Seeing him lunge at her, she reacted on instinct and pulled the trigger. Truth be told she was surprised. She didn't think he was a danger to her, but she had to be careful. She was well aware, in her line of work, nothing was ever as it seemed. When he came straight at her it was a real shock. The fact that he made a move at her was shocking enough, but with the speed he was moving, it seemed almost inhuman. She was even more shocked when the bullet struck him in the shoulder and he kept moving forward. The man pushed her down and to the side when she heard something that distinctly resembled gunfire. She twisted on the ground and looked on in horror to see the man she had just fired upon, on the ground clutching his stomach with at least four bullets center mass. It wan only the years of training Agent Sydney Bristow had undergone that kept her alive in the moments to follow. She shifter her position on the ground, rolling along the pavement, and brought her gun, drawing a bead on the shooter and caressed the trigger. Her shot was true to aim, and the bullet was placed right in between his eyes.

As quickly as she could she went over to the man who had saved her, not once but twice today. One look and she new he wasn't going to be making it. Tears started to form in her eyes. 'It should be me, not him, ME!' In the distance she could hear muffled footsteps of people running towards the scene. She looked in its general direction and saw more Covenant operatives coming from a hanger in the distance. She knew she had to get to her extraction point, but she didn't want to leave him, he was still alive.

Somehow, Xander's sense of danger was still present in his mind. He forced the pain to subside to a point where it was bearable. In the distance, through bleary eyes he saw more men coming in there direction. Even though he could feel the life draining out of him, and it was getting hard to breath, he marshaled up more will power. Looking straight at the woman kneeling over him he whispered, "Run." Seeing that she made no movement, he pulled all of his reserves, drew a deep breath and shouted with all of the force he had remaining, 'RRRUUUNNN" He slumped further to the ground, with all of his energy spent. He could feel her shift, and heard the sound of her running off. Shortly after, he heard the sound of several feet running after her in pursuit, not paying any attention to him. His last thought before dying was of the ones he was leaving behind. Dawn, Willow, Buffy, Giles...and the rest of the Sunnydale crew. Even Cordelia, Angel and the rest of the Fang Gang in LA. And now, especially Phoebe and the rest of the Halliwell family. His last coherent though before dying was, 'Leo, I am so coming back and haunting your eternal ass.'

The man stepped out from the shadows. He was initially impressed by the boy. The power he felt within him drew his attention, but what he just saw truly impressed him. 'I bet he's almost as much of a Boy Scout as Mac. If not more of one.' That thought brought a smile to his face. 'Interesting times are definitely ahead of us now.' He looked at the boy, his shirt soaked in blood with multiple bullet holes going though it. The fact that the Kid had been shot by the girl and still managed to save her impressed him to no end. To care more for a complete stranger that you would sacrifice yourself for their wellbeing, that was something he wanted as a quality within himself one day. But that day was far in coming.

He directed his attention at the child once more and could feel the power within growing. He looked down at his suitcase and opened it up. He pulled out a t-shirt and an oversized sweater. Closing the suitcase back up he sat down on top of it and waited. With absolutely no warning the power within the child spiked, causing the man on the suitcase to clench his head between his hands. The power continued to rise and the man had to force himself to mute his ability to sense others of his kind. His head was now a dull throb. As soon as he was able to get his senses under control, he slowly allowed himself to feel for the child's energy once again. Now that he was prepared for it, he could handle it. The power had leveled out, and what he felt was disturbing. No child of his age should have so much power. It may not rival his, but he had been around for a long time. Shaking his head, he was sure the answers would come in time, he waited. He didn't have to wait long.

Xander's eyes snapped open. His back was arched and he took a deep breath in. He started taking several breaths, no coherent thoughts could be made. He began to slow his breathing, and with it the memories came flooding back. He had been shot. He looked down to see his blood soaked, bullet ridden shirt. He pulled up his shirt to find his skin unblemished. There was some blood that seemed to be drying, but no bullet holes. Not even a scar. He pulled down his shirt again to verify that he had been shot. 'Yep, definitely shot, why aren't I dead? Not even a scar?' He looked up into the sunlight, 'Well, at least I'm not a vamp. This is definitely Hellmouthy. Ah crap, am I some sort of demon now?' A million scenarios began to play though his mind. None of them he liked, or would accept. It was then he noticed a shadow off to his side. There was a man with a slight smile, sitting on top of a suitcase looking down at him. The man stood up and approached him. The man started to talk to him but none of the words registered. He was just in too far in a state of shock. With much effort he finally formed a semi-coherent thought. "Whah?"

