The question became: what to do with the Initiative personnel? Most were soldiers, but the scientists were far worse than the ones that worked at the SGC. They had the worst superiority complex going.
Riley and his team were returned to the base, Riley was the ranking officer previously. General Hartmen had sent Colonel Simon Masterson to take control of the situation under Xander's supervision.
He seemed to be a serious man. Much like Robert. He was a stickler for the rules. But respected those who were above him and their orders, but not afraid to point out flaws in the orders. Masterson was fully briefed on Xander, Sunnydale and the SGC. His job was to run the base as a standard military base on US soil whilst leading the investigation with Xander.
Riley was his second, but the young soldier believed that even if they weren't to be capturing the HST's they should be out there killing them before they killed civilians.
"Lieutenant, this town is patrolled every night. It survived before you got here, it will survive after you leave." Masterson warned his subordinate as he and Xander briefed him on the current plan.
"Sir, with all due respect, I don't think a couple of kids with swords is going to cut it much longer."
Masterson had to chuckle at that. He had seen footage of Buffy, Faith and Oz in action. He had the tapes of Xander taking out the initiative soldiers in the holding area sitting on his desk for his review.
"How about five elite soldiers with access to the most sophisticated and advanced technology on the planet, backed up by equally impressive soldiers. Not to mention the fact that the elite soldiers have direct access to the President to request additional supplies and back up?"
Riley was a little taken aback by that. "Then what were Xander, Willow and Oz doing out last night?"
Xander sighed. Last night. His life moved so quickly at times. He made a promise to himself that he would take the gang on another vacation soon.
"Lord Xander and Lord Oz are two of the elite soldiers. Miss Rosenberg is…" He looked to Xander for an appropriate title.
"Rear Echelon Support." He shrugged. "Mainly intel and logistics."
"Lord Xander has agreed to explain most of his story. It is a lot to swallow, but the President and many, many, many high ranking officers have backed it up." The Colonel explained. "Hopefully he will indulge us with a demonstration." He said smiling at Xander.
Xander chuckled. "I'm sure we can set something up." He turned to Riley. "Once the Colonel and I are happy that this base is secure, we will train you properly and have you join routine patrols. It will be search and destroy only. We do not experiment on enemy combatants." He growled.
"But they're just animals!" Riley protested.
"Tell that to Barry, the peaceful Bracken demon. He has family. Holds down a job, a good education." Xander said angrily.
"As you can see Lieutenant, your actions are based on false assumptions. You treated these people like the white man treated the black man of Africa." Masterson said in disgust. "I know for a fact that the Bracken demon begged for mercy as did the human girl, Tara. And why the hell would you pick up a regular human?" He demanded.
"Apparently she exhibited non-human abilities."
"If you and your men can't curb that train of thought, you will likely be reassigned or decommissioned." Masterson warned.
"Lord Xander, I'm going to have to ask you to introduce your people to these men and give them a proper briefing on Sunnydale." He said formerly.
"I will speak to them and make arrangements."
"Call it a night for now gentlemen. You have both been at this all night. It is now mid morning. We'll pick it up again tonight."
Riley stood and saluted.
"It's going to be a lot of work, and we're going to lose some of these men." Masterson sighed.
Xander moved from leaning against the wall behind the Colonels desk to the seat opposite that Riley had just vacated.
"Probably. But if that happens they are probably not military material. Would you really trust them with human POW's?"
"I'm scared to go through these files. No telling how many innocents they've experimented on." He said as he flicked the large pile on his desk.
"Have Giles help you. I'll also call in more help from the Council. We need plenty of people who know this field to help out."
Masterson nodded. "Ok, but not tonight. We mere humans need to sleep." He smirked.
Before anything else Xander wanted to check on Barry. Tara was in fine hands with Gaia, so he wasn't worried about her. Barry was fine. For some reason he and Jack were extolling the wonders of blue jello. Xander refused to get involved.
Having checked in with George he headed home to where he was told Buffy and Oz had headed.
On arriving in his and Gaia's front room, he was assaulted by a blond blur.
A quick check showed Buffy snuggled with Oz on the couch.
"Erm… Tara?" He asked.
"Thank you for saving me." Came the muffled response from his chest.
"No problem, I was in the neighborhood after all." He grinned down at the small woman.
"Is Barry ok?" She asked.
"He's fine. Having an exciting discussion with a friend of mine on the virtues of blue jello." He said rolling his eyes.
"Jack?" Oz asked.
Xander just nodded.
