Disclaimer: Hellboy is the property of Dark Horse Comics and Mike Mignola. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel are both the property of Mutant Enemy and their affiliates. Lord of War is the property of Lionsgate Films. I own none of the above, and am writing this neither for commercial distribution nor profit. If they so require I will take this down whenever they ask. Original Characters are my property and may be used only with permission. Seriously folks, all you have to do is ask. I'm writing Fanfiction for crying out loud.
13. Fredless
"And that's the last freaking time I ever go to North Dakota!" Buffy exclaimed as she walked through the front door of Slade Summers and Associates. The bag she had slung easily over her back she let fall to the tiled floor. Behind the front desk Tara perked up and smiled at Buffy.
"Buffy," Tara said. "You're back!"
"Yes ma'am," Buffy said. "Back and better than ever. Oh thank God! Real coffee again! Mochas; how I've missed you!"
Behind her Liz Sherman walked in, giving Buffy an amused look. "I think we broke her."
"Liz," Tara said in a more subdued voice. "What are you doing here?"
"This is my new station, apparently," Liz said with a shrug. "Manning put me and my usual strike team in Sunnydale. Turns out this happens to be a good spot to cover the western side of the Continental Divide. Plus, we get enough monsters wandering into town that it'll keep all of us busy. So here I am. You'll be seeing a lot more of me in the future."
Tara picked up a phone and muttered into it while Liz turned to Buffy with a smile. "Well this is where I guess we get going. I'll be seeing you around."
"Stay for coffee," interjected a deep woman's voice. "After all, you could probably always use some."
"Dawn," Liz said, tilting her head to the side in acknowledgment. Dawn stood in the doorway, flanked by a guy with white hair that she thought was familiar, and Fred the scientist.
"Liz," Dawn replied. She walked up and snagged Buffy into a hug. "Mind if I borrow her for a sec? There's a few things I want to talk about."
"Just return her unbroken," Liz said with a grin. "The Government has needs."
"I'm sure," Dawn said tugging on Buffy's arm. However the very level gaze and extremely evil smirk that Buffy couldn't see caused Liz to turn slightly red.
"Why don't you sit down?" the white haired guy offered, as he brought over a coffee mug and sat it down on one of the foyer coffee tables. Liz sauntered over and kicked her feet up. The white haired guy extended a hand, which she took. "Jonathan Levinson."
"Liz Sherman," she replied. She gave him a careful look. "You used to have black hair didn't you?"
"Yup," Jonathan said. "Had a life changing experience you could say. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the coffee."
Liz knew an evasion when she heard one, but shrugged it off and took a sip. To her utter delight it really was good. She took a fuller drink and shot Jonathan a sunny smile and a thumb's up.
"So, everything was okay?" Fred asked, joining them in the circle of sinfully comfy chairs.
"Pretty much," Liz said. "I was the only one Buffy really wanted to talk to the entire trip. We compared miserable lives. Last I checked I was ahead ten to eight."
"I don't even want to know what you were measuring," Jonathan said. He leaned back in his chair. "So Director Manning has you assigned here for the immediate future?"
"There's enough weird here to keep an entire bureau branch pretty busy 24/7," Liz said. "They're actually moving the L.A. Branch out here now. I'll be the 'special talents' liaison there. I gotta say, has a lot of perks over the completely abandoned slopes of Colorado."
The door opened again and the Jackals walked in looking slightly bedraggled but otherwise none the worse for wear. They were followed by a tall and handsome man with black hair and pale skin. Someone she'd never met before. However Fred made a squeaking sound and jumped to her feet.
"Angel!" she said. Liz blinked. Angel... this was that Angel? Fred ran over to him and wrapped him up in a big which he returned. Separating she held him away from herself. "How are you doing?"
"Not so great, actually," Angel said. He looked like a tired man. "We had a very unexpected visitor. And it's gotten... complicated now."
"Oh!" Fred said, leaning back. "Well come on and sit down for a minute. At least have some coffee before you go, would you? I know it's a long drive."
"All right," Angel acquiesced. From Fred's concerned expression she was expecting a heck of a lot more fight out of him. Instead he just collapsed into the seat next to Liz and looked over at her. Both Fred and Jonathan left, on a search for more coffee cups. After sitting staring at the tabletop in front of him, the man turned to Liz and inclined his head respectfully. "I don't believe we were introduced. My name is Angel."
"Liz," she said. She was trying hard to keep her dislike out of her voice, but the strained expression on Angel's face told her that she wasn't succeeding.
"So, do I know you?" he asked with eyes narrowed in concentration. "Because you seem to be putting off a lot of hate and I'm pretty sure I never did anything to you."
"No, I guess you don't know me," Liz said. She gave him a cold smile. "But I know you. I'm a good friend of Buffy's actually. Been working with her for the past three weeks."
"Oh," Angel said. He hesitated for a moment. "You know about us don't you?"
"Yup," Liz said. She leaned forward. "Try not to screw with her head here, okay? I know you try to be a good guy and do the right thing. I appreciate that, I really do. But I can blow things up by looking at them hard. Including shitty vampire ex-boyfriends."
Liz called up a reddish orange flame to cover her arm and she smirked as Angel flinched away. Tara was watching them very carefully, but only Liz could see the very satisfied expression that Tara was shooting her. The door opened and Liz instantly banished the flame. Fred came out, looking over her shoulder with a worried expression.
She came over to the coffee table and put down a tray that had a cup of very black looking coffee and sidled over a bit. Jonathan followed at that point, almost scurrying and looking over his shoulder. He looked over at Angel with a panicked expression.
"How the heck did you do it?" he asked. Angel blinked.
"What?"
"How the heck did you date a Summers woman?" Jonathan asked. "They're freaking scary. And they're still arguing now!"
"... We're not even dating," Dawn's voice preceded her. She stalked into the room, her long hair flying behind her. "We're just going to get some coffee tomorrow afternoon. What the hell?"
Dawn stopped and looked at Angel. Dawn had an expression of growing horror, and her voice was just a whisper. "Oh fuck."
