Wow a good amount of reviews this chapter. Thanks to: Tommy Byrn, Rogue1615, JA Baker, The Sithspawn, Stcobb, YoraththeWolf, Darklight, Anime-Ronin, Dogbertcarroll, Sepharih, Duo, Dracowar, Xman, Aynot, Shawn Provoncha, Jade eye's, WBH21C, Mountain King, Jeap, and a very special thank you to SithelfJen, who thought enough of my story to add it to her C2 group. Now, for the questions.
JA Baker: Yes, you will see the Arbiter eventually, but not for a while.
YoraththeWolf: I just think that Buffy would be unlikely to trust people who dropped form another dimension with every scrap of information they had, especially a gung-ho marine type.
Anime-Ronin: Well, I have to keep suspense. As for the Initiative, you will see them, but not for some time. Keep in mind they aren't operating in Xander's second year of high school.
Aynot: the Covenant are a hierarchal group of aliens who are basically a genocidal death cult, though they don't know they're a death cult. Their whole religion is based around Halo, which the forerunners built. What they don't know is that Halo is actually a device designed to eradicate all living matter in the galaxy, which is the only way to contain the Flood en mass.
Jeap: Keep in mind Cortana is still trying to keep a low profile. Patenting 25th century technology would raise an eyebrow or two, and there are quieter ways to get it. That being said, I wouldn't be surprised to see some new technologies come out of Sunnydale.
By the way beta-readers where are you guys? I sent both of you this chapter like a week ago. Sorry to release it before your feedback but I've had a while to go over it, so I think it will be ok. I'll send oyu the next one as soon as it is done.
Anyways that's it so on with the chapter!
Chapter 8
The Fyarl demon trudged through the Sunnydale sewer system, looking for the exit that another demon had told him about. It confused him greatly, Sunnydale had many tunnels, and it was easy to get lost. Ahead of him he saw a light green glow, coming from the ceiling. The demon turned the corner, and saw a very curious creature crawling along the ceiling. It glowed faintly in the darkness, and seemed to be some kind of sack with tentacles. Deciding it would be no use in finding his way out, the Fyarl demon turned around.
Immediately the Flood infection form leaped, attaching itself to the demon's back. It began feeding on its' new host, and the demon bellowed in rage and pain. Seconds later the large demon fell to the damp ground, growing still and the Flood infection form began the slow task of transforming its' host into something truly horrible.
Buffy walked into Willy's and took a seat at the far end of the bar. The demons sitting at the table looked at the girl for a second, then turned back to their drinks. Seconds later Willy walked towards Buffy. "Hey, Slayer!" He greeted loudly. Several of the patrons left quickly. "What can I do for you tonight?"
"I want to know what you've heard about Angelus," Buffy said coldly. "I know he must be planning something."
Willy looked around, then leaned forward. "Look, I wish I had something to tell you, but I honestly don't. There's something going on in the sewers, and no one's paying attention to anything but that right now."
"What do you mean?" Buffy asked.
"Well, there are stories floating around about some kind of parasite. Last night a vampire stumbled on a Fyarl demon lying on the ground. There was something latched on to it, and it was, I don't know, mutating it or something," Willy explained.
Buffy's blood ran cold. One of the first things Xander had briefed her on was the Flood. Buffy immediately turned and jogged out of the bar, calling Xander on her communicator. "Xander, I think we might have a big problem," She said.
Xander, resting in his warehouse, listened to what Buffy was saying, but he only really heard one word; Flood. Immediately he turned to Cortana, who was busy working on the ongoing repairs to Xander's armour. "You hear that?" He asked.
"The armour's not ready yet," Cortana cautioned. "A lot of the protective layers are still damaged, and the shields are only working at 43 capacity, and I won't be able to come with you, the suit's AI slot has been partially corrupted."
"It will have to do. You know how fast the Flood can spread," Xander decided. He moved and took the still blackened armour and began to get dressed. "Tell Johnson, Monetti and Danton to suit up," He ordered. "Get one of them to bring a flamethrower. We'll need shotguns too, and at least one SMG."
The Fyarl demon, now a Flood carrier form, lumbered into a room, filled with a pack of human size demons that were tearing apart a wolf that had wandered into the storm sewer. The eight grey demons turned turned, snarling to the tan sack on legs. In stumbled towards them, then fell over, and exploded, knocking all onto their backs. Before any of them could get up, a Flood infection form latched onto each one and began mutating their bodies into the zombie-like Flood Warrior forms, save for one, which was transforming into a Flood Carrier form.
