Disclaimer: - I don't own the Centurions, the GI Joes or Buffy. What I do own is the idea. Centurions was owned initially by Ruby - Spears productions, now Time - Warner. GI Joe is owned by Hasbro and we all know who owns Buffy.

Summary: - Saturday morning cartoons have a lot to answer for. On with the show!

Chapter.2: - Real American Heroes

Tuesday, August 20th 2019

Chomo – Lunguma

Himalayas

World War Uniborg

The Future

"Incoming! Take cover!" Scarlett's voice called out to the last of her teammates that were all that was left of the G.I. Joes; as the sole remaining leader dove for cover as enemy fired rockets and grenades impacted and exploded not far from their position as Dominion Super Strafer Drones and Cobra Z – 25 Condor assault craft units flew overhead attacking resistance targets with impunity while Dominion Traumatiser and Groundborg Assault Drones fired their blasters, thoraxial missiles and laser batteries at resistance tanks, Anti – Aircraft batteries and ground based RADAR and LIDAR locations.

Over the loud den of machinegun fire, rockets being fired from LAW 80's in retaliation of enemy action, Scarlett quickly left the fox hole she had dug into to avoid the explosive ordnance and reacquired her targets, readying her XK – 1 power crossbow and quickly equipping her last explosive bolt head, she fired at a large group of Uniborg's Cyber Demons.

As one of the last pockets of resistance humanity had left fought back against the combined forces of what was once Cobra, its soldiers now completely hybridised into a mixture of human, demon and cybernetic parts and Warren Mears' cyber terrorist organisation, Dominion.

"Scarlett, watch out!" Duke called out as the aged and scarred Joe fought off a cyber – converted Prio – Motu demon.

"Crankcase!" Scarlett called out into her radio. "Bring the Striker and the Vamps up! We've got to break their lines! Everybody, push forward! Push on! We've got to keep going – ugh!" Scarlett staggered and fell hitting the ground hard. A vampire had managed to get the jump on her; Scarlett was knocked back as the vampire had caught her with the butt end of an M – 16. The redhead fell to the ground as the vampire chambered a round in the guns barrel.

"Shana!" Duke shouted as the Prio – Motu raised its arm, Duke watched for moment as a plate of metal on the demons arm opened up and receded back to allow a weapon to come out.

"Allo, Duke!" Zartan turned and shouted at the man. "It's been a while mate! Hang on; I'll tear yer guts out in a minute." He finished before he turned back to Scarlett. "Ya getting soft in yer ol' age, Red."

Duke tensed as the Prio – Motu aimed its weapon as he heard the former Cobra member turned vampire mock his old friend. He heard a soft whine start to build up that was coming from the arm mounted weapon before the demon pointed the weapon at him, Duke jumped to side just as a beam of red energy had fired from the weapon. Ducking behind cover, Duke waited out the Prio's weapons fire before returning fire with his 9mm as Zartan entertained himself with Scarlett.

Blurrily, Scarlett looked up at the vamped, hybridised form of the former leader of the Dreadnoks. "Ya never would've left yerself vulnerable like that in the old days, darlin'!" The vampire grinned as he knelt down by her, ignoring the explosions of a trio of Traumatisers from a barrage of anti – tank rockets. "Almost takes the fun out of killin' ya, really."

"Zartan." She growled. Suddenly the vampire smiled widely then kicked Scarlett in her ribs, eliciting a grunt of pain from the woman; the Joes leader lost her grip on her power crossbow as the kick lifted her off of the ground and through the air, Scarlett travelled three feet before she crashed into the broken shell of a crashed Cobra AGP flight pod with a heavy thud.

"Well, I did say almost." Zartan replied toothily with a mad grin as he suddenly appeared in front of the Joes leader; Scarlett found it hard to breathe suddenly as the vampire picked the woman up with his cybernetic arm and brought her closer to his face. "Like the new arm? Th' boss man made it for me after yer hubby blew my old one off." Scarlett grimaced as she smelt the stench of fresh blood on his mouth.

"Where's yer flyboy of a hubby at then, Red?" The vampire asked as he ran his other hand down her left cheek. "I really want him to watch you die." He asked as cocked his head to the side.

