FIC: A New World (18?)
"Sir!" Agent F hurried into the briefing room that served as his leader's inner sanctum. "Our men on the ground have reported Agent W has been snatched."
"Excellent," his boss nodded. "And the homing device?"
"Working to specification, sir. We've tracked them to their base." He paused for a second, but after a nervous lick of his lips continued. "Shall we storm them?"
"And risk a humungous body count or worse still, that Martin slapper escaping?" the elderly man shook his head. "I think not."
"But Agent W-."
"It's too late for what Agent W knows to make any difference. He doesn't know who I am or where this base is."
"Yes sir. What's the plan?"
"The plan is we watch and wait until Miss. Martin leaves the base without any of the other super-powered beings and snatch her." The Englishman paused. "And the vampire?"
Agent F couldn't help but shudder. "The behaviour modification chip has been fitted." Even Faith didn't deserve this.
"Excellent!" his leader's lips parted in a death's head smile. "That Martin bitch will serve as an object lesson. Before she dies screaming."
Andrew groaned as he awoke. His heart stilled when he forced his eyes open to see Mr. Giles, Angel, Faith, and the others surrounding him. "I won't talk, like Leia in 'A New –."
"Everyone," he swallowed at Giles' cold eyes and hard tone. "Get out."
Angel shook his head. "Giles-."
"Get out of here!" Giles growled at the vampire. After a second the demon shrugged and led the others out.
Xander looked at Faith. Noting how intensely the Slayer was staring at the room where G-Man was currently interrogating Andrew, he tentatively took a hold of her elbow. The Slayer started slightly at his touch before turning to him. "Hey, X," she greeted before turning back to the door.
"I'm going shopping," he said "wanna come with?"
Faith shook her head. "Nah, I'll stay here thanks, see what Wells gives up."
"No," he took a firmer grip on the Slayer's arm. "You need some time off, all we've been doing the past week is running and fighting."
Faith scowled. "X, I'm a Slayer, that's what I'm built for. I'm staying."
"Faith, I'm your Watcher and I'm saying you need to relax for a couple of hours. Besides you can't let your poor helpless Watcher go out on his lonesome."
Faith shook her head. "That's a pathetic -."
"He's right," Xander was surprised by Angel's sudden appearance at the other side of Faith and his agreement. "You could do with some time off."
Faith capitulated in the face of their unholy alliance. "Fine," she groused.
"You want to come Dawn?"
Dawn leaned towards Connor and whispered. After a second the last remaining Summers turned to them and shook her head. "I'm going to go out with Connor, and the others."
"Okay," Xander nodded. "Be careful."
"I'll stay here with Illyria in case there's trouble," Angel volunteered.
"From Andrew?" Xander raised an eyebrow. "I know G-Man's getting on-."
The vampire sighed long-sufferingly. "From his employers, Xander," Angel explained.
"Oh right, 'course."
"Hey!" Faith interrupted, "No way I'm going shopping if there's a chance we might get visitors."
"We can't all be on standby all the time." Angel quickly responded. "If we burn ourselves out, then they've definitely won. We need to be smart about this, I promise you'll be on the next watch."
"Fine." Faith snorted before quickly storming out of the room.
Andrew swallowed as he watched the sombre-faced Englishman watching him. Try as he might, he couldn't escape the ropes securing him to the chair. Those books proclaiming they had the tricks of Houdini were all lies. Suddenly the Englishman turned away, Andrew exhaled in relief, the Watcher had been unable to withstand his stare of righteousness.
He tensed as the Englishman turned back to him, holding a thick, hard-backed dictionary. He was surprised when the middle-aged man began leafing through the book. "After you killed Jonathan, tried to kill us all, we gave you another chance," the Council head shook his head. "We gave you a chance, do you know what we gave you a chance for?" Andrew opened his mouth to reply only to scream when his captor brought the spine of the book down across the bridge of his nose, breaking it. "Redemption."
Even as he tried to blink away tears and breathe through the blood filling his mouth and nose, the Englishman continued to talk, his tone as calm as if discussing the weather. "Do you know what held Buffy, Willow, Xander, and I together all those years?" The Watcher brought the book down hard on his right hand, his scream drowned out by the breaking of two knuckles. "Loyalty, another word you have little concept of."
"P..please," he gasped.
"Oh do be quiet Andrew," the middle-aged man reproved. "Stiff upper lip, that sort of thing. Or try this," Andrew's head snapped to one side when Giles drove the book into his face, knocking his head to one side and teeth flying. "Have some courage, that's another word you should look up."
"I'll talk," he begged, his words muffled by virtue of his head being slumped into his shoulders.
"Oh no," he screamed when the Englishman yanked his head up by his hair. "Not yet, I'm having too much fun. You're an outlet for my anger."
He gasped and struggled for air when the Watcher slammed the book into his throat. "Do you know what I see this as? Retribution." The Englishman sighed. "But if you want to talk. I suppose I'll listen." He quickly babbled out everything he could think of before falling silent. His eyes widened when the Watcher drew a gun. "Here's hoping god gives you something I never will. Forgiveness." He screamed as the Englishman pulled the trigger.
