Oz parked his van at the warehouse that matched the address Xander had
given them. The three scoobies stepped out of the volkswagen and approached
the gate of the building.
"You sure this is the right place?" Oz asked.
Buffy took the business card from her pocket and read it again. "Yep, that's the address."
They now had arrived at the entrance. Buffy tried to open the door beside the gate, but it didn't open.
"Great, how are we supposed to get in?" Buffy asked her friends.
"Maybe you should ask nice?" came Xander's voice out of nowhere. The three Scoobies jumped startled.
"Xander?" Willow asked, while she, like the rest of the group, tried to find the source of the voice.
"Up here Will," came the voice and now the Scoobies could see the camera that was attached to the wall above the door.
"Uh, hi Xander," Buffy greeted the camera.
"And hello to you Buffy," came the voice from the small speaker at the side of the camera back. Buffy couldn't help but imagine the smug gin that was now on Xander's lips. "You can open the door now, I unlocked it."
Buffy again tried again the handle of the door and this time it moved. The three Scoobies walked through the doorway and found themselves inside the warehouse.
It looked like most of the warehouses in Sunnydale. Basically it wasn't more than a big hall, with an office at the top left side that reached the second floor. On the other side of the room Xander's SUV was parked. Besides the big car there were three more vehicles of different size, but at the momnet they were hidden by white covers.
Currently Xander walked down the stairs of the office, wearing black jeans and a t-shirt with the Heckler&Koch logo on the front. On the back you could read 'In a World of Compromise, some don't'.
"Hi guys," he greeted his friends as he reached the end of the stairs.
"Hi Xander," they greeted him back. The Scoobies continued to inspect the warehouse.
"So, you bought a warehouse," Buffy finally stated.
"Yep," Xander told her with a smile. "Took me a lot of work, but it's finally finished."
"Well, it looks..dusty," Buffy deadpanned.
"All part of the covert operation plan," Xander explained. "The only thing really valuable on this floor are cars," he said and lead the group to the four vehicles.
"Why do you need four cars? Isn't one enough?" Willow asked.
"Well, it's a guy thing. It's the same with women and clothes," Xander told her. "Maybe you don't need them, but it's really nice to have them."
With this sentence he removed the cover of the first car.
The three Scoobies gasped at the sight. In front of them stood a shiny, black Hummer.
Oz was the first to find his voice. "A Hummer? You bought a hummer?" he asked.
Xander just shrugged. "Yeah, why not? It's a good car," he said and moved to the second car and removed the cover.
"And a BMW?" Willow shrieked.
"You forgot the bike," Xander said and removed the last cover. It revealed a black Kawasaki Ninja, similar to the one he used a few months earlier. "Had to replace my old one since a certain. Mayor slash giant snake crushed it."
"Xander, the whole stuff must have cost more than the warehouse and our vacation together," Buffy summed up.
"See, I had a good reason to stay here," he said with a grin.
The group finally was able to overcome their first shock. And examine the cars that stood in front of them.
"Wait a second," Buffy asked from behind the steering wheel of the Hummer. "You said the cars were the only thing valuable on this floor. And the other floors?"
"God, I waited for someone of you to notice this," Xander answered her question. "Follow me," he said and the gang followed him to the other side of the room. Xander opened a door and lead them down to the cellar of the building. The cellar was completely dark, not one light was shining down there. Xander reached for the light switch.
"Okay, prepare yourself. What you will see now goes beyond the understanding of simple humans," he said with a mocking tone.
"Oh please," Buffy told him. "You've got a slayer, a witch and a werewolf here. That's not exactly human."
"Got enough for my cellar," Xander said and turned the switch down. The darkness immediately vanished and you could see everything in the room. "Tada," he said.
The Scoobies looked confused in the room. Apart from a few buckets there was nothing in the room.
"Er, Xander. The room is empty," Oz stated the obvious.
Xander now also inspected the room, the same confused expression on his face.
"Oh, you are right," he finally said and smacked himself against the forehead. "That's bad. Well, shit's happens. Let's go upstairs again," he said and turned around. Buffy however grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him back.
"Xander;" she said annoyed.
"What?" he asked, trying to look as sincere as possible.
"Will you tell us the big secret about the room or not," Buffy asked him.
"Since you asked so nice," Xander said and rolled his eyes. He took a remote control out of his pocket and pressed the button on it.
At the other side of the room the something rumbled and a part of the wall moved away and gave the way free to another room.
Xander walked to the new passage and through it, the rest of the gang following him. He pressed the light switch and the light turned on.
"Wow," all of the Scoobies exclaimed.