"Well, we had better get some nap time in before we go out for patrol." Buffy said as she dragged Oz to his feet.
"Yeah, you won't encounter any soldiers for a while. They are confined to base. But keep an eye out for some Frankenstein type monster out there. Some idiot named Margaret Walsh was piecing demon, human and machine together."
"Maggie Walsh!" Buffy asked in shock.
Xander shrugged.
"Huh, guess I can't feel bad about missing her class today." She grinned. "Oh, and tell her she better have a good excuse for missing class. She has two arms, two legs and nothing else missing, so she had no excuse to miss it." She said snootily.
"Worse than Snyder?" He asked.
"Different." Oz corrected.
"Catch ya later!" Buffy said as they went out the front door.
"Take a seat Tara, relax." Gaia instructed.
"So, how did you know about Tara?" Xander asked his wife.
"I've been expecting her for as long as I've been waiting for you!" She declared.
Xander looked confused at that. He tried several times to form an appropriate question.
He settled for "Huh?"
"Tara is one of the first things to prepare you for your godhood." She said.
As always, the mention of his impending ascension caused him some apprehension.
Gaia ignored it.
"She is to be your priestess." She smiled triumphantly.
"She is?"
"I am?"
They asked together.
"Yep. She will eventually be able to call on your powers as Willow does mine. For now she will concentrate on calling my powers, but she is your priestess."
"Doesn't she get a choice?" Xander asked.
"Oh… right." She said blushing. She turned to Tara. "I'm sorry, I've been waiting for you since time began. Just not in the same way as Xander. I just assumed you'd want the job, I can't imagine anyone not wanting to be his priest or priestess."
Tara was just gaping.
"Hun, I think she's going to need a few more details. So am I come to think of it." He frowned.
"Priests and Priestesses are like our links to the people. You will still have the armies, but Tara would be the one to communicate our wishes and advice to leaders of the people."
"Like the Pope, Bishops and Priests?" Xander asked.
"Exactly." Gaia said. "During the second world war, Churchill consulted a preacher when he was unsure of something. It's common for holy men and women to hold positions in the courts of leaders."
"You want me to work in government?" Tara asked incredulously.
"Oh no!" Gaia laughed at the look of on Tara's face. "But definitely consult with them when necessary. Offer them moral advice."
"Why me?"
That was the big question that most people tended to ask.
"You are very pure. You are also a devoted practitioner of the magic of nature. Otherwise known as Earth Magic. I already have a Priestess, but when Xander becomes a god he will need one too. At that time we will be fully equal in responsibilities of the Universe." She said happily.
"Do lots of angels become gods?"
"Xander is the only one." Gaia said proudly.
"Have you told Willow she's immortal?" Xander asked pointedly, knowing how his wife tended to shy away from difficult topics.
Gaia just looked bashful and slightly ashamed.
Xander sighed and turned to explain to Tara. "Willow is Gaia's Priestess. Now Gaia says that you could be my Priestess. The thing is, I might not ascend to godhood for hundreds of years. Which means you would have to be immortal."
"Isn't he smart." Gaia preened.
"Yeah, yeah. You still need to go see Willow." He admonished.
"Fine, you two can talk and get to know each other." She said as she kissed Xander and vanished out.
Tara was looking nervous. "Are you two…?"
"Married." Xander smiled. "I take it you don't know about my history?"
"We were talking about the laryngitis episode and the military base." Tara said.
"Right, well, don't worry about the military base. It's now completely under my control by Presidential order." Xander assured her.
"You know the President?" She asked in awe.
Xander laughed. "Tara, I know God… the Creator! So do the others, you probably will too! Besides, if you become my Priestess you will likely meet the world leaders as well."
Tara paled at that.
"Don't worry, most of them are nice guys. The ones that might be a problem I'll send Oz with you. He is kinda like my General. My own Champion." Xander thought for a second. "Actually, if you do become my Priestess, I'll make sure you have a suitable guard anyway."
Apparently he wasn't helping matters as Tara was sinking further into her seat.
"Maybe I should tell you a little about myself and you'll see that we aren't so different." Xander said. He settled back into his chair and began his tale.
"I was born here in Sunnydale nineteen years ago…"
Xander spent the next week travelling back to the various alternate realities and making sure everything was progressing smoothly.
The first reality he had been too was doing exceptionally well. Teal'c had managed to capture several System Lords and was holding them and waiting for Xander to arrive on advice from Gaia.
