Leaves in a Windy Mind

by Shadow Master

(Drabbles, multiple crossovers) Decided to resurrect my old habit of putting any new crossover plot ideas into Drabble form rather than jump right into a full fledged story. Hope it'll help me focus on my in progress works and not get distracted. Please vote for the ones you want to see continued either as a Drabble or a true story.

5. The Metal That Protects, The Sword

"The Metal That Protects, The Sword That Cuts" by Shadow Master

(BtVS/Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance/Ghost in the Shell Universe/Other)

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted materials contained herein they are the rightful property of their respective creators and/or associated companies. I make no profit from this whatsoever and I have no intention of changing this at any point in the future. I write because it's fun and because there are those who enjoy reading my stories. Therefore it would be appreciated it no lawsuits or court orders to cease and desist were sent my way. I can promise you that I don't have near enough money to make it worth it.

Note: Got the compulsion to write this after receiving my 'Ghost in the Shell: Arise" discs in the mail. For a moment I thought about reviving my previous 'Ghost in the Shell' crossover but dismissed it in favour of trying something different. If readers wind up liking this and request that I revive the old crossover I'll give it some real thought. If they want me to focus on this new idea and digi-volve it from a Drabble to a fan fiction story I will.

Note 2: If any of you are knowledgeable about the 'Ghost in the Shell' universe, cyborgs and other such things please feel free to make suggestions. I have a decent idea of what I plan on doing but if a good idea is dropped in my lap I can change things.

Note 3: As always positive reviews will be welcomed, constructive criticism will be considered but not necessarily acted upon and negative/bashing reviews will be ignored or burned as fuel to keep the story/drabble going.

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The Metal That Protects, The Sword That Cuts

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May 2007

Reality - 031097

The Scottish Castle HQ of the Slayer Organization

Xander's POV

How had it come to this?

He'd been asking that question, to himself as well as others, for the past two weeks and had yet to come to an acceptable conclusion. A coldhearted cynic would say that this outcome had been in the works ever since the Scoobies had decided to change the rules by Calling every potential on the planet turning them into Slayers. Prior to that there'd only ever been one or two Slayers so while deadly the chosen girls didn't really represent a credible threat to the status quo for either the demons or the human side of things.

However when the Slayer population went from one to decidedly beyond that everything changed.

It might've been different if the Old Council had still been around and had been the people calling the shots in the new Slayer Army. To the other head honchoes of the world Travers and his bunch were a known quantity with qualities that could be predicted and possibly controlled. With the Scoobies though not only were they young but they were essentially learning as they went with Giles and a few other surviving members of the old guard as guides. To the people in charge of security and defence such a combination, such a shift in the status quo, represented a threat that could not be allowed freedom for very long.

Either the Slayer Organization would be brought under the control of an established world power or they would be eliminated in order to restore the old status quo.

However he along with the other Scoobies had refused to acknowledge this dark version of the truth believing that only demons and vampires would hate the Slayer Organization. In their mind their new group's goal was to protect humans from demons and dark magic users nothing more. This to them meant that they weren't a threat to humankind and therefore should be largely ignored by the human world powers save when matters of a supernatural sort were afoot.

Needless to say when they began to encounter trained humans armed with military grade gear they got a little concerned. There'd been no identifying markings or symbols to work with so it'd been presumed that they were merely mercs hired by a demon run organization like Wolfram & Hart. It hadn't been until they managed to unmask one of them near the end of Summer that they'd gotten the shock of their life.

It'd been Graham Miller from the Initiative.

As far as the Scoobies knew the guy had been and still was a part of the USA military but that implied that either Miller had gone rogue or the U.S military had been behind the previous attacks. Naturally the order was given for Graham to be restrained so that they could take him back to HQ for a thorough interrogation but out of nowhere the guy began spasming like a cattle prod had been shoved into his brain. This proved to be morbidly accurate since almost ten seconds later smoke began to drift out of the soldiers ears, nose and mouth. It only got grosser when his eyes ruptured but that proved to be the tipping point since two seconds later Graham dropped to the ground before going still.

Willow had immediately used her magic to try and figure out what'd happened but what she found had shocked them all.

A device, a combination of science and magic, had been implanted in Miller and by some means his best bud wasn't clear on it'd been activated resulting in the man being cooked from the inside out. To the best of their recollection they'd seen no sign that Graham had activated the implant himself to commit suicide so they came to the conclusion that it'd been initiated remotely. Likely someone had been observing the battle and once it became clear that the soldier would be taken for interrogation Miller had been silenced.

A disturbing move since it implied that Graham knew sensitive information AND that the info was something they'd take issue with if they were to learn of it.

Once they'd gotten back to the main HQ Giles, Willow and Dawn had reached out to every government contact they had looking for answers. Why was America attacking them? Who was in charge of the effort? What was their goal? On the surface their contacts claimed that they knew nothing about this and that they would look into the matter right away. However one of them who had a long standing relationship with Giles had managed to convey a warning without saying anything or even planting anything within the tone of his words. G-Man hadn't gone into specifics but it'd been enough to convince him that elements of the American military were indeed behind the attacks. He'd even gone so far as to say he believed it was specifically the elements responsible for countering supernatural threats in the United States.

After that theories were tossed about to explain why a group of people who knew the score, who dealt with the same side of the world as them, would turn on them. Willow had stated that more than anyone else those people should know how infighting amongst allies only helped the demons. Buffy had proposed that perhaps the top people running that part of the American military were under outside demonic influence with the intent of destroying the Slayer Organization. It was a disturbing possibility made all the more possible by the recollection of how Walsh had ignored all unscientific sources of info on the supernatural. If her superiors had chosen to follow the same path it would render them especially vulnerable to arcane methods of control or psychic alterations.

Working with that as their premise Willow had gotten to work with the rest of their magic experts to start evaluating known methods of mind control or alteration as well as ways to undo them. While the redhead did that the rest of them would tap into their lesser known sources, the bottom feeders, in an effort to find out who precisely they needed to fix. The plan was that once they had targets they could use the methods Willow found to free them from demonic control ending the human threat to the organization. If luck was with them they might even learn enough to identify who'd done the mind mojo in the first place so a counterattack could be put into motion.

Time passed until three days ago when their hopes of a speedy resolution to things were dashed as they got a list of names of likely puppets.

All of them were highly ranked and NONE of them would be easily gotten to. Willow even told them that long range uses of the cures she'd found required something biologically tied to the target like hair or blood. All of the people they thought had been brainwashed by demons lived in secure locations with small armies and strong defences in place. Buffy had thought this simply meant that they would need to get serious, gear up for stealth infiltration and have Willow ready to teleport them out once they'd accomplished their mission.

No doubt the eldest Slayer alive believed that between Slayer powers and some Willow gadgets they'd be able to slip in unnoticed to do what they needed to do.

He was glad that Giles had chosen to back him up when he pointed out that given what Willow had found in Graham the Anti-Organization forces had magic users on their side. To him this meant that there was a strong possibility that they might've put magic security around their big movers and shakers. Nine out of ten times he'd back Willow's skills against anyone else in the world but he knew she still had a ways to go in her magic education. No matter how prodigious her aptitude for learning was it still took time to take knowledge in and even longer to fully master it for practical use. If his instincts were right then the people set to destroy them had experienced mojo users on their side that might know more than Willow was capable of countering. Giles had agreed and put forth the plan to check with members of the magical community to see who'd dropped out of sight or been captured by the American military. They'd focus on those who'd have the biggest reasons to feel threatened by the Slayer Army or were the best mojo users for hire that Giles knew of.

Once they had a list THEN they'd be able to plan missions to free the movers and shakers running the operation to destroy them.

They never got the chance.

Later that night, when most of them were asleep or feeling the need for it, the attack had come.

Choppers, tanks, infantry vehicles and other assorted military forces announced their arrival with a bang. Only the protections that Willow had erected around the castle kept them from being wiped out in the first few salvos. After that everyone had been awake and had scrambled to get to their posts or arm up for a fight. He remembered the feeling he'd experienced when he'd first seen the totality of the forces arrayed against them and it was something he'd never felt before. Not even when they'd fought against the uber vamps during the final day of Sunndyale had he felt like he had seeing a well armed army set to attack them. He guessed it had to do with the fact that before they'd been fighting monsters so he'd feel nothing from killing them.

Killing humans, people that likely were only following the orders of their mind controlled bosses, was something entirely different.

Giles had gotten on the magical organization hotline to his contacts in the British government to request immediate political and possibly military intervention. USA forces operating on British soil without official permission would not be tolerated. If action was taken quickly enough America would be forced to withdraw or risk open conflict with the United Kingdom. G-Man had been certain that there was no way that any of his fellow countrymen knew of much less would support such a blatant breach of sovereignty.

The shock on his father figure's face and the paleness that followed even as the man walked away from his magic radio told a different story.

It'd taken Buffy three tries and a firm shake to get her mentor to spill what he'd been told but none of them had been ready for it.

He still felt a measure of disbelief three days later.

According to Giles the British government was fully aware of what the American military was doing and the operation had their full support. They'd gone on to say that other governments worldwide were likewise moving into position to strike at various Organization properties around the globe. The objective: the complete eradication of the Slayer army and all affiliated personnel. According to the man Giles had spoken to the leaders of the various anti-supernatural divisions of each major power were sick and tired an outside party leading the charge against the forces of darkness. Due to past magically binding agreements signed by their founding fathers and provided by ancient members of the Old Watchers Council the world governments had no choice but to leave matters in the hands of the Council. They could form divisions of defence against the supernatural but all major actions against the supernatural had to be performed, directed or condoned by the Council.

However with Travers and the majority of the Old Council dead the agreements were now nullified freeing the governments of the world to act as they desired.

It was only with the rise of the Slayer Organization, the assembly of the Slayer Army, and the efforts of the Scoobies to form new deals with world governments that an unpleasant possibility entered the minds of the world leaders. Would they once more find themselves locked into an agreement as they had been before? It apparently hadn't taken them long to rebel at the idea and come to the conclusion that to eliminate the threat the Slayer Organization had to be eliminated in its entirety. The few people who opposed such extreme action had pointed out how vulnerable they might wind up making themselves by wiping out all the Slayers. They might've regained their freedom and possessed divisions to fight with but they were still a ways off from being able to hold their own against all supernatural threats.

This did little to change the minds of the majority.

In their mind the Slayer army was an aberration that had yet to become set in stone as the new status quo. If they wiped out the living Slayers then the ages old cycle of one slayer per generation would reassert itself reviving the old status quo. It would then become the practice that whichever country the new Slayer was born in would assume command of her until her death. Some had even boasted that since there was no way of knowing where the next Slayer would be Called every country a Slayer was born in would do their best to keep her alive. An operative with the powers of the Slayer would be too valuable to surrender to death without a fight. The lucky country would do all they could to keep her alive so that they could make full use of her and that meant an official support team as well as military backup.

That would be more than the Old Council had ever done.

If it turned out that killing the currently living Slayers spawned a new Slayer army then by eliminating all Organization personnel each country could recruit the girls themselves. The future Slayers would work for them and them alone trained to be the best of the best by the military as well as incorporated into the official chain of command.

A new balance would be achieved and each government would control their own destinies in a way that'd been impossible under the agreement with the Old Council.

Boil it all down and it meant just one thing.

They were on their own and all over the world so were the people at every Organization property in existence.

As soon as Giles had related the facts to the rest of them Willow had frantically tapped into her magic to reach out to the other properties around the world. His best bud had no doubt intended to warn them of the coming attack and tell them to scatter immediately in the hopes it would allow them to survive. However the enemy was one step ahead of them because the moment Willow reached out she was brought to her knees in pain and when it receded a trickle of blood dropped from her nose. It took her a moment but she'd revealed that apparently immediately after Giles had finished his 'talk' with the British government a spell had been cast to cut them off from the others. Could she power through it? Possibly but it'd take time and considering the guests outside time was something they probably didn't have a lot of.

In the end they'd been forced to focus on their own defence and say silent prayers that the other locations would be able to hold on until reinforcements could be sent.

That had been three days ago.

Three days in which they had pulled every rabbit out of every hat they had and given their all to protect themselves against the forces at their literal gates. It was a credit to their training and the strength of their combined wills that they'd managed to last as long as they had but he could see the end coming. Despite efforts to stretch out Willow's ability to keep the protective barrier up with the support of other magic users exhaustion was beginning to set in with all of them. They'd been reduced to taking magical booster shots and the real life equivalent to video game ether potions to keep their magic levels high enough for the job.

It wouldn't last forever.

The rest of them had been leading and coordinating the Slayers and Organization staff for hit and run attacks on the American military forces. They knew a straight up shooting war wouldn't end well for them so they'd focused on striking where the enemy was weakest then retreating before reinforcements could arrive to do anything. The first few strikes had been…messy…due to the fact that it was everyone's first time attacking and trying to kill humans but after seeing one too many of their friends die in a hail of gunfire they'd gotten the message.

It was kill or be killed.

Winners live and losers died.

After that no one hesitated and everyone did their best to look out for each other.

Too bad exhaustion was setting in for all of them since it wasn't exactly practical to get a full eight hours of sleep when you were under attack by a superior force. Add to that the fact that their numbers were reduced with every engagement while the American forces remained all too strong victory had ceased to be a possibility. So why were they still fighting? Some still fought because the idea of surrender went against everything they believed in while others fought out of a fierce need to avenge their fallen comrades. Him? He knew death was coming for them and he knew that there was no escaping it no matter what they did. All they had left to them was to decide HOW they would die and at whose hands.

The Americans…or their own.

Even if they tried to surrender they'd either be gunned down on the spot or be imprisoned before being put through a show trial and then executed.

No thank you!

If he was going to die he was going down fighting every step of the way! He'd take as many American troops down before dying himself! A more moral course of action might have had them simply commit group suicide rather than harm a single human being. To remain true to the purpose for which the Slayer Organization was formed. But morals had a tendency to lose their grip on the human heart when they witnessed friends and loved ones murdered in front of them. Even he who had chosen to fight by Buffy's side to prove himself better than Tony Harris no longer cared about maintaining the moral high ground.

What was the point?

The dead were silent and the victors wrote history.

All that was left for him, for any of them, was to try and leave this world with a handful fewer regrets and perhaps gain a measure of satisfaction.

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Dawn's POV

"How's your ammo?" Asuka, an operations agent from Japan, asked even as she checked her own.

"I've got…one full clip and half of one in the gun." She replied after popping out the clip to check its contents before putting it back in.

"Well you're better off than me." Asuka said tossing an empty clip to the side before popping what looked to be her last fresh one in, "Last one."

Had this been any other situation she would've told the redhead to head to the armoury to pick up two or three more but that was not the case. Why? Because there was no more ammo. After yesterday's attack on an enemy supply tent the remaining ammo had gotten divided up amongst the survivors with priority given to those who had the best aim or the most experience with guns.

Sadly at the rate they were using their rounds she'd say that by the end of the day they'd be forced to go with conventional anti-demon weapons: melee and arrows.

She didn't like their odds at that point.

In fact she believed that the only reason they'd lasted as long as they had was that it'd taken until yesterday for the soldiers to give up trying to blast Willow's barrier to pieces. Instead they'd chosen to try and find the ways the Slayer teams had gotten out of the castle to attack them so that the same routes could be used to get inside. At first Willow had been confident that the wards placed at either end as well as along those routes would be enough to keep the soldiers out. However within five hours of starting the Americans began to make slow but steady progress along two of the routes. This proved that the attacking forces had magic users on their side and they were both skilled enough as well as powerful enough to dispel the wards. The redhead had tried multiple times to revive them remotely but had failed each time leaving no other choice but to go to each location and recast them.

Too bad those locations had plenty of soldiers around them that definitely wouldn't just stand by to let that happen.

Immediately Slayers, Scoobies and Organization staff had been redeployed to cover the two secret paths while still having people on the walls to keep an eye on the main enemy force. At that point they'd had to push back attempt after attempt to breach the castle and it was through these encounters that they were ruthlessly forced to acknowledge a single truth.

The members of the Slayer Organization were hopelessly inexperienced with modern weaponry and the American soldiers were making them pay for it.

Contrary to what many might think there was more to using a gun than simply pointing the barrel at the target and pulling the trigger. Aiming was vital as well as proper handling not to mention knowing how best to use them in all the most common combat environments. Of everyone in the castle only Xander and a handful of others had any real skill with guns causing them to be made leaders of each group. Each leader directed their team in how to use what they had but slapdash instruction in a hurry couldn't match years of military training.

There were casualties after each encounter and some injuries that necessitated that the person be removed from the defence line.

~If the others are down ammo to the same level as me and Asuka we've all got one more good fight left in us before it'll be fists and blades time.~ She thought before taking aim down the tunnel through which the soldiers would come.

Now she wished that she'd backed Xander more strongly when he'd argued for modern weapons to be added to the Organization's armoury of weapons. It had been about a year after the fall of Sunnydale when the Scoobies had begun discussing how they wanted the Organization to run that Xander had proposed adding modern weaponry. His stance had been that with Travers and the old guard gone there was nothing to hold them back from bringing in modern equipment for Slayers to use. Naturally both Buffy and Giles had opposed the idea citing their ineffectiveness against demons, vampires and ghosts but Xan hadn't just backed down. He'd pointed out all the advantages of modern weapons against demons both in practical ways as well as strategic advantages.

In the end though he'd been voted down by the others but as a concession Giles had permitted a small collection of modern weapons to be placed at each Organization location. The old Brit had pointed out that it wasn't unheard of for demons and groups like Wolfram & Hart to use humans to attack their enemies. It was usually done either because human troopers were seen as expendable cannon fodder of no value or because it was believed that the target would have difficulty fighting them on moral grounds. If that happened then they needed options for dealing with them that was a little less bloody than the blades they already had and guns meant that they wouldn't need to get in close to subdue the human enemy forces. However Giles had insisted that the cache at each location be kept small in order to keep from ruffling any feathers with the politicians and law enforcement organizations.

'We may be on the same side but that does not mean there are not concerns about our organization. Concessions need to be made for the sake of coexistence'

That was what Giles had told them back then.

Now it look liked those concessions meant to help them get along with others were instead going to be what got them killed.

If she'd sided with Xander back then and convinced maybe Willow into doing the same they'd have more guns, more ammo and all of them would've undergone training.

~Hopefully I'll be smarter in my next life.~ She thought before a faint sound reached her ears causing her to tense up and ensure her finger was on the trigger.

Taking aim at the spots where the soldiers were likely to become visible first she tried to remember what Xander had told the teams over the walkie-talkies. Don't bother trying for a headshot because even those that had the skill for it couldn't hit such a target consistently enough for it to be an efficient use of ammo. Instead aim for the main body and if you can the area above where the heart would be since there was a better chance of hitting something. Considering the number of novices on their side it was good advice. Xander had also stressed no 'spray and pray' attacks since they needed to make every bullet count since resupply was an impossibility at the moment.

Single shots or short bursts only.

She was all ready to begin shooting when the sounds of footfalls stopped and her best guess placed the soldiers just shy of where they'd need to be in order to give her a target. This wasn't much of a surprise since after so many skirmishes the Americans had to have clued in to where the Organization's defences were. Thinking matters through she didn't think it'd be smart to toss some grenades because from where they'd stopped there was no way it'd roll far enough to reach her and Asuka. Whether it was the deadly kind or the smoke kind the two of them were far enough away to be safe and any soldier trying to use smoke grenades to get closer would still fall short.

So what…

That was when a new sound reached her ears that was familiar but not something she'd heard for a very long time. Before she could even begin trying to figure it out what it was the source revealed itself as something that reminded her of a remote controlled car zipped into view before heading right for her and Asuka. She almost dismissed it as a threat but then she spotted what looked to be a custom made grenade being carried along for the ride. Immediately she took aim at it before opening fire with single shots determined to destroy the soldiers' new toy before it got too close. Asuka followed her lead but whoever was behind the controls of the little vehicle must've had training to counter efforts like this because they were dodging everything. Random changes in direction and speed greater than anything a remote controlled toy car could manage quickly ramped up her frustration. When the last of the bullets in her gun ran out she ejected the clip and slid in the new one with speed and precision she knew Xander would've been impressed with.

As it was though it was too little too late.

Just as her crosshairs were an inch from landing on the mini-vehicle the world two things happened that derailed her efforts. One was Asuka throwing herself in front of her for unknown reasons and the next happened less than a second later the world went painfully white. Her eyes burned with such pain that made her wonder if it was literal rather than figurative. A detached part of her noted that it was likely only due to Asuka's attempt to shield her that her left eye wasn't being hit as hard as her right eye. Regardless she experienced pain on a level that rocked her mind and brought her to her knees but when she heard the boots of soldiers once more advance she pushed her suffering to the side. Bringing her gun up she tried to force her vision to come back but all she got was half of it and that half wasn't all that great. She could see contrasts between light and dark as well as very blurry shapes but that was it. It also felt like exposing her eyes to stimulation fed the pain she was experiencing causing it to spasm like an open wound.

Still it proved to be enough.

As the soldiers came into view she opened fire and judging from how they reacted she was willing to bet that they'd been expecting her and Asuka to be helpless. Not an unreasonable position since if Asuka hadn't partially blocked the blast she'd have lost her vision entirely leaving only sound to aim by. Sadly the number of people that could aim accurately by sound alone were not numerous and she certainly wasn't among them. This gave her a one in a million chance to put an end to this group and she couldn't afford to waste it.

So she didn't.

With pain and desperation came a level of focus that she took full advantage of as she fired and by the time the clicking of an empty magazine echoed through the air the soldiers were all on the ground. She waited, watched, and when none of them made a move to get back up or aim their weapons at her she concluded that she really had succeeded in killing them.

Moving over to where Asuka lay on the ground still clutching her face and crying out in pain and trauma she tried to pull the hands away to get a better look at the damage. She knew her vision was terrible but some part of her needed to know how bad it was if only to convince herself that there was still hope for some kind of recovery. It took effort but eventually she succeeded…

….and immediately wished she hadn't.

It turned out that her earlier analogy of burning pain was indeed something that could be taken literally. In place of the eyes that were supposed to be there all that existed were two bloody and blackened smoking holes with the grey trails of smoke looking like they'd be going for awhile. There would be no recovery from this. In the years that'd followed Sunnydale's destruction Willow had looked for ways to restore Xander's eyesight to him using magic or the supernatural. However after a year straight the redhead had been forced to admit defeat. No trustworthy magic could restore a missing eye and the demonic possibilities had too many ways it could go wrong. None of them were pleased by this but they accepted it since none could deny the fact that Willow had given it her all.

If no way could be found to fix her best bud then there was no way Willow would be able to undo the damage done to Asuka.

~I need to warn them!~ She thought realizing that the American soldiers might use the same custom grenade on the others.

If it was hellishly painful to her and Asuka she could only imagine how it'd be if a Slayer with their super acute senses were exposed to it.

Fumbling a bit with her wakie-talkie she pressed the transmit button.

"Watch out everyone!" She yelled in order to be sure that, "They have some kind of custom grenade and remote control car delivery system! It BURNS OUT eyes! Watch out!"

All she got back once she let go of the transmit button was static.

Were the others too busy to reply? Had they still heard her warning? Or had something been done to jam communications.

~Looks like I gotta do this the hard way.~ She thought before standing up and heading for the stairs.

There was no point in remaining here.

She was out of bullets and the damage done to her own eyes she didn't need to be a genius to know how another confrontation would turn out. The only thing she could do now was to try and get to the others to spread her warning as best she could. If the American soldiers deployed enough of these custom grenades successfully their defences such as they were would collapse and it'd turn into a slaughter. Sure they were all operating under the conclusion that their deaths were inevitable at this point but to be blinded and then shot was not a satisfactory way to die.

Some might say that there was no such thing as a good way to die but in her opinion it was possible to choose a death you could be content with.

She only prayed that she would have a chance to make a choice she could be at peace with.

---

Xander's POV

~Not like this! NOT LIKE THIS!~ He thought even as he fought desperately to get the military boot off of his chest.

BANG!

"NO! BUFFY!" He yelled even though he knew that his friend, his hero, could no longer hear him.

Kinda hard to do that when you had a gaping bullet wound in your head.

It was the latest of a series of blows to his soul that that made him wonder how it was still in one piece.