"He's too old for you," Buffy called after her in a commandeering voice. "I mean it's just that I don't want any..."
Buffy never really did finish her thought. She just stopped and looked at Angel. There was a long and extremely awkward looking pause.
"So," Angel managed after nearly a minute of silence. "You're back."
"Yeah," Buffy said.
"I'm glad," Angel said. Buffy nodded.
"Thanks."
The silence stretched out until Fred gave a bright and extremely nervous looking smile. "Right then. Well, Angel and I have some things to talk about. Come on this way; tell me how y'all are getting along without little ol' me."
She grabbed Angel and dragged him into the back; towards the labs if Liz's guess was right. Dawn and Jonathan shared a look and as one turned to her with a pleading expression. Liz looked at Buffy, who hadn't shifted her gaze from where Angel had been sitting. Slowly, she got up and walked over to Buffy.
"Hey," Liz said. She reached out very carefully and pulled Buffy into a hug. She was expecting Buffy to just stand there; so she was surprised by the strength of Buffy's hug. It was like a vice grip.
"Nothing," Buffy whispered into Liz's shoulder. "There was... nothing."
"Nothing?" Liz asked. She leaned back to tilt Buffy's head up so their eyes met. "What do you mean nothing?"
"There used to be... sparks," Buffy laughed a little manic laugh. "Something between us; a connection that didn't need words, you know? Like we were just... together somehow. But now there's just... nothing."
Liz curled Buffy into her arms and the two of them just stood there for a long time. Dawn and Jonathan had disappeared sometime in the last few minutes. Finally Buffy gave another of those scary laughs.
"I'm sorry," Buffy said in hopeless voice. "I just wasn't expecting..."
"It's fine," Liz said, wondering to herself when she'd become the stable one. "Now come on, grab your coat and we'll go get one of those mochas you were complaining about for the last week."
Buffy left under her own power and Liz stared after her for a moment. She hoped that this wasn't going to last too long. 'Catatonic Buffy' scared Liz more than she really wanted to admit. She was pulled from her reverie by a quiet voice.
"T-that was really kind of you," Tara said. She had a sad little smile. "I think that Buffy doesn't really have anyone to talk to about these kinds of things. Or anyone who'll just hug her like that. Also that sticking up for her thing was really cute."
"Just doing what I felt like I should," Liz said. Tara shook her head.
"Defending your girl huh?" Tara asked, her smile becoming lopsided and her eyes knowing. Liz completely missed it.
"Pretty much," Liz said. "She needs more right now than lousy ex boyfriends showing up to confuse her."
"Been there," Tara said, and this time Liz looked at her with wide eyed surprise. Tara continued on, looking down at her keyboard to hide her smirk. "I know what it's like sticking up for your lady. Happens to all of us sometimes."
"That's not what I..." Liz began. She trailed off as she tried to formulated the words that she wanted.
"I think it is," Tara said. She looked up and this time the blonde's expression was grave. "But you think whatever you want. Just take care of her tonight, okay?"
"Alright," Liz said. She looked down at her hands, and her face was set in deep thought.
0oooo0oooo0
Winnifred Burkle had regained a semblance of sanity in the three months that she had been with Aurora. However no one was more aware of how superficial these strides towards normalcy were than Fred herself. She could feel herself slipping, feel the walls closing in on her. Every once in a while she would wonder when she dreamed of her cave whether this place was real or whether she was just so far gone that the dreams she had seemed so much more real than the cave.
But this one; this was almost too surreal to be anything other than real. If that made any damn sense.
Buffy stood in the lobby, walking out with Liz towards god knows where. Fred hoped that Liz could calm Buffy down a little. She looked like she was a few seconds away from a complete shutdown. She'd just escorted Angel out the back after he'd conferred with Aurora about something.
After Buffy and Liz left, Aurora and Jonathan seemed to materialize out of somewhere with slightly concerned expressions. The two of them looked at Fred who shrugged a little.
"I don't have anything quite like that..." Fred said. She stopped when a scruffy looking man walked in the front door.
"Delivery for Burkle?" he asked. Fred blinked and suddenly her expression brightened. She nodded.
"Just bring it right around back," Fred said. It turned out that was wise. The stack of extremely nondescript wooden crates were piled up several feet high. With Xander and the Jackal's help it didn't take nearly as long as Dawn had thought that it would. But whatever was in them was really heavy. Even the Jackals had to use pallet jacks to move the things around.
The only odd thing was that the driver requested no form of return receipt and was quite eager to get the heck out of there. Dawn gave the driver a strange look as he pulled away, while Fred took out her crowbar and began to attack the crate with a single minded ferocity.
After standing and watching for a moment, Dawn walked over and green light flared over her arm. The crowbar bit deep into the nailed lid of the crate and the top popped open. Fred beamed. Xander's jaw dropped in a way that Dawn had only seen once- when she'd saved him from a rampaging demon biker. He looked up at Fred, all his confusion focused into a single word.
"How?"
Fred blinked, and the Jackals crowded around and looked at the disassembled pieces of metal that Dawn couldn't really make heads or tails of. As one they looked up at her with shock on their features.
"What?" Dawn asked, looking from shocked face to shocked face. "What's the big deal?"
"This..." Xander trailed off. He cleared his throat loudly. "Er... Dawn, let me introduce you to an old personal friend of the United States Military, the single longest serving weapon if my memories are right. The Browning Ma Deuce."
The disassembled thing was big, Dawn thought. Very big. "What is this thing?"
"Something you use to blow up cars and cut people in half," Xander said. Tor nodded.
"Yeah," he said. "Never used one myself, but I saw a guy in Afghanistan get clipped by one. It was... ugly."
"So; that's a good thing, right?" Dawn asked. Jonathan walked up to her shoulder and peered into the crate.
