get used to the fact that magic, vampires and demons were real and not the residents of someone's disturbed mind. It'd been made easier by the fact that she'd be staying operations room of the African branch of the Council rather than out in the field. She wasn't the only one assigned to the room but her duties were to manage communications from Slayers stationed throughout Africa while at the same time staying on top of local security. With twenty people in the room at any one time they could keep tabs on their property as well as the towns close by. It'd been pretty fulfilling but also stressful due to all the lives on the line with every mission they undertook and even during routine patrols of the area.
Fortunately she had her own coping mechanism for the stress even it did force her to go to the gym twice as often as she used to.
Looking at the monitors she could see in every one of them a Slayer firing her weapon or dodging a blast of electricity from the intruder. Her heart jumped every single time she saw a friend barely managed to evade the arcs of energy shooting towards them and gasped with shock whenever the attack connected. So far the struck women got back up after a minute or two but the pain was evident and damage had been done. It was only a matter of time before their Slayer resiliency reached its limits and death threatened to take them from this world.
Still she could see signs of Xander's plan working just the same.
With only a few breaks in the barrage they were keeping an almost constant volume of bullets directed at the barrier protecting the intruder. The arcs of energy that made up the barrier worked to their advantage too since it obscured the intruder's vision making it difficult for him to aim his electrical attacks. She could see on the monitors that every once in awhile one of the Slayers would make a run to the armory to bring back more ammunition but thankfully one missing person didn't disrupt the plan. Whether or not they had enough bullets to win was iffy without knowing more about the enemy but stubbornly despite their best efforts the intruder's head remained obscured. Nevertheless there was no way that the onslaught wasn't draining the foe's magic with every impact so all they had to do was keep going strong until the barrier fell. Once that happened it'd be game over for whoever had taken up the contract would be captured or killed depending on what Xander decided was the correct course of action.
BEEP! BEEP!
Snapping her head back to her own monitor she saw that a warning icon had popped up indicating that someone was trying to gain access to the building's computer network. She was immediately suspicious about the timing considering what was going on so focusing all her attention on her computer screen she began to investigate the computer attack. Sifting through the data her worry spiked as she realized that whoever was trying to hack their way in was pushing the security programs to their limits. Considering that they'd been designed by Miss Rosenberg and enhanced with sorcery it implied much about the skill of the hacker. Immediately she began to bring some additional programs online, ones that normally were inactive unless they were needed, and began to run some trace subroutines to find out where the new threat was located. Once she had that information she'd be able to counterattack and hopefully force the electronic enemy to withdraw in order to protect their own systems.
Whoever's doing this has got MAD skills! She thought as the third of five protective barrier programs on the network's outer perimeter shattered leaving only two to keep the foe out.
Issuing commands to have subprograms begin rebuilding the destroyed protective barriers she continued working to block the hacker and keep them out of the system. If the unknown person managed to get all the way in then vital Council information would be exposed and it would be all too easy to seize control of the security system and turn it against Xander as well as the Slayers. She knew for a fact that there were tons more hidden surprises spread out all over that hadn't been brought to bear because they'd be overkill in this situation with the risk of friendly fire being too high.
She somehow doubted that their attackers would care if either friend or foe got hurt so long as Xander was still alive and fit to travel in the end. A ton of Slayers could be taken out making it that much easier for the electricity wielding intruder to dispatch the rest and capture Xander so that the contract could be fulfilled. She HAD to stop that from happening!
However with every failed attempt to expel the hacker from the system her confidence in her abilities dropped. She might not have honed her skills with recreational hacking but she still had skill in the area of computer warfare. From the looks of things though her skills were proving to be woefully inadequate in repelling the invader as yet another barrier fell leaving only one behind to keep the person out of the building's network.
She had to warn Xander!
Before she could remove her hands from the keyboard though two things happened at the exact same time or near enough to her eyes to not make a difference.
First the final barrier fell before she could get a word of warning to Xander.
Secondly arcs of energy, completely different from electricity in appearance, leapt out of both the monitor as well as the keyboard striking her body and freezing it in place.
"Not so quickly my dear." A digitized female voice said from the computer speakers, "I can't have you ruining the surprise just yet. Perhaps you'd like to help me with the surprise. It'll be FUN!"
Just hearing that last sentence was enough to cause her fear to spike and that was when energy in such quantity that it blinded her every sense surged from the computer. Like scalding water trickling down a serious of channels the size of plastic straws she felt the energy invading her body, creeping from the outside in, and she was afraid. Something was INVADING her body! She tried to fight it, use the techniques every Council member was taught in order to counter mental manipulation, but it was like a child trying to fend off an angry dog twice its size. She only gained ground where the intruder permitted and often it was at the cost of territory much more important to retaining control of herself.
In the end the door slammed shut and she became a prisoner in her own body.
Unable to do anything but watch as it moved by someone else's will.
She screamed mentally as she pounding on the door her mind was now trapped behind.
"Now, now, my dear. Don't worry." Her voice said acting on another's instructions, "Rest easy knowing that once Harris has been safely delivered to my employer I will ensure that you will not have to live long with the guilt of the experience."
African Branch HQ's Courtyard, Xander's POV
"Keep it up!" he yelled even as he tossed off the last of the minigun gear and brought the AA-12 automatic shotgun up, "It shouldn't be too much longer!"