The attack had come out of the blue and despite their best efforts it had succeeded. The American soldiers had prepared well and now it was all paying off. When he'd seen the motorized thing heading towards them he'd known right off the bat that it was meant to deliver some sort of payload so he'd opened up on it. The others had done the same but whoever had designed the little thing had possessed foresight enough to give it protection in the form of small armour plates and unless he was mistaken temporary vector distortion abilities. The special ability didn't last long, just three volleys of bullets, but it'd been enough for the motorized thing to get close enough to achieve its objective.

Instinct and muscle memory had caused him to bring up his arms to shield his face protecting him from what came next but the others hadn't been so lucky. The explosion of light had caused howls of pain to erupt all around him but oddly enough missing an eye and his Halloween possession remnants that spared him the same fate. Nevertheless the trauma that he went through upon seeing what'd happened to the others distracted him enough that by the time he noticed the oncoming soldiers he couldn't bring his rifle to bear quickly enough. Bullets from their rifles tore through his body and actually managed to blow off his right arm and left leg at the joint. It caused him great pain and with a leg missing he'd helplessly fallen to the ground, nearly blacking out from the flare up of agony, but when he opened his eyes it was to the sight of Giles having a bullet put through his skull.

He'd done his best to fight through the pain, to act, but his body would not respond the way he wanted it to and then one of the bastard soldiers had decided to pin him in place with his booted foot. As a result he'd been helpless as one by one the people that'd fought by his side to hold this position were killed. Some had been coherent enough to understand what was going on and had tried to fight back but with their sight taken from them it'd been pointless.

Giles.

Leah.

Rowena.

Renee.

And now Buffy.

All killed right in front of him in spite of his struggling.

"Quit fooling around Sears!" One of the other soldiers barked at the one pinning him down, "Finish him off. We've got an entire castle to sweep through."

"What's your hurry Plisken? Intel says these idiots only had a handful of guns and antiques to fight with." Sears said not sounding concerned at all, "Plus our 'contractors' outside say that their barrier isn't going to last much longer. It's all but a done deal. Might as well have some fun while we can."

"We're here because of orders SERGEANT." Plisken stated with emphasis on rank, "Infiltrate the castle, deploy the weapon prototypes and eliminate all the occupants. Nowhere in those orders were we given permission to 'have fun'. Now get to it!"

"Fine. Looks like it's your lucky day cyclops!" Sears said before taking casual aim at his head, "You get to die quick instead of slow. Give those bitches my regards when you get to hell!"

This only stoked his rage even more but with only one arm and rapidly declining strength due to blood loss getting the foot on his chest to move was a lost cause. His soul was willing, screaming actually, but his body was unable to do its part. So his only choice was to glare at Sears with all the hate his eye could convey. He truly hoped that if it was possible that he could turn into one of those vengeful ghosts so he could haunt all these bastards to their dying day. If things went that way he'd make it his mission to drive each and every single one of them to commit suicide or maybe get them to kill their own loved ones.

D'Hoffryn might've had a point all those years ago when he told Anya to go for the pain rather than the kill.

BOOM! BOOM BO-BOOM!

"ARGH!"

"AAHHH!"

"What the hel-" was as far as Sears got.

BOOM!

The cause? Against all odds and common sense a veritable valkyrie showed up using a SPAS-12 combat shotgun to blow away soldier after soldier who'd let their guard down. The best part about using a shotgun was the fact that you didn't need precise aiming to kill your target. All you need to do was point it at the target, brace yourself and pull the trigger. Given the fact that he'd made sure to acquire the most damaging ammo he could for the SPAS-12 and the protective vests the soldiers were wearing might as well have been made out of paper. In the end by the time that the last shell was spent every soldier was on the ground with a large chunk of their chests turned into mulch.

It was GLORIOUS!

While he would've preferred to have done it himself letting Dawn be the one to avenge her sister made it okay in his book.

"Xander!" Dawn exclaimed apparently just then fully registering his presence.

Seeing her rush to his side he decided he could forgive her for this because it would be pointless to hold onto something like that when they were all likely to die very soon.

"Hey Dawine!" He said while trying to make it sound like he wasn't that bad off, "Nice shots."

"To hell with the shots! We…we gotta get you to the infirmary!" Dawn exclaimed looking him over before recklessly ripping the sleeves off of her shirt, "Gotta stop the bleeding. Gotta stop the bleeding!"

"Dawn…I'm…I'm done. We both know it." He said momentarily considering lying to her before dismissing the option, "I'm missing an arm and a leg not to mention there's a handful of bullets in my gut. That's ICU territory and I doubt the soldiers are just going to loan us a chopper to get to the nearest hospital. I figure I've got another three or four minutes before I go unconscious from the blood loss."

Watching as Dawn began to shake her head while muttering denials the anger within him spiked twice before resuming its simmering posture within him. First for the fact that her eyes told him that she'd been hit with a glancing blow from the American's new sight depriving weapon and secondly that even after all Dawn had been through she still had innocence to lose. It'd been years since she'd first been exposed to the supernatural and demonic with half of them requiring her to pick up a weapon to fight. One would think that after all that, after all she had been exposed to, that any rose tinted glasses she had would be hopelessly damaged if not destroyed.

Yet now…now she was refusing to see the truth even though it was staring her in the face. In spite of all that had happened the last three days some part of her still believed that there could be something good that could happen. That she could somehow keep his wounds from leading to his death. He supposed that after everything they'd been through since the Americans had arrived a little insanity, clinging to denial, was to be expected.

~Maybe this is better.~ He thought even as a noise caused him to look back to the compromised tunnel, ~Better this than falling to the very depths of despair.~

Looking to his left he cast his gaze about for a weapon because even if death was inevitable he still wasn't willing to just lay there and let this bastards deal the finishing blow. He would leave this world as he'd lived it since the day Buffy had opened his eyes to the truth: fighting evil wherever it showed itself and doing what was necessary to protect the innocent. Sadly for him there were no guns within reach, just the special project that Willow had made for him, so he had to settle for what was available.

Not that there was anything wrong with Willow's prototype but a blade was a blade and this one wasn't exactly designed for throwing.

Katana's never were.

It'd been something that had come up once the number of newbie Slayers started mounting up with too few trustworthy instructors to go around. So many of them were using whatever swords or blades they got their hands on a little too roughly so a lot of them were returning damaged if not completely useless. While there might be numerous ways of getting sword shaped items on the market getting ahold of ones that were fit for actual combat against demons was a lot harder. Giles' solution was to speed up the recruitment of new Watchers and instructors for the new Slayer Army so that the girls knew how to use their weapons right. HIS solution on the other hand was to simply make a blade that even a Slayer couldn't dent, chip or break. To that end he'd asked Willow to take modern metals and alloys that were both durable as well as capable of holding a cutting edge and use modern machinery to make them. Old established swords were designed for humans with human level strength and speed so they didn't exactly measure up to what the Slayers needed.

Willow had been interested and took it as a challenge before setting to work.

Giles stuck in his ways as he was didn't have as enthusiastic but he'd green lit the project though personally he figured it was in the belief that some flaw would prevent the idea form being formally adopted. All in all it'd been just short of two weeks before the American soldiers had shown up that Willow had come up with the prototype and Buffy had been given the job to try it out. As usual when given a new weapon she'd treated it like a new toy even as she'd gone through a fake fight with an imaginary opponent. Add to that some actual attempts to cut through some weapons and it'd been an effective field test that proved the prototype could take the punishment of a Slayer but still be combat ready.

Much to Giles' disappointment.

~Here's hoping your ready for one last fight beautiful.~ He thought grabbing the blade by the hilt with his still functional arm.

"Get over behind those crates." He said looking at where he wanted Dawn, "They're coming. You got any ammo left?"

"Just a handful. Kennedy…she…didn't have much left on her." Dawn replied a bit of sadness showing up on her features for a moment.

Damn.

~Willow…she's not going to take that well.~ He thought never for a second considering the possibility that his best bud might already be dead.

As long as the barrier was still up Willow and at least two magic users were still conscious as well as in possession of fuel enough to maintain it. If it fell he'd know it and the Americans would probably try to save bullets by recalling their troops and just bombarding the castle until it was a pile of gravel.

"Load'em up. Draw them towards you but wait for me to make the first move." He said with grim resolve, "I'll only get one or two swings in probably but when they focus on me that'll be your cue to pop up and start shooting. With any luck we'll be able to take down this team like the last one."

He could see the conflict going on within her because she'd no doubt come to the same conclusion he had: after he took his two swings the odds of him being shot dead were close to a hundred percent. Even if Dawn made sure to shoot at the ones closest to him guns made it so that he could be killed from just about anyplace in the room so long as nothing was in the way. Last time Dawn was able to save his butt because she had the element of surprise on her side but even with him acting as a distraction she couldn't protect him and herself at the same time. She had to focus on protecting herself since aside from the damage to her vision she was more or less unharmed.

No matter how much it might hurt her to do so.

In the end though she proved that the years had matured her because she nodded before retreating behind the crates and soon after he heard the sound of shells being fed into the shotgun.

Focusing on his own issues he ignored the pain to toss some of the blood coming from the stump of his right arm onto his face. He needed to look dead for his surprise attack to work and make the soldiers overlook the fact that he was still technically breathing. He made it quick before going completely limp and still so that he'd look the part of a corpse or a soon to be corpse. Making sure to have his eyepatch was the side facing the ceiling he waited for the soldiers to get close using every sense he had to the best of his ability to know when to strike.

It'd be iffy but it was all he had.

It was a fight not to move, not to let any signs of the truth show up, especially since relaxing too much made it that much easier for his mind to slip into unconsciousness. It was an unstable balance with no set amount of focus being needed to keep him at the right level of consciousness to do what he needed to do.

He wouldn't be able to keep it up for long one way or another.

Fortunately it didn't take too long for the soldiers to enter the room all professional like just as they'd been trained to do. With every step they took he worried that they might figure out he was faking being dead and make that state a reality but nothing happened. The vibrations in the floor and the sounds of their gear shifting were the best ways for him to keep tabs on where they were. Thus when he judged that two of them were within range of the blade in his left arm he slashed at them even as he turned his head to look at them.

"AAHHH!" Cried the soldier he managed to cut into in the back of the knee.

Would've been nice to have taken the leg off at the knee but his one arm didn't have the strength and even though the katana was sharp it wasn't THAT sharp. He didn't wait more than a second before striking out at the second closest soldier and Lady Luck must've taken pity on him because he managed land a vertical slash that likely cut a few inches deep.

That was all he got done before the remaining four members of the team began to bring the barrels of their guns his way.

Just like he'd planned.

BOOM!

BOOM! BOOM!

And just like she was supposed to Dawn seized the opportunity to open fire on them with her shotgun save for one important detail.

Instead of prioritizing the soldiers that were the greatest threat to her the shotgun shells were being fired at the soldiers who'd have the clearest line of sight to him. Cursing her for wasting ammo on someone who was already dead he devoted his energy towards making himself a more important target. Bringing his katana down hard he finished off the one that he'd nearly taken the leg off of then let go of the hilt so he could grab the man's sidearm. None of the remaining American soldiers were going to be stupid enough to get close to him now and so he needed a new weapon.

Bringing the gun up to aim he noticed how shaky his arm was, a sign of his level of blood loss probably, but he fired anyways if only to pull some of the heat away from Dawn. He only fired two shots per target, he had to spread them out for maximum effect, but he succeeded in taking down at least one of the soldiers while wounding the rest. Whether because of luck or their savage performance the last two soldiers not rendered combat incapable by Dawn's shotgun or his actions began to retreat back down the tunnel. Were they cowards or did they truly believe that it was the right strategic decision?

BLAM! BLAM!

In the end it didn't matter because both of them got shot through the head…

…but not by him or Dawn.

The shots had come from the enemy's side of the tunnel.

"My soldiers do not retreat and I won't let it be known to be otherwise." A gruff man's voice said after the two retreating soldiers dropped dead to the ground.

Three ticks of a clock later the owner of the voice stepped into view revealing himself to be aged soldier more appropriate in a command centre than in the field. With a .44 Magnum revolver in hand the man walked in as though he was the ruler of all he surveyed but when he got to the eyes he tensed. Those were not the eyes of someone holding onto past glories or embracing the delusion that they were better than they were. They were the eyes of someone who'd spent most of their life on the battlefield and refused to allow either their mind or their body degrade once they were forced to leave it.

"As for you two I commend your bravery and commitment." The man said who he now recognized as a general by the rank insignia, "You've managed to hold back my forces for three days despite being heavily outnumbered and outgunned. I'm told that a third of your other locations in the world managed the same. Not bad for an organization less than a decade old."

"Glad we could…impress." He said starting to feel dangerously lightheaded.

"Your achievement is also why you all must be eliminated." The general said even as he raised his revolver to aim at him, "An independent organization manned by skilled superhuman operatives with no allegiance to any country. No accountability. In short you're too dangerous to be allowed to exist."

"All we were doing was fighting demons! Saving the world!" Dawn yelled angrily even as she threw down the SPAS-12.

He'd probably have done the same if he'd been in her position.

With no ammo left it was useless save as a makeshift club.

"That's a job for law enforcement or the military. NOT civilians." The general countered showing he would not be moved on this point.

~Oh. So he's one of THOSE!~ He thought realizing that trying to reason with this man was pointless.

A by the book, official chain of command and full accountability type.

Demons and vamps would have him for lunch.

"Only an idiot tries to kill allies just because they're not a part of the 'right' group." Dawn fired back the emotions of the past three days boiling up within her, "We want demons and vamps stopped! You want demons and vamps stopped! WHY IS IT SO GODDAMNED IMPORTANT FOR US TO PUNCHA DAMNED CLOCK WITH YOU PEOPLE!?"

"Because the day may come when you and yours won't be trying to stop the demons and vampires. You'll be trying to 'stop' the rest of us." The general replied proving unflappable in the face of Dawn's outburst, "Ordinary humans."

"That's crazy!" Dawn roared in outrage at thew very idea.

"Is it? My sources say that magic use, specifically combat applicable magic, can prove as addictive as any narcotic. Your friend Rosenberg was a junkie once so who's to say that she won't relapse in the future." The general said not flinching even a little, "I've also been told that the source of a Slayer's strength is a wisp of ancient demon inside of them. Who's to say that they won't one day lose themselves to it? Begin attacking humans indiscriminately. Inside the chain of command and 'punching a clock' such things could be closely monitored so steps could be taken to prevent needless death or suffering. Leaving you all to your own devices is just too big a risk."

"And you're not trying to 'recruit' us why?" He asked as his vision began to flicker.

"If I'd had my way we would've tried taking prisoners and then made a pitch. Complete background checks, thorough psych evaluations and if necessary 'security precautions'." The general replied pulling back the hammer on his revolver, "Unfortunately the orders for complete sanitization of the Slayer Organization come straight from the top so it's out of my hands. If it's any comfort I'll do everything I can to make sure your bodies are returned to your closest relatives and a respectable cover story put in place."

"Fuck you!" Dawn growled in a way that if she'd been a demon he would've expected things to get bloody REALLY fast.

Glaring up at the man he didn't say anything, letting the fire in his eyes convey how he felt, and the man 'hmphed' before beginning to apply pressure to the trigger. Hearing the sounds of rapid movement he could only guess that Dawn was in a moment of insanity charging to once again try to save his life. Watching as the man began to shift his aim time seemed to slow even as he tried to move to hinder the man's efforts even if it was only a little. More than likely it was just another stage of his blood loss or perhaps the psychological trauma of the last few days finally catching up with him. Nevertheless he pressed onward determined not to surrender the possibility of his being successful in slowing the general down enough for Dawn to get a blow in.

If there was one thing he'd learned it was that sometimes all a miracle needed in order to happen was for the will of two people to burn hot enough to light the fuse.

Xander would never know how right he was.

Not really.

It wasn't his fault of course, he simply didn't have the means to perceive the truth, but to those that did probability took a turn that no one could've seen coming. In a matter of nanoseconds unique energies that up until then had kept their distance began to come together in response to the overwhelming willpower of their containers. The power of the Key was one for even though much of it had been used up through Glory's efforts to get home some traces still flowed through Dawn's veins. The stench of chaos that defied probability and had allowed Xander Harris to not only defeat a true prophecy but also retain aspects of the changes the supernatural had attempted to do on his body was another.

The last unique energy though proved to be the tipping point though for while not the same as Xander the amount of time that she spent with him had caused some chaos to rub off on him. As a result, on that Halloween so long ago, Xander was not the only one to retain something from his costume. His Soldier Boy inheritance was simply more pervasive, more noticeable, due to the fact that the chaos that clung to him stronger than her.

But even a light coating or a light stench of chaos was enough for some things to cling where otherwise they would've faded away.

And so as Dawn Summers charged the American general to save the man that still held her heart the energies mingled to have a remarkable effect. The remnants of the costume that she'd worn on that Halloween night were revitalized and the pathways they once had occupied began to fill once more. Against all odds the traits, characteristics and most importantly the power once more began to manifest in reality.

All in the form of her hair growing wild, long and light red as well as a trio of small ruby pearls that formed an upside down pyramid just above her brow.

Through these manifestation and the emotions felt by both Dawn as well as Xander a miracle had all it needed to happen.

All that was needed was for someone to pick up the proverbial 'phone' on the other end.

And they had or rather SHE had.

---

The Secondary Secret Castle Tunnel

In the Space Between Seconds

"Well now…" an intelligent voice said even as the owner inspected the scene, "I don't know what I was expecting but this wasn't it. Interesting."

Little by little, like a scientist evaluating a potential find with nothing but natural senses, a little girl who looked to be no more than four and a half feet tall moved about. However she looked to be mostly unaffected by the dead bodies, the blood and the gaping wounds around her. A few winces perhaps and maybe a look of disgust but nothing even close to what you'd expect of someone that young taking in such a horrible scene.

"Hmmm…so she was the source of the little tug I felt awhile back." The girl said before raising her hands to waist level, "Let's take a look shall we."

In a way that seemed to mimic magic two panes of blackness that had the likeness of glass appeared in front of the girl but they were quickly shown to be something else. No mere solid state items were they but in truth they were revealed to be a computer interface of unparalleled sophistication. As though the keyboard part was no more than an extension of her the little girl tapped away at it adapting to the new information that came up to further guide her efforts. In what to some would've been five minutes but in reality was barely a quarter of a second the girl finished her work and had a look of great interest on her face.

"So this is where it went!" The girl exclaimed in joy at what she'd learned, "I'd wondered where that idiot Kagato tossed it after he captured me. Looks like someone did some pretty interesting reconfiguring of its physio-matrices but just at the level of competency. Definitely a mortal human designer but it's impressive that they managed to do anything at all. Looks like fragments of a temporary protean reconfiguration have gotten tangled up in some pretty dense chaos energy and the surge of spiritual energy triggered a temporary resurgence. Good thing it did since another second or two and I'd have been pretty annoyed. Let's get you fixed up!"

With that the tapping on the keyboard resumed but this time it was accompanied every so often with a part of the charging young lady's body lighting up with some kind of alteration effect. Sometimes the body part would appear to section itself into blocks the size of sugar cubes with random ones rotating either vertically or horizontally. Other times panes of light would pass over the entire body but cause certain internal organs to remain aglow for two or three seconds before fading. The only obvious signs that something substantial was being done was when the damage done to the young lady's eyes were undone along with any other visible physical damage.

"There! Your core energy has been configured into something compatible with a corporeal form and your body's been adapted to permanently accept the protean reconfiguration changes. It won't be anything impressive starting out but give it some time and I think you'll like it." The four and a half foot girl said before stepping away from her console, "Now let's see what else needs doing."

With that the little girl begins to walk about the room examining everyone present whether they were on their feet or on their back. One would think that there wasn't much to see since much of it was fairly self-evident but that was not the case for this individual. All of what'd been visible since she had arrived were pretty compelling clues that she was not anything even approaching normal. Thus one could only guess what the girl was seeing and learning as she went about the room but given her increasingly disapproving expression on her face it probably wasn't good.

"Well I guess there's no point in leaving you here." The girl said turning back to her original point of interest, "Even with your tune up guns won't tickle and it'd be annoying for all my work to be undone. That settles it! YOU my dear are getting relocated and just so you won't be lonely I'll make sure some of your friends come along for the ride."

"NO! Absolutely NOT!" A new voice said somehow preceding the arrival of a short Brooklyn looking guy as he shimmered into existence, "Take The Key! Take Harris! Hell! My bosses will be glad to be rid of him! But the rest stay here."

The four and a half foot tall girl eyed the new arrival for a moment before letting out a snort of being unimpressed.

"If you're the best your 'bosses' can do for a messenger than I've got nothing to worry about." The girl said before making it clear she wasn't intimidated in the least, "I'm doing it."

"You can't! This isn't your reality so you can't just do whatever you want." Mister Brooklyn said determined to force his 'orders' on her, "The Key you can take because it's been nothing but trouble since it got here and Harris is a headache my bosses don't want to risk reincarnation with. The others though are part of a network of plans my bosses have both in their current lives and their future reincarnations."

"Let me guess: they have minds of their own and your bosses are hoping that they can properly train the mortals in their next lives so they'll follow the script." The girl said with a sharp grin on her face, "Idiots! If you change the variables mid-experiment you invalidate the results. You have to let things play out on their own if you're to get anything useful out of it."

"Only you would see maintaining the balance as a sincere experiment." Mister Brooklyn said flinching for a moment, "This is serious work me and my bosses are doing! We're trying to keep this entire reality from slipping into chaos!"

"More like you're trying to keep your jobs by making sure everything stays the same." The girl said not affected by the man's words at all.

"Quite right your highness." Spoke another voice from the door leading further into the castle.

Turning to see who it was they saw what at first glance appeared to me a man in a hooded robe that had seen some mileage but wasn't quite at the ratty stage just yet. It was only as the man walked further into the room that it was revealed that the hood had an opening in the back that showed a woman's face from the nose down to the neck. The girl looked mildly intrigued but the man from Brooklyn looked both agitated as well as one level higher in the 'I am angry' scale.

"Janus! Get out of here!" Mister Brooklyn ordered sweeping his arm in the direction of the door, "You're going to be in enough trouble as is just for manifesting on the mortal plane in violation of THEIR edict. Do NOT interfere! Balance will be restored here one way or another!"

"Balance? You mean stagnation don't you? The maintaining of your bosses' preferred status quo?" Janus asked with equal parts sarcasm and anger, "They were charged with leading the war against the demons and the darkness but instead chose to establish an equilibrium of their own making that would guarantee their positions of power at the cost of the mortal world. It's no different than war profiteering!"

"That may have been how things started out but they made the right call changing things." Mister Brooklyn said without even a little doubt, "Letting the war reach its conclusion would've left the Earth decimated for whoever wound up winning. Through the Balance the world is preserved and the mortals are allowed relatively peaceful lives for the most part."

"'Allowed'!? You make them sound like pets! Like animals!" Janus exclaimed in anger at the phrasing.

"Compared to my bosses they might as well be. Humans only live for seven or eight decades on average. Demons might live longer but they're mired in their impulses and archaic traditions." Mister Brooklyn stated as though it were all textbook, "My employers have been here from the beginning and with unmatched wisdom and knowledge they maintain the balance. Left to themselves the mortal races, both human and demonic, would wind up destroying themselves and the planet along with them sooner or later."

"As interesting as this entire philosophical debate is it doesn't really matter." The little girl said in a tone that made it impossible not to pay attention, "I will take who I want, where I want and your bosses can't stop me."

With that last word power seemed to well up from within the girl sending vibrations of power outwards that even someone with all the ESP of a rock could pick up on. Of those present and still able to both perceive as well as interact only Janus knew precisely who he was dealing with. For Mister Brooklyn he'd been briefed somewhat on where in the multiverse the little girl had come from as well as a bit about her but what he was feeling went as far beyond that as the galaxy is beyond a speck of sand.

It even went beyond anything his bosses had given off while he'd been in their presence.

And it was just getting warmed up.

Then it receded leaving just the little girl.

"W-w-what are you?" Mister Brooklyn asked taking several steps back.

"I am Chousin." The girl replied before turning her gaze completely to Janus.