The wall to their left was covered with racks, containing a great number of assault rifles, shotguns, sub machine guns, sniper rifles and a few heavy machine guns.
In the middle of the room stood various shelves. They contained boxes, that were labelled with 'magazines', 'communications', 'grenades' and other kind of equipment.
The right side of the room many boxes were placed on each other. They contained the ammunition and explosives.
And on the other side of the room there were lockers, in which Xander had stuffed the handguns.
"Welcome to the Matrix," Xander announced.
"Huh?" Buffy asked, her eyes still glued to the sight in front of her.
"Guns. Lots of guns," he quoted the famous line.
"Xander, you bought all this stuff," Willow finally asked.
"Yeah. Ask Oz," he said and motioned with his thumb for the werewolf. "He was with me when half of the equipment arrived."
"And the other half?" Oz asked.
"Came over the summer and some of it I already owned before," he explained
"And that secret agent wall move trick?" Buffy asked.
"My friend, Kyle, knows a few people that designed CIA safe houses. One of them owned him a favour. That favour he sold to me and so I got this wall thing installed," Xander explained.
"I'm impressed," Buffy said and walked into the room.
"Hope so. Cost me a pretty penny," he said and followed her. "But I think it's worth the cost. If the police ever get their heads out of their ass and they come here, they will find nothing but an empty cellar. And the whole surveillance equipment should warn me in advance," Xander explained and lead them to a door on the opposite side of the room. He opened it walked into the next room.
"And I also got a firing range installed," he said and showed them the range. "Nice, isn't it?"
"If you like guns," Willow stated.
"Like I said: Nice," Xander said and lead the out of the room. "The whole thing is also sound proofed. So no problem with people showing up, asking about the noise."
They left the armory and he closed the wall door behind them.
"I'm sorry to tell it you on your first day back at home, but we have to get to business," Xander explained on their way upstairs.
"Yippi," Buffy exclaimed with a blank face.
"Hey, you had three months of vacation," Xander told her. "The least thing you can do is to show some enthusiasm."
"Yippi," Buffy said again with a fake smile.
"That's better," he said.
"What do you mean business?" Willow finally asked. "Did something happen?"
Xander lead them up to the office. "Last night I saw something strange. A group of soldiers took down a group of vamps."
"Soldiers?" Willow asked.
"Yep," Xander simply answered.
"The Army," Willow asked again.
"Yep," Xander again told her.
Willow thought about it for a few seconds
"The United States Army?" she finally asked.
"Oh, for God's sake: yes," Xander said annoyed as he opened the door of the office.
Willow and Buffy exchanged a brief smile. Buffy had to admit that Willow was better with driving Xander crazy.
"What's the army doing here in Sunnydale?" Buffy asked as they stepped into the room, which was filled with surveillance equipment. Eight monitors showed the surrounding of the warehouse and the computer showed the position of the various alarms systems that were installed at the doors and windows.
"I have no Idea Buffy," Xander admitted while he motioned for them to sit down at the table. The table was in the middle of the room and a map of Sunnydale covered it at the moment. "They were here in Restfield Cemetery," he said and pointed at the map. "But that's all I know."
"And why are they showing up now?" Buffy questioned further. "Why not a year ago or so?"
"I also thought about that," Xander told her. "Maybe blowing up the school attracted their attention. But it's not important why they are here. Fact is that they are here and we have to deal with it."
"I don't understand;" Willow asked. "Isn't it a good thing? I mean, soldiers here at the Hellmouth. That could help us."
Xander shook his head. "That's is were it is getting really weird. See, they knocked a few vamps out and took them with them."
"But maybe they just want to find out how to kill vampires," Willow interjected.
"Will, everyone who watched a few horror flicks can find out a vampire's weaknesses," Xander told her. "And that's also a point. They just carried some kind of tazer gun. No stakes no cross or something else."
"How did hey survive then," Buffy asked.
"I assisted them a bit," Xander explained. "I was lying on a roof, clearing the cemetery with my sniper rifle."
The gang kept quiet for a few seconds, thinking about the new informations.
"So, do you think we can trust those army guys?" Buffy finally asked.
"Well, the soldiers I'm pretty sure. I helped them, so that should have made a good impression," Xander said. "But I don't know about their higher ups. The whole thing just sounds just too much like the X-Files for my taste."
"So what do we do," Oz asked, calm as ever.
"Well, we research," Xander said and stood up. "I got a pretty good look at their leader. I think I could recognize him when I see him."
"And how do you want to do that?" Willow asked. "Sunnydale is small but I think even you have trouble to find someone in the town only because you know what he looks like."
"That's where we need our favourite hacker," Xander told her.
"What me?" Willow asked confused.
