*****
When the glimmer of Leo's power let him go Xander finally let his anger to the surface. "Son of a bitch!"
The group stared at him in shock as his hand swept an end table clear, throwing books and a lamp to the ground in a great clatter.
"Xander?" Phoebe and Buffy said together, both voices nervous at the sudden display of rage from the normally calm person.
"Tara?" Willow stared at the blond who arrived with them, herself showing signs of the same anger that was overtaking Xander.
Xander held up a hand in a violent gesture, silencing the people in the room. He nodded once to Forest and Riley, a small amount of gratitude showing through his anger. He turned away from the group and stalked down into the basement.
"Where are you going?" Giles called after him.
"To get my stuff back!"
*****
"What do you mean 'they're gone'?" Walsh demanded of the security team as they shifted nervously in their places.
"Gone, Ma'am. As in, vanished into thin air. There was no way out of that dead end... they just... vanished."
Walsh glared at them, but behind her eyes her mind was already working. Teleported? Or turned invisible? It appears that the recorded tapes of the Agents were accurate afterall.
"Ma'am?" A lab-coated technician appeared behind her.
"What is it?"
"You have a call from Oversight Ma'am."
*****
"Xander, think about this." Phoebe pleaded with him as he strapped on the armor.
"Oh, I'm thinking all right. I'm thinking about what I'm going to do to that bitch when I get my hands on her."
"That's not what she meant." Buffy said pointedly.
"Really?" Xander replied flippantly, "I didn't notice."
Xander turned away from the two girls and pulled down the torso armor, slipping into the big chest piece and clamping it tight around him. He could feel the suits internal systems start to come online as the computer core was reconnected to the rest.
"You can't do this, Xander." Phoebe tried another tack. "She's human... you can't kill her."
Xander grabbed two Zats from the armored cabinet and smiled viscously at nothing. "Who said anything about killing her? These things are suppose to sting like a real bitch. Fitting."
Phoebe glanced at Buffy, hoping that she had another attempt ready.
Buffy, being Buffy, cut to the chase. "I'm not going to let you do this, Xander."
Xander turned on her, half in anger, half in disgust. "You think you can stop me? Go ahead. But I warn you, if your try, one of us will be going to the hospital... or the morgue."
With those words he grabbed his helmet, turned on his heel and strode out of the basement, neither rushing nor taking his time. Behind him the two women stared at each other, feeling helpless.
"What did they do to him?" Phoebe asked of no one in particular.
Riley spoke quietly, his voice soft and regretful. "Walsh tried to have him turned. So she could see what a vampiric transformation was in a lab setting."
Buffy's gasp of shock served to tell Phoebe that there was perhaps more to the horror then even she could see. "What is it?"
"Xander's best friend was turned... He had to kill him. I... I think that's maybe the thing that Xander is scared of most."
"Oh my God."
The group looked at each other in horror, then chased their friend out of the basement armory.
*****
"Th... they were going to dissect me." tara said with just the barest hint of anger beneath her nervous voice.
"They were WHAT?" Willow's anger was clearly visible on her face and audible in her voice.
And anger that had no chance to fully form before she was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Xander in full hunting armor, with a grim look on his face.
"Xander? What?" Willow asked. But he just brushed past her, fitting his helmet as he did. The two girls stared as his retreating figure shimmered away into thin air, opening and slamming the door as it left the building.
*****
Xander half turned as he walked up the driveway, keying the lock-down remote Jarod had given him. It wouldn't stop them for long, but all he needed was a bit of a head start. He tossed the remote into the Mustang as he hopped into the driver's seat and started the car.
*****
Buffy rushed past the confused Willow and Tara, slamming into the door just as it locked on its own. Around them they heard and saw steel shutters slamming shut over the windows, doors clicking locked, and a soft red light begin to permeate the building.
A computerized voice announced from the walls. "This building has enter lock down. No entrance or egress is now possible."
Jarod looked up as the security system he had designed came online. "Oh boy."
*****
"George." Walsh nodded with false respect as she looked up at the irate face stareing back at her from the central screen.
"Maggie." His greeting was full of false cheer and insincere smiles. "I understand you took it upon yourself to abduct the Harris lad?"
