Spanderverse: Confusion of Three
Ch. 9 – The Duplicates
The rain fell heavily as morning visited Sunnydale. In the local trash dump, bulldozers pushed debris into large piles. Other bulldozers loaded up large carrier trucks with more trash destined to end up in the 'Pine Acres Reclamation Center' landfill some 40-odd miles away.
Xander awoke to the sounds of heavy machinery in the background and the wet cold of rainwater falling down onto his face. He sat up, coughing harshly in the morning sun. He was freezing and his body hurt everywhere at once. Struggling to his feet, he looked around himself wondering how long he'd been out. He remembered in detail how he'd pushed Buffy out of the way of a blast only to find himself flung through the air. He wondered where the others were, and when exactly, it had turned to daylight.
Xander reached down to his pocket, but discovered the cell phone wasn't there. He began kicking garbage around, trying to find the small square device. His boss was going to throw a fit when he found out Xander had lost the phone. I wonder if there was demon insurance on it…probably not, he decided.
As Xander gave up the search for the cell phone and started his way to the exit, he wondered where the hell everyone else was at. It was disconcerting that they had left him behind which made him think the battle with Toth hadn't gone so well. Approaching the exit, he looked back through the rain, half convinced that he may see the bodies of his friends lying strewn about…broken…bloody. There were no bodies, however, alive or dead and nothing to indicate what had happened to them the night before.
Xander stumbled out of the path of a large truck coming into the dump with a load of garbage, its large tires splashing up water and mud to cover him from head to toe. Great! Okay, first stop is the house to get cleaned up, then I'll call the Magic Box and find out what happened last night. Then, I'll have to go into the site and take my beating for losing the damned phone.
Xander began the walk back to the Harris residence. He was soaked through to his bones, or so it felt. He was also shivering with cold; and grit and mud ran down from his hair into his eyes as he walked. He was caught between outrage and anger at being left behind, and being terrified that something awful happened to the rest of them. It seemed to be the only explanation for why he had found himself half under cardboard, like a homeless person in L.A.
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Commando-Xander had just finished his morning shower in the upstairs bathroom and was padding naked toward his parent's former bedroom. As he passed the phone on a little table in the hallway, he had a sudden pang to call Anya. She'd gotten quite a blow the night before and on top of the way her shoulder was already injured, she'd really been through the mill lately. Xander picked up the phone and dialed Ms. Milner's, asking the old lady for room 4 (she never remembered Anya's name, no matter how many times they'd repeated it). As the old lady padded away, Xander wondered why he hadn't insisted more that Anya move in with him. It seemed just silly and a waste of good money to have to pay on both places. Since Xander had taken over the mortgage payment and had the house to himself, he wished that Anya would be more reasonable.
As he waited for Anya, his mind began a mental inventory of the house. There was no doubt it needed some work done. A new roof, for one. And the water tank was about ten years out of date and extremely inefficient when it came to heating the water. The front porch was sagging in spots, and the back yard really needed to be trimmed and weeded.
"Hey, honey. I was wondering how you were doing. Were you able to get any sleep at all?"
"Good morning, Xander. I'm still stiff and sore. I never should have gone to that stupid place last night. What was I thinking?" Xander could hear a slight slur in her voice, caused by the pain medication.
"Listen, why don't you call Giles and tell him you're just not up to coming in today. I'll stop by on my way to work and drop you off some fresh coffee and those croissants you love so much, okay?"
"Yeah, I think I will. You're really going to bring me the buttery croissants?"
Xander shrugged, though there wasn't anyone to see the gesture, "Well, of course I will, sweetheart. Nothing's too good for my girl."
"Oh, that's really sweet, Xan."
"I'll see you in a bit. Just rest till I get there." Xander hung up the phone feeling a swell of love in his chest. Anya really was a great girl and he was lucky to have her. Xander looked around the hallway, thinking of the old house and its myriad of memories. Most of them weren't real pleasant and he wondered why he had been clinging to it like he had.
Nodding his head in emphatic agreement with himself, he finally made the decision he should have made already. His mother didn't want the house, and he had no memories here that he wanted to cherish. And really, was it so much to give up for a chance at happiness with Anya?
As Xander shrugged into a shirt, he thought, If getting an apartment will make Anya happy, then it'll make me happy. I'll pick up a paper on my way to get her breakfast.
That decided he looked into his mother's full length mirror at himself. He put on some muscle recently and his shirts were starting to get snug. In addition, he really did have awful taste in clothes, he decided. All of my shirts are so damned loud! Maybe I'll ask Anya to pick out some new clothes for me. She'll like that and maybe it'll take her mind off her poor shoulder.
