Author: Socrates
Disclaimer: Me and Fox own the rights to BTVS and its characters, marvel comics owns the right to the punisher, from which this story will follow to an extent.
Rating: R for extreme violence and mature themes.
Category: Action/Angst/Drama
Summary: What do you do when everything you know and love is stolen from you? Xander Harris is about to face this question and a certain firm will learn that there are some people you just don't cross.
Feedback: Why Certainly.
AN: Forgive me people. I tried to let this one just go away but it wouldn't leave.
AN 2: This part contains disturbing imagery, read at your own risk.
*******
For what felt like an eternity, Xander just stood their. The sounds of the fire, Joyce and Dawn's screams, everything seemed as if it was coming from somewhere far away. His entire world encompassed only him and the smoldering wreckage where his friends had been mere moments ago, their final resting place. A part of him refused to believe that they were all dead. It couldn't be true, could it? But the proof was here, right here before him.
There's no time. The words rang powerfully in his head. Xander recognized the cold, hard voice. It was the same voice he had heard periodically ever since that Halloween night, the embodiment of all his military knowledge and experience. The same voice that had ordered him to lie to Buffy about the re-souling curse. Grieve later, move now. Joyce and Dawn are counting on you!
The voice spurred him into action. He spun around from his crouched position and opened up on the men advancing across the lawn, then he yanked the vehicles door open and hopped in. The keys were in the ignition and the care roared out into the road moments later.
Can't go to the police station. Not safe. He knew that was true. It had been a good ten minutes since the attack had begun. The fact that there hadn't been so much as a hint of a siren meant that no police were coming. They had probably been paid well to turn a blind eye to what was happening. The neighbors were most likely hiding in their bedrooms, waiting for the gunfire to stop. No, there would be no help coming.
A glance in his rearview mirror showed that the fan was in pursuit, but loaded down with all those people and ordnance, they'd be hard pressed to catch up.
"Where are we going?" A voice from the passenger seat. Xander turned to see Joyce Summers, tears streaking down her face. A streak of pain stabbed through his heart at the sight, but he forced it down. There would be time for that later.
"The docks." he informed her calmly. "There are plenty of places to hide there, wait this out."
"What about the police?"
"They can't be trusted. " He looked down for a moment. 'That hit was too well organized. That and the lack of response from law enforcement indicates that they've been paid off."
"Who would do such a thing." The woman's voice cracked. "Why would they do this to us?"
"I don't know miss Summers." His tone darkened, hands clenching the wheel. "But I promise you, I'm going to find out."
A screeching of times brought Xander's attention to the rearview mirror. "Damn." he whispered. A black sedan had pulled in behind them, much closer then the van. Probably a custom job. the voice informed him. Specially modified engine tires with extra traction. No chance in hell we can outrun them.
(Then maybe I can lose them.)
Coming up on a side street, Xander spun the wheel hard, skidding out into the new road. He gunned the motor, speeding down the dark street, then hit the brakes and cut the wheel. He continued this zig zag pattern, trying to confuse his pursuers. It's not going to work. the voice chided. These people are professionals, well trained. That means some really powerful people wanted us out of the picture.
(C'mon, just a little further to the docks.)
Xander knew it was futile, even before he saw the lights of the black sedan pulling in behind them again. The he saw the side window of the vehicle come down, and a rifle barrel stuck out. Anti-Vehicle weapon. Before he even had a chance to react, a shot rang out and Xander felt the rear tire explode, causing the car to spin to the side. Physics took over from there.
The vehicles weight ratio became imbalanced and Xander felt as much as saw the car, turn up on its side. "Hold on." he cried out in warning, as the vehicle flipped, end over end down the road. The screeching metal was deafening, punctuated by the sound of breaking glass. Xander's arm banged against the door and he felt it snap, the pain muted by everything else that was going on. The vehicle rolled several times before coming to a stop on its back.