"Bruv! Just kill the bitch an' leave her…!" Said the voice of Zartan's sister, Zarana as she suddenly arrived at the scene on Stormrider's Doom Cycle. The pink haired assassin caught Scarlett's look of barely restrained anger and chuckled as she slipped into her game face and licked her lips. "… or give her to me, if you want –"

"No!" Zartan growled at her as gunfire, growling, snarling and screaming sounded around them. "She's mine! I want that bastard, Harris…" He said as he squeezed Scarlett's neck tight. "… that bastard took my arm! I'm gonna take his woman –"

"The fuck you are, you sonofabitch!" Another voice shouted as three young woman holding a mixture of modern and classic weaponry charged at the two vampires. Zartan and Zarana turned as three of the last living Slayers on Earth charged their position. "Slayers! Oh, this is just getting better and better."

Scarlett capitalised on the distraction, reaching for her KA – BAR knife, Shana quickly pulled it out of its sheath and slashed at Zarana, catching the vampire's right eye before stabbing it into Zartan's as well. The surprise move by their cornered prey made the vampire drop the woman as the two howled in agony; Scarlett scurried backwards towards the three Slayers as they rushed to help her.

"AAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!" The male vampire roared out in pain. "YOU BITCH! I'LL KILL YOU!"

"ME FIRST, BRUV!" Zarana growled as she glared hatefully at Scarlett; the Joe's leader and wife of Alexander Harris narrowed her eyes at the two vampires.

"Rona. Vi." Scarlett quickly said as the two Slayers readied themselves to attack to two; Scarlett turned and looked at the other Slayer, Cho – ahn. "Where's Xander?"

"The boss is still with Jonny and Oz." Rona began. "They're dealing with –"

"Enough!" Zartan raged. "Less talking more fighting!" He crowed before he raised his cybernetic arm, revealing a miniature powered crossbow already loaded and he soon brought the weapon to bear against the Slayers while Zarana pulled out two 9mm pistols and opened fire. Scarlett and the Slayers scattered; Zartan, angered that the woman had managed to get the drop on him and take out his eye saw red.

First Harris took his arm, now his wife takes his eye! He was pissed. Scarlett dove right as Zartan fired the crossbow at her, just missing her side as she crashed to the ground. "I'll get you, Red!" He called out before he charged her.

Rona, Vi and Cho – ahn hid behind the crashed AGP pod as Zarana fired her guns at their position, Rona peeked out from the left side of the pod and brought her assault rifle up, firing off a few shots at the vampire, she knew that the bullets wouldn't kill the vampire, but she hoped that Zarana would be distracted so that either of her friends could kill her. Zarana felt the impact of two bullets hitting her chest before he switched targets at fired at both sides of the flight pod, Rona quickly pulled herself back as the bullets flew by her position.

Vi returned fire with her crossbow, scoring a hit in Zarana's right thigh. "AHHH! SLAYER BITCH!" Zarana fell back behind a boulder and used it for cover while she pulled the crossbow bolt out of her thigh, reloaded her guns and then returned fire. "Zartan!" She called out over the sound of her own gunfire.

Zartan picked Scarlett up from the ground and drove a fist into her stomach; the woman wheezed as she lost her breath and struggled to get out of the vampire's strong grip. She kicked at the vampire's chest, barely making him move as he grinned and aimed a punch at her face. "What?!" The vampire replied back as he threw the punch, Scarlett moved her head to the right and let the punch sail past before she released her grip on Zartan's prosthetic arm and reached for the other one and pulled the vampire off balance. Surprised by the move, the vampire was quickly unprepared for Scarlett to turn around and manage to throw Zartan over her shoulder.

Scarlett watched as the vampire rolled and kipped up off of the ground, spun to face her and slip into a fighting stance of a fighting style she didn't recognise. Scarlett fell into a stance of her own, but she was unprepared for the sudden burst of speed Zartan propelled himself with and hitting her right in the face.

"Like that, Red? I learned it off of a group of mystical monks in Pajaur." He said as he used another burst of speed and closed the distance between himself and Scarlett. "They were called the Nanjin. Can you believe they lived in caves?! I say lived because they don't anymore." Zartan said grinning. "They weren't very filling, always left me wanting more to eat."

"Zartan!" His sister called out again as she became pinned down by gunfire from Rona and Cho – ahn.

"What?!" he roared out annoyed at the interruption.