"Beta two to Beta?"
Agent F snatched his radio off the desk the moment it crackled into life. "Beta, here. Proceed."
"The target has left the building."
"Alone?" Agent F queried.
"Accompanied by Harris."
Agent F took a breath. Xander had chosen his side, unfortunately it was the wrong one. "Take her when you can. Collateral damage is acceptable, but do not hurt Martin."
"You brought me to a fucking comic book store?" Xander winced at her screech. "I thought we were meant to be having fun? And will you tell those guys to stop freakin' staring?" even by her usual standards it was a little unnerving, the shop's employees had turned into zombies when she'd walked through the shop door.
"Last time they saw a woman like you was on a Vallejo cover."
"Say what?" The words seemed to be English but as far as she was concerned, X was talking gibberish. Her eyes widened when Xander passed her a colourful calendar, its cover having a buxom, raven-haired amazon clad in the skimpiest of bikinis facing off against a snarling, shaggy-haired ape. "Nice," she approved. "But still, a comic book store?"
"I read comic books to relax," Xander explained. "And as my Slayer, you get to study with me. And part of your studies pawdan involves carrying the comics for me."
"Pawdan?"
"It's jedi for student, apprentice." Faith groaned. Oh yeah, taking Harris as her Watcher, big fuckin' mistake. Xander crouched by the shelf marked as 'Marvel' and began leafing through the magazines. "Oh great, they've got 'em all, 'Captain America', 'Daredevil', 'Hulk, 'Iron Man', 'Namor'" Faith felt her cool factor dropping by the foot as Xander piled comic after comic into her arms, "'Spidey', 'Silver Surfer', 'Wolverine', 'X-Men', oh, uh," she grunted as her Watcher dropped a heavy book into her arms, "Handbook to Marvel Universe', what every beginner needs."
"Xander," Faith groaned. Right now she was regretting not strangling him in her hotel room.
"Uh miss?"
Faith sighed as she turned to face her questioner, a pimply faced geek with inch thick glasses and drool rolling down his chin stood behind the counter. "Yeah, my friends and I were wondering…"
"What?"
"Uh," the youth coughed when elbowed in the ribs by one of his fellow comic book nerds. "We was wondering with all the leather," the boy's voice trailed off. She arched an impatient eyebrow. "Do you wear leather underwear too?"
"Hey!"
Faith waved a glaring Xander to silence. "I'll answer on one condition," Faith glanced at the stuff in her arms. "All this, for free."
"Deal!" snapped the fat one of the three nerds, kinda looked like Comic Book Guy off 'the Simpsons'. Faith smirked to herself, sometimes life did imitate art.
"I don't wear any." Faith grinned as the counter clerk fainted. "Yeah, still got it."
Xander gaped at his sultry companion as they exited the comic book store. "I can't believe you did that!"
"Hey," Faith winked at him. "Saved ya eighty bucks didn't I?" The brunette bumped him with an undeniably shapely hip. "And weren't you kinda curious too?"
Xander coughed. "I already knew, remember?"
"A girl can change," Faith chuckled.
"Not that girl, not that much." Xander winced at the pain that flickered across the Bostonian's face. "Shit Faith, I didn't mean it -."
"It's cool X," Faith started walking at a pace that he couldn't keep up with. "Best be heading back, right?" she called after him. "See what G got from Wells?"
"Faith!" Xander picked up the pace, shaking his head as he ran. Damn it, she was so darn touchy. "Wait up!"
Suddenly the store front to his left exploded, showering him with glass and flinging him into the shop to the right, his head smashing into its gleaming front before flinging him to the ground.
"Why did he have to say that?" Faith muttered as she hurried through the mall. They'd been having a good time, a joke, and then suddenly he'd had to throw the past in her face. Her chest tightened as she realised Xander would never see her as 'one of his girls', he'd always be a little on guar -.
She spun around at the sound of an explosion, her mouth dried as she saw Xander thrown across the mall. Her heart tightening still further, she dropped Xander's purchases and sprinted towards her Watcher.
Some instinct warned her to look up. Her eyes widened at the sight of three men carrying tranquiliser guns on the above walkway. Muscles straining, she spun out of the way of the first dart, caught and threw back the second, and then was hit by two shots from behind. "No," vision blurring she stepped towards Xander.
And then her legs gave way and she knew nothing.
Angel leapt to his feet at the sound of a gun cocking. Moving with an inhuman speed, he kicked the room's door open and charged in. As he entered he saw Andrew's head explode like an over-ripe melon, splattering the blood on the wall behind. "Giles!" Angel roared. "You shouldn't have done it!"
"Why not," Giles' face was lined and haggard, showing his age and more. "He's the third man I've killed, and I've been sending youngsters to face death for years. More than that," Angel gulped instinctively at the almost demonic coldness that flickered in the Watcher's eyes, "I wanted to do it."
"But -."
"He didn't know anything much at all," Giles continued over him. "We've hit a dead end."
"You guys have bigger problems."
