Xander landed in the backyard and spun around to stare as nemesis skidded to a halt just shy of crashing into the chain link fence.
Spike growled at him from the other Side of the fence as Xander slowly gasped for breath after the headlong dash that had saved him from the monster ripping his throat out.
"So Spike… who's the big bad now." Xander taunted before dancing as Spike just continued to growl. "What no witty banter this time? No threats?" he mocked before finally getting a response.
"Woof."
"Yeah, like I've never heard that before." Xander said with a laugh before making a face at the dog he turned and headed into his house leaving an upset Doberman pinscher behind to continue growling before returning to his doghouse to lick himself.
--
Anita slowed her typing as the doorbell drew her attention to the time.
Alexander wouldn't use the doorbell she thought as she picked up a bottle from the floor and taking a drink spilling some on herself as she went to answer the door.
Opening the door she stared in shock as two men she had prayed she would never see again stood in perfectly pressed suits flipped there badges at her as a third she didn't know stood Several steps back.
"Anita, it's been a long time." The first said casually with a smile as he slid the badge back in his jacket drawing her eyes to the bulge just below his left arm.
"Jason, Johns I don't work for you anymore, I left on good terms with the agency and I told you I never wanted to see any of you again." She said as she waved from side to side and tried to focus on them.
"What are we wasting our time with this cow for." The man in the back demanded as he stepped foreword and was blocked by the other two.
"Jones we don't just barge in on one of our own." Johns said before turning on the much younger man with a glare. "And if you ever call her a cow again she won't need to kill you because I will." He promised before pushing the younger man back several steps and turning back to the house.
"As 'Pleasant' as it is to see this worm is the best you could muster to take my place, what do you want Johns." She slurred before gripping the door in an attempt to remain upright.
Ignoring the snarl from the much younger agent Johns decided to cut this short before Jones did something he would regret. "Were is it Anita." He said simply as he tried to make her understand how much he hated doing this.
"I don't have anything, I gave it all up when that murdering bastard took over and killed everything we stood for." She said and sneered at the youngest agent. "What you have something to say about him?" She snarled as he stiffened and reached for his gun.
"Touch that and I'll kill you where you stand Jones." Jason said in his first sentence of the conversation as he just continued to stare at her.
Watching the kid slowly force his hand back down to his side she smiled as he glared and clenched his fist in anger.
"So nice to see he's had the new ones house trained at least." She said before turning her glazed sight back to her old partners. "I don't have anything of yours or his." She reiterated. "So why don't you pick up this pup and walk away from my home." She demanded as she started to close the door
Johns foot stopped it. "We know it's here, don't make us come back with a warrant." He begged.
Looking from him down to his foot and back Anita opened the door and stepped out. "Let me make one thing perfectly clear to you, I don't serve your emperor, he is a murdering cowered that shot his own brother in the back at a royal function. I don't serve the Empire since he took the throne and turned it from the Empirial republic to the fascist dictatorship under his rule. And I don't work for you since you ALL decided to serve him instead of upholding your oath and PROTECTING THE REPUBLIC!" she screamed as her ex-teammates stepped further away from her and refused to meet her gaze while the newcomer became increasingly redder.
"Mom is everything okay?" Xander said as he walked into the front room to find out why his mom was screaming.
For a moment everything froze.
Xander stepped around the hall corner and stared at the three suits his mom was screaming at.
The young Jones gaze locked on Xander as recognition dawn on his face and he reached for his gun.
Seeing him go for his gun Anita moved.
Throwing the bottle at the youngest agent her gun was in her hand as she sidestepped to block any shot the young agent might have of her son.
The twin roar of the gun was followed a half second later by the bottle impacting the youngest agent as Agents Johns and Jason joined the stars on the wall of fallen Imperial Bodyguards.
Stepping over the bodies she advanced on the young agent as he tried to brush the glass and Alcohol from his face.
"It's sad really, they sent you to make sure they did their job. What were you the best of your class at graduation last month?" She mocked as he finally cleared his eyes enough to look down the barrel of her gun.
"I thought you where drunk?" he whispered as he kept his eyes locked on the huge bore of the .45 she pointed at him.
"That's because your Young and stupid." She said simply before pulling the hammer back on the pistol. "How does it feel to be a pawn?"
"What?" he asked in confusion as he finally blinked and looked up at her.
"How does it feel to be a pawn, it's a rather straight foreword question." She said before reaching down and plucking the gun from his hand. "They knew that they would never pull on me and that given time I would get them to come around and see what they had become. So they sent you in with them, you were brash hotheaded and abrasive enough to be the spark that would ignite this into a full blown situation."
"It's doesn't matter if you were one of them, you've killed two of there own. They will have no problem shooting you now." He said as he tried to blink away the sweat.
"Ooh I know, so it shouldn't matter if I blow your skull out right here and now." Anita said quietly "But I won't, I want you to understand exactly how much they have used you. Consider this Child, of all the agents that would not swear loyalty to your emperor I alone was allowed my freedom, everyone else was imprisoned on false charges, executed had an 'Accident' or was placed under house arrest." She said before leaning towards him. "Do you want to know why none of them wanted to come after me." She said simply before looking back at the two bodies of her old friends. "Why Don't you ask them about me, why don't you see why they thought to send you along with two of the best the empire ever managed to recruit."
With that she turned away and walked back into the house allowing the door to slide closed.
--
Xander stared at the door as it slid shut blocking the view of the two dead men his mom had just shoot faster then he had even seen Buffy move. "Mom?"
"No time Alexander we have to move." She said as she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the back.
Jerking his hand away Xander took a step back from his mom. "Whoa whoa whoa, Move as in the U-Haul will be here next week or move as in…"
The rest of his words were interrupted as she tackled him moments before a dozen quarter sized holes punched their way through the wall.
"Guess it's not gonna wait a week." He muttered as he rolled behind cover.
"Alexander, I need you to return fire while I set up the extraction."
Grabbing the gun as it clattered over Xander flicked the safety off with memories long buried. "Mom what the HELL IS GOING ON!" Xander yelled before noticing his mom for the first time.
The hazy look of too much alcohol he was so used to was gone replaced by a cold calculating gaze he had only seen once before when his mom had caught Anthony raising his fist at Xander.
He didn't remember much from that night but that gaze had burned itself into his mind, along with the knowledge that after that night 'Tony' had never raised a finger against Xander.
'Soldier' on the other hand remembered the look, the look was the soul domain of Lifers and Mercs. Soldiers that choose a life of combat in one way or another.
"I Swear I'll explain everything once we get out of here but at the moment I need you to trust me."