Title: Xander Harris: Year One (Chapter Eight)
Author: Randall Stone
Disclaimer: All characters are belong to someone else.
Summary: Some are born to destiny. Others make their own.
Notes:
Spoilers: S1-4
Continuity changes: Hopefully everything will be explained in the
text. One note- Veruca tragically stepped in front of a bus the
day before she was going to be turned into a werewolf, so Oz will
be hanging around.
We have now left the Season 4 continuity. Only events described
or referred to directly in this fic should be assumed to have
occurred.
All B/R fluff and B/R angst will be taking place off screen. The
astute reader may inquire as to what B/R interaction this leaves to
be shown. The answer: not much.
Category: B/X, a little B/R early on
Rating: PG-14- nothing worse than what's on the show.
*****
ONE WEEK LATER
"You know, I'm a good girl." Denise Westgate insisted as she
followed a man that she had just met into the alley behind The
Bronze. "I don't usually do this kind of thing. It's just that I
just broke up with my cheating skunk of a boyfriend-"
"Do you ever stop talking?" The man interrupted when they reached
the alley. "I swear, it will be worth killing you just for the
quiet."
"What? What are you talk-" Denise screamed when the man turned to
face her, displaying his true face.
She backed away down the alleyway, still screaming, as he advanced.
"God, you still won't shut up! I need to start bringing ear plugs
with me when I feed."
Suddenly a chilling laughter echoed through the alley. Sandy was so
surprised to hear it that she stopped screaming.
The vampire was actually relieved for a moment at the silence
before he realized what the laughter signified and began to look
around frantically.
"Where are you? Why don't you come out and fight man to man? Are
you afraid?"
"A fighter has to know fear."
"What's that supposed to mean?" The vampire turned, seeking the
source of the voice.
Xander elected to respond to the vampire's question with a stake in
the back. As the vampire crumbled to dust he heard a gasp from the
girl.
"You- what happened?"
He regarded her wearily. "He tried to mug you, but somebody scared
him away. Go back inside, and try to be more careful in the
future."
Xander turned and walked away, wondering- not for the first time-
what it would take for people in Sunnydale to start exercising a
little caution.
---
THE NEXT DAY
"Riley Finn."
"Xander." Xander shook the big man's hand. "Short for Alexander."
Xander, Willow, Oz, and Buffy had all come to Giles' place at
Buffy's request. She had said that she had some kind of
announcement, but so far they had just been introduced to her new
boyfriend.
Suddenly a thought occurred to Xander.
"Hey, Riley, could you do me a favor?"
"Sure."
"Here, hold this." Xander pulled a cross out of his pocket and
handed it to Riley. Seeing him holding it, Xander smiled and turned
to Buffy. "I already like him better than the last one."
Riley turned to Buffy in surprise. "Parker is a vampire?"
"No." Buffy shot Xander a nasty look. "We'll talk later."
"Vampires. What-"
"It's OK." Buffy cut Xander off. "He knows. Honey, we might as
well start now."
"OK." Riley walked to the front of the room and cleared his throat.
"As you all know, there is a government group patrolling the campus
area for supernatural threats. I've been authorized to tell you all
that I am a part of that group.
"We're called the Initiative. We've worked out an arrangement
whereby we will help Buffy when needed, and vice versa."
"I've got a beeper." Buffy announced, holding it up for everybody
to see.
"Yes. So anyways, we just wanted you to know that we're all on the
same team, so- yes, Willow?"
"What are you guys doing with all those body parts that you were
buying from Spike?"
"Body parts? I hadn't heard anything about that. Where did you
hear this?"
"Spike mentioned it. I guess he isn't the most reliable source."
"Yeah." Riley pondered this information for a moment. "Are there
any other questions?"
"Ooh. Are all the TAs like, in the Army?" Willow was curious.
"I have not been authorized to share that information. In fact, I
can neither confirm nor deny that the army is involved with the
Initiative."
"You're just a big old fount of non-information, aren't you?"
Xander asked.
