The Paladin Project (22/23)
"Hello, Tony Stark speaking."
"Hi boss."
"Oh wonderful, the bane of my existence. And how can I help you?"
"We've got a situation, I was wondering if you could send the mobile team to help us?"
"They'll be there in two days."
* * *
"Det. Pezzini."
"Hi Sara."
"Xander!" the woman's voice went from professional to warm in an instant. "How are you?"
"Things have been interesting," he replied dryly. "I was wondering how soon you could get to Sunnydale?"
"Why Xander," the woman's voice grew husky. "I'd fly to the other side of the world for you." The cop laughed then turned serious. "Big trouble?"
"The biggest."
"I'll be there by nightfall tomorrow."
"Thanks, I'll have someone meet you."
* * *
"Hello Xander. This Faith seems to be a fine young woman."
Xander winced. It was creepy when the professor did that. The psychic on the other end chuckled, sensing his discomfort. "Can you send any of your family?"
"We're stretched a little," the learned man apologised. "I can only spare Logan and Piotr."
"Good enough. Thanks Prof."
* * * "Bonjour, Boudreaux Investigations."
Xander smiled at the heavily accented voice. "Hi Chance, it's Xander. How's things in Cajun country?"
"Oh hello Xander, things are hectic. And I somehow think they're going to get worse."
"You could be right." Xander smiled, remembering the time he'd met Chance Boudreaux. It had been two years ago, the Cajun had been hunting a child kidnapper who also happened to be the voodoo high priest that he was tracking. After dealing with the black arts sorcerer Xander, impressed by the Louisianan's martial arts skills and cool, had offered Chance the job of running a Project unit in the Cajun state. "If I send a jet for you and your team-."
"We'll be there."
"Thanks."
* * *
"Six-Killer Enterprises."
"Hi Bobby, it's Xander."
"Hi kid," the bounty hunter sounded delighted and then worried. "Trouble?"
"Of the worst sort," Xander replied grimly. "How's things in Texas?"
"Something's got the creatures of the night real heated."
"Yeah and I'm at the centre of why. If I send a jet for you, Reno, and the others?"
"We'll be on it."
* * *
"Gecko Security Agency."
"Seth, what's happening?"
"That you kid?" Seth Gecko, former bank robber and now the leader of the Project's Arizona's branch asked.
"It is, I need help. If I send a plane-."
"Tell me when and where."
* * *
Faith's brow furrowed as she watched the fifteen men in black cat-suits march out of the jet, the warrior within her noting their cool professionalism. "Who are they Xman?"
"You heard of STARS?"
"Yeah they're some sort of private disease control aren't they? They dealt with that plague outbreak in where was it? Beaver City?"
She smirked at Xander's long-suffering sigh. "Racoon not Beaver City," her boyfriend corrected. "You know you can get treatment for that obsession of yours?"
"Yeah, but then what would we do?" Faith teased before turning serious. "What help will a disease control team be?"
"Because what happened in Racoon," her boyfriend emphasised the word, "City wasn't a plague outbreak. It was an experiment that went wrong, creating a town of zombies." Faith's eyes widened, holy shit. "STARS were sent in by the company bosses to deal with it. They did and soon after Tony took over the company. He put their best scientists to work on legit medical research and the STARS team to work dealing with overseas demon outbreaks. In the past twenty months they've dealt with problems in Paris, Melbourne, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Toronto, Mexico City, and Rio."
Faith's eyes widened as Xander hurried to greet the team's leader. She knew how big the Project was in the US. from what Xander had said but she didn't realise it was international. "Hey," a smile played on her full lips. "I'm boning the head of a multi-national. You go girl!"
* * *
Faith stood on the mansion's back porch grateful for the peace. The day had been wicked busy, what with all the new arrivals. Their effect on the wannabes had turned the adolescent girls into something close to a bunch of toddlers on a sugar-high.
Faith chuckled between puffs of her Lucy Strike. Truth be told she secretly enjoyed her time with the potentials, playing big sis, it gave her a sense of importance that was a hell of a buzz. But today...
"Can I bum a cig?"
She started at the deep voice behind her before calming herself, Caleb was dead, Xman had seen to him. Turning she saw the blue-eyed guy that led the Project's Arizona team. He was in his late-thirties, about the same age as Wes and Wood, and like Wes, but unlike the former principal, he seemed to be the real deal, a legit bad-ass. The Arizona team leader was tall, with a muscular build, and tanned, rugged features. "Sure," she passed over a cigarette and lit it for him. "How you know the Xman?"
