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Part III: Freedom Of Choice
Department of Homeland Security, Seattle, Washington. October 14th, 2004
In Diana's office, she and Tom were talking about Xander – and other things. "Just checked with the regional FBI office; there still hasn't been any sign of Alexander Harris, ever since we found those burned bodies along with that van. And how the hell something like that took place with no traces of accelerant, I'll never know..."
Baldwin was cynical enough to say, "So, even if he's still alive, what do you think the odds are that that kid's ever gonna surface again?"
Skouris shrugged. "God only knows..." She then went over to a computer monitor. "At any rate, Ryland's pulled us off of that case, now that the guy has started to turn into yesterday's news. That's part of why I wanted to show you this."
"What am I looking at?" Tom demanded, looking at the screen that had dots all over a map of the country.
"The red dots mark the spots where the American members of The 4400 originally lived-" Diana indicated the spread-out dots.
Tom corrected her, "You mean, the returnees."
She shook her head. "Not anymore, according to the press. It's The 4400. Now you have to admit, it's a bit strange. A nice, round number like that. I wonder if it has any significance..."
Baldwin asked, "So you're saying that if 3,781 people had suddenly shown up that night, it wouldn't have been as strange?"
Skouris hedged a little, "I'd say, slightly less strange. This however, is downright weird. Here's where The 4400 are right now, two weeks after their release."
A big clump of yellow-white dots could be seen in the heart of Washington state on the screen, as Tom said, "Sixty-five percent are still in Seattle."
Diana nodded. "They're just not going home, and none of them can come up with a good reason as to why."
Her partner asked, "You think it means something?"
The woman was sure of it. "In the CDC, we'd call this a statistically significant disease cluster. And before you mention it, like I said to you once before – I don't believe in coincidences..."
Tom just looked thoughtful. "So you think it's also linked to what went down with Harris, or not?"
Diana looked troubled at the concept. "I honestly don't know..."
Woodland Park, Seattle, Washington. The same time
Lily Moore was seated in the middle of the park, watching the children play. She felt terrible; a few days ago she'd learned that she was pregnant, even though the blonde woman hadn't been before she'd disappeared back in 1993. Plus, her daughter had no idea who she was, since her husband had gotten married to someone else while she'd been...away...
All of a sudden, a hand touched her shoulder, and she looked into a friend's face. "Richard!"
"Lily," the black man replied, as they hugged and spoke briefly before heading for a coffee shop. Then the white woman said, "So, have you heard anything new about Xander? He was all over the news, a few weeks ago..."
Tyler shook his head, having convinced himself by now that he'd definitely been seeing things that day. "Not a thing, poor guy. How's Cordelia taking it?"
"I don't know – I haven't been able to get through to her," Lily confessed. "The one time I talked to her mother on the phone, as soon as I mentioned that I was one of The 4400 – she instantly hung up..."
Richard shrugged. "Woman wants to protect her daughter from the freaky things in the world, guess it's understandable-"
Lily instantly burst into tears. "What did I say?" the former pilot asked in confusion.
"Oh, God, Richard. I'm pregnant!"
"You're having a baby? Are you sure?" Richard asked in shocked surprise.
Lily nodded. "I'm in my first trimester, I had the doctors do the test three times. But this whole thing is impossible! Brian had been out of town for weeks when I disappeared, and I haven't been with anyone since I've been back!"
Richard Tyler was now confused. "I don't understand. Then how did you..."
The former Mrs. Moore suddenly became apologetic. "I don't know. Look, I'm sorry to be dumping this on you. It's not really fair-"
Her companion said reassuringly, "It's okay, I wanna help."
Lily just stared at him strangely. "I know. There's some sort of connection between us, isn't there? I feel it..."
Richard slowly acknowledged it as well. "Yeah, I can feel it too. It's part of why I came back from St. Louis, there was nothing there for me anymore. But Lily, it's complicated...see, you know how I told you that I knew your grandmother back then? She and I – we weren't just friends, it was more than that. We were gonna start a family..."
