Sunnydale U.

Willow and Tara were eating lunch. When Buffy and Riley walked up to them.

"Guy's, we need to talk about Xander." Buffy said looking around at Willow and Tara.

" Yeah, We do," Willow replied," Last night after you left I saw him taking some pills; I got a look at the bottle when he wasn't looking, It was something called Tyrophan, I looked it up and it's supposed to be a dietary supplement, but I don't know if that's what he was taking. He had the shakes before he took it and they went away after he took them."

" Xander, on drugs?", Buffy said," I don't know if I believe that."

" Why not? he was a stripper." Riley then added," You don't know what he has been doing since he has been gone. People change."

" Not that much." Willow said.

Tara, watching them, said, " Well, his aura is wrong."

" What do you mean, wrong?" Buffy asked.

" Well . . . Not wrong, just different. The core is pure, a sign of a good person. Loyal and trustworthy. But it has black oily spots. That's the sign of someone that has done or will do great evil. There are also flares mixed into it that I have only seen in animals."

No one knew how to take that.

" Last night, Riley and the guys took me to the Bronze after a patrol," Buffy said. "Xander was there, walking around like he was looking for some thing. He seemed to know who was a vampire and who wasn't. He would stop at everyone that he came across. The guys put us under the stairs so no one would bother us, but I swear Xander saw us. He looked right at us, then left. We followed him.

"And outside he was attacked by three Vampires."

" You helped him didn't you?", Willow broke in.

" No, we didn't have time."

FLASHBACK

"Guys, you really don't want to mess with me tonight," Xander told them. "The Slayer is right inside."
He did see us, Buffy thought to herself when she heard that.

"She's in there, you're here and we're hungry," the lead vampire said. "You do the math."

"Dusty, you really don't want to do this," Xander warned them with a smile.

" How did you know my Name?" the lead vampire said, looking closely at Xander.

" No Shit , a vamp named Dusty?". Xander asked with smile and a small laugh.

" Blood bag, don't make fun of me!" the vampire's game face slide into place.

Buffy was too surprised to attack the Vamps,as Xander moved first.

He seemed to dance among the Vampires. When they stuck at him, he always seemed to just not be there, but when he stuck back, he always seemed to hit.
And the hits seem to just touch the vamps, but they flew around like rag dolls.

The only time she had seen that happen was when Faith had hit someone, but she had never seen the fighting style Xander was using before. Riley had, though, from some special force's unit that had come through a few months ago.

They had kept to themselves, and the only thing he really remembered about them that they had tattoos on their necks. Some of the older guys in the unit didn't like having them around. And the only reason he could get was a quietly muttered name, "Manticore."

What that was, he really didn't know. But it scared them all. He was told just to stay away from the new unit until they left.

He really didn't have a problem with that, at all. Those guys had spooky eyes, like those of some of the demons he had seen.

The fight was going well. It looked like Xander was just playing with them. But then one of the vampires got in a lucky blow in and Xander stumbled back. One of the others grabbed him and ripped his shirt off.

And there was the same tattoo Riley had seen on those other guys.

This guy in the Military? Riley thought. It might make some kinda sense now.

Xander got a tattoo? And a Bar Code at that? Buffy wondered top herself.

She started to move up again, but then stopped , as Xander drove the heel of his palm into the nose of the lead vamp, sending Bone into its brain. It wouldn't kill it , but it would slow it down.

Then he moved to the next one, punching it in the neck, and Buffy and Riley could hear the Cartilage in its neck crunch from where they were watching.

Xander looked at the last one.

" You really should have listened." Xander grabbed him, slamming him into the wall. Picking up a scrap piece of wood, he rammed it into the vamp's heart, then walked to the others.

After he staked the last one, he said,

" Dusty, you would have thought that vamps would have gotten smarter, but it seems that only the dumb ones get to come across."

END FLASH BACK

" A tattoo?", Willow asked.

"Yeah, bar code on the back of his neck," Buffy said.

" Guys. I have seen that kind of tattoo before," Riley said, looking at the girls "It was in a Special Forces Unit that came through a few months before I met you. They were really bad ass. Could Xander have had joined up?"

" No, he would have said something."

"Halloween..." Willow whispered.

Buffy Looked sharply at her.

" What?" she asked. She never wanted to remember that night again. She still had a nightmare or two about Demon cars, and the movie 'Christine' would drive her from the house if it was on.