"Well, yes in the demon-killing sense of the word," Xander hedged. He shot a sideways look at Fred, and Dawn caught the combination of disbelief and fear in his eyes. "But not so much in the 'breaking the law and getting us all thrown in a really dark hole for a thousand years' kind of thing. Maybe not so much trouble for you Dawn-patrol, but for the rest of us it's kind of an issue."
"Just how illegal is this thing?" Dawn prompted carefully.
"About as illegal as you can get without driving an Abrams down main street," Xander winced. Dawn blinked.
"A battle tank," Jonathan offered helpfully. Dawn shot him a scathing glare, and he made a squeaking sound and backed off. Dawn turned back to Fred, looking like she was thinking very hard.
"Fred," she asked in a slow and placating voice. "How did you get the nice anti vehicle gun thingy?"
"Well," Fred stated, looking around in a nervous and jerky fashion. "I have this uncle who was in the export business, I guess you could say. Momma's sister was really pretty, and uncle Yuri married her. Of course, when he got thrown in jail for arms dealing she kind of left him, but he always had a sweet spot for me. Said I was the smartest of the bunch and that I'd be someone some day. I might have maybe mentioned that we might need something pretty heavy. He told me he'd send what he could- something about a Nicaraguan deal gone bad. Anyway, so here we are!"
Fred finished brightly, but Xander's face was clouded.
"Yuri, the buddy of Andre fucking Baptiste 'Lord of War' Orlov is your uncle?" Xander's voice was nearly a high pitched squeak.
"Oh!" Anya said, snapping her fingers. "Now I remember! Yeah, he's a total monster. Had a backlog on him. Halfrek was going to be on that one. He's really your uncle?"
"Er, yes?" Fred offered hopefully.
"Is that bad?" Jonathan asked.
"Bad?" Xander exclaimed. "Bad? No, bad is buying rusted AK-47s from disreputable survivalists. This is fucking catastrophic! If these ever get used we won't ever see the light of day again..."
"You told me to take care of it," Fred stated. Her voice and body were shaking, but her eyes were bright. "And; and I did it! I was trying to help you!"
"Well, I think we could use a little less 'help' like this," Xander ran his hand through his hair. "What's in the rest of it?"
"M-14s, ammunition, some maintenance equipment, loaders," Fred rattled off. "Two more M-2's and mounting gear. I was going to convert that one into..."
"Not now Fred," Dawn said in a cold voice. Fred blinked.
"But you said..." Fred began, and Dawn made a slicing gesture with her hand.
"I expected you to use a sliver of common sense Fred," Dawn's voice became like icy steel. "Not... this. God. Xander, Tor, Heidi, Kyle, Rhonda, get this stuff to the basement. We'll figure out what to do with it."
"Yes boss," Tor said, flipping her a small salute. Dawn nodded and whirled around to face Fred. Her face was flat and pale.
"I'm not going to ask what you were thinking when you did this," Dawn said. "But I am not happy with you right now."
Dawn walked out of the room without looking back. Jonathan walked over to Fred, who stood dumbstruck, placing a tentative hand on her shoulder.
"I did what they asked me to do..." Fred said again in a tiny voice. "Why are they so mad?"
"You surprised them Doc Burkle," Jonathan said. "And you didn't even tell them why you got the heavier stuff. I mean, the concept is..."
"They don't want to hear it," Fred shook her head. "They don't understand anything I do! They don't care if I just disappeared."
"But I care," Jonathan said. He squeezed her shoulder. "You're the smartest woman I know. You're my boss, and... and my friend."
"Never matters though, does it?" Fred mumbled. She pulled away from him. "I'm going to finish the last workup on the Mark I. Don't be bothering me unless you have to."
0oooo0oooo0
There was a scrabbling sound down the dark alleyway. A desperate looking vampire was running from something in the alleyway. He almost made it out the shadow completely when something long and black punched through his chest from behind. With a pitiful scream the vampire was dragged back into shadow.
The scream cut off abruptly with wet crunching noises, then the telltale release of energy that accompanied a vampire dusting. Silence descended upon the shattered warehouse where one of the world-shattering Seraphim had been pulled through into this reality.
Slowly a huge clawed foot left the shadow, connecting to an equally huge exo-skeleton covered leg. With a hiss that sounded like a boiler casing exploding, the creature returned to its nest. For tonight at least.
0oooo0oooo0
Faith never wondered if there was a God. She had no crises of faith. She knew there was a God; and she knew that God hated her. That was really the only explanation for her life. She'd had a lot of time in prison to think on the matter, and to some degree she'd genuinely made her peace with that.
At times though that peace was tenuous at best. Such as when a ten foot tall red skinned demon who made her Slayer sense scream like a tortured opera singer on LSD stopped by to chat every night after lights out; and not a damn soul noticed. For all that he was as down to earth a guy as she'd ever met. No pretention, no 'I am the doom of the world' or any BS like that. He was smart, but he talked like she did; straightforward and to the point.
"So, you're telling me you can just spring me from this joint anytime you want?" she asked. The huge demon leaning against her cell block wall nodded.
"Yup," he said. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a pack of Marlboro Reds. "Cigarette?"
"Thanks," Faith took one with a grateful smirk. Hellboy's lighter flared in the darkness and both of them puffed on their respective tobacco. In Hellboy's huge hands, the cigar looked like a slender débutante's cigarette. "Perks of working for the Feds, huh?"
"About the only one," Hellboy muttered around his cigar. "But yeah. One phone call and Manning would probably just spring you. No fuss, no muss. He's too damn scared of me to do anything else. That cell; it ain't rated for someone like you."
It was a statement of fact, not a question. She'd found her nightly visitor asked very few questions by and large. He still managed to find out all kinds of things he shouldn't know though.
"Well I could just break out of here," Faith stated.
"Then why you still here serving time?" Hellboy asked. Those glowing yellow eyes really did a number on you if you looked into them too long, Faith realized. Must be that 'no pupil' thing.
"'Cause it's the right thing to do," Faith said. She took a deep drag from her cigarette and leaned against the wall. Her eyes were unfocused, staring into space as she remembered everything leading up to her confession. "And I ain't never done the right thing until this. Didn't really think I could."