Lily's eyes went wide, but she still said sympathetically, "It must have been so difficult for the two of you. A white woman and a black man, in the Fifties..."
Richard almost chuckled. "Black. Back then I was Negro, or coloured, or worse. But we didn't care. We figured, after the war, we'd just take off to some big city like Chicago, New York, Paris..."
The female returnee said sadly, "But you never made it home."
"No. I never did."
She took his hand. "I'm glad you found me."
Richard never hesitated. "Me too."
Cleveland, Ohio. The same time
Xander Harris stared around at his quarters, with what was approaching severe annoyance and frustration. He hated to admit it – but this place was starting to feel more like a prison, than a place of refuge and safety...
The returnee had been settled into the new Slayage HQ, which was an undercover school for girls. And what with the fuss over his very public kidnapping, Xander knew he had no other choice – not if he didn't want to answer some very awkward questions about what had happened from Homeland Security.
And if he wanted to avoid Wolfram & Hart's clutches too, of course...
With regards to the school, Harris still found it hard to believe that there were now thousands of Slayers in the world, thanks to Willow redistributing the Slayer essence with that darn scythe weapon last year. But hey; with all the other strange crap he'd encountered ever since arriving in the 21st century, that one didn't really rank up there on the old weird-o-meter.
At least, not at the moment.
What had really thrown the male teen for a loop though was the sense of alienation he now felt, because of how much everyone had changed while he'd been gone.
Well, okay, it was somewhat to be expected; people change, and children grow up. But they had changed and grown up without him. And from the stories that nerd Andrew had been telling lately, life on the Hellmouth had been anything but smooth during all those years...
The Mayor, that cyborg ADAM, the crazy hellgod Glory, the Trio of geeks, the First Evil...
Xander remembered that particular Big Bad; as well as Angel's crazed rants that something was haunting him at the mansion, back during 1998. Also, he remembered how Buffy had kicked its ass out of town that Christmas. And yet, it had come back, badder than ever...because Willow, Oz and two people he didn't know called Tara and Anya, had raised Buffy from the dead during 2001?
And what had happened afterwards during that year, Xander found even more impossible to believe. ( Buffy actually slept with SPIKE? She willingly bumped uglies with the soulless vampire that, along with Drusilla, happily tried to kill us all more than once? What the hell ever happened to Deadboy, the eternal undead love of her life? )
Oddly enough, nobody would give him a straight answer about that ensouled vampire, and what had happened – why he and Buffy had split up three months after he'd vanished, and why Angel was now considered a traitor to the cause. And Xander found it majorly ironic that where once he would have jumped up and down in glee over how everyone had finally jumped onto the "Angel is evil" bandwagon, now...
Now, he almost wished the black-clad bloodsucker would show up – and tell him what the hell had really happened to all his friends, ever since 1999.
All of a sudden the door to his room opened, and a tall, dark-haired man came in uninvited. "Buongiorno, Signor Harris," the man said with a strong Italian accent.
Just like on the plane, Xander took one look at the guy – and instantly knew that he was major trouble. "Who are you?"
"I am known as The Immortal," the guy replied, with a small bow of the head. "And I have been wanting to meet you for many days, now..."
"Why? You work for the Council?" Xander demanded, starting to back up.
"No, no," The Immortal said, with what he thought was a friendly grin. It only made Xander's stomach roil. "The charming Buffy Summers is, in fact, my beloved girlfriend, and I wished to meet with the man who once brought her back from the dead-"
The Immortal paused, noticing how Xander was still backing away from him. "Is there a problem?"
The returnee said simply, "Don't think you want to hear it..."
"Nonsense, my young friend! Tell me whatever it is you have to say."
Xander replied guardedly, "Fine, you asked for it. But there's something in your eyes...that reminds me of a soulless vampire I once met, called Angelus..."