"Xander?" Seth Gecko cocked his head and smiled, damn she just bet he had the girls just crawling over broken glass to get to those pearly whites. "Growing up, I had this brother, Richard." The man's smile disappeared. "Richie was a real piece of shit but he was blood you know?" Faith nodded, yeah with her mon she knew. "Anyway I broke out of prison-."
Faith laughed. Her companion looked at her quizzically. "Kind of a trend," she explained. "Done the same myself."
"We headed for Mexico, we were both wanted for a ton of shit. We were meant to meet up with this guy in a bar 'The Titty Twister'." Faith hid a grimace. It sounded a lot like the places her boyfriends had 'encouraged' her to work back in the day. "Only when we got there it turned out to be a vampire den and the humans were dinner. I got out but," the man swallowed, his tanned skin suddenly grey. "I had to stake my brother."
Shit. "You mean like -," her voice trailed off.
"Like Xander?" Seth nodded. "Yeah. Something changed for me that night. I don't know if it was finding out about vampires or killing Richie. Whatever it was I knew I had to get my shit together, not just live for myself." Gecko took a long drag before continuing. "So I set myself up in a small town just south of the border and started hunting vamps, no more than a couple at a time."
The Arizona team leader dropped his cigarette and stamped it out. Faith passed her companion another lit cig. "Thanks. Then sixteen months ago Xander turned up at my hacienda, told me about killing his friend, gave me a pardon, and asked if I wanted to make a difference." The man shrugged. "And now I'm here."
* * *
"Hi babe."
"Faith." Xander felt his breath shorten as his girlfriend began to undress. His attention focussed on the shapely form before him he failed to see the gaping pit created by the Slayer's next words.
"That NY cop, Pizza or whatever the fuck her name is, seems like a real babe. You ever do her?"
"A couple of -," he winced at the fear that flickered across the brunette's face. "It didn't mean anything," he hastened to reassure her.
The sultry Bostonian nodded uncertainly. "But we do right?" "We do." Xander promised, his sincere expression masking the fury inside him. If he ever got his hands on the bastards who'd used Faith, made her so frightened yet so desperate to be loved.
"Five by five," Faith slid beneath the bed covers, the sheets rustling at her entry, and rested her head on his chest, her liquid-brown eyes up at him. "How ya meet her?"
Relieved to be on safer ground he began to talk. "Three years ago there were rumours of some crazy Brit in NY with an ancient weapon. I went after him, turned out to the weapon belonged to Sara and is called the Witchblade- ."
"The Witchblade?"
"An ancient gauntlet that chooses a female wielder every three decades to use it to fight for good. Boudicca, Joan of Arc, and Cleopatra have all carried it."
"Wow. What about the muties?"
"Faith," he reprimanded with a groan.
"Sorry lover, not PC. What about the mutants?"
"Just over a year ago I heard the rumour of a demon in Nashville. Turned out it wasn't a demon but a mutant with a sort of sonic scream. I rescued the mutant from a bunch of anti-mutant hillbillies and took him to this mutant academy Stark told me about. That's where I met Professor X and his crew."
Faith nodded. "And we're still five by five?"
Xander kissed his girlfriend on the temple. "We're still five by five."
* * *
Quelling his nervously quelling stomach, O'Neill knocked on the room door. "Hello?" came the cultured British voice from inside.
"It's Colonel O'Neill."
"Come in Colonel."
At the Englishman's invitation he entered. "It's quite a selection of warriors that Xander has gathered together," he commented carefully.
"It is rather," the Watcher agreed.
O'Neill nodded. "Xander's a remarkable young man. And from my conversations with him it would appear you have a great deal to do with that."
The librarian smiled proudly before shaking his head. "Xander deserves rather more of the credit," the Englishman retorted before staring him in the eye. "Do you plan to play an active role in his life?"
"I intend to," he confirmed.
"Then perhaps you should bear in mind that being a sperm donor doesn't automatically make you a parent-."
"Now hold on!" O'Neill felt his ire rise.
"No, you bloody hold on," Jack felt his rage dissipate at the Watcher's cold gaze. "You hurt that young man, and the military, the U.S. government itself won't stop me from ripping your guts out." Jack swallowed, he'd been threatened by aliens masquerading as gods but somehow none of them had carried anything like the menace of the bespectacled Englishman.