Hellboy nodded. He looked thoughtful. "You know, I have a complicated past."
"No shit," Faith laughed. "A freakin' demon that works for the Feds?"
"You have no idea," Hellboy said. There were few things that Faith could say honestly scared her. But the tone in Hellboy's voice was one; it sent shivers down her spine- there was an absolute certainty in his voice that made her wonder not for the first time just what exactly he was. "But you're side tracking me. What I was gonna say was this; you got this redemption kick going, right? Just like I decided to leave the Bureau, find some answers about myself. Thing is, you gotta ask yourself a question. Where are you doing the most good?"
"Huh?" Faith asked. Hellboy stood up straight, away from the wall.
"See me," Hellboy said, blowing a picture perfect smoke ring. "I knew that working for the Bureau was just me puttin' off things I needed to do and things I needed to find. It was a way for me to do good. But it wasn't what I needed. Way I see you here? You think you're in here 'cause you need to be. 'Cause it's what you deserve. And maybe that's true; but you aren't a normal girl. You're the Slayer. Best way you can serve your penance? You go out there and hit those things that need hitting."
Faith watched her cigarette smolder in the dark for a long time. Finally she laughed a little and looked over at her demon interlocutor. "Yeah, that's fine, if you trust yourself. I dunno, but I figure if I get out there, am I gonna just do the same things that left me in here?"
"If you're still wondering that," Hellboy countered. "Then you really won't."
"I don't deserve to be out there," Faith almost yelled at him. "I'm a fucking murderer!"
"And?" Hellboy asked with a single raised eyebrow. "Worse than you have turned their lives around. Every minute you're in here, there're people out there that need help."
Faith was silent, and Hellboy turned to walk away.
"Just you think on what I offered you Faith," he said. "You stay in there, you rot. You get out? You might just get that redemption you were looking for. Your choice."
"Hey," Faith said at his retreating back. Hellboy stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Thanks for the cig."
"Anytime," Hellboy said. "Anytime."
The Faith was left alone, with only her thoughts and a demon's words on redemption to keep her company. Yup, she thought. God hated her.
0oooo0oooo0
"So..." Jonathan said. He sat across from Dawn at the Espresso Pump, holding his decaf non-fat mocha in one hand and a bran muffin in another. Thursday had finally come. Jonathan couldn't tell whether it was a crawl or a race. The pace of time had seemed to vary from moment to moment. But here he was. On his very first real date. Talking about another woman; the irony. "You still mad at the Doc?"
"Who?" Dawn said, looking irritable. She shook her head and frowned. "You mean Fred?"
"Of course I mean Fred," Jonathan stated. He allowed some of his concern to show through. "Who the heck else would I mean? She was really torn up about last night."
"She should be!" Dawn nearly shouted. Seeing that she was drawing looks from the rest of the crowd, she quieted down. "Look... you saw the... stuff she brought in. She has to be crazy!"
Jonathan looked at Dawn with a speculative expression. "Aurora, Fred is crazy."
"What?" Dawn asked, thrown by Jonathan's words. Jonathan shook his head.
"Look, she's been through a lot," he said, spreading his hands. "And I don't think she ever really got over a lot of it. She's been focusing on helping you so much, she hasn't been working through it. I think she's in a lot of pain, and you getting angry with her... it crushed her a bit."
Dawn bit her lip, and shook her head. She thought of the Fred she'd met at the Hyperion, so different from her Fred. Dawn wondered if those changes weren't as certain as she had hoped. She still remembered Fred's walls from her room in L.A.. "Maybe... Maybe you're right. I'll apologize for yelling at her when I get back. But, leave it for now."
"Thanks Aurora!" Jonathan beamed. "You're the best."
"I know," Dawn said with a smile. "And humble too. But I don't want to just talk about Fred."
"Me either," Jonathan said. Dawn grinned and leaned back in her chair.
"So tell me a little about Mr. Levinson," she said in a teasing voice. "Since our little... intimate encounter showed you a lot about me."
"Er, right!" Jonathan said, looking nervous. "Well, I used to go to school here and I was in your sister's year. Of course I was just a magic and math nerd back then. Okay, I wasn't even really a magic nerd until Ms. Calendar showed me my first copy of the Greater Key of Solomon."
"That old thing?" Dawn asked with a raised eyebrow. Jonathan had a slightly superior smirk.
"Worked on you, didn't it?" He asked. Dawn pouted playfully, but shifted in her chair and made a 'go on' gesture. Jonathan shrugged. "Well, I guess she showed it to me because she saw how steady my hand was. It's so precise that it requires a lot of geometric work that most people just couldn't do. It was pretty cool. I got more involved in it as time went on. It was the only thing in my life that didn't suck for a long time."
"Did you have any lady friends back in high school?" Dawn asked. Jonathan looked at her for a second in disbelief before realizing she was serious. He laughed.
"God, the only guy with a worse High School track record than me was Xander Harris," he shook his head. "Well, I almost had my soul sucked out by a mummy, was tossed aside by Cordelia Chase like rubbish almost two times. God I hate Harmony. So, no not really. Why?"
"Because you really aren't a bad man," Dawn said, her eyes staring deep into his own. Even in the afternoon sunlight, her eyes seemed to sparkle. "There's a spark of something in you; something that I touched."
"High praise from a Seraph," Jonathan said, feeling equally fay in the moment. He cocked his head to the side in an inquisitive look. "You... you don't really feel some things like most people do you?"
"Huh?" Dawn said, mildly confused by the subject change. Jonathan shrugged.
"It's just... well I think we know each other pretty well in some ways," Jonathan continued. He took a sip from his drink and set it back on the counter. "In all the ways that matter the most, huh? You can feel things, can't you? Things that other's just can't feel?"
"Hah," Dawn scoffed after a second. "I used to be able to feel things. Now? Now a freaking elephant could sneak up on me. Living here always mucked with me a little I think, but after whatever it was that Warren did to me, I really haven't been any good at it."