Had she let her gaze rest on Mister Brooklyn for even a little longer she would've seen him go dangerously pale even as his jaw dropped and he was given a reason to need new pants.

"I am honoured." Janus said bowing with the right amount of deference, "I sensed your arrival and in anticipation of what you would do I procured these."

With those words the two faced being extended its right hand and in a flash of light five orbs of light, each of them unique in their own way, appeared.

"It was hard to procure them without THEM getting in the way but I did my best." Janus said willing the orbs to float over to the little girl and hover before her, "Buffy, Willow, Oz, Giles…I even plucked that Kennedy girl's soul since Rosenberg has a thing for her. Even though you cannot rid this reality of Whistler's bosses altogether I would ask that you deny them these sentient souls along with your 'daughter' and Alexander Harris. Short though their lives were in this reality each of them has been able to cause THEM more frustration and anger than nearly anyone in history. Even if they choose to punish me it will be well worth it knowing that any 'plans' they had for the seven of them have been ruined."

"Hmmmm….sounds good to me." The little girl said after a moments consideration, "Might have to make a few pit stops though. Traversing the multiverse isn't easy for mortals and it's even harder if you plan on cutting their ties to their native reality completely. Still if it'll teach those idiots who the real boss is I'll do it."

With that the girl tapped a few lines into her console causing both Alexander Harris and Dawn Summers to become encased in boxes of crimson light before winking out of existence. Another line of commands and the hovering souls did so as well conclusively putting them beyond the reach of Mister Brooklyn's bosses.

"Fortunately for them I know just the reality to put them in!" The little girl who called herself a Chousin said with an amused grin, "Should make for one helluva pitstop."

And with that the little girl snapped out of existence allowing time to resume its march.

Leaving an American general confused as to where the charging girl had gone along with the one armed and one legged man the aged man had originally intended to kill had gone.

Never in a million years would the man think of the right answer or have it suggested to him.

---

Reality 111895

Newport City, Japan

Local Timeline: February 5th, 2024

Dawn's POV

Beep. Beep.

That was the sound that roused her from unconsciousness but even as her senses began informing her of the world around her she tried to sink back down. Even if her mind wasn't coherent enough to actually draw forth the memories her instincts were enough to let her know that only pain along with sorrow were waiting for her in the waking world.

Beep. Beep.

However the beeping was beginning to get on her nerves as it jerked the soft oblivion of unconsciousness further and further out of her grasp. So in the end she gave in and rose the rest of the way to the conscious waking world before opening her eyes. What she saw washed away the lingering grogginess and replaced it with confusion since she found several things inconsistent with the memories that were flowing into her grasp.

According to her memories she should be in the Scottish castle in front of one of the two secret tunnels either dying or still fighting to take as many American soldiers down with her as possible before dying. Instead she found herself in a room roughly the size of a large classroom with a variety of machines installed into the floor, the walls and even the ceiling. Some she recognized as being somewhat updated versions of the systems that Willow had insisted on installing in the castle to 'bring the operation into the twenty-first century'. Other machines she had only a passing familiarity with since they'd been featured to varying degrees in popular movies or TV shows if in somewhat more primitive forms.

All of it seemed to be arrayed around a central phone booth sized tube that had various cables as well as pipes connecting it to both the ceiling as well as the floor. She couldn't see what was in it because some built in shutters had been lowered over its length but there was no mistaking its importance.

Beep. Beep.

Turning her head towards the noise she found that it was coming from a computer that someone had personalized quite a bit with the odd stickie note. Getting to her feet she strode with increasingly steady steps and once she reached the computer she slid into the officer chair with an ease she did not notice. Then she tapped a key on the keyboard to cause it to wake up and soon after the desktop appeared a video file auto-executed opening a window that almost took up the entire monitor screen. It was when the video began to play and the first three seconds went by that the root of her new circumstances was revealed.

Needless to say off all the possibilities she might've come up with for where she was now this wouldn't even have made it into the top one thousand.

"GOOD MORNING! Nice to see you up and about sleepy head." A girl who looked to be twelve years old said cheerily, "Now I know you've got questions and I'll do what I can to answer them.

"First your eyes do not deceive you! I AM WASHU THE GREATEST SCIENTIFIC MIND IN THE UNIVERSE! ANY UNIVERSE!" Washu-chain crowed with a cocky smile on her face, "But more than that I am Chousin. One of three goddesses that created the entire multiverse in all its endless variation. Impressive huh? Now I bet you're wondering what was someone like me doing visiting your corner of the multiverse. Honestly it's been awhile since I've paid your reality a visit mostly because it was one of my sister Tokimi's creations. She can be such a downer sometimes!

"I first got a reason to look your way a little under ten years ago from your perspective when I felt a light, almost imperceivable, tug on my power." Washu said with an almost playful glint in her eyes, "Can you guess what might've caused that?"

She didn't need to guess.

She knew.

Back in Halloween of nineteen ninety-seven she'd been determined to go out trick or treating with Xander and had seen her opening when he'd been roped into chaperoning some elementary school kids. Sure she was in junior high but she'd told him that he'd need help keeping the bratty kids under control. Her mom had helped out by pointing out that she couldn't take her around since she had a business party to go to and would appreciate his help. She'd gone through several ideas of who or what she would dress up as but had to cross many of them off the list due to the fact that they'd only backfire if she tried them.

In the end she'd gone to Ethan's Costume Shop for inspiration and it'd been there that she'd found the perfect outfit.

She'd known from the previous times Xander had hung out with her that he loved Japanese anime, cartoons made in Japan, because he'd frequently bring them over to show her. They had certainly been different from the ones she'd usually watch on Saturday mornings and they explained so much about Xander. So when she was perusing what the store had and came upon IT and knew she wanted it. It'd taken a bit of doing to get it just the way she wanted it but the look on Xander's face when he'd come to pick up her, Willow and Buffy made it all worth it.

She'd been like the others in that she didn't remember a lot of what'd happened that night, it'd been like a sloppy highlight reel, and since it hadn't really changed anything she'd pretty much forgotten about it.

Until now.

"It'd been an interesting phenomena since it shouldn't have been possible for anyone much less Janus to tap into even a speck of my power. So with nothing better to do I began to look for the source and fortunately for me I got another 'ping' a few minutes later." Washu-chan said her lingering interest plainly evident, "I know, I know! Halloween and the mess I just found you in happened years apart. It looks like your reality has a significantly higher quantum acceleration compared to the one I call home. Time progresses a lot faster. Good thing I took that into account with my handy dandy chronoton field generator!

"With it I was able to not only get to your reality before that old man put a hole in your head but also literally exist in the space between seconds for as long as I needed to." Washu-chan said holding up something that looked like a CD walkman, "Like any respectable scientist I made sure to take in the entire scene and that's when I found out that YOU were the source of the tug. Do you know that you're utterly unique in the entire multiverse? Sure there are other Dawn Summerses but none of them ever made contact with me like you did twice over. Normally I would've just placed monitors around your home, in your clothes and the like then waited for the data to come in but given the situation you were in that wouldn't have been very smart."

No shit! Another five seconds and she probably would've been dead!

Kinda tough to get useful data out of a corpse.

"So I decided to relocate you to another reality so I could study you on my terms." Washu-chan said as she continued to explain, "Don't worry. I made sure to bring some of your friends along so you wouldn't get lonely. Unfortunately I couldn't bring your group all the way to the reality I call home due to the sheer differences in your home reality's quantum resonance and the reality I call home. THAT and the fact that you've all got little 'quirks' meant I needed to drop you off at the halfway point. By tuning you to the reality you're in now and giving it time to settle it'll be easier to take you the rest of the way without any complications."

She was trying to take them to the 'Tenchi Muyo' universe? Not something she'd ever thought of but at the same time nothing she felt like fighting. Had it not been for the state of things before Washu-chan scooped them up she would've wanted to return to the reality she'd lived in. Now? Now that reality could rot for all she cared! The members of the Slayer Organization had been to protect the world from demonic and supernatural threats but do it more ethically than the Old Council had. They'd treat Slayers like people, none of them would have to fight alone and every effort would be made to ensure they lived to see old age. They hadn't even asked for anything unreasonable from the world's governments: just authorization to go where they needed to in order to do their jobs and maybe some local support.

And for that the world had turned on them enacting a plan to wipe out everyone!

Plus who'd turn down a chance to visit a world previously only seen on the screen of a TV in animated form?

"One thing though that you probably won't like though." Washu-chan said with a little discomfort, "Stabilizing you and your friends isn't as simple as just dumping you there with pockets full of the local currency and some fake IDs. Doing that would've sent out ripples and made the tuning take even longer. The best way to do it is to look for protean fissure in the reality, a potent of divergence centred on choice, and insert new arrivals there. That way the reality stands a better chance of simply adapting to their presence rather than treating them like foreign bodies. As a result though I couldn't drop all of you in the same place or even the same time."

Not what she wanted to hear but if Washu-chan thought it was for the best then who was she to say otherwise. She knew nothing about travelling realities, the risks of doing so and the methods of ensuring you arrived in one piece. Still she hoped that the others hadn't been deposited too far in the future or the past because there was nothing she'd like more than a grand Scooby reunion.

"They…also might not look exactly like you remember them." Washu-chan said scratching the back of her head in typical anime fashion, "Even with my good timing and a little help from Janus I wasn't able to salvage their bodies. Only their souls. Fortunately people have near death experiences all the time in every reality so it was easy enough to find a body vacant of any soul and insert one of your friends into it. They'll even be able to access the lingering memories, personality and mannerisms of the original owner in order to fit in easier. Plus I made sure that if you ever bump into one of them you'll know it."

~Great. Gives new meaning to the word 'fresh start'.~ She thought not all that thrilled at the notion of literally having to bump into other Scoobies in order to find them.

"I figured you might be a little angry right now so I put in some extra work and managed to make it so at least one of your friends would already be within arm's reach." Washu-chan said before a smaller window popped up to the right of the video window, "Double click on the icon in the smaller window."

Curious she took hold of the mouse and did as suggested.

In response a program activated and with a metallic noise that attracted her attention she turned to the tube that everything was arranged around. The metal shutters that before had prevented her from seeing what was inside began to retract half a foot at a time until everything became clear as crystal. Seeing who was inside of the tube though immediately caused her to leave the office chair and run to it placing her hands on the transparent material.

"Xander!" She exclaimed the face of the tube's occupant unmistakable occupant.

"He was still alive when I got to your reality and when we left I figured all he'd need would be some time in an ICU followed by some prosthetic limbs." Washu-chan said in the recording completely ignoring what was going on in the room, "Your friend is a real chaos magnet. The others had a tough transition but got through the worst of it because they were only souls. You got through okay because the Halloween remnants made you more than a normal human. He on the other hand was still alive and thanks to the level of chaos coming off of him I had to work quick to keep him from being torn apart."

It was hard to imagine how much worse it could be looking at Xander now.

Back home before Washu-chan stepped in Xander had lost two limbs and had quite a few bleeding bullet holes.

Now?

Now he was down to just one limb, his arm, and it looked like he was plugged into various systems medically indicating that one or more vital functions were incapable of functioning on its own.

"I managed to keep the damage from leaving him just a head but it's going to take some doing to get him back on his feet especially since he doesn't have any at the moment." Washu-chan said with a bit of remorseful humour, "Fortunately for you in this reality cybernetics and artificial organs are a lot further along than in your reality. It'll be expensive but it's doable. I've put a few suggestions onto your computer but you're gonna have to put some effort into it. Especially if you're going to be he's mechanic from here on out."

His mechanic? That's one way of describing the maintenance and repair of cybernetics.

"I've laid the groundwork kid." Washu-chan said with optimism, "The rest is up to you. I know you'll manage."

With that the video recording ended and when she looked back at the computer monitor the window it'd been in had closed leaving only the retraction icon for the tube shutters and the desktop. Thinking about what had been said, about what had been revealed, she took in the enormity of the task ahead of her and asked herself a simple question.

Can I do this?

However even as she asked the question her heart put forth an answer that would not be denied under any circumstances. Xander was her friend and as far as her heart was concerned still had a decent chance to become something more romantic if he'd just get over his 'reasons'. She would not leave him like he was right now and in this new reality she didn't know anyone well enough to trust them with his life. That only left her learning whatever she needed to so that she could get Xander out of the tube and back onto his feet.

~I hope he isn't awake in there.~ She thought as a horrible possibility occurred to her, ~After everything we've been through being reduced to a one armed torso with a head wouldn't go over well.~

Shaking her mind free of the depressing thought she went back to the computer and began looking for anything on cybernetics and attaching them to a human being. Hopefully Washu-chan had been nice enough to provide her with the books and files she'd need to do this because otherwise she was going to have to solo explore this new reality. Sure she wouldn't mind dong it later once Xander was able to do it with her but doing it on her own…her imagination was having no trouble coming up with ways it could go horribly wrong.

It wouldn't be just her life on the line but Xander's as well.

~Think positive Summers!~ She thought at herself like a drill instructor, ~One thing at a time. Everything starts with that first step.~

---

Two Weeks Later

Dawn's POV

~Next time Washu-chan shows up in person I'm either going to hug her or slap her.~ She thought after taking a sip of her drink.

It'd been two weeks since she'd awoken to find herself in this new reality and ever since then she'd dedicated herself to one thing: mastering the skills necessary to give Xander the perfect cybernetic body. If all she'd wanted was to return to him exactly what he'd lost it would've been much easier but she also knew it'd be stupid. Xander was and always would be the sort of person to fight the good fight no matter what sort of odds there were that would make a sane person back down. Giving him a cybernetic body limited to human physical parameters would be pointless and probably cost a fortune to repair every time he got damaged helping someone.

No if she wanted to help him and cut down on the costs of keeping him healthy she needed to do her best to anticipate the sort of situations he'd wind up in.

She'd started with familiarizing herself with what'd been done to him so far so she'd know precisely how much further she'd need to go.

From what she could tell Xander had already been fitted with cybernetics to keep him alive so technically she could let him out of the tube right now if she wanted. He wouldn't be able to do much with just an arm though and even if she set things up so he could entertain himself he'd go stir crazy soon enough. Before she could let him out she needed to do one thing and she'd need to do it perfectly.

Install a network interface in the back of his neck.

From what she'd been able find out in between her studying it was a common thing for cyborgs to have in this world. With the interface it was possible to bypass the need for a keyboard or anything similar and mentally connect to the internet as well as navigate wherever you wanted. Sure you needed to be careful about viruses and other common computer issues but as long as you weren't into anything dangerous civilian available programs would keep you safe. If she could successfully install the network interface hardware it would give Xander a lot more to do and he might even be able to help her with the creation of his new body.

He had been able to stay in Willow's advanced courses back in high school after all and there'd been several examples since she'd met him that proved he was smarter than most people thought.

The thing was that in order to do the install not only did she need to fully comprehend the hardware involved but she also needed to fully taken in the medical side of the problem. Cybernetics by their very nature involved making it so that biological systems could interact with technological ones with little if any difficulty. The brief overview of the hardware made it look not much different than the computers she was used to back home but the tough part was the connection between the biological and the technological. It wasn't something you could do in your garage like getting your ears pierced or something. A sterile environment was essential in order to ensure zero infection took place and there was little room for error with mistakes ranging from the dangerous to the fatal.

To say she was tempted to contact a reliable expert to perform the procedure would be an understatement.

What held her back was the matter of trust.

There was no one in this world that she could honestly say she trusted and certainly not to the degree needed for risking Xander's life.

~Once I get the network interface installed I can begin work on the rest.~ She thought recalling the suggestions that Washu-chan had left on her computer.

Some of it had come from this reality since she'd already found articles online that featured them but there were also things that looked like they came from a sci-fi movie or video game. Still all of them had given her some good ideas for Xander's body but her current design was focused on what could quickly be constructed and installed. She wasn't trying to create a bleeding edge cyborg body for Xander after all just one that'd make it possible for him to fight the way he wanted to.

First she would get him out of that tube so that they could explore the city together and then she'd begin work to make upgrades to make him combat capable.

~Can't make them too obvious though.~ She thought remembering a show she'd watched on TV a few days ago, ~Normal cybernetics might be legal for civilians to have but anything that veers into the land of the police or the military will just cause us problems.~

She wasn't against such things because it was only natural for dangerous things to be strictly regulated by law and for the truly dangerous to be kept in the hands of those who could be trusted with them. However she had no desire to be forced to walk hand in hand with either the police or the military because of what she'd created solely for Xander. Subtlety would be the keyword with everything she gave Xander and if she could disguise it to look like something that already existed so much the better. Allowing others to draw their own conclusions while giving away nothing of the truth would only aid them in keeping a low profile.

What puzzled her though was the fact that there was a file on the computer, a big one, that she couldn't access no matter how much she tried. All she'd get when she tried was that it was something that would only become available for viewing after she'd successfully passed all the tests on the computer.

Yes.

Tests.

Washu-chan had provided her with much data on the fields she would be required to know in order to help Xander but the genius had also arranged it in a sort of lesson plan. She could only access a set number of files before she would be required to take a test and if she passed with a B plus or higher the next set of files would unlock. While a bit annoying that she couldn't just open up whatever file she wanted it would make things go smoother with a structured tier system. If she'd just waded into the files by herself she'd probably wind up having to backtrack every other day when she came across a term or concept she hadn't read about yet. That'd waste time and she refused to do that where Xander was concerned.

~What could possibly be so important that Washu-chan would put a lock on it?~ She thought looking at the file's icon in the right corner of the monitor.

Considering the sort of things the anime character version of the scientist got up to she was tempted to just leave the file locked rather than find out what it contained.

Then again doing that might just tempt the genius to find a way to 'motivate' her into working harder so that the file would unlock especially if Washu-chan was secretly watching as a form of entertainment.

~Looks like this is a ride I've gotta see through to the end.~ She thought putting her drink to the side, ~Here's hoping me and Xan survive the experience.~

---

Two Months Later

Xander's POV

"So how is it Xander?" Dawn asked via the computer window in his mind.

"Not bad but there's a little static every once in awhile." He replied after trying a few things out, "Nothing bad but it's annoying."

"Hmmmm…give me a second." She said before focusing on something he couldn't see.

A minute or two later the static faded away before disappearing entirely leaving him nothing but peace inside his head.

"Better?" She asked looking back at him through the window.

"Yep! Completely gone now." He replied with a smile satisfied that everything was as it should be.

"Good. With your network interface installed and tuned we'll be able to talk to her whenever we want and you'll be able to surf the net. But NO porn! Washu-chan might've set up some good cyber-security here but that won't mean much if you accidentally let something in."

"Dawn I might be a guy so a certain amount of perversion is unavoidable but I'm not that bad. Hell! I've been surrounded by smoking hot ladies for years and been nothing but a complete gentlemen."

The skeptical look Dawn gave him left him disappointed at the low opinion she apparently had of him regarding such things.

"Stick to the safe sites until I can install a proper defence in your cyber-brain and network interface. After that it'll be your choices and you'll have to face the consequences."

Whether she meant 'consequences' as in possible viruses or consequences as in her own devised punishments he didn't know but he'd prefer not to find out if possible.

With that he closed the vid-window showing Buffy's little sister and took his first steps into the internet of this new reality. Naturally what he hit first were the more local websites that were based in servers that existed in Japan since that was the country he and Dawn were in. It was pointless to look at other countries since he would say that the two of them had at least four or five years of work to do before globe trotting. Even if Dawn succeeded in adding the necessary cybernetics to his body he'd still need time to get used to them and from there they would need to learn more about this alternate Earth.

Similar didn't mean exactly the same after all and he'd seen enough sci-fi cantered on visiting alternate realities to know being slightly off can lead to BIG consequences.

From what he could tell the world wasn't in much better shape than back home.

The world had already gone through three separate world wars and a fourth one was still ongoing though there was some debate about calling it a world war. According to what he could find out it was actually four different conflicts that people just grouped together rather an allies versus axis war. One focused on Southeast Easia and China, another between Europe and Asia, a third between Mexico and South Africa with the final conflict being the Peninsular War or Second Korean War.

Technologically the reality was a bit of an oddity since in some ways it was definitely more advanced than anything back home but in other ways it looked like things were still stuck in the proof of concept stage. Cybernetics, artificial intelligence, nano machines and other things had him amazed at what was now possible. However that didn't mean that they were on the way to a future like the one in Star Trek since there were still many of the issues that human society was expected to have. To be perfectly honest he didn't see humanity ever really reaching the same evolutionary point shown throughout every Star Trek TV show. A united Earth? Maybe or at least enough countries in an official alliance with each other that the differences would be minimal.

A humanity that was much more tolerant, compassionate, enlightened and interested in bettering themselves both individually as well as a whole?

No.

If history was any indicator humanity has had over ten thousand years to evolve and leave their darker more destructive aspects behind. Some progress might've been made but you only needed to look at the news to know that darkness was still very much a part of the human race. Some embraced it, some ignored it and others fought against it but it existed in each and every one of them. As such as long as humanity existed evil would exist and it would mar both the race as well as the world on which they lived.

The best they could hope for would be to keep from destroying themselves and reducing their world to ashes.

Pessimistic? Maybe. He preferred to think of it as being realistic.

He'd hope that things would get better but would live his life as though the status quo would continue until long after he died.

Moving away from the depressing news, something he'd never really watched back home for the same reason, he began to look at the advertisements as well as the various forms of entertainment. If you wanted to get a handle on a country's culture fast the best way to do it was to see how they sold things and how they had fun.

The first thing he found out was that they really were into making machines of all sizes a major part of society. Cyberization, robot helpers of all sorts, cars that drove themselves and apparently nano machines capable of cleaning up various forms of pollution. In a way it could be said that they were determined to do for themselves what was normally left for natural evolution to do or God if you were a spiritual person. From what he could tell it was like they were trying to leave behind the weaknesses of the human body by replacing it either partially or in its entirety with technology.

Oddly enough the number of people who rejected the idea of becoming more machine than flesh and bone weren't as high as he would've thought. Many found it to be quite useful to be able to do things they never would've been able to were they purely flesh and blood. There were some who opposed cybernetics of any sort both on spiritual grounds and because a risk existed that they could succumb to an outside technological influence. Like someone could hack their cybernetics and seize control of them or even worse considering the connections to a person's mind. All it all it came down to each individual person's own sense of right and wrong to determine whether cybernetics and the proliferation of technology was a good thing.

Considering the current state of his body he didn't really have much of a choice in the matter unless he wanted to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair with just one arm. Indeed he already had cybernetics in him in order to compensate for the damage done back in his home reality and the journey here. Would he have chosen not to get them if choice had been possible? He didn't know. On the one hand back home the only sort of enhancements that came even close were the magical or demonic kind neither of which were very trustworthy. If he'd been born one hundred percent human in this reality? It'd depend on what he wanted to do with his life. If he chose to remain completely civilian in his preferred life probably not unless it became necessary for medical reasons.

However if he wished to do something involving combat whether it was as a police officer or a soldier he couldn't see himself limiting his options to just being one of the rank and file. He wasn't all the way cured of his past problems but Willow and the gang had succeeded in motivating him to put more effort into whatever he did. 'Even if you don't become some super elite it's nice just to know just where your limits are' they had told him and after some thought he'd agreed. If he did decide on police or soldier he'd give it his all and if he hit a wall that only accepting cybernetic implants would get him past he'd probably go for it. Religion had never really been a thing for him given that the Harris family had never really gone to church and no deity had ever answered his prayers when Tony decided to beat on him for some lame ass reason. Thus from the spiritual side of things he had no problem with replacing flesh with metal. As for the risk of getting hacked or electronically controlled it'd suck but he presumed that all police officers or soldiers with cybernetics were provided with protection from those things.

Considering he'd encountered magic and demons capable of messing with the human mind or controlling someone remotely it was nothing new to him.

~Still might be a good idea to see what level computer hacking is at in this world.~ He thought continuing his perusal of the local info, ~Just in case.~

It'd probably be one of the biggest challenges of this world seeing as how he only possessed what computer knowledge high school had imparted on him as well as a few tidbits from Willow. Nevertheless if he was going to have a cybernetic body and be spending any length of time in this new reality he needed to be as prepared as possible to face potential threats. At the very least he'd make sure he knew all the known ways someone could connect to his cybernetics and how they could be protected.