* * *
"Okay, this is what we're going to do." Xander took a breath, he hated being the one with the plan. Thinking was definitely not his strong point. "The spell has to be done at night, so we're going in tonight," he nodded to Faith who after fumbling with the remote control managed to turn the projector on, illuminating the wall behind him with a blueprint of the school. What sort of idiot built over the hellmouth anyway? After smiling his thanks he looked through his notes. "Staying outside the school will be STARS, Dawn, the potentials, Leo, Fred, Andrew, and Marshall. Your job will include preventing any Bringers getting in to aid the Ubers-."
"Xander-."
He shook his head at the Potential leader's protest. "No Kennedy," he replied, his tone firm. "All of you have done well with your training over the past few weeks but none of you have the experience or ability to face an uber." The beautiful lesbian opened her mouth but he shook his head. "Final."
Turning back to the others he continued. "The Charmed Ones will be in this classroom directly above the hellmouth," he pointed on the blueprint. "Wes and Giles will assist them in the spell casting and SG-1 will run guard duty." He glanced at the plans. "There's three exits from the basement. Each will be booby-trapped with Claymores and further covered by a team to prevent them from getting out. Exit A will be covered by Bond, Crow, Reno, and his boys. Exit B's guarded by Croft, Ryback, Gecko, and his team. Exit C will be dealt with by Castle, Bristow, Gunn, Boudreaux, and his gang. Everyone else will be in the hellmouth waiting for Lance's amulet to do its mojo. All of us will be equipped with Kevlar vests and shotguns, and those inside the hellmouth will be equipped with four M79s to use when the ubers are at a distance. Any questions?"
* * *
Xander sighed wearily as he dropped onto his bed. He was alone in his room, Faith having gone to train with Blade and Angel, his girl needed a release valve to let out the pain she'd suffered at the hands of Caleb and the demon hunters had been volunteered.
Which unfortunately gave him time to think. About all the people who might die in a few days, about if he failed.... "You're going to lose you know."
He sat bolt-upright when Caleb appeared in his room only to relax when he realised it was the First. "First the mad rev," he replied evenly, surprised he could hear his voice over the thundering of his heart. "Now it's your turn."
The First chuckled. "I'm ageless, I've been around since the dawn of time. And you think a pup like you can defeat me." Caleb's smile widened. "I did enjoy watching my minions work with the Slayer. After I've killed you, I think I'll give your girl to my army of ubers. A fitting end for the Slayer line." Suddenly the First disappeared.
Xander's eyes flickered dangerously. "You've just lost." No way was he going to allow the First to hurt his Faith again.
"Hello, Tony Stark speaking."
"Hi boss."
"Oh wonderful, the bane of my existence. And how can I help you?"
"We've got a situation, I was wondering if you could send the mobile team to help us?"
"They'll be there in two days."
* * *
"Det. Pezzini."
"Hi Sara."
"Xander!" the woman's voice went from professional to warm in an instant. "How are you?"
"Things have been interesting," he replied dryly. "I was wondering how soon you could get to Sunnydale?"
"Why Xander," the woman's voice grew husky. "I'd fly to the other side of the world for you." The cop laughed then turned serious. "Big trouble?"
"The biggest."
"I'll be there by nightfall tomorrow."
"Thanks, I'll have someone meet you."
* * *
"Hello Xander. This Faith seems to be a fine young woman."
Xander winced. It was creepy when the professor did that. The psychic on the other end chuckled, sensing his discomfort. "Can you send any of your family?"
"We're stretched a little," the learned man apologised. "I can only spare Logan and Piotr."
"Good enough. Thanks Prof."
* * * "Bonjour, Boudreaux Investigations."
Xander smiled at the heavily accented voice. "Hi Chance, it's Xander. How's things in Cajun country?"
"Oh hello Xander, things are hectic. And I somehow think they're going to get worse."
"You could be right." Xander smiled, remembering the time he'd met Chance Boudreaux. It had been two years ago, the Cajun had been hunting a child kidnapper who also happened to be the voodoo high priest that he was tracking. After dealing with the black arts sorcerer Xander, impressed by the Louisianan's martial arts skills and cool, had offered Chance the job of running a Project unit in the Cajun state. "If I send a jet for you and your team-."
"We'll be there."
"Thanks."
* * *
"Six-Killer Enterprises."
"Hi Bobby, it's Xander."
"Hi kid," the bounty hunter sounded delighted and then worried. "Trouble?"
"Of the worst sort," Xander replied grimly. "How's things in Texas?"
"Something's got the creatures of the night real heated."
"Yeah and I'm at the centre of why. If I send a jet for you, Reno, and the others?"
"We'll be on it."
* * *
"Gecko Security Agency."
"Seth, what's happening?"
"That you kid?" Seth Gecko, former bank robber and now the leader of the Project's Arizona's branch asked.