The Immortal just stared at his companion, and then suddenly his entire demeanour appeared to change. He withdrew a sword from a hidden compartment in his coat and said in apparent sorrow, "My regrets, Alexander Harris..."
Before he tried to kill the male member of The 4400, as Xander started ducking madly. "Hey! Stop! Wh-why are you doing this?" Harris shouted.
"It is nothing personal, you understand, but you have to die. MY future depends on it, according to my oracles..."
And then, just like two weeks ago with Eve, something odd happened.
Just as The Immortal was about to deliver the killing blow, he suddenly seemed to freeze; and on instinct, without even thinking about it, Xander yanked the sword away from his hand and less than a second later – decapitated him with his own weapon.
Harris blinked, then looked down at the floor at the headless body, as he dropped the sword in horror. "Oh, dear God. What the-"
At that moment the Scoobies came in, and started demanding to know what had happened. Xander didn't know what to say, he just gestured numbly at the dead guy, "He came in, we talked, and then he tried to kill me...I, it, it was self-defense..."
Buffy got incensed at once over how Harris had killed her boyfriend, refusing to believe it. "BULL! Xander, don't you lie to me – tell me what really happened! Or I'll do to you what you just did to him, right now!"
Again, the returnee didn't think – he just reacted. As the rest of the world slowed down to nothing, Harris felt compelled to run for it; and all that the Scooby Gang saw was a Xander-shaped blur that instantly vanished out of the room, at super-speed.
Los Angeles, California. October 28th, 2004
fCordelia Chase was feeling very frustrated. She'd known that settling back into her old life would be difficult, but she hadn't been expecting THIS!
First off, there had been the big surprise that she now had a SISTER! Granted, her mother had given birth to her when she was only 19 years old, and so was still young enough to have another child...but to name the spoiled little 5-year-old 'Cordelia' as well?
That was HER name, damn it! What, did they just want another 'princess' to show off to their rich friends?
Then there had been those damned counselling sessions. The NTAC (National Threat Assessment Command) shrinks she had met with every week had asked endless questions about her relationship with her parents, but how the hell was that supposed to help her regain her crown of being Queen C at high school?
Okay, it may have been totally shallow of her, but that was what she'd set out to do after starting senior year again. Granted, it sucked that her fashion sense, taste in music and pop-cultural references were all six years out of date; but those were problems that she could easily deal with, in time...
What she found strangely hard to cope with was that this wasn't her old hometown; and the Chase name didn't automatically endow her with respect and popularity any longer. Here in LA, she was just another rich and pretty face in the crowd; and the meatheads from the Hemery High football team she'd dated were only after one thing, as far as she was concerned.
( And let's not forget those two NTAC agents, Baldwin and Skouris... ) They had constantly been hassling her; too; wanting to know if Xander had ever gotten into contact with the former May Queen, during the past month or so.
When she'd heard about his kidnapping on the news after they'd touched down at LAX, Ms. Chase had been frantic with worry; later, she had even tried to get in touch with the old Scooby Gang, and see if they could help find her ex. But they were untraceable, and so Cordelia had finally given up on that route.
Eventually, her parents had calmed her down and told her that everything what could be done for that boy, would be done. But now, Cordelia had started to wonder. It seemed like everyone had simply forgotten about her former boyfriend over the last four weeks, and she didn't like that...
Because, even though she'd gotten pissed with Xander before they'd split up, the young woman had to admit to herself that Lily had been right all along; she still cared a great deal about him.
As Cordy arrived home, she found a mess in the house. ( Typical, ) she thought sourly of her new sibling. ( God, I hope I wasn't ever such a little- )
But then her feet slid out from under her, as the teenager entered the kitchen; and Cordelia fell flat on her ass, the cold water on the floor staring to soak into her expensive designer jeans. "NO, GOD DAMN IT!"
The female returnee then heard childish laughter, as she saw little CC pointing and laughing at her. "YOU LITTLE BRAT!" Cordy suddenly screamed, completely losing her temper.