"Got it boss!" cried out the Slayers even as they continued to lay down fire on the intruder.
Even though he sounded confident he had to admit that it might very well come down to the wire. The sheer amount of firepower the intruder was taking had him wondering what sort of powerhouse they were dealing with and if the hostile really was here for the reward. The years of fighting had broadened his mind in terms of the darker side of the world including how mercs and hired guns usually behaved. The professional ones looked at potential jobs in terms of costs and benefits to say nothing of the overall personal risk. The amateurs took jobs that'd help their reputations or promised big paydays but rarely gave the variables the true weight they deserved until they were right in the middle of things. The psychos…they chose jobs that'd let them indulge in their personal fetishes and demented desires with money being just funding so they could stay entertained between jobs.
The intruder's actions were precise, efficient, and that implied that he was dealing with a professional that didn't believe in wasted movement or energy. Given the display of power and skill thus far it struck him as odd that a quarter of a million dollars would be enough of a reward. Power like this should've drawn in recruiters from the Order of Teraka or maybe one of the various powerful members of the darkness looking for an enforcer. Such low paying jobs like this one were usually given to the rookies or the amateurs to either grow stronger or because none of the more experienced operatives would take it.
There was something more going on, just outside of what he could perceive, but damn if he could figure it out what it was.
Popping up from his cover he took aim and pulled the trigger pumping out frag-12 rounds as fast as they could slide into place to be fired. Again and again they struck the protective barrier around the intruder and it was only when the weapon had expended half of the rounds in the drum that a round finally broke through slamming into the hip with bloody effects. While the amount of flesh that was gouged out was smaller than your average person's fist the secondary damage surrounding the point of impact made up for the shortcoming.
With the first breach successful shots from the other Slayers began to make it through as well tearing into the intruder and causing them to shake like a car's bobble head going down a particularly bumpy road. He waited until the majority of them had expended all their ammo and were about to slap fresh clips into their weapons before giving the hand signal to ceasefire. The intruder keeled over, the damage to its body too severe to keep it standing any longer, and soon began to bleed over the ground. Warning the girls to stay back he slowly advanced towards the intruder, his shotgun ready to fire at the first sign of danger, determined to see who had come to kidnap him. Once he was close enough he inserted the tip of his right leg under the corpse and with a jerk flipped the body over onto its back so he could see the face of his foe.
What he saw was not what he'd expected.
He'd expected to see someone who showed signs of being a person who killed for a living, who'd fought powerful or numerous enemies in order to accomplish their mission, but what he got wasn't that.
It was a man in his mid-twenties who'd look more at home standing in line at the local soup kitchen than taking contracts to snuff out the lives of random people. Indeed if the teeth he could see through the small gap in the dead man's mouth was anything to go by they hadn't seen a toothbrush or toothpaste in years. While he knew that few assassins for hire adhered to the image Hollywood used in their numerous films his mind couldn't reconcile the image before him with a hired killer.
Something stank and he didn't like it.
Before he could tell the girls to put restraints on the body and move it to one of the cells they had for keeping mages prisoner an alarm began to sound that shocked him to the core of his being. It was an alarm that'd only sounded once as a test when he had the compound's defense systems fully installed. When the building had been built Willow had handled the magical defenses but he had more conventional defenses installed just in case. His friends hadn't believed them necessary or thought they'd even be effective against the foes they fought but he'd known that centuries of fighting one particular way bred predictability. Since the weapons employed by modern military had only been developed within the last century or so the things that went bump in the night wouldn't be prepared for it. Plus he didn't care how fast something could regenerate. If it was blown into meaty chunks there was no way it could pull itself back together to become a threat. The natural armor some demons possessed might've been strong enough to stop melee weapons and some low caliber guns but he'd ensured that his girls would have access to top of the line military ordinance. Even if one shot wouldn't bother them much they had skeletal systems just like everyone else and just about every living thing died if you destroyed their brain or separated it from their body.
However the system that the alarm was blaring now was heralding had only been intended for situations where the compound came under siege from a large enemy force. If such a large army came at them the concealed explosives and contingent of Slayers assigned to the building could very well not be enough to defeat them. Thus he'd acquired the means to assure victory against an opposing force as strong as half the total power of the entire Council no matter the cost.
One after another parts of the wall and the main building's exterior either slid open or flipped to reveal all manner of modern weapons ranging from those that shot arrows to those that fired bullets to some that even launched explosives. All of them were equipped with a device that was a mixture of motion sensor and video camera the latter of which would transmit what it saw back to the operations room where Kimberly was. The system that joined them all could operate on one of two settings: either they could have their targets chosen by those in the operations room or they could simply target anything that moved. The former was generally used when the force was small enough that the operators would have no trouble staying on top of things when it came to designating targets. However for times when the forces assembled against them were larger the motion sensing setting was used because no human would be able to operate the weapons at that level.
The part that had him worried though was the fact that the latter setting, the one that he had a sneaking suspicion was being employed now, had one requirement in order to be fully effective.
All the Council members needed to be inside the main building before the motion sensing setting took effect.
"Everyone inside NOW!" he yelled before running for the front door to the main building.