"It is, I need help. If I send a plane-."
"Tell me when and where."
* * *
Faith's brow furrowed as she watched the fifteen men in black cat-suits march out of the jet, the warrior within her noting their cool professionalism. "Who are they Xman?"
"You heard of STARS?"
"Yeah they're some sort of private disease control aren't they? They dealt with that plague outbreak in where was it? Beaver City?"
She smirked at Xander's long-suffering sigh. "Racoon not Beaver City," her boyfriend corrected. "You know you can get treatment for that obsession of yours?"
"Yeah, but then what would we do?" Faith teased before turning serious. "What help will a disease control team be?"
"Because what happened in Racoon," her boyfriend emphasised the word, "City wasn't a plague outbreak. It was an experiment that went wrong, creating a town of zombies." Faith's eyes widened, holy shit. "STARS were sent in by the company bosses to deal with it. They did and soon after Tony took over the company. He put their best scientists to work on legit medical research and the STARS team to work dealing with overseas demon outbreaks. In the past twenty months they've dealt with problems in Paris, Melbourne, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Toronto, Mexico City, and Rio."
Faith's eyes widened as Xander hurried to greet the team's leader. She knew how big the Project was in the US. from what Xander had said but she didn't realise it was international. "Hey," a smile played on her full lips. "I'm boning the head of a multi-national. You go girl!"
* * *
Faith stood on the mansion's back porch grateful for the peace. The day had been wicked busy, what with all the new arrivals. Their effect on the wannabes had turned the adolescent girls into something close to a bunch of toddlers on a sugar-high.
Faith chuckled between puffs of her Lucy Strike. Truth be told she secretly enjoyed her time with the potentials, playing big sis, it gave her a sense of importance that was a hell of a buzz. But today...
"Can I bum a cig?"
She started at the deep voice behind her before calming herself, Caleb was dead, Xman had seen to him. Turning she saw the blue-eyed guy that led the Project's Arizona team. He was in his late-thirties, about the same age as Wes and Wood, and like Wes, but unlike the former principal, he seemed to be the real deal, a legit bad-ass. The Arizona team leader was tall, with a muscular build, and tanned, rugged features. "Sure," she passed over a cigarette and lit it for him. "How you know the Xman?"
"Xander?" Seth Gecko cocked his head and smiled, damn she just bet he had the girls just crawling over broken glass to get to those pearly whites. "Growing up, I had this brother, Richard." The man's smile disappeared. "Richie was a real piece of shit but he was blood you know?" Faith nodded, yeah with her mon she knew. "Anyway I broke out of prison-."
Faith laughed. Her companion looked at her quizzically. "Kind of a trend," she explained. "Done the same myself."
"We headed for Mexico, we were both wanted for a ton of shit. We were meant to meet up with this guy in a bar 'The Titty Twister'." Faith hid a grimace. It sounded a lot like the places her boyfriends had 'encouraged' her to work back in the day. "Only when we got there it turned out to be a vampire den and the humans were dinner. I got out but," the man swallowed, his tanned skin suddenly grey. "I had to stake my brother."
Shit. "You mean like -," her voice trailed off.
"Like Xander?" Seth nodded. "Yeah. Something changed for me that night. I don't know if it was finding out about vampires or killing Richie. Whatever it was I knew I had to get my shit together, not just live for myself." Gecko took a long drag before continuing. "So I set myself up in a small town just south of the border and started hunting vamps, no more than a couple at a time."
The Arizona team leader dropped his cigarette and stamped it out. Faith passed her companion another lit cig. "Thanks. Then sixteen months ago Xander turned up at my hacienda, told me about killing his friend, gave me a pardon, and asked if I wanted to make a difference." The man shrugged. "And now I'm here."
* * *
"Hi babe."
"Faith." Xander felt his breath shorten as his girlfriend began to undress. His attention focussed on the shapely form before him he failed to see the gaping pit created by the Slayer's next words.
"That NY cop, Pizza or whatever the fuck her name is, seems like a real babe. You ever do her?"
"A couple of -," he winced at the fear that flickered across the brunette's face. "It didn't mean anything," he hastened to reassure her.
The sultry Bostonian nodded uncertainly. "But we do right?" "We do." Xander promised, his sincere expression masking the fury inside him. If he ever got his hands on the bastards who'd used Faith, made her so frightened yet so desperate to be loved.
"Five by five," Faith slid beneath the bed covers, the sheets rustling at her entry, and rested her head on his chest, her liquid-brown eyes up at him. "How ya meet her?"