The reality which had been over run by vampires was suffering badly. Anarchy still reigned as the humans hadn't managed to rebuild their governments.
This lead Xander back to Alternate Teal'c.
"I want you to assemble an army, as large as you deem appropriate to govern a planet like Earth. Also, you will need to find a suitable leader who can bring organization and stability to chaos." Xander explained.
"Of course My Lord." Teal'c said respectively. "It should not be a problem. I will create the army from the Serpent Guard as they have served you longer and their loyalty will be less questionable."
"Great. When they are ready, assemble them on as many ships as you require and call for me. I will need to transport them to another reality."
This surprised Teal'c greatly. "Really, My Lord? I did not think you took others across the borders since you arrived here."
"True, but this reality has been over run by monsters. I cleared out the monsters, but the humans are unable to cooperate to rebuild their society. People are dying and suffering and chaos reigns. I want to utilize the good work and progress you have made here and apply it to improving things there."
"Things will be ready tomorrow. Will you be able to bring them back and rotate them out?"
"Absolutely. You arrange that and call me at the appropriate times and I'll have them sorted." Xander assured him.
The sound of several people retching was actually something of a relief to Giles.
He had just finished his… lecture… on what really went on at night and the history of the world to the Initiative.
He had given his usual 'The world is older…' speech. But at the insistence of Jenny and the chorus of agreement from the Scoobies, he now had a visual section.
It included various recordings taken by Delta and the AI's. Images of vampires and demons that the gang had taken out.
Xander was standing behind the seated soldiers leaning against the railing of the pit where they had performed their experiments.
It was obvious that they bought the demon side of things. But very few believed the holy side. The disbelief seemed to be catching amongst them. Those that wavered soon followed those that scoffed.
"Xander, I believe it's time for you to give some proof?" Giles said questioningly.
Xander stood up and walked to Giles side. Several steps before he stopped he donned his armour, minus wings and glow, in mid stride.
There was a collective gasp a few muttered 'cools' and the sound of one or two chairs scuffing back slightly as the occupants tensed for action.
"My armour is real." Xander said loudly. "I was chosen after I attained my armour to be the Champion of Gaia. The Goddess of the Universe. Due to events that included over a thousand years in Hell, I was turned into an angel by the Almighty."
Here Xander gave off his glow and revealed his wings.
The mood of the personnel changed to awe and fear.
Xander gave them a few moments then lost the armour, keeping his glow and wings.
"Because of the horrors of Hell, I had to spend a thousand years in Heaven recovering. On my return I married my girlfriend. Gaia.
"Although I spent over two thousand years between Heaven and Hell, I was only gone from this world for a matter of minutes.
"The other important piece of information is that I am destined to become a god. Like Gaia. This may not happen for centuries. Only the Almighty knows."
Xander removed the glow and folded his wings behind him, but kept them visible.
Xander and Giles just stood there for about a minute. Letting the Initiative soldiers and scientists dwell on those facts.
Xander found himself standing in a large room with gray aligned demons around him and a frantic Cordelia shouting at him.
"DESTROY THE LIGHT!" She screamed.
Xander looked over to where she was pointing to see Doyle hanging from a giant glass structure that was beginning to glow. Xander simply shrugged, donned his armour, grabbed his battle rifle and started firing into the glowing glass object whilst avoiding Doyle.
The light quickly flickered out.
"What's he trying to do?" Xander asked Cordelia in a conspiratorial whisper.
Cordelia just growled. "That idiot decided to try and play the self-sacrificing hero! That light destroys humanity, he jumped on that to try and turn it off."
"Why not shoot it… like I did?"
"The Jaffa are outside with the guns trying to finish off the Scourge. They are the ones with the guns." Cordelia said in exasperation.
"Right, then the three of you have an appointment at the mountain for weapons training." Xander said firmly.
"A little help would be real nice about now!" Doyle cried out as he struggled to maintain his grip.
"Ha! Leave the bastard there, he had the gall to kiss me and then jump to his death!"
"Oh god… he didn't." Xander winced.
"Uh huh, and that's after he knocked out Liam to stop him jumping." She said indicating the currently inert champion.
"Everybody wants to play the hero." Xander sighed.
"Hey! I'll have you know that I had no intention of doing something so stupid." Cordelia huffed.
"HEEEEEELLLLPP!" Doyle screamed as he began to fall.
Only to find himself standing next to Cordelia.
Who promptly slapped his face and then began to snog the life out of him.
Xander decided to head outside and check on his boys.
