Chapter 3:

A Soldiers Story Times Two

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Earth 115. June 6, 2006. 6:22 PM PCT. USA. California. Sunnydale. The Royal Oaks Bar and Grill.

The Royal Oaks was well known as the best "blue bar" in Sunnydale. In fact, The Royal Oaks, or the R.O. as everyone called it, was the only blue bar in town. The Bronze was a hangout for teenagers. No self-respecting adult would be caught dead in there. The Silver Star was the place were all the hoods and degenerates hung out and did business. And what happened to Willy's Place was... best left unsaid. But the R.O. was different. It was clean and trouble free and that was just the way the owner liked it.

A blue bar is a place that welcomes off-duty police officers and firemen and, as stated, the R.O. was the best one in town. The walls were decorated with police and fire fighter memorabilia. A copy of Elliot Ness's badge and the handcuffs he placed on Al Capone were on display over the bar next to a picture of the famous 1920's lawman. Its dim lights, hardwood floors, smoke filled air, relaxed atmosphere, and an old jukebox in the far corner that played nothing but classic rock tunes made it not only the best blue bar in town, but the best adult bar in Sunnydale as well. About 20 men and a few women all of various ages and races sat on their wooden bar stools, smoked their cigarettes or cigars, and drank their beer as they talked with their fellow civil workers.

In the stools farthest from the door in a dark corner of the room, three old friends talked about the future.

"What the hell am I going to do now?" Charles Gunn asked. "I've been fighting the good fight for as long as I can remember. Laying some serious smackdown on vampires and demons is what I've been about for ten years. I did it as a cop. I did it as a soldier. I don't want to do anything else. I don't know how to do anything else."

"Don't worry bro," Detective Jack Bauer reassured his former partner. "You didn't lose your place in the world. You only changed it."

"But if I can't be a soldier AND I can't be a cop..."

"Then you'll find a new way to be a soldier. Or a cop."

"Did anyone ever tell you you are way too laid back?" Gunn joked.

"Some rookie told me that five years ago," Jack returned as he nudged Gunn's arm.

"Well I was right then and I'm right now. You are one joint away from being a flower child."

"I guess that's why he's the second best cop on the force and why you're sitting in the R.O. drinking beer at 6 PM," Detective Kate Lockley said.

"Second best?" Jack questioned.

Kate raised her left eyebrow as she looked at Jack. A raised eyebrow was part of the secret code they had worked out over the years. It was a silent way of telling the other person they were wrong about something. Kate was silently telling Jack she was the best cop on the force.

"Damn! She smacked you down!" Gunn quipped. Jack punched his best friend in the arm. Gunn punched him right back. They both laughed.

"I'm surrounded by five-year-olds," Kate sarcastically joked.

Jack's expression changed. It was obvious to everyone he was about to say something he knew would not be well received.

"You know Charles," Jack began, "you could always call..."

"No. I can't," Gunn interrupted.

"Can't or won't?" Kate chimed in.

"Both!"

"Charles..."

"Drop it! Both of you! Buffy is not an option. Got it." Gunn flatly stated. He locked eyes with Kate and Jack, shifting back and forth between the two. They both signaled to him that they got the message and quickly dropped the subject.

Jack looked at his watch. "I've got to get home," he said before downing the last of his beer. He got up off of his bar stool and grabbed his brown leather jacket from the coat rack.

"Teri keeping you on a short leash these days?"

"You know Charles, some of us actually like our lives."

With that Jack threw a ten-dollar bill on the table and put on his jacket.

"Hang in there buddy," Jack said as he slapped his best friend on the shoulder. "It'll work itself out in time."

"I didn't bring my car. Can I get a ride back to the station?" Kate asked her partner.

"Sure," Jack said.

Kate gave Charles a hug before the two detectives left the bar. Charles was alone now.

Alone with his beer. And alone with his thoughts.

The last few months had been a very arduous experience for Charles. He used this quiet time to reflect on everything that had happened.