She got up and grabbed the young child by the shoulders, and started to shake her. "I've just about had it with you-"
Suddenly though, the younger Cordelia started to scream. And it wasn't a trick; the little kid was definitely in pain...
The older Cordelia let go and moved back, in confusion. ( What's wrong with her? )
Mr. and Mrs. Chase suddenly came into the room, also having heard the screams. "What's going on here?" the man demanded.
"She hurt me! I'm cold, she hurt me!" the prepubescent child hollered, glaring at her big sister.
"I did not! Okay, I got a little angry at the trick she just played and shook her a little, but I never hurt her!" Ms. Chase said at once.
Her mother instantly went to examine her secondborn, and discovered the nasty-looking cold burn marks on little Cordelia's shoulders. "What did you do?" the blonde woman shouted out to her oldest child at once.
"Nothing!" Cordy passionately replied at once. "Why won't you believe me? Mom-"
"Stay away from her!" Mrs. Chase shouted with a glare, overreacting and wrapping her arms around her little girl.
Mr. Chase grabbed his older offspring by the arm, and took her into his study. He closed the door and then turned to face his daughter, "Cordelia, we need to talk..."
"But Daddy, I didn't DO anything!"
"I'm not so sure," the dark-haired man said seriously. "There have been rumours lately of you 4400 people having strange powers-"
"WHAT?" Cordelia demanded, reminded of the old days in Sunnydale at once. And no way she ever wanted to be classified as one of the freaks! "Dad, come on, I'm still the same old me that I ever was!"
"Well, I'd say the fact that you've been obsessing over that Xander Harris boy lately definitely indicates otherwise! You may as well forget about him, Cordelia, he's gone," Mr. Chase almost snorted in contempt.
Suddenly, everything seemed to go out of kilter in Cordelia Chase's world. She said very slowly, "Daddy...when we were in Quarantine, Xander got pissed one day and told me that you and Mom hired a crooked cop to prove that he killed me...or kidnapped me or whatever. I mean, he DID lie to me about that...didn't he?"
Her father hesitated for less than a moment, but it was enough. "Well, of course-"
"No he didn't," Cordelia said in growing horror. "Oh my God, Dad, you – you two were willing to send someone to jail, for something that they didn't even do-?"
"Well, at the time, we were SURE that the little asshole had done something! I don't know what the hell you ever saw in him, anyway; he was the no-good son of the town drunk-" the middle-aged man shouted out, the bottled-up annoyance from the days finally coming out.
"And yet, he's never lied to me; you're the one who's done that. On account of you haven't even lifted a finger to try to help him ever since Xander got kidnapped that day, have you?" Cordelia said with a sense of dreadful calm, which caused her old man to look at her in consternation. "Not to mention that you don't even know him at all, do you? There's just – all your preconceived ideas, because of what the Harris family was like back then."
She shook her head slowly, "Daddy, I learned this much over the last few months – there's a word for people with that sort of attitude, and it's called 'bigot'..."
Unfortunately, that was the final straw. Seething, Mr. Chase withdrew a couple of credit cards from his wallet; he then put them in Cordy's hand and told her bluntly, "Go to your room, and pack your things. I want you out of this house, by morning-"
"Oh, so you're actually kicking me out? Well, well. Bet that's not going to look too good for you and Mom at the yacht club, is it?" Cordelia said sardonically, suddenly wondering why she was acting like this.
Maybe it was anger, or shame. Maybe it was from being 'programmed' by those who had taken the returnees. Or maybe it was the sense of alienation and displacement that all 4400's experienced, to some extent or another...
"Let's get something straight right now, young lady; you're still a minor and therefore part of this family, until you're 18 years old. That hasn't changed. But you can't stay here any longer, because you're obviously not my little girl anymore-"
"Why, because you think the aliens or whoever brainwashed me? Or is it because I actually have a brain, and I can think for myself? That's the problem with you and Mom, Dad; you don't understand me at all. Even back before I disappeared, six years ago! But I understand you now, all too well. So you two don't need to worry, I'm outta here! I'm going back to Seattle, and do what I should have done right from day one – try to find Xander myself..."