"Hm, makes sense," Jonathan said. Dawn blinked.
"Really?" she asked. "Why?"
"Those sigils," Jonathan began thoughtfully. "They're designed to disrupt the thing that anchors you in this reality. Basically they caused your anchors to flicker. That weakens your connection to the world, lessens your ability to use your powers here. The, er, 'location' is also bad because it's so easy for things to slip away. Just by living here it's probably weakening your connection to this world. The thing is I'm pretty sure that there would be a way to reverse what Warren and the Hellmouth did to you."
"You could do that?" Dawn asked. Jonathan shrugged.
"Sure," he said. "It'd take some research and I'd need your cooperation, but we could definitely do it."
Dawn gave him a brilliant smile and leaned over the table to give him a very soft peck on the cheek. "Thanks. You're the best."
Jonathan was in too much shock to think all that clearly. He absently rubbed his cheek and said the only thing that came to mind. "You're welcome."
"Maybe we should do this coffee thing again," Dawn said, shooting him a smile that was three parts flirting teenager and one part immortal god-being. The combination made Jonathan's chest feel too small and his face feel too warm.
"What about... well, your sister," Jonathan managed. "She was talking about the age thing; and I am five years older than you."
"Five years older than I appear to be," Dawn smirked. "And Buffy has like no moral authority on that one. Her boyfriend when she was sixteen was like three hundred."
0oooo0oooo0
Fred slammed the gate of the twelve foot tall container shut and let out a sigh. She'd been working non stop. She figured it was probably Thursday afternoon. She remember vaguely eating something around midnight, and she was beginning to become hungry again.
But it was done. The final servomotors were working and even the aim calibration on her new addition was more or less on target. The Mark I was ready for an honest to God test. Just in time for her to be kicked out of the company probably.
Fred gave a bitter laugh and walked through the empty lab towards the entry way. Familiar voices caused her to halt and hide, looking through the crack in the doorway. No. It couldn't be. Anything. Anything in the world but them. She turned and ran.
"Good afternoon," a graying gentleman said. "Is this Summers, Slade, and Associates?"
"It is," Tara said in a bright voice. "What brings you in today?"
"It's about our daughter," the man said. "She's lost you see."
"O-o-oh," Tara stuttered a little. She smiled. "I know just the Senior Partner who specializes in that. She's a little young, but she's very good at her job."
She pressed a button on her phone. "Dawn? We have some clients downstairs. Missing persons. Yes. Alright, I'll do that. If you two would come with me, I'll escort you to Ms. Summers office."
Dawn looked up from her desk when the two entered with Tara. She narrowed her eyes. There was something about these two that looked familiar. She smiled at them and stood up.
"Dawn Summers," she said in a cheery voice. "Please have a seat. You are?"
"Roger, and this is my wife Trish," Roger said. Dawn extended her hand and both of them shook. When they were all seated again, Dawn gestured to Tara.
"Take notes for us, would you?" Dawn asked. Tara nodded and took out her pen with an intent expression. "So, Roger and Trish, what brings you here today?"
"It's our daughter," Roger said. He looked over at his wife. "She's missing."
"Oh," Dawn said. "Was you daughter kidnapped by evil fiends?'
"We're not entirely sure, honestly," Trish said, giving Dawn a speculative look.
"Hmm... now this may sound odd, but was she involved in a cult or... or 'alternate religion' of some kind?" Dawn hazarded.
"No!" Trish said.
"Hmm," Dawn stated thoughtfully. "Well in this town it could be anything. I may look young, but I'm a good detective. I can find her."
"We already hired a detective," Roger said warily. Dawn blinked.
"And he couldn't find her?" Dawn asked.
"Actually he said she was staying here," Roger responded. Dawn felt the bottom of her stomach start to drop.
"Her name is Winnifred," Trish offered. "We call her Fred."
"F-f-fred is your daughter?" Tara said with wide eyes.
"Yes, is she here?" Roger asked.
"Is she alright?" Trish added.
"She's here," Dawn said. "And she's just fine. Hold on one sec."
She picked up the phone and hit the lab's extension.
"Dominoes Pizza, may I take your order?" Andrew asked. Dawn rolled her eyes.
"Where's your boss?" Dawn asked. "I need to talk to her."
"She just left actually, in a real hurry," Andrew said. He sounded kind of thoughtful. "I dunno. She took off her lab coat and just threw it on her desk. Said something about needing to get away. I can understand; she's been working all night..."
"Thank you Andrew," Dawn interrupted. She hung up the phone. "Well, um, it looks like Fred just stepped out for a minute. Would you like to... er see where she works?"
"Thank you, but I'd rather find my daughter," Trish said. Dawn held her head in her hands.
"All right," Dawn said. "But let me make a few phone calls. How did you find us anyhow?"
"Fred wrote us a letter about a month ago," Roger said. "No return address, just told us she was okay and that we shouldn't come looking for her. How is she? Where has she been all these years?"
"Um," Dawn answered intelligently. "Well, I only met her recently but she was at, um, loose ends so to speak and I hired her. She's a brilliant woman, has a lot of talent. How about this, why don't you just go with Tara and check out the lab while I make some phone calls okay? I'm sure we'll find her in no time. Who knows, maybe she'll come right back?"
0oooo0oooo0
Fred slammed her shot glass down and looked at Willy in a bleary haze. The Dragon's Wing was only moderately crowded, but the dim lighting and pounding music were doing little to help Fred's rebellious inner ear. She swayed to the heavy beat of the DJ's music, her head swinging limply from side to side.
"I think you've had enough," Willy stated. Fred looked at him with a grim seriousness that dissolved into a fit of giggles after about five seconds.
"Why does it even matter?" she slurred. Willy, used to far more eccentric behavior from far worse customers just shook his head. "They're here. Why are they here? The can't be here."
"Who's they?" Willy asked cautiously. Fred became instantly serious again.
"The worst possible thing," Fred stated with a steely resolve. Drunken steely resolve, but that was much better than most people with the alcohol tolerance of a gnat half of their way through a bottle of vodka could manage.
