Title: Bourne Again
Author: Robert Jackson
Email: to archive: yes, just let me know where.
Pairing/Characters: None as yet, but will be a F/X
Rating: R
Summary:What if Jason Bourne was Xander. Takes place after the BourneSupremacy, Have not read the books.
Warnings: Death, assassinations
Xanderhad been seeing Professor Walsh for a few months now.
He had been stressed out lately, and the dreams were coming back. Four years with no breaks, it takes a toll on the soul. And he really never had anyone to talk to about it. He had thought of going to Giles, but always at the last minute he would chicken out, justifying that something more important was always going on. And then Giles was fired from the Council and he never really recovered from that, and Xander really didn't want to put anything more on the poor man.
And the others, they were living their lives, too, getting used to college, making new friends. Hell, it seems that Buffy met a new guy everyday from the way she talked. And Willow, she was in her element.
And there was no way he was going to go to Joyce with this - she had to deal with having a daughter that was a Slayer. The bad dreams of her daughter's friend just didn't measure up to it.
And to top it off, if he did say something, he would most likely pushed out again. And there was no way he wanted that to happen again. So, when he heard about Professor Walsh, it was perfect. Someone who was a professional, who knew about the mind. And the big thing was she wouldn't tell the others. And she knew about the night life of Sunnydale.
The meetings began as a 'get to know you' thing. But it was getting better. Within a few weeks, she had moved her once a week meetings that lasted only 30 minutes with him to 3 times a week and for an hour on each visit. Xander told her about his working with Buffy, how he met her, how he helped her. And he told her about the possessions, the Hyena, the Soldier, even about the swim team.
In those few weeks, Walsh learned more about demons and magic than in her entire time in Sunnydale, and with the information she planned out Adam: what she needed, what she didn't, to make him the best she could.
She was also interested in Ethan Rayne, the chaos mage. He could be of use to a sister origination, Treadstone 71. Plans had been in the works for a while, but had problems with conditioning agents: they were a bit unstable. But with Rayne, they would be able to have the perfect agents in days, not the months it took now. And they would be the perfect assassins.
How could you normally find someone that was just a construct of mental attributes? They would have no predictability, would fit in anywhere in the world and never question orders. You could even pick a local and within a few short hours, you would have a loyal agent to carry out any mission you needed.
And now, at long last, it looked like Treadstone would get a go ahead. Last night, Ethan had been captured. He had come to Sunnydale and had cast a spell on Rupert Giles last night. The terror she had felt last night, when the unemployed librarian was turned into a demon and chased her down the street, would now all be worth it. She had the mage now and soon he would be gone. Not before she had him ruffed up a little, though. Just an accident in transport, it happened all the time.
Plus, she would have the boy, who she knew wouldn't be missed from her observations and Agent Finn's reports. The group of civilian hunters had been pushing him out. Who would miss him? He would be long gone to the Washington training grounds.
And her covert group, the ones that handle the questionable problems, that she couldn't trust Finn to do, could plant all the evidence that she needed to make it look like he left.
She just needed timing. And it looked like the time was right.
Flash back
Buffy and Willow stood around the dinner table. They had planned this all out. Tonight was the night. Xander wouldn't be allowed to go on patrols anymore. He had almost gotten killed the night before. And since he was the only one able to get a job, and had any kind of future, he was out.
Dawn was out with Riley and Tara, at the movies. Neither one knew what was happing tonight, only that they were asked to watch Dawn while they had it out with Xander. It was big, that was all they knew.
All but Xander, who walking into a fight without even knowing it.
"Hey guys." Xander said as he walked into the house. "Sorry I'm late. But those pesky bosses don't let people off just to meet with their friends."
"Hey Xan," Willow said, looking a little guilty.
"Xander," Buffy said, "we need to talk."
"About what?" Xander asked he could see something was coming, what he didn't know, but there was something bad coming his way.
"Xan, We don't think you need to patrol anymore," Buffy said quickly. "You can still help with the research, you and Anya would still be part of the group. But you don't need to put yourself in danger anymore."
"Buff," Xander said, getting pissed, "Where the hell is this coming from?"
"We have Riley and the rest of the soldiers. We even have Spike," Buffy continued.
"So?" Xander asked, "Where were they when you needed me to help out with the Mayor?"
"Xander, you have done great things," Willow said. "You're important to us. We don't want to see you hurt."
"So it's ok if I see you hurt?" Xander said looking at the girls. "It's ok if you die while I sit back here and watch TV?"
"No, but is it fair that Anya is going to find out that you are dead one night because you couldn't keep up with us?"
"Buffy," Xander said looking at her in the eye, "Screw you. I was there for you every time you needed me, and now that you've got Riley I'm being sidelined? Where was he when I gave you CPR in the Master's cave? Where were they when I pulled you out the water before the swim team got you? Huh? Where were they when you took off for the summer? Not here. I was. I have done more for you than almost anyone else and this is how you treat me?"