"That's a lot of carnage." Xander remarked as he surveyed the dockyard outside the ship. Bullet riddled demon bodies littered the area.
"My Lord, it is good to see you." Rolan said with a bow as he approached. "Was there a problem?"
"Some guy and Liam were fighting over who should play sacrificial hero, Cordelia used her brain and called me in." He said with a roll of his eyes.
Rolan just chuckled. "Ah, Doyle. He is apparently a Seer sent by the Fallen. It was rather interesting when he met Lord Oz, he was under the impression that you would kill him on sight."
"Seriously? Is everyone like that?"
"It is hard to say, in order to maintain our secrecy, we keep our allegiance to you secret."
"Right, good plan. I take it this was a pathetic battle?" Xander asked as he took in the sight of the other Jaffa systematically vaporizing the various bodies with Zats.
"Indeed, My Lord. But we felt no qualms about their slaughter as they intended to destroy all demons with human blood and humanity itself, the demons inside the vessel were their current targets."
"Well that's just dumb. All demons in this dimension have some human blood in them. We learned that with the Mayor." Xander scoffed.
"Yes, but they seemed to know that and you had to be pretty close to the light for it to work." Liam explained as he walked down the gangway to where Xander and Rolan stood.
That confused Xander. "Then why did they hang the light bulb so high?"
"It was set to explode. I don't really know how it worked, probably something for your AI's to work on, I don't recommend letting the governments get their hands on it."
"Good plan. I might have Gary do it." Xander mused.
"I thought you said you didn't hate me!" Liam whined.
"Don't worry, I'll have them work on it on a remote planet somewhere. Something abandoned." Xander smirked.
Xander then noticed Cordelia dragging Doyle out of the ship.
"Dammit woman! Do you really want me dead that much!" He could be heard complaining as he struggled against Cordelia's grip.
"What's he worried about? Falling in the water?" Xander asked Rolan and Liam.
"No My Lord." Rolan chuckled. "He is under the impression that 'Lord Xander will kill him on sight just for being a demon'." He quoted.
"Oh god." Xander groaned. "Oi! Doyle!"
Doyle froze like a frightened bunny.
"I give you my word I have no intention of killing you." Xander called out.
"See!" Cordelia exclaimed. "Now… move it!" She said as she kicked his shin forcing him to hop in pain to keep up with her.
Eventually she had him down the plank and standing in front of Xander.
"Doyle, meet Xander Harris. Or Dufus." She snarked.
"Love you too Cordy." Xander sniped back.
"Ok, so why do you think I'm going to kill you just because you're a demon?" Xander asked.
"The Powers That Be told me! They showed me!" Doyle cried.
"Showed you?" Xander asked.
"He's a Seer, he gets visions… yes, yes, and great big honking migraines, we've heard it before." Cordelia said tiredly before Doyle could say it.
"What did they show you?" Xander asked with a frown.
"You… coming out of a hole in the ground that led to a place that means I try really hard not to sleep at night… and I drink waaay too much.
"I saw you killing demons left right and centre in that place."
Xander's eyes widened in horror and he started swearing profusely.
"My Lord! What is it?" Rolan asked worriedly.
"Those bastards showed him Hell!" Xander raged.
"I thought seeing Hell or Heaven would drive anyone insane?" Cordelia asked.
"It will, but they probably removed everything but the visual side, he won't go insane, but he will never be the same again!" Xander was fuming.
"GOD!" Xander screamed to the Heavens.
"Peace my son." Came the deep tones of the Metatron as he and The Almighty appeared.
Everyone dropped to their knees, Cordelia dragged Doyle down but Liam threw himself down placing his face firmly into the concrete floor.
"Rise my children." She instructed through her Voice.
Xander rose, the Jaffa following suit. They stood to attention but with their heads bowed. Cordelia gave a happy little wave which She returned quickly and covertly.
Seeing Liam still with his face pasted to the floor, God walked over and picked him up.
"Liam, you are doing good work and are trying to make amends. I am proud of you, as is Hades. You do not need to fear me as long as you remain on this path."
She lifted his head to look into his eyes and smiled at him. Liam smiled through tears at the feeling of acceptance. Xander had confronted him soon after he had been returned to his body and asked him a simple question. "Are you a vampire with a soul forced upon him, or a human trapped in the body of the vampire?" He tried to remember that he was human, just encased in a corpse, the actual demon was no longer present. 'Angelus' was suffering eternity in Hell.
"Lord Xander, speak." God instructed.
