The Paladin
Ontario Canada BBC World News Studios September 2017
BBC News: Good Evening for the past twenty years the people of Earth has seen some major upheavals in the way we view the world around us, with the destruction of a small town in the United States a full disclosure of a worldwide phenomena known as Demons was released by the governments of the United States, United Kingdom, China, Russia and numerous other countries across the globe.
The Destruction of Sunnydale, California in the summer of 1999 by an ascended demonic version of former Mayor Richard Wilkins III became legendary news across the world, the same day other demons attempted their own grasp for power in countries ranging from the United States to Uzbekistan- only a few countries such as England, France and Hong Kong were immune to these outbreaks. Within a week entire cities had been destroyed by demonic forces while others were saved by the quick reactions of the militaries of the respective countries and the work of groups later to make up the Watcher Network.
However in the United States a small group known to those whom knew them as the 'Scooby Gang' were directly responsible for the continued attempts to hold the forces of evil and had since mid 1997, Buffy Summers the Slayer and her Watcher Rupert Giles were those sent there to combat the evil. However within the first forty eight hours they were assisted by Willow Rosenberg, the Vampire Angel and a young man by the name of Alexander Harris, it is an urban legend that Xander as he preferred to be called was responsible for the creation of this group and indeed the continuing survival of the group several times over.
That was until an Incident unknown to many until recently that drove Alexander Harris away from his home, Xander went on to unite some of those who thought like him into a combat group allowing him to destroy several of the larger demons in the coastal United States. His refusal to bow to the rules and regulation of the 'Watcher's network' has made Mr Harris and his associates unpopular with the other members of the community. His point blank refusal to stop his fight and his complete disgust and the Network edict that only Mystics and specially trained fights should get involved in the war has pushed him to fight harder and harder over the past few years. Little is known about Alexander Harris but we at BBC World News have managed to persuade Mr Harris to do an Interview with us for the first time in his combat career, he is communicating with us from a remote terminal somewhere in the United States in order to keep his arena of operations secret.
BBC: Mr Harris Can you hear me.
Xander Harris: Good Afternoon Ma'am.
BBC: Mr Harris, It has become well known in the past few years that the epicentre of all occult happenings over the past two decades was the area once known as Sunnydale, with yourself being one of the few survivors. Could you please tell us your views on what happened to the town?
XH: I left Sunnydale several months beforehand alongside my now long time friend Faith Williams, I didn't know what had happened until two or three days after the destruction of my hometown. I was sorry to hear of the deaths of so many people that I knew but I couldn't have done anything even if I had wanted to.
BBC: You are talking about the schism between the members of the Scooby gang of Sunnydale that has come to the fore from the Interviews of several members of the Network.
XH: the members of the network have put their points across the way they believe them, I'm just glad that Giles at least gave a balanced judgement on what I did, I suppose to an extent he understood what I did and why I did it.
BBC: This would be what the Network members term as your 'treachery' against them.
XH: Laughs bitterly. I'm well aware of what they have said about me and what I did, I assume you wish to hear at least my version on what happened and not the once sided version that came from them.
BBC: The Interviews claimed that you knew that the Vampire Angelus was to be cursed and deliberately misled the members of the Scooby Gang when it came up, there are claims of jealousy and hatred that coloured your beliefs and led you to what you did. The same Interviews also suggest that if you apologise for your actions that nothing will be held against you.
XH: Right, Ok let be explan my side to this, let people believe what they wish, I no longer care one way or the others what happens now. The vampire Angelus had once been Angel an ally on our side and a good man even if I didn't like him at all, however with the loss of his soul he started in his attempts to destroy humanity from day one. The actions of the Scooby gang at the time did not stop the demon from running riot, killing innocents including a friend of ours Ms Janna Kalderash, Jenny was attempting to re-soul the demon and bring him back to our side. The incompetence of the slayer allowed him to continue up until the point that Angelus attempted to destroy the world once more.
BBC: So the inactions of the slayer Buffy Summers led to the deaths of multiple Innocents.
XH: The culmination of this led to the death of another slayer by the name of Kendra, the torture of Rupert Giles and the hospitalisation of Willow Rosenberg all within hours of each other. Her belief that she as the slayer is the be all and end all of decision making involving demons led to this, the same damned self centred belief she holds against the humans fighting side by side against demons, especially those who choose not to follow her.
BBC: So what happened next exactly.
XH: During my visit to the hospital Willow woke up and explained she was going to try the spell again, to say I was sceptical is putting it lightly, I mean a sixteen year old apprentice wicca trying to cast a curse that was hand crafted by a clan of magic users and cast by their great mages. It didn't sit with me and after all these years still doesn't.
BBC: The records that survived indicated she had a concussion and possible damage to her body. It also accounts that you yourself were injured in the attack.