"A little help!" She asked as Zartan turned to see the three Slayers pinning her down. Just as he was about to fire at the Slayers, there was a loud explosion off in the distance that caught their attention.

"What was that?!" Zartan shouted.

The Joes leader's radio suddenly activated. "Skyvault calling Scarlett! Skyvault calling Scarlett, come in! They did it! Xander and the others did it. The Cobra Hellicarrier's been taken down! Centurions inbound to your position, ETA five minutes!" Scarlett breathed a sigh of relief despite her current situation as her radio relayed the message. "Shana, do you copy?! Shana?!" Dawn's voice called out from the radio. "Willow, Shana isn't responding."

"Damn it!" Zartan said as he heard the message. He was about to move in for the kill when his own radio kicked in.

"Zartan. Zarana, fall back and regroup. You are not equipped to deal with the Centurions." The voice of Uniborg called replied.

"What? But boss…?!" Zartan began.

"Do as I command, vampire! I am finishing this myself. I will deal with Harris and the other Centurions personally." Uniborg said. "Pull all Cobra and Dominion forces back and hold the perimeter. Do not let the humans escape their base. Comply!"

"… I copy!" Zartan replied as he looked down at Scarlett. "All forces fall back and regroup! Cyber Demons, Dreadnoks and Vipers, form on me!" He finished before he addressed Scarlett again. "Sorry luv, but it looks like we don't get to play anymore –"

"Ya got that right! Get the hell away from my wife you fucking bastard!" Shouted Xander, angry and enraged at seeing Shana at the mercy of Zartan, from the air as he and his friends, Jonathan and Oz arrived at the battle. Incensed, Xander primed the blasters on his chest mounted cannon pod of the Sky Knight Assault Weapon System as he swooped down and fired at the vampire. Scarlett scrambled away as quickly as she could as her husband dove towards Zartan like an avenging angel sent from heaven.

"Xan…!" Scarlett breathed out relieved that more help had arrived as she watched Xander fire on the vampire.

Zartan frantically dove out of the way of the incoming weapons fire. "ARGH!" He cried out as the weapons fire impacted the ground; the concussive force of the impact threw up debris that had caught Zartan on his leg as the vampire dove. Zartan turned back and looked as the debris and dust made from the impact travelled obscured his vision for a second just before it blew apart as Xander flew through the dust cloud roaring in anger and charged the vampire, grabbing him by the neck, Xander then angled himself away from the ground and up into the air as enemy ground forces fired at him.

Zarana watched as her brother was taken by Harris past a cloudbank from her position before she looked up to see Jonathan and Oz descending towards her. 'Time to bug out!' She thought before she tried to move out from her cover, a burst of weapons fire from Rona's assault rifle prevented that though. "Fuck!" She exclaimed. As the helicopter Assault Weapon System designated Hornet Jonathan operated quickly descended, Oz, wearing the Tidal Blast unit jumped and fired the back unit's jet engines to slow his fall as he fired his chest mounted lesion repulsor cannon at Zarana's position.

Zarana saw no other choice, not wanting to die by the weapons fire, she broke cover firing wildly at the Slayers position before the cannon fire impacted. Diving and narrowly avoiding the repulsor weapons fire, the pink haired vampire spun to fire her guns at the Centurions. "Eat this!" She called out as she fired.

As Oz finally touched down, he fired again. Zarana used her vampire speed to dodge the weapons fire again and return fire as she moved; from above Jonathan primed the Hornet's forward mounted freeze ray cannons. "Try this on for size, bitch." Jonathan muttered as he fired. The blasts quickly sped towards their target.

Zarana tried to dodge again but weapons fire from Oz and the Slayers limited her movements; looking at her enemies, she thought for just a moment that this was it for her.

And she was right; as the blasts from Hornet's weapons system hit her, Zarana glared back defiantly at the two other Centurions as ice quickly formed trapping her. "Fuck you both to Hell and back, you bastards! In the end we'll win! Uniborg will kill you all! You're dead, you're all de –" She was cut off as the ice reached her head, effectively silencing her. A second later Jonathan fired a missile from one of the Hornet's splicer missile launchers at the block of ice and grinned at the resulting explosion that took out the trapped vampire killing her.