"Almighty One, the Fallen have placed great torture on this Bracken demon called Doyle. They have assaulted him with images of my time in… Hell." Xander said formally, he still had trouble speaking about it like this, he could crack jokes, but he would always need to spend a bit of time in Heaven afterwards or curled up with Gaia, his own personal Heaven.
"Yes, why have you called me?" God asked, prodding him to get to his point.
"My Lord, I beg that you heal him of these images, they will likely drive him insane, and when he dies they will haunt him in the Underworld and taint the area."
God didn't need to be told this, She knew. But those around them did. They needed to understand why God intervening and healing Doyle was such a big deal.
God moved over to Doyle and caressed his face with a hand. Doyle slumped to the floor as Xander caught him.
"It is done." Came the Voice of God. "I have replaced the images with those that Jack saw in the library that day. He will know what has been done and why, but not what he saw."
She turned to Cordelia and smiled softly. "He is just sleeping now. Pleasant dreams of you."
Cordelia blushed and looked a little surprised.
"Let him sleep and rest as he has been without proper sleep for many months now."
With that, the Almighty and the Metatron both vanished.
"My Lord, might I be so bold as to make a suggestion?" Rolan asked with his head bowed.
"Rolan, please do."
"When young Doyle awakens, he will have questions. Perhaps time at the mountain where he can speak with SG1 and their mind healers… counselors. His visions are his duties and I believe that he can communicate them just as well over the comm lines as he can in person."
"A good suggestion. Rolan, I will leave this in your care. Make whatever arrangements you feel are necessary." Xander said with a proud smile that caused the Jaffa to stand straighter and prouder.
Xander didn't just delegate because he had too much to do, he did it because there were people better suited to a task than him. People who would benefit from the experience of performing the task.
It was why the Jaffa loved him.
Whatever had been in room 314 had vanished. Neither Oz nor Xander could track a scent. As a result Xander called in a second squad of Jaffa and Buffy and Willow would accompany one squad and Faith and Church the other.
Xander needed info on what Walsh was up to. Masterson was handling interviews and investigations in the base and Hartmen had initiated them starting at the Whitehouse. The President was adamant that no stone be left unturned. He had asked for the Tok'ra's help with those cleared to know about them. They would be tested using Anise's Zatarc detector.
It only took a day though. A General Barnes came forward voluntarily to be tested. Apparently he was responsible for initially setting up the operation years ago. But it was supposed to have been abandoned after the President's orders.
As it was a legitimate operation originally, the General had official files and records and this gave General Hartmen a good place to start.
The link to the Army would soon be found.
But Xander needed to find out about this experiment.
The notes and journals Delta had found were vague. Purposefully so, it seemed. Walsh was the only one who seemed to be involved and the one with all the information.
Xander had several options available to him for extracting the information. But he liked none of them.
His hand was forced when the experiment attacked the Initiative.
It made it through all the security measures. Disabling them, killing the guards. Fifteen men were killed on guard duty.
It then proceeded to systematically search the facility, killing or injuring any that stood in it's way. No one knew what it was looking for as it wasn't actually asking.
Masterson knew immediately this was beyond his control. He would be damned if he was going to put the Slayers in front of this monster. He called for Xander on what the angel amusingly referred to as his 'God Phone'.
Xander arrived to find the Colonel trying to staunch the blood flowing from a bullet wound in his leg.
"Whoa! What the hell happened?" Xander asked as he grabbed a nearby first aid kit off the wall and got to work.
"The experiment, I think it came back." He gasped. "Took out the guards and the security measures."
"Right, we planned for this." Xander said.
Masterson sighed, but nodded.
"Delta, initiate the evacuation." He turned to Masterson. "Leave the experiment to me." He said as the Colonel vanished in a flash of light.
"Evacuation complete." Delta reported.
"Great, now we just need a plan." Xander muttered.
"The being is partly machine. The Alpha and myself could conceivably perform an internal attack leaving it vulnerable to external attacks by yourself and Oz." Delta suggested.
"Ok, sounds like a plan. What about a back up?"
"Perhaps the SGC could be prepared to beam the entity into space, Willow could act as a back up method if the technological side fails."
"Ok, get Church, Willow and Oz, I'll call George, every time it tries to leave, beam it back to where it was, or try to."
Walsh's Frankenstein monster was sat in front of a computer terminal in room 314. It's birthplace, it hadn't moved in half an hour, the computer terminal had probably frozen and he had just killed technical support.