"Xander, don't make this personal." Buffy begged.
"No, Buffy, it's very personal. My friends don't want me around."
"Yes, we do!" Willow said, "We even want Anya, too."
"Will, when was the last time you saw Anya?" Xander asked.
"Uh, just a little while ago?"
"Yes, it was a little while ago," Xander said, looking down on his oldest friend. "Anya moved out of Sunnydale a month and half ago. She said something about moving to LA. She met a dancer at some club."
"Xander?" Willow said. How could she not have known about this?
"No!" Xander snapped, bringing both girls up short. "You know what? I'm through. I have stood by both of you. And you know what? You're right, I have been giving up on a life, just to be here. So I'm done. The next time the world is coming to an end, don't call." Then he paused. "Why am I telling you that? That's just what you're going to do, anyway."
And with that, he left two speechless girls behind.
"When he calms down, we will go talk to him," Buffy tell her redheaded friend.
"Yea, that should be next year," Willow said, getting up and walking out of the room.
It would be the last time they would see him for a very long time.
End flash back.
"Yes," Walsh was saying looking over at the young man. "I see what happened."
"I am just so tired." Xander said, "The nightmares about the war, then no one to listen to me. If it wasn't for you, I would have gone crazy."
"I have just what you need," Walsh said, opening a drawer in her desk. She pulled out a bottle of blue pills. Opening the container, she handed Xander three pills and a small glass of water.
"Take these and you'll feel better. They're anti-stress pills."
"Thanks, doc," Xander said as he downed the pills. And within minutes, Xander was unconscious.
Looking over the drugged man, Walsh pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number from memory.
"I've got one for you. He already has some conditioning with the new process," Walsh said, watching the boy. Too bad. He was a nice kid, but you had to break eggs sometimes. "Yes, he is ready to transport."
Ethan Rayne stood over the boy. He recalled seeing him in Sunnydale, one of Ripper's brats. He had already gone through the others. Thirty-two people now were weapons for the American government.
And now this boy. He had a list of people/personality traits that the bosses here wanted in this boy's heads. Only this one already had a start on them. And there was something else. A sliver of Primal energy. Not really enough to do anything, just bring out dark impulsive actions.
But it was a start.
He had been told what he was to place in this boy's mind, but unlike the others he would add a little more. He was a agent of chaos, wasn't he? And this boy would just be perfect.
Ethan set up the spell, the items he needed were in place. And soon the spell would be in effect. But he put a few twists on it.
He revived what primal energy was left. But not too much; just enough to give him a edge. Not that he really cared one way or the other. But he might come across Ripper again, and he didn't want it being said that he didn't help his kids. There was no telling what Ripper would do to him if he didn't help this boy.
He knew he couldn't get him out, or himself for that matter, so he did what he could. He pushed a lawyer, history teacher, computer programmers/hackers and many more into the boy's head. By the time he was finished with the boy, he was a master of weapons and could slip smoothly into any place in the world.
And with that Xander Harris disappeared... At least for a little while.
10 years later.
New York City
Pamela Landry was sitting at her desk on a sunny day, wishing she could get out of the paper work. She was still working on it from that cluster fuck in Europe. She had feelers out looking for Bourne but he had just disappeared like the ghost he was.
Then her phone rang and that familiar voice came across it.
Bourne.
"I hear you're still looking for me." Bourne was speaking in a calm voice. Pamela knew he could be anywhere around the world, so she didn't hit the call trace alarm on her desk.
"Bourne?" she asked knowing full well who it was. She just couldn't think of anything else to say.
"What do you want?" Bourne's voice had gone from calm to cold in a second.
"I wanted to thank you... For the tape," Pamela said.
It was a big thing for her to thank someone. She never really did that in her whole career. She did what was needed or right and didn't care about what happened or who had got hurt; it was part of the job. Sure, she would hunt someone to the ends of the earth for hurting one her people, but in the long run, she never really cared. So her admitting this was a big thing.
"We got what we needed. It's all tied off. It's over."
"I guess I owe you an apology," Pamela continued after a pause.
"Is that official?" Bourne asked.
"No. It's off the record. You know how it is."
"Goodbye," Bourne said. He had found out what he wanted to know and now it was time to be moving on.
"Wait. Wait!" Pamela called over the phone. She was digging through a file on her desk.
"Alexander Harris. That's your real name. You were born in Sunnydale, California. Why don't you come in and we'll talk about it."
When Pamela said the name, Bourne felt something. A flash of red hair. A blonde girl smiling. And a dark haired girl telling him she was going to show him around the curves. Then nothing.
"Bourne?" Pamela asked over the phone when he didn't say anything.
"Get some rest, Pam. You looked tired."
And with that he hung up the phone and walked away, while Pamela spun around and looked out the window of her office.
He had been watching her again.