Xander held Zartan tightly by his neck, attempting to pop the vampire's head off of its shoulders when Zartan grabbed Xander's exoframe clad arm and tried to pry it off of him. "You touch my wife! You touch my wife and you think you can get away from me?!" Xander growled over the den of rushing air as he travelled higher and higher with Zartan in his grasp. "No way. No fucking way!"

Zartan looked at Xander's eyes through his helmet's visor, for a minute, he thought he saw them glowing yellow for a moment before he rallied and used his other arm to punch Xander in the face. "I would've done more than touch her, ya prick! I would've killed her… I would've drunk from her, drained her and left her corpse for the cyber harvesters to convert." Zartan told him with a maddening grin. "Uniborg can always use more recruits for his army – ack!"

Hearing that over the den of rushing air still, Xander's grip tightened around the vampire's neck more, cutting the former Cobra member off. As a snarl escaped the Centurions mouth, Xander spoke: "I am going to kill you."

"An'… the boss… will… kill… you, Harris." Zartan gasped out. "Uniborg… on its way –" Xander didn't let him finish. As Zartan's remains floated away except for his prosthetic arm, Xander tossed it away before he was set upon by two squadrons of Super Strafers and Cobra Firebat assault craft. Activating the boosters of Sky Knights jet pack, Xander flew up and over the incoming fire and locked onto the enemy craft with the Stincel missiles mounted on his forearms. As the missiles fired and took out two of the Super Strafers, the rest of the enemy fighters broke ranks as Xander sped towards them, firing the blasters on his cannon pod, he scored direct hits on some of the Firebats as he flew past and grinned as the enemy aircraft went up in flames. "Woohooo! Flow through!" He called out as the enemy fighters quickly regrouped and reacquired him as their target.

With Zartan's warning still in his mind, he radioed the others, dodging enemy fire as he did so. "Guys…"

As he landed a second later, the three Slayers moved over to help Scarlett up before all four women approached the two Centurions just as their radio's activated. "…Zartan's dusted."

"That's great, Xand…" Jonathan started as he landed. "Me and Oz have just finished off Zarana."

"Shana?! Is she –" Xander asked over the radio, the concern could be heard in his voice.

"She's fine, Xander. She's a little bruised but she's alright." Oz replied.

They could hear him breathe a sigh of relief. "That's great – ow! Damn it!" He suddenly called out.

"Xander?!" Both of the Centurions called out concerned as they heard weapons fire over the radio.

"I'm alright! Listen, Zartan told me that Uniborg is coming! You've got to get the Joes and the civilian's to cover." He finished.

The two looked at each other before Jonathan spoke: "Copy, Xander. What about you?"

"I'll be with you just as soon as I shake these bastards." He said as weapons fire could be heard over the radio again. "Shana?" He called out.

"Xander?" She replied into her radio. "Hey."

"Hey Baby. Missed you." Xander replied with emotion.

Shana smiled as she heard her husband's voice and reassured him that she was alright. "I'm fine, Xander. I missed you too." Shana's smile disappeared then. "I heard what you told Daniel and Jonathan; I'm not leaving."

"Shana…" Xander replied.

"No, Alex! We need to finish this!" She said as explosions went off all around her. She watched as Rona, Vi and Cho – ahn opened fire on a platoon of Cobra Vipers and converted Crimson Guard soldiers providing covering fire for Snake Eyes and Flint who become pinned down by weapons fire.

Xander barrel rolled as a Super Strafer fired its blasters at him as he listened to his wife. "With Zartan and Zarana dead, the enemy's in disarray! We can win this! I'm not arguing this with you, but I'm staying!"

"Shana!" Xander retorted, firing on another Firebat.

"I said I'm not arguing, Xander!" Scarlett's voice said cutting through Xander's radio; he winced as he recognised the tone his wife was using. "Finish up with those fighters and get down here, or your sleeping on the floor."

A sigh could be heard over Scarlett's radio and she allowed herself a small smile again, knowing that she had won the argument. "What happened to the couch?… fine!" Xander said over the radio. "Shana… be careful."

"I will, Xander. You too." She finished before she cut the connection.

"Daniel. Jonathan." Xander's wife began as she quickly greeted them as the two Centurions approached. "Thank you." She said to them before incoming Strafer fire interrupted the reunion. Scarlett turned. "Damn it."

"ARGH!" Duke screamed as the Strafer fire had taken out the Prio – Motu cyber demon he'd been fighting but had greatly wounded him.