XH: What happened to be was incidental, but as you mentioned Willow was in no fit state to cast an extremely high level spell, Buffy wasn't willing to kill the demon that had the face of her lover and the world was about ready to go to hell. So I made a decision and one that I still hold to this day, I never mentioned the curse being retried.
BBC: This is what Buffy Summers and Willow Rosenberg class as the 'Traitor's Lie'
XH: They can think what they want, but the point of it is this. I lied in order to get the Slayer to pull her head out of her ass and start doing her job, to stop Angelus. One Vampire with a demon and no soul vs the fate of Six Billion Humans worldwide, what would you have done?
BBC: Me?
XH: Yes you have a choice one 'man' or The world.
BBC: I'm not a fighter Mr Harris.
XH: Neither was I then and I made the decision, I suppose the few memories left behind from a possession a year before had left some Imprint about the good of the many and to stop those who would harm innocents. As I is I deliberately misled someone in order to save others, Buffy Summers was unable to do her job so someone else had to. Now I'm expecting to read an interview later based on the Network's reaction to this one, but the bottom line is she'll go on about being 'The Slayer' although technically she no longer is Victoria has that so called honour. Buffy is a footsoldier nothing more and not a particularly good one at that, she'll probably go on about it was her decision, well dozens of people died because she didn't make the right one and so I took it from her and have not had a reason to regret it.
BBC: None at all?
XH: None at all, I'll be the first to admit that she did good her first few years but since then she's had no clue.
BBC: The Interviews claim that you and your people are those who don't actually realise how serious the fight is against the demons.
XH: I started fighting the same day as Buffy came into town, in that one day I lost much of what consisted of the closest and most personal to me, my friendships, my innocence and my life. I mean I'm still alive but that day I lost whatever right I had to decided what way my life would go from then on. I could have easily left the fight to others and moved on and god knows how many times I was tempted to do just that, but I couldn't, I couldn't just leave people to the predations of the night and the denizens that lived in the shadows of human civilisation, demon or human.
I didn't want to fight this way though, I would have been happy with what I was doing staying with my friends and maybe just maybe having a normal life but of course things happen, In the end I couldn't walk away I may not have been a chosen one in this fight but I chose to fight.
BBC: You are referencing the Sunnydale Incident.
XH: For Fucks sake, the 'Incident' was what it was, an all round Clusterfuck that got thousands of people killed because the so-called heroes had no idea how to stop it.
BBC: Yet you yourself cornered the Demon that was formally Richard Wilkins and killed him yourself a year later.
XH: I owed it to those who weren't saved by the inactions of the people of that town, amazing what two hundred thousand pounds of semtex and two tons of thermite will do to a demon. One explosion stopped a first level demon- something all the spells and powers of mystical beings couldn't do.
For a group of people that have no Idea what they are doing out here, It seems we have done our share of saving the world, we don't take prisoners and yes we have been forced into doing things that others find unpalatable but never have we gone after Innocents for a mistake they may have made, unlike the Network we realise people as fallible much as they don't like to admit it. Almost all the Mystics and trained personnel working for the Watcher's network are human and as such make human mistakes, God knows I've seen the results of enough of them.
BBC: Hence your belief that you did the right thing when you started fighting even against the wishes of the network?
XH: In 1997 I saw the death of one of the people I had been closest to in my life, his name was Jesse Mcnally and we had been brothers in all but blood since we were toddlers but the hellmouth took him from me. That day I started fighting and never stopped, even after being driven from my home by the self centred actions of those I thought I could trust from a girl who had been a sister to me to the man I saw as my 'father' a man much better at it than my own shit of a father. The destruction of Sunnydale several months later made sure I could never go back and for the first time in my life I was truly free of that damn town.
You would be surprised how that can really feel, the problem with what happened with Sunnydale was that even though much of the world mobilised against the demons, people were still not ready for the truth of the matter. Innocent people were being killed just for being different, Wiccas, Weres, some innocent peaceful demon types were all hunted and killed. Fortunately some people like myself saw the possibility of saving these people and getting them out kinda like the underground railroad in the 19th century.
Humans as a whole are not the easiest of people to get along with, we are spiteful, self centred and afraid of what we do not understand. But some people are able to see past that and fight alongside those they don't know, the Alliance is made of just about anyone who wants to help, unlike the Network who believe themselves to be the 'elite' of the world's fighting community we are just willing to fight against the enemy to protect ourselves and those that need our help from small nets and demon risings to the full blown apocalypses that pop up every year.
BBC: The Network believes that the use of mainly normal base humans is detrimental to the cause and is more damaging to both themselves and the innocents around the world. They cite lack of research capability, equipment and training as the problems that mean your troops should not be out there fighting.