Xander dropped into the sewer, quickly scanning the darkness of the tunnel with his shotgun, which had a light attached to it. Behind him, Johnson, Danton and Monetti clambered down the access ladder that Xander had ignored. The three of them took up positions for covering fire behind Xander. Johnson carried an SMG, Monetti was holding a flamethrower that Cortana had thrown together for such an occasion, and Danton carried a second shotgun. Xander had told Buffy to stay out of the sewers, warning her that the Marines would be suspicious of her activities. In reality, Xander didn't want anyone to come, the Flood were simply too dangerous. But at least the Marines had experience.
Xander advanced forward, keeping his shotgun at the ready. Behind him, the Marines fanned out, checking all angles and side tunnels as they passed them. Xander held up a fist and the Marines behind him froze. Xander's artificially enhanced hearing allowed him to hear rapid footsteps from a side tunnel twenty feet ahead. Xander took up position beside it, his back against the wall, and waited. Three seconds later the footsteps reached the mouth of the tunnel. Xander spun out and grabbed the figure, then slammed it roughly against the wall of the tunnel. The vampire, game face on, looked at him with frightened yellow eyes.
"What were you running from?" Xander asked, all business.
"Uhh, I don't know," the vampire replied. "Demons? Mutants? I couldn't tell. Whatever they were, they don't care what they kill."
"Where?" Xander snapped.
"That way," the vampire said, pointing down the tunnel he had come from. "Third tunnel on the right," He looked at the Marines behind Xander, then at Xander's gold visor. "Who are you guys?"
"The exterminators," Xander replied. "Now get out of here before I add you to the, 'to kill' list." He tossed the vampire back three feet. It immediately took off.
"What was wrong with his face?" Johnson asked.
"We'll talk about it later," Xander said. "For now, we've got to take out the Flood before it spreads." The foursome hurried down the tunnel, following the directions of the vampire. They turned at the third tunnel down the right and emerged into a larger chamber. Inside, were twenty-one Flood warrior forms of various sizes and three Flood carrier forms, all turning to face them.
"Son of a bitch," Johnson said quietly.
"Christ they've only been here for like four hours!" Monetti exclaimed.
Xander lobbed a grenade into the back of the room, an action followed quickly by the others. "Fire!" He shouted.
Xander took aim and unloaded at the nearest warrior form. The warrior form, only fifteen feet away, took nearly all the buckshot in the torso and head and went down. Meanwhile, the grenades exploded. The shrapnel blasted outwards, obliterating two of the carrier forms, which released their cargo of infection forms, as well killing another four warrior forms.
Beside Xander, Johnson blasted away with his SMG, sending a shower of bullets that popped the numerous infection forms, but did little to the warrior forms. "Come get some you goddamn zombie bastards!" he shouted.
Danton repeatedly pounded away at the horde with his own shotgun, but the fear was clear on his face.
"There's too many of them!" he shouted.
"Stow it, Corpsman!" Johnson shouted. "Keep firing!"
Corporal Monetti fired off jets of flame, setting fire to the fallen zombies. They burned quickly, bursting into flames as though their bodies were filled with grease. They bubbled and turned black as the fire raged away at them and turned them to harmless ash.
A warrior form leaped forward, landing directly in front of Xander. It lashed out, whipping its' claw like hands along Xander's shield. To Xander's surprise, the shield burst. He fired off his shotgun, blasting the warrior form back. Xander kept an eye on his shield bar, watching as it very slowly crawled back up to full strength. Damn, he thought, Cortana hadn't been kidding. He cautiously moved forwards, blasting shell after shell into warrior forms until the shotgun ran empty.
Xander dropped his empty shotgun and pulled two pistols from holsters on his belt. He took quick but careful aim and fired several shots, making short work of the remaining four Warrior forms. The last carrier form fell, exploding and releasing its' infections forms. Monetti twisted a dial on the flamethrower and squeezed the trigger, releasing a large ball of flame rather than a precise jet. The last of the infection forms popped as the flame touched them.
"Torch the whole room!" Xander ordered.
Monetti spun around, setting fire to everything that would burn. The air quickly grew scorching hot, forcing the Marines out of the room. "Everyone alright?" Johnson asked.
"Yes sir!" Danton and Monetti replied.
"Nice job guys," Xander said, patting each of them. "That was way too close. If we hadn't found out about this, they could have infested half the town in a day."
"Speaking of that, how did you find out about this?" Johnson asked. "And what was that thing you grabbed in the tunnel?"
"Yeah, well," Xander scratched the back of his helmet. "See, there are some things about this town that we may have neglected to mention."
"And what would these things be?" Johnson asked, the edge in his voice clearly audible.
"Well, there are some things in this reality that may not exist in yours," Xander explained.
"Like what?" Monetti asked.
"Uhh, vampires and demons," Xander said quietly.
Johnson looked at him sternly. "Are you shitting me, son?" He asked.
"No, no this is the truth," Xander replied.
"I see," Johnson growled. "So vampires and demons exist in this reality. Bloodsucking monsters that prey on the living, and you and your friends felt that the best thing to do would be to keep this from us?"
