The Job

Disclaimer: Don't own nothin'.

Timeline: after 'A New Man.'

The Dove, the Serpent, and the Dagger

UC Sunnydale:

Buffy Summers walked into her dormitory, hoping to God that no one had noticed the misshapen bruise on her face. It was only a few minutes till dawn so, she hoped that Willow was here. She really needed her.

Thankfully, though, the redhead had just walked into the room after spending the night with Tara, practicing some spells, just before the blonde Slayer had walked into the room.

"Willow," Buffy said in a grateful tone as she entered the dorm, "Good. I need your help."

"With what, Buffy," Willow asked, stifling a yawn as she did so.

"It's Xander-"

"XANDER," Willow screeched, "WHAT'S HAPPENED? DID HE DO SOMETHING STUPID AGAIN?"

"…Possibly," Buffy told her friend as she tried to calm the beating of her eardrums, "Remember that guy that asked about the Rune Stone?"

"Yeah," Willow said, she couldn't forget that shock of green hair and that accentless voice.

"Well, he told Xander to come by a club. I followed him to a club on the outskirts of town…it was a lot like that club Ford had, bleak and gothic. When I walked inside, there was a bunch of heavy metal going. I followed Xander to the bar but, before I could get to him, he just…vanished. I didn't even see how," she said, taking care to not mention how she got her ass handed to her by a normal human.

"How'd you get the bruise," Willow asked, concerned.

"That's not important," Buffy said and, as usual, the witch simply went along with it, "What's important now is finding out where Xander is and getting him the Hell out of there."

"I can do a locator spell," Willow said with girlish glee, "Just give me a moment to set it up."

The Dove, the Serpent, and the Dagger

Xander's smile echoed every single bit of happiness that he was feeling at that present moment as he sat down after doing a rendition of the Snoopy Dance. He was free, free from the spectacular bitchy Slayer, free from his sheep-like former best friend, free from his former father figure, and, most importantly, free from Captain Cardboard and the fantastically useless Billy Idol!

"I can tell that you really wanna kiss me right now," Matt said with a grin.

"I would, too, if you weren't…you know…"

"Gay," Matthew said with a grin, "I know. Believe me, I know. I did read your reports and, to be frank, I would have killed all of them. I can't imagine being in your position. But, I have one more question for you…the love spell?"

"I was hurting," Xander said with a grimace, "And it is my instinct. Go for vengeance, and that's what I wanted. I didn't plan on that happening but, such is life."

"The hyena?"

"Didn't see it coming. Alright, moving on to more important things…like, say, this job you want me to do?"

Matthew smiled and tossed him a file. Xander opened it up and stared at the contents for a few moments before opening his eyes as widely as they could and lifting his head up to stair a the Leader of the Sect.

"…You want me to what?"

"It's all right there in the file," Matthew said with a grin, "It's a tough assignment but, the money's worth it. You keep ninety-five percent of the profits, along with your four teammates."

"Teammates," Xander asked, "What teammates?"

Matt tossed him another file, one which Xander skimmed through quickly and resisted the urge to whistle.

"There's some pretty impressive names here, Matt. One or two of which I am certain do not work for us."

"When money's involved, even independents are willing to claim allegiance," Matthew said with a smirk, "Aside from that, what you're hunting for are some of the most dangerous things, and people, on Earth and beyond. Be careful, Xander, and for God's sake, don't die."

"Oh, yeah," Xander said with a grin, "No chance of that happening, now, is there?"

Matthew smiled at him and tossed him a map.

"That's a map of Alabama," the Leader of the Sect said, "You'll need it to find one of my recommendations, if you decide to use him. That boy's more elusive than you are on your best day."

Xander nodded. He knew of the Alabama native, and knew that it would be best if he didn't cross paths with him.

"You wanna get some breakfast," Matthew asked him, "You spent a little over an hour in the entrance hall, at least from our point of view, and we've been here, chatting, for an hour now. It should be close to dawn by now, in Sunnydale."

"…Yeah, I'm up for some food."

With that, the two men stood up and left the office, intending on getting some genuine British breakfast...or, whatever meal it was appropriately called, Xander had no idea what time it was there.

The Dove, the Serpent, and the Dagger

"I found him," Willow said with a smile on her face, "He's in…London?"

"What," Buffy asked as she came down to the ground and stared at where Willow was indicating, "How do you know?"

"Cause the spell says so," Willow shook her head, "This can't be right. Why would Xander be in London?"

"Maybe that's where that weird guy is from," Buffy stated, "Well, saddle up, let's get a ticket to London and bail Xander out from this mess."

"We do that every time, Buffy," Willow said, weary from her lack of sleep, "Can't we just let him solve this one on his own?"

For a minute, Buffy was tempted. They had been bailing him out of all these situations for a long time now. Maybe it was time to let him deal on his own. But, then, she might be condemning him to death.