So saying, Cordelia Chase marched to her room, changed out of her wet clothes, packed her essentials into a suitcase and quickly drove off in the family's BMW.
Her mother came to find her father afterwards, "Carlton, where's Cordelia? I, I guess I should apologize, for screaming at her like that-"
"She's gone, Catherine," Mr. Chase replied morosely, now wondering if he truly had made a horrible mistake driving his daughter away like that. "She packed her things, and left. And I doubt she'll be back, anytime soon."
"What? Why?" his better half demanded.
"I not only told her to leave after losing my temper, she...she knows now about what happened with Detective Stein back then," Mr. Chase replied with a sigh.
Mrs. Chase paled at past mistakes. "Oh dear God..." Then she thought angrily to herself, ( DAMN YOU, Xander Harris! This is all your fault somehow, you little punk! )
Suddenly, the two of them noticed what the reporter on TV was saying, as Mr. Chase quickly raised the volume. "Police aren't saying who released this closely-guarded secret – a document containing the names and addresses of all The 4400 has appeared on the Internet, and is now posted on more than 20 sites. Authorities won't confirm the leak but efforts to shut down the sites, with an emergency injunction, suggest the list is genuine. We'll have more on this breaking story as it develops..."
Carlton Chase looked at his wife, as he got up to call security. "Well, that's just great. I bet now we'll have a bunch of weirdos hanging around outside the front gates, for days!"
Spokane, Washington. Mid-November, 2004
Xander Harris ran across the road that night, keeping an eye on his target at all times.
It hadn't been all that hard for him to get out of Cleveland, a few weeks ago; he'd gone underground, the moment he'd left the school. And since the city was now the home of the new Hellmouth, the local humans were already getting into the habit of repressing whatever couldn't fit into their normal world-view.
Which definitely included Xander's uncanny imitation of 'The Flash'...
Well, anyway. More than a little curious about his new power, or gift, or whatever the hell you wanted to call it – as soon as he'd gotten out of town, the boy had experimented with what he could now do; but quickly found that he had to use his ability sparingly, as it drained Xander's energy reserves a great deal.
Which made perfect sense, of course. The 4400 weren't endowed with the Slayer essence or anything like that; they were mere mortals, and their bodies had to pay the price eventually for the use of their...enhancements.
Unable to understand it, but drawn back to Washington like a moth to a flame – just like the other 65 percent of his kind – Xander had gotten this far by staying underneath the radar. And he'd had to be careful, as the teenager had no intention of meeting up with Homeland Security, Wolfram & Hart OR the Watchers in the foreseeable future.
In any case, since Harris was just passing through town, he'd been minding his own business...until he'd seen someone he knew.
A vampire someone, that is.
The bloodsucker had now disappeared into a dark alley, as they all seemed to do at some point or another; and, his hand grasping a stake, Xander quietly made his way along the filthy passageway. ( Okay, be cool. Be calm. You can do this, just pretend you're a Vulcan! Be Mr. Spock, Sarek, Tuvok, hell – even that hot babe you saw on TV, back in Cleveland... )
And then the male teen saw his prey again.
Drusilla.
Mad childe of Angelus, the soulless version of Angel, it had been six years since he'd last seen her – but Xander did not feel at all sad about this fact. And seeing what she was doing to her victim, after having fed and killed him...
The British vampiress was carving deep, bloody furrows and trenches on the cheeks and forehead of her male victim with her claws, and all the while with a nutty smile on her face. This made Xander bolster his resolve to do what he had to, as well as wince with a combination of disgust and horror.
( Loony bitch must have decided she wanted to draw pretty lines... ) "Hello, Drusilla."