Walsh paled slightly. "May I asked how you know about that?"
"You may not."
She rallied, "He was a potential HST. It falls under my jurisdiction."
George shook his head, still smiling that false smile. "And your tests revealed what?"
She hesitated, "That he's human."
"I see." He said calmly.
Walsh watched as George's entire attitude changed to one of barely controlled anger. "So you abducted a normal human, whose current profile is so high that the *President* of the United States owes him a favor? A person, who by my count, has helped save the lives of every man woman and child on this planet at least three times over? A person who is quite capable of pulling together sufficient resources to destroy or, worse, EXPOSE the Initiative? Maggie, do you have any idea how close I am to having you canceled here and now?"
Paling, but still holding her place, Margaret Walsh searched her mind for an answer. A way out. "No one was supposed to know..." Was the best she could come up with.
"Oh. I see, that is supposed to make it better?" George replied sarcastically. "When I told you that I was unwilling to interfere with this young man, you should have BLOODY WELL TAKEN THE GODDAMNED HINT!"
*****
Riley looked around as Jarod accessed the computer. "What's going on? Open the damned doors."
"It's not that easy." Jarod said from where is was tapping at the keyboard. "The system is designed to close fast and be secure. It takes time and the right commands to shut it down."
"How long?"
"A couple more minutes."
Riley growled and pulled out his phone.
"What are you doing?" Buffy demanded.
"I have to warn my men, Buffy. I can't leave them hanging."
"Oh no you don't," she batted at the phone, but he stepped back and held on tight.
"Buffy..." Riley said with a warning tone, "I won't leave my people hanging like this. Harris has flipped. He could seriously hurt someone."
"I wonder why?" She demanded sarcastically as she lunged for his phone again.
"I'm not saying it's his fault, but my men had nothing to do with it, Buffy. I won't leave them in the line of fire without some clue as to what is going on."
Miss Parker stepped between them, her hand restraining the Slayer's next move. "He's right, Buffy. His men deserve some warning."
Riley shot her a grateful glance, but got only a glare back.
"But if they hurt him, then they'll deserve a lot more." She purred quietly.
Riley nodded, accepting the warning. He dialed the number.
*****
Graham picked up the phone on the third ring, "Yo."
"Graham? Riley. You've got trouble headed your way."
"What is it, boss man?"
"Harris is headed for Lowell House and he's hunting Walsh."
"What?" Graham demanded, "Why?"
"She tried to feed him to a vamp."
There was silence for a long time.
"Graham?"
"... Shit."
"Exactly. Get your blasters and try to take him alive and as unharmed as possible. He's flipped out but if we can calm him down we might be able to talk some sense into him."
"Fat chance, man." Graham said, "If someone did that to me I'd..." He cut off as the big double doors at the front of the house suddenly shattered and blew into the living room. "I've gotta go man... Company just arrived."
Graham dropped the phone to the ground, where he could still hear Riley's voice coming from the receiver, "Graham? Graham?"
A shimmering blur slipped through the dust and debris of the shattered doors, heading straight for Graham's position.
"Oh shit." He said as he dove for the concealed location of the closest blaster.
*****
The dust and debris shorted out his shift field as he lunged across the room toward the moving commando. Xander blocked the commando halfway to the hidden compartment he remembered from the last time he had been in this place. "Sorry. Can't let you do that."
Graham looked up at him, a look of resigned defiance on his face. "And you know I can't let you go by me, Harris."
Xander nodded behind his helmet and held up Elan in a swift motion, allowing the commando's eyes to lock onto the ancient weapon. The he activated her, and Graham's eyes widened as the weapon snapped to its full seven foot length. Graham looked at the armored figure for a long moment, noting the odd tilt of Harris' head. He nodded and closed his eyes.
"Sorry 'bout this." Xander said as he whipped Elan down and knocked Graham cold. He kneeled down, checking the commando's pulse and, upon finding that it was strong he straightened up and headed for the back of the building.
*****
Walsh turned away from the monitor when the first alarms went off. When she turned to the security monitors she turned pale.
"What is it, Maggie?" George asked from where he sat. In safety.