"…We'll give him some time," and me some time to rest, "If he dies, we'll just chalk it up to his stupidity."

Willow nodded. She was completely fine with that, so long as she got some sleep beforehand.

The Dove, the Serpent, and the Dagger

Xander walked through the doors into the hall and sighed. He willed himself a seat and a desk and began to go through all the files. His job wasn't easy but, at least he'd have help. And there was one person on this Earth that he knew would be able to help him better than any of these people, though there were a few he had been dying to meet. Might as well take advantage.

The real problem was getting to where he needed to go in order to even start. They wouldn't be real cooperative with him, and they'd be even less likely to give him what he needed. Well, he had to try…didn't mean he had to like it.

Sighing, the bounty hunter walked back out the doors, thankful that one good thing had come out of this…his check was secure in his pocket, and he was going to cash it in at his bank as soon as he got to Sunnydale. As he exited the doors completely, he found himself outside Ambrosia…just like usual.

"Life rocks," he said to himself.

For the first time that anyone could remember, Xander Harris was walking down the street with a spring in his step.

The Dove, the Serpent, and the Dagger

"What," Willow muttered in disbelief, "He was in London, then he was…nowhere for, like, an hour, and now he's back in Sunnydale?"

"Can this be some kind of trick," Buffy asked, although she really wasn't that confident in her friend's abilities but just didn't want to say anything.

"No," Willow answered, "I would know if someone's interfering with the magic. He's here, he just arrived at his parent's house."

"Then it's about time that we found out what the Hell is going on," Buffy said as she grabbed her stake and walked out the door, with the redhead slugging behind her.

"I'm going to kill Xander for this," she muttered as she desperately tried to keep the yawn that was coming out inside.

The Dove, the Serpent, and the Dagger

Xander smirked at his father as he entered the house.

"Where have you been, boy," Tony Harris snarled at him, "Your rent's due."

"No, it's not," Xander said, his smirk still in place, "I've been paying you to let me live here for the past three years and I increased your pay by a hundred since the end of summer. Guess what, Dad? My contract's up, and I'm moving on."

Tony stared at him in shock. Ever since his long lost son had come back and offered to pay him in exchange for letting him live with him, that had been his main source of income. Now…it was all going away. He felt his anger go up and, in a moment that he would later regret, he threw a wild punch as hard as he could at his son.

The boy, however, simply caught the fist with his hand and began to apply pressure. Tony gasped in pain and slowly came to the ground as his son continued to break every bone in his hand before, finally, Xander let him go. The beer guzzler fell completely to the ground, clutching his severely damaged hand as his son simply stepped over his body and proceeded down the basement.

Xander began to gather his stuff the second he entered the basement. All he really wanted to bring were his guitar (he played every now and then), his box of mint condition comics, some going as far back as the twenties, and his most prized possession…a black pistol, incased in glass. The pistol held no designation or variance, and was famous amongst the underworld as once belonging to Roger Galveston, the Nighthawk, thus explaining why he had insisted on that nickname during their summer sprint without Buffy. Aside from that, everything he owned was in storage so, that was his next stop.

He took a moment to reach underneath his mattress and pulled out two handguns. They were models of the PPK with laser sighting. One was loaded with hollow rounds which would explode, while the other was loaded with armor piercing and magically modified rounds that were capable of blowing a hole the size of wrecking ball into a concrete wall. And, best of all, it had a setting display that let him choose just how much force the bullets would have. He called them 'Blitz' and 'Krieg.'

"Lightning War," he said to himself with a smile.

The Germans may have been racist idiots but, they knew how to fight a war…least till Hitler got his grubby hands into the mess. Sighing, he put on the twin holsters and packed away his guns, knowing that if any cops found these on him, he'd be off to jail so fast, not even the RoadRunner could save him.

He gathered his stuff into his box and walked out the door.

The Dove, the Serpent, and the Dagger

Buffy and Willow walked up the steps to Xander's front door only to find that no one was home.

"We missed him," Willow whined, "That means I missed sleep for nothing."

"Let's check in his room," Buffy recommended, knowing full well that something was still going on and that they had to find out what.

The two students went down to the entrance to the basement and knocked on the door.

"Xander," Buffy screamed, "Xander, open this door right now!"

She waited, stamping her foot impatiently, till she was satisfied that no one would be coming. Allowing her anger to get the better of her, the Slayer launched out and took down the door with a single kick.

"Was that necessary," Willow asked quietly.

"Xander'll just have to get a job to pay for it," Buffy said flippantly, "It's not my fault. I'm just trying to help him."

Willow nodded, seeing that it would be useless to try and tell Buffy that she had just committed a crime.

The Dove, the Serpent, and the Dagger

Across the street, standing at a streetlamp, was a satisfied looking Xander with his hand holding a cellular telephone.

"Hello, police," he said as he continued to stare across the street, "Someone just broke into my house."