"Yeah, Will," Xander said and motioned for the computer. The redhead stood slowly up and sat down in front of the computer screen. "I want you to look up the files of all the people that moved to Sunnydale during the last three, four months. That can't be that much. People are rather moving out of town than in."
Now Buffy and Oz also stood behind Willow, looking over her shoulder.
"Hey," Willow exclaimed. "I know those hacking tools. Those are the same I have on my computer."
"Sorry Will," Xander said. "Borrowed your laptop for a while. Thought, if you have the same tools here it will be easier for you to work with the computer."
Willow didn't really look happy about the situation, but the continued to work.
"You think he is officially listed?" Buffy asked.
"Don't know," Xander admitted. "But it's worth a shot."
"Okay," Willow said. "I have about one hundred persons that moved into town. Anything more specific?"
"Yeah, he was between 20 and 25," Xander told her.
"Okay, ten left," Willow exclaimed.
She opened the files and he faces of the persons appeared on the screen. Xander looked on the pictures and finally recognized the group leader.
"That's him," he said and tapped on the screen.
Willow clicked at the picture and the whole file appeared.
"Riley Finn," Willow read out loud. "He moved in town shortly after Graduation. He is currently a TA at UCS."
"Look Willow," Buffy said and pointed at something. "He is assigned to the same psychology course we have."
"Maybe we could speak with him," Willow proposed. "Not a good idea," Xander said. "I helped him and his group. If he is willing to talk to someone it's me."
"And what do we do then?" Buffy asked.
Xander looked at everyone. "You guys better get some sleep. You look pretty tired."
"Yeah," Willow said and yawned. "Stupid jetlag."
"I'll handle patrol tonight," Xander announced as he led the group out of the warehouse. "You got to bed and tomorrow we'll see what we can do about the soldiers."
"You are not telling us the truth Xander, "Buffy exclaimed. "What do you really want to do?"
"Oh, I'm telling you the truth," Xander told her with a grin. "But I'm going to pay Mr. Finn a little visit."
"You think that's a good idea?" she asked "What if he tries something stupid?"
"Oh, I think I can handle a single TA," Xander told her while the Scoobies mounted Oz's van. "Don't worry about me."
"Okay. Just be careful," Buffy said.
"Always Buff," Xander told her. "Get some rest. You need it."
Oz shifted the volkswagen into gear and drove down the street. When the van was out of sight Xander turned around and returned to the warehouse.
"You sure this is the right place?" Oz asked.
Buffy took the business card from her pocket and read it again. "Yep, that's the address."
They now had arrived at the entrance. Buffy tried to open the door beside the gate, but it didn't open.
"Great, how are we supposed to get in?" Buffy asked her friends.
"Maybe you should ask nice?" came Xander's voice out of nowhere. The three Scoobies jumped startled.
"Xander?" Willow asked, while she, like the rest of the group, tried to find the source of the voice.
"Up here Will," came the voice and now the Scoobies could see the camera that was attached to the wall above the door.
"Uh, hi Xander," Buffy greeted the camera.
"And hello to you Buffy," came the voice from the small speaker at the side of the camera back. Buffy couldn't help but imagine the smug gin that was now on Xander's lips. "You can open the door now, I unlocked it."
Buffy again tried again the handle of the door and this time it moved. The three Scoobies walked through the doorway and found themselves inside the warehouse.
It looked like most of the warehouses in Sunnydale. Basically it wasn't more than a big hall, with an office at the top left side that reached the second floor. On the other side of the room Xander's SUV was parked. Besides the big car there were three more vehicles of different size, but at the momnet they were hidden by white covers.
Currently Xander walked down the stairs of the office, wearing black jeans and a t-shirt with the Heckler&Koch logo on the front. On the back you could read 'In a World of Compromise, some don't'.
"Hi guys," he greeted his friends as he reached the end of the stairs.
"Hi Xander," they greeted him back. The Scoobies continued to inspect the warehouse.
"So, you bought a warehouse," Buffy finally stated.
"Yep," Xander told her with a smile. "Took me a lot of work, but it's finally finished."
"Well, it looks..dusty," Buffy deadpanned.
"All part of the covert operation plan," Xander explained. "The only thing really valuable on this floor are cars," he said and lead the group to the four vehicles.
"Why do you need four cars? Isn't one enough?" Willow asked.
"Well, it's a guy thing. It's the same with women and clothes," Xander told her. "Maybe you don't need them, but it's really nice to have them."
With this sentence he removed the cover of the first car.
The three Scoobies gasped at the sight. In front of them stood a shiny, black Hummer.
Oz was the first to find his voice. "A Hummer? You bought a hummer?" he asked.