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Zeppo-Xander finally approached his home after a dreary walk. Although the sun peaked through the clouds, the rain was still falling, albeit a lot less heavily than it had. He felt miserable, smelled miserable and was not looking forward to rushing to work. He really wanted to soak for hours in a hot tub of water until he turned into a prune. Xander tripped the curb and landed flat on his face, his palms scraping painfully on the sidewalk and his knee twisting painfully. Damnit! What the hell is wrong with me today, he thought. He'd slipped at least four times on the walk home.
As he walked up the steps, he reached into his soggy jeans for the house keys only to feel a distinct lack of them from his pocket. He began slapping at his shirt and pants in a panic, suddenly realizing he didn't have his wallet either. Somehow, he'd managed to lose everything that he'd been carrying last night and now he was locked out of his own house, with no cash, no I.D. and no cell phone. Xander felt like crying…or maybe just throwing himself on the ground and having a good old fashioned temper tantrum.
He let loose with a combination sigh/groan and stomped down the front steps. He'd have to go to Riley's he decided. He'd see if the giant might be able to loan him his shower and some clothing. They'd be way too big, but maybe with a belt and his jacket he'd be able to hide it until he could get back in his house. He'd have to call his boss and be late, then call the locksmith.
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Hyena-Xander sat under a group of large oak trees, sheltered from the rain that came in fits and starts. The sun was rising higher into the sky and it felt like it may be a nice day out. Around him lay the remains of breakfast: two squirrels and a robin that had had a broken wing and had been flapping around on the ground. Picking up a squirrel's tale he swung it around letting its momentum wrap the wiry fur around his hand, first one way and then the other. He was thinking.
As was nearly always the case, his attentions were focused on the pack. As the night had passed, more and more memories had come to him. Whatever that Toth creature had blasted him with, it seemed to be wearing off slowly. He now remembered that Kyle had left Sunnydale to disappear somewhere into the world, abandoning the pack. Tor had committed suicide over participating in the consumption of Principal Flutie. Although Xander might not have wanted that particular meal (all that fat) it was disappointing that Tor chose the actions he did. Still, he undoubtedly would have proven himself a weak link in the pack, so maybe it was for the best. Poor Heidi, he remembered, had been rumored to have gotten involved in drugs. She'd been sent by her parents to some rehab place and never returned to Sunnydale either and there'd been no word on what exactly had happened to Rhonda. She'd just disappeared about four months after Kyle had left. That must have been why Xander had formed a new pack with the former Slayerettes. That was the only thing that made sense, although, he still didn't know why he'd chosen them, of all the people and things in Sunnydale.
As his thoughts circled in on themselves, they came back to the integrity of the pack. To be strong, they needed him to be a strong leader. In order to be a strong leader, he needed to have a strong mate. Buffy was the perfect choice: strong, a powerful fighter, fast and flexible in combat, and she would have produced powerful children to expand the pack's territory. But Buffy had refused him; with a desk no less. She wouldn't mate with him voluntarily and though at one point he was ready to push the issue, now he saw the obvious drawbacks with that scenario. It would tear the pack apart as members chose sides leaving all of them vulnerable to whatever forces were arrayed against them. So, thoughts of Buffy and he being mated would have to be put aside until such time as she was more receptive.
That left one of the others: Willow was too weak, though his new memories seemed to indicate she was finding some strength at last. Tara was the same, if anything she was even more weak than Willow and with them being paired, there could be tensions should he attempt to claim her himself. Of course, sooner or later, the needs of the pack will require that both women mate with men anyway in order for the pack to expand its ranks, but one crisis at a time. Xander considered Anya, but rejected the thought. Though the two of them may yet produce offspring, since she became human and gave up her strength and resistance to injury, she was no longer suitable as a ruling mate. Giles would be a wonderful choice for his age and esteem as well as his intelligence, if he was wrestling for control with anyone but Buffy.
No, he needed a powerful ally if he was to put Buffy back in her proper place in the pack's hierarchy. He would attempt to usurp her hold on Riley, but for the fact that his will was weak. Xander could sense that he simply didn't have the darkness needed to do whatever was necessary to protect the pack. Though he made a great foot soldier, he'd never be a proper leader. Xander needed someone who had the will that would help him to bind the pack together under him and hold his leadership over them.