"Uh... Angelus is back in town?" Willy offered with an expression that stated just how hopeful he was that his guess was completely wrong.
"No," Fred stated. "Worse than... whoever that is. No; this is... parents."
Willy let loose a sigh of relief he hadn't even known he'd been keeping. With the kinds of people that the 'Senior Partners' of Summers, Slade, and Associates pissed off on a regular basis, it always paid to check. He might not own this place anymore, but he'd be damned if he let himself get blindsided this late in his life. He'd been playing the game too long for that.
"Fred?" a voice asked. Blearily Fred looked into the concerned green eyes of Dawn. The younger Summers and Jonathan were standing just a few feet away. Willy gave the two newcomers an extremely grateful wave and wandered off to tend the bar elsewhere. He didn't want to stick around for this. Fred took a few seconds to muster a frown that looked much more like a pout before she turned away.
"D'wanna talk t' you," Fred stated. Dawn put her hands on her hips, but after thinking for a moment, she pulled up a stool next to Fred and sighed.
"I'm sorry Fred," Dawn said. She looked genuinely contrite. "I... I haven't be a good boss, and I haven't been a good friend to you lately."
"S'okay," Fred mumbled. "You were busy bein'-er, walloped by that thingy and having Jonathan an' Willow save you from it. Er' somthin?"
"Or something," Dawn admitted.
"Is just that it's not fair," Fred stated, gently banging her head against the concrete bar top. "I work so hard on these things and you guys don't even notice 'em. Like the Alpha project. That's a good 'un. Ain't that right Andrew?"
"It's Jonathan," the boy responded, running a hand through his white hair in frustration. He and Dawn shared a look, and finally he spoke up again. "Look Doc; Fred, is this about your parents?"
"Can't," Fred whispered. "J's can't."
"They're here, Fred, they're here for you and they aren't going to leave until they see you. Right now they're back at the base with the Jackals and Andrew. Can you think of the mayhem that'll cause?"
"Y' don't understand!" Fred yelled. To his own surprise Jonathan stood straight up and yelled right back.
"Then make me!"
The heavy beat of the music was the only thing that they could hear. Finally Fred began to quiver before launching herself at Jonathan and wrapping him in a fierce hug. Her tears were hot on his chest, but he wrapped his arms around her.
"Hush," he said, smoothing her hair back. Dawn gave him a small triumphant smile which he only barely noticed. But he had bigger things to worry about. He waited for the crying to subside a little bit before relaxing his hug. "Now come on Fred; tell me. Help me understand this."
"Is like... like a bad movie," Fred said, leaning heavily against Jonathan. "Like on' of those horror movies, right? You keep watching it, but you're lookin' around, waiting for the bad guy to come out of the shadows. You don't know what's real and what's not. You know? Then you run into something that makes you know what's real and what's not. They're... they're real. And I don't know what real is anymore. I don' know and I don' wanna know! But they're here; and they won't let me run anymore."
"Then you're just going to have to face it," Dawn said from behind her. "Because they aren't going away. Because this... all this, is real Fred. You know it is. Remember?"
Fred nodded into Jonathan's chest and shivered a little. Dawn smiled.
"Then come with us," Dawn said soothingly. She reached over and ran a hand up and down Fred's back and Fred pressed back into her hand just a little.
"I don' wanna," Fred stated. Dawn walked around so that she was in Fred's line of vision again. Gently she reached up and tucked some of Fred's loose hair behind her ear.
"I didn't either, but I had to. Or else you'll never move on, never be free. You're tired of running right? Then stand."
Gently Jonathan and Dawn managed to coax a much less resistant Fred out of the Dragon Wing Tavern and down the street towards the Summers, Slade, and Associates building. It was a shame that they weren't able to hear better. Otherwise they might have noticed the ten foot tall monstrosity that was sneaking along just a few blocks behind them.
0oooo0oooo0
"So," Roger said. "You're?"
"We're the Jackals," Rhonda said, scuffing her short black hair and giving Roger a feral smile. The other three were lounging around the lab looking very bored. Andrew was giving a slightly fascinated but increasingly confused Trish a walk around the laboratory and fabrication facility. That left Roger to deal with the 'charm squad'. Roger figured he probably got off easy on this one as he watched his wife become more and more bewildered.
"And what do you... do for this company exactly?" Roger prompted.
"We're outside relations," Tor said with a lazy grin of his own. Roger saw the prominently displayed heavy caliber side arms that all four were wearing rather conspicuously and his look became more speculative.
"Mercenaries?" he hazarded. Rhonda shrugged.
"We prefer the term military contractors," she said. "Why? You got a problem?"
"Ease off!" Xander snapped. The four of them immediately stiffened and backed away. Roger turned to Xander with a nod.
"You're their commanding officer?" Roger asked. Xander gave a nod and a rueful shrug.
"As much as anyone is," Xander said, and his irritation carried clearly through. He extended a hand to Roger and gave him the best smile he could muster. "Xander Harris. Pleasure to meet you; hear you guys are Fred's parents?"
"Yup," Roger said.
"Well," Xander said. "Don't worry about her. Dawn's one of the best people at... finding things I guess I've ever met. And speak of the devil..."
Xander gestured behind him and Roger Burkle turned to see his daughter being propped up by the white haired boy they'd met earlier and Dawn. He took one halting step forward and then another.
"Fred?" he asked quietly. "Is that you?"
She looked up at him, her lower lip trembling. "Daddy? I'm sorry..."
Then there was a rush and tangle of limbs. Somehow he and his wife had wrapped their daughter up in a group hug. The white haired boy, Jonathan, had extracted himself from the group and was watching with a sort of wistful looking smile.
"I'm so sorry," Fred said again. Her mother made soothing sounds.
"Don't you worry," her mother said. "We'll take you home. You'll see."
"But..." Fred began, but Roger cut her off.
"But nothing," Roger said. "You're our daughter. No matter what else changes, that ain't ever gonna. Now come on, let's get you home."