" Well, Maybe the Soldier didn't leave like we thought. I mean, he did get the rocket launcher from the base really easily, and let's not forget Graduation. Xander led the students and made the bomb."

" We need to talk to Giles. He could look stuff up and do things. Yeah, we'll go see him tonight, and tell him about this. He wants to see us any way. He found a new prophecy."

"Ok., We have to get to class, we'll see you later at Giles."

THE NIGHT BEFORE.

Giles' apartment.

Giles was going through some new books he picked up From some witches in San Francisco, when he came across a new prophecy.

"A child will be born of a woman created from hate, not love, and the father who walks the path of 2 lives in one body., And by his own words would his journey begin.

"The Child shall be a leader and bring freedom to the slaves of Ares, and unite them under the Banner of Light to fight against the Dark.

"One Chosen one shall decide whose forces she shall support,

"And her decision will echo through the ages,

And the wrong choice shall cause the army of Ares to be her down fall."

Giles sits back. A Slayer will decide if a whole race of people will become good or evil? I wonder if Buffy is up to it?

A silent part of his brain whispered, I wonder if it's even Buffy? Could it be Faith or some other Slayer?

Summers' home

Xander came in quietly so he would not wake Joyce up. Grabbing a change of clothes. he cleaned up and went to sleep. He hoped Max was sleeping peacefully.

DREAM PLANE

Xander was walking thought some woods. He could feel the cool wind blowing up from the coast. He had seen these woods before around the college.

Slowly, the woods gave way to walls and hallways. Finally a door appeared before him. The numbers '314' were inscribed in the wall next to it.
Opening it, he walked into a lab. There was Max, nude in a cell. There was nothing else in the cell with her. The walls were all plain white walls. Only the front wall was any different, it was glass.
She looked up to him from were she was curled up on the floor.

"Finally here, huh?" she snapped at him, a VERY pissed off look on her face.

"I'm getting closer. Just a little while longer, and I'll have you out of here, Xander said calmly."They haven't hurt you, have they?"

Narrowing her eyes, Max replied,. " Don't worry, they're not going to hurt me yet," while staring at him like she would slap him. "They want to study my condition."

" You're not sick, are you?" He knew that some of the X5's had genetic problems tha resulted in a variety of medical problems.

" No, not sick, at least not all the time. And it's YOUR fault!"

"Wait, what, With a side of HUH?"

" I am Pregnant!", she snapped at him, knocking him out of the dream.

He jumped when he woke up, looking around trying to get a baring on were he was.

Then it hit him.

I'm going to be a father, he thought, a grin on his face. The grin slowly faded, as it all sunk in.

"Oh...Boy..."

Morning
Sunnydale U.

Prof. Walsh was walking out of her office once again to deal the brain- damaged youth of today's modern society.,

The only student in any of her classes that had any brains was that Willow Rosenberg person. But then she found out that she was gay. An anomaly – they should all be killed, just like they do at Manticore.

Maggie could hardly wait to get back to the main Labs, she had some promising experiments going on there.

Mental control and commands were what she excelled at, but the work here was promising too. Adam would be on line soon, thanks to the Slayer and Agent Finn's work. The last of the grafts were in place, having been added yesterday. All she need to do now was put the last segment of the of the operating system in place. She had removed a good bit of the test subject's brain and replaced with a small computer designed by her own team of specialists.

And now that she had the X5 in the lab, and a pregnant one at that, she could keep going a long time with all the tissues she would get from them.

And DNA was just a work of art, there were not any junk strands in it, every part did something. And if the child's DNA was the same, it would provide her a life time of study.

As she was walking down the stairs to the class room, a young man was in front of her on the stairs. From her position above on the stairs, she could see down his collar, and see the bar code there.

And unless the new fad in tattoos is bar codes, he was Manticore.

If that was true, then why was he here without her knowledge?

Unless He's rogue, Maggie thought to herself. There was one X-5 on the loose, so there could be others. Could this be the father of the one in the lab?

Xander stopped and look around at the bottom of the stairs.

Looking back up the stairs, Walsh got a look at his face.

471.My, he's grown up.

"Soldier, stop!" she commanded.

Xander came to attention before he could stop himself, a moment before he felt some form of conditioning take over his brain. He would do whatever this woman said.

"Yes, Mother," He said.

Then it came back to him. Manticore.
Mother.

FLASHBACK.