He didn't know how much time had passed when he finally finished perusing the internet for information on the dimension he and Dawn would be calling home for awhile. Kinda hard to do that when all you had was what could be displayed on a computer monitor at the forefront of his mind. Sure he could've probably permanently placed a clock in the corner of his field of vision but that hadn't occurred to him when he'd begun looking around. He had the feeling that it wasn't just the walking and picking stuff up that he'd have to get used to but also interfacing this way with any computer system.

Still it was better than being dead.

Plus if Dawn was right Washu had managed to rescue some of the others as well even if it would be up to luck if they wound up bumping into each other.

All in all he'd consider their current situation an improvement over what it'd been back at the castle.

The only thing that'd make it better would be to find out that in obliterating the Slayer Organization in its entirety the bastards succeeded in doing what no demon had.

Ending the Slayer line in that reality.

If so it'd be up to normal humans to keep back the forces of badness and if too many of them wound up being like Walsh he didn't like the planet's odds of survival.

Pity.

---

Four Months Later

Dawn's POV

"CONGRADULATIONS! YOU PASS!" Exclaimed the mini-Washu image in the corner of her screen with a pair of fans in its hands waving about.

"Thank GOD!" She exclaimed as she slumped back in her office chair, "It's over."

Six and a half months.

SIX AND A HALF MONTHS!

That was how long it'd taken her to get through enough of the learning tiers to be able to actually begin work on Xander's cybernetic components. Now some might think her some sort of prodigy for managing to learn that much in such a short span of time but the truth of the matter was quite different. Aside from eating, sleeping and answering the call of nature she'd focused all of her waking hours on learning as much as she could as quickly as she could. To her nothing was more important than gaining the knowledge she'd need to help Xander leave that tube behind and walk in the open air. She might not know precisely the ill effects of someone being in a tube like that with only an internet connection for stimulus for too long but she doubted she had all the time in the world to work with.

There'd be time enough for playing tourist after Xander could join her without any difficulty.

~Okay…time to get to work.~ He thought clearing the computer screen of the test window leaving a blank slate for her to work with.

Deciding to go with baby steps she brought up an image of Xander as he was now with a side window listing all the cybernetic components already installed in his body.

The first and most obvious things she would need to design would be replacement limbs for the ones that he'd lost either to gunfire or dimensional travel. Going to a folder she'd been given to study during the tiered lesson plans she opened it up and pulled out the most basic models of cybernetic limbs. Each of them appeared at the right spots on the image of Xander's body albeit as green framework outlines. She then began to pull the necessary connection components for each limb and the software that would need to be used to operate them properly. It took about twenty minutes but eventually she managed to put everything in place for the basic cybernetic package that would be enough for life as a civilian. After all the studying she'd done she understood every part and how they worked together to gain the desired result.

Now came the time for upgrades.

~Gotta start from the ground up.~ She thought starting with the metal skeleton of each limb, ~Gotta increase their strength without overly increasing their weight. He's going to be either kicking with them or running with them and god knows people are going to try to break them.~

Going to the files that contained the various materials she had at her disposal she went through each one to find something that had the desired durability and weight. In the end she went with a titanium-coltan alloy just in case there were weapons that involved serious heat. Next came the inner wiring that would connect the limbs to the brain since using a wireless method would just leave Xander open to being hacked or it could be blocked via interference. She'd probably need to use the same alloy for the artificial nervous system or wiring but fiddle with it a bit more in order to make it thin enough to be held within the human form. A common trick when dealing with cyborgs or even robots was to overload them with more energy than the systems could handle. The same thing that'd protect the 'skeleton' would also make it harder for someone to heat the wiring to the melting or breaking point.

It'll be delicate work.

~Might need to come up with something a little more complicated than the standard configuration for a human nervous system.~ She thought after crunching some quick numbers, ~If I can't get the alloy as thin and pliable as I need I might need to have it go straight then shave off at the right points.~

As for the muscles she had a few prospects to consider including one being developed by a small company in America run by a man named Hargreave. They had a promising new design for artificial muscle fibres but was having trouble gathering enough capital needed to meet the productions costs to get enough units on the market. Personally she figured that companies that already handled the majority of the world's artificial muscle fibre needs were suppressing Hargreave's efforts to find backers because they feared the prototype's potential.

~I won't be able to solve their problems with the limited funds Washu-chan provided but if I go with them I should be able to get enough for what I need.~ She thought setting aside the company's name onto a short list of possibilities.

What else would she need?

Artificial skin was easy enough to get ahold of though from what she'd read getting it to look the same as real human skin was almost impossible. Various companies had done the best they could to come close but the signs were there if you looked close enough to tell the difference. Sadly most of the gear that she had access to focused on making and maintaining the mechanical parts rather than the faux-biological parts.

The proverbial off the shelf fake skin would have to do at least until the opportunity for something better showed up.

~This should be enough for him to get up and about but he'll need some protection for when he gets into trouble.~ She thought leaning back in her chair to consider possibilities.

If the muscle fibres worked like she hoped that they would the weight of any protective body armour wouldn't be all that much of a problem. However that wasn't the only issue that would need to be addressed. Range of motion and overall mass would also need to be considered since there'd be little point in having strong armour if you couldn't move or fight with it on. Perhaps a latticework of graphene and dyneema with the whole thing patterned after medieval plate armour but more form fitting.

Both for her personal pleasure and because it was tactically sound.

The strongest layers would be over the organs that if damaged or destroyed would lead to death either instantly or before it'd be possible to receive medical aid. Protection for the joints would probably be a good idea since if those were taken out of the picture it wouldn't matter if the rest was still intact.

~This is getting a little extreme.~ She thought stopping with her efforts to reevaluate a few things, ~Put too much into him and it'll be obvious to anything with eyes that he's meant for combat. Japan probably even has laws about what cyborgs are allowed to have outside the military or police.~

Going over her plans again she tried to figure out what would raise too many red flags with the local power holders and began to remove them from the design before substituting a lower key equivalent. It took awhile but she managed to come up with an overall design that she felt wouldn't bring too much harassment from the powerful people down on them. The only problem with it was she could think of quite a few things that'd do some significant damage if they managed to land a hit on Xander.

They needed a way to go from this 'civilian design' to something more combat oriented in as short an amount of time as possible.

Then an idea popped into her head and the more she thought about it the more she liked it. She'd have to familiarize herself with the city from one end to the other and if they wound up going anywhere else she hoped that she'd have enough time to do the same to their destination. A lack of knowledge could mean additional time lost in a situation where every second could be precious. Over and over she revised the design to each part in order to make her new idea work and oddly enough it wasn't as hard as she'd thought it would be. Whether it was the excitement of developing a brilliant idea or all of her studying finally paying off answers were popping up almost as quickly as the questions were.

By the time that she was done hours had passed and sleep began to feel like a very good idea.

Before doing so though she typed in instructions to have each piece fabricated in the machines in lab area. With any luck by the time she woke up all she'd have to worry about would be placing the orders for the things she couldn't make on her own.

All in all she figured it'd be three weeks to a month before everything could be assembled and installed into Xander's body.

After that it'd be physical rehabilitation time for her fellow Scooby.

Fun times.

---

Five Weeks Later

Xander's POV

"So…how do they feel?" Dawn asked from the foot of the operating table.

"Freaky. I mean you'd think that robot limbs wouldn't be able to feel much of anything but I'm definitely getting some feedback." He replied testing the responsiveness of his cybernetic limbs and comparing them to his old flesh and blood ones.

"Yeah the cyberisation tech in this world is pretty good but they still haven't managed to perfectly replicate sensory input from any of the five senses. You've still got your head and one arm so you'll just have to be careful whenever you touch anything with your new feet and hand."

Made sense.

The top thing that let you know that something was dangerous was your sense of touch whether you made actual physical contact or you felt something in the air. With how his new arm and legs were feeling at the moment the sensitivity was definitely less than what he was used to but it might still be enough to keep him from putting them into open flames accidentally. In the end though he was just glad it wouldn't feel like he had ghost legs or picking something up with a ghost arm.

That'd be major creepy.

"Now let's see if you can stand on those legs." Dawn said walking over to a nearby console, "Take it slow and use the table for help if you need to."

"Got it." He said before swinging his legs over the side of the operation table.

Extending his right cybernetic leg down first he touched it first with his robo big toe then slowly added the rest of the toes before letting the entire foot make contact with the floor. Much like he'd been expecting his senses were telling him that something that was a part of him was in contact with something solid. However things like whether the floor was cold or the texture of the material the floor was made out of were lost to him. Putting the other leg on the floor he got solid grips on the table with both hands then eased himself off it while willing himself to stand rather than fall.

~Okay. So far so good.~ He thought when he left the support of the table, ~Not falling to the floor is good but-WHOA!~

His legs might not give out from under him but it looked like he would need to relearn the whole balance thing because there were definitely some changes there. Not trusting himself to take steps just yet he focused more on feeling out his body's new balance, its new centre of gravity, since without those things walking would be impossible. Every time it felt like his body was going out of balance he did his best to right himself and make the necessary adjustments to prevent a repeat. It took awhile but when he felt confident enough he took his first step keeping one hand close to the table to catch himself if he couldn't adjust quickly enough.

A little wavering but nothing too bad and he was able to adjust swiftly enough.

So he took another.

And another.

And another.

Before long he was managing to walk without falling over but he wouldn't dare call it graceful in the least. To anyone looking at him he probably looked like someone who was seriously drunk or had some sort of motor control disability. Still he hadn't expected it to be easy since he'd seen enough movies to know that it took quite a bit of physical rehab and practice before a person could use a prosthetic limb to its fullest. It didn't matter how sophisticated the prosthetic turned out to be man and machine did not seamlessly go together or get along within seconds of 'meeting'.

"Hmmmm…not bad but I think I can help a bit." Dawn said from behind her console before the sound of tapping keys could be heard.

A few seconds later his walking gained some more stability and he only looked slightly tipsy rather than all out drunk.

"There. I put in a simple learning algorithm and keyed it to work with the motor control system. It should speed up your rehab a bit."

"Thanks. You're really getting the hang of things." He said as he continued to practice with his new legs.

"I had to. Everything I learned about cybernetics told me screw ups tended to be permanent. I wasn't willing to take any risks with you."

"I get that. I'd be the same if it was you that needed the new body parts. Still happier that it was you who had to learn the stuff though. I might've gotten it wrong."

"Don't sell yourself short Xan. You're not an idiot. Never have been. It might've taken you longer to learn everything but I'd have no problem putting my life in your hands."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

For the next hour straight he continued to fine tune his control over his new limbs taking advice from Dawn from time to time while feeling it out himself otherwise.

DING! DONG!

"Huh?" He said knowing that in all the time the two of them had been in their 'home' no one had come to visit them and they hadn't invited anyone.

Dawn looked to be similarly confused but curious enough that she went over to her main workstation before typing a few commands. A second later a window appeared on the screen showing the outside of the building and standing there waiting was a man. He wore an expensive looking suit and was just into his forties if her guess was right. He was just about to think that he didn't know the man…

…and then all of a sudden it was all there.

Name. Occupation. When they'd first met and when Dawn had told him that this man had been the one to provide her with what she needed to help him.

His name was Shirow Kenji.

He worked for the company known as Megatech which was a major manufacturers of prosthetic bodies, robots and AIs. One of the largest in the world and a supplier for both governments as well as the private sector. Dawn…she'd gotten an internship at Megatech on account of her excellent grades in school and it'd been Shirow who'd been tasked with showing her the ropes around the company.

Then…then he'd had an accident? A car crash? The damage had been serious and the cost of the necessary cybernetic replacement parts had been more than they could ever have hoped to pay for on their own. That was when Shirow had shown up but he hadn't been privy to the exact details of the deal only that in exchange for setting them up here Dawn would work for them.

~Looks like he's come to check up on his investment.~ He thought even as Dawn pressed a button to let the man in.

He knew he should be more freaked out by this information that he was certain was fictional and had not been accessible since he'd woken up in this new reality. However the 'memories' and the information flowed almost perfectly inside his mind to the point where if he didn't KNOW that he was from another reality he'd have no reason to question them. When added to the fact that the new data wasn't all that harmful and would help with navigating this new reality he was prepared to adopt a wait and see approach. So long as any new information helped but didn't change anything important or influence him in ways he wouldn't approve of he saw no harm in it.

A few minutes later Shirow showed up and as soon as the man saw him a big smile showed up on his face.

"Good to see you're up and about Xander." Shirow said while looking him over, "And I can see that Dawn's been hard at work. I don't think I've ever seen these particular models of prosthetic limbs."

"I used basic models as a base and then built upon them until I was satisfied." Dawn said taking on a more professional tone of voice, "The components meshed well enough. Now all that's left is to put them to use and see if there're any glitches beyond hardware and support software."

"You want to see if his Ghost will mesh with them properly?" Shirow asked though he probably had his own opinions on the matter.

"Yes. Xander'll need some time for rehab and then I can have him put his new limbs through their paces to see what they can really do." She replied before tapping a few keys to bring up the specs of the cybernetic limbs, "I know what I wanted them to be able to do, what I designed them to be able to do, but you just never know until you actually try to do it."

Shirow nodded at this even as he evaluated the technical data on the screen.

Nothing was said for several minutes but then slowly an ecstatic grin began to show itself on the man's face to the point where one could almost say he'd lost his professional composure. Shirow seemed to realize this after a few seconds and with a few coughs reestablished his veneer of an experienced corporate employee.

"I have to hand it to you Dawn you never cease to impress." Shirow said turning to face the youngest Summers directly, "I'd been expecting a few interesting modifications, maybe a software upgrade, but this…this is something completely different. Not bad! Just different. How soon do you think you can have actual field data on the limbs?"

"Assuming that Xander isn't some sort of prodigy it'll take about eight to ten months." Dawn said after taking a moment to think, "I might be able to shave off some time with some software upgrades but the earliest I can honestly say that I'll have the data is six months. Medicine might have come far from the days of simple hinges and plastic shaped like a human leg but we're still a long ways off from being able to skip physical rehabilitation altogether."

"True enough. Send the preliminary data on your new designs to my encrypted account as soon as you can." Shirow said sounding disappointed but not angry, "It took quite a bit of doing to convince my supervisor to help you guys out and they're asking about when they'll get their return on their investment. If I can at least show them this I think I can buy you at least seven months before they'll be on our cases again."

"Sure. You'll have it by the end of the day." Dawn said frowning for a moment before letting the feeling pass.

"Glad to hear it! Keep this up and the skies the limit Miss Hakubi." Shirow said before walking out of the building with a little spring in his step.

"So….you got memories and stuff you didn't have before?" He asked just to make sure it wasn't just him.

"Yep. Enough to know that Shirow will only be our 'friend' so long as we continue to make him look good to his boss." Dawn replied with a bit of disapproving resignation, "Apparently I made a deal with him that in exchange for the tools and resources to help you I agreed that anything I made with all this becomes Megatech's property. Sure he'll still need to pitch it to his boss and jump through a few hoops but that's the bare bones of it. If I don't make good on my end of the deal and serve his bottom line they'll take everything back INCLUDING your cybernetic limbs as well."

"You sign any contracts or anything?" He asked knowing that if all it was was a verbal agreement there might be some wiggle room involved.

Sure he doubted that anyone in this reality could stop Washu from taking them when the time came but at the same time he wanted to cover his bases. From Dawn's story Shirow was definitely someone who played all the angles and had ambitious dreams for his future. Someone like that could be helpful if he was played just right but could also be a real threat if he and Dawn were considered 'expendable'.

"Not that I remember. I mean sure I had to sign the usual paperwork as an intern at Megatech but as far as all this is concerned it was strictly a verbal agreement." Dawn replied after a moment's thought.

"Then as long as he didn't record the whole thing with cybernetic eyes and so long as recordings like that aren't worth anything in a court of law then we should be good." He thought making a mental note to do an internet search for some facts to confirm his suspicions.

"I doubt it. Even if he could record the deal he'd probably need to let me know right from the beginning and get my permission." She said sounding doubtful that they had to worry about the verbal agreement, "Now get back to your walking practice and I'll start putting together the data to send him. If it'll keep his bosses off our back long enough for you to master your new legs and arm I'm not dragging my feet."

"Yes dear." He said with a bit of sarcasm even as he resumed walking about the room to fully adjust to his new limbs.

He never noticed the small happy smile on Dawn's face and by the time he'd gotten to a position where he could see her face it was gone.

---

Seven Months Later

Megatech Ground Vehicle Testing Grounds

Dawn's POV

"We're ready to begin Mister Hagimoto." She announced turned to the CEO of Megatech who'd surprised everyone by choosing to attend the field testing.

"Then by all means Miss Hakubi let's see what your creations can do." Mister Hagimoto said politely with a gracious smile.

"You heard the man Xander." She said to Xander who was standing a dozen feet from the tent where both technicians and observers were located, "Start out slow and then gradually ramp it up. I'll monitor things from here."

"Gotcha. Here I go!" Xander declared before starting off at what most people would consider a steady jog.

Looking at the readings that she was getting thus far it looked like even in an open area with room to move he wasn't experiencing any difficulties. They'd kept most of their rehab indoors but when he'd pointed out needing more room to move in order to practice running she'd agreed to going outdoors but only in the immediate area around the building. Xander hadn't done anything nuts but it'd also become clear that keeping the nature of his limbs under wraps was hindering efforts to really determine what the limbs could do. She'd tried to come up with something but in the end she'd had to call Shirow and ask him to make available the company's testing grounds.

Hopefully with all this open room Xander would be able to cut loose and really show the observers what he could do.

It took another six minutes before she felt she could safely say that all the potential problems and bugs of jogging had been identified and logged. Fortunately they were minor things that she'd been able to fix wirelessly from her station so there wouldn't be any problems with taking things to the next level.

"Looking good Xander." She said through the comm-connection, "Crank it up to the next level."

"Roger that." Xander said in reply before visibly shifting from jogging movements to running.

This was when they began to see speed that went above what could be achieved with normal human legs. Since running didn't exactly specify a certain speed her friend was probably playing around with what he could do likely starting at what his mind remembered to be running before pushing himself to go even faster. Before too much longer he was running at a speed equivalent to most cruising speeds for freight trains which she believed was about sixty miles per hour. While this was definitely above what could be achieved with most civilian available cybernetic limbs it hadn't quite reached what those with military leg prosthetics were capable of especially if they were specifically designed for speed.

Glancing over her shoulder she could see that while the observers, the CEO of Megatech included, weren't disappointed neither were they impressed.

Unless something was done to kick things up another notch it'd probably be considered a huge waste of time for them.

"Looking good Xan. No anomalies thus far but our audience is getting a little bored." She said casually with a smirk on her face, "I think it's time to take the gloves off. You ready?"

"As I'll ever be! HERE I GO!" Xander said before everyone witnessed running turn into sprinting leading to a dramatic increase in speed.

Eighty…ninety…one hundred…one hundred and ten miles per hour.

Xander was now going at a speed that was approaching the maximum most civilian cars were capable of before their tires ceased to be up to the job of maintaining a grip on the road. However it was another minute before he finally seemed to reach the limit of his legs in their current configuration. She did have ideas on how to make them even better but she'd wanted to focus on getting accurate performance numbers in the field test before upgrading the necessary systems.

~Not bad. A few hiccups and some deviations but nothing to worry about.~ She thought going over the various windows of data.

Better check with the pilot though.

"How's it feel Xander?" She asked over the comm-connection, "Any strain? Discomfort? Anything out of the ordinary?"

"Nah…not really." He replied with only a little elevated breathing, "It's weird. If my body was still all flesh and blood I'd be panting up a storm right now but I'm fine. The most I can say is that every step's sending a weird vibration up my back but it's nothing bad."

~Hmmm…might need to up the amount of cushioning between the 'bones' to absorb the power behind each step.~ She thought making a note on a pad of paper in her pocket, ~Won't do much good for Xander or anyone else if running fast harms the back.~

For the time being most of Xander's torso, head and arm were still flesh and bone with minimal modifications made either by her or Washu so he could use his new limbs properly. She couldn't say she knew what Washu's motivation for not adding too much was but hers was that she thought it was best to take things slow. Let Xander get used to just being able to move about and use him new limbs with ease before ramping things up any. It wasn't like either of them had come across anything yet that'd get him revved up and wanting to get into a fight so they had plenty of time.

"Why isn't he slipping all over the place?" An aide of Mister Hagimoto's asked sounding both confused as well as impressed.

"The answer to that is electromagnetism." She replied turning to address both the observers and the technicians, "I knew I'd have to do something seriously 'wow' worthy today so I tinkered a bit with the feet of Xander's cybernetic legs. The long and short of it is that past a certain level of miles per hour an E.M field is generated that interacts with materials that are affected by magnetic fields. The faster he goes the stronger the magnetic field and so the bottom of his feet gain crude cleats with the spikes made out of every bit of metal and material in range. If his legs were normal human ones these magnetic cleats would be more hinderances than any help but because they're cybernetic he can cope easily."

"Clever. I see you have a sharp mind Miss Hakubi." Mister Hagimoto said with honesty, "But what if there aren't any suitable materials to form these cleat spikes?"

"Possible but unlikely sir. Even with all the improvements made to society garbage and debris still litter our streets and many places in the country. Some you can see above ground but others have been buried." She replied expecting this question to be asked, "Besides the range of the electromagnetic field is such that in towns and cities it'll be able to get a grip on pipes and any other buried sources of metal. If for some reason it was needed out on the country then the user would just need to put on special boots to take care of the traction problem."

"Does his arm have the same electromagnetic generation capabilities?" Mister Hagimoto asked with curiosity.

"Yes but not constantly. As you can imagine it's a lot harder to generate and maintain the necessary velocity with an arm instead of a leg." She replied even as she heard Xander speed by the observation tent, "Still a field is generated for that brief period that the arm is moving at the necessary velocity so it does add a little something to a punch."

"Would it be possible to get a demonstration of this?" Mister Hagimoto asked with others nodding indicating that they'd like to see a demonstration as well.

"I suppose so. If a suitable 'punching bag' can be put out on the field I'll have Xander take a swing at it." She replied even though she hadn't planned on demonstrating the arm.

With a nod and a command three Megatech employees ran off to get something for Xander to punch for the audience allowing her to resume monitoring the data that was coming in. Everything seemed to be going according to her exceptions when she designed the legs in the first place but she wasn't about to get careless.

Not with Xander's life and not with his future in this reality.

A few minutes later a container that looked like it'd been intended to act as a transport box for a prosthetic body was brought onto the grounds about thirty yards from the observation tent. It wasn't made out of tank armour or anything that durable but at the same time it was way above mailbox grade metal.

"Xander? Mister Hagimoto wants to see your Rocky Balboa impersonation." She said through the comm-connection, "They even set up a punching bag for you."

"Be there in a flash!" Xander said even as she saw his distant form change course for her location.

At the speeds he was running it didn't take Xander long to arrive but she kept an eye on his legs with her own eyes the moment he'd gotten close enough to make out details. Some might say it was unnecessary to use her naked eyes when she had a screen full of windows funnelling data from sensors placed all over his body. However those people didn't realize that the data was essentially like individual dots that by themselves didn't mean a thing. It was only when you put them all together in the right way that they formed a picture that you could make sense of.

Looking at Xander's legs with her eyes let her see that bigger picture even if some of the details were lost in the process.

~No visible signs of strain or malfunction in legs.~ She thought even as her friend walked up to the container, ~No sign of damage to the individual components that're visible either.~

While this didn't eliminate the possibility of ANY damage it did mean that it wasn't serious enough to be overly worried about. She'd give the tech a full once over once they were back at the lab and she could examine them personally one by one.

"Ready when you are Dawn." Xander said having already gotten into his 'boxer stance'.

"Good. You'll need to make the punch as quick and as powerful as you can." She said focusing on the sensors attached to the cybernetic arm, "Mister Hagimoto wants to see the arm's E.M field in action."

"Gotcha. Get ready for one helluva KO." He said before beginning to bounce on his feet to mimic boxer behaviour in the ring.

A few seconds of that and then in a move that was almost too quick to be seen he unleashed a straight punch with his cybernetic arm aimed right at the container's centre. Much like she'd expected the metal of the container where the punch hit as well as the surrounding area were pretty much obliterated with the rest of the container being knocked back a good ten feet. When it dropped to the ground the edges of the damage were glowing lightly orange indicating that they'd been subjected to something generating intense heat briefly. In the seconds immediately afterward she had also seen a residual electric charge dancing around the edges of the damaged area but it didn't last long.

