Brothers in Arms
Disclaimer: own nothing you recognize.
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James and Remy sat in the bushes outside City Hall, waiting for the right time. They were both dressed in black gear with their faces painted black and were armed with stakes, knives, and each a silenced pistol.
"The fire ladder on the east side of the building," Bond went over the plan again, "Will lead us up to the roof where there's a skylight that leads into the conference room. We sneak in through there, then make our way to the Deputy Mayor's office."
"Why not the Mayor's," Gambit asked.
"Because, we don't have a clue what he is," James reminded his friend, "Whereas, Finch is most certainly human. You pick the lock, then lock it for us once we're inside. From what the satellite got, there's a copier inside the room we can use."
"Spy satellite," the thief asked with a smile.
"Pays to be one," Bond said with a grin, "I'll hand them to you, you copy them, and I'll put them back. After that, we escape out his window."
"Works for me," Gambit said, "When do we move in?"
"During the next guard shift," he answered, "They'll be starting in about…twelve minutes."
"Great, more waiting."
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Xander and Kate stood in the rafters above the first floor of the Bronze, staring down into the crowd that was slowly circulating around the two Slayers. They were dancing like some of the strippers had in the Titty Twister, putting some of them to shame even, as far as Kate was concerned.
The 'Zeppo' turned his attention to the other figure watching them. Angel was standing off the floor, nearly underneath them, looking on in deep concern. He sympathized with the undead bastard, he knew how it felt. The only deference was, Deadboy didn't deserve it. He had, and Cordelia knew it. It must feel a whole lot worse. Sighing, he looked back at the two Slayers and saw Buffy extricate herself from the crowd and run over to Angel.
"Perky, isn't she," Kate muttered as she leapt up into the air and into Angel's arms.
"Only with Faith and Angel," he muttered, "Time?"
"Shift changed…just now," the demon huntress answered as she stared at her watch.
"Good luck to them," he said, "Would you like to dance?"
"Why, yes," she said with a smile, "I would."
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"Go," James whispered over to Remy.
The two leapt up and ran across the pavement as fast as they could and hit the wall of the building within five seconds. They paused momentarily to insure that they hadn't been seen and, upon confirming their status as 'unseen,' they moved silently along the wall until they came to the fire ladder. Remy reached up, being the taller of the two, and pulled down the ladder easily. He held it for a second and allowed the agent the right to climb up first. Bond nodded and placed his foot along the first bar, then began to pulled himself up. A few seconds later, he could feel Gambit come up behind him.
As he reached the roof, he pulled himself over the wall and came to his feet. He checked quickly to make sure that it was clear, pulling out his pistol as he did so. Once he was certain, he went back to help his friend up.
"So far, so good," Remy muttered as he came over the wall.
James kept silent, not wanting to curse them. He moved on quickly and came to the window. He pocketed his weapon and used both hands to unlatch the pane. Remy got up behind it and made sure that it made no noise as it came down. Once he was certain it was ready, he pulled out a fishing wire and wrapped it around the frontal bar.
Bond reached into his gear and pulled out a small pistol. He activated the laser sight on it and aimed it at the wall. He moved it slowly along the wood until he saw the laser turn green, then took a slow breath to steady his hand. As he let it out, he fired and prayed no one would hear. He needn't have worried, though. The small grappling hook silently imbedded itself into the stud behind the wall, as it had been designed to do. He moved quickly and hit the pulling system that kept the wire taught, then attached it to the ledge of the window. He pulled on it several times to insure it was safe, then reached back into his gear. He pulled out two small bars and attached one to the wire, made sure it was secure, then tossed the other over to Remy. He nodded once to make sure the thief was ready and, upon his responding nod, the spy drew in a slow breath, got up along the pane, and leapt into the room.
He felt his body pull over to the left as his weight automatically centered itself. He let go of the bar almost instantly and landed on the floor in silence. He looked up as he heard something hit the floor and smiled in satisfaction as he realized that the bar had snapped off the line the second it had felt the pull of his body disappear. Another success from Q-Branch. He looked up and ducked down as Remy let go of his own bar and landed on the floor, as silent as the spy had been.
Bond went over to the grappling hook and stroked the wall around it until he heard a click and saw the hook come in on itself, freeing it from its place. He grabbed it before it could snap back to the pistol itself and held it tight to keep the weapon in place. He looked over to Remy, who was holding his wire with a steady hand, waiting for affirmation. The spy nodded and Gambit pulled down on the wire, going backwards as he did so, and the two looked up to see the window come back down. It would have slammed down against the pane, had it not been for the wire. James slowly moved towards the window and leapt up onto the table, then steadily allowed the wire to come further to the pistol he had used. He stretched out as far as he could, then jumped up as high as he could. He felt his hand touch the wall just below the window and let go of the wire, allowing it to stay positioned inside the window.