Dr. Walsh stood in front of two X5's . They both have had intensive conditioning, along with extensive mental study.
Now it was time to get rid of one. And the choice was up to her.

She was going to go to a new department and they would need on to work on their Cyber neural interface, so they only need a body.

Looking between them she almost picked the blond, but he had been twinned and the other one, 598,had lead a uprising and escaped with 12 others last month, and she didn't want the trait passed on. So, the brunet would live.

She still wasn't sure about him, though. There was something in his eyes that you couldn't trust. Like he was always watching you.

" 471," Walsh said handing him a pistol."Kill 598." Then she handed him the Pistol.

He had taken the pistol, pulling the slide back top make sure the pistol was loaded.

Then he looked at Walsh. She could swear, for a moment, that he was going to shoot her.

Xander was fighting it.

Mother wants me to kill my best friend. We've been together forever. He had been there when all us were freaking out about losing our baby teeth. No one had told us that would happen. And when the boys and girls started to notice each other. And then when Pat went in heat for the first time, after the Trainers had moved her from the room with us til she was out of heat, we had sat around to talk about what had happen and what feelings we had for her.

With a final look at Walsh, he turned to his friend, looked into his eyes and hoped that he understood, that he could not stop.

One day, I will kill Mother.

Then he pulled the trigger. The Bullet stuck 598 on the side of the head, blowing out most of the other side as the it traveled into the far wall.

" Good Boy 471, Do you want some sweets?" Walsh asked, looking him up and down.

" Yes, Mother," he said while he was screaming inside.

END FLASH BACK

" My, you have grown 471," Walsh said looking him up and down." "Haven't you? Why are you here?"

"Looking for someone," he said before he could stop himself.

The controls are still there, Walsh thought, pleased. He will do anything I want.
X5's were a lot more disposable then the Humans she had now., Even Agent Finn, the cream of the crop here, could not match the loyal and dedication that one X5 could. And now I have two to work with.

"Follow me."

"Yes, Mother."

Pulling out her cell phone,. She hit the speed dial button.

"Riley, I need you to watch the class today, something has come up."

"----"

"Just give out the test I have in my desk."

Riley? Buffy's Riley works for Manticore.? Xander thought Does Buffy know? She must. Giles would not let anyone around unless he knew their background. Plus she was always Nosey, she would have found out about him fast. The friends she was with at the Bronze last night. - they all had the look of Soldiers. I'll kill her. If any thing has happened to Max, they're all dead.

In section 314

Xander could feel Max - he knew she was close. But just how close he could not say.

"471," Walsh commanded, "strip and get into the cell."

She watched while he was stripping down.

My, he has grown.

She thought she might have to stop by and see if it all functions normally later. She had done that in the Main labs a few time's with some of the other X series. But never with an X5; they were just too young at the time.

" Get some sleep., We will start some tests in the morning."

After she had left them room. Xander slipped off into sleep. His last thought was, I hope Max is asleep.

Dream Plane.

Xander was Sitting at The Bronze. But halfway across the room, it turned into the Crash. Max was sitting at the bar drinking a beer, so he got up and walked over to her.

He could feel that he was leaving his dream and entering hers when he stepped across into the Crash side of the bar.

"You know, pregnant women should not be drinking," he started, smiling while he said it.

" Dream beer, all the fun with no side effects," she said, still looking pissed at him. "You ran away when I told you I was pregnant."

"Nope, you kicked me out of your dream."

"Oh. Didn't know I could do that."

"Neither did I."

" I felt you were close. How long til you get me out of here?"

" Well, I hit a little snag, and it might be a little longer til I get this straight.

" Well we're safe here, so let's get to know each other." She stood up and kissed him. "I do miss you even if I don't really know you."

"Well, let's just sit back and find out."

He reached over to a projector and turned it on.

" Let's sit back and watch me.If you have any question's, just ask and I'll show you."

After watching the movie of his life from Xander's point of view, Max was a bit freaked out.

"So,Hellmouth.. Real. Vampires and demons - real. Also, magic - real."

"Yeah, all real."

"Are you sure you haven't been hit on the head or something?"

" You're the one talking to me in a dream. You decide if it's real."

" So, a year or so ago, you were a Norm, and now you're an X5? Man, Did you take a wrong turn."
"Yeah, a lot of Bad. But some good," he said looking into her eyes.

Just then, Max noticed someone else was in the bar with them. He looked like Xander only he was in uniform, and had a cage at his feet. When she looked at him, he lifted his glass to her.