"Lowell House is under attack. An armored individual has penetrated security and is moving toward the access to the Initiative."
"That would be young Mr. Harris, I believe." George said, with a cheerful grin. "You seem to have annoyed him somewhat. That's odd... our profile on him doesn't suggest that he would react violently to a detainment."
Walsh paled even more.
"Ah..." George said lightly. "I see... You didn't stop at mere detainment..."
*****
"Damn." Jarod said, "He took the car."
Phoebe turned to Leo, "Get me to the Frat house..."
Leo nodded and reached out a hand to her.
"Uh uh!" Buffy interjected, "Not without me!"
"And me." Riley put in.
Tara looked at them and hesitated, "C...can I come?"
Everyone looked at her in surprise, so much so that Willow stopped in mid-demand. She just looked at her feet and continued, "I... I mean he did save my life twice... I'd like to help..."
Buffy and Pheobe looked at each other and nodded. Leo orbed the four people out instantly, leaving Willow staring at the dissipating lights. "Hey! I wanted to come too..."
*****
Xander stared at his reflection in the wall sized mirror for a long second, his mask reading the empty space behind it. He didn't bother with the tri-laser, just popped off a couple plasma bolts are close range to shatter the mirror and more solid doors behind it to pieces.
Xander glanced in and fired two more bolts into the floor of the elevator. He nodded in satisfaction at the hole the blast had created and tossed a coil of rope down, after attaching one end to a wall stud with a mountaineering piton he had borrowed from Jarod's supplies.
He clipped a descender to his belt and dropped through the hole, free falling for the first couple dozen feet.
*****
"Security to the Elevator!" Walsh ordered over the intercom.
George smiled over the link and shook his head, "Maggie, if your field Agents couldn't handle him then I doubt your security forces will have much luck."
Her fist hovered over the button that would terminate the connection, but thought better of it. Hanging up on the guy who could have you killed with a word isn't the best idea.
*****
The security officer groaned in pain as he felt himself get pulled off the ground. The last thing he remembered was the elevator doors blowing open like a whirlwind, knocking his entire team to the dirt.
Xander slammed the semi-conscious man into the wall, snapping out a question as he did. "You've got twenty seconds. Where's Walsh?"
The man groaned under the pressure Xander was putting on his chest and throat, but didn't respond. Xander gave him to the count of twenty then tossed him aside with a contemptuous motion that sent the man sprawling down the hall. He turned to the next one, the evil tone of his voice clear even through the distortion of the mask.
"You're next."
"Don't hit me!" the man cried out as he scrambled back.
"Where's Walsh? And, for that matter, where do you keep the stuff you steal from the demons you capture?"
The man watched in fear as the laser tracking unit on the figure's helmet burned to life, painting his chest with its triple bar signature. "Impound room is down the hall, fourth door on the right. Walsh is in control... Over there." he jerked his head toward a large door across the hall.
"Thanks." Xander drew a Zat and hit the coward with single pulse.
*****
Leo, Phoebe, Buffy, Riley, and Tara materialized in the center of the disaster area that was Lowell House.
"Xander has some temper." Leo said as he looked at the destruction.
"Yeah..." Phoebe trailed off. "I hope he doesn't kill anyone."
"Xander wouldn't do that..." Buffy said slowly, "He couldn't."
"He hasn't told you about his summer yet has he?" Leo asked quietly.
"No. Why?"
"Ask him... If he'll tell you maybe you'll understand that he's not entirely the same person anymore. You don't survive that..." Leo stopped when Phoebe tossed him a warning glance.
"What!?" Buffy demanded, looking between the Whitelighter and the Witch.
"It's his secret." Phoebe said, shivering at the memories she had absorbed from his nightmares. "He has to decide if he wants to trust you with it... or burden you."
Buffy didn't have an answer to that.
*****
Xander kicked in the door easily, surprised that the impound room would be so minimally fortified. He shrugged, probably don't expect anyone to be able to get in this close.
"Hi," he said, cheerfully to the startled men inside, "I'm here to pick up my stuff."
They grabbed for weapons, ironically *his* weapons.