"Think anyone will notice," Remy whispered his question as James straightened himself.
"Doubtful," Bond answered in a hushed voice, "Leave it there. If we come into a situation and can't use the window at Finch's office, then this'll be our alternate route."
Gambit nodded in understanding and the two quickly gathered the bars that had been dropped onto the floor and made for the door. They each put their ears up against it to see if they could hear anything. Bond raised three fingers to Remy and the thief gripped the door handle, waiting for the right moment. The spy, as he pulled one finger back to his hand, reached into his gear and withdrew his silenced weapon. He pulled another finger down and waited an extra second, then pulled the final one down. Remy jerked the door open and allowed James to go first. He moved out of the room quickly and scanned the area, his pistol always aimed in front of him, then nodded to Gambit to let him know it was good.
The thief moved out of the room and closed the door behind him. He turned his head both ways to make sure no one could catch them by surprise, then turned down the hallway and silently approached the office. He could sense more than hear his friend behind him and smiled underneath his black mask of paint. It was good to know someone had your back.
Upon seeing the door marked 'Allan Finch, Deputy Mayor,' he came down to his knee and gently twisted the knob to see if it was unlocked. It wasn't, confirming that Finch was not working late. He reached into his gear and pulled out one of the best tools to the streetwise thief: a paper clip. The door was open in under ten seconds. Gambit came to his feet and opened the door, went inside, and got behind it. Bond kept his pistol up as he entered the room and, once he was completely inside, Remy closed the door and relocked it.
"I'll take the filing cabinets, you take the desk," Bond whispered.
Remy nodded and began to go through the files.
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Xander moved his body to the beat as best as he could. Unfortunately for him, he had little to no sense of rhythm. The only reason why he could recognize the beat and the motion was because of his soldier memories. Dance and drill, thankfully, shared a lot of attributes. He swayed more and more, focusing on his hips in his motions, and looked up. Kate was mirroring his dance in a basic movement, informing him that she could dance about as well as he could…literally. He smiled and decided to go a little crazy.
He began to move his arms inanely, wondering how far he could carry this. She, of course, followed him, believing that it was part of the dance. He flipped his leg out in something resembling the Hokey Pokey and was still astonished that she hadn't guessed it yet. So, he decided to go above and beyond. He flipped his arm over his head and performed the Vulcan hand sign. And, he swore to God, she was about to do the very same thing before she realized it.
"You're being stupid, aren't you," she asked with a smile.
"No," he lied, wiggling his eyebrows, "I'm just moving with the beat."
"Some beat," she giggled.
He was about to say something when he noticed a very…odd thing. Wesley was walking towards them, a look of confusion on his face. He could tell, however, that it was more for show.
"Hey, Wes," he greeted the young Watcher with a grin, "What's up?"
"Why did you just do the Vulcan sign out there," the Englishman asked.
That explained the confusion.
"I'm an idiot," Xander said, "Let's get off the dance floor, huh? I think some people are beginning to want it back."
Wesley took a quick look around and found that his young friend's assessment wasn't that far off. He quickly turned around and walked back to where he had been basically ignored by Buffy and Angel. He took a quick look behind him and saw Buffy and Faith walk out the Bronze, immediately thankful that neither had noticed his young friend. He turned to Xander and was about to begin talking when he noticed a pretty brunette girl sitting down beside him.
"Ugh, hello," Wesley greeted, "My name is Wesley Wyndam-Pryce."
"Kate," she introduced herself.
"She's with me," Xander stated, "She's been fighting vamps longer than Buffy."
He nodded in understanding and took a seat across from the young man and woman.
"Angel came here to speak with Buffy," he stated and, though he could tell from their faces that they were already aware of this fact, neither did anything to interrupt him, "He informed her that Balthazar was in a warehouse on Devereau. She and Faith just left to get there."
"Good," Xander muttered, "My two friends are out getting the info. They should be finishing up soon."
"Excuse me, Xander," the Englishman politely interrupted, "But, I thought you were working alone."
"And I meant for you to think that, that is, until I was certain I could trust you. When you didn't automatically hand me over to Buffy, that won you a lot of trust. Then, you just finished informing me of this. You've earned all my trust."