Oz, Xander and SG4 were hiding down the corridor, planning their next move. There had been some debate as to whether they should confront it first or just attack. Oz pointed out that it was killing indiscriminately. They couldn't take the risk it would bolt.
SG4 was in position keeping track of the doorway from afar. Room 314 led to a wide area, so they could stay well back. Oz and Xander were also far back to prevent the creature detecting them. They were unwilling to risk using their cloaks in case they were ineffective against the creature.
The plan was simple. Church and Delta would rush in and try to attack the mind. Then Oz and Xander would dive in and beat the ever-loving crap out of it.
Unfortunately it wasn't quite so simple. The entities mind was very complex. They not only had to deal with the machine and a demon, but multiple demons. Church had eventually perfected the art of stealing weapons from his targets mental representations.
He avoided ranged weapons and went straight for melee weapons. His aim was crap. End of story.
Willow had built automatic targeting sensors into his body. All he had to do was point and shoot. His hand would automatically compensate based on visual input.
They had some help from the human side of the mind. Apparently a victim of murder by Maggie Walsh. Whilst Church was busy lobbing mental grenades at the attacking constructs, Delta was grabbing all the information he could.
The human had one request.
"Kill me. I can't live like this." It pleaded.
"What the hell do you think we're trying to do?" Church screeched as he ducked incoming mental bullets. "A little help would be nice!"
"I'll try and take control, might give you some time to-"
Delta and Church suddenly found themselves standing over the body of the experiment.
"Erm… ew." Church commented as he surveyed the dismembered body.
Apparently Church and Oz had systematically removed limbs.
Oz was just about to plunge his plasma sword into the heart when Delta started shouting.
"NO! Nuclear heart!" He warned.
Oz paused the twin points of his sword just piercing the demonic skin of chest.
He calmly deactivated his sword and stepped back.
"Thanks for the warning." He said calmly.
Xander ran a quick scan of the corpse and made sure the heart wasn't going to blow soon. It appeared stable, so he called in SG4 to perform clean up, warning them of the dangers.
"The human part of the experiment was a man named James Barlow. A former Army Ranger. He was listed as AWOL. But Walsh killed him and used his body in her experiment. Completely unsanctioned. I have detailed records of what Walsh was doing. It seems she had ordered 'Adam' as he was named to free her from holding after he had ensured a safe location." Delta reported.
"Who was she reporting to?" Oz asked.
"No one. She was a genius; she managed to orchestrate most of this herself. A good deal of it was setup already by the legitimate orders prior to the Presidential Orders. She merely capitalized on it."
"General Hartmen will be pleased. No one likes to find a rat in their backyard." Xander said darkly.
Masterson was soon up and about. His clearance granted him access to healing from the Tok'ra. The SGC had arranged for someone to be on hand permanently. Explaining what had happened at the base to the rest of the Initiative was solved with one word.
Classified.
Xander spoke with the President and General Hartmen about keeping the Initiative in Sunnydale with permission. They would provide extra back up in the event of an attempt to open the Hellmouth. The President was all for it as it freed up the SGC to focus on the Goa'uld.
But General Hartmen insisted the men assigned would require briefing on the Stargate and training by SGC personnel. For starters he wanted to equip them with the latest weaponry and armour. Which meant explaining why the Air Force was producing ODST Video Game Armour and where the Zats and Staff weapons came from.
But as Xander intended to keep using Jaffa in Sunnydale, he wanted his men to know they weren't demons as they would eventually notice something different about them. Both the President and Xander were all for this. Both men were in support of anything that kept their men alive. The ODST VISOR system was ideal for nighttime work.
But it was Jeff, the Coroner, brought something to Xander and Robert's attention that had Xander starting to worry.
"I had one vamp." He told them. "In the past three months."
This was a shocker.
"I thought the numbers were higher?" Xander said. "The Scoobs and Jaffa patrol can't have got them all."
"I checked, they haven't." He told them flatly. "They aren't coming to Sunnydale anymore. Deaths by animal attack have risen in the surrounding towns."
"Damn." Robert muttered. "We don't have jurisdiction there."
"Wouldn't matter." Xander sighed. "If we had a military presence in every town we'd wind up with all manner of political opposition. We'd never keep it quiet."
"That doesn't even take into account the threats we'll get from places like the Middle East." Robert added.
"What about more people like me?" Jeff asked. "Civilian coroners and police who are informed. Not to mention local government like Robert."
"We'd need to plan and prepare for how the vamps will react." Robert mused. "Once the smaller towns are inaccessible, they'll try and hide in the cities."