From: "robert jackson" grey. Bourne reworked
Date: Thursday, July 27, 2006 4:21 PM
Hey re worked it, added more into the fight, Tell me what you think.
Part 2
Alexander Harris.
That was his name.
But it didn't seem right. He had Bourne for so long that was all he could
think of himself as. He had been other names, other people, at various
times but he always had returned to Bourne.
He had been in LA for a three weeks now, tracking down leads. He couldn't
return to Sunnydale, because it was gone. Just a hole in the ground.
There were a few survivors here and there, but mostly they were just gone.
It was like no one wanted to even remember or be associated with the town.
He, at first, thought it might be another set up by Pamela, but got the
feeling from the last conversation with her that she was talking straight
with him and would wait for him to contact her.
What records he could find on the town were strange. Murders and
disappearances were common place, but not a thing was reported on the local
news or to the outside law enforcement agencies. People just seemed to fall
off the planet in that town, but all the ones that disappeared were marked
with a government marker, from a debunked group that had been around since
at least the 1940's. With all that was going on in that town, it was like a
war was going on, but no one knew it was happening. And from what little he
had found so far, he had been in the middle of it.
It took him another week to track down any solid records for himself. First
there were his medical records. They had been put into a missing persons
data base.
Looking it over, he decided that he had had a hard life. Possibly child
abuse, what looked like gang fighting, numerous accounts about 'Gangs on
PCP.' He also found later police records on himself - fights, domestic
disturbances, nothing to brought in about, but enough to keep a record of.
But what was really odd was when he hit a stone wall; the military had a
file on him.
It was mostly blacked out, but there were odd words here and there in the
file: Slayer, watcher, demon, witch, and a few names - Buffy, Riley and
Willow.
Nothing rang a distinct bell, but their was a faint feeling, of
friendship... or maybe love? There was also a list of files at the bottom.
Most were dead ends. Just the same files over and over, but on one was a
link to something else.
There was a maze of servers involved and he had to hack through them. The
security on them was impressive - like hacking into the Pentagon, only more
so.
Bourne was not taking any chances, so he picked up a modified laptop before
his run on these files. He also jumped and wove his way through a few
systems before he started actually hacking, using whatever cover and
blockage he could find in cyberspace before moving in after the files. His
last line defense was his location, a little cyber-Coffee shop, one that had
a wireless hook up to the internet, but the shop was also overlaid with
three other businesses that each had a wireless hookup. The place had also
been used by hacker's for years as a base of operations, so no one would
think twice about a hacker raiding a system from here.
The system was amazing, full of security traps, and password protected
areas, and roving programs asking for passwords at random times. After a
fast look though the basic directories, he came to the conclusion this place
was a Council database.
The Council of Watchers. It had all the fingerprints of the COW, one of the
few groups that had a hands off warning with every agency he'd worked with.
He didn't know why, but the very few that went up against them had
disappeared. He had fulfilled a few missions for them, taking care of
someone getting too close to them - a man here, a woman there. He had even
met the boss, Travers.
But soon, he found what he was after: his files.
The first files were school records. At first, he could not believe he was
the same guy described in them, the grades were just so low. But then he
looked at the classes that he was in at the time. They were for the
advanced students; he had been placed with the school brains.
Why? His parents should have moved him out of those classes, if his grades
were that low, into classes more his speed. But then, from the evidence he
had found so far, he didn't have much of a home life and his parents must
not have cared much about his schooling as long as he was gone.
Where did that thought come from? Bourne thought to himself as he read
from the screen.
He found more government markers here and there in the records for the
school. Notes about class mates. But now some were marked as HST's, along
with more marked as KIA. His file was marked with a MIA, a 'Hold if found,'
and 'Kill if compromised.' Compromised? What did that mean? How could he
have been compromised? He was a student, wasn't he? After he finished his
file, he noticed one labeled 'Dana.'
That name always had meant something to me.
Flash Back
He was in LA. Not his usual area, since he mostly worked in Europe and Asia
, but he would pull other missions as needed. He was the 'go to' guy. Any
mission, anywhere, he did the impossible and came home with a few new
nightmares.
Which were taken care of with more sessions/visits to Treadstone.
Secrets must stay secret, after all.
He watched as a group of girls led by a blond man took another girl, who was
tied down on a gurney, from a second group of armed men. As he watched, the
leader drew himself up and turned to walk away, his steps angry. He could
vaguely recall meeting that guy, somewhere. They had stood face to face in
a hospital somewhere. Bourne was guarding someone; who, exactly, he
couldn't recall, but someone important even if he couldn't recall a name or
even a face. But they had been on opposite sides of the fight, and that was
all that mattered.
Stepping out of the shadows, the girls drew up sharply when they saw him.
None of them had sensed him there.
"Andrew," Bourne said, looking at the smaller man, "You ready?"
