Zeppo 3: Slayer Evolved
Part 13: Clear and Present Danger

Buffy felt something strike her in the left shoulder with enough force to knock her flat on her back, driving the air from her lungs. She reached round with her right arm, expecting to find a bloody hole, but instead it just felt like she'd been hit by a truck.

"Don't worry… It's not a real bullet. It's what's known as a beanbag round… something the police use for riot control." Xander stood over her. "I needed to incapacitate you, not kill you."

"Why?" Buffy coughed, trying to get her breath back.

"I want you and the others to stay out of this. It isn't your fight, and I don't want any of you to get hurt."

"What about Faith? Is it her fight?"

"No, and I am doing my best to convince her to go to L.A. and sit it out, but she has her own ax to grind with the Initiative."

"Is that what you call blowing up Professor Walsh?"

"I acted within the boundary of my standing orders. I eliminated a hostile threat without damage to any civilians."

"You're beginning to sound more and more like the Master Chief…"

"I AM the Master Chief. I am a Spartan, for better or worse. I am the only one qualified to deal with this sort of problem."

"But you're not the Master Chief. You're just…"

"Just what? Your 'Xander-shaped friend'? That's the problem, Buffy. You only see me as I was, not as I am. The Initiative is, with the exception of Adam, human. You have a problem with killing people, even though there was no hope of reasoning with Professor Walsh. I didn't like killing her, but it was the only way I could see to deal with the situation."

"Xander." Buffy was able to pull herself to her feet. "You need help. You can't keep acting like this. The Initiative is already after you, and yes, killing Walsh may have been a necessity. But Giles received a visit by her replacement, a Marine Core colonel. He says he just want to talk to you. I think you should give him a call."

"Maybe." Xander seemed to relax a little, letting the barrel of his shotgun drop until it was pointing toward the floor. "I'll have to talk things over with Faith and Cortana. They're in this as much as I am."

"Then we should both go talk to them." Buffy nodded. "That's all… just talk."

"OK," Xander nodded after a few moments of silent contemplation. "The car's this way."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Sir, we've lost contact with everything below Level 3." Forrest stood at attention.

"What the hell is going on this time?" Colonel Johnson spat out the end of his cigar. "Okay, assemble a team, full weapons load, and find out what is going on down there."

"Sir, yes sir!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Faith sat watching the TV. Cortana had hacked her way thought the encryption system used by satellite TV stations as a way of passing the time. Faith was channel hopping, trying to find something to watch when the A.I. interrupted her.

"I'm picking up a large number of intruders at the outer parameter." Cortana sounded tense. "Definitely non-human."

"Vampires?" Faith asked, standing and heading for the armory. "Maybe some of Angel's old gang?"

"Negative. I'm picking up the same sort of reading I got from Adam."

"Shit!" Faith grabbed the twin Plasma Rifles and activated them like Xander had shown her. She looked at her repaired armor and considered for a moment putting it back on. Xander had patched it up and used his knowledge of the MJOLNIR program to upgrade some of the systems. It was still a pale imitation of Xander's suit, but it was more than a match for any 21st century body armor.

A window shattered as a gas-grenade shot through it and hit the far wall, filling the room with teargas. Faith coughed slightly, shaking her head in an attempted to regain her equilibrium. Something moved in the expanding cloud of gas, and Faith raised both her weapons, pulling the triggers as hard as she could.

The human/demon/cyborg, formally an Initiative scientist, screamed as twin bolts of plasma energy struck him in the chest, burning through flesh and bone with ease. Faith continued to fire, trying to reach the side door and the garden beyond.

The door exploded outwards as she hit it, guns steaming as they hit the relatively cool night air. More of Adam's troops tried to grab her, but she continued firing, swapping between one gun at a time to avoid overheating them both at the same time. Every enemy she took down was instantly replaced by two more, circling the Slayer, trying to grab her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Whoa!" Buffy felt herself being pushed back into her seat as Xander suddenly floor the accelerator. Sending the supercharged Warthog forward at top speed, he took a corner on two wheels. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Cortana just sent out an emergency distress signal." Xander twisted the steering wheel hard to the left, fishtailing the rear wheels. "Adam's been busy. Some of his friends are attacking the Mansion."