Xander winced. "Look, it's not like we didn't trust you, but we wanted to ease you into this world, you know, let you adjust before we dump the hard facts on you."
"What in god's name are you taking about!" Monetti burst out. "Were you even IN that room back there?"
"He's right, Harris," Johnson added, speaking sternly. "We are marines, we deal in cold, hard facts 24/7."
"Yeah, but not like this," Xander insisted. "Look, we weren't going to keep you in the dark forever, but we had to decide on the best way to approach this subject. We can't have you running around the town shooting at every demon you see, it just doesn't work that way."
"So you don't trust us, then," Johnson replied.
"I do," Xander replied sharply. "But thanks to the Master Chief, I know you, and I've only been awake a few hours. None of my friends do. Look, put yourselves in their shoes. They are pretty much the only group of people who even have an idea of what happens in this town. Then a group of people they've never met drop in to the town from another dimension. If they haven't told the people who live here their whole lives, what are the odds they'll tell complete strangers?"
Johnson considered that, then looked back at the two other marines, who shrugged. "Okay, I see your point," Johnson conceded.
"Buffy left the decision on what to tell you up to me, so I'm going to tell you the whole truth. But, I don't want you going out to fight vampires by yourself, you'll just get yourself killed," Xander explained. "We'll talk about it more tonight."
Xander was explaining the finer points of fighting vampires when Buffy and the Scoobies walked into the warehouse. Xander fell silent as the Marines glared angrily at the group in front of them.
"Uh, hi?" Buffy said cautiously.
Johnson stood up from the couch he was on and advanced on Buffy. "Our boy Harris told us all about what goes on in this town," He declared. "You've got a lot of nerve keeping that from us, makes me think you don't trust us."
"Maybe I don't," Buffy said, holding her ground. "I don't know you, or any of your people. Why would I trust you?"
"Xander trusts us."
"Xander couldn't exactly give us his opinion!" Buffy snapped back. "He was in a coma until this morning, if you recall."
Johnson stuck his face close to Buffy. "Do not keep things from me or my people. Marines don't like to be left in the dark."
"Then maybe you shouldn't be trying to fight vampires," Buffy retorted.
"Will the two of you stop it already?" Cortana said exasperatedly. "You both have some valid points, but since neither of you are going anywhere for the time being and we all have to work together, can we try to get along?"
Buffy and Johnson glared at each other, but both nodded. Johnson stuck out his hand. "I am pissed off, but I'm willing to let it go as long as you promise not to keep us out of the loop."
Buffy considered this, then looked at the Scoobies behind her. Willow smiled and Oz nodded, but Giles gave her a pointed look. She turned back to Johnson. "I'm entitled to have my own secrets," She said cautiously. "But, I won't keep you out of the loop on one condition. You have to listen to my friends and me when it comes to demons. We may not be Marines, but we know what we're doing."
Johnson nodded. "Fine, fine. But you try and order us around and you've got another thing coming."
Buffy just smirked in reply.
Warren sat at the lunch table coldly observing the lunchroom. Though his efforts had been thwarted he was confident that if he could only identify who the Spartan was, he could eliminate him. The doors to the cafeteria swung open and Warren's head snapped up. Xander, Willow and Buffy walked in, smiling and chatting. Warren's eyes narrowed as he looked them over. Neither Buffy nor Willow had the height, but Xander was a possibility. He did look like he had more muscle than before the Halloween incident, but it was hard to tell because Warren had never really spent any time around Xander.
After a moment, Warren decided to check for any clues hidden in his student record. The transformation into a Spartan would certainly have had an effect on his grades.
Warren growled as he looked over Xander's record. His grades had dramatically jumped in every subject right around the start of November. There was little doubt in Warren's mind that Xander was the Spartan. With a quick check to the DMV, Warren located Xander's address, a warehouse in the industrial district. Turning to another computer on a closed circuit, Warren issued orders to five of his remaining Elite-bots to destroy Xander, and anyone else in his warehouse.
Smirking, Warren looked over his orders and punched the send button. There was a lot of evidence that Xander was the Spartan, but if not it didn't matter. Just another infidel destroyed for the glory of the Covenant.
"Oh come on!" Mendez shouted at no one in particular. The group had sat down to watch a movie as a bonding activity, and Mendez and Winters had, as pilots, picked Top Gun. "Like that would ever really work!"
"It wouldn't?" Buffy pouted. "But I liked that part."
"Hit the brakes and he'll fly right by?" Winters snorted. "No, aerial overshoots don't work."
"More like hit the brakes and he'll blow me out of the sky," Mendez agreed. "In a dogfight speed is life."
"Stop being so critical!" Xander complained. "Just sit back and enjoy the extreme cheesiness that is Top Gun."