"Yes," Andrew said, looking nervously at the girls. It was a 'now or never'
thing happening here. "Ladies, go back to the hotel."
"Andrew, who's this guy?" the lead woman asked, her hand reaching under her
jacket holding something.
"No one," Andrew said to her. "I am doing what Mr. Giles wants done. Just
go back to the hotel and await contact."
Bourne looked over at the girls as they moved around. Each were fighters
and all seemed armed. But their movements seemed familiar, they moved like
someone he had known, but he couldn't quite place it.
Soon, it was just Andrew and the girl. She had been tied down to a gurney
earlier and injected with something that had quieted her down.
"Y...y...you got my money?" the nerdy little man asked. "I want to be long
gone before the Watchers find out about this."
"It's in the car," Bourne said, looking at the man. He'd had to deal with
more than one turncoat in his life, and they always left him feeling dirty.
And this man sold out his organization and a sick woman at the same time for
a little money.
He was just scum.
"Teach them to walk all over me," Andrew was muttering as he walked to the
car. "I did good and walked the road of redemption. And they look down on
me. Use me. What am I? None of them like me. Always talking down to me,
treating me like a Ferengi."
Bourne just looked the small man. Walking behind the man, Bourne signaled
to a van that pulled up and placed the girl in the back.
"Be careful with Dana, she's dangerous," Andrew warmed as they reached the
car.
"We will. She will be well taken care of," Bourne said.
"Good, I don't want her hurt," Andrew said. "At least, not more than she
has to be. So where's the money?"
"Back here." Bourne said opening the trunk of the car, then moving out of
the way and letting the small man to look in. At the very back of the
compartment sat a bag. As Andrew reached into grab the bag, he felt
something hard on the back of his head, then nothing.
Bourne looked around as he replaced his silenced pistol back under his
jacket. Pushing the body into the truck, he got into the driver seat, making
a phone call on his cell as he did.
"Everything went as planed, package en route. Loose end was tightened.
Will drop car off at cleaners, then return to base." Then Bourne hung the
phone up, on his way to drop off the car at the cleaners. He threw the
phone into the bay as he passed over it on the bridge.
End Flashback
Dana was part of Black Briar, at least that was what the files he had hunted
up said. But what Black Briar was, he had no idea. His mind could almost
think of something he should know about Black Briar – it seemed to be at the
edge of his memories, but just as he thought he might remember, his laptop
beeped at him.
Someone was tracking him. A group of someones. Each one was hitting a
different server at the same time, but they were too well coordinated to be
on their own.
They were good; Bourne was killing tracking programs as fast he could,
trying to get all the information he could about himself from those files,
but the trio were getting closer. He would have to drop the line soon. He
was just waiting for the last of files to be copied on to the laptop.
These COWs were good, they just seem to jump from server to server. They
just seemed to know where he was, and none of the false trails he had laid
were going to work. Then they had him.
He figured he had at least 20 minutes before anyone would show. And they
thought he didn't know about them. The COW programmers went out of their
way not to cut his line, so that meant their people on their way here. The
programs he used were the cutting edge, and they allowed him to track
tracking programs that had hooked on to his data trail.
He had just finished and shut down his laptop and was preparing to leave
when a young woman ran into the coffee shop. She was completely out of
place here – the people in the room looked like they never got out in the
sun and wore black clothes mixed with hand-me-downs. Most of them really
didn't care what they looked like, since their lives were on the net, not in
this mundane world.
So this little goddess that came in stuck out; while the people in the
coffee shop looked like they had just picked up clothing off the floor, this
girl looked like she was all set to go out clubbing. She was also tanned
and fit - again not something you could say about the regulars here.
The young girl's eyes - they were off, didn't fit her face. They were the
eyes of a hunter, someone who had seen too much too soon. He knew that
look, it was the same one he had in his eyes every morning before he slid on
which ever mask he'd need that day. The girl scanned the crowd looking for
someone, anyone with a computer. Fortunately, he had already stashed his
away in a back pack before she had looked at him.
Damn Bourne thought as he moved out. Less than five minutes to get here.
They must have been right on top of me.
He knew he didn't fit with the crowd here either, and with the young woman
at the door and another moving up behind her, he headed out the back.
But if these girls were the COWs… It didn't make sense. They only had one
female agent in the field at a time. And those had only one back-up agent,
a man called a watcher, if his intelligence had been correct. He was
usually older and stayed out of the line of fire. These two girls had the
look of girls that the COWs used, but not the operational training they had.
A major shake up must have happened in their group.
Hitting the alley and heading for the street, he heard a refined voice call
from behind him.
"Going somewhere?"
Bourne stopped and turned to see a young man standing behind him. English,
and he also held himself like someone who knew how to fight but hardly ever
did it. Back up. The Watcher, with a bulge in his jacket showing that he
was carrying something. What it was, he couldn't make out. Not a gun and
too big to be a knife. A stun stick?