"Not bad. According to these readings the punch has two or three times the power behind it as your average jackhammer." She said sifting through the sensor data, "Electromagnetic discharge lasted about as long as I expected but the added damage is a bit of a surprise. Not sure what it'd do to a person. A simple electric shock in addition to the physical damage or would the punch go right through the body. Might need to install some limiters or else every punch is going to be lethal unless the target has some impressive armour on them."

"True enough. Still to make limbs that powerful without overly increasing their muscle mass is impressive." Mister Hagimoto said sounding pleased, "We have arm models that can put similar levels of power behind them but they're twice as bulky as the one your friend has. This could be quite profitable if sold to the military or police especially undercover officers. A little surprise for those that think they have the upper hand."

"Only for destruction and death missions. Until I can manage to install some fine controls for both the artificial muscles and the electromagnetic discharge at least those're the only missions the arms would be good for." She pointed out before the man could get too far ahead of himself, "Sure someone with them could use their minds to measure the force behind their blows like you would with flesh and blood muscles but that won't affect the energy discharge much."

"Details I'm sure you'll have no trouble ironing out Miss Hakubi." Mister Hagimoto said without any doubt in his voice

"Eventually yes." She agreed before moving things along, "So what do you think Mister Hagimoto? I hope you see that I've made good use of the resources Shirow-san provided me and Xander with."

"I'd have to be blind not to Miss Hakubi. If this is the sort of quality work we can expect from you from here on out then I see a bright future for both you and Megatech." Mister Hagimoto said with a smile on his face, "Shirow-san's eye for talent has come through again."

"Glad to hear that." She said relieved that her presentation had succeeded.

One of the things that she'd learned when designing and making Xander's cybernetic limbs was that while making them was expensive maintaining them cost almost as much. After checking to see what your average part time and full time jobs paid on a monthly basis she could tell that even if every pay check went ONLY to maintenance they wouldn't have enough. Thus having a job at Megatech and providing them with the odd innovation every so often was the best option for income until something more independent came along.

With the demonstration finished she let Xander run about the area while she worked with the technicians to make the most of the collected data. She'd monitored everything closely during the demonstration but she still wanted to go over it again and as she'd expected some of the technicians had questions. She did her best to explain without giving away any secrets that cause her own value to Megatech to decrease too much. It was for the best because if the article she'd read was accurate the science of cybernetics needed as many new ideas as it could get.

A lot of people seemed worried about cybernetics hitting a dead end where upgrades could would cease to appear or those with older hardware would be left behind. Thus far it was only at the discussion stage with many people from various corners debating what the best course of action would be. The general consensus seemed to be that someone needed to come up with a bold new direction for cybernetics to go or come up with a revolutionary way to aid those who whose hardware was too old to be upgraded.

She'd seen the designs and components that Washu had left her and she could safely say that they were from another train of thought then what could be found in this reality. Properly developed and nurtured she could see how they could lengthen the lifespan of the cybernetics industry while giving hope to those who currently had little if any. That was why she planned on keeping as many of the crucial details contained to just her mind and only nowhere else. For companies like Megatech it was a dog eat dog world where you could only trust someone if you had something on them to keep them from betraying you. Sure Shirow and Mister Hagimoto had presented themselves as being friendly and supportive but after what'd happened back home she knew better than to trust 'presentations'.

After all America generally liked to present itself to the world as the pinnacle of civilization and a melting pot of tolerance.

Where was that civility when they declared war on the Organization?

Where was that tolerance when their soldiers ruthlessly killed people she cared about?

No. The only people she would trust from here on out would be Xander, her reborn loved ones and those who did not possess either the means or the will to cause her harm.

All others would be seen as potential enemies and steps taken to deal with them should they toss their mask of 'friendship' aside.

---

Megatech Corporate HQ

Executive Floor

Shirow Kenji's POV

Opportunities must be handled with care and rivals must be dealt with just the same.

That was what he had learned over the years since entering Japan's corporate world and it'd only hit home all the more after being hired by Megatech.

As such he'd made sure to hone his ability grasp the situation around him and use that knowledge to benefit his advancement as much as possible. In some cases that meant gaining information on his peers so that he could sabotage their efforts to overtake him while in others it would be to locate the Achilles heel of a superior blocking his chosen path.

In this case though it'd meant being sure to evaluate any new interns before taking steps to place the most promising ones in his debt. This time around there'd been only one that'd looked particularly intriguing, one Hakubi Dawn, whose school records up until then placed her head and shoulders above her classmates. He'd done a little digging to see if her parents were anything of note but the only record he could find was from almost ten years prior of a Hakubi Washu who had worked as an assistant to one of the pioneers of cyberisation. It'd been interesting but there was nothing available indicating where the elder Hakubi had gone after the initial success stories. Indeed her daughter's enrolment in the Japanese education system had been the first bit of new information in a long while.

It'd been the potential for the brilliance of the mother to have been passed on to the daughter that'd caused him to make an effort to take Dawn under his wing.

During the initial month of her internship with Megatech she had displayed intelligence and resourcefulness that would secure her a future job but nothing out of the ordinary. He remembered mentioning this to her in idle conversation while also making a light reference to her mother's achievements. To this the girl had been somewhat bitter but had told him that she was determined to make her own way without taking advantage of her mother's reputation. It was why she wasn't making waves or doing anything to gain special recognition. Dawn claimed she wanted to build a rep first before achieving anything so it wouldn't be written off as being the result of her mother's contribution to her DNA and early days.

A part of him respected this but he had no time for someone with no drive to excel in their chosen field.

Thus he chose to provide her the motivation needed to give a project her all and through that he would reap the benefits he desired.

The motivation? Why the life of her boyfriend Harris Xander of course!

It'd been child's play to place a virus in the young man's vehicle and rig it to ensure he'd have an 'accident' in such a way so as to appear entirely random. True there'd been a chance that the young man would've died but that would've been fine with him even if that had been how things had gone down. Whether it was the drive to save the life of a loved one or the manipulated grief that would propel the young woman to keep others from suffering the same fate both would've gotten him the results he desired.

Still it was fortunate that Xander had survived since he proved to be an excellent test subject for Dawn's cybernetic implants. He'd heard the chatter amongst the various observers after the demonstration and they'd been excited at the possibilities the new cybernetics represented. However it'd been what he'd overheard by chance from Mister Hagimoto that had given him cause to pause and reflect.

The old man had openly said he might consider giving her a position in the special projects division of Megatech.

SPECIAL PROJECTS DIVISION!

That was considered to be one of the most profitable divisions in the entire company with even a brief stay there guaranteeing a long term of employment with the company. While he knew he didn't have the intellect to make it there as one of the scientists there were administrative and project lead positions in the division. Indeed there was only one other part of the company that had employees salivating the way they did for the special projects division. The very idea that an INTERN that he had scouted and backed would be considered for a position far above his own…it irritated him.

It irritated him GREATLY.

Thus he had a question he'd been trying to answer for the past four hours: was now the time to arrange a more effective accident for both Xander AND Dawn?

He already had her information on the new cybernetic legs and arm so those could be advanced towards the production stage at any time. It wouldn't even be hard to find a new test subject for them in case further live trials needed to be done. Should anything happen to Dawn and Xander he would be the one tasked with cleaning out the lab he'd given them allowing him to harvest whatever files were still left on the hard drives. Dawn was a forward thinker, there was no mistaking that, so he was sure that she already had at least the broad strokes of future upgrades for Xander if not some notes on how she'd make them a reality. It wouldn't be as good as her being there in person to guide things along but since he was responsible for her getting the Megatech spotlight shone on her it wouldn't be hard to get control authority. As such anything good that came from the files mined from Dawn's computers would be credited to him at least partially helping him advance up the corporate ladder.

On the other hand though he hadn't been given the impression that the cyber-prosthetics had put any real strain on her intellect. Indeed it'd appeared as though it was merely a job that needed doing and could be accomplished with the right resources. If that was indeed the case then what could the young intern achieve if given even more time? Could it lead to an achievement so far above what she'd made so far that it'd look like chump change? It was a bit of a stretch but not altogether impossible. History was filled with famous scientists who managed to distinguish themselves early on and only created that which they were famous for in the later years of their life. Would it be the same for Dawn? Would killing her and Xander now deprive him of an even more profitable invention down the line?

It was this that was at the core of the debate going on within his mind.

He was a greedy man who would likely never be satisfied no matter how high he soared in the corporate world and the idea of depriving himself of a potential prize displeased him.

It was then that his computer dinged informing him of new mail so out of habit he brought up the email program and checked to see what it was. Turned out it was one of his sources in Mister Hagimoto's inner circle of subordinates and the news the man had chosen to pass on pretty much made his decision for him. It turned out that the old man had decided to reassign responsibility of Miss Hakubi and her future to one of his more experienced managers. If this happened any future achievements Dawn made would be credited to this manager and not him.

He'd be reduced to a footnote in the young woman's rise to fame and glory.

As such there was only one thing to do in order to keep from being overshadowed by the very young lady he'd discovered.

He had a double murder to plan that in no way could be traced back to him.

---

Outside of Dawn's Lab

One Week Later, Evening

Xander's POV

"This is one helluva world." He said as they approached the door to their home, "It looks kinda like that movie 'Blade Runner' but a lot cleaner."

"That's probably because of the micro machines." Dawn pointed out carrying some of the purchases they'd made in one arm, "One of Japan's claims to fame. They help keep the pollution down to an acceptable level."

"Good thing too considering how many people live in Newport never mind the entire country. Put a ton of people in a small area and pollution skyrockets."

"Population density's still a problem especially with the wars going on. Refugees have been coming in for the past few months looking for a better life and it's causing some friction."

He'd seen it too.

From what he recalled of their old reality Japan had always tended to reserve its jobs, homes and resources for those officially recognized as 'Japanese'. If you weren't one of those there were only select jobs available to you and many would subtly treat you as an outsider while occasionally asking when you planned on going home. Personally he sorta understood where they were coming from but when one of the Japanese Slayers had explained it to him it'd kinda dashed the dream he'd had of spending a few years there. Japan had limited room, limited resources and limited jobs so it was only natural that they put the needs of their citizens first before newcomers. When added to the fact that getting not one but two nukes dropped on your head by a foreign nation and he could understand why the country and its people didn't like people moving in.

In this reality it looked like while still pressed for space and possessing finite resources Japan wasn't as unwelcoming as the other one. With the war it was involved in starting to wind down Japan need as many new sources of income as it could get its hands on without surrendering too much of its own sovereignty. That didn't mean that the citizens were thrilled with allowing foreigners enter the country looking for work or a place to live though. At the moment it wasn't too bad but depending on how long the influx of refugees lasted annoyance could easily become hostility both covert and open.

"Well here's hoping we won't be here long enough to have to worry about being lynched."

"I doubt it'll get that bad unless some big terrorist attack happens with a foreign government caught red handed as the culprit. Besides with me having Washu's last name in official records it's possible that I'll be okay. You though…you'd be smart to be on the first plane out of Japan once shit hits the fan."

"Sounds about right." He said as they reached the door of their home and tapped in the security code.

While he and Dawn might live there it was first and foremost a lab owned by Megatech and it contained several pieces of expensive equipment. As such whenever they left they made sure to activate the security system and lock the door so they didn't come back to find the entire place stripped bare. Fortunately it was just an eight digit code that he'd long since committed to memory so-

BEEP! BEEP!

"Huh? I know I tapped it in right." He said looking at the red light that indicated the code was incorrect.

"Let me try." Dawn said before tapping in the code.

This time the light turned green and he heard the door unlock making him wonder if he'd unknowingly pressed one of the wrong keys by accident. It happened from time to time. You thought that you didn't have to think about typing in the code and without realizing hit a wrong button or two.

It was feasible.

With a shrug he made a mental note to pay more attention when he tapped in the code next time so he didn't make the same mistake.

Turning the lights on he figured he'd relax until it was time to turn in for the night. With the demonstration for Megatech a resounding success Dawn now had no problem getting her hands on materials or equipment for future projects to say nothing of a pay check for services rendered. As such aside from periodic maintenance of his cybernetics he could pretty much do as he liked. It wasn't quite the same as winning the lottery and living off millions but neither he or Dawn were big spenders so it wasn't a big concern.

The thing that they both set their sights on was to figure out a way to find the others sooner rather than later. Sure Washu made it sound like accident and chance were the only ways it'd happen but neither of them were willing to just wait around for either possibility. In their mind they could narrow down the possibilities by looking for matching attributes between their loved ones and possible candidates. More than that they might be able to trigger the 'awakening' of the others by spreading around the right stimulus through advertisements, press conferences and inflammatory comments that would definitely get a rise out of one of them. If they were successful then all they'd have to do would be to wait for whoever 'awoke' to come find them since they wouldn't make any effort to hide where they were.

"AH! Looks like it's done!" Dawn exclaimed before running over to the fabricator that she'd left running when they'd gone out for some fun.

"What's done?" He asked not having inquired too deeply about the project.

Once his legs and arm had been installed the youngest Summers had some time freed up so she'd started a mini-project in order to fill up the vacant time. He'd asked once what it was about but all she'd told him was that it would be useful for when his 'white knight complex inevitably got him into trouble'. Honestly he thought she was exaggerating a bit because in the years since they'd first met in Sunnydale he'd matured quite a bit and had some common sense drilled into him via several painful experiences. Sure he'd still act if he saw something he didn't like but he'd think things through first keeping retreat in mind if it was the only sane option. It'd been that sentiment that'd caused him to tune out of Dawn's explanation of her project in favour of reading some of the manga that was popular in the Japan of this reality.

"Your graphene-coltan nano-armour." Dawn replied operating the fabricator's controls, "I'd gotten most of the design specifics ironed out while you were mastering your new legs but actually making it was a world class pain. Making the two materials come together right while at the same time writing up a simple program to govern its operation was NOT easy. But the fact that the fabricator is indicating a successful assembly means my latest version worked like a charm. C'mon! I want to try it out!"

Intrigued by the idea he nodded and walked over so she could put it on him.

As it turned out it was a multi-piece type of armour with twin plates the size of cell phones on each limb while plates the size of a phone book were placed on his chest and back. He wasn't quite sure what was holding them in place so securely because he definitely didn't see straps or clamps. Still when Dawn let go of them they didn't fall to the ground so he figured she must've found some other way to make them stick.

Once they were all in place she went over to a locker before opening it up to take out something the size of desk globe. From what he could tell it looked to mostly be made out of some transparent plastic-like material with two black diamond shaped attachments on either side. It was a little tough figuring out what it was until Dawn hopped and put it on his head revealing that it was indeed a helmet. With a little automation a techno chin strap was deployed to hold the helmet in place before the plastic light material shifted to cover everything except his lower jaw. While there were no mirrors close by he couldn't help but feel a little silly with it on.

"Is this really necessary?" He asked even as he tested how restrictive the helmet would be on his head's range of motion.

"The head's one of the top spots someone with a gun'll aim for if they want you dead. It's only natural to put some kind of protection around yours." Dawn said before moving over to her main console, "The helmet's made of a nano-lattice of kinetic absorbent polymers. If I crunched the numbers right it should be good enough to protect you from most sidearms and lower caliber assault rifles. It should also take some of the bite out of the noise of any nearby explosions so your eardrums don't pop as well as hold of any disorientation."

"Cool." He thought liking the idea of not getting brained by a bullet or knocked silly by a bomb.

"And it's got one more feature I think you'll like." She said with a smile on her face before pushing a button.

With a snap the diamond shaped attachments that'd been resting horizontally on either side of his head snapped into place over his eyes. For a moment he thought she'd blinded him but then to his surprise light popped into existence onto his eyes before resolving into an image of the room in front of him.

"You've also got a custom optical package that'll be a big help." She said sounding pleased with the results of her efforts, "Not only do you have enhanced night vision but there's also a binocular function as well as infrared and data display HUD thanks to a connection with your interface. It can't show much due to its size but it should still be useful."

True.

"And the armour?" He asked focusing on the primary project.

"Watch and be amazed!" She exclaimed before tapping a series of keys.

In response to this the plates that'd been attached to him began to unfold like they'd been folded as much as possible before being put on him. Now some unseen force started off by Dawn was causing them to unfold allowing them to uncover an even greater portion of his body little by little. It didn't go everywhere but it did provide him with some pretty decent coverage over the major areas meaning someone looking to draw blood would need to be an expert marksman. A mix of gold and dark steel grey it didn't look like something that the military would approve of and Dawn would probably get a request for a new paint job but it was still nice.

"So how's it all work?" He asked testing his range of movement.

"In a word: nanomachines!" She replied before beginning to circle him for a visual once over, "The plates I put on you are tightly packed as much as I could manage but at the push of a button the nanomachine colonies built in disassemble them little by little while also spreading them out over a set area as determined by my program. At the moment not only is the armour flexible enough not to impair your movements but it's also a little over two millimeters thick."

"Isn't that a bit thin for armour?" He asked figuring something that thin probably wouldn't be able to take much punishment.

"For conventional armour it would be but not for my design!" She replied sounding supremely confident, "Thanks to the nanomachine colonies inhabiting the armour the issue of thickness is meaningless. The nano machines are programmed to enhance the hardness of the armour in response to physical impacts increasing its resistance to projectile weaponry ten times over. Granted you'll be slowed down if enemies decide to spray you down with bullets like a water hose but I'm sure you won't let that happen!"

"It's gotta have limits." He said seeing some similarities between the youngest Summers and their goddess benefactor at the moment.

"A few. I was limited by the tech and materials I had on hand after all." She conceded loosing some of her cheer, "Plus I doubted that you'd wait for me to come up with a superior version before doing something stupidly heroic so I scaled things back."

"So the limits are…what?" He asked not wanting her to just blow past them without a care.

"The nano machines that are at the core of the armour design run off of the power in your cybernetic limbs as well as your own bio-electricity. The more they need to do what they're programmed to do the more they'll take. You won't die or get hurt or anything but if you push them too far there's a chance your legs and arm will go offline. Then you'll be stuck trying to get around with just your flesh and blood arm."

Okay. No pushing his luck with the armour. Gotcha.

"There's also the fact that like the micro machines this Japan uses there are ways to knock them offline. I'd thought up a way to minimize the risk but there are too many things that'd need to be made that I don't have the resources for. Hopefully in a year or so I'll have enough money or clout with Megatech to get what I need. Other than that it should work exactly as I designed it to. Assuming nothing out of the ordinary happens of course."

He had to cringe a bit at that because even though it'd been years since they'd last been in Sunnydale his life there had ingrained in him certain rules his instinctively lived by. One of those rules, possibly the most important one, was to NEVER taunt Murphy by saying something like what Dawn had just said. Saying things along that vein almost guaranteed that the unlikely event would indeed take place. A more optimistic part of him trying to reassure the rest that they were in a completely different reality that operated differently and so Murphy had no power here.

It said quite a bit about his faith in Murphy that the reassurances did little to make him feel better.

"Oh don't look at me that way." Dawn snapped clearly having reasoned out his thought processes, "I've done my homework and there's a better chance of having an orgy with all twelve Playboy cover models than us encountering something I haven't anticipated."

CLICK. CLICK. CLANK. CLUNK

What the-?

"Warning! Level Five hazard detected! Please vacate the premises immediately!" A recording declared even as red warning lights turned on and messages appeared on monitors, "Warning! Level Five hazard detected! Facility purge systems will activate in four minutes!"

"Why don't I like the sound of that?" He asked even as he moved towards the door that according to his senses had been the source of the clicks, the clank and the clunk.

"Because you shouldn't!" Dawn replied even as she began to tap up a storm on the main console's keyboard, "The purge systems are designed to completely incinerate the contents of a Megatech lab in the event of a level four or five hazard. Usually a biohazard, chemical weapon or something else capable of spreading beyond the lab."

"Any idea what set it off?" He asked not even considering the possibility that Dawn had done something to set it off.

"Nothing off the top of my head and we don't have time to find out what it was." She replied not breaking her focus on the console screen, "It's going to take everything I've got to try and shut down the purge systems in time. Any luck with the door?"

Grabbing hold of the door handle he tried to turn it but it wouldn't move even a little. For the moment he didn't try forcing it since he had a feeling that it'd only break off in his hand instead choosing to get a grip on the seams with his robo-arm. Then with all the strength he could muster he tried to pull it open only to be given ample reason to think that the noises he'd heard earlier had been locks, bolts and solid steel rods sliding into position. They were effectively locked inside and even when he tapped in the access code he was sure he remembered correctly all he got was an angry red 'try again' response.

"No good. It's locked tight and the access code isn't working even though I KNOW I tapped it in right." He replied turning away from the door.

"Two minutes and forty-five econds to purge systems activation." A recording declared much to their annoyance.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." She said as the tension in her voice became noticeable.

"Perhaps I should add clairvoyance to your record while I still can." Came a voice both of them recognized even as an image appeared on the largest monitor in the room.

Shirow Kenji.

"Care to tell us why you're trying to kill us?" He asked with an anger that could only be satisfied with the man on the screen receiving a serious beating.

"Oh? I'm not trying to kill you. This is all just a tragic accident caused by a one in a million system malfunction." Shirow replied doing an ALMOST perfect job of sounding innocent, "I really must have a word with whoever was in charge of keeping that lab properly maintained and bug free. Still it is a good example of what happens when the young choose to soar too high and too quickly for their own good. Had more restraint been shown perhaps it would not have come to this. I bid you the best of luck in your next incarnations."

With that the screen went back to its previous red with various warning messages being displayed.

"Mastermind speech?" He asked looking at Dawn.

"Mastermind speech but better than I was expecting." Dawn replied before throwing up her hands in frustration, "DAMMIT! I don't have enough time to override the purge systems! Another thirty seconds added to the clock and I'd manage it but without it I won't make it in time!"

"So we got a plan B or should I just bend over and kiss my own ass goodbye?" He asked not knowing of a way out that didn't involve explosives strategically placed on a single wall.

"Only one." She replied before running for a stack of storage containers.

As it turned out it wasn't the top container or even the one beneath it that was her objective but the next one and with precise moments she popped the latches on it. Lifting the lid up in a hurry she reached inside before picking something up and throwing it in his direction almost too fast for him to stand any chance of catching it. However he got a little lucky and when he looked at what he'd caught he discovered that it was a sword but not one that Dawn could've gotten in this reality.

How was he so certain?

Because he recognized the sword as the prototype that Willow had constructed back in the previous reality! Sure the sheath looked like it was locally made but there was no mistaking the shape and arcane symbols carved into the blade as being anything other than his best bud's work. He thought it'd been left behind since it hadn't been in his remaining hand or strapped to his waist prior to their displacement to this reality.

He was glad that it was here but also a little mystified as to what good it was supposed to be. Sure it was sharp and wouldn't break easy but could they really cut their way to safety?

"Get to that wall and hold the sword with your cybernetic arm." Dawn ordered even as she went back to her console to grab something attached to the underside, "Willow told me she designed the blade so that non-Slayers could channel magic into it in order to increase its cutting power as a way to compensate for the lack of brute strength. If you can channel the electricity generated by your cybernetic arm into the blade just as you execute a slice then getting through the wall is possible."

"How possible?" He asked even as he went to the wall he felt was the best chance for getting out.

"I haven't crunched the numbers but probably around a one in three chance of being possible." She replied even as she approached him.

"Better odds than surviving on a Hellmouth." He said with a lopsided grin before unsheathing the sword with his cybernetic arm, "Let's go for it!"

Bringing the sword up over his head he tried to remember the specifics of how the arm generated the electricity. According to Dawn it mostly had to do with speed which meant that meant that he had to go all out with every swing to make them as fast as possible. Another thing he though to do was to use some of the training Giles had provided all members of the organization for the purpose of activating the talismans salvaged from the Old Council. While some of them required that the user be a qualified mystic the others could be activated by anyone provided they could channel even a little magic into the talisman. If he used the same technique Giles taught him at the same time he maxed out the speed in his cybernetic arm the odds of him successfully cutting through the wall went up.

Thus with a plan in mind he focused his thoughts, followed Giles steps and then brought the sword down against the wall with all the speed his robotic arm could muster.