Xander felt something wet on his forehead, his vision was obscured by blood. "Is everyone okay?" he croaked out. A gasp came from the back and he craned his head to look. Joyce, who seemed to have only sustained some minor cuts and scratches, was tending to Dawn, whose arm was held to her chest, a dark red spot in her sleeve.
He quickly unbuckled his belt, which came free after a bit of tugging. With nothing to hold him to the seat, he fell to the floor, which since the car was upside down was actually the ceiling. He tried the door but found it jammed, so he kicked the window out, grabbed the rifle and rolled free.
"Hold on, I'll get you out." The passenger door was also jammed and to make matters worse he heard the sound of a car pulling up a short distance away. (must be our pursuers.) A few strong tugs and the door jarred open. The two Summers women struggled out of the wreckage.
"Mrs. Summers." he addressed the older woman. "Take Dawn and run. I'll try and hold them off." Joyce nodded her understanding and gently pulled her daughter free along with her, moving in the direction of a nearby warehouse.
"Hey assholes!", he spun around and opened fire on the men advancing, knowing this was futile. With only one usable arm his accuracy was going to be reduced "You call that a shot. I've seen blind men do better!" His attackers responded with gunfire of their own, battering right side of the overturned car. His next burst of fire caught one of the men in the leg, dropping him to the pavement. The small victory was overturned a moment later when a bullet tore into his leg and Xander collapsed, still firing. A second round smashed into his shoulder, rendering his gun arm useless.
He lay there, on the pavement, feeling himself become woozy from blood loss. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw the retreating forms of Dawn and Joyce. (Go!) his mind screamed out. They were still to close, he had to buy some time!
He felt the serrated blade he had taken from the dead man still in his jacket pocket and he retrieved it, making sure his movements were slight enough to go unnoticed. The man who had incapacitated him was making his way over to inspect his handiwork. If he could just keep their attention occupied for a little longer.
The man had just about made it to him when a shout went up from somewhere off to Xander's right. "There they are!"
(Dammit!) He had no choice but to act. Pushing the pain to the back of his mind, he forced his body into action, springing forward and burying his knife in his attackers gut. Before he even let go of the handle though he was hit in the side of the head with something blunt and he dropped boneless to the ground.
The world began to fade out as the combination of fatigue and bloodless became too much. But Xander stubbornly refused to succumb. Not that there was anything more he could do.
The sound of more people approaching registered vaguely in his head and he saw two men dragging Dawn and Joyce with them, coming his way. "We got em' boss!" One of the men proclaimed and Xander saw out of the corner of his eye another man approaching. He was different then the others, the way he carried himself He was tall, broad shouldered, long black hair tied back in a pony tail, the look in eyes cold and heartless. Even hadn't identified him, Xander would have known this man was in charge.
"Well now, look what we have here. Two runaways." pointed at the frightened women. "And a cripple.", indicating Xander's sprawled form.
"I swear to god if you touch either one of them I'll kill you." Xander choked out, his condition not adding a whole lot of validity to his threat.
The man in black merely smiled down at him, letting out a small chuckle. "My good man, I have no intention of harming either of these Angels. In fact, I intend to let the little one go right this minute. "He motioned to the man who held Dawn and he reluctantly released his hold on her.
"Go on young one." The man in black spoke gently to her, acting as if he wanted to allay her fears.
"My, my mom." Dawn looked over at her mother, still held captive, unwilling to leave her.
"It's okay young lady, we'll let your mother go soon enough. For now its just you though."
"Dawn, don't listen to him!" Xander tried to warn her, and received a swift kick in his ribs by one of the other thugs.
The man in black scowled disapprovingly at the thug in question. "Now, now, there's no need for that." He turned back to Dawn. "Your mother will join you soon enough. You have my word. Now go on, no one is going to stop you."