"Just late for work," Bourne said, a disarming smile on his face.
"I'm sure," the man said. "Someone was looking into some files that
belonged to a friend of ours."
"Hmm," Bourne said. "Sorry don't know anything about it."
He started to once again move away from the man. He knew he needed to get
away from the English guy, before his two girls showed up. If they did, he
would be out of luck. The girls that the Watchers used were trained from
birth to fight from all records he had seen on them.
"Sorry, want to try again?" the English guy held up a small stone that was
glowing. "This little thing says you're lying."
What the hell? Bourne thought. Magic. He had seen and heard of magic
over the years, who hadn't, but it was rare. Not many magic users went into
the services, they were just too independent. To have one using a spell on
you in an alley will bring you up short.
"Why were you looking into places you shouldn't have been looking?" the man
said as he walked toward Bourne. Just as the man got within arm's reach,
his cell phone beeped.
It was all the distraction Bourne needed. He struck out, a fast blow across
the throat, that left the Englishman gagging. Then another fast blow
driving him to the ground, unconscious.
Once he was on the ground, Bourne pulled out the man's cell. Pulling the
cover from the back of the phone, he plugged a small box into the phone.
Lights along the top of the box flashed as it copied all the information
from the phone's data store, copying the ID tag for the phone, along with
all the numbers and any text messages there as well.
It had taken only seconds, he was done with the phone dropping it back into
the guys jacket and was heading down the alley. Moving at a fast pace but
still slow enough that no one would notice him.
He had almost made it out of the alley way when three figures moved into it.
It was the young women from inside the coffee shop, and they had picked up
another girl. While the two that had gone inside looked like they were
going clubbing, this one looked like she just jumped off the back of a
motorcycle, all leather and steel.
But then, she looked all of 15, if that.
"Book boy?" the leader called out as they moved into the alley. "You got
him?"
All three stopped as they stepped out of the little bit of light that shone
down from the streets and became aware of the body that was laid out, and of
Bourne.
"Ohh," the leader said looking at Bourne. "This going to hurt you."
With that, the three girls moved in on him. Someone had hurt their Watcher,
and he was going to pay.
Only it didn't go quite as they thought it would. Sandy, the first to reach
Bourne, kicked at him, only to find her would-be victim already moving. He
grabbed her leg and pulled her off balance. She would later swear his eyes
flashed a little green as he moved past her to engage the other girls.
Becky, the leather girl, pulled a dagger from behind her back. She had just
gotten into LA a little while ago, straight from The Joyce Summers School
for Girls in Cleveland. Rhonda had been here a while but they hadn't worked
together for long and it showed. They almost hit each other as they moved
in on Bourne, who used it to his advantage. Both girls went in for the fast
kill, only to tangle up in each other's arms. Becky dropped her dagger so
not to hurt her fellow Slayer, only to have her arm grabbed and pushed into
Sandy, who was just getting her balance back, sending both to the ground.
Rhonda moved in for the kill. There was no way a normal was going to win;
she just knew it. She was a Slayer, after all.
Just then, Bourne spun around to face the girl. Rhonda had never seen eyes
as lifeless as the ones looking at her right then. She had seen Vamps with
more humanity; these eyes were just blank. Then she felt the knee drive up
and into her stomach, driving out her breath. There was another blow to her
face, then she was on her back, gasping for breath. It was so unexpected,
this normal looking guy could hit, and move. Bourne was using a mish mash of
martial arts, in a kind of anything-that-works style. The Slayers had been
overconfident that they could take on anything. But most of what they
fought over the years had been demons, ones that relied on brute strength,
not someone trained to use your strengths against you. Gasping for breath
and trying to get up, Becky watched as Bourne moved in on her sister
Slayers, who were trying to untangle their arms and legs to get up.
She could appreciate the movement, even if she didn't like what was
happening. The guy was a stone cold killer. And right now they were his
targets. Getting her breath back, Rhonda jumped at Bourne from behind,
grabbing him. He also had underestimated the girls. He knew of the training
they got, but was not ready for actually fighting with one, much less three.
And he also didn't want to hurt them - that part of his life was over.
As Rhonda locked her arm around Bourne's neck, Becky and Sandy had untangled
themselves and were getting up. This was going downhill fast for Bourne and
he knew it. He would have to end this soon. He kept missing finishing hits,
because he didn't want to kill the girls. But if they pushed it too much, his
body would start to react to the blows the girls were throwing and someone
would be hurt or killed. With each blow he received, the weight of his pistol
was becoming more and more evident. And truth be told, if it came down to
him or these girls, the girls would lose. He wasn't happy about that, but it
was the truth, even if a small voice in his head was telling him that killing
them was wrong.
With one girl on his back and the other two moving up on him, he did
something unexpected. Twisting his body about, he slammed back to the ground
putting every thing into driving the woman on his back into the pavement.