XH: In other words so they are the only ones who should fight, back when I started fighting we had ONE mystic fighter backed up by three base humans. We saved the world and each other without powers, without training and without back-up, it was years until any serious combat capable groups were formed to fight. Look I'll admit we are not the best at what we do and likely will never be, but as of now none of us care what the Network thinks, many of us have been fighting between fifteen to twenty years without serious loss, without serious injuries and most necessary without massive civilian losses. The Network with all their equipment, tactics, Intel and whatever have lost thousands of troops in combat, hundreds of civilians as 'acceptable losses' ten of thousands of humans dead worldwide as a result and still claim we're the ones who are a danger.
Humans have their own inimitable rights when it comes to protecting themselves, what makes the Network believe they have the right to stop us.
Arlington CemetaryWashington DC
November 2004
"You know this could be easier."
"How exactly?"
"Well two hundred troops and a half dozen tanks would be nice."
The Alliance had pulled together almost five hundred troops from across the eastern seaboard to tackle an insidious necromagus who had been attempting to return the dead from the great Arlington National cemetery for veterans back to life as zombies. Millions of men were buried in the vast fields of the cemeteries, every one of them a hero to the people of the United States. From all of the states and all of the branches of the armed forces from the basic Army soldier to the special forces of the Seals and Delta Force all types were there. Every one of them if animated could cause havoc on the peoples of the world, it was the last thing that the government wanted and this brought it to the attention of the Alliance through some of their contacts in and around the Military hierarchy. Five hundred Alliance troops may not have seemed much but it had to do for now, the American military were mobilising their forces as quickly as possible but it might not be soon enough.
"Conner."
"What?"
"Thermal mines?"
"All used we got a few thousand of em, more of the bastards are rising."
"Dammit the new weapons are good but we don't have enough people."
Within minutes the Remaining three hundred men and women of the Alliance forces were encircled and held captive, while they were able to keep the enemy at range they only had so much in the way of Ammunition and numbers, sooner or later they would be overwhelmed and killed. Every one of them turned to the use of a new master.
Like Hell though Xander.
"Back to back, Overlap your fire anyone runs out of ammo the two on either side pick up the slack got it."
"YES SIR." They may have not been real infantry but they tried their best and gave their best, and Xander gave as good as he got.
But even the best when outnumbered by many hundreds to one had little chance if any of success.
The tide was turned as from the shadows almost a thousand armed troops slammed into the side of the enemy, flares and tracers lit up the area some setting fire to the zombified soldiers burning them down, high ex rounds and buckshot shattered the bodies of the enemy and scattered the others. Within minutes tens of thousands of bodies were scattered across the fields of Arlington, the white markers of many men and women were broken, burnt or crushed by the rotting bodies and freshly dead soldiers from the allied sides.
Xander Harris approached who seemed to be the leader of the new arrivals intending to ask for medical help, as he approached he could see the full bird of a Colonel on the uniform.
"Colonel. I'm Alexander Harris, leader of these Irregulars."
"Ahh yes I've heard of you Mr Harris."
"Don't believe everything you've heard Colonel." Once upon a time that would have been meant as a joke but condiering the most recent changes in his life this was no longer true. "My Men are tired and injured I'm requesting help for them."
"That's a no Colonel." came a voice from behind.
Xander closed his eyes and imperceptibly stiffened his hand closing around the pistols still clenched in his hands, looking a the patch on the sleeve of the soldier he recognised the symbol that was now known as the Watcher Council's Combat division. Turning around he saw someone he had hoped he would go a long time without seeing.
"Hello Giles."
"Mr Harris."
"What is the reason that you are refusing aid to my men?"
"The orders that came through when we were sent to this 'uprising' was that your people were expendable and if they got in the way that they were to be removed if necessary, and survivors were to be left to their own devices."
"As if I can't guess who issued those orders."
"Yes Well."
"So you will follow those orders will you Giles."
"Yes."
"And You Colonel?"
"They are my orders even if I do disagree with them."
"Even though they are against your sworn oath?"
The Soldier didn't move at that, the Combat division were sworn to protect the lives of humans and demons of all types and if at all possible keep them alive and well. All Civilians and allied groups were to be given aid.
"These men and women fought and stood their ground to stop those damned things, we stood here for SIX FUCKING HOURS and you people don't think that they deserve help. We set up for this ambush almost three days ago and your people had no clue."
"That's rubbish Alexander, we found out about this yesterday and scrambled everything we could."
"I know you did, I'm the one who sent the info to The Initiative."
"You?"
"Giles I lead these people, I fight to save others but unlike some groups I know if we need help and I wasn't going to let my ego get in the way of stopping this necromagus."
"Did you get him."
"Yes I did."
"We need to take him in and question him, find out how he did this."
"Good luck? Atkins!"
A large built young man with long brown hair dropped a virtually headless body at the feet of the commanders of the Watcher corps.
