Wherever I May Roam

Disclaimer: own nothing, mayhap in another world, but not in this one, say thankya.

Summary: Xander makes a sacrifice, and we all know that on the Hellmouth, no good deed goes unpunished.

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"Giles," Xander said, "What is it? Why are you telling me this?"

Giles sighed and began to clean his glasses, obviously beside himself as he prepared to say whatever it was he had to say.

"…Adam creates his forces through scientific means, Xander," Giles explained, "Think of each of his troops as Frankenstein's monster. But, each of his troops…was also once a human being."

Xander stared at him, his mind already made up, determined that Giles couldn't possibly be going where he thought he was going with this.

"He has four primary lieutenants under his command," Giles continued, "Riley Finn, a former solider with the Initiative. Amy Madison, your former classmate. Alexander Petrovski, a former colonel in the Russian Air Force. And…Buffy."

"…No," Xander said, "You can't be telling the truth."

Giles sighed for a long moment, then rose and left the room for a short while, then he returned with several pictures in his hands. He laid them down before him, and Xander took them up, angered by what he was saying.

As he looked at the pictures, he felt all his body go cold in disbelief and shock. They were pictures of battle, but they had been magnified to focus on one being in particular…he could easily make out who she was from the parts of her face that were still human…the rest of her, however, was covered in camouflage and demonic skin of a sickly gray color.

"…God," Xander whispered.

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"You're here to save the human race," Tara asked, no small amount of doubt in her voice.

"Well, yes ma'am, I am," Flagg said with his same smile, "I've been foretold since the very beginning. 'And He did so love the world that He gave His only begotten son' for blah, blah, blah. The point is…I'm back."

"You're saying…you're Jesus Christ," Tara asked in shock and doubt.

"Not exactly," Flagg said with a sad smile, "There are some who'd call me by that name, others Messiah, some would call me the Green Man, and some would go so far as to call me Vishnu. For all purposes, though, you may call me Flagg."

Amy watched with a cold look. As far as she was concerned, God was a myth told to children so that they would behave and had no place in a world such as this. For this man to come and claim otherwise was just…she was enraged beyond anything she had ever felt before, but even as she thought this, she had no choice but to wonder…what if he was telling the truth? There had never been a nineteen in the history of this world, even Merlin was only a fifteen…was it possible that this Flagg was telling the truth?

Before Tara could continue questioning him, however, an explosion echoed as the base was shaken to its foundation. Power went out for a moment, only to quickly come on as an alarm sounded.

"Code Dante!! Code Dante!! Prepare for ground and air assault!"

Dante was the designated code to let the base know that Adam was releasing his hordes of monsters that he found unsuitable towards his Frankenstein-like works. They were little more than animals, but he often tamed them and released them on the human forces. They were effect as shock troops…and pre-invasive forces.

"Well," Tara said with a stiff look on her face, "I guess we'll find out."

Flagg smiled, then disappeared, reappearing behind the White Witch and holding her in his arms.

"Indeed, we shall," Flagg said to her, then he disappeared again.

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Xander stared up at the ceiling with a grim look. He could feel them…somehow or another, he could feel them now. He could feel…Hell around him.

That feeling scared him to death…but it also filled him with fury. He felt cornered…and he did not like that feeling.

He came to his feet and turned to Giles. The Englishman did not even have to ask what he wanted, he merely nodded and walked over to the door. He signaled for he MPs and instructed them to outfit him with a vest and weapons.

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Amy put on her vest and grabbed an extra AK-47 as she did so. Adam mostly just released Hellhounds and some flying bat-like creatures that Mr. Giles called Ventrals. They were primarily sent out at random intervals to keep the human forces preoccupied…or, in some cases, to soften them up for an oncoming assault from the demonoids.

She felt someone come up behind her and instinctively turned around, coming face-to-face with Flagg as he stared at her with a smile.

"So, you're her," Flagg said with dark eyes, "The Slayer." He sniffed the air around her and gained a frown, "And the Stoner, apparently."