Just as the two other women got to them, he kicked out with both legs, one
hitting one woman, while the other hit the other woman. One hit the lead
girl driving the breath from her, leaving her gasping, but due to the
leather jacket, not doing the same to the other. But he did dive her back
enough to move again.
Rhonda was still seeing stars from when her head had hit the pavement and felt
Bourne move off of her, not really understanding what it meant. She only
knew that her head hurt, and water from some alley drain was in her hair.
Sandy was bent over trying to keep her lunch down, at the same time trying
to get her breath back in her lungs, while Becky moved in once again on
Bourne. Becky had learned how to fight when she became a Slayer, and she
learned how to win when she was a student with Faith.
As Becky moved in, Bourne did a side kick into her side, knocking her back
again. Just as Rhonda was getting herself back together, Becky moved in
again and traded blows with Bourne, both blocking each other. Small blows
would slip in, but neither one could get a blow in with much force, just enough
to knock the other around a bit. Rhonda was back on her feet and Sandy had
just got her breath back, when Bourne side-kicked as he moved to face the
other two slayers, driving his foot into the side of Becky's knee, causing
it to bend at an angle it was not meant to bend. Becky screamed and dropped
to the ground, holding her knee and tears ran down her face.
Bourne turned to face the other two girls, blood running down from his nose
and mouth from the blows from Becky. Rhonda looked at Becky then steeled
herself, Sandy was at a loss. They were Slayers; he was human. How could he
be doing this?
Sandy took a fast glance at Rhonda, then both moved in on Bourne.
Bourne was hurting. These women were good. Now he was facing off with two.
He felt like his lungs were on fire, pain radiated from his nose, and lips.
He could feel a few loose teeth, he thought his nose might be broken and his
ribs were hurting. But he couldn't give up.
Sandy went low while Rhonda went high. Bourne sidestepped them both and
brought his knee up smashing it into Sandy's face. He could feel her nose give
as his knee cap hit, and he knew it was broken. T he girl fell back on her ass
grabbing her face, as Rhonda moved. A blow caught him across the jaw sending
him spinning to the ground. Then she stopped to look at her sister Slayer.
Yep. Loose teeth, Bourne thought looking at the girl. He needed to finish
this fast. He kick jumped to his feet and then lashed out with his foot in a
round house kick driving Rhonda to the ground, then pulled his pistol.
Turning and moving toward his gear, he kept all three women in his line of
sight.
"I'll be going." He said looking over the women.
Bourne stood back and paused as he looked at the three women. No, the three
girls. He had hurt them. He looked down at the leather girl, a greenish
glow in his eyes. She had dark hair and a lost look on her face. She knew
he was going to hurt her again. He stepped toward her and she unconsciously
let out a whimper, pulling back. Blood covered her face from a smashed
nose. She could feel it in the back of her throat.
Bourne looked at the girl, and he could feel that dark part of himself stir.
That instinct, the part that had kept him alive for all these years. It
wanted the girls; to rape them, kill them, dominate them, make them his.
But Marie was there in his head. Her calm love of him drove the dark part
back. He was not this thing; he was better. He would not slide back into
that darkness. It was in the past. He could recall bit and pieces from his
past now, more and more of the evil that he had done. He had kept them all
locked away in a dream journal, warded an ideal of Marie. He had needed it
to help control his nightmares, and because of it, he now could recall
chunks of his life as an agent.
But nothing before that. No family. No friends. Just a black life. That
was why he was digging into his life, to find out who he was.
He wasn't sure if it would be a good idea or not. But it was something he
needed to do.
Looking once again at the girl, he let out a small smile to say he was
sorry, and then he was off. Soon, Becky pulled herself together and began
checking on her friends and watcher.
She would always remember that smile.
A sad lost smile. And just a little off center.
Council Hall, a few days later.
Giles sat at his desk, with a old book and a fresh cup of tea. It was his
morning break. His one vice. Every morning, he would drink some tea and
read one of his favorite books. It was a way to get away from the wear and
tear of being the Head Watcher. He had held this position for the last 8
years. It had been his pleasure and honor to rebuild the organization back
into what it was supposed to be, and away from what it had become.
All with the help of the other Scoobies.
He had just taken the first sip from his tea when Willow barged in.
"Giles, we have problem," she said without waiting for him to even look up
from his tea.
"Yes?" Giles replied, looking up from his tea with some regret.
Someone had hacked the Council's mainframe. He had accessed personal files,
mainly on Xander, but they had also accessed some of the personal files of
the core group, once known as the Scoobies.
That bothered both Willow and Giles. With Xander's disappearance, and now
someone was looking for him, as well as the other Scoobies, it definitely
looked like something was up.
And now, the Local team in LA been taken down. Thank God, no one was
killed. They could very easily have been killed. But with the Slayer healing
they should be back up and about soon, thou they will not be taking meany
chances with the next "Normal person" they come across. The team did get a
bit of luck and got a print off the lead Watcher's cell phone, though.