"Do what he says." Joyce pleaded to her daughter, her concern for her daughters safety overriding the warning bells that were going off in her head. Dawn took one look at her mother, swallowed the lump in her throat, gatherer her courage and set off away from the group, moving slowly down road that divided the warehouses.
"That's it my girl. Good show." The man in black smiled looked away from the retreating girl and smiled down at Xander, a smile that made his blood run cold. He turned his attention to Joyce. "That's a very brave girl you have their. You should be proud."
The older women scowled at him, fire blazing in her eyes. "You killed my daughter you bastard." she spat upon him. The man in black looked calmly back at her and casually wiped the spittle off his face. "Don't worry my dead, you'll be together again soon enough. You all will."
Recognition flashed in Joyce's eyes and she gasped. "No, please.. Don't hurt my baby, please god I beg you!"
Xander struggled to stand, determined to stop these men, but one of them placed a foot on his chest and pressed down. In his current state, Xander didn't have the strength to break free.
The man in black looked on as if the whole scene was nothing out of the ordinary. He cast a glance toward the youngest Summers, who had moved a good distance away by now, her speed increasing with her confidence.
"Well now, I think that's far enough." He gestured to one of the men. "Peter, if you will be so kind."
"NOOOO!" Joyce cried out, tears streaming down her face as she struggled to break free, to help her daughter The thug, Peter, smiled at this as he raised his weapon and took aim. Dawn, having heard her mothers cry, had taken off at a full run, hoping to get far enough away.
She didn't make it.
Xander watched on in horror, unable to move as the gunman squeezed the trigger and held down, saw Dawn's body shudder and convulse under the onslaught of red hot metal, his heart stopping its beat as she collapsed to the ground and lay so very still.
Joyce exploded at that moment, the pain of seeing both her daughters killed in front of her came boiling over until it exploded into rage. She reached both hands behind her, gripping the face of the man who held her and raking her nails down hard, digging, tearing into flesh. "Argh, shit." the man cried out, releasing his grip on the women in order to grab his bloodied face. Joyce immediately lashed out at the next man she saw, leaping at him with the intent to inflict as much damage as possible.
Her blow was quickly intercepted though by the man in black, his cold eyes gazing at her with that same eerie calmness. He wagged one finger at her disapprovingly. "That wasn't very nice, no was it." He released her into the grip of the man whose face she had mauled, who had recovered by now to the extent of being fairly pissed.
"Bitch." he shouted as he slugged her hard in the face, the blow bringing sending her reeling. But he didn't let up, continuing his assault as she collapsed to the pavement, the litany of curses escaping his bleeding mouth punctuated by the punches and kicks he pummeled her with. Xander renewed his efforts at this, desperate to help the elder Summers, to make sure at least someone survived. The foot holding him down proved unmovable and he was once again struck for his actions. He watched in growing agony and helplessness as the enraged thug rained blow after blow upon the fallen woman, blood coating the ground beneath her. He heard her breathing becoming more and more hoarse and he silently pleaded for the man to stop. Be he just kept going.
Finally, after what seemed an eternity the man in black stepped in, laying a hand on the shoulder of Joyce's attacker. "That's enough." he announced calmly, withdrawing a silenced handgun from his coat and casually firing a round into Joyce Summers head.
"You see.' he turned to address Xander. "I'm not heartless. Now, where would you like it. Just tell me and I'll do it"
The last remaining Scooby spat blood at the man in response. "Fuck you."
"Very well." The man in black sighed. He nodded at two of his thugs and they moved to pull Xander to up, his feet dragging the ground as he was supported by the two men.
"Just remember, I offered you the choice."
"I'm going to kill everyone of you."
The man in black smiled at that. "We'll see. By the way, my names Gabriel, pleased to meet you." Saying this, he fired once, twice into Xander's chest, the young man going completely limp, then holstered his gun.
"Gentleman, I suggest we adjourn to the docks where we can dispose of these unfortunate fellows properly. I'm thinking a bon-fire."
********
End part 2
Like, dislike?