"I... I can go home?" Fred asked. The Burkles nodded. Fred turned to Dawn who had a sad smile on her face.
"Of course you can Fred," Dawn said. "I... We'll miss you terribly. But I'm not going to keep you from going home. Wouldn't even dream of doing that."
Fred gave a hesitant smile and buried her face into her father's jacket some more.
0oooo0oooo0
Jonathan and Dawn stood out in the back alley. Jonathan shook his head. Both of them had been feeling the need for some air. It had gotten pretty intense in there.
"I can't believe she's actually leaving."
"Can you blame her?" Dawn prompted. She looked upset with herself. "I mean, we haven't exactly been the nicest people in the world to her lately. I feel really bad about that."
Jonathan walked up behind her and gave her a very tentative hug. She leaned into him and closed her eyes, just trying to feel his warmth against the cool November night.
"You shouldn't blame yourself for all of this," Jonathan stated. Dawn laughed, and the sound carried into his chest.
"But I'm the boss, my responsibility right?" she asked in an acid tone.
"Responsibility yeah sure," Jonathan said. "But fault? That's not really the same thing. I mean, you weren't really even that mean. You were just distant. You've been distant from all of them lately. Heck, if I noticed, you know it has to be bad."
She laughed a little more at his feeble joke, but she looked up at him in some confusion. "What do you mean when you say that?"
"It just seems like it's been awhile since you did stuff with Fred, or Mr. Wink, or Slade. They're here because of you," Jonathan observed. He gave her a pat on the back. "I mean, I don't want to sound like a stalker or anything, but how many hours a day are you holed up in that office and out on patrol?"
"A lot," Dawn muttered. She had a look of dawning recognition. And the more she thought about it the more sour she felt. "Really a lot."
"Do you need to sleep like a human?" Jonathan asked. Dawn nodded.
"Pretty much like any other person," she said.
Jonathan nodded. "Hm. Then you're going to need to cut back a little. Or you're going to bury yourself in there and never get out. When was the last time you went clubbing? A month and a half ago when you caught us?"
"Something like that," Dawn said, chewing on her lip.
"Then get out more," Jonathan said, giving her a gentle squeeze.
"If I don't do it, then it isn't getting done," Dawn grumbled. "Buffy with paperwork? Screw that. And Slade is so busy on the outside..."
"Then use Giles or Tara," Jonathan countered. "They're certainly smart enough and organized enough to help out. Just think about it, eh? Because I don't want you to be stuck with a life of regrets. I mean, as crazy as life is here, we're not going to live forever."
A huge claw swept out of the shadows, tossing Dawn one way and Jonathan another. Pushing herself up, Dawn spat a series of unintelligible curses at Jonathan and the world.
"You idiot," Dawn called out. She vanished and reappeared standing, her armor visible and spear in hand. "Never say things like that around here."
"Duly noted," Jonathan said, sliding into a sitting position.
Both of them watched as the demon strode out of the shadows. They looked up... and then up some more. Somewhere in the near stratosphere, a dozen glowing eyes regarded them malevolently. Six arms covered in armored exoskeleton and terminating in huge rending claws moved in a fluid pattern as the creature regarded them.
"Um," Dawn said after a second. "Did you know they came in 'Biggie' size?"
"I think we're gonna need a bigger boat," Jonathan muttered.
The unholy scream that echoed from its body caused the stones and blacktop beneath them to vibrate as it charged. In a moment of supreme clarity, Dawn wondered just what exactly Fred had been planning to do with that anti-vehicle weapon. And where it was. Right now.
"Jonathan," she said mildly. "Run. Now."
0oooo0oooo0
Fred picked up one of the design pads that littered her desk and small apartment room. She smiled down at the pad. It was the first sketch designs that Dawn had told her to produce. She still remembered that day; she could hardly talk to anyone. She still liked to hide under tables then too. Of course when Slade had brought her here and offered to give her this space for her work, she'd jumped at it.
But it was still hiding. Hiding from everything that she thought that she couldn't face. Everything that had decided to face her whether she liked it or not.
Gently she placed the pad back on the desk.
"Are you all right honey?" Trish asked. Fred looked up at her mother and smiled a little sadly.
"I don't know mama," she said. Trish smiled.
"I think that's okay," Trish responded, walking over and giving Fred a quick hug. "You built quite a lot here. It's really impressive."
"Well, Andrew and Jonathan thought so," Fred said.
"Hey!" Roger called out. "Looks like most of the packing's done. You've been living light."
"Yes daddy," she called back. Trish put her hand of Fred's shoulder.
"I think you're selling yourself short honey..."
Whatever else she might have said was cut off by a god-awful roar. Trish looked sharply at her daughter. Jonathan burst in the back door looking extremely panicked.
"Fred, thing, huge!" he said. "Right outside. Aurora's leading it on a goose chase."
"How big is huge?" Fred asked, walking forward. Jonathan shook his head.
"Hard to tell," he said. "Like jeep sized maybe? Bigger I think. And covered in armor things."
"We don't have anything that might..." Fred abruptly stopped. She turned to the sealed crate that stood in the corner; though crate was perhaps a misnomer seeing as it was six feet wide and twelve feet tall. Jonathan followed the path of her eyes.
"No!" Jonathan exclaimed. "We need to test it first!"
"This is as good a time as any, right?" Fred asked.
"No it's not!" Jonathan countered. Another roar caused everyone to wince. Fred looked over he shoulder at the loading dock doors. She turned back to the crate with an expression of renewed determination.
"Too bad," Fred stated, walking over and punching a code into the side of the box. There was a hiss as the pressure inside equalized and the door opened. She stepped away from the crate and all four pairs of eyes focused on it.
"My god," Roger whispered. "Does it work?"
"Yep," Fred drawled. She blushed a little. "Except for one thing. Daddy, you know how this ammo feed works? I never could get it to work right. Of course, being as I've had it all of a day and a half..."
Roger nodded, still dumbstruck and answering completely on autopilot. "Worked with one of them in 'Nam."