"In times like these, there are more important things than whether or not someone chooses to get high," Amy remarked with a frown.

"Users are unpredictable, unruly, and unreliable," Flagg said with a 'tsk, tsk, tsk' sound in his voice, "There is no place for them in society."

"If that's the Messiah's opinion," Amy responded, spitting the words into his face.

"Little girl, my patience is legendary," Flagg said, his grin thinning, "Don't break it…or you might get broken."

With that, Flagg disappeared once more.

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Dave stared at the Man from Hell with a suspicious gaze. He did not trust him, and he sincerely questioned Mr. Giles's choice in letting him participate in the battle.

"You doubt me," the man said all of a sudden.

"Why shouldn't I," Dave replied.

"You should," Xander said with a small smile, "That's what this is for. Proving myself, or at least trying to."

Dave nodded, understanding that. "I still don't trust you."

"Good," Xander said, "You're smarter than you look."

Dave stared at him, then nodded. Before the war, someone saying 'cow' would drive him into a frenzy as he loved the bovine creatures. The war, though, forced him to shape up in a way that would've made dear-old Dad proud…now, he had a sense of purpose, direction. He had something to fight for.

And, as he picked up his shotgun and loaded in the shells, he knew he would die fighting for it.

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"Where the Hell do you think you're going," Elliot shouted.

Perry continued packing in medicine as he answered her, "Adam likes to use those genetic Hellhounds of his, the ones with poison in their teeth. They're going to need someone with the anti-venom out there."

"But not the Chief of Medicine," Elliot said, ripping the medical equipment out of his hands and putting it aside, "Damn it, Perry, you cannot just continue risking your life like this!! Just because your family is dead doesn't give you a reason to go out there and try to get killed!!!"

"Damn it, Barbie," Perry shouted, "You act like I'm trying to kill myself!!"

"Aren't you," Elliot retorted, "At the very least, you're trying to get soldiers killed! They need you here, Perry, for both morale and because you're the best doctor we have!!"

"Someone has to be out there, Elliot," Perry said, very seriously.

"Yes," she agreed, "Someone does…but not you."

She ripped the bag out of his hands as she did so and placed the rest of he equipment inside, then strapped it around her shoulder and started away.

"BARBIE," Perry shouted as he went after her, "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

"I'm goin' out there," Elliot said, not bothering to turn to him as she walked away, "Get it together, Perry. They need you more than me, more than you need your family back, more than I want J.D., Turk, and Carla back…they need you, Perry! Can't you understand that?!"

Perry could not respond to that, and Elliot did not wait for a response.

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As the sun prepared to set for the oncoming night, soldiers lined up behind barricades, placing their weapons on the walls to steady their aim. Soldiers placed hundreds of weapons, ranging from RPGs to cannons were assembled to repel the creatures. In such times, all resources were used.

Dave and Xander were beside each other, both with their weapons positioned ahead, ready to take out the invaders.

Tara stood at the head of her platoon, each of them magic users. She would allow the soldiers their first wave of assault, while she and hers would take out the aviary monsters as they came in.

Amy stood near one of the platoons stationed at the center of the barricade. She had no real unit that she belonged to, and was allowed to roam the battlefield as she so pleased, having found that it was best to simply leave her to her own devices with some support at hand.

Elliot was positioned with the same platoon that Dave and Xander were in, one of three medics assigned to that platoon.

Flagg was standing upon a hill, watching as the wave of monsters came for the humans. He smiled as he watched the tactics being used by Adam. He would have to steal a few of them for himself. He turned his gaze to the humans. There was power down there…power, but not so much unity.

He was Messiah…Legion…he was the Anti-Christ…he was Walter o'Dim of Mid-World, Marten Broadcloak of Gilead, Randall Flagg of the Road, Walter Padick of Dilane, Emissary of the Crimson King and the Red and Black Thirteen, and kidnapper of Patty Hearst. Whatever he was called did not matter, for as he looked upon both monsters and humans, he was one thing and one thing only.

Death.