His mind drifted to the vampire, Spike. Xander turned the idea in his mind as he weighed the pros and cons. It was unfortunate that he and Spike could not produce children, but since the leader could mate with anyone of less stature in the pack, he could always impregnate the female members later. Spike also had a major drawback in that he was unable to battle in the sunlight, though in Sunnydale, most of the threats to the safe guard of the group came in the night. In addition, the Initiative chip kept him from fighting human threats, but on the practical side, his muscle wasn't really needed for that task. And of course, the Initiative itself was the only real human threat they'd had to face. And now, he had Riley in the family for that situation. His feral smile was accompanied by soft hyena-like laughter. Spike would be a good choice under the circumstances: he was strong, resistant to injury, already had a bond with Xander and the chip would keep him from attempting to usurp control of the pack since he couldn't fight off Buffy's subsequent mutiny. And Buffy would definitely mutiny against any attempt of Spike's to assume control of the pack, which the vampire already knew.
Hyena-Xander stood up under the trees, seeing that the rain had stopped at least temporarily. He stretched, enjoying the feel of his muscles straining the fabric of the clothing he wore. He took a moment to imagine a layout of the town and then loped off toward the crypt he knew would hold Spike during these daylight hours.
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Commando-Xander left the Harris residence, smoothly walking down the rain-slicked pavement without a care in the world. The sunshine felt wonderful, the rain had stopped and the day was going to be incredible. The tension he'd felt for the last several weeks over what to do with the house and the fights with Anya would be gone by the end of the day, if he had anything to do with it. She was going to be so excited.
As Commando-Xander stepped up the pace of his walk, he considered that it was probably time for him to go automobile shopping too. He wasn't exactly rolling in money, but the construction trade was relatively robust in Sunnydale. The current job was only scheduled to last another two weeks, but he believed himself to have shown his value and thought his boss would probably take him on at whichever site he went to next. Xander whistled to himself as he headed toward the bakery for Anya's croissants and looked for a paper box. He'd look at the classifieds and see what was available in apartments, then surprise Anya later.
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As Xander walked away from his own home in embarrassed shame, he heard a door very close by slam shut behind him. He tried to hunch down into his clothes, realizing he must look like a complete bum. The last thing he needed was a concerned neighbor calling the Sunnydale, P.D.
As he glanced behind himself, he suddenly tripped over his own feet. Lying on the sidewalk he watched himself turn away onto the sidewalk leading toward the center of town. Zeppo-Xander's eyes were as wide as saucers and he watched the dark head of hair walking away from him.
Hey! What the hell am I doing over there!
Xander shambled to his feet, deciding that he just found a new priority. He saw his doppelganger take out a cell phone, his cell phone, and place it to his duplicitous ear. His duplicate was too far away to hear what was being said, but Xander had no doubt it was a call of evil. Or, maybe a call to evil. Or from evil. Whatever, the point was it was EVIL. There was no doubt about that.
Xander scanned the streets for a payphone so he could contact Buffy and tell her that Toth, for who else could it be, was wearing his face. Being the residential neighborhood, of course there was none around when he really needed it. Zeppo-Xander hung back but continued to follow the fake-Xander. If he could figure out where his evil counterpart's hide out was (when he wasn't hiding out in Xander's own house) then he could go to Buffy afterward and stop whatever was taking place before it got a chance to get started. Xander was at least relieved to realize that his friends hadn't just abandoned him in the trash dump after all, they'd just assumed that they had left with him.
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Commando-Xander had just started loading sheet-rock onto one of the trucks when his boss called him to take a break and come into the office. Two things were on Xander's mind; either he wasn't going to get the afternoon off and that was going to ruin his plans, or his boss was going to compliment him on the job he'd been doing. Xander figured it would be the latter. He had excelled at everything he'd been shown since he'd started on the crew and he was actually proud of himself; a completely foreign concept to be sure.
As Commando-Xander entered the office, he froze in the doorway. Turning slightly he scanned the field of labor going on around the tiny trailer office. He wasn't sure what had set off his hair, but it was standing on the back of his neck, like he was being watched. And considering his 'night job' and the whole high-school-student-on-the-Hellmouth thing; he'd gotten used to trusting his instincts. Still, as he looked around the area at all the familiar crewman, nothing seemed out of place. And no one was screaming in abject terror, so whatever was bothering him must not be a rampaging demon.
"Xander? Something wrong out there," Joe, his boss asked.
"Nah, I guess not." Xander closed the door behind him and took a seat. As his boss stood in front of him, complimenting him on the work he'd been doing so far, Xander felt around in his pocket and pulled the shiny disk he'd found a week or so ago.