"Duke!" Scarlett shouted. "Come on!" She said to the others as she ran over to her friend, picking up her power crossbow on the way. Rona and the Slayers laid down covering fire with Oz and Jonathan backing them up, blasting Traumatisers and Groundborgs as well as Cobra Cyber Demons as they went to help the downed GI Joe while high up, her husband fought on.

Xander knew that he was outgunned with this many fighter craft up here after him; he needed to finish these bastards off and soon because he didn't know how soon Uniborg, or as he and the other's knew him by, ADAM would arrive. He pulled upwards and then over the enemy squadrons as he dodged more incoming fire from two Firebats and to do that he needed superior firepower. "Xander calling Skyvault! Xander calling Skyvault, Willow do you read?!" He called out into his radio system.

"Copy, Xander. What do you need?" Willow's voice came in through the speaker.

"Better firepower. I've got multiple fighters on my tail, send me Sky Bolt!" He requested as he performed another barrel roll.

"Understood. Assembling Sky Bolt Aerial Assault Weapon System and switching out Sky Knight! Stand by for transmission!" Willow acknowledged.

"Ejecting Sky Knight… now!" Xander called out as the Assault Weapon System disconnected from the hardpoints on his blue and silver coloured exoframe and were beamed away as he began freefalling, in a few seconds, Xander had entered the cloudbank.

"Transmitting Sky Bolt… now!"

"POWER… EXTREME!" Mere seconds later, armed with Sky Bolt, both man and machine came roaring out of the cloud cover, firing on the enemy squadrons. "Oh yeah, much better!" Xander crowed out as he began blowing them out of the sky.

There were times when Xander really hated Ethan Rayne for performing that Halloween spell back in 1998 and there were times when he didn't. When it had been revealed that Warren Mears and Andrew Wells had been transformed into real life versions of Doc Terror and Hacker and officially founded the cyber terrorist cell, Dominion, well, that was one of those times he hated the man.

The look of awe and amazement on Giles' face as he found himself beamed up to Skyvault after the spell had been broken and the Scoobies had discovered that it had been pulled into this reality thanks to the spell. Xander remembered that moment and the man fondly.

Then when the terrorist organisation Cobra revealed itself to the world and they first went up against them. It was the look of surprise on the GI Joes faces when they saw three exoframed teenagers hold off a Cobra assault squad on Pearl Harbour with advanced weapons systems that they could only dream of using and win.

Eventually meeting his future wife and forming an alliance with the GI Joes to take on the combined forces of Cobra and Dominion.

The creation of Uniborg when the cyborg hybrid demon, ADAM had uploaded a copy of his core personality into Dominion's mainframe and coerced Warren and Andrew to construct him a new body after he, Jonathan, Oz and Buffy had destroyed him in the Initiative's base.

His and Shana's wedding. The birth of his son.

Glory and Dawn. Darth Willow after Tara and Buffy… The First and the mass calling of the Slayers. The battle of Cobra Island and the defeat of Cobra - la.

ADAM's takeover of Cobra and Dominion from Cobra Commander, Serpentor, Warren and Andrew, killing them then beginning his cyber conversion of Cobra's and Dominion's forces and his following declaration of war against humanity three years later.

There were times when he cursed the man. But they were few and far between because Xander believed that he wouldn't have met Shana if Ethan hadn't done his spell and that is the one thing that Xander is grateful to him for.

And always will be.

Sunnydale High

The Library

The Past

Aftermath

"So, let me get this straight…" Began a tired and frustrated Watcher as he rubbed the bridge of his nose in an effort to alleviate the dull throbbing pain that tonight's events had wrought. While he looked over at his young charge and her two friends and the oddly silent young man called Oz… and then the Orangutan that was currently sat in Willow's lap playing with her slightly longer hair and Buffy… god only knew where that had bloody come from! Xander and the young boy Jonathan, wearing some type of cybernetic exoframes, if he understood the boys correctly, watching the animal playing with the girls. "…You, Xander, Jonathan, Willow and, um, Oz is it? All dressed as characters from a children's cartoon show…"

Author's Note: -

Like I said: Saturday morning cartoons had a lot to answer for. I think it's well past time now for the complete series 1&2 of the Centurions to be released on DVD now don't you?

I really want to follow up on this one... time permitting.

Read and review and hopefully enjoy.

Peace.