Xander made his way into the privacy of his own bedroom. His feelings were quite conflicted. On the one hand he knew that he needed more people since the first was going to have an army of Vampires and Demons. But, on the other hand, he had felt quite adamantly about keeping his Sunnydale friends apart from his life as an Immortal. They were his family. And they were already dealing with, more than likely, more than they could chew. Just the thought of bringing the headhunters into their midst was enough to make him think twice before making this call.
But in the end, it had to be done. As it was right now, they were seriously undermanned. And he knew that if The First attacked with its army, albeit a small one, they wouldn't have the man power to hold it off. Especially with The Charmed Ones, Cassandra, and Duncan all preoccupied. In fact, not only would they be out of the game, but he was sure that they would need to be protected until they had completed their spell.
And with that final thought, he picked up his cell phone. Dialing Giles' personal line that he had been given earlier this night; he waited for the line on the other end to be picked up.
Hello?
"Hey G-Man, I didn't wake you did I?"
Xander? A brief sigh came through the line. How many times have I asked you not to call me that?
"Not enough apparently." Xander's smirk could be felt through the phone.
After another short sigh of defeat, Giles answered Xander's question.
No, I haven't dared try to sleep just yet. When you informed me of the continued existence of The First, I decided a good research session was called for. There was a brief pause. I'm afraid that I have not found anything that would be useful at the moment.
Xander gave a sigh of his own. "Believe it or not, Giles, but we actually have the…we have the assets needed to take down The First permanently." He sat at the end of his bed and stared at the floor for a moment. In a soft tone he continued. "We even have the beginning of a plan, but what we don't have…what we need most are people." Xander got off of the bed and began to pace the room. In a more assured tone he continued. "Giles, I don't want to go into to much detail with you, or anyone, unless it's some place I know The First can't listen in. So…for now just know that we have what we need to take it down and out. But we need people to protect those assets, and we also need people to fight off the Vamps and Demons that it brings along for the fight."
Giles seemed to stammer for a moment. Good Lord! Are you serious? He paused for a moment to gather his own thoughts. There were so many questions that simply were not going to be answered at the moment. And while he was more than just a little disappointed, he would be as patient as need be. Provided that Xander survived all of this.
I wish I had known earlier. I'm afraid that we only have three teams of slayers here. Each team is comprised of 4 slayers each. We have at least one of the Slayers from Sunnydale in each group that leads the others as they patrol. Giles did a few quick calculations. I believe I can have a few Slayers back you up.
"Giles, this is going to go down within the next 24 hours." He waited for it, he knew it was coming.
WHAT? Bloody Hell! Yep, definitely some of the Ripper in there. It took him a few moments to regain his control, and composure. Xander, I can't see how I can get them too you. The only thing I can think of is Willow, and even if she wasn't in England with the rest of the Coven for the rest of the week, I doubt I'd ask her to use her magic in such a way right now.
Xander had stopped his pacing for a moment. He wondered if there was more to that statement than at first glance, but decided to put it on the backburner for the moment.
"Don't worry about it, Giles. I actually have the transportation covered. Just give me a call when you have my Slayers ready." He stared out his window into the night sky. Pre-dawn wasn't far away. "And arm them to the hilt, G-Man. I have a feeling they're going to need it."
Giles mumbled his assent, though even Xander could tell that the Head Watcher for The New Council was more than a little perturbed to find out that so much had happened in Xander's life that he had no clue about.
Xander sighed as he came to the realization that he was going to have to have a long overdue conversation with the rest of The Scooby Gang. He walked out of the room wondering just who would be joining him from the old Sunnydale gang. He made his way down the stares realizing that his phone conversation hadn't gone much worse than expected. 'No, my life isn't complicated at all!'
xxxxxxx
Xander made his way back to the kitchen where everyone was waiting and conversing. He surveyed the room and couldn't help but to smile at the two new occupants of the room.
"Joe, Amanda it's great to see you again." He went over to the two new arrivals. After receiving a quick handshake from the Watcher and a rather pleasant hug from Amanda, he looked to both of them. "Just when did you two get here?"
"Alexander, 'Darling,' it's so good to see you again too. And this lovely young man named Chris decided to scare the crap out of both myself and Joe. And to think, Duncan was with him the entire time." She looked up at Xander with quite a playful expression. "I do wonder how I'll get back at him for that." Duncan's playful, yet smug, expression was wiped off his face as a sense of foreboding suddenly overwhelmed him.
Amanda grinned at Duncan's sudden discomfort. She waved off the situation, in her own unique style, as though it never happened. Though Duncan was nobody's fool, he went with it for now.
Amanda guided herself and Xander towards Phoebe, who had been eying her since she had first hugged him. While Xander hadn't noticed the look, Amanda had. And she had to admit, if these two were involved in any way, she was definitely impressed. She had made more girlfriends, and significant others jealous in the past. And this woman's reaction was more of a typical reaction that was quickly suppressed.
"So, who is this lovely lady?"