The insane undead whirled around, and the moment she locked eyes with Xander – she started to scream, "NO! NO! YOU? You can't be here!"
Dru instantly charged at her nemesis with vampire speed, but she had badly miscalculated in thinking Harris was just another Happy Meal on legs nowadays. Moving so fast that, in comparison, it made the female vamp look like she was in slow-motion, Xander stepped out of the way and threw her against the wall of the alley.
Again, moving too fast for the naked eye to follow, Xander then thrust two stakes through the stunned Drusilla's palms, effectively pinning her against the wall. As he slowed down to a halt, the former Scooby held a third stake against her chest and whispered, "Don't scream. Or it'll be the last thing you ever do!"
Oddly enough, Dru decided to obey. Staring at her captor's eyes, she then said in her London accent, "You're my kitten, you are, but you can't be 'ere! The moon and the stars, they told me you were dead, dead in Africa..."
"Well, sorry to disappoint Dru. No, actually, I'm really not! Now, let's get something clear; the only reason I didn't stake you immediately, is 'cause I wanted to ask you some questions. And I want nothing but non-cryptic answers, you understand, or else Mr. Pointy here is gonna make you fit inside of a dust buster! You got that, or do you need some sort of object lesson on how nasty I can make this for you?"
Drusilla just shook her head. Xander went on, "Good. Now, first off, where's Deadboy these days? 'Cause I got some questions to ask good ol' Angel, about what's happened ever since I've been gone-"
"Lost, lost he is! Daddy isn't Daddy no more, the Angel-beast has forever taken his place," the mad vampire interrupted, a gleam of anger and insanity in her eyes. Then she locked eyes with Harris again in surprise, "And you're gonna be a daddy too one day, aren't you, kitten? My, the stars say such delicious things about your darling little boy! I bet his big blue eyes, they'll taste just like onions..."
( Oh, shit, not that again! ) Xander had done his best to ignore what Eve and the Scooby Gang had spoken to him about that first day out of Quarantine, since he and prophecy were not on good terms. After all, Harris was a firm believer in the old saying from the Terminator movies, 'The future is not set. There is no fate but that which we make for ourselves'.
And hearing the 144-year-old creature mention this now, Xander decided to shut her down at once, definitely not wanting to know. "Funny thing, Dru – but I'm not gonna let whatever some guy wrote down in a musty old scroll way back when, dictate my future. So shut up about that, because I refuse to be Prophecy's butt-monkey like Buffy and Angel! I make my own decisions-"
"But kitten, you should know who's going to be his mummy-"
Without warning Xander plunged the stake in, just above her heart, before yanking it out again as Drusilla yelped in pain. "I hope you don't mind the prospect of roasting in Hell, because let me warn you, the next time – I won't miss! Don't try it again, Drusilla – I'm REALLY not in the mood!" he hissed at her.
The brunette woman just stared at Xander, for several moments. "The stars say you honestly mean it, too..."
Harris relaxed and backed off a little. "Fine. Now getting back to the Q and A, what about Spike? Anything you'd care to share with the class?"
"Oh, kitten, my poor precious Spoike...he's lost too, now, he is; and he lost his 'eart to that nasty Slayer, so long ago..." Drusilla started to whine.
Somewhat oddly, Xander smiled. "Yeah, I've heard the stories ever since I came back. So what hurts you the most, Dru – the fact that Spike chose Buffy over you that night, or that he finally wised up to what a high-maintenance fruitcake you really are?"
Unable to help herself, Drusilla vamped out and snarled – starting to tear loose of the stakes holding her immobile. But again, far faster than she could follow, Xander's body blurred into motion – and a pile of dust quickly settled onto the dirty ground of the alley, as one of the worst crimes Angelus had ever committed was finally erased from existence.
"Just so you know – that was for Kendra six years ago, you undead psycho," Xander said in satisfaction, before hearing a police siren in the distance and deciding to get the hell outta Dodge.
TBC...