Xander just shrugged. "Yeah, why not? It's a good car," he said and moved to the second car and removed the cover.
"And a BMW?" Willow shrieked.
"You forgot the bike," Xander said and removed the last cover. It revealed a black Kawasaki Ninja, similar to the one he used a few months earlier. "Had to replace my old one since a certain. Mayor slash giant snake crushed it."
"Xander, the whole stuff must have cost more than the warehouse and our vacation together," Buffy summed up.
"See, I had a good reason to stay here," he said with a grin.
The group finally was able to overcome their first shock. And examine the cars that stood in front of them.
"Wait a second," Buffy asked from behind the steering wheel of the Hummer. "You said the cars were the only thing valuable on this floor. And the other floors?"
"God, I waited for someone of you to notice this," Xander answered her question. "Follow me," he said and the gang followed him to the other side of the room. Xander opened a door and lead them down to the cellar of the building. The cellar was completely dark, not one light was shining down there. Xander reached for the light switch.
"Okay, prepare yourself. What you will see now goes beyond the understanding of simple humans," he said with a mocking tone.
"Oh please," Buffy told him. "You've got a slayer, a witch and a werewolf here. That's not exactly human."
"Got enough for my cellar," Xander said and turned the switch down. The darkness immediately vanished and you could see everything in the room. "Tada," he said.
The Scoobies looked confused in the room. Apart from a few buckets there was nothing in the room.
"Er, Xander. The room is empty," Oz stated the obvious.
Xander now also inspected the room, the same confused expression on his face.
"Oh, you are right," he finally said and smacked himself against the forehead. "That's bad. Well, shit's happens. Let's go upstairs again," he said and turned around. Buffy however grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him back.
"Xander;" she said annoyed.
"What?" he asked, trying to look as sincere as possible.
"Will you tell us the big secret about the room or not," Buffy asked him.
"Since you asked so nice," Xander said and rolled his eyes. He took a remote control out of his pocket and pressed the button on it.
At the other side of the room the something rumbled and a part of the wall moved away and gave the way free to another room.
Xander walked to the new passage and through it, the rest of the gang following him. He pressed the light switch and the light turned on.
"Wow," all of the Scoobies exclaimed.
The wall to their left was covered with racks, containing a great number of assault rifles, shotguns, sub machine guns, sniper rifles and a few heavy machine guns.
In the middle of the room stood various shelves. They contained boxes, that were labelled with 'magazines', 'communications', 'grenades' and other kind of equipment.
The right side of the room many boxes were placed on each other. They contained the ammunition and explosives.
And on the other side of the room there were lockers, in which Xander had stuffed the handguns.
"Welcome to the Matrix," Xander announced.
"Huh?" Buffy asked, her eyes still glued to the sight in front of her.
"Guns. Lots of guns," he quoted the famous line.
"Xander, you bought all this stuff," Willow finally asked.
"Yeah. Ask Oz," he said and motioned with his thumb for the werewolf. "He was with me when half of the equipment arrived."
"And the other half?" Oz asked.
"Came over the summer and some of it I already owned before," he explained
"And that secret agent wall move trick?" Buffy asked.
"My friend, Kyle, knows a few people that designed CIA safe houses. One of them owned him a favour. That favour he sold to me and so I got this wall thing installed," Xander explained.
"I'm impressed," Buffy said and walked into the room.
"Hope so. Cost me a pretty penny," he said and followed her. "But I think it's worth the cost. If the police ever get their heads out of their ass and they come here, they will find nothing but an empty cellar. And the whole surveillance equipment should warn me in advance," Xander explained and lead them to a door on the opposite side of the room. He opened it walked into the next room.
"And I also got a firing range installed," he said and showed them the range. "Nice, isn't it?"
"If you like guns," Willow stated.
"Like I said: Nice," Xander said and lead the out of the room. "The whole thing is also sound proofed. So no problem with people showing up, asking about the noise."
They left the armory and he closed the wall door behind them.
"I'm sorry to tell it you on your first day back at home, but we have to get to business," Xander explained on their way upstairs.
"Yippi," Buffy exclaimed with a blank face.
"Hey, you had three months of vacation," Xander told her. "The least thing you can do is to show some enthusiasm."
"Yippi," Buffy said again with a fake smile.
"That's better," he said.
"What do you mean business?" Willow finally asked. "Did something happen?"
Xander lead them up to the office. "Last night I saw something strange. A group of soldiers took down a group of vamps."
"Soldiers?" Willow asked.
"Yep," Xander simply answered.
"The Army," Willow asked again.
"Yep," Xander again told her.
Willow thought about it for a few seconds
"The United States Army?" she finally asked.