He got less than ten feet before metal plating and blast doors began to drop over every method of getting inside. One after another the openings were covered up being punctuated by an audible clank of a lock sliding or falling into place making it impossible to move them with physical force. THIS he knew couldn't have been done by the same system or programming that controlled the guns but rather it had to be activated by someone in the operations room.
"Kimberly! What the hell're you doing!?" he yelled into his com device even as the last few weapons revealed themselves.
"Oh little Kimmy can't come to the phone right now Harris." Came a voice that was both hers and not hers at the same time, "But don't worry she isn't the least bit guilty of what's about to happen. She's merely a spectator. Now time for the show!"
He wasn't quite clear on all the details but one thing he was sure of was that they were completely in trouble and that Kimberly was not doing all this of her own free will. The intruder must've been the distraction in order to seize control of Kimberly and the compound's defenses in order to turn their own tools against them.
And he hadn't seen it!
Roaring with rage he opened up with his shotgun determined to use it to destroy every weapon emplacement he could before they opened fire. A part of him knew it was pointless, that the weapons would kill them all in seconds, but he refused to give up and let the massacre happen without putting up some kind of fight. The other Slayers joined him in his efforts but all too soon their strategically inferior position was made clear to them as bullets and explosions blanketed the area. A scream to the right and he watched as Maxine, a Slayer from the United States, was engulfed in the flames spouted by a flame thrower. He moved to knock her to the ground, to get her rolling on the ground so the flames tearing at her body could be extinguished, but before three steps were taken a pair of gunshots tore into his legs sending him to the ground. It felt like white hot metal had been inserted into his lower limbs and even the slightest bit of movement caused him to cringe in agony. However the screams and cries of those he was in charge of gave him all the incentive he needed to keep fighting, to keep moving, against what was happening around him.
Sadly it ended too soon and all that was left was the silence amid the sporadic crackle of the flames slowly immolating the fallen Slayers they clung too. Near as he could tell he was the only survivor and the guilt of it all weighed on him like the Empire State building with only his own desire to live keeping him from being crushed outright.
Part of him wanted to believe that he'd been blindsided, that there'd been no way for him to anticipate that someone would have seized control of Kimberly, but he was still the branch chief and with that came certain responsibilities. It was his responsibility to ensure the safety of those under him and make sure that they had a safe place to call home. As a result it was on him to anticipate every possible scenario, devise countermeasures to every possible means of attacks, and in that he had failed as the corpses surrounding him could attest to were they still alive. A wolf in sheep's clothing was par for the course in the supernatural and he should've come up with some way to screen out the usual methods or provide Kimberly with some kind of protection.
Assuming I survive this I'll do better next time. He thought making a mental note to make it so that it required the passwords of two senior branch members to activate the hidden arsenal, I will never let this happen again!
He didn't know how much time had passed before the sounds of the blast doors and metal plating retracting cut through the air. Rolling onto his side he watched Kimberly or rather the thing controlling the girl's body walk out with gun in hand smiling the sort of smile he'd seen countless times on vampires who were particularly sadistic with their prey. Was that it? Had she been turned? No. He knew how to spot a vamp even if they didn't have their game face on and he'd seen her in daylight only a few hours ago. Vamps didn't rise that fast no matter who sired them.
"Sorry about the shots to the leg but I couldn't have you ruining the show." 'Kimberly' said with false regret as she took aim with the gun, "Besides this'll make it easier for me to get you to my employer. Can't run away if you can't even stand. Now I know you've had a rough night so howsabout you get some shuteye and it'll all look better in the morning. Maybe. Eh! Probably not!"
With that the person controlling Kimberly pulled the trigger but instead of pain and death what he got was a sharp prick to the neck and unconsciousness rushing in like a tsunami to claim his mind.
Given what was likely heading his way he almost wished she really had killed him.
African Branch HQ's Courtyard, Willow's POV, Later
"What…the hell…is THIS!?" she exclaimed once the effects of her teleportation wore off.
It'd been a little over an hour ago since the operations room back at the castle had registered the activation of what Xander had called 'the Omega System' and immediately they'd tried to reestablish contact in order to find out what was going on. They knew the circumstances under which her best friend said the system was to be activated so naturally they were worried. When they got no response Buffy had immediately assembled three Slayer teams at the same time she'd gathered her top three students. They went down to the teleportation circle that every major branch building of the Council had in their basement and began the ritual that'd spirit them away to Africa. No one was more surprised than her to find that the connection that made the teleportation possible had been seriously compromised. It was if it'd formerly been a pane of glass and now lay in pieces retaining its previous shape by chance alone. Part of her mind raced to try and figure out how that'd happened but the majority of her felt her concern for Xander surge forth like a geyser.
Racing through the possibilities she clung to the belief that they could still make the teleportation work but only once. The catch would be that her three students would have to stay behind and use their magic to enhance the connection to make sure that the Slayer teams and her arrived safely. It'd been deemed an acceptable sacrifice and so with less than half an hour of preparation the teleportation ritual was performed.
Never in her darkest nightmares did she expect what she saw before her now.