The result was quite spectacular when a sizeable amount of electricity danced over the blade and when the two opposing forces met the wall parted like butter before a red hot knife. As a result he managed to create a slice a little over five feet in length but taking a moment to get a line of sight he peered into the cut to see if it'd indeed gone all the way through.

It did!

"Twenty-five seconds until purge systems activation." The system declared making it clear just how little time he had to cut a way out for them.

With good incentive provided he raised the blade once more before giving his all to cut a way out of the building in as few slices as possible. He didn't have time to go full slice and dice with it so instead he focused on creating a hole just big enough for a person to squeeze through without too much difficulty. With that in mind a shape took form in his mind and he immediately went to work cutting it into reality one slash at a time as fast as he could.

In the end it took him six slices to separate the chunk from the wall and then with a powerful side kick with his right cybernetic leg he sent it flying away exposing the open air.

"YES! Freedom!" He crowed turning to Dawn to tell her to go through the hole.

Only for time to freeze as he saw the countdown timer on a nearby screen hit the five second mark. Getting outside might be the main objective but he had no idea what the minimum safe distance would be for getting away from the incineration method. There were after all multiple forms of incineration that would prove effective in completely destroying anything dangerous as well as any sensitive materials. Even if the systems were designed to take advantage of the confined space of the building's interior by blowing a single hole in it he'd provided a potential escape route for whatever form the heat took.

It was fine if they managed to get beyond the maximum range of the vented fire or whatever it turned out to be but if they screwed up they'd still be burnt extra crispy.

On instinct alone he grabbed Dawn with his flesh and blood arm, threw her over his shoulder and with a sprint's worth of speed dove through the hole he'd made. However once he was through he dropped the sword and switched Dawn to bridal position before pushing his legs to propel him as swiftly as they could. It was less than a second later that he heard a sound that his instincts immediately classified as a threat causing him to put as much of himself between it and Dawn as he could. With the armour she'd given him and his natural body mass she'd be spared the brunt of the blast.

As for him it all depended on just how well the youngest had designed the armour.

If she'd done a good job he'd still get singed but nothing he couldn't shrug off.

If she'd miscalculated a bit…well at least Dawn would make it through okay.

Pain washed over him like a river but through it all he focused on nothing but protecting Dawn from it by letting instinct adjust his coverage to maximize her safety. Even as the blackness of unconsciousness crept ever further into his vision his will proved unbreakable lasting long into unconsciousness and definitely long after the purge systems turned off.

What happened next?

He wouldn't know until long after.

It was not an exaggeration to say that for a long while he wished he'd remained ignorant.

---

Dawn's POV

~When I see that bastard next I'm cutting off ALL his limbs…~ she thought with anger since it proved a good sedative for the pain she was feeling, ~…then reattaching them in ANY order I like!~

It wasn't hard to figure out from Shriow's rambling that something had happened at Megatech that'd put her substantially ahead of him in terms of power or influence. To someone used to the dog eat dog world of corporate politics and jockeying for promotions it must've been unacceptable for him. As a result he'd arranged this 'accident' to remove the pebble from his path regardless of the fact that it meant that two people would die.

However he'd underestimated her and Xander.

THAT was something that'd cost him dearly! She'd make sure of it!

Before that though there was something she had to do without fail.

"Xander?" She asked even as she tried to gently extract herself from her human shield.

No response.

Not that she'd really expected any considering how hot the flames washed over them both and how long they lasted. Even with Xander using so much of his body to protect her she was keenly aware of both but more than that her mind could comprehend the damage he'd taken to protect her. The armour and helmet that she'd designed for him was good but it'd never been intended for heat on this level. When added to the fact that neither the helmet or the armour covered every square inch of his body then it was inevitable that some fire had gotten through to his flesh.

He needed help and he needed it soon if he was going to survive.

It only took a short while to get free of Xander but when she turned around she was frozen for seconds at the sight of the damage done to keep her safe. The transparent pieces of his helmet had been destroyed leaving only melted edges that barely hinted at what it'd looked like before. One of the eye pieces was destroyed beyond the point of repair but the other looked like it could be repaired so long as she could get ahold of both the parts as well as the equipment. As for the armour…

Honestly they looked like they'd been made of cheese and put through the microwave for a little too long. Some bits had been melted off completely while others had been distorted by the heat almost to the point of being useless. This plus the fact that they didn't cover every square inch of him meant that the damage to his fleshy bits and cybernetics was dire indeed. Not enough to render him completely unrecognizable to her eyes but enough that she knew he required immediate medical help. The only difficulty being that calling for an ambulance might just tip off Shirow that they were still alive encouraging him to make another murder attempt. Did the asshole have the backbone to try again or would he cut his losses while doing everything he could to eradicate evidence that could implicate him?

Either way had its benefits and costs.

If Shirow chose to try and finish them off he would have to act fast but if the man had been certain that the purge systems would be sufficient he'd be scrambling to come up with a plan B.

However if the man was too cowardly to try again he'd dedicate the next few hours to eradicating anything that pointed at him being the guilty party. If he succeeded then it'd essentially be his word against hers and Xander's when it came to the truth of 'attempted murder'. She hadn't explored everything about the fake past Washu had put together for her and Xander but she doubted that it'd give them enough clout to take Shirow to court. Courts operated on evidence whether it was ironclad or circumstantial and even with the hard drive she'd managed to grab before the entire place went up in smoke they might not have proof of either kind.

It'd been a spur of the moment thing, a hope that on the hard drive a record of Shirow's call might be stored, but she'd need to access its contents first to be sure. For all she knew the only thing present on the hard drive were files on Xander's cybernetics and the notes she took as she learnt what she needed to in order to help Xander. If it contained a record of the call it still wasn't a sure thing for them because she'd seen enough to know that such things could be fabricated. Depending on the skill of the person who did the fabricating it could be said that no proof was a hundred percent reliable. Sure there was a good chance that methods had been devised to make reliable fabrications difficult to make and even harder to pass official scrutiny but they might not be enough.

For every method to spot a fake there were ten being conceived of to successfully get past the spotters.

If nothing that either she or Xander said proved to be enough to get people to seriously investigate Shirow for attempted murder than the two of them would be in a tight spot one way or another. For one false accusations didn't look good on your internship report so there was a chance she'd get kicked out of Megatech despite what she'd given them so far. If that happened she'd have no choice but to approach every company and government office that had the ability to maintain Xander's cybernetics. Even with the starter package Washu had given them and what she'd gained from Megatech she didn't have near enough to help Xander. While not as costly as a full prosthetic cyborg body or full cyberization the tech in Xander's cybernetics wasn't the sort of thing you could pay for with a middle class job.

~Can't take the chance.~ She thought laying her friend carefully face first on the ground, ~Have to do something on my own.~

The thing was that in her opinion Xander wasn't in any condition to be moved and since she'd never had a reason to she didn't know where she could go for medical aid. When added to the fact that unlike the majority of this world she didn't possess any cybernetics at all and she had no way to look up the info she needed by connecting wirelessly to the net. So the only real idea that came to her was also the one that was a real long shot even if the facts lined up most of the way between points A and B.

~No point in hesitating.~ She thought before she raised her hands until they were just above waist level.

She prayed to whatever benevolent deities might be listening and then began to search within herself not for memories or something all too tangible but rather something that could be felt on an instinctive level. She knew almost from the very moment she'd woken up in this reality that somehow the costume she'd worn on Halloween all those years ago had somehow made a comeback. When she'd watched the recording Washu had left them a candle flame of suspicion had blossomed into existence but since it'd not been a priority she hadn't explored it.

Now it might be the only way she could save Xander so she was going to have to go after it quick and dirty in the hopes that she could pull something off.

She would need to use instinct and hope that she could somehow summon up the computer interface that Washu always could on a whim. If she could somehow manage that then she might be able to access the nano machines in Xander's armour and reprogram them for basic medical aid. Not enough to heal him entirely but enough that he'd be out of danger and it'd be safe to move him someplace else. Once he was in no danger of dying and was outside of Shirow's potential reach she could look for ways to deal with the rest of the damage.

Reprogramming the nano machines wouldn't be too difficult since she'd gained quite a bit of programming skill and as for the medical side of things that wouldn't be a problem either. Every member of the Organization back home had been required to learn enough to treat injuries in the field to ensure that the injured would survive the trip to better equipped facilities. She'd even gone a bit further given how she knew that certain people had a habit of diving into trouble that'd get them hurt in ways the basic medic training wouldn't do much good for. All she needed to do was pass on her medical and First Aid knowledge to the nano machines and have them prioritize the repair of key areas.

They wouldn't be anything close to ready for the hospitals medical use but she believed that they wouldn't do further damage either.

Thus she closed her eyes before letting her instincts delve deeper and deeper into herself in the hopes of finding that small crumb of power she might've gained from Washu. It didn't need to be much or even last all that long. So long as it allowed her to do what she wanted done she'd be okay with losing the ability forever more. If she had to describe it she would say it was akin to trying to navigate a room with all five of your senses seriously muffled leaving you to use past memories of the room as well as careful scrutiny if you wanted to avoid messing up. It was a long and laborious process to be sure with uncertainty circling the edges of her perception since she'd never done this before. However the price of failure was too high so she pushed onwards looking for something she'd never felt before or sensed before. She tried to imagine how it'd feel and the closest she could come up with was pure knowledge, absolute logic or boundless curiosity. Maybe a combination of all three since all three of them could be used to describe a computer and perhaps Washu herself come to think of it.

Time passed by though how much she deliberately kept herself from thinking about but in the end the old Summers stubbornness paid off. While she couldn't be a hundred percent sure of it the feeling, the sensation, her instincts had led her to looked very promising in regards to being what she was after. With that in mind she reached out with her essence and made contact with that instant giving rise to both sensations as well as feelings that almost made her back off. However with Xander's well being on the line she shoved her own concerns aside and established a stronger grip before pulling her discovery upwards to the surface.

She only got three quarters of the way up before some sort of force made its presence known and acted to block her find from getting any closer to the surface. She pulled on it again and again but it was like trying to pull someone through a hole much smaller than they were. This only made sense if the block was put in place by Washu and while she doubted it'd been established maliciously that didn't change the fact that it was an obstruction to her goals. While she could spend who knew how long trying to fathom the reason behind the block as well as figure out if it could be undone safely she wasn't that patient. Xander didn't have time for the easy way so the hard way was how it'd have to be.

Marshalling her will and using her limited experience when it came to countering mental interference she metaphorically dug in to bring what she wanted through the barrier intact. It was hard, so terribly hard, making her wonder if she would accidentally fracture her own soul in the effort. They say that the body and the mind put limiters on themselves in order to keep from getting hurt as a result of pushing one or the other into self-harming territory. As her efforts continued she believed that perhaps what she was doing was something similar but even if that were true she was willing to take the good with the bad.

She'd already gone through hell thanks to the treachery of the countries back home.

With the anger and the grief that came with those memories to fuel her will she pulled even harder to get what she'd need to save Xander.

"Do you have any idea what time it is young lady?!" Came an angry voice in her head and suddenly she found herself in an endless white void with two doors somehow standing up without walls connected to them.

One door was one she'd recognize even if she died as being the one to her bedroom in the house in Sunnydale that'd been destroyed during the final battle against the First. The other though took a bit longer for her to identify due to the differences in medium but it clicked a moment later as the door to Washu's lab within the Misaki household. A moment later that door opened to reveal Washu dressed in crab themed pyjamas looking like she'd been woken up in the middle of the night. This caused her to feel a little sorry as well as confused but considering who she was dealing with it was well within the genius' capabilities.

"Not really. It's not like I have a way of knowing what time it is on the other side of the multiverse." She replied pulling out terms from sci-fi since it made her sound more intelligent, "Besides I wasn't trying to call you. I was just trying to get your self-generated computer to show up for me. Xander's been torn up pretty bad and I needed to do some nanomachine reprogramming to save him."

For a moment it looked like Washu was going to stay angry but then something occurred to her to make her feel a little embarrassed.

"I knew I forgot something. People think being a genius means you don't make mistakes but when you're like me you've got half a million ideas floating in your head at one time." Washu said before shoving aside her embarrassment, "So what sort of trouble have you gotten yourselves into this time?"

"Short version? My chaperone at Megatech got wind of my designs and made a big deal of it. I showed them off as a way of making sure we wouldn't have a problem with cybernetics maintenance." She replied hoping that not a lot of time was passing in the real world, "Apparently the higher ups liked my work a little too much for Shirow's tastes. I got the feeling that there was a major promotion in the works for me and he decided to make sure it'd be given post mortem. We managed to get out but Xander took some high temperature to the back from the purge systems."

"And now he's banged up and you plan on using your nanomachine design to fix him." Washu said understanding the situation, "Okay let's see what we've got to work with."

With that the genius in pyjamas manifested her gravity defying console interface but with a screen three times the size it should have been. What was displayed there could only be considered a first person view through her eyes back in the waking world. With the blink of an eye she watched as the interface she'd been trying to bring up manifested and her hands began to move in perfect sync with Washu's own. Obviously the alien genius was remote controlling her body and while a little creepy she trusted that the crab loving lady knew what she was doing.

"Hmmm…for someone who didn't know anything before arriving in your current reality you didn't do half bad. Definitely a step above what they've been using there up until now." Washu said as data on Xander began to pop up on both screens, "Nano-deployable armour. Nicely done. Would've gone for full body coverage myself but I guess that's a bit much for a young corporate intern. I shouldn't have too much trouble repurposing your nano machines into nano-meds but we're going to need to do something about the organic material that's no longer there."

With practiced ease Washu manifested second holographic keyboard before typing in a series of commands. The purpose was soon revealed when seemingly out of nowhere several masses of different colours, compositions and textures appeared over Xander's body. When the last one manifested Washu resumed her work on her main keyboard and thus did reality take a turn for the weird.

As if guided by unseen forces strands began to descend from each mass no thicker than a grain of sand and once they made contact with Xander began to infiltrate his body.

"What're you doing?" She asked even though she had a loose idea.

"Using some materials from my own stores as substitutes for the destroyed or damaged organic material. Don't worry all of them are things that exist in the reality you're currently calling home or could be made with a little original thinking." Washu replied without her fingers breaking stride even once, "Nothing to suggest that you got some inexplicable help from someone. Still…looks like he'll have to say goodbye to his other arm and up the number of artificial organs. There're not enough left of any of them to make them worth salvaging."

"Any vitals?" She asked worried at the idea of internal damage.

"No most of those had already been replaced before you woke up in your current reality. There were a few other purely natural organs that made it through the castle siege so I left them alone." Washu replied as she continued to guide the masses of materials to where they needed to go, "Now though they're all messed up. Better to do things this way than waste time trying to salvage them. Might fortify a few spots too since someone who's tried to kill you once might try again and I don't plan on getting woken up in the middle of the night a second time."

For a moment she considered asking why the genius was helping them, both now and originally, but decided not to bother. Assuming that the anime episodes were even half accurate Washu had never given any of the other characters the full truth or told them about her real reasons. She either told them what she thought they could handle or what they wanted to hear. Not out of any maliciousness but rather because the whole truth might be more than what their minds were capable of handling. She was a genius after all so many of the things she knew about were so far above their heads that it probably wasn't even worth talking about. As for the more cosmic things or the plans of the three Chousin it was probably for the best that they didn't know such things.

If the advanced science was capable of giving people nosebleeds then cosmic multi-reality knowledge would probably cause the heads of every person in the Misaki home to explode.

Better to keep things on a need to know basis when it came to goddess info.

"Good. Looks like everything's coming together nicely." Washu said as the last bits of the masses vanished into Xander's body, "The cosmetic stuff will take a few days to finish up but he won't be dying anytime soon. I've also fortified his entire skeletal structure so that it'll take a literal tank rolling over it to do any damage. I've made some improvements to your nano machines and the armour as well not to mention setting aside a small colony of nano machines to act as an emergency medical system. Won't be able to handle everything though so make sure that idiot learns how to duck."

"This is Xander we're talking about you know." She said with a rueful grin on her face, "I'll do what I can but hopefully we'll run into the others so I can get some backup."

"Well this is about all I can do now and you two need to get going sooner rather than later." Washu said with a few final keystrokes, "There's no curing stupidity after all and this Shirow guy will probably try to kill both you again."

"Don't worry. We'll take a few days, ten at most, to heal up." She said before a hardness rose up within her, "After that Shirow's going to find out that if you want Dawn Summers and Xander Harris dead you better get it done right the first time."

"Normally I'd say something about leaving it to the police to handle but if your memories are accurate they won't be much help without evidence to get them moving." Washu said sounding resigned to letting something she didn't approve of take place, "Just make sure you don't kill anyone but him. Getting back together with your friends'll be a little difficult if you're on the run from the police and the military."

"Don't worry. Unlike some bastards me and Xander aren't going to add to the body count unless we aren't given a choice." She said with no waver whatsoever in her tone, "Everyone other than Shirow will get three chances to get out of our way with us giving them incentive if they ignore chances one and two. If they pass on chance three then they've got no one but themselves to blame for what happens next."

"Fair enough. Anyone lacking enough braincells to figure out that getting in your way isn't healthy would be removed from the gene pool sooner or later anyways. If not by you then by someone else." Washu said before her consoles vanished from sight, "Walk back through your door to return to your body's driver seat."

Nodding she walked over to where her no longer existing bedroom door stood by itself but when she stood in front of it she turned halfway back to Washu.

"Thanks for this Washu-chan." She said with genuine gratitude, "For everything. I doubt it'll ever come to it but if you and yours ever need help and we can give it don't hesitate to ask."

"There'll be plenty of time for you to pay me back once you're all ready to make the next multiversal jump." Washu said with a wave of her hand, "Try not to get yourselves killed before then."

"We'll do our best but no promises." She said turning back to her door before reaching out for the doorknob attached to the door that'd take her back to her body.

If she or any of the other Scoobies were the sort to play it safe and not put themselves in harm's way then they would've moved away from the Hellmouth the second they found out the truth about it.

---

Almost Two Days Later

A Cheap Motel in New Port City

Xander's POV

Something was different.

Not in a bad way but rather a weird way.

The sad truth of the matter was that over the course of his life he'd had numerous experiences with being forcefully rendered unconscious as well as waking from such instances. Some would say that this alone was cause for steps to be taken to better protect himself either by wearing protective gear or just plain removing himself from situations where it was likely to happen. Sadly for the first eighteen years of his life neither had been much of a possibility thanks to the law that required him to stay with Tony and Jessica until he was eighteen. After that he'd already chosen what he wanted to do with his life and unfortunately a few bumps or bruises was to be expected along with a concussion as well as the often accompanying unconsciousness.

That being said such numerous experiences had made him quite well acquainted with how regaining consciousness was supposed to go and feel like. It was supposed to be like swimming through a thick molasses of unconsciousness allowing you to ascend only sluggishly until finally you fully connected with the conscious world. Even then it usually took half a minute or so for a person's mind to fully clear so that there'd be no hinderances to thought or judgment.

So why was he waking up so quickly and without the lingering fogginess of unconsciousness that should've lingered like dirt to be shaken or patted out of one's pants?

"Rise and shine sleepyhead." A familiar voice said causing him to sit up and turn his head towards the source.

It was then that he became aware of his new location as well as the fact that Dawn was sitting in a chair next to a table by what could only be a motel window. Considering that the last place he remembered being was outside of their lab slash home seconds before the purge systems activated he felt the need for some blanks to be filled in.

"Where are we Dawn?" He asked before looking about for some instance of the motel's logo and name.

"The Motel Killian about a few blocks from what's left of our lab." She replied with a tone he recognized from her sister's implying pain for a specific person in the future, "I probably would've been able to get further away if I'd called a cab but that can be traced. I think we can both agree that it'd be better to let Shirow think he's killed us for now."

It all came back to him and so he could find no fault with the young lady's reasoning.

Shirow, the man that had tried to kill them by way of the purge systems, if he had any competence at all would want to gain confirmation of their demise before doing anything else. While they were still vulnerable to things like traffic cameras and other such things with a view on the streets and sidewalk they were helped by the fact that Shirow had struck late at night. That meant that there'd be few if any civilians around to spot them and if Dawn had been careful the cameras wouldn't have gotten too detailed a look at them.

Surprise could still be an advantage in their possession and it was something that would help them significantly in their joint present desire.

Revenge.

"I'm looking forward to showing him how wrong he is." He said as he threw his legs over the edge of the bed he was on.

It was then that his various senses told him that something was different about his body, much different, causing him to look down to see if he could spot the cause visually. As it turned out the cause was obvious and didn't really require all that much thought but it did leave him with new questions to replace the initial ones that'd been answered. For one thing the clothes he'd been wearing when they'd gotten locked in the lab were gone but honestly he hadn't expected them to survive considering the potency of the heat. However the fact that his cybernetic limbs looked different sticking out of the obviously lost and found shorts he was now wearing. When he expanded his examination to the rest of his body he found that in place of what should've been a perfectly functional organic human arm there was another cybernetic arm. The more he looked the more he saw additions that hadn't been there before and that he couldn't rationally explain so he looked to Dawn with a single raised inquisitive raised eyebrow.

"You got pretty badly burned but fortunately Washu was eavesdropping on us." Dawn replied before something happened that made him think that there was more going on than he thought.

Right before his eyes, with little in the way of warning, what looked to be a black holographic computer interface manifested before Dawn. He didn't even get a chance to ask any questions before the youngest Summers went to work on it like she was old hat at it. Rather than interrupt her he let her work while he tried to puzzle out the reasons for the upgrades. Too bad he was likely to not have any better luck figuring that out than he had been trying to discern why Washu had saved the core Scoobies. Washu's mind probably ran in so many different directions it was like one of those living mazes that changed with every turn you took to reach the end.

"Looks like your cybernetics are working fine and there're no problems with your vitals." Dawn said before dismissing the holographic computer interface, "Washu does good work."

"And your new 'computer'?" He asked hoping for an answer.

"Turns out when my Halloween costume popped back up at the castle a little extra came with it. Washu put a lock on it because she thought it was too flashy to use in this reality." She replied turning her chair to face him completely, "But when I kinda forced her hand after the blast it looks like she's given me some leeway. I won't be making things pop up out of nowhere but normal computer applications like keeping an eye on your cybernetics, accessing the net and hacking systems are definitely doable. The only rule she put on a pop up note was to make sure only people I trust get to see it in use. Too many eyes watching and I keep it shut down."

Made sense.

Washu's holo-computer was without a doubt highly advanced tech way beyond what existed here. If the locals found out about it they'd try to see the ability destroyed, try to control it or try to replicate it for themselves while eliminating the original. A computer system that's invisible to known scans, able to hack most systems and able to manifest with a flex of Dawn's will. All in all it was made clear that the best course of action was to save it for emergencies or when the risk of discovery dropped below a certain percentage.

"So what's the what with me?" He asked figuring knowing the details of any upgrades was necessary info.

"Well like you already know your other arm got replaced with the same type of cybernetic replacement as the one you already had. What you don't know is that you got pretty beat up on the inside as well as a bit on the surface so Washu had to replace some stuff." Dawn replied calmly relating to what she knew, "As of that night you're a little over seventy-five percent cybernetic with quite a few internals replaced with artificial replacements. She also reinforced your entire skeleton since she figured we'd go after Shirow looking for payback. Said it'd take a literal tank running you over to even crack the bones."

"Hope I never need to confirm that the hard way." He said certain that even if it was true he wouldn't lay down in front of a moving tank for any reason.

"Me neither. I managed to salvage one of the eye pieces from your helmet but the headgear itself was a complete loss. It'll take a little more work to figure the best way for you to use it but I'll get it done." She said even though he never had any doubt that she'd come up with something, "And then there's that."

Looking to where she was pointing he found Willow's prototype blade laying on the table but it looked different from before.

"It still has the special properties Willow put into it but it's been modified by Washu to look like something a little more scientific in case someone local looks close at it." She explained even as he went over to take a look himself, "If they put it through tests they'll find out that it's just a high-frequency blade powered via your cybernetics."

"And a high-frequency blade is…?" He asked not having heard of the term before in any sci-fi entertainment he'd enjoyed before the assault on the castle.

