Rachel: go read my profile before you start nit-picking my spelling.
Crash Slayer: three different story's, not different chapters of the same story.
Lalala: yeah, chill will you. Updates happen when they happen…

Zeppo 3: Slayer Evolved
Part 2: Secrets, lies and videotape

"Congratulations, hero." Buffy dumped the morning paper onto Xander's bed, waking him, "I thought we agreed to keep this a secret?"

"What?" Xander asked, bleary eyed. He wondered for a moment how she'd gotten in, then remembered that he'd told Cortana to grant any of the Scooby's entry as long as they still had a heartbeat, "What are you talking about?"

"Your face is splashed all across the local paper. Or is someone else running around in a suit of Spartan Armour that I know nothing about?"

"What the hell?" Xander scanned the newspaper: the photo on the front page was blurred, but he recognised the outline of his Mjolnir-II battle armour readily enough.

"Care to explain?" Buffy stood, arms crossed, toes tapping the floor.

"Can I get dressed first?" Xander asked, grabbing a shirt from the floor, "Cortana, can you put some coffee on please?"

"So?" Buffy asked as she sat across the living room from Xander, playing with one of the many projects Cortana was working on, "Explanations?"

"Someone at the accident had a camera and I didn't spot them." Xander shrugged, "It'll be put down to a hoax or the old 'gang members on PCP' story. You know what this town like."

"Xander, someone saw you in your armour: if anyone starts asking questions, it'll be difficult to explain where you got it from."

"I have to agree." Cortana looked down from the wall mounted wide-screen TV, "It is a definite breach of security that has to be corrected."

"Like how?" Buffy asked the A.I.

"I can easily brake into the newspapers computer network and erase any electronic copies of the photo's, but printed ones are a different matter." Cortana looked at Buffy and Xander, "One of you will have to brake into the offices and remove or destroy and hard copies."

"I'll do it." Buffy stood, "I've got more experience with this sort of thing."

"We'll go in tonight." Cortana nodded, "I'll over ride the security systems to make it easier for you."

Xander crept through the night, feeling out of sorts without Cortana's near constant commentary on what he was doing and what was happening around them. He felt kind of lonely, having gotten used to having her around. He wasn't one to trust easy after all he'd been through, but he trusted Cortana as much as he trusted anyone.

A solitary red blip appeared on his HUD.

Cortana drifted through cyberspace like a dolphin through water, immersing herself in the sea of information. She had already used her infiltration programs to play the stock market and keep Xander's bank balance healthy, as well as work on a few projects of her own that she hoped would help the two of them.

The firewall on the Sunnydale Gazettes computers offered no resistance to her what so ever, and she slipped into the system like a ghost, sifting through files until she found the security subroutines and started to switch them off.

Activity on the edge of the system caught her attention, and she detected a tap on the system originating outside the newspapers network. She turned to investigate, and felt the tingle of someone trying to hack into her programming.

Xander slowly approached the clearing the single blip appeared to be standing in. He checked his map, and found that it lay on his regular patrol route: Giles having suggested that Buffy and Xander split the town in two so that they could cover twice the area at once.

Slipping his rifle over one shoulder, Xander drew his pistol and slowly advanced.

Cortana repelled the attack with next to no effort, and then turned her full attention to finding out who was reasonable. Firewalls and lockouts fell before her as she backtracked the signal, tearing through the Internet like a guided missile, more than a little angry that someone had tried to hurt her directly.

The last code withstood her assault for a full second before Cortana cracked it like an egg, gaining full and unrestricted access to what lay beyond. She scanned files as fast as she could, assimilating every last piece of information and quickly analysing it.

Her eyes widened when she reached the last file.

"I was hoping to run into you." Riley smiled slightly when Xander came into view, wishing he were dressed in something a little more protective than black BDU's, "We need to talk."

"So, talk." Xander cut in a program that disguised his voice, recognising the man standing before him, but unable to place his face.

"Ok, well, do you have a name?"

"You can call me Master Chief."

"The Master Chief is a character in a video game. Who are you really?"

"Someone fate likes playing games with."

"Are you going to give me any straight answers?"

"Hey, you're the one who was shooting at me last night!" Xander raised his gun, "I owe you nothing."

"I'm sorry you feel that way." Riley sighed.

Buffy jumped as her phone rang just as she was about to slip into the offices of the Sunnydale Gazette.

"Hello?" She answered, not recognising the number.

"Buffy, It's a trap!" Cortana shouted at her down the line, "Get the hell out of there!"

Xander felt the rocket slam into his back, knocking him forward as his shields dropped by half. He hit the ground hard, his head cracking against the inside of his helmet, stunning him.

Buffy hit the chain link fence near the top and vaulted over the coiled raiser wire, landing on the other side like a cat and taking off into the darkness.

"Who ever these guys are, they're really starting to piss me off!" she snapped into her phone.

"That's not the worst of it." Cortana sounded genuinely worried, "They're after Xander…"

"Hold him still!" Riley ordered as two initiative agents clawed at the restraints holding Xander's helmet on. They managed to pull it open enough to jab a needle full of anaesthetic into his neck.

Xander stopped struggling as his personal view of the world dimmed.

To Be Continued…