The destination of the teleportation had been the compound courtyard since it was decided that until they knew what'd happened to the arcane circle in the basement it'd be best to arrive above ground. Now though she almost wished they'd chosen to chance the basement because it'd be better than seeing the horrible landscape around her. All the stories and all the pictures she'd heard about battlefields in wartime did nothing to prepare her for the scattered bodies littering the ground. Some had been burnt to a crisp and some had been blown apart by something. Precious few were in any state for an open casket funeral and some would require that they hunt for body parts before putting them together like a jigsaw puzzle. Shell casings littered the ground and there were impact craters indicating the use of explosives or high velocity shells.
"I don't know but it might not be over yet." Buffy replied sounding quite grim and angry, "Slayer team one? Begin identifying the dead. I want a body count and a list of who's dead as well as who might be missing. Enemy hostiles might also be among the dead. BE CAREFUL."
"Roger that." Team one's leader said sounding like she wasn't looking forward to it but would carry out her orders just the same.
"Slayer team two? Escort Willow down to the basement." Buffy ordered as her eyes panned across the environment looking for trouble or something important probably, "She's gonna analyze what happened to the teleportation circle. It might give us a clue about what happened here."
She would normally object to being given a bodyguard detail but considering everything around her…yeah a little backup would be nice.
"Team three you're coming with me. We're heading inside to the operations room to take a look at the security recordings." Buffy said bringing her weapon up into a ready position, "We need to know what happened here and what happened to Xander. We're lagging behind on this one. Let's not just catch up but overtake. MOVE OUT!"
With that they went their separate ways with Slayer team two forming a loose circle around her with each set of eyes keeping careful watch on a different direction. She wasn't combat fit like the Slayers but she was managing to keep up with them just the same.
Of course she could be forgiven for stumbling every so often.
Especially when they occasionally came across the dead body of a fallen Slayer or Council employee all of whom looked like they'd been clawing at something before they died. Signaling for the Slayers to stop she knelt down to one of the bodies before reaching out with her magic to determine how he'd died.
"Suffocation mixed with an overdose of knockout gas." She said with sadness as she rose back to her feet, "Somehow they must've been sealed up inside the blast doors after which it was flooded with knockout gas. Flooded until there was more gas than breathable air."
"At least they died better than the ones outside." One of the Slayer's assigned to her commented, "C'mon. Let's get down to the basement."
While she would've preferred that they take a moment to say a prayer it made more sense to wait until all the dead had been gathered so that it could be done all at once. Rising to her feet she proceeded with the team to the stairs leading to the basement where the teleportation circle was located. It took about ten minutes to get there but when they did what she saw at first glance proved enough to give her some ideas one what might've happened. There were scorch marks scattered across the wall in the direction of…of the massacre and the way they were spaced apart made her think of some kind of energy shooting out of it. There was one single scorch mark in the center of the arcane circle implying that whatever hit had come from the wall then angled down to the floor.
"Must've happened while Xander and the others were fighting." She muttered as she walked to the edge of the circle.
If it'd have happened before the fighting got started she knew Xander would've factored it into his next move possibly ordering those there still with him to flee away from the compound. When someone slams the door shut behind you its generally done because something's coming that might cause you to use it. Did that mean that there was a possibility that Xander might've won the fight upstairs and then escape before the hammer dropped? Or were they trying to keep Xander from calling for backup? There was too much she didn't know. Going down to one knee she reached out with her hand and touched the edge of the circle connecting to it with her magic in order to get a feel for it.
"The circle was overloaded." She said with a gasp as she pulled back her hand, "Whatever came through that wall hit the circle and force fed it more energy than it could handle until it shattered."
"Wouldn't that've triggered some kinda huge teleportation event?" a Slayer asked sounding puzzled.
"No. Unless someone was down here to direct the energy towards that purpose it'd just keep on soaking it up until…" she replied before spreading her arms out gesturing to the area around her, "…this happened."
"Then they had to know about all this right? The circle and how it was made it up?" the Slayer asked sounding worried about the implications.
"Probably. Even if they never got a chance to see it they would've sensed it being used." She replied as she got up and moved to the wall where the energy came from, "All they'd need to do would be to go through the possible methods of teleportation and eliminate the ones that wouldn't be suitable for Council use. They wouldn't need to know exactly which one we were using. Just the top four possibilities."
Indeed if they narrowed it down to the top four possibilities those methods would likely have similar properties making relatively simple to come up with a way to overload them.
Reaching the wall she put forth her hand again hoping that this way she'd be able to examine an untainted sample of the attacker's energy so it could be used to identify them. She started as a residual jolt leapt from the wall to her hand but she'd anticipated something like that so she'd protected herself beforehand. Feeling her way through the energy she could definitely tell that it was rooted in dark magic but it felt…rigid somehow. Like it'd been discharged in a specific way for a specific purpose. Kinda like preprogramming something to go off at a certain time. It wasn't typical of how most magic users operated since it lacked adaptability to have your power strictly tied to certain spells. It'd make more sense if the person responsible was using a talisman or some other arcane item that'd been enchanted to do one spell and one spell only.
But to give off enough energy to fry the circle over that kind of distance… She thought as she continued, There's no way that the talisman or item isn't mentioned somewhere in some book.
Focusing her mind she worked to memorize the energy signature of the spell that'd come out of the wall using the leftovers in each scorch mark to commit it to memory completely. She didn't know how helpful it'd be to track down Xander but she wasn't about to let any clue slip by her no matter how small.
