Zeppo 3: Slayer Evolved
Part 11: Raising the stakes
"This is your alternate base of operations?" Faith looked around the abandoned house. "Isn't this Angel's old place?"
"Yeah, you've got to love the irony." Xander grinned. "I've spent my free time rebuilding parts of it, mainly the basement. The entire place is shielded from satellite surveillance and the phone line is encrypted to UNSC standard."
"Anyone else know about this place?"
"No. Just you, Cortana and me. And that's the way I want to keep it. I don't want the others getting involved in this if I can avoid it. I'm not that happy that you're involved as it is."
"I can take care of myself, and that bitch Walsh has it coming to her if she thinks she can use me like she did."
"Yeah, well… Try not to let your anger get the better of you, ok?"
"And you're total calm and rational about all this?"
"I never said I was…"
"We've looked everywhere… He's not in L.A." Forrest stood at attention in front of Walsh's desk. "We checked all of our contacts, even a few we technically shouldn't have. There is a rumor that he dropped off the STH that escaped with someone there, but whoever they are, everyone's scared of them."
"He has obviously eliminated Faith." The doctor drummed her fingers on the desktop. "Mr. Harris is proving to be the most elusive prey."
"What should we do?"
"We wait. We know he thinks he can attack us, so the easiest way to catch him without drawing attention to our operation here is to let him make the first move."
"Are you sure that's wise?"
"Who is in charge here, solider?"
"You are."
"Good. You would do well to remember that…"
"This is your big plan? Just sit here and work out?" Faith looked more than a little confused.
"I've been letting myself go… neglecting my training." Xander strained as he did a set of one-handed chin-ups. "I need to be in peak condition if I'm going to take on Adam again."
"Xander, I've seen you train, remember? Your daily work out would put a Slayer to shame. Hell, I know I've never worked out so hard in my entire life. Well, apart from that one time when we…"
"I'd rather not talk about that." Xander switched arms without letting his feet touch the ground, his movements lightning fast. "I need to concentrate."
"You need to rest before you strain something!" Faith protested. "Even you can only push yourself so far."
"I have to agree." Cortana floated in the air above the portable projector. "Even Spartans have their limits."
"Need to push them." Xander hissed through clenched teeth.
"Faith, do something." Cortana rolled her eyes.
"Ok, but you may not like it…" The Slayer stood, but stopped moving when a high pitch whistling sound filled the air.
"INCOMING!" Xander yelled, knocking Faith to the ground just moments before the entire building shook as something hit the ground outside. There was a second and a third impact a few moments later, then silence.
"Well now." Faith smiled coyly. "Did the earth move for you too?"
"What?" Xander looked down and realized that he was lying on top of Faith. "Sorry." He scurried away to one side. "What the hell was that?"
"I detected at least three separate impacts ten meters from our location." Cortana reported, "I can't tell you anything more as my sensor net is still not fully set up."
"It was on my to do list." Xander grabbed his assault rifle and headed for the door.
The unkempt lawn looked like it had been set about with a flamethrower. Small fires were still burning around a trio of metal cylinders embedded in the ground. They were covered in scorched paint, but the letters 'UNMC' could still be seen stenciled onto the side of one.
"Either those are Orbital Drop supply pods, or FedEx has a new delivery option." Xander walked up to the nearest pod and kicked it.
The side fell open with a thud of metal on earth.
"Just tell me where they are."
"Buffy, I don't know where Xander or Faith are. And even if I did, I don't think he wants your help on this."
"You must know something."
"He told me to tell you to keep out of it, that it wasn't your fight. I think he wants to deal with this himself."
"How could he be so stupid?"
"He's trying to protect you. Right now this Walsh woman is only after him. He knows that none of you have it in you to face this 'Adam' alone."
"Angel, that's suicide."
"Like you taking on The Master?"
"'Dear Mr. Harris. Hope you find the enclosed of use. We have high hopes for you in the future. Whistler.'" Xander looked at the note attached to the inside of the drop-pod. "Who do we know that's named Whistler?"