Cortana materialized out of thin air beside Xander. "We have a problem," she hissed. Beside her an image from a surveillance camera popped up in the air beside her. It showed an Elite crouched on the roof of a building adjacent to Xander's. In its hands was a blocky, unfinished looking plasma weapon that identified it as an Elite-bot.
"Shit, those sons of bitches don't give up do they!" Johnson exclaimed.
"Those aren't real Elites, Sarge," Xander explained. "Someone in town is making Elite shaped robots. I think they're here to kill me specifically.
A section of the wall began to glow orange. "They'll be through in seconds," Cortana warned. "You'll have to do this fight without your armour, Xander."
"Damnit, that's becoming a theme for me!" Xander sighed and grabbed an SMG, tossing weapons to everyone.
Willow paled as she caught the pistol Xander tossed her. "You want me to shoot this?" She asked.
"Just try to stay back out of the way," Xander ordered. "Use it to defend yourself only, don't go looking for a fight."
Buffy pulled the energy sword from her pocket and grinned. "Man I have been waiting for a chance to use this!"
"Buffy, be careful," Xander warned. "I am serious here, if you get hit by a bullet or a plasma burst…" He trailed off, allowing her to digest it.
"I know," She said, nodding. "I will."
A second later the hole in the wall grew even redder, than what was left of the bricks simply crumbled away, leaving a gaping hole. Every Marine, pilot, and Spartan trained their weapons on the hole, but nothing stepped through. Seconds later the room as rocked by a large blast, and through a new hole in the roof an Elite-bot dropped, landing gracefully right in front of Mendez and Winters, who had taken cover behind a desk. With frightening speed the Elite-bot shoved its' weapon into Winters stomach and fired.
Petty Officer Winters screamed in agony as the plasma burned through her intestines. As she screamed, a blast of blue flame erupted from her mouth as the plasma found its' way into her oesophagus.
"You son of a bitch!" Mendez screamed, sending a stream of SMG bullets into the Elite-bot. They tore through the robot's armour and damaged its' internals, but did little to slow it down. Finally a lucky round hit something critical and shut down the robot, but it was too late. Winters was dead. Her blackened torso smoked as she dropped to the floor.
Xander had no time to mourn her death as two more Elites rushed through the hole in the wall. Johnson, Xander and Monetti poured SMG and battle rifle fire into it, slowing it down but not stopping it. The Elite raised its weapon and fired at Johnson and Monetti, causing them to duck down behind a desk. Xander continued to fire, finally doing enough damage that the robot shut down and dropped to the floor.
The other Elite, who had flanked the group, raised its' weapon and prepared to fire on Xander. However, in a flash of light the arm was chopped off. Buffy stepped in front of the robot and drove the energy sword deep into its' armoured chest. The Kevlar and metal armour gave way easily, and Buffy quickly gutted the Elite-bot.
"Is everyone alright?" Xander asked.
"Winters is dead!" Mendez exclaimed. "They killed her!"
A scream from Xander's bedroom drew the attention of the group. Danton, who was right by the door, opened it and threw himself into the room. Willow was in the corner, the two remaining Elite-bots towering over her. She raised her pistol, but Danton shouted, "Hey! Come get me you fuckers!" The Elites snapped around and fired, advancing on Danton. He was in the doorway, and had nowhere to go. Both shots hit him, but he gritted his teeth and did not so much as whimper. As soon as they were far enough from Willow, Danton raised his shotgun and fired, hitting an Elite with every piece of buckshot in the shell. It flew backwards, sparking.
With one arm, Danton re-cocked the gun and took aim, ignoring the blast of plasma that was already travelling towards him. He fired again, this time hitting the remaining Elite in the waist. The shot nearly bisected the Elite-bot. It fell to the ground, still functional but unable to stand up. Danton fell to the ground as well, gasping in short breaths.
Xander rushed into the room and with all his strength, kicked the weapon out of the Elite's hand. He wrenched the arm as well, and Xander could hear the servo stress and break. He knelt down beside Danton, who was panting in unnaturally short breaths now.
"I got em, sir," He said between breaths.
"You did, son," Johnson said, stepping over Danton. "You fought good."
"For a medic?" Danton asked with a pained smile.
"For a Marine," Johnson said seriously.
"You didn't have to do that," Xander said. "Thank you for saving her."
"Semper Fi, sir," Danton said, then his breathing got shorter, and slower, then finally, it stopped.
"Semper Fi, Corpsman," Xander replied
"What does Semper Fi mean?" Buffy asked.
"Forever faithful," Johnson said quietly. "It means forever faithful."
End chap 8
Hope you guys liked the chapter, sorry for the long time to update. You know how school is, with the work, and the crap they make you do, and the stuff… you know what I mean. Anyways thanks for reading and please leave a review!