"A high-frequency blade is a weapon reinforced by a powerful alternating current and resonates at extremely high vibration frequencies. This oscillation weakens the molecular bonds of anything it cuts increasing its cutting ability." She replied as he picked up the sheathed weapon, "From what I dug up while you were sleeping there are several companies working on putting the theory to practical use. For the moment the main problem is making the power source compact enough so that it doesn't hinder the wielder so much so as to make the whole thing impractical. Current projections say that there won't be a decent prototype for at least four to five years at the earliest."

"And if they ask how we managed to get ahold of a working blade?" He asked knowing that the question would definitely come up.

"Don't know how she did it but Washu made a past for herself here. Maybe she actually spent some time here or maybe she just hacked all the right databases and inserted a fake past." Dawn replied sounding uncertain which it was, "All I need to do is say that she made it. They already think she's my mom so it won't be hard for them to connect the dots."

True.

He didn't see Washu being able to restrain her usual eccentricities and genius all that much so she'd definitely be well known. If the crab lady had left behind one or two inventions of the memorable kind then no one would question the idea that Washu had created the first combat effective high frequency blade. With any luck though any effort to figure out how it worked would take years if not longer to do even with a dedicated effort of experienced professionals. It would keep anyone from making something that could be used against them and hopefully all the core Scoobies would be gone by the time they managed it.

"Sounds like she's helped cut the prep time down." He said as his expression changed to focused resolve, "How long before we pay Shirow a visit?"

"A week. Long enough for investigators to tell him that there weren't any bodies in the lab and for some fear to grow in his belly." She replied with an equal focus, "We'll need at least that long to figure out where to confront him and what we'll need for our payback."

"I got what I need right here." He said tempted to unsheathe the high frequency blade to emphasize his point.

"And if we have to deal with security? Cops? Hired thugs?" She asked pointing out some very real possibilities, "We need to do it quick and vanish even quicker. As far as the locals are concerned our payback will be labelled 'murder'. The cops'll hunt us down and put us in prison. If we don't want that then we need to plan this out right."

As much as he hated waiting he saw what she was getting at.

Normally when someone tries to kill you the right thing to do would be to report it to the police and let them build a case against the guilty party. However this was not a normal situation since all evidence of Shirow's guilt had gone up in smoke and two eyewitnesses without proof didn't exactly mean much. Then he remembered something that might change things.

"What did you grab before we busted out of the lab?" He asked putting the weapon back on the table, "You took something from beneath your console."

"It was the main hard drive for the console. I thought it might have data that could prove that Shirow was behind locking us in and activating the purge systems." She replied with a growl of irritation, "As soon as we got settled here and I did a quick systems check on you I took a look at it. Shirow's no amateur. The same virus that locked us in and activated the purge systems also wiped all records of any communications done in the previous twenty-four hours. Maybe if Willow was here she'd be able to recover something but I'm not her."

"Probably means the bastard has done this before. Maybe many times before." He said grimacing as his one hope for a simple solution flickered out, "Maybe if we get the chance we should try to grab something from his personal computer. If the idiot's cocky he might've left something on it we can use."

"Maybe. Getting access to it would also let us figure out where he's going to be so we can pick the best time to have a little 'chat' with him." She conceded with a nod of her head, "Give me some time to figure out the best way to infiltrate his home and get it. The longer he's in the dark the better off we'll be."

"Don't take too long." He said even as he moved back to the bed picking up the TV remote along the way, "I've never been the patient type."

A small part of him, one that wanted to believe in the system, had hoped that at least with a recording of Shirow's parting shot they could deprive him of any lawful support. With that possibility shattered there was only the two of them and their iron bar resolve to make the man pay for trying to kill them. Two people against a guy who'd screwed people over before and without proof would have the law as an ally.

It was looking more and more like the old Scooby way of doing things was the only way that'd work.

Ignore the law and just do what needs to be done.

It worked back in Sunnydale.

---

Megatch New Port HQ

Shirow Kenji's POV

Surprises.

He equally hated and liked them because they both represented unforeseen variables that could either be taken advantage of or be serious problems. In the past he'd had moments where he'd been able to turn the unexpected to his advantage and profited nicely but there had been others that had set back his plans months if not years. Nothing permanent mind you but he'd been forced to burn some resources to keep from being implicated and even then he'd been placed under scrutiny for a time. With every encounter with the trickster known as 'surprise' he had done his best to refine his methods so that it cost him less and gained him more.

It'd been fun and oh so pleasing when everything worked out the way he'd scripted it to.

Now though it looked like chance had favoured Miss Hakubi and Mister Harris because according to the call he'd just finished with his man on the police force no bodies had been found in the ruins of the lab he'd set aside for them. It'd taken this long for the site to be safe for forensic investigators to enter to do their jobs and according to his source the CSIs had concluded their work an hour ago. When he'd asked the officer who owed him favours for an explanation the only one he'd been able to provide was that a hole had somehow been cut in the wall of the lab. The man pointed to this as the most likely escape route for anyone who'd been in the building but due to the thoroughness of the purge systems there was no evidence to support the idea.

He knew for a fact that the purge systems while thorough would not have been hot enough to reduce both Miss Hakubi and her friend to unidentifiable ashes. Indeed the information he had on Xander's cybernetic limbs conclusively proved that it would take temperatures much hotter to destroy them beyond recognition. Therefore there were only two possibilities he could think of that made any sense to his mind. First was the possibility that they'd somehow survived and had chosen to go into hiding in order to avoid any follow up attempts on their lives. The second possibility was that they were abducted by an unknown party and had been relocated to an unknown destination.

If it was the first then it meant that he'd underestimated the duo's resourcefulness. Xander while not unintelligent was not savvy in the areas of technology and hacking so he had believed that all he'd be able to bring to the situation was the physical qualities of his body. Miss Hakubi he'd judged to be a young lady with potential in the field of cybernetics and nano-technology but he'd never seen any sign of any hacking ability. He'd been convinced that by locking down the lab and activating the purge systems they'd be utterly trapped with their deaths a foregone conclusion. However if the two of them had managed to come up with a means of escape it meant that he'd miscalculated somewhere. The fact that they hadn't approached the police though indicated that they thought he had assets there or that his position in Megatech would shield him without damning evidence.

The latter was accurate but not the former.

While he did have a few police officers he could tap for information and one that would even dispose of incriminating evidence he was no kingpin of crime. He just knew the value of having 'friends' in the right places and made sure that he made use of them in a careful manner. Favours are made in order to be used up and 'persuasion' only lasted for so long before the 'friend' tried to free themselves. Only by carefully calibrating the usage of the 'friend' so that they never feel the need to free themselves could they be kept.

He still had a long ways to go before he reached his ultimate goal and the process of making new 'friends' was far from factory steady. He couldn't use up his resources carelessly and so seizing control of the investigation into the lab's destruction was impossible. A far simpler course of action would be to simply eliminate even the most tenuous fragment of data that could potentially point in his direction. In most civilized countries you needed evidence that proved beyond a reasonable doubt that a person was guilty before they'd be convicted. So long as he kept control of his reactions it wouldn't matter how loudly they accused him of trying to kill them without proof to back their statements up.

The second possible scenario of them being extracted by an unknown party was feasible if only because to his knowledge Miss Hakubi didn't have anything in her lab that could cut through a wall. Given the short amount of time between being locked in and the purge system activating the odds of the young lady being able to put something together were slim indeed. However if an outside party was responsible there was no telling how long prior to the act they had to prepare to acquire both Dawn and Xander. It would be all too feasible to bring something to the scene to cut through the wall and with the alternative being death the duo would have no choice but to obey their 'rescuers'. If someone had managed to get wind of Miss Hakubi's new cybernetic limbs AND discovered her connection to the infamous Hakubi Washu those would be two very good reasons to act.

If it was an outside party there was no telling where the duo were at the moment. They could be anywhere in the city, the country or they might have left the country entirely.

Would they stay gone and count their blessings? Would their benefactors use what they knew to blackmail him?

If it was the second one then he'd essentially be frozen out of using his own personal resources to further his plans since doing so could expose him to the unknown party. While Dawn and Xander's testimonies might not matter in a court of law it would serve to point out his activities. Someone with sufficient skill and resources could then monitor his activities and pounce the moment they gained material that could be used against him surfaced.

He needed to find them or at least a trace of them as soon as possible while at the same time eliminating information that could be used against him.

~Looks like I'll be working late tonight.~ He thought with a sigh of exasperation.

He just hoped that Keri and her crew were available when the time came to silence Dawn Hakubi and Xander Harris.

So long as he paid their price he could count on them getting the job done AND keeping his involvement to themselves even if it meant dying.

Professional ethics and all that.

---

Three Days Later

Dawn's POV

"I'm all set up." She said from inside the van they 'borrowed' for the operation, "Ready when you are."

"I'm going in." Xander said through the obsolete walkie-talkies they'd acquired from a pawn shop, "Spot me."

What her friend was referring to was that it'd be her job to deal with any non-organic eyes that might spot hm going too and from their objective. She might not be the hack wizard Willow was but thanks to being able to access a holo-computer similar to Washu's she had the processing power to brute force things to go her way. Plus she'd already found a few simple hacking programs that could auto-execute on the advanced computer's desktop that her 'mother' had no doubt put there. So long as she didn't push her luck with them getting what they wanted wouldn't be too difficult.

Watching the feed from Xander's cybernetic eyes as well as from the cameras she could access she knew the precise moment she needed to remove him from the visual spectrum of the tech-eyes in the area. To the untrained eye and mind it would seem as though he was still behind the large truck parked on the side of the road rather than hopping over the wall of Shirow's property. Switching feeds she executed one of Washu's programs that was designed to auto-blind sensors and cameras in a specific quarter of the property. It didn't last long enough to be considered anything but a 'temporary malfunction' but with the speed Xander's legs gave him it was enough to serve their needs.

"I'm outside the UK gateway." Xander said through the walkie-talkie, "Ready to infiltrate."

"Give me a moment." She said even as she auto-executed another program that would cause the internal security camera feeds to mirror onto her own monitor, "Looks like there's no one in the immediate vicinity of your entry point. Getting the watchdogs to blink…NOW. Execute!"

With that Xander entered the house and gently closed the door behind him before taking cover behind the fridge in a very small hiding spot. Flipping through the other camera feeds it didn't look like the others who were in the house had noticed since it looked like they were going about their usual routines.

"Echoes?" Xander asked wanting to know if his entry had been spotted.

"None. Proceed. Second half, rising sun and third southpaw base." She replied relating to him the location of Shirow's office at home.

"Gotcha." He said before creeping out of his hiding spot following the map the new hardware provided him with.

The Soliton Radar System or SRS.

According to the file on her computer it employed the KdV equation to detect electromagnetic waves resulting from biological reactions to allow the user to obtain a variety of information about the area around him. Unfortunately because they didn't know how the system interacted with the security of this world it'd been put on low power bode so it couldn't provide the positions of people. All it could do was give him a rough map of the area within its range and display it on Xander's optic HUD. With a bit of work she might be able to modify the system so that it wouldn't give Xander's presence away to local security systems but for now lower power mode was their best bet.

Following his path she only had five or so seconds to modify the camera feeds ahead of him so that he was never caught on film. Fortunately thanks to Washu's aid she was up to the task even with the light pressure she was feeling with every second. By the time he made it to the door to the man's office she'd had to modify camera feeds six times.

"No decorations on the Christmas tree that I can see." He said from his crouched position by the door, "How about you?"

"Give me a moment. The box is taped pretty tightly." She replied as she tried to get access to the camera inside the office so she could look at the door for problems.

Unfortunately it looked like while the rest of the house was on one system the office itself was on another one and even with Washu's programs she couldn't find a way to access it. A precaution Shirow took in order to make sure no one could peek at his inner sanctum?

"No joy on the box. Looks like we're dealing with a double bagger." She said through the walkie-talkie, "Looks like you'll have to do a pop-goes-the-weasal and hope you keep your head."

"Wonderful." He said back to her before reaching up to test the doors, "Locked. Shall I snap the twig?"

As much as she'd like to tell him to pick the lock she knew he didn't have that skill so they really didn't have any other choice.

"Snap it but be golden about it." She replied with some reluctance, "With this being a Schrodinger situation the countdown will likely begin."

"It always has been." He said before she watched him break the lock on the door and enter the room.

The fact that none of the programs she had running indicated a rise in the security system's alert status was good. It made her think that whatever protections Shirow might have inside his office likely notified him directly leaving the choice of escalating things up to him. Depending on how long it took the man to make a decision they could have a few extra minutes or less than one.

"Neutralized two visible squints." Xander said through her walkie talkie, "No other jingle bells visible. Proceeding to the cookie jar."

"I'll be hoping for a lot of chocolate chips." She said waiting for the linkup to come online.

It happened a minute later and immediately she went to work copying data from Shirow's computer while using one of Washu's programs to eliminate any record of the copying. She started with his electronic calendar before moving onto the day planner program before moving onto the most recent documents to either be created on or downloaded to the computer. She limited the knowledge she copied to the next six months since if they failed in their plans it'd happen long before then. As she reached the final minute and a half of her self-imposed five minute limit she decided to look for document file names that caught her interest. Spotting three she began copying them and was reassured that the estimated time until completion put it just under the wire of her limitation.

"All done. Put it back in your pants." She said even as she refocused on the security of Shirow's home, "Chocolates all gone down the drain."

"No problemo." He stated before reappearing on the cameras outside of the office.

Half way home.

With the utmost determination she did her best to keep apprised of everything that happened in the house as well as the status of the security system. If there was ever a time for things to blow up in their faces it'd be now and if that happened their task of payback against Shirow would be harder to accomplish.

Minutes passed but with the effort she was putting into covering Xander's presence electronically it felt longer. Only once he'd made it back over the wall and ducked behind the same truck as before did she close down her holo-computer and allow herself to relax. A moment later the door to the 'borrowed' van opened up to reveal Xander who quickly climbed in before closing the door behind him.

"How'd it go?" He asked even as he stripped off the disguise they'd chosen to use as a safety precaution.

It wasn't much.

Just one of those cliche ninja outfits from a used costume shop that'd been close to their motel.

"We've got the files. Now all we have to do is figure out what day the odds'll be in our favour the most." She replied getting off of the foldable chair she'd been sitting on, "For now let's return the van before it gets reported missing."

"I doubt we'll have to worry about that much." He said with a smirk, "Those guys were completely out to lunch. If they're anything like the stoners back home they'll be lucky to remember their own names never mind what happened to their van."

True.

Only people who regularly used recreational drugs could put such a 'unique' paint job on a van and not give a damn what kind of looks got sent their way.

---

A Short Distance Away

A Cyber-Communication

~What do you think Colonel?~

~^It's too early to say for sure. Whoever was hacking Shirow's home security system lacked finesse but they didn't trip all over themselves either.^~

~Same thing with the cyborg that infiltrated the house. Definitely no official training but the raw materials are there to build something with. Should we try to recruit them?~

~^Hmmmm…possibly but we'd have to be careful in how we send the request up the chain of command. With the wars across the world starting to die down you can bet that the politicians are going to start motioning for a reduction in military forces and funding.^~

~What difference could one more cyborg and a technician make?~

~^Never underestimate the people in charge of the national budget's ability to count every yen and require a small army to get anything out of. We'd need to prove that they're worth every single yen even if Japan is preparing to step down from a war stance.^~

~Then all we have to do is wait. If what your protege found out about Shirow is accurate it won't take much to make the man surround himself with hired protection. When that happens we'll see how good these two really are.~

~^Have Ibachi and Raizo ready to mobilize with a support team. Once we know when and where the curtain is going to go up we'll send them in to capture them both. AFTER we've gotten a good enough look at what they can do besides a passable covert infiltration.^~

~Roger that. I'll make sure to tell Ibachi to keep Raizo on a short leash. He's not going to like the idea of new recruits being given special treatment.~

~^It won't be special treatment. They'll be expected to go through the necessary training and meet the same standards as the rest of us. The only difference is that we'll be doing the training instead of a boot camp instructor.^~

~I think that's what he'll call special treatment but whatever.~

---

The On Ramp to the Highway North of New Port City

Five Days Later

Xander's POV

"Here he comes." Dawn said through his cyber-com, "Are you ready?"

"Never been readier." He replied even as he straightened his clothes, "You?"

"Links have been established. Programs are at the ready." She replied through the cyber-com, "Once things get going I can probably buy you ten minutes. After that they'll get through and you'll probably have less than three minutes before every cop in New Port is on you."

"More than enough time." He said with a grin reaffirming his grip on the case in his right hand, "Let's get it done."

Listening carefully he waited for the sounds of the convoy approaching.

Through their hard work they had managed to find the perfect moment to strike and through other sources they'd managed to confirm that Shirow wasn't deviating from his usual patterns in the least. He wasn't unaware that there was danger but instead of going to the police he'd simply hired himself from protection from a private security firm. Dawn had done what she could to dig up info on the firm but aside from the name 'Four Hand Private Security' all she could dig up was the fact that when hired they only ever assigned four people to a job. Granted the fact that there were no stories or records of this causing them to fail implied much but it still sounded like a bad idea. Unless every quartet was made up of elite specialists with a diverse load out you'd think that they'd fail in their job every once in awhile.

Dawn hadn't found any record of the losses though.

Still if it was only four opponents he'd be able to manage so long as he made sure to fight smarter rather than harder.

It was one of the lessons that Buffy, Faith and Giles had tried to teach the newly Called Slayers: how to fight multiple opponents at the same time. It was a scenario that both Watchers and Slayers were taught how to deal with from the beginning since there was a strong chance of it happening in the first year or so of the Organization's forming. There were seven key points to keep in mind along with a few smaller points. First fight with a plan and not a by the seat of your pants plan but a well thought out one. While there would be times when you'd have no choice but to make things up as you went this was more an option of last resort rather than the first thing you did. Second always maintain an awareness of where your opponents are at all times and if possible what they were doing. One of the primary advantages of attacking an individual with a group was the fact that the individual could only attack or defend in three directions at most. Attacking when it was physically impossible for them to strike back or defend themselves had a high probability of yielding victory.

Third rule was to keep moving but that was obvious since getting pinned down sharply reduced options for evading attacks especially since not all of them would be up close and personal. He might have confidence in his skills and in Dawn's cybernetic work but he had no intention of pushing his luck. Even back in the Organization he was a member of the support team rather than someone they sent to take down a dangerous target. With his cybernetic body his mobility had taken a sharp increase and if he used it right he'd be able to make things harder for the bodyguards while making it easier for him.

The fourth was equally obvious by recommending that you keep all your opponents in front of you. This eliminated the possibility of being blindsided and limited how many could come after you at one time to something more manageable. The fifth was to strike decisive blows whenever possible since doing so would reduce the number of opponents you had to face quicker improving your odds of success accordingly. The sixth was to use your environment to your advantage however you could to limit angles of approach, hinder offensive possibilities and maximize defensive possibilities.

The final rule was simple: don't be afraid to make a run for it.

As cool as it might be to say that you succeeded in fighting off multiple opponents at the same time dying because you didn't recognize that you were outmatched in time to run sucked in every way possible. If you found yourself outmatched or outnumbered it was smarter to break off from the fight and run. By doing this there was a chance that you could gain reinforcements or lose your attackers. At the very least you could weed out those who didn't have the stamina to keep up with you improving the odds of beating those who could maintain pursuit.

Scenarios were devised and training grounds constructed to make as many members of the Organization remember these rules as well as utilize them towards the best possible outcome. He didn't score as highly as some thanks to his missing eye and he definitely wasn't considered the equal of a Slayer who actually took the whole thing seriously but he hadn't washed out either.

He'd need to follow every one of those rules to the letter if he wanted to make it through this and be ready to adapt with a second or less of warning.

~He's here.~ He thought as the sound of the three cars, ~Time to raise the curtain.~

With that in mind he walked out of the alley he'd been waiting in onto the sidewalk and continued on until he was in the middle of the street. Once there he turned to face the lead car and waited to see what it'd do. One possibility and the one they were banking on was that it'd stop followed by the private security agents getting out before moving into a defensive formation around Shirow. The other possibility was that Shirow would order the driver of the lead car to run him down then come up with a legal excuse later to keep things from going beyond giving a statement.

He was prepared for both possibilities.

As it turned out the cars stopped indicating that Shirow didn't have confidence in his spur of the moment story weaving abilities. Two people got out of the lead car and two more got out of the one taking up the rear but those ones focused more on the flanks of the convoy rather than him. Smart. Situations like this usually meant ambushes and not from the unknown that'd already revealed himself but from others hidden on the sides or to the rear. Knowing he wound't have long before he'd probably be chatting it up with Shirow he chose to evaluate his opponents in order to formulate a plan.

The one on the right of the lead car was likely the leader of the team and was a woman with brown hair looking short enough to be just a week or so away from a military barber. Clad in camo-green and black body armour the security firm didn't look like it was hurting for cash if the quality was anything to go by. Poking out from over her right shoulder looked to be the hilt of a blade but considering she'd been sitting in the car no problem the blade couldn't be all that long. Two feet or less would be his guess.

On the left side of the lead car was a man clad in similar body armour but had protection over all but his eyes with two rods sticking out from either shoulder. An Eskrima user? Possible but he'd also seen people take two rods like that and join them together to form staff's of various lengths. Probably wouldn't be a good idea to assume he was out of that guy's reach no matter how it looked.

The rear car to the right had the guy that was the obvious muscle of the group considering the size of him but oddly enough he hadn't spotted any visible shifting of weight when the man had gotten out of the car. You'd think that someone who represented the tank of the team would've been heavier due to the density of the materials used in the bulky armour. Could it be a bluff for show or were their metals that looked heavy but were actually quite light in this reality? Either way it didn't look like the guy had any long range weaponry so letting the giant get in close would probably be a strategic faux pas.

He'd have to test the big guy to see how fast he was on his feet. If the weight was in question so too could be the assumption that big meant slow.

As for the last person the most he could confirm for sure was that it was a guy and his primary advantage had something to do with the advanced headgear on his head. Some sort of enhanced vision package? Something to do with cyber-warfare? Dawn and him had prepared for that as best they could considering how much of him was machine now but the precautions weren't foolproof.

This guy had just moved to the top of his hit list either before he killed Shirow or immediately afterwards.

~Time to find out which way the wind will blow.~ He thought before saying, "Get out here Shirow Kenji. We've got unfinished business."

In response to that the driver's side door of the middle vehicle opened and surprise of surprises Shirow got out not looking all that concerned about the potential threat standing in front of his convoy. Was he that confident in his bodyguards or did he have a hidden ace up his sleeve? Normally he'd ask Dawn for her opinion but he couldn't risk alerting the enemy to her presence or location. As far as they knew it was just him and he'd do what he could to encourage that line of thinking since an unknown ally was always useful.

"And what business would that be Xander?" Shirow asked before giving him a light once over, "Thinking of entering the bodyguard business? You're certainly dressed for it."

True.

As part of their plan they'd acquired for him a grey suit, sturdy dress shoes and leather gloves so he did look the part of a bodyguard.

Too bad that was just a red herring idea to further confuse Shirow.

"No I'm not interested in protecting someone I don't know for money. My life can't be bought so easily." He replied keeping his voice casual for the most part, "No the business we have is suitable compensation for you trying to kill me in the lab ten days ago. That's the sort of thing you just can't help but take a little personally."

"True. Being the victim of an attempted murder isn't something that can simply be brushed off and forgotten." Shirow said in a business-like tone, "What sort of compensation would suffice? While not rich as most people imagine when using the term I would be willing to part with two and a half million yen if you would consider the matter closed."

"Heh. So you think trying to kill two people who did nothing to deserve it is only worth twenty-five thousand American Empire dollars." He said doing the math in his head, "Yeah that's about what I'd expect from someone like you. Sorry but the only compensation that'll satisfy me is your bloody head rolling across the street without a body attached to it."

He saw how the four bodyguards tensed with all of them placing their hands closer to their weapons but not bringing them forth just yet. Whether it was because they were wary of him or simply waited for Shirow to give them permission to attack he didn't know or really care to be honest.

"Your four. I know he hired you to keep him safe." He said looking at each of them in turn, "I only have one question for you: is the sum he promised you really worth risking your lives for? Money's worthless if you're not able to use it and I doubt him dying will hurt your reps all that much. Walk away. Do it and you won't have any more trouble from me. Refuse and I'll do whatever I have to to get to Shirow and take his head. Your choice."