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Charles Gunn, formerly Major Gunn, was recruited by the Initiative from the Sunnydale Police Department three years ago. Alpha Squad, the lead unit in the Initiative, was on a perimeter patrol of the town when they saw him fighting two 'suckheads'. They watched in awe as a man with no special weapons or equipment dusted two vampires with ease. Major Burt Gummer, Alpha Squad's leader, bent the rules and offered Gunn a spot on the team that night. In reality, Gummer flat-out broke five documented regulations, but he was never the kind of man who blindly followed rules. It was one of the things that got him to where he was. In fact, if Gummer had followed the rules and done what the government officials told him to do, he never would have discovered, and later joined, the Initiative.

Charles hated being a cop in Sunnydale. His superior never believed him when he talked about vampires, so they gave him all of the worst assignments, and his relationship with the Slayer had completely fizzled. When Gummer explained the Initiative's mission and asked him to join, he quickly agreed. He signed on the dotted line that night and never looked back. They gave him an Initiative uniform and the rank of Specialist.

Because he had no formal military training, most of the other soldiers thought he would not last a week. After a month, the people who doubted him happily admitted they were wrong. He was the best squad member they ever had. Charles scored more kills and made more captures than anyone in the unit.

His new career was on the fast track. In three years, he had been promoted four times. The first time he became an officer. When the team's captain was killed in Brazil fighting a family of Grox'Lar Beast, Gunn took over. He saved the lives of four team members that day. He shot all the way up to 2nd Lieutenant and they made him the leader of the old captain's squad. Then there was the time he teamed up with his ex-fiancé Buffy Summers. Together they stopped a vampire named Frost and his gang from raising the Blood God. He made 1st Lieutenant after that mission. Then came the two battlefield promotions. He made Captain in San Diego when a vampire named Angelus killed his commanding officer. He made Major when Gummer died, saving his hometown from a colony of Ass Blasters.

Charles' life was going great. He was doing what he was put on this earth to do, rid the world of vampires and demons. Ever since his little sister was attacked and almost killed by a vampire when he was 14, Charles has devoted his life to protecting her, and the rest of the world, from demons.

Then, in the middle of all of this good fortune came the mission in Somalia.

Intelligence reports had indicated that a number of cities in Somalia had inexplicable gone silent. Satellite photos of the area showed that the cities of Jawhar, Afgooye and Balad and several of the surrounding villages were completely destroyed by an unknown hostile force. All of the destroyed cities had two things in common; one, they were all known military outpost of various warlords, and two, all of the bodies were eviscerated by something that could only have been a demonic creature. After a closer inspection, the science teams determined that only one kind of creature could have been responsible, a Suvolte demon.

Charles was ordered to lead a strike team into the desert. Their mission was to find and kill the Suvolte demon before it laid its eggs. Everything about this deployment had him on edge, but then everything about this mission was unsettling to say the least. There was nothing more dangerous then a Suvolte demon on the loose.

Charles and his team had tracked the demon to a small village on the edge of the Sahara. There they discovered the truth. A local warlord held the demon in a cage at his compound. Problem was, the compound was in the middle of a civilian village.

Intelligence reports said this warlord hired a local shaman to bring the demon to this dimension. The report also said the warlord planned to use it as a kind of biological weapon. He was going to drop it in the middle of an enemy camp and let it kill everyone in sight.

Charles could not allow that to happen. If this demon got loose, hundreds of people would be in danger.

Charles knew what had to be done. He radioed headquarters and told his superiors the situation. After a short wait, Charles received the go-ahead to attack by his commanding officer. He ordered his team to attack the compound.

The raid was successful. Both the warlord and the Suvolte demon were killed. Charles himself was injured and his team suffered heavy causalities in the intense fighting.

The raid was a success, but the mission was a failure. Several dozen innocent civilians were killed in the crossfire.

A BBC news crew, which was in the area investigating the lost cities, heard the battle and rushed to the camp. Cameras rolled as Gunn and squad battled it out with the warlord's men. By the end of the day, the video footage of the bloodstained, bullet-ridden bodies of men, women and children were all over the International News Wire. The headlines around the world read 'American Military Slaughters Somalian Nationalist'.

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The US government was in an awkward position. They had no authority to enter a sovereign country with a military force. They had even less authority to overthrow an established military leader. Then there was the problem of why they were there. The U.S. government was not going to stand on the floor of the U.N. and say they were hunting demons. They needed a way out. A scapegoat. Charles was that scapegoat. He was court-martialed for disobeying a direct order and for violating a sovereign nation's established borders.