"Dammit Xander, do you know what we could have got from this man."
"Yes I do and I did what I did because I know. I trust the Council as much as they trust me." Xander turned his back on the two men and walked away from them.
"Don't you turn your back on me."
"I've got men down and injured, some severely. They are my people Giles, at least I remember what I'm fighting for. I remember what being a team meant even if you people don't."
Xander turned back once again and left the older man behind, stunned at Xander;s change in attitude, he had been a child the last time he had seen him but he knew that five years on these front lines must have changed anyone involved with the fight. His belief that Xander would be incapable of true leadership or combat outside the group he had grown up with crumbled as the young man looked after the men and women of his command.
"Colonel."
"Sir!"
"Distribute aid to the survivors of the Harris irregulars."
"Yes sir." The colonel was visibly relieved at the orders, the boy had been right his Oath had said to defend and aid those who needed their help. His training and indoctrination about the non mystics or non watcher trained fighters had gone against his grain as a soldier and as a human, he was more than willing to help Harris' men at this point.
BBC: The Network Claim that they are the chosen to fight, led by slayers and mystics all chosen for what they do by the so-called 'Powers that be.
XH: That's something I find funny you know, I was 'chosen by God' used to get people locked up in insane asylums or hospitals doped up on all kinds of drugs, but these people in charge of the network say they are chosen by some mystical power to lead the 'good fight'- does that make sense? But lets say of arguments sake that they have been chosen to fight, fine let them that's their prerogative, but when it comes to it each war has been fought not by those who are supposedly chosen or are lifelong military they are often fought by those who want to fight, to protect themselves and their families from the enemy.
Basically they chose to fight the enemy, the World wars for example millions of men survived who chose to fight, so what's the difference here? They may have been chosen by god knows what, but in the end we're normal people with a choice and we CHOSE to fight.
BBC: You pertain this war to the older world wars of the 20th century, how do you see the network's stance in this.
XH: I'll say this for them they have a lot of people with a lot of decent skills but their leadership leaves a lot to be desired, some of their leaders seem to think might makes right or that if you through enough men at a problem it'll solve it. That thinking died out in World War One, massive amounts of forces mean nothing if their Intel and leadership ain't worth shit.
I know for a fact that some of their leaders are these mystics and slayers that took over the council, however none of them have any combat experience outside of fighting in graveyards, I still find it hard to believe that these soldiers take orders from non combatant incompetents- especially when they have real combat veterans in their ranks.
BBC: Like you yourself have.
XH: I admit I once had the battle experience of a lifelong soldier in my mind and I held onto it for a while, but in the end even that little disappeared a few years after Sunnydale. I was not a soldier when I took up this fight and wasn't for a long time afterwards, when I could I trained under real soldiers and people with combat experience in order to keep up with the others, I never became a tactical genius so I let those people take command of the fights, I'm little more than a figurehead but I'll lead people and I'll follow those who know more than me about this war, I'm seen as a leader of men both inside and outside the Irregulars and I think I do ok, but I'm not the only leader and I won't try to be.
BBC: A figurehead?
XH: Yes a figurehead. Let me try to explain this better. When I started fighting away from Sunnydale I pooled together all kinds of people, Male female, physical types Intel types capable and infirm. Anyone who wanted to make a difference in this war came aboard not just those who could fight, but those who could teach, those who could learn and those who could make the world a bit more bearable to those what had to go out. Because I started it most looked up to me as the leader and as someone that could help those who could not help themselves, I never intended to become a leader just to pull people together to fight. Now after all these years I'm still seen as everyone's saviour even more since the Public labelled me 'Paladin', but morale is important in all armies and if I can keep ours up then I'm all for it. I'm no hero but I suppose history will either support or condemn me. Either way I'll have done my part for my people and for those who needed me.
BBC: Mr Harris?
XH: I'm lo..g?nal
The loss of the signal at this point was later ascribed to an attempt to capture Alexander Harris by elements of the Watcher's Network Special forces in order to put him on trial for unspecified crimes. His evasion and eventual escape put four men into hospital and left seven more dead, this sent Mr Harris into hiding from the Network after they put a warrant out for his arrest for murder. Xander Harris was acquitted in absentia by a combined trial involving the United Nations, the Watcher's council and a group of Alliance personnel given clearance to defend their Commander.
The attempt on his life and the later attempt to have him tried and executed twice during the following years pushed public opinion against the Network and support dropped across the world, this also led to the alliance being made a legal and political entity much to the displeasure of the network.
Xander Harris' life ended ten years later during a classified incursion into the mouth of a hellmouth. Little is known about what happened next.
What little is now known about the man known as 'Paladin' from the information gathered from the Alliance, The Network, his friends and family and the ruins of Sunnydale in now available for viewing at the Library of Heroes alongside that of his long time friend and lover Faith Williams.