"Urgh, Urban Warfare." Xander said with disgust. "Liam and his team are still handling things just one case at a time. LA is huge, they can't handle it on their own, they do have a contact in the police department, she isn't aware of the supernatural yet."
"Can't you talk to the President? Have him set up a government task force within the FBI or something?" Jeff asked.
"I'm sure Liam would love being called Mulder." Xander snickered.
"As long as no one calls Cordy, 'Scully'." Robert said.
They all shuddered as they imagined the ass ripping Cordelia would give the first person to make that analogy.
"Well, it's worth a shot. I'll make an appointment to see the President when he gets back." Xander said. "In the meantime, I'll send the Scoobs and Jaffa squad to the surrounding towns, the Initiative will handle Sunnydale."
The President was doing scheduled international visits, but it wasn't a problem for Xander to pop over and have a chat. Calls were made and plans were put into action for a new government division to be put into action.
Xander however received a desperate plea from Jack.
"Please tell me you have your new team system set up!" He begged.
"Nothing yet, still planning." Xander shrugged trying to figure out the harassed look in Jack's eye.
"Sam is going nuts. I think she's getting cabin fever!" He said with agitation.
"Doesn't she go out on science missions?" Xander asked.
"She misses the action. Especially with Oz basically replacing her." Jack explained.
"Ok… look, we've got major problems and revelations back in Sunnydale at the moment. I need to sort them out first. Give me a couple of weeks to months and if we haven't got started on the new teams I'll request SG1 as my personal team and Sam as my science advisor.
"She's not dating me, so it shouldn't be a problem for her to be under my command. Can you handle being under my command?" He asked warily.
"Xander, you're a literal Angel. You are favoured by the Almighty and can kick my ass to Hell and back if you choose to. I have absolutely no problems following your command." Jack said seriously. "Besides, you're what, over two thousand years older than me?" He grinned.
Xander had managed to gain tentative permission to seed the surrounding towns with Jaffa. They would be eventually replaced with teams created by the new government agency. For now Buffy, Faith, Willow and Church spent their nights patrolling a specific town. Once it had been sufficiently cleared they would move onto the next town.
Tara was still contemplating the offer of being Xander's priestess. It had been two weeks since her rescue. She knew exactly what Xander was having seen him in action. Gaia had sent her to talk to Willow. Willow was still giving Gaia the evil eye every now and again for not telling her she was immortal now.
Despite this, Willow had nothing but good things to say about Gaia and Xander.
"What's the real problem?" Willow asked the shy blond.
"I… it feels like she's not telling me something." Tara said frowning.
Willow snorted a laugh. "Yeah, I wouldn't put it past her." She snarked. "The thing is, I doubt it would be harmful. She wouldn't do that, Xander certainly wouldn't stand for it."
Tara looked at Willow in confusion. "Why do you not like being immortal?"
Willow sighed. It was not something that the average mortal would consider a bad thing. But she had more experience and knowledge than that.
"You will be hard pressed to find a Scooby, or any of Xander's friends who fears death. Dying maybe. But not death. To be honest, a lot of us look forward to it. We know Hades is a good person. We may even get a shot at Heaven. But… as an immortal… I may never get that. To spend my afterlife just hanging out with Buffy and Jesse and the others. I am destined to work and fight for a long time." She sighed. "You would be too. Not fight, maybe. But work, yes."
"Is it really that good?" She asked in awe.
"You've yet to meet God, but when you do, you'll be very happy and content. Unless she gets angry. Doesn't happen often, but it does happen. When you do, meet her, imagine what it would be like to spend eternity in her presence."
Tara considered this. She realized she might not understand until she met God.
Willow eyed her new friend. She could see the turmoil, the desire to make the right decision for the right reason.
"Xander? You got a minute?" She called out. "Let's see if we can't get some answers." She grinned at Tara.
Tara just seemed to shrink in her chair.
"Hey Wills. Tara! Good to see ya!" Xander said happily. "What's the what?" He quipped.
"Hoping you could give us some answers, also wondering if God is available for a chat?" Willow asked.
"I'm always game for a chat Willow." God said as she appeared in the armchair opposite.
Willow's eyebrows hit the roof. "I can hear you? I'm not dead?" She said in disbelief.
God just giggled. "It's only mortals that can't withstand the power of my voice. You and Tara are both immortal. Oz can hear me too."
"B-b-but…" Tara stammered.