"Afraid so. Well, that's about all I wanted to tell you guys,
so..."
With that, everybody began filing out of Giles' apartment. As they
were leaving Xander held Willow back.
"Hey Wills, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"You are if you're thinking it's time to do a little hacking into
the faculty databases."
"Cool. It's been a while since I participated in a felony."
---
THE NEXT DAY
Xander sat on the fire escape and watched the girl walk through the
deserted alley beneath him.
She knew how to walk in heels, he had to admit. It was a rare sight
to see in this day and age. She would make a tempting target for
any night time predator.
She screamed quite convincingly when the vampire appeared. Not that
screaming would usually do you much good in Sunnydale.
It was a good thing for her that there were so many Initiative
troops around. There was Agent Finn, disguised as a collapsed wino
in the alley. Agent Miller happened to be walking by across the
mouth of the alley. And Agent Grant lining up his shot from the
rooftop across the way.
Not that the girl needed much help. Xander shook his head as he
wondered what Riley had had to do to get Buffy to play the damsel in
distress.
The Initiative was wasting a lot of manpower with these traps.
---
Walsh walked in on Riley just as he was finishing up grading the
midterm exams.
"Almost finished?"
"Why, need me out of your hair so you can buy some more body parts?"
Riley saw the look of surprise on Walsh's face before she managed to
hide it and attempt a denial.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"It's true, isn't it? I bet you even helped Spike escape, didn't
you?"
"I-" Walsh visibly composed herself. "Do you have any proof of
these allegations?"
"Not yet, but I'll find it. I don't know what kind of games you're
playing, but I'm going to put a stop to it!"
With that, Riley stormed out of the room, leaving Walsh alone with
her thoughts. She thought out loud to herself.
"I'm afraid you'll find, Agent Finn, that I do not play games."
---
Riley hadn't walked far after dropping Buffy off from their date
when he felt their presence. Turning around, he was confronted with
two vampires in front of him. Any thoughts of escape disappeared
when two more vampires appeared from the shadows and circled around
behind him.
"Well, look at what we have here." The lead vampire, a tall man
with dark hair, walked close to Riley. "Looks like it's dinner
time."
"You guys don't know what you're messing with." Riley spoke as he
reached into his pocket and triggered the emergency beacon on his
beeper. The Initiative's emergency team had a response time of
about three minutes to this area of the campus. He was carrying a
wooden stake, as well as his sidearm, which would be nearly useless
in this situation.
"Let me guess: you're part of a top secret military- Initiative-
that hunts vampires. Too bad you don't have your buddies with you
now."
"What?" Riley was still trying to figure out how the vampire knew
about the Initiative when they were interrupted by laughter from
the shadows.
After a flurry of activity, Riley found himself alone with a shadowy
figure. The combat had been a blur to him. He knew he had staked one
of the vampires while it was distracted, and the others had been
dispatched by the thing in front of him, which must be the Shadow.
"You saved my life."
"Yep."
Riley was grateful, but he still had orders to capture the hostile.
He slowly began moving his hand towards his gun, which was tucked
away at the small of his back.
"You shouldn't do that."
Riley froze. "You aren't going to start killing people, are you?"
"Nope."
"Why do you hunt the vampires?"
"Why do you, Agent Finn?"
"Damn it!" Riley slammed his hand down on a nearby tree stump.
"Does everybody know who I am?"
The figure shrugged, and then gestured behind him.
"Your friends are coming."
Riley turned around to see Forrest, Graham, Hans and Jose making
their way towards his location, blasters at the ready.
"You better get-" Riley started to say as he turned around, only to
find himself alone in the night. "Going."
---
"Finn!"
"Yes, sir?"
"This just arrived." Schultz slapped a large envelope down on his
desk, in front of Riley. "Looks like a special ops team is being
dispatched to Colombia, and they need an advisor on non-human
matters. You've been assigned to fill the position.
"Pack your bags, soldier, you're departing to South America in
forty eight hours."
*****
End part eight, the pen-penultimate chapter.