"Thanks to Riley," Willow said, who had kept in touch with the Scoobies
after the fall of Sunnydale, "we matched up his finger prints. It's not
good. Someone named Jason Bourne."
"And just what's so bad about him?" Giles asked. He could tell Willow was
quite disturbed by this name.
"His file is major badness, Giles. He's a killer." Willow paused to slow
down and get a breath. "He was credited with at least 45 deaths in Asia,
and an unknown amount in Europe. Remember that big African leader, that was
assassinated in Paris last year?" To which Giles nodded, "That was Bourne.
He is wanted by the CIA, Interpol - just about everyone wants him. According
to his file, he has a KOS tag."
"A Chaos tag?" The head watcher asked not having heard the term before.
"No, a kay oh ess tag," Willow explained. "Kill on Sight."
"Why would someone like that be looking into Xander?" Giles asked, his tea
forgotten.
No one knew where Xander had finally ended up. He had just left the group
after The Fight. Willow had used both tracking spells and all of their ties
with the governments of the world only to find nothing. Locator spells
would come up blank every time.
Not dead, just blank. The only thing Giles or any other spellcaster he knew
of could figure was that he was protected by someone very powerful.
Of course, Lady Haversham, leader of a the English coven, had the idea that
maybe Xander wasn't Xander anymore. Something had so significantly had
changed him that he wasn't Xander anymore.
No one really believed that, but who wanted to tell that to a Coven leader?
Especially one as powerful as Lady Haversham?
"So, can we get anything on him? He might be a lead to Xander or at least
to someone that might know his whereabouts," Giles finally asked.
"Nope," Willow replied. She was worried. Someone was after her Xan and she
couldn't protect him. "This Bourne guy has just as much blockage going on
as Xan does. Xand is in trouble and we need to save him."
Just then a dark haired boy ran into the office, followed by three very
tired looking girls around the same age.
"Gramps!" the boy called as he dodged around the chairs, keeping the girls,
who were almost growling at the boy, just behind him. "I didn't do nothing!"
"Mr. Giles," the lead girl said. "He was peeping in the girls changing
room!"
Giles looked at the boy as he dodged the girls' grasp again by jumping over
a coffee table, almost knocking off his tea pot.
"I was looking for Sherry. She was supposed be in there," the boy called as
he dove under Giles' desk, only to slide out the other side. Willow stood
there, watching the boy with a small smile and small shake of her head.
He gets the trouble finding skill honestly, she thought to herself as he
once again dodged the girls' hands. Anyone with his parentage couldn't be
blamed for trouble finding them.
"Ladies. Mr. Wood," Giles called out, bringing the boy and the girls to a
stop, the girls looking down and waiting for punishment for chasing him, THE
BOY, in here. And the boy looked up at Giles, almost daring him to punish
him.
"Mr. Wood, why were you looking in the changing room for Ms. Killain?" Giles
asked, every inch the schoolmaster. He could recall most of the new
admissions here, and Sherry Killain was a mouse of a girl, much like Willow
in her younger days.
And from what he had heard, Alex had taken up with her as soon as he had
returned from South America with his mother. Faith, his mother, would not
let the boy out of her sight for long. She would take him along on
missions, saying that it was good enough for his father, it would be good
enough for him, and she wouldn't hide what she did from him.
"Coach Kelly sent me to get her. She got hurt in a sparring match, and he
wanted to see that she was ok." The defiance was strong in him. He had the
pissed off at the world look his mother had, but it was softened by the
smile that had his father had had, and he had a "Who, me?" look on at the
same time.
"And if I call the Coach, he would back up your story?" Giles asked. Willow
smirked behind the young man as he started to squirm. Willow had been a
major part of the boy's life, as she was one of his surrogate mothers.
"Well, yes. He told me to look for her. He just didn't say where. I asked
Kennedy were she was and she told me that Sherry was in the changing room."
"So you went to find her, and not to peek?" Giles asked ,the girls behind
him giving him death glares.
"I don't peek at girls," Alex said with an offended tone. "Gramps, you do
know who my mom is, right?"
"What's that got to do with it?" one of the girls asked. All three of the
girls were new to the school and Alex was often gone with his mother.
"My mom took me to nude beaches all my life, and she sleeps nude. I have
seen more nude women and girls than are in this school. I don't peek."
Giles blushed a little at the statement from the boy. Once again, Faith's
parenting skill showed through. Faith had often lived a clothing optional
life style, and Alex was in no way bothered with nude women. In his mind,
there were nude women and naked women. Nude was ok; naked made him blush.
Naked was when it was two people alone and doing something only couples
should do together.
"Still, you don't just walk in to a changing room without asking," Giles
stated.
"I did ask. I knocked and called in. No one answered, so I went in to see
if Shelly was in there, hurt."
