TITLE: THE PRIZE 4 AUTHOR: STEPHEN HOWE

TITLE: THE PRIZE 4 AUTHOR: STEPHEN HOWE

E-MAIL: sh01@bigpond.com.au

FEEDBACK: Sure.

DISTRIBUTION: Ask and ye shall receive!

DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Joss! He created everything! Rated R for violence and adult themes. Set in season 6.B/X pairing Giles is Buffy's watcher who now works for the Council once more. Anya gave her life to save Buffy in the fight against Glory. Dawn is still here and Willow is with Tara. A HISTORY LESSON. Giles pulled the car over and Buffy forced Frank out and into his home, the others followed as she pushed him into a chair. " Now spill before we take you into the woods and let whatever it is have you!" The look of pure panic passed over Franks face and he turned white. " Okay!! I'll talk! I can tell you what I saw and what I was told.... " ************* FLASHBACK************ Frank noticed the new Viper as it purred up to the pumps. He whistled and stroked the bonnet as he walked up to the drivers side." Cool ride man." Xander ran his hands over the steering wheel and grinned. " You bet! It's the only thing I ever won in my whole life and the only thing that would have made it complete was if my.. Is if Buffy could have been with me." He mentally kicked himself for his correction. All the times he wanted to call her his girlfriend and couldn't and now he was pretty sure she was, he didn't want to jinx it by saying it out a loud." Still I hope she'll come with me on my next trip." Xander pops the fuel cap and tells Frank to fill it up. He gets out of the car and stretches, taking in the small township and the seemingly friendly people." So.. Just how do I get back on the interstate?" Frank grins as he finishes filling up the car." Yeah I didn't think you were here for the sights. We don't get many visitors around these parts since the freeway was built." He points back the way Xander drove in and tells him." Make a left at Dougherty then a right by the Museum and that should put you on Claremont. Then follow that till you see the signs." Xander pays him and gets back in the car. " Say is there any place decent to stay? I might wait till the morning before I set off again." Frank tells him and Xander waives as he drives off. He checks into the hotel Frank recommended, also the only one in town, and as he signed in he noticed a man in a wheelchair being pushed up to the single old fashioned elevator. He stared at the man mainly because he stared at him; he noticed he looked a lot like the gas station attendant. Then the man pushing him told him. " Don't worry James the Sheriff's gone for her now he should be back soon and you'll feel much better." Xander watched the elevator take them up then he took a walk to the only restaurant he could find for dinner. As he sat down to his meal he found himself watching the townsfolk walk by the window when he saw three men man handling a girl into the hotel. His first impulse was to check it out but then realised this wasn't Sunnydale and he didn't know what was what around here. Besides one of the men was, what looked like the town Sheriff, so he figured what ever it was it had to be legal. Just as he started eating the apple cobbler he ordered for desert there was a flash of light from the corner room of the hotel followed by an almost unheard, scream of a woman. Xander dropped his spoon and looked around the room to see if any one else had heard it but no one moved, they just went on like nothing happened. He wiped his mouth with a napkin then paid his bill and raced over to the hotel. As he arrived he was shocked to see the man called James walking out of the hotel with the Sheriff and one of the other men. James glanced at him as he passed Xander and smiled but all Xander could do was watch him walk down the street. He then went into the hotel and made his way to the room he had seen the glow coming from. He walked down the passageway and he heard the sounds of a woman crying followed by. " Shut up bitch before I give you something to cry about! " Xander pushed at the slightly ajar door and saw the man clip the girls legs into the wheel chair." James really appreciates what you did for him and I'm sure given time you'll get used to being a cripple." Now Xander had a better look he could see the girl was a Native American and no older than Dawn but what he saw next sickened him to his stomach. The man's hand had brushed against her breast as he tried to force her into the char and he suddenly stopped and leered at her chest then looked into her eyes. " Well it looks like you've growed up some since I last saw you." She whimpered as he let his hands roam across her body. " Yeah all grown up and ready for market. " He glances at the bed then licks his lips before unclipping her legs and pulling her out of the chair." We shouldn't let you spend the rest of your life not knowing the joys of being a woman now should we?" Xander saw red and charged into the room, knocking the man on his ass. He then kicks the mans head with his boot." Get up you son of a bitch and I'll knock you back to the 17th century!" Xander made sure the man wouldn't jump back up then helped the girl into the chair." Look are you all right? Cuz I could have sworn I saw you walk in here." The girl nods and whimpers. " My name is Monashtai but my friends call me Pony." She looks over at the man and lets out a sob." You shouldn't have got involved! Now they will hunt you down because you have seen." Xander smiles. " Hey trouble is my middle name... Well actually it's Lavelle but I kinda prefer it if you didn't spread that around." He begins to push her out of the room but hears the man struggle to get up. " Stay here this shouldn't take long." He tells her then walks over to her assailant." You know I always thought Demons were the worst scum on earth but, thanks to you, I know something worse." He struck the man with all the force and anger he had and was amazed to see him fly across the room and through the bathroom door coming to rest against the toilet seat. He looked at his knuckles and said. " Wow! I guess six years fighting demons paid off at last." He went outside and began to push the girl to the elevator. When it arrived downstairs he calmly walked her out side then ran as fast as he could pushing her all the way till he figured they were out of sight. " Now where can I take you and do they have a doctor?" She shakes her head." I will be fine in a few days; I always am, but you.. You must get out of town before they discover I'm gone!" Xander shakes his head. " You mean they've done this before? " She nods." Right! Where's your home? Once I've taken you there I'll go fetch the Feds and they can introduce these Cro-Magnon freaks to 21st Century justice." She smiles. " I live on the reservation and they come for my people whenever they need somebody cured." She points east and tells him. " It's about twenty miles that way." Xander pats his pocket and feels his keys then tells her. " If I lift you up will you be okay?" She grins and holds her arms out, wrapping them around his neck as he lifts her up. " My car's around the corner I'll get you home then I'll keep my promise." SHAMASH RESERVATION. The old man grips Xander's arm and shakes it. " I wish to thank you for what you have done for Pony but this will mean much trouble for you." Xander grins." Don't worry Chief I'm used to trouble. Now just what the hell's going on here?" The chief motions for Xander to sit down." 135 years ago white men passing through here on their way to dig for yellow metal in California saw one of our people cure a hunter that was injured in a hunt." The Chief held up his arms to the sky. " They were told by our shaman that we were guided by the sky stone to this place and since then it has given us the power to take on someone's injury, relieving them of the injury. And after a while we too were free of it and of all other disease including death. But the white men took the stone and now they make us do whatever they want and we have no choice but to do it." The chief was amazed that Xander didn't ridicule him." Huh you look like you believe me?" Xander shrugged." Why not? Where I come from this would be considered as normal." He picked the cell phone from his pocket and dialled Giles." I have some friends that can help." He holds his hand over the phone. " So do you know where they keep this stone?" The chief nods. " In a safe in the Museum but they have it guarded and it will be hard to get it back. We have tried ever since they took it." Xander grinned as the number connected. " I'm in construction and I have... Some knowledge of explosives.." He removed his hand. " Hello Giles? Yeah it's me Xander look I'm in a small town near Kalmash falls and there are some people that really need our help."....... END OF 4