During his very public court-martial, Captain Riley Finn, Gunn's friend and Second-In-Command, was ordered to testify. Riley had a decision to make. If he lied the Initiative promised him any assignment he wanted, even early retirement if he wanted it. If he told the truth, that Gunn had permission to attack the compound, he would save Gunn's reputation and career, but then they would make him the scapegoat.

Riley chose to lie.

In his testimony, Riley said Gunn was out of control. He said Gunn was given a direct order not to attack the compound, and he knowingly defied that order. Major Gunn was given a dishonorable discharge with no jail time. That was four days ago.

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Charles sat on a bar stool nursing his beer. He knew that as soon as he finished his beer he would have to make a decision. Either leave the bar or become one of those people who were drunk before 7 PM. He resigned himself to the former. He finished the rest of his beer in one gulp. He tossed a $20 to the bartender and told him to keep it before walking out. Now Charles faced a new problem. Where to go?

Earth 128. October 14, 2005. 10:02 PM PCT. USA. California. The Suburbs of San Diego. The former home of Riley and Samantha Finn.

Riley Finn sat on the main staircase in his former home. He was brooding. Again. His mood was a perfect match for his surroundings, dark, gloomy, and unkempt. This was nothing new. All he ever did nowadays was sit in the darkness and think about the past.

A gentle breeze entered the dilapidated house through one of the many shattered windows, blowing leaves and dirt across the formerly elegant hardwood floor.

As he sat alone in the darkness, his legs tightly pressed into his chest with his arms wrapped tightly around them, his chin buried deep within the crevice of his knees, he stared at the chalk outline of her body. Years of negligible housekeeping and the natural passage of time had eroded the lines, leaving their definition barely visible.

Riley thought about removing the outline altogether. A quick wipe with a damp rag and the yellow chalk rendering of his dead wife's body would forever be gone from his sight, and possibly from his mind.

Riley never acted on that impulse. This tracing of chalk was all he had left. It was his only keepsake, the last remaining token of his former life and a crude shrine to his lost love. Losing it would be the same as losing her all over again.

The past, it always comes back to the past. Riley remembered it all like it was yesterday. It was not that long ago, only a few years in fact, but it felt like centuries had passed since he had lost his humanity.

The good old days. When he was human. When he and Sam had a life together. Before he destroyed everything he loved. Before he was turned into a soulless monster. And definitely before he was turned into whatever he is now.

As Riley sat alone in the darkness of his former home, he cursed the day he crossed paths with William The Bloody.

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March 17, 2003. 10:12 PM PCT. The sewer system junction two miles outside of downtown Sunnydale.

The Initiative sent Riley and his team into the abandoned town of Sunnydale on a routine mission. Their orders were to capture some S.T.H.'s for study.

The team was making its way through one of the large sewers passages when they stumbled across a nest of vampires. Standing orders were to engage and destroy any hostiles that were not part of the mission, so Riley ordered his team to attack the vamps with no thought of capture. No quarter was asked, and none was given.

Riley and his team had things under control. They used their advanced equipment, well practiced teamwork and military training to quickly gain the upper hand. The Initiative soldiers were easily destroying the leaderless vamps.

Then he showed up.

William The Bloody, or Spike as he preferred to be called, killed two members of his six-man team with ease. Brawling was Spike's specialty and there was nothing the vampire loved more than a good tussle. When Riley ordered the surviving team members to retreat, the three remaining Initiative soldiers fell back as ordered. Riley stayed behind to cover their escape.

That was when things turned ugly.

Riley fired his electro-pulse rifle furiously into the attacking horde, killing several vamps. He fought so fiercely that he managed to completely drain his weapon of energy, forcing him to fight hand-to-hand. He was barely holding his own against the regular vamps when Spike confronted him. The platinum haired vampire quickly overpowered Riley, violently sinking his fangs into Riley's neck. Spike drained most of Riley's life away before he opened a vein in his wrist and forced Riley to drink his blood.

Several hours later, Riley began his new life as a vampire.

When Riley crawled out of his makeshift grave, Spike asked him if he knew of a place where they could get a good meal. He did. Riley led Spike to his home. Samantha, Riley's wife of two years and fellow Initiative soldier, invited him in without a second thought. Riley killed his wife and shared her blood with his sire.