Xander couldn't suppress his smile. He pulled his hand gently from Amanda's embrace and quickly put his arm around Phoebe's waist, pulling her closer to him at the same time. She looked up at him and gave him a very pleasant smile.
"This vision of beauty is Phoebe." He gave her a tight squeeze, one that she didn't seem to object to." He nodded over to his side. "Her sisters, Piper and Paige. All three of them are witches." Phoebe interrupted.
"We're The Charmed Ones." Amanda smiled and nodded, though her expression did change slightly, most occupants in the room never noticed it.
Xander resumed with the introductions. "Do you know what a White Lighter is?" Amanda smiled and nodded.
"I do…though before tonight it had been quite some time from when I had last seen one." She gave Chris a playful look. "You need to prepare a girl for such things."
Xander gave Chris a questioning glance. Chris smirked back in response and patted his back pocket where he kept is wallet in a discreet manner, causing Xander to snort. 'Guess he really does know me and mine.'
Amanda gave both men a questioning glance before turning back to Xander. She raised one of her elegant eyebrows. "Oh, do tell?"
"Amanda, 'Darling,' I assure you its nothing." She wasn't quite accepting that, but he pressed on nonetheless. "Leo, over here, is also a White Lighter, for The Charmed Ones." Xander gave a quick glance around the room, ending at Cassandra. "Everyone else I believe you know. Have you met Cassandra?"
Amanda and Cassandra smiled at one another. "Yes, she and I have met before." She looked around the room. She gave Xander a curious glance. "Duncan never told me. Do they know?" Xander simply nodded his head. She smiled and responded. "Then I'd say we are very 'old' friends." That got a mumbled response of 'I'll bet.' From Xander, earning a mild glare from Amanda, who couldn't keep the smirk off her face, or the humor from her eyes.
Joe, on the other hand, simply raised his bottle of beer and said. "Sorry Mac." Earning a groan from Duncan and a snicker from Methos. Both Cassandra and Amanda had a devilish gleam in their eyes, and Xander was suddenly thankful he wasn't the Scotsman. Xander decided to take pity on the man and spoke up.
"Ok people, we're going to have more help soon. With the exception of calling Methos 'Adam' from now on, I don't want to hold back anything from those who come to help us. Does anyone have a problem with that?"
He knew that Cassandra, and perhaps Leo, would have a problem with Angel, and the rest of the 'Fang Gang,' knowing too much information about them and their friends. Though both decided to remain quiet for now.
Xander looked around the room and nodded. "Good. Now, I'm just waiting for Giles to call me back." That got a nod from everyone. Duncan reached into his coat and pulled out a small black book. He looked oddly at Duncan who was now grinning like mad. Before he could even ask his question, or make some smart remark about pulling out his 'little black book' in front of Amanda, the woman in question answered his unasked question.
With laughter in her voice, she said. "I think that Mac is really looking forward to making this next call." Duncan looked up with a full on smile and nodded his head.
Methos groaned, and then exclaimed, "Oh Bloody Hell! Isn't there some law about having three Boy Scouts in a room at one time!"
This got a chuckle from Duncan, who looked over at Chris. "This time, when we orb in, lets get as close to him as possible!" That got a grin and a nod from Chris, while Methos simply groaned into his hands that began to message his temples.
Just as the chuckling began to die down, Xander's cell phone rang. He looked at the caller ID and couldn't suppress his smirk.
"Hey G-Man."
"….."
"I don't know, once or twice." His smirk just deepened.
"……"
"Ok…they're suiting themselves up in the armory now…they'll be ready in 15 minutes?"
"….."
"Good…Giles, hold on for a moment." He suddenly realized that he had no clue as to where the new Headquarters were. He looked over at Leo in the hopes the man could help.
xxxxxxx
"Leo, I've never been to the new School they opened up. Can you feel where they are or something?"
Leo shook his head. "Not with the interference of the Hellmouth I can't."
Xander pondered this for a moment. "What if they sent up a magical flare or something?"
Leo nodded his head. "Perhaps, once they do it I'll let you know."
Xander pulled the phone to his ear again.
xxxxxxx
"Hey Giles."
"….."
"You heard all that? Ok…fine…I'll hold" He looked around the room to the inquisitive stares he was receiving.
xxxxxxx
"He's gathering some supplies…though he did say it was a good idea." That brought on some soft smiles around the room.
About three minutes later both Leo and Chris looked up. Leo was the first to speak.
"I got their location. Loud and clear." Chris simply nodded his head.
xxxxxxx
"Giles, we got the location we'll be there soon."
"…."
"No, there's no need to make any sort of containment circle…we aren't using a teleportation spell."
"….." A smile appeared on Xander's face.
"I'll tell you how we get there when we get there." With that he hung up the phone and was suddenly grinning in a similar manner as Duncan's was earlier.
He looked over at Leo. "Remember Leo, as close as possible." Leo simply shook his head.
xxxxxxx
Giles looked down at the telephone that he had just hung up.
"That bloody child is going to give me a heart attack one of these days."