"I've gotten all I can here." She said after finishing her examination, "Let's get back upstairs and see what Buffy's got."
Nods happened all around and so the group began moving back upstairs staying alert just in case.
When they got to the operations room Buffy stood at the main console while the rest of her team operated the various stations pulling up information and putting the most important on the main screen. However if the mix of distortion effects was any indicator something had seriously messed with the integrity of the files in the system. Given time she could probably reconstruct most of it but time was not on their side.
"Any luck?" Buffy asked turning to face her at the sound of the door opening.
"Whoever hit this place fired off a spell that fried the teleportation circle in the basement." She replied as she began to take in the information on the screen, "I've memorized the signature of the energy used. Given time I can track it down to its source."
"Let's hope you have time." Buffy said sounding like she wasn't a fan of the odds, "While you were looking down there we've been trying to pull up the video from the security cameras going forward from our last call with Xander. So far it looks like Xan was going all out to make sure the place was covered from all angles and the remaining Slayers armed to the teeth."
"I know you don't like guns Buffy but Xander's proven he knows how to use them without shooting himself in the foot." She said in defense of her friend's choice of weapon, "Besides it looks like the Slayers had melee weapons too so it was a decent enough compromise."
"I guess." Buffy said before turning to the Slayer operating the main console, "Sasha? How's the rest of that video feed coming?"
Unlike what most people thought Slayers knew more than just how to kill things. One of the things that they'd insisted on when they'd rebuilt the Council was that each Slayer got a full university level education in whatever field they wanted. In the case of Sasha the young girl had chosen to specialize in computer programming and information technology systems making her the ideal one to make sense of the mess before them.
"Whoever tore through the system was pretty thorough but they had all the finesse of a rampaging caveman." Sasha replied sounding disgusted by the lack of skill, "Fortunately that works in our favor. I've managed to piece together some video clips focusing on the estimated time that the teleportation circle was destroyed. Be warned though: it's gonna be choppy as hell!"
"We'll take what we can get." Buffy said before nodding her head as a signal to start the clip reel.
Looking up at the screen she watched as it changed from static and distortion to a more or less clear view of the battlefield and the battle was clearly underway. Guns were blazing and a robed figure was firing off blasts of electricity even as the same energy was used to deflect incoming fire if only to just barely avoid hitting the user. She had to shake her head at the sight of Xander using a big ass mini gun thinking 'boys and their toys' as she watched him use it. She winced as a few of the Slayer's took a grazing hit from the electricity but when they got back up she took heart that it couldn't have been serious. For a moment she wondered what her friend's strategy was but it became clear soon after when the intruder's barrier fell before they were riddled with bullets. She thought it was a bit of overkill to hit someone with that many bullets that long after the fatal shot had no doubt already struck. It came to an end eventually and she watched as Xander approached the downed intruder and flip them over, probably to identify them, but that was when the choppiness kicked in.
It was what happened next that struck her hard as both Xander and the intruder had vanished from the screen leaving only the Slayers in the battlefield just as they had been before. Before she could even think up the questions she watched as more guns and weapons than she'd ever seen before came out of hiding places in the walls. Before any of the Chosen could do anything about their situation they came under assault and what followed was not a fight in even the loosest sense of the word.
It was a massacre.
She couldn't bring herself to watch as one Slayer after another fell before the weapons meant to keep them safe. She only risked looking back after a minute but it was still in time to see the last Slayer fall, engulfed in flames thanks to a flame thrower, causing horror and sadness to surge within her. However before it could overwhelm her she used her willpower to shove it into a safe within her mind before slamming the door shut behind it. She could deal with the emotions later. Only rational thought and cold had facts could help her rescue Xander.
"Well that tells us how they all died but it doesn't tell us what happened to Xander." Buffy said sounding like she'd be tearing the person responsible for the massacre to pieces when she caught up with them, "Can you bring up video from the other cameras? Like just inside the front door or someplace out on the perimeter outside the wall?"
"I can try. Just a moment." Sasha replied as she began typing at an impressive speed.
While she was tempted to step in and add her computer genius to the mix she'd learned a long time ago not to hog the spotlight. Sasha was good at what she did and until it became clear that she couldn't overcome the obstacle she'd just stand and watch. It took ten minutes before something new came on the screen but what she saw had grave implications and didn't make any sense knowing the people involved. Based on the time stamp in the upper right hand corner of the screen the images being shown occurred ten minutes after the massacre took place. However that didn't explain seeing Xander and his operations agent Kimberly walking casually out of the main building towards the demolished wall. It also didn't explain her best friend noticing the shaky movements of one of the Slayers barely clinging to life and SHOOTING her in the head before continuing on with Kimberly.
She knew what it implied but she didn't even give it a second's consideration before rejecting the implied message.
"Someone's playing a sick game with us!" she growled as the screen turned to static.
"Too bad for them we don't play by anyone's rules but our own." Buffy said in a voice as cold as ice, "Get to analyzing the energy Willow. The labs here should still be in good enough condition for that. I need a place to focus my rage. Find me one!"
"Consider it done." She said turning towards the operation room's door.
She'd find the source of the energy, be it mojo user or talisman, and she'd do it in no time at all.
Just you watch!