--Randy
Author: Randall Stone
Disclaimer: All characters are belong to someone else.
Summary: Some are born to destiny. Others make their own.
Notes:
Spoilers: S1-4
Continuity changes: Hopefully everything will be explained in the
text. One note- Veruca tragically stepped in front of a bus the
day before she was going to be turned into a werewolf, so Oz will
be hanging around.
We have now left the Season 4 continuity. Only events described
or referred to directly in this fic should be assumed to have
occurred.
All B/R fluff and B/R angst will be taking place off screen. The
astute reader may inquire as to what B/R interaction this leaves to
be shown. The answer: not much.
Category: B/X, a little B/R early on
Rating: PG-14- nothing worse than what's on the show.
*****
ONE WEEK LATER
"You know, I'm a good girl." Denise Westgate insisted as she
followed a man that she had just met into the alley behind The
Bronze. "I don't usually do this kind of thing. It's just that I
just broke up with my cheating skunk of a boyfriend-"
"Do you ever stop talking?" The man interrupted when they reached
the alley. "I swear, it will be worth killing you just for the
quiet."
"What? What are you talk-" Denise screamed when the man turned to
face her, displaying his true face.
She backed away down the alleyway, still screaming, as he advanced.
"God, you still won't shut up! I need to start bringing ear plugs
with me when I feed."
Suddenly a chilling laughter echoed through the alley. Sandy was so
surprised to hear it that she stopped screaming.
The vampire was actually relieved for a moment at the silence
before he realized what the laughter signified and began to look
around frantically.
"Where are you? Why don't you come out and fight man to man? Are
you afraid?"
"A fighter has to know fear."
"What's that supposed to mean?" The vampire turned, seeking the
source of the voice.
Xander elected to respond to the vampire's question with a stake in
the back. As the vampire crumbled to dust he heard a gasp from the
girl.
"You- what happened?"
He regarded her wearily. "He tried to mug you, but somebody scared
him away. Go back inside, and try to be more careful in the
future."
Xander turned and walked away, wondering- not for the first time-
what it would take for people in Sunnydale to start exercising a
little caution.
---
THE NEXT DAY
"Riley Finn."
"Xander." Xander shook the big man's hand. "Short for Alexander."
Xander, Willow, Oz, and Buffy had all come to Giles' place at
Buffy's request. She had said that she had some kind of
announcement, but so far they had just been introduced to her new
boyfriend.
Suddenly a thought occurred to Xander.
"Hey, Riley, could you do me a favor?"
"Sure."
"Here, hold this." Xander pulled a cross out of his pocket and
handed it to Riley. Seeing him holding it, Xander smiled and turned
to Buffy. "I already like him better than the last one."
Riley turned to Buffy in surprise. "Parker is a vampire?"
"No." Buffy shot Xander a nasty look. "We'll talk later."
"Vampires. What-"
"It's OK." Buffy cut Xander off. "He knows. Honey, we might as
well start now."
"OK." Riley walked to the front of the room and cleared his throat.
"As you all know, there is a government group patrolling the campus
area for supernatural threats. I've been authorized to tell you all
that I am a part of that group.
"We're called the Initiative. We've worked out an arrangement
whereby we will help Buffy when needed, and vice versa."
"I've got a beeper." Buffy announced, holding it up for everybody
to see.
"Yes. So anyways, we just wanted you to know that we're all on the
same team, so- yes, Willow?"
"What are you guys doing with all those body parts that you were
buying from Spike?"
"Body parts? I hadn't heard anything about that. Where did you
hear this?"
"Spike mentioned it. I guess he isn't the most reliable source."
"Yeah." Riley pondered this information for a moment. "Are there
any other questions?"
"Ooh. Are all the TAs like, in the Army?" Willow was curious.
"I have not been authorized to share that information. In fact, I
can neither confirm nor deny that the army is involved with the
Initiative."
"You're just a big old fount of non-information, aren't you?"
Xander asked.