Disclaimer: Me and Fox own the rights to BTVS and its characters, marvel comics owns the right to the punisher, from which this story will follow to an extent.
Rating: R for extreme violence and mature themes.
Category: Action/Angst/Drama
Summary: What do you do when everything you know and love is stolen from you? Xander Harris is about to face this question and a certain firm will learn that there are some people you just don't cross.
Feedback: Why Certainly.
AN: Forgive me people. I tried to let this one just go away but it wouldn't leave.
AN 2: This part contains disturbing imagery, read at your own risk.
*******
For what felt like an eternity, Xander just stood their. The sounds of the fire, Joyce and Dawn's screams, everything seemed as if it was coming from somewhere far away. His entire world encompassed only him and the smoldering wreckage where his friends had been mere moments ago, their final resting place. A part of him refused to believe that they were all dead. It couldn't be true, could it? But the proof was here, right here before him.
There's no time. The words rang powerfully in his head. Xander recognized the cold, hard voice. It was the same voice he had heard periodically ever since that Halloween night, the embodiment of all his military knowledge and experience. The same voice that had ordered him to lie to Buffy about the re-souling curse. Grieve later, move now. Joyce and Dawn are counting on you!
The voice spurred him into action. He spun around from his crouched position and opened up on the men advancing across the lawn, then he yanked the vehicles door open and hopped in. The keys were in the ignition and the care roared out into the road moments later.
Can't go to the police station. Not safe. He knew that was true. It had been a good ten minutes since the attack had begun. The fact that there hadn't been so much as a hint of a siren meant that no police were coming. They had probably been paid well to turn a blind eye to what was happening. The neighbors were most likely hiding in their bedrooms, waiting for the gunfire to stop. No, there would be no help coming.
A glance in his rearview mirror showed that the fan was in pursuit, but loaded down with all those people and ordnance, they'd be hard pressed to catch up.
"Where are we going?" A voice from the passenger seat. Xander turned to see Joyce Summers, tears streaking down her face. A streak of pain stabbed through his heart at the sight, but he forced it down. There would be time for that later.
"The docks." he informed her calmly. "There are plenty of places to hide there, wait this out."
"What about the police?"
"They can't be trusted. " He looked down for a moment. 'That hit was too well organized. That and the lack of response from law enforcement indicates that they've been paid off."
"Who would do such a thing." The woman's voice cracked. "Why would they do this to us?"
"I don't know miss Summers." His tone darkened, hands clenching the wheel. "But I promise you, I'm going to find out."
A screeching of times brought Xander's attention to the rearview mirror. "Damn." he whispered. A black sedan had pulled in behind them, much closer then the van. Probably a custom job. the voice informed him. Specially modified engine tires with extra traction. No chance in hell we can outrun them.
(Then maybe I can lose them.)
Coming up on a side street, Xander spun the wheel hard, skidding out into the new road. He gunned the motor, speeding down the dark street, then hit the brakes and cut the wheel. He continued this zig zag pattern, trying to confuse his pursuers. It's not going to work. the voice chided. These people are professionals, well trained. That means some really powerful people wanted us out of the picture.
(C'mon, just a little further to the docks.)
Xander knew it was futile, even before he saw the lights of the black sedan pulling in behind them again. The he saw the side window of the vehicle come down, and a rifle barrel stuck out. Anti-Vehicle weapon. Before he even had a chance to react, a shot rang out and Xander felt the rear tire explode, causing the car to spin to the side. Physics took over from there.
The vehicles weight ratio became imbalanced and Xander felt as much as saw the car, turn up on its side. "Hold on." he cried out in warning, as the vehicle flipped, end over end down the road. The screeching metal was deafening, punctuated by the sound of breaking glass. Xander's arm banged against the door and he felt it snap, the pain muted by everything else that was going on. The vehicle rolled several times before coming to a stop on its back.