Undisclosed Location, Later, Xander's POV
"Wakey, wakey, Xander!"
SLAP!
The shock to his system was enough to bring him fully to consciousness but even after he'd opened his eyes there was still a little sluggishness in his body. However his instincts still had him looking about the room in order to find out where he was and what his current situation was. The room he was in was done up in a manner similar to one of Willow's labs back at the castle but was different in that whoever was behind it all was either a horror movie fanatic or wasn't entirely stable.
Knowing his luck it'd be both.
When he tried to stand up or even sit up he found out that he was restrained at every major joint as well as around both his waist and his chest. A little overkill but he decided to take it as a compliment since it implied his captor thought he was as badass as some Hollywood action stars were made out to be. However it also meant that until a means of removing the restraints or having them removed popped up he was trapped. Not his favorite position but one he'd kinda gotten used to over the years. So rather than be a jarring experience it was familiar enough that he was able to keep his cool and assess the situation more objectively.
"Oh good! You're awake." The voice he'd heard before the slap said causing him to look in its direction.
Amy Madison and looking decidedly more like Drusilla than he'd like at the moment.
"I'd hate for you to sleep through the next phase of my plan." Amy said in a voice that on the surface seemed normal but to him carried a wisp of madness along with it, "I'm sure you'll find it SO interesting."
"Well seeing as how I'm a little tied up at the moment I guess I can stick around for awhile." He said trying to sound like he used to back in high school, "So howsabout making with the monologue where you explain your great plan and how no one can stop it? It is how these things go."
"I guess so." She said after a moment's consideration, "Plus it'll be fun seeing you freak out and struggle to get free!"
Definitely has a few screws loose. He thought as he prepared himself for 'the speech'.
"As you know Sunnydale had a profound affect on our lives. It showed me the possibilities of magic and all I could do with it!" Amy said sounding like it'd been the best time of her life before her expression turned dark, "It also showed me how life can cheat you of what you deserve and give all the breaks to someone else! Yes, I'm talking about your dear sweet Willow. The high school genius and the most powerful wicca in her age group at the moment! You have no idea how infuriating its been having everyone compare you to her just because you grew up in the same town!
"The disappointment! The CONDESCENSION!" Amy ranted as she began to pace before him, "After leaving Sunnydale I set myself the goal of surpassing her using any means I could get ahold of. It didn't matter what it was! All that mattered were the results. It took up until half a year ago before I felt I was ready to make a name for myself and prove myself Willow's superior."
"Then what's with all this?" he asked figuring that Madison's magical pursuits must've had a deteriorating affect on her mind.
"What? You thought I would just pop up on her doorstep and issue a formal challenge for a head on fight?" Amy asked sounding amused by the concept, "That might be what a guy like you would do but for me I fight to win. To do that I must first weaken my prey, knock away her support mechanisms and throw her off her game mentally. Only when she's alone and can't think straight will I stand before her to humiliatingly defeat her in arcane combat! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Nice super villain monologue. That insane laugh at the end really sold it." He said casually as though he wasn't concerned in the least, "I give it a nine out of ten."
"Why not ten out of ten?" she asked tilting her head to the side like a bird.
"Well you forgot the 'and I'll get her little dog too!' part. It's pretty much a must for the whole wicked witch routine." He said with his usual lopsided smile.
"True." She said nodding and not showing a single hint of the anger he'd been shooting for, "But I think what I have in mind for you will make up for that."
"Really? So what is it?" he asked hoping that with advance knowledge he could steel himself against what was coming, "Torture?"
"Not really." She replied sounding like she'd already considered and dismissed the idea then, "Though the side effects could be called torture if only because the pain'll be at that level."
"Can you give me a hint?" he asked not wanting to be left in the dark.
"Oh I can do better than that! I'll tell you everything!" she replied sounding quite happy to fill him in, "I'm going to do little transformation magic. Nothing so random as what Rayne did on Halloween years ago. This is going to be VERY precise, VERY methodical and it'll make sure that no one looks at you the same way again."
"So what? You're going to turn me into some kind of monster?" he asked picturing a Fyarl demon version of himself.
"I suppose the word 'monster' is as good a word as any for what you will become." She replied with an 'I know something you do not' smile on her face, "The backstory is certainly bloody enough."
Great! Probably plans to turn me into some kind of demon and then trick Buffy and the others into killing me. He thought as he began to work on a way to counter her plan, Gotta work on every little mental defense trick Willow ever taught me. The only chance we have of screwing with Amy's plan is to make sure I don't live up to my role.
One of the big things every Council member underwent with the new framework was advanced training to defend against mental attacks and attempts at telepathic probing. It was a given that in their line of work there'd be people trying to pry information from their minds, influence them or simply make their brains dribble out their ears with a lethal psi-strike. So they'd plundered the Old Council's library and even reached out to a couple of freelancers to come up with the best training regime they could to protect their members. Naturally there were those who had more of an aptitude for such things than he did but he did manage to surprise the instructors with how far he could go. He still wouldn't be able to hold out against a specialist in the mental mind games department but he'd be able to hold out against the mind assault for a time. Hopefully long enough for the cavalry to come riding in to save his butt before any sensitive information leaked out of his cranium.