Playing with the disc, he watched the sunlight from the nearby window flash around the room. He didn't know why he liked it so much, but he'd come to think of it as a luck charm of sorts.
"So, anyway," Joe was saying, "the new job is going to be a huge one. The town fathers are trying to diversify the business district a little bit, give it something large for the smaller retailers to build around. I know that the houses we've been doing aren't really much like department stores, but I was wondering if you'd be interested?"
"Yeah. That sounds like an interesting challenge. What would I do? I've just started roofing this week, and it's been informative."
"Well actually," Joe smiled, "I was wondering if you'd be interested in managing a crew."
"You're kidding!" Xander had sat straight up. This was huge! Not only would the pay be first rate, but just what it said about his boss' confidence in him was staggering.
"I think you can handle it. I've seen you out there and you haven't just been doing the heavy lifting and hammering. I've seen you do problem solving, resolving arguments out there, and of course, you haven't been afraid of getting your hands dirty. I think you could be a fine crew chief. In fact, if I were you, I'd be looking into trade school…maybe you could wind up a contractor."
"Joe, I don't know what to say," Xander beamed, "this is just so…so…hey! Thanks, man. I mean it; this is just the best thing you could have told me."
"You earned it. Now, if I'm not mistaken, you're supposed to be off for the day to apartment hunt. Get outta here. You and the little woman got something to celebrate tonight."
"Thanks, Joe. Thanks a lot!"
As Xander left, he was nearly skipping out of the door. He stopped outside of the trailer and let the sun soak into his broad muscular arms. Life was definitely on an upswing.
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Zeppo-Xander hunched outside of his boss' trailer, a gleeful smile on his face. He'd been so pissed when Toth had stopped by Anya's, giving her croissants and a coffee and receiving a kiss. He could have thought of that too, if he hadn't been so worried with smelling like garbage and chasing after the faker with his face. He almost screamed at Anya to get away from the bastard, but he needed to keep calm and stay out of sight until he figured out where Toth was headed.
Imagine his surprise when they'd ended up at the worksite. As Xander watched from behind crates or barrels, he had to give the demon a grudging respect. He'd thought that Toth would just blow off the day to day realities of Xander's life and concentrate on ruining the Scooby gang or killing Buffy or whatever his ultimate plan was. But, hand it to the demon, he was actually living Xander's life. Even going so far as to get up on the last home's roof they were building and tarring. A messy, smelly, and extremely hot job; but there he was, doing it anyway.
When he'd been called into the office, Xander was caught between glee and fear. He didn't want to see Joe hurt, or worse, but it sure did feel good to watch the big phony being the one to get fired. Xander knew he'd end up losing this job, he was surprised in fact that he'd lasted this long.
Xander crawled up on two barrels, hunching down at a small window of the trailer. He peeped the two occupants, watching them talk. He could just hear Joe complimenting his work, surprising the wits out of him. Was Joe actually not firing him?
Wait, what was that? A promotion? The frickin' demon with my face gets a promotion?
Xander stared at the two people, completely confused as to the turn of events. Until he saw the shiny object in his twin's hand. The disk was flattened and metal. It was reflecting sunlight off of it every time that fake-Xander twiddled it between his…no its…fingers.
Hypnosis! It's an evil, hypnosis disc-thingy! He's taking over my life and screwing with the heads of everyone around "me". No wonder the gang has been tricked so easily!
Xander played the scenario in his head: Toth must have made a quick exit while everyone was distracted trying to see if he was okay. While that stupid box covered him from eyesight, the demon must have somehow gotten behind the gang and over that mound of garbage before them. He could have teleported or used super speed or something. Then, not seeing where Xander's body lay, he just shapeshifted into his duplicate, and then allowed the gang to 'rescue' him.
Oh, he's a sneaky one. I gotta find Will, we're going to need a de-masking spell.
Xander leapt down off of the barrels. As he landed, he twisted his ankle causing him to fall forward toward one of the sites' porta-potties. As he fell head first toward the 'john', the door flew open, catching him in the face and knocking him backward. Zeppo-Xander's head hit the barrels hard and he saw stars for several seconds.
As he got up, holding his nose in one hand and the back of his head in the other, he saw his doppelganger walk away from the trailer. He'd removed the long sleeve shirt that he'd stolen from Xander's closet. He noted the powerful bronzed arms and felt an instant of jealousy, looking down at his own pretzel eating, beer drinking, couch-potato sitting physique.
"Aw, c'mon," he whispered, "this is beyond not fair."
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End Ch 9