" Uh... Xan who's that?"

" Remember the Halloween spell I told you about? Well He's the soldier from it. He helps me every now and then."

Just then the Cage jumped.

" And she is the Hyena."

" It's still here?...Wait - SHE?"

"Alpha, Hyena's are lead by the strongest females in the pack. She would have gone into one of the girls but she's a lesbian. And I fit all the that qualifications she wanted better than any of the others. Plus, I like women too."

"She's Gay!"

A voice growled from the Cage." YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT?"

"Nope, my roommate in Seattle was gay. It's just unexpected."

"Welcome to my life. Where you expect the unexpected."

Later.

Max looked at Xander as they danced to a phantom band. For someone so smooth in a fight, he sure couldn't dance. There was something there, and later they could work on it.

It's a good thing that he could lie here, I would have never believed him any other way.

Just then the dream started to fade. They were waking up. They looked at each other; soon, they would be together.

A short while after Xander awoke, Prof. Walsh came to get him. He was led to another lab. There, Max was strapped to a examination table.

" We need a DNA sample from both of the subjects," Prof. Walsh told Dr. Anderson, who was working with Max, " I have to work with Adam today. We should have him on line in a few days."
"I'll start with her," Dr. Anderson said."Will he be any problem?"
" No, remember the M.C. Program? I worked on it in our lab in Mississippi?"

"Yes," he said, not really sure where this was going.

" Meet my star of the test. As long as he knows that you are a doctor for Manticore, he has to do what you say. So, he's completely safe to handle."

" Just, when you tell him what you want him to do, be very careful. He will do exactly what you tell him to do. So, no slang here."

"I understand."

After Walsh had left the lab, Dr. Anderson had Xander sit in a chair and watch him as he went about working on Max. He got a thrill out of knowing that Xander was the father of this woman's child and he could not stop him from doing anything he wanted to her.

" You're a good looking freak. I might have some fun with you before we continue," he said as he slowing ran his hand up and down Max's nude form. She started to scream at him.

Anderson just looked at her, then balled his fist, striking her across the face.

"Shut up, Freak. I just need your DNA and the DNA of your child. Neither one needs to be alive when I get it."

With that, his hand started to slide up her leg again. When it reached the top, he slid his finger into her body.

" Nice," He whispered to her. Max just let a little whimper. She had never been trapped like this before. There was always a way out a way to run. But not now. Xander was just watching her. And from what she had heard, he couldn't do anything to help.

INSIDE XANDER'S HEAD

Xander was tied to a chair and could not move. He looked at Soldier-Guy, who was standing at attention and couldn't move.

"Hey, we have to do something. Move any thing," Xander yelled at the
Soldier.

"We can't. The controls are on both of us."
" Well, both of you anyway," the Hyena growled from her cage.

" What? Followed by, Huh?" Xander said.

" The Spell that changed you did that to YOU. I am not you. . I'm just along for the ride, you could say."

"Can you help her?"

" Yes. For a price." You could hear the grin in the Spirit's voice.

" What Price?" Xander asked. He would not let a killer like the Hyena loose uncontrolled.

"I want Freedom."

"How about limited freedom? Like the Soldier here has?"

" Will I get to get out and do what I want?"

" Within reason. Hunting Vamps… Demons. …Manticore Doctors. You know, not-good things."

" Ok. Deal."

With that, the cage was gone and in its place was the hulking form of the Hyena.

OUTSIDE XANDER'S HEAD.

" Hey, dickhead. Stop messing with my lady," Xander yelled at Dr. Anderson.

Anderson turned, walked over to Xander and kicked him in the groin. He then turned around and walked back to Max.

Just as he reached her,Xander yelled again.

"Hey! You sorry, limp-dick mother fucker. I told you to leave her alone!"

Anderson turned in a rage.

Walking over to Xander, he stuck him again. This time, blood flew from his both his mouth and nose. Then, as Anderson was turning around to walk back, he heard laughter, almost giggling actualy, coming from Xander.
He looked back at Xander. Xander was getting up.

He shouldn't be able to move. The controls aren't working, Anderson thought.

Xander's eyes flashed green.

" My Turn," he said striking Anderson, and knocking him back. He fell out of Max's line of sight.

" It sucks to be you,." She heard Xander say.

Then, with a roar, Xander jumped on top of the doctor.