If he could muster enough brainpower he could fight off whatever mental control or programming Amy tried to use to force him to play his role. Hopefully the Scoobies would be able to use the delaying action he managed to free him completely from her control and then together they'd fit Amy for a strait jacket and a comfy cell.
"Now if I'm right your friends will soon track you to this location and mount a rescue operation and there's just SO MUCH to do before they arrive." She said as she walked out of view, "Better get started."
For the next several minutes all he could hear was tinkling of glass, the shushing of a sand like substance bring poured out and something that could be the sound of something liquid moving about. When those sounds stopped chanting began in Amy's voice in a form of Greek older than anything he'd ever heard of even during some of the more relevant research sessions with Willow. However there was one word, a name, that he recognized and he did not like the implications.
Hecate.
The Greek goddess of crossroads, entrance-ways, dogs, light, the moon, magic, witchcraft, herbs, poisonous plants, ghosts, necromancy and sorcery.
Amy had used the goddess for her turn-target-into-rat spell back in high school and it looked like she'd stuck with her patron deity even after Sunnydale's destruction. The divine being certainly had the juice to pull off a stunt similar to what Rayne did with Janus but whether everything went as the unstable witch intended was another story altogether. One thing he'd come to know over the years it was that deities didn't think the same way human beings did and trying to think of them in strictly human terms often led to mistakes being made. The better course of action was to accept that they lived a different existence than mortal beings and thought thoughts that one would expect for whom time and reality were fluid. While Amy might want to use Hecate's power to do something to him it was up to the goddess whether or not to go through with it and do as she was being asked. Depending on how much leeway was available to the goddess she might actually make something completely different happen.
Growing light attracted his attention and based on what he could tell it seemed to be coming from below him making him think it was coming from an arcane circle set up beforehand or taking shape as the result of the ritual. Before he could analyze the developments further though a sensation unlike anything he'd previously experienced swept through his body throwing his senses completely off kilter. It didn't completely cut out the sensory input he was getting from his five senses but it did make it near impossible to grab ahold of what they were telling him and piece it all together. No matter how much he tried to put everything in order it all got swept away like a sand castle made too close to the rolling waves on the beach.
Before long it became completely, unassailably, impossible to fight against it and so he was left to the mercy of the Fates.
Too bad they hated his guts.
Buffy's POV
This was SO completely unlike her.
However it was also necessary if they were going to save Xander and bring down Amy Madison.
She'd been all in favor of a full frontal assault with six Slayer teams and the Council's magic division for support but both Giles as well as Willow had been against it. Both were certain that their foe would not stray far from Xander and preliminary intel on where Amy had been the last few years suggested that she'd been steadily going nuts. With that kind of unpredictability in the mix they couldn't count out the possibility that she'd just slit their longtime friend's throat or find some other way to use him against them. Until Xan was safe they couldn't afford to set off any alarms or give Amy any reason to put a metaphorical gun to his head.
That meant that someone had to sneak in without being seen or heard, find Xander and free him before giving the troops the signal to come in guns blazing.
Whoever got sent in needed to be their best: her.
As luck would have it Willow and the mage division had been working on a suit to be used in infiltrating enemy HQs to steal something, rescue someone or take out a single target without fighting through every guard in the place. The cute thing about the suit was that there was barely any magic imbued into it. Most of attributes came from the special materials used in its construction. There existed certain substances in nature that naturally deflected or absorbed magic so when incorporated into the suit it obscured the wearer from any wards or spells meant to spot intruders. For more modern threats they were able to refine and process the materials to create the components for technology to counter both heat as well as motion sensors. The prototype was all that existed at the moment and it hadn't been field tested prior to now but they didn't have time to work out the kinks and it was the best chance to get to Xander.
So she slipped it on, coped with how it made her look and feel, before going to arm herself with tools and weapons needed to get to where she needed to go.
Well I hope all this stuff works 'cause it's going to be embarrassing enough letting Xander see me wearing something like this. She thought knowing he'd make jokes and probably think pervy thoughts about her afterwards.
At the moment she was within eyesight of the building that Willow had tracked the intruder's energy signature to and with a breath made her way towards it. According to Giles it used to be an old KGB compound that'd been shut down since the end of the Cold War with Russia and even their contacts in the Russian intelligence community said that the government had abandoned it. She'd seen enough spy movies though to know that reassurances from either a government or a spy organization meant very little. It was all one big invisible chess game between nations with deceptive strategies and a willingness to sacrifice pieces in order to make crucial gains. Still Giles had said that he could think of no reason why they'd lie to the Council about this since aiding an unstable witch's crusade for vengeance hardly benefited them.
Nevertheless the Council's own intelligence department would keep tabs on the Russians for signs that they were up to something or moving on the building.
Guess it's time to see if the training in 'Hell House' was worth it or not. She thought as she quickly yet silently began to advance towards the building.
'Hell House' was the nickname that newbie Slayers and Council Spec Ops agents went through and you only had to go through it once to find out how it'd gotten its name. There was a wall surrounding it two hundred yards out that was so tall that it was at the upper limit of what a Slayer could leap over and for a human climbing gear of some sort was needed. However getting over it wasn't so simple due to obstacles that Willow, Xander and Andrew had build into it. From Willow there was a repulsion field that'd activate if you got to within half an inch of the wall and it was powerful enough to fling the applicant a good ten feet. From Xander there were security cameras that panned back and forth but with such timing that there was only a second or two gap to slip through. From Andrew there were enchanted statues that would fire stun arrows of energy if something human shaped came within range of their vision. The statues movements were designed to imitate those of trained sentries but just to make things interesting her friend had rigged it so that totally at random it'd change direction.