Relieved to be on safer ground he began to talk. "Three years ago there were rumours of some crazy Brit in NY with an ancient weapon. I went after him, turned out to the weapon belonged to Sara and is called the Witchblade- ."
"The Witchblade?"
"An ancient gauntlet that chooses a female wielder every three decades to use it to fight for good. Boudicca, Joan of Arc, and Cleopatra have all carried it."
"Wow. What about the muties?"
"Faith," he reprimanded with a groan.
"Sorry lover, not PC. What about the mutants?"
"Just over a year ago I heard the rumour of a demon in Nashville. Turned out it wasn't a demon but a mutant with a sort of sonic scream. I rescued the mutant from a bunch of anti-mutant hillbillies and took him to this mutant academy Stark told me about. That's where I met Professor X and his crew."
Faith nodded. "And we're still five by five?"
Xander kissed his girlfriend on the temple. "We're still five by five."
* * *
Quelling his nervously quelling stomach, O'Neill knocked on the room door. "Hello?" came the cultured British voice from inside.
"It's Colonel O'Neill."
"Come in Colonel."
At the Englishman's invitation he entered. "It's quite a selection of warriors that Xander has gathered together," he commented carefully.
"It is rather," the Watcher agreed.
O'Neill nodded. "Xander's a remarkable young man. And from my conversations with him it would appear you have a great deal to do with that."
The librarian smiled proudly before shaking his head. "Xander deserves rather more of the credit," the Englishman retorted before staring him in the eye. "Do you plan to play an active role in his life?"
"I intend to," he confirmed.
"Then perhaps you should bear in mind that being a sperm donor doesn't automatically make you a parent-."
"Now hold on!" O'Neill felt his ire rise.
"No, you bloody hold on," Jack felt his rage dissipate at the Watcher's cold gaze. "You hurt that young man, and the military, the U.S. government itself won't stop me from ripping your guts out." Jack swallowed, he'd been threatened by aliens masquerading as gods but somehow none of them had carried anything like the menace of the bespectacled Englishman.
* * *
"Okay, this is what we're going to do." Xander took a breath, he hated being the one with the plan. Thinking was definitely not his strong point. "The spell has to be done at night, so we're going in tonight," he nodded to Faith who after fumbling with the remote control managed to turn the projector on, illuminating the wall behind him with a blueprint of the school. What sort of idiot built over the hellmouth anyway? After smiling his thanks he looked through his notes. "Staying outside the school will be STARS, Dawn, the potentials, Leo, Fred, Andrew, and Marshall. Your job will include preventing any Bringers getting in to aid the Ubers-."
"Xander-."
He shook his head at the Potential leader's protest. "No Kennedy," he replied, his tone firm. "All of you have done well with your training over the past few weeks but none of you have the experience or ability to face an uber." The beautiful lesbian opened her mouth but he shook his head. "Final."
Turning back to the others he continued. "The Charmed Ones will be in this classroom directly above the hellmouth," he pointed on the blueprint. "Wes and Giles will assist them in the spell casting and SG-1 will run guard duty." He glanced at the plans. "There's three exits from the basement. Each will be booby-trapped with Claymores and further covered by a team to prevent them from getting out. Exit A will be covered by Bond, Crow, Reno, and his boys. Exit B's guarded by Croft, Ryback, Gecko, and his team. Exit C will be dealt with by Castle, Bristow, Gunn, Boudreaux, and his gang. Everyone else will be in the hellmouth waiting for Lance's amulet to do its mojo. All of us will be equipped with Kevlar vests and shotguns, and those inside the hellmouth will be equipped with four M79s to use when the ubers are at a distance. Any questions?"
* * *
Xander sighed wearily as he dropped onto his bed. He was alone in his room, Faith having gone to train with Blade and Angel, his girl needed a release valve to let out the pain she'd suffered at the hands of Caleb and the demon hunters had been volunteered.
Which unfortunately gave him time to think. About all the people who might die in a few days, about if he failed.... "You're going to lose you know."
He sat bolt-upright when Caleb appeared in his room only to relax when he realised it was the First. "First the mad rev," he replied evenly, surprised he could hear his voice over the thundering of his heart. "Now it's your turn."
The First chuckled. "I'm ageless, I've been around since the dawn of time. And you think a pup like you can defeat me." Caleb's smile widened. "I did enjoy watching my minions work with the Slayer. After I've killed you, I think I'll give your girl to my army of ubers. A fitting end for the Slayer line." Suddenly the First disappeared.
Xander's eyes flickered dangerously. "You've just lost." No way was he going to allow the First to hurt his Faith again.