"T-thank you," Wesley was utterly speechless; he had never had someone tell him, at least not in Sunnydale, that they trusted him. It was a grand moment of clarification for him, the beginning of his life in this great world. This boy and his friends had something that few young people ever did: purpose. He would not betray that purpose and vowed to help both him and his charges. If, however, the conflict came between Xander and his Slayers then…well, it all depended on what the conflict itself was about.
"We're going to follow them," his young friend stated, "You get back to the library and be ready. We'll fax you what we find and, if you would, please look up the information."
He nodded and stood up, shook Xander's hand, and bowed respectfully to Kate, as his British mentality required. He walked away, wondering what would happen next.
"Come on," Kate said suddenly, "They just finished up. We can use the payphone and give them the library fax number…you do have it, don't you?"
"I do," he answered, "I just hope they have a fax machine at hand."
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"That's it," Bond muttered, "Two copies of everything, tucked away between the two of us. If one of us gets caught, then the other will have the same thing."
Before he could continue, he felt something vibrate in his gear. He reached into his vest and pulled out his cell phone.
"Bond," he whispered.
"Jimbo," Xander greeted him, "You done?"
"Just need to leave," he confirmed.
"Do you have a fax machine on hand?"
"Yeah," he took a brief look around the office as he said this and his eyes immediately caught sight of the needed item, "You want me to fax the papers?"
"I'm sending you a number," his friend answered over the line, "Send it there marked for Wesley Wyndam-Pryce."
Bond nodded at the British name and typed the sequence of numbers into the machine, then loaded in the required pages.
"And, they're sent," he whispered.
"How long will it take?"
"About…seven minutes."
"Good. When you're done, meet us over on Devereau, near a warehouse grouping."
"See you then," the agent hung up.
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Xander and Kate moved quickly down the street, thankful that they had decided to not take the camper with them. It would draw way too much attention if it were traveling down a rank street like this.
"What was that," he asked suddenly.
Kate said nothing but he could tell she had heard it as well. The sound of breaking glass. The two quickened their pace, wondering if there was a fight to be fought up ahead. They came to a corner and Kate got in front of him, holding up a hand to stop his movements. She slid along the wall and waited. He pressed himself to the wall beside her, wondering what she had heard. He knew the second he heard the gunshot.
Kate poked her head out from behind the wall and looked to see what it was.
"Squad car," she said to him, "Looks like someone tried to break into a shop."
"Switch," he muttered.
Kate backed up a little and Xander went around her. He leaned against the wall and slowly leaned forward so he could see what was happening. About a minute later, two police officers came out of the store, with two extremely familiar looking women in toe.
"Damn it," he muttered, "They got Faith and Buffy."
"Xander," Kate poked him in the back and motioned behind her, where a black SUV had just pulled in.
He said nothing, but ran as fast as he could to the vehicle. Kate followed him as best as she could, though he was easily outpacing her.
"Hey," James greeted them as they came to the vehicle, "What's wrong?"
"Drive," Xander ordered as the two climbed aboard, "Cop car, got Buffy and Faith."
James nodded and turned down the alleyway. He drove slowly, so as to not look suspicious, and came out to the street just as the two officers were beginning to travel up it.
"Hey," one of the cops called, "Move out of the way."
James smiled and reached into his gear, then withdrew a silenced pistol, along with what looked to be some kind of ID card.
"Stand down," he ordered the two before they could reach for their weapons and he tossed the card into their window, "MI6, British Secret Service. These two are going to be released into my custody."
For a moment, the two looked like they were going to fight it but, then they recalled how much fun it had been to take them in and imagined how much more fun it would be to get them through the system.
"They're yours," the driver said.
Bond smiled and motioned for the passenger side cop to get out. He did so and walked to the back seat. Bond kept his weapon trailed on the two so they wouldn't try anything stupid.
"Oh, by the way," he started saying, "Underneath the Official Secrecies Act, you are bound to not report this incident to anyone. This never happened. Understand, gentlemen?"
The officer stepped back to allow Buffy and Faith room to leave and nodded. The driver nodded as well. Bond smiled and motioned for the two to get inside the car. They hesitated for a moment, still rubbing their now-free wrists, but eventually began to move. The dark haired one called Faith looked as though she were about to say something but, forgot what it was once she got a good look at him. He walked over to the back door and opened it up for them. They climbed inside the back as best as they could and he closed the door as Buffy pulled her leg inside.
"Goodnight, officers," he said to the two men, "And I'll be taking my card back, please?"