If somehow you made it over the wall without being spotted or rejected you still had to deal with the searchlights that roamed the grounds. If you got caught in one of the lights you'd automatically become trapped in an arcane dome of energy incapable of leaving it until the attending instructor released them. Pressure sensors in the ground were also rigged to deliver electric shocks capable of seriously disorienting ordinary humans and moderately shaking up Slayers. Most would think such things a mild delay but a delay was sufficient for Xander's contribution to come into play.
Concealed firearms modified to fire either tranq darts at both single shot and fully automatic rates or rubber bullets coated with a numbing agent that would hinder the movement of whatever limb they struck.
They were hidden throughout the grounds surrounding the main building with no less than three being close enough to each pressure sensor.
Should the person going through Hell House make it into the building itself they would have to find their way through a series of rooms and corridors all of which would be rigged to simulate certain scenarios the Council's warriors might encounter in the field. Various magical spells that were the favorites of mages who sided with the darkness but kept at low power so as to ensure no permanent damage was done. If even a low powered version of a spell was too dangerous a substitute was selected that matched it in appearance and speed but with far less harmful side effects. Robots modeled after Moloch but remotely controlled using VR helmets and controls from a secure room outside the compound. They supplied the physical combat portion of the obstacles and acted as guards patrolling the hallways and occasionally positioned in rooms. Security cameras also existed inside the building and if you were caught on them the alarm would sound and all guards close by would converge on that position.
Willow had also set up tests in the Hell House meant to take the place of locks, fingerprint scanners and other things that wouldn't give way to brute force. It could be something simple like picking an ordinary lock or it could be something like a series of runes that needed to be activated in a specific order with clues subtly left about the room for those with the insight to see them. After all some of their enemies prided themselves on their intellect and couldn't help but act on any opportunity to prove their superiority when it presented itself. A sharp mind was often more useful than a strong body.
If the person going through Hell House made it to the final room they'd enter a room completely devoid of light with materials built into the walls, floor and ceiling meant to dampen all sounds. Inside that room the instructor would fight the student with a set of goggles enchanted to allow them perfect vision even in the darkness. The confrontation could only end in submission or unconsciousness. The final test was meant to make the student overcome the unknown and to be able to react to threats with little or no warning.
After seeing the main library of the Old Council she knew that it was impossible to memorize everything there and even with their intel division working overtime surprises did still happen in the field. So if you couldn't prepare yourself in advance you needed to be able to see, adapt and react however fast you needed to in order to come out on top. Those that beat Hell House were given field assignments that best matched their own personal capabilities with support staff added for the elements that they were weak on.
Those that didn't were sent back to Council boot camp to be put through their paces again with special emphasis on whatever qualities they were judged to be lacking in. Once they were judged ready they were permitted to make another attempt to make it through Hell House. However it was proposed by Xander and approved by Giles that only five attempts be permitted before the person would be reassigned to low risk areas and jobs. It was harsh but after five tries and five failures it would be made clear where the person's limits were and that it'd be too dangerous to put them where the real action was.
Contrary to what the movies, comic books or TV shows would have you believe hard work could not overcome any obstacle put in your way. You were stuck with the body you were born with and in the DNA blueprints there was a set limit to your physical prowess. Some refused to believe that their futures were determined by their blood and with the utmost determination worked to prove that training could overcome the wall.
It couldn't.
I of course made it through on the first try. She thought spotting the security cameras on the outside of the former KGB building, Time to see if I can win when I don't know who designed the obstacle course.
For Xander's sake she damn well better be.
KGB Building, Amy's POV
"She's here." She said before turning around to face the other person in the room, "Just like I knew she'd be."
Indeed everything was playing out precisely like her vision and all that was left was for her to ensure that all the actors played their role to the letter. If she did that she'd get the outcome she desired and the first step on her road to revenge against Willow would be taken.
"Head to the second level security room." She ordered the figure standing rigid like a statue behind her, "Wait for her there. Just remember your orders. Fight her. FRIGHTEN her. Make her RUN. Do NOT kill her. Not yet."
A sharp nod was all she got before the figure left the room intent on carrying out the orders that'd been given.
She couldn't help but chuckle at what would happen in less than an hour since that was how long she estimated that it'd take for Buffy to make it to the second level security room. It was an obvious destination since only an idiot would simply check every room in the complex for the one that they were after. It was much more efficient and rational to go to the security room and use the cameras set up all over to find the abducted Scooby. However she wouldn't just let the elder Slayer walk up the stairs and down the hall to the security room.
No.
That'd be too easy and nowhere near as much fun.
That was why she'd contacted some of the mercs that'd offered to complete her contract but hadn't been chosen in the end to offer them one final chance to earn some money. She'd made sure that they were skilled enough to make the eldest Slayer work for her progress but not so potent that they stood a chance of killing the blonde before she got to the security room.
There was a script to follow after all and even she needed to follow it.
If she wanted her desired end that is.