He looked down at the boy. He wasn't doing to well. Not that he could blame the child. After all, how often do you witness someone coming back from the dead, let alone be the one to do it? He took a deep breath and just looked into the boys eyes looking for a moment of clarity. When it came, he said in the most soothing voice he could manage, "Here, take these and put them on. I don't think we need to attract attention." The kid looked down at himself and comprehension began to dawn on him. He began to slowly take off his shirt and grabbed the t-shirt and sweater from the man. The boy put them on and began to stand, a little shakily. The t-shirt was a bit small, but the sweater covered that and reached down below where the blood had splattered onto his pants. If one looked closely you could see some spots of blood, but he wasn't too worried. He looked down and retrieved the child's bloody shirt, picking it up by one of the few dry places. He began to walk to a garbage been when he heard the voice from behind him.

"No."

He turned around. "No?"

"No. I want to keep it." With that said the boy seemed to go back to his previous state of being half conscious. The man looked back at the shirt with a bit of understanding. He continued walking to the trash barrel with no objections coming from behind him. When got there he looked inside. He overturned the barrel making the few papers and wrappers fall out and removed the garbage bag. He placed the shirt inside and tied off the bag. He righted the barrel and walked back to the boy. He carefully placed the bag into his suitcase where the sweater had been. He looked back at the child who was now staring at him.

"I know that you have a lot of questions. And I promise you, I will answer them to the best I am able. But I have much to tell you, and doing so out here would not be wise. It is much better to do this in private."

Xander looked around and saw the battle scene in front of him. He saw the damaged car, his blood on the ground and the men still lying on the ground unconscious. He looked back at the man and gave a quick nod. The man smiled at him, picking up his suitcase he put his arm around Xander's back and guided him to the door.

"By the way child, what's your name?"

"Alexander." He wasn't sure why he used his full name but it felt right at the moment. The man smiled at him.

'Alexander, the protector of man. How appropriate for this child, already sacrificing himself for someone else.'

"It's a pleasure to meet you Alexander. My name is Adam, Adam Pierson." And with that he led him through the airport to the limo waiting for him out front.

A thin black man in a chauffeur's uniform was leaning against the limo with a bored expression while holding a sign the read PIERSON. Adam walked over to the man smiling. Holding out his hand he said "Hello Roger, glad to see you were sent to pick me up, how is your wife and kids?" Roger's expression changed from his bored one to that of a smile and shook Adam's hand. Picking up Adam's suitcase and heading for the opened trunk he replied.

"Brenda is great. So are the kids, though they can be a handful at times, but worth every minute of it. Does your friend have no luggage?"

Adam looked over to Xander with an enquiring gaze. "I have one black duffel bag, but I left it by the bar." He spoke so quietly that only Adam could hear him. As Xander started to make his way back to the airport, Adam placed his hand on his shoulder stopping Xander.

"Roger, he left his bag back by the bar. It's a black duffel bag, could you please retrieve it." With a quick nod he went into the airport.

"Alexander, please get inside. This entire experience must be rather unsettling. Not to mention how tired and hungry you must be after experiencing your first death."

Looking at him oddly for using the term 'First Death' his stomach suddenly began to rumble in agreement with Adam's statement. He put on one of his patented goofy grins and nodded. Electing to just get into the spacious stretch limo and wait for the answers. He was feeling rather tired as well. Soon enough Roger came back out and placed his duffel into the trunk. Adam got into the limo sitting across from Xander, and Roger closed the door and made his way to the driver seat. Once they were on their way Adam lowered the partition.

"Roger, do you think you could stop at the closest convenient store and pick up some food for out trip." He looked over to Xander and motioning over to the small fridge by the mini bar. "Would you like a beer?" Adam slid across and pulled two out. Xander thought about it for a moment, but decided that getting drunk at the moment, while it had its merits, would not be the best idea at the moment, so he declined the offer. For now. Adam merely shrugged and put one away, but stayed near the bar.

"Sir, I'm pulling into one now. What can I get you?"

"Oh, get a few things, all high energy and full of sugar. And perhaps a few cold sodas will do well as well."

"Some Twinkies?"

Adam looked over to Xander, where the voice had originated seeing a hopefully look in the child's eyes. He chuckled to himself and responded. "And lots of Twinkies." He moved up to the partition and handed Roger some money. Soon enough Roger came back out holding a few grocery bags with a few types of junk food and some sodas.

Adam was amazed. He knew how hungry one of his kind would become after dying. But to this date he had never seen anyone inhale a Twinkie quite like that. "You must really be hungry there Alexander."

Xander was feeling much better, the soda was just what he needed for his dry mouth, and the Twinkies, 'Ah, behold the Power of Twinkies.' He thought to himself when he heard Adam's statement. Shaking his head he replied. "This is how I always eat my Twinkies; it's the only right way to do it." There was a definite grin on his face. Yep he was starting to feel better now.

Adam's eyes became quite a bit larger, going from one of amazement to that of disbelief. Finally, he began chuckling, which quickly turned into a short bout of laughter.