"Oh, for God's sake: yes," Xander said annoyed as he opened the door of the office.
Willow and Buffy exchanged a brief smile. Buffy had to admit that Willow was better with driving Xander crazy.
"What's the army doing here in Sunnydale?" Buffy asked as they stepped into the room, which was filled with surveillance equipment. Eight monitors showed the surrounding of the warehouse and the computer showed the position of the various alarms systems that were installed at the doors and windows.
"I have no Idea Buffy," Xander admitted while he motioned for them to sit down at the table. The table was in the middle of the room and a map of Sunnydale covered it at the moment. "They were here in Restfield Cemetery," he said and pointed at the map. "But that's all I know."
"And why are they showing up now?" Buffy questioned further. "Why not a year ago or so?"
"I also thought about that," Xander told her. "Maybe blowing up the school attracted their attention. But it's not important why they are here. Fact is that they are here and we have to deal with it."
"I don't understand;" Willow asked. "Isn't it a good thing? I mean, soldiers here at the Hellmouth. That could help us."
Xander shook his head. "That's is were it is getting really weird. See, they knocked a few vamps out and took them with them."
"But maybe they just want to find out how to kill vampires," Willow interjected.
"Will, everyone who watched a few horror flicks can find out a vampire's weaknesses," Xander told her. "And that's also a point. They just carried some kind of tazer gun. No stakes no cross or something else."
"How did hey survive then," Buffy asked.
"I assisted them a bit," Xander explained. "I was lying on a roof, clearing the cemetery with my sniper rifle."
The gang kept quiet for a few seconds, thinking about the new informations.
"So, do you think we can trust those army guys?" Buffy finally asked.
"Well, the soldiers I'm pretty sure. I helped them, so that should have made a good impression," Xander said. "But I don't know about their higher ups. The whole thing just sounds just too much like the X-Files for my taste."
"So what do we do," Oz asked, calm as ever.
"Well, we research," Xander said and stood up. "I got a pretty good look at their leader. I think I could recognize him when I see him."
"And how do you want to do that?" Willow asked. "Sunnydale is small but I think even you have trouble to find someone in the town only because you know what he looks like."
"That's where we need our favourite hacker," Xander told her.
"What me?" Willow asked confused.
"Yeah, Will," Xander said and motioned for the computer. The redhead stood slowly up and sat down in front of the computer screen. "I want you to look up the files of all the people that moved to Sunnydale during the last three, four months. That can't be that much. People are rather moving out of town than in."
Now Buffy and Oz also stood behind Willow, looking over her shoulder.
"Hey," Willow exclaimed. "I know those hacking tools. Those are the same I have on my computer."
"Sorry Will," Xander said. "Borrowed your laptop for a while. Thought, if you have the same tools here it will be easier for you to work with the computer."
Willow didn't really look happy about the situation, but the continued to work.
"You think he is officially listed?" Buffy asked.
"Don't know," Xander admitted. "But it's worth a shot."
"Okay," Willow said. "I have about one hundred persons that moved into town. Anything more specific?"
"Yeah, he was between 20 and 25," Xander told her.
"Okay, ten left," Willow exclaimed.
She opened the files and he faces of the persons appeared on the screen. Xander looked on the pictures and finally recognized the group leader.
"That's him," he said and tapped on the screen.
Willow clicked at the picture and the whole file appeared.
"Riley Finn," Willow read out loud. "He moved in town shortly after Graduation. He is currently a TA at UCS."
"Look Willow," Buffy said and pointed at something. "He is assigned to the same psychology course we have."
"Maybe we could speak with him," Willow proposed. "Not a good idea," Xander said. "I helped him and his group. If he is willing to talk to someone it's me."
"And what do we do then?" Buffy asked.
Xander looked at everyone. "You guys better get some sleep. You look pretty tired."
"Yeah," Willow said and yawned. "Stupid jetlag."
"I'll handle patrol tonight," Xander announced as he led the group out of the warehouse. "You got to bed and tomorrow we'll see what we can do about the soldiers."
"You are not telling us the truth Xander, "Buffy exclaimed. "What do you really want to do?"
"Oh, I'm telling you the truth," Xander told her with a grin. "But I'm going to pay Mr. Finn a little visit."
"You think that's a good idea?" she asked "What if he tries something stupid?"
"Oh, I think I can handle a single TA," Xander told her while the Scoobies mounted Oz's van. "Don't worry about me."
"Okay. Just be careful," Buffy said.
"Always Buff," Xander told her. "Get some rest. You need it."
Oz shifted the volkswagen into gear and drove down the street. When the van was out of sight Xander turned around and returned to the warehouse.