Xander felt something wet on his forehead, his vision was obscured by blood. "Is everyone okay?" he croaked out. A gasp came from the back and he craned his head to look. Joyce, who seemed to have only sustained some minor cuts and scratches, was tending to Dawn, whose arm was held to her chest, a dark red spot in her sleeve.
He quickly unbuckled his belt, which came free after a bit of tugging. With nothing to hold him to the seat, he fell to the floor, which since the car was upside down was actually the ceiling. He tried the door but found it jammed, so he kicked the window out, grabbed the rifle and rolled free.
"Hold on, I'll get you out." The passenger door was also jammed and to make matters worse he heard the sound of a car pulling up a short distance away. (must be our pursuers.) A few strong tugs and the door jarred open. The two Summers women struggled out of the wreckage.
"Mrs. Summers." he addressed the older woman. "Take Dawn and run. I'll try and hold them off." Joyce nodded her understanding and gently pulled her daughter free along with her, moving in the direction of a nearby warehouse.
"Hey assholes!", he spun around and opened fire on the men advancing, knowing this was futile. With only one usable arm his accuracy was going to be reduced "You call that a shot. I've seen blind men do better!" His attackers responded with gunfire of their own, battering right side of the overturned car. His next burst of fire caught one of the men in the leg, dropping him to the pavement. The small victory was overturned a moment later when a bullet tore into his leg and Xander collapsed, still firing. A second round smashed into his shoulder, rendering his gun arm useless.
He lay there, on the pavement, feeling himself become woozy from blood loss. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw the retreating forms of Dawn and Joyce. (Go!) his mind screamed out. They were still to close, he had to buy some time!
He felt the serrated blade he had taken from the dead man still in his jacket pocket and he retrieved it, making sure his movements were slight enough to go unnoticed. The man who had incapacitated him was making his way over to inspect his handiwork. If he could just keep their attention occupied for a little longer.
The man had just about made it to him when a shout went up from somewhere off to Xander's right. "There they are!"
(Dammit!) He had no choice but to act. Pushing the pain to the back of his mind, he forced his body into action, springing forward and burying his knife in his attackers gut. Before he even let go of the handle though he was hit in the side of the head with something blunt and he dropped boneless to the ground.
The world began to fade out as the combination of fatigue and bloodless became too much. But Xander stubbornly refused to succumb. Not that there was anything more he could do.
The sound of more people approaching registered vaguely in his head and he saw two men dragging Dawn and Joyce with them, coming his way. "We got em' boss!" One of the men proclaimed and Xander saw out of the corner of his eye another man approaching. He was different then the others, the way he carried himself He was tall, broad shouldered, long black hair tied back in a pony tail, the look in eyes cold and heartless. Even hadn't identified him, Xander would have known this man was in charge.
"Well now, look what we have here. Two runaways." pointed at the frightened women. "And a cripple.", indicating Xander's sprawled form.
"I swear to god if you touch either one of them I'll kill you." Xander choked out, his condition not adding a whole lot of validity to his threat.
The man in black merely smiled down at him, letting out a small chuckle. "My good man, I have no intention of harming either of these Angels. In fact, I intend to let the little one go right this minute. "He motioned to the man who held Dawn and he reluctantly released his hold on her.
"Go on young one." The man in black spoke gently to her, acting as if he wanted to allay her fears.
"My, my mom." Dawn looked over at her mother, still held captive, unwilling to leave her.
"It's okay young lady, we'll let your mother go soon enough. For now its just you though."
"Dawn, don't listen to him!" Xander tried to warn her, and received a swift kick in his ribs by one of the other thugs.
The man in black scowled disapprovingly at the thug in question. "Now, now, there's no need for that." He turned back to Dawn. "Your mother will join you soon enough. You have my word. Now go on, no one is going to stop you."