"Can Faith handle them?"

"I hope so…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Faith felt her hands blister where they touched the now red-hot Plasma rifles, but she blocked out the pain and kept firing. One weapon bleeped to signify an empty charge, and she dropped it. Her skin was badly burned where it had been gripping the weapon.

One of the attackers tried to grab her from behind, only to be smashed in the face by the side of the remaining Plasma Rifle. It screamed in pain as the red-hot metal/ceramic composite burned its skin on contact. Faith kicked out, knocking the cyborg flat on it's back, but opening herself up for attack.

A long, evil looking knife caught her just below her ribs, the owner twisting it as they plunged it deeper. Faith screamed in pain and shock, dropping her weapon as she tried to get away. The cyborg was strong, too strong for the already weakened Slayer to fight off, and she was knocked to her knees by a sharp blow to her shoulders.

"Where is Alexander Harris?" the cyborg asked, giving the knife another sharp twist.

"Go to hell, Frankenstein," Faith spat through clenched teeth.

There was a sickening sound as the knife was pulled from the young woman's side, blood flowing freely from the open wound. The demon kicked her onto her stomach and lifted the knife high, fully intending to plunge it back down into the back of Faith's neck.

The nickel/iron round struck the demon in the back, blasting a hole straight through the creature. It looked down at the exit wound, somewhat surprised. It started to turn round, but the next blast took its head clean off. Xander stalked across the garden, firing the now completed Magnetic Accelerator Cannon from the hip, knocking the attacking cyborgs down like nine-pins. Buffy followed, holding the shotgun rather unhappily, hoping that she'd not have to use it.

Not that there was any need: Xander moved about the Mansion like the personification of death, killing anything and everything in his path. Flames from fires started by Faith spray-and-pray use of the plasma rifles reflected on his suit's visor, giving him an unworldly look.

"XANDER!" Buffy called out as she cradled the now unconscious Faith in her arms. Xander stood amid the flame like some imposing demon lord, the sharp angles and polished surfaces of his armor reflecting the light in strange ways. Buffy suddenly understood why the Covenant called the Master Chief The Demon.

Xander sprinted over to Buffy, his movements almost as fast and graceful as a Slayer, allowing him to cross the distance in the blink of an eye.

"She'll still breathing," Buffy tried her best to sound reassuring, "but she's lost a lot of blood."

Xander wordlessly pulled a small spray from his belt and shook it. Ripping Faith's top apart with one armored hand, he sprayed the wound with a strange clear liquid that solidified and turned white on contact with the skin.

"Emergency wound sealant, UNMC issue." He explained as he did his best to bandage the wound with strips of Faith jacket, "it should hold until you get her to the hospital."

"Where will you be?" Buffy asked, suddenly very worried about her friend.

"This was an assassination attempt. Adam wants me dead in revenge for the good doctor. I need to end this before anyone else gets hurt."

"You should call Colonel Johnson… see if he's willing to help."

"Maybe." Xander walked over to one of the dead cyborgs and ripped part of its head away until he found the CPU. He pushed it into a connector on the arm of his suit. "Time to earn your keep, Cortana."

"Not a problem," the A.I. sounded determined. "Encryption is bleeding edge… more advanced even than what they use at Area 51."

"Can you break it?" Buffy asked.

"Think who you're talking to," Cortana said smugly. "There you go. You're right. These are Adam's boys and girls… former Initiative scientist and agents."

"That's it." Xander looked up, his face unreadable behind his helmet's visor. "Buffy, get Faith to the hospital. Cortana, call the others and tell them to keep an eye out for any more hit squads."

"What are you going to do?" Buffy asked.

"Adam is now a Clear and Present Danger to everyone. I'm going to do what the Orion Program was created to do. I'm going to protect people. I'm going to kill Adam."

To Be Continued…

Buffyrules: yes, Avery is the first name of the legendary Sergeant Johnson from the Halo games/books. It's just a little in-joke I decided to add. The Colonel could probably be best described as Sergeant Johnson's parallel reality double, like vampire-Willow.
Bobboky: I live to entertain and surprise.