A/N: See chapter one for disclaimer, rating, and notes.
Title: Dennis Leary, Lock 'n Load. Great jokes, none of it mine.
*****
Xander sat on the couch of the living room he and Anya once shared. The echoes of their laughter, their lust, still hung heavily in the air. The lights were dim, as they had been since she left. Yet this time, he wasn't feeling sorry for himself, or reliving the mistakes he had made as he sat alone. His mind was focused on other things.
The smell of gun oil hung lightly in the air, mingling with the last traces of his dinner as he diligently; professionally, cleaned the gun and aligned the sights. The cool, dark metal felt reassuring in his hand, and the weight gave him confidence.
The three full magazines rested neatly beside his cleaning supplies, loaded with bullets he had been trying to purchase for months now, but had only now come into his possession. Large caliber and hollow point, he knew instinctively that they could put down a vampire as easily as a human. His mind held the memories of another man, one who knew weapons and tactics, who had seen the damage these rounds could do. Undead or not, you felt these bullets.
With a satisfied smile, Xander slid the magazine home and let the slide go forward. One round now chambered, he carefully checked the safety before holstering the weapon. He knew the stakes were being raised by this… Necromancer. He knew his friends could be hurt, or killed. And Xander, feeling the fear balance his anger, decided to be prepared.
* * * * *
Buffy stopped at the ATM on her walk to work the next morning, sighing as she checked her account. The balance was well more than she expected, somewhere around the tune of three thousand higher. Deciding not to question the change, she happily walked right back to her home, sliding into bed next to the sleeping vampire. It had been some time since she had been able to sleep during the day, not having to work at a low paying job to support herself and Dawn.
Somehow she knew Michael wasn't the only one to thank for the money, and wondered briefly where Giles was before drifting to sleep, sprawled over one very lucky blue eyed vampire.
* * * * *
"You've got to be kidding me," Giles said as he waited for his flight to board. "You remember what happened last time to tried that particular route with her."
"Not much choice," the other Watcher said, shrugging. An old ally, and one who agreed with Giles on this issue. "She seems to have things settled, but you know how the uppers think about these things."
"Yes," Giles said, taking off his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose, "Amazingly shortsighted, as usual. A wonder any of them made it past grade school."
A small smile lit the other man's face, not unlike Giles' own. Both were librarians, and watchers, and shared a dark history. Both men knew the merits of thinking outside the established laws of the order. One man made the choice to leave the society altogether, and the other stayed within, a voice of change within the ancient Council.
"Be careful, Rupert," the man, Collins, said. "The retrieval team has orders to take her or kill her, and they'll be armed with guns."
"I will," Giles said as he put his glasses back on and took the other man's offered hand. "And be careful about the Necromancer. I have a feeling he isn't done playing the Council yet."
* * * * *
"We've got a bit of a problem," Buffy said later that night, addressing Spike and Michael.
"Well?" Spike drawled, smirking (yet again) as he watched his slayer.
"A pack of vampires," she said with only the slightest hitch in her voice. "They street race, kill the losers and take the cars."
"Doesn't sound too bad," Michael commented.
"It wouldn't be," she continued, still looking at Spike, "Except you're the only one with a car, and they know who I am."
"We'll take care of it, pet," Spike assured her.
The sound of a van door slamming shut caught their collective curiosity as they all moved to the door. Willow and Xander were sitting on the couch, while Faith and Dawn were talking quietly in the kitchen. They all heard it, but none knew what it meant.
Suddenly, the front door, back door, and two side windows exploded inward. A dozen men, dressed as commandos and carrying small machine guns stormed the house. The guns were trained on the two slayers and the vampire. Apparently they didn't feel threatened by Michael, Xander, or Willow.
"Don't move," one man said, his voice slightly muffled by the helmet he wore. "We're here for Faith."
"Orders of the Council, girl," another man spoke. "You're coming with us, or in a body bag."
"Nobody moves," yet another man said. "I'm not against killing you all."
"Bloody fucking hell," Spike cursed under his breath, his hands held above his head.
The soft click of a safety being taken off startled the commandos. They were still as one of the people they neglected to cover spoke.
"Lower the guns or I'll shoot," Xander said calmly, the pistol held easily to one man's head. "I can take out a good number of you before you get a chance to shoot me."
"You'll still die, kiddo," the soldier said, his voice calm despite the .45 against his head.
"What I don't get," Michael said calmly, "Is why you didn't cover the witch, or myself. Not a very smart idea, you stupid fucking morons." The sword in his hand was very real, even though no one in the room remembered him drawing it.
"Leave now," Willow said, her voice cold. "Never return."
As the soldiers lowered their weapons and backed out, Faith and Buffy exchanged bewildered looks. That had gone down far too easily.
"So, intimidation is a good thing then," Dawn said, her voice trembling only slightly. Spike smirked, Xander gave a goofy grin, and Willow giggled. Only Faith and Michael seemed troubled by the events, each lost in dark thoughts. Or, they were until Buffy screamed.
"Look what they did to my house!"
* * * * *
"We didn't get her, sir."
"Why the hell not?"
"Well, one guy had a gun, another had a sword, and there was a witch…"
"There were twelve of you!"
"I wasn't betting my life, or the lives of my men. Deal with it."
"Fine. We'll try this diplomatically then."
"Good fucking idea. Those people scare the living shit outta me."