"Do what he says." Joyce pleaded to her daughter, her concern for her daughters safety overriding the warning bells that were going off in her head. Dawn took one look at her mother, swallowed the lump in her throat, gatherer her courage and set off away from the group, moving slowly down road that divided the warehouses.
"That's it my girl. Good show." The man in black smiled looked away from the retreating girl and smiled down at Xander, a smile that made his blood run cold. He turned his attention to Joyce. "That's a very brave girl you have their. You should be proud."
The older women scowled at him, fire blazing in her eyes. "You killed my daughter you bastard." she spat upon him. The man in black looked calmly back at her and casually wiped the spittle off his face. "Don't worry my dead, you'll be together again soon enough. You all will."
Recognition flashed in Joyce's eyes and she gasped. "No, please.. Don't hurt my baby, please god I beg you!"
Xander struggled to stand, determined to stop these men, but one of them placed a foot on his chest and pressed down. In his current state, Xander didn't have the strength to break free.
The man in black looked on as if the whole scene was nothing out of the ordinary. He cast a glance toward the youngest Summers, who had moved a good distance away by now, her speed increasing with her confidence.
"Well now, I think that's far enough." He gestured to one of the men. "Peter, if you will be so kind."
"NOOOO!" Joyce cried out, tears streaming down her face as she struggled to break free, to help her daughter The thug, Peter, smiled at this as he raised his weapon and took aim. Dawn, having heard her mothers cry, had taken off at a full run, hoping to get far enough away.
She didn't make it.
Xander watched on in horror, unable to move as the gunman squeezed the trigger and held down, saw Dawn's body shudder and convulse under the onslaught of red hot metal, his heart stopping its beat as she collapsed to the ground and lay so very still.
Joyce exploded at that moment, the pain of seeing both her daughters killed in front of her came boiling over until it exploded into rage. She reached both hands behind her, gripping the face of the man who held her and raking her nails down hard, digging, tearing into flesh. "Argh, shit." the man cried out, releasing his grip on the women in order to grab his bloodied face. Joyce immediately lashed out at the next man she saw, leaping at him with the intent to inflict as much damage as possible.
Her blow was quickly intercepted though by the man in black, his cold eyes gazing at her with that same eerie calmness. He wagged one finger at her disapprovingly. "That wasn't very nice, no was it." He released her into the grip of the man whose face she had mauled, who had recovered by now to the extent of being fairly pissed.
"Bitch." he shouted as he slugged her hard in the face, the blow bringing sending her reeling. But he didn't let up, continuing his assault as she collapsed to the pavement, the litany of curses escaping his bleeding mouth punctuated by the punches and kicks he pummeled her with. Xander renewed his efforts at this, desperate to help the elder Summers, to make sure at least someone survived. The foot holding him down proved unmovable and he was once again struck for his actions. He watched in growing agony and helplessness as the enraged thug rained blow after blow upon the fallen woman, blood coating the ground beneath her. He heard her breathing becoming more and more hoarse and he silently pleaded for the man to stop. Be he just kept going.
Finally, after what seemed an eternity the man in black stepped in, laying a hand on the shoulder of Joyce's attacker. "That's enough." he announced calmly, withdrawing a silenced handgun from his coat and casually firing a round into Joyce Summers head.
"You see.' he turned to address Xander. "I'm not heartless. Now, where would you like it. Just tell me and I'll do it"
The last remaining Scooby spat blood at the man in response. "Fuck you."
"Very well." The man in black sighed. He nodded at two of his thugs and they moved to pull Xander to up, his feet dragging the ground as he was supported by the two men.
"Just remember, I offered you the choice."
"I'm going to kill everyone of you."
The man in black smiled at that. "We'll see. By the way, my names Gabriel, pleased to meet you." Saying this, he fired once, twice into Xander's chest, the young man going completely limp, then holstered his gun.
"Gentleman, I suggest we adjourn to the docks where we can dispose of these unfortunate fellows properly. I'm thinking a bon-fire."
********
End part 2
Like, dislike?