"Thank you daddy," Fred beamed. She turned to Jonathan. "You know what to do."
"Yes ma'am," Jonathan said, standing up sharply. He walked over to a table next to the crate and plugged a free cable into his laptop. "All systems transferring from standby to active. Everything is in the green so far."
"Good," Fred stated, turning back to the crate. "Now go get the Jackals. I figure we're gonna need the help."
Jonathan nodded and took off down the hall. Fred watched him go for a second before regarding the device before her. "I always wondered what it would be like to wrestle a demon. Guess I'll find out now."
0oooo0oooo0
Dawn Summers was pissed. And scared. That was a hard combination to really pull off well, but this thing was going for a record here. It was huge, armored, and fast. Faster than a normal human. And for a thing that had arms that resembled steel plated telephone poles in their density, that was way too fast.
She barely dodged another hit. Her spear flashed out and bit into the demon's arm. However the colossal thing just reared back as if from an insect sting. The next two arm strikes forced her to re materialize a few feet back. Then her luck ran out. It was really only a glancing blow, but it sent her flying. She bounced painfully off the wall behind her, and the thing was following up really quickly.
It probably would have pounced on her if the sudden raising of the loading dock door hadn't drawn its attention away. The thing standing in the doorway was back lit by the interior lights, several sections of it also gave off a faint blue light. When it stepped forward Dawn's eyes adjusted; and she couldn't understand what she was seeing.
It was more or less human shaped, but writ large. Its limbs appeared to be made of steel, and its hands were more at home on a titanic gorilla than the would be on a human arm. A pair of pylons rose out of the back of the robot thing, casting a blue light from clear panels. The head was sleek and angular, four lenses of differing colors staring out, moving and focusing in an eerie mechanical facsimile of life.
However, the real thing that caught her attention was that it didn't move like a clunky knight wearing too much steel. It moved with a kind of liquid flow that only a living being could accomplish. Its head swiveled to look at them, and the machine raised its arms. Cradled in them was the enormous weapon that Dawn had seen before. It was even bigger assembled. Then it really surprised her.
"Get away from her you bitch."
Fred's unexpected twang was coupled with the M-2 in the machine's (Fred's?) arms going off like the hammer of God in the small alleyway. The beast shrieked as half its arms were simply blown off. Huge crater-like wounds from the heavy shells blossomed all across the creature and gore washed down on the street.
It roared in defiance and leaped at the armored suit. With a nimbleness Dawn wasn't expecting the suit moved backwards, keeping the heavy machine gun on target the whole time. However, as nimble as the suit was, the monster was quicker; and more flexible. The suit only got off one more five round burst into the chest of the creature before it knocked the weapon aside. Then it was a wrestling match of the titans as the suit and demon grappled.
She looked over to see the Jackals kneeling down with their new rifles and Roger Burkle sitting behind another one of those huge guns that the suit had. This one was mounted on a four legged stand. A shrieking noise of tires on asphalt caused Dawn to look up. Blanching she realized that the very large vehicle heading for her wasn't going to slow down. With a curse she shifted from sitting on the pavement to standing with her back pressed tightly to the stone wall behind her.
The truck was a big one, but not the biggest she'd ever seen. It was more than big enough to slam into the struggling demon just as the back of the suit flared with blue white flames of maneuvering jets and dug its feet into the pavement. Caught between the crushing arms of the steel titan and the truck the huge demon made an uncharacteristically pitiful noise at the impact. There was a sickening crunch, and the steel suit managed to get a hand free, jabbing it up under the demon's over sized mandibles and holding the head in place.
The thunder of the .50 caliber bullets rang once more and the demon went limp, its neck completely shattered by the force of the rounds. Roger Burkle, sitting behind the Browning, smiled. The Jackals, including Xander and Anya, were looking at him with unabashed respect.
The window of the truck opened and Trish stuck her head out. "Did we get it y'all?"
"Yes mama," the robot's voice said. It stepped back and the helmet above folded back to reveal Fred's sweaty but triumphant face. She smiled down at Dawn. "So, this was what I've been workin' on. Whaddya think?"
Dawn gave her a weak smile and a thumbs up.
And she once again renewed her vow to never ever piss off Fred without a damn good reason.
0oooo0oooo0
"My god," Liz whispered. The carcass of the 'thing' was impressive enough. Currently it was laying on the loading dock being disassembled by the Jackals who were using industrial saws to do it. It was extremely messy, but better that than leaving it to rot in the alleyway. The neighbors would complain.
"I'm thinking that God? Not so much," Buffy said. She turned away. "Apparently Willow and Tara think this thing might have come through when Dawn was captured by that crazy Texan and they used freaky magic on her. I swear I'm not letting that girl out of my sight again. Too much trouble for words."
"Would anything else have gotten through?" Liz asked. Buffy shrugged.
"Nobody knows," Buffy said. "But if something did, I figure we'll see it sooner rather than later. And to think I ran into like nothing on patrol. I don't get it. Is Dawn some kind of danger magnet or something?"
"Who cares about that," Liz said. She gestured over to where Fred was standing proudly next to her power armor with her parents. The beast's head, big enough to swallow a child whole, laying on the ground in front of them. It was like a family hunting photo, Liz realized as Jonathan snapped a picture. Only with more demons and power armor. "Look at her parents."
"Yeah," Buffy said. "They seem like good people."
"I think they are," Liz said. "And they have an open mind. That's something you don't see every day."
"No, it really isn't," Buffy said. She watched as Fred posed with her family for another moment. "You know, I think there's something different about her. I just can't place it."
"Who," Liz asked. "Fred?"
"Yeah," Buffy said in a thoughtful voice.
Liz smirked. "That's easy. She's smiling; and this time she means it."
The camera bulb flashed in the warehouse, capturing a mother, father, and a daughter who was smiling without a hint of shadow in her eyes. It was a rare thing that the photo captured; the smile of a woman who knew where she belonged and who at long last had finally arrived there. It was a smile of freedom.