Everything would have been fine if Riley had stayed a soulless monster, but he did not. One day he was out hunting when he ran across two young women, a blonde and a redhead, alone on the UCLA campus after dark.

That was a hard meal.

Both of the women were witches. They could move things and create fires with only the power of their minds. In fact, they almost killed him.

The redhead used her telekinesis to throw him against a tree, while the blonde began saying an incantation that caused his shirt to catch fire. Riley barely got his shirt off before the fire consumed him. He got close enough to the redhead to grab her. He knocked her unconscious by throwing her against a nearby tree. He surprised the blonde with a leg sweep. Riley caught her as she fell. He bit deep into her neck and quickly drained the young blonde woman dry. He wanted the redhead too, but a small crowd of people heard the commotion and started to run over. Riley decided not to confront the crowd and ran away.

Two days later, something strange happened, something that changed his new 'life' forever.

Riley was alone in the abandoned office building that Spike and his other sires called home when he felt hungry. He remembered that the other vamps had a homeless kid locked up in one of the other rooms. He knew they were saving the kid for themselves, but he was hungry now. Why hunt when you have a four-course meal at home?

Minutes after draining the kid, a bizarre feeling came over him. Thousands, possibly millions, of images and sounds hammered Riley's mind. It was like someone had turned on an extremely loud television and he could not plug his ears or divert his eyes. He suddenly knew every detail of the kid's life. The kid's name, the friends had before he ran away, his memories of his mother, the day his mom died, his life alone with his father, the day he ran away, his life on the streets and the few new friends he made, Riley knew it all. Every time the kid's father smacked him around, Riley could feel every blow. On the days the kid couldn't score any money and he had to eat out of a restaurant dumpster, Riley could literally taste the rotten food. Every memory right up to the vampires kidnapping him and Riley killing him flooded his mind like a tidal wave.

Then the other images came. These new images and sounds were not just from this kid's memories. They were the memories, lives, and emotions of every one of Riley's victims. Riley saw every evil deed he had ever done through his victim's eyes. Every face, every detail of their lives, every scream, every terrified look, every sound his victims made and every ounce of pain they felt when he killed them rushed through his mind in vivid detail.

Riley thrashed violently the floor. He screamed at the top of his airless lungs in intense pain as the endless images and memories hammered his mind. He covered his ears and tightly closed his eyes as he flailed about, desperate to stop the onslaught.

Riley knew what had happened to him when the memories of the witch he killed came to the surface. From her memories, he knew that her name was Tara Maclay and that her living, redheaded friend was Amy Madison. He saw through her eyes the day they meet, how they became friends and how their friendship grew, and the day they both joined the covenant. That was when he saw them.

The Covenant of Ra'an, five of the most powerful witches in the state of California, gathered in a circle, reciting an incantation. He instinctively knew that the covenant had cursed him with a soul. His feelings of guilt and remorse that had long been forgotten were now rushing to the surface, hammering his mind with relentless sorrow.

Knowing the lives his other victims was bad enough, but it was Sam's memories that plagued him the most. Their first date, their first kiss, the night he proposed, their wedding and a dozen other happy memories from Sam's mind flooded his. He desperately tried to hold on to the happy memories, but he never could. His guilt always brought him back to the same place. The trust she felt the night he returned home as a vampire and the way that feeling changed to one of fear when she realized her mistake.

Then came the pain. Riley felt every bit of Sam's pain and terror as the man she loved mercilessly murdered her. That was the memory that replayed in his mind over, and over, and over again.

That was four years ago. Since then he has been here, in his former home. Riley became a squatter in his own home. The place was abandoned after Sam's body was found. With no way to contact him, the house was in limbo. Plus, no one wanted to buy it after they learned a mysterious murder occurred there, so the house remained abandoned. Another reminder of the life he once had.

Unable to bare the weight of another human memory on his new soul, he fed off of rats and vermin. For reasons only he understands, Riley put his old Initiative uniform back on. He has not worn anything else since.

One day, a man named Whistler came to the house. He told Riley that a time would come when he would have to make a choice. Become a champion or return to being a monster. Riley had no way of knowing that moment would be right now.

END Chapter 3.