The first one opened fire with Xander's own Colt's from halfway across the room, taking him by surprise. The soft tip slugs spattered across his armor, not standing a chance in hell of piercing. A moment later the magnesium ignited.
Xander grinned, the Yautja armor was proofed to higher temperatures then a mere magnesium flare could handle. He actually chuckled as the pure white light blinded the two guards long enough for him to dispatch them to dreamland with two quick swipes of Elan.
"You should always know your weapons, even if you don't know your enemy." He said as he picked up his gear. On an impulse he ripped open the lockers and glanced over the other items the Initiative had stolen form the demons they had grabbed.
Elan's attention was immediately drawn to several items. Take those.
"Why?"
Later. Xander could hear the smile in her tone.
"Cool." He replied coldly, tossing the items into the armor's backpack.
Xander left the impound room, and two unconscious guards, with his weapons and gear back where they belonged. He set his eyes on the massive sealed door to the control center.
"Knock knock." He whispered as he tagged the door and put a plasma bolt into it from twenty meters.
*****
"Guards! Guards!" Walsh was screaming over the intercom, but no one was responding.
"They're all down!" A technician said.
"Well get the Agents down here!"
"I already sent the request, but they'll never get here in time... the elevator is ruined Ma'am and the garage entrance is too far."
Walsh's cursing reply was lost in the sudden destruction of the door. The occupants of the room turned their fearful eyes on the shattered security door in shock, watching as and armored figure appeared out of the smoke and debris and slowly stepped over the remnants of the big metal door.
*****
Xander stepped casually over the shattered steel and looked around the large control room. He ignored the frightened techs, they weren't his enemy at the moment. He stalked toward Walsh as she backed into a corner.
"Mr Harris, I presume?"
His attention was diverted to a large computer screen on the far wall. A distinguished man in a quality suit was smiling at him from it. "And you are?" he asked, his voice still cold.
"You may call me George."
While he was talking to the man Walsh tried to edge around a desk to where she'd have a clear shot at the door. Xander turned and casually popped a plasma bolt into a computer short distance in front of her. She jerked back under the shards of glass and plastic that flew around her.
"You move, you die." Xander said, his distorted voice sounding eerie and throughly evil.
Walsh nodded and collapsed into a chair.
"Impressive." the man, George, complimented him.
"What do you want?"
The man shrugged, "Nothing really. I'm simply pleased to meet you."
Xander's stance clearly indicated his disbelief.
George smiled, "Very well... If you would, perhaps you wouldn't mind telling me what Maggie did to annoy you so much? Mostly just curious you under stand."
Xander equalized the pressure in his mask and slipped it off, "She tried to feed me to a vamp."
"Ah... yes. Your friend Jessie, yes... that clears up the confusion in your psyche profile quite nicely. Thank you."
"You know a lot."
"Ah, my boy... Now that is my business afterall."
"You're a Spook."
"King Spook, if you please." George said with a smile that seemed to hint at secrets within secrets behind those words.
"Color me impressed."
"Yes, well... back to the business at hand?"
Xander glanced over at where Walsh was shivering on her chair. "She has to be punished."
"Oh, I agree... I agree. But I need her at her post for a while longer. I don't suppose you'd accept some form of reprimand?" The voice was joking, obviously not expecting Xander to accept that.
Xander did as expected, and slowly shook his head. "Here's the deal. Riley and Forest reinstated without reprimand. They prevented the execution of illegal orders, They deserve better then whatever she had planned."
George nodded in agreement.
"Get someone down here to keep her in check. She grabs anymore civilians or non-hostiles and I'll rip this place apart at the foundation."
"I'll have a military officer sent to take charge of the capture teams. Maggie will remain in charge of research, however."
"Deal."
"Good." George smiled, "And her punishment?"
Walsh watched in horror as Xander presented a strange weapon to the screen. George smiled and nodded his agreement. Xander fired the weapon without turning his head, the electrical burst searing across her body ripping a scream from her as the pain tore through her nerves and finally, mercifully, shut her down.
George nodded again, "A Zat'Nikatel... I've been told that it is the most excruciating pain that a human can endure..."
Xander turned away and walked out of the room. The computer barely picked up his response as he left. "I hope so."
*****