"Afraid so. Well, that's about all I wanted to tell you guys,
so..."
With that, everybody began filing out of Giles' apartment. As they
were leaving Xander held Willow back.
"Hey Wills, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"You are if you're thinking it's time to do a little hacking into
the faculty databases."
"Cool. It's been a while since I participated in a felony."
---
THE NEXT DAY
Xander sat on the fire escape and watched the girl walk through the
deserted alley beneath him.
She knew how to walk in heels, he had to admit. It was a rare sight
to see in this day and age. She would make a tempting target for
any night time predator.
She screamed quite convincingly when the vampire appeared. Not that
screaming would usually do you much good in Sunnydale.
It was a good thing for her that there were so many Initiative
troops around. There was Agent Finn, disguised as a collapsed wino
in the alley. Agent Miller happened to be walking by across the
mouth of the alley. And Agent Grant lining up his shot from the
rooftop across the way.
Not that the girl needed much help. Xander shook his head as he
wondered what Riley had had to do to get Buffy to play the damsel in
distress.
The Initiative was wasting a lot of manpower with these traps.
---
Walsh walked in on Riley just as he was finishing up grading the
midterm exams.
"Almost finished?"
"Why, need me out of your hair so you can buy some more body parts?"
Riley saw the look of surprise on Walsh's face before she managed to
hide it and attempt a denial.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"It's true, isn't it? I bet you even helped Spike escape, didn't
you?"
"I-" Walsh visibly composed herself. "Do you have any proof of
these allegations?"
"Not yet, but I'll find it. I don't know what kind of games you're
playing, but I'm going to put a stop to it!"
With that, Riley stormed out of the room, leaving Walsh alone with
her thoughts. She thought out loud to herself.
"I'm afraid you'll find, Agent Finn, that I do not play games."
---
Riley hadn't walked far after dropping Buffy off from their date
when he felt their presence. Turning around, he was confronted with
two vampires in front of him. Any thoughts of escape disappeared
when two more vampires appeared from the shadows and circled around
behind him.
"Well, look at what we have here." The lead vampire, a tall man
with dark hair, walked close to Riley. "Looks like it's dinner
time."
"You guys don't know what you're messing with." Riley spoke as he
reached into his pocket and triggered the emergency beacon on his
beeper. The Initiative's emergency team had a response time of
about three minutes to this area of the campus. He was carrying a
wooden stake, as well as his sidearm, which would be nearly useless
in this situation.
"Let me guess: you're part of a top secret military- Initiative-
that hunts vampires. Too bad you don't have your buddies with you
now."
"What?" Riley was still trying to figure out how the vampire knew
about the Initiative when they were interrupted by laughter from
the shadows.
After a flurry of activity, Riley found himself alone with a shadowy
figure. The combat had been a blur to him. He knew he had staked one
of the vampires while it was distracted, and the others had been
dispatched by the thing in front of him, which must be the Shadow.
"You saved my life."
"Yep."
Riley was grateful, but he still had orders to capture the hostile.
He slowly began moving his hand towards his gun, which was tucked
away at the small of his back.
"You shouldn't do that."
Riley froze. "You aren't going to start killing people, are you?"
"Nope."
"Why do you hunt the vampires?"
"Why do you, Agent Finn?"
"Damn it!" Riley slammed his hand down on a nearby tree stump.
"Does everybody know who I am?"
The figure shrugged, and then gestured behind him.
"Your friends are coming."
Riley turned around to see Forrest, Graham, Hans and Jose making
their way towards his location, blasters at the ready.
"You better get-" Riley started to say as he turned around, only to
find himself alone in the night. "Going."
---
"Finn!"
"Yes, sir?"
"This just arrived." Schultz slapped a large envelope down on his
desk, in front of Riley. "Looks like a special ops team is being
dispatched to Colombia, and they need an advisor on non-human
matters. You've been assigned to fill the position.
"Pack your bags, soldier, you're departing to South America in
forty eight hours."
*****
End part eight, the pen-penultimate chapter.
--Randy