"Girls?" Giles asked.
"I don't know, sir. We didn't hear him," the leader of the group said,
looking at her friends.
"Very well," Giles said. "You three, return to your classes. I'll handle
this."
Once they were gone, he looked at Willow, who was still in the room.
"You, too, Willow," Giles said with a strong voice.
"He's my godson. I'll be staying," Willow said, looking down at the boy.
She and Faith, his mother, had become close friends over the years, causing
some rumors about Faith and which side of the stick she drove lately. But
nothing like that had happened.
They were just good friends, with this boy in common. Rupert Alexander
Wood.
Willow was the first one to find out about Alex. Who would just about start
a fight with anyone who called him Rupert. It was one of his deep dark
secrets. She, along with Joyce and Buffy, had taken up slack and raised the
boy his first three years while Faith was in prison, taking the boy to see
her there. Faith had wanted it that way. Alex was the one person in her
life she never lied to or would put up false fronts around.
Faith wasn't perfect after getting out, but she was there. And with the
others, it was his family. He had traveled the world with his mom. She had
became the one that they would send if they thought a Slayer had gone bad.
She'd been there and done that, and mostly could talk the girls back to the
straight and narrow. And if she couldn't, she could stop them. Thank god,
that hadn't happened too often. She even recruited a few of the Slayers
that she saved into helping her out. Her latest one was Becky.
Faith had gotten married to Wood just after the fall of Sunnydale, and Wood
had even adopted Alex. They were good for each other at the time.
But it didn't last. Wood wanted to be the perfect family; he had a wife and
a child, and wanted more kids. Faith didn't. Alex was enough for her.
Wood wanted the picked fences and wanted Faith out of Slaying, and to stay
home and be the wife at home that would wait for her man to get home with
the slippers in her hands and his pipe in the other. And have HIS kids.
Well, let's just say that wasn't Faith.
One night, Faith took Alex to Willow's and went out. She didn't do
anything, just Dancing with the girls. Tara, Kennedy and Buffy had taken
out a bunch of the baby Slayers out to blow off some steam. It was a good
night. Drinks, smokes and dancing, just like old times.
Faith realized then that it was the first time she had been happy in a long
time. She was going to tell Wood the whole thing and try get him to come
with her. Hell, they were young. It was time to live life.
Once home, she found Wood was waiting with Alex, who was around six at the
time. The fight was on as soon she walked in the door. He called her names
like bitch (which she was honest enough with herself to say was true), and
then slut (which wasn't). She had never been a slut; yeah, she had enjoyed
herself in her short life, true enough, but she as not a slut. No man would
make her be one or call her one. Next, Wood brought up how she had another
man's child, and even named him after the guy. Then Wood hit her - the one
thing that was unforgivable to her. It had been just reaction for him, a
heat of the moment thing. But she would not stay in the house anymore. She
picked up Alex and was out the door.
They were divorced within the year.
And from that day, Alex would not call Wood 'Dad' anymore. He was Wood. Or
dickhead if no one else was around.
And over the next few years, Alex had been from one side of the world to the
other, always with his mom. She watched out for him, taught him everything
he knew.
And now, once again, Alex was back with his true family, the only one he
ever really counted. He never really liked Wood, merely put up with him for
his mom. So she wouldn't be alone. He didn't matter, as long she was happy.
"So, how have you been, Alex?" Giles asked.
"Ok. Mom's been jumping around lately. We just got in last night. She's
sleeping in our rooms."
"What was that all about, anyway?" Giles once again proving that he could
read the boy.
"Nothing," Alex said, looking anywhere but at Giles, only to see Willow
tapping her foot.
What is about her? I can never lie with her around. Alex asked himself.
She gives me that look and out comes the truth. Got to be a witchy thing.
"Alex?" Giles asked softly.
"Those three were picking on Sherry. They had her cornered in the changing
room and were calling her names. They're better fighters than her, so she
won't stand up to them, because they take it out on her on the mats."
"So you just happened to be there at the right time?" Willow asked,
remembering another dark haired boy that would stand up for her.
"The three of them planned it out. I was watching them. And I followed,"
Alex said. He was feeling like a first class narc for telling what was
going on.
"Very well. I understand now what is going on. Alex, go back to classes,
I'll be talking to your mother tonight. She will decide what punishment you
get," Giles said. Alex swallowed. He loved his mom, but she was a bitch
when it came to punishment getting handed out. Sparring drills were in his
future. A lot of them.
"Make sure Sherry gets extra training, will you, Willow?" Giles told the
redheaded woman, once the young man was gone. "And see what more you can
dig up on the Bourne character. He will have to be dealt with. No one
hurts us or the girls." A little bit of Ripper slipped into his voice.
After Willow had left, Giles once again picked up his tea, while thinking
back over what he had heard young Alex say.
"You are your father's son," Giles said, taking off his glasses and pinching
the bridge of his nose.