"Search me." Faith shrugged, looking at the contents of the container, "What is this stuff anyway?"
"It looks like spare parts and repair equipment for my battle armor." Xander opened the other two crates. "This one has some UNMC weapons I've never seen before, while this one has a pair of Covenant Plasma Rifles and a…"
"What is it?" Faith asked, equally intrigued and worried.
"Now this should prove to be interesting." Xander held a metal bar in his hands. A sharp looking protrusion on either end jutted out just past his knuckles.
"What the hell is it?"
"This is a little something I'm going to save for the next time I see Adam." Xander was grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Get on the phone to Dead Boy and see if he knows anyone named Whistler while I get this all inside."
"Angel says he doesn't know where Xander and Faith are, but he's sure they're back in Sunnydale." Buffy paced back and forth across Giles's living room. "I say I go lean on Willy until he either tells me where they are or breaks."
"That would most likely be useless." Giles sat cleaning his glasses. "Xander knows that Willy would sell him out in an instant to save his own neck, so he'd never tell him where he was. Xander has more than a decade of training, and almost twenty years of combat experience to fall back on. It may be second-hand knowledge, but it is still there."
"I'll try and contact Cortana online again." Willow pulled out her laptop and instantly disappeared into full hacker mode. "Then at least we'll know if they're okay."
"Even if you do get through to her, she is unlikely to tell you where they are. She has never been anything but completely loyal to Xander." Giles put his glasses back on. "Xander's a Spartan, or at least considers himself to be one. His first instinct is to protect others from danger. He has proven willing to do anything to fulfill what he considers his mission."
"But it could get him killed." Buffy protested.
"I've been doing some research into the whole Spartan thing." Tara pulled a pile of printout pages from her bag. "He may consider that a price worth paying."
"Angel says this Whistler guy is a Balance Demon who works for the Powers That Be." Faith walked into the workshop. "As far as Angel and Wesley know, we can trust him."
"Good." Xander was fiddling with his armor. "I should be able to get the shield generator up and running again."
"What about these guns?" Faith walked over to the table that been pressed into service as a makeshift armory. "Anything that could stop Adam?"
"I doubt it. The new Battle Rifle carries a larger round, but at the expense of a smaller magazine. The SMG's are nice, if somewhat inaccurate… a real 'spray and pray' job. The combat shotgun is going to be very useful against vamp's once I knock up some custom ammo. And I really want to see what a Plasma Rifle does to a vampire."
"You going to tell me what the paperweight does?"
"Like I said before… it's a surprise."
"What you doing tonight?"
"I got plans."
"What plans?"
"The type you don't want to know about."
"What kind of bullshit is that?" Faith crossed her arms. "I told you. We're in this together."
"And I told you that there are things I have to do that you don't want to get involved with." Xander stood, only to find Faith blocking his way. "I'm the only one who can do this."
"Just be careful, ok?" Faith looked genuinely concerned. "You're just about the only friend I have."
Walsh walked out to her car, mind running a mile a minute as she tried to mentally juggle the responsibilities of being a college professor and the head of a secret government agency. She fished her keys out of her pocket as she reached her car, and then dropped them when her cellphone went off.
"Hello?" She answered it without looking to see who it was.
"Hello Professor." Xander's voice came over loud and clear. "How's California's answer to Frankenstein doing?"
"Good, real good." Walsh looked round to see if anyone was close by. "Want to go grab a coffee so we can talk about it?"
"I don't think so. Caffeine tends to make me a little jumpy. I think it affects the ORION program implants that you want so much to get a look at."
"So why did you call? Finally seen the light and want to give in?"
"No, I just wanted to say goodbye." The line went dead.
"Shit!" Walsh looked round, checking all the shadows for any sign of the Spartan. Grabbing her keys, she jumped into her car and locked the doors. Still looking round, she put the keys in the ignition and turned them.
The explosion lifted the car a clear foot into the air and sent burning debris across the parking lot, starting several secondary fires.
Xander stood on the rooftop of a building across the street, the firelight reflecting off his emotionless face.
To Be Continued…