"I already know what you will choose. It's who you are. But you are right, there are some things Gaia didn't tell you. Or Xander." She said dragging the young angel to sit next to her as the single seater armchair expanded to accommodate him.
"That sounds ominous." Xander frowned. "Why do I get the feeling I will need to have a word with my wife?"
"Because you're a smart angel. Now, first thing I need to do is allay your fears about immortality." She said leaning forward. "You're existence in this world will end, you just might not end it by dying. You have both earned and are assured your place in heaven. It just won't happen for a very long time."
Willow was bouncing in her seat at this.
"Besides, you can always visit the Underworld and see Jesse and the others by getting Xander, Gaia or Hades to take you." God said.
Willow looked expectantly at Xander. "Don't worry Wills, I'll talk to Gaia. She can take you as part of making it up to me for not giving me all the details about Tara. We'll figure some way for her to make it up to Tara."
"Th-th-that's not neccess-ss-ssary." Tara said hastily.
"Don't worry Tara. You are among friends. The only time you need to worry about propriety is when I appear in front of regular humans. Like world leaders or civilians. Then, part of your duties will be to lead them in kneeling." God explained.
Tara found it slightly strange that she didn't find it strange that she should be kneeling now.
"Like I said, amongst friends, so it's not necessary." She smiled. "Now then, let's get your wife in here to make with the explanations." God grinned mischievously.
"Hi honey." Xander grinned as Gaia suddenly found herself standing in Willow's living room.
"What… why…" She saw God and sighed. "Do I have to?" She whined.
Tara and Willow just giggled. As Xander smirked.
"Yes you do young lady!" God said standing up and wagging a finger at her. "She is already immortal and you know as well as I do that she will eventually- well, never mind, explain and then we'll talk Tara through it." She said, she seemed to catch herself mid sentence. Xander had learnt long ago that God was very good at acting human and faking slip ups.
Gaia sulked for a second. She then drew in a breath and squared her shoulders before sitting gracefully next to Tara as Willow vacated her seat.
"Tara, you are destined to be Xander's wife."
"WHAT!" Xander said panicking.
"Oh for the love of me!" God groaned. "No Xander, Gaia isn't leaving you. You have all the rights of a god, just not the official status or power yet. You are entitled to more than one wife. Hades has hundreds. Mortal women he met on Earth or in the Underworld and fell in love with. You've met most of them. You don't think that just because Earth civilizations decided to limit it to one wife to a husband, Heaven did? Go back and read the Book! People have had polygamous marriages since before Noah."
"I just thought it was a quirk of Hades!" Xander said still panicking. "Gaia doesn't, she only has me!"
"Yes, which was her choice. You on the other hand will eventually choose a second wife. Someone that Gaia adores greatly." God said soothingly.
"I will?" He asked incredulously.
"Yes. Now, relax. You're beginning to glow." God admonished slightly.
Xander took a deep breath. He breathed in and out a few times and looked at Gaia, who looked very ashamed.
"You're seriously not going to leave me?" He asked worriedly.
Gaia looked shocked then rushed over and hugged him tightly. "Is that what you were worried about?" She asked. "You and I will always be together. But so will you and Tara."
God had dropped down next a dazed Tara. "Hey, it's a good thing." She said pulling her into a hug.
"But-but-but-"
"Yes, I know all about that." She said looking the young woman straight in the eye. "Trust the Scoobies. They will happily sort that problem out for you when the need arises." She smirked.
Neither Willow nor Xander commented on God's cryptic comments as they knew they'd find out when the time was right.
"Xander, why don't you take Tara out on a few dates?" Willow suggested from the armchair which had resized itself to normal. "Get to know each other better. Oh! Show her other planets!" She said excitedly.
"Sounds good to me?" Xander said turning to Tara. "What do you say? Would you go on a date with me?" He asked sheepishly.
Tara looked between God and Gaia. Both of who were smiling encouragingly. Willow was just bouncing in her chair trying to contain herself.
"Ok, wh-wh-who am I to argue with God?" She said with a small smile.
Xander grinned as Willow gave a triumphant 'yes'.
"Can I just say that this really ranks as one of the weirder things I've done? Asking a girl on a date basically because my wife told me too."
"This from the man who walked through Hell and back?" Willow said with a raised eyebrow.
"What about the fact that I'm the one who convinced the girl to say yes?" God teased.
"Trust, me. Those things seem natural to me. Things that needed to be done, in a sense. For me, this is weird. I'm sure Tara finds it weird that God told her to date a married angel!" He said.
Tara just nodded vigorously.