"Big talk kid." The leader said before grabbing the hilt of her weapon and unveiling it as some sort of chainsaw-like short sword, "You're not even armed."

"Not armed? Then what're you waiting for?" He asked holding his arms out to either side in challenge.

The woman didn't hesitate and charged him with her weapon revving up to maximum output as she got closer. Seeing this he remembered how Willow had once said that a chainsaw would make for a poor weapon due to the fact that it was near impossible to maintain the constant pressure the machine needed in order to successfully cut through a living opponent. She'd said that it was far more likely that while some surface damage might be done the target would likely either move away or get knocked away upon contact.

Whatever the case it mattered little to him because when she brought the weapon back to prepare for the blow that'd come seconds later he made his own move.

He swung his right arm towards her with all the force he could muster through his cybernetic limb.

Just like he'd been expecting the woman wasn't all that worried since in her eyes his arm was a good two feet too far away to actually hit her. That was why it came as such a surprise when out of nowhere something DID strike the woman in the head sending her cranium in one direction while the momentum of her charge caused the rest of her to continue on until horizontal. Honestly it looked like she'd just been subjected to the clothesline from hell wrestling move but he hadn't laid a hand on her. He could see that this upset had taken the rest of his foes by surprise but he also knew he would not be able to pull the trick a second time. They would be more cautious from here on out and so he saw no point in continuing the charade he'd used to get the first hit in.

Holding his right hand out in front of him he used his thumb to press what to others would appear to be empty air but that only lasted a second or two. With the flicker similar to an old TV being switched off air that had before been empty now held a rectangular case roughly three feet long, two feet wide and one foot deep. It'd cost them a pretty penny to get this second rate version of the thermoptic camouflage applied to the case he held but in the end copies of the programs Washu had given them had proven to be enough. Waiting just long enough for his audience to register what it was that had appeared he pressed a second button with his thumb to cause the front third of the case to collapse open to reveal the hilt of his high frequency blade. Grabbing hold of the hilt with his left hand he removed it from the case and once clear he tossed the open case to the side since it had served its purpose and was of no further use.

Switching to grip the hilt with his right hand he had the left hold the sheath and then with dramatic purpose drew forth the blade using the same focus as in the lab to make electricity dance across the sharp piece of metal until it was completely exposed to open air. Once that was done he threw aside the sheath as well before assuming a strong offensive stance that he'd had mercilessly drilled into him by one of the Slayer's he'd been responsible for. Tomoe had been a Japanese Slayer that had been brought to the HQ with the second batch of newly Called Slayers after the mass awakening. Much like the others she'd been a little overwhelmed by the changes her life had undergone but at the same time seemed more ready to take on the Calling. He'd later found out that she was the daughter of a master of kenjutsu and unless something happened was expected to succeed her father as master of the dojo. When the time had come to formally teach the newly Called Slayers how to use the weapons that'd serve them in the fight Tomoe had volunteered to teach kenjutsu using the knowledge gained from her father's lessons. This had been welcome since at the time Giles had still been searching the globe for any surviving Watchers worth recruiting as well as any potential Watchers possessing the necessary skills.

Naturally, even though he was missing an eye resulting in a loss of depth perception, he'd signed up for the lessons if for no other reason then because he loved subtitled samurai movies. Tomoe had been hesitant at first but in the end had agreed to allow him to join the class.

MAN! How he hadn't been ready for what'd happened over the course of the following months!

Every lesson had been merciless and had eventually led to a pretty high washout rate amongst those that had initially signed up for it. In the end only the determined, the dumb and the lucky remained but it was anyone's guess which category he'd fallen into. Maybe all three? In any case due to his lack of depth perception sparring proved impractical so instead he'd been made to practice every technique Tomoe had to teach until it felt like his arms would fall off. The girl had been merciless and she didn't even come up to his shoulder for crying out loud! Still by the time she brought the lessons to an end she had deemed him somewhat competent in Kenjutsu but that only experience gained through actual fighting would cause him to grow further.

This would be the first REAL fight he'd use the lessons in where he didn't have Slayer backup in case he screwed up.

Looked like his timing was as good as ever as was his luck.

The one with the rods was the one to move first even as the leader recovered from his surprise attack and much like he'd expected the man was skilled in twin stick fighting. It also became clear that the man had cybernetic augmentation since his speed quickly exceeded what could be expected of a normal human body. It still did not surpass the prowess he'd seen in the strongest Slayers but he imagined that it was good enough to make life in the private security world profitable. If he'd still been in his old human body he'd never have gotten close to being able to kill this guy.

Now? Now he was no longer standing behind the powerful ones.

Now…he was one of them.

With the teachings of Tomoe, the blade Willow forged only to be enhanced by Washu and the cybernetic enhancements Dawn provided him with he was STRONG.

As such he had no trouble fighting off the man's blows parrying them off to the side or stopping them in their tracks. His movements weren't solid, not something performed with the ease that came with countless repetitions, but at the same time he didn't screw it up. When he finally got the man's measure he went on the offensive aiming to destroy the man's weapons and inflict disabling wounds upon his body. He had no desire to kill them, they were nothing but obstacles to his goal, so he would not end their lives needlessly. There was also the practical point that killing them would only make the police come after him and Dawn that much harder. Shirow's death would bring enough heat down upon them but adding more bodies would only spur the cops on to look harder, further and longer.

The first half of his objective was easy to achieve since no matter how high tech the rods were they could not contend with the cutting potential of his high frequency blade. Two slashes severed the rods about an inch above the man's hands rendering them completely impractical as weapons. The shock the man displayed at this proved an ideal opportunity allowing him to lash out with stomp to the man's right knee. While this didn't do something as dramatic as snap the limb right off he was successful in causing it to bend in the opposite direction while also snapping several components. Moving to reposition himself he attempted to do the same to the other knee so as to do the same to the other knee but the former rod wielder was no amateur.

Before the second blow could be struck the man used his one good leg to leap backwards out of the range of any physical attack.

Wise.

The man had been disarmed and his mobility cut in half. It would be foolish to keep charging ahead in such a weakened state.

However he wasn't left bored for long because in the time it'd taken him to weaken the rod wielder and force the retreat the leader regained her senses as well as her footing. She was upon him in an instant and quickly made it clear why she led the group of four with the level of skill she possessed. Instead of trying to match her weapon against his own she evaded it entirely looking to strike at his body instead no doubt with the intent of doing serious arm. Her moves were well thought out and her skill level indisputable but whether it was his cybernetics or his skill he managed to keep things at clothing damage.

That was when he heard the sound of a door closing and a car engine beginning to rev up causing him to unleash a flurry of slashes in order to buy some glancing time.

He did not like what he saw but at the same time he guessed it was to be expected.

Apparently the other three bodyguards had concluded that the area was too dangerous to allow their client to remain and were moving him out while their leader immobilized him.

A smart move but not one he was inclined to let happen.

If Shirow got away now then the best opportunity for eliminating him would be lost.

~Dawn? Can you do something to their cars?~ He thought to her via his cyber-com, ~Stall them or something?~

~Checking…no such luck.~ Dawn thought back to him with irritation, ~The defence barriers on their vehicles are nothing to sneeze at. By the time I got through half of them they'd be out of my range.~

Shirow and his buddies were prepared.

~Then I guess there's only one way to do this.~ He thought at her even as he mentally called up the command on his screen, ~Get to the van and get ready to extract me.~

~You sure? We've seen what that does to you.~ She thought conveying her concern seeping into her words, ~If they're not all dead by the time it ends…~

~I know. But anything else'll take too long.~ He thought knowing all too well the consequences of what he planned on doing, ~We lose this chance we might not get another. Get going. It'll all be over by the time you get here.~

With that he cut the cyber-com connection and with one final look at the forces set against him he focused on the 'activate' icon on his HUD and pressed it.

'Overdrive mode activated'

In the blink of an eye the world about him changed and the sensation of receiving a vast infusion of power swept through him but he did not let that distract him. All that mattered to him was his objective and the swiftest route to achieving that objective. With a triangle of slashes he severed the leader's limbs from his body with each of them done at a speed too quickly for the woman to possibly evade or block. The shock on her face as she realized what'd happened was priceless but he just executed a spinning roundhouse kick to remove her from his path.

Once the way was cleared he charged forward just in time for the rear car carrying the remaining members of the private security firm to slide into place behind Shirow's car.

He knew that the smart move would probably be to simply leap over their car and go right to Shriow but without knowing the abilities of the one with the headgear the risk was unacceptable. Willing the eyepiece Dawn had managed to salvage he focused on what could be seen through the rear vehicles back window. Specifically he looked to see where the one with the headgear was sitting and once he had what he sought he lined himself up for the kill. It wasn't easy considering how little experience he had with this mode but he gave it his best shot leaping into the air even as he grasped his sword with both hands. As gravity asserted its supremacy as his speed began to decrease he kept a watchful eye on the HUD indicator of his eyepiece making sure the tip of the weapon would hit its mark.

And it did.

As though the roof of the car didn't exist the blade with the crackling electric current running through it passed through it until it could go no further. Then as swiftly as it went in he yanked it back out only this time the sharp piece of metal was coated in fluids that was likely a mix of fake blood and various cybernetic fluids. As soon as his weapon was free though he lunged forward and slashed downwards as he passed the engine of the car the bodyguards were in hopefully disabling it in the process.

As soon as his foot touched the street he pressed onwards to Shirow's car that was in the process of accelerating no doubt in response to his rapid approach. Too bad for the bastard that his vehicle's rate of acceleration was nowhere near a match for his own allowing him to race past it slashing at the tires as he went. As soon as he was a dozen or so feet ahead he dug in his heels and even used his high frequency blade to slow his speed to a stop. If it'd have been anyone but him it would've taken much longer to bleed off the speed but that was another of the benefits of overdrive mode.

Overdrive mode essentially overclocked his cybernetics allowing for a drastic increase in performance capabilities with Dawn estimating it to be as much as three times the norm. Strength, speed, the EM generators in his feet and the cutting potential of his high frequency blade were all increased making for one helluva surprise for his enemies.

And it allowed him to come to a stop far quicker than should've been possible.

Even as gravity began to pull Shirow's car down thanks to the lack of wheels on one side he let go of his sword's hilt and instead prepared for what came next. In a move that defied logic he caught the car by the front and with a grunt of effort lifted it up off the ground before slamming it down roof first onto the street behind him. Releasing the front of the car that now sported rough handprints embedded in the metal but he didn't care choosing instead to move to the driver's side door of the car.

Hopefully Shirow wasn't so badly shaken up that he'd lost consciousness because he wanted the asshole awake so the man could see his death coming.

Digging his hands into the side of the door he ripped it off the car before tossing it off to the side and reaching back in for Shirow. He grinned as the man groaned looking like he might've gotten a light concussion but other than that the employee of Megatech was still conscious. With his grip on the front of the man's suit he brought Shirow up to to eye level before waiting for his prey to focus on him.

"You made the biggest mistake of your life trying to kill me Shirow. Even if corporate life is a dog-eat-dog world Dawn and me had no plans to rise to the top. A roof over our head, food on the table, the necessities for maintaining my cybernetics and maybe a bit more for some fun." He said tightening his grip on his high frequency blade, "But the fear that we might overtake you, surpass you and obstruct you was all it took to make you commit murder. Well don't worry…you won't have to fear us much longer. You won't fear anything much longer. After all the dead don't fear anything. Goodbye Shirow Kenji!"

Raising his blade up he prepared to execute a simple bisection.

He had considered simply going all out and literally slicing the guy up into bite sized cubes but with the limits of overdrive mode he chose the more prudent course of action.

However when he commanded the arm holding the sword to slash downwards to literally cut the guy in half the arm didn't move. Again and with more willpower he commanded his cybernetic limb to kill Shirow Kenji but aside from some mild shaking the arm didn't move an inch. Unlike what some of his old teachers might think he wasn't stupid. He knew what this meant.

Someone had hacked into his cybernetics and was keeping him from killing Shirow.

~No problem. Dawn figured this would happen and gave me a way to fix things.~ He thought even as he brought the menu up on his HUD, ~Just need to act-~

BOOM!

Out of nowhere something slammed into his side and the shock of it caused him to accidentally release Shirow even as he was sent tumbling across the street. The good news was that he regained full control of his sword arm but when he got back to his feet he saw that the musclebound tank of the private security team had arrived. Odd since he was sure he would've noticed the someone that big approaching either from the vibrations of footsteps or the shadow cast by the sun.

So how'd it happen?

The answer came a moment later when he realized that if some unknown person had hacked his body to keep him from killing Shirow they might also have tampered with his senses. That would've allowed the big brute to approach undetected setting up the perfect sucker punch thus freeing the asshole executive.

With some space made he watched as the brute's body underwent mild reconfiguration that he guessed as intended to optimize his strength focused cybernetic body. He didn't know how powerful the big guy was but he'd bet good money that the bodyguard would at least be strong enough to make a dent in an armoured vehicle. While he was pretty sure that his cybernetic body would be able to take the hit that didn't mean that he was interested in finding out what it felt like to get hit with so powerful a blow.

BEEP! BEEP!

~Damn. Less than two minutes before overdrive mode ends.~ He thought as the countdown clock appeared in the upper right corner of his visual HUD, ~Gotta end this quick before I turn into this gorilla's improvised punching bag.~

At least with the car totalled Shirow would not be getting very far.

Charging the big guy he felt confident that it wouldn't take long for the guy to fall since massive beings rarely possessed significant speed, flexibility or agility. So long as he didn't get too careless he'd have no trouble outmaneuvering his foe and he doubted there was anything in this world that could stand up to his high frequency blade. With the right opportunity this fight would be over with a single slash of his blade and then he'd finish things with Shirow.

He didn't expect the big gorilla stand-in to punch the ground or for the street to be upheaved by the strike resulting in his charge becoming unbalanaced but the EM generators in his feet helped to keep him on his feet. Nevertheless with all the debris kicked up his vision was obscured and that was all the big guy needed to send a large straight punch his way.

Dropping to his knees to skid the rest of the way he managed to avoid it but when what looked like the beginnings of an uppercut started to come his way he bared his sword edge first to meet it. As a result what could've been a devastating blow lost its punch and the kind of damage he would've taken was instead dealt to the gorilla as the arm was split in two. With one arm gone the other would be easier to handle and the fight would end that much sooner.

Or at least it would've if something hadn't grabbed onto the back of his neck while something else slammed into the side of his head.

It didn't do any damage, not according to the HUD warnings at least, but it did knock him off course once again. However there wasn't as much power in it as the previous one, the one that'd resulted in Shirow's renewed but temporary freedom, so he was able to recover quicker and put his feet back under him. When he looked back the way he'd come he saw a sight that had him wonder what the cyberneticist behind the private security firm smoked when he came up with his designs.

There, standing ready to fight, was the big guy but the fist that he'd ducked under had somehow split in two by design with a pair of metal hands ready to strike. It explained what'd happened to him and why the attack hadn't been as strong but it made him wonder what other surprises the gorilla might have under the hood. Since time was not on his side he couldn't mess around to find out so all he was left with was to go with pure overwhelming aggression in the hopes he could cut the big guy down quickly.

Charging forth once more he was gratified when his foe didn't try the whole street punching move again but rather the two mini-fists coming at him from different directions. However he was through dodging or blocking choosing instead to unleash an attack of his own to meet the ones coming at him. With all the speed of his cybernetic arms he slashed attacking one mini-arm, then the other mini-arm before delivering an attack right across the cybernetic gorilla's stomach. It didn't cut the guy in half but a lot of artificial insides began to spill out making him think that the battle was over.

However when he saw something interesting he decided to go with one final move.

Hopping back three or four feet from the last member of the security team he tossed his blade into the air, watched its every movement with his overclocked vision and when the angle was just right he leapt into a reverse side-kick right to the pommel. Just like he planned the sword shot through the air going right through his cyborg foe's chest shredding the insides as it passed through and exited the back.

Exited the back, continued on with little reduced velocity and passing through one other thing before becoming embedded in the side of a nearby building.

What was that one other thing?

Why Shirow Kenji's head of course.

Honestly it was a miracle that something remained above the shoulders but there could be no doubt that the brain had been completely annihilated. Thus like a puppet whose strings had been cut the body of the Megatech employee dropped to the ground with all manner of bodily fluids and grey matter flowing out thanks to the hole in its container.

Just in time too since five seconds later the timer on his overdrive mode hit zero and the after effects hit him full force. All non-essential systems powered down with the remaining energy being set aside for life support, the five senses at human levels, minimal mobility and his cyber-coms hardware. All the power he'd been enjoying both before and after overdrive mode had been engaged vanished leaving only a trickle to go through the wires. As a result he dropped to one knee using his right hand to keep himself from going all the way to the ground.

~THAT was a little closer to the wire than he'd like.~ He thought hoping that Dawn wasn't too far away, ~If there'd been any more surprises I probably wouldn't have pulled it off.~

But he had and once Dawn arrived he'd grab his sword and they'd follow the plan they'd come up with to go to ground for a few months. Once the heat died down it'd probably be best for them to head to some remote part of Japan or perhaps leave the country entirely. While they hadn't killed a major politician, military officer or crime boss they'd still committed a crime. Plus when word got around that he singlehandedly managed to get past four bodyguards to kill his target there'd be quite a few people interested in taking a look under the hood.

Best for them to just disappear.

Half a minute later he heard the familiar noise of the van coming around the corner swiftly pulling up just to his left. Dawn left the motor running as she got out running to his side no doubt to ensure that he was okay.

"You okay?" She asked even as she leant what muscle she had to help him get moving towards the van.

"Fine. They barely laid a hand on me." He replied putting half his focus towards putting one foot in front of another, "Shirow's dead. We just need to get my sword and we can leave."

"No problem. Let me get you into the van and I'll go get it." Dawn said once they arrived at the side door to the van, "We need to get you hooked up to the generator inside."

The main power source for his cybernetic body was efficient and if given enough time would restore itself to normal levels but they couldn't bank on that. Instead it'd been part of the plan that if he used the overdrive mode they'd plug him into the generator to restore his power levels to normal. It'd still take a few hours but it'd be better than waiting for it to happen on its own. Offhand he remembered Dawn muttering about a theoretical way he might be able to absorb the power from the cybernetics of of other cyborgs but it sounded like it was all still in the theory stage.

For now the generator would do.

"That's far enough!" A voice declared before a woman with shoulder length brown hair clad in a Black Widow bodysuit emerged from a nearby alleyway sidearm drawn, "Not another step. You two are under arrest."

Damn. Should've known things were going too good.

He'd also bet good money that this was the person who'd hacked his body in order to keep him from killing Shirou the first time. It raised a lot of questions like why she was here alone and why she hadn't just shut him down or even appeared earlier but he could answer those questions later. For now he had to wonder if there was any way he and Dawn could resist arrest and actually make their getaway. He was in no shape to fight and was essentially unarmed so aside from glare he was pretty much useless. Dawn might be able to do something if she could use her version of Washu's holo-computer but that'd be dependant on having the time to manifest it and type enough commands. Considering the fact that there was a gun trained on them and the woman looked to be a professional he'd say the odds of this option succeeding were small.

As for the more physical option while Dawn had taken some hand-to-hand combat classes it was anyone's guess if it'd be a match for what the woman in front of them could do. Also if the woman had backup present or soon to arrive then resistance might not only be pointless but potentially fatal.

So with a bitter taste in his mouth he raised his arms over his head in the universal position for 'I surrender' with Dawn doing the same a few seconds later.

Their plan had been fine and had almost been a complete success.

Except for the presence and involvement of one lady police officer with decent hacking skills.

Without any way to give Dawn the time she'd need to hack the police officer's cybernetics the lady had them backed against a wall. Thus the only sensible course of action was surrender under circumstances changed to give them an opening to change things for the better. The cybernetics would regain their strength in time and the cops would probably underestimate Dawn since she didn't have any cybernetics in her. If Buffy's little sister could get even two minutes of privacy where she could use her holo-computer they could totally turn the tables on the cops.

He hoped.

---

~^So Shirow Kenji's dead.^~ Lieutenant Colonel Mamuro thought to her via cyber-coms, ~^Too bad. From what Motoko has managed to dig up he's a little dirtier than some suit taking out the competition. Alive we could've squeezed him for more information but dead we'll have to hope the trails we still have turn up something.^~

~We'll get something.~ She thought with confidence in her unit and its star protege, ~What about the two perps? Legally we've got them on trespassing, hacking, interference with public systems, assault and murder.~

Legally that's what they should do: turn the two criminals over to the police to await their day in court. However in her mind that would be a ridiculous waste of a golden opportunity to recruit two assets into the unit making it stronger and more valuable in the eyes of the government. She'd seen the entire encounter, it'd been easy after accessing Shirow's schedule for the week, and she had to admit that she liked what she saw. Between her knowledge of cybernetics, her creations thus far and how well she'd created a blackout zone for the assassination attempt Hakubi Dawn had the potential to go quite far in her respective fields. Harris Xander on the other hand had acclimated to his cybernetics well and served as an excellent physical demonstrator of Dawn's inventions. His aptitude for kenjutsu and tactics had been a welcome surprise since she had thought that she'd have no trouble stopping him from killing Shirow only to be proven wrong. It'd taken her less than five seconds to figure out what the young man's plan had been after Shirow's corpse had hit the ground.

The boy had known that trying to attack his target the same way a second time wouldn't work so long as there was someone capable of stopping his sword arm. So he had used the last of the bodyguards to trick her into believing that the brute was his sole target when in reality a shot was being lined up to terminate his prey. Resourceful and quick to adapt to changes in the battlefield.

The two together would be enough to even cause some of their more resolved opponents to rethink 'downsizing' them.

~^I think we can find a better use for them than just tossing them in jail cells.^~ Mamuro thought to her via cyber-coms, ~^Even with the war coming to an end I'm confident that I can convince the right people to make the smart choice. They're young and this is their first major offence. It'd be stupid to make a shortsighted call like sending them to jail.^~

~So sit on them at HQ until you can convince the brass that they belong with us?~ She thought in inquiry.

~^You read my mind.^~ Mamuro thought conveying a grin in his words, ~^I'll let you know as soon as I've got an answer.^~

With that the connection was cut and immediately she shifted changing the direction she'd been driving in to head towards the headquarters of the Five Hundred and First Unit of the JGSDF.

She didn't know how long it'd take the lieutenant colonel to convince the upper brass to assign official custody of the pair to her unit but she had faith that he'd get it done.

And maybe, just maybe, the daughter of the infamous Hakubi Washu might be able to come up with a solution to her little problem as well.

---

Note: I'm stopping it here for two reasons. The first is the fact that this is supposed to be a Drabble not a story and it's getting kind of long. The second reason is because I'm looking for some reviewer suggestions on what should happen to the souls of Buffy, Willow, Giles and the others. As you'll recall earlier in this Drabble their souls were saved but their bodies were dead so Washu planned on slipping them into available bodies in the Ghost in the Shell universe. Think of it like that old movie where the star is a character who died unexpectedly for the angels in heaven so he gets the chance to live again by taking possession of a recently deceased old man. Same thing here. Any body whose original spirit has left but the body is still capable of supporting life is a valid candidate.

At the moment I'm leaning towards planting the souls in bodies that'd make them relatives, friends or co-workers of important named characters in the Ghost in the Shell universe. I later considered how in Ghost in the Shell Arise Motoko Kusanagi was still in her mother's womb when she got cyberized in order to save her life. What better opportunity could there be to say slip Willow into the body of Motoko?

Any suggestions?

Note 2: For the purposes of this story the events and facts of 'Ghost in the Shell: Arise' are going to be treated as prequel stuff for 'Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex' seasons one and two. So we'd be treating any facts laid down in 'Arise' as canon and any contradicting facts that pop up once events progress to the 'Stand Alone Complex' seasons will be altered so things fit properly

Note 3: No Xander will not be as powerful as Raiden was in 'Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance'. Let's face it even with the hits he took and the power of his enemies he was unrealistically overpowered what with the ability to throw Metal Gears. It'd be more accurate to say that Xander will be as powerful as Raiden was in 'Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